Chapter 112

Chapter 112 - 112 106 The contradiction intensifies Xie Shang loves Chapter 112: 106: The contradiction intensifies, Xie Shang loves too greedily (two updates combined_3) Chapter 112: 106: The contradiction intensifies, Xie Shang loves too greedily (two updates combined_3) “What am I to you?”

Wen Changling didn’t understand his suddenly changing emotions and answered, “Boyfriend.”

“Do you treat me as your boyfriend?”

So, was this an accusation?

She didn’t speak.

“Why didn’t you say you went to the Zheng family’s wake? Why didn’t you say it was Zheng Lvhua who hurt you?”

Why should she say anything?

Wen Changling didn’t understand, “It’s not a big deal.”

Xie Shang always catered to her every need and hardly ever pressed her like this, “Then tell me, what is a big deal?”

Wen Changling couldn’t answer this question either.

“You’re unwilling to tell me the trivial things, will you tell me the important ones?” In his last shred of reason, Xie Shang told himself not to overreact, to stay calm for Miss Wen, to be patient. He tried to moderate his tone and emotions, “You always keep your schedule to yourself, never telling me who you’re going to meet, what you’re going to do.”

Always making me wait.

Wen Changling pulled her hand away which he had been holding. At the funeral home, she had encountered the person she least wanted to see and couldn’t suppress the irritation in her heart, “Why should I tell you?”

She had no desire to share, she hated being scrutinized, she had too many secrets.

She was never the Little White Rabbit, she had thorns all over: “I was like this before I dated you. If you can’t accept it, you shouldn’t have started with me.”

One was cool-headed, the other was anxious and fearful of loss.

This was the contradiction, the inequality in their feelings.

Xie Shang fell silent for a long time, softening his tone, “Let’s not fight.”

Wen Changling made a noise of assent, “I’ll go back first.”

Xie Shang walked behind her, several times lifting his hand, but never touched her.

They returned to their respective courtyards.

*****

Where did he put the medication left over from last time? He actually couldn’t remember; his good memory had been messed up by a few words from Wen Changling.

“Bang!”

He pulled the drawer too hard, and it came out completely, spilling the medicine bottles inside, which shattered on the floor.

The smell of the medicinal liquor instantly filled the room, the scent was so pungent that it could numb one’s sense of smell instantly.

Xie Shang stopped all his actions and stared blankly at the glass shards on the floor.

The phone on the table had been ringing for a while.

Xie Shang walked over to answer it.

“Why did you suddenly leave?”

From four to eight o’clock, Noon Ferry was holding a perfume exhibition at the Imperial Art Gallery.

As a senior perfumer, Xie Shang should have been at the gallery. Because of a call from Gu Yihuan, he had disrupted all his plans.

“Something came up suddenly.”

He Dongzhou could tell that Xie Shang’s mood was off, “Are you coming back or not?”

“I’ll come over later.”

Xie Shang hung up the phone and called Gu Kaiyun, “Kaiyun, are you at the medical clinic?”

“I am.”

“I’m heading there now.”

Xie Shang grabbed his car keys, suddenly remembering the past couple of days.

He had said to Wen Changling, “You have the day off the day after tomorrow, do you want to go somewhere with me?”

Miss Wen had been pruning and watering her Hooked Cymbidium at the time.

“Where to?”

“The Noon Ferry perfume exhibition.”

“Where will it be held?”

“Imperial Art Gallery.”

Xie Shang seldom attended public events, but this time, when He Dongzhou asked him if he would go, he thought of Wen Changling. He wanted to take her with him, to let his friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and strangers see his Miss Wen.

“Will there be a lot of media?”

“Hmm.” Xie Shang said, “If you don’t want to show your face, I won’t let them publish your photo.” He could even keep the media away entirely if she preferred — he was indifferent, and everything could be adjusted for Wen Changling.

She carefully trimmed the overgrown and disorderly branches: “I won’t go.” she said, “I don’t understand perfume, nor art.”

But Miss Wen, I am inviting you, to step into my world.

Xie Shang’s response at the time was: “Hmm, if you don’t want to go, then let’s forget it.”

Xie Shang first went to Gu Kaiyun’s place and didn’t arrive at the art gallery until almost seven o’clock.

Xie Shang did not enjoy socializing. He Dongzhou was organizing the perfume exhibition — the grass outside the venue wasn’t as crowded, quieter than inside. The displays were outsourced to the gallery, and the lighting was well arranged. The light cast on the display tables made the variously shaped perfume bottles project all sorts of shadows on the ground and walls.

Not many people knew Xie Shang was Noon Ferry’s senior perfumer; he was quite content to be at leisure, finding a spot where there were few people and sitting quietly.

He needed to think about some things.

He couldn’t help but think of Wen Changling.

People always liked to ask him if his perfumes had a story, why others couldn’t imitate them.

The truth was, there were no stories; he merely had a talent. With a fine sense of smell, good perception, aesthetics, and market control, he concocted fragrances casually.

He wouldn’t turn his own stories into products; his stories were meant to be collected by certain individuals.

For example, his Miss Wen Changling.

“President Xie.”

Someone came to disturb the peace.

Xie Shang nodded slightly, showing little interest in conversation.

The man led a girl over: “This is an artist from our company.” The man patted the girl’s shoulder, “Yanyan, go on and toast President Xie.”

The girl was an actress, seemingly quite popular.

She had appeared in Su Nanzhi’s movie “3913.”

“President Xie, I toast to you.”

There was alcohol on the adjacent table.

Xie Shang did not get up; remaining seated was impolite, but tonight, he had no desire to cater to irrelevant people: “I’m driving, no drinking.”

The girl showed good sense, smiling freely: “I’ll drink then, President Xie, please feel at ease.”

Xie Shang was looking at a bottle.

Noon Ferry’s perfume bottles were not designed by him. The bottles had their own designer, who He Dongzhou had brought in at a high price from abroad. This designer’s style was quite bold and expensive; he could inlay an entire gemstone onto a bottle.

The pieces exhibited today were all limited edition or one-of-a-kind, which were only produced as single bottles, carrying significant value for collectors. Some bottles’ production costs were absurdly high.

He Dongzhou was a complete profiteer, with the sharpest business acumen: “Only when it’s expensive will people scramble for it, if it’s cheap, it won’t match their status.”

The bottle looked like a hedgehog; there was a gemstone on the belly of the hedgehog, and the rest were spikes.

Xie Shang thought of Wen Changling.

The man gave the girl beside him a look, and she approached: “President Xie.”

Xie Shang stood up: “Please make yourselves comfortable.”

He took the hedgehog perfume bottle with him.

No one would stop him, Noon Ferry was a very private enterprise, and everything on display at this event belonged to Xie Shang and He Dongzhou personally.

Xie Shang found a patch of grass, lit a cigarette, clenching it between his teeth, and examined the bottle in his hand, turning it over and over. The hedgehog bottle was indeed prickly.

The cigarettes were something he had bought on the way there.

“Sir,” a gallery staff member approached to remind him, “smoking is not allowed here.”

Today really wasn’t going his way at all.

“Sorry.”

Xie Shang put out the cigarette and threw it into the trash can.