An Ruo raised her hand to wipe away the tears on her face, gazing at the sky lanterns that melted into the night sky like brilliant stars. The emptiness in her heart gradually filled.
Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around her slender waist, gently pulling her into an embrace. The man's chest was warm and scorching, and even through the fabric of their clothes, she could clearly feel the fervent beating of his heart.
Her hands, hanging at her sides, were gently taken by the man. His large palms, like little stoves, warmed her icy-cold hands, as if that wasn't enough, he added fuel to the fire, trying to sear her heart.
"Sorry, I went through your notebook and saw our daughter's name..."
She used to have amnesia, afraid of forgetting some trivial tasks, so she habitually jotted them down in a small notebook. Every night, while she slept, Shen Xiaoxing would flip through it, helping her complete what she might have forgotten.
The girl was stubborn and had a temper; even when pregnant, she insisted on going to work. He couldn't confront her head-on, afraid that if he angered her, he'd be left scrambling to soothe her.
So he kept a close watch on her in secret. Even though someone reported her daily activities and he had free videos to observe, he still couldn't rest easy. Flipping through her notebook was his way of understanding her thoughts, of knowing her better.
But when he came across a few names she thought were good, with "Shen Qingxin" circled in red pen, he knew—this was the name she wanted to give their daughter.
Shen Xiaoxing's voice was hoarse, his arms unconsciously tightening around her: "Ruo Ruo, I've already lost her. I can't lose you too. I know you're hurting now, and losing the child pains me as well, but we can't keep sinking into despair. There's still a long road ahead."
He still had a long life to spend with her.
"Don't ignore me, okay?" He bent his back, burying his handsome face in the crook of her neck, his voice tinged with pleading, and if you listened closely, there was a stiff, choked sob.
An Ruo felt her heart ache so much she could barely breathe.
She couldn't pretend nothing had happened and turn to smile at the man, nor did she want to show him her negative emotions.
This pent-up feeling inside her made her miserable.
She wanted to throw herself into his arms and cry her heart out, but how would she face him afterward? With her sensitive nature, how could she slowly mend the shattered half of her heart?
A tear splashed onto the man's hand, and his tall frame trembled abruptly.
He stiffly grasped her shoulders, turning her body around, his eyes fixed on her tear-streaked face. He kissed away the tears at the corners of her eyes with tenderness.
"Baby, don't cry." Shen Xiaoxing kissed her reddened nose, finally pressing his lips to her pale ones, gently moving.
The kiss was light, as if soothing her aggrieved and restless emotions.
An Ruo sniffled, and it broke Shen Xiaoxing's heart. He rubbed her head with his large hand, pressing her into his chest and holding her close.
"Don't cry."
Back then, when she was kicked and beaten by that mother-daughter pair from the An family, her face bleeding, she hadn't uttered a single sound. Even he marveled at how a seemingly frail little girl could have such immense willpower.
Later, watching her face every setback, step up in critical moments, suffer severe injuries, and wake up without even a groan of pain.
But this time, she was crying bitterly in his arms, sobbing loudly...
As if she were letting out all the tears she'd never shed in her life, they instantly soaked the front of his shirt.
Shen Xiaoxing had never imagined a woman's tears could be so devastating, like sulfuric acid pouring down, slowly corroding his heart until it went numb with pain!
...
The sea breeze carried a faint salty tang, and the girl's soft hair lifted, brushing against the man's face like tendrils...
After a long while, the girl finally stopped crying, but because her lungs had been deprived of air during the sobbing, her body was oxygen-starved, and her muscles spasmed, causing her to hiccup softly.
Shen Xiaoxing tucked the stray strands of hair behind her ear, looking at her pitiful expression with a mix of heartache and amusement. He pulled the girl back into his arms and gently patted her back.
"The wind is strong here. How about we go back to the room?"
An Ruo hadn't cried so freely in a long time. The emotions she had suppressed deep in her heart collapsed entirely the moment she threw herself into the man's arms.
Her head ached from crying, and the wind blowing on her was indeed uncomfortable.
The man lifted her horizontally, startling An Ruo into wrapping her arms around his neck. It was only then she realized his legs had returned to normal.
Shen Xiaoxing didn't carry her straight into the living room, as it wasn't yet time to reveal himself.
He walked with the girl toward the backyard. At an inconspicuous stone wall, he pressed something, and a door-sized section of the wall suddenly sprang open, sliding slowly to the side.
Inside was pitch black, with a cool breeze blowing out. An Ruo shrank her neck.
The man stepped inside with her in his arms, and as he moved, the lights around them began to illuminate. The walls were all stone, visible in the light—this was a long corridor.
After a short walk, the man started descending stairs. In the silent hallway, the sound of his expensive shoes clicking on the floor made the space feel vast, with a faint echo if you listened closely.
An Ruo couldn't see the path ahead because the lights in this space were sound-activated; each step the man took lit one lamp.
She could only see a limited distance, knowing it was a corridor.
After the man finished descending the stairs, the corridor ended at a cement stone door. He reached out and turned something resembling a compass on the doorframe, and the stone door immediately emitted a heavy grinding sound as it slowly swung outward.
Before An Ruo could marvel, the man had already carried her inside, and the door closed automatically behind them. The room was brightly lit, about the size of two bedrooms in a villa.
Inside was a single bed with neatly folded bedding, suggesting the owner hadn't slept here in a long time. An Ruo scanned the room—the furnishings were simple, aside from a pile of exercise equipment, a black cloth hanging on the wall, and a surveillance screen with flickering figures.
The man set her down. "This is my secret base."
His secret base?
How had she never known there was a room like this behind the seaside villa?
Shen Xiaoxing seemed to read her thoughts and paused before saying, "It's underground."
An Ruo, who had been looking around, froze slightly. He had dug out a secret base underground beneath the villa?
That was just like him!
"Why did you bring me here?"
This was one of the few words she had spoken to him since waking up, her tone cold and indifferent, lacking her usual playful warmth, as if a chasm was slowly forming between them.
"I have something to tell you." Shen Xiaoxing stepped forward, gripping her shoulders and pressing her down into a chair.
"I admit there are things I've been hiding from you, but whatever you want to know, I'll tell you honestly."
An Ruo's expression remained flat. What she wanted to know, he had already answered—his legs were fine, and the wheelchair was just for show.
She could roughly guess the rest, so whether the man explained or not didn't matter much.
"Two years ago, when I was competing for the position of heir, someone tampered with the helicopter I was on, leaving me blind and crippled." He gave a faint smile. "By now, you don't need me to tell you who was behind it."
"..."
"Shen Yu kept trying to poison me, hoping to prevent my recovery and keep me from competing for the position. By heaven's grace, I cooperated with treatment, and my eyes and legs slowly returned to normal."