Qin Lou didn't react and froze in place.
The butler came back to his senses first, coughed lightly and cleared his throat, then turned his face away as if nothing had happened.
By the time Qin Lou came to his senses, Song Shu had already landed on his heels. He let go of his hand and walked around him as if nothing had happened, ready to stroll forward.
Qin Lou naturally refused. He pulled her back without even thinking about it, and the wolf nature that had been suppressed for a long time in the depths of his dark eyes peeled off the covering shell, staring gloomily at the expressionless girl.
Song Shu quietly let him hold it. When Qin Lou lowered his eyelashes slightly, the light in his eyes became darker and darker, and his slightly burning breath came closer, she blinked slowly.
"Qin Lou."
“…” Qin Lou paused.
"What do you want to do?"
“…” Qin Lou’s eyes froze.
After a few seconds, he took a half step back in annoyance, his slightly red face turned away, and his expression showed a rare hint of embarrassment like that of a teenager back then: "... It was obviously you who seduced me first."
"That's a punishment," Song Shu corrected calmly, "and you just thought too much."
"Oh?" Qin Lou took a few seconds to regain his composure. Hearing this, he twitched his eyelids and asked with ill intentions, "Do you know what I was thinking just now?"
After Song Shu finished speaking, she realized that she had dug a hole for herself. She did not try to hide it, but calmly pretended that she had said nothing and heard nothing. She turned around and walked behind the housekeeper.
"Let's move on."
The butler smiled and pretended to have just grown ears, "Okay, Miss."
"… "
Qin Lou followed with a gloomy and resentful look in his eyes. While the housekeeper was not paying attention, he walked to Song Shu's side, lowered his upper body, and whispered in her ear threateningly:
"If you press me too hard, you will be the one who suffers in the end, little clam."
“… … ”
Song Shu walked out as if she had not heard anything. But when looking at her from behind, her fine white earlobes were unconsciously stained with a little bit of bright powder.
After walking around the courtyard of the old house, the housekeeper led the two into the main building.
"The main building was renovated a few years ago, and many of the layouts and rooms have been changed." The butler walked in front and introduced them one by one. Behind him, Qin Lou and Song Shu entered from the main entrance.
The servants in the hall stopped what they were doing and greeted them, and the three of them walked through the main hall.
After looking around the first floor, the butler stopped at the stairs and said, "The second floor is still a study and bedroom, no other changes have been made. As for the third floor..." The butler looked at Qin Lou and bowed slightly, "Everything on the third floor is arranged according to what the young master said, and no one usually goes up there."
Qin Lou nodded, "Let us take care of the rest ourselves. You don't have to follow us."
"Then I'll go down and prepare dinner for you two."
"Um."
After the housekeeper turned around and left, Song Shu looked up at Qin Lou and asked, "What did you arrange on the third floor?"
Qin Lou shook his body and stretched out his hand to Song Shu, "I thought you wouldn't be curious at all."
"… "
Song Shu stopped at the bottom of the stairs for two seconds, but still put her hand on it. Then she took a step and followed Qin Lou up the stairs.
Qin Lou took her up to the second floor.
Song Shu could still recall the familiar layout of the bedrooms along the corridor. As she followed Qin Lou through door after door, all the memories of the past that she thought had long been blurred came flooding back.
Song Shuqing couldn't help but slow down his pace.
Until Qin Lou took her to a door in the middle of the corridor.
"This is..." Song Shu searched through his memory, then looked at the double doors with ancient patterns in front of him with some uncertainty, "Study room?"
"Um."
Qin Lou nodded and stretched out his hand to push it open.
The room was dark, the curtains were drawn, and the watery moonlight poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows to the end of the house.
The rest is hidden in darkness.
Qin Lou turned on the touch light switch next to the door, and the darkness in front of him was suddenly torn apart by the light.
Looking at the arrangement in front of him, Song Shu was stunned.
Unlike the somewhat majestic study in her memory, this one was redecorated according to another place—another house of the Qin family where Song Shu and Qin Lou once lived alone. The study there was a place exclusive to the two of them.
Half of it was filled with tall bookshelves, piled with all kinds of heavy, large-brick mathematics books in various languages from ancient and modern times, both Chinese and foreign; the other half was arranged like a studio, with rolled-up scrolls stacked on the easels, and a few paintings framed in beautiful frames, hung on the wall or leaning against the corner.
Song Shu stood outside the door, looking at the study room that looked exactly like the room she had in the past. She could almost clearly recall every moment she and Qin Lou had spent in it.
Sometimes she was drawing while he was leaning against the bookshelf holding a heavy book; the tip of the pen made a rustling sound on the drawing paper and the pages of the book passed through the air, and the two sounds intertwined together, like some soothing music.
Sometimes he would sit at the desk by the window, swinging his long legs and looking at the scenery outside the floor-to-ceiling window. Although there were only so many things to see and there was no change in spring, summer, autumn and winter, when he liked, Song Shu would be by his side, listening to him talk about what history of mathematics he had read that day, and occasionally frowning and criticizing in a contemptuous tone how obscure or stupid a certain argument in the book was.
Most of the time, Song Shu sat in front of the drawing board and painted, while Qin Lou stood beside her.
The craziest and most untouchable little lunatic in the family is always exceptionally quiet at times like this. He doesn't say a word, just stands there holding the drawing paper for her, or sharpening pencils with so-and-so h's and so-and-so b's that he always feels there's no difference when he draws them.
At such times, the study is always quiet and no sound can be heard, but in such a small study, or even in front of that small drawing board, it seems that there is a complete world hidden, and all the beautiful sounds are there.
So there is no need to say anything, there is no need to open your mouth, he and she can hear everything.
Song Shu slowly lowered his slightly trembling eyelashes.
After a while, she raised the corners of her mouth slightly and smiled faintly, "It's all your fault."
Qin Lou looked back and said, "Why blame me?"
"I was holding it in the whole time." Song Shu said softly, "Ever since I started on the road back home, I've been thinking that I must manage my expression well today and not let you see anything unusual. Otherwise, if I'm sad, you'll be sad too, and if you're sad, I'll be even sadder - this won't be good for either of us."
Qin Lou couldn't help but waver when he heard the words. When Song Shu finished speaking, he lowered his eyes to hide his emotions. "So it's a failure now?"
"What do you think?" Song Shu turned to look at him, "Didn't we fail even before we entered the courtyard?"
"… "
"What's more, you deliberately did this to me at this time."
Hearing a hint of resentment in Song Shu's tone, Qin Lou couldn't help but burst out laughing.
He reached out and hooked the girl's hand, leading her towards the study room on the other side of the studio.
"I never dared to come back here before, nor did I dare to go back to that house. Even if all the buildings and rooms were demolished and rebuilt, and all traces were erased, I would still suddenly remember what this place looked like when you were still by my side in any room."
"It wasn't until you really came back that I dared to have this place decorated as it is now according to what I remembered."
Qin Lou pulled Song Shu to the center of this half of the room, where there was a drawing board with snow-white drawing paper spread out neatly.
Further to the side, an easel was placed with sharpened pencils and other drawing tools arranged by model.
Qin Lou let go of her hand and put his hand on the girl's shoulders. He brought her to the drawing board and sat her on the chair.
Then Qin Lou withdrew his hand. He looked at the drawing board and Song Shu who was sitting in front of it, lowered his eyes slightly and smiled.
"I have dreamt of this scene too many times. Every time I dreamt of it, I couldn't help but run towards you sitting on the chair - but I kept running and running, and the further I ran away from you. Even if I finally ran in front of you one day, as soon as I reached out and touched you, you would disappear."
"… "
Song Shu's heart trembled when she heard this, and she looked up at the man standing in front of her.
"Qinlou—"
"I'm not mentioning this to make you sad." Qin Lou said suddenly.
He leaned down and put his forehead against the girl's. Qin Lou's eyelids were slightly lowered, and he spoke in a low voice with a slightly hoarse smile:
“You know, little clam, I have always been a lunatic, and I will never consider the consequences or even resort to any means necessary. I am showing you all this for no other reason than to tell you how obsessed I am with you. I also want you to know after seeing this that now that you have come back, I will never let you go anywhere again. What’s more, I will never give us the chance to separate like we did back then… No matter what happens again, even if someone dies one day, I will definitely be by your side.”
Song Shu shook her head after hearing this. She said softly, "You know there's no need to do this. There's nothing in this world that would make me leave you."
"No, I don't know."
Qin Lou said in a hoarse voice, as if laughing at himself.
"I used to think I knew, until reality slapped me in the face. I will never forget the price I paid for that pride. So from that day on, I was uncertain about everything. I didn't know what would happen in the future. The only thing I could do was to draw a cage next to me. I could give you anything, but it could only be in that cage next to me. I know you want to rescue me from there. I may be a lunatic, little clam, but I just don't want to go out. I just want to pull you in. I just want this cage to contain the two of us. We should sleep together in life and die in the same grave. After a hundred years, our bones should be buried together. Even if our ashes are mixed together after a thousand or ten thousand years, that way, no one will leave for a lifetime or several lifetimes. That would be best."
Song Shu was stunned when he heard this.
After a long time, she slowly nodded her head, and gently put her arms around Qin Lou, "Okay, I'll listen to you."
She put her forehead against Qin Lou's, watching him get closer and closer, their breath entangled with each other, slowly tearing and entangled.
In those gaps, she laughed softly.
"If it's what you want, then it's best."
When we open our eyes for the first time in this world, everyone is a newcomer.
Life lasts for no more than a hundred years, and no one can see the longer-term future, so no one can dictate what a person's life will be like.
In this world that belongs to us alone, no one can hurt anyone except each other.
Then there is no right, no wrong—
If this is what you want, then this is what I want.
"If you are afraid," she hugged him tightly, "then lock me next to you."
Qin Lou spoke in a hoarse, low voice, as if he was half crying and half laughing.
"good."
At dinner time, two "uninvited guests" came to the old house.
Hearing what the housekeeper said, Qin Lou, who had already gone downstairs with Song Shu, frowned and turned around, "Who's coming?"
The housekeeper could see that the young master had been through something upstairs this time. The corners of his eyes were slightly red on his cold white complexion, and the light in his pupils was gloomy and icy, making him look like someone who was not easy to mess with.
He could only light a candle for the two people in his mind, and then answered truthfully: "It was Song Ruyu and Song Shuai, brother and sister. They probably heard that you, the young master, moved back to the old house, so they rushed over here. Song Shuai said that..."
The old housekeeper looked up at Song Shu and said, "Ruyu was ignorant and offended someone before, so I came here specially to apologize to Miss Song."
Qin Lou lowered his eyes, "They will choose a time to come."
"… "
The housekeeper thought to himself, isn't that right? The timing of this trip makes it difficult to apologize and it's more like walking into a trap.
But he just waited quietly, without saying a word or interrupting.
Qin Lou turned to Song Shu and said, "Do you want to see him? If not, forget it. I'll let them go back."
Song Shu thought about it and didn't rush to answer. Instead, he turned his head to look at the housekeeper standing beside him, "When did they call?"
The butler glanced at his watch and replied, "About half an hour ago. The young master and young lady didn't come downstairs, so we didn't dare to disturb them."
"Then it should be here soon?"
"According to the distance, it's almost there."
"Then let's meet." Song Shu's gaze fell back on Qin Lou, "So as to avoid further trouble."
Qin Lou snorted and laughed, "Song Ruyu deserves to be tossed around. If she's not disciplined a few times, she won't learn her lesson."
Having said that, Song Shu nodded and Qin Lou followed her.
Ten minutes later, Song Shuai and Song Ruyu arrived at the Qin family's old house together.
The housekeeper heard the news and went out to greet the two. No matter how wrong their mother was, the housekeeper sympathized with them as they were the blood of the Qin family. Before entering the main building, he lowered his voice and instructed:
"Master Qin Lou is in a bad mood tonight, so be careful with your words.
“…!”
As soon as these words came out, Song Ruyu's face turned pale. She reached out and grabbed Song Shuai's sleeve, "How about... how about we come back another day?"
Song Shuai had no way to deal with his sister, so he asked helplessly, "Let's not talk about the price of standing up for me at this moment. Even if we come back another day, can you make sure he will be in a good mood?"
Song Ruyu's face became even uglier.
Song Shuai was also having a headache. "Since you are so afraid of him and know that he is not easy to mess with, why do you mess with Song Shu? Don't you know that he is the apple of his eye and he will go crazy if someone looks at him for a second longer?"
Song Ruyu wanted to cry but had no tears. "How did I know that Qin Qing was Song Shu? I thought Qin Qing was just an assistant who was used as a stand-in, and she was so arrogant in front of me... I just wanted to teach her a lesson."
"Since you were little, you have been looking for an opportunity to teach Song Shu a lesson, but you have been taught a lesson by her all your life. Why don't you learn from your mistakes?"
"… Song Shuai! Do you still consider me your sister?"
Song Shuai rolled his eyes, "If I didn't treat you as me, would I risk my life to accompany you to such a dangerous place? Do you still remember what wrong things our mother did? We are lucky that our cousin didn't turn us into fertilizer. I am really risking my life to accompany you at this moment."
Song Ruyu knew that Song Shuai was telling the truth, and couldn't help but frown, "Then my cousin will punish me later, remember to say a few good words for me..."
"I'll see what the situation is. Anyway, just don't be stupid and provoke Song Shu again."
Song Ruyu had a sad expression on her face. "How could I dare to do that? If I had known she was Song Shu, I would have saved myself the trouble of returning home."
"… "
The two followed the butler and finally entered the restaurant in the main building.
There were only two people at the table—
Song Shu sat in the main seat, Qin Lou stood beside her, playing with something in his hands.
Hearing the noise, Qin Lou raised his eyes lazily. His hand stopped and he smiled coldly.
"Are you here?"
“—”
When Song Ruyu saw the sixth-order Rubik's Cube that Qin Lou was holding, her eyes went dark and she almost fainted on the spot.
The author has something to say: Sixth-order Rubik's Cube: Psychological shadows of all members.jpg
There will be two more in the afternoon