Chapter 202: Family Heirloom
Jin Shi Yue’s palm stroked the back of her head, gently and repeatedly, comforting her.
Lian Li’s tears flowed even more torrentially. Her fingers loosened their grip on his shirt hem, and her arms wrapped around his waist, pressing close.
The obsession with finding her mother had long been deeply embedded in her life.
From the moment she knew, she had been suppressing her emotions, until this moment when she could no longer control them.
Lian Li had never cried so hard before, her whole body trembling, constantly sobbing, as if she had lost all her composure and reason.
The tears overflowing from her eyes became a rain shower, pattering down on Jin Shi Yue’s head and soaking him as well.
Outside the car window, the big city night was no different from usual, bustling and brilliant, with neon lights like a corner of splendor.
The black Mercedes, speeding through the bustling streets, created a separate world in the back seat.
Silence, darkness, and pain grew wildly and silently.
Lian Li’s body felt cold, relying only on the warmth of Jin Shi Yue’s body and embrace to maintain her last bit of resilience.
After a long while, her tears stopped.
She buried her face in his neck, constantly sniffing, her small sobs exceptionally clear in the silent carriage.
Jin Shi Yue slightly distanced himself, using the dim light of the carriage to examine her tear-reddened face and swollen eyes. The wateriness in her pupils was heartbreaking.
He used a handkerchief to wipe the tears from her cheeks.
Lian Li met his gaze and said dejectedly, “What do we do? Your clothes are wet.”
Hot tears rolled into the hollow of his shoulder, a total of 102 drops.
Her clothes and neck were completely soaked, revealing her sexy, slender collarbones.
Jin Shi Yue lowered his gaze and glanced over, as if indifferent and unconcerned. He raised his eyelids to look at Lian Li, his eyebrows slightly raised, “Selling them to you as heirlooms?”
Lian Li frowned and refused, “I don’t want them.”
What kind of normal person would treat a man’s shirt as an heirloom? It wasn’t made of gold.
“You don’t want this, you don’t want that, you’re a really picky girl.” Jin Shi Yue cupped her face with his large hand, his thumb gently rubbing the corner of her eye.
Lian Li pursed her lips and remained silent, meeting his leisurely gaze for a few seconds before saying, “It’s you who’s picky.”
“Oh?” Jin Shi Yue raised an eyebrow, as if intrigued, “How am I picky?”
“Food can’t have seasonings like onions, garlic, cilantro, or ginger, but it still needs to have flavor; calling you Mr. Jin, Second Young Master, or Young Master Yue isn’t allowed; you dislike tea that’s been poured for others first, saying it wasn’t brewed for you…”
Lian Li listed them one by one, and Jin Shi Yue laughed, “That’s it?”
“That’s a lot,” Lian Li said.
“Very little,” Jin Shi Yue replied.
Fine.
Her and the Eldest Young Master’s standards for judging quantity were inconsistent, just like how she thought a pen costing tens of thousands of yuan was expensive, while he found it too cheap.
Jin Shi Yue helped her wipe her tears, and Lian Li carefully wiped them herself again.
The car window lowered slightly, and fresh air instantly rushed into the carriage. Lian Li’s long hair was blown by the wind, her eyes were red, tears still swirling in her eyes, and her long, thick eyelashes were wet.
She gazed at the shimmering Huangpu River in the distance, her emotions as unstable as a candle flame in the wind.
The tide signal comes on the Qiantang River, and today I finally know who I am.
The Mercedes drove into Yu Jing Palace, lights blazing all around. The sky was vast, and the moonlight cast a hazy veil over the beautifully trimmed Chinese parasol trees.
Jin Shi Yue had arranged for dinner in advance. Although Lian Li still had no appetite, she sat down and ate half a bowl of seafood congee.
Jin Shi Yue knew she was exhausted and needed sleep more than a full stomach, so he didn’t force her to eat more food.
After dinner, they sat in the living room to digest for a while before Lian Li went to the bathroom to take a bath.
The maid had prepared the bathwater, and the aromatherapy petals and toiletries were all ready. Lian Li soaked in the bathtub, trying to clear her mind, but failed.
Ji Tan’s face, expression, and every word she spoke were clearly remembered, replaying in her mind like a TV series.
A single stone stirred up a thousand waves.
Tonight, Lian Li’s bath took less time than any other time before.
She tied her bathrobe and came out of the bathroom. Jin Shi Yue was on the balcony, on the phone.
Lian Li glanced at his dashing and upright figure, silently climbed into bed, burrowed under the covers, pulled down her heavy eyelids, and closed her eyes.
She was very sleepy and very tired, yet she couldn’t sleep.
Her mind was highly tense, as if there were countless strings on the verge of snapping – perhaps cello strings.
If the first string snapped, it might be like dominoes, followed by the second, the third… and the nth string all snapping.
Lian Li forced herself not to let the first string break. Just as she was about to give in, the bed beside her dipped, and the man reached out, pulled her closer, and held her in his arms.
“Can’t sleep?” His voice was deep and casual, his words clearly ringing in her ears.
Lian Li didn’t open her eyes, and snuggled further into his embrace.
Perhaps it was the man’s chest that was too warm, or perhaps it was the feeling that no matter what she did, he would like her… Lian Li suddenly felt a desire to confide.
“Didn’t you ask me before why my parents liked the cello but didn’t play it themselves?” Lian Li’s voice was very soft, “She played it.”
Who “she” was, was obvious.
Her willingness to bring up Ji Tan was a great step forward, both for herself and for the two of them.
An indescribable feeling welled up in Jin Shi Yue’s heart, his voice carrying a hint of cynicism, “She definitely wasn’t as good as you.”
“I learned the cello to find her. She liked the cello, and I thought that if one day she saw me on stage, knew my name, and recognized me as her daughter, she would come find us, father and daughter.”
Fantasy was beautiful, but the reality was that Ji Tan knew about her concert and didn’t want to acknowledge her.
Lian Li didn’t have much talent in music; she put a lot of effort and sweat into learning the cello.
When she was little, while other children’s fingers were calloused, bleeding, and crying out for their mothers and fathers when learning the piano, Lian Li gritted her teeth, endured the pain, and said she was fine and could practice for another two hours.
To prevent Lian Jingcheng from discovering the injuries on her hands, Lian Li didn’t use Band-Aids, and the wounds healed and then cracked open again.
At some point, getting hurt became commonplace for her, and she gradually became numb to pain, becoming increasingly calm and composed.
“She said that her leaving us before was out of necessity. She didn’t want my father to be implicated, didn’t want the Zhong Family to harm our father and daughter, and wanted to resolve things herself before returning to us.”
However, no matter how smart or brave Ji Tan was, she was ultimately alone. She couldn’t shake the Zhong Family, nor could she escape the burly bodyguards.
Even with a thousand reluctances and ten thousand longings, being confined in a golden cage in a foreign land, unable to escape, was useless.
“Your favorite 《Butterfly Lovers》 was also her favorite piece.”
“I don’t like it anymore,” Jin Shi Yue said.
The tide signal comes on the Qiantang River, and today I finally know who I am.
Excerpt from 《Water Margin》
