Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
But all Shen Liangchuan could think about was yesterday.
It was obvious that she had been behaving oddly.
He couldn’t explain why he was feeling so anxious.
Without saying another word, he hung up the phone and went into Weibo. As he was about to post a message, he suddenly saw a small figure beneath the lamp post on the street leading to villa 18.
Shen Liangchuan’s hand froze and he placed his cell phone down.
Quickly, he opened the driver seat door and got out of the car, taking brisk strides towards the figure.
As he approached her, he realized it was indeed Qiao Lian squatting by the roadside.
She had curled up in a tiny ball, hugging her knees and staring blankly ahead. Her eyes were swollen and red from crying.
Shen Liangchuan felt an unexplainable pain in his heart as he looked at her.
Just before this, he had been feeling at a loss as to how he could continue to face her after Song Yuanxi’s matter. Things had been awkward between them, but right now all these were pushed to the back of his mind.
At this moment, his heart and mind were solely focused on her present state.
Standing next to her, he bent his knees and lowered his tall frame slowly, calling out gently, “Xiao Qiao.”
When she heard his voice, she turned gingerly to look at him.
Her eyes, that were dry from crying, now started to well up in tears again when she saw him, like a distraught child seeing her own parent.
She harshly bit her lip and, unsure if it was from the cold or from the overwhelming emotions, she started trembling.
Seeing this, Shen Liangchuan quickly took off his own jacket without saying a word and following that, he bent over to scoop her up in his arms.
Ignoring his car behind him, he walked briskly towards their villa.
Entering the villa still as he carried Qiao Lian in his arms, he headed up to the master bedroom. With a fluid motion, he opened the blanket and wrapped it around her.
Then he turned and walked out of the room.
Slowly, her freezing body warmed up.
Her mind began to clear.
She looked towards the room door, and the sharp and deep pain in her heart returned.
She clutched tightly onto the blanket and drew her knees towards herself.
An infinite expanse of loneliness engulfed her.
At this point, the door creaked as it slowly swung open. She looked up and saw Shen Liangchuan entering the room with a basin.
He picked up the towel and soaked it in the hot water, then he walked over to her. Without speaking, he gently patted her face with the hot towel.
The steam from the hot towel seeped into her pores and somehow warmed up the iciness deep inside her.
He removed the towel.
Her red and swollen eyes were squinted, turned into two slits from the crying, distorting her pretty features.
Qiao Lian sat there, not moving, letting him take care of her.
After a short time, he brought in a glass of sweetened water and placed it in front of her.
Qiao Lian drank it obediently.
The hot drink made its way into her stomach and slowly, the heat from the drink warmed her limbs.
Then he lifted the blanket.
She felt his hand encircle her ankle, holding it firmly as he removed her shoe, then, the other shoe. He tucked her icy feet into his abdomen to warm them up.
He turned around, reached for her hands and held them, using his own as a source of heat.
Qiao Lian watched him as he carried out each of these actions gently and meticulously.
She felt her red and swollen eyes tearing up again.
Suddenly, he extended his arm and drew her into his embrace.
All the frustration and anxiety that had plagued him as he had desperately looked for her earlier on had now disappeared. All that was left were tender words that were at the same time full of dangerous fury. “Xiao Qiao, now you can tell me who upset you?”
