Last night’s strange yet incredibly realistic spring dream made her anxious and made her look down on herself even more; Yi Muyang went to Yunnan and got into danger, while she couldn’t help at all, only worrying in vain.
I was exhausted, but thinking about these things kept me awake. I could only find peace when I snuggled close to the children’s soft bodies; their presence gradually calmed my emotions.
Until the next morning, finally received Yi Muyang’s message, very simple: safe, don’t read.
It wasn’t like him, but when she called back, he didn’t answer.
She didn’t dare to call constantly, afraid that he wouldn’t be able to answer conveniently and put him in danger. For the next three days, Yi Muyang would report her safety to him on time. But the more she did so, the more worried she became. If he still didn’t come back, she decided to go to Yunnan herself to find him. She couldn’t rest assured until she saw him.
Zuo Yuyan had been in the city for three days. For these three days, he had indeed kept his promise and did not disturb her. He didn’t even show up, but just parked his car near her law firm every day to watch her coming and going, busy with her work.
Actually, this is a rather novel feeling. She’s living a completely different life in his totally unfamiliar city, as if she could live well even without him.
She is very busy, always sprinting across the street in the morning to run into the law firm’s office building. Often within half an hour of arriving at the firm, she will leave with her assistant, Xiao Xin, presumably to meet clients. Either carrying a notebook or a stack of files.
The law firm’s office building was an old one, lacking sufficient parking spaces. Consequently, her car always ended up parked across the street. According to his observations, the other side of the road wasn’t a designated parking lot either; it was simply everyone parking along the roadside, and over time, it had transformed into a makeshift parking area.
And she’s made great progress in her driving skills. She can basically park in any tiny space with one go. One time, when she was slightly off, she reversed out to adjust her position, but as soon as she pulled out, a small car suddenly appeared from nowhere and took her spot.
She seemed a little flustered, got out of the car and knocked on the driver’s side window of the smaller vehicle. She pointed to her own car, indicating that was her spot.
Perhaps her expression was too frightening, or maybe the lawyer’s card she showed intimidated the other party, but either way, the other person sheepishly gave her the parking space.
He couldn’t help but find it amusing. This Tinglan was so different from the one he had in his mind. This Tinglan carried a hint of streetwise charm, but also felt more vibrant and alive.
Out of the blue, that day when she got off work, his car followed hers. Seeing where she worked for these past few years, he couldn’t help but want to take a look at where she lived.
Then, she followed her car at a moderate distance past several intersections before finally seeing her car parked near a kindergarten.
She got off the bus and walked to the kindergarten entrance. After a while, she came out with one hand holding a friend, smiling and walking toward the car.
The two children were the ones he had seen at the airport. Back then, they were completely strangers, Yi Muyang holding one in each arm. He only remembered the scene being beautiful, but he had a vague impression of the two children and had long forgotten their specific features. Now, seeing them again because Tinglan was holding one hand in hand, looking closely at the children’s features, some thoughts flashed through his mind. Just those few thoughts made his heart beat faster, almost forgetting to breathe.
Is that so? <<<
Do you?
I never dared to dream of such a thing, not even in my wildest fantasies.
<<>>
He called Lu Kuò, who was at a banquet, toasting and drinking with others. Seeing the call from Zhuó Yǔān, he hastily picked up.
“What’s up?”
In front of his friend, Zhuo Yu’an suddenly couldn’t say a word. Those surging emotions made his throat tight.
“Let’s talk later.” He hung up the phone hastily.
Lu Kuò cursed at him, then went back to the dinner party.
Zuo Yu’an was still deeply affected. He struggled to control himself, resisting the urge to seek out Tinglan and keeping his overwhelming emotions in check. On his way back to the hotel, he used his computer to hack into the kindergarten’s surveillance system.
This kind of thing is child’s play for him.
He quickly saw the two children in the security footage and found out which class they were in.
Shu Xiaonian?
Shu Xiaohua?
Read a book?
He immediately saw the meaning behind the two names, that she was honoring her mother.
Upon seeing the birth date, calculating backward, it seemed she had been pregnant about two months before the divorce. Her hand froze on the keyboard, her blood rushing to her head, howling and leaping, causing a splitting headache.
Many things are like that, they just pass you by.
A month after learning about the divorce, her mother passed away. He was already heartbroken, and now thinking back to her during that time, facing the pain of losing her mother alone, shouldering the hardships of pregnancy and raising twins alone, struggling to survive in a strange city, his heart ached beyond feeling.
Where was he at that time? He was abroad, wallowing in self-pity and tormenting himself. His pain was nothing compared to hers.
It was at this moment that he suddenly understood why Tinglan had been so averse to him, why she had resolutely refused to return to his side. Because he wasn’t worthy. Over the past few years, if he had just been willing to look back at her once, even just once, even as a friend, he could have offered her some help in her life. She wouldn’t have had to struggle so hard.
That’s how she missed him, when she needed him the most, he wasn’t there. Now that she has weathered all the hardships, why would she go back to him?
From the moment he saw the children, the joy and excitement mingled with regret and heartache, a complex mix of emotions that left him breathless. During his trips back to the capital and to the city, he was certain that Tinglan’s feelings for him were genuine. As long as he resolved his parents’ issues, they could start anew.
But when he saw the children, he realized that Tinglan’s hatred for him was utterly genuine. He had turned her life upside down and then left her to face the consequences alone.
It’s understandable that she hates him.
The child’s information form. He couldn’t help but take a screenshot and send it to Lu Kuo, needing to vent his feelings to someone.
Lu Kuo received this strange message in the middle of the night. He looked at the two children’s photos on the message form again, and even someone as shrewd as him jumped out of bed immediately, shouting…
“Damn it, damn it..” He wanted to curse, but all that came out were these two words, an instinctive reaction that perfectly captured his exploding emotions.