He was an exceptionally handsome man, with a strikingly attractive face.
His complexion was cool and pale, his features finely sculpted, his nose high and straight, his thin lips faintly pursed.
Most eye-catching were his eyes. They were as deep as a nighttime sea concealing a sky full of stars, and at that moment, they held a trace of barely perceptible interest as he looked at her.
Lin Qingqian’s heartbeat skipped without warning.
“Your brother had something urgent to attend to, so he went inside first,” the man explained. His tone was casual, yet his words instantly brought her back to her senses, making her cheeks grow warm.
She had actually slept so deeply in a strange man’s car.
She hurriedly sat up straight, clumsily smoothing her slightly mussed hair and straightening her collar. Her movements held the dazed innocence of someone who had just woken up, along with a hint of embarrassment.
Standing outside the car, the man took in every one of her small movements. The corner of his lips lifted into an almost imperceptible, faint curve.
“Good. Not messy,” he said in a low voice, a trace of indistinct amusement in his tone.
Lin Qingqian’s hands paused. She raised her eyes and once again met his gaze.
His eyes no longer held only depth and indifference. There seemed to be something else in them… a gentle scrutiny?
Before she could figure out how to respond, the man straightened and walked toward an old tree not far away.
He leaned against the trunk and took a cigarette case and lighter from his pocket.
With a click, an eerie blue flame lit up in the night, instantly illuminating his cold, handsome profile.
He turned his head slightly and was about to light a cigarette when his gaze inadvertently swept over her, still sitting in the car.
His movement halted.
Seeing her somewhat helpless expression, he seemed to understand something. A trace of realization passed through his eyes, followed by a helpless, quiet laugh. He simply put away the lighter and slipped the unlit cigarette back into the case.
That slight, considerate gesture, carrying a touch of respect, was like a feather gently brushing over the tip of Lin Qingqian’s heart.
A strange, subtle warmth quietly dispelled the last trace of chill she had brought with her from Haicheng.
She felt her heartbeat speed up again, despite herself.
At that moment, Lin Jiayou came out of the house, breaking the delicate silence. “Shilin, don’t you still have a gathering to attend? Hurry up and go. Thanks for today!”
Only then did Lin Qingqian completely come back to herself. She practically climbed out of the car at once.
The cold wind blew against her, but the heat in her face did not fade.
“Older Brother, I’ll go inside and see maternal grandmother first,” she said quietly to Lin Jiayou. Then she turned toward the man named Lu Shilin, dipped her head slightly, and said in a soft but sincere voice, “Thank you.”
She did not look into his eyes again. Turning around, she hurried toward the door glowing with warm light.
Yet the calm gaze behind her seemed to follow her all the way, together with the clean scent of pine and that unlit cigarette, branding itself into the night she had first arrived in Jingbei.
In a room on the first floor, an elderly woman was sleeping soundly on the bed. Her face was somewhat pale, and her skin was loose and clammy.
Lin Qingqian followed her brother into the room and immediately saw maternal grandmother lying on the bed. The sickly pallor on her face instantly reddened Lin Qingqian’s eyes.
“Maternal grandmother, what… happened to you?” Lin Qingqian knitted her brows tightly. Her worried gaze lifted from the elderly woman on the bed to the person before her. “You seemed fine when we spoke on the phone before. How did you suddenly… get sick?”
“She caught a cold some time ago, which triggered an old illness. Maternal grandmother wouldn’t let me tell you because she was afraid you’d worry. And with the end of the year approaching, you’ve been so busy with work. I figured there was no need to tell you, but…” Lin Jiayou’s voice remained unhurried, though it grew quieter toward the end.
Lin Qingqian looked at him and spoke without much emotion. “You just didn’t expect that when I called to say I was returning to Jingbei, you still wouldn’t think to tell me over the phone.”
It was an accusation.
“Does that woman know?” she asked again—the woman who did not even deserve to have her name mentioned.
Lin Jiayou’s brows drew together slightly at her words. “That’s our mother. Don’t be so disrespectful.”
Lin Qingqian gave a cold snort and said nothing. Then she crouched beside the bed, placed both hands on its edge, and leaned over to gaze at maternal grandmother’s sleeping face.
Lin Jiayou remained silent for a long while.
“She’s on tour in the Netherlands. She’ll return to the country after it ends the day after tomorrow. I haven’t had the chance to tell her that you’re back.”
Lin Qingqian said sullenly, “There’s no need to tell her. She’s a woman with no sense of responsibility. I can’t be bothered to speak to her either.”
Lin Jiayou was clearly stunned. Then he heard her continue, “Older Brother, I’ll stay with maternal grandmother tonight. Go take care of your own business.”
*
The next morning, the winter smog was heavy. Lin Qingqian was awakened by maternal grandmother’s voice.
She opened her bleary eyes to see maternal grandmother’s kindly, peaceful smile.
“Our Qianqian is back! My girl has learned how to surprise maternal grandmother.”
Seeing her slowly open her eyes, maternal grandmother laughed for a long while.
When Lin Qingqian saw maternal grandmother’s face clearly, she abruptly sat up in bed and cried out, “Maternal grandmother, Qianqian missed you so much!”
Then she tightly embraced maternal grandmother, resting her chin against her shoulder as she cried and laughed at the same time.
The hand on her back was thin and bony, its knuckles prominent and its skin slack, as though time had drawn all the moisture from it. It patted her gently and rhythmically.
“Silly girl, it’s good that you’re back. Why are you crying?” maternal grandmother soothed her in a voice as light as a thread, full of affection.
Lin Qingqian pressed her lips together and released maternal grandmother. She gazed at her, and when she spoke, her voice was no longer as composed as before. Without realizing it, she had begun to speak with a trace of sobbing.
“Maternal grandmother, if you weren’t feeling well, why didn’t you tell Qianqian? If I hadn’t come back, how long were you planning to keep it from me?”
After speaking, she wiped her tears haphazardly and choked out in a small voice, “Qianqian is an outsider. Even Older Brother helped keep it from me. Qianqian is so sad.”
Seeing this, maternal grandmother quickly pulled back, took her hand, and looked up at Lin Qingqian as tears streamed down her face. Her heart immediately tightened with distress. She raised her other hand to wipe away the tears from the corners of Lin Qingqian’s eyes.
“Oh, my darling, don’t cry, don’t cry. How could Qianqian be an outsider? Maternal grandmother only has a minor cold. It’s nothing serious.”
Maternal grandmother’s voice softened as well. Her heart ached, and she could not bear to see her most cherished granddaughter shed tears, so she hurriedly explained, “You’re working away from home, and the end of the year is almost here. Maternal grandmother was just afraid that you’d worry yourself into a panic, abandon your work in Haicheng, and come back to see me. Wouldn’t that delay your career?”
Maternal grandmother’s words pierced Lin Qingqian’s heart once again. Her heart throbbed with a tearing pain, as though it had been ripped away.
Lin Qingqian, pain is what you deserve!
This little bit of pain is nothing. You deserve to endure it.
For the sake of a worthless man, you left this home without a second thought, abandoned maternal grandmother, and in the end, you still had to come crawling back in disgrace.
You even made maternal grandmother worry herself sick over you. What use is there in crying now?
How ironic. The only thing mother and daughter had in common was that they had both lost their heads over scumbag men. One had abandoned a stable family business; the other had thrown away a bright future. In the end, one was hurt more deeply than the other, each pain stabbing straight into the heart.
And yet, in their bones, they both carried the blood of women who dared to love and hate. When their sincerity was betrayed and their vows became corrupted, they would turn away without looking back.
Lin Qingqian had always been a neat freak. Anything that had been touched by someone else, she would throw away without hesitation.
Chen Ge was no exception.