The man's hands were very good-looking. They were well-defined and oddly made people think that it would definitely feel very warm and fuzzy if their hand were to be held by this big hand.
As they got closer, Song Qingcheng caught a faint whiff of tobacco.
She caught the book, her clean and slightly pink fingertips coincidentally stopping beside the man's slender fingers. At the same time, she looked up at his handsome and mature features and smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Yu."
"What did the doctor say about the wound on your hand?" Yu Tingchuan withdrew his hand and looked at her left hand.
The man's tone was quite flat, but it did nothing to hide the pleasantness of his voice.
Song Qingcheng lowered her eyes slightly and looked at her injured hand as if she was responding to something. Her slender fingers moved like she was playing the piano. This action was somewhat childlike. "The doctor said that there are no signs of poisoning. Three days of treatment with disinfectant and cotton swabs. All will be fine after the second and third vaccinations."
He said, "If there's any problem, call Xu Dong."
Song Qingcheng smiled. "Okay."
"Is Jingjing still upstairs?" Yu Tingchuan asked.
"Yeah, but she should be down here soon."
Yu Tingchuan nodded and stood up. He turned his head and saw that the girl was holding three thick reference books with her injured hand. He reached out to take them from her, but the girl rejected his good intentions. "It's okay, I can handle them."
"…" Yu Tingchuan couldn't help but sized her up.
She wore a short-sleeved white cotton T-shirt with prints, and her light blue ripped jeans were rolled up into a pair of three-quarter pants, revealing her fair and delicate ankles. On her feet was a very ordinary pair of sneakers. Unlike Yu Jing's branded clothes, her outfit was very common. Perhaps because she was naturally fair-skinned, one couldn't tell that she was older than a high school student.
However, when she smiled, the corners of her lips curved upwards, and there was a unique charm in her beautiful eyes.
Just then, Yu Jing came down the stairs noisily.
Yu Tingchuan shifted his gaze away from the girl and did not say anything else.
When Yu Jing saw her uncle downstairs, she thought to herself that she had the foresight to not have bought the novel. Compared to her parents, she was more in awe of this uncle who was usually a man of few words. She felt that she would not be able to lie to him. To prevent Yu Tingchuan from interrogating her about what she was doing upstairs, she quickly pulled Song Qingcheng to the cashier to settle the bill.
"Whew. What a close shave." As she paid, Yu Jing patted her own chest, looking like she was still in shock.
Song Qingcheng turned her head slightly and glanced at Yu Tingchuan from the corner of her eye. Coincidentally, she saw that he had taken a call and subsequently turned to walk out of the bookstore.
Yu Jing said, "If my second uncle finds out that I'm reading novels, he'll definitely tell my mom."
"He doesn't seem like someone who would carry tales," Song Qingcheng continued.
Yu Jing shrugged her shoulders and picked up the bag filled with books. She held Song Qingcheng's arm affectionately and said, "Since I was nine years old, my mom spent most of her time in the hospital taking care of my dad. I might not even see her when I go home on the weekends, but more than once, I've heard her asking Second Uncle to watch over me."
Yu Jing's father—Yu Qidong, the eldest son of the Yu family and the former head of Hengyuan—was in a coma after a car accident eight years ago.
In less than half a year, the second son of the Yu family faced a crisis in his marriage.
A year later, they officially filed for divorce.
The Yu family was considered an influential family in South City, but even the tabloids were not very clear about the Yu family's situation. They only knew that Hengyuan Group was founded by Yu Tingchuan's father, Yu Linjiang, in Hong Kong. After the reform and opening up, they slowly shifted the focus of the market to the Mainland. Yu Linjiang's father, Elder Yu, was a minister who had retired from the central government.
The pedigree of the Yu family was extensive. Even Yu Jing, as a member of the main lineage, might not be able to figure it out.
…
The car engine was turned off at the foot of the dormitory building; the rain outside had also ceased.
Returning to school during the weekend, many students could be seen walking around the campus. They were either carrying school bags or holding hot water bottles.
Although Yu Jing was in the same class as Song Qingcheng, they did not stay in the same building.
After getting out of the car, Song Qingcheng took out her trolley case from the trunk.
"Your hand is injured. Let my second uncle help you take it upstairs," Yu Jing said.
"No, it's alright. They're all summer clothes. It's not heavy."
The car door swung open just as Song Qingcheng had finished speaking. Yu Tingchuan got out of the car as well. The man was elegant, mature, and restrained. He was like a charming sight on the campus.
Yu Jing asked, "Second Uncle, will you take Qingcheng's trolley case upstairs?"
Without waiting for Yu Tingchuan to reply, Song Qingcheng said, "There's really no need. I can handle it myself. Thank you, Yu Jing, for today. I still have something to attend to later so I'll take my leave now." Then, she turned to say goodbye to Yu Tingchuan. "Goodbye, Mr. Yu."
Yu Tingchuan nodded.
Song Qingcheng dragged her trolley case towards dormitory number three.
As she walked among the students, her back view was beautiful. She looked no different from other people, but she could be singled out in an instant.
…
Yu Jing ran into her roommate and said goodbye to her second uncle.
Yu Tingchuan did not leave immediately. He looked at dormitory number three in front of him. Song Qingcheng had already disappeared from the entrance.
He lit a cigarette and leaned against the car to smoke quietly.
Just as he puffed out the first smoke ring, Song Qingcheng's figure appeared in his line of sight. She was holding a medium-sized luggage bag in front of the window on the second floor. It wasn't too strenuous, but it was a little burdensome. She lowered her head slightly as a strand of hair had slipped down her sideburns. She quickly disappeared around a bend on the second floor. Not long after, she appeared in front of the window on the third floor again.
On the way, a few girls went downstairs. She stood quietly by the side and didn't push her way through, waiting for the corridor to be empty before continuing her way up.
She did not appear again at the window on the fifth floor.
Yu Tingchuan finished his cigarette, stubbed it out, and threw it into the bin beside the road.
Just as he got into the car, he received a call from the company.
After giving a few simple instructions, Yu Tingchuan hung up the phone and tossed it onto the passenger seat. He was about to start the car when he noticed a flash of color in the rearview mirror. He turned around and saw a white umbrella with daisies printed on it, lying quietly on the right footrest.