Chapter Thirty-Nine — Burdened with Worries

The car turned a corner and sped along the vast Yue’an Road. In an effort to save on gas, the driver had left the air conditioning off. All four windows were rolled all the way down, and as the vehicle hurtled forward, the wind howled and swept past, tousling Yishu’s bangs and blurring her vision.

Today had truly felt endless.

Xu Shixi’s project in Rongcheng was stuck in a deadlock. Xunyuan Corporation had assigned him to partner with Tang Dai, the heiress of the Tang Group, for this venture. Originally, the company’s leadership had favored Wan Xinheng for the role, a seasoned veteran. Yet after the recent scandal involving shoddy work, which implicated several higher-ups, he had become a manager in name only. More and more, he found himself conveniently excluded from proposals and bidding meetings.

No one knew how the company’s leaders learned that Xu Shixi and Tang Dai had been university classmates, but, in consideration of the project’s complexity, they forcibly paired them up.

Shixi had hesitated for a long time. On one hand, he couldn’t defy the company’s decision; there was nowhere to retreat. On the other, the Rongcheng Happy City project was of vital importance. A single triumph here would bring him instant fame.

As for his faded, cloud-like past with Tang Dai—those light, fleeting entanglements—he trusted in his own ability to handle them properly.

Back in those days, though they had admired each other, nothing was ever made explicit. It was like a flower’s fragrance pervading the air: rich and intoxicating, impossible to resist. But the flower itself was left to bloom freely, its scent wantonly released, with no one reaching out to pluck it.

Xu Shixi had always been able to distinguish clearly between work and life, the past, the present, and the future.

The more overwhelming his work became, the clearer his mind grew. He understood that this peculiar clarity was, in some way, a chemical reaction unique to Yishu.

So, no matter how busy or exhausted he was, seeing Yishu remained his greatest joy. No matter the distance, traveling back and forth was never an issue.

When he arrived at Jinlan Community, he saw lights shining in every window—except for Yishu’s, which was shrouded in darkness.

Her phone was switched off.

Could something have happened? A thousand scenarios played out in his mind.

He felt like a fish in the deepest sea, carried forward by invisible, black currents, helpless.

As he wandered the complex in confusion, his phone suddenly rang, shattering the night’s silence with a jagged tear of sound.

The caller ID read: Yihui.

When the middle-aged police officer had taken Yishu and her group to the station, he’d told them plainly: if you don’t want to spend the night here, call a family member.

Yishu scrolled through her contacts from memory. Yan Lu—whereabouts unknown; Shixi—out of town; that left only Yihui.

Upon hearing his sister say she was headed to the police station, Yihui was so stunned he nearly lost his soul. He imagined every possible sorrowful ending, even those beyond imagining, bracing himself for the worst.

Meeting life’s unknowns with a mindset steeped in sadness and pessimism was his own particular style. Perhaps it was simply that he feared loss too much, feared it so much that it became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Xu Shixi listened intently as Yihui recounted the events in a jumble. With his remarkable analytical mind, he distilled the key elements—what, where, when, and who.

He dashed out of the complex. There were precious few cars on the road nearby. After waiting anxiously for several minutes, he took off his jacket, rolled up his shirt sleeves, and sprinted down Yue’an Road.

He hadn’t gone far when his phone rang again.

The caller: Tang Dai.

She spoke succinctly. Her brother, Tang Chao, was currently at the police station, and she hoped Shixi would accompany her.

Breathless, sweat pouring from his skin and soaking his shirt, Shixi refused her request.

So it was that, half an hour later, the three of them found themselves face to face outside the police station, exchanging surprised glances.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in Rongcheng?” Yishu rested her hand on the back of Shixi’s seat. “How did you end up here?”

She hesitated to utter the words “police station,” while the driver listened to their conversation with a detached air. To an outsider, with only a mediocre imagination, it would seem obvious they had gotten into trouble.

Some misunderstandings are best avoided.

Beads of sweat still clung to Shixi’s dark, thick hair, glistening like pearls whenever the streetlights caught them. That faint, salty scent—Yishu couldn’t help but take a deep breath, finding herself shamefully attached to it.

“It was me who called…” Yihui looked at his sister’s slender hands and spoke in a low voice.

Even now, he couldn’t find the right word to address Xu Shixi in the dictionary. After all, he was his sister’s boyfriend, and older by twelve years—calling him by name seemed disrespectful, but “brother” would be too intimate. So he always left the title unspoken, or, if absolutely necessary, replaced it with a blank space.

Yishu glanced at Yihui. He had grown so much, as if overnight. She remembered the day Shixi first came to their home—Yihui had been at a loss, bewildered and unsure. Today, he’d taken the initiative to call, utterly surprising her.

“Yihui was very worried about you.” The car jolted over a stone, and sweat from Shixi’s hair trickled down his neck.

Yishu took a tissue from her pocket. “Here, wipe yourself.” Each drop of sweat was a testament to his sincerity.

“Is it all right for you to come back like this?” She watched him as he dried his skin.

To see her, nothing else mattered—so ran Shixi’s thoughts. But with Su Yihui and the driver present, he was too embarrassed to speak such tender words aloud.

He turned his head away. “The Rongcheng project is on hold for now.”

Yishu was startled by the sudden intensity of his gaze, her heart pounding. “Will you have to rush back later tonight?”

“Not tonight.” He leaned back, resting his head against the seat. “Siming is there keeping an eye on things; nothing will go wrong. I’m more concerned about you.” He sighed. “What exactly happened today? Why were you and Tang Chao at the police station together?”

Yishu was overwhelmed with worries, unsure where to begin. She leaned back in silence, letting the distant lights and nearby fallen leaves serve as companions in her solitude.

“Just as I explained earlier, the whole thing was really quite simple.” The fierce wind tangled her hair, and she parted it, tucking it neatly behind her ears.

To recount such an exhausting ordeal again would be to suffer a second blow. The strength she prided herself on could not withstand another storm.

Xu Shixi understood her unspoken pain. He squeezed the tissue, now soaked with sweat, wringing out every drop.

He blamed himself; as her boyfriend, he should have been her shelter from the storm, sparing her from every disaster. To fail at this was a dereliction of duty.

The car stopped at the entrance to Jinlan Community. Yishu and Yihui got out, and Xu Shixi leaned in to say a few words to the driver before following.

“Would you like to come up for a bit?” Yishu’s expression softened. “Have some water, rest for a while.”

Months ago, Yishu would never have invited Xu Shixi up. Her gesture tonight was born of gratitude, but also of recognition and reliance on their relationship.

Shixi checked his watch—it was nearly half past ten.

“I’d better not. The driver’s still waiting.” He lowered his arm, walked over, and squeezed her shoulder. “Get some rest tonight. If anything comes up, call me anytime.”

“Just as you said earlier: boyfriends are meant to be relied on!” Shixi called back after taking a few steps away.

Those were the sweetest, most melodious words he’d heard in all his thirty-one years.

Yishu watched his car disappear from view. The few trees in the complex rustled in the wind—a sure sign that a thunderstorm was inevitable.

Tang Dai could not dispel her gloom. Shixi had chosen, in front of everyone, to leave with Yishu—a blow that landed on her left cheek, invisible but stinging: sharp, heavy, aching, dull, searing—all at once.

He had once held an umbrella over her on rainy days, escorted her safely back to the dorm late at night. That pure, tender affection had once stretched its branches in the innocence of youth. No one had watered it or pruned it; it had simply grown wild. Then one day, a so-called gardener arrived, and with bold, ruthless hands, transformed the natural garden, pulling up the seedling he found unsightly by its roots.

If only she had been braver then—perhaps things wouldn’t have grown so tangled.

The shower’s cascade washed over Tang Dai, banishing, for the moment, her fatigue and weariness.

She could not afford to retreat now.

Tang Chao paced the living room, putting on a show of remorse and grievance.

But Tang Dai did not blame her brother. All their lives, he had been devoted to her. As the daughter of Tang Jingguo, the pressures she faced were no less than his. Perhaps it was sympathy born of shared burdens; whenever one of them was scolded, the other would step forward to defend.