SWG Chapter 72

Chapter 72

Xiao Wenyu finished the last stroke, supported her back and took a few steps back, admiring her work. Only then did she remember the phone that had only rung once earlier.

She picked up her phone to check. It was still a message from that Xie Yu, but the cold three words at the end contrasted sharply with her friend’s enthusiastic complaining earlier.

Oh dear, it seems someone’s been found out.

She twirled a corner of the phone in her hand, then looked at the masterpiece she had worked so hard on all day, and couldn’t help but chuckle. She picked up a watercolor pen and added a few more strokes after a moment of thought.

I hope the Ruan boss likes it.

At least it’s much better than her two blank sheets of paper.

She held up the paper to try it out, and suddenly remembered that she didn’t seem to have bought any glue, and the studio didn’t have any suitable glue, at least not glue that could stick to the glass across the street.

Xiao Wenyu carefully put away her painting, grabbed the heavy coat beside her and put it on, tightened her collar, and plunged into the howling cold wind.

The night sky was an eerie pinkish-purple, a sign from heaven that it was going to snow. Before the first snow, it would always warm up a bit, but this year it not only didn’t warm up, but the wind seemed even more fierce.

This meant that this year would be a cold winter. A cold winter meant that in this season when snow couldn’t stick yet, a thin layer of first snow would be followed by a thin layer of slippery, difficult-to-walk-on ice.

She didn’t have much time left to move around so freely. Could Zhuge Jing bring good news sooner? She wanted to coax her little boss a little.

A little, just a little eager.

But she didn’t really want to drag Ruan Shengyi in again during this last short period of time.

She walked along the biting cold wind to the street. Fortunately, Auntie Ming’s decoration materials store was still open. The old lady was sitting behind the counter watching TV, clapping and cheering with delight.

Xiao Wenyu breathed out a white cloud of breath and said softly, “Good evening, Auntie, I want to buy some strong glue.”

Auntie Ming came out from behind the counter, familiarly took her arm, and pulled her into the store, constantly saying how cold it was outside and telling her not to get frozen. Only when they reached the inside of the store did she ask with a smile, “Where are you sticking it?”

Xiao Wenyu: “For outdoor use, sticking it on glass.”

“Oh, are you putting up promotional posters on the glass too? Little Ruan across the street bought a lot before. Do you want some glue remover? She bought some too, probably to make it easier to scrape off later.”

Xiao Wenyu smiled, “I’ll come back to you for that later, Auntie.”

She probably wouldn’t need it. If she wanted to tear it off in the future, there was a large sheet of white paper underneath. There was no way she would be paying for the glue remover. Humph.

Auntie Ming happily agreed, reached up on her tiptoes to take down the glue, but when she handed it to Xiao Wenyu, she tightened her grip, tilted her head, and asked with a smile, “Auntie will give you a discount, but you have to tell Auntie the truth.”

Xiao Wenyu was surprised, “Ask away, Auntie.”

Auntie Ming chuckled, raised her chin, and asked, “Are you and Little Ruan dating?”

This…

Xiao Wenyu smiled shyly, then pretended to be sad and said, “We argued after only a few days of dating, and now I don’t know if we’re still together.”

Auntie Ming patted her shoulder, laughed heartily, and shook her head helplessly, “You young people!”

“But you haven’t been here long, you don’t know, Little Ruan’s personality is really strange. If she really annoys you, just fight back directly, don’t give her any face.”

Xiao Wenyu silently tightened her grip on the glue in her hand, and her heart couldn’t help but feel a little warmer, and she also had more inspiration. When she got back, she could add a few more strokes to the paper.

But she still asked worriedly, “She’s more familiar with you, so you… don’t you think I’m divorced, this…”

“Oh, who doesn’t have a past, really? We’re all women, it’s not like you did anything illegal. So what if you’re divorced? Don’t tell me she cares.”

“She doesn’t care either.”

“Doesn’t that solve it? Here, I’ll give you a small shovel, it’s especially useful for scraping frost.”

Xiao Wenyu breathed a sigh of relief and took the shovel, “Thank you, Auntie Ming.”

“It’s so nice to see you like this, I just love watching you young people fall in love.” Auntie Ming propped her chin up and said, “I don’t know if you know, Little Ruan also has a property, Auntie is secretly telling you, don’t tell the neighbors, okay?”

“But that house of hers is also a disaster, she just stubbornly wanted to buy one with an attic. We introduced her to other houses, but she didn’t want any of them, she had to have this one with the attic, it’s not worth it at all, so expensive, but she’s happy to spend the money, hee.”

Yes, it’s expensive, but Ruan Shengyi would definitely buy it.

After all, if she was always alone, only that attic would be her home. The “five” might be because she only wanted “six”, but the “five” was a promise of a good life, she had already made that promise to her mother.

Xiao Wenyu’s nose stung, and she almost cried.

She rubbed her nose, exchanged a few more casual greetings with Auntie Ming, and walked out of the grocery store with a can of glue in her arms, walking against the wind towards her own place.

So cold.

She originally wanted to wait for the wind to die down tomorrow morning before putting up her masterpiece, but now she suddenly felt that she should let Ruan Shengyi, who woke up tomorrow morning, see her masterpiece as soon as possible, instead of waiting until noon or evening.

Cold it is then, she would put it up first.

She rarely stayed up late, and waited until Tonight Intoxicated and the bakery were both closed. She tiptoed to the front of Tonight Intoxicated, gesturing how to stick the two pieces of paper.

The two posters were just two large sheets of white paper. Large sheets of white paper were so ugly, and she really didn’t want the posters to continue to hang there awkwardly, so she came to paint, to paint two paintings that would make the store look more gentle and lovely.

She watched the video that Xie Yu sent. The drink was called “Low-Reflecting Ocean,” a special cocktail with the characteristics of Tonight Intoxicated. It really fit the tone of Tonight Intoxicated. In a water-like store, the liquor made people feel as if they had fallen into the sea, floating aimlessly, unconsciously practicing the concept that Ruan Shengyi yearned for.

To make people happy.

But these two paintings of hers were to make Ruan Shengyi happy, just to make her happy alone.

Xiao Wenyu smoothed her paintings again, supported her aching back, took a few steps back, and admired her masterpieces on both sides with the increasingly pinkish-purple sky.

The pink patterns fell on the white paper, and under the pinkish-purple sky, they were actually quite bright.

She clapped her hands and smiled softly.

Ruan Shengyi, I hope you like it.

*

Early morning.

Xiao Wenyu woke up early. She woke up when the first ray of sunlight pierced through the dark clouds over the city. After all, although her belly wasn’t very prominent, the faint pain and pressure still made her sigh that the attic was probably not suitable for continuing to live in.

At this point, Ruan Shengyi definitely hadn’t woken up yet.

She reached for her phone. Sure enough, there was no message from Ruan Shengyi, but there was a message from someone else she had been waiting for for a long time.

Zhuge Jing: Good morning, please contact me when you wake up, anytime. (6:06 AM)

Xiao Wenyu sighed that she was indeed a doer. She didn’t know if she hadn’t slept or had already woken up. After waking up and refreshing herself, she took a few sips of water to restore her voice, and then called back.

Zhuge Jing seemed to have been waiting for her. The call was answered in one second. The woman’s voice was still unhurried, which was infuriating.

Zhuge Jing: “One good news, one bad news.”

Xiao Wenyu said calmly, “Good.”

“I thought you would want to have the bitter first and then the sweet.”

“I don’t have that hobby, please speak.”

“Thank you for the cooperation of you and your family. The results of my investigation are out. It has been synchronized with headquarters. You don’t need to worry about this matter suddenly appearing in your life again.”

The Xiao boss almost instantly raised her lips. The usually calm person couldn’t help but rub the tip of her nose. Her voice had a few hints of joy, but she pretended to be calm and said, “Will they leave Chucheng completely?”

“That’s the bad news.”

Xiao Wenyu’s heart sank slightly, and the person on the other end of the phone won back a round.

Zhuge Jing: “After all, the Lin family has contributed here, and they are doing a good job. Although there have been very serious corruption problems in recent years, the headquarters will still give them some face. They definitely can’t stay in Chucheng, but they won’t be directly locked up, after all, there’s no direct evidence.”

That was still good. Xiao Wenyu breathed a sigh of relief and said, “That’s still good, it’s a medium-level message, neither good nor bad.”

“Okay.” Zhuge Jing probably shrugged, and said with the lazy voice of stretching, “I wish you a prosperous business in the future, and thank you again for your cooperation and help. I will probably stay for a few more days. If there is anything, feel free to contact me at any time.”

“Since Beishi, I have owed you a huge favor.”

Xiao Wenyu replied, “Thank you.”

They really didn’t need to exchange pleasantries. After this thank you, Xiao Wenyu hung up the phone. Only then did she feel a lot more relaxed and slowly breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn’t help but feel a little happier when she held her phone.

That’s great.

The message was sent over at this time, two pictures from SY. Without opening them, she knew what they were.

Xiao Wenyu opened the small curtains and wiped the fog on the window. She could see the scene across the street.

Even from this distance, she could feel the shock of the little boss when she saw these two pictures.

Maybe there was also a little shyness.

She pondered for a moment and called back.

Ruan Shengyi’s voice, along with the biting cold wind, had her clear and cold tone shaved off by the cold, and she said with shame and anger, “Xiao Wenyu, did you put this up or did you paint it?”

Xiao Wenyu’s chin rested lightly on the pillow, watching her through a window. The little Ruan boss naturally guessed that she would watch her through a window, turned around, and looked at each other from afar.

She shouldn’t have turned around.

The Xiao boss softened her voice and said, “Ruan Ruan, don’t you like it?”

This voice was too soft, making someone standing in the cold wind feel warmth rising from the soles of her feet, burning her so that she turned around, and suddenly remembered the window behind her, stopping her steps and standing there.

Xiao Wenyu looked at her, her heart pounding.

“Heh…” Ruan Shengyi sneered, “Then how about you, are you cold?”

“I’m fine, you…”

“Then I’ll tear it down.”

Xiao Wenyu’s heart sank slightly, and she snatched the words: “Ruan boss, I… I painted it indoors, I just put it out.”

“Well, then I have even less burden to tear it down.”

“Ruan Shengyi…” She called her urgently, her breath wavering, “It wasn’t easy for me to put it up, at least don’t…”

She didn’t expect that these two paintings she sent to seek peace would have this ending. Tears blurred her vision in an instant, and therefore, she didn’t see that the person outside the window was just walking in place, not taking a step forward.

The person on the phone just sneered, “You said I was working hard, what about you? The white paper I put up yesterday was really ugly, and today it became like this. Such a large workload, how could you not have finished it in a day, aren’t you working hard too?”

Xiao Wenyu sniffed, “I… I just don’t want you to hurt yourself anymore, Ruan Shengyi, we are all working so hard, can we not work so hard anymore, can we communicate equally?”

“You hid so much from me, how can I be equal?”

These words were like a heavy hammer, hitting Xiao Wenyu’s head blank, and she said inarticulately, “You, you know everything?”

“You tell me, should I know?”

“…”

Listening to the silence in her ear, Ruan Shengyi sighed and said, “I won’t tear it down.”

“The weather forecast says it will start snowing at one o’clock in the afternoon, and it will snow until late at night. I have already contacted the snow removal workers. There is ice under the snow today, so don’t sweep it, be careful.”

“Ruan Ruan…”

“I have something to do, I probably won’t be in the store today, you…” Ruan Shengyi bit her tongue and said, “You think about it.”

…