4 Containing Warmth

Pei Jiayan puffed out his cheeks, ready to pick up his chopsticks, but before he could even lower his head, Chen Ciyuan was already being protective. "It’s no matter, just get another pair."

The hired help complied, bringing a fresh pair of chopsticks and efficiently retrieving the fallen ones.

The atmosphere at the dining table remained unchanged, and the heart that had been hanging in Wen Shuhan’s chest slowly settled.

Everyone was chatting and laughing happily, and the ambiguous sensation that had been brushing against her ankle earlier had vanished at some unknown moment.

It was as if everything that had just happened was a mere hallucination.

She lifted her eyelashes a beat too slow, her gaze carrying a hint of lingering distraction and self-doubt, and under the cover of the table’s lively conversation, she cast a glance at him.

Chen Yansi was no longer participating in the topic; he simply lowered his eyes, listening quietly, a faint, perfunctory smile hanging on the corners of his lips.

He had possessed a rebellious spirit since his youth.

Since no one could manage him, trying to distract him or dictate his actions was even more impossible.

He kept to himself, enjoying the quiet, occasionally lifting his glass to drink. His broad shoulders rested against the back of his chair, appearing languid and relaxed, yet not quite unprofessional; it was more like a habit of looking down from a position of superiority, devoid of any tension in any setting.

As the strong liquor slid down his throat, he set the glass down without a change in expression. The light played faintly across the back of his hand, where his tendons and bones stood out clearly, as if even the light itself were under his control.

Wen Shuhan couldn't tell if what he had done earlier was intentional or accidental.

This man was far too difficult to fathom.

Late at night, the countless topics finally ran their course, and the dinner party came to an end. The extended family members left one by one in their cars.

Thinking about having to live in the old mansion with Chen Yansi again, Wen Shuhan had to mentally prepare herself.

The conclusion she reached was: it’s fine.

He and she had long since stopped interfering with each other’s lives.

The bedrooms were cleaned every day, and a faint, pleasant fragrance permeated the air.

After showering, she lay on her bed, watching the rehearsal footage sent by the dance troupe manager.

Inadvertently, she caught a fleeting figure on her phone screen.

The next second, the group chat "Sharing Blessings and Withdrawing from Trouble Together (3)" buzzed with activity, popping up a photo taken from a different angle.

This time, it was clear who it was.

Xu Yiran: [My eyes are a ruler]

Xu Yue: [Case solved, case solved! This has to be the ex-husband!]

The lid of the gossip pot was thus blown wide open.

Xu Yue tagged her: [Now, let’s invite the involved party to the stage to say a few words.jpg]

Xu Yiran: [Pricking up ears.jpg]

"..."

It was just a rehearsal.

After Chen Yansi went abroad, there had been several terrorist attacks in the region. The unrest there could not be quelled in the short term, with one wave of trouble following another, which led to him being unable to return for two consecutive New Year's Eves.

If one counted from that late summer when they broke up, it had been exactly two years since they parted ways, and they hadn’t met once in that time.

After such a long time, with no contact or interaction, and given that he was never short of people who liked him...

As for that old flame, he must have forgotten it long ago.

Wen Shuhan gathered her thoughts and replied to the group with a sticker: [The involved party refuses to be interviewed.jpg]

She turned off her phone, but she couldn't fall asleep.

Suddenly, she really wanted a cup of hot milk.

Outside the window, the sound of rain had softened, and everyone in the old mansion was asleep.

No light shone from the gap beneath the door of the bedroom next to hers.

He hadn't gone to sleep so early; he must have gone out.

Wen Shuhan went downstairs, distracted, opened the refrigerator, found a carton of fresh milk, broke the seal, and poured it into a cup.

Her phone vibrated on the island counter; an unsaved number was calling.

She picked it up and answered, "Hello?"

The person on the other end chuckled, "Not asleep yet? Are you free tomorrow? Want to go paragliding together?"

She knew who it was the moment she heard the voice. Wen Shuhan was already exhausted, "Sheng Fan, I’ve already said I don't want to go. You’ve asked so many times."

Sheng Fan knew she was soft-hearted and began to wheedle, "Oh come on, let's go together. Give me a chance to pursue you. If you don't interact with me, how will you get to know me? Right?"

She sighed inwardly and turned on a small floor lamp nearby, "But I don't want to get to know you, I—"

Before she could finish, a shadow slowly loomed over her from behind. The edge of a dark silhouette suddenly appeared. Her pupils dilated, she almost screamed, accidentally hung up the phone, and spun around.

Seeing his face clearly in the warm light, her heart soared and sank; she caught her breath, her eyes narrowing.

The mansion was so large, yet he didn't appear anywhere else—he had to appear right here. It was unreasonable.

"You scared me..."

She had thought Chen Yansi had already left the mansion, but he had suddenly appeared before her. With the rain falling outside, this sudden shadow was enough to scare anyone to death.

Chen Yansi remained indifferent to her startled gasp. He opened the refrigerator to get a bottle of ice water, closed the door with a fluid motion, and said in a calm, flat tone, "Disturbing your late-night heart-to-heart?"

"...?" What heart-to-heart?

She pursed her lips and turned away, putting the milk into the microwave and setting the time and temperature. She explained calmly, "Don't talk nonsense. It’s just an ordinary friend."

As the words fell, Chen Yansi let out a cold snort through his nose and twisted off the bottle cap on his own.

What a cold and sarcastic attitude. Who had offended him now?

Bad temper.

She complained about him to herself.

Under the warm light, the microwave countdown flashed second by second.

Chen Yansi stood to the side, his head tilted slightly as he drank the water. Near his fingers, beads of water condensed from the icy mist. His raised arm revealed faint, taut veins, and his long-sleeved black top was thin and loose, outlining the contours of his solid back muscles with every movement.

The way he looked at home was subtly different from when he was in a suit and tie.

In their student days, those looks that the female classmates were curious about but could never see—Wen Shuhan had seen them all. Now that he was mature, she was the only one most familiar with how he looked in private.

She suddenly realized she had let her thoughts wander too far.

Wen Shuhan lifted her eyes to look at the side. Chen Yansi had just finished half the bottle of ice water; his Adam's apple rolled, and he slowed the motion of twisting the cap, looking over obliquely as he followed her gaze.

As their eyes met, she blinked and deliberated for a moment before getting straight to the point: "Did you go to my rehearsal?"

Chen Yansi looked at her for two more seconds, then indifferently withdrew his gaze, twisted the cap again, and drank the remaining half of the ice water.

The bottle was empty. He tossed it into the trash can without a second thought and gave her a lukewarm glance, "The invitation was already opened. Wouldn't it be impolite not to go?"

She reacted after a few seconds.

"Oh..." That made sense.

This dance production was a key project in cooperation with the city’s Dance Association. Rehearsals were not open to the public; usually, only relatives of the dancers or specially invited guests could attend.

He was now a shareholder of Xusheng; there was no reason for him not to be invited. There were many ways of doing things in the business world, and he wasn't the type to intentionally snub people—he would still show the necessary respect.

Wen Shuhan lowered her eyes, clearing her thoughts. She tapped her fingertips on the counter and said, out of the blue, "That performance is very important to me."

She paused.

Chen Yansi seemed to have heard some kind of joke. He leaned against the refrigerator with his hands in his pockets, examining her with a lazy, mocking tone, "What, do you think I’d trip you up, so you’re specifically giving me a reminder?"

"Wen Shuhan, am I that bad in your eyes?"

"...That’s not what I meant."

Although she did indeed think he was quite bad.

Chen Yansi smiled faintly, neither confirming nor denying.

"I’m going back."

Just as she turned to walk away, the microwave "dinged."

"Don't want the milk?"

She awkwardly returned to her senses, "I do."

Turning around, the heated milk had already been taken out of the microwave and placed on the counter.

"Add it yourself."

He pushed the transparent sugar bowl from the other side toward her.

Wen Shuhan picked up a small round spoon, silently added a spoonful of sugar to the hot milk, and stirred it.

It was a small habit for replenishing her sugar levels.

She was slightly hypoglycemic because her weight was too low, and she was always getting sick. Aunt Tang always said her thinness was heartbreaking whenever she saw her.

In her peripheral vision, Chen Yansi’s gaze on her was somewhat meaningful.

She couldn't distinguish the nuance of what he wanted to say in his gaze because it was so fleeting that she thought it was an illusion once again.

"I’m going to sleep, thank you."

She took the milk and turned to leave.

As the distance grew, the crisp sound of a lighter echoed behind her.

He had lit a cigarette; the faint sound of him exhaling reached her ears.

Her footsteps paused.

Was work troubling him that much?

The warmth of the cup spread from her palm. She thought for a moment, then turned back and said, "Um... you should get some sleep early too."

Chen Yansi was leaning against the island counter. Hearing this, he lifted his eyelids, and the hand holding the cigarette moved slightly, the scarlet ember flickering in the dark.

He watched her quietly, half his face hidden in the moonlight blurred by the rain and mist. A calm, deep voice came from his throat: "Hm."

-

The next morning, Wen Shuhan returned to the Art Center to practice dancing as usual.

When she set off, she was in the same car as Chen Yansi; Chen Ciyuan had told him to drop her off.

He rarely drove himself; today, it seemed he had given Assistant Qiu a day off.

The morning had cleared, and the black Continental drove under the dappled sunlight, leaving Chongyuan.

Neither spoke the whole way until they reached the main entrance of the Art Center.

Wen Shuhan unbuckled her seatbelt, not forgetting to say thank you.

The two of them suddenly became distant again.

Chen Yansi tapped the steering wheel with his fingers, his other arm propped against the window sill to support his forehead. He stared lazily ahead, saying nothing. One couldn't tell what he was thinking.

In high school, he had been just as cold and aloof, especially during school-wide educational assemblies. He would just take a notebook and write to himself, a chilling aura around him that had the girls watching him from the shadows completely infatuated.

Everyone thought he was working on competition problems to kill time, but only Wen Shuhan knew he must have been doodling caricatures of the school leaders on the stage.

Her thoughts returned to reality. Wen Shuhan opened the door and got out, turned back to carefully close the door, and hitched the strap of her cloud bag onto her shoulder.

—"Shuhan! Sweetheart!"

Someone called out to her from far away.

"..."

It was Sheng Fan.

Sheng Fan, dressed in luxury logos, ran over like a seasonal mascot. When he was just a few steps away, he glanced toward the car window.

He clearly didn't see who was sitting inside, but the license plate implied the owner’s extraordinary status. He stood there stupidly for a moment, his eyes shining with curiosity, "Who dropped you off?"

Sheng Fan, a simple-minded little rich kid, didn't know Wen Shuhan’s family background or interpersonal relationships. Plus, she was relatively low-key in her daily life, so he had always assumed she was a child from an ordinary family.

She didn't want to explain too much in front of him, otherwise, this guy would think he was very close to her and try to pry into everything.

So she answered simply, "An ordinary friend."

Not an ex-boyfriend, and certainly not the "older brother" she had known since she was fourteen.

Just an ordinary friend.

She had quite a lot of "ordinary friends."

As soon as Wen Shuhan finished that sentence, the sound of the car leaving came from behind her, the engine’s roar a bit muffled as it pulled away.

"..."

He seemed to be in a very bad mood.

Who had offended him now?

All day long, bad temper.

-

The afternoon sun was bright.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows of Nan'er Manor, a stretch of green golf course extended endlessly, and inside, there were occasional sounds of bowling balls rolling and colliding.

On the hillside observation deck, Chen Yansi sat on a sofa chair with his legs crossed, the top two buttons of his soft black silk shirt undone. His obscure gaze fell upon the entire green lawn, his expression like an ice cellar.

The waiters passing by were used to this, but they remained vigilant, afraid that this was the prelude to an outburst.

Liang Yuze, bored with bowling, wandered over to the billiard table and put an arm around Zhou Ji’s shoulder, tilting his chin, "Hey, what’s wrong with him?"

Zhou Ji was chewing gum, chalking his cue, "How would I know? He’s been like a grim reaper since he got back to the country. Who can guess what’s going on with him?"

"Hmm..." Liang Yuze guessed, taking a wild shot, "Could it be because of a woman?"

There had been rumors in the circle that Chen Yansi seemed to have a little sweetheart, but she had never shown her face, and no one knew her name.

As the news spread, people became even more confused about whether he had dated one, many, or was currently dating many.

All associations led Chen Yansi toward the direction of a playboy. Everyone dared not mention it openly, only joking about it in private, saying that Young Master Chen walked through ten thousand flowers but never let a single petal touch his body.

No female could occupy even a square inch of his emotions.

Zhou Ji also scoffed, "You think that’s possible? If any woman could make him like this, I’d call her 'Big Sister' right now!"

"Big Sister?" A woman’s voice, lazy and charming, accompanied by the sound of high heels clicking on the floor. Her mermaid skirt swished with the graceful luster of silk as she rounded the wine cabinet.

"Oh, our big star Lu Ning is here." Zhou Ji, postureless, leaned on his billiard cue and smiled at the old acquaintance, "Please don't bring any paparazzi with you; I’m too lazy to deal with them."

Lu Ning held a cigarette in one hand and sat on the billiard table, her thick, dark wavy hair piled on her shoulders.

"What are you playing? You don't mind if I join, do you?"

"Come on in." Liang Yuze whistled, "Perfect, Lu Chenghao stood us up. Anything lost tonight goes on his tab; let's raise the stakes to the death."

Lu Ning curled her lips in a faint smile, pinched out the ladies' cigarette in her hand, and said with a light mockery, "Lu Chenghao is a busy man; I wouldn't dare count on him."

Extinguishing the smoke, she tilted her chin toward the back not far away: "What about him? Not participating?"

"Him?" Zhou Ji bowed his waist to aim for the last ball, whispering, "Don't dare provoke him. If this fire burns me, where would I go to put it out? Let's go, let's keep playing. My games are always a guaranteed win."

Lu Ning looked at the cold air surrounding that person, feeling this was a once-in-a-century occurrence and quite interesting, "Is he... angered by his little sweetheart?"

As the sound faded, Zhou Ji sank the black 8-ball into the pocket, annoyed and unable to laugh or cry, "Oh for heaven's sake, why is everyone asking me? I'm not his little sweetheart!"