Chapter 38 He descended the cold, snow-covered mountain and bent down towards her…
Chapter 38
After finishing speaking, the person on the other end hung up the phone decisively, seemingly already on their way.
The moment she heard he was coming, the composure Wen Yining could maintain in front of others crumbled instantly. She panicked, instinctively trying to flee like a defeated soldier on the battlefield.
She dared not look at him. She could act as if nothing was wrong in front of others, but when she faced him, she didn't know how she would lose her composure.
She didn't want anyone to see her breakdown, as if that would allow her to maintain a sliver of false self-esteem, as if she cared nothing about the breakup.
Wen Yining turned around with a pale face and was about to leave, but then she realized something and turned back to Fang Qi. She disregarded the taboo of men and women touching each other and reached into his hand to take her phone.
Fang Qi subconsciously raised his arm, and Wen Yining reached out and grabbed his wrist. Fang Qi's body temperature was much higher than hers, and the warmth traveled through her cold fingers. She stood on tiptoe and reached out her other hand to reach the phone that he was holding up.
The position was a bit too close and ambiguous. Fang Qi stared at Wen Yining's absent-minded face, which was so close to his own, for a moment. It was inconsistent with his playboy behavior. His actions were very proper and measured. He put his hand down and obediently returned the phone to her, a little helplessly, "If I were any shorter, you would have snatched it."
Wen Yining let go of his hand, took the phone from him, and turned to leave.
The cold sensation on his wrist seemed to still linger. Fang Qi clenched his wrist, looked at the figure in front of him, and followed.
Caught off guard, Gu Lingling and Jiang Fengqing exchanged a glance and instinctively followed Wen Yining.
Fang Qi frowned as he looked at Wen Yining in front of him. He should grab her and stop her from leaving, but after scanning her back, he felt a bit awkward because he couldn't find a place to start. He could just grab her arm, but for some reason, whether it was because this girl was his good friend's girlfriend and he couldn't touch her, or for some other reason, he felt a sense of unease and didn't dare to touch her casually.
Fang Qi cursed himself inwardly. What hadn't he done? Besides, what era was this? What was wrong with pulling an arm? But he just couldn't bring himself to do it.
"You should know very well what kind of person he is."
Wen Yining's escape steps came to an abrupt halt.
Fang Qi breathed a sigh of relief, stopped and looked at her back before continuing, "Since he wants to find you, he definitely wants to see you. If he can't find you here, he'll look for you somewhere else. Even if you don't want to, he'll humbly apologize and coax you while forcefully dragging you out."
"So I think you shouldn't bother, just wait for him here."
Gu Lingling, standing behind, grinned and said, "Ah, is he a yandere?"
Jiang Fengqing tugged at her.
Looking at the magnificent shopping mall elevator in front of her, Wen Yining knew that Fang Qi was right.
Li Changjing is that kind of person; he focuses on the big picture and lets go of the small details, and he has a very strong sense of purpose.
She remained silent for a long time, then turned around reluctantly, her voice flat: "You two have a really good relationship."
Fang Qi laughed and did not refute the statement. "I take him with me when I sweep my mother's grave. He is my mother's favorite son. When she was alive, she wanted a son like him the most."
Fang Qi sent his location to Li Changjing, and after arriving, he went to his car to make a phone call.
Wen Yining and her friends stood in the basement filled with cars, repeatedly suppressing the urge to turn around and leave.
While waiting, the two women asked each other about the reason for the breakup. Wen Yining sighed wearily. A day had passed, but thinking about it still made her feel very tired.
The reason for the breakup was simply that she wanted sincerity, but his defenses were too high.
In fact, she often felt envious when she saw couples walking hand in hand on the playground at school. She couldn't help but think that if Li Changjing were just an ordinary person like her, with a similar age and experience, their relationship probably wouldn't have been so difficult.
"So what does it mean that he didn't stop you yesterday, but contacted you again today? Does he want to get back together?"
Wen Yining shook her head. "I don't know."
"He's just taking advantage of your soft and easy-going personality!" Gu Lingling rolled up her sleeves indignantly. "Let me go and talk to him later. If you want to get back together, you'll have to show some sincerity!"
Jiang Fengqing was much calmer than Gu Lingling. "You can't let him coax you like that. We'll help you say what you can't say later."
Li Changjing arrived faster than expected. Wen Yining heard the sound and saw the two identical cars driving one after the other. She said softly, "He's here."
They kept saying they wanted to see Li Changjing, but they never expected that they would meet in such an unexpected way.
Fang Qi seemed to have heard the commotion and came over as well, saying, "You came really fast."
Gu Lingling looked at the two cars with a puzzled expression. "Why did he bring people with him? Are they here to fight?"
Fang Qi rarely remained silent when speaking to anyone. "That's his bodyguard."
"bodyguard?"
As Wen Yining watched the approaching car, her heart unconsciously quickened, and she began to blank out her thoughts, listening to their conversation.
Fang Qi chuckled, "Retired, carried out special missions, and has seen blood on his hands."
"ah?"
Fang chuckled, “Like master, like servant. Maybe his boss looks like a pretty, refined young man, but he actually enjoyed drawing blood when he was a kid.”
Wen Yining heard this unconsciously, and a strange feeling suddenly flashed through her mind. She subconsciously turned around to look at Fang Qi, but at this moment her mind was full of Li Changjing in front of her, and she did not notice that something was wrong.
Fang Qi squinted at Li Changjing's car with a slight smile on his lips, then suddenly turned around and said, "Alright, mission accomplished, I'm going to have a ride now."
The group looked at the open car door and didn't bother to pay attention to Fang Qi.
She wondered if it was a change in her mindset, but even though it had only been a day since she last saw him, Li Changjing seemed a little unfamiliar to her.
Seeing that he had actually appeared, Wen Yining lowered her head, looked away from her shoes, and felt Li Changjing's presence approaching. Then, the straight corner of his coat came into her view.
Li Changjing looked at Wen Yining in front of him.
Wen Yining still didn't look up.
The two men who had been so aggressive behind her immediately wilted the moment they saw Li Changjing come down, standing awkwardly behind her like two obedient little chicks.
Li Changjing looked down at her for a moment, adjusted his glasses, turned to the two people beside him, smiled and nodded slightly. Dressed in a black overcoat, he was impeccably dressed and had a handsome face. He exuded an aloof and noble air that he had cultivated since childhood, but his attitude towards the two people was extremely warm and gentle. "Hello, you must be Ningning's friends. She has mentioned you before. You two have always taken good care of her. I have been wanting to invite you two to a meal to meet, but I have never been able to find the time. Now that we have met today, I wonder if you two have time tonight?"
His demeanor was so noble, yet his attitude was so down-to-earth. He looked at people with a slight bow and a smile, seeking their opinions. Even the most arrogant person couldn't help but feel flattered.
Wen Yining couldn't help but look up at Li Changjing. She had said that they had a good relationship, but when did she ever mention anything else?
She glanced at him and then looked away; she had already gotten used to Li Changjing's adult-like way of socializing.
She knew that he was saying this as a way of speaking, to make Gu Lingling and the others feel that she was grateful to them for mentioning the two of them to him, and that she wanted to speak well of her in front of them.
Turning her head, sure enough, Gu Lingling and the others were nowhere near the way they usually spoke ill of him. Gu Lingling blushed and waved her hand shyly, "Well... not really, Wenwen usually takes better care of me..."
They usually interact with classmates and friends who haven't entered the workforce, and their conversations are casual and everyday. So when they suddenly heard him say such formal and official things to them, they were all a little flustered and nervous, not knowing how to respond.
Wen Yining let out a silent sigh. He hadn't even said anything when he appeared, and he had already defeated the two of them.
Moreover, the implication in Li Changjing's words was that he was naturally drawing her into his circle, as if they were the closest people to him, and he was thanking the two people who had always taken care of her on her behalf, while Gu Lingling and the others, whom he had known for a long time, were treated as outsiders.
Those two idiots still haven't figured it out.
Wen Yining turned her head and looked over there. The bodyguard who always stayed close to Li Changjing was standing not far away, and she gave up the idea of leaving forcefully.
With just a few words, Gu Lingling and Jiang Fengqing were happily sent away by Li Changjing.
Only two people remained in that area.
Without the banter and jokes of others to cover it up, the atmosphere between the two instantly returned to its inherent stagnation, unable to liven up.
Li Changjing suppressed his seemingly warm and friendly but actually distant social demeanor and quietly looked at Wen Yining, who had her head down, for a long time.
"Ningning, don't you miss me at all?"
Wen Yining remained unmoved, her face cold as she neither spoke nor looked at him.
Li Changjing looked at her and sighed, his tone seeming to have aged decades in an instant, and said softly, "What I mean is, I miss you very much."
Wen Yining's eyelashes trembled. Upon hearing these words, her eyes instantly welled up with tears. She quickly looked away from him, not wanting to reveal her feelings.
Take a silent breath and try to speak naturally: "Don't you think this is pointless? We have nothing to do with each other anymore."
"I know."
Wen Yining looked up and saw Li Changjing staring intently at her. It wasn't the polite formality one would show to others, nor was it a mask of indifference, nor was it a distance that kept shifting between near and far. He was looking at her with utmost seriousness, truly and earnestly standing right in front of her.
Looking at Li Changjing like this, she vaguely understood his meaning and what he was going to say next. This was what she had always wanted, but it had come without warning. Her heart started pounding wildly, and she was almost at a loss.
I'm not even used to it.
Li Changjing never imagined that he would one day compromise for someone time and time again in his life.
It wasn't because of power or profit; it was simply because he was a little afraid of her.
Even if this person is just a gentle little girl, who will not retaliate, will not frame anyone, has no means to send him to jail, and can only open her eyes and shed tears for him.
It's laughable that he was afraid of her.
But he was a little afraid of her; this fear came suddenly and without any reason.
“That name is indeed my real name, but apart from formal occasions and some elders, no one calls me that. I didn’t intend to tell you the truth when I first met you, but I didn’t mean to hide it from you later.”
Wen Yining opened her mouth, at a loss for what to say, and then nodded.
She thought that was the end of it, but Li Changjing actually explained it to her seriously, as if he were performing some kind of ritual, point by point, even the questions she had just asked casually last night.
"The people my family specially arranged for me will be my trusted confidants and loyal followers in the future."
After finishing several paragraphs, Li Changjing paused for a moment, explaining this unspoken gray area to her as if he were casting a gray shadow over himself.
Wen Yining felt she should say something, but she was still at a loss for what to say, so she nodded again. After nodding, she felt it wouldn't be good to remain silent, so she gave a dry "oh".
The two, who had known each other for almost a year and spent so much time together, were now acting as awkwardly as two high school students in the throes of pure love, or as a couple on their first blind date.
Li Changjing frowned, his usual gentle demeanor gone, replaced by a deep and calculating air.
She thought that was the end of it, that it was just a promise he would make to her if something happened in the future. But she didn't expect Li Changjing to continue talking about it.
Wen Yining stared blankly at Li Changjing in front of her. Looking at his furrowed brows, she felt that he was truly showing her his sincerity.
Arriving later than others, yet carrying with it a clumsy and stubborn sincerity.
It was incongruous with his deep, unfathomable eyes and his obviously intelligent face.
Li Changjing looked up at Wen Yining, who was staring intently at him with her clear, bright eyes, her gaze filled with his image.
He paused for a moment and continued, "...My parents had some issues, and I went to deal with those things."
It was such a serious matter that Li Changjing had to specifically mention it and use the word "handle" to describe it.
He didn't say what it was, but Wen Yining later learned that when he said he was dealing with "things," he actually meant dealing with "people," people who were still in the embryonic stage.
Wen Yining was taken aback. "Did your parents have a fight?"
She grew up in a harmonious family and never experienced her parents arguing. In fact, just thinking about it made her feel unbearably anxious, as if it were a cataclysmic event.
Although his eyes showed only coldness and no sadness when he spoke of this, because that person was Li Changjing, she suddenly felt empathy for him and frowned sadly as she looked at him, "Are you very sad?"
Li Changjing looked at her, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes, but he didn't answer her question.
Wen Yining didn't understand his emotions; she just stared at him nervously with wide eyes.
Li Changjing was also looking at her when suddenly he hugged her tightly, so tightly that it almost hurt her.
He thought she would ask what happened, but to his surprise, from the past until now, all she cared about was whether he was very sad.
Later, he seriously considered when he fell in love with her. It might have been the first time he saw her, or it might have been every time, in each moment, he couldn't say for sure.
That person doesn't need to live or die for him, doesn't need to go down in history, doesn't need to do many earth-shattering things, just appear in his life on a certain spring day.
But he didn't understand at that time.
The author says: Fang Qi didn't say these things to deliberately reveal anything that could harm Li Changjing. This matter is far too trivial to possibly affect Li Changjing. Nor was it to sow discord, because he has never been in love, so in his understanding, he doesn't think that honesty would be a point of conflict between lovers.
He hated Li Zeqing so much that his malice was overflowing. When you hate someone and are extremely dissatisfied with them, your malice will unconsciously spill out from various details, such as uncontrollably saying some seemingly harmless but actually malicious bad things behind their back.
Is this what you call a high-and-mighty flower coming down from its pedestal?
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