Chapter 6: One Heart 3
Tang Ai was startled, and her hands, which had been holding the clothes, loosened involuntarily.
"Tang Ai, right? Do you like our Xi Chen?" Xi Zhengfeng crossed his legs, put his hands on his knees, and sat upright.
Tang Ai didn't answer.
Xi Zhengfeng smiled and said, "There's nothing to be embarrassed about answering. If I like you, I like you. If I don't like you, I don't like you. In our Xichen's heart, you are a very important person."
"In whose heart is she an important person?" A voice suddenly sounded from the second floor. Tang Ai looked up and saw Xi Chen standing at the railing with his hands on the handrails. He glanced at Tang Ai coldly, "Are you done yet? Can you stop putting everyone on the Xi family? You are making such a big scene here to question a little girl. Is it because she can make the Xi family better and make the Xi family's business stand firm in the competition? Since she is of no use to us, why keep her here?"
Tang Ai raised her head slightly and looked at Xi Chen. Her eyes were shining like stars, and underneath the luster, there was a crystal that was imperceptible to the naked eye.
"She is your friend after all." Xi Zhengfeng glanced sideways and said in the direction of Xi Chen.
"Did she unilaterally say that she is my friend? Master Xi, have you ever seen any friends of mine since I was a child?" Xi Chen responded coldly to Xi Zhengfeng. His unfamiliar appearance and cold words were not the Xi Chen that Tang Ai had seen before.
Xi Zhengfeng's expression turned a little ugly, perhaps because he heard his son call him "Master Xi".
"If you have nothing to do, leave the Xi family. You are making so much noise and disturbing my rest." Xi Chen said this coldly and turned back to his room. Tang Ai silently withdrew her gaze, and her heart was hit by a drumstick, which hurt a lot.
The living room fell into silence for a while. After a while, Xi Zhengfeng raised his hand and waved: "Send Miss Tang out, and send the two children outside as well."
The butler nodded, walked towards Tang Ai and made a "please" gesture.
Tang Ai did not hesitate. She turned around without saying a word and left the Xi family with the housekeeper.
After entering the bedroom, Xi Chen leaned against the door with a complicated expression.
After Tang Ai left the Xi family, she remained silent and depressed.
Shen Ruoyun and Tong Lin walked behind her, looked at each other, and sighed secretly. They knew that Tang Ai had been discovered by the Xi family, but they didn't know what the Xi family said to Tang Ai. Seeing her depressed look, they didn't know how to comfort her.
"Oh, I'm worried that she will become the same as before." Shen Ruoyun scratched his head in distress.
"It could be worse." Tonglin added another stab slowly.
Shen Ruoyun kept sighing, how could this happen? For Tang Ai at this moment, nothing could hurt her except Xi Chen. Could it be that Xi Chen said something that made Tang Ai become like this?
Strange, really strange.
He is obviously not that kind of person.
After Shen Ruoyun and Tong Lin sent Tang Ai back to the dormitory, they gave her a few instructions and left. When they left, both of them felt uneasy, as they always felt that Tang Ai, who was in such a daze, was very dangerous.
Tang Ai didn't talk much to her roommates when she returned to the dormitory. Her roommates saw the low mood she was in and didn't dare to get close to her.
What was strange was that although Tang Ai was in a very low mood, her life and study were no different from usual. She ate, rested, and studied on time, and was very focused in class, which formed a big contrast with her appearance.
The only change is that he talks less and smiles less.
One day, Tang Ai just got out of school and heard someone calling her. In an instant, the female classmates around her looked over and whispered to each other, and some couldn't help but scream.
Tang Ai stood still silently, turned her head and asked in confusion: "Teacher Shao?"
Shao Yu walked up to her, smiled slightly, and said, "I raised a pot of Clivia at home some time ago, but recently I found that many of its leaves turned yellow. I don't know what's going on. Can you help me take a look?"
It turned out to be something about flowers. Tang Ai nodded, looking absent-minded: "Yeah."
Shao Yu took her out to drive. After getting in the car, Tang Ai, who was sitting in the passenger seat, stared at the front in a trance. Shao Yu helped her fasten her seat belt and said, "Fortunately, you are not driving, otherwise you would not be able to go home today."
Tang Ai came back to her senses: "I'm sorry, Teacher Shao."
"You haven't done anything to let me down. On the contrary, I asked you to go home to help me. Why are you saying sorry to me?" Shao Yu drove the car out of the parking lot and smiled faintly.
Tang Ai sighed and didn't answer.
Shao Yu occasionally glanced at Tang Ai out of the corner of his eye. She sat there blankly, her eyes dull and her mind full of worries.
When the car stopped downstairs of the residential area where Shao Yu lived, Tang Ai slowly came to her senses: "Are we here?" She unbuckled her seat belt, opened the door and stood there, then followed Shao Yu to his home.
The pot of Clivia was placed on the windowsill. The young leaves were yellowish, and one of the mature leaves had turned yellow and dead. Tang Ai found the scissors on the coffee table, cut off the yellow leaves, and said, "This is starvation. Did you fertilize it on time?"
"Very on time, just as it says in the book." Shao Yu had already poured a glass of water from the kitchen and placed it on the coffee table.
"That means the concentration of the fertilizer is too low. I'll go online and buy you the right fertilizer."
Shao Yu smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work. I really don't know much about flowers and plants."
"It's a small matter. Teacher Shao, I'll go back first." Tang Ai looked up at him.
"So soon, I..." Shao Yu thought calmly, and said, "I just ordered takeout for two people. Let's eat before leaving. By the way... I want to ask you something about flowers and plants. My house is very empty, and I plan to grow some other things."
Tang Ai hesitated for a while and finally nodded.
Anyway, she has nothing to do when she goes back, so she might as well stay here and help Shao Yu.
So, in the following time, Tang Ai told Shao Yu what kind of green plants are better to plant in the room and what to pay attention to when planting these green plants. Shao Yu listened carefully and took notes of Tang Ai's words in his notebook.
Tang Ai had a lot to say about green plants. When she had finished talking, she asked, "Have you memorized it?"
"Remember this, Teacher Tang." Shao Yu raised his head, adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose, and smiled slightly.
When she heard this address, Tang Ai was stunned for a moment, then waved her hands, her face flushed: "Shao... Teacher Shao, I..." The words came to her lips, but she didn't know what to say, so she could only lower her head and let her cheeks burn.
At this time, the doorbell rang. Tang Ai rubbed her nose and changed the subject, saying, "Maybe the takeaway has arrived."
Shao Yu stood up to open the door, wearing a pair of gray-brown rabbit slippers. Tang Ai sat on the sofa, swaying gently, and looked up to take a look at the layout of the house - compared to the first time she came here, there was more life, and the curtains in the house were changed to gray-brown, which was quite similar to Shao Yu's personality.
"It was delivered just when you finished talking to me." Shao Yu sat down opposite the coffee table with the takeaway, took out the boxes one by one and laid them out, then opened the lids. Tang Ai's stomach happened to growl a few times at this time, she covered her stomach awkwardly, slid down from the sofa, and sat at the same height as Shao Yu.
"Eat more if you're hungry. If it's not enough, I'll make you some noodles." Shao Yu pushed the food in front of Tang Ai and spoke gently.
Tang Ai nodded and ate her meal. Shao Yu saw her like this and smiled with relief. He knew that if he asked Tang Ai directly about her worries, she would definitely not tell him. Even if she could, she would not be able to explain it clearly because her mind was also in a mess. Instead of doing that, it would be better to find a way to divert her attention and make her world brighter.
"I will go to the flower and bird market tomorrow to buy the green plants you mentioned. You can come to my house to help me then." Shao Yu said casually, as if the two of them were just old friends who had known each other for many years. There was no need to be polite or afraid of being rejected.
Tang Ai nodded: "Okay." Then she looked up and said, "Let me go with you to choose. Don't let the boss cheat you and give you something of poor quality."
Shao Yu smiled and said, "Okay, little teacher."
Tang Ai's face flushed again, and she said, "Teacher Shao, please stop teasing me..."
Shao Yu smiled and continued to eat his meal. Although his teasing made her a little embarrassed, it made the atmosphere in the room very good. In the following days, Tang Ai helped Shao Yu deal with the green plants at home. Her free time was filled up very well, and she naturally seldom thought about the things that gave her a headache.
After the busy time was over, she tried to send text messages and WeChat messages to Xichen, but Xichen did not reply to her messages.
Late winter passed early, and the green shadows of the Qingming Festival swayed on the sun-dappled ground. Tang Ai changed into her favorite cotton and linen long skirt with a white background and jasmine flowers. She sat under the shade of the tree, holding a book she had just borrowed from the library, but she had no mood to read. It was April, and the jasmine plant that Xichen raised should bloom, right? Sometimes she really didn't know what kind of role she played to Xichen.
If Jasmine is still being carefully taken care of by him, then she should have some status in his heart, right?
The mottled warm sunlight flickered on the shade of the tree, and then hit the crystal clear water droplets. Those water droplets slowly spun on the pure white petals, reflecting a thin layer of gold.
A pair of hands put down the spray, picked up the scissors and trimmed the branches and leaves of the jasmine, then left the place where the jasmine flowers were placed, walked to the balcony, and looked at the bright sky in the distance.
On the bed in his bedroom, there is a laptop computer. The page on the computer is the login page of Sina Blog, and the page prompts "Password modification successful".
He tried the password for half a year, and changed it for half a year, and finally succeeded. He could finally see what the most important person to him had left on it.
But time passes by so slowly, I wonder how the other person is doing now?
The boy looked back at the jasmine flower, his eyes covered with a thin layer of sadness. The flower has bloomed, do you want to show it to her?
Is she okay now?
Suddenly, the door lock was turned with a click, and Shen Ruoyun walked in from outside: "You called me over, is there something wrong?"
The boy walked back to the bedroom, sat cross-legged in front of the computer, and said, "You told me before that my brother loves to record things in his blog. I have changed the password and have successfully logged in."
Shen Ruoyun sighed and said, "So, what are you going to do after reading those blogs that may contain secrets?"
The boy stared at the computer screen and said word by word: "Take back what belongs to you."
From the outside, it seemed that he was managing the subsidiary company, but only insiders knew that the control of the subsidiary company was actually in the hands of Xie Wanqiu. Since that summer, the company no longer belonged to him.
"Does taking back what belongs to me require sacrificing Tang Ai's happiness? There is no contradiction between the two." Shen Ruoyun said puzzledly, standing beside the bed.
"I can't be with her."
"Why didn't you tell her earlier that you couldn't be together? Why did you lie to her for so long if you couldn't be together? Why can't we be together? Have you forgotten what your brother told you?" Shen Ruoyun was a little angry. He pointed at the young man on the bed and lowered his voice, cursing hatefully.
The boy was unmoved. Instead, he turned his head to look at the jasmine flowers in full bloom on the windowsill and said, "Take a picture of the jasmine flowers and show it to Xiao Ai. Just say you came to see me and took the picture."
Shen Ruoyun wanted to say something but hesitated. He could only pat his head in annoyance, then walked over obediently and took several photos of the jasmine flowers from various angles.
After the photo shoot, Shen Ruoyun walked to the door and said to the boy in front of the computer, "I'm leaving."
The boy nodded, but his eyes never left the computer. Shen Ruoyun left angrily, slamming the door shut.
After he left, the boy turned his head again and looked at the pot of jasmine on the windowsill.
The jasmine flower is on the branch, year after year, and my heart remains the same.
