Chapter 71

March in Switzerland still lay buried under heavy snow, a vast expanse of white. Patches of green grass sprouting nearby and snow-capped evergreen ridges in the distance painted a late-winter Swiss landscape.

The hired car waited outside the airport. Sui Shi pushed the luggage cart and waved. "Shen, this way, let's go."

Shen Qiancheng, still on the phone, waved her hand, gesturing for them to wait a moment.

From the other end of the line came the sound of a steaming pot. Liao Xue's voice traveled across thousands of miles: "Hurry back to the hotel. It's cold out on the road."

Since it wasn't a video call, they couldn't see each other's faces, and Shen Qiancheng was so delighted she felt her tail could wag up to the sky.

"Okay."

The people waiting by the car stood in the Swiss wind, utterly bewildered.

Is that the expression on Shen's face?

Sui Shi had long grown accustomed to it. Wang Shuai was briefly surprised, then understood.

The others, seeing Sui Shi and Wang Shuai putting on such knowing airs, wished they could immediately ask Shen Qiancheng what was going on.

Sui Shi, with her back to Shen Qiancheng, shook her head and waved her hands at everyone.

Don't say anything rash.

"Okay." Shen Qiancheng hung up, lifting her chin.

Sui Shi stepped forward and opened the car door. Shen Qiancheng bent down and got in.

Sui Shi sat in the front passenger seat and exchanged the hotel address with the driver in English.

After the call ended, Shen Qiancheng, still savoring the moment, sent a WeChat message.

Shen Qiancheng: [What did you eat?]

Liao Xue: [The dumplings we made last time.]

Shen Qiancheng: [I don't believe you. Send me a photo to prove it.]

Liao Xue: [Photo.]

Shen Qiancheng pouted and zoomed in on the photo full of dumplings. In the bottom left corner was a sliver of a fingernail.

Shen Qiancheng curled her lips in satisfaction, downloaded the photo, and circled the fingernail in red.

Shen Qiancheng: [Your nails are this long and you still haven't cut them?]

Liao Xue didn't reply.

The background image of their chat was a photo of Liao Xue bowing her head to feed a kitten. Her plain white dress made her skin look as fair as snow, and in the sunlight, she seemed to glow.

Shen Qiancheng stared at it for a full ten minutes, but not a single message came.

Sui Shi's voice broke through: "Shen, we've arrived at the hotel."

Shen Qiancheng let out a sullen "Mm," put away her phone, and with a stretch of her long legs, stepped out of the car.

A bellhop pushed the luggage cart into the staff elevator.

The guest elevator descended, and the doors slid open.

Shen Qiancheng stepped in, Sui Shi following closely behind.

The others stood outside the doors, exchanging bewildered glances.

Shen Qiancheng took a deep breath and said, "Are there people in the elevator that I can't see?"

Sui Shi translated, "All of you, get in."

The guest elevator arrived quickly, and the others filed out.

Shen Qiancheng waited until everyone had exited before calmly stepping out herself.

After the twenty-hour flight, Shen Qiancheng's head, which had been cleared by the fresh air, now felt heavy and feverish again due to the sealed, stagnant atmosphere.

"Any plans tonight?" Shen Qiancheng asked with feigned nonchalance.

Sui Shi responded, "No, Shen. Tomorrow is when we officially meet the client."

Shen Qiancheng rubbed her temples and said, "Then... everyone's free tonight. Expenses will be reimbursed."

The team, who had been pretending to be well-behaved, immediately cheered: "Long live Shen!"

Sui Shi joined in the laughter but noticed Shen Qiancheng's discomfort. With Liao Xue not by her side, Shen must be unhappy, right?

"Are you coming with us, Shen?" Sui Shi asked casually.

Shen Qiancheng glanced around the group. Liao Xue had said that employees actually don't like spending time with their bosses.

Shen Qiancheng shook her head in refusal. If she went with them, they wouldn't be able to let loose. She had her own plans.

The room card she'd received at check-in let out a "beep" as the door swung open.

A suitcase had been thoughtfully placed beside the sofa. Shen Qiancheng pulled out her phone only to find it had died.

The charger's plug didn't match the socket.

Shen Qiancheng clicked her tongue in annoyance. Liao Xue not replying to messages combined with the phone unable to charge made irritation burn like a flame, until it felt like Shen Qiancheng's heart would explode.

Shen Qiancheng tossed her handbag onto the sofa and rummaged through it, hoping to find some Swiss francs to go buy an adapter. Instead, she pulled out a Swiss-standard power adapter.

Shen Qiancheng froze. Had Liao Xue gone through this bag?

She dug deeper and found, besides the adapter, cold medicine and iodine swabs.

The frustration from the unanswered messages evaporated, replaced by a heart that felt like it was soaking in warm water, rippling with spring waves.

Just as she plugged in the charger, a video call popped up.

Shen Qiancheng looked at the caller ID—Liao Xue's name—and answered with a sense of triumph.

"Shen Qiancheng, are you all right?" Before the picture even loaded, Liao Xue's voice came through, anxious, crossing ten thousand miles.

Shen Qiancheng's smiling face appeared on the screen. She turned her head left and right, saying, "What could happen to me? I'm perfectly fine, right? The phone just died, that's all."

Liao Xue relaxed, but then noticed Shen Qiancheng's bright red face and grew suspicious again, asking, "Why is your face so red? Is it the climate change, or is your face allergic?"

Only then did Shen Qiancheng realize her face was flushed.

Oh no, how did Liao Xue notice?

She couldn't let Liao Xue know it was because of her.

Shen Qiancheng changed the subject, asking, "Has Su Zeye been bothering you?"

Liao Xue shook her head. "No, I'm fine."

Oh. Shen Qiancheng thought to herself, shouldn't the other ask what she was doing, whether she'd eaten, if she was tired?

Liao Xue slid her chair back and showed off her clothes: "The clothing store downstairs is having a sale. I bought a little dress. Do you like it?"

It was a coral-colored dress, with a circle of white lace around the square neckline. Liao Xue's collarbones looked elegant and beautiful.

Liao Xue hadn't asked the questions Shen Qiancheng had imagined, so Shen Qiancheng wasn't happy. She shook her head like a rattle drum and said, "Not pretty. It's not as nice as the ones I bought."

Liao Xue argued back, "It cost 399 yuan! Even with the discount, it was still this expensive."

Shen Qiancheng snorted coldly. "399? You wear clothes that cost 399, and where am I supposed to put my face?"

Liao Xue continued to explain, "Sui Shi has one too!"

"Can you be compared to her? When you wear the clothes I bought you, you look good."

Liao Xue pouted in dissatisfaction. "I feel like your doll."

Shen Qiancheng misunderstood and said, "You want a doll? A Barbie? Let me see if they have some unique dolls here. If you want one to play with, I'll bring a few back for you."

Liao Xue closed her eyes and sighed. "No need. I don't like that."

They continued their video call...

Shen Qiancheng emphasized once more, "You can't like clothes that a secretary wears, you know. It's beneath you!"

Liao Xue answered perfunctorily, "I know, I know. I'm going downstairs to feed the stray cats. Do you want to watch?"

Shen Qiancheng refused without a second thought, "No, I only want to watch you."

And with that, she hung up.

The phone had charged to 52%. The wallpaper showed a smiling Shen Qiancheng, and the Shen Qiancheng outside the screen was grinning just as wide, her mouth stretching from ear to ear.

Shen Qiancheng covered her face: Damn, why did I say that out loud?

The screen went dark, then lit up again.

[Shen Qiancheng, Yunhei had her kittens.]

[Image.JPG]

Shen Qiancheng checked her phone after a shower. In the chat, the little black kitten looked like it had put on some weight, its eyes rounder now, resembling Liao Xue's eyes so much.

Looking at the kitten on the screen, Shen Qiancheng feels an urge to take it home and raise it.

When she was a child, Shen Qiancheng found a stray dog at the back gate of her school. It had been soaked in a rainstorm and its fur was filthy. Everyone disliked it, even throwing stones at it until its head was bleeding.

Shen Qiancheng secretly took the dog home, bathed it, and even cautiously asked Shi Jianren at the dinner table if she could trade her first-place score for the chance to keep the dog.

Shi Jianren agreed, and Shen Qiancheng made an appointment with a pet hospital to treat the dog the next day after school.

But when Shen Qiancheng ran home full of joy, shouting the dog's name, no wet nose came nuzzling up to her, no furry body came bounding over.

That very evening, Shi Jianren, who had always strictly controlled Shen Qiancheng's diet, did something unusual: he had the kitchen simmer a big pot of meat soup.

What child doesn't love meat? After Shen Qiancheng had eaten her fill, Shi Jianren told her the cruelest truth in the gentlest tone.

Every piece of meat in that big basin came from the stray dog she had brought home out of kindness.

Shi Jianren said, "Getting first place is what you're supposed to do. You shouldn't use that as a bargaining chip."

That night, Shen Qiancheng vomited until there was nothing left in her stomach, and ran a high fever for three straight days.

From that moment on, Shen Qiancheng recoiled from cats, dogs, and all those beautiful, healing little creatures. Even more, she blamed the dog's death on herself.

If only she hadn't brought the dog home, if only she had hidden the dog better, if only she had taken it to the pet hospital on the first day...

If there were a second chance, she would never have traded her first-place score for the right to keep the dog.

But there was no "if only," no second chances.

From that day on, Shen Qiancheng learned a lesson:

The things you love will suffer things they should never have to suffer because of your love.

Shen Qiancheng was lost in thought when she instinctively answered another video call from Liao Xue.

In the frame, Liao Xue was holding the kitten, her face pressed against the cat's, showing it to Shen Qiancheng: "Let's keep this one, okay? It's the prettiest of the litter."

Two pairs of eyes, so strangely similar, looked at Shen Qiancheng together, both with a faint glimmer.

Shen Qiancheng's heart skipped a beat. The scene on the screen was too beautiful to be real. She wished she could freeze this moment forever.

"Forget it. After you get married, who will it belong to?"

Liao Xue set the kitten down, her fingers stroking gently across the kitten's forehead, her voice so low it seemed to sink into the dust.