Chapter 45: Cloud Open
A soup spoon was scooping the water, and it was making a circle. The unease and anxiety were like a ripple, and they were spreading.
Su Xi lowered her eyes, and her face was as calm as a cloud. Her toes were on the slippers under the table, and the rough soles were rubbing against the wooden floor with a hard-to-bear look.
The illness was cured, but it would also leave a sequela.
The people who knew that she had had a mental illness, even if they were friendly to her in person, would be another set behind her back.
She didn’t care. She was used to it. But the child couldn’t be like this. She had sworn to do her best to give her child the best, and she had indeed done it. But she had still owed her in terms of feelings.
Everyone was afraid of her. It was not strange that he, who had been tormented the most, would hate her. Even if he had turned his back and had wanted to leave, she had been psychologically prepared. Yeah… she was prepared.
The spoon was stirring the water, and the soup was as if it had been solidified by the cement. The movements were getting slower and slower.
Su Yu had said the name, and he had repeated it a few times at the corner of his mouth. “Su Nian Yu… yeah…”, “What? Are you going to take responsibility?”
She had raised her head and was staring at him. Her tone was as plain as water, as if she were just being polite and was asking casually. His answer was not important at all.
“I…”
Su Yu had shrugged and had licked his lips. The words he had prepared had been brewing for a while. Just as he was about to speak, the phone on the table had lit up, and the ringtone had suddenly interrupted him.
Before he could even see who it was, Su Xi had immediately pushed the phone to him.
“Answer the phone first. I’m not in a hurry…”, she had bent her eyebrows and eyes, and her round and dark black peach blossom eyes were blinking. She had quickly avoided his confused gaze and had lowered them to the table, which was covered with soup.
Su Yu was stunned for a moment. He had subconsciously glanced at the screen, and his thoughts had been tangled for a while. “Alright then… I’ll go and answer the phone first.”
He had picked up the phone and had stood up, and he had walked towards the balcony.
Su Xi had tilted her head and had tied up a wisp of messy hair by her ear. Her messy hair was covering her gaze. She had seen him open his long and slender legs, and he had left with a crisp and neat look. When he had passed by her, a cool and refreshing sea breeze had been raised, and there was a fresh and clean sea salt fragrance. The wind was filled with the smell of the sun that had been dried.
She had lifted her loose and long sleeves, and a section of fair and delicate skin was exposed. Her fingertips were on her left wrist, and they were turning in a circle. A series of shocking scars was exposed. The longest one was a full seven or eight centimeters, and it was grotesquely occupying her originally fresh, young, and beautiful body.
Seeing him walk away, the sound of his footsteps was as if it were on her heart. It was as if a thread were being pulled. One end was connected to her heart through the scar on her pulse, and the other end was connected to his body.
She had clearly seen the name on the phone screen.
She should have been indifferent. But why was her heart so painful? Every time it had beaten in her chest, it had been so painful that she was on the verge of death. She had wanted to cut her heart with a knife.
Su Xi had been in that place for who knows how long. She had actually had a lot of things she had wanted to say to him, and she had wanted to tell him in person:
She had long since wanted to have a child with him to make up for her colorless childhood. Their child was really cute, and her eyebrows and eyes were really like his. The day she had first called her “mommy,” she had been happy all night and had not slept. It was the happiest thing that had happened to her after she had learned of his death. When the child had asked her why she didn’t have a father, she had been so sad that she had cried alone for a whole afternoon.
Her joys and sorrows had all followed this child, who was related to him by blood. But the child was like him, but in the end, she was not him at all.
She had wanted to keep him, but she was afraid of being a burden to him, and she had hardened her heart to force him to leave. People were born so contradictory. She had loved him so much back then, but on a certain day when she had imprisoned him, she had been so scared by her almost-morbid love that she had cried and had been busy and had pushed him away, and she had let him go and had driven him away.
She had always been on the verge of gathering her courage, but she had been doused by him and had been silenced. She could only press it in her heart and could not open her mouth. It was as if she had returned to the time when she could only hide behind a wall and secretly look at him. The bitterness of that love was like a flame, and it would hurt with a light touch.
Su Xi had lowered her head in dejection. She was not young anymore, and she had no capital, and she had also lost her former madness. She could no longer be reckless in her actions.
I’m sorry, Nian Nian. This time… I can’t keep him.
“Thwack…”
The black travel bag had suddenly fallen from the sofa. The zipper had not been locked, and the opening was facing down. The things inside had been scattered all over the floor.
After a long while, Su Xi had raised her wet and red eyes, and she had calmed her choking breath. She had hinted to herself in her heart that she had already gotten over the most difficult hurdles, and there was nothing that could stop her.
She had wiped the watery color at the corners of her eyes, and a few cute and tender pinks were particularly abrupt in the pile of black and white clothes. They had quickly caught her attention.
She was stunned for a while. She had stood up with a swaying gait and had slowly walked over.
She had parted the clutter on top and had seen a few pink and tender clothes. They were folded together and were the size of a palm. One of them was a little girl’s dress, and a few children’s picture books were also in the bag.
…
“Where are you?”
Her tone was rushed, and she was trying her best to restrain herself. Her voice was hoarse, and it was filled with a deep fatigue.
“In Qingchuan.” Su Yu’s fingertips were caressing the screen, and he was frowning. “Are you not resting well again? Qian Ge… your illness is not yet cured. Take good care of yourself.”
“I’ve really been recuperating well. I remember everything you said.”
Xia Qiange had turned on the speakerphone and was holding the phone to her lips. She had moistened her pale and dry lips, and she had been relieved for a moment. But it had soon become dry from the heat. Her heart was burning with a fiery and impatient heat, but she had still endured her temper and had asked him carefully, “When are you coming back?”
“In… in a few days. I still have some things to do.” Su Yu had raised his eyes and had looked at the gloomy sky. The white clouds had been polluted into a gray and dark color, and they had swallowed the light of the daylight.
“You still have things to do.” She had suddenly become dejected, and she had started to persuade him again, as if she were only thinking of his own good. “Then why did you go to Qingchuan? It’s very dangerous there. Aren’t you afraid…”
“Yeah, I know. There’s nothing to be afraid of anymore.”
He had interrupted her. He had thought for a moment and had still opened his mouth. “Qian Ge, did you know about Su Xi’s child a long time ago? A long, long time ago. You’ve been hiding it from me…”
“…”
She had suddenly stopped speaking, and the two of them had fallen into a dark silence. They were both struggling, and they were feeling suffocated.
Su Yu had closed his eyes, and he had regretted a little for having exposed these things so directly. Even though he had seen through her essence, he had found that it was very difficult for him to blame her for anything. She was very scheming, and every word she had said was as illusory as a cloud of mist, and it was filled with lies, and it required people to carefully distinguish.
But he was a little tired. Being too persistent would only hurt himself.
“Su Yu…”
He had heard her weak and gentle breathing, as if he could feel the warm and hot temperature even through the phone. The fresh and gentle gardenia fragrance that was overflowing from the deep part of her neck was lingering at the tip of his nose.
In the end, she had not given him an explanation. She had just whispered in his ear a sentence that he was tired of hearing.
She had said, “I love you. This sentence is true.”
She had no longer wanted to hide anything. She had nakedly shown everything to him. Perhaps, this was also some of her schemes to tie him down.
But, it didn’t matter.
The him of the past would definitely have cursed him for being crazy. How could he have just let it go like this? How could he be worthy of the torment he had suffered all these years?
But in short, the reason he had made this choice was because of a sense of responsibility or something else. He was not clear. The deceit and the real and fake confrontation had really made him a little tired.
The glass door of the balcony had been gently knocked on. Su Yu had turned his head and had seen the girl tilting her head. Her smile was like a flower, and her cloud-like black hair was tilted on one shoulder. She had shed her freshness, and her round eyes were curved into a crescent moon, and there was a hint of a mature charm and a gentleness.
Her red lips had parted, and she was mouthing, “You can go. I’ll wait for you.”
Su Yu had put the phone to his ear, and his voice was low and gentle, and it was filled with a seriousness. He had said word by word.
“Let’s… get married.”
