kingnovel Chapter 1301 Yunrui Juanchen: I have a friend
Chapter 1301 Yunrui Juanchen: I have a friend
When Qi Ruixiang put the cap on the pen, he tapped his knuckles lightly on the table.
The signature area on the third page of the contract was still blank. The pen tip hung above it for a long time, but ultimately did not fall.
The office blinds were half-drawn, and the sunlight cast mottled shadows on the back of his hand, like a broken mirror.
"The British partners have confirmed that the schedule for next week's press conference is fine." Yan Wanqing pushed the door open, holding a bound document in her hand. "It's just that the artist team wants to add a media interview segment. I've asked my assistant to coordinate the time."
Qi Ruixiang said "hmm", but his eyes were still on the contract.
Yan Wanqing placed the document on the corner of the table, her gaze lingering on the dark circles under his eyes. This was the fifth consecutive day he had come to work feeling extremely tired. He had just changed his coffee cup for the third time, and the cigarette butts in the ashtray were piled like a small mountain.
"Do you need me to sign it first?" She pointed to the blank contract. "If you're tired, go lie down in the lounge for a while."
Qi Ruixiang finally raised his head, the red bloodshot in his eyes clearly visible: "No need." He picked up the pen and this time did not hesitate to write his name in the signature area.
The sound of the pen tip sliding across the paper was very light, but it carried a sense of helplessness and sluggishness.
Yan Wanqing didn't say anything more. When she turned around and prepared to leave, she heard him suddenly say, "There's a client appreciation banquet tonight. Please come with me."
The crystal chandeliers in the banquet hall reflected brilliant light, and the champagne tower glowed with fine golden light under the lights.
Qi Ruixiang walked among the guests holding a wine glass, with a perfect smile on his face, but his fingertips unconsciously stroked the wall of the glass.
Yan Wanqing followed him, blocked the liquor offered to him, and greeted the customers in fluent English.
She could sense his absent-mindedness.
When introducing a project, he would suddenly pause for half a second; when clinking glasses, his elbow would accidentally hit the edge of the table;
There was even one time when she turned around and almost knocked over the waiter's tray - if she hadn't reached out to hold it, the crystal glass would have shattered into stars on the carpet.
It was already ten o'clock in the evening when we saw off the last customer.
Qi Ruixiang, his suit jacket draped over his arm and his tie hanging loosely around his neck, exuded an undisguised sense of fatigue. "Want to get something to eat?" he asked Yan Wanqing, his voice hoarse from the alcohol.
The Chinese restaurant on the corner was still lit with warm yellow lights. When the proprietress brought two bowls of hot noodle soup, she specially added a soft-boiled egg.
Qi Ruixiang poked the egg yolk with chopsticks, watched the orange-yellow egg liquid spread in the soup, and suddenly let out a long sigh.
"I have a friend," he finally said, rubbing circles on the rim of the bowl with his fingertips, "who's been in some trouble lately."
Yan Wanqing paused while picking up the noodles, without looking up: "Hmm?"
"He has a girl to look after. It's like... his family asked him to look after her."
Qi Ruixiang drank a mouthful of soup, the heat blurred his eyes and eyebrows.
"The girl wasn't in good health and was always in a bad mood. He had wanted to accompany her during her treatment, but then..." He paused, his Adam's apple rolling, "Then they slept together."
The hot steam from the noodle soup wafted between the two of them, carrying with it the aroma of chopped green onions.
Yan Wanqing stirred the bowl with her chopsticks and didn't respond - she knew that this "friend" was Qi Ruixiang himself, and that "girl" was naturally Gu Yunxi.
Last week when she went to the apartment to deliver documents, she saw a women's sweater draped over the sofa with a long hair stuck to the cuffs. The length and color were exactly the same as Gu Yunxi's.
"At first he thought it was a spur of the moment act,"
Qi Ruixiang's voice became lower and lower, as if he was talking to himself in the soup.
"But later, the girl took the initiative to look for him again, again and again. He can't figure out now, is she doing it out of dependence on him, or..." He didn't say anything else, but picked up the white wine on the table and poured himself half a glass.
Qi Ruixiang's shoulders trembled slightly as the spicy liquid slid down his throat. These past few days, he kept wondering whether the tears on Gu Yunxi's eyelashes when she lay in his arms were due to emotions or because of the unspoken grievances.
When she bit his shoulder and said "Don't stop", did she really need him, or was she just using him as a tool to vent her anger?
"Your friend," Yan Wanqing finally spoke, transferring the vegetables from her bowl to his, "isn't he being too picky? He's sad because he doesn't want to sleep, so why would he be sad if he wants to sleep?"
Qi Ruixiang looked up at her, his eyes slightly bewildered: "What do you mean?"
"Things like this are all about mutual consent. Even though the girl took the initiative, your friend still felt uncomfortable. This shows that in your friend's subconscious mind, he wasn't the girl's first choice."
Yan Wanqing's tone was very calm.
"At least it seems to me that your friend thinks so."
Qi Ruixiang tightened his grip on the wine glass. He remembered that when Gu Yunxi was recovering, she would always frown secretly the moment he turned around.
He remembered that when she had nightmares at night, she would subconsciously snuggle into his arms, but never told him what she dreamed about; he remembered that she was in the apartment just now, and she was obviously shaking all over, but she pretended to be nothing.
"Besides," Yan Wanqing looked into his eyes and said in a more serious tone, "Have you, my friend, forgotten your original mission?"
This sentence was like a needle, suddenly piercing Qi Ruixiang's chaotic thoughts.
Yes, what's so strange about sleeping together these days? Why do you start to care about gains and losses?
"She came to England to look for a missing student." Qi Ruixiang was silent for a while before speaking again. "That student was someone she had taught before, but he disappeared. She chased him without hesitation until she became terminally ill."
Yan Wanqing didn't say anything. She felt that the missing person was different to Gu Yunxi, so Qi Ruixiang was like this now.
But he actually revealed his true feelings to me at this time, which is more important than anything else!
"Sometimes love isn't important. Sometimes, just being compatible is enough. If you have time, try to persuade your friend to behave better next time!"
As she spoke, Yan Wanqing raised the corners of her mouth and clinked glasses with him.
"But then again," he suddenly smiled, a hint of mischief in his eyes, "the way she took the initiative was indeed... different."
Yan Wanqing raised her eyebrows when she heard Qi Ruixiang's subconscious sigh. It turned out that all men in the world were the same in this kind of thing. Even their own brothers and sisters were not spared.
But then again, it's a good thing that these two people can get along well. At least it can make their relationship with the Gu family closer, just like when he married into the Zhao family!
The only difference is the emotional basis...
The London Eye outside the window was still twinkling, like a star that never extinguished. Qi Ruixiang sat on the floor, watching over the person on the sofa, and his heart gradually became at ease.
A few days ago, when Gu Yunxi spread his sketchbook on the bay window, the rain in London had just stopped. The damp wind blew in through the half-open window, causing the edges of the drawing paper to curl slightly.
Her fingers holding the pencil were suspended in mid-air, and the graphite at the tip of the pen cast a light gray dot on the paper, like a teardrop that had fallen to the ground.
On the drawing paper is Lin Xu’s back.
The boy was wearing washed-out casual clothes, carrying a half-worn drawing board on his back, standing under the sycamore tree at the entrance of the gallery, with his schoolbag strap slanted across his shoulder - this was the hazy yet clear impression she had in her dream.
The tip of the pencil paused at the boy's heel, and suddenly she pressed it down hard. The black line instantly spread on the paper, like an unhealable wound.
The phone vibrated on the bedside table, and the words "Big Brother" flashed on the screen.
Gu Yunxi stared at the two words for a full half minute. When the ringing was about to stop, he swiped the answer button and said in a low and cold voice, "What's up?"