Chapter 61

Chapter 61

The scar was irregular, but it covered a large area.

As if possessed, Xia Wanzhi reached out to touch it. Her arm hovered in midair for a moment. Seeing that Xie Qiyan didn’t seem inclined to stop her, she gathered her courage and lightly brushed her fingers over it.

Xie Qiyan nearly lost control of his expression, but forced himself to appear calm.

She really dared to touch it.

After a long while, Xia Wanzhi moved her lips and said in a muffled voice, “When we were little, I… I heard you fell from a tree while trying to get a kite that was stuck up there. Is this scar from back then?”

She had long since forgotten.

But now, everything came back to her.

Xie Qiyan glanced sideways at her but said nothing. He pulled his sleeve back up and, with unhurried movements, buttoned it one by one.

Xia Wanzhi’s words drew that memory out of him, bit by bit.

The kite he had gone to retrieve back then had been sent with him to the Xie Family, and he had kept it carefully until the year he turned ten.

But that summer, Xie Lin had taken Zhou Yu with him and deliberately stolen his kite, giving it to Xia Wanzhi to play with.

The wind had been strong that day. The kite caught on a branch, the string snapped, and it ended up stranded on a freshly pruned tree in the Xie Family’s backyard.

They were just children. None of them dared to climb that high up a tree for a kite. Xia Wanzhi had received gifts far more valuable than a kite, so naturally, she hadn’t been reluctant to let it go.

But after that day, Xia Wanzhi heard that Xie Qiyan had fallen from a very tall tree while trying to retrieve a kite.

She hadn’t known much about how Xie Qiyan was bullied, and she hadn’t been close to him, either. So she hadn’t paid much attention to the kite incident. It wasn’t until later, after Xie Qiyan went abroad and Ms. Ross casually mentioned that day of flying kites, that she learned the kite had belonged to Xie Qiyan.

And Xie Qiyan had been sent to the hospital after falling while trying to retrieve that kite.

It was Xie Lin who had led the prank against Xie Qiyan, stealing his kite and giving it to Xia Wanzhi to play with.

The kite had ended up in the tree because of her.

In the end, she had been an accomplice, too.

Xie Qiyan’s gaze darkened little by little. Only when he saw Xia Wanzhi’s amber eyes gradually misting over did the sinister chill in his eyes slowly dissolve.

“You saw it, didn’t you? This scar is the mark left from back then.” He looked away, his lowered fingers slowly curling inward.

“I was the one flying the kite,” Xia Wanzhi admitted very proactively.

“Feeling guilty?” Xie Qiyan didn’t seem to want to bring up the past, and his tone was rather flat.

Xia Wanzhi lowered her head, her voice slightly choked. “I’m sorry. If I’d known…”

“Mm. I accept. Any compensation?” Xie Qiyan said lightly.

Only belatedly did Xia Wanzhi realize he didn’t want to recall these things.

Great. Now she felt even guiltier.

“Did you know all along that I was the one flying the kite?” Xia Wanzhi asked, her voice muffled.

“I knew.”

“Then you…” Why didn’t you come settle the score with me?

But before she could finish, Xie Qiyan cut her off.

“You weren’t the one who stole the kite. What does it have to do with you?” Xie Qiyan’s attitude was indifferent. Seeing her blink those watery, bright eyes as if she might start crying the next second, he let out a helpless sigh. “If I’d wanted to hold someone accountable, I would’ve come after you long ago.”

Xia Wanzhi pressed her lips together and said nothing.

“I called you over to discuss work, not to have you strip off my clothes and then start crying.” Xie Qiyan pulled out a tissue and handed it to her. “People who don’t know better might think I did something to you.”

Xia Wanzhi’s expression stiffened. “I’m not crying.”

“Then speak properly.” He couldn’t stand that soft, sticky voice of hers.

Xia Wanzhi: “…”

“In any case, I wronged you. I’ll make it up to you,” Xia Wanzhi said seriously.

“With your hand in marriage? Then I can consider it. I don’t lack anything else,” Xie Qiyan said, half joking.
Xia Wanzhi was a little stumped, but she could clearly tell he really did not want to make an issue of it, so she dropped the subject.

Taking a steadying breath, Xia Wanzhi said seriously, “Fine. Then let’s talk work.”

Xie Qiyan looked at her a few extra times.

Xia Wanzhi asked, “Is there a problem?”

Xie Qiyan gave a soft snort. “Looks like your desire to compensate me isn’t all that strong.”

Xia Wanzhi’s eyelid twitched. “You might as well leave a mark on me too. That way we’d be even.”

Offering herself as compensation? He wished.

Xie Qiyan fell silent for a long while.

For some reason, his Adam’s apple bobbed.

“Enough. Let’s get down to business.” Xie Qiyan stopped his wandering thoughts, got up, and went back to the bedroom to bring out another box.

The box wasn’t large, but it was very exquisite.

It had a slightly vintage look. At first glance, it looked a lot like the chest of Grandma Xie’s dowry that Old Master Xie had given her.

That dowry was far too valuable, so Xia Wanzhi had not brought it back with her. Since she was only keeping it safe for Xie Tan anyway, she had locked it in the Xie Family’s South Courtyard.

Xia Wanzhi’s mind spun quickly. “If we’re talking business, then let’s talk business. Why are you bringing out a gift? We stick to the contract. I don’t do any other deals.”

Xia Wanzhi resolutely refused.

She understood the principle that accepting favors made one beholden to others. When it came to receiving gifts, one had to be careful, careful, and even more careful.

A faint trace of amusement colored Xie Qiyan’s deep-set brows and eyes. “What are you thinking? The person I want you to draw is in the box.”

“In the box!?” Xia Wanzhi was so startled her voice nearly went electronic.

A person in a box? That was not okay.

Xie Qiyan had no idea what her mind had wandered off to this time. He simply tapped the tabletop and gestured. “Open it first. See if you can draw it.”

Xia Wanzhi’s lashes trembled slightly. The look she gave him seemed to ask: Are you sure?

There wouldn’t be something from the underworld inside, would there?

“Aren’t I drawing you?” Xia Wanzhi asked, puzzled.

This time, Xie Qiyan put away his lazy expression. His tone seemed a little heavy. “No.”

With a nervous heart, Xia Wanzhi pretended to stay calm and opened the box-

A five-inch Polaroid photo lay quietly inside.

The photo looked a little old, as if it had been taken many years ago.

Xia Wanzhi was surprised for a moment, then instinctively wondered what relationship this person had with Xie Qiyan.

The person in the photo was a woman who looked gentle at first sight.

Dressed in a vintage blue qipao, the woman sat quietly in an octagonal pavilion. Behind her stretched a broad expanse of lush lotus leaves. She looked at the camera with a soft smile, the smile in her eyes seeming to hold thousands upon thousands of stars.

Even though it was only a still photograph, Xia Wanzhi could still see kind, tender love in her eyes.

“You took this photo, didn’t you?” Xia Wanzhi determined after only one glance.

Xie Qiyan stared at her thoughtfully for a moment, then answered in a low, slow voice, “Mm.”

Xia Wanzhi blinked and lowered her gaze to the person in the photo.

She had the look of a southern girl through and through.

On closer inspection, her brows and eyes seemed somewhat similar to Xie Qiyan’s.

A thought flashed through Xia Wanzhi’s mind. She suddenly looked up, and her gaze once again fell into Xie Qiyan’s eyes.

“Is there a problem?” Xie Qiyan narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Your brows and eyes look like hers. Very much so.” As though she had guessed something, Xia Wanzhi slowly traced the photo with her fingertips. She did not look to see Xie Qiyan’s reaction. Instead, she smiled with a sigh. “My eyes and brows are very similar to my mother’s too.”

Her voice was clear and bright, drifting thread by thread into Xie Qiyan’s ears.

His shoulders sank a little. Xie Qiyan leaned back against the chair, and after lowering his guard, a hint of dejection crept into his eyes.

Xia Wanzhi had a very pleasant voice. When she spoke to someone calmly and peacefully, it was like a gentle stream flowing into the heart, washing away all filth and dust.

Xie Qiyan’s expression shifted slightly, touched.

“You look a lot like her,” Xia Wanzhi said, softening her voice.