Fog Returns to the Capital

Chapter 102 Who told you?
……

Later, Li Wu said she wanted to eat wontons, so Zhou Jinghuai took her to that time-honored restaurant in Dongjie Hutong. It was lunchtime, but Zhou Jinghuai booked the entire restaurant.

Normally, Li Wu would definitely have said something to him, saying it was such a waste.

—But not that day.

Li Wu quietly finished eating the whole bowl of wontons.

Zhou Jinghuai originally thought Li Wu would cry, but she didn't; there wasn't even a hint of moisture in her eyes.

However, her eyes were bloodshot, making it look like she hadn't rested for several days.

Zhou Jinghuai realized he had been too busy these past few days and had barely contacted her.

When going back.

Zhou Jinghuai held Li Wu in his arms and said he would take her out to play when she had her winter vacation.

Li Wu had her eyes closed at the time, so she must have been asleep.

No response.

Having spent the entire night in the hospital without rest, and then spending the whole afternoon thereafter, Li Wu was in a state of high tension and anxiety.

After returning to Yuqing Garden.

Li Wu slept for a full day and night. It wasn't until the afternoon of the next day that Li Wu woke up feeling much more awake.

period.

Zhou Jinghuai was worried because Li Wu was sleeping for too long, so he even asked his private doctor to come and check on her.

The final result was probably because I hadn't rested well recently, so I was just catching up on sleep.

Zhou Jinghuai was finally relieved.

During those days, Zhou Jinghuai spent as much time as possible with Li Wu, even holding meetings online via video conference. He would only go to the company in person for urgent matters that required his personal attention.

It was a rare occasion for Zhou Jinghuai to spend so much time with Li Wu.

In the morning, Zhou Jinghuai would hold Li Wu in his arms and feed her her favorite milk, taro, and bird's nest soup, or a soft and sweet red bean porridge.

He would also take her to feed the crocodile in the afternoon, and even have the rare and precious white peacock display its tail feathers for her time and time again.

That gentleness, always putting Li Wu's happiness first, made him seem like the most perfect lover.

It was hard for Li Wu to believe that he was about to get engaged to someone else.

But that's the truth.

……

That afternoon, a gentle breeze was blowing.

In the backyard, beneath a century-old magnolia tree, the ethereal and pure sound of a zither drifted out.

Like a misty, rain-drenched alley in Jiangnan, a beautiful woman rolls up the beaded curtain. Willows sway by the clear water near the small bridge, a young man on a white horse straddles the saddle. The sound of hooves lingers, stirring the heart. Suddenly awakened, the vows of eternal love still echo in the ears.

A dream of misty rain in Jiangnan, all the fleeting glory of Chang'an is but emptiness.

Zhou Jinghuai stood under the eaves, unconsciously pausing to listen. His gaze fell on the graceful figure in the courtyard, and he seemed to be lost in thought.

In the music, she is like a magnolia flower in spring rain, delicate and fragile.

The music ended, its lingering notes still echoing.

After a while.

Zhou Jinghuai walked over and embraced Li Wu, asking gently, "Why did you suddenly decide to play the piano?"

"I said before that I would play it for you once I had fully mastered it."

She must have never forgotten, so without any hesitation, Li Wu replied softly, "Don't you remember?"

Zhou Jinghuai.

[Once I've fully mastered it, I'll play it for you if you'd like to hear it again.]

How could I not remember?

That was when they first met; she had only been learning the guzheng for a month. Yet, she boldly told him that she would play for him sometime.

He remembered every word she said, including the expression on her face when she said it.

otherwise.

He wouldn't let anyone else win back this "Green Jade Guqin," a piece passed down for thousands of years. "I remember."

Zhou Jinghuai responded softly, raised his hand to gently tuck Li Wu's wind-blown hair behind her ear, and said in a low, gentle voice, "I remember every word you said."

A slight ripple appeared in Li Wu's eyes.

“But isn’t this piece a little sad?” Zhou Jinghuai asked.

"Yeah."

Li Wu looked at a fallen leaf that had drifted to the ground in the wind and responded very softly.

After saying that, she stopped talking.

Zhou Jinghuai simply held Li Wu close, quietly keeping her company.

I don't know how much time passed; it felt like an eternity of silence.

Li Wu turned around and asked him with a smile, "When is the wedding date?"

Eyebrows crooked.

Just like in the beginning.

Zhou Jinghuai looked at her quietly, watching her smile.

After a long pause, Zhou Jinghuai finally spoke calmly, "Who told you that?"

"Did Xu Xiling tell you this, or was it the day you were taken to Fengshan?"

Li Wu looked into Zhou Jinghuai's eyes, which remained as deep and still as an ink-black sea.

Unable to discern any emotion whatsoever.

Li Wu's expression froze for a moment. A few seconds later, she seemed to want to smile indifferently, but she couldn't.

"What's the difference?"

Li Wu tried her best to keep her voice steady, but her hands clenched tightly in that instant, her neatly trimmed nails digging deep into her palms.

The sudden pain from her palm was the only thing that kept her sane.

"Who told me that? Does it make a difference?"

Li Wu spoke again.

It was originally just her guess, but it was confirmed at this moment.

From Xu Xiling's question, "What will happen to her?" to his later avoidance of the topic when she asked him about it.

Even the day she was taken to see Yang Shuhua, Yang Shuhua didn't actually say anything to her.

However, on that day, Yang Shuhua invited many daughters of high-ranking families to the banquet hall of Fengshan Villa.

They chatted and laughed throughout the meal.

At first, Li Wu didn't know them. But as people introduced them to her one by one, none of them were ordinary people.

Perhaps because she received a good education from a young age, those people looked at her without any contempt or disdain.

But when faced with their friendly greetings, Li Wu stood there, completely at a loss.

Their confidence and composure seem to be innate.

A powerful family background, top-notch elite education, and the elite social circles she grew up in.

Even if you reduce the social class by ten or even a hundred levels below them, it's still a level that Li Wu could never reach from a young age.

At that time.

Li Wu was treated as an honored guest, but he was the most disheveled person there.

Every minute and every second spent in that banquet hall was ten times, a hundred times, more agonizing than when Li Wu was at his lowest point.

All afternoon.

Li Wu eventually became so stiff that she couldn't move an inch.

The banquet later ended.

In the living room, when Yang Shuhua asked the maid to serve Li Wu a cup of hot tea, Li Wu almost dropped it.

Yang Shuhua was a strong woman when she was young, and she has not yet fully retired.

She was simply sitting there, yet the powerful aura and oppressive presence she exuded were enough to make Li Wu feel suffocated.