The Sick Beauty Gave Up Struggling

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Translate by Hua

Chapter 29: Winter Snow

Sitting in the position of vice president, Shen Boyan’s trust in Sheng Songbai was not 100%, but 10%. There’s a saying that pulling one hair can affect the whole body1Slight movement in one part may affect the situation as a whole.. He really didn’t want to touch Sheng Songbai unless it was necessary.

After hanging up the phone, Shen Boyan walked back to the room door. When he opened the door, he saw Xia Shu’an and Zhang Shenchang’s little girlfriend singing a love song.

“Dimples and long eyelashes are your most beautiful marks…”

The two looked at each other and smiled; the girl smiled sweetly, and Zhang Shenchang was still cheering them from the side.

Shen Boyan expressionlessly cut off the song and Play “Borrow 500 years from heaven” by Han Lei.

Zhang Shenchang looked back. “Old Shen, what are you doing?”

Zhang Mingpei: “Hehe, he doesn’t want Xiao Xia to sing love songs with others; do you understand?”

Zhang Shenchang: “Why are you so stingy?”

Shen Boyan pulled Xia Shu’an, circled his upper body, raised his eyebrows, and said lightly, “I’m just a bit more possessive, unlike some people, who can watch their girlfriends sing love songs with others. I wonder why?”

Lu Cai shouted, “It must be because there’s not enough love.”

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Zhang Shenchang immediately turned around: “No, no, wife, listen to my explanation!”

“Zhang Shenchang, I want your life!”

“…”

The group finally dispersed and went back to their homes late at night.

Sheng Songbai and the others drank and called for substitute drivers to come over. After the driver arrived, he left quickly.

Zhang Shenchang wanted to send his girlfriend home first. Before leaving, he patted Shen Boyan on the shoulder with a pleased expression on his face: “To be honest, I was worried about how you would fall in love with others before. Now I see that love is indeed a human instinct.”

Shen Boyan accepted his praise frankly. “We are really good.”

Xia Shu’an, who was listening on the sidelines, “…”

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……

……

Regardless of all the previous events, Shen Boyan and Xia Shu’an have passed the break-in2The period when couples fight a lot and have trouble understanding each other. This is a very literal translation. I’m not sure if there’s an English term for this. period and officially entered the love period.

In early December, it began to snow.

“Xiao Xia, it’s time to get off work.”

“Yes, I’ll be off work now. See you, seniors.”

“…”

Wrapped in a soft and loose down jacket, Xia Shu’an tightened the scarf around his neck and quickly walked out of the building.

Before he reached the school gate, not far away, on the edge of the rubber track where the snow was melting, a man walked slowly towards him, holding an umbrella.

Xia Shu’an trotted a few steps and rushed into the umbrella.

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“Why did you come to pick me up?”

“I’m worried that someone will catch a cold again.”

Xia Shu’an was not ready to answer these words. After getting into the car, he took off the scarf, unzipped the down jacket, and let out a long breath. The water vapor quickly turned into water droplets on the glass window.

Shen Boyan adjusted the temperature, hung Bluetooth headphones on his ears, and discussed work with his assistant. Xia Shu’an leaned on the seat and swayed back home with the traffic.

Along the road in autumn, the trees are covered with a thick “cloak”, and the landscape trees in the courtyard of the villa area are no exception. Only a few wintersweet trees bloom proudly in the cold, and pure white snowflakes, either as white as snow or as tender as spring, give life to a lonely courtyard overnight.

The location of Shen Boyan’s house faces a plum garden. When he wakes up in the morning and opens the window to watch the fresh and lovely flower buds shaking off the white snow in the distance, he will feel inexplicably good.

When Xia Shu’an got home, he drank a small bowl of ginger soup, took a shower, changed clothes, put on his coat, and went to the roof to see his greenhouse.

He built a simple plastic greenhouse on the roof balcony, planted spinach, radishes, chili peppers, and scallions, and also planted geraniums and crab claw orchids in the flower pots. He believes that by next spring, he will be able to see certain results.

Xia Shu’an places great importance on his vegetable garden and temporarily includes flowers among the members of the garden. Since the seeds germinated, he has come to look at them every day, loosen the soil, and water them, and he is determined to let the family eat their own vegetables next year.

Shen Boyan played billiards for a while when he saw Xia Shu’an come in.

Xia Shu’an shook off the snow particles stuck on his coat and threw the clothes aside on the sofa.

Shen Boyan handed him the cue in his hand and took another one from the side.

It is said that people who play billiards require long legs and long hands in order to better and more accurately control each ball. Xia Shu’an is 182cm tall and has a wingspan of 186cm. Although he is not very tall, he is considered pretty good by most people. Xia Shu’an took the cue, and when he aimed at the white cue ball, his mind suddenly flashed back to his previous life. In order to deal with Shen Boyan, the guy who humiliated him on the pool table, he practiced billiards hard for a while.

After a crisp impact sound, the white ball made a bold shot and wiped a full-color ball next to the hole with a sharp straight line. The small ball dropped into the pocket in a slow-spinning position, rolling around most of the table.

…….

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It was almost nine o’clock in the evening by the time the two of them had finished playing and eating and were back in the bedroom again.

Xia Shu’an curled his legs and nestled on the sofa to watch the animal world. After another half hour, he calculated that it was almost time to go to sleep, got up, and said, “Shen Boyan, I have something to tell you.”

Shen Boyan raised his eyes from the notebook and said, “Say it.”

“I’m going home this week.”

“Okay.” The man said casually, “I’ll go back with you.”

“I’m leaving on Friday.”

“…” Shen Boyan put down the computer and frowned. “Why?”

“Friday night is my aunt’s birthday, and we are going to her house for dinner.”

“…Okay, be careful on the road.”

“En.”

Having said that, his expression was obviously much more ugly. Within a quarter of an hour, he put down the computer, got up, and walked towards the bathroom door. Xia Shu’an looked at his back.

Probably because Xia Shu’an was lying flat enough, Shen Boyan didn’t oppose him very much, so he was at ease. It’s been almost three months, and except for that time, they have not quarreled once. Compared to previous lives, this can be described as unprecedented.

The heating in the room made Xia Shu’an’s body feel a little hot. He yawned lazily. In a daze, he felt that there was nothing bad about his daily life. There’s a big house, kind aunties, and a person warming his bed every night. Besides, both of his parents are in good health. There is nothing wrong with it.

…….

On Friday morning, because he was going to sleep for two nights, Xia Shu’an brought home a lot of things. Besides daily necessities, there were also dry goods made by aunties. Aunt Qiao brought winter bamboo shoots from her hometown, which are easy to store after drying. There are also some Meigan cai3Dry pickled Chinese mustard., which are all specialties from Zhejiang.

Shen Boyan stood at the doorway, watching the person come and go with an indifferent expression and eyes as cold as the snow that fell last night.

Xia Shu’an sometimes really doubts what this person’s past is like and why he is so slow in perceiving and expressing emotion, yet he still has a few friends. As for kinship, he doesn’t know about others, but his greatest understanding is that parents are the closest people.

Xia Shu’an was about to get in the car, but before leaving, he turned around and hugged Shen Boyan, saying, “See you on Sunday.”

“…See you on Sunday.”

Seeing the car slowly driving out of sight, Aunt Qiao stepped forward hesitantly: “Do you still want breakfast, sir?”

He ate half of it just now. Shen Boyan shook his head and said, “Not eating.”

…….

The company’s work is, as always, approaching the end of the year, and various tasks have entered a tense period. What should be concluded, what should be budgeted, and the projects that lost money and failed to reach their goals also need explanations. As soon as Shen Boyan entered the office, he immersed himself in his busy work, unable to spare his heart for other matters.

The company closed off work at 5:30 according to regulations, but at the end of the year, many people stayed to work overtime until 7 o’clock. However, as time passed, the lights in the office below slowly turned off. Shen Boyan glanced over the last character on the document, closed it, and shook his slightly stiff wrist while leaning back against the back of the chair.

The sky outside was gray, and the neon lights on the outer wall of the opposite building suddenly flashed. The city was shrouded in darkness, and the stars were dim. If it weren’t for the artificial lights that stretched thousands of miles, what would become of this entire city spawned by modern technology?

Shen Boyan stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching the ant-like traffic below. Last week, it just snowed in Rongchuan, and the road was slippery. When he got off work, he received a message reminding him to be careful when he came back and drive slowly.

For the first time, the endless, cold snow was given a lovely meaning. The tires of the car slowly ran over the still-broken snowflakes, and the windshield wipers swung back and forth following a fixed frequency. When he got home, he twirled a snow bead hanging from a tree branch, and the white bead quickly melted into icy water, sliding down from his fingertips.

He had only reached the door when he saw the young man sitting on the sofa in the living room. The young man also saw him, put down the book in his hand, stood up, and walked slowly towards him.

There was a knock on the office door, and Assistant Qi poked his head out: “President Shen, I’m going back first.”

Shen Boyan nodded. “Okay, get off work.”

“President Shen also rests early.”

“…”

Shen Boyan slowly turned his gaze back to the window, only to realize that at some point outside, there was light snow again.

…….

…….

It was freezing cold outside, but the heat inside the house remained undiminished, with bursts of laughter in the living room. Xia Shu’an put down the hot tea in his hand and leaned comfortably on the sofa behind him.

His aunt’s eight-year-old daughter ran over.

“Brother, look at the paintings I drew.”

Then she took out a thick picture book. Xia Shu’an carried her to the sofa, and she pointed to the drawings one by one.

“This is our school. This is the gate. Entering it is a big playground…”

Xia Shu’an believes that his younger sister has a talent for painting. She uses extremely bold colors, and the picture is distorted with a touch of truth, while the truth reveals illusion. Isn’t this the highest state of art?

Xia Shu’an did not hesitate to praise her. “Very nice!”

“Really?!” The girl opened her eyes excitedly, turned to the next page, and said, “I still have more!”

The adults who were talking over there glanced at each other and said with a smile, “This child is now close to Xiao Shu. She was fine when she was in kindergarten, but now in elementary school, she has a sense of independence and doesn’t even kiss mom and dad anymore.”

Mother Xia said, “Our child was also like this when he was young. When he grew up, he got shy easily.”

Xia Shu’an turned his head and said helplessly, “Mom.”

“Who said anything about you? Turn back.”

“…”

Today, they came to celebrate his aunt’s birthday, and the group stayed until after nine o’clock in the evening before leaving.

Before leaving, the little girl said, “Brother, come play again.”

Auntie: “You only want your brother and not your uncle and aunt, huh? You really are greedy for your brother’s beauty.”

The little girl shyly got into her mother’s arms.

Xia Shu’an felt warmth in his chest. After walking out of the gate, they realized that it was snowing again. Mother Xia said to the driver, “Mister, please drive slowly.”

“Understood, I will definitely send the three of you home safely.”

For safety reasons, the trip that normally took less than half an hour became 40 minutes, but everyone was satisfied. Xia Shu’an was paying the money, and Xia parents opened the door first. As soon as they got out of the car, the two shivered.

“An’an, come in quickly; don’t freeze.”

“Ok.”

Xia Shu’an accelerated his pace. He was still two or three meters away from the door when suddenly his phone rang.

Xia Shu’an lowered his head and took out his cell phone. He could have entered the room and then picked it up, but by some strange coincidence, he still picked it up first.

“Hello.”

After connecting, a familiar male voice came from the other end of the phone. The man’s tone was the same as before, with an arrogant air of being in control of everything.

“Are you at home?”

“…” Xia Shu’an stood under the eaves, looking at his parents waving in the room, and slowly said, “Not yet; my parents are already home. I’m outside the house, answering your call.”

“…”

There was an eerie silence on the other end for a few seconds, and it was a short while before the man resumed his voice: “Go in first, then, and don’t answer the phone.”

Xia Shu’an couldn’t help but smile and say seriously, “Okay, I’m going in.”

“……Um.”

He cut off the phone and walked into the house. Mother Xia stepped forward and patted the water droplets off his shoulders, saying, “Whose call was it just now?”

“No one. Mom, I’m going to bed.”

“Go, go.”

When her son went upstairs, Mother Xia said to herself, “Xiao Shen’s phone number.”

Father Xia: “You know, but still ask.”

Mother Xia turned around and glared at him fiercely.

Father Xia: “…”

Xia Shu’an went upstairs, hung his coat on the hanger, walked briskly to the sofa, took off his sweater, and went into the bathroom wearing only his underwear.

After a while, he came out of the bathroom. His hair was all tied behind his head, and there were still fine drops of water at the tip of his hair. A transparent water ball wobbled and landed on his chin.

Xia Shu’an climbed onto the bed lightly, like a cat. He stretched and scratched the bed sheet with his wet toes before calling back the last call, which was connected quickly.

“Hey.” The man’s voice was low and unhurried, as if he didn’t care about the call at all. “Are you at home?”

“Um.”

Xia Shu’an said before he could speak, “I’m going to bed soon.”

In a single-family villa more than ten kilometers away, Shen Boyan was sitting by the bedside, holding a book that Xia Shu’an often read. He glanced at the bedside alarm clock. It was already 10:30, which is when Xia Shu’an usually goes to bed. Besides, he became more drowsy in winter, and he probably drank wine tonight, so he’s due to be sleepy.

“Then go to sleep.”

“I want to sleep, but I still have to call you. Do you want to talk to me?”

The other end was silent.

Xia Shu’an yawned and said slowly, “Do you remember when you told me stories before? Just read whatever you want, and I’ll fall asleep in about ten minutes.”

“……ok.”

It just so happened that Shen Boyan had the book at hand, so he read the pages he was now seeing.

Xia Shu’an: “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?”

Shen Boyan: “Yes.”

Shen Boyan has a rich voice. He is used to giving speeches, so he reads with ups and downs in intonation like a professional broadcaster. Xia Shu’an was very familiar with this story, but because of this familiarity, he felt more at ease, as if someone were telling him a bedtime story by his side.

The young man’s breathing gradually became steady amidst the sound of reading, only occasionally responding to the man with a nasal voice, indicating that he was not asleep yet.

The curtains in the room were tightly fastened, except for the heating system that automatically renews the air. Shen Boyan should not have access to the outside air. However, in a daze, he seemed to see the night of heavy snow again, with snowflakes falling on the clear and transparent lake and the moonlight, as bright as washed by water, reflected in the deep lake bottom.

Everything is so quiet.

“Shen Boyan…”

“What?”

In the room, which was so quiet that the sound of falling snowflakes could be heard, came the thick voice of a young man who seemed to be talking in his sleep.

“If there are still plum blossoms left tomorrow, take a picture and show me.”

“…”

“Ok.”

 

1Slight movement in one part may affect the situation as a whole.2The period when couples fight a lot and have trouble understanding each other. This is a very literal translation. I’m not sure if there’s an English term for this.3Dry pickled Chinese mustard.