Still Frame Chapter 84

Chapter 84 The Unspoken Intention

This surprised Zhang Liuxin, shocking him even more than hearing Levi say that Wen Jin had visited his room earlier.

“He’s still in the room. Why don’t you go ask him? I also asked the kitchen to prepare some food. You can eat and talk.”

“He won’t be used to it,” Zhang Liuxin answered subconsciously before he could fully process the situation.

Then he met Duan Chengzhi’s meaningful gaze.

“Then I’ll find a chef who can cook Yinzhou cuisine.”

Zhang Liuxin returned to the room he shared with Wen Jin. He swiped the key card, only to find the lights were off. The excessive quietness made him instinctively cautious. He called out softly, “Wen Jin?”

The lights flickered back on. Zhang Liuxin saw Wen Jin sitting on the sofa, like a lifeless sculpture, just sitting there quietly, motionless, staring at the remaining half-cup of ginger tea on the table. Zhang Liuxin immediately noticed he was wearing his own jacket.

“Liuxin.” Wen Jin slowly lifted his head, his eyelashes fluttering. The light in his eyes gradually gathered, finally focusing on Zhang Liuxin’s face.

“Wen Jin, when did you start liking me?” Zhang Liuxin stood in front of him. Wen Jin had to look up at him. Faced with the sudden question, he froze completely.

A few seconds later, Zhang Liuxin turned to leave, but Wen Jin, having recovered, grabbed his wrist and held him back, saying, “A long time ago. I can’t remember.”

This was not a good answer. Zhang Liuxin was dissatisfied. “Your memory is so good. How can you not remember?”

Wen Jin pulled his hand, urging him to sit down beside him. “I don’t know when it started, but I remember the first time I wanted to marry you was on the first day of the Botany Club activity.”

Zhang Liuxin was perplexed, as if choked. It took him a long time to ask with difficulty, “Wasn’t that only the second time we met?”

He found it hard to imagine that Wen Jin, whose face was darker than the clouds in the sky that day, was actually thinking about marrying him.

“But later, your family spread rumors that you were going to marry Zhang Qiannan…” Zhang Liuxin’s voice trailed off here. In fact, he had only heard that Wen Jin was going to marry Zhang Qiannan. Coupled with the rainy day in Wolin, when he asked Wen Jin if he would marry and the answer was “Of course,” he naturally assumed the other party would definitely marry Zhang Qiannan.

“It was to avoid some trouble.”

Wen Jin explained his thoughts to him, as well as his visit to the hospital on the day of the car accident. A look of urgency, an emotion rarely seen, surfaced in his usually cold and indifferent eyes. Zhang Liuxin listened, growing more and more incredulous, until the end, when he looked at Wen Jin, feeling as if he had never truly known the husband he had been married to for seven years.

“So, the car accident just moved our marriage up. Wen Jin, if the car accident hadn’t happened, what were you planning to do?”

“Wait until your job was stable, then discuss the marriage. At that time, I would take over some affairs of the group. That was the agreement I reached with my dad.”

“You never told me,” Zhang Liuxin curled his fingers. “Wen Jin, you never asked for my consent.”

Wen Jin admitted his mistake readily, lowering his head. “But I knew you liked me.”

The heart that had softened slightly just now hardened again because of that half-sentence.

“But marriage shouldn’t just be about two people liking each other and skipping everything else to get married.”

Wen Jin tilted his head slightly, his pale, handsome face showing confusion, as if asking, “Then what?”

Zhang Liuxin felt a headache coming on. “Wen Jin, marriage shouldn’t be just like this. Two people should date first, adjust to each other, get close to each other’s families. Only then can they reach the point of discussing marriage. It’s not as simple as this. Do you think it’s child’s play?”

Wen Jin shook his head and held his hand again. Zhang Liuxin noticed the other person’s hand was even colder than his own.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I thought two people who loved each other could get married. I thought we would do better than my parents.”

The thought that Wen Jin’s only reference for marriage was his parents made Zhang Liuxin speechless. As an outsider, he didn’t know if there was love between Wen Huaichuan and Yue Yun, but he couldn’t ask Wen Jin. Asking a child if their parents loved each other was too cruel, and he couldn’t bring himself to ask such a question while looking at Wen Jin’s face.

Between him and Wen Jin, seven years of marriage, a longer period of entanglement, mutual liking, longing, and love, mixed with this accident, had become a tangled mess.

He had thought that the affectionate Wen Jin of the past few days was already a huge change. He hadn’t expected today’s encounter to be the truly earth-shattering one.

“Are you still angry?”

Wen Jin was no longer the senior he always had to look up to, nor the husband who always seemed distant. Now, Wen Jin had become an ordinary suitor apologizing to him.

“Yes,” Zhang Liuxin didn’t deny it, but besides annoyance, he clearly perceived many other emotions within himself.

“What can I do so you won’t be angry?”

Zhang Liuxin had let the other person hold his hand, but when the cold became unbearable, he didn’t answer. Instead, he took off his jacket and threw it to him. “Wear your own clothes.”

Wen Jin slowly changed his clothes. After a while, he said, “Camellia stepped on the puzzle you spent a month putting together, and you weren’t angry at it.”

Zhang Liuxin: ?

“Wen Jin, what are you comparing me to a cat for? Are they the same?” Zhang Liuxin suspected the cold had made him stupid.

“Liuxin, I brought that cat home,” Wen Jin didn’t disparage Camellia, but utilized it. “Because Zhong Sixun told me on our wedding day that you seemed to like it very much, and its eyes are the same color as yours.”

Zhang Liuxin, of course, knew Wen Jin had brought Camellia home. Now the reason seemed obvious.

“So? Thank you. Do you need me to pay you rent for it?”

Zhang Liuxin had never spoken to Wen Jin in such a tone. The latter’s eyes showed more helplessness, as if he had encountered a very tricky problem, his mind blank and frozen in place. If outsiders saw him like this, they would probably worry that the Wen family had no successor.

“No need,” Wen Jin might really have been made stupid by the cold. “Didn’t you treat it like a daughter? I heard you call it ‘baby,’ so it counts as being in its own home.”

“Wen Jin, do you have a fever? Is your language system confused?”

Zhang Liuxin reached out to touch his forehead, but he was caught. Wen Jin pressed a light kiss into his palm, leaving behind a pair of black butterfly-like eyes. His long eyelashes fluttered a few times, and the warm breath he exhaled while speaking hit Zhang Liuxin’s palm—“I’m sorry, Liuxin. Can you forgive me?”

Wen Jin was too smart. Zhang Liuxin even thought he was a bit cunning, surely knowing that his most effective weapon was that face.

The two remained in that posture for a while. In the end, Zhang Liuxin gave in. His brain was exhausted. He finally pulled his jacket around himself and slumped onto the sofa, asking, “So, what are we going to do after we return to Yinzhou?”

Wen Jin lowered his gaze to his face, his fingertip tracing the few small brown moles around Zhang Liuxin’s eyes, which Zhang Liuxin impatiently brushed away.

“Originally, a press conference was scheduled, and a draft was prepared to explain the hijacking situation to the public, but it probably won’t be necessary. I’ll leave these matters for my dad to wrap up. It was his idea anyway. Actually, Mom didn’t approve. Duan Chengzhi told me they had a huge fight after returning to Yinzhou.”

“Of course, no mother would want her child to take such a big risk.”

Zhang Liuxin truly admired Wen Huaichuan. Even a tiger wouldn’t eat its cubs. It seemed Chairman Wen was no ordinary tiger.

Speaking of mothers, Zhang Liuxin suddenly thought of his own mother. Things were already so bad today, why not make them even more complicated?

He suddenly sat up straight, looking at Wen Jin and asking, “Do you know where my mother is?”

Before Wen Jin could speak, he added, “You can’t hide anything from me anymore.”

Wen Jin looked at him. Zhang Liuxin instinctively swallowed when faced with that gaze. Then, he heard Wen Jin say, “Madam Chen passed away ten years ago.”

When he left his mother, he took nothing but the clothes on his back. But that garment was handmade by his mother. Children grow fast, and that outfit quickly became old clothes he couldn’t wear, but he still cherished it, as it was the only connection between him and his mother besides blood. However, that old garment was later discovered by Zhang Qiannan, who was always happy to destroy everything he treasured. So, he cut the clothes into pieces and threw them away. When Zhang Liuxin returned from school and saw those tattered scraps of cloth in the trash can, he felt an empty ache in his heart, like a damp, cold mist blocking his windpipe, making him cold all over and afraid to move. It wasn’t until that icy mist slid into his internal organs that he belatedly felt the pain, trembling all over, involuntarily clutching the corner of his clothes, gripping so hard that his knuckles turned white. His current feeling was exactly the same.

“Liuxin.”

Wen Jin pulled him into his arms. Zhang Liuxin felt like he couldn’t shed any more tears, yet he still clearly felt warm liquid sliding down his eyelids, finally soaking Wen Jin’s shoulder.

“Cry.” Wen Jin kissed his ear tip, temple, and cheek, one hand gently stroking his thin back.

“When did you know?”

Zhang Liuxin finally gave up resisting, resting his chin on Wen Jin’s shoulder. It hurt him a little, but he didn’t want to move an inch. Wen Jin’s scent lingered around his nose. He couldn’t hide it from himself; this scent was the most reassuring thing for him.

“Before the wedding. I’m sorry, I hid it from you again,” Wen Jin pulled him closer into his embrace. “Can you forgive me?”

Zhang Liuxin wasn’t surprised. Ten years ago, he was only college-aged. He had tried to search, but Bernlin State was so vast, and he couldn’t find her anywhere. Now that he thought about it, if his mother had already passed away, it was no wonder he couldn’t find her.

He truly couldn’t bring himself to blame Wen Jin. He hadn’t lived a happy life these past seven years, repeating the same uninspired work, repeating a marriage even more routine than his job. Only the thought that his mother would be more comforted if he lived well gave him motivation.

But if he had known from the start that his mother had passed away, whether he could have survived the car accident would be another matter entirely.

“Where did she pass away? Was it in our home?” Zhang Liuxin asked. “I can’t remember. I can’t remember where Mom and I lived. Zhang Jiming never told me.”

Wen Jin wiped the tears from his face and said softly, “In Doguin Town, about a three-hour drive from this town. Do you want to go see?”

Zhang Liuxin helplessly buried himself in Wen Jin’s arms again, letting Wen Jin envelop him. Only this way did he not feel like he was falling. The two embraced quietly like this. Outside, the wind and rain raged. They were like the last lovers on a sinking giant ship, clinging tightly to each other.

“Forget it.”

After an unknown amount of time, Zhang Liuxin’s muffled voice came. “She’s been gone for so many years.”

The wind and rain outside didn’t stop until evening. The two of them didn’t leave the room again. For the rest of the time, Zhang Liuxin mostly sat silently by the window, only eating a little when Wen Jin was by his side watching.

During this time, Duan Chengzhi asked Wen Jin about the situation. Wen Jin didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t reply. Levi also knocked on the door, bringing Zhang Liuxin’s charged exoskeleton. Wen Jin took it, said thank you, and expressionlessly closed the door in the face of Levi’s hesitant, conflicted gaze.

“Liuxin, I had someone buy lemons and send them up,” Wen Jin walked over to him and touched his face. “Only half.”

Zhang Liuxin nodded, staring unblinkingly out the window. It wasn’t until he smelled the sour scent of lemon that he snapped out of it, his gaze falling on the fruit knife in Wen Jin’s hand.

“Duan Chengzhi said there’s a cat downstairs that looks a lot like our daughter.”

Zhang Liuxin finally lifted his eyes and twitched his lips. “What daughter? Wen Jin, are you still not sober?”

Seeing him finally smile, Wen Jin sighed in relief, sliced the lemon, and placed it in front of him. “I meant like Camellia. Do you want to go out and see? The rain has stopped outside.”

Zhang Liuxin realized that the rain had indeed stopped outside. He stood up. “Let’s go.”

Wen Jin was a little surprised that he agreed. After a second’s pause, he nodded, found a thicker jacket to put on him, and grabbed a long-handled umbrella from the doorway.

But they didn’t walk far, just to the courtyard in front of the guesthouse. Zhang Liuxin spotted the white cat immediately and walked over with some delight. The kitten must have belonged to the guesthouse; it was very friendly. The fur on its back was a bit damp. Zhang Liuxin reached out to Wen Jin. “Do you have a tissue?”

Wen Jin curved his eyes. “Wait.”

Wen Jin returned to the guesthouse, and Zhang Liuxin reached out to tease the cat. This cat looked to be only about a year old, not as big as Camellia, and its eyes were golden.

“Do you have a name?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt a bit self-mocking. From the day he got married until now, he was already thirty, yet he still talked to small animals.

The kitten, of course, didn’t understand him, perhaps because Zhang Liuxin subconsciously spoke in Yinzhou dialect. In any case, it lay on the ground, exposing its belly, which made Zhang Liuxin smile, his eyes curving. He couldn’t resist reaching out a forefinger and gently poking the soft, white belly.

Footsteps sounded behind him. Wen Jin squatted down beside him, handing him a small bag of cat food and covering the kitten with an old towel he held in his hand.

His appearance made the cat feel a little scared, especially the towel descending from the sky. The kitten immediately darted up and cautiously huddled close to Zhang Liuxin.

“Be gentle,” Zhang Liuxin frowned, using the towel to gently wipe the damp fur on the kitten’s back.

Wen Jin watched his fair profile, which, in the dim light, revealed a moist beauty.

After drying the cat and feeding it some cat food, the little darling finally stopped being so afraid of Wen Jin. It tentatively approached Wen Jin’s hand. Wen Jin instinctively flinched—he found it genuinely difficult to accept furry animals—but quickly stopped his hand mid-air and very stiffly tapped the kitten’s head.

Zhang Liuxin took his hand, and the two stood up. He used the back of the towel to wipe Wen Jin’s hand, stopping only after confirming there was no cat hair stuck to it. The hand he tried to withdraw was then taken over by Wen Jin, who clasped it tightly and put it into his own coat pocket. The distance between the two of them consequently became closer.

“Oh, right. When we get back, let’s help renovate Sister Hui’s shop again.”

Zhang Liuxin didn’t look at the person beside him as he spoke. He stared at a begonia flower in front of them, broken by the wind and rain, thinking wildly that if the typhoon were to destroy the earth, could it at least leave the flowers, grass, and small animals behind?

“When we return to Yinzhou, after things are settled, I’ll arrange for them to come over and visit for a while, maybe go to the island. During that time, I’ll arrange for people to come to the town to help with the repairs.”

Wen Jin’s arrangements were reasonable and thorough. Zhang Liuxin had nothing to add. After all, he couldn’t be of much help.

“Liuxin, I plan to do one more thing after we go back.”

“Hmm?”

“I will dissolve the prenuptial agreement.”

Question: How many times did this man apologize in total?

P.S. It’s been so cold lately. Everyone, please take care of yourselves.