rose ashes

As the sun suddenly appeared, Ye Gu tiptoed out of bed and went straight to the study.

Because he attended Luo Yang's opening ceremony yesterday afternoon, he changed the evening meeting to an online meeting this morning. At this point, Liu Min should have been waiting for him in the study.

Mother Li prepared breakfast early in the morning. Ye Gu simply tidied up, looked up at the room upstairs, put the breakfast into the thermal box, and placed it on the center island.

"Boss Ye, everything is ready."
This was Liu Min’s first time visiting Ye Gu’s new home. Although he wasted some time looking for it, he fortunately arrived on time.

Ye Gu nodded silently, and unexpectedly handed over a plate of breakfast, "Assistant Liu, you haven't eaten yet, have some breakfast first."

Liu Min was flattered and hesitated for half a minute. He took the plate from Ye Gu's hand with disbelief.
The breakfast is still warm, the warmth from the bottom of the porcelain plate is transferred to your fingertips, making them slightly warm.

Ye Gu sat down at the desk. Just as Liu Min was about to close the study door, he was stopped by Ye Gu.

"Boss Ye, don't we need to close the door for the meeting later?"
In the past, Ye Gu would do things in an absolutely quiet environment, but his current behavior is completely different from his previous style.

Liu Min was a little confused.

Ye Gu didn't say anything, but his hands tapped rhythmically on the table, dull and persistent.

Not getting an answer, Liu Min was tactful enough not to ask any further questions.

"I was once unable to extricate myself from the vastness of the world, and was also addicted to talking in my dreams..." Faint and fragmentary voices came melodiously from downstairs.
From far to near.

The corner of Liu Min's mouth twitched. The music that Mr. Ye brought into his home was really unique.

But adhering to good professional ethics, he pretended not to hear and stood respectfully beside the desk.

Ye Gu's hearing was so sharp that he said nothing but pointed at Liu Min and said, "Give me the file."

"Okay, Mr. Ye."

"I still sigh at the vastness of the world, and indulge in the childhood love words~no truth or falsehood, no struggle, no meaningless jokes..."
The sound was getting closer, and Liu Min's back suddenly shrank and he became nervous.

The voices outside the door did not notice anything unusual in the study, and even tended to become more and more loud.

Liu Min swallowed slightly and wanted to ask Ye Gu for instructions on closing the door.

However, the moment he turned around, he saw that Ye Gu's mouth seemed to be curved. Liu Min thought he had seen it wrong. He rubbed his eyes, opened them again, and everything was the same as usual.

It turned out that he had seen it wrong.

The tablet was buffering, and the video interface finally entered the third circle of the buffer. The conference room appeared in front of him. Ye Gu lowered his casual and unfocused eyes, and the other side of the computer fell silent.

However, the figure that suddenly stopped at the door of the study met Ye Gu's eyes unexpectedly.
Ye Gu twitched his index finger, and the screen went black for a second before changing to the perspective of the rear camera.

The person outside the door appeared in the picture without knowing anything.

"Too... too?!" Liu Min was the first to react, and he quickly tapped Ye Gu's tablet back.

But it was obviously too late. Everyone in the conference room who was staring intently saw it, whether they should have seen it or not.
There was no sighing, but there were whispers of discussion.

Ye Gu narrowed his eyes and slowly stood up.
Luo Yang didn't know that he had been seen like this just now. He stood at the door in a daze, "Good morning, I thought you went to the company."

Before he could finish his words, he was grabbed and wrapped tightly in an ill-fitting windbreaker.

Ye Gu was still buttoning her shirt seriously.

Luo Yang sighed, "I think it's okay to wear this at home."

Ye Gu spoke in a low, gentle voice, "Look inside the study."

Luo Yang met Liu Min without any warning. Liu Min was quite calm and smiled in a very international way: "Hi~ Good morning, Madam~"

Thinking back to when she went upstairs just now, she sang very confidently and sang all the way to the study door.

He was so embarrassed that he was kicked out of the house.

Luo Yang covered his face and lowered his head, his ears were red and clear, with blood stains climbing up.

A low whimpering sound came out from the palm of the hand, with a wail of despair.

Ye Gu stood up and blocked her view.

"Was I particularly embarrassed just now? I'm a little embarrassed."

Ye Gu rarely refrained from laughing at her, and said calmly, "It's okay, it's just the two of us."

Luo Yang wandered around vigilantly, looking around, and was very alert.
Half-believing and half-doubting, he asked, "Really no one else saw it?"

Ye Gu swore: "It's true."

Liu Min took a silent breath and looked at the people in the conference room on the tablet interface in silence.

Luo Yang was coaxed and tricked back into her room. In order to avoid embarrassment, she decided not to leave the room until Ye Gu finished the meeting and Liu Min left.

Ye Gu stood at the bedroom door for a long time. When he lowered his eyes, he picked up a thin, soft hair from the front of his clothes.

After a while, he chuckled silently. The accident just now made him see another side of Luo Yang that he had only seen in the haunted house before.

Timid and cautious, just like Mimi.

"Okay, let's continue the meeting. I hope everyone here will just pretend that you didn't see anything, okay?"

People in the conference room had cold sweat on their backs and just nodded.

It is almost rare to hear Ye Gu say something like "OK?" in a request-like manner, but now that I heard it, it is a top alert. They would not say it even if they died.

Ye Gu raised his eyelids slightly and nodded, quite satisfied.

Liu Min didn't know why, but he felt that he would be even more miserable in a while. After all, he was the only one who witnessed the incident up close.

/ / /
The days after the engagement were not good, but not bad either. There were no major conflicts between the two of them.

Perhaps because they grew up together, it seemed that they skipped the adjustment period and were able to connect quickly. Sang Huaiyu looked at Luo Yang, who had a slightly sad face, and sighed.

"Is not it good?"

Luo Yang shook his head. "My relationship with him can't even reach the state it was before. If it was you and Mo Chen, would you feel okay?"
It’s like no matter how close two people are physically, there is always an invisible barrier between them. It can be broken with just one poke, but when you try to break it, you find that the two sides of the membrane are two different worlds.

Sang Huaiyu didn't say anything, but just took a sip of the American coffee in front of her. She added a lot of sugar, so it tasted slightly bitter.

"Ah He, you two can really have a good talk. From my perspective, Ye Gu is not an unreasonable person."
Although Sang Huaiyu and Ye Gu were not familiar with each other, based on Mo Chen's description of her, although Ye Gu had a somewhat arrogant young master's temperament in his bones, a person's most original nature could be seen from his family.

Ye Gu's family was happy. Although his mother was very strict with him and he had suffered a lot of physical pain, he was a child who grew up in love.

Luo Yang clasped his hands together, let out a long sigh, looked blankly at the passers-by outside the window, and sighed: "I hope there will be such a day."

If the two of them could sit down calmly, she would consider it.

Sang Huaiyu doesn't like to give too much advice. After all, no one can really understand the problems between two people better than the parties involved.
She knew when to stop and believed in Luo Yang's sense of propriety.

"Want to go to the cemetery this afternoon?"

"Well, I want to go see Ms. Yang before the wedding."
Luo Yang shook the bouquet beside her. The white calla lily was Yang Yue’s favorite flower.

In May, various flowers grow on the trees and the forests are lush and flourishing.
After saying goodbye to Sang Huaiyu, Luo Yang went to the shopping mall closest to the cemetery.

Nancheng is where Yang Yue was born and it is also their hometown. It is not as big as Pingcheng, but its economy is not inferior to Pingcheng at all.

Fallen leaves return to their roots, and Luo Yang buried Yang Yue here, which is probably a decision that Yang Yue would be satisfied with.

As May gets warmer, Luo Yang wears a white dress that exudes a rare sense of vitality. The small floral patterns all over the dress bloom more with every step she takes as the hem of the dress sways.

This is the skirt that Yang Yue likes to see Luo Yang wear the most. She always says that girls must have a bit of a flowery feeling, and youth is the best flower, so it must be cherished.

After Yang Yue left, Luo Yang seldom wore it anymore, but every year when she went to see Yang Yue she would always wear the dress that she wished she had worn.

"Miss, you have a good eye. This watch is our latest designer model, and there is only this one."

Unconsciously, he walked to the quartz watch counter. When Luo Yang came back to his senses, he saw the SA with a bright smile in front of him.

Luo Yang smiled lightly, "May I ask if you are accepting custom orders now?"

SA looked deep in his eyes for a moment, slowly put on white gloves, and stepped out, "Miss, let's go to the VIP room, there are more custom-made styles for you to choose from, including the materials."

Luo Yang nodded slightly and followed SA into the door behind the curtain.

She originally just wanted to buy a watch for Yang Yue. Before his death, Yang Yue had a dream, which was to collect all the beautiful quartz watches in the world, both men's and women's.

At that time, Yang Yue was still there and could buy it herself, but after she left, no one remembered her ridiculous dream.

Only Luo Yang would buy a quartz watch for Yang Yue every year without fail. At the beginning, when they were students, they bought very ordinary watches because their financial ability was limited.

I've probably saved enough to fill a box by now.

Looking through the designer roster, a vintage watch caught my eye.
It was worn by a designer, Luo Yang pointed with her slender hand.

“May I ask if you have the contact information of this designer?”

SA took a look and said with some regret, "I'm sorry, Miss Luo, we can't contact this designer right now, but as far as I know, he has a second-hand watch shop, but I'm not sure of the exact location."

"If you want to customize his watch, I can ask our headquarters to help you try to contact him, but the chances may be slim."

Luo Yang understood and stared at the second-hand watch of the Weini Bear in the picture for a long time.

"Then please ask the headquarters to contact them for me. Please tell them that it is a request from the resident of the Hundred Acre Wood."
Luo Yang slowly stood up holding the bouquet, handed the card to the SA, and packed up the ladies' watch that she had initially seen outside.

Although SA didn't understand why she conveyed it this way, he still dutifully conveyed it to the headquarters without any errors.

/ / /
"Then I wish us a smooth cooperation."

Ye Gu stretched out his hand and shook it with the person opposite him, "I definitely will."

Liu Min saw off the partner and left the box with Ye Gu. While going downstairs, Liu Min took the opportunity to report to him about the company's recent stock situation and the recruitment of new employees.

"The day after tomorrow, there is an interview, and the HR department will conduct it in the morning."
"Also, personnel changes in the marketing department will be announced tomorrow."

Suddenly, the cold white finger in front of him stopped him. Liu Min fell silent, noticing that Ye Gu's eyes were fixed on the man and woman downstairs for a long time.

Liu Min narrowed his eyes slightly, focused his vision, and was slightly surprised.

"My wife is downstairs. Do you want me to go back with you?"

Ye Gu waved his hands and raised his chin slightly, looking a bit dissatisfied.

The man sitting opposite Luo Yang was a stranger.

The distance was getting closer and closer. The moment Ye Gu left the escalator, he turned around and hid next to the vending machine, watching from a distance.

Liu Min rarely failed to judge the situation and even added fuel to the fire, "Do you want to go and say hello?"

The fierce and unrestrained eyes stared at him, and the voice was suppressed in the throat, "Shut up."
Liu Min: "...Okay, Mr. Ye."

/ / /
Luo Yang was holding flowers and holding a watch. The car she booked on the phone just arrived, but her way was blocked by a man who suddenly broke in front of her.

Luo Yang said politely, "Sorry."
She turned around and tried to leave from the other side, but was still stopped by the man.

She was a little impatient. This blatant harassment was somewhat immoral.

"Please let me—"

The man's clear voice was tinged with palpable joy and surprise.
"Luo Yang, it's me, Shen Fan."

(End of this chapter)