Rose Manor

The New Year's Eve dinner starts at 7:30 p.m., and the Spring Festival Gala hasn't started yet.

Cheng Jin's craftsmanship is incredible. She cooks all the chicken, duck, fish and shrimp by herself. Each dish has a unique and delicious taste.

Shen Jia Nian had a hearty meal at Pei's house at noon, but she was not very hungry. In order to live up to Cheng Jin's busy afternoon, she ate a lot of vegetables and drank a bowl of rice dumplings made with rice wine.

She felt like her belly was about to burst.

Before the New Year's Eve dinner was finished, the Spring Festival Gala started. The TV in the living room was turned up so loud that it could be heard clearly in the dining room.

There were only a few cats and dogs watching TV.

Jixiang, who was brought over by Shen Jia Nian, was sitting alone on the back of the sofa, looking condescendingly at the ones below, with the aura of dominating the mountain.

At half past eight, Shen Jianian helped Aunt Cheng clear away the leftovers on the dining table.

Her hand was injured, and Aunt Cheng repeatedly told her to put it down.

Fu Jichen simply pulled Shen Jiannian to the living room. She didn't want to sit still, so she suggested to Fu Jichen that she go out for a walk to digest food, otherwise she would feel upset to her stomach due to the accumulation of food at night.

"Aren't you afraid of the cold?" Fu Jichen looked outside. The snow that fell in the evening had now accumulated a thick layer.

"Just wear more clothes."

Fu Jichen asked her to wait. He went upstairs to the cloakroom and found the thickest down jacket, which was almost equivalent to a quilt. He wrapped it around Shen Jianian and put a scarf and hat on her.

She didn't wear the white leather boots she wore during the day, but thick snow boots.

When I opened the door, the wind blew snowflakes on my face, making it feel cold.

Fu Jichen was as usual, wearing a black coat over a cashmere sweater, which made him look serious and cold, but his eyebrows were soft. He held Shen Jianian's hand and walked through the yard and out of the villa.

After the ban on burning fireworks, New Year's Eve was very quiet. Walking on the road, I could only hear the sound of wind blowing branches, and occasionally a car passed by, leisurely.

The snow boots on Shen Jianian's feet were waterproof. She stepped into the clean, unpolluted snow and left a deep footprint.

She said: "Fu Jichen, I will draw a flower for you."

She let go of his hand, kept her heels still, turned her toes, and drew a six-petal plum blossom for him with her footprints.

Under the street lamp, Fu Jichen put his hands into his coat pocket. The light was bright and his eyes were full of smiles.

Shen Jianian stomped the snow on his feet and took the initiative to hold his hand. The two of them walked in the silent snowy night, without destination, as if they could go to the end of the world.

Suddenly, Fu Jichen stumbled on his feet and almost slipped. Shen Jia Nian, who was held by him, tilted to the side. He groaned, and severe pain came from his left leg. Cold sweat broke out in his palms, and his forehead also suddenly broke out. A layer of sweat oozed out, and when the cold wind blew, his whole body became cold.

The pain in my left leg has become more frequent recently. I wonder if it is related to the weather.

This winter seems to be exceptionally cold, with more snow than usual.

Shen Jia Nian steadied her body and suddenly felt a slippery hand. It was the sweat in Fu Jichen's palm. It was like fishing it out of the water. She used the street light to look at his legs: "Are you okay? Is your foot sprained?" "

"No." Fu Jichen clenched his molar teeth tightly, and the two words squeezed out from the gaps between his teeth.

Shen Jianian looked up and saw that his face looked very bad and abnormally white: "Let's go back."

She took his arm and walked back.

Fu Jichen tried to control the unnaturalness of his left leg when walking, not wanting Shen Jianian to notice anything abnormal, but the pain was uncontrollable. After walking a few steps, his legs were shaking with pain.

If one looked from behind, one would notice that his leg was lame.

When the two returned home, Fu Jichen fell on the sofa. His temples were wet, his back was wet, and his gray cashmere sweater was soaked black with sweat.

Shen Jia Nian's eyebrows were knotted: "Are you really okay? Don't show off..."

Fu Jichen pulled her to sit next to him, put his arms around her, and sunk his body into the back of the sofa. The pain did not ease much. His throat rolled up and down, and cold sweat trickled down his neck and into his collar.

Cheng Jin cut a plate of fruit and brought it out from the kitchen. He saw the two people in the living room: "You are back." When he got closer, he realized that Fu Jichen was in a bad state, "Sir, what's wrong?"

Shen Jia Nian didn't know either. It was said that his feet slipped and he didn't fall, so it wouldn't be very painful.

"It's okay." Fu Jichen's voice was hoarse.

Shen Jia Nian thought for a while and then made it clear to Cheng Jin: "When we were walking, his foot slipped and that was it."

Cheng Jin knew that Fu Jichen's leg was injured. It happened in Yicheng. She didn't know the details. After the operation, he returned to Beicheng. Because of his busy work, he didn't get much rest. During that time, he had to go out. Be it with a cane or a wheelchair.

"Could it be..." Cheng Jin wanted to say whether the sequelae had recurred. "Aunt Cheng." Fu Jichen interrupted her. He looked at Shen Jia Nian, the corners of his tightened mouth curled up, and he said the same words, "I'm fine."

Shen Jianian: "Then I'll help you go upstairs and rest for a while. If it doesn't work, go to the hospital for a check-up."

Fu Jichen did not refuse and let her help him into the elevator.

Cheng Jin still held the fruit plate in his hand, looked at the backs of the two people, and sighed.

*

Fu Jichen took a bath, put on his pajamas and lay on the bed. The pain continued, and the sweat on his forehead had just been washed away and another layer appeared.

Shen Jia Nian wet the towel and sat by the bed to wipe Fu Jichen's sweat. She was not a fool. Fu Jichen was hiding something from her. Just now in the living room, he stopped Cheng Jin from finishing his words, and she realized something was wrong.

Everyone has a secret, and since Fu Jichen doesn't want to tell it, she won't ask.

But she knew he was in pain now.

The way he looks like this is a sign of pain and cannot be deceived.

Shen Jianian was holding a towel in his hand. He didn't know how to deal with this situation. He hesitated to speak: "Where...do you feel pain? Maybe it will be better if you apply an ice pack."

Fu Jichen could see her concern for him in her eyes. This was obviously what he expected most, but he couldn't be happy. He reached out a hand from the quilt, held her hand and rubbed it twice, and said vaguely: "It's an old problem. I'll just bear with it for a while. Don't worry."

Shen Jianian frowned. Ice compresses were useless if the problem persisted. He had to use hot compresses.

"You wait."

She went to the bathroom and ran hot water for a long time until the water became scalding hot. She dipped the towel into the steaming water and slowly wrung it out. Her hands were red from the heat.

She handed the towel to Fu Jichen: "Apply the hot towel to the painful area, it should relieve some pain."

"You have injuries on your hands, so don't touch them with water." Fu Jichen reminded her.

"It's just a small wound, it's almost scabbed over."

Fu Jichen sighed in his heart. Even if he wanted to hide it, he probably wouldn't be able to hide it from her for long. He opened the quilt and sat up, rolling up his left trouser leg.

There was a scar on her calf. Shen Jia Nian saw it. It was a scar left after the surgical suturing wound healed. She was familiar with it.

Shen Jianian still didn't ask, and silently put the hot towel on his legs. His face had not yet recovered, and was so pale that he was a little fragile. This was a vulnerability he had never shown in front of outsiders.

"Were you in a lot of pain at that time?" Fu Jichen's voice was trembling a little, whether it was from pain or sadness.

His injury occasionally hurt and he couldn't do anything. After her car accident, she had so many injuries, how painful it must be. Broken bones, facial cuts, intracranial bleeding, and children…

Before he decided to pursue her again, he thought of the words in the medical record report countless times, and he felt that he was not worthy of appearing in her world anymore.

He spent a month and was convinced that he could not let her go. He tried to convince himself to change his mentality of "having no face to face her" and to treat her twice as well in the future and spend the rest of his life to make up for it.

However, some things cannot be made up for. No matter how good he is to her, the hurt she has suffered cannot be erased.

Fu Jichen's question was so confusing that Shen Jia Nian understood it right away. He was referring to the injury she sustained in the car accident. Did it hurt?

Before she could answer, Fu Jichen suddenly laughed at himself: "I'm so stupid, how could it not hurt? It should be very painful."

This was the first time that Shen Jianian heard Fu Jichen say that he was stupid. He, a person who was confident in everything he did, actually felt that he was stupid sometimes.

Fu Jichen held her shoulders and pulled her into his arms. The hot towel on her legs fell off, but he didn't care.

"It's all my fault." He said it once, but it wasn't enough. He kept repeating, "It's my fault, I'm sorry..."

Shen Jianian's heart clenched. Listening to his apology, she didn't know why she shed tears and felt aggrieved.

Maybe it was another soul in his body that was causing trouble, the Shen Jianian who used to love him.

She secretly wiped away her tears and withdrew from his arms: "Do you want to apply it on your legs?" She looked down and saw that the towel had fallen off, so she quickly picked it up. Fortunately, the sheets were not wet.

She went to the bathroom again, soaked the towel with hot water, and applied it to his legs: "Stop moving around."

Shen Jianian's eyes were a little red, and he didn't want to be seen. He lowered his head and poked his chin between the two collarbones. Suddenly he noticed that the hem of Fu Jichen's pajamas lifted up, revealing his well-structured abdomen. There was also a scar on his abdomen, which was bigger than the one on his legs. The scar is shorter.

The same width as a fruit knife.

She was a little curious and completely forgot about her shyness. She pointed at the sudden scar on his fair skin and asked, "How did you get this scar?"