Re-engraving the Spring - Chapter 1
Mid-March, after the rain.
The streets of Xingxi City1 were full of dense apricot blossoms like white sand, with a clear fragrance.
The soil melted into the damp atmosphere, wrapping the apricot petals that shook off the branches. The blue lapis lazuli in the corner became wet in the rain last night, and the puddle reflected the crystal-clear spring.
A private car slowly drove through this street embraced by apricot blossoms, driving all the way from the relatively quiet villa area to the bustling city center. Perhaps because of the time of day, there were few vehicles on the road at seven o’clock in the morning.
It took the driver only twenty-five minutes to park the car next to an office building.
Due to the lack of recorded license information, he could not drive the car into the underground parking of this office building.
After about ten minutes of waiting, an employee in a dark suit hurriedly walked out of the office door. His face was haggard, and it was easy to see that he was very tired from the recent frequent overtime work.
He skillfully walked to the front of the car, and the driver immediately pressed the glass window on the right side of the back seat.
Sitting in the back seat was a clean-looking man. It could be seen that he had his head slightly lowered, his slightly long black hair covering his beautiful right eye, while his left eye had no hint of brilliance.
Hearing the sound of the glass window going down, he slowly turned to that side. His gaze was lifeless, but a friendly smile slowly appeared on his face, “Secretary Xu?”
“It’s me, Mr. Chi.” Xu Ling saw Chi Qiu’s face and couldn’t help but to miss a heartbeat. He had to say, Chi Qiu’s face, as a man, was too delicate and too pretty, like a cluster of pink and white blooming on the branches of the apricot tree in Xingxi City.
To put it an exaggeration, even if Chi Qiu made his debut as an actor, it would not be a problem. Maybe, those companies would also rush to ask him.
Unfortunately…
“Secretary Xu?”
When he was called by Chi Qiu, Xu Ling immediately gathered his thoughts.
In order to cover up his embarrassment just now, he gave a little smile, but later, he felt that he was being redundant.
After all, Chi Qiu was a blind man, he couldn’t see.
Xu Ling half bent over and politely said, “Mr. Lu is still busy, you can just give me the stuff.”
Chi Qiu was not at all surprised. A pair of white hands carefully handed over the thermos that he had been holding all the way. In the meantime, the thermos gently touched the edge of the car window.
With a small “thunk” sound.
The person in the back seat moved his lips slightly and said a polite word: “He’s been so busy lately that he can’t answer my calls, I’m worried that he’s not eating properly, so I want to send him a soup. I’m bothering you.”
Xu Ling took the thermos with the residual warmth of Chi Qiu’s palm on the outside and said, “It’s okay, it’s all I should do. Next time you can’t reach Mr. Lu, just call me, my cell phone is always with me.”
Chi Qiu nodded with a grateful smile and prompted, “It’s chicken soup that’s been stewed for a long time, can you remind him for me if he forgets to drink it?”
“Okay.” Xu Ling looked at the time, “Mr. Chi, if there’s nothing else, I’ll go up first?”
Who thought Chi Qiu stored a little thought: “Secretary Xu! Can I…go up? He hasn’t been home for half a month, and I want to see him.”
For a moment, Xu Ling’s face looked difficult.
The tone of his mouth was as calm as ever, fearing that the other party might hear something wrong: “Mr. Chi, Mr. Lu is busy, you may not be able to say a few words up there. Really, the company has been particularly busy lately, you see we have not returned home for several days because of overtime work.”
It was still a polite and sincere refusal.
Chi Qiu was not surprised at all. He lowered his eyes and pressed his lips unconsciously. The look of loss was clear at a glance, and when placed on this face, it always made people feel a little bit of distress.
When Xu Ling saw this, he couldn’t bear it, but he didn’t dare to take Chi Qiu into the building rashly.
After all, Lu Ming and Chi Qiu had been married for six months, but most of the company’s colleagues did not know that Mr. Lu was married and had a male partner. If this was something that Lu Ming deliberately wanted to hide, then he, the little secretary, naturally did not dare to take the initiative to disclose it for him.
He had to say again: “Sorry, Mr. Chi.”
Chi Qiu silently curled up his fingers and tugged on the bottom corner of his shirt. He wouldn’t intentionally embarrass Xu Ling, so he said thoughtfully, “Secretary Xu, I’ve ordered coffee and dessert for everyone, it’ll be there in about half an hour. You’ve been working hard.”
On the way back, Chi Qiu, as usual, stared blankly, ‘looking’ blankly ahead.
Seeing his sadness, Xiao Yan, the driver, tried to speak several times, but he was too clumsy to do so. Finally, he saw a dessert store in front of him and thought of something, and suddenly coughed lightly to call Chi Qiu back.
Chi Qiu’s hand moved slightly, a little confused.
Xiao Yan said with concern, “Sir, why don’t you go to Sweet2, don’t you like their buttercream cake very much? It seems to have come out with new products recently.”
Chi Qiu listened and shook his head, his feelings of loss filled his voice: “Not going anymore.”
The car drove back into the road where two apricot trees were planted, but the tightly closed windows isolated the fragrance. Xiao Yan quietly pressed down the windows a little and fresh air poured into the car, rolling up the depressed atmosphere.
“If you are in a bad mood ah, it is actually good to eat something sweet…”
Chi Qiu fell silent, not knowing what he was thinking. Afterwards, he said, “No need, go straight home.”
As soon as the words were finished, Xiao Yan’s phone, which he had casually placed on the passenger side, rang.
Xiao Yan, who was driving, was considered to be working at this time, so it was naturally not convenient to answer personal calls. But when he saw that the screen was showing a call with the word “Mr. Lu” on it, he immediately looked for a place to pull over.
Xiao Yan answered the phone, and before he could speak, Lu Ming’s voice on the other end spoke first, with a low, husky tone: “Where’s Chi Qiu?”
“Please wait a moment.” Xiao Yan unbuckled his seat belt before turning around and putting the phone securely into Chi Qiu’s hand. He smiled: “It’s Mr. Lu’s call!”
In a moment, Chi Qiu’s tightly furrowed brow relaxed, and unspoken delight crept up to his eyebrows, reflecting his beautiful features in an extraordinarily moving way. He carefully held the phone to his ear and impatiently shouted, “Lu Ming!”
“Why aren’t you answering your phone?” Lu Ming’s voice sounded like concern, but there was always a bit of blandness in it.
“I left my phone at home because I was in a hurry when I left.”
Chi Qiu usually did not talk much and was often very introverted, but this was to others. Whenever he met Lu Ming, the words in his mouth were like rice in a basket, full of water, one grain fuller than the other, busy running to Lu Ming’s arms.
“Lu Ming, aren’t you busy now?”
“Resting for a bit.”
“Then did you eat on time? Whenever you get busy, you will just casually take a few bites, this is not good for your stomach.” These were all the information that Chi Qiu unintentionally learned from the mouth of the secretary around Lu Ming. Fragmentary, not much, but better than not knowing anything at all.
He could not see, so he had to listen to what others said to him.
Lu Ming blandly said: “On time.”
His answer was brief, but it couldn’t resist Chi Qiu’s miss for him.
Ignoring Xiao Yan in the front seat, Chi Qiu was reluctant to hang up the call. After saying a lot of concerns, he reluctantly asked, “Will I bother you to rest? Your voice sounds tired, so let’s hang up first, wait until you are done, and when you get home, we will…”
“Will not.”
This number of questions and answers might be really boring to others, and they might also lament that the way the newlyweds getting along was too unfamiliar. But for Chi Qiu, it was a very sincere approach. His fingertips lightly squeezing the phone: “Lu Ming…”
“En?”
“When will you be done?” After asking, he felt wrong again and stumbled to explain, “I, I miss you a lot.”
“…”
“After we got married, you have been very busy and rarely spend time with me… I always miss you very much.”
