Kind?
Wen Xian listened to the discussions behind her with an expressionless face. Qin Zan turned his head and glanced coldly toward the back; only then did those voices gradually disappear.
He handed the paddle to Wen Xian, his tone low and deep: “Xian Xian, what about what I said yesterday, have you considered it?”
Wen Xian’s hand, about to take the paddle, paused in mid-air.
She lifted her eyes and quietly met Qin Zan’s gaze, then asked the same question Shen Lingge had asked her in the car that day: “Do you like me?”
Qin Zan was slightly stunned. In his amber-colored eyes, emotions stagnated.
Wen Xian smiled slightly: “Then why do you want to marry me?”
Only after she took the paddle did Qin Zan slowly withdraw his hand. He stared at the smile at the corner of her lips for a moment, then lowered his head slightly, his voice so low it was almost inaudible: “I want to protect you.”
The first time Qin Zan saw Wen Xian was six years ago, at his mother’s funeral. At that funeral, the only people from the Qin family who came were him and his father. That year, Wen Xian was fifteen years old.
That day was early spring, with a light drizzle falling from the sky.
The little girl had come together with Wen Tianlin and Chang Shuang. She wore a black dress, quietly standing by her parents’ side. It wasn’t until after the mourners had all finished paying respects and left that Qin Zan noticed her.
Because the little girl had secretly slipped back again. Between her fingers was hidden a bright red kapok flower. She carefully wrapped that kapok flower in a pure white handkerchief.
At that time, she just barely reached his chest. The little girl ran up to his side, lifted her head to glance at him once. In those deer-like eyes was sky-clear purity. She spoke softly: “Gege, giving this to you.”
She only said this one sentence to him, then returned again to her parents’ side.
Now that handkerchief was still well-kept by him. When he learned that Wen Xian’s parents had passed away in an accident, Qin Zan was abroad. He had lived in his mother’s hometown for two years before coming back.
By the time he returned, Wen Xian was already engaged to Qin Song.
Qin Zan had never thought about destroying Wen Xian and Qin Song’s engagement, because as long as she was in the Qin family, he could protect her well.
These years, he opened a translation studio for her. He wanted her to live better. He didn’t want to lose that healing and beautiful girl from back then, so he had been silently doing good for her.
Is this liking?
Qin Zan didn’t know. Qin Zan only wanted her to be able to exist.
By his side.
But he hadn’t expected Qin Song would get involved with Wen Xian’s friend. That kind of Qin Song was completely unworthy of Wen Xian, so Qin Zan had made such a proposal to Wen Xian.
He was willing to use the rest of his life to protect her.
Wen Xian wasn’t able to hear Qin Zan’s answer. She opened the small booklet placed on the table. Inside the booklet was a detailed introduction of all the auction items at today’s event.
This was a charity auction. All proceeds would be donated to the Wildlife Protection Foundation. The people attending today’s auction were mostly rich and powerful.
On the second-to-last page, Wen Xian saw that set of “Morning Star.”
Her fingertip lightly brushed over the blue gemstone printed in the photograph. This was Chang Shuang’s favorite color—perfectly flawless. The purity level of every single diamond in this jewelry set was the highest.
Wen Xian glanced at the starting price—five hundred thousand renminbi.
She lightly sighed. Now this set of jewelry wasn’t even one-tenth of its original price. It seemed the shadow of the Wen family’s bankruptcy still hovered in the hearts of these wealthy businessmen. They were afraid the next would be themselves.
This was Wen Xian’s third time preparing to use the money from the trust fund, because she knew today she wouldn’t be able to easily bid this jewelry set back, because Xu Chuwei was here.
Xu Chuwei was seated a few rows behind Wen Xian. Originally she hadn’t planned on joining in the excitement either, but after seeing the auction items she temporarily asked a friend to find her a seat.
By her side sat a woman with very low facial recognition value, who kept using a sticky voice to cling to the man beside her and talk.
At first, Xu Chuwei only furrowed her brows, until that woman mentioned Wen Xian’s name.
She didn’t deliberately lower her voice: “Wen Xian’s reputation at our school wasn’t good, I heard her family went bankrupt. Didn’t expect she still has a fiancé, don’t know if her fiancé knows how messy her private life is.”
The man let out a contemptuous laugh: “That kind of woman, just from the looks, you can tell she’s just a plaything.”
Hearing this, Xu Chuwei’s expression slightly changed. She immediately stood up.
She walked to those two people, swept them a glance, and said coldly: “Since when could people like you also enter occasions like this?”
“Security, security!”
Xu Chuwei raised her voice to call out.
Security and the person in charge, noticing the commotion inside the venue, all rushed over.
The person in charge, upon seeing Xu Chuwei, slightly bent over and respectfully called out: “Miss Xu, do you have any instructions?”
Xu Chuwei pointed at Feng Qingying and the man beside her and said: “I don’t want to see them here anymore.”
The person in charge raised his head to glance at the two people Xu Chuwei pointed at. Both were unfamiliar faces, so after thinking for a moment he responded: “Yes, Miss Xu.”
The person in charge gave a signal to the security guards. The security guards surrounded them.
The movement on Xu Chuwei’s side wasn’t small. Wen Xian glanced back and just happened to meet Xu Chuwei’s gaze. After the two of them looked at each other for a moment, both withdrew their gaze.
–
This small interlude did not affect the normal progress of the auction. Half an hour later, the auction began on time. Wen Xian held a glass of juice, listening to the auctioneer introduce the auction items.
At this time, Qin Song also sat down next to Wen Xian. He held out the car keys in front of Wen Xian like trying to please: “Xian Xian, these are the car keys to that California Butterfly. I already had someone send the car for cleaning.”
It wasn’t until the latter half of his sentence that Wen Xian turned her head and glanced at him. She lightly laughed once: “That car, better let Song gege keep it for yourself. I only have one parking space.”
Qin Song: “……”
What Xu Chuwei said was right, Wen Xian wouldn’t drive a car someone else had already driven.
Qin Song awkwardly withdrew his hand, letting out a tired sigh.
He always felt that ever since he came back from England, life had become very bitter. Qin Huai scolded him every day, Wen Xian ignored him, Xu Chuwei also broke up with him.
Qin Song suddenly felt like he was just a tool the Qin family used to please Wen Xian. Xu Chuwei also only got together with him to annoy Wen Xian. And lately, big brother also always scolded him because of Wen Xian.
Qin Song felt very wronged. Clearly, he was supposed to be the little treasure in everyone’s hearts.
So Qin Song looked at Wen Xian with a resentful expression.
Wen Xian: ?
For the following part of the auction, Qin Song kept raising his paddle, attempting to regain the confidence he’d lost these days from the gazes of admiration from others.
Qin Zan also indulged Qin Song. The paddle in his hand had not been raised even once. It wasn’t until Qin Song attempted to bid on some female entrepreneur’s beauty maintenance secret formula that Qin Zan could no longer endure it and gave a low reprimand: “Qin Song!”
Qin Song’s face full of innocence: “Big brother, what’s wrong?”
Wen Xian: “……”
Under Qin Zan’s reminder, Qin Song realized he was the only male participant bidding in the room. Everyone’s gaze toward him was a bit strange. Qin Song straightened his chest: “I can bid on it and give it to Xian Xian.”
Wen Xian’s mouth corner slightly twitched: “…Then I really must thank you.”
After that, Qin Song finally calmed down. He threw the paddle onto the table and began peeling nuts for himself.
One hour later, the auctioneer began introducing the second-to-last auction item. His tone carried a sigh: “Next is the most perfect gemstone I have seen so far. She is as beautiful as a mermaid princess.”
“Unfortunately, her owner was not so lucky.”
When she heard this sentence, Wen Xian couldn’t help but grip her skirt tightly. Her thoughts were momentarily in chaos, Chang Shuang’s gentle voice and the auctioneer’s regretful voice overlapping with each other.
She seemed to have returned to that rainy night.
Seventeen-year-old Wen Shuang, on an early spring rainy night, did not wait for her own father and mother, but instead waited for the news of their death. At that moment she couldn’t even understand what her uncle was saying.
At that time, Chang Ligu hurriedly rushed to the Wen family. Choking up, he told Wen Xian, Wen Tianlin and Chang Shuang could not come back anymore.
Wen Xian only believed this fact the next day when she saw the social news headlines. She turned off her phone, did not tell anyone, and took a plane to that island.
Above the endless cloud layers, Wen Xian stared blankly, thinking: would papa and mama feel cold?
Chaotic memories intertwined until Xu Chuwei’s voice sounded, pulling Wen Xian out from her disordered memories, just like four years ago.
Only this time, what she said was: “One million.”
Wen Xian pressed her lips together, then raised her paddle: “Two million.”
As Wen Xian’s voice fell, the venue immediately filled with murmurs. Their gazes hovered between Xu Chuwei and Wen Xian.
Within the circle, there was no one who didn’t know: ever since the Wen family’s bankruptcy, only Xu Chuwei and Wen Xian maintained a good relationship. Even if others hadn’t distanced themselves from Wen Xian at first, later on, they gradually forgot her.
If not for Wen Xian’s engagement with the Qin family, almost no one in the circle would remember her.
But looking at the situation now, how did these two look like they were on good terms?
The bidding between the two was still continuing. When the price approached ten million, many people felt a bit reluctant, as after all, they all knew that was a relic from Wen Xian’s deceased mother. In the beginning, there were others bidding too, but after the price exceeded five million, they all gave up.
Different from others, Xu Chuwei knew how much money Wen Xian still had in her trust fund. After all, back then Wen Xian had no secrets from her.
So she calmly raised the price: “Fifteen million.”
Xu Chuwei was sure Wen Xian would bid this jewelry set back, and she did not intend to let Wen Xian have her way. She came today precisely for this jewelry. She wanted to personally see Wen Xian’s expression at that moment.
Wen Xian closed her eyes, then opened them again: “Twenty million!”
The corner of Xu Chuwei’s lips showed a slight smile. She knew this was already all of Wen Xian’s resources. When calling her next bid, even her voice carried a bit of undisguised lightness: “Twenty million one hundred thousand.”
The two people next to Wen Xian had completely different reactions.
Qin Song swallowed his saliva, feeling that women fighting was truly terrifying.
Qin Zan, who had been silent all along, spoke in a low voice: “Xian Xian, I’ll bid.”
Wen Xian lightly shook her head: “No need, even if I get it back, it would only be left sitting there. No need to waste money.”
The auctioneer on the stage spoke with excitement: “Twenty-one million once! Twenty-one million twice! Twenty-one million th—”
Just as the auctioneer’s gavel was about to fall, suddenly someone rushed up from the side of the stage in a hurry. No one knew what he said, but the auctioneer immediately stopped his action.
The two of them spoke for a moment. The auctioneer’s face showed an excited and delighted smile. He faced the audience seats: “Everyone, now there is a mysterious buyer offering fifty million! Is there anyone present who wishes to continue bidding?”
An uproar broke out below the stage.
Xu Chuwei’s smile froze on her face, but at least the result was as she wished. As long as Wen Xian didn’t get it, her goal was achieved.
Wen Xian also froze for a moment. She turned her head to look at Qin Zan, using her eyes to ask him whether he was the one who bid.
Qin Zan slightly shook his head.
It wasn’t him who bid.
The auctioneer made the final call three times and then struck the gavel.
At the same time, the phone inside Wen Xian’s bag vibrated twice.
At this moment, Wen Xian’s hand was already icy cold. Her movements stiff, she groped for a while before finally taking out the phone.
The moment she saw those two messages, Wen Xian was completely stunned.
[Shen Lingge: That belongs to you, don’t worry.]
[Shen Lingge: And don’t cry, I’m here.]