Jiang Man woke up instantly.
As if she had been burned, she abruptly let go of her hand.
She hurriedly tried to sit up straight, but as she rose, she felt another wave of dizziness.
Qi Zhicheng, who was sitting by the bedside, took the opportunity to support her shoulders.
From the corner of her eye, Jiang Man caught sight of the wrinkles pressed into his shirt cuffs, a clear sign that he had been maintaining this posture for quite some time.
“You have been too tired lately, and excessive fatigue has led to hypoglycemia,” Qi Zhicheng said as he helped her lean back against the pillow. “You need to rest.”
Jiang Man pressed her forehead, which was throbbing painfully. “My head hurts so much.”
Qi Zhicheng sat down by her bed again, gazing at her pale, bloodless face.
After a long silence, he spoke up and asked, “Is that ballet competition in Beicheng really that important?”
Jiang Man’s hand massaging her temples paused slightly. She stared blankly at the faint halo of light on the ceiling, her eyes somewhat empty.
“Yes,” she responded softly, “it is very important.”
Qi Zhicheng furrowed his brows. “Important enough that you need to split one day into two, to the point of exhausting yourself until you collapse.”
Jiang Man remained silent.
She looked out the French windows. The tall southern magnolia tree in the courtyard stood in the night, its layered green leaves swaying gently.
“That tree is growing so well,” Jiang Man murmured softly. “But everyone only sees its thick branches and its leaves growing with vibrant life, no one ever sees how difficult it is for the root system under the tree to absorb nutrients.”
She lowered her eyes. “The audience won’t pay for my hard work, they only see the final result. I want to prove myself. I can only be seen if I win that competition and stand at the very top.”
“So, do you plan to hand over the power to define your own value to others forever, to the audience, the judges, or perhaps to a cold trophy without warmth?”
“You must think I am very childish.”
Qi Zhicheng shook his head gently. “I understand. You work so hard because you want an answer. But with me, you have long been noticed, you have always been sparkling, you are just that dazzling.”
Jiang Man looked into his eyes. The man in front of her seemed to always possess an endless tenderness for her.
Every time her emotions hit a low point, he was always by her side, giving her absolute tolerance and patience.
The room fell into a brief silence.
“It is very late,” Qi Zhicheng did not continue this topic, tucking the blanket around her. “Go to sleep.”
Perhaps because her body truly could not handle the fatigue of working non-stop over the past few days, Jiang Man developed a sporadic fever during the latter half of the night.
Her consciousness was groggy, and her eyelids felt very heavy.
Vaguely, she heard Qi Zhicheng saying something to her, but she could not open her eyes and fell back asleep in a daze.
When she forced her eyes open again, it was because of a sharp pain on the back of her hand.
Through the haze, she saw the private doctor adjusting the IV tube.
Drowsy and confused, she fell back into a restless dream.
The physical discomfort prevented her from sleeping peacefully, causing her to wake up and fall back asleep repeatedly. During the process, she opened her eyes briefly a few times and found that Qi Zhicheng was exactly as he had said, sitting by her side the entire time to keep her company.
Every time she woke up from the chaos, she could feel someone next to her.
At three in the morning, only a wall lamp was turned on in the master bedroom.
After the IV drip was finished, Jiang Man felt much more comfortable. After checking her temperature, the private doctor indicated that the fever had subsided.
“You’re awake?” Qi Zhicheng leaned forward, reaching out to tidy the hair at her temples. “How do you feel, do you want some water?”
Jiang Man nodded.
Qi Zhicheng stood up to pour some water from the side.
Leaning against the head of the bed, Jiang Man’s gaze unconsciously followed his movements.
His shoulders and back were straight, and a simple shirt could outline his clear, crisp physique. Even after keeping watch all night, the shoulder lines of his shirt remained smooth.
The cuffs of his shirt were casually rolled up to his elbows, revealing a black-gold watch around his wrist, with the light blue veins on his arm faintly visible.
She had to admit that, in a visual sense, this man was extremely pleasing to the eye.
It was also at this moment that he turned around holding the water glass, catching Jiang Man’s quietly examining gaze.
Qi Zhicheng responded to her with a slight smile.
Feeling inexplicably guilty, Jiang Man averted her eyes.
“The water temperature should be just right,” he handed the glass to her.
Jiang Man took small sips of the water. The warm yellow light from the wall lamp made the bedroom look peaceful and cozy.
The two were speechless, merely sharing the same quiet lamplight within the same space.
“Qi Zhicheng,” Jiang Man called him softly.
“Hmm.”
“Have our feelings for each other always been very good after marriage?”
“Hmm,” Qi Zhicheng did not hesitate at all. “We rarely argue, our feelings deepen year by year, and no one loves each other more than we do.”
“Actually, I heard about you before,” Jiang Man added a sentence, “when I wasn’t married to you yet.”
Qi Zhicheng smiled slightly. “What did you hear?”
Jiang Man said, “From time to time, I would hear my dad talk about you, saying which important project you had won, and which business layouts you had completed. I didn’t understand it, but I felt you must be a very powerful person.”
Qi Zhicheng let out a soft laugh.
“Then I am very honored.”
Jiang Man said, “At that time, I felt like you lived in the headlines of financial news, very far away from me, completely belonging to a different world than mine.”
“No matter which world you are in, and no matter how far away you are from me, I will find you, we were destined to be together.”
Qi Zhicheng’s gaze was deep, and the emotions in his eyes were intense.
Being stared at like this made the tips of Jiang Man’s ears turn hot, and she turned her face to look out the French windows.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up.
“It’s snowing!”
The night outside was still thick. Qi Zhicheng followed her line of sight, only catching sight of a hazy white.
It rarely snowed in Huai City. Most of the time, it just symbolically fluttered a few flakes before dissipating.
But at this moment, heavy snow was falling continuously all over the sky.
Pleasantly surprised, Jiang Man did not care that her fever had just subsided. She could not help but lift the blanket to get out of bed, walking over to the French windows to look down.
The plants in the courtyard were already covered with a thin layer of white, and the outlines of the houses in the distance were blurred into a single piece amidst the curtain of snow.
Snowflakes rustled against the French windows. Jiang Man’s fingertips rested on the glass, tracing the trajectory of the falling snowflakes. “It has been a long time since I’ve seen such heavy snow.”
Qi Zhicheng walked over to her side. “You just recovered from a fever, be careful not to catch a cold.”
“It’s fine, the heating in the room is very sufficient.” She turned her head to smile at him, her cheeks still carrying a faint flush that had not completely faded after the fever.
“The last time it snowed this heavily in Huai City must have been many years ago. I remember it was also on the eve of Christmas Eve when the first snow fell in Huai City. I had just finished a performance in Denmark and flew back to the country overnight just to see this snow.” She smiled. “Thinking about myself back then, I was really free, easy, and unconstrained.”
He responded tenderly, “The current you can still be just as free, easy, and unconstrained as before.”
Jiang Man suddenly thought of a song sung by Mika Nakashima,
“The winter breeze arrives,
this city will also welcome,
the season to be closer to you,
we snuggle together to watch this year’s first snow,
at this moment I am incomparably happy.”
A familiar melody surfaced unexpectedly just like that, subtly overlapping with the scene before her eyes.
Jiang Man felt that, at this moment, she was probably happy too.
The warmth inside the house and the cold outside the window were only inches apart. The two stood side by side in front of the window, immersed in this patch of tranquility.
Probably because her body was still weak after the fever, Jiang Man suddenly felt a wave of dizziness.
Her footsteps staggered half a step.
In the next second, a warm palm had already firmly supported her.
Her forehead lightly bumped against the man’s chest.
Jiang Man’s heart skipped a beat, and she quickly stabilized her posture.
She took a step back to pull away, but at the moment she raised her head, her gaze happened to collide straight into Qi Zhicheng’s eyes.
Their lines of sight intersected, and the snowflakes outside the window seemed to quiet down as well.
His gaze was very deep. Reflected by the snowlight outside the window at this moment, tiny fragments of brightness were flashing in his eyes.
An indescribable ambiguous emotion silently dissolved between the two of them.
It was also at this moment.
Qi Zhicheng suddenly grabbed her wrist, used a little force, and pulled her back into his arms.
All her senses were slowly magnified. Jiang Man’s entire face was passively buried in his chest. She heard a steady and powerful heartbeat, and her breath was filled entirely with his familiar, warm scent.
All sounds stopped at this moment.
The snow outside the window was still falling, the lights inside the room were warm, and the French windows reflected the figures of the two embracing each other.
Jiang Man raised her hand, then lowered it again.
Finally, she gently closed her eyes in this warm embrace.
Jiang Man’s fever subsided the next day.
Knowing that Qi Zhicheng had watched over her all night last night, she felt somewhat apologetic.
After finishing her work at the dance troupe, she had the driver take her to a shopping mall, intending to pick out a gift to express her gratitude.
The streets on Christmas Eve were quieter than usual. The snow fell densely, accumulating into a layer of white on the road surface.
Pedestrians slowed their steps, and the snow made a soft rustling sound as it fell on the roofs of cars.
The Christmas trees in the mall display windows were lit up, with colored lights flashing intermittently.
Jiang Man casually walked into a luxury store.
“Good afternoon, ma’am.”
A salesperson inside the store quickly walked up to greet her with a smile.
The salesperson followed by Jiang Man’s side, maintaining a distance of about one step. Noticing that she stayed mostly in the men’s leather goods section, the salesperson inquired opportunely, “Are you choosing a gift for a friend or family member? We have some nice men’s items recently.”
Jiang Man’s attention was pulled back, and she nodded.
The salesperson guided Jiang Man toward the men’s accessories area.
The salesperson recommended, “If your husband frequents business occasions, these styles are all choices that won’t go wrong.”
Jiang Man slowly scanned the items inside the display counter, her gaze ultimately resting on a dark gray tie.
It was a very classic style with smooth satin, featuring a faint paisley pattern on it.
Some images flashed uncontrollably across her mind, Qi Zhicheng wearing his usual dark suit, wearing the tie she chose, smiling and saying he liked this gift very much,
These images made the tips of her ears turn hot.
She closed her eyes, erasing these images from her mind.
Don’t think about anything, this was just a polite gesture of gratitude.
“Just this one,” Jiang Man said.
The salesperson went to the wrapping counter to package the gray tie. It was also at this time that Jiang Man received a phone call from Qi Zhicheng.
On the other end of the phone, his voice was deep. “Have you reached home?”
“Not yet, I’m at the International Finance Center.”
“Shopping?”
Jiang Man gave an affirmative sound. She heard faint sounds of conversation and the rustling of documents flipping in his background. “Are you still busy?”
“Discussing a project.” He seemed to have walked away from the original spot, and the background became quiet. “There’s a temporary break, so I called you.”
“Will it be very late?”
“I will finish as early as possible.”
“Today is Christmas Eve, do you want to have dinner together?” Jiang Man saw that the salesperson had already packaged the tie and was tying a black satin ribbon on the gift box. “I bought a gift for you.”
“Oh?” He seemed to have a faint smile. “What is it?”
“I’m not telling you.”
The other end laughed softly. “What should I do, I want to leave work right now to go home and unwrap the gift.”
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Man took the bag packed by the salesperson. Just as she stepped out of the store door, a voice called out to her.
“Mrs. Qi?” A woman of about thirty years old greeted her with a familiar tone. “Long time no see.”
She was wearing a white Chanel-style skirt suit with exquisite makeup, but Jiang Man did not remember who the person in front of her was.
“You don’t remember me? I’m your neighbor living in Block C of South Bay Peninsula, but it seems like I haven’t seen you and Mr. Qi in South Bay for a while. Are you two not living in South Bay Apartments now?”
Jiang Man was stunned.
This was the second time she had heard the name South Bay Apartments.
A neighbor from South Bay Apartments?
“Did I use to live in South Bay?”
“Yes, didn’t you and Mr. Qi live on the lake island in Block A? I used to see Mr. Qi seeing you out very often before. My, you two share such a good relationship as a married couple, it’s really enviable,”
Halfway through her sentence, the woman suddenly remembered something and hurriedly said goodbye to her. “Oh dear, my son is attending a class at the fencing club nearby and is about to finish. I have to rush over to pick him up. See you next time, Mrs. Qi.”
Doubts grew rapidly in Jiang Man’s heart.
Hadn’t she and Qi Zhicheng been living in Song Garden after marriage?
Why did the account manager from The Elara mention sending the dress to South Bay before, and today she encountered a neighbor who claimed they lived together in South Bay.
The more Jiang Man thought about it, the more confused she became. Without telling the driver, she took a taxi to South Bay Apartments by herself.
The Headquarters Building of Qiheng.
The conference hall doors opened, and Qi Zhicheng walked out side by side with William, the President of the Asia Region of Ryan Capital.
“President Qi, it is a pleasure collaborating with you,” William said with a smile as he reached out his hand, his full head of silver hair groomed immaculately.
“It is a pleasure collaborating with you,” Qi Zhicheng’s lips curved upward slightly as he reached out to shake back. “Regarding the other part of the contingency plan, my CFO will send over a more detailed calculation this afternoon. As for the implementation of the specific terms next, I will have my assistant interface directly with your side.”
“Your team is always extremely professional,” William proposed. “By the way, what are your arrangements for tonight? I know a decent whiskey lounge nearby, shall we go sit together?”
Qi Zhicheng’s smile remained unchanged. “I appreciate your kind invitation. However, I’m afraid I will have to fall short of your good intentions tonight.”
“My wife is still at home waiting for me to return.”
William was slightly taken aback at first, then came to a sudden realization and laughed heartily. “So you are in a hurry to go home to accompany your wife, it can be seen that the wife at home makes President Qi feel very anxious.”
Qi Zhicheng smiled without speaking, nor did he deny it. “As for that whiskey lounge, I will host the next time, and I will definitely consult you properly on the way of appreciation.”
After sending William off, Qi Zhicheng prepared to set off back to Song Garden.
The elevator descended to the parking lot, where the specialized driver was already standing respectfully beside the black Bentley waiting.
Just as he sat into the car, he noticed his phone vibrating.
He glanced at the screen, and after seeing the caller clearly, a shallow curve rose at the corner of his lips.
Pressing answer with a rather pleasant mood.
“Manman, I just finished, I am preparing to go home now.”
There was silence without any sound from the other end of the phone. Qi Zhicheng pulled the phone away to take a glance, the call was still continuing second by second.
He sensed something strange.
“Manman?”
“So, which home do you plan to return to now?”
“Is it Song Garden, or the South Bay Apartments that you have never mentioned to me?”
He heard her question him with a trembling voice.
“Qi Zhicheng, why did you lie to me?”