Chapter 27 (1/2)
The sunset clouds spread across the sky.
Mu Wan tilted her head back to look at Liu Qianxiu. Something fluttered in her chest. She did not blink once as she asked uncertainly, “Did you hear it?”
“No.” Liu Qianxiu denied it and lowered his eyes to look at her.
Her hair was tied up, and even the loose strands had been gilded red by the fading light. The sea breeze lifted them, and they swayed like strands of seaweed.
“When you want to tell me,” he said, “I’ll listen.”
She wanted to tell him now.
She just did not know what the outcome would be.
Mu Wan smiled.
“That’s true. I’ll definitely tell you one day.”
The sun’s last afterglow stretched the beauty of the sea into something even more vivid and expansive.
The sun had sunk into the water.
Grains of sand shifted beneath their feet.
The two of them left the shore together.
This time Mu Wan had not fallen asleep, so she went with Liu Qianxiu to Xu Xingkong’s house.
The doorbell rang, Xu Xingkong opened the door, and the moment she saw Mu Wan standing behind Liu Qianxiu, her eyes lit up slightly, and she smiled.
“You’re here. Come in.”
Standing behind Liu Qianxiu, Mu Wan smiled back.
She liked Xu Xingkong very much.
Xu Xingkong possessed that particular gentleness unique to women from Jiangnan—like a length of gauze rinsed in a shallow stream, drifting slowly with the current, soft yet resilient. In Xu Xingkong, Mu Wan found something she had in common with her own mother. That made her feel instinctively close to her.
The four cats were split between two carriers. Liu Qianxiu carried one in each hand, while Mu Wan held only a carton of strawberry milk. Once inside, Mu Wan handed it over.
“This is for you. It’s pretty sweet. Liu Qianxiu bought it.”
Xu Xingkong glanced at Liu Qianxiu, then accepted it with a smile.
“Thank you.”
Liu Qianxiu carried the cats into the cat room. But as soon as he set the carriers down, he received a phone call. After answering it, he stepped back outside, leaving only Mu Wan and Xu Xingkong in the room.
Mu Wan crouched down and let Zhouyi and the three kittens out.
Xu Xingkong wanted to help, but Mu Wan quickly said there was no need. As she opened the carrier, Zhouyi was the first to spring out. He was clearly already used to this place. The moment he came out, he leaped up onto the cat tree. The three little ones, on the other hand, seemed as though they had glue on them. They toddled out of the carrier one by one, meowing in their soft kitten voices, then stuck themselves around Mu Wan’s ankles.
“Kittens are clingy,” Xu Xingkong said as she watched the three of them. In the end, she crouched down too.
The way she crouched made her lean back a little. Mu Wan assumed it was just a personal habit and did not think anything of it.
“But they cling to Liu Qianxiu even more,” Mu Wan said.
She pointed toward the doorway, where Liu Qianxiu was still on the phone. His voice was low. She could not make out what he was saying, only catch the occasional work-related word.
There was a different kind of charm about him when he was working.
Mu Wan found herself drifting into a daze just listening.
When she came back to herself and saw Xu Xingkong looking at her, warmth rose to her face. She hurriedly withdrew her gaze and rested a hand on the kittens’ small heads.
“These three are mine. But Liu Qianxiu was worried I wouldn’t be able to keep them alive, so he’s fostering them for now. Once they’re older, I’ll take them back.”
“Qianxiu really likes cats.”
At the mention of Liu Qianxiu, Xu Xingkong smiled.
“Our cat was given to my husband by him too.”
“Oh?”
Mu Wan looked surprised for a second, then remembered what Liu Qianxiu had once said and smiled.
“He told me his friend didn’t know how to raise one, so his friend’s wife ended up doing it.”
“Mm.”
Remembering how Mimi had first been treated in Huai Jing’s house, Xu Xingkong nodded.
“He really didn’t know how. In the end, I took the cat in.”
“Then did the two of you meet because of a cat?” Mu Wan asked.
“Not exactly.”
The moment the topic turned to the past, Xu Xingkong’s cheeks flushed faintly. Her relationship with Huai Jing had not begun because of a cat, though the cat had run through it from beginning to end.
“Your husband must be a very gentle person,” Mu Wan said as she looked at Xu Xingkong.
Happiness flowed from the corners of Xu Xingkong’s eyes, and somehow that warmed Mu Wan too.
She had never met Xu Xingkong’s husband, but she could already sense what he must be like.
Their house was large and open, yet not cold. Every corner of it carried a soft kind of warmth. If two people were not in love, a home could never hold that kind of happiness so densely.
Hearing Mu Wan’s judgment of her husband, Xu Xingkong curled her lips into a smile. But she did not fully agree. She only said, “Mm. He’s very gentle to me.”
“That’s so nice,” Mu Wan said softly.
She reached out and poked at Zhongfen’s ear, then murmured, “If only Liu Qianxiu were like that too.”
At that moment, the cat room door opened. The two women both turned.
Liu Qianxiu swept his gaze across the room, then let it settle on Mu Wan.
“There’s something at the hospital. I need to go back now.”
Xu Xingkong saw the two of them out and walked them to the car. Mu Wan waved goodbye before fastening her seatbelt.
The sun had completely set by then, and night had fallen. The streetlights lit up in rows, bathing the coastal road in brightness.
Liu Qianxiu handled everything steadily. He drove the same way.
Mu Wan leaned back in her seat, looking at the lighthouse standing on the sea cliffs.
“What’s going on at the hospital?”
As the beam from the lighthouse swept over her, Mu Wan narrowed her eyes for a moment, then looked back at Liu Qianxiu.
“There’s an issue with tomorrow’s surgery. We need to discuss the plan in a meeting,” Liu Qianxiu answered.
“Oh.”
Mu Wan responded, then asked, “Will it take a long time?”
“Yes. You should go home first,” Liu Qianxiu said.
Her lashes moved slightly.
Looking at his profile, Mu Wan asked, “Which home?”
At the red light, Liu Qianxiu turned his head.
The woman’s eyes were filled with scattered bits of light as she smiled at him.
“I may be busy until very late,” he said. The surgical plan for tomorrow had not yet been finalized.
“I can wait for you,” Mu Wan said.
What was she planning to wait for? It definitely was not dinner. It was already seven now. If he finished, it would be after nine.
After saying it, Mu Wan closed her lips and gave a sheepish little smile.
“Ah. It’ll be too late for dinner by then.”
“Go to my place,” Liu Qianxiu said calmly. “I don’t have time to take you home right now.”
Tang’er Hospital was close to Nanfeng Apartments. But if he had to take her all the way back to her own place and then return, that would cost nearly an hour. He truly did not have time.
Mu Wan pressed her lips together for a second, then nodded.
“Okay. I’m fine. I can be anywhere.”
Liu Qianxiu only took Mu Wan as far as the entrance of Nanfeng Apartments.
Then he gave her the apartment’s password.
Mu Wan entered it, heard the lock click open, pressed the handle down, and pushed the door wide.
The apartment inside was pitch-black.
Completely at ease by now, Mu Wan turned on the living room lights. Light spilled across the space, but it still felt wide and empty. Even the elusive Zhouyi was nowhere to be seen. The whole apartment held no one but her.
It was similar to her own place.
But not the same.
At home, there was only ever her.
Here, whether it was one hour, or two hours—or however many hours it took—as long as she waited, Liu Qianxiu would come back.
Mu Wan walked to the low table, took off her shoes, stepped onto the rug, and sat down cross-legged.
The books on the table were still the same ones. Liu Qianxiu seemed to read them over and over again. She had no idea how he could stand books this dry.
After sitting there for a while, Mu Wan looked out the window.
The living room faced south, with a wide open view. A curved moon hung high in the sky, cold and pale and bright, enlarging the apartment’s emptiness even more.
A few strands of agarwood fragrance still lingered in the room. Leaning back against the weight-bearing wall, Mu Wan took in the entire living room with one sweep of her eyes.
At night, under the moonlight, it really did feel a little like a Taoist temple.
But no matter how much the décor resembled one, this was still the middle of the secular world. That was probably why Liu Qianxiu wanted to retreat to the temple for quiet cultivation.
Waiting was, in truth, terribly boring.
Mu Wan had waited around on plenty of sets before. There were times in broad daylight when she had waited so long she drifted off to sleep.
But tonight, waiting for Liu Qianxiu in his home, she felt no sleepiness at all.
She leaned forward, took out her phone, and started playing a game.
Thanks for the chapter and stay safe!
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