At some point, light snow had begun drifting down outside again, while inside the house it remained warm as spring.
When Shang Chenyan pushed open the door, Shang Nian had already fallen asleep in Shi Ying’s arms.
The two of them were squeezed together on the small sofa. Shi Ying had already showered, her long hair loose over her shoulders, the ends still slightly damp.
She was still wearing the same clothes she’d arrived in. The cream-colored knit sweater wrapped around her slender figure, and resting against the gentle rise and fall of her chest was a small head.
Both of them had their eyes closed. Shi Ying’s cheeks were flushed pink—whether from the heat or the wine, no one could tell.
Shang Chenyan unconsciously slowed his steps and carefully lifted Shang Nian out of her arms first.
Shang Nian was a light sleeper. The moment she was moved, she opened her eyes.
Realizing she was leaving that warm embrace, she immediately began wriggling unhappily, her tiny arms reaching toward Shi Ying again.
“If you keep moving around, you’ll wake her up,” Shang Chenyan said quietly. “And if she wakes up, she’ll leave.”
Shang Nian instantly stopped moving.
Her lips puckered as she looked at him with aggrieved eyes.
Shang Chenyan was no longer fooled by that expression. He pinched her soft cheek lightly. “Be good and sleep. When you wake up tomorrow morning, you’ll still see her.”
He carried Shang Nian to bed and tucked the blanket securely around her.
Just as he was about to stand up, Shang Nian grabbed his hand.
Shang Chenyan rubbed her head gently. “When has Daddy ever lied to you? Close your eyes and go to sleep.”
Only then did Shang Nian relax and obediently close her eyes. Her tiny body curled beneath the blanket as she naturally pulled a stuffed doll into her arms.
After she fell asleep, Shang Chenyan returned to the sofa and picked Shi Ying up.
Shi Ying really couldn’t hold her liquor. Earlier, the way Shang Chenyan had poured the wine had simply been too elegant. Her mind had gone fuzzy for a moment and she’d accepted the glass without thinking. In the end, a single glass of red wine was enough to leave her dizzy.
Somewhere in her haze, she still remembered holding a child. Feeling the sudden emptiness in her arms, she let out a soft murmur and instinctively reached out.
Just as Shang Chenyan bent down to pick her up, her slender, delicate arms wrapped around his neck.
A faintly sweet scent brushed against his throat, lingering in threads that made his skin tingle unbearably.
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he pulled her closer into his arms.
Shi Ying thought Shang Nian had returned to her embrace and, completely satisfied, drifted deeper into sleep.
Half asleep, she vaguely heard low, restrained breathing surrounding her.
She felt hot, as though she were drifting with ocean waves beneath warm sunlight. A faint woody fragrance mixed with heat invaded her senses, carrying the slightest trace of musk.
Damp. Scorching.
Enough to make her head spin.
After a long while, the heat wrapped around her finally faded away. Shi Ying felt a little cold and unconsciously curled up tighter.
In the darkness, only the faint glow of the streetlamp outside illuminated the room, casting the tall silhouette by the window into view.
Shang Chenyan braced both hands on either side of her, suppressing the roughness of his breathing.
Sweat slid from his dark hair, trailing down the sharp line of his jaw before dripping onto the bed.
He turned over and sat on the edge of the mattress, his gaze locked obsessively on the woman lying there without blinking.
She was sleeping deeply—so deeply she didn’t even know someone had kissed her lips swollen.
Shang Chenyan’s eyes were rimmed red. He slowly reached out and gently stroked her brows and eyes, his voice hoarse with restrained desire.
“Yingying…”
“My wife… you came back…”
“You really came back…”
He slowly lowered himself and wrapped her tightly in his arms, holding her against his chest as he murmured her name over and over again.
That night, the insomnia that had tormented him for five years seemed to disappear completely. Breathing in the faint fragrance lingering on her body, he slept more deeply than ever before.
And in his dream, he saw the Shi Ying from those years again.
It was autumn in Jiangcheng.
The ginkgo trees across the campus looked as though sunlight had been crushed and scattered across their branches. Whenever the wind blew, golden leaves blanketed the ground, rustling softly beneath every step.
Shang Chenyan had always been a loner. The lively atmosphere of the school sports meet couldn’t stir him in the slightest, and the cheers and applause of his classmates only sounded noisy to him.
He sat alone beneath a distant tree, quietly staring into the distance.
“Shang Chenyan!”
A sweet, soft voice rang out behind him.
He had never known his own name could sound so sweet when spoken by someone else.
He turned around and saw a girl in a white shirt and navy pleated skirt jogging toward him with a bright smile.
Her skin was fair as snow, and her round almond-shaped eyes were as clear as spring water. Her long ponytail swayed through the air in graceful arcs as she ran.
Her name was Shi Ying, the class monitor of their class.
But the two of them had never spoken before.
She ran up to him. “Why are you sitting here all by yourself? Are you feeling sick?”
He shook his head.
“If you’re not feeling well, you have to tell me, okay? You can head back and rest early.”
As she spoke, she pulled out a small transparent box from behind her back, her eyes curving into crescents as she smiled.
“I brought you strawberry cake.”
Dappled light and shadow fell across her face, making even the ends of her hair seem to glow softly.
One glance.
A lifetime.
***
Shi Ying was woken up by her alarm.
Without opening her eyes, she stretched a hand out from beneath the blanket and blindly fumbled around until she finally silenced the annoying ringtone.
Then she rolled over and fell asleep again.
Two minutes later, the screen lit up once more. Before the alarm could ring again, a long, slender finger reached over and turned it off.
Shi Ying happily enjoyed another round of sleep.
Warm winter sunlight filtered through the gap in the curtains and landed softly on her face. She stretched lazily before finally opening her eyes.
Outside, the sky was already bright.
Shi Ying shot upright with a start and hurriedly grabbed her phone.
Ten-thirty.
She quickly threw off the blanket and jumped out of bed, but the moment her feet touched the soft carpet, she suddenly remembered—
She’d slept at Shang Chenyan’s house last night.
And today was her day off.
Shi Ying immediately collapsed backward onto the bed again.
Unlocking her phone, she saw several messages from Jiang Mingxue. After replying, she glanced at her alarms, only to find every single one marked as already gone off.
Strange.
How had she not heard any of them?
Afraid she wouldn’t wake up in time, she usually set four or five alarms every morning.
Yet today, not a single one had managed to wake her.
Shi Ying decided that from now on, she would set seven.
She rolled around comfortably on the bed for a while before finally getting up to wash up.
At that moment, the door opened a tiny crack, and a small head squeezed through.
Shang Nian was wearing fluffy bunny-ear pajamas. The moment she saw Shi Ying awake, she came running over with quick little steps.
Shi Ying crouched down and hugged her. “Shang Nian doesn’t have school today?”
Shang Nian shook her head. Pressing her cheek against Shi Ying’s neck, she called out in an extremely tiny voice—
“Mommy…”
Shi Ying froze, wondering if she’d misheard.
“Nian Nian… can you talk?”
But Shang Nian stopped speaking again, merely staring at her with those innocent, doll-like eyes.
Shi Ying gently patted her head. “Nian Nian, you can’t casually call someone Mommy. If your mommy heard that, she’d feel sad.”
Shang Nian lowered her head, but she still clung tightly to Shi Ying’s hand.
Shi Ying let out a soft sigh and brought her along to wash up. After changing clothes, the two of them headed downstairs together.
“Strange… Didn’t I sleep with you last night?” she asked while walking.
Shang Nian blinked. Her mouth opened slightly, but no sound came out.
Shi Ying scratched her head, unable to figure it out.
After placing Shang Nian on the sofa, she looked left and right for Shang Chenyan but couldn’t find him anywhere.
If he wasn’t home, and she didn’t even have his contact information, how was she supposed to get back?
“What are you looking for?”
The sudden voice startled her so badly that Shi Ying stumbled and nearly fell to the floor.
An arm wrapped around her waist from behind.
“Careful.”
The man’s low, mellow voice sounded above her head.
Instinctively, Shi Ying grabbed onto his shirt.
His handsome face was suddenly right in front of hers. The moment she looked up slightly, her eyes met his dark, unreadable gaze.
A faint woody fragrance lingered at the tip of her nose. Heat instantly crept up her ears, and even the temperature around them seemed to rise.
Shang Nian leaned over the back of the sofa, exposing only her pair of large eyes as she quietly watched the two of them.
“Shang… President Shang…”
Shi Ying shivered and hurriedly pushed him away.
Ding-dong—
The doorbell suddenly rang.
Shi Ying fled as though escaping disaster. “I-I’ll get the door!”