Chapter 53
Ye Xialan was half-lying on the sofa watching TV, one hand holding the remote control to change channels, the other grabbing melon seeds from a small dish on the coffee table and popping them into her mouth.
Her legs were resting on Bo Mingliang’s lap, who was shelling melon seeds for her and putting them in a bowl.
“Daddy, hurry up. I’m almost out,” Ye Xialan said without taking her eyes off the TV screen, her hand rummaging through the small dish for more melon seeds.
“I told you to buy the shelled ones, but you insisted on buying the ones with shells for me to shell,” Bo Mingliang said, but his hands still sped up.
Ye Xialan turned her head and glared at him. “I don’t like the ones that are shelled outside. Do you have a problem with that?”
“No,” Bo Mingliang quickly put the melon seeds in his palm into the small dish.
Ye Xialan contentedly picked up a melon seed and ate it a little more slowly.
Just then, Bo Muyu came out, wrapped in a navy blue wool coat. Her inky-black long hair swayed slightly behind her with her steps, her slender figure looking tall and straight.
“Dad, Mom, I’m going out for a bit.”
Ye Xialan looked over. “Where are you going?”
Bo Muyu’s eyes flashed, not telling the whole truth. “To see the fireworks.”
“Where are you going to see fireworks in the city?” Bo Mingliang asked curiously.
“Where else could she go? She’s definitely going to the suburbs,” Ye Xialan laughed. “Be careful on the road. Drive slowly, and don’t come back too late.”
“Got it,” Bo Muyu said, a smile appearing in her eyes. “Then I’m leaving.”
Ye Xialan waved her hand and continued to watch her TV, and Bo Mingliang also continued to shell melon seeds.
After leaving the house, Bo Muyu did not go to the garage to get her own car, but walked straight to the open space near the building. She had been waiting in her room for Jiang Chenyin’s notification. When the message “I’m here” arrived, she had immediately changed into her outdoor clothes.
So at this moment, as she walked quickly, a familiar figure was reflected in her eyes.
That person was standing in front of the car, waiting for Bo Muyu. Her makeup was exquisite, and she was wearing a khaki double-breasted wool coat. The cinched waist design perfectly showed off her waistline, her whole person so elegant and reserved that one couldn’t help but fix their gaze on her.
Even Bo Muyu couldn’t control herself. Her gaze was on her the whole way.
Every time Bo Muyu wanted to drag her to eat sweets, she would always say she was old. But what time had brought her was clearly not the lack of youth she spoke of, but a gentle and serene elegance that was impossible to refuse, every part of it perfectly settled.
As soon as Bo Muyu arrived, Jiang Chenyin reached out and took her hand. “Are you cold?”
Bo Muyu shook her head. “I’m not cold. I walked very fast.”
Jiang Chenyin teased her, “You walked fast. Won’t the wind make you even colder?”
“I don’t feel cold,” Bo Muyu said and took Jiang Chenyin’s hand in hers.
So fierce, Jiang Chenyin thought with amusement.
She took Bo Muyu’s hand and turned around. “Let’s go. Get in the car. We’re going to see the fireworks.”
After getting in the car, Bo Muyu couldn’t help but pick at her seatbelt. Before Jiang Chenyin started the car, she confessed, “Auntie Yin, I didn’t tell Mom and Dad that I was going out with you just now.”
Jiang Chenyin had just turned the key and turned on the reading light. Hearing this, she turned her head. “Why not?”
It was very quiet in the car, without the sound of the wind and snow outside, and the temperature was just right.
“Because it’s too far for you to come from Grandpa Jiang’s,” she said, her index fingers picking at the seatbelt.
Jiang Chenyin smiled. “Your mother would at most say a couple of things.”
Bo Muyu pressed her lips together firmly, lowered her eyes for a few seconds, and then looked at Jiang Chenyin. “But I was actually thinking of driving over to see you just now. I said last year that it can’t always be you coming to see me. I’m capable now. I can also go to you when I want to see you.”
There was a hint of disappointment in her eyes for not having achieved her goal, or perhaps resentment. In any case, she was not satisfied.
The moment Jiang Chenyin understood her mood, her own heart softened.
“It was my fault for reacting too quickly,” Jiang Chenyin smiled at her. “Next time, it’ll be your turn to come and see me. Is that better?”
Bo Muyu quickly added, “Not just next time.”
Jiang Chenyin’s eyes curved up. “Okay, big screenwriter. Anything you say.”
The car drove out of the residential complex. Jiang Chenyin looked as if she had a plan, so Bo Muyu felt at ease and scrolled through her social media feed in the passenger seat for a while, and also sent New Year’s greetings to her handful of good friends.
The streets of Qinzhou were very deserted, with only a few shops open. Jiang Chenyin drove the car to the parking lot of a villa hotel in the suburbs and led Bo Muyu into the hotel lobby.
The receptionist saw her enter and immediately came out, handing her a set of keys with a bronze tag. “President Jiang, the manager just called. These are the keys.”
Jiang Chenyin took the keys. “Thank you. It’s hard work to be open on New Year’s Eve.”
“You’re welcome. This way, please,” the receptionist said, turning to the side to lead the way.
Jiang Chenyin turned to take Bo Muyu’s wrist. “Let’s go.”
Bo Muyu nodded and followed Jiang Chenyin’s steps. The three of them walked through a brightly lit corridor. Looking straight out, fireworks were flashing outside, and at the same time, the loud sound of fireworks exploding in the sky could be heard.
The receptionist led them to the door of a small villa and then took her leave. Jiang Chenyin opened the door with the keys she had just gotten and led Bo Muyu directly to the rooftop.
Just as the two of them reached the rooftop, another deafening sound came, and the blooming fireworks were like a meteor shower, scattering colorful streams of light across the sky.
Then, a few more sparks shot up into the sky. Jiang Chenyin’s warm palm quickly covered Bo Muyu’s ears. After the sound had passed, Jiang Chenyin saw that Bo Muyu, who was looking up, seemed to have a light in her eyes.
Jiang Chenyin asked with a smile, “Is it beautiful?”
“Mmm,” Bo Muyu nodded and pulled Jiang Chenyin’s hand down, stuffing it into her own coat pocket. “You don’t have to cover my ears. This isn’t thunder. I’m not afraid.”
Jiang Chenyin looked at the dark sky and couldn’t help but press her lips together in a faint, shallow smile. “This villa hotel is open all year round, and on New Year’s Eve, they set off fireworks for the guests here, which will last until after midnight.”
Bo Muyu asked, “Why do they set off fireworks? Do people stay here on New Year’s Eve?”
“Of course there are. Look over there,” Jiang Chenyin said, turning to point to the rooftop of a villa in the distance. “Some people don’t come here to stay, but to find a good environment to gather. And now, many people feel that a reunion is not necessarily limited to home. As long as the family is together, that’s enough.”
Bo Muyu followed the direction of Jiang Chenyin’s finger and indeed saw a family of three snuggled together on the rooftop of that villa. The small child suddenly jumped up and down, clapping.
Bo Muyu let out a low laugh, as if she could hear the child’s cheerful laughter from so far away.
“We are too,” she said, pulling Jiang Chenyin’s hand back. “If we just found a random place in the suburbs to watch, it would be very unsafe. It’s very comfortable here.”
A few more fireworks bloomed in the sky. Jiang Chenyin put an arm around Bo Muyu’s shoulder and asked, “Muyu, do you have a new year’s wish?”
Bo Muyu turned to look at her. The next second their eyes met, a gentle and friendly smile appeared on Jiang Chenyin’s lips.
A wish…
Bo Muyu gazed at her, thinking of how she had been forced to the point of near collapse and had to leave, thinking of how her finally calmed life was still entangled in nightmares, thinking of how even so, she was still so gentle and reserved, so beautiful.
Why couldn’t such a person get the best reward? This was what she deserved.
“I have a wish,” Bo Muyu said, glancing at the continuously blooming fireworks in the sky, then turning to face Jiang Chenyin, her voice as clear as her eyes. “New Year’s Eve has the meaning of bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new, which is to abandon all the bad things of the past. So I hope that in the new year, there will be no more gloom in your life. No matter how heavy the dust, from now on, it will all be left in the past.”
Jiang Chenyin’s heart was excessively warm on this cold winter night. She smiled silently, waiting for Bo Muyu to tell her all her wishes.
“All the bad things are over…” Bo Muyu said, lowering her head and placing her hands on top of hers, then slightly opening her own hands to wrap around them. “I don’t know how long it will take for you to only remember what you should remember, but since you need sunlight, then I am the sun. I will always be with you, helping you forget what you should forget.”
Jiang Chenyin was still smiling, her eyes a little moist, and her voice was also much lower. “Is that all?”
“Of course there’s more,” Bo Muyu’s eyes in the night were like shining stars. “There’s also the hope that my parents will always be happy, but what I’m telling you now is what I want you to know.”
Jiang Chenyin let Bo Muyu’s hands wrap around hers and asked with a soft laugh, “This sun of yours, is it the sun in the sky?”
“Of course,” Bo Muyu gazed at her deeply.
Jiang Chenyin smiled and said, “The sun in the sky is so big. It has to take care of many places. Not just the people who need sunlight, but also the dark corners, countless places need it.”
“Then let’s make it smaller,” Bo Muyu said, squeezing her hand. “Small enough to just light you up. A little sun, just for you.”
Accompanied by the loud sound of fireworks blooming in the sky, Jiang Chenyin chuckled and pulled Bo Muyu into her arms. “Okay, tomorrow my little sun will officially start its job. For now, let’s watch the fireworks.”
Bo Muyu didn’t look at the sky. She hugged her back, her gaze on Jiang Chenyin. It swept past her eyes, which were filled with a gentle smile, to her nose, and finally rested on her slightly curved lips. Her face was really so gentle and graceful. Every frown and smile had the power to move one’s heart, making one wonder what she was troubled about, and what she was happy about.
Such a Jiang Chenyin made Bo Muyu not only reluctant to look away, but also reluctant to let her heart stray. Those eyes that often held a smile, those lips that could bring a breeze-like smile, and the body she was now holding tightly in her arms, she wanted to have it all.
The moment she tightened her arms, she suddenly felt that her desires and thoughts had never been clearer. What she wanted was not just to stay by Jiang Chenyin’s side.
She did not have such a desire for her parents and friends, but for Jiang Chenyin, she wanted everything.
It was as if something in her heart was struggling to be released. A hazy mist seemed to have appeared in her eyes.
Jiang Chenyin felt that the person in her arms was too quiet. She looked down and, seeing her in a daze, couldn’t help but ask with a smile, “What are you thinking about?”
Bo Muyu composed herself and shook her head. “Nothing.”
Jiang Chenyin’s smile faded slightly, her words light but a little melancholic. “Muyu, I’ve never asked you what kind of boy you like. Sometimes, in a daze, I feel that you haven’t grown up yet, that you’re not yet twenty-two, that you’re still the same as when I first met you, very small.”
Bo Muyu felt that she seemed to have some feelings to express, so she didn’t interrupt.
She paused, then sighed with a laugh. “But your behavior recently has made me deeply realize that you have grown up. You’re no longer the you from your childhood. In the near future, you will become more and more mature, and you will also have a boy you mutually like. To be honest, I can’t imagine you being far away from me, nor can I imagine you putting all your focus on that boy…”
“That won’t happen,” Bo Muyu interrupted her in a slightly cool tone before she could finish. “That day will never come. I don’t need a boy I mutually like either.”
Jiang Chenyin shook her head and smiled. “Muyu…”
“Auntie Yin, I’m serious,” Bo Muyu frowned, her expression extremely serious. “I will be with you, always with you, just as I said just now.”
She instinctively felt that Jiang Chenyin’s words were the opposite of her own thoughts just now. She didn’t want any mutually liked boy. She only wanted Jiang Chenyin, and only her. It was Jiang Chenyin before, and it would still be Jiang Chenyin in the future.
“Alright, let’s not talk about this,” Jiang Chenyin said, pinching her nose in compromise.
Just then, an even louder firework exploded overhead. Jiang Chenyin’s eyes curved up as she pointed at the sky. Only then did Bo Muyu let go of the topic and also looked up.
But as she looked up, Jiang Chenyin’s gaze shifted to her side profile.
Jiang Chenyin would believe every word Bo Muyu said. Even when she was a child, she had never dismissed her words as childish nonsense. But this one sentence just now, she didn’t dare to believe it no matter what.
When such a person really appeared, and Bo Muyu’s heart was moved, she would no longer stay by her side, and she would no longer remember what she had just said. Even if she did, it would just be a passing laugh.
The brilliant fireworks continued to bloom in layers in the sky. Jiang Chenyin suddenly felt an extreme emptiness in her heart.
