Volume One, Chapter 95: Sister, Have You Counted Them All?

Night had fallen.

A lone man and a lone woman.

She believed they were only siblings.

But would anyone else believe that?

Especially when Little Mu was still just a child.

That scoundrel Lu Jingnian had brazenly brought Lin Chaosheng to live in the house, leaving him mocked and isolated by his kindergarten classmates...

Sang Wan pushed past Lou Ye and headed for the kitchen. "If he finds out his mother has hidden a man at home again, it’ll traumatize Little Mu’s young heart! He’s only five..."

Lu Jingnian might do something so heartless without a shred of pity.

But she could not become like him.

There was still the faint ache of the impact from Sang Wan’s shoulder and chin against him.

Lou Ye lifted a hand to rub the spot, then slowly turned and strolled after her. "But back then, he even told you to go die."

Sang Wan paused with the utensil in her hand. "...Children shouldn’t say such things!"

After saying that, Sang Wan could not help but look back at Lou Ye again. "Tell me, am I being too soft-hearted? I just never learn from pain!"

She never remembered the lesson at all.

At the time, she had been so desperate, so heartbroken, and when she came home from the hospital and saw Little Mu, she had been furious.

She had wished she could travel back in time and never have carried him in the first place.

And yet, in only two short months, she seemed not to be so angry anymore.

Especially when she saw Little Mu come to her with red-rimmed eyes; all those cruel, hard words of hers simply would not come out.

"No..." Lou Ye idly teased the fuzzy green pom-poms in the vase, speaking as if to himself. "A mother is naturally soft-hearted. After all, the child was born from her own body..."

Before he finished, his expression darkened.

The atmosphere turned cold for no reason.

Sang Wan looked back and saw only a lonely side profile.

Lou Ye’s gaze was distant, clearly lost in thought, his mind wandering somewhere far away.

"Lou Ye?"

At the call, Lou Ye came back to himself. "What?"

"I asked whether you want noodles or noodle soup."

Sang Wan stood by the open refrigerator and asked.

Having lost his appetite, Lou Ye shook his head. "I don’t want to eat anymore."

???

Sang Wan froze.

Without another word, Lou Ye turned around, opened the door, and left.

In the kitchen, Sang Wan stood in place, stunned.

She sent him a message, saying she would call him down when the food was ready. He replied that there was no need.

Then there was no more response.

Sang Wan stared at her phone for a long while.

The variety show was too noisy.

The drama on television made no sense.

She spent a while scrolling on her phone; it was Friday night, and everyone’s replies were half-hearted and intermittent.

Then Sang Wan looked out the window at the dark night and suddenly felt how terrible habit could be.

On those nights when Lou Ye had not stayed to eat dinner with her, how had she gotten through the evening alone?

She thought for a long time before remembering.

Back then, she was still living in the attic, and every night she would sit with her little orange lamp and diligently paint that "Forest Bay."

Usually, only when her neck grew sore would she look up and realize it was already very late.

Then she would hurry to bed.

After moving into the apartment, Lou Ye would come for dinner; she would clean the kitchen while he played games. Sometimes they would watch an architecture documentary together, or gossip about the industry.

Near ten o’clock, Lou Ye would leave at the proper time.

She would shower, put on a face mask, dry her hair, and then look at her phone for a few minutes before going to sleep.

And it had only been this long, yet she had already grown used to his presence.

He had merely left a day early, and she... was already unaccustomed to it?

Startled by her own realization, Sang Wan quickly got up and looked for things to do.

She rolled out the yoga mat and practiced for half an hour.

She packed the travel bag for the weekend trip.

She also played with the cat toy for a while with Toffee.

Then she checked her phone again.

Nine o’clock.

Sang Wan: ...

She slept restlessly all night. Before dawn, the phone on the bedside table buzzed.

Sang Wan woke instantly.

It was from Xu Yiyi.

"Dear, I can’t be your family escort today!"

"At last night’s dinner, I ate barbecue. This whole night, I’ve practically been inseparable from my toilet. I’m not going."

"Actually, I could accompany you even at the risk of my life, but then I remembered there’s a hot spring. You wouldn’t want your family escort to cause you a social death, would you?"

"Have fun! Love you, love you!"

Sang Wan called her.

When the video connected, Xu Yiyi looked ghastly, but said she was already much better and firmly refused to let Sang Wan come see her.

She reminded her to take her medicine on time, and if she felt even slightly unwell, to call the emergency center and her immediately.

Sang Wan got up to wash up.

The team-building hot spring resort was located in the outskirts of the imperial capital, and many people from the department had come directly after work the day before.

By the time Sang Wan arrived, she could hardly recognize those brightly dressed people as her colleagues.

At the office, the men wore shirts and slacks, the women skirts or casual clothes, all of them with the unmistakable air of people worn down by work.

But at the hot spring resort, some were wearing hip-hop streetwear, while others had swimsuits on beneath hotel bathrobes, ready to head into the water.

Every face was bright with smiles.

The resort covered a vast area. The front courtyard was picturesque, and the back mountain was lush with green grass.

Through the whole day, Sang Wan rode a horse, played golf, and was even dragged over by Xiaobai to make up the numbers in a game that needed one more player.

As evening approached, a group of girls returned to their rooms to change.

The natural hot springs were divided by size into single, double, and multi-person pools.

Clusters formed in twos and threes. The girls chatted, laughed, and joked as they entered their respective pools.

Above them stretched a black velvet sky, jeweled with stars.

Around them were colleagues who got along well.

Even though stone walls kept them out of sight, their voices alone made it clear who was who.

Beautiful scenery.

Beautiful people.

Casual chatter.

Sang Wan, in a very good mood, kicked at the water.

When she heard Lou Ye’s name, she was lying on a rock and sending Xu Yiyi a message.

Xu Yiyi said she was much better already; all the diarrhea had disappeared.

Only her body still felt limp and weak, so Sang Wan should enjoy herself and not worry about her.

"Today in the resort, it seems we haven’t run into any other guests besides us! Did Director Cheng charter the whole hot spring resort? That’s really extravagant!"

"You didn’t know? This hot spring resort belongs to our boss!"

"??? President Lou?"

"Yeah! Boss said she picked the place and submitted it, and when finance sent it back, she only then found out. Finance said the boss had spoken: since we’re all on the same side, no approval is needed. Just come and have fun!"

"I can’t tell at this point whether I should envy myself or envy the boss!"

"Hey, do you think President Lou came or not?"

Some said he had come; after all, this was his territory. When subordinates came for a team-building event, whether to win people over or simply put on a show, as the boss he ought to make an appearance.

Others said not necessarily. The boss was so young that he probably did not want his subordinates to know he was there having fun, so he likely would not come.

In the hot spring pool, Sang Wan unconsciously sank a little lower into the water.

Reason told her that even if Lou Ye had come, he would not suddenly descend from the sky and appear in front of her.

But for some reason, Sang Wan felt awkward.

He called her sister over and over.

She was wearing a swimsuit and would appear in front of him like that.

However she thought about it, it was awkward enough to make her toes curl.

"Sang-jie, you’re not soaking anymore?"

"No. I read online that it’s not good to soak in a hot spring for too long; about half an hour is best."

She grabbed a bath towel and wrapped it around herself, and at last felt a little more at ease.

Passing through the corridor, she saw Lou Ye coming toward her.

Clearly on his way to the springs, Lou Ye was wearing only swim trunks.

Broad shoulders.

A narrow waist.

The dim light was like the finest brush, outlining sharply defined eight-pack abs.

A physique worthy of a pretty boy from a Korean manhwa.

Sang Wan quickly averted her eyes.

Lou Ye was already near her now. "Sister, did you count them all?"