Chapter 166: Only His Heart Stirred Uncontrollably
Lian Li gestured for Jin Shi Yue not to speak, then swiped to answer.
“Brother.”
“Not at home?” Jin Yan Ting’s gentle voice had a slight nasal tone.
“No,” Lian Li said with a straight face, “I’ve been at school recently.”
Jin Shi Yue lifted the corner of his lips, his eyes filled with amusement as he looked at her.
Lian Li asked, “Do you need something from me?”
“Nothing in particular,” Jin Yan Ting said, “The peach tree has sprouted new buds. Come back and see it when you have time.”
“Okay.” She hadn’t tended to the peach tree in a long time; the gardener must have taken good care of it.
When the call ended, Jin Yan Ting coughed lightly, leaning against the leather seat.
Assistant He in the driver’s seat inquired, “Shall I take you to the hospital, or call a doctor to come to your home?”
Jin Yan Ting said neither was necessary.
Assistant He glanced at Jin Yan Ting through the rearview mirror. President Jin had returned from a business trip and caught a common cold, yet he rushed to the residential area where Miss Lian lived first. He was truly attentive to Miss Lian.
Unfortunately, Miss Lian was not at home.
The streetlights hung high, casting a dim yellow glow. The traces of fine rain falling were particularly clear under the lights.
Raindrops landed on the car window, covering it with a thin layer of mist.
Jin Yan Ting looked up at the building from inside the car. The house was completely dark, without a single star visible.
Lian Li was an adult with the capacity for independent action, mature in her thinking, and handled matters with such propriety that she was very reassuring.
Yet Jin Yan Ting felt uneasy, as if something was gradually slipping out of his control, sliding into an unknown abyss, and what should have belonged to him no longer did.
It was laughable, but he actually felt a shock of pain as if he had been abandoned.
He didn’t know why the word “abandoned” came to mind.
Lian Li was someone he watched grow up. The young girl had her own ideas from a young age, pursuing individual independence and freedom, and was not enthusiastic about traditional societal concepts of marriage and childbirth.
Even though they hadn’t made any explicit promises, he had implicitly assumed she would always stay by his side.
Last October, Jin Yan Ting was having dinner at Lian Li’s apartment when he received a call from Jin Shi Yue, saying that Xu Sao, under his mother’s orders, was monitoring his and Lian Li’s every move.
Jin Yan Ting immediately dealt with Xu Sao, and then discovered that besides the auntie, someone else in the apartment was also monitoring their comings and goings.
To protect Lian Li and prevent her from getting involved, Jin Yan Ting tacitly agreed to Lian Li moving out of the apartment and tacitly allowed some of Duan Shiqing’s actions, so that his mother would misunderstand that he and Duan Shiqing had rekindled their old flame and would stop causing trouble for Lian Li.
He couldn’t blame his mother.
His mother was not favored in the Chen Family in Hong Kong Island. After her marriage alliance with his father, they developed feelings for each other after marriage. His father doted on her and loved her, giving her ample confidence, but also stripping her of her independent thought.
A marriage alliance between prominent families, envied by all, could not withstand scrutiny.
Feelings alone could not tie a man down. Just as his father could bow his head for love today, he could coldly withdraw tomorrow. Because she relied on him, she could not refuse any of his requests.
The marriage alliance between the Jin Family and the Duan Family was his father’s idea, and his mother executed his father’s wishes.
The car window was open, and the cold wind, mixed with fine rain, drifted into the carriage, splashing onto Jin Yan Ting’s face. It was cool and refreshing, a stark contrast to his burning body temperature.
The young girl was only twelve when she came with him; now she was twenty-two.
He still remembered that night, the rain was pouring down, and the entire city seemed on the verge of being submerged by the water, with streams flowing everywhere.
Lian Li, still young, squatted on the ground with her knees hugged to her chest. The torrential rain soaked her body, making her look like a fledgling bird with broken wings, abandoned by the whole world, unable to fly anymore.
Such a frail and small little girl, so helpless, so pitiful.
But when he held up a black-ribbed umbrella to shield her from the wind and rain, she slowly raised her head. Tears mixed with rain dripped from her long eyelashes, but her dark, bright eyes were unusually calm.
Pitiful? She didn’t need anyone to pity her.
She was born to be worshipped, to be admired.
Lian Li didn’t need anyone to bow their head for her; she needed to be looked at as an equal, or even looked up to.
To bow one’s head was to place oneself in a lower position, begging those in higher positions to lower theirs. And she never felt inferior to anyone.
Initially, Jin Yan Ting only saw Lian Li as a younger sister, with no ulterior motives, especially since she was eight years younger than him.
But on the day of her college entrance examination.
The sun silently set, the bright sky departed from daylight, and gradually drew into darkness.
Lian Li walked out of school, the orange sunset behind her, her peers around her. She was so special.
That summer, all the dusks seemed to stand still, but his heart, uncontrollably, stirred.
Jin Yan Ting suddenly realized that Lian Li was no longer the little girl squatting outside the hospital, homeless. She was growing up, transforming from a stone into a majestic and immortal structure.
After the height of summer ended, the new school year began.
Jin Yan Ting gave Lian Li a luxurious apartment, letting her, now an adult, move out of his home. Being too close would always be detrimental to her reputation.
But Jin Yan Ting still couldn’t help himself and frequently visited her at the apartment.
He attended her opening ceremonies, parent-teacher conferences, gave her various gifts, and granted her every wish… he even went to her high school sports meet. That day, she had to step in at the last minute because a classmate sprained their ankle and couldn’t run the relay.
The young girl was not good at sports and did not sign up for any events, but because there was no one to relay, she ended up participating.
Don’t let her usual gentle demeanor fool you; when she ran, she truly looked the part. With her high ponytail, the campus breeze lifted her hair, and the bright sun shone on her as if it had gilded her. She charged forward, unconcerned with the world.
Ten years passed in the blink of an eye, and the young girl blossomed into a graceful young woman, now an adult.
Half a year.
Jin Yan Ting thought that once he fully controlled the group, he could bring her to his side, but the reality seemed to… exceed his expectations.
It felt as if his heart had been pierced by thorns, bleeding incessantly.
Was it because of the common cold?
During the days Lian Li stayed at Xi Shang Yuan, Jin Shi Yue did not accompany her at all times. He had work to do, and she also had her own things to attend to.
She would carry her computer and documents and work anywhere, but he insisted she use the study room. The study room was spacious enough to comfortably accommodate two people.
Thus, a scene unfolded where she was typing her thesis on one side, and he was signing documents and holding meetings on the other.
Lian Li had strong concentration and was completely unaffected by him. Besides, she wouldn’t understand his military secrets anyway.
However, the housekeepers found it quite peculiar.
One studying, one working, and a dog lying around.
They couldn’t understand the young people’s tastes.
On the weekend, Lian Li arranged to meet Pei Qingji at Jin Shuyu’s tea house.
The tea house was decorated in an antique style, exuding elegance. Lian Li arrived half an hour early and entered the private room. She sat on a pear blossom wood chair and heard the soothing sound of a harp playing from the courtyard.
With about five minutes left until the scheduled time, Pei Qingji and Madam Pei walked in, rounding a screen.
Lian Li stood up and greeted them with neither subservience nor arrogance: “Madam Pei, Brother Qingji.”
Madam Pei had been transferred to another location and had only recently returned to the capital. She was gentle and refined, much like Pei Qingji.
They all knew what needed to be done. After a few pleasantries, Lian Li took out the bracelet, placed it on a silk handkerchief, and asked Madam Pei to appraise it.
Madam Pei carefully examined the two crystal-clear red jades dangling from the bracelet’s pendant, then suddenly glanced at Lian Li.
Lian Li’s eyelids twitched abruptly.
