This was the first time he had said her name.
It was not her full name, Su Xingyu, said in a domineering manner. Instead, it was Xingyu pronounced in an extremely gentle way.
Her eyes turned even sourer, and she could not help but tear up.
Finally, she suppressed the fluttering in her heart and looked up at him with a smile. "I'm depending on you now."
A faint frown appeared between his brows. No, if she relied on him, she would not have forced herself to ask him for a solution. Instead, she should directly get him to resolve the matter. However, some things could not be rushed. After all, they had only been married for a short period of time. Trust was something that had to be nurtured slowly. He would teach her bit by bit.
He put down his teacup and stood up. "Follow me."
She followed him to a secret room near the back garden on the first floor. When she pushed open the door, there was a space of more than two hundred square meters filled with all kinds of spare parts, just like a huge metal ruin. The floor-to-ceiling windows on the entire wall made the lighting in the space appear blurry. Half of it was a faint golden glow, while the other half was a cold silver hidden in the dark shadows. He was standing in this place where light and darkness intersected, like a god descending upon the world.
"Welcome to my domain," he said, looking down at her.
Shocked by this remarkable space, she asked, "Why is there such a place in the house?"
He picked up an unknown metal component. "Didn't you ask me what I do when I'm troubled? It's very simple. Whenever I encounter something difficult to resolve, I'd come here. This room is filled with mechanical parts manufactured by Sharp Edge Group. They are very precise and are the most advanced technology in the world. I'll assemble them like a puzzle."
As he spoke, he walked a few steps amid the devastation. He bent down and picked up another part from the ground, assembling it with the one in his hand. The parts were perfectly pieced together. With a gentle push of his finger, the gears started spinning smoothly. "The process of making a move is also the process of organizing your thoughts. Look, no matter how messy it is, there is a pattern to follow."
As long as he found the pattern, he would be able to find the solution.
She listened to him in a daze. She didn't expect him to have such a special method to solve a problem. There were at least a few thousand spare parts here. Rather, tens of thousands of spare parts. They were probably not even from the same type of machine. How much effort would it take for him to assemble them like a puzzle? No wonder Aunt Gui once said that his hands were nimble. It would be strange if they weren't if he frequently soaked himself in such places.
"Would you like to try?" he asked, handing her the spare parts.
She wasn't confident. "I can't recognize what this is."
"It's part of the periscope," he told her. "The kind you get on a submarine. Want me to teach you how to assemble it?"
She shook her head. "There's no need. I probably won't use any knowledge related to submarines in my life. I can assemble other things, such as…" She was about to say camera. Cameras from Sharp Edge Group were world-famous. She glanced over and saw several parts scattered on the ground. However, just as she spoke, she remembered Lu Shifeng's ban on her and quickly shut her mouth.
But his face still darkened.
"Su Xingyu," he said. "You know I don't like you touching something."
She was a little afraid but seeing that he did not immediately fly into a rage, she became braver. It was better to say some things as soon as possible. "Can you tell me why? There are camera parts here, which prove that you don't usually reject cameras, but you just don't like me touching them. Lu Shifeng, if I did something wrong in the past, I'll apologize to you sincerely, but I don't want to die without knowing why. At least let me know what exactly I did wrong?"
Looking into her clear eyes, his expression was slightly cold.
What did she do wrong?
Two years ago, when she pressed the shutter on the dying Lu Shiyin, everything went wrong.
Lu Shiyin's death was a thorn in his heart. He hated himself for not being able to protect her well. If he could start all over again, he would not allow her to be hurt like that. "Photographers are all cold-blooded animals," he told her indifferently. "Even you will become cold-blooded when you pick up a camera. I don't want my wife to be a cold-blooded animal."
It was indeed the incident two years ago.
She apologized anxiously. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that taking photos can hurt people sometimes. Please…" She wanted to ask him to give her another chance, but when she saw his expression, she wisely stopped.
If he minded this question so much, it was best not to agitate him.
"I'm really sorry," she whispered.
He tilted his head to the side. What was the point of apologizing? The moment she'd lifted the camera, the damage had been done. His sister had been terrified and horrified when she'd faced the camera. All of this could never be undone.
"Then you…" She hesitated for a long time before asking a question that lingered in her heart. "Since you said that I'm cold-blooded, why did you marry me? Two years ago, you hated me so much."
He glanced at her.
The look in his eyes was complicated and unfathomable. Just when she was worried that he wouldn't answer, she heard him say, "You were cold-blooded when you picked up the camera, but when you put it down, you were quite nice."
It was his reason for marrying her.
Two years ago, when she was facing Lu Shiyin, who was on the verge of death, she had put down the camera after taking the photo. She had squatted down and held Lu Shiyin's cold hands tightly. She had ignored the panicked crowd and the gangsters who were slashing everywhere. She accompanied Lu Shiyin until the last moment of her life. She had reached out and gently closed Lu Shiyin's eyes.
Two years ago, Lu Shifeng was blinded by his sister's death in the beginning. That was why he humiliated Su Xingyu heartlessly.
But later on, as he investigated everything that had happened before his sister's death and found out about Su Xingyu's final act of kindness, he understood that he owed this girl. Back then, he wanted to make it up to her and had instructed Xie Yan to take good care of her. If she encountered any trouble that she could not solve, he should help her settle it. Unfortunately, he did not use this instruction ever since.
Even though Xie Yan was responsible for fulfilling this instruction, he still had many important matters to attend to, so he couldn't keep an eye on her all the time. Xie Yan would get his subordinates to report the surveillance situation once a month, and nothing major had happened for the past two years. It wasn't until half a month ago when she bumped into Lu Shifeng that she had been expelled from school, and Qin Mu had broken off their engagement. However, his subordinates didn't have time to deal with these matters.
Lu Shifeng did not like to owe anyone anything.
Coincidentally, his mother urged him to get married, so he decided to marry her.
He thought that she was just an unfavored daughter of the Su family. To be able to marry him was like Cinderella marrying into a wealthy family. She would be able to ascend to the heavens in a single step. No matter how great the favor was, he considered it as his payment. She just had to be his wife, and she could enjoy endless glory and wealth in this lifetime. Why would she be so guarded and fearful? Why were there so many 'whys'?