The next day, Shao Chen slept until dusk. He woke up and looked at the unfamiliar room. It took him a while to recall that he had been drinking until the early hours of the morning and the waiter had sent him back to the hotel.
He rubbed his head, which was throbbing from the hangover, and struggled to get up. He went to the bathroom, washed his face with cold water, and then poured himself a glass of cold water. He collapsed onto the sofa, staring at the ceiling. After a long pause, he remembered the negotiation from last night.
He jolted up from the sofa and found his phone.
The screen indicated low battery. He didn't bother to find a charger and quickly opened WeChat. Ignoring the New Year greetings and group messages, he found Ruan Tianxin's contact and tapped on it.
Their chat history was still at the negotiation link Ruan Tianxin had sent him last night. He glanced at the time: 5:30 PM. The negotiation should have concluded by now, right?
He thought for a moment, then his fingers moved, and he sent a message: [Did you get the phone?]
As soon as the message was sent, it was met with a red exclamation mark and a system notification:
"Happy Sweetheart Party has enabled friend verification. You are not yet friends with him/her. Please send a friend verification request first. You can chat after the other party has verified it. Send friend verification."
Shao Chen thought he had misread it and sent another message: [Did you delete me?!]
A red exclamation mark quickly appeared before the message, along with the "not friends" system notification.
"Damn it!" Shao Chen cursed. "What does she mean by this?!"
He immediately opened his contacts, intending to call Ruan Tianxin and ask her what she meant, but then he remembered the awkward scene between them last night and instantly calmed down.
He opened Weibo. He had never used Weibo before. He only registered for it after getting together with Ruan Tianxin. The first person he followed was Ruan Tianxin, and he even set her as a special follow, which he had never canceled.
He quickly scrolled to Ruan Tianxin's Weibo post from 5 AM.
Ruan Tianxin: [Some people, some things, should have been completely severed from the past long ago.]
Looking at these words, Shao Chen felt his hangover-ridden head ache even more. The discomfort was second only to the pain he felt after their breakup years ago. But he refused to admit that a woman could hurt him twice in a row.
Finally, he found an excuse for his own discomfort: "Damn it! She wasted my development rights for a piece of land."
—
On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Ruan Tianxin suddenly received news from her father that her mother had been hospitalized. She left Lucheng early and returned to Denmark. As soon as she landed, she rushed to the hospital to visit her mother.
At the hospital, her assistant was helping Ruan's mother with the discharge procedures. Ruan's mother was surprised to see her beloved daughter. "Sweetheart, why are you back? You finally have a long holiday, why didn't you stay in Lucheng and play with Xiao He Miao for a few more days?"
Seeing that her mother was still energetic and unharmed, Ruan Tianxin's anxiety finally subsided. "I was worried about you. If Dad hadn't told me, were you not planning to tell me you were hospitalized?"
"It's such a small matter. Your father, really. I told him not to tell you." Ruan's mother chided playfully, then hugged Ruan Tianxin. "I'm sorry to have worried my darling. Mommy is fine. Thanks to James arriving in time and handling the emergency, then taking me to the hospital for a gastric lavage, I'm all right now and can be discharged."
"How did you suddenly get food poisoning? Did we change chefs?" Ruan Tianxin asked.
Ruan's mother: "No, I just had some free time and impulsively wanted to cook a candlelit dinner for your father. When I tried the steak I fried, this is what happened. Fortunately, your father didn't eat it, or his stomach probably couldn't have handled it."
Ruan Tianxin couldn't help but laugh and cry. She had lived for so long and only now discovered how poisonous her mother's cooking was.
She suddenly felt fortunate that when she was little, her mother was too busy with performances to cook for her. "You should stay away from the kitchen in the future."
"It's okay, I'll practice more, and I'll definitely succeed." Ruan's mother said confidently.
Ruan Tianxin wanted to say that everyone has different talents, but seeing her so full of confidence, she couldn't bring herself to discourage her. Her mother was a strong-willed woman, and the more she tried to persuade her, the more she feared it would only make her more determined to overcome the challenge.
"Oh, and later, you must thank James properly. We owe him for Mom's safe and sound recovery."
Just as Ruan's mother finished speaking, the hospital room door was knocked, and a man with fair skin, short, neat light brown hair, and light brown eyes entered. He was James, whom Ruan's mother had mentioned.
He was an internist, Ruan Tianxin's ex-ex-boyfriend. Ruan's mother had been quite pleased with James before, but they had eventually broken up.
"Tianxin, you're back." James was surprised and delighted to see Ruan Tianxin there.
"I just arrived. Thank you for saving my mother in time," Ruan Tianxin said with a graceful smile.
"It's what I should do," James replied with a smile. "Here are Auntie's full check-up reports. Auntie is very healthy, no major issues."
Ruan's mother saw James looking at her daughter with adoration and, as someone experienced, immediately understood his feelings. She smiled and said, "Thank you, James. You're welcome to visit our home anytime."
James looked at Ruan Tianxin with great joy. "If Tianxin welcomes it, then anytime."
At this moment, the assistant had also completed the discharge procedures, and Ruan's father drove over to pick them up.
James escorted them to the hospital entrance. As Ruan Tianxin was about to open the back door, her mother stopped her.
"Sweetheart, the car can't fit so many people. Let James drive you back," Ruan's mother said. She opened the passenger door, got in, and closed it. She even told Ruan's father to lock the car door and waved goodbye to Ruan Tianxin.
Ruan Tianxin looked at the empty back seat: "...".
She felt like she wasn't their biological child.
"Tianxin, I'll drive you back." James naturally understood that Ruan's mother was creating an opportunity for him and smiled gratefully at her.
Ruan Tianxin nodded helplessly and got into his car.
On the way.
"It's Chinese New Year over there now; it must be very lively," James said, trying to start a conversation.
Ruan Tianxin leaned against the car seat. "Uh-huh."
James: "Have you been doing well over there all these years?"
Ruan Tianxin: "Pretty good."
James wanted to ask more, but seeing that she was leaning against the car seat and looked sleepy, with no desire to chat further, James found it difficult to initiate more topics, and the car fell silent.
Ruan Tianxin had been on a flight for over ten hours and was a bit tired. She leaned against the car seat and fell asleep.
When she woke up, she realized the car had been parked at the entrance of her manor for some time, and a thin layer of snow had already accumulated on the hood.
"Why didn't you wake me when we arrived?" she asked, unbuckling her seatbelt.
"You looked very tired, so I wanted you to sleep a bit longer," James said considerately.
For some reason, his words suddenly reminded Ruan Tianxin of Shao Chen. When she was with Shao Chen, he never let her sleep in the car, saying it was unsafe and uncomfortable.
If she accidentally fell asleep, Shao Chen would forcibly carry her out of the car. He would never have been so gentle, quietly waiting for her to wake up.
"Thank you." Ruan Tianxin opened the car door and got out.
"Tianxin," James called out to her.
Ruan Tianxin turned around. "Yes?"
"There's something I think you need to know," James said, looking at her intently. "I actually regret breaking up with you back then. All these years, I've been waiting for you, hoping you'd look back at me one day and give me another chance."