Chapter 141: The Sound of Her Shower

Xu Yanfeng's body paused slightly, he slowly closed the rear car door, straightened up and looked toward Ling Yan.

She held a light-blue bag in both hands, placed it properly in front of her, the smile on her face carried a hint of trying to please, plus a bit of probing, she thought she hid it well, but Xu Yanfeng saw it all.

At this moment, he instead recalled another face, that of Xia Xi, who appeared outside the glass door; the light from inside the hall shone out, falling on her face, illuminating a bright smile, so intense that for a moment people overlooked her striking features, remembering only her smile.

"A-Feng?"

He remained silent for a long time; Ling Yan's smile faded a bit, she still persisted, unwilling to say "If it's inconvenient, then forget it."

She had never wanted a bouquet so strongly before.

"Sorry, I'm afraid I can't give it to you." After saying that, Xu Yanfeng didn't give her time to respond, walked from the front of the car to the other side, and opened the driver's door.

Ling Yan was left standing there, unable to accept it at once, feeling extremely upset; she forgot to wipe her smile, leaving it stiff on her face, awkward and ugly. Though she was smiling, she looked like she was crying.

Xu Yanfeng started the engine, seeing Ling Yan still standing by the car without moving, he had no choice but to lower the passenger-side window, tilt his head slightly, and say in a light voice: "Are you coming or not?"

Ling Yan snapped out of her daze, her lips pressed into a straight line, she tightened her grip on the bag strap, turned around, opened the passenger door and got in, glanced at Xu Yanfeng's cold, hard profile, pulled out the seatbelt and fastened it.

Xu Yanfeng pressed the accelerator without a word and drove out of the parking lot.

Ling Yan sometimes watched the street scenery fly backward outside the window, sometimes looked at Xu Yanfeng's stern face; her heart could not calm down, and her mind was filled with all kinds of random thoughts.

Who exactly sent that uniquely arranged bouquet of roses?

Why does Xu Yanfeng cherish it so much?

She had already asked for it, yet he refused to give it—could it be because the person who sent him the roses is very important to him?

Could it be the person who previously called him who sent them?

It seems to be called "WeiaiXYF"...

At the time she only glanced at it and guessed the meaning of that nickname; Xu Yanfeng would surely not miss it, yet he actually let someone give him such an ambiguous nickname—what does that mean?

Ling Yan's mind was about to explode, her breathing and heartbeat in chaos; she wanted to directly ask Xu Yanfeng, but she also knew that for things he doesn't want to say, she has no way to make him.

Tang Yizhou and the others couldn't get an answer, let alone her.

Ling Yan suffered a headache, palpitations, and chest tightness; all the way she endured torment, as they neared home the car slowed, Xu Yanfeng stopped the car outside the Ling family villa gate, the gate slowly opened, he didn't go inside, rested his hand on the steering wheel, and waited for Ling Yan to get out.

Ling Yan lingered without moving, only then did Xu Yanfeng glance at her.

She adjusted her breathing rhythm, trying to stay calm as she asked: "You... do you have someone you like?" She frowned, looked at him nervously, afraid to hear an affirmative answer from his mouth.

Xu Yanfeng never easily reveals his feelings to others; hearing this, he casually tossed the question back: "Why do you say that?"

"Isn't there?" Ling Yan slightly raised her gaze, looking through the rearview mirror at the rose properly placed in the back seat, "In the private room earlier, the person who gave you a voice call should have been a girl, and the one who sent you the roses is probably her too; if you don't like her, why would you value what she sent?"

She thought she had spoken plainly enough.

Xu Yanfeng tapped his fingertips on the steering wheel, sidestepping her topic: "You should get out now."

Ling Yan's eyes suddenly reddened; not wanting him to see, she quickly turned her back, her head toward him, fumbled with the seatbelt buckle, pushed open the car door and got out, forgetting to close the door for him, and ran into the villa.

How could he like someone else!

No way, no way, she's overthinking it.

Ling Yan kept self-hypnotizing, yet she never suspected that person might be Xia Xi. Her understanding of Xia Xi still stopped at that night; she had waited in Nan Guangchang to confess to Xu Yanfeng, but Xu Yanfeng never showed up from start to finish.

After that, she hardly paid attention to Xia Xi's movements, feeling that no matter how much Xia Xi pestered, it was pointless; Xu Yanfeng would not be caught by her.

Xu Yanfeng arrived home smoothly; his parents had already retired, and because today was a special day, the house was lit up like daytime both upstairs and down; he didn't take the elevator, his steps upstairs were light, he entered his bedroom, and casually put the car keys on the table.

He lowered his eyelids, looking at the rose he had gathered in one hand in his arms, not caring that it would soon wither. With an indescribable sense of resignation, he rummaged through boxes and cabinets searching for a spare vase.

He usually lives at school and in an apartment, spends little time here, and things are tidied up by the household maid; after searching for half a hour he couldn't find anything, his gaze fell on the white porcelain bottle holding the snow willow on the table.

This bottle of flowers was also placed there by the maid.

Xu Yanfeng took the snow willow out of the bottle, had nowhere to put it, hooked his foot to bring over the trash can, threw it in without a hint of pity, and inserted the rose in his hand into the vase.

The flower stems were untrimmed, much taller than the vase, looking a bit messy and sloppy, carrying the flavor of "wild growth".

After looking at it for a while, Xu Yanfeng unconsciously curled his lip; this flower is quite like Xia Xi—unconstrained, wild and free, fervent and unrestrained, and actually quite... beautiful.

Thinking of Xia Xi, Xu Yanfeng glanced at his phone, swiped a few times in their chat window, but no new messages appeared.

He opened the ticketing app, entered Nancheng to Qianlin, a few train options popped up; based on Xia Xi's departure time he guessed which train she bought, and calculated that she should have arrived at the station.

Perhaps she hasn't gotten home yet, so she didn't send him a message.

Xu Yanfeng put down his phone, prepared to go to the bathroom to shower, took two steps, then turned back, picked up his phone, and brought it to the bathroom.

Xia Xi's car was parked in the high-speed rail station's parking lot; after getting off the high-speed train, she drove straight home.

When she entered, the house was quiet, lights on; she crouched low, hugged her bag to her chest, softly changed shoes and went upstairs, slipped into her room, gently closed the door, then stood upright, leaning against the door panel and exhaled a long breath.

That night, like a special forces soldier, although she hadn't done anything, she felt exhausted yet her spirit remained heightened. The moment before she collapsed onto the bed, she remembered she had ridden in a car, her clothes were dirty, so she slid down to sit on the carpet.

Her back against the bed's edge, head tilted back, resting on the bed, she held up her phone with both hands and called Xu Yanfeng.

He had said he would answer.

After dialing, Xia Xi stared at the ceiling, silently counting in her heart: one, two, three, four...

Just after she finished counting four, the call was answered; Xu Yanfeng's low voice came through the earpiece in the late night: "Hello?"

Xia Xi raised the corners of her mouth, moved the phone away, rubbed her tingling ears, then put the phone back to her ear, and suddenly blurted: "Xu Yanfeng, you've improved."

Xu Yanfeng: "?"

Xia Xi said: "Four seconds, that's your fastest record for answering my call."

Xu Yanfeng pondered briefly, then returned to the subject: "You home?"

"Just arrived." Xia Xi's voice was clear but slow, "I'm now sitting on the carpet in my room, recalling, I don't even know how I ran to Nancheng and back again; my head feels dizzy, like I'm drunk."

Xu Yanfeng grunted an affirmation, as long as she got home safely it's fine.

Xia Xi still had more to say: "I've heard people say that after doing something stimulating, there will be a withdrawal reaction; is this what I'm experiencing called withdrawal?"

Xu Yanfeng: "I don't know."

Xia Xi propped her elbows on the bed's edge to stand up, while chatting casually with Xu Yanfeng she found her pajamas, walked to the bathroom, turned on the phone's speaker and placed it on the washbasin, pulled up her hair, and faced the mirror to remove her makeup.

After washing her face, she turned on the shower to adjust the water temperature.

Xu Yanfeng listened to her chattering voice, didn't interrupt, suddenly the sound of dripping water came from over there, he froze a moment, realized something was off, and spoke: "What are you doing?"

Xia Xi smiled slightly, candidly said: "Taking a bath."

Xu Yanfeng: "……"

She intends to let him hear her bathing?