CH 73

Gu Yan froze.

He seemed not to expect that Yan Suizhi would toss out such a question. Unguarded surprise flickered past his face, but only rested for a split second before vanishing. 

This was actually a joke easily returned, and with Gu Yan’s temper, he could shove it back at him just by moving his mouth. Before teasing him, Yan Suizhi had even imagined what he would say.

But Gu Yan didn’t say a word…

His gaze on Yan Suizhi was as calm and quiet as before, and aside from quietness, there was perhaps a sliver of something else. But only a tiny speck of it leaked out before he averted his gaze.

The breeze in the cherry orchard flitted through the drooping vines. This area, enclosed by small trees, was peaceful and private, interwoven with the faint rustle of leaves and branches brushing against the white porcelain table surface. 

And Gu Yan never spoke.

The sudden hush—like a cat’s claw with its claw tips sheathed, leaving only soft downy fur—gently grazed his heart.

A slight breeze lifted one edge of the fine tablecloth, skimming over Yan Suizhi’s wrist, scratching it in synchrony. His fingers resting on the edge of the table moved, and the fringe of the tablecloth that was lifted by the wind, fell back down.

Gu Yan’s gaze hung down, looking at the dessert wine in his hand for a moment before lifting it and swirling it twice.

Actually, Yan Suizhi didn’t especially like this wine. The creamy and violet tones were a tad too heavy for him. It was a little cloying, though it did accompany the food served here well. But for some reason, when he smelled the dulcet hints of the wine from where Gu Yan sat across this uneven tabletop, surprisingly, he thought that it should be rather tasty.

Buzz—

The smart device on his finger suddenly vibrated, ringing in this timely and untimely fashion.

Yan Suizhi paused for a beat before projecting the hologram, his hand already making to put on his earpiece. 

It was Fizz who called. “Hello?” As soon as he picked up, the other end immediately began shrieking. “AHHH!” This voice was so invigorating that it sobered the mind, causing whatever dessert wine, creamy tones to disappear like smoke in thin air. Even Gu Yan, seated across from him, could hear it, his eyes flying up to look towards him.

“…”

Yan Suizhi met his gaze, replying with a little helplessness, “Ms Fizz, you don’t have to shout over the line.”

Fizz spoke again, “Oh mother—” 

Yan Suizhi, “I can’t quite claim this honour.”

This easily reminded Yan Suizhi of his earlier joke, so he raised his eyes and swept Gu Yan a look, only to see that Gu Yan wasn’t wearing any particular expression, merely downing the dessert wine that had aerated the sweet fragrance.

Not leaving behind a single drop.

With that, he even calmly and gentlemanly tipped the empty glass to him. 

Yan Suizhi, “…”

Fizz, blocked twice in succession by his words, was a little bewildered. “Why is your tongue so sharp today?”

Probably from being wrung out by a particular student, Yan Suizhi said in his head.

“Mbgufa atja. P pera kjca ab rjs, sbe jmaejiis kbc atf Xfbguf Zjcrbc mjrf!” Mlhh rbecvfv ufcelcfis fzmlafv. “Xbbv ugjmlber! Qts vlvc’a sbe jcv Xe rqlii atf yfjcr ktfc P mbcajmafv sbe joafg atf aglji?! Tbe vlvc’a wfcalbc j kbgv bo la ktfc sbe abbx ifjnf ab rajs jkjs ogbw atf vlccfg ja jii, flatfg! Po atf Rbalmf bo Cmdelaaji kjrc’a rfca ab atf ijk olgw abvjs, P kbeivc’a fnfc tjnf xcbkc atja sbe’v jmaejiis kbc atf mjrf!” 

Yan Suizhi was completely innocent in this. “You didn’t ask what the outcome was, Ms Fizz.”

Fizz, “Because I thought you were going to lose! Of course, I’m not questioning your ability, it’s just y’know, I didn’t have the heart to ask in case you felt upset if you lost the case—”

“I understand.”

“Mhm.” Fizz, “Nevermind that, anyway you actually didn’t say anything! It’s such a big deal! God, you should have seen how shell shocked everyone who saw the letter looked, especially Hobbes hahahahaha.” 

She laughed so freely that Yan Suizhi, hard-pressed between vexation and amusement, couldn’t help but remind her, “Are you talking about this in the office?”

“Of course not, am I that much of a fool in your eyes?” Ms Fizz said disgruntledly, then laughed some more and continued, “Have you forgotten? They’re all patting backs and shaking hands for the rest of the afternoon and the whole of tomorrow during the two-day social. I’m allergic to alcohol, so I went back to my place after two glasses of juice.”

“You’re allergic to alcohol?”

“Erm… allergic on-demand,” corrected Fizz. “Anyway, I want to say that it’d be better for you to come back with Gu. Although this social event is teeming with ass-kissers, it’d actually be good for you. Do you know how many people have brought you up today, curious about you? That includes several notable lawyers, judges, and even upper management and partners. You really should come back.” 

“Really? Then I’m even more glad that I took a leave.” The esteemed Professor Yan, in all seriousness, said, “I just graduated and don’t have much experience, I don’t think I can handle that kind of social scene.”

Gu Yan, “…”

A certain someone was starting to have no sense of shame again.

After the communication line with Fizz cut off, Yan Suizhi told Gu Yan, “She said that there are many people at the social, this might include those involved in the explosion.” 

Gu Yan had actually anticipated such a situation. “Meeting over dinner and drinks is too passive. It’s safer to be active than passive.”

Fizz’s call had brought business out on the table. The previous joke was like a tiny pebble tossed into a lake, spreading a few ripples before falling back into calmness, giving the mirage of no vestiges left behind.

It was close to evening by the time Joe brought Ke Jin to the cherry orchard.

“Did you go to a neighbouring planet to pick him up?” said Gu Yan. 

Joe raised his hands in surrender. “My bad, my bad. I took just a little longer than planned…”

“Three and a half hours,” Yan Suizhi didn’t mind driving the knife in.

Joe, “I wanted to take a bath and change before I left, but I ended up accidentally dozing off in the tub.”

But who were Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan? All else aside, they were far more observant than ordinary people. If someone really dozed off in the bathtub for three hours, it would be easy to tell from the state of their fingers. Joe’s fingers didn’t show much sign of that, but there were still some faint imprints of sleep on Ke Jin’s left cheek. 

A reasonable conjecture would be that it was actually Ke Jin who had dozed off for a while, and Joe probably hadn’t the heart to wake him, simply waiting a little longer for him to wake up.

People who weren’t in a good place mentally were at times extremely attuned to their emotions. While no one minded nor blamed them for their lateness, Ke Jin might have supposed so, therefore Joe cheekily used himself as a shield, drawing the fire away.

Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan were both intelligent men and didn’t care in the slightest about the purported lateness. Thus, they simply skirted the topic.

Because of Joe’s reservation, Cherry Estate didn’t receive any other guests for the evening and they were the only four in the orchard. The orchard had been decorated ahead of time by the staff. Simple, beautiful fairy lights were strewn across the table they had reserved, dotted like stars around the branches and furniture. 

An elegantly designed wine rack rested on the table, carrying six bottles of freshly fermented premier wine and a bucket of ice.

But Young Master Joe was still hung up on his exclusive wine. “Did you find it for me?”

Yan Suizhi shook his head. In all honesty, they had entirely forgotten about it in the afternoon.

Joe complained to the waiter in jest, “Tell your boss not to hide it so deeply next time. Every time I search for it I suspect that there’s something wrong with my IQ.” 

The waiter reflexively gave a short laugh and hastily said, “Of course not. If I may be frank, only a small handful of customers can find it without relying on clues.”

Joe, “No way, don’t give me any clues. I want to give it another go.”

“Alright, just ring me if you need anything.” After the waiter finished speaking, he left this section of the orchard and went back to the estate building.

Although what Joe previously said was that he wanted Yan Suizhi to one-sidedly chat a couple of sentences to Ke Jin, the truth was that he didn’t really intend for Yan Suizhi to find a topic to chat about. After all, Ke Jin wouldn’t give a response, and purposefully chatting to him might conversely make him feel more sensitive. 

However, he wasn’t wrong; when it was just the four of them, Ke Jin did seem to relax a little more.

“Shall we find my wine first?” Joe tentatively proposed.

Naturally, Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan didn’t have any objection to that. Ke Jin took a while to react. He lifted his head to look at them, then stood up as well.

Joe was instantly delighted, excitedly dragging them through the orchard draped with fairy lights. 

“Give us a little information, like your birthday, some anniversary, or whatnot.” Yan Suizhi asked Joe.

Although he hadn’t come here to seriously search for his exclusive wine before, he had an inkling of the system that the estate used to hide the wines. The estate didn’t hide the guest’s exclusive wines in any arbitrary location. After all, the cherry orchard was so big that it would be hard to find a random hidden spot even if they spent the entire year searching.

Most of the wines were hidden based on the guests’ personal details, such as birthdays, initials, or important anniversaries. The more information you left, the more places they had to use as hiding spots.

Joe gave it some thought, saying, “Then I’ve left too much information. After all, I’ve been sneaking around this place since my early teens. Let’s see, my birthday is March 21. Anniversaries… there are too many. The first time I got into a fight; the first time I drank wine, my graduation date? Also, the day that I first met Ke Jin, and the day that I first met Gu Yan? And…” 

This young master rattled off a long list.

Yan Suizhi, “…”

Amazing. It’d be an absolute disgrace if the winery couldn’t dig him into a pit.

Fortunately, Joe wasn’t a complete fool; after rounding it off, he was probably only about 60% stupid. So after he finished rattling his list and eliminating the days that the winery had already used many times over the years, what was left behind was… 

Was still enough to give the few of them a good treasure hunt.

The cherry orchard was actually a good place for a break in the evening. Though it was a simple activity of looking for wine, it wasn’t uninteresting to stroll around and stop every now and then, pushing aside a curtain of green vines to take a look. Midway, Joe even took two glasses of wine and passed one to Gu Yan, drinking wine and chatting casually as they searched.

The topic skipped from recent events to complaining about family elders, the conversation was light and airy.

Yan Suizhi didn’t stay with them throughout. He separated from them at a fork in the shrubbery after a brief word about it to them, walking alone to the dining section marked ‘J of Hearts’. He broke apart Joe’s birthdate and used it as a clue, walking along the third row of cherry trees in the J of Hearts, intending to check if there was any wine hidden near the 21st tree in the horizontal row. 

Joe’s voice was still dimly audible from a few curtains of vines away. “Here—see this tree? Hearsay that it’s over twenty years old already. Look, the scar’s still on it. It’s a mark left behind when I was messing around with Manson and Zhao Zemu back then. Hm, how old was I then… ten, thereabout probably. I remember Manson getting hold of a new military dagger and trying it out here.”

After touching on the past, he reminisced in silence for a while, then told Gu Yan, “You know, when I got the news from the hospital this morning, I heard something from the doctor in charge. He said that Manson was exceptionally lucky this time because he was sent to the hospital just in time. If it was even a bit later, it might have been a different story. That night, it actually wasn’t us who thought of calling Manson, but Zhao Zemu who mentioned him and thus reminding us…”

Yan Suizhi walked at a very slow pace, but he eventually walked a distance off from where they originally started. Joe’s voice also gradually faded away.

He stood in place for a moment, before resuming his stride. 

All he had to do was to walk straight to the cherry tree with the small No. 21 iron plate, but when he passed No. 17, he suddenly paused in his steps.

For ten or so seconds, he stood in front of the tree, motionless. Row 3, No. 17. His dark eyes, limpid and gentle, reflected the fairy lights draped on the tree.

This was the anniversary of his parents’ wedding, a date he remembered from his childhood and adolescence as a day that was treated with utmost solemnity every year.

Even now after they were gone, he never forgot the date March 17. Yan Suizhi would always remember to order a rose branch every year, get someone to prepare fertiliser, and plant it in the courtyard of his residence, growing into a rose patch over the past twenty years… 

Perhaps because he could no longer make out Joe’s rambling voice, this section seemed overly quiet. After standing for a while, caught by a strange whim, Yan Suizhi walked to the No. 17 tree, lifting his hand to part the curtain of vines on the wall.

Behind the long vines were the wine storage holes on the estate’s wall, where the guests’ exclusive wines were hidden.

This hole also hid a bottle of wine, which in itself, was not particularly surprising. What was surprising, was the owner of the wine…

In a trance, Yan Suizhi drew out the bottle, and the initials and note on the bottle fell into his field of vision. 

Mr & Mrs L.

Wedding Anniversary.

The year on the bottle was from a distant past of 28 years ago.

It was the year that Yan Suizhi had just turned fifteen. And after that, he was alone. 

He had never expected that someplace or other, without conscious design, he would actually find something related to his parents.

While this could be considered a pleasant surprise, as he held the bottle, gazing at it for a very, very long time, he suddenly felt a little lonely…

Until the Gu Yan’s gentle and calm voice drifted over from nearby, yet also seemingly faraway. “Why are you standing here?”