Yan Hao had not brought many things with her when she came to Beijing; most of them were provided by the elders of the Lou family after she arrived at their residence.
After returning to her room to blow-dry her hair, she collapsed onto the bed. In her heart, she wondered how she should get along with Lou Jingyi in the future. Yan Hao opened WeChat, and pinned right at the top was Lou Jingyi. She had always had his WeChat. Because they were bound by an engagement, their respective parents had made them add each other’s contact information. It’s just that they rarely contacted each other. Aside from the Chinese New Year, when she would take the initiative to send him New Year greetings, Lou Jingyi would politely reply with a large red envelope. For the past few years, it had always been like this—a transfer of 8,888 yuan. Other than that, there was no communication whatsoever.
Yan Hao knew that Lou Jingyi had no feelings for her. However, he hadn’t called off the engagement before either. Even though she was now “forcing the marriage” against his wishes, didn’t Lou Jingyi still give her the opportunity to come to Beijing to complete the wedding? She wanted to have a proper communication with Lou Jingyi, but she didn’t know how to bring it up. Lou Jingyi was probably still in a fit of anger at this time. She would talk to him when he was in a good mood. Besides, she didn’t come here just to be treated poorly. If he had called off the engagement earlier, she wouldn’t have sought him out because of her father’s will. Yet, she had her own selfish motives too, because she liked Lou Jingyi. Yan Hao felt that she was in the wrong, but since the engagement existed in the first place, no matter how wrong she felt, it couldn’t be that bad.
Yan Hao put down her phone and fell asleep.
The next day, Lou Jingyi unexpectedly appeared at the dining table. In the few days Yan Hao had been at Jing Garden, Lou Jingyi had never once shown up at the breakfast table. Today felt rather unexpected to her. She nervously took a seat opposite Lou Jingyi. Aunt Chen brought over a cup of warm milk. “Miss Yan, drinking a cup of milk in the morning is good for your health.” “Thank you, Aunt Chen.” Yan Hao took the milk and took a sip, but her eyes uncontrollably drifted toward Lou Jingyi.
Noticing Yan Hao’s sneaky glance, Lou Jingyi put down his knife and fork and looked over. Feeling a bit guilty, Yan Hao immediately lowered her head to eat her sandwich. “Go to the old mansion with me tomorrow.” “Why?” “Something to do.” Having said those two words, Lou Jingyi wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up.
“Young Master, are you heading off to work?” “Mn.” Lou Jingyi stood in the foyer changing his shoes, and as if remembering something, he told Aunt Chen, “I won’t be back for dinner tonight.” “Alright, Young Master.”
As the door closed, Yan Hao looked dejectedly at the unfinished breakfast across from her. For all these years, Yan Hao knew very well that Lou Jingyi didn’t have the slightest bit of feeling for her. If he had any feelings, they would have developed long ago. It was her. She harbored feelings that she shouldn’t have.
Seeing how dejected she looked, Aunt Chen wanted to offer a few words of comfort. Noticing Aunt Chen looking at her with a hesitant expression, Yan Hao asked, “Aunt Chen, what is it?” Aunt Chen shook her head and smiled. “N-nothing. Miss Yan, would you like to go out and have some fun? I can have the driver take you.” Aunt Chen felt that Yan Hao hadn’t been very happy during her days at Jing Garden, so going out for a walk and clearing her mind would be a good thing.
Yan Hao nodded. “Alright, please arrange it.” Without even taking her handbag, Yan Hao got into the car with just her phone. “Miss Yan, where would you like to go?” the driver asked from the front. Yan Hao looked at the buildings outside that were both familiar and unfamiliar. She was born in Beijing, but when she reached primary school age, her father took her to her mother’s city: Fengcheng. In the beginning, they came to Beijing at most once or twice a year, and sometimes not even once a year. When Yan Hao was young, her mother didn’t particularly like coming to Beijing. However, as she grew older, her mother became more willing to come. During the time Yan Hao’s mother and father were dating, her grandfather had disapproved. So as not to put her mother in an awkward position in the middle, helplessly, a few years after giving birth to Yan Hao, her father could only take her mother and her to live in Fengcheng. The family of three lived a simple life of their own. Later on, for Yan Hao’s sake, her grandfather let love for the child extend to love for the mother, eventually accepting this daughter-in-law.
The Yan and Lou families had an engagement, so New Year visits were naturally indispensable; most of the time, Lou Minhe would come to Yan Hao’s house with his wife and son. After her parents passed away, aside from the Lou family, Yan Hao didn’t really keep in touch with many people. She spent the New Year without parents with her uncle Tang Hao’s family. She hadn’t gone back to her grandfather’s house in Beijing because she didn’t have the heart for it. Her uncle and aunt had always been as good to her as ever, and the familial bond was still there. This also made Yan Hao increasingly unable to understand why she had accidentally overheard her aunt advising her uncle to make Yan Hao give up a share of the money in the living room that day. Her cousin Tang Shanshan had an introverted personality, quite unlike her uncle and aunt. Still, they hadn’t been in touch for a long time; now that they were adults and in school, everyone had their own things to do.
Perhaps this year was a little different, Yan Hao thought to herself. She could spend the Chinese New Year with the person she liked, which should count as a good thing. “Where is it lively?” “That’s definitely the shopping mall. Lots of people, lots of things—most suitable for girls to go shopping,” the driver replied. “Take me there.” “Alright, Miss Yan.”
When they reached the mall, Yan Hao told the driver to head back first, as she wanted to walk around by herself for a bit. “Miss Yan, this…” The driver hesitated. Old Mrs. Lou had long instructed everyone at Jing Garden to take meticulous care of Yan Hao. “It’s fine. I’ll call you when I’m ready to go back.” Since Yan Hao said so, the driver could only nod. “Alright, Miss Yan.”
Yan Hao wandered around the mall for a day, though she wasn’t really in the mood to shop. She found a cafe by the window and sat there all afternoon, and by the time she came to her senses, it was already five or six o’clock. She found a place to eat nearby. Since Lou Jingyi said he wouldn’t be back for dinner, he probably wouldn’t return until very late. Yan Hao figured that since he didn’t like her, she just needed to limit her contact with him. That way, she wouldn’t annoy him.
After finishing dinner, Yan Hao strolled around a bit more and bought a few items along the way. At nine-forty, she stood at the entrance of the mall and called the driver to come pick her up. At ten o’clock in the evening, Lou Jingyi’s car returned to Jing Garden. While changing his shoes in the foyer, he noticed the pair of slippers that wouldn’t have appeared at Jing Garden a few days prior.
At that moment, Aunt Chen came out from the kitchen and, seeing Lou Jingyi staring at Yan Hao’s slippers, explained, “Miss Yan went out to play today.” Lou Jingyi withdrew his gaze. “Mn.” Just as he finished changing his shoes, the door was pushed open from the outside. “Miss Yan, you’re back.”
Yan Hao was holding a bouquet of flowers and a few plush toys won from a claw machine. As soon as she stepped inside, she froze, not expecting to run into Lou Jingyi. She had deliberately timed her return. Yan Hao had secretly noticed that over the past few days, Lou Jingyi never came back until after ten-thirty at night. She didn’t greet Lou Jingyi, afraid that if she called out to him, he wouldn’t bother to respond. “Aunt Chen, help me grab a vase.” “Okay, I’ll go right now.”
After Aunt Chen left, only Lou Jingyi and Yan Hao were left. Lou Jingyi didn’t even know why he hadn’t left yet. Yan Hao pressed herself against the door, lowering her gaze to look at her own slippers. After a long while, Lou Jingyi finally shifted from his spot and headed upstairs.
Seeing him finally walk away, Yan Hao let out a sigh of relief and lowered her head to change her shoes. “Miss Yan, here is the vase you wanted.” Aunt Chen placed the vase on the coffee table. “What did Miss Yan do today?” “I went to eat delicious food and even won a few dolls from a claw machine~” “It seems Miss Yan had a really fun day. You should go out more often in the future.” “Mn, got it, Aunt Chen.” “Miss Yan, do you need any help?” Yan Hao placed the flowers on the coffee table. “Aunt Chen, go do your work, I can handle it myself.” “Alright, just call me if you need anything.”
The arranged vase of flowers was placed on the coffee table, and Yan Hao picked up her claw-machine plushies and headed to the second floor. Involuntarily, her eyes still drifted toward the master bedroom. The door to the master bedroom was tightly shut, much like Lou Jingyi’s heart, which had never been opened to her.
Since she had to go back to the Lou family’s old mansion with him tomorrow, Yan Hao went to sleep early. … The next day. Yesterday, Lou Jingyi hadn’t told Yan Hao the departure time for the old mansion. When Yan Hao woke up, she suddenly remembered the trip to the old mansion and checked her phone—it was already eleven o’clock.
Panic gripped her heart: would Lou Jingyi have waited for her for too long? Yan Hao didn’t care whether she had washed up or not; she hurriedly put on her slippers and rushed out of her room. The master bedroom door was open, and she was just about to knock. To her surprise, the person coming out was Aunt Chen, who was holding a set of bedsheets. Given this situation, was Lou Jingyi already not home?
“Miss Yan, you’re awake.” Yan Hao’s heart sank a little. “Aunt Chen, where is he?” Aunt Chen smiled and said, “The Young Master is in the study.” The study was right across from the master bedroom, and Yan Hao walked over toward it. The study door wasn’t closed either, but Yan Hao still knocked on it once.
Lou Jingyi raised his head and looked at Yan Hao standing in the doorway. She was wearing pajamas, her hair a messy mess as she stood by the door. “Morning… when are we leaving?” “Mn?” Lou Jingyi looked at her, confused. Yan Hao softly reminded him, “…When are we leaving for the old mansion?”
Lou Jingyi paused for a moment, seemingly just remembering the matter. Looking at Yan Hao’s disheveled appearance, he slowly glanced at the watch on his wrist. “No rush.” “Oh…” Yan Hao let out a sigh of relief in her heart and turned to head into the bathroom to wash up.
Watching the bathroom door close behind Yan Hao, Lou Jingyi recalled something his cousin, Lou Jingqi, had once said: It takes women a really long time to get ready. Well, then. He would just wait.