Dawn and Dusk
It was like a chicken talking to a duck!
There was no making sense of a black-hearted sesame ball like Rong Qingtiao, who put seven hundred turns into a single sentence and hid eight hundred schemes behind it.
Rong Ci thoughtfully opened her “memo”—her chat page with Xie Xunzhao.
And began jotting down the key points:
Big Brother (？)
The project (？)
Playing the qin (？)
The Xie family motto (？)
helios: [.]
[I have plans tonight. I won’t be home for dinner.]
Rong Ci thought for a moment before tapping out a reply: [Who are you meeting, insiders or outsiders?]
Xie Xunzhao: [A business dinner. They’re all outsiders. There’s one person who barely counts as an “insider.”]
Rong Ci immediately guessed it was her own biological brother. Squatting by the roadside, she tugged at a little pink wildflower that had grown out from the greenery.
[Between me and Rong Zhaozhao, who do you think is your closest?]
She felt there were a great many secrets between Xie Xunzhao and Rong Qingtiao. It was almost as though she were the unnecessary third wheel!
Listening to Xie Xunzhao and Rong Qingtiao talk was an extreme test of intelligence. She had to figure out the central point herself, then infer all the implications hidden between the lines. No less demanding than sitting through a college-entrance-exam cram session.
As far as the eye could see, it was all key points. All secrets!!!
Xie Xunzhao ignored the question. [No ice cream before dinner.]
astraia: [I’ll have it after dinner.]
helios: [Take your medicine after dinner.]
[Don’t stay outside too long.]
Rong Ci unconsciously looked up toward the sharp-edged, magnificent skyscraper. Pale golden light filtered through the branches, radiating heat that made a thin sheen of sweat gather along the side of her slender neck.
There was no way he could possibly see her from here, and yet she couldn’t shake the feeling that Xie Xunzhao was watching her right now.
Rong Ci’s fingertips rubbed absently over her phone as she scrolled the chat back to the page marked “key points.” A few seconds later, she stood up and followed the shade of the trees all the way back to the studio.
~~
It was already eleven at night when Xie Xunzhao returned home.
After the business dinner ended, he had gone for a private second round with Rong Qingtiao.
The main house was brilliantly lit.
Uncle Ye, the butler, took the suit Xie Xunzhao had removed and said respectfully, “Sir, Madam said she’s waiting for you in the study upstairs.”
“She hasn’t gone to bed yet?”
Xie Xunzhao’s fingers hooked in his tie paused slightly. He glanced at the time, his expression settling into a quiet gravity. “Why is she in the study?”
“It’s not what you think.” Uncle Ye gave a light cough. “Madam said she has important business to discuss with you. The study is more… proper.”
Xie Xunzhao pondered a moment: are there any improper places in the house at present?
Uncle Ye quietly added, “However… I also turned off the signal in the study.”
Xie Xunzhao gave a soft “Mm” in acknowledgment.
Before heading upstairs, he said evenly, “You’ve worked hard lately. Starting next month, your salary will be doubled.”
Uncle Ye: “Don’t worry, sir. I’ll definitely keep a close eye on Madam!”
“Oh, right. Madam secretly ate an ice cream tonight.”
Xie Xunzhao: “……”
“Fine.”
As he went upstairs, all the lights in the living room switched off one after another. A sliver of light spilling from beneath the study door stood out vividly.
Xie Xunzhao stopped outside. His tall, slender shadow cast an unmistakable presence across the floor as he knocked twice.
“Come in!”
“Why are you knocking in your own house?” Rong Ci was sitting at the desk, lifting her lashes to glance at him, toying with her purple jade pendant in her hand.
Xie Xunzhao’s gaze swept briefly over her.
The champagne-gold slip nightdress made her skin look almost snow-white, and over it, she wore a robe that fell to her ankles. She had probably just showered and hadn’t had the patience to dry her hair; it lay slightly damp and tousled around her shoulders and neck, thick and sleek, seemingly brimming with endless vitality.
He entered unhurriedly and closed the door behind him, his meaning unclear. “Then I won’t knock anymore.”
Rong Ci didn’t catch the implication. Her mind was tangled up in too many questions, but now that she had him in front of her, she suddenly didn’t know where to begin.
Xie Xunzhao didn’t rush her either. He picked up the towel she’d casually tossed onto the desk and naturally began drying her hair for her.
Xie Xunzhao was 1.9 meters tall. Rong Ci wasn’t short herself at 169 centimeters, but beside him, she was completely dwarfed.
For instance, right now.
He was drying her hair, and she was completely overpowered by his height.
His movements were gentle. Yet there was something unmistakably commanding about them.
“Storming into the study.”
“Not drying your hair.”
“Sneaking ice cream.”
“Rong Mumu, are you planning a rebellion?”
Rong Ci pretended to examine his tie. It was silk, embroidered with an understated sun in a subtle design.
Xie Xunzhao hadn’t been drinking.
There was only the faintest trace of alcohol clinging to him. It wouldn’t trigger her allergies; up close, it merely made her feel a little light-headed.
She decided to ask whichever question came to mind first.
Pressing her lips together, she asked directly, “The project between Xie Group and Teacher Shen wasn’t a coincidence, was it? You deliberately arranged it for me?”
Through the towel, Rong Ci felt his knuckles pause for a beat.
Then he continued drying her hair, his low voice coming from above her head. “Mm.”
Rong Ci’s brows knitted together. She reached up and tugged at his tie. “So when she refused, you played the qin for her for an entire month, rain or shine?”
When Xie Xunzhao was young, he had been dazzlingly formidable, a mountain that every one of his peers could only look up to. He had also been Rong Ci’s role model. To her, he had always carried an almost untouchable, sacred aura.
Xie Xunzhao answered with effortless calm. “It was only playing the qin. It was simple.”
But Rong Ci pressed on. “Why?”
She lifted her eyes. A large white towel was still perched on her head. She looked at him like that without the slightest hint of menace, yet her gaze was serious enough.
She didn’t know what had gotten into her. All of a sudden, she was determined to get an answer.
Xie Xunzhao lowered the towel. His long fingers slipped into her hair, as though smoothing it into place, or perhaps soothing her. “She saw your architectural designs.”
“It wasn’t because I played the qin for a month that she agreed to take you on.”
“Playing the qin was only the key that opened the door. What truly made her decide to accept you was always your talent and ability.”
“So, Mumu, don’t overthink it.”
Xie Xunzhao rarely explained himself at such length.
“But you played for her for a whole month.” That seemed to be the part Rong Ci cared about most.
Xie Xunzhao summed it up in the end. “Yes, you see, I only played the qin, and it got you the architect you admire as your teacher. Isn’t that a pretty good deal?”
“That isn’t how you calculate it…” Rong Ci tried to pull them back to the point.
“Do you want to hear it?” Xie Xunzhao suddenly asked.
A guqin stood beside the floor-to-ceiling windows in the study. In the dim light, it appeared almost entirely black, decorated with gold-painted designs.
“Hear what?” Rong Ci was still lost in her own thoughts and didn’t immediately understand.
Xie Xunzhao lowered his eyes and quietly met her gaze. “Listen to me play.”
Rong Ci parted her lips.
But Xie Xunzhao seemed not to need her answer. He simply took his seat on the qin bench.
The strings rang out.
Xie Xunzhao wore an exquisitely tailored waistcoat that fit the proportions of his tall, striking frame perfectly. His tie had loosened slightly, and two buttons of his silk shirt were undone. Beside him stood row upon row of bookcases packed with all kinds of classics, the room seemingly steeped in the scent of ink. The usual sharp edge of his presence had softened, leaving him with the bearing of a refined gentleman.
He didn’t need to look at the qin as he played. His long fingers moved effortlessly across the strings, while his gaze remained fixed on her the entire time.
Rong Ci stood by the desk at first, watching him from across half the room, and then, without realizing it, she drew closer, as though pulled by the music.
Xie Xunzhao had never formally studied under a teacher. When he was young, his father, Xie Yanli, had taught him personally, hand over hand.
Later, Rong Ci’s father, Rong Huaiyan, was himself an extraordinary qin player and had also guided Xie Xunzhao during his youth.
The piece came to an end.
Xie Xunzhao suddenly reached out and caught her wrist.
Rong Ci was still dazed when, the next second, she found herself sitting beside him on the qin bench as well. With the slightest turn of her head, she could see his features only inches away.
They were far too close. The impact was overwhelming.
Xie Xunzhao’s lips hovered beside her ear as he asked in his usual composed, unhurried tone, “Was it beautiful?”
Rong Ci’s thoughts had begun to tangle. She opened her mouth, but had no idea what to say. A good few seconds passed before she heard herself answer faintly, “Beautiful.”
Xie Xunzhao didn’t release her hand. Instead, his fingers slowly traveled downward, pressing into the spaces between her fingers before interlacing them, slow and firm.
“The piece is called…”
“Phoenix Seeking His Mate.”
The man’s voice beside her ear was clear and cool as water.
Her pounding pulse and heartbeat seemed like the shifting light cast by the chandelier beside them, suddenly losing all rhythm.
At the same time, she remembered Rong Qingqiao’s teasing reference to the Xie family’s ancestral rule:
The Xie family has no descendants who get divorced.
So, once you married into the family, you wouldn’t get divorced.
And then…
Rong Ci’s previously muddled mind suddenly became crystal clear – The innocent way she had always seen their marriage had changed!!!
~~
The master bedroom.
Xie Xunzhao had gone to shower, leaving Rong Ci alone in the enormous room.
She first went to fold the blanket on the sofa chair neatly, folding it until it sprang back open, then folding it again, back and forth, five times in all.
It still ended up scattered.
Then she climbed onto the bed and started folding the already-made blankets, stacking the two pillows on top as well until everything looked perfectly neat.
After folding them, she felt something was off—they were about to go to sleep…
So Rong Ci unfolded everything again, smoothed the sheets, and made sure there wasn’t a single crease.
Then she pulled out the bunch of fresh orchids that had been put in the vase only that evening, threw them in the trash, and straightened the vase.
In short… she was extremely busy. Busy enough that she nearly worked up another thin sheen of sweat.
Rong Ci sat on the edge of the bed and looked around, searching for something else to occupy herself with.
Listening to the water still running in the bathroom, she couldn’t help thinking:
Did a man really need this long to take a shower?
Did he start by planting trees, chopping wood, and building a fire?
In the end, she even remembered the long-forgotten “Zeus” building blocks.
When Xie Xunzhao came out after his shower, he asked, “Rong Mumu, why are you still awake in the middle of the night? What are you looking for?”
Rong Ci’s nerves snapped taut. “Ze… Zeus’s building blocks. I suddenly remembered I never finished putting them together.”
Her shoulders and neck stiff, she turned around slowly and asked an utterly pointless question. “You’re done showering?”
Xie Xunzhao answered lazily, as if everything that had happened in the study had had no effect on him whatsoever, still as calm as on every other night before bed. “I already finished it for you. It’s in the next room. Go look tomorrow.”
Rong Ci was taken aback. “When did you put it together?”
They lived together. Their daily routines overlapped, and every move either of them made was practically under the other’s watch. How had she never noticed Xie Xunzhao putting the blocks together?
Xie Xunzhao: “In the middle of the night.”
Rong Ci: “You don’t sleep at night, and you build blocks?”
“Mm.”
Xie Xunzhao explained, “Too much energy.”
Too much energy?
The Rong Ci from before she heard “Phoenix Seeking His Mate” would sincerely have thought it perfectly normal for a young man to be full of energy.
But now…
Now that she had realized his affection for her had changed, she couldn’t help glancing toward the lower part of Xie Xunzhao’s sleepwear—
A place she had never once paid attention to before.
Before, Xie Xunzhao had been her “big brother”!
Who would pay attention to the state of things down there on their “big brother”?
Wasn’t that purely perverted?
Ah no, wrong.
Even if he wasn’t her actual brother, she shouldn’t be paying attention.
For the first time, Rong Ci could actually think of Xie Xunzhao from the perspective of an ordinary man.
So, he’d been in the shower that long because…
How perverted.
Rong Mumu, think again.
Think about pure, innocent Zeus?
Zeus, that cat… right, he’s a good cat.
So, what was Xie Xunzhao doing in there?
Ah! Wrong, wrong.
Help, what was she thinking!!!
Brain, stop! Brain, stop!
Her left and right brain formally entered a battle of the century. Rong Ci felt the sky was falling.
When people are flustered and confused, not only do they act very busy… they even start talking nonsense.
Rong Ci hugged the quilt. “Do you know why Zeus is called Zeus?”
Xie Xunzhao took in every one of her expressions.
He walked toward her step by step, and under Rong Ci’s nervous gaze, lifted the quilt and got into bed, answering, “I know.”
He had just showered, and a very faint mist still clung to him.
His short hair lay casually against his forehead, slightly tousled. His features were sharply defined, and for a moment Rong Ci seemed to see the Xie Xunzhao of high school years again, that youthful, unrestrained edge in him.
Every breath was filled with the familiar cool fragrance. Rong Ci’s mind wandered, and she completely missed his answer. “I knew you didn’t know. Zeus is one of the rare male cats among calicos. Naming him Zeus was a blessing, wishing that he’d overcome the genetic defect that makes them infertile. Better a scoundrel cat than a soft one.”
“Oh?” The corner of Xie Xunzhao’s lips curved, and he asked softly, “And has he… ever been hard?”
Rong Ci’s pupils contracted sharply—
Ever been hard? Ever been hard? Ever been hard?
Has Xie Xunzhao ever been hard?
Ahh, ahh, he’s asking about Zeus, right?
What happened with Zeus?
Right, right, Zeus in eighteen years has never once been hard.
And Xie Xunzhao?
???