Still Frame Chapter 47
byChapter 47 Our Secret (1)
The tennis court.
A sudden realization struck Zhang Liuxin; this word popped into his mind. Last semester, when he and Li Xingzhou were playing tennis, they ran into Wen Jin and Lü Zixia, and the latter seemed to have said something similar.
Wen Jin stood up and walked over. For those few steps, Zhang Liuxin almost thought he was going to lay hands on Lü Zixia, but their friendship was clearly much stronger.
Wen Jin spoke to Lü Zixia, not sparing anyone else an extra glance, looking very aloof: “He Qing asked if you’re free next week. He’s inviting you and your girlfriend to an exhibition.”
“Whose exhibition? His? Where?” Lü Zixia pulled out his phone, likely seeing He Qing’s message, and asked, “Are you and Brother Duan going?”
“No. He has training, and I have to go back to the Yue family.”
They chatted about Young Master He for a few moments, and Zhang Liuxin realized that this was how Wen Jin acted when he was relaxed and with friends—he didn’t seem quite so unattainable.
Miss Bai was too modest; her cooking was definitely more than “just okay.” She managed to turn the wild vegetables and mushrooms they gathered into dishes that were excellent in color, aroma, and taste, drawing people from other groups to come and look.
“Everyone, please try some.”
Miss Bai looked a little nervous. Zhang Liuxin and Zhao Wan tasted it first, and it was indeed delicious. Zhao Wan praised her: “You’re amazing. When I saw these ingredients just now, I couldn’t imagine they could be made this delicious.”
Miss Bai blushed from the praise. She scooped some food for Lü Zixia and said, “Zixia, you try some.”
Her gaze toward Lü Zixia was softer, full of affection, in a way that made it hard to refuse.
But Lü Zixia clearly wasn’t a normal person. He smiled but pushed Miss Bai’s hand away, saying softly, “You eat. I’m not hungry.”
Miss Bai’s expression looked a little crestfallen, but Lü Zixia had already pulled out his phone again and started a voice message with someone.
The meal was not harmonious. In fact, in the previous days, Zhang Liuxin and Miss Zhao could occasionally chat a bit while eating, but today, with everyone present, the atmosphere became noticeably strange. Wen Jin was like an air-conditioning unit, not touching his chopsticks, sitting there and making everyone uncomfortable. Zhang Qiannan tried to strike up a conversation with him a few times, but the latter showed little reaction.
What kind of fit have these young masters thrown now? Zhang Liuxin thought silently, exchanging a look with Zhao Wan, seeing a shared sense of misery in her eyes.
After dinner, Wen Jin said he wanted to walk in the mountains. Zhang Qiannan immediately offered to accompany him. Wen Jin didn’t say anything, allowing him to follow.
The atmosphere between Lü Zixia and Miss Bai was too strange. Zhang Liuxin couldn’t stand it. After receiving a look from Zhao Wan, he proactively invited her to take a walk with him.
“Sounds good,” Zhao Wan took out her lipstick and touched up her makeup. “Let’s go, Liuxin. I wanted to ask you something.”
They left the crowd and walked slowly along the path. The sun was setting, and the forest was peaceful and refreshing.
“Miss Zhao, what is it?” Zhang Liuxin was puzzled.
Zhao Wan: “Nothing really. I just said that on purpose. I can’t stand it anymore. I don’t know what’s wrong with Young Master Lü.”
She rubbed her arm: “Young Master Wen and Qiannan came today, and I thought it would be livelier than the past two days, but it’s so awkward. I heard my dad say they were going to get married, so why are they acting like strangers?”
*Clack—* Zhang Liuxin stepped on an unstable wooden plank, making an abrupt, jarring sound.
“But it’s like this in the circle,” Zhao Wan was talkative. She looked around, didn’t see anyone else, and whispered, “Isn’t it the same with the Wen and Yue families? Chairman Wen and Ms. Yue also had a marriage alliance. Apparently, they only met three times before getting married.”
The matter concerning the Wen and Yue families was an open secret in high society. Everyone knew, but they tacitly pretended not to. After all, it was perfectly normal.
But marrying after only meeting three times was beyond Zhang Liuxin’s comprehension. He asked in a tone Zhao Wan found naive, “Do they love each other?”
Zhao Wan thought he was joking or being sarcastic, but then she met his unusually focused, beautiful, olive-colored eyes, which seemed to be contemplating something.
Thinking about the background of the person next to her, Zhao Wan felt a little wistful: “Maybe. Actually, they are very well-matched.”
Does being well-matched mean love? Zhang Liuxin didn’t think so. However, he recalled the unverified online saying that children of loving parents are better looking. Did Wen Jin possess such good looks because of good genes or good affection?
He found the conjecture a bit ridiculous. It must be because of genes. The Wen and Yue families, going back five generations, were all peerless beauties.
In a sense, Wen Jin and Zhang Qiannan were also well-matched. The fact that Zhang Qiannan could sheathe his claws around Wen Jin was already rare enough.
“I felt like Miss Bai wasn’t very happy just now.” Passing a wild lily, Zhang Liuxin’s gaze lingered on the white petals for a moment.
Zhao Wan: “Exactly. She and Young Master Lü are so strange, so I wanted to slip away early.”
He hadn’t expected Zhao Wan, who grew up in Chidun, to be so knowledgeable about the gossip of these second-generation celebrities in Huanshi: “I feel like Young Master Lü isn’t the type to settle down. He values friends much more than lovers, but these past two days, he seems quite dependent on Miss Bai.”
Zhang Liuxin found Lü Zixia harder to understand than the poker-faced Wen Jin. He shook his head: “Maybe every couple has a different way of getting along.”
Zhao Wan chuckled, looking at Zhang Liuxin and saying, “You and your brother are really different.”
They walked to an open area, seemingly unafraid of wasting the warm, setting sunlight that enveloped them. However, due to the high altitude, there was no real warmth. Zhang Liuxin looked down. The sunset had dyed the horizon a soft orange-pink. The layered mountain ranges looked like a warm velvet blanket slowly spreading into the distance. He remembered there were villages at the foot of the mountain, but they were too far away, immersed in the twilight, making them hard to see. He could only make out some white walls, like watermarks scattered on ink-wash paper. There was no noise, only the soft rustling of the wind through the treetops. Time seemed to pause here. Zhang Liuxin rested his hands on the railing, feeling the chaotic noises in his heart disappear, settling into complete tranquility.
“We don’t have many similarities,” Zhang Liuxin said, raising a finger to point at his eyes. “This is the most different part. Our personalities are also different.”
Zhao Wan looked at his pupils, which were saturated with light, like glass: “Your eyes are prettier.”
Zhang Liuxin smiled and waved his hand: “That’s just because I’m mixed-race. Luckily, it’s the pupil color. My middle school teachers used to scold me for wearing colored contacts, which was easy to prove. If my hair color had turned reddish-brown, I would have had to spend more time proving I didn’t dye my hair.”
Zhao Wan also smiled and admitted, “Actually, I wasn’t very willing before we set off. My parents told me Wen Jin and Lü Zixia would be here and wanted me to butter them up.”
Zhang Liuxin wasn’t surprised. It seemed parents in this social stratum were all similar, but he still couldn’t understand why children who were pampered since childhood—whether Zhang Qiannan or Zhao Wan—would be relentlessly pushed out by their parents once they reached adulthood, all in exchange for something.
This might be some kind of bizarre rule, Zhang Liuxin thought helplessly. Although he didn’t belong to the group that benefited from this rule, he couldn’t escape it either.
“But those two are too strange. Lü Zixia has a girlfriend. As for Wen Jin… just looking at him makes you shiver from the cold.”
Zhang Liuxin was amused by her words: “I feel the same way. Like a refrigeration unit, right?”
“Exactly,” Zhao Wan said frankly. “Compared to them, I feel more comfortable interacting with you.”
Zhang Liuxin thought of what Zhang Jiming had said to him, wondering if Zhao Wan’s parents had said similar things to her.
Zhang Liuxin awkwardly changed the subject: “What’s the scenery like in Chidun? Does it have more mountains than Huanshi?”
“Yes, lots of mountains, but the air is better, and it’s not as dry as Huanshi. I even invited my roommate to visit last month. Have you ever been?”
“No,” Zhang Liuxin said. “I’ll visit when I have time in the future.”
Zhao Wan pulled the topic back: “Actually, I wasn’t interested in you at first. Your face isn’t my type, but now I think you’re not bad, compared to your brother, compared to people like Wen Jin and Lü Zixia.”
Zhang Liuxin turned his head, a hint of unthawed warmth in his eyes: “But Miss Zhao, your options are far more than just the few of us.”
Zhao Wan froze. A long time passed, and neither of them spoke until the orange-red line on the horizon faded and the sky deepened in color. Then, she curved her lips again, her eyes now curved like crescent moons: “I know. Thank you.”
Zhang Qiannan returned a little late that night. Zhang Liuxin recalled the sight of him and Wen Jin, their backs gradually disappearing into the woods, wondering what they did afterward.
Zhang Qiannan was sitting on the sofa, legs crossed, looking at his phone. He asked, “How long have you been back? How are things with Miss Zhao?”
It was this look that made Zhang Liuxin feel how much he resembled Zhang Jiming.
Zhang Qiannan seemed to be in a better mood than the past two days. Zhang Liuxin noticed it. He didn’t want to dwell on the reason for the good mood, nor did he want to talk much. He just wanted to minimize the time he spent alone with Zhang Qiannan, so he asked gently, “For a while now. Miss Zhao is very nice. Is there anything else? If not, I’ll go upstairs.”
Zhang Qiannan was a bit relentless today: “Then you need to step up your game. If you become the live-in son-in-law of the Zhao family, maybe you won’t have to be so timid every time you go out.”
Zhang Qiannan might really have a screw loose. He always inexplicably jabbed at him, whether to gain some kind of satisfaction or because it had become a habit.
“Miss Zhao doesn’t think much of me.”
“I saw you two chatting quite well. So, Brother, you do like women after all.”
Zhang Liuxin sighed: “Zhang Qiannan, what are you trying to say?”
Zhang Qiannan put down his phone, leaned slightly forward, and suddenly smiled: “Nothing much. I just wanted to say, if Wen Jin and I end up together, you’ll definitely bless us, right? Should I invite you to be a groomsman at the wedding? But how would I introduce you to people?”
A sickening emotion, like mucus, crawled up his chest and extended into his throat, making him feel nauseous, almost dry-heaving.
“Forget it,” Zhang Liuxin gripped his water cup. “You have so many friends. How could I possibly be a groomsman? What if I embarrass you?”