In the quiet indoor space, suddenly there sounded a few dull noises. Wen Xian hazily opened her eyes and looked towards the direction the sound came from; it seemed like a bird had stopped on the window sill and pecked lightly at the glass window a few times.
She lowered her eyes to look towards her waist. Shen Lingge’s hand was tightly holding her, he was embracing her from behind.
Wen Xian moved a little, turning around to face Shen Lingge. He had not yet woken up; recently he had not been resting very well, there was a faint blue under his eyes, and on his chin had grown fine stubble.
Wen Xian reached out to hug his waist, her head rubbing against his chest.
Tomorrow she was going back to Licheng. Each of their lives and work had to continue. Even though such a scene had already happened several times, Wen Xian still was not used to it.
Not used to parting.
Just as she was idly fiddling with the button on his sleepwear, the man’s hand suddenly bent to stroke her back of the head. His voice carried the laziness and hoarseness from just waking up: “Xian Xian woke up?”
Wen Xian raised her head to look into his eyes. In his black pupils there was still a little drowsy sleepiness.
She nodded her head slightly in a small motion, reminding him: “Shen Lingge, tomorrow I am leaving.”
Shen Lingge knew she was preparing to return tomorrow; he had already told Xiao Song to prepare the plane, the plane could take off for her at any time. He lowered his head and lightly kissed her on the forehead: “I know. In the afternoon I’ll take you to the market to play, tomorrow I’ll send you onto the plane.”
Wen Xian blinked her eyes: “Is it the kind of market where I can eat a lot of delicious food?”
Shen Lingge glanced at her, his voice cold: “Right now besides eating light food everything else is not allowed. If in September you get sick again, I’ll bring you to Mingcheng.”
Mentioning Mingcheng, Wen Xian couldn’t help but think of last night, seeing Shen Lingge and his mother’s conversation.
She stared at the little snowflake below his collarbone for a while before asking: “Shen Lingge, when did you tell your mother I was your girlfriend? How come in June she was already calling me daughter-in-law?”
Shen Lingge: “……”
He lightly coughed once: “I forgot. That time it was you saying I was your boyfriend, it wasn’t me being self-indulgent.”
After saying that, he lowered his head to look at the little girl in his arms, softly asking: “Xian Xian, do you want to meet my parents?”
Wen Xian slightly froze. Only after a long while did she softly say: “Wait until you come back?”
Shen Lingge curved his lips: “No rush. This year, is Xian Xian willing to go home with me for New Year? After New Year we’ll come back, afterwards you’ll take me to see Dad and Mom, how about that?”
Wen Xian knew the Dad and Mom he spoke of referred to Wen Tianlin and Chang Shuang.
She hugged Shen Lingge tighter, burying herself into his chest and muffling a sound of agreement.
Shen Lingge saw that she didn’t resist, so he felt at ease. He was afraid she still couldn’t walk out of the shadow in her heart. After all, all these years she had been living alone. But from now on, it wouldn’t be like that.
Wen Xian raised her head and rubbed Shen Lingge’s chin: “Shen Lingge, let’s go see the little sheep.”
Shen Lingge gave a low response.
…
After eating lunch, Wen Xian and Shen Lingge left the manor. When they came, it was nighttime. Wen Xian hadn’t been able to see what places they passed along the way. On the way back, Wen Xian kept looking outside the window.
Tall and upright pine trees rose into the clouds. In the forest there was still a faint mist. Occasionally a few deer would dart out onto the road. Those deer were not surprised by the cars on the road; without even turning their heads, they leapt into the forest.
Shen Lingge lowered his eyes, playing with her fingers. The skin of her palm was delicate and tender, but on the fingertips there were a few thin calluses. There were some on the wrist too. These were left from her being busy with work over these years.
Shen Lingge lightly rubbed a few times on the calluses at her fingertips. Maybe it felt ticklish; the little girl lightly moved a little. He smiled, picked up her hand, placed it by his lips and lightly kissed it. The sensation was soft and warm.
The little girl muttered softly: “Don’t tease me.”
Shen Lingge lightly laughed, he raised his eyebrows and looked at her: “The trees outside look so good? You are going back tomorrow, not taking this moment to look at me more?”
Wen Xian tilted her head, opened her big eyes and glanced at him once, then immediately turned her head away: “I have finished looking.”
Shen Lingge: “……”
Wen Xian stayed quiet in the car for a while, then wanted to secretly open the window to look outside, but as soon as her hand moved it was caught by Shen Lingge. He frowned: “These days, you cannot be exposed to the wind.”
Wen Xian pressed her lips together, softly making an “oh” sound.
Fortunately, after the car drove down the mountain, her phone which had been silent for two days finally came back to life. After she started playing with her phone, she stopped making a fuss, obediently leaning against Shen Lingge and starting to surf the internet.
At this moment, Shen Lingge also received the email that Xiao Song sent yesterday.
Before opening the email, he glanced once at Wen Xian lowering her head, seeing her focused on looking at her phone screen, only then did he open the email. This was an email about Chang Shang sent by Xiao Song.
At the beginning of the month, after Chang Shang left Licheng, he did not return to Mingcheng, but instead went to a remote small mountain village in Wucheng. He stayed there for two days, then went to a county under South City. Like this, after moving between several cities, he currently seemed to still have a next destination, with no intention of returning to Mingcheng.
Shen Lingge’s line of sight landed on those few cities. His excellent memory told him that these cities were all the hometowns of the flight crew from the plane Wen Tianlin and Chang Shuang had taken four years ago.
Shen Lingge had already sent people to investigate their backgrounds as well as their financial situations in the year before and after the accident; there was nothing abnormal. He had people form a special investigation team to check whether there were any other causes for the plane crash four years ago besides bad weather. At present, there was still not much progress.
But what was Chang Shang’s reason for going to these places?
Shen Lingge remembered Wen Xian had said before that Chang Shang told her not to easily trust anyone. Clearly this young man had found out something. Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but tightly hold Wen Xian’s hand.
He had a premonition: no matter what the truth was, Wen Xian would be hurt.
Rows of trees outside the window kept sliding past, the heavy mist in the forest had yet to disperse for a long time, and Shen Lingge’s heart also gradually sank.
—
At the market entrance.
Wen Xian was somewhat unhappy, holding a little stiff face. When eating lunch, she thought drinking some porridge would be enough, but she didn’t expect Shen Lingge had also prepared medicinal food.
At first, she obediently drank a few sips, but halfway through she didn’t want to drink anymore. But Shen Lingge insisted that she finish drinking it. The two of them confronted each other for a long time, and only then did Wen Xian unwillingly swallow all the unpleasant medicinal food into her stomach.
Shen Lingge lowered his eyes looking at her unhappy appearance, lightly sighed: “Xian Xian, being sick feels very bad. You feeling bad makes me feel bad too. I don’t want to still be worrying next month when I can’t see you.”
Wen Xian pressed her lips together, softly said: “But I’m already full, and you still made me eat.”
Shen Lingge softly coaxed her: “Tonight we won’t have medicinal food, and we won’t drink porridge. I’ll take you to eat some lightly flavored vegetarian dishes.”
Wen Xian hesitated and asked: “Really?”
Shen Lingge nodded. He held her hand and walked towards the lively market: “Didn’t you say last night you wanted to buy gifts for Duoduo and the others? If you stay angry any longer, the time will be gone.”
Hearing that, Wen Xian immediately shifted her attention to the market.
Five minutes later, Wen Xian: “……”
Almost every person on the street was holding delicious food in their hands: cheese beef hamburgers, taro snow ice, oyster seafood, soft and glutinous Oreo Xue Mei Niang, as well as London specialty delicacies and so on.
She frowned and turned her line of sight away.
On many stalls there were all kinds of antique furniture and some vintage jewelry. Wen Xian pulled Shen Lingge to squat down in front of a stall. She picked up a string of earrings and held them up next to her ear for comparison: “Do they look good?”
Shen Lingge only took one glance and already knew the gemstone’s purity on it was very low, but even so, he still knew what he should say right now: “Looks good, Xian Xian looks good wearing anything.”
Hearing this, Wen Xian curved her eyebrows and eyes, leaned over and kissed him once.
After Wen Xian finished picking the gifts to bring back for Duoduo and them, she started to worry again about what kind of gift to bring for Butler Uncle. Actually, the day before yesterday when she went shopping with Shen Lingge, she had already bought quite a few things, but she still wanted to buy something more special.
She furrowed her brows, thought for a good while, then pulled Shen Lingge to a shop selling cheese. This was Butler Uncle’s personal hobby—he liked studying cheese produced in various places around the world.
Shen Lingge didn’t want her to even remember such small things.
He stood quietly at the side, watching her talk with the shop owner. When they got to something interesting, she would laugh. She took a small spoon, handed it to his lips, indicating for him to taste a bite.
Shen Lingge opened his mouth and rolled the cheese into his mouth.
The two of them stayed in front of the shop for quite a while before they finished buying the cheese to gift to the butler. Shen Lingge took the bag from her hand and handed it to Xiao Song behind him. Seeing that Wen Xian was still chatting with the shop owner, Xiao Song used this moment to lower his voice and say: “Sir, these past two days the previous collaborators have been contacting us all along. They said they’re willing to lower the previous conditions.”
Shen Lingge said in a flat voice: “The follow-up matters have been handled?”
Xiao Song replied yes.
Shen Lingge’s gaze paused slightly on Wen Xian’s face: “Once it’s handled, there’s no need to respond to them anymore. Tonight, send me the information on the new business partners. Starting tomorrow, take the project team people to go have fun for a few days.”
Xiao Song paused slightly, testing as he asked: “Sir, and you?”
Shen Lingge spoke in a low voice: “I’ll send her back to Licheng. The day after tomorrow I’ll hurry back.”
Xiao Song looked at Shen Lingge with some astonishment, but only for a moment before he restrained the expression on his face. He bent his waist and answered in a low voice: “Yes, sir. I’ll prepare tonight.”
By the time Wen Xian finished strolling the market, the sky had also gradually darkened. The shops in the market all lit up with warm yellow lights. People came and went along the road, the fragrance of food gradually spreading.
She leaned against Shen Lingge with a bit of fatigue, hugging him and softly saying: “Shen Lingge, I’m so hungry.”
Shen Lingge kissed her forehead: “I’ll take you to eat now.”
After finishing eating, the two of them returned to the hotel. As soon as Wen Xian entered the door, she ran over to the sofa and laid down. Shen Lingge went to the side to get the medicine she needed to take these few days. He turned his head and asked her: “Does your throat still hurt this afternoon?”
Wen Xian shook her head: “Doesn’t hurt, and no coughing either.”
Shen Lingge walked over with the medicine. The little girl had already very consciously sat up, holding the cup of water, even looking eagerly at the medicine in his hand. He couldn’t help but laugh: “Even craving medicine now?”
Wen Xian: “……”
She glared at him once: “The sooner I finish taking it, the sooner the suffering is over, don’t you get it!”
After she finished taking the medicine, Shen Lingge didn’t bother with her anymore, letting her kick off her shoes and curl up on the sofa, hugging the tablet and starting to watch dramas and variety shows. As for him, he sat at the desk looking at the emails on the laptop screen.
Occasionally Shen Lingge would raise his eyes and look at Wen Xian on the sofa. Every time he looked at her, she would have curved eyebrows and eyes, and he too couldn’t help but curve his lips.
A quiet evening time passed by just like that, slowly.