Shoutout to Alinaza for the commission!
Up the mountain from Hanshan Temple was a fairly large bamboo forest.
This bamboo forest belonged to Hanshan Temple. After the Lu Group invested in renovating Hanshan Temple, the abbot returned the favor and designated this bamboo forest as Han Yin’s temporary place of meditation.
Lu Huaiyan had people build a row of bamboo huts deep within the bamboo forest, and constructed a tall and thick wall outside the forest, with a carved iron gate opened on the east side of the wall.
At this moment he stood outside the iron gate, raising the umbrella’s edge, lowering himself to bring his right eye close to the lock.
A “click” sounded, the lock opened.
The entire bamboo forest was deepened with green under the rain, the rain hitting the dense bamboo, softly and heavily.
Lu Huaiyan had no interest in enjoying the scenery, passing through the rain curtains from the bamboo leaves, and came to a bamboo hut by Zhuyin Lake.
Han Yin was inside brewing bamboo leaf water. Hearing the movement, she didn’t get up, just lightly said: “The door isn’t closed.”
Lu Huaiyan folded his umbrella and stepped inside, taking off his shoes at the entrance, walking further in.
Han Yin looked at his eyes, saw his shoulders and pant legs darkened by rain, and hurriedly said: “Go back to your room and change clothes first. With this weather, you can’t withstand catching a cold.”
Lu Huaiyan, not particularly caring, pulled over a mat and sat down: “It’s fine, I won’t get sick from cold.”
Han Yin could only pour him a cup of freshly brewed bamboo leaf water: “You’ve never liked listening to advice since you were little, I don’t know whose words you can take in.”
Lu Huaiyan never argued with Han Yin. Hearing this, he smiled, took the cup with the rhombus flower pattern, and lowered his head to drink a sip.
Only then did Han Yin notice he wasn’t wearing glasses. Not only were the glasses gone, but his right cheek also had a scratch. She moved her lips.
As if guessing what she was going to say, Lu Huaiyan didn’t even raise an eyebrow: “Blown by the wind, scratched by a branch.”
Han Yin: “……”
She looked out the window, her tone hesitant: “The wind is strong enough to blow off your glasses?”
Lu Huaiyan’s face didn’t change: “Yes, an accident.”
Han Yin never doubted what he said, lightly nodded: “You’re not nearsighted, wearing them or not doesn’t matter.”
These glasses were put on Lu Huaiyan personally by Old Master Lu when he was twenty-two.
He said his eyes had too much harshness, needed shielding.
Otherwise, no one would dare do business with him.
That year was Lu Huaiyan’s fourth year back from abroad.
In the three short years since returning, he had ruined all the enterprises under Lu Jinzhong and eaten up most of Lu Jinzhong’s shares in the Lu Group, driving Lu Jinzhong out of the board like a defeated dog.
Such swift and ruthless methods brought Old Master Lu both satisfaction and worry.
Of course, Old Master Lu was no soft-hearted man. Lu Jinzhong was driven out by him personally.
Son and grandson could not coexist; he unhesitatingly chose the more capable, more resourceful grandson. Lu Jinzhong couldn’t plead with his dead mother to save himself.
One pair of glasses carried many memories. Han Yin’s once calm eyes rippled.
Years ago, a serious illness had her hovering at death’s door for several years, and combined with many years of temple worship, she had grown indifferent to many things.
The only two attachments left were her son before her and the Han family.
Looking at her son’s sharp, cold face, Han Yin recalled what Abbot Liaoqing said this afternoon.
She said worriedly: “Abbot said you will have a bloody calamity next year. I know you never believe in these things, but just for your mother’s peace of mind, be careful in everything.”
Lu Huaiyan: “Understood. I will be careful.”
Han Yin could never guess her son’s thoughts, nor know if he took it in, and sighed: “Last year Master Liaoqing also said your Red Luan Star would move this year. The year-end is not far off. Have you met anyone suitable?”
Lu Huaiyan paused slightly holding the cup, lifting his eyes to Han Yin: “Red Luan Star moving?”
Han Yin: “……None of what I said, you remembered a word, right?”
She had mentioned this to Lu Huaiyan last year. Evidently, he hadn’t remembered a word.
Thinking that most of this year he was abroad, and since childhood had little interest in women, Han Yin paused and said: “Mom has no requirements for your other half, foreign or Chinese, male or female, as long as you like, it’s fine.”
“……”
Lu Huaiyan put down the flower cup, leaned back on his hands, smiling lazily: “You’re quite open-minded.”
Han Yin: “If not for worrying you would be too lonely in the future, wanting to stay single your whole life, Mom wouldn’t mind.”
This child had too few blood relatives, only a handful of close friends. She was truly worried that one day when she and Old Master Lu were gone, there would be no one in the world to care for him.
Her own body, she didn’t know how many more years it could last.
Thinking of this, Han Yin lost the desire to continue the topic, boiled another pot of water, and talked about something else.
“Ah Li sent me another letter a few days ago asking about Sese. Last time you said she was fine, I didn’t believe it. Today seeing her, I believe it a bit.”
Lu Huaiyan’s expression darkened slightly: “He came to bother you again?”
If Cen Li hadn’t asked Han Yin to speak for him, on the day he came to Tongcheng, he wouldn’t have gone into the backyard of ‘Wangchuan’.
Looking back now, he was quite glad he had entered the ‘Wangchuan’ backyard that day.
Han Yin put the cast-iron kettle on the copper stove, starting the fire while saying: “Don’t blame Ah Li for asking me to speak for him. After all, she’s his little sister. You used to take care of Sese quite a bit, didn’t you? When she fell into the lotus pond as a child, you carried her back.”
Old Madam Lu loved lotus. Old Master Lu specially built a lotus pond at the old residence, planted many fine lotus flowers, and raised koi fish.
That year at a banquet, Jiang Se somehow fell into the lotus pond. It was midsummer; the lotus stems and leaves were dense. Her hands and feet were tangled, almost drowning.
It was Lu Huaiyan, looking for someone, who fished her out and carried her back to Han Yin’s room.
At that time, the little girl was only six or seven, her baby fat not yet gone. Though scared, her face pale, she still forced a calm expression and said to Han Yin: “Aunt Han, can I discuss something with you?”
Han Yin smiled and asked: “Do you want me to keep it a secret, not tell your parents?”
Jiang Se nodded.
Han Yin held out her pinky: “You promise Auntie not to go to the lotus pond alone anymore, I promise not to tell your parents.”
The little girl hurriedly hooked her finger, afraid she would go back on her word: “I promise you.”
Recalling the past, Han Yin couldn’t help but smile, looking at Lu Huaiyan: “You probably forgot, right? You threw her onto the sofa and impatiently walked off.”
“Didn’t forget.” Lu Huaiyan also smiled, “That day you not only gave her a bath and tied her hair, you also told me to quietly take her clothes to dry.”
Han Yin actually forgot about the clothes part: “Look at you, when you were little you were still very considerate.”
Lu Huaiyan neither agreed nor disagreed, drained the water in the carved cup in one go, said: “Fine, since you want me to be a considerate person. Next time she comes looking for you, you tell me, I’ll come brew tea for you both.”
—
“Carry? That’s old history from how many years ago, how’s he still bringing that up?” On the phone screen, Guo Qian clicked her tongue, “If my brother’s legs weren’t short, the hero saving the beauty wouldn’t have been him!”
Jiang Se’s hand drying her hair paused, she glanced at the phone propped on the table: “By the time your brother came, I’d probably already have drowned.”
“……”
Guo Qian rubbed her nose.
If she hadn’t insisted on eating lotus pods and also couldn’t swim, Sese wouldn’t have suffered that.
She smiled ingratiatingly: “You say, just now if you didn’t let him send you off, would he really have carried you down the mountain?”
Jiang Se lowered her eyes: “Don’t know.”
Guo Qian: “I don’t think he would. Though with how he never pities fragrant jade, Lu Huaiyan really is the type to do that, but when has he ever been that warm-hearted? My older brother warned me more than once, said in our circle he’s the coldest and the one never to provoke, told me even if I liked stingy Cen, I couldn’t like him.”
That bit of girl’s-heart Jiang Se once had, aside from Cen Li and Ji Yunyi, only Guo Qian knew.
Her great beauty darling, the first time she’d ever worked so hard chasing after someone. To get close to Lu Huaiyan, who knows how many things she forced herself to do that she didn’t like.
But speaking of it, until now Guo Qian still didn’t know why Jiang Se, in one night, suddenly stopped liking Lu Huaiyan.
Clearly she had liked him so much.
Then she said she didn’t like him and just didn’t, with no transition at all.
That utter decisiveness made Guo Qian once suspect Jiang Se didn’t actually like Lu Huaiyan to begin with.
But no matter what, for her darling to cut off all feelings that brutally, Lu Huaiyan must have done something wrong.
That was undoubted. Whoever was wrong, it couldn’t possibly be Sese.
“Who cares whether he would or not.” Jiang Se tossed down the towel and went to the kitchen to pour water, “Anyway, there won’t be many chances to interact in the future.”
Guo Qian touched her chin: “Fairly speaking, if his personality weren’t so annoying, I feel like Lu Huaiyan actually kind of fits the person your little aunt talked about.”
Jiang Se took a sip of water: “What person?”
“A person good-looking and useful.” Guo Qian grinned, “His looks really are pretty attractive, otherwise back then you wouldn’t have been blinded.”
Jiang Se swallowed the water, put down the glass, said, ambiguous: “Looks are too shallow a thing, can’t rule out him still being an embroidered pillow.”
Guo Qian snorted a laugh: “That possibility is small. Do you remember back then Zhu Mingli chased Lu Huaiyan for a while?”
When Zhu Mingli chased Lu Huaiyan, she was extremely high-profile, everyone in the circle knew.
That was the second year after Jiang Se graduated university. She had just gotten engaged to Fu Yun, and Zhu Mingli declared she was going to chase Lu Huaiyan.
There were plenty who liked Lu Huaiyan, but few as high-profile as Zhu Mingli.
But there was nothing to criticize.
Everyone has the right to openly like someone and openly say it. Jiang Se had no feelings toward Zhu Mingli, but she wouldn’t mock her for chasing someone loudly.
“Remember.” She walked toward the living room, absentmindedly asking, “Why? She slept with Lu Huaiyan?”
“She wished, but the problem was he was busy kicking his old man away at that time, he didn’t have time to pay attention to her.” Guo Qian snorted, crossed one leg over the other, “But she did indeed say with her own mouth that our little Chairman Lu was gifted. As far as I know, she has a photo that’s treasured beyond belief. I guess that thing must be a photo of Lu Huaiyan.”
“……Can we talk about something else?” Jiang Se truly couldn’t muster interest in these old people and old events, “How about we talk about how you can pass your classes this semester?”
“……”
After chatting idly with Jiang Se for a few more minutes, Miss Guo finally deigned to hang up.
Jiang Se turned off the phone, sat on the sofa, and picked up the remote to turn on the TV.
Happened to be a local Tongcheng channel.
On TV the reporter was interviewing in the Lianan old district, the camera swept past Jinxiu Alley.
The qipao brought back from Jinxiu Alley was on the sofa; Jiang Se had opened it earlier when she came back. Now, in the open box, the qipao lay quietly, the side embroidered with a magpie-on-branch facing up.
She stared at that magpie for a few seconds, reached out to grab it, lifted it to her face, pale to the point of dazzling, closed her eyes, and slowly rubbed.
The soft fabric still carried a dampness soaked by the rain, the raised black embroidery threads even softer than cotton.
A moment later, Jiang Se opened her eyes, set the qipao down, stood, went into the bedroom, turned on the computer, opened a photo from an encrypted folder.
In the photo lay half a piece of charred, half-burned tattered cloth.
The pure white cloth had been smoked into a dull grey by fire, and at the torn center was a cluster of black embroidery thread. Looking closely, the black lines faintly outlined half of a bird’s body, only two long tail feathers visible, one pointing upward, one downward.
A person’s habits in certain things always have traces to follow, like handwriting, like drawing style, or like embroidery’s stitching habits.
After pasting Zhang Yue’s drawings of a few long-tailed birds below the photo for a moment’s comparison, Jiang Se focused, her gaze slowly sweeping over the drawn bird’s feet.
Judging by proportion, that half bird body in the photo should have feet just like the drawn bird.
In an instant, a thought flashed through her mind.
“A footless bird…” Jiang Se murmured.
So the handkerchief that had wiped off the blood on her face back then was embroidered with a footless bird.
—
The room was pitch black, only the dim ghostly light from the computer screen glowing.
The phone suddenly vibrated, a text message came in.
Jiang Se lowered her eyes and glanced at it.
Lu Huaiyan: 【Check your email.】
She didn’t need to check to know, the email must contain Cao Liang’s video.
This text message sat right next to his previous two messages, only a few simple words.
Yet it was these few words that dragged her back into that rain at Hanshan Temple.
Guo Qian asked her whether Lu Huaiyan would really dare to carry her down the mountain.
Actually she knew the answer.
He would.
When the man said that sentence, “it’s not like I haven’t carried you before,” his tone was light, but his eyes were heavy and fierce.
Jiang Se knew he was serious.
She wasn’t stupid enough to put on airs when someone was holding an umbrella for her.
After hearing Lu Huaiyan’s words, without another word she turned and stepped down the wooden steps, speaking faintly: “Since you insist on walking me down the mountain, then Chairman Lu remember to hold the umbrella steady.”
All the way down the mountain, the wind was strong and the rain slanting. Lu Huaiyan really did hold the umbrella extremely steady, the black umbrella printed with “Hanshan Temple” mostly tilted toward Jiang Se’s side, not letting her get wet even a little.
When they reached the parking lot, he waited for her to sit in the driver’s seat before slowly stepping back to stand under the streetlight.
The sky was dark, the rain mist dim.
The two beams of the headlights shone straight ahead, the raindrops falling into that light, like stars floating in the universe.
The man stood like he was in the center of the universe, eyelids half lowered, looking at her.
Jiang Se didn’t hurry to start the car, through the clean slice of glass wiped by the wiper, she looked at him with a probing mindset, trying to see clearly the look in his eyes.
She didn’t know how long had passed when Lu Huaiyan seemed to give a faint laugh, took out his phone, typed with one hand, and the moment he looked over again, Jiang Se’s phone vibrated, a text message from him popping up: 【Jiang Se, finished scrutinizing?】
A few seconds later, another new message: 【Do you need me to sit inside the car so you can scrutinize me thoroughly at your leisure?】
—
At that time, the look Jiang Se gave Lu Huaiyan indeed carried a bit of scrutiny.
Ever since he said he wanted to get to know her again.
She was very clear that this sentence of his was not spoken casually.
This man, every single thing he does, every single sentence he says, never lacks a target.
So, after getting to know her again, what does he want to do?
Back then in Beicheng, due to Cen Li’s existence, their contact wasn’t much, but definitely not little. At that time, one was the already-engaged eldest Miss Cen, and the other the Lu family heir who had seized back his autonomy in marriage.
Even when they interacted, it was only within the safe social distance of etiquette.
Cen Li had even teased once, saying Lu Huaiyan never let any woman get within half a meter of him.
Such a person, yet he actively grabbed her wrist and pulled her close, close enough that they could feel each other’s breath, a distance where lowering the head a little would be enough to kiss.
Was he that bored?
Jiang Se lightly mocked.
Just over a month ago, his attitude toward her was clearly no different from before.
When did it start changing?
Jiang Se narrowed her eyes, carefully thinking back over each of their encounters in Tongcheng.
It seemed… from the time she and he talked business in the teahouse?
That day, Lu Huaiyan had even asked her, besides bartending and snooker, what else she liked to play.
She hadn’t wanted to chat with him, randomly threw out a line to brush it off.
Thinking carefully now, since when did Lu Huaiyan ever take the initiative to ask someone what they liked to play?
Or maybe even earlier.
That night when she was in Han Xiao’s car asking about Cao Liang, he kindly reminded her not to provoke Cao Xun.
“Kindness” was a word that never applied to Lu Huaiyan.
Jiang Se rubbed her brow, leaned her head against the sofa back, too lazy to analyze what this man wanted to do or what feelings he had toward her.
As long as he didn’t hinder her, didn’t affect her plans, whatever he wanted to do was his business.
Besides, the project in Europe couldn’t run without him, he would soon be leaving Tongcheng.
If it weren’t for Auntie Han being in Hanshan Temple for retreat, he wouldn’t have lowered himself to come here at all.
Thinking of Han Yin, Jiang Se sat upright again, picked up her phone and checked the weather for the next half month.
No matter how little she wanted to see Lu Huaiyan, she still should visit Han Yin.
—
Jiang Se chose a sunny day to visit Han Yin.
It was a Friday, one week later. After lunch she drove to Hanshan Temple.
After several consecutive days of autumn rain, the mountain forest changed overnight, yellow leaves covering the ground, crunching underfoot, what little green remained was hidden in the bamboo forest halfway up the mountain.
That bamboo forest was currently Han Yin’s place of retreat. Blocked by a wall, and without someone leading the way, it was impossible to enter.
Han Yin had specially instructed her that when Jiang Se reached Hanshan Temple, she should send a message so she could come out to open the gate.
Because of this, when she saw Lu Huaiyan leaning against the iron gate, her brow involuntarily twitched.
Just yesterday when she contacted Han Yin, she had specifically mentioned Lu Huaiyan, full of regret saying that he was in Beicheng and couldn’t make it to have tea with them.
How had one night passed, and he was here?
Lu Huaiyan looked at her calmly, the tall bridge of his nose holding up a pair of gold-rimmed glasses identical to the earlier ones.
The man’s gaze swept over the gray clay jar in her hand, eyebrow raised: “Alcohool?”
While speaking, he was already walking toward her, reaching out to take the jar from her hand.
When going out, worried that carrying the jar would tire Jiang Se, Jiang Chuan had specially put it in a sturdy mesh bag, and even wove a bamboo handle for her convenience.
Lu Huaiyan’s movements were very gentlemanly, lightly holding the other end of the handle, not touching Jiang Se’s hand.
He was wearing a black cashmere coat today, and when he leaned closer, the faint scent of sandalwood on him drifted lightly in the wind.
Jiang Se released her hand, glanced at the new glasses on his nose bridge, and said lightly: “Not wine, it’s this autumn’s freshly picked osmanthus made into candied osmanthus, works very well as a tea base.”
Lu Huaiyan lifted his eyes slightly: “You grow the osmanthus tree yourself?”
Jiang Se: “Mm.”
This gift was more elegant than wine, and also more suitable for Han Yin.
Ever since Han Yin became a lay Buddhist, she especially liked flowers, snow, bamboo, dew, these gifts from nature.
Lu Huaiyan lightly curved his lips in a small smile: “You were thoughtful.”
Jiang Se lifted her gaze at his eyes, collided with his dark, heavy sight, and quickly shifted her eyes away, walking toward the bamboo grove with him.
The bamboo forest at Hanshan Temple was natural-grown moso bamboo, tall and leafy, evergreen all year.
The two walked unhurriedly through the bamboo. Jiang Se asked him: “Chairman Lu, how come you had time to come today?”
Chairman Lu?
Lu Huaiyan paused his steps a little: “Jiang Se.”
When he stopped, she also halted. Hearing him call her now, she subconsciously lifted her eyes.
The man held the clay jar in one hand, the other tucked in his coat pocket. His brows and eyes were clear-cut, posture straight, as if merged into the bamboo behind him.
“You say, should I make you angry or not?” He looked at her, his voice light and faint. “It seems like only when you’re angry that you won’t call me Chairman Lu.”
Jiang Se had called him “Lu Huaiyan”, the full name twice.
Once in the backyard of “Wangchuan,” when he called her “Cen Se,” and she retorted with a cold face. The other time at Hanshan Temple, when he suddenly yanked her toward him, and she directly ruined his glasses.
Jiang Se naturally remembered too.
She smiled, the corners of her lips lifting at a just-right angle.
“Did Chairman Lu bring spare glasses this time?” Her voice was as gentle and refined as before.
The provocation in these words was something only Lu Huaiyan could understand.
He laughed low.
There were only one or two steps between them. He stepped forward, bent slightly, his cool, hard-lined face leaning toward her, the faint agarwood scent on him drifting forward with the wind.
He signaled for Jiang Se to take off his glasses: “Go on, step on them for fun.”
“……”
His bend wasn’t deep, his low and magnetic voice carrying a casual nonchalance.
But Jiang Se could clearly feel him crossing the line inch by inch.
He was even expecting her to smash his glasses again like last time.
She looked into the eyes behind the lenses.
His black pupils were still stirred with a pool of ink, emotions hidden deep, as if there was a smile, or perhaps none at all.
Jiang Se wasn’t angered by this move of his.
Lifting her hand, she tucked the loose strands blown by the wind behind her ear, smoothed away the smile on her face, and turned her head to walk ahead.
Lu Huaiyan slowly straightened, looking at her neck, made even fairer under the light. He slowly lifted his steps and followed her.
The two arrived at Zhuyin Lake one after the other.
Han Yin was waiting at the bamboo house doorway. Seeing them finally arrive, she glanced at Lu Huaiyan and joked: “Why did it take so long to pick someone up?”
Lu Huaiyan didn’t answer. He lifted the clay jar in his hand a little and said: “This is the candied osmanthus Jiang Se brought.”
Han Yin’s attention was successfully diverted. She looked at Jiang Se: “You made this osmanthus preserve yourself?”
Jiang Se nodded: “My mom made it herself. There’s an osmanthus tree planted in our yard. Every year she preserves a few jars.”
Han Yin’s eyes brightened slightly, a kind of joy of meeting someone with the same tastes.
“I just dried a few baskets of wild bamboo leaves recently to brew with water. Later take some back, your mom will probably like them.”
Jiang Se didn’t refuse and smiled: “Mm, she’ll like that. I’ll thank you on her behalf.”
“What’s there to be polite about with Auntie? Bring your mom over to visit when there’s a chance.” Han Yin said while ushering her inside. When her gaze moved to Lu Huaiyan, she hesitated, “You only arrived at midnight. Do you want to go back to your own room to sleep a bit first?”
“No need.” Lu Huaiyan followed slowly, lowering his head to take off his shoes. “Didn’t I already promise last time? Want me to brew tea for you?”
“You don’t even like tea. I thought you were joking.” Speaking of this, Han Yin remembered something and smiled at Jiang Se, “Sese, do you remember? When you were little, Ah Yan dried your clothes for you. I said back then he still knew how to care for people. Don’t know how he grew up and became someone who doesn’t know how to care at all.”
Jiang Se lifted her eyes at that and looked at Lu Huaiyan.
Lu Huaiyan was also lowering his eyes to look at her.
Their gazes met.
She quickly looked away, turning her head to speak with Han Yin: “I don’t remember.”
Han Yin had no idea Jiang Se was lying with her eyes open and said understandingly: “You were still young, and you’d been scared. It’s normal not to remember.”
Following behind Han Yin, Lu Huaiyan stared at the back of Jiang Se’s head and let out a soft laugh.
—
The three sat in the hall of the bamboo house. Lu Huaiyan kept his word and really brewed tea for them.
Old Master Lu and Han Yin both loved tea. Though Lu Huaiyan didn’t, he had still practiced enough to master a good tea brew. The tea he made tasted even better than the tea Jiang Se brewed.
This was Jiang Se’s first time drinking tea brewed by him.
“It’s rare for him to try cultivating his character. From now on, when you come, I’ll call Ah Yan over to brew tea for us. Anyway, once the Tongcheng project starts, he’ll have to fly here often to follow up.”
As Han Yin said this, she put down her cup and looked at Lu Huaiyan, then said: “Even now your grandfather’s puzzled. You were the one who said you weren’t interested in developing the film city, and now you’re the one insisting on meddling. Not just film city, didn’t you also agree to the old district renovation?”
Jiang Se paused her movement of sipping tea.
Old district renovation.
Which old district in Tongcheng was being renovated?
Lu Huaiyan let out a faint “mm,” not explaining why he insisted on taking over the projects in Tongcheng, but instead responding readily about the tea brewing: “Alright. Whenever you want tea, I’ll do my best to come when called.”
Han Yin looked at him in surprise: “You’re very agreeable today.”
Lu Huaiyan lifted the cast-iron kettle and poured water slowly into the teapot, saying casually: “Aren’t you the one who told me to cultivate myself more?”
Han Yin laughed: “When I told you before, how come you didn’t listen? All you ever do is coax me with your mouth.”
Lu Huaiyan leaned forward to refill Han Yin’s and Jiang Se’s tea cups, his voice warm as he suggested: “Why not let Jiang Se watch over it for you? See if I actually listened this time, properly cultivated my character.”
“……”
While the mother and son were talking, Jiang Se hadn’t said anything, just quietly sipping tea.
It was only now, hearing this, that she lifted her eyes to look at him.
The man seemed not to notice her gaze, eyes lowered as he poured tea for himself.
The black lashes cast a patch of blue shadow beneath his eyes, the cold, slender tail of his eyes slightly lifted.
“Don’t drag Sese into this,” Han Yin only took it as him using Jiang Se as a shield, turning her head to say to Jiang Se, “Let’s not mind him. I heard from Han Xiao that the wine your family brews is very special, said some of your stored wine is over a hundred years old, is that true?”
Jiang Se withdrew her gaze, nodded and said: “My mother’s family has brewed wine for generations, and yes, there are a few vats that are indeed very old. Every year my mom scoops out a few ladles from them, then adds new wine in. Next time, I’ll bring you some that she brewed herself.”
“That would be wonderful.” Han Yin looked at her, seeing that she showed no avoidance when mentioning her parents in Tongcheng, and asked with concern, “How do your parents treat you?”
Jiang Se smiled: “They treat me very well.”
When she said this, even her eyes were smiling, so clearly her relatives over there really did treat her well.
Han Yin, happy for her, also found Jiang Se’s attitude toward the Cen family harder to grasp. Cen Li was very certain Sese was just throwing a tantrum, and would come back once her anger passed.
But as things looked now, Sese was getting along quite well with the Jiang family. Whether she would return to the Cen family was still uncertain.
Going back had its good, and not going back had its good.
Han Yin always remembered that little girl who was always scared of making mistakes, scared of disappointing Cen Minghong and Ji Yunyi.
Maybe leaving the Cen family, leaving Beicheng, she would live more freely.
Jiang Se stayed in the bamboo house chatting with Han Yin for almost two hours before leaving.
When she was leaving, Han Yin called Lu Huaiyan to send Jiang Se off.
Lu Huaiyan didn’t say anything, one shoulder leaning against the door, lowering his eyes to look at Jiang Se.
Jiang Se was sitting on a bamboo stool putting on her shoes, slowly tying the laces, then lifting her eyes to smile at him: “Then I’ll trouble Chairman Lu.”
That same impossibly gentle smile.
And extra polite.
Lu Huaiyan straightened up a little, lips lifting as he answered: “No problem.”
The two walked through the bamboo forest, stepping on the stone steps down the mountain. Passing by Hanshan Temple, the man glanced toward the temple: “Want to go in and ask for one?”
He meant the peace talisman she didn’t get last time.
Even if she wanted a peace talisman, she hadn’t planned on going with him. Without the slightest hesitation she said: “Next time.”
When Lu Huaiyan had no interest in someone else’s invitation, he often casually tossed out a “next time.”
The tone was very similar to Jiang Se’s now.
He asked leisurely: “‘Next time’ means when?”
Jiang Se continued walking down the steps, saying slowly: “‘Next time’ means when I’m alone. Oh—”
She paused slightly, “Lu Corporation is really going to co-develop Tongcheng’s film city? And the old district redevelopment? Is this rumor for nothing, or already set in stone?”
Lu Huaiyan’s Adam’s apple dipped slightly, and he gave a faint smile.
So she was willing to obediently let him send her off, just to ask about the old district redevelopment?
He made a soft sound: “Want to know the reason?”
“Don’t want to.” Jiang Se absentmindedly watched the stone steps underfoot, asking in the tone of chatting about the weather, “Tongcheng has quite a few old districts suitable for redevelopment. Which one did Lu Corporation take a fancy to?”
“What?” Lu Huaiyan looked at her, “Trying to get company secrets?”
Jiang Se lifted her head, slanting her eyes at him, “From Chairman Lu’s tone, redevelopment is already set in stone. Since Lu Corporation has already agreed, then the city government will announce related information no later than the end of this month.”
She gave that gentle smile: “So, what kind of company secret is this supposed to be?”
“Since the answer will be known at month’s end, why ask?” Lu Huaiyan said calmly, eyes carrying a hint of probing, “Is which plot the city government approves that important?”
Jiang Se smiled and turned her head slightly, face upright and sincere: “Purely a spur-of-the-moment curiosity.”
Lu Huaiyan’s gaze fixed on her palm-sized face, then he smiled, the meaning unclear.
Her asking wasn’t spur-of-the-moment.
And certainly not because of curiosity.
Jiang Se finished speaking and turned her head back, continuing to stare at the steps while walking down. Lu Huaiyan was one step behind her, his shadow long and slanted, quietly resting against the back of her exposed neck.
Walking down two more steps, the skin on the back of her neck suddenly warmed.
Jiang Se stopped and turned around.
The sunlight of an autumn afternoon, bright and scorching.
The man stood several steps above her, looking down from above, his face in shadow, expression indistinguishable.
Not far away, the temple rang out with the sound of a bell, startling the birds in the forest, wings fluttering as they burst out from the dark branches.
In the noisy, chaotic yet strangely quiet stir, came Lu Huaiyan’s low, unhurried voice.
“Jiang Se, the redevelopment planning file is in my hotel room. Dare to go look?”
