Chapter 123: 85. Night, Mystery Case
Rosa pushed Xiang Yuan against the wall, then clung to him herself. She murmured hoarsely, almost obsessively, "...Why don’t we go to your and Shi Nian’s bedroom."
Mentioning Shi Nian, mentioning Shi Nian’s dissatisfaction, indeed sparked a flicker of anger in Xiang Yuan’s eyes.
But instead of taking Rosa to the bedroom, he pushed open the original study, which was used as Tang Yanqing’s temporary bedroom.
Since Shi Nian was not at home, there weren’t any officers staying temporarily, and the lights inside weren’t turned on. Only the streetlight outside, which had finally stabilized and brightened again, cast an faint orange-red glow through the window, adding a touch of color to the pitch-black night.
His hand clasped hers, pressing it against the wall.
The luxurious wallpaper on the wall, engraved and printed through more than 30 processes on wooden panels, had extremely distinct textures. Xiang Yuan nearly obsessively ran his fingers over the luxurious lines...
In that moment, Rosa even had a small illusion, as if what he liked wasn’t her, but rather the lines on the wallpaper...
.
After the intense emotions, the two of them sat limply on the floor together.
Rosa turned on the light and squinted to look at the wallpaper on the wall. Xiang Yuan, however, didn’t like the light, and as soon as it came on, he almost immediately retreated into his gentle and refined demeanor.
He seemed somewhat bored, slightly covering his brow with his hand to keep the light from coming into his eyes.
Rosa noticed all this and just felt a pang of sadness inside.
Perhaps because the light was on, he remembered he was still in his and Shi Nian’s home, feeling that everything just now with her was an injustice to Shi Nian?
Rosa went to the door to retrieve her bag, took out a cigarette to light up, and while distressingly puffing away, she also ran her hand over the wallpaper patterns to try to experience Xiang Yuan’s earlier feelings.
Xiang Yuan frowned and looked over, "Don’t smoke, it’ll leave a smell."
Rosa laughed sadly, "What, afraid Shi Nian will find out I was here? But even if I don’t smoke, I’ve still been here, been here!"
"Enough!" Xiang Yuan irritably stood up, reached out, and took the cigarette from her mouth, opened the window, and threw it out into the rain.
Rosa stared blankly at this scene, feeling lifeless, yet unwilling to let go.
She then laughed bitterly and looked intently at the wallpaper on the wall, "A Yuan, do you really like this wallpaper? Fine, then I’ll buy some too, and put it up in my home."
As long as it was something he liked, as long as it could help her rekindle his interest, she was willing to try anything.
But Xiang Yuan didn’t accept her affection, instead gave a cool smile, "You buy it? Forget it, this wallpaper is too extravagant for both of us."
Going through the Zuber Factory customer list, it’s either wealth or nobility. Although Xiang Yuan and Rosa’s financial situation wasn’t bad, they certainly didn’t have the deep background Tang Yanqing did.
In traditional Chinese conceptions, what do they say about people like them? At most, they’re considered workers; even if comparable to top executives, a top executive is still just a worker... They can’t compare to Tang Yanqing, who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, with people bowing and calling him "Seventh Young Master," or "Qing Guan’er."
Even Xiang Yuan’s father... was just working for someone like Tang Yanqing’s father. All pride and humiliation depended on another’s face, on whether the other allowed it.
Rosa was also startled by the price, then suddenly asked in surprise, "Then, who put up the wallpaper in this room?"
Rosa had traveled abroad early and wasn’t clear on when Shi Nian received a threatening doll or the subsequent 24-hour police protection incident. So when Xiang Yuan explained the sequence of events, Rosa slightly raised her eyebrow.
No matter who sent the threat, her heart was nonetheless grateful.
As long as it upset Shi Nian, she was happy.
.
The next morning, the school’s electricity had been restored. Shi Nian was washing up in the bathroom but didn’t run into S. Somehow, she felt a little strange.
She couldn’t quite pin down what was strange, just an inexplicable intuition.
Just then, she heard a scream from the living room: "Something’s happened!"
Everyone had just woken up and hadn’t finished washing up, so they rushed out with disheveled hair, asking, "What’s wrong?"
It was Jack, who was up early. With semi-long blonde hair, the white boy had small freckles on his cheekbones. From an Eastern perspective, one might initially mistake him for a girl. He was accustomed to getting up early and would always go for a morning run unless the wind was extreme or it was raining heavily. So he was almost always the first one up in the suite.