【Cheng Xin had never imagined that she would open her eyes after waking up and see Xie Jing standing there. For a moment, her mind went blank. Two seconds later, she abruptly sat up. “Big Brother…”
Catching sight of the coffee table beside her, piled high with books in complete disarray, Cheng Xin immediately felt terribly embarrassed.
“Um, I’ve been the only one at home lately, so… I’ve been a little careless about keeping things tidy,” Cheng Xin explained as she hurriedly began gathering everything up.
From Zero to Mastery: C++ for Beginners, Graphics and Game Development…
Only then did Xie Jing notice that most of the books on the coffee table were related to game development.
“Why are you reading these books? If I remember correctly, you didn’t study anything related to gaming at university.” Xie Jing’s voice was slightly hoarse from his long flight.
Hearing this, Cheng Xin paused in the middle of tidying up.
After a moment, she turned toward Xie Jing and smiled faintly.
“It’s because of Xie Yan. You know how much Xie Yan loved racing and playing video games, Big Brother. So he gathered a group of people and started a game development studio. He said he wanted to create the best game in the world.”
Of course, that wasn’t Xie Yan’s only reason.
He also wanted to make her proud, to ensure that nobody could gossip about her or say she’d settled for marrying a wealthy young master who did nothing but eat, drink, and amuse himself.
That was why he’d been so enthusiastic about building a successful career, hoping to make everyone envy her.
Whenever Cheng Xin thought of Xie Yan, an indescribable tenderness would spread across her face.
“Not long after Xie Yan’s… funeral, one of his seniors from the university’s computer science department contacted me. He said that after Xie Yan passed away, the studio had completely stopped operating, and he wanted me to decide what to do next,” Cheng Xin explained softly.
The reason the senior had approached her instead of Xie Jing was partly because Xie Jing had spent so much time abroad that he couldn’t get in touch with him.
The other reason was that Xie Yan had invested in the studio under Cheng Xin’s name. In a sense, she owned one hundred percent of the company. Even Xie Yan had technically been working for her.
Under those circumstances, the senior had no choice but to approach Cheng Xin.
“I want to keep the game studio running for Xie Yan. That’s why…” Cheng Xin explained, her brows drawing together in frustration. “I’ve already enrolled in online courses, but I never imagined that things like logical algorithms and code architecture would be so complicated. Just reading about them makes my brain feel completely tangled.”
After a moment of silence, Xie Jing handed the gift he’d brought to the butler, who had been standing quietly nearby, and slowly approached her.
“Which parts don’t you understand? Let me take a look.”
Xie Jing had always achieved excellent grades throughout his education, particularly in mathematics.
When he was at university, his professor had once remarked that with his natural talent, if he devoted himself to mathematical research, he would undoubtedly accomplish something remarkable in the future.
Unfortunately, he had to return home to inherit the family business.
“Really? You can help?” Cheng Xin’s eyes immediately brightened, but she quickly hesitated. “But Big Brother, you’ve only just gotten off a plane, and you haven’t even adjusted to the time difference. Won’t I be disturbing your rest?”
“I can’t sleep right now anyway.”
Xie Jing walked over and sat down beside Cheng Xin. There was an unmistakable air of authority about him, the kind that made refusing him difficult.
Seeing this, Cheng Xin felt it would be inappropriate to decline any further. She opened her book and began asking Xie Jing questions.
She hadn’t expected that Xie Jing genuinely understood the material.
Not only did he understand it, but his clear, detailed explanations made the problems she’d been struggling with suddenly seem simple.
“Oh, so that’s how it works.”
Delighted at finally understanding something that had been troubling her, Cheng Xin unconsciously leaned a little closer to Xie Jing.
Without either of them noticing, the ends of her hair lightly brushed across the back of his hand.
In that instant, Xie Jing’s fingers tightened abruptly around the book.
“What about this one?” Cheng Xin pointed to another section of the book that confused her.
After waiting for quite some time without receiving an answer, Cheng Xin was just about to turn and look at him when the man’s calm, slightly hoarse voice sounded again.
During this period, Cheng Xin had been studying late into the night to catch up with her learning schedule.
However, apart from that one tutoring session, she hadn’t asked Xie Jing any more programming questions.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to.
She simply felt too embarrassed.
Xie Jing was far too busy. She really couldn’t bring herself to disturb him with such simple questions.
Most of the time, she either consulted other people online or tried to figure things out herself.
At eleven o’clock one night, Cheng Xin, who had worked up an appetite from studying, decided to head downstairs and find something to eat.
She had barely entered the kitchen when she spotted Xie Jing standing alone beside the kitchen island, drinking water.
Perhaps hearing her footsteps, the man instinctively turned his head and saw her.
“Big Brother.” Since they’d already run into each other, Cheng Xin simply greeted him.
After greeting him, she walked straight toward the kitchen and explained, “I was studying, and everything was going fine, but then I suddenly got hungry. So I came downstairs to find something to eat.”
Xie Jing nodded. Watching her approach the refrigerator, he slowly straightened up.
Opening the refrigerator, Cheng Xin discovered that it was stocked with a wide variety of ingredients.
However, she wasn’t interested in bread or sandwiches. At this hour, she wanted something warm.
“I’m going to cook some noodles. Big Brother, would you like some? If you do, I’ll just make enough for both of us,” Cheng Xin asked, instinctively looking toward Xie Jing.
Xie Jing had already finished an entire bottle of ice water and was preparing to head upstairs to continue working.
His movements paused slightly.
“All right,” he replied quietly.
“I’ll help you,” Xie Jing offered, slowly approaching her.
“No need. I’ll be quick,” Cheng Xin declined his kindness.
Cheng Xin really was quick.
Before long, Xie Jing was carrying two steaming bowls of tomato and egg noodles to the dining table.
In the quiet of midnight, the two sat together, each eating a bowl of noodles.
Xie Jing wasn’t particularly hungry, so he ate slowly and unhurriedly.
Cheng Xin, on the other hand, was clearly starving. In no time at all, she’d already finished half her bowl.
Xie Jing glanced at her.
“How are your studies progressing lately?”
Cheng Xin swallowed a mouthful of noodles.
“I’ve developed a basic understanding, but of course I can’t compare with the professionals. Actually, with the seniors and the others running things at the studio, there isn’t much I can help with. But at the very least, I need to understand what they’re doing. I can’t remain a complete outsider.”
Cheng Xin smiled, and the faint dimples beside her lips appeared and disappeared.
Their eyes met.
The lighting in the dining room was exceptionally warm.
Xie Jing suddenly noticed that Cheng Xin had gotten a little tomato sauce on the corner of her mouth, probably because she’d been eating too quickly.
Almost as though compelled by some inexplicable impulse, Xie Jing reached directly toward her.
Watching his fingers draw closer and closer, Cheng Xin felt her heart inexplicably skip a beat.
She abruptly leaned away.
Her movement was so sudden that her chair scraped against the floor with a harsh, piercing sound.
The warm, harmonious atmosphere between them instantly shattered.
For a moment, the air seemed to freeze.
Cheng Xin pressed her lips together and looked at Xie Jing, only to discover that his expression remained perfectly normal.
He merely pointed toward the corner of her mouth without touching her.
“Here. You’ve got a little something on your face.”
“Huh? Oh, thank you.”
Cheng Xin quickly pulled out two tissues and vigorously wiped the corner of her mouth.
After that, neither of them spoke another word.
Cheng Xin soon finished her noodles.
Remaining seated, she silently considered how to phrase what she wanted to say.
Before she could decide, Xie Jing’s cool voice sounded.
“Once you’re finished, go upstairs and rest. I’ll take care of the dishes.”
Under normal circumstances, Cheng Xin would certainly have felt embarrassed about leaving him to clean up.
But the atmosphere between them had become so strange that all she wanted was to leave as quickly as possible.
“Okay.”
Cheng Xin nodded hastily, stood up, and headed upstairs without looking back.
As soon as Cheng Xin left, Xie Jing also put down his chopsticks.
He hadn’t been hungry in the first place.
After placing the bowls and utensils in the dishwasher, Xie Jing stood watching the machine operate.
An unreadable expression flickered in his eyes.
For nearly a month afterward, despite living under the same roof, Cheng Xin and Xie Jing somehow never encountered each other.
This made Cheng Xin begin to suspect that what she’d sensed that night had merely been her imagination.
Once she’d convinced herself of this, she felt both embarrassed and relieved.
Father Xie and Mother Xie had actually returned from Tibet half a month earlier.
At the time, Cheng Xin had intended to bid them farewell and move out, but the couple had ultimately persuaded her to stay.
They knew perfectly well what kind of family the Chengs were.
With their younger daughter-in-law’s soft, gentle personality, if she went to live alone, that family would probably swallow her whole.
Xie Yan was already gone.
They didn’t want to be too harsh on the young woman he’d sacrificed his life to protect.
Their words nearly brought Cheng Xin to tears.
In truth, she couldn’t bear to leave the place where Xie Yan had grown up, either.
One day, while Xie Jing was at the office handling an international business cooperation project, he suddenly received a phone call from the manager of a racetrack his younger brother had previously invested in.
The manager told him that Xie Yan’s wife wanted to learn how to race cars.
The manager had been very close to Xie Yan and knew that he’d died in a car accident.
Now, he was worried that Cheng Xin might do something irrational.
“Try to persuade her to wait. I’ll be there immediately.”
Without bothering about anything else, Xie Jing rushed straight to the racetrack.
As soon as he arrived, he spotted Cheng Xin arguing earnestly with Xie Yan’s racing coach.
Xie Jing strode forward, seized Cheng Xin’s wrist, and began dragging her toward the exit without giving her a chance to object.
“Stop this nonsense. We’re going home,” Xie Jing said coldly.
Unable to free herself from his grip, Cheng Xin could only pull her arm back forcefully.
But when she struggled that hard, Xie Jing couldn’t very well continue using his strength against her.
He was forced to stop.
Cheng Xin looked at him with calm, serious eyes.
“Xie Jing, I’m not being unreasonable. I’ve prepared myself mentally and made plenty of attempts to overcome my fear. You probably don’t know this, but I drove myself to the racetrack today.”
Xie Jing’s pupils contracted slightly.
Cheng Xin slowly withdrew her wrist from his grasp.
“So I’m not acting recklessly. Whether it’s video games or racing, I simply want to experience the world Xie Yan once loved. Nothing will happen to me. Trust me, Xie Jing.”
Her eyes were filled with determination and resolve.
Looking at Cheng Xin like this, Xie Jing suddenly realized just how shallow and arrogant he’d been in the past.
How could he have assumed, without even trying to understand her, that his former fiancée was merely a delicate, fragile woman?
She was clearly more resilient and courageous than anyone.
In the end, with Xie Jing’s tacit permission, Cheng Xin climbed into the modified race car that had belonged exclusively to Xie Yan.
As she sat inside the vehicle, her fingertips were still trembling slightly.
But very soon, her gaze became resolute as she looked straight ahead.
Vroom—
The racing engine roared to life.
The car accelerated, swiftly tearing down the racetrack.
Before long, it approached a bend.
Accompanied by the sharp screech of tires gripping the asphalt, the car executed a beautiful turn with clean, decisive precision.
“Wow!” exclaimed the racing coach standing beside Xie Jing. “I never expected Xie Yan’s wife to have such a good feel for racing. Her natural talent is no worse than his.”
Hearing this, Xie Jing merely watched the fiery-red figure speeding along the racetrack in silence.
Only after witnessing Cheng Xin navigate every bend safely and complete the course did the fingers resting on the railing finally relax slightly.
After completing one lap, the car stopped near the grandstand.
Cheng Xin climbed out and removed her helmet.
Overwhelmed by excitement and exhilaration, she immediately turned to look toward Xie Jing.
By now, the hair on her forehead was damp with sweat, and her complexion was slightly pale.
Yet her eyes shone with astonishing brightness.
Unable to contain herself, she waved enthusiastically in Xie Jing’s direction.
Beneath the sunlight, her smile was radiant and dazzling.
With just one glance, an inexplicable restlessness suddenly surged through Xie Jing’s heart.
Amid that growing turmoil, the sound of his heartbeat grew louder.
And louder.
Until it spiraled completely out of control.】
Even though Xie Jing had already awakened from his dream, he could still feel the palpitations that his dream-self had experienced.
The Xie Jing of reality was a rational, restrained man with an exceptionally strong sense of morality.
If it were truly him, the moment he realized he’d developed feelings for his younger brother’s wife, he would have taken the initiative to distance himself from her.
Even if he harbored certain intentions, he should approach matters slowly and carefully.
However, the “Xie Jing” in his dream clearly didn’t possess that kind of patience.
He was afraid that his dream-self wouldn’t find it so easy to obtain what he wanted.
That was what Xie Jing thought.