Yan Yincheng finally found the discarded diamond ring in the fountain. By the time he dragged his soaking - wet body back to the villa in the south of the city from the Pei Corporation, the place was already empty.
"Sorry, Third Master. That guy surnamed Hu led a group of people into the villa and started beating me without a word. I couldn't stop Madam..." The bodyguard with a bruised and swollen face hung his head and stood aside, admitting his mistake to Yan Yincheng.
Yan Yincheng sat at the table, using his fingertips to touch the engagement agreement that had been torn into pieces like snowflakes one by one. He lowered his head and carefully pieced it back together. But there was too much water on his body. Water droplets dripped from his sleeves, collar, and the tips of his hair, hitting the table and wetting the fragments.
His hands trembled uncontrollably. He shouted, "Wei Shu! Wei Shu!"
Wei Shu quickly stepped forward, waved his hand to let the bodyguard back off, and said, "Third Master, I'm here."
"There's so much water! It'll ruin the agreement. Quick, help me dry it!"
Wei Shu helped him move the torn engagement agreement a bit further away, then draped a bath towel over his shoulders and advised, "Third Master, go upstairs and change into some dry clothes. You'll catch a cold like this."
Yan Yincheng waved his hand away and said, "I have to piece the agreement back together. If I do, it'll still be valid!"
He stubbornly sat there, using his cold and wet hands to piece the agreement back together bit by bit to what he thought was its original form. In Wei Shu's eyes, the paper had been worn by the water stains and the words were no longer recognizable. The pieced - together agreement was no longer the original one. But he carefully taped these pieces together with tape, showed it to Wei Shu, and asked with a smile, "Look, I've taped it up. It's still valid, right?"
Wei Shu said sadly, "Third Master, stop smiling." His smile looked worse than crying.
Just then, Yan Yincheng's phone rang. His face lit up with ecstasy. He pressed the answer button and said, "Zixi!"
"Zixi my foot!" An old but powerful voice came from the other end of the phone. "I've heard everything you've done from Yan Zhen. Aren't you going to explain it to me?"
Yan Yincheng hung up the phone directly.
He couldn't let such a meaningless call take up his time. What if Zixi called him and he missed it?
At the Yan family's residence, hearing the busy tone on the phone, Yan Haikun couldn't help scolding, "Whose stubborn temper does this kid have? He didn't say a word about such a big thing. Now he even dares to hang up on me! I knew there was a reason he suddenly got interested in going to Haicheng to be in charge of that project! Turns out there's a woman he left behind there!"
Butler Pang said, "Calm down, Chairman. Third Young Master must have his reasons for not saying anything. Think about it, she was the former fiancée of the Young Master. Although the engagement has been called off, judging from the Young Master's reaction today, it doesn't seem like he's let go."
"Yan Zhen is just being stupid," Yan Haikun sneered.
Butler Pang asked, "Chairman, what's your plan now? Should we just send someone to bring Miss Yuan Xi and the two children back?"
Yan Haikun snorted, "He caused this mess. Let him sort it out himself. I want to see what he's up to."
After hanging up his father's call, Yan Yincheng sat in the living room patiently waiting.
But after that, his phone never rang again. After a while, unable to stand the deathly silence in the huge villa, he felt he had to do something to control his about - to - collapse emotions.
So he got up and started rummaging through the house like a madman. In the kitchen, the fridge was stuffed full, and there was no shortage of bowls and chopsticks. On the shelf, the toys the two children had put together were still neatly placed there. In the bedroom, except for the empty wardrobe, the water cup she often used was still on the table, and the model fish he had assembled was still on the bedside. There was a faint fragrance lingering in the air. Everything seemed the same as yesterday.
A spark of hope ignited in his heart again.
She didn't take anything, which meant she would come back, right?
She just left home in a fit of anger. After she calmed down, she would come back to him with a smile, hold his hand, call him "Brother Cheng", and ask him to watch the sunrise with her, play the guitar, and fall asleep on his shoulder, right?
She didn't really want to call off the engagement with him and date that Pei kid, right?
He specially moved a chair and sat at the door waiting. He didn't dare to sleep or eat, for fear of missing the moment when she came back.
On the first day, he told himself that he hadn't taken on the responsibility of taking care of her four years ago, and four years later, he had deceived and hidden things from her for the sake of the two children. It was only natural for her to be angry. Give her a little more time. When she calmed down, she would come back.
On the second day, he comforted himself. "Yan Yincheng, you've lived two lifetimes. Don't you even have the patience to wait? Compared to what she's been through, what's this pain of yours?"
On the third day, he couldn't deceive himself anymore. He finally realized that the reason she didn't take anything except her clothes was that she left so decisively that she would rather abandon the old things and had no nostalgia for this house where they used to live together.
Realizing this, his heart started to hurt more and more. He even bent over in pain and couldn't catch his breath.
Noticing his pale face, Wei Shu walked over with the food and said to him, "Third Master, you haven't eaten or rested for three days. You'll break down if you go on like this. I know you probably can't eat now, but eat a little and then lie down and have a good sleep, okay?"
Yan Yincheng sat there blankly, showing no reaction at all, as if he were dead.
Wei Shu thought for a while and then gave him a harsh wake - up call. "Third Master, why are you torturing yourself like this? Miss Yuan can't see you doing this. Maybe she's out on a date with the Young Master of the Pei family right now, cultivating their relationship, and making the two young masters call him 'uncle'."
These words finally made Yan Yincheng react. He said sharply, "Shut up. Don't mention this in front of me! She won't accept that man. She must be just trying to make me angry—cough, cough, cough!"
He spoke too quickly and couldn't help coughing violently. Wei Shu quickly put down the things in his hands and stepped forward to pat his back. After he calmed down, Wei Shu tentatively asked, "Third Master, do you... love Miss Yuan?"
Wei Shu's words left Yan Yincheng stunned.
Love? Until his death in his previous life, there had never been a woman by Yan Yincheng's side. He had no idea what love was. Had he fallen in love with this woman? He... he didn't know.
So he answered like this, "I don't know."
Wei Shu simply sat down on the ground beside him and asked, "Then what exactly do you think of Miss Yuan? I mean, did you get engaged to Miss Yuan because the food she cooks can satisfy your picky taste buds, or because she's the mother of the two children? Or, are you willing to live with her as a real couple, holding hands, kissing, and building an intimate relationship?"
Live as a real couple, hold hands, kiss, and build an intimate relationship?
He remembered the sound of his heart beating fast with joy when she took his hand on her own initiative in the aquarium. He also remembered the steady and long - drawn - out breathing sound of her when she fell asleep on his shoulder on that night when they were waiting for the sunrise.
He didn't know when it started, but he found that he liked the smell on her body, the sound of her voice, her cooking, her tenderness towards the two children, the way she called him "Brother Cheng" with a smile, and her occasional innocent coquetry.
Every moment with her by his side made him feel at ease and happy. It wasn't because she was the mother of the two children, but because she was just herself. He wanted to live with her like this forever.
If this was love, then he admitted that he had indeed fallen in love with her.