His Beloved Treasure

”Should I give Dad a call?”

Qin Mingzhu thought and whispered to her.

”That’s a good idea! If you’re willing to call your dad on your own, he’ll definitely be moved.”

Zhang Rujia was also very excited to hear her daughter’s words, as Qin Mingzhu rarely showed such understanding.

Qin Mingzhu immediately called him, but after two rings, an auntie answered the phone.

”Aunt Zhang? Where’s my dad?”

”We have guests at home, he’s in the study talking business and it’s not convenient to answer.”

”Oh! Then please tell my dad I called.”

Qin Mingzhu thought for a moment and instructed the auntie before hanging up.

”Yes, Miss!”

After hanging up the phone, the auntie glanced at the man sitting on the couch reading the newspaper, set down the cell phone, and went back to her chores.

Qin Haiming had no intention of taking the call from the start, which was why he had the auntie tell a little lie.

Qin Mingzhu was his daughter, and he, of course, wouldn’t cast her aside, but the mistake she had made this time was so frightful that he couldn’t easily forgive her. And once he picked up the phone, he could probably guess what Qin Mingzhu would say to him, except those definitely wouldn’t be her true feelings. Having been father and daughter for so many years, he still understood Qin Mingzhu.

Nevertheless, not long after, he called Qin Mu, ”When do you have time to have a meal together?”

”I’m a bit busy recently and probably won’t have time. Is something the matter?”

For some reason, their conversations had gradually become less fraught with hidden barbs. That evening at eight, she stood on her apartment’s balcony talking to him.

”Actually, there’s nothing urgent, I just haven’t seen you for a few days.”

Qin Haiming said softly and then chuckled, ”Then I won’t bother you anymore. When you have time, come back and join me for a meal, will you?”

”Sure!”

Qin Mu lowered her eyes to the silver lamp on the street below and suddenly felt a numb sensation in her heart, but it was the hot kind of numbness.

Not the cold kind!

Huanhuan had taken a bath and was upstairs reading storybooks with Mu Yichen. After she hung up, she glanced upstairs, thinking that Huanhuan should be asleep by now.

He hadn’t come back the previous evening, and tonight, after she had taken Huanhuan home, she heard the sound of him cooking in the kitchen.

The heartless break from the night before wasn’t between them.

Silently, it was like being pricked in the heart.

But...

Qin Mu later nestled on the sofa watching TV, some old Hong Kong police and crime series, though she hadn’t seen them before.

Mm! When she was in Paris, she hardly watched domestic dramas!

Afterwards, Mu Yichen didn’t come downstairs either. The two of them, one above and one below, with such a vast distance between them, it seemed they could no longer feel each other’s hearts.

Qin Mu’s phone rang again, at that moment her eyes were on the TV screen, her mind on Mu Yichen.

It was Liu Jingyuan!

”Hello! CEO Liu!”

”Mm! I’ve shown the design you sent me to my fiancee, and it’s very good!”

Liu Jingyuan stood at the window of a high-end hotel room, gazing into the distance, alone.

”Glad you like it! I’ll find someone to work on it, and it should be done quickly.”

”Thanks for your trouble!”

”You pay, I work, it’s no trouble at all.”

Qin Mu politely kept her distance.

”Okay then, I won’t bother you anymore; I’ll contact you if something comes up.”

”Mmhmm!”

The person on the other end of the phone hung up very calmly. Qin Mu felt that Liu Jingyuan must no longer be the one who had confessed to her under the influence of drugs, and she was no longer the Qin Mu who had just arrived in Rongcheng.

When she hung up the phone, she intended to continue watching TV, but her gaze inadvertently drifted to the man slowly descending the staircase.

He was wearing pajamas, but his long legs were still faintly visible.

His face was expressionless, like his sharply defined contours, so indifferent.

Qin Mu found herself irresistibly staring at him, and he glanced at her too, but only for a moment.

He went to the kitchen!

Qin Mu subconsciously pricked up her ears to listen, but she didn’t hear a thing.

Mu Yichen came back from inside with a glass of red wine, standing behind her as she refocused on the TV drama, one hand in his pocket, the other holding the wine glass, dark eyes also fixed on the TV screen.

This kind of TV show, he used to watch quite a bit when he was young.

Back then, he was crazy about Hong Kong and Taiwanese cop shows, especially the ones with these actors. He almost never missed any of their shows; suddenly, he realized that he too had once been a fan.

Later, Qin Mu heard a soft friction sound, and her heart gave a fierce shudder!

She didn’t know when he had come to stand behind her, nor did she know how long he intended to stay.

Her eyes were on the TV screen, but she could no longer see the subtitles clearly.

The cop show still featured love scenes, seemingly quite intense ones.

When Qin Mu got to that part, she suddenly felt uncomfortable watching because the two people in that scene seemed a bit too intimate.

But the two of them now...

She suddenly stood up and asked without looking at him, ”Aren’t you going to rest?”

Mu Yichen glanced at her briefly as if she wanted to turn around and look at him, but she just tilted her face slightly and continued to walk away.

Mu Yichen looked down, his agile eyes fixated on the red liquid in the glass. Then he lifted the glass to his lips, paused briefly, and drank it down in one gulp.

Aren’t you going to rest?

Of course, it’s time to rest!

The TV was still on. After finishing his drink, he walked over to the sofa, placed the glass on the coffee table, and stood there watching the scene unfold.

Turn off the TV, go upstairs!

After Qin Mu went upstairs, she took her pajamas and went to take a shower!

She had thought she might have to sleep on the couch tonight, but after Mu Yichen stood over there for a while, she couldn’t stay still and then returned upstairs.

In their current situation, after he had said he no longer loved her, were they still supposed to sleep in the same bed?

In her heart, Qin Mu was somewhat unsettled; she longed for separation and yet desired for him to sleep in the same bed with her.

Hadn’t they just returned to sleeping together?

Back then, the idea was that perhaps love was not necessary, was it?

Both getting what they wanted from each other’s bodies, wasn’t that good enough?

So, what about now?

This evening, should they still lie together?

After her shower, if he was lying on the bed, would she go straight to bed and lie down, or should she say something?

Or maybe...

What if he hadn’t come upstairs yet? Then she could comfortably lie in bed. Once in bed, she could pretend to be asleep, and then, she could get through the night with ease!

But...