Chapter 159

Xie Shiqing almost in panic ran out of the office and dialed Zhong Ning’s number. It rang, the ringtone went on for a long time.

That caller tune was one she had chosen for Zhong Ning, a very cheerful English song, with a clear rhythm and dense drumbeats.

But to Xie Shiqing today, it only felt like the drumbeats were disturbing her mind, making her unbearably restless, so much so that she wished she could just hang up.

Why wasn’t she picking up, why wasn’t she picking up!

Answer the phone, answer the phone, answer the phone!

There was a beep, the ringtone stopped, and shallow breathing came through the receiver. “Shiqing, why did you suddenly call me?”

Zhong Ning’s voice sounded very calm, with a hint of confusion.

The apology that was about to spill from Xie Shiqing’s lips stopped at the tip of her tongue. Did Zhong Zinuan lie? She hadn’t told Zhong Ning? Otherwise, why would she react like this…

Too calm.

“What’s wrong?” Since she kept silent for so long, Zhong Ning asked again with concern in her voice, “Did something happen?”

“You… when you finish class and come home, could you buy a roast duck from Wufu Garden on the way? I suddenly feel like eating it.” Xie Shiqing’s heart pounded like a drum, and she spoke in a near-breathless whisper.

Just then, she suddenly heard the sound of a car horn.

“Haha, what a coincidence.” Zhong Ning’s soft laugh came through the receiver. “I actually brought the pine mushroom out to play and take a walk. Then I overheard two people talking about roast duck, and it made me crave it. I’m actually on my way to Wufu Garden right now.”

The heart Xie Shiqing had been holding up slowly settled. After a pause, she asked a little hesitantly, “Did you hear any strange news today?”

“What news?” Zhong Ning laughed in confusion. “Shiqing, why are you acting so strange today? You’re not hiding something from me, are you?”

“No!” Xie Shiqing denied flatly, but right after she realized her reaction had been too quick, making it sound like she had something to hide, so she quickly tried to patch it up. “Alright, you caught me. Actually, I secretly bought you a new car, but Fu Nanshuang saw it, and I was afraid she might tell you in advance.”

“Why suddenly buy me a car? I already have one.” Zhong Ning asked with pleasant surprise.

“How can just driving one be enough.” Xie Shiqing let out a huge sigh of relief, then used a slightly coquettish tone. “Besides, in a couple of days it’ll be our half-year engagement anniversary, so I wanted to give you a gift.”

“Alright, alright.” Zhong Ning chuckled. “Then I’ll have to think of a gift too.”

“Ah, the light turned green. I’ll drive now, Shiqing, we’ll talk when I get home.”

Zhong Ning hung up.

Xie Shiqing staggered forward as if she had lost all strength, almost falling to the ground. Fine beads of cold sweat seeped from her forehead, and her face was pale as though she had just run for her life. “You go…” she panted, “go buy a new car right away, the latest model, yellow.”

Assistant Fang, who had remained silent all this time, gave a brief reply, “I’ll go right now.”

Zhong Ning’s matters always took top priority over everything else. She turned and left immediately, which Xie Shiqing tacitly approved.

Xie Shiqing had never felt so panicked before. It was even more nerve-racking than the last time the butler said Zhong Ning was moving out of the villa. Her heart was pounding so violently it seemed ready to break through her ribs and leap out.

She knew very well that this matter could not be hidden forever, it had to be spoken out. But how to say it became a problem in itself.

She sent a message to the butler, telling her to report back as soon as she saw Zhong Ning return home, then quickly threw herself into the work of consolidating the Zhong family.

Time seemed to pass in an instant, as if someone had moved the hands of the clock. When hunger once again rose in her stomach, Xie Shiqing instinctively asked, “What time is it?”

The person beside her replied, “Six twenty-three.”

It was already past six?

Why hadn’t Zhong Ning come home yet?

Xie Shiqing’s heartbeat skipped a beat. A strange instinct struck her like an electric shock to the crown of her head.

She picked up her phone again and dialed Zhong Ning’s number.

“Sorry, the number you have dialed is currently busy…”

“Sorry, the number you have dialed is currently busy…”

“Sorry, the number you have dialed is currently busy…”

—

Chapter 59

Fengcheng was close to the sea. Where the river water met the seawater, it resembled a half-opened fan, with Fengcheng being the pearl at the end of the fan’s pendant.

Driving past rows of packed containers, past the ship hulls that rose like white waves, Zhong Ning watched as a seabird’s wings brushed past her car window and then in an instant soared into the sky.

It was the off-season for traveling, the sea wind cold as bone-slicing blades, whipping her short hair. A few tourists, wrapped in thick coats, strolled along the seaside bridge.

Zhong Ning parked her car in a secluded spot, with Pine Mushroom following beside her. The coastline stretched endlessly, like flowing time itself.

Beside her ears, the sea surged up and fell back down with a crash, breaking against the reefs and raising a spray of silver foam.

She wasn’t thinking of anything.

A kind of exhaustion enveloped her like mist.

Thinking carefully, ever since she inexplicably came into this world, it seemed that most of her decisions had been pushed forward by the environment around her, forcing her to act that way. Only a few ideas were truly her own, things she liked and wanted to carry out.

Humans were social creatures, group-dwelling animals. As long as one lived in this world, one inevitably had to deal with others, be influenced by them, and change one’s own thoughts.

Then what about her? When swept up in the flood of emotions, had she put on a life jacket to ensure she wouldn’t drown?

Zhong Ning couldn’t answer.

She had added a small threshold to the glass greenhouse, thinking it could block out all wind, frost, rain, and snow. But when the real flood came, she realized that the low threshold could block nothing, and was the first thing to break, its shattered pieces falling to crush her before anything else.

So tired.

Zhong Ning lowered her head and looked at her shoes sinking into the sand.

She was doing something completely futile.

Pine Mushroom was especially quiet, not running around wanting to play, just watching her with a pair of ice-blue eyes. Then it gently licked the back of her hand, chilled by the sea wind.

Suddenly, tears broke free from her eyes, leaving two small wet marks on the fine sand.

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