101. I was bad
By the time they headed home it was almost 10pm. Along the way, An Ran was pouting as she was looking out the window. Her small face was filled with dissatisfaction and unhappiness.
Su Yi Cheng chuckles, and maneuvers his car and parks it in the underground garage.
As he turns off the ignition, An Ran opens the door to get off, not waiting for him, and walks over to the elevator by herself.
Su Yi Cheng gets off the car, and watches her figure quickly disappear behind the door. He looks at the bag at the backseat of the car, and couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head.
When An Ran was waiting for the elevator, she could hear footsteps approaching from behind. She turns her head around, only to see Su Yi Cheng approaching her with a smile on his face. When the elevator finally came, An Ran took one large step and enters, then quickly pressed on the ‘close door’ b.u.t.ton.
“An Ran.” Su Yi Cheng softly calls out, taking a huge step forward.
An Ran puts on a wry face, then the door closed just as Su Yi Cheng had a few steps left.
Su Yi Cheng looks at the tightly closed door, then watches the number jump up continuously. He looks down at her briefcase that he held in his hands, smiling as he muttered, “Fool.”
While waiting for the elevator to come up again, sure enough An Ran was standing at the doorway with a pout in her face. She was staring at him, that expression, looked as if she was wronged, looking at it made people feel pity.
Su Yi Cheng laughs as he left the elevator. He doesn’t say anything, reaches out and hands over the briefcase to her.
An Ran stares at him, doesn’t hold her hand out to accept it. Only after a while does she say, “You did it on purpose!” He clearly knew that her keys were in her bag, and her bag was in his hands, yet he evilly did not tell her, making her foolishly believe that she had the upperhand. What that Ye Zi Wen said was right, he was a man with a big smile and evil intentions, a black wolf.
“I did not.” Su Yi Cheng carried a smile as he shook his head. He was planning on telling her, but she didn’t give him a chance.
“You were!” Purposely not telling her, he even deliberately collaborated with everyone to bully her at the restaurant!
Su Yi Cheng advances, and pulls her in for a hug. He laughs as he hugs her tighter, his large palm stroking her back, as he spoke into her ears, “I was bad, even if you didn’t give me the chance to tell you I should have created an opportunity to tell you that your bag was left behind in the car, and your keys were still in your bag.”
An Ran chuckled and patted him on the back, saying, “Are you trying to turn things around to say that I was wrongly blaming you?”
“Of course not, the wife is always right, if she is wrong, then it is also my fault.” Su Yi Cheng said warmly as he hugged her. It was obviously a funny statement, but the way he said it was so deadly earnest.
Women were always like that, when men were bad and provoked you, will always be placated by those sweet speech. It was obviously corny but was equally effective.
An Ran was also awkward, leaning against his chest, she depressingly said, “You saw me sitting there alone and without help, and even got teased by Yi jiao. Clearly having a child isn’t something that we can just say and then have, you didn’t even come forward to help me, say, you should have!”
“En en, I was bad.” Su Yi Cheng doesn’t quibble, and admits his error, “I shouldn’t have left you to be besieged by our mothers, I was selfish, and thought the same as them, wondering when you would have our child, give birth to our child.”
Hearing that, An Ran muttered, “I never said I wouldn’t.” Even though she felt that talking about children is too early right now, after all they hadn’t been married for long, but she never said that she won’t ever give birth. Ever since they got married they haven’t used protection, and she didn’t even take anything the morning after. Regarding the topic of children, she really does intend to let nature take its course, even if she felt unprepared to be a mother, but while carrying a child for ten months, during the pregnancy she would plan to cram herself with everything a new mother should know.
Su Yi Cheng caresses her back, and slowly continued, “I think it’d be the best if we had a daughter, that way you can dress her up beautifully every day, then I can bring her to the theme park, buy her toys, and at night I can tell her a bed time story, pat her gently as she sleeps.”
Listening to his imagination, she started to blurt out, “You’d be spoiling her then.”
“Girls are precious, you’re supposed to spoil them.” Su Yi Cheng stated.
An Ran laughed. She felt a wonderful thing in her heart, very warm, very subtle.
The couple embraced each other like that at the door for a while. It was good that this place had one household per floor, so they weren’t worried that someone would see. However if someone had come to pay a visit at this time, then that would be embarra.s.sing. Even though they"re right in front of the door, they don’t enter it, but decided to be lovey-dovey outside the door, if they’re not sick then they have some abnormal mind!
An Ran had washed up and changed her clothes, and because Su Yi Cheng still had some unfinished work to do it, when they entered the home he headed to the studio.
Actually An Ran still had some unfinished work as well, but after washing up she didn’t feel like moving. When her hair was almost dried, she sat in front of the vanity and worked on her skincare. When she was done, she looked at the time, and it was almost 11.
She climbs up on the bed, but doesn’t feel tired. She reaches out to grab a magazine on the bedside cabinet, and surprisingly it was an entertainment magazine. In it there was a lot of celebrity gossip and scandals, the degree of sensation was not inferior to reports on TV. Actually An Ran wouldn’t buy these gossip magazines, at most she would buy domestic and international architecture magazines, or maybe something related to real estate. This could be something that Su Yi Cheng had bought, but at the same time it couldn’t be. Although the types of books he reads were various, and covered many topics, but it most likely would not include these kind of gossip topics.
Furthermore, there was no history in the magazine. An Ran takes it, and browses through it. Truly, women are innately gossipy, in many cases many of the gossips were made up by women.
When Su Yi Cheng entered the room, he sees An Ran sitting on the bed by herself looking and smiling, her expression rich.
“What are you looking at?” Su Yi Cheng asks as he grabs a change of clothes from the wardrobe.
“Nothing really. Not sure where this magazine came from. Turns out, Zhang Yimou is already married, his wife is young, and even has 3 children.” As she spoke An Ran suddenly raises her head, and asks Su Yi Cheng, “Didn’t you guys say to use birth control? Why has he exceeded this much?”
He couldn’t help but pause with the clothing in his hands. Su Yi Cheng forces a smile as he turns his head, “Wife, birth control is just one half of the plan*.”
*birth control can also be translated as family planning
An Ran was blank, only a while later does she nod, “Oh. Is that so.” Then she continues to look over the magazine in her hand.
Su Yi Cheng watches her, and couldn’t help but shake his head. He takes his clothes into the washroom.
Heavens, turns out so-and-so had married so-and-so in the US a while ago, and very soon their divorce actually exposed their former marriage of several years. Also, some male star was pursuing a certain female star, and did not hesitate abandon his wife and son!
AN Ran looks on as she shook her head. The entertainment circle really is too complex. She doesn’t know which one of these statements are true, what is false and what is true can only make other people who are looking on get dizzy. She couldn’t find any outline of logic looking at it for a while.
By the time Su Yi Cheng came out from the bathroom, he sees An Ran sitting on the bed looking at the magazine earnestly. Apparently, sure enough women do love gossip.
He wipes his hair until it is half dried, then lifts the other half of the quilt and gets on the bed. He looks at the magazine in her hands, and couldn’t help but frown. The pictures in it were gaudy, looking at it can only make one be dazzled. He takes out a book from underneath his pillow, a book about sociology. He also has a habit of reading at night, and liked to read a bit before going to sleep, sometimes thinking about the things he couldn’t understand as he lays down on his bed.
Time was pa.s.sing by. Seeing that it was almost midnight, and seeing that An Ran was still looking at the magazine quite earnestly, he couldn’t help but feel that she was adorable. However tomorrow was Friday, and they both have to go to work. On this face, they should go to sleep.
“Wife, it’s late. Go to sleep. We still have to go to work tomorrow.” Su Yi Cheng reminds her.
After a while, An Ran turns her head. She looks at him, then looks at the time. Heavens! It really is late. She nods, puts the magazine back on top of the cabinet, and turns off the lamp. She lies down, and naturally finds herself snugly embracing Su Yi Cheng. Habits are a frightening thing. It hasn’t been that long, yet she was already accustomed to hugging him to sleep, not at all awkward and not a habit, everything seemed to be as it should be. Of course, she couldn’t deny, his embrace really was captivating, to be hugged like that made her sleep more comfortably, extremely steadily.
In the dark, when An Ran was drifting off to sleep, somebody’s hands started to explore underneath her clothes, slowly going down her back until they reached her belly, then slowly treaded up again.
An Ran suddenly opened her eyes, the sleepiness that was once there has gone away now. She captures his hands, and says, “You, what are you doing?”
Su Yi Cheng pulls her closer, so that their bodies can press closer together. His breathing was also a little urgent, “An Ran, don’t you think we should work harder.”
An Ran immediately understood the meaning behind his words. She can still remember what she had said at You Ran, but, but she doesn’t want to come into work with a scarf around her neck again.
An Ran pushes him, and quickly says, “Su, Su Yi Cheng, we, we have an agreement, once- once a week!”
Su Yi Cheng took the chance and presses down on her, his large hands explore her body, his lips were also beginning to press down, as he says, “En, I know. The last time doesn’t count, it’ll start today.”
Hearing that, An Ran couldn’t help but roll her eyes. What logic! But now he was fondling her, kissing her slowly that she was responding. Su Yi Cheng’s attack was very powerful, she couldn’t retreat. She can only make a last struggle through reasoning, “Su, Su Yi Cheng, don’t---ah!”
Her lips were punished by Su Yi Cheng as he bit on them, it hurt and An Ran couldn’t help but utter a cry.
Su Yi Cheng is pasted on her lips, as he says, “Call me Yi Cheng, I like it when you call me Yi Cheng.” His voice was hoa.r.s.e, carried this strong sense.
An Ran was defeated, she doesn’t really care to call him, her hands weakly pushing against his body, “You, get up.”
“Concentrate.” Su Yi Cheng kisses her lips, kisses her eyebrows, his voice was incredibly dark, “You said we would try our best.” Saying that, he leans over to cover her lips, not allowing her a chance to speak.
An Ran was helpless, but she can only accept her fate. However, this is alright, after tonight, tomorrow night she can sleep comfortably and peacefully.
Waking up again, it was already morning. Last night they appeared to have forgotten to close the window, as the wind was blowing the curtains around. The sunshine shone through the curtains, lighting up the entire room. She looks at her side, and Su Yi Cheng wasn’t there, however it looked like he hadn’t been gone long, as she could still feel his temperature through the bed.
An Ran just felt sore, her entire body was tired. She couldn’t even remember how she was able to sleep last night, her body was so tense.
Her eyelids were heavy. She wants to get up, but it was like her body strength was all drained out, she could not use any strength. Finally, with a sleepy appearance, she went back sleep.
“An Ran, An Ran?”
Her lids were still very heavy. She could hear a familiar, gentle voice calling out to her by her ear, soft and gentle, very pleasant to hear. When she woke up again the whole room was much brighter compared to before. The sunshine penetrates through the cotton curtains and lit up the room, it was blinding.
Su Yi Cheng stood at the bedside, smiling at her as he watches at her. Seeing her awaken, he gently strokes her forehead, and says, “Quickly get up, otherwise you’ll be late.”
An Ran lies down, opening her eyes, closing them, repeating this action several times. Then she slowly comes to, turns to look at the alarm clock by the bed. It was already 8 o’clock. Really, if she doesn’t get up, if she walks to work she’ll be late. Propping herself up she remembers, that due to her sore and aching body she went to lie down again, and the bed was very soft, throwing herself on it didn’t hurt her.
Su Yi Cheng helps her up as he says, “Look at you, don’t even know how to be careful.” It would’ve been better if he didn’t say anything. Hearing his voice An Ran recalled last night, and glares at him, muttering, “That’s your fault.”
Su Yi Cheng smiles, strokes her head, then leans over and helps her sit up, “Come, breakfast is ready. Wash up, and when you come out you can get.”
An Ran seemed peeved as she glared at him, then stumbles off to the bathroom. Entering the bathroom, she looks at herself in the mirror. Luckily, there isn’t any obvious love bites on her neck. At least she doesn’t have to wear a scarf to work today, that could be considered the silver lining to a misfortune.
Su Yi Cheng watches her face the mirror in a relaxed manner, and laughed and shook his head. He turns to leave, and wanted to heat up a cup of milk for her when she comes out.
The project was going smoothly, everything was advancing according to the blueprint without a hitch, and Huang De Xing was on the verge of starting the Ke Ji City project and was busy. Recently he had been looking for collaborators, looking for a competent construction company, among those, ‘Rui Xing Construction’ became the top choice. ‘Rui Xing’ was a fairly new construction company from Jiang City, yet after a month they were able to successfully gain several large projects. Not only that, but their boss was Mo Fei, and Mo Fei was Jiang City’s son-in-law of the Bureau Chief of Construction!
An Ran took the amended blueprint and went to look for Huang De Xing, and did not expect to run into Mo Fei in his office. Apart from meeting him that last time, that incident had occurred nearly a month ago. After they had that conversation in the coffee shop by the school, they hadn’t seen each other once.
“An Ran ah, you came at the right time. Director Mo is here to talk about a collaboration, you should have a seat and join the discussion.” Seeing An Ran come in, Huang De Xing spoke up. He was a man with experience. Being in the business world for this many years, ever since the first time he picked up a pen to design up until now, he just looks over doc.u.ments and look for people to collaborate with. He naturally has seen every kind of person, so when he had seen Mo Fei b.u.mp into An Ran at the office, immediately he can see that there was something unusual between them. He is considered to be a business man to the core, so he doesn’t care about what they do, what kind of person they are, what ident.i.ty, as long as they are useful to him, then he wouldn’t hesitate to make use of them.
“Director Mo.” An Ran nods at Mo Fei. Her tone was serene and distant, does not leave her gaze at him for even a second, as if she really were meeting a stranger for the first time. Calmly, without trembling, she turns to Huang De Xing and hands the doc.u.ment over to Huang De Xing, saying, “Director, this is the latest modification of the blueprint. If you think there is no problem, I will go ahead with the adjustments.”
Huang De Xing accepts it, but doesn’t look at it. He just puts the blueprint aside, looks at An Ran and says, “No rush, let’s us sit and chat, Director Mo said that he was your old cla.s.smate. You should be clearer than I in regards to what Director Mo wants, this way would be good and smooth sailing for the collaboration of the two companies.”
“I---” An Ran wanted to decline, but was interrupted by Mo Fei.
“---let’s discuss this, afterwards if our companies do collaborate, we wouldn’t be able to avoid contact. Now could be considered a practice, a warm up.”
“Yes, yes.” Huang De Xing also adds in, “Both of you are architects, later on when our companies collaborate, both of you would have plenty of opportunities to work together. I recall that when you two were in school you guys were a golden combination, each work that you two had worked on won several awards.”
Mo Fei stares at her, the expression in his eyes contained so much emotions. An Ran did not want to go into the meaning behind his look, but wasn’t able to come up with an excuse. Ultimately, she can only sit down beside him.
In fact what they were discussing she couldn’t take part in it. She can only draw, regarding the business part of the company, the collaboration, the contract and what not, she really does not understand a word. However, Huang De Xing and Mo Fei do not seem to mind, talking about something, then facing to her, and she can only smile, nod, and casually agree.
The meeting lasted an hour, finally Huang De Xing suggested that he and Mo Fei go to the site, and take a look at An Ran’s sample. However when they were about to leave, he suddenly received a phone call of an important client. He had no choice, and asked An Ran to show Mo Fei around. It so happens that An Ran was also the architect, so about the creative concept and such, she can also explain it to Mo Fei.
An Ran suspected that Huang De Xing was doing this on purpose, but she couldn’t shirk away, she can only force herself to agree.
When the two were about to leave the office, they ran into Xiao Xiao. Seeing Mo Fei, Xiao Xiao enthusiastically extends her hand, greeting him politely and exchanged greetings with him.
“Is An Ran showing Director Mo the construction site?” Xiao Xiao smiles charmingly and asks.
An Ran nods, not saying much.
“Then why don’t we go together, it happens that I also have a project under construction in the vicinity, I can also show Director Mo around, and perhaps Director Mo can give me some suggestions as well.” Xiao Xiao says enthusiastically, leaning near Mo Fei, looking seductive.
Actually, Mo Fei disliked people like Xiao Xiao, always dressed to the nines and wearing make up, from head to toe carrying ample of perfume. Although he hasn’t been in the country for long, but in these brief two months, he has met a lot of people in the industry. Naturally he has heard of rumors regarding Xiao Xiao, and instinctually rejected and disliked this kind of woman, so he directly declines, “No need, I have never had the habit of helping people and giving suggestions. If a project is already under construction, and the designer still has some uncertainties in the design, then I feel like the designer is not suited to be in construction, perhaps they should switch to a more suitable industry. Construction allows people to reside and live their life at a location, that is being in charge of someone’s life. If they don’t have the confidence to do well, then that is like scheming someone’s life.” After he was done he just glances at her, turns around and pa.s.ses her.
An Ran looks at Xiao Xiao, and doesn’t miss her expression turn from red to white. She doesn’t say much, just follows Mo Fei.
Waiting for the elevator, she looks at him, and faintly says, “What you just said, isn’t that a bit too harsh.”
Mo Fei turns to look and her, and simply says, “What I said was fact. Besides, wasn’t that our belief in the past.”
An Ran doesn’t speak. They really did believe that in the past. What Mo Fei had said, was something that a mentor from school had said, for that reason they were always dejected, but ultimately they strived for that manner, and to do their best.
“Ding--!” The elevator arrived. An Ran doesn’t look at him, and takes the lead and enters the elevator.
Today, strangely, they seemed to be running into a lot of people. An Ran did not expect to run into Cheng Xiang at the building, and seeing him this time, if it weren’t for him calling out to her, she wouldn’t have recognized the messy-hair, wrinkled clothes, scruffy-faced man that was Cheng Xiang, the clean and fair face that Lin Li had fallen in love with for 10 years.
“An Ran, please tell me where Lin Li is, alright, I can’t find her, I’ve looked everywhere but I can’t find her!” Cheng Xiang grabs An Ran, he was begging.
An Ran was shocked, but finally came to her senses. Seeing Cheng Xiang before her, she couldn’t help but shake her head and sigh. Why didn’t he realize his feelings for Lin Li when they were together, that was because he was indecisive, thus he had destroyed the affections between them that people had envied. Now that Lin Li was so hurt that she won’t be able to love again, he turns around and says he loves her, don’t tell me that it’s not too late? When people grow tired of waiting, if the heart dies, how could they turn back?
“Cheng Xiang, why are you like this, aren’t you being too selfish? You’ve hurt her like this yet you think you can get her forgiveness, start afresh. Lin Li is human, her heart is made of flesh, if it hurts, gets injured, you should give her time to heal. This being the case that she doesn’t want you to find her, and I am her friend, so I won’t tell you where she went.”
“I’ve been to her hometown, but they said that she moved. I looked everywhere for a week, but I couldn’t get any news of her. I don’t know what to do, An Ran, I truly do love her, tell me where she is, alright, I won’t bother her, I’ll just look at her from afar, see if she’s alright.” Cheng Xiang said, tears of remorse streamed down his gaunt face.
An Ran turns her head, her nose was starting to sting. She avoids his gaze, not wanting to look at him. She endured the tears that were threatening to fall, and faintly says, “You should have known earlier, back then, you shouldn’t have expected that she’d always wait for you at the same place, even waiting is tiring, heart wrenching.” After she said that, she doesn’t want to mind him any longer, and just turns around to leave.
---END OF CHAPTER---