rose ashes

What was she doing during the Chinese New Year in 2016?

She had a fever and was taking bitter medicine in the apartment she shared with others. It was like bitter wine going down her throat. Luo Yang had never been so averse to taking medicine.

During those years abroad, she cried for the first time because the medicine was so bitter, so bitter that she didn't want to live like this anymore.

That night, Luo Yang did not fall asleep as usual. He watched the sun turn pale as if he was waiting for the day to come.

Before leaving, in order to thank Xi Jinzhou, Luo Yang borrowed his kitchen to make an extra breakfast and left it in front of Xi Jinzhou's door opposite. After ringing the doorbell, seeing that Xi Jinzhou had not come out for a long time, he had to leave first.

At this time in the morning, there were not many people going out of the apartment, and the elevator came very quickly. When Luo Yang's door closed, she seemed to see Xi Jinzhou's door open.

The elevator door closed completely, blocking her view.

Ye Gu looked at the lunch box in the bag on the ground at the door for a long time, then slowly moved his gaze towards the elevator entrance. Half a minute later, he returned to the house carrying the bag.

The breakfast lunch was simple, a peanut butter sandwich and sliced ​​apples, which looked like they were cut into the popular bunny shapes.

Ye Gu suddenly thought of something and snorted. He called Xi Jinzhou unhappily, but the other party was probably busy and didn't answer.

Ye Gu thought about it, looked at the thanks on the note, pondered for a moment, his eyes flashed, and he took a pen from the study and wrote something on it.

Ye Gu pressed the ballpoint pen and looked at the note with great satisfaction before eating his breakfast with peace of mind.

/ / /
Luo Yang returned to the Luo family early in the morning. Looking at the still closed door, she moved her gaze to the clothes rack in the yard. She smiled lightly, gently and harmlessly.

Just like that, I sat down leisurely on the camellia seat in the yard, eating breakfast while looking at my mobile phone, with pleasant tunes playing faintly on the phone.

The sky gradually brightened. Luo Yang clapped his hands, calculated the time, stood up from the chair, and rang the doorbell.

Luo Jiancheng had said before that he would give her the key, but she refused. Anyway, if the marriage really took place, she would only come back a few times.

It was Uncle Wu who opened the door. He was relieved when he saw it was Luo Yang.
"My dear Miss, you really scared me to death. I waited for a long time last night but you didn't come back. Then I couldn't hold on any longer and fell asleep. I'm glad to see that you are okay. I will leave the door open for you in the future. I will definitely not let you do that again."

Seeing his apologetic eyes, Luo Yang smiled and helped Uncle Wu, who was slightly hunched over, up.
"It's okay. I had a lot of work in my studio last night, so I came back late and stayed at my friend's place for the night. It's okay, don't blame yourself."

Uncle Wu quickly made way, and Luo Yang asked as he walked, "Is Luo Jiancheng back?"

Uncle Wu nodded: "Sir, you took a flight last night and arrived early this morning. You are resting now. Why don't you go to your room and wait?"

Luo Yang was startled, his lips slightly moved, and he murmured: "...Room?"

Uncle Wu didn't notice her expression. "Yes, your room is still being cleaned. The master doesn't allow us to move the things inside, so it's still the same as before. Do you want to go and take a look?"

Although Luo Ke was very much loved, she was unable to get Luo Jiancheng to agree to let her use Luo Yang's room.

This was probably the only protection Luo Jiancheng gave to Luo Yang at that time.

Walking on this familiar mahogany floor, Luo Yang felt as if he was in another world, as if the last time he walked here was in his previous life. Now, every flower, tree, table and chair here seemed unfamiliar.

Uncle Wu talked a lot about her room and how her husband didn't allow anyone to touch her things after she left.

Luo Yang didn't say a word from beginning to end.

Luo Jiancheng is a businessman who puts profit above all else. Luo Yang knows this best. From Yang Yue's departure to the entry of Luo Ke and Zhang Peilan, mother and daughter, into his family, she knows that although Luo Jiancheng loves her, in addition to being her father, he is also a successful businessman who is good at calculating and weighing the pros and cons.

Feelings would never be the first priority for Luo Jiancheng. Perhaps it was because he had experienced hard times and had experienced how difficult it was to reach his current position on his own. Therefore, Luo Jiancheng attached great importance to status and wealth.

There is nothing wrong with this, and Luo Yang has never thought that this is an incorrect outlook, but the only thing she cannot understand is that Luo Jiancheng can easily forget the company and support of his first wife. If it were not for Yang Yue's help, Luo Jiancheng would never have achieved what he has today.

Such an easy-to-understand truth, even she, as a child, could see it clearly, but Luo Jiancheng could not understand it.

It was not until much longer that Luo Yang found out why Luo Jiancheng agreed to let Zhang Peilan replace Yang Yue. It was because Zhang Peilan was the daughter of a former business tycoon, but later that tycoon fell from power, and Zhang Peilan just married a man with no skills and a lot of problems. Before they could get married, the man took away all of Zhang Peilan's money and ran away.

The centipede insect is dead but not stiff.
Luo Jiancheng understood this very well. Although he had fallen from power, his friends would always give him face because of his previous status. He had also been immersed in the business world for many years and had several close friends.

With this in mind, Luo Jiancheng flexibly used his connections with wealthy people to open up overseas markets, and his business scope became larger and more prosperous.

It is undeniable that Luo Jiancheng's business acumen is no worse than anyone else's.

Luo Yang didn’t know whether Zhang Peilan knew Luo Jiancheng’s original intention of marrying her, but she didn’t care. Perhaps because of this, she never made things difficult for Zhang Peilan, even though she hated her. After all, if it weren’t for her, Yang Yue wouldn’t have left her so soon.

Being able to take on and put down things is not as easy as it sounds.

"Miss, we're here. I'll open the door for you. If you need anything else, just call me. I'm downstairs."

Luo Yang looked at the sunlight leaking into the room and cascading onto the floor unrestrainedly, emitting an alluring glow, and she wished she could sweep people in.
"Okay, thank you Uncle Wu. You go ahead and do your work. I'll be down there in a bit."

This was the room where she had lived for eighteen years. Every night during those eighteen years, whether nightmares or good dreams, were all stored in this room.

The room faces south, so it has the most sunlight. This was the room Yang Yue chose for Luo Yang. Originally, this was Luo Jiancheng's study, but at that time Yang Yue and Luo Jiancheng were still very much in love. Luo Jiancheng would never object to what Yang Yue wanted to do and would always go along with her. So this place was planned by Yang Yue as her room before Luo Yang was born.

Yang Yue likes pink and tender things very much, so all the toys and items here are the toys she bought for Luo Yang, including the four-piece bedding set, which are all very girlish. Fortunately, Luo Yang doesn't reject them.

Looking at every object in the room, they were still the same as they were before she left, without any change. It seemed that Luo Jiancheng really did not allow anyone to touch her things. Even the rose pot that she placed in front of the window before she left had withered, but it had not been moved.

A single rose is difficult to grow. I don’t know why I had the urge to plant one at that time. In fact, it was successful later. But she left suddenly and took nothing with her, including the pot of roses with buds.

She missed the most beautiful flowering season, and was destined to miss it when she left at the age of eighteen.

/ / /
Xi Jinzhou had finally swapped shifts with someone else today and was able to go home and rest in the afternoon. He saw that there was a missed call from Ye Gu and was about to call him when Ye Gu called him himself.

"Do you have work this afternoon?"

Xi Jinzhou: "No, what's wrong?"

Ye Gu considered it and said, "Originally I was going to go back to the old house today, but I have something to do at noon. Is that a problem for you?"

Xi Jinzhou's face suddenly darkened. "If you come again, your father will not only scold you, but also sue me. I won't do it."

"That bottle of Romandecon white wine, any year you want, you can choose it."

Xi Jinzhou didn't even think about it: "Okay! Deal, I'll go to your house to change clothes first, bye."

By the time I entered Ye Gu's house and realized that I had fallen into his trap again, it was too late.

Forget it, getting scolded in exchange for a bottle of wine is worth it.

I had been in surgery the whole morning. After changing my clothes, I was about to go to the kitchen to find some dry food to fill my stomach, when I saw the square pink note on the white porcelain table.
"Thank you for taking me in. This simple breakfast is just a token of my gratitude. I'll treat you to a good meal later, Doctor Xi." Xi Jinzhou moved his lips and read out each word.
The signature was Luo Yang, but the word "Dr. Xi" was crossed out with a black pen, and the two large characters written in a sloppy and powerful way were obscured.
——Ye Gu

Xi Jinzhou just found it funny and complained with gritted teeth that Ye Gu really couldn't be more than three years old. If he wanted to be thanked, why did he hide behind him and use his name to help Luo Yang? What a weirdo.

/ / /
"what--"
"Where are my clothes? Why are they in the trash can? Who is it?"
"Uncle Wu, is this how you manage things?!"

Continuous screams and scolding could be heard from downstairs. Luo Yang looked at Luo Ke, who was holding the suit stained with dirty water from the trash can in a rage, and accused Uncle Wu with a red face.

That piece of clothing was a custom-made suit that she had finally gotten a few days ago. In order to get it customized, she negotiated with the designer for a long time. In the end, it became like this after only wearing it a few times. How could Luo Ke not be angry?
Uncle Wu looked at the clothes in Luo Ke's hand in confusion. He didn't know what had happened and just kept apologizing. After all, it was his mistake at work.

"If apologies are useful, what are you managers for?!"
"If you get paid, you should do what you are supposed to do, not do it like this!"
"Do you think you can get away with it just because you've been in the Luo family the longest and are an elder of the family?! I can still get my dad to fire you!"

"You try opening one!"
Uncle Wu turned around in surprise and hurried over.

"Miss, why did you come down? It's my problem, don't worry about it."

Luo Yang pulled Uncle Wu behind him, looked down at him, as if indifferent to all living things, and grabbed Luo Ke forcefully.
"I threw this piece of clothing of yours away."

"You——" Luo Ke just opened his mouth and was interrupted by Luo Yang.

Luo Yang nonchalantly pulled out a wet tissue from her bag and slowly wiped her slender white fingers one by one.
He said casually: "After all, I thought this poorly stitched thread was a towel used to clean the glass at home, so I threw it away. If you need a towel, you can buy a better one. I think the Luo family should not be short of this little money."

Every word Luo Yang said was jumping around in Luo Ke's minefield. She couldn't help but scream and was about to pull Luo Yang.

Uncle Wu wanted to stop him, but was surprised to receive a look from Luo Yang, which seemed to be telling him not to move.

As expected, Luo Ke grabbed Luo Yang's wrist fiercely. She was thin to begin with, and if anyone exerted a little force on her wrist, there would be red marks.

Luo Ke shouted and cursed, trying to grab Luo Yang's coat. Following her direction, Luo Yang fell to the ground, and his knees hit the stone floor, leaving a few red marks. After a few seconds, blood began to seep out.

Luo Ke was also panicked. He let go of her hand instantly and looked at Uncle Wu helplessly. He shook his head vigorously: "It's not me, it's not me. I didn't use any force. I didn't pull her hard at all!"

Uncle Wu didn't say a word, but hurried to support Luo Yang.

"Luo Ke! Go back to your room and reflect! You are not allowed to come out until dinner! Kneel in the ancestral hall this afternoon!"
A majestic voice came from the gate at some point. Luo Jiancheng stood on the steps, looking at Luo Ke with a sullen face, his back teeth clenched with anger.

Luo Ke is most afraid of Luo Jiancheng. Although Luo Jiancheng dotes on her, at home, Luo Jiancheng is the symbol of majesty and no one can disobey him. So far, the only one who dares to oppose Luo Jiancheng is Luo Yang.

She was angry and aggrieved, tears streaming down her face. She bit her lips tightly, her lips turning pale, and glared at Luo Yang with hatred and unwillingness.

"Why don't you go now! Try rolling your eyes again?!"
Luo Jiancheng's voice was as loud as a bell, which frightened Luo Ke so much that he quickly walked into the house.

Luo Yang looked at Luo Ke's back. Although the wound on his knee was not deep, it looked horrifying.
She seemed not to feel any pain at all, and the corners of her lips rose slightly.

Luo Jiancheng looked at her without saying anything. After a while, he turned around and went into the house and said, "Uncle Wu, take her in and take care of her."

Luo Yang had just limped to the door when a gust of wind suddenly blew in beside him, along with a faint scent of milk.
"Are you stupid?"

(End of this chapter)