Shoutout to Alinaza for the commission!
After hanging up, Jiang Se turned her head to look at Lu Huaiyan.
A motion-sensor light was right above him, and the light spilling down made his features even clearer, so clear that Jiang Se could see the dark undercurrent stirring beneath his calm gaze.
“Why are you here?”
Five hours earlier, this man had clearly told her he was going to a gathering Guo Song was hosting, and that he’d call her tomorrow morning after she woke up.
By routine, on the morning of the first of the lunar month, he needed to accompany Grandpa Lu for the early New Year meal; and barring surprises, in the evening he would have to go to the Han family’s home to have dinner with Han Yin.
For the next few days, his schedule should have been full.
He shouldn’t be here at all.
Lu Huaiyan lowered his eyes and looked at her, saying, “I wanted to see you, so I came.”
As he said this, the motion-sensor light above suddenly dimmed.
Neither of them spoke. They simply stood there in the darkened hallway, listening to the fireworks by the Fuchun River that still hadn’t stopped.
After a moment, Lu Huaiyan suddenly raised a hand and rubbed her earlobe. “Tired? If not, I’ll take you somewhere.”
Jiang Se lowered her head and searched her crossbody bag for her keys as she asked, “Where to?”
“You’ll know when we get there.”
Jiang Se’s apartment was in the innermost unit of the corridor. She found her keys and slowly walked toward her door, saying, “Let me put my things away first.”
The motion-sensor light lit up again.
They went inside. Lu Huaiyan stood at the entryway, lifting his gaze to take in the small apartment.
It was his first time here.
An old apartment building without even an elevator, naturally, he hadn’t had much expectation for the place.
But the entire space was filled with traces of her: the scarf on the coat rack at the entryway; the throw blanket on the fabric sofa; the teacup on the counter.
It was a strange feeling, a place he normally wouldn’t spare a glance at had become somewhere he liked, solely because it carried her presence.
“How long were you waiting outside just now?”
“Less than half an hour.”
“If I’d decided to sleep over on Liyuan Street tonight, were you planning to wait the entire night?” Jiang Se opened the shoe cabinet, wanting to find him a pair of indoor slippers, but came up empty. “I don’t have your size. Just come in with your shoes on.”
Lu Huaiyan still took off his shoes. As he removed them, he said casually, “Came over on impulse. Didn’t think about anything.”
Jiang Se was hanging up her bag. Hearing that, her hands paused. She turned her head to look at him, met the gaze he lifted toward her, then quickly looked away again. She lowered her eyes and took out the thick stack of red envelopes from her bag.
Her hands were sore from receiving red envelopes all night: this uncle, that aunt, she greeted them all one by one and thanked them one by one.
Every envelope was stuffed full; the two bulkiest ones were so full they were nearly stretching open the thick red paper.
Those two were from Yu Shiying and Jiang Chuan.
Seeing the envelopes in her hands, Lu Huaiyan patted the inside pocket of his coat. He remembered that he still had one left after handing them out tonight.
Jiang Se was stacking the red envelopes neatly when the light beside her dimmed a little. A red envelope with a small golden “Lu” stitched on it landed with a soft “tap” on top of the pile.
“Your big brother’s New Year’s red envelope for his Little Sister.”
“…”
Her gaze paused on that envelope for two seconds. Jiang Se said nothing, lowered her lashes, continued tidying the envelopes until they were perfectly straight, then carried them into her room to put away.
When she came out, she saw Lu Huaiyan, completely at ease, holding a cup and drinking water. It was the one she always used, the dark green cup with a pale gold rim, looking especially small in his hand.
After finishing the cup of cold water, he set it down and slowly walked toward her.
Jiang Se looked up at him.
The man stopped in front of her, his hands tucked into the pockets of his coat. He didn’t hug her; instead he bent down and pressed his cool, thin lips lightly against hers, a touch as soft as a dragonfly skimming water, and said against her lips, “Happy New Year, miss.”
Then he straightened up and took a step back. “My coat reeks of smoke. I won’t hold you.”
Jiang Se blinked, turned around, and went into her room again. When she came out, she was carrying a coat. “Change into this one. The hole on the shoulder was filled with matching cashmere. The tailor did excellent work, you can barely see the difference.”
Lu Huaiyan recognized it at a glance as the coat he’d worn on Christmas Eve, the one that got scorched by a group of kids playing with fireworks. She’d immediately said she would make them pay for the repair.
He took the coat, his long fingers lightly brushing over the spot on the back shoulder, and lifted the corner of his lips as he asked, “Did those kids pay for the repair?”
Jiang Se gave an “mm”: “Their New Year’s money is probably all gone now.”
Lu Huaiyan let out a low laugh, then changed out of his coat, and immediately grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his arms.
He held her tightly, and the breath falling against her temple was burning hot.
Jiang Se thought he would kiss her.
They hadn’t seen each other for six days, and that light kiss just now didn’t satisfy either of them in the slightest.
But after holding her for a moment, he loosened his arms, took her hand instead, and said, “Let’s go. If we don’t leave now, we’ll be late.”
Jiang Se originally wasn’t curious about where he wanted to take her, but when she heard him say that, she did become a little curious.
Lu Huaiyan had parked his car on Fuchun Street. Hand in hand, they walked through the crowd, slowly heading toward the parking lot.
When they passed the stone railings on both sides of the Fuchun River, a subtle feeling rose again in Jiang Se’s heart.
It was just a few hours ago that she received his call here.
A few hours later, they were walking past the same place hand in hand, there was a strange sense of unreality to it.
Just like that day at the hospital, after that phone call, she muddled through an entire night, and when she turned around, she saw his figure.
Crossing time zones and borders, he’d rushed over just to hold her and tell her one thing, that it wasn’t because she had done anything wrong. It never was.
Perhaps noticing her distraction, Lu Huaiyan pinched her fingers lightly. “You can zone out even while walking? Tired?”
Jiang Se had walked 26,328 steps tonight. Not only was she tired, she was exhausted, every step felt unbearably heavy.
Fortunately, the parking lot wasn’t far. Once they were in the car, Lu Huaiyan steered toward the outskirts.
Jiang Se looked at the scenery passing by outside the window, raised an eyebrow suddenly, turned her head, and asked him, “Are we going to Hanshan Temple?”
Lu Huaiyan gave an “mm”: “If you’re tired, nap for a bit. I’ll wake you when we get there.”
Jiang Se had already pushed through the wave of drowsiness; her mind and body were in that wired, sleep-deprived state.
But that state vanished like a wisp of smoke in the night wind the moment they arrived at the parking lot at the foot of the mountain, when she looked at the long stone staircase drowned in the darkness, so long it seemed endless.
She raised her eyes to look at Lu Huaiyan: “I don’t want to go up. I can’t climb.”
Lu Huaiyan looked at her under the parking lot lights. Her hair was in a bun, her small palm-sized face hidden in the hood of her coat. Her dark eyes watched him quietly.
He smiled: “What are you acting spoiled for?”
“…” Jiang Se said, one word at a time, “Lu Huaiyan, I walked 26,328 steps today.”
“Mm, I know.” Lu Huaiyan bent down and tugged lightly at her hood. “Do you want your big brother to carry you, or do you want your big brother to hold you?”
Jiang Se didn’t want him to carry her or hold her. She asked, “What are we going up there for?”
Lu Huaiyan jerked his chin toward the parking lot full of cars. “Do you know what all these people are doing here in the middle of the night? They’re lining up to offer the first incense to the Buddha.”
He looked at her eyes and smiled faintly. “And who was it that came all the way here back then just to ask for a peace talisman? Since you believe in Buddhism, I’ll take you to the main hall and let you offer the first incense. That way, no matter what you do this year, our Miss Jiang Se will have all her wishes come true.”
The mountains were silent, lights scattered like tiny specks floating along the ridges in the night.
Two streetlights stood in the parking lot. His face was backlit, the light haloing in the hair the wind had lifted at his forehead.
His smiling brows and eyes were reflected deep in her pupils.
Jiang Se’s expression shifted slightly.
She didn’t actually believe in Buddhism. She had only gone for the peace talisman because Yu Shiying kept nagging her to. But this man had flown over from Beicheng in the middle of the night just to bring her to offer the first incense and grant her a year of wishes coming true.
She turned her eyes toward the long stone staircase and said, “Let’s go up.”
Jiang Se climbed the stone steps one by one. They had come from the back mountain, and along the way, they didn’t encounter anyone.
Once inside the rear hall, a monk in robes came out and handed a bundle of incense sticks, some thick, some thin, to Lu Huaiyan.
Jiang Se only took the thinnest one. Lu Huaiyan flicked the wheel—“click”—and a small flame shot out from the black lighter.
Jiang Se held the incense tip to the flame as she asked, “You’re not offering incense?”
“I have to see first whether the Buddha is effective. If he can bless our miss and make all her wishes come true, I’ll come offer incense next year.”
“…”
In the incense-filled hall, in front of a solemn, dignified Buddha statue, Jiang Se inexplicably heard a hint of threat in those words.
As if saying, if the Buddha didn’t bless her, then forget about getting incense next year.
She curved her lips slightly and slowly inserted the thin incense, trailing white smoke, into the censer.
After offering the incense, they left the rear hall.
Lu Huaiyan asked, “Should I take you back now?”
“What time is your plane back to Beicheng?”
“I haven’t booked a ticket yet. I can go back anytime.”
Jiang Se glanced at him, then slowly walked farther up the mountain. “I’m exhausted. Let’s go rest in the bamboo lodge for a bit. We can leave after sunrise.”
Han Yin wasn’t there. A thin layer of snow blanketed the bamboo grove, and the green bamboo leaves were dyed a pale ink color by the night.
They returned to Lu Huaiyan’s place, which was on the other side of the Bamboo Echo Lake, its furnishings similar to Han Yin’s.
Lu Huaiyan boiled water for tea. Jiang Se pulled an oiled-paper bag from her coat pocket, inside were three thumb-sized kumquats.
She had washed her hands upon entering, so she picked up a kumquat and put it directly into her mouth, her cheek puffing slightly.
Lu Huaiyan sat against the wall holding a cup of hot tea, one long leg casually bent. His posture was relaxed and lazy. His gaze swept over her puffed cheek, and he said with a smile, “Sweet?”
Jiang Se said it was sweet and asked if he wanted to try one.
Lu Huaiyan said, “There are only two left. If I eat one, won’t you hold it against me for the rest of your life?”
“…”
So Jiang Se unceremoniously ate all three little kumquats herself.
After eating, she took a sip of hot tea and said, “Qianqian said you had an unpleasant moment with older brother?”
“Mm, lately I just don’t find your older brother very pleasing to the eye.”
“……”
The man’s tone was mild, giving no hint of emotion.
Jiang Se gave an expressionless “oh,” not asking him why he didn’t find Cen Li pleasing to the eye.
Lu Huaiyan tilted his head to look at her. “That day you went to the club, was it mainly for that little girl?”
Jiang Se took two seconds to react. “You mean Chen Liyin? Mm, it was mainly for her.”
Lu Huaiyan asked again, “Weren’t you really wanting to burn a cigarette scar onto Cao Liang? How come you couldn’t bring yourself to do it?”
Everyone in the room had believed her when she said, “I don’t do illegal or criminal things,” but Lu Huaiyan was the only one who didn’t. He had clearly seen the look in her eyes when she flicked open the lighter, she had obviously wanted to return Cao Liang’s act tooth for tooth.
“Why are you asking this?” Jiang Se said lightly.
“I once had the same destructive impulse as you.” Lu Huaiyan took a lighter from his pocket and played with it carelessly. “When I was ten, I saw Hu Yuping sitting on Lu Jinzhong’s lap outside the study, lighting his cigarette. At the time I really wanted to snatch the cigarette out of his hand and burn a scar onto his face.”
Hu Yuping was Lu Jinzhong’s secretary, and would occasionally come to the old house to deliver documents.
Every time she came, Han Yin would gently say, “Secretary Hu, thank you for your hard work.”
Hu Yuping truly was “hard-working”, a secretary by day, a lover by night.
Lu Huaiyan had discovered their affair a year earlier than Han Yin.
A ten-year-old boy watching with his own eyes as his father bit onto a cigarette and leaned forward for Hu Yuping to light it, and then reached his hand into that woman’s neckline. By the time he left, indecent sounds were already drifting out of the study.
A crisp click.
Lu Huaiyan spun the wheel of the lighter; he quietly watched the flame.
“You came to Tongcheng to look for the one who slipped through the net back then, didn’t you?”
Jiang Se froze.
Taking his gaze off the flame, the man looked at Jiang Se and slowly said, “In the future, if you can’t bring yourself to burn that cigarette scar, I’ll press the cigarette down for you.”
In those eyes that were always indifferent, a beam of fire burned.
Jiang Se looked back into those eyes.
Her heart felt as though something sharp scraped across it, painful, yet trembling.
She leaned forward, pushed away the thumb he held to the wheel, and the firelight quickly vanished from his eyes.
The lighter fell onto the floor covered with soft mats, making a very soft sound.
Half her body pressed against his chest; she lifted her head to look at him, meeting Lu Huaiyan’s quietly lowered gaze.
After a long moment, her hand touched his face, her neck tilting upward to kiss his lips.
Lu Huaiyan held her waist, pulled her onto his lap, supported the back of her head, and deepened the kiss.
Outside, the wind brushed the window frames again and again, like a slow sigh from heaven and earth.
Jiang Se’s tongue root ached from his sucking. Eyes closed, her hands on his shoulder slipped downward; when she touched the cold metal buckle at his waist, he suddenly caught her hand.
Lu Huaiyan released her lips and said hoarsely, “Miscalculated. Didn’t bring a condom. Next time I’ll toss a couple of boxes into the car as backup.”
“……”
Jiang Se opened her eyes glazed with moisture to look at him.
She was still wearing that two-piece qipao; the skirt was creased, bright red fabric covering their overlapping hands.
Lu Huaiyan lowered his head to kiss the corner of her lips; the hand pressing over hers slowly moved forward.
“I’ll satisfy you another way.”
Jiang Se’s body gave a faint tremor; the hand on his belt buckle returned to his shoulder.
He understood too well where she was weak, like a craftsman manipulating a marionette, his long fingers kept playing with the nerves in her body that were so sensitive they caused her limbs to lose strength.
Her breathing gradually grew quicker.
Lu Huaiyan watched her through half-lowered lids.
A vein pulsed at his temple, but he always kept steady, afraid that the destructive instinct in his blood would make him lose control and hurt her.
He knew all too well how easily her delicate skin bruised.
He didn’t lower his head until the girl, like a little fish struggling for air, opened her small mouth then he captured the warm breath spilling from her lips and the broken sounds stuck in her throat.
Their clothes stayed perfectly neat, not even their coats removed; all the lust and pleasure were concealed beneath that bright red skirt.
Jiang Se, looking languid, rested her face on his shoulder, her warm breath against his neck.
No one knew how long it was before she climbed off him and said, “Aren’t you going to wash your hands?” Her lazy tone held a bit of disdain.
Lu Huaiyan chuckled low. “I didn’t dislike anything, what are you disliking?”
He shot her a sidelong glance as he pulled tissues from the box to wipe slowly. Then he stood, opened the window, and grabbed a handful of snow from a bamboo branch beneath the eaves.
The cold snowflakes crumbled under his fingers and slowly melted into water.
The early-spring wind poured in from the mountains.
Using the chill, the man slowly cooled his fire.
Jiang Se glanced at his waist and asked, “Aren’t you uncomfortable?”
Her eye corners, the tip of her nose, and her lips were all red; her cool voice was still hoarse.
Her dark eyes still held traces of lingering desire.
Lu Huaiyan slanted her a look; after a moment he laughed. “I’m cooling the fire. Don’t look at me like that, or the fire will have gone to waste.”
At his words, Jiang Se glanced at him once, then quickly lowered her eyelashes, leaning lazily against the wall, looking exactly like a sage who had just gone through an intense encounter.
She looked alluring like this too.
Lu Huaiyan let out a soft hiss and quickly looked away.
Outside, the dark sky was already turning pale. Half-leaning against the windowsill, the man gazed past the bamboo forest toward the line where the mountain ridges met the sky.
When a faint golden glow drew the outline of the snow-white peaks, he turned his head, looked at the girl still resting with her eyes closed, and said, “Want to watch the sunrise?”
Jiang Se lifted her eyelids, seeing first his deep features, and behind him the sky framed in the window.
The sky was the icy blue of crab shells, with a hint of thin gold at the base.
Like a plain sheet of silk paper, it clearly had a cold touch, yet when the faint gold radiated into a sheet of golden light, the cold undertone gradually became warm.
Jiang Se stood and walked over, resting her elbows on the windowsill, quietly watching the sun slowly emerge from the end of the mountains.
A few days ago, she had even promised Zhang Yue to watch the sunrise.
Who could have known that on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, this sunrise would come.
Only, the person watching it with her was him.
