Shoutout to Alinaza for the commission!
The noodle soup Mr. Yan made that night was even tastier than the one he made on his birthday last time.
Rich milky-white beef bone broth, thinly sliced beef paired with a handful of stir-fried pickled greens; in the freezing depths of winter, such a bowl of steaming noodle soup was the most suitable offering to appease one’s stomach temple.
After finishing the noodles, the two washed up separately, then returned to bed.
When Lu Huaiyan’s arm came across, Jiang Se couldn’t help but recall how in the beginning they always slept with an arm’s distance between them.
Perhaps because she had slept alone since childhood, or perhaps because both of them disliked too much clinginess. Even the first night they slept together after doing it, they tacitly kept some distance.
The only bit of entanglement was the overlapped hands when they woke.
Now he crossed that distance, pulling her into his arms just like he had in the morning.
Above her head was his light breath, behind her was his chest and the constant invading warmth.
Jiang Se turned around, her gaze falling on the sharp lines of his Adam’s apple.
Following her movement, Lu Huaiyan placed his large hand on the center of her back, and in a low, slightly hoarse voice asked her: “Can’t sleep?”
They had slept from a bit past ten in the morning all the way to three in the afternoon; it made sense she couldn’t sleep now.
Jiang Se said: “Zhang Yue probably won’t attempt suicide again, at least not for now.”
Lu Huaiyan responded with a careless “mm”, not particularly concerned about Zhang Yue.
“I didn’t intend to get revenge on her.”
Lu Huaiyan still replied with the same careless “mm”.
Even if she wanted revenge, he’d still stand on her side.
At first he hadn’t known Zhang Yue’s relationship with Zhao Zhicheng, and had willingly signed that invalid agreement to help her.
After knowing Zhang Yue was Zhao Zhicheng’s lover, he finally understood why Jiang Se had such conflicting emotions toward that qipao shop.
Both disgust and attachment.
Because that shop was bought with the dirty money Zhao Zhicheng got from kidnapping Jiang Se.
Lu Huaiyan had never been the merciful type. He knew Zhang Yue was a miserable woman, but if Jiang Se wanted revenge, he wouldn’t let anyone morally blackmail her.
The world is like this: if the knife doesn’t fall on your own body, you’ll never know how much it hurts.
When talking about grand principles, everyone is a Bodhisattva.
Back when he severed ties with Lu Jinzhong, people said he was ungrateful, cruel, and vicious, slandering him behind his back. He only found it laughable.
That man was his father, but was Han Yin not his mother?
Lu Huaiyan lowered his gaze, rubbing Jiang Se’s earlobe as he smiled with indeterminate meaning: “You’re truly merciful toward Zhang Yue, yet toward me you hold grudges more than anyone.”
“…”
That spot on Jiang Se’s ear was particularly sensitive; she turned her face aside to dodge his fingers, saying lightly: “Zhao Zhicheng killed the other two kidnappers because of Zhang Yue.”
Lu Huaiyan let out a short laugh: “Zhang Yue even taught Zhao Zhicheng to become a good man?”
With cold eyebrows and eyes, he said: “Uncle Mo said from the traces of the struggle at the scene, it was Zhao Zhicheng who attacked first. Zhao Zhicheng admitted it, saying he did it to keep the ransom for himself.”
Before, he didn’t think much of it, but thinking back now, he was fortunate the three had gotten into a fight and made noise. Otherwise, he and Uncle Mo wouldn’t have found Jiang Se within twenty-four hours.
And because Zhao Zhicheng killed the other two and injured himself, Jiang Se was able to wait safely for their rescue.
For the ransom…
Jiang Se silently closed her eyes.
Seeing her not speaking, Lu Huaiyan looked down at her.
Her head rested on his shoulder, her lashes lowered quietly, her expression strangely cold.
Lu Huaiyan curled his arm and pulled her closer: “Sleep like this tonight?”
Jiang Se lifted her lashes, meeting his gaze, and answered “mm”.
They fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Lu Huaiyan woke first; in fact he had awakened once in the middle of the night because his arm had gone numb.
The miss in his arms never liked changing positions when asleep; afraid his movement would wake her, he ignored the itching numbness in his arm and kept still.
This time he woke up because of the numbness again.
He was used to enduring; even his fingertips didn’t move, watching her serene sleeping face until her lashes trembled lightly, faintly about to wake. Only then did he lift his hand, tug lightly at her earlobe, and say: “Arm’s numb.”
Jiang Se opened her eyes still somewhat groggy. After realizing what he meant, she propped herself up with her elbow in a half-sitting position.
As she sat up, one strap slipped off her shoulder, her messy soft hair falling over it. She looked at him with sleepy eyes.
“What time is it?”
Lu Huaiyan’s gaze darkened, it wasn’t just his arm numb; other parts felt a sudden tingle as well.
He turned his gaze away, glanced at the bedside table, and said, “Seven-thirty.”
Jiang Se was a bit surprised; they had slept that long.
The two got out of bed to wash up, ate breakfast on the way to the hospital, and brought an extra portion each for He Miao and Zhang Yue.
When they entered the ward, He Miao was helping Zhang Yue out of the bathroom.
This room was a deluxe single, and though He Miao had stayed overnight keeping watch, she looked well-rested, full of energy.
After settling Zhang Yue back onto the bed, she accepted the French croissant and coffee Jiang Se handed over, and asked curiously: “Miss Jiang, was that Mr. Lu from yesterday your boyfriend?”
Jiang Se was unscrewing the insulated food container. Hearing the question, she paused and said: “No.”
He Miao sipped her coffee and said with a smile: “Then he must be pursuing you. That Mr. Lu is really so handsome, even more handsome than the celebrities I follow. With that face of his, he’d definitely become a huge star in the entertainment industry.”
Yesterday morning she had been as if mourning a death, and when Lu Huaiyan appeared she hadn’t felt much.
Now that her mind had relaxed, thinking back to Lu Huaiyan showing up and saying he was taking Jiang Se to sleep, she inexplicably felt his boyfriend power was Max.
Miss Jiang was truly impressive, even being pursued by such a handsome man, she could still keep such composure.
Seeing He Miao’s eyes practically bubbling pink hearts, Jiang Se didn’t respond. She smiled and passed the opened insulated food container to Zhang Yue, saying: “Minced meat congee packed from the hotel, be careful, it’s hot.”
“Thank you.” Zhang Yue accepted the congee and slowly began eating.
Her stomach couldn’t handle much at the moment; after half a bowl, she put down the spoon and said to Jiang Se: “I’ll be discharged tomorrow morning. I’m fine now.”
Jiang Se looked at her.
A few days ago, perhaps because she had held the intention to die, she had carried a kind of airy, grounded calm.
Now that calm was gone, but her eyes were bright, her brows and gaze gentle.
She did look normal, no wonder He Miao was so buoyant this morning, genuinely happy.
“Tomorrow is Little New Year, you should all go home and sweep away the dust. This whole month you’ve come to the hospital so many times because of me, it’s too unlucky.” Zhang Yue smiled as she spoke. “I don’t want to spend Little New Year in the hospital.”
“Then come to my house for Little New Year tomorrow.” Jiang Se said calmly. “I bought you a set of Spring Festival couplets, you can take them back.”
Zhang Yue froze for a moment, wanting to decline, but then heard Jiang Se say: “My mom invited a tailor from our side to make me New Year clothes, a qipao. I can trouble you to help look at it.”
“Go, Master,” He Miao stuffed the last bite of croissant into her mouth and said with a squinting smile, “Miss Jiang’s house is on Fuchun Street. It’s very lively there. You’ve been in Tongcheng so many years, how can you not visit that area?”
The words Zhang Yue had been about to say were swallowed back down.
That evening when Lu Huaiyan came to pick her up, Jiang Se got into the car and asked: “Tomorrow is Little New Year, are you going to Hanshan Temple to accompany Auntie Han?”
“Mm, I’ll go over tomorrow afternoon.” He glanced at her through the rearview mirror. “You’re spending it at home?”
Jiang Se nodded lightly: “Little Ye said he’s taking me and my eldest sister out tomorrow night.”
Lu Huaiyan withdrew his gaze and let out a laugh: “Alright, then I’ll stay in the mountains tomorrow night.”
At his words, Jiang Se paused, then turned her head to look out the window.
The car window reflected the man’s profile, neon lights flashing past one after another, plunging the sharp lines of his side profile into darkness, then lighting them again with a dim yellow glow.
Suddenly she thought of what He Miao had said, that when he appeared at the ward door yesterday morning, he looked like a god descending.
Jiang Se had only smiled faintly at that.
Young girls always loved the story of a peerless hero stepping on colorful clouds to save his beloved. But such things were only scenes in movies, where was there such romance in real life?
Except that night, when she answered his call outside the operating room, she truly hadn’t expected him to rush back.
She said once that she hated hospitals, and he really came to take her away.
She had been close to developing a fever, she knew that slow-burning sensation too well. Yet after he took her back to sleep for a while, the low fever had quietly disappeared.
Even though when they were lying in bed, they hadn’t done anything.
In the past, whenever they were in bed, they always did something, like lovers in passionate heat, they were addicted to that act and to each other’s bodies.
But these two days, he hadn’t touched her. He only held her, simply held her.
The black sedan rolled over a ground full of neon.
When they arrived at the hotel suite, Jiang Se handed him her coat and leaned against the shoe cabinet watching him.
He Miao had said his face was the most handsome she had ever seen in her life.
But this man’s attractiveness wasn’t just that face, his body under the coat fit Jiang Se’s aesthetic perfectly.
When she was in the U.S., Jiang Se had drawn nude models.
When she heard a certain male model was said to have perfect proportions, she had gone to see for herself.
He indeed had good proportions, he was an Eastern European man, full of powerful beauty with a touch of poetry.
Later, on their first night together, Jiang Se realized she liked Lu Huaiyan’s body even more than that young Eastern European man’s.
Every bone, every muscle was just right.
If he were stripped naked and put in a studio as a model, the crowd would probably pack the entire place full.
Her gaze on him was direct and unblinking.
Lu Huaiyan was taking off his gloves. He had just removed one when he suddenly raised his eyes and stared at her for a moment, then said quietly: “Sese, why do I feel… like you’re f*cking me with your eyes.”
“……” A little, yes.
Just as he lowered his head to remove the second glove, Jiang Se reached up and took off his glasses.
Taking off his glasses was, between them, an unspoken hint full of implication.
The black sheepskin glove peeled off his fingertips; Lu Huaiyan lifted his eyes to her, his gaze heavy and oppressive.
“Tell me, Miss, where do you want to do it this time?”
—
When the water from the showerhead fell, Jiang Se rose on tiptoe and kissed him. “Lu Huaiyan, don’t let my feet touch the ground.”
That late night on New Year’s Eve, when he pinned her hands above her head, he had told her that if she hadn’t been injured, if she hadn’t been drugged, he wouldn’t have let her feet touch the ground in the bathroom.
Jiang Se remembered.
Droplets slid down the dark gray wall, slowly running over her fair shoulder, gathering into a narrow shallow pool at the dip of her collarbone, then trembling down her graceful curves to the floor, splashing into delicate flowers of water.
She looked like a camellia embedded in an oil painting.
A canvas washed in low-saturation dark gray, with a pristine white camellia blooming at its center.
Lu Huaiyan looked down at her, and as her brows knitted, he told her: “Lift your eyes and look at me.”
He always liked doing this.
He liked, at times like this, to watch how her pupils slowly spread because of him little by little.
When they came out of the bathroom, when she had both hands braced on the washstand, he didn’t make her lift her eyes to look at him anymore, but forced her to look at the mirror.
By then they had already been out for more than half an hour. That thin layer of mist on the mirror had long dissipated, bright enough that even a single mark on her shoulder was reflected clearly.
His eyes were heavy, his gaze very dark, and deep in his pupils was a kind of near-animal instinctive ferocity, the same as the aggression in his bones.
Her feet were technically touching the ground, but it was almost like they weren’t.
Just like when she used to learn ballet, standing on tiptoe; the arch of her foot taut, the long muscle on her calf pulled tight.
More exhausting than dancing two hours.
Back in the bedroom, leaning against the soft pillow, she righteously demanded he knead her feet and legs.
Sitting on the mattress, he actually did knead them for her.
Her foot was just the length of his palm, her ankle a long slender segment, her leg bone straight, her calf evenly long and delicate.
He remembered again, just as they had come out of the bathroom, when she sat on the washstand, he saw through the misted mirror how the top of her foot pressed down into a very beautiful, very alluring straight line.
Lu Huaiyuan couldn’t hold back; he had turned his head to kiss the top of her foot.
Now he couldn’t hold back either, he held her forefoot and pressed downward, landing another kiss on her instep.
“Do you remember when you were twelve, that performance in Bode?” he suddenly asked.
There was still a bit of lingering flush on Jiang Se’s face; her usually cool brows and eyes were full of laziness. Her lashes quietly drooped, like an exhausted butterfly folding its wings in the night.
Hearing Lu Huaiyuan’s words, she lifted her eyelids and said, “That school anniversary one?”
“Mm.”
“I remember, I danced Swan Lake.” Her arch was being prodded by his index finger, it tickled, so she shrank back a little, and asked absent-mindedly, “You went to watch that day?”
“Watched half. Cen Li and Guo Song dragged me over, said you and Guo Qian were both performing.” Lu Huaiyuan let out a low laugh. “You weren’t happy at all when you danced.”
He could tell she wasn’t happy after only half a show?
Jiang Se said, “When I came offstage, everyone said I danced well, even Mrs. Ji was very satisfied.”
Lu Huaiyuan looked at her with a half-smile.
Back then, she and Guo Qian, one danced unhappily, the other danced perfunctorily and kept making mistakes. He had watched for only a little while before losing interest, leaving the small auditorium without even turning back.
Her foot was held tight by him; she didn’t have the strength to pull away. She pressed her lips together and said, “I was unhappy. I wanted to dance the Black Swan, but Mrs. Ji wouldn’t allow it.”
Ji Yunyi insisted she dance the White Swan, saying the Black Swan didn’t suit her.
But she was stubborn, she practiced both sets of choreography.
Once during rehearsal, the girl playing Black Swan asked for leave at the last minute, and she volunteered to dance it, even recorded it to show Ji Yunyi.
That night, Ji Yunyi’s expression was terribly unpleasant.
Lu Huaiyuan said, “Probably I was the only one in the whole audience who could tell you weren’t happy.”
She smiled on stage and off, the undisputed lead, who would be able to see she wasn’t happy?
Jiang Se looked at him. “Did you think I was fake back then? Obviously unhappy, but still had to hang a fake smile?”
Lu Huaiyuan let out a soft hiss. “You want to dig up old accounts again, huh?”
He released her ankle, reached out and held her by the waist, lifting her onto his thigh, laughing as he said, “How old were you back then? I found it boring so I left. I didn’t like watching that kind of thing to begin with, where would I find the time to notice whether Miss Unhappy was genuinely unhappy or not?”
Jiang Se: “……”
Lu Huaiyuan pressed his forehead to hers. “Alright, next time our Miss Unhappy dances, I promise to watch from start to finish without even blinking once, alright?”
