novelnext Chapter 106: This matter is now closed!
Chapter 106: This matter is now closed!
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After dinner, Lao Li drove his van to take the behind-the-scenes team away.
The taillights turned a corner at the street corner, the two red lights merging into the flowing river of cars in the distance, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The area in front of the restaurant suddenly became quiet, so quiet that you could hear the rustling of the evening breeze through the ginkgo leaves.
The red lanterns hanging on the porch were still swaying gently, casting a red halo that moved back and forth on the ground, like ripples on the water.
Tian Xiwei stood under the streetlight, arm in arm with her mother. She had drunk two glasses of plum juice that evening, and her cheeks still had a rosy glow from the meal. A satisfied smile played on her lips.
Liu Haochun stood beside her mother, holding her hand. She was quieter than usual, but her doe eyes sparkled under the light, and she would occasionally look up at her mother's profile.
The shadows of the six people were stretched long and thin by the streetlights, slowly moving forward on the sidewalk.
Mother Tian stopped and turned around.
She held her daughter's hand, which Xiaotian had been holding all the way, and gently pulled it out to place it on the back of her daughter's hand and pat it.
Then she looked up and her gaze fell on Wang Zi'an's face.
"Koyasu, I'm leaving Oda to you."
She paused for a moment, turned her head to look at her daughter, and her eyes showed love, helplessness, and a hint of wanting to laugh.
"This girl has been wild since she was little, and sometimes she speaks without thinking. If she gets into trouble, don't spoil her."
Tian Xiwei immediately pouted, her eyebrows furrowed, and she was about to retort, "When have I ever caused trouble?" but before she could finish speaking, her mother shut her down with a look.
That look wasn't fierce, but it was extremely lethal; it was the kind of silent warning that someone who had been a homeroom teacher for over a decade gave—a "you'll see" kind of look.
Oda shut her mouth, but her bun still shook defiantly.
"Don't worry, Auntie. Xiaotian did a great job today, and everyone likes her very much."
Wang Zian smiled and then glanced at Xiao Tian.
Oda was pouting, but after receiving his gaze, her lips instantly turned into deep dimples.
Mother Tian then turned her gaze to Zhou Ye.
Her gaze lingered on Zhou Ye's face for a moment, a tenderness unique to a mother looking at another girl.
"Ono, you too. From now on, if Oda is with you and you need any help, just tell her. She may not be good at much else, but she's the best at running errands."
Zhou Ye, who had been standing to the side with his arms crossed and slightly lost in thought, was pulled back by Tian's mother's words and quickly curled his lips into a well-behaved smile.
"Okay, Auntie. But Xiaotian and I are friends, we'll take care of each other."
Compared to Tian's mother's warmth and straightforwardness, Liu's mother was much more reserved.
She stood quietly to the side, holding her daughter's hand, listening to the people in front of her talk without interrupting.
She only spoke after everyone had finished speaking.
"Zian."
Her voice wasn't as loud and clear as Aunt Tian's; it was lower and softer. "Haochun is still quite young. If anything happens in the future, please remind her more often."
She paused, then glanced down at her daughter. Liu Haochun was looking up at her mother, her doe-like eyes glistening with tears, her lips slightly pursed.
Liu's mother reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair that had fallen by her daughter's ear behind her ear; the movement was very slow.
Then she raised her head again, looked at Wang Zian, and a very faint smile appeared on her lips.
"We don't ask for great wealth or status, we only wish for her to be safe, healthy, and happy!"
Wang Zian glanced at Liu Haochun.
She stood in the night breeze, her doe-like eyes sparkling with joy, creating a quiet yet poignant contrast with her mother's fine lines around her eyes, dry lips, and fingers roughened by life's hardships.
"Don't worry, Auntie." Wang Zian's voice was very soft, but every word sounded like it was weighed down by a weight. "Zhou Ye, Xiao Tian, Sister Nan, and I will take good care of her."
He paused for a moment, then looked up at Liu's mother with a firmer determination in his eyes. "But there's one thing I can't agree to."
Several people looked at him at the same time, and Liu's mother was also slightly taken aback.
"Since you've already signed with our company, you're sure to make a lot of money in the future; otherwise, there's something wrong with my abilities!"
Liu's mother and Tian's mother were taken aback by his calm and confident demeanor, and were momentarily speechless. They paused for a moment, and then chuckled softly at the same time.
Tian Xiwei raised her fist beside her, as if to say, "Yes, we can definitely make money."
Liu Haochun didn't speak, but her doe eyes curved into two shallow arcs.
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It was too late today, so Wang Zian arranged for Liu Haochun and her mother to stay at the same hotel as Tian Xiwei and the others.
During the meal, Liu Haochun didn't mention to her mother that she was going to move to Wang Zian's house, and Wang Zian naturally didn't bring it up either.
After seeing off Aunt Tian and Aunt Liu, the streets finally fell completely quiet at night.
Even the wind carries heat waves on summer nights.
The asphalt road, baked by the sun all day, was still radiating heat into the night. The heat rose from the soles of the feet, mingling with the chirping of crickets in the roadside grass and the occasional sound of cars passing by on the road in the distance, weaving a stuffy and sticky net.
Zhou Ye walked next to Wang Zi'an, with about a fist's distance between them.
She was wearing that white dress today, and after walking only a few steps, a thin layer of sweat appeared on her forehead.
Without any regard for his image, Zhou Ye raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, then casually shook his hair, lifting the strands stuck to the back of his neck to reveal his neck, which was slightly shiny from the sweat.
Wang Zian's gaze lingered on her neck for a moment, then moved away.
The two walked on like that, neither of them saying a word.
The journey from the hotel to home wasn't long, but the silence made every minute feel incredibly slow.
Zhou Ye put her hands back into her skirt pockets, her canvas shoes clicking on the sidewalk tiles, her steps neither fast nor slow, but each step was steady.
She's still angry.
During dinner tonight, she served Liu Haochun food several times and also made an appointment with Tian Xiwei to rehearse their lines together tomorrow.
But after the discussion in the car about "who moved into his house," something indescribable remained between the two of them—not anger, nor a cold war, but a fainter, more subtle silence.
She knew that what he said earlier was not malicious, and she also knew that he had genuinely considered it when he asked Tian Xiwei to move in as well.
To avoid upsetting her, he chose a roundabout way to make his point clear.
She couldn't find fault with this approach; but she still didn't want to give him a friendly look so quickly.
As we passed the brightly lit supermarket at the entrance of the residential area, a cool breeze rushed out from the half-open automatic door and enveloped the two of us, as if someone had suddenly lifted the curtain of an ice cellar on a sweltering summer night.
Zhou Ye paused for a moment.
She turned her head and glanced at the bright supermarket window, where rows and rows of shelves were filled with colorful packaging bags.
Then she turned around and said in a very casual tone, "Let's go in and buy some snacks! To welcome our new neighbor tomorrow."
Wang Zian looked down at her. Her face was clearly outlined by the bright light at the supermarket entrance. Fine beads of sweat still clung to her forehead, which she had just wiped away, and the thin layer of sweat on her neck shimmered faintly under the light.
She still didn't look at him, but there was a tiny, barely suppressed smile on her lips.
Wang Zian paused for a moment, then finally revealed a slight smile.
He knew that Zhou Ye no longer had any objections to Tian Xiwei and the others moving in.
That's over.