That winter felt especially difficult to get through. Even when spring arrived, a harsh cold spell returned, and the bitter wind carried no hint of spring.
But none of this mattered much to Li Yan. He still wore only thin cotton pajamas, moving through the house’s constant warmth.
Apart from watering the delicate flowers in the greenhouse, he spent long hours staring blankly out the window. Whenever he saw Lu Lianning’s car pull into the driveway at night, he would quickly crawl into bed and pretend to be asleep. But he was often caught.
When that happened, Lu Lianning never spared him from his sarcastic remarks. During that period, Li Yan’s mental state was poor, so he often didn’t even register what was being said. Other than coping with boredom and enduring Lu Lianning’s sour expression, nothing else was happening.
Since Lu Lianning kept him up late, Li Yan usually slept through the entire morning, only waking around lunchtime.
Lu Lianning was rarely home during noon, so Li Yan ate lunch alone. The butler would stand nearby, reminding him to eat more and always mentioning that he had to report back to Lu Lianning.
Li Yan didn’t really believe him. Lu Lianning was too busy, with plenty of people waiting to give him far more important reports. Surely, he wouldn’t bother himself with something so trivial.
Besides, whenever Li Yan looked at the butler’s blank face, he remembered the time he had nearly escaped, only to be stopped by a tranquilizer shot the butler had fired from the second floor…
So, Li Yan would get up and leave his meals unfinished.
After this happened three times, Lu Lianning came home one night and scolded him. He pinned Li Yan against the glass window, biting his ear as he lectured him for half the night. With his hands pressed against the glass, Li Yan stared out into the pitch-black darkness, his body instinctively curling toward Lu Lianning’s chest. He began apologizing in a small voice.
Lu Lianning threatened that if it happened again, he would lock him back in that room.
That threat always worked.
Li Yan’s fear of that room was obvious to everyone. The house had two staircases leading down from the second floor, but whenever Li Yan went downstairs, he always took the long way to avoid passing by that room’s door.
Eating became something he had to force himself to focus on.
Surprisingly, after some time, he managed to gain a bit of weight.
He no longer looked like he had when he was first carried out of that room, when it seemed a gust of wind might blow him away.
Spring passed quickly, and early summer arrived, bringing warmer weather.
Li Yan’s health improved, and the flowers in the garden bloomed beautifully. Lu Lianning eventually lifted the restrictions on him going outside.
One evening, when Lu Lianning returned home, he noticed a few freshly trimmed flowers arranged in a glass vase on the nightstand in the master bedroom.
The usual lingering scent of citrus in the room was now mixed with a faint floral fragrance.
Li Yan must have tired himself out trimming all those flowers that afternoon. The soft glow of the nightlight illuminated his face—his eyes tightly closed, his breathing steady, as he slept peacefully.
Look at him—he could fall asleep surrounded by the scent of flowers.
Almost as if to snuff out whatever happiness Li Yan might have felt, Lu Lianning confiscated the flowers from the nightstand and took them to his study.
However, when he opened the door to his study, he found another vase of trimmed flowers already sitting on his desk.
This kind of Li Yan couldn’t really be described as a delicate flower that Lu Lianning kept at home.
He was more like a crooked weed that Lu Lianning had been tending to.
On the surface, his leaves seemed withered and broken, but if you looked closely, the veins were still intact.
Given even the smallest chance, he would sprout again.
After Li Yan placed those flowers, seemingly as a gesture of goodwill, the tension between him and Lu Lianning eased.
Li Yan began to appear more well-behaved, and as Lu Lianning spent more time at the Lu family house, he gradually loosened his control over Li Yan.
About a year and a half after returning with Lu Lianning, Li Yan was finally allowed to go out.
He followed Lu Lianning’s rules diligently, always returning at the agreed-upon time.
Then, in the third month, Li Yan ran away.
