Chapter 43 (1/2)
Time passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, the day of parting arrived.
Mu Wan finished her scenes early that day and took a taxi to Tang’er Hospital. The work at the hospital was complicated and important; it had taken Liu Qianxiu several days to hand everything over properly. After picking him up, the two of them went home together.
The three little ones at home were already meowing hungrily. Mu Wan went to feed them first. Once she was done, she went into the bedroom.
Liu Qianxiu was packing.
Mu Wan sat on his hard bed and watched him.
His bedroom had much the same feel as the living room—different in form, similar in spirit. Aside from a sandalwood bed, a desk, and a wooden chair, there was almost nothing else inside. Everything in the room was made of sandalwood, and the air was faintly scented with it, making the tall, spare man seem even more unworldly.
He did not have much luggage. He only packed a few books.
Looking at the half-empty suitcase, Mu Wan asked, “That’s all?”
Liu Qianxiu nodded and sat down beside her. “As long as I have my documents, that’s enough. Everything else is already there in Austria.”
Thinking back, when he had gone to Qingyuan Temple, he had hardly brought anything then either. Liu Qianxiu could always take care of himself. Mu Wan did not press the matter. Instead, she climbed right into his lap.
She had grown especially fond of being held like this. Resting against him while he lowered his head to kiss her hair—since the two of them had gotten together, they had not lacked for tenderness. If they were suddenly made to part, Mu Wan was not sure she could endure it easily.
“For now, I don’t really feel anything,” she said.
After all, he had not left yet. Mu Wan was still in his arms. The real bitterness of long-distance love had not begun.
To an outsider, it might seem overly dramatic—it’s only two people being apart for two weeks. But to two people immersed in love, it was like being sunk in melted chocolate syrup. Pulling apart from that sweetness even briefly really did leave behind discomfort and longing.
Holding her more securely, Liu Qianxiu said, “That’s good. Lovesickness is bitter.”
Mu Wan laughed.
“What time is it now?” she asked.
“Three.”
She calculated the time. There were still three hours left before he had to leave. Since there was time, she might as well make the best of it.
Tilting her head up, she kissed him.
“I don’t want to use one this time,” Mu Wan said, arms around him.
The look in his eyes changed, and his brows knit slightly.
“If I get pregnant, I’m the one getting the better deal. I’d be carrying the child of the head of the Liu family.” Looking straight at him, she pushed deliberately, provoking him. “If you won’t give me that, then it means you don’t think you’ll come back safely this time. If you do, then that’s what would really make me feel secure.”
Her mind always worked along its own strange, private logic. To anyone else, it would have sounded a little mad.
Liu Qianxiu looked at her deeply. She stared back stubbornly.
At last, he lowered his head to her ear and, while her body trembled, answered softly,
“All right.”
The Liu family had a private jet, so after arriving at the airport, they went through a private channel. Mu Wan saw Liu Qianxiu off. Only when the plane actually lifted into the sky did the ache of missing him truly begin.
The engines roared. Mu Wan’s heart clenched painfully.
As long as she did not think about returning to an empty home, it was manageable. The moment she did, the hollow ache sank even deeper.
It was already six in the evening. The sun had not fully set yet. Mu Wan did not want to go home, so she called Lin Wei.
The two of them had not gone out to eat together in a while. Lin Wei had just come back from a client meeting and was complaining nonstop about an absurd customer while fishing vegetables out of the hotpot. Mu Wan ate for a bit, then stopped. After taking a sip of soda water, she sat quietly.
Lin Wei slurped up a sheet of wide noodles, looked up at her, and dropped a slice of beef into her bowl. “Taoist Liu left, and he took your soul with him too, didn’t he?”
Mu Wan had no appetite. She picked at her chopsticks, dipped the beef in sauce, forced herself to swallow it, then took another sip of soda water.
“And so what?” she said. “I left with his soul too.”
Lin Wei gave an exaggerated shiver. “You’re getting more disgusting by the day.”
That finally made Mu Wan laugh. “That’s what love is.”
Lin Wei laughed too. Biting on her chopsticks, she shook her head. “I wouldn’t know what love is. I’ve dated before, but I’ve never felt like this. In the beginning it was just hormones crashing around. Later he cheated on me, and I was heartbroken—but I still don’t know if I was heartbroken because he fell for someone else or because I couldn’t stand that I lost to the other woman. Since my love life has never involved two people truly staying devoted to each other, I might as well just pursue the physical side.”
Lin Wei was a little tipsy. She rambled on nonsense for a while, then concluded, “So you and Taoist Liu really aren’t easy. You two better stay together.”
“Of course,” Mu Wan said with a nod. “I still have to have his baby.”
At that, Lin Wei finally realized something was off. Looking at the soda water bottle in Mu Wan’s hand, she asked, “Is that why you’re not drinking tonight? Are you two already trying for a baby?”
“Only tried once. No idea if it’ll take,” Mu Wan said lightly.
Lin Wei instantly sat up straight. She had no idea how to treat a maybe-pregnant friend, but after a long pause, all she could manage was, “Then stay at my place tonight.”
“No,” Mu Wan said, shaking her head. “I still have to go home and take care of the cats.”
By the time Mu Wan got back, it was fully dark. She stepped into the house and found it emptier than ever. Even the familiar sandalwood scent felt colder now, more distant.
After showering, she fed the three little ones and Zhou Yi. When she finished, she carried the bedding from the guest room into Liu Qianxiu’s master bedroom. His bed was still hard as stone, so she laid down two extra quilts. Only then was it barely tolerable.
Lying on the wide, empty bed, she found she could not sleep. So she got up again and went to the cat room.
She carried over the litter box, the food bowls, and the little nests of the three kittens and Zhou Yi. Once all four cats were in the master bedroom, there was suddenly life everywhere—running across the floor, leaping onto the bed, meowing, skittering. The room was finally lively enough to keep the emptiness away.
Only then did Mu Wan close her eyes and fall asleep.
Her sleep came and went in broken pieces. The next morning, after breakfast, she went to the film base. Since she had pushed some of yesterday’s scenes to today so she could see Liu Qianxiu off, she spent the whole day filming.
When she finished and stepped outside the base, she saw Mei Yaozhi standing by a bright yellow Maserati, smiling so broadly that his big eyes curved into crescents.
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