After finishing this gesture, Wen Qingying glanced out and suddenly saw Tao Ling standing at the door.
Both of their gazes met, and the anger on Wen Qingying’s face was hidden. The action wasn’t exactly fast, but it was very natural, and he didn’t show any embarrassment from being seen.
Following Wen Qingying’s gaze, the man turned around. Tao Ling was able to clearly see his appearance. Very tough, very handsome. At least, he didn’t seem like the type who would threaten or force Wen Qingying.
Just as Tao Ling was about to enter the store, the window of the luxury car parked by the street rolled down, revealing a face gorgeous enough to be a movie star.
Tao Ling unconsciously raised his eyebrows, thinking, are they filming a TV series?
The woman glanced at him, then quickly looked away. Although there wasn’t any obvious contempt, the disdainful meaning was obvious.
Insignificant commoner.
Tao Ling could almost translate her attitude into words.
“Bai1literally “White”. I don’t know if it’s his actual name or just a codename, so I’ll leave it as pinyin for now, let’s go.” The woman called out, keeping her voice low.
But the man wearing the black suit obviously knew her very well. Even if he couldn’t hear it, he could still determine the order she gave out, respectfully answering, “Yes, young lady.”
Wen Qingying expressionlessly stood in place, quickly making a string of gestures. After he lowered his arms, he ignored the people in front of him and didn’t even spare a glance in the car’s direction.
Tao Ling could tell what his attitude meant. He didn’t want to interact with the woman outside at all.
The man received Wen Qingying’s response and hesitated before bowing at him and leaving the shop. Even when he walked past Tao Ling, he maintained an attitude of not acknowledging his presence as he went straight to the driver’s seat.
The woman in the back seat was dismissive and arrogant. She glanced at Wen Qingying, her eyes were inexplicably a little bit fierce, but the meaning in her gaze wasn’t as simple as hate, almost like…
Before Tao Ling could think of what it resembled, the car window had already rolled back up, completely sealing everything in the car.
After watching this inexplicable scene, Tao Ling couldn’t help but be stunned, and suddenly remembered when Wen Qingying’s neck was scratched and injured. Maybe the woman from last time was her.
What kind of love-hate feud was this? To hold on this tightly? It truly was a bigshot’s conflict.
It just might be eighteen buckets of dog blood2slang for something so unbelievably cliche, splashing and covering an entire wall. No, splashing an entire villa.
When the car drove away, Tao Ling felt curious to the extreme. But following the principle of “it has nothing to do with me,” he didn’t ask anything even when he entered the shop.
Wen Qingying’s face was blank, but his expression didn’t seem as cold as it was just now. He took a large bouquet of already-wrapped chrysanthemums and handed it to Tao Ling.
“Sir, I already prepared it for you.” A small note was attached as well.
Tao Ling had mentioned this yesterday afternoon when he came by. And now, the flowers in front of them were the freshest and plumpest, the result of being carefully handpicked by a certain someone.
Tao Ling smiled and picked it up to go scan the QR code at the door. After paying, he turned around and saw Wen Qingying holding the same bouquet of flowers in his hands.
Just when he questioningly raised his eyebrows, Wen Qingying handed over his phone, with words that had already been typed out: “I also want to visit my mom. Can I go with you, sir?”
Tao Ling nodded, his eyes turning towards the empty flower stands outside. No flowers had been put up for display yet.
After Wen Qingying locked up the doors, the two of them crossed the street together to take the subway on the other side.
Except for what he first saw at the beginning, Wen Qingying had no more strange expressions on his face. Tao Ling didn’t know if it was his misconception, but he felt that Wen Qingying was very unhappy.
It was the pushed-to-the-brink kind of unhappiness.
It was the first time that Tao Ling took the subway with a deaf-mute person. Tao Ling observed Wen Qingying the whole way, but Wen Qingying only looked like a normal person with a lot on his mind at most. His actions were perfectly fine, only that he kept glancing around and didn’t react to any kind of noise. That was it.
But Tao Ling was still afraid that he wouldn’t be able to react in case of an emergency, so Tao Ling was careful and held on to him whenever they got on or off. Whether it was intentional or not, he took care of him. Wen Qingying also didn’t struggle. When Tao Ling had him go left, he went left. When he led him forward, he walked forward. He was especially obedient.
When they got off the bus, Tao Ling suddenly had a thought. How great would it be if Wen Qingying was his younger brother? Even if Tao Ling was an older brother for a disabled person, at least Wen Qingying would definitely cause less trouble than Tao Jun, an actual older brother.
Because he was zoned out, he held onto Wen Qingying’s wrist and forgot to let go.
Until they approached a lamp post. Wen Qingying had to fall back a few steps to avoid running into it and pulled on his hand, causing Tao Ling to abruptly react.
He let go of their hands without saying much. Wen Qingying naturally caught up to him again.
It was already past ten when they arrived at the cemetery.
Except for the day when Tao Jun was buried three years ago, this was the first time Tao Ling came to the cemetery with someone else.
They slowly climbed the stairs up the slope and arrived at the fork in the road where they had met last time. He originally thought Wen Qingying would continue climbing up, but he still followed behind Tao Ling.
Tao Ling turned his head, and immediately met his gaze. He blinked, looking as if he were asking for a suggestion.
“Let’s go,” Tao Ling smiled.
The cemetery was as clean as ever, and Tao Ling was sure that Xia Chaoyang had come here on that day of heavy rain.
It’s just that the flowers he bought had already been cleaned up, and who knew in which dark corner they had been abandoned. The once clean and pure petals may have rotted, leaving behind ruined, black remains. Starting from any location, it would disintegrate into the soil bit by bit, slowly progressing towards complete perishment.
The time that it takes to perish is even longer than that of its bloom, just like how misery3不堪 (bu4 kan1), a very contextual word. It generally means unbearably sad/painful is the only present truth.
But people don’t like facing the truth.
Tao Ling turned his head and saw Wen Qingying looking at the photo on the tombstone seriously. He laughed, and spoke without expecting a reply: “Exactly the same, right?”
Wen Qingying stood by the tombstone for a while, and then he glanced at Tao Ling, bent down, and placed the flowers in his hands in front of the tombstone.
“Tao Jun, the handsome guy that I talked to you about last time is here to give you flowers. The flowers this time are tied really well.” Tao Ling said, “So I won’t give you this bouquet, I’ll give it to the handsome guy’s mom instead. You two can be regarded as neighbors. If you meet each other down there, ask the auntie how she gave birth to such a good son.”
Wen Qingying cocked his head as he looked at Tao Ling speaking. Tao Ling still looked at the tombstone, talking to himself: “Was there someone that came to visit you recently? Called Xia Chaoyang. Who is he? He looks like he cares a lot about you, but if he really cares this much, then how could he not know you’ve died? He was probably caught up in the rain when he came that day. Are you happy about it? You narrow-sighted revenge seeker.”
The breeze swept past the crown of the Oriental arborvitae, causing rustling noises that seemed like a reply to his words.
After half an hour, Tao Ling spoke some more words to himself and began to quiet down. At the end, he poked Wen Qingying’s shoulders and pointed at the cemetery’s peak.
Wen Qingying understood his intention, bowed towards the tombstone, and led Tao Ling up.
Two rows away from Tao Jun’s tomb, separated by four trees, Tao Ling saw Wen Qingying’s mother behind a large Oriental arborvitae tree.
She was a very beautiful woman with bright features and soft eyebrows, and Wen Qingying looked a lot like her. Tao Ling looked at the records on the monument and found that when she died, she was actually not old, only 45.
The tomb was erected here three years ago, only one month earlier than Tao Jun.
Who knew who had been here before them. A large bunch of flowers were placed in the middle of the tomb. Lively lilies and white roses. There were still some dewdrops on the petals. It probably wasn’t placed here this morning.
Just when Tao Ling focused on looking at the tombstone, Wen Qingying suddenly stepped forward. He picked up the flowers with one hand, then threw them on the ground as soon as he turned around.
His actions carried a rough implication.
