The Sealed Window

"Time to get up."

No response.

"Time to get up, Lin Sangyu." Jiang Wenzhe called again.

This time, there was a slight reaction. Lin Sangyu murmured something sleepily, wrapped her arms around Jiang Wenzhe's neck, and nuzzled against his chest without even opening her eyes. "Ten more minutes. Just give me ten more minutes."

"It's almost ten." Jiang Wenzhe pinched her cheek in reply.

"Ten?" Lin Sangyu opened her eyes and saw Jiang Wenzhe's face right in front of her, his gaze heavy as he watched her. "How is it already this late? I still feel like I haven't slept enough."

"Whose fault is it that you stayed up late last night?"

Jiang Wenzhe turned over and got out of bed, getting up first.

"Don't let me come back and find you still in bed after you've washed up."

"Got it." Lin Sangyu, heavy with morning crankiness, pulled the blanket over her face, unwilling to face reality.

Just ten more minutes, Lin Sangyu swore to herself.

Then, half an hour passed. Jiang Wenzhe came back with a cold face and saw the lump wrapped up like a dumpling on the bed.

Without a second thought, he flipped the covers off Lin Sangyu and scooped her out.

Lin Sangyu opened her eyes again and found herself airborne. She quickly tightened her grip, wrapping her legs securely around Jiang Wenzhe's waist.

"Jiang Wenzhe, I'm really so sleepy. Did you slip me some sleepytime drug?" Lin Sangyu said lazily by his ear.

"You caught me. So now you need to hurry up and wash up and eat breakfast; once you eat, the poison will be gone."

Jiang Wenzhe carried her into the bathroom and gave a warning pinch to the soft flesh on her waist.

Startled by the sudden pinch, Lin Sangyu kicked her legs and nimbly slid down from Jiang Wenzhe, making a face at him.

The toothpaste was already squeezed onto the brush. Lin Sangyu picked it up and started brushing right away. With foam all over her mouth, she mumbled to the 'warden Zhe' leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed: "Aren't we supposed to head out later to get ready?"

Jiang Wenzhe had mentioned it a few days ago—for the banquet, he'd arranged for someone to come do her makeup and styling.

"They'll be here soon. Two o'clock." Jiang Wenzhe replied.

"Huh?" Lin Sangyu gulped a big mouthful of water, rinsed out the foam, and asked in confusion, "Don't you not like having people over at the house?"

Jiang Wenzhe asked her, "Then will you be able to get up in time? At the rate you're dawdling, it'll be eleven by the time you get downstairs."

"I'm up now, aren't I? I swear I won't stay up late again." Lin Sangyu plastered on an apologetic smile and started pushing Jiang Wenzhe along. "Come on, come on, let's go eat breakfast. It's good for you, birthday boy. Don't be mad."

Jiang Wenzhe said flatly, "I already ate."

Lin Sangyu looked up and demanded, "When? How come I didn't know?"

Jiang Wenzhe scoffed at her. "While you were still talking in your sleep."

Impossible. Lin Sangyu said, "You're definitely lying to me. I don't talk in my sleep."

"Not completely stupid, then."

Jiang Wenzhe turned and went into the kitchen, took the preserved egg and lean pork congee and fried eggs out of the food warmer, and set them in front of Lin Sangyu. "The schedule is: you start getting ready at two and finish around four-thirty. We'll arrive at the venue around five-ten and be back by ten-thirty."

"Okay, got it." Lin Sangyu agreed.

"Mm, and one more thing I forgot to mention." The light in Jiang Wenzhe's pitch-black pupils dimmed as he said, "My birthday banquet—my parents are coming too."

"!!!"

In an instant, the food in front of her didn't look appetizing anymore. Lin Sangyu was on high alert, as if she'd just received some devastating news. Her nose and brow furrowed together, her face scrunching up into a ball.

"What do I do? Are your parents easy to get along with? How am I supposed to face them?"

"Jiang Wenzhe, I'll run a bath for you tonight, so they don't say I mistreat you."

The moment she panicked, Lin Sangyu started talking nonsense.

Seeing this, Jiang Wenzhe speared a piece of apple and shoved it into Lin Sangyu's mouth without ceremony. "I'm still here, aren't I? No need to panic."

Lin Sangyu chewed, chewed, chewed, swallowed, then opened her mouth. "But..." I'm really worried.

Before she could finish the second half of the sentence, another big piece of apple was shoved in.

Lin Sangyu kept chewing, chewing, chewing.

When she finished, Jiang Wenzhe fed her another piece, as if he was determined not to let her get a word in.

Finally, Lin Sangyu got annoyed. After finishing the last piece in her mouth, she scrambled up and quickly distanced herself a yard away from Jiang Wenzhe, rubbing her belly as she complained, "I'm about to burst from eating! Stop feeding me!"

"Still nervous?" Jiang Wenzhe asked, eating the last piece of apple in his own hand.

The stone in her heart was still pressing down. Lin Sangyu said, "I'm not nervous right now, but when I actually see your parents later, I'm still going to be nervous."

Like father, like son.

Parents who could raise someone like Jiang Wenzhe—just thinking about it made her heart tremble.

Jiang Wenzhe walked toward Lin Sangyu, a large, heavy, dark shadow slowly falling over her. He bent down, his broad arms gathered in, and hugged her. His uniquely cool body heat flowed slowly through the touching fabric, warmth passing between them.

"You won't be. I'm here. They'll like you."

Lin Sangyu still asked, lacking any sense of security, "They won't kick me out of your house?"

Jiang Wenzhe asked, "Are you talking about this house?"

"Mm." Lin Sangyu answered.

Jiang Wenzhe raised an eyebrow. "It's already been transferred to your name. If anyone's getting kicked out, it'd be you kicking me out."

"Huh?"

Lin Sangyu was stunned, then pushed Jiang Wenzhe back a little, about to check his expression.

Jiang Wenzhe, as usual, looked calm and composed, his brows and eyes quiet and restrained, not a single crack showing. He simply looked back at her in silence.

"Don't believe me? I'll show you the property deed another day." Then he switched to a lighter expression and said to Lin Sangyu.

Lin Sangyu asked, dazed, "Why would you transfer the house to my name?"

Jiang Wenzhe buried his head in cleaning up the mess from Lin Sangyu's breakfast and said offhandedly, "It's not like I'm short on money."

*

At exactly two o'clock, the stylist, makeup artist, and hair stylist arrived at the villa entrance, led by the shuttle coordinator.

They greeted respectfully, "Hello, Mr. Jiang."

Jiang Wenzhe gave them a faint nod of acknowledgment and led them to the dressing room, where Lin Sangyu was already inside, scrolling through videos on her phone while waiting.

"I have some things to take care of. I'll come back in a bit—just proceed according to plan."

After giving his instructions, Jiang Wenzhe turned and left.

"Okay, bye." Lin Sangyu waved at him.

Jiang Wenzhe closed the door, his steps heavy as he climbed to the attic on the top floor. This was the place where Lin Sangyu used to live when she was still pretending to be a sugar glider.

Even though she didn't live there anymore, Jiang Wenzhe still came up to clean from time to time. Everything seemed just as it had been, unchanged.

Looking slightly out of place, he sat cross-legged on a pink cushion, and in an instant, all the muscles in his body relaxed. Shoulders drooping, looking a little dejected and lonely, he dialed Tang Lin's number.

The other side picked up quickly, the voice as flippant as ever: "Hey, you're about to win the beauty fair and square, and you still find time to call me? Tsk tsk tsk—you're not secretly in love with me all along, are you?"

Jiang Wenzhe ignored his shallow teasing. When his voice came out, it was already hoarse beyond recognition, his throat tight. "I need to ask you a favor."

Sensing something off in his tone, Tang Lin shifted his grip on the phone and got serious, asking urgently, "What's wrong? What happened?"

The attic had no air conditioning. The heavy, scorching heat had nowhere to escape, thick and stuffy, sealed in the cramped space. Jiang Wenzhe felt as if he were trapped in a giant steamer, the heat baking his heart into a trembling mess. He said, "About the engagement banquet—help me keep it from Lin Sangyu."

Tang Lin frowned. "What do you mean, keep it from Lin Sangyu? What are you talking about?"

Jiang Wenzhe irritably reached up and undid the first button of his shirt. "It means she thinks she's going to my birthday banquet, not our engagement banquet."

"Am I still hearing Chinese?"

Over the phone, Jiang Wenzhe heard the sound of a stool crashing to the floor.

"Wait, you're pulling that whole abduction-and-forced-love routine?"

Jiang Wenzhe remained silent.

Tang Lin kept rattling on: "Why not just trick her into the marriage registration too?"

After two more seconds of silence, Jiang Wenzhe said plainly, "That's the plan."

Unable to stand this lunatic, Tang Lin cursed, "Jiang Wenzhe, are you sick?"

"Thanks for your concern. I'm perfectly normal."

Tang Lin's anger was palpable even through the screen: "Jiang Wenzhe, you really should go see a psychiatrist."

Why did everyone tell him to see a psychiatrist?

His phone tossed carelessly on the floor, Jiang Wenzhe rubbed his face in frustration, then pressed his palms over it, greedily sucking in air in the suffocating moment.

He wasn't sick.

They just didn't understand.

Jiang Wenzhe had no heart to keep bantering with Tang Lin. He asked directly, "Just tell me straight—are you helping or not?"

The other side shot back quickly, full of anger, "No. You're committing matrimonial fraud, damn it."

Jiang Wenzhe let out a very light laugh. "Was what you did back then so clean? Don't forget how you chased Huang Jue in the first place."

Tang Lin lowered his voice, grinding his teeth. "Are you threatening me, Jiang Wenzhe? Wasn't that move your idea?"

"But you did it," Jiang Wenzhe said. "People like us just focus on the result, don't we? Don't try to act all high and mighty."

Pretending to be some saintly gentleman.

After a few rapid breaths, Tang Lin relented. "Fine. Then what do you want me to do?"

...

After hanging up, Jiang Wenzhe stood up. His legs had gone numb from sitting cross-legged.

He walked step by step to the window and, with a creak, pushed open the long-sealed window.

The sun blazed in the sky, and even the wind was scorching.

Jiang Wenzhe slowly rubbed and turned the men's ring on his ring finger.

Father, you never taught me much when I was growing up.

But there's one thing you said that I think was absolutely right.

"Whatever you want, you have to fight for it with everything you've got, whatever the cost."

In business, that's how it is.

In love, that's how it is too.

The shadows of the expensive trees in the garden slowly shortened, then were stretched and pulled long again as the sun's light gradually lost its edge.

Jiang Wenzhe rose slowly, his muscles tensing back up, and closed the window exactly as it had been.

Air-tight.

As he left, he glanced back at the sealed window.

He thought, might as well just keep that window closed forever.