Chapter 27#

Qiao Nanqi was momentarily stunned.

The sound of the chord he had just pressed had completely dissipated. In this silent music room, he watched from afar as a relaxed and casual smile spread across Zhao Rong’s face.

Such an expression, even in Qiao Nanqi’s memory, did not often appear on Zhao Rong’s face.

Whether in action or character, Zhao Rong always held back a fraction.

A few years ago, when Zhao Rong was frequently plied with alcohol by them, he would laugh when he was having fun, but he never laughed heartily out of bounds. Watching Zhao Rong with such a smile that didn’t seem happy but rather a bit tired made Qiao Nanqi very irritable.

Normally, Zhao Rong would only slightly curl the corners of his mouth, his eyes drawing a slight curve like the tip of a flower petal—exceptionally gentle, exceptionally quiet.

In short, it was completely different from how he looked now.

The moment he saw it, Qiao Nanqi was even momentarily dazed.

Having not seen Zhao Rong for these past few days, and with no other figure in the house, he still frequently thought of Zhao Rong subconsciously. He thought of him much, much more than before.

Qiao Nanqi felt this was normal.

It was just like in the years right after Qiao Anqing passed away, when he had to forget the feeling of having parents; or after moving away from the old house on Changxi Road, when he had to forget the stray cats at the door that had accompanied him for a part of his youth… It was inevitably difficult at the beginning, but as long as he stopped seeing, thinking, or mentioning it, it would gradually fade from memory.

He felt that Zhao Rong was the same for him.

Their marriage agreement had ended.

They had broken up.

After a while, they would both naturally forget.

He had even had a thought flicker vaguely in his heart—Zhao Rong had liked him for so many years; these days must surely be difficult for him.

The person who always looked at him with a gaze that anyone could understand was Zhao Rong; the person who recklessly wanted to sign a marriage agreement with him was Zhao Rong. Now that a few days had passed, did Zhao Rong regret it?

But Zhao Rong didn’t.

Not only did Zhao Rong not regret it, but he also appeared at Lu Xingping’s doorstep, where he shouldn’t be, laughing heartily after saying something to Lu Xiaoyue.

This was just a “long-awaited reunion” across a distance after several days of separation, yet the irritability that Qiao Nanqi had just spent a long time playing the piano to vent came rushing back.

Outside the window, at the doorstep.

Lu Xingping had already walked out. He seemed to have expected Zhao Rong’s arrival. He just greeted Zhao Rong, and the two exchanged a few words. Then Zhao Rong got into the car alone. In just a moment, the wheels slowly turned, and the car was about to drive away.

Qiao Nanqi suddenly stood up.

The piano stool was moved by his action and swayed. As the legs of the stool shifted, they made a sharp scraping sound.

The sound was sudden and brief, ear-piercing but not quite agonizing. But it drummed against Qiao Nanqi’s eardrums like small stones falling into a shallow pool during a rainstorm, incessantly making a huge noise.

At the same time, Zhao Rong had already driven away.

The figure of that car receded further and further, gradually disappearing on the path.

Lu Xingping and Lu Xiaoyue turned and walked back into the main door one after another.

Qiao Nanqi took half a step forward, suddenly realizing what he wanted to do.

He glanced in the direction where Zhao Rong had left and slowly sat down.

When Lu Xingping entered the room, what he saw was the scene of Qiao Nanqi withdrawing his gaze from outside the window.

This was his home. Lu Xingping knew better than anyone what could be seen at first glance in the direction Qiao Nanqi was looking.

Thinking of who had been standing there just now, Lu Xingping’s gaze flickered. He walked to the side coffee table and sat down, stretching lazily, and said, “Done playing?”

Qiao Nanqi had already concealed all his expressions by now.

He said, “I’m tired.”

“Then there’s nothing else to talk about today.” Lu Xingping spread his hands. “Today’s consultation is over. Are you coming tomorrow?”

“No. I’m going back.”

“Remember to have your assistant find me to settle the bill for these past few days.”

“…”

Qiao Nanqi said no more. He closed the sheet music in front of him, held the piano cover with both hands, and slowly lowered it.

He was still wearing his usual white shirt today, with the sleeves slightly folded up, revealing strong wrists. The neatly ironed shirt pulled into lines with his movements, outlining the muscle curves of his upper body.

Moreover, his movements were very slow and gentle. When the piano cover fell, it didn’t make a sound.

It was an elegance of handling heavy matters with ease.

Only the haste with which he picked up his coat slightly revealed his mood.

When Qiao Nanqi got up to put on his coat, Lu Xingping was leaning against the back of his chair, looking down and playing with his phone, pointedly not mentioning why Zhao Rong would appear at his house.

He said nonchalantly, “Didn’t I ask you before?”

Qiao Nanqi’s departing footsteps paused, and he turned to look at him.

“…?”

“You hate the Chen family so much, and you don’t like uneducated straw men. Why did you let Zhao Rong move into your house instead?”

Qiao Nanqi’s expression finally changed.

He frowned slightly, remembering that Lu Xingping had indeed asked him this question over a year ago.

At that time, he and Zhao Rong had just signed the marriage agreement.

The agreement was signed silently. Aside from Zhao Rong’s family and the Qiao family, only a few close friends knew.

When Lu Xingping and Xia Yuantu found out about it, they had specifically asked him privately.

Qiao Nanqi himself was not someone who liked to talk about such things, but Xia Yuantu was his childhood friend, and he had a bit more tolerance for Lu Xingping, so he told them a few things.

That talkative Xia Yuantu had asked countless miscellaneous questions then, even something as far-fetched as whether he and Zhao Rong would adopt a child.

But Lu Xingping, who usually had a sharp tongue, didn’t have much to say, only chiming in with a few comments occasionally.

The reason Qiao Nanqi could immediately remember this question Lu Xingping asked was precisely because Lu Xingping had only asked this one question at the time.

After Xia Yuantu finally finished nagging, Lu Xingping asked him leisurely, “You hate the Chen family so much, and you don’t like uneducated straw men. Why did you let Zhao Rong move into your house instead?”

At that time, Qiao Nanqi answered without thinking, “His surname isn’t Chen.”

Xia Yuantu feigned surprise: “Wow, you stated a very useless fact!”

Lu Xingping didn’t pursue the question further.

After that, Lu Xingping never even asked about the matters between Qiao Nanqi and Zhao Rong again. If it was mentioned usually, it was mostly Xia Yuantu nagging.

And at this very moment, his marriage agreement with Zhao Rong had already expired, and Zhao Rong had moved out of his house for several days. Hearing this question again, he found himself unable to answer for a moment.

A year ago, he could casually say “His surname isn’t Chen,” thinking in his heart that he disliked Chen Ze but didn’t dislike Zhao Rong.

Now, over a year later, he could no longer say that.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but that he couldn’t.

He actually didn’t know what the answer should be.

—Why did he let Zhao Rong move in instead?

Qiao Nanqi stood silently before the door, not speaking for a long while.

Lu Xingping was still looking down at his phone, clearly not curious about the answer to the question.

He was like a hunter walking in the forest, firing a blank shot into the air, yet not even glancing at the birds startled by the sound of the gun.

After a while.

Qiao Nanqi still hadn’t answered.

He lifted his foot and walked slowly to the door of the music room. He gripped the door handle and was about to pull it open when his movements suddenly stopped.

“What did Zhao Rong come to see you for just now?” He looked at Lu Xingping and asked.

“Finally couldn’t hold it in and asked?”

“…”

“On the surface, he was dropping Xiaoyue off—aren’t they both at your company now?”

Qiao Nanqi’s face remained slightly darkened, his brow furrowed, his hand on the door handle gripping it with slight force.

Lu Xingping only paused for a moment and then continued, “However, I haven’t had much contact with him these past two years, and Xiaoyue has only just met him. He’s been coming to my place too frequently lately; he should have another purpose. But what the specific purpose is, I don’t know yet.”

Qiao Nanqi’s darkened face softened almost imperceptibly.

Apart from that ridiculous engagement set before Old Madam Chen passed away, the most interaction Zhao Rong and Lu Xingping had was during their university years and later when their group hung out together and invited Zhao Rong. Even so, Zhao Rong’s attention was entirely on Qiao Nanqi.

No one had ever taken that engagement seriously. If one were to talk about the biggest connection between Zhao Rong and Lu Xingping, it could only be Qiao Nanqi.

The place where Zhao Rong lived now was not close to Lu Xingping’s house.

To drive so far just to “drop Xiaoyue off” as a way to find Lu Xingping, and specifically during this period of time—what else could it be for?

Zhao Rong knew that he frequently came to Lu Xingping’s place.

Qiao Nanqi turned his head, the gloom in his eyes having dissipated.

But he said, “These matters have nothing to do with me.”

Only then did Lu Xingping look up from his phone screen. His eyes flickered. “…Nothing to do with you?”

Qiao Nanqi had already pulled open the door and left.

After Zhao Rong left Lu Xingping’s house, he drove directly to the sanatorium.

The weather had been getting colder lately as winter began, and Zhao Ming’s health had started to fluctuate again. He visited more frequently than usual.

When he arrived, Zhao Ming had a low fever and was not feeling very well. The doctor seemed to have visited earlier; Zhao Ming had taken her medicine early and was still asleep.

The caregiver was tidying up clothes.

He stepped forward to help, but the caregiver pushed him away: “Xiao Zhao, you sit down. How can you do this kind of thing?”

Zhao Rong smiled and shook his head.

He bypassed her, said nothing, and started folding the clothes.

There was no trace of clumsiness in his movements; he actually did it more skillfully than the caregiver. In this small walk-in closet, his tall and slender figure made the space seem a bit cramped, yet he showed no sign of awkwardness.

When all the clothes were tidied up, the caregiver was astonished.

“I used to do it often when I didn’t have money,” Zhao Rong explained. “These past two years… I’ve also done it often.”

Without waiting for the other to ask more, he continued, “I want to accompany my mother today. You should rest. I’ll stay here tonight.”

The caregiver naturally agreed.

Once she left, the room fell into silence, with only the quiet sound of breathing.

The last trace of brilliant gold on the horizon was washed away by the starry night. Darkness descended, and night lights lit up one after another on the streets outside.

The world seemed very noisy, yet everything around was very quiet.

Zhao Rong sat by Zhao Ming’s bed peeling an apple. Zhao Ming, after the medicine’s effects wore off, woke up slowly. When she opened her eyes and saw him, she smiled almost imperceptibly.

She seemed quite lucid, perhaps because she had taken medicine; she wasn’t disoriented.

“Xiao Rong,” she said, “Why didn’t you wake me?”

“You were sleeping soundly.”

Zhao Rong put down the fruit knife and the apple, leaned forward, and slowly helped Zhao Ming up, using a pillow from the side to prop her up.

After stuffing the pillow in, his hand paused slightly. In a daze, he realized that this set of bedding seemed to be the gift Assistant Xiao Wu had casually prepared more than a year ago when he brought Qiao Nanqi to see Zhao Ming for the first and only time.

In the past, every time he saw such things, Qiao Nanqi’s name would always uncontrollably surface in his mind first. But now, he had been sitting here for so long, and it was only at this moment, touching this pillow, that he suddenly remembered Qiao Nanqi.

He actually thought about his previous experiences from time to time. Those memories were engraved for too long to be forgotten.

But past memories always kept popping up. It was as if Qiao Nanqi’s name and image had been separated; he hadn’t proactively remembered him for several days in a row.

When he saw Lu Xiaoyue staring at message notifications without stopping, he thought of how he used to have such a gaze, but he didn’t think of Qiao Nanqi. When he helped the caregiver organize Zhao Ming’s clothes, he also thought about how he had become very skilled at this over the past two years, yet he still didn’t think of Qiao Nanqi.

It wasn’t that he didn’t remember.

He still remembered very clearly.

But this name was no longer the first word that would pop out whenever he saw something or did something.

This was what the life belonging to the cannon fodder “Zhao Rong” in the original novel should be like.

Zhao Rong suddenly became firm in his previous idea.

“Mom,” he said, “I’ve been doing something lately. When it’s finished—it might take a few days, a month, a few months, or even a year or so. But I’ll definitely be able to finish it.”

“When I’m done, let’s go live in another place I really like.”

When Qiao Nanqi came out of Lu Xingping’s house, it wasn’t dark yet. There was nothing much to do at the company for the moment. He could have gone directly home or attended some inconsequential social engagements.

But when the driver pulled open the back door for him and Qiao Nanqi sat down, he didn’t want to go anywhere.

If he went home, Zhao Rong wouldn’t be there.

If he went to stay with Xia Yuantu and the others, Xia Yuantu would ask all sorts of questions, and others would try to push people to his side.

If he went to the company and encountered others, they would ask him indirectly why Zhao Rong had suddenly been dropped into the upper management.

It seemed no matter where he went, he would always think of matters related to Zhao Rong.

When the driver closed the back door and returned to the driver’s seat, he turned and asked him, “Sir, where to?”

Qiao Nanqi didn’t answer.

At this moment, he discovered an ominous thing.

During this period of time, he had been deliberately ignoring all traces of Zhao Rong, even frequently coming to Lu Xingping’s place to calm those negative emotions that came from nowhere.

It seemed effective.

But just seeing Zhao Rong’s smile at someone else from afar, and hearing a few of Lu Xingping’s subtle questions, all these efforts vanished in an instant. The suppressed thoughts surged back ten or a hundred times over.

It was impossible to ignore.

Even just thinking that Zhao Rong had broken up with him made him uncontrollably flustered, wanting to do something.

And no matter where he thought of going or what he thought of doing, the first thing he thought of was also Zhao Rong.

His mind was full of Zhao Rong.

Where was Zhao Rong now?

What was he doing?

Zhao Rong…

It was all Zhao Rong.