In recent years, China has suffered severe losses of cultural relics, with recovery being difficult. This is because it’s hard to determine whether cultural relics that went overseas were transferred through legal channels. For example, national treasures like the “Long Zhong Ding” were sold abroad by relic dealers a century ago, making them untraceable. As a result, many patriotic individuals in China were willing to buy back these national treasures through private purchases. Even if they kept them in their own homes, it was better than having them drift overseas.
However, the Cultural Relics Bureau didn’t advocate this approach. Private buybacks would blindly inflate the value of cultural relics. Many artifacts would end up fetching astronomical prices due to patriotic collectors’ passionate bidding and blind follow-up bids from other collectors. Some companies would even exploit this situation to gain enormous profit margins.
But with the sudden appearance of the “Long Zhong Ding,” a heavyweight national treasure, nobody cared whether the Cultural Relics Bureau approved or not. Wealthy collectors and auction houses from China flocked to France. The fact that both Tai Mingxiao and Gou Kai went simultaneously indicated the gravity of the situation. Major cultural relics were different from ordinary ones—not only were domestic collectors eagerly pursuing them, but many foreign experts were also eyeing them covetously.
The two left in a hurry, and Ye Meng was appointed in this emergency to return to the company and take charge. This news was like a bucket of cold water dousing the sweetness of the past few days.
Ye Meng hung up the phone with a heavy heart. Returning to the room, she saw Li Jinyu quietly reading, unusually humming a song.
He was humming a sweet song quite different from his style, “Summer Holiday.”
“Summer holiday watch only on my way Summer holiday babe you are my baby…”
But it sounded surprisingly good.
His mood was excellent. Seemingly sensing her intense, focused gaze, Li Jinyu looked up at her, beckoned with his hand, then lowered his head to continue reading, casually saying in a soft voice: “Come here.”
Ye Meng went over and sat on his lap.
Li Jinyu teased her a bit, pinched her chin, and shook it, then continued reading: “Why that expression? Unhappy?”
“Next time you spray me in the face with the showerhead, I’m going on strike.”
“Your technique is too poor, and I’m not allowed to have an opinion?”
“You asked for it this time.”
“Fine, I was wrong.” He looked at his book, pursed his lips, and apologized very halfheartedly.
“…”
Ye Meng sat on him, turned her face away, and pretended to be angry: “You apologized too quickly, without sincerity. I seriously suspect you’ll do it again next time.”
Li Jinyu casually turned her face back, kissed her, and said in a lazy tone: “Baby, I was wrong. Is that okay?”
At that moment, her heart skipped a beat just from him calling her “baby.” She truly experienced what it meant to miss a heartbeat. It gave her a feeling of elation, with blood surging and rolling through her body. She rarely felt her heart flutter like this. That day was one such moment. It was as if—the Milky Way tilted for her, the stars of the night sky and spring waters all rushing toward her.
…
Ye Meng didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere. All evening, she was somewhat distracted. Even cuddling with Li Jinyu while watching TV felt bland. She mechanically stuffed chips into her mouth, one after another, until by the third bag, Li Jinyu casually took them away, holding them high out of her reach. He lowered his head, pointing with his chin: “Your lips are getting blisters.”
Ye Meng took out her phone to check, and it was true. She looked up and pouted: “A kiss would make it better.”
Li Jinyu smiled, bent down, and pecked her lips. “Want me to pop them for you?”
“No, if you pop them, they’ll spread all over.” As Ye Meng spoke, she tried to climb out of his arms again to put on her shoes. She hadn’t stayed still all evening. Drinking water, going to the bathroom, drinking water, going to the bathroom…
Li Jinyu pulled her back without a word, hooking her waist and pressing her onto himself, unhappily: “Can’t you just stay still for a while?”
“Baby, I want some water.”
“Stop drinking. After drinking, you’ll need to use the bathroom again.”
“But I’m thirsty—”
Li Jinyu directly kissed her, one hand supporting her waist, the other holding the back of her head, his tongue entangling with hers without restraint. He coaxed her in a low voice: “Still thirsty?”
Ye Meng shook her head. “But I want to smoke.”
“…”
The two were at the stairwell entrance. Beyond the security gate was moonlight as clear as water. Through the treetops and gaps between trees, the moonlight was everywhere.
Ye Meng sat against the wall, gazing blankly outside. Li Jinyu leaned against the stair railing. One hand in his pocket, the other hanging naturally, his long fingers holding an unfinished cigarette with a long ash that hadn’t been tapped off for a while. He looked down at her without saying a word.
The stairwell was filled with swirling smoke. One was mature and capable, with spring passions evident in her eyes; the other was slender and clean, with cold eyes.
One standing and one sitting, they silently smoked their cigarettes. After that night, both had quit cold turkey, but it wasn’t like cutting off a worm’s tail in one stroke—occasionally, they still needed one or two.
Ye Meng tilted her head, blew a smoke ring toward the ceiling, and casually asked: “Actually, baby, have you ever thought about contacting Tai Mingxiao and the others? After all, from what I hear, you seem to have had a really good relationship.”
Li Jinyu seemed to come back to himself, his hand trembling slightly, ash fluttering down. Sensing this, he casually flicked the ash, his thin eyelids drooping coldly, and without raising his head, he said: “Having you is enough for me.”
Ye Meng was startled, leaning against the wall and looking at him, the cigarette in her mouth slowly burning, not taking a single drag.
These words sounded pleasing but felt like a heavy stone pressing on her chest, making it hard to breathe.
Seeing that she remained silent, Li Jinyu looked down with a smile. He also stopped smoking. When the cigarette in his hand had naturally burned out, he asked: “Am I burdening you?”
Ye Meng lowered her head and put out her cigarette. “No.”
She felt that Li Jinyu still shut everyone out; he had merely pulled her into his world and locked her inside. These past few days, Ye Meng had been indulging him, staying home with him without going out. She accompanied him by reading, kissing, pleasing him, and making him happy. They appeared inseparable, deeply in love. But this type of relationship was somewhat unhealthy.
After the tide of passion receded, the rough, uneven reefs and silt would surface.
She had friends in Beijing, a career, endless phone calls, and documents. And Li Jinyu, who only had her, would have to endure loneliness and emptiness, facing the mudflats and those hideous reefs.
Just like last time, he missed her so much. And these past few days, they had been inseparable and so deeply attached. Li Jinyu would probably go crazy.
“It’ll be fine when you come back from Beijing.” Li Jinyu’s eyes were a bit unfocused as he lowered his head, casually taking drags from his cigarette, not looking at her.
“I might not be able to come back so quickly this time,” Ye Meng sighed, lit another cigarette for herself, inhaled to light it, tossed the lighter aside, and said, “Baby, I’m not forcing you to return to Beijing, but don’t you feel out of place here? Do you truly like it here? Or are you just running away?”
Li Jinyu silently bent down to pick up the cigarette pack, lit it from the ember of her cigarette, leaned back, and his voice grew cold: “What are you trying to say?”
“I just hope you can have your circle of friends, someone besides me who can share your joys and sorrows. Haven’t you noticed that your life now revolves entirely around me?”
He sneered coldly, “You still feel burdened.”
Ye Meng immediately raised her hand in a swearing gesture: “I don’t. If you could be as optimistic and cheerful as Yang Tianwei, I wouldn’t mind how much your life revolves around me.”
But Li Jinyu looked at her and asked: “Are you going back tomorrow?”
“Yes, but it has nothing to do with this conversation. I’m just afraid you—” Ye Meng didn’t hide it.
“Afraid I’ll miss you too much, afraid I’ll cling to you, is that it?”
“No—”
“I won’t anymore.”
Ye Meng was startled. “Huh?”
Li Jinyu leaned against the railing, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a cigarette. In the moonlight as serene as water, he tilted his head, staring at the ceiling for a long while, suppressing all his emotions. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he took a final drag, smoke slowly dispersing from his lips and nose. That repressed, restrained gaze fell on her as he said: “I won’t disturb you this time. Just call me when you miss me. I’ll wait for you to come back. No matter how long, I’ll wait, okay?”
Ye Meng sighed, realizing they were talking past each other; continuing would be meaningless. Li Jinyu would only think she was afraid he would disturb her work.
That night, Li Jinyu unfailingly read until two in the morning. His self-control was truly remarkable. Even if the sky were to fall the next day, he would methodically complete everything that needed to be done before going to sleep. The cats on the wall had already called for mates twice, the moon hung high in the sky, and the streets were quiet with occasional scattered sounds before he finally turned off the light.
Li Jinyu woke Ye Meng with a kiss. In her drowsy state, Ye Meng found a comfortable position in his arms, her head buried in the crook of his neck, hazily taking in his scent, and said in a low voice: “Li Jinyu, if you miss me, you can come to Beijing to find me. I’ll buy you a ticket. Grandma and Ping’an can stay at my place. Okay?”
“Mm.”
Never mind him—this time even she was a bit reluctant to leave. They held each other tightly, like two thirsty little fish, entangled together in a passionate embrace.
A week later. The news that the “Long Zhong Ding” had been bought at a high price of 4.5 million euros by a British collector named Oliver made the trending topic, causing an uproar in Chinese public opinion. Meanwhile, a domestic auction company called Hanhai Lankan was pushed into the spotlight.
“If it weren’t for Hanhai Lankan’s relentless pursuit, Oliver wouldn’t have had the opportunity,” Tai Mingxiao couldn’t help but complain to Ye Meng, who had come to pick them up as soon as they landed. He turned on the air conditioning and said, “Li Lingbai has been increasingly aggressive in her business dealings these past few years.”
Ye Meng merged onto the elevated road and was startled. “Li Lingbai? Did she personally get involved this time?”
Ye Meng knew nothing about this situation, but she had heard of Hanhai Lankan and Li Lingbai. Hanhai Lankan was a well-known international auction company in the industry, with substantial assets and clients all over the world. More irritatingly, they were backed by the enormous financial power of the Hanhai Group.
If it weren’t for their fight where Li Jinyu told her everything, she wouldn’t even know his mother’s name was Li Lingbai. Li Lingbai was famous in the industry for her thunderous methods but was considered quite measured in her actions. So this failure, which led to the national treasure “Long Zhong Ding” flowing into Britain, significantly damaged her reputation in the industry.
Tai Mingxiao was still resentful about the auction that night: “The ‘Long Zhong Ding’ attracted many major domestic and foreign auction companies this time. Most coincidentally, the old man of Hanhai is not doing well. The various factions within Hanhai are forming alliances and fighting each other. I guess Li Lingbai’s determination to get the ‘Long Zhong Ding’ has a lot to do with the old man. The Li family’s patriarch had many shares in the Hanhai Group in his early years and is one of Hanhai’s major shareholders. With such a big piece of meat, how could Li Lingbai not get involved? She needed to bring back the ‘Long Zhong Ding’ to curry favor with the old man. However, she stumbled this time. If it weren’t for her relentless pursuit, the price wouldn’t have been pushed so high. This is exactly the situation the Cultural Relics Bureau fears most—artifacts flowing overseas at prices far exceeding their actual value makes it difficult to recover these national treasures.”
Tai Mingxiao was still indignant and couldn’t help cursing: “Damn it when I heard Li Lingbai was going, my head started aching. Our small company can’t compete with them; their big company throws out tens of millions at once. When the bidding reached 2 million, old Gou gave up directly, forcing many Chinese bidders to retreat. I thought it was going to be hers for sure, who knew a Brit would come out of nowhere at the end? I never expected this outcome.”
“That’s called the unpredictability of life,” Ye Meng said.
Otherwise, how could she have imagined that Li Lingbai would become her mother-in-law, even though she didn’t recognize Li Jinyu?
The car smoothly merged into traffic. The entire city was ablaze with neon lights, the gorgeous night scenery gradually coming into view. Gou Kai, who had been silent in the back seat all along, suddenly spoke: “When I called you that night, why were you so angry?”
“Wouldn’t you be angry if someone interrupted your intimate moment?” Ye Meng turned on her signal light, irritated.
Gou Kai turned to look out the window, in quite a good mood as he admired the fleeting night scenery, and exposed her: “Stop hiding it. I could tell from your voice you were fighting with him. I told you, your husband isn’t good enough for you.”
“Is that so,” Ye Meng couldn’t be bothered to engage with him. “Think what you want.”
Li Jinyu was well-behaved this week, dutifully reading, dutifully waiting for her call, and occasionally maybe sending her a message.
[LJY: I brought in your clothes from the courtyard.]
Ye Meng would naturally follow up with, [Meng: Good, what are you doing?]
[LJY: Reading.]
After a while, he would send another message,
[LJY: Grandma used your lipstick. I’ve put away all your lipsticks from the bathroom.]
[Meng: It’s fine, let her use them. I can’t finish them all anyway.]
[LJY: She’s putting it on Ping’an.]
[Meng: …As long as Grandma and Ping’an are happy. Baby, I’m going to a meeting.]
[LJY: Okay, I’m going to read.]
Then there would be no more words. He truly wouldn’t send her anything else, quietly waiting for Ye Meng to call him when she was free. All this time, he never lost his temper once, never had a single tantrum, and his social media remained silent.
Much later, Ye Meng learned from the elderly lady that during that period, Li Jinyu wasn’t being affected or trying to be good. He was genuinely trying to learn how to love her like a normal person.
“Sometimes he missed you a lot, couldn’t focus on his books, and would just sit alone in the courtyard all day.”
“When I asked him what he was doing, he said he had a memory palace in his mind, and he wanted to put you in there. That way, in the future, he could close his eyes and see you.”