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Hey friends!

Guess what? After wrestling with my old hosting site (it was not a pretty fight), I’ve finally moved the blog to a shiny new home! The old site is still limping along, but it won’t be for much longer—so this is where the magic will happen from now on.

Now, full disclosure: I’m not a tech genius. There were tears. There was confusion. There may have been snacks used as emotional support. But we made it through!

If you spot anything weird or glitchy, please holler in the comments. I’m still tidying things up and trying to make this place look cute again.

I know I went quiet for a while—life threw some curveballs and I needed a minute (or several). But I’m back, and ready to start fresh. Thanks a million for sticking around. You’re the best.

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Chapter 42: That Wound On My Tongue From Last Night Still Hurts

The game that night abruptly ended at midnight.

At that time, Jiang Se was feeling very sleepy. As she drifted off, he suddenly came over, turned her face, and kissed her.

Aside from touching her head and pinching her face, he hadn’t done anything to her the whole night, so his kiss was a bit fierce.

Jiang Se, disturbed from her sleep, struggled to catch her breath and became a little upset. She bit down hard on the tip of his tongue.

Lu Huaiyan let go of her, propped himself up with one elbow beside her, and smiled at her, acting as if nothing had happened even though his tongue was now hurt.

“It’s midnight. The game’s over. Finally, I can kiss you.”

“…”

Jiang Se slowly breathed in, her eyes wide as she looked at him. “You disturbed my sleep.”

Lu Huaiyan lowered his hand, lying down beside her. He put his hand on her waist and said, “If you ever feel unhappy while I’m away, just come over and play a game. Don’t think I don’t know; you love this kind of thrilling game.”

His warm palm slid up her waist and rested on her back. He turned his body slightly to look at her and said, “If you’re still unhappy, just call me. I’ll come and cheer you up. Sleep now, princess.” 

She always slept well here.

Earlier, Lu Huaiyan had heard from Han Xiao that she went to the hospital for sleeping pills. On her first night here, he had prepared some for her, but she never took any.

The room was dimly lit. Jiang Se stared at his blurred features in the dim light and suddenly asked, “What time is your flight tomorrow?”

Upon hearing this, Lu Huaiyan smiled lightly, the sound almost like a sigh.

The relationship between them now was neither that of lovers nor just casual friends with benefits.

She was never curious about him and rarely asked about his matters.

Had it not been for him insisting on seeing her tonight, even knowing he was leaving tomorrow, she wouldn’t have come.

In fact, her casually asking about his flight time now felt like a slight, insignificant leap.

Lu Huaiyan propped himself up again, leaned in, and kissed her earlobe, laughing. “Looks like I’ve managed to make our princess feel a little more at ease.”

The remark was puzzling and irrelevant.

Jiang Se froze for a moment, then heard him say, “My flight’s at six in the morning. I’ll leave at five. Just sleep. I won’t wake you up.”

Jiang Se didn’t respond. His hand still rested on her, and the distance between them was closer than ever before.

Even when they had slept in the same bed before, out of habit, there had always been a distance of one arm’s length between them.

With just a slight turn of her body, she could easily create more space.

In that brief moment of hesitation, the man on the opposite side lightly patted her back, as if coaxing a child to sleep.

“Didn’t you use to fall asleep the moment you touched the pillow? Why haven’t you fallen asleep yet?” His voice carried a hint of laughter as he asked her, “Is it because we didn’t do anything today?”

Jiang Se couldn’t be bothered to respond. She simply closed her eyes.

Perhaps to prove how wrong his question was, she quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Lu Huaiyan listened to her breathing for a moment, then withdrew his hand from her back and instead held the hand she had resting on the pillow beside her.

When Jiang Se woke up, the sky had already brightened, and the person beside her had long since left. The duvet on his side was already cold.

Every time she woke up in this bed before, her right hand would always be wrapped in his left hand, the back of her hand and palm warm from his body heat. She had gotten used to his warmth, but now, she felt a slight chill.

She slipped her hand under the blanket and turned her head to glance at the bedside clock. It was 7 AM, and he was already on the plane.

She opened her phone, and sure enough, he had sent her a message an hour ago saying he had boarded the plane.

Jiang Se threw off the covers and got out of bed.

Just after finishing her morning routine, the internal phone rang with the familiar “ding ling ling” sound—it was the housekeeper calling to inform Jiang Se of the breakfast menu for the day.

Jiang Se casually picked something, and soon, breakfast was delivered.

The smoked salmon was rolled into the shape of a rose, topped with two small pickled olives, and placed on a layer of crispy, fluffy tart shell. A perfect bite, full of flavor.

The room was very quiet while she ate.

It had been quiet when she ate breakfast here with Lu Huaiyan, too, but they never spoke while eating.

However, the silence now felt different from when he was here.

Jiang Se ate three pieces, then stopped, slowly finishing the cup of red tea before getting into her car and heading back to the apartment.

He Miao was watching over Zhang Yue, so she wasn’t worried.

She spent the entire day sitting on the couch, going through the contents of the cardboard box. There wasn’t much inside, and she could finish flipping through it in about an hour.

There wasn’t much useful information. As Zhang Yue had said, most of the things inside were memories from her time in Jiangcheng with Zhao Zhicheng.

She took pictures of everything and sent them to Zheng Huan.

Zheng Huan was the detective she hired five years ago, and also the owner of the unlisted phone number in her phone.

The last picture she took was of a can of beer. This wasn’t a common beer found in stores. It had a green metal can with just two characters on it: “Jia Tu.”

The Cen family started with soft drinks, so Jiang Se was somewhat familiar with different alcoholic beverages.

This beer, however, was unheard of—likely a local brew from some small town.

With a slight twist of her wrist, Jiang Se looked down at the address on the can.

Bo County.

The name was unfamiliar, yet it somehow felt vaguely familiar.

She picked up her phone again and took a picture of the address.

Although there weren’t many clues left in the box, it wasn’t without its value.

Before Zhao Zhicheng went to commit murder, he had mentioned needing someone’s help. On his last night in Jiangcheng eight years ago, he suddenly handed a large sum of money to Zhang Yue and asked her to come to Tongcheng.

Who gave him that money?

Why did he leave Zhang Yue at that time?

At that time, Zhang Yue had clearly not moved on from the shadows of the past. Their life in Jiangcheng was so peaceful, and Zhao Zhicheng shouldn’t have left at that moment.

Unless it was something he couldn’t avoid.

Was it possible that the person who had helped him before asked him to go to Beicheng?

Perhaps out of a sense of debt, he had no choice but to go, even though he didn’t want to leave Zhang Yue, even though he didn’t want to get involved with people like Zhuang Qiang and Qian Wenxu.

Jiang Se slowly organized her thoughts until the phone on the couch buzzed, snapping her back to reality.

She picked up the phone and saw that it was already 4 PM.

It was a call from Lu Huaiyan. He had just gotten off the plane and called her from a relatively quiet spot.

She hadn’t replied to his messages all day and thought he was going to scold her for being heartless.

But to her surprise, the first thing he asked when the call connected was: “What did you have for breakfast today?”

Jiang Se bent her legs and slowly leaned back on the couch, replying calmly, “Smoked salmon tart and red tea.”

“Was it good?”

“Not bad.”

As soon as she finished saying “not bad,” Lu Huaiyan laughed and said, “Se Se, airplane food is terrible.”

There was a lot of noise in the background on his side, and she could vaguely hear announcements for flights.

The way he said it didn’t sound like he was complaining, but rather like he was expressing regret—regret that they hadn’t had breakfast together this morning.

The beer rolled off her hand and onto the sofa, and Jiang Se lowered her eyelashes, asking, “Are you still at the airport?”

“Mm, just got off the plane.” After saying that, the phone buzzed again. Lu Huaiyan checked his phone, saw it was a call from Guan Shaoting, and then brought the phone back to his ear. “The person picking me up has arrived. I’ll call you later.”

Jiang Se replied with a soft “mm,” and silently hung up the phone.

At Heathrow Airport, in the arrival hall.

Guan Shaoting had his hands in the pockets of his coat, looking humorously at the girl beside him. He teased, “It’s rare for you to be up this early today. Grandma said ever since you came to the UK, you’ve been sleeping until ten every day.”

He spoke Cantonese, but Guan Jiayi responded in fluent Mandarin: “I’ve been practicing dance so hard every day; of course, I need to sleep a little longer.”

She was petite and lively, her eyes full of energy. When she smiled, a small dimple appeared on her cheek, and even when she was refuting someone, there was a soft, endearing tone to her voice.

Guan Shaoting shook his head. “In the past, you refused to learn Mandarin, but these past few years, you’ve really mastered it.”

Guan Jiayi shrugged. “If I don’t learn Mandarin well, how can I chase after Ah Yan?”

Guan Shaoting chuckled in disbelief. “You call him Ah Yan too? You’re so disrespectful. Ah Yan is five years older than you, and you should call him Brother Yan.”

“Of course not.” Guan Jiayi was about to retort when she caught sight of a tall figure out of the corner of her eye. She immediately stopped talking and waved toward that person. “Ah Yan!”

Lu Huaiyan turned toward the sound of her voice and saw Guan Jiayi. He seemed slightly surprised and said, “Why are you here?”

He then gave Guan Shaoting a one-armed hug and said, “I told you not to come pick me up.”

Guan Shaoting glanced at his sister helplessly and replied, “I didn’t want to come either, but Grandma told Jiayi that I have no sense of duty, so I had no choice. Don’t thank me—thank Grandma and Jiayi.”

Lu Huaiyan smiled faintly at this. “How is Linda?”

Linda was their grandmother, and she hated being called old. Lu Huaiyan always referred to her by her English name.

Guan Jiayi took over the conversation: “Grandma is fine. She was so happy when she heard you were coming. She said she was going to bring out the Romanee-Conti she’s been saving in the wine cellar and drink it with you tonight.”

At this, Lu Huaiyan shifted his gaze back to her and said, “Your Mandarin has improved a lot.”

When Guan Jiayi was younger, she couldn’t roll her tongue when speaking Mandarin and was often teased by her older brothers, so she gave up learning it. After she came to England for school, she decided to push through and continue learning, especially after meeting Lu Huaiyan.

Now, unless you listened very closely, you could hardly hear any trace of a Hong Kong accent in her speech.

She was quite proud of this and boasted without hesitation, “I’m a top student under a great teacher. Ah Yan, you taught me well.”

Lu Huaiyan didn’t acknowledge the compliment and merely smiled ambiguously.

Guan Shaoting, who had been listening to this, couldn’t take it anymore and subtly rolled his eyes at his sister.

Lu Huaiyan had only given her a couple of tips when she first came to the UK. The rest of her language skills were mostly thanks to her language teachers. But all Jiayi remembered was that it was Ah Yan who taught her.

Receiving the glare from her older brother, Guan Jiayi immediately flashed an innocent smile, showing eight teeth, and clung to his arm. “But Second Brother taught me too, he’s a great teacher too.”

This girl knew how to act spoiled, and Guan Shaoting could only shake his head and smile, helpless.

The Guan family car was waiting outside the airport. Knowing that Guan Shaoting and Lu Huaiyan had business to discuss, Guan Jiayi took the initiative to sit in the passenger seat.

Guan Shaoting raised the partition to the backseat, pulled a cigarette out of his jacket pocket, and offered it to Lu Huaiyan.

But Lu Huaiyan didn’t take it. “I quit smoking.”

Guan Shaoting raised an eyebrow. “The last time we met, you were still smoking. You didn’t mention anything about quitting.”

Lu Huaiyan glanced out the car window and smiled faintly.

If he didn’t quit, that young lady probably wouldn’t even let him hug her.

Guan Shaoting, still holding the cigarette, put it in his mouth, lit it, and took a drag. “So, why aren’t you staying longer this time? Duke Edward is coming back from Egypt next week. Aren’t you going to meet him?”

The old Duke had been their guest professor when they were studying economic history at university and had a high regard for Lu Huaiyan. Every time Lu Huaiyan came to the UK, the Duke would invite him to stay at his manor.

Lu Huaiyan explained briefly, “Several projects back in China are at critical points, plus the Lunar New Year is approaching. You know my grandfather’s temperament.”

Guan Shaoting understood immediately and didn’t press further. Instead, he said, “Before you go back to China, I need your help with something.”

Lu Huaiyan raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

Guan Shaoting flicked the ash off his cigarette and teased, “You’ll know when the time comes. I can’t tell you right now.”

After finishing the cigarette, the faint smell of smoke lingered in the car. Lu Huaiyan lowered the window slightly to let the smell dissipate.

The two of them discussed business during lunch, having a simple meal at the Lu Corporation’s London branch. They were so busy that it wasn’t until nearly three in the afternoon that they set off for the Guan family’s villa in Richmond Park.

That was where Guan Shaoting’s grandmother, Linda, lived. Over the years Lu Huaiyan had studied in the UK, the elderly lady had always shown him great care, to the point where sometimes even Guan Shaoting felt a little jealous.

After the greetings and pleasantries, Lu Huaiyan had two cups of tea with Linda. He then excused himself, saying “excuse me,” and stepped out into the small garden to call Jiang Se.

It was four o’clock in the afternoon in London, but in Tongcheng, it was already eleven at night.

He timed the call carefully, intending to simply wish Jiang Se good night. But as soon as the phone connected, a bright and lively “Ah Yan!” rang out from behind him.

The enthusiastic “Ah Yan” came from a young girl, and Jiang Se could hear it clearly over the phone. It was obvious she had a close relationship with Lu Huaiyan.

She stayed silent.

Lu Huaiyan slightly turned to the side, raising the phone in his hand to indicate he was on a call.

Guan Jiayi was rushing down the stairs and didn’t notice that Lu Huaiyan was on the phone. Seeing him, she immediately stopped and apologized awkwardly, “Sorry, I didn’t see you were on the phone. You go ahead and talk, I’ll wait for you in the living room. Linda wants us to go together to the wine cellar and pick out some wine.”

After saying this, she lifted the hem of her skirt and went back inside.

Lu Huaiyan turned his gaze back, took a few steps toward a hawthorn tree, and asked Jiang Se, “What is the young lady up to?”

Jiang Se glanced at the encyclopedia on the table. It was the one from the cardboard box, Zhao Zhicheng’s belongings. He had always liked flowers and birds.

She shifted her hand away from the book and said drily, “She’s reading a book about birds.”

Lu Huaiyan raised an eyebrow. “Interested in birds? Do you remember the few birds my grandfather kept in the old house? I’ll take you there next time.”

Jiang Se pursed her lips slightly. “Those birds have bad tempers. I don’t want to see them.”

She spoke the truth. The birds were old Mr. Lu’s beloved pets, raised for many years, and even losing a feather would make him upset.

She had tried to get along with them the first time she visited the Lu family’s old house, but the first attempt to feed them resulted in being pecked on the hand.

The wound wasn’t serious, but since then, Jiang Se had no interest in them.

Lu Huaiyan seemed to recall the incident, which he had heard about from his grandfather. He smiled and said, “Grandfather mentioned you got pecked by them once?”

He paused for a moment, the smile on his lips deepening. Then, slowly and teasingly, he added, “Your temper isn’t much better than theirs. The cut you gave me on my tongue last night still hurts.”

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