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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 43: Jiang Se, Do You Understand?

As soon as he said this, Jiang Se was reminded of the burning sensation of his breath when his tongue had invaded her mouth the night before.

Her tongue had been sucked to the point of pain, and she had nearly lost her breath.

“You brought this upon yourself,” she said.

“Am I blaming you?” Lu Huaiyan chuckled lightly. “You’re upset just because I said one thing? How about when we go back, I’ll give you a little opening?”

The conversation was veering off track—she wasn’t a cannibal. Why would she bite him for no reason?

Jiang Se closed the book on the desk, and said casually, “Didn’t you say you were going to the wine cellar to get some wine? Go ahead, I need to sleep.”

The whole point of Lu Huaiyan making this phone call was just to say goodnight to her. Hearing her words, he chuckled and said, “Sleep well, young lady.”

The sky in London was overcast, and the wind was strong, blowing several clumps of snow off the hawthorn tree.

Lu Huaiyan walked slowly out from under the tree, glancing sideways at Guan Jiayi, who kept looking toward him. Then he recalled something and said, “The person I just spoke to was Guan Shaoting’s sister. I’m having dinner at their grandmother’s place tonight, and both of them are here. Later, I’ll have Guan Shaoting accompany her to the wine cellar to get that bottle of wine.”

Jiang Se was about to hang up the phone, but hearing him mention this, she paused.

She hadn’t intended to inquire about his affairs. Who he was talking to or what he was going to do with that person wasn’t something she planned to ask about.

But now, hearing Lu Huaiyan say the voice just now belonged to Guan Jiayi, she quickly imagined a bright, charming face.

Two years ago, at the banquet for Grandpa Lu’s birthday, the Guan family had also attended.

At that time, Jiang Se had naturally met Guan Jiayi and exchanged a few words with her. Guan Jiayi was asking about where the best theater in North City was, and since Jiang Se happened to know, she had pointed out two places.

Thinking back on it now, Jiang Se vaguely understood why Guan Jiayi had wanted to watch Peking Opera back then.

She reached up to turn off the desk lamp, and with a soft “mm,” she ended the call with a simple “Good night.”

Lu Huaiyan put his phone back in his pocket, opened the glass door that connected the living room to the small garden, and returned indoors.

As soon as he entered, Guan Jiayi came over to greet him.

She wore a bright smile and was about to speak, but Lu Huaiyan beat her to it.

He looked at Guan Shaoting, who was sitting on the sofa, and said, “Shaoting, please accompany Mia to the wine cellar to get the wine. I’m going to the kitchen to find Linda. I’ll learn how to make Smoke Salmon Tartare with her.”

Mia was Guan Jiayi’s English name; he had always called her that.

The smoked salmon tartare was the only appetizer Lu Huaiyan had ordered when Linda asked him what he wanted to eat.

Guan Jiayi watched his back as he walked toward the kitchen, and for some reason, she remembered the first time she met Lu Huaiyan.

She was only thirteen at the time, and because of her intense aversion to school, she had delayed her move to the UK until the very last day of the summer holidays.

She remembered clearly—August 16th, the day before school started.

The entire Richmond Park was covered with golden fallen leaves. She pushed open the backyard gate of her grandmother’s house and immediately spotted the young man standing under the hawthorn tree.

To call him a young man might not be entirely accurate. The aura he exuded was reserved, a sense of stability that only a man could possess.

He must have just come from the nearby polo club. He was still wearing white riding pants and brown leather boots, holding his polo hat in one hand while speaking on the phone with the other.

Sweat-dampened hair hung loosely over his brows, and the contours of his side profile were strikingly deep.

Guan Jiayi suddenly had a thought in her mind: This person must be the “Ah Yan” that her second brother and grandmother always mentioned when they returned to Hong Kong.

She had heard that name for five years, and in that moment, when the face matched the name, something struck her heart.

As she entered the backyard, he must have just finished the call.

However, his phone remained pressed to his ear, not lowering for some time.

Guan Jiayi couldn’t help but recall a sentence her grandmother had once said to her second brother: “Listen to the music to understand a person’s heart, Ah Yan is a very lonely person.”

Perhaps it was because of those words, or perhaps because he was still listening intently to the call that had already ended.

Guan Jiayi couldn’t shake the feeling that Lu Huaiyan seemed lonely at that moment.

But when his eyes turned toward her, she saw no trace of loneliness, only a faint indifference in his dark gaze.

Not sure where the courage came from, Guan Jiayi, to her surprise, spoke to him in broken Mandarin.

He clearly struggled to understand, showing little patience. After a few seconds, he interrupted her in English, saying simply: “You can speak to me in English.”

In that instant, she made a decision: she would speak flawless Mandarin, as fluent as it could be.

And now, she was finally able to speak to him in fluent Mandarin.

Soon, the sound of conversation between Lu Huaiyan and Linda came from the kitchen.

Guan Jiayi withdrew her gaze, turned her head, and shot an accusing look at Guan Shaoting, who was sitting on the sofa.

Guan Shaoting, confused by her stare, followed her to the wine cellar and finally realized what she had meant by that look earlier.

“If you hadn’t been on the sofa just now, you’d be accompanying me to get the wine with Ah Yan,” she complained. “Why didn’t you take a longer shower!”

“……”

Guan Shaoting sighed helplessly. “Jiayi, Ah Yan isn’t someone you can chase after just by following him around.”

He took out a bottle of Romanee Conti from the wine cabinet, turned to her seriously, and said, “When you were fourteen, your second brother told you the same thing. If you really want to be with him, you have to grow into someone like him first.”

After saying this, he let go of the bottle, ruffled her hair, and spoke encouragingly: “So, let’s work on Mia’s dream first—become the principal dancer of the Royal Ballet. As for the rest, don’t worry, your second brother will make sure Ah Yan goes to your performance at the Royal Theatre on the 26th. He’ll see that our Jiayi is no longer the little Mia from nine years ago.”

Guan Jiayi’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

Lu Huaiyan had never seen her perform. The first year she arrived in the UK, there had been a Christmas performance at her school where she played the lead in “Snow White.”

Her parents had flown all the way from Hong Kong to cheer her on for that performance.

Lu Huaiyan had a good relationship with his grandmother, and Jiang Jiayi had initially thought that when Grandma asked him, he would come to see her dance. However, he didn’t show up at all.

The following summer, after he graduated from university, he returned to North City. In the years after, even when he came to Europe, it was only to have a meal with his grandmother and then leave.

Jiang Jiayi knew he had always been busy climbing the ranks.

From the boy standing under the hawthorn tree back then, he had grown into the current heir of the Lu family, capable of standing on his own.

She had always remembered what her second brother said to her when she was fourteen, and indeed, she was no longer the little girl who spoke to him in broken Mandarin.

“Second Brother, you better keep your word.” The young girl, full of anticipation, held onto Guan Shaoting’s hand on the wooden stairs leading to the first floor and said, “If you can’t do it, I won’t talk to you this year.”

“……”

The treasured bottle of Romanee Conti had been shared between Lu Huaiyan and Linda, who had drunk most of it.

Linda, a former concert pianist, felt the effects of the wine quickly and immediately tried to pull Lu Huaiyan into playing the piano with her.

In the living room stood a handcrafted Steinway, and Linda lit a cigarette, starting to play the piano.

She was no longer young, her hair a fashionable shade of grey, and her demeanor exuded elegance. But when she played, she was full of passion, and the lively “The Waltz” filled the room.

Lu Huaiyan didn’t want to ruin her mood, so he waited until she finished and then sat down on the piano bench.

After a moment of contemplation, his fingers began to play a series of soft, flowing notes.

It was Debussy’s Clair de Lune.

This was the piece Jiang Se had chosen for her coming-of-age ceremony, one she had picked for herself.

When Lu Huaiyan played, his expression was focused.

He had studied under renowned teachers from a young age and won numerous awards by the time he was in his teens. But in recent years, he had been so busy fulfilling his duties as an heir that he rarely had time to touch the piano. As a result, his skills were no longer what they once were.

Linda, however, was thoroughly enjoying the music.

Lu Huaiyan played only that one piece that evening, and by the time he returned to his apartment on Oxford Street, it was around eight or nine in the evening, and the sky had already darkened.

It was only when he passed the bar that he remembered he had forgotten to ask that girl what she wanted as a gift.

So, he took a picture of the wine cabinet with all the bottles and sent it to Jiang Se: “Which ones would you like? I’ll bring them back for you in a few days.”

Jiang Se saw his message as soon as she woke up. While brushing her teeth, she opened the photo and started carefully selecting.

In the end, she chose three bottles, all of them whiskey.

After choosing the wine, she changed her clothes and went to Pear Garden Street for breakfast.

In just a few days, it would be the “Little New Year.” Jiang Tang and Jiang Ye would be returning home, and after the Little New Year, it would be the Lunar New Year.

As she walked along the street, the festive atmosphere of the approaching holiday was already beginning to fill the air.

Yu Shiying had taken half a day off today and said she would take Jiang Se to make a new outfit for the New Year.

They went to an old tailor shop, which was somewhat similar to Zhang Yue’s, but it didn’t specialize in making qipaos.

“When we were little, Ah Tang and Xiao Yu used to make their New Year clothes here.”

Jiang Se glanced at the traditional Hanfu garments hanging on the wall and fell silent for a moment before saying, “Do you want me to wear a Hanfu for the New Year this year?”

Yu Shiying, holding her hand, led her into the back room and smiled, “Don’t you like qipaos? I asked Aunt Qi, and she said she can make you a modified version.”

She still remembered Jiang Se casually mentioning wanting a qipao when she had asked Zhang Yue to make one.

Jiang Se actually didn’t love wearing qipaos, but seeing the gentle smile in Yu Shiying’s eyes, she didn’t bring it up. She obediently let Aunt Qi measure her size.

That evening, after returning to the apartment and taking a bath, Jiang Se sat on the bed, thinking about the qipao she had mentioned to Zhang Yue earlier. She naturally flipped through the encyclopedia again and turned back to the page about the Wuzhu bird.

Zhao Zhicheng had marked the words “Jile Bird” on that page.

These words reminded Jiang Se of the line Zhang Yue had once mentioned, about the bird that, once it lands, can only wait for death.

It was such a sad kind of bird, and Jiang Se really didn’t want that qipao after all.

She put the book back into the box and, the next morning, took the box to Zhang Yue’s apartment.

For the past few days, it was He Miao who had been taking care of Zhang Yue, but when Jiang Se arrived, she didn’t see He Miao around, so she asked, “Where’s He Miao?”

“He Miao went home to help. The New Year is coming soon, and she has to help her parents with the work,” Zhang Yue said, sounding much better than she had two days ago. Using a cane, she managed to walk into the kitchen to make tea for Jiang Se. Jiang Se accepted the tea and took a slow sip before saying, “You look better today.”

Zhang Yue gave a faint smile and glanced at the box of items on the couch. “You’ve gone through it all.”

Jiang Se nodded, and together they returned to the living room and sat on the couch.

She pulled out a can of expired beer from the box and asked, “This beer, was it brought by Zhao Zhicheng?”

Zhang Yue looked at the beer. She was very familiar with everything in that box and immediately remembered where the beer had come from.

“It was the last day Zhao Zhicheng was in Jiangcheng. He brought it back, along with the money.” She took the beer from Jiang Se’s hand and looked at it thoughtfully. “That was the first time I saw this beer. Zhao Zhicheng never drinks alcohol.”

Never drank alcohol, yet he brought back a bottle that day.

Was it given to him by someone? Along with that money?

Jiang Se raised her eyes. “Boss Zhang, can I take this beer with me? I’ll return it to you once I’m done.”

Zhang Yue casually responded with a “Hmm” and said, “Anything in this box that you need, you can take with you.”

Jiang Se glanced at her and gave a slight nod.

The two of them continued talking until lunchtime, mostly with Zhang Yue doing the talking and Jiang Se listening.

They talked about all the trivial matters between her and Zhao Zhicheng.

It seemed like Zhang Yue had finally found someone to talk to, and despite her dry throat, she kept the conversation going.

When it was time to leave, Zhang Yue, leaning on her cane, asked Jiang Se, “Miss Jiang, I’ve told you everything about me and Zhao Zhicheng. Is there anything else you want to ask?”

“For now, I can’t think of anything else to ask,” Jiang Se said, her gaze lingering on the dark circles under Zhang Yue’s eyes. “You should focus on your health. You can keep the two contracts I brought.”

She handed over the contracts, but Zhang Yue didn’t look at them right away. Instead, she continued looking at Jiang Se and said, “Miss Jiang, I hope you catch that person.”

She said this with a smile, her expression calm.

Jiang Se looked at her, smiled back, and nodded. “I will.”

As she was leaving, a door on the ground floor opened, and the family inside was placing a fruit platter and upside-down “Fu” character decorations on their door.

The bright red diamond-shaped paper with a rough gold “Fu” character written on it.

It felt like a bit of ordinary luck in the world was arriving just like this.

Jiang Se glanced back at the clean, dust-covered wall outside the iron door she had just passed. There were no signs of Spring Festival couplets being pasted there.

Since Zhao Zhicheng’s departure, it seemed Zhang Yue hadn’t celebrated the Spring Festival in many years.

She had already made plans with Yu Shiying to go buy couplets the next day.

She thought, maybe she should buy an extra pair and have He Miao paste them on the door.

The next day, January 26th, Jiang Se and Yu Shiying not only bought the Spring Festival couplets but also picked up a few pots of beautiful narcissus flowers.

Jiang Se brought the flowers and couplets back to the apartment and called He Miao.

The phone picked up quickly. “Miss Jiang, what a coincidence! I was just about to call you! Are you home? I’m on my way to Fuchun Street. My master has prepared a New Year’s gift for you, and she asked me to give it to you when I see you in a few days. Since you live near Fuchun Street, I thought I’d bring it to you today.”

Jiang Se’s gaze sharpened. “What kind of gift? When did you meet your master?”

He Miao’s voice sounded light and upbeat. “I met her at noon. She invited me to lunch, and she also prepared a New Year’s gift for me. I told her that I’d be at my place for the reunion dinner on New Year’s Eve, and she agreed to come.”

Jiang Se glanced at her watch. It was almost 5 p.m.

She recalled Zhang Yue’s smiling face the last time they met, and the attitude she had when letting her take the beer. A thought crossed her mind.

“He Miao, open the gift your master prepared for me and take a look.”

“Isn’t that inappropriate, Master—”

“Just do it quickly!”

He Miao froze for a moment, then obediently opened the box she was holding.

It was a beautiful qipao.

The color was a deep iris blue, and on the shoulder was a bird without feet, looking upwards, as if waiting for a clear blue sky.

She smiled. “Miss Jiang, my master made you a qipao.”

“Does the qipao have an embroidered bird without feet?”

“Huh? It really does have a bird with no feet.”

There was a sudden “clink” as the narcissus flower slipped from Jiang Se’s hand, the unopened bud falling into the mud and debris, instantly losing its roots.

Jiang Se’s eyelids twitched. She quickly turned around. “He Miao, you need to go back! Go check on your master right now!”

She grabbed her keys and hurried out the door, running down the stairs while taking out her phone. Just as she was about to dial, a call came in.

Without even glancing at the screen, she hung up the call and dialed 120.

It was just after 10 a.m. in London. Lu Huaiyan looked at the phone that had been hung up, his eyebrows slightly raising.

Guan Shaoting walked into the conference room with a glass of champagne in hand, saying, “Didn’t those Brits agree to collaborate with the Lu Corporation? Why do they still look so serious?”

He knocked on the conference table and smiled. “Linda said she wants to celebrate with us. Let’s go now, so she doesn’t get impatient.”

Lu Huaiyan rubbed his temples, put his phone back in his pocket, and followed Guan Shaoting out of the conference room.

The whole way, he felt uneasy.

He rarely felt like this. The last time he felt this way was the day Han Yin committed suicide.

He glanced at the gray sky, rolled up the car window, and dialed Jiang Se again. This time, the call didn’t get hung up, but went to voicemail.

The black Rolls-Royce stopped in front of the Guan family’s villa, and the call still hadn’t gone through.

Linda came out to greet them. “Our Mia has an important performance tonight and is in the dance troupe, preparing for it. It’s just the three of us celebrating today.”

Guan Shaoting picked up the conversation and looked at Lu Huaiyan, smiling. “The favor I asked you to help with when you first arrived—that’s the thing. Mia’s performance tonight is very important to her. My parents won’t make it in time, so it’s just the three of us showing our support. I know you’re not a fan of ballet, but since you have nothing else to do tonight, how about coming with Linda and me to watch?”

Lu Huaiyan glanced at the old-fashioned wall clock.

It was already 12 o’clock. He had been cut off from Jiang Se for a full two hours.

“Sorry, I need to make a call first.” He looked at Linda and Guan Shaoting. “It’s an important call.”

He didn’t even put on his coat before pulling out his phone and heading to the garden.

Under the hawthorn tree, the snow fell gently.

Lu Huaiyan first called Fang Shang and Li Ruidu, then continued dialing Jiang Se’s number.

This time, the phone rang three times before finally connecting.

Just as he was about to speak, a soft voice came through the other end: “Lu Huaiyan, I think I did something wrong.”

His throat tightened, and the words he had prepared instantly scattered.

After a moment, he lifted his gaze and asked, “Se Se, where are you?”

Outside the operating room, Jiang Se looked at the red light that indicated the surgery was ongoing, not responding to his question but softly saying, “I should have guessed that she would figure it out.”

On the other end of the line, Lu Huaiyan pursed his lips and asked again, “Se Se, where are you?”

Jiang Se slowly lowered her eyelashes, her voice soft but clear: “I’m at the hospital. Zhang Yue… She attempted suicide. She took a lot of sleeping pills.”

There was a pause in her voice, then she continued, “Why do people always end up at hospitals? I really… I hate this place.”

Lu Huaiyan turned and walked back inside the house. “I’m coming to get you now.”

He hung up the phone and pushed open the glass door.

Guan Shaoting saw him leave and return quickly, laughing, “So fast? What I was just saying—”

“Sorry, Shaoting,” Lu Huaiyan interrupted, bending down to pick up the coat that was draped over the sofa. “I need to leave London immediately. There are things I need to take care of.”

Guan Shaoting was stunned. “So urgent? Isn’t your flight tomorrow morning? I specifically planned for these days—”

“Watson,” Guan Shaoting was about to finish his sentence when he was interrupted again. Linda looked at him, shaking her head, then turned her gaze toward Lu Huaiyan. “Is it the person you were thinking about when you played the piano that night?”

Lu Huaiyan nodded slightly, then stepped forward to hug Linda, giving her a cheek kiss. He spoke softly, “I’ll bring her to visit you when the time comes.”

Linda patted his shoulder kindly. “It’s a deal. Go ahead and find her.”

There were no direct flights from the UK to Tongcheng, so Lu Huaiyan took the company’s private jet. By the time the plane arrived in Tongcheng on the morning of the 27th, Zhang Yue was still in a coma, but she had survived thanks to timely medical attention.

Jiang Se and He Miao had stayed by her side all night, both of them with red, tired eyes.

Around 8 or 9 in the morning, the whole city seemed to be slowly waking up, filled with the noisy sounds of a busy world.

Jiang Se stood by the window, quietly watching the human activity outside the hospital building.

At that moment, the door was pushed open.

The man, covered in snow, walked slowly toward her, looking at her bloodshot eyes. He lowered his voice, “You need to sleep. I’ve arranged for someone to take care of Zhang Yue. Come with me to get some rest, and when you wake up, I’ll bring you back.”

“Lu Huaiyan—”

“Be good.” Lu Huaiyan took her hand without asking and said firmly, “Zhang Yue won’t wake up so quickly. You need to take care of yourself first.”

Jiang Se’s cold hand slowly warmed in his grasp. She tried to pull it back, but he held it even tighter.

In the midst of the standoff, He Miao, wiping the tears that had dried on her face, spoke to Jiang Se, “Miss Jiang, you should go back and rest. Sleep for a few hours, then come back to help me. We can take turns taking care of Master like last time. We can’t let Master stay unconscious while we fall sick.”

Jiang Se remained silent for a moment, then quickly nodded and said, “I’ll come back to relieve you in the afternoon.”

The black sedan was waiting at the hospital entrance, and Lu Huaiyan took her back to the hotel.

The curtains in the suite were tightly drawn, blocking out even a sliver of light, and the entire room was engulfed in darkness.

Jiang Se had left in a hurry, not even having time to put on a coat. The one she was wearing was the one Lu Huaiyan had draped over her at the hospital. As she was about to take it off, the man’s arm suddenly wrapped around her from behind.

He pulled her tightly into his embrace, his chin resting against her temple.

After a moment of silence, he lowered his eyelashes and slowly spoke, “I’ve once saved someone who tried to commit suicide.”

“Se Se, remember, their suicide is not because we did something wrong, or because we didn’t do enough. It has never been about that.”

“Do you understand?”

His voice was calm, as smooth as a still lake, his tone soft and steady.

Jiang Se lowered her eyes. Though she wasn’t crying and her expression remained composed, her body trembled in his arms, as if she were struggling to breathe through the grief.

It was as if a wave of immense sadness had spread from her heart to her body.

Lu Huaiyan held her even tighter. In the darkness of the room, his voice came slowly and deliberately: “Jiang Se, do you understand?”

Jiang Se slowly raised her eyelids and placed her hands over his arm around her shoulder. She softly responded with a faint “Mm.”

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