"You didn’t have to personally deliver it to me, but thank you for doing so." Zhao Lifei warmly replied, leaning up to present him with a small kiss on his cheek. He was frozen with shock. He purposely didn’t do anything to her in fear that she was still worried about public displays of affection. Seeing how she didn’t seem to care anymore, he relaxed. His index finger curled under her chin, grabbing it with his thumb. He leaned low, his breath fanning over her ears. In a low, seductive voice that only they could hear, he whispered, "Why don’t you thank me in another way?"

"I thought you said you didn’t want to hurt the baby?" She replied in an equally quiet voice, staring at him with accusations. His lips tilted upwards into a wolfish-smirk that did wild things to her lower stomach. "Did I now?" His hands traveled to her sides, squeezing it, "You must’ve misheard me, my dear wife."

"Hmm, I’m pretty sure you also said we shouldn’t do any strenuous activities." Zhao Lifei teased, purposely biting her bottom lip. She inwardly smirked in triumph when he wasted no time to stare at the small action before tearing his eyes away from her mouth.

"Don’t worry, there are other activities we can do that aren’t strenuous..." Yang Feng responded, curling a finger and touching her cheek. "For example—"

"President, I hate to interrupt this moment, but the meeting with the Board of Directors will begin in fifteen minutes. It’s best for us to head back now."

Yang Feng debated the idea of slashing Chen Gaonan’s salary by half. He was so close to convincing his wife and the damn secretary just had to ruin the moment.

Chen Gaonan resisted the urge to sneeze. Was someone thinking about him?

"You have such an important meeting coming up?! I’m sorry, I didn’t know." Zhao Lifei pushed him away from her, waving her hands at him and shooing him away. "Go on, don’t let me distract you."

Yang Feng gloomily scowled at her words. "You are never a distraction in my eyes." He sternly told her, grabbing her hand and brushing his thumb upon her knuckles. He stared at her as if he was departing on a long journey to the Pacific and that he may never return. All he needed was a boat and his wife waving a handkerchief at him.

"Well then, please return to your office and continue to increase your income." Zhao Lifei chuckled, squeezing his hand before taking her hand back.

He sighed at her words, "It’s not like you’ll use the income anyway." He sullenly said, grabbing her by the back of her head and tenderly kissing her on the cheek, his lips lingering for the briefest second. She touched her face, momentarily distracted by him while he disappeared out of the door, but not before taking one last glance at her. She realized he was beginning to have a habit of doing that, as if he was memorizing her features, etching them into his brain as a permanent painting. He was, yet again, terrified of losing her.

- - - - -

After thoroughly convincing, Zhao Lifei was finally able to push both Li Xuan and Wu Yuntai out of the hospital room, so that they could get some food. She didn’t know they hadn’t eaten the entire day while worrying about their President’s condition. She needed them to be in their best condition, especially during a time like this. Thus, she kicked them both out and demanded them to come back two hours later.

Now that she was alone in the room, she immediately wished she didn’t encourage both of them to leave at the same time. She didn’t know how to react or behave. What was she supposed to do? Sit there and wait for him to wake up?

"You know, grandfather." She said, sitting by his bedside. "All I wanted was for you to admit your wrongdoings."

Zhao Lifei raised her head to glance out of the window. "I didn’t expect an apology from you, nor did I want one. It’s out of your nature to give me such a thing. But at the least, I expected you to admit this plan didn’t go as expected. I didn’t need an explanation." She pulled the blanket up to his chin and ensured the temperature was to his liking.

"I know you care about me... Your heart was in the right place, but your head was not." She didn’t understand why she was saying this when he was unconscious. It wasn’t like he could hear her. Nonetheless, it brought her a sense of reassurance and encouraged her to speak more, "I resented you, so much so, that I allowed my soul to be tainted black. I spent so many nights at the military, wondering why you never came to my aid."

"I guess I had forgotten you wanted to teach me how to stand on my own two feet. I know you wanted me to pick myself up from the ground, as I should have done a long time ago."

Zhao Lifei could still distinctly remember falling onto her knees where the only thing that was scraped was her leggings. She wasn’t visibly hurt and nothing was hurting her. However, she was a needy kid, deprived of parental love, so she had to seek it in the form of Zhao Moyao’s attention. He was walking right beside her and refused to help her stand up. She cried her lungs out until he finally relented, picked her up, wiped her tears away, then reprimanded her for the tantrum. He told her he had hoped she would understand the importance of standing up by herself.

"It must’ve been tough attempting to raise me without any experience." All of Zhao Moyao’s children were passed to the nannies’ care and when they outgrew them, he passed them along to private tutors. The Great Monarch did not lower himself for the sake of children. He didn’t think he needed to until he met Zhao Lifei who clambered to him without hesitation.

"You watched me grow, break down, whither away, then grow a bit more, and learn to water myself." She felt cheesy for using such a simple analogy, "But I just wished you would’ve told me why you did it. Why you stood by the sidelines instead of offering your usual helping-hand. Maybe then, I wouldn’t have resented you that much."

Zhao Lifei played with the ring dangling off her necklace, her fingers stroking over the fine details. "I can never forgive you for what you have done, but I know you do not expect forgiveness."

Zhao Lifei sat in comfortable silence, staring at the setting sun. The sky was painted in a beautiful hue of sunbathed orange, rosy pink, and lavender purple with tinges of tiffany blue. The white specks of stretched clouds made it a very picturesque scenery.

"Everyone deserves a second chance. You were the one who unintentionally taught me that by helping me search for ways of redemption. I truly appreciate what you have done for me and I know forgiveness will be a long stretch. But I suppose you can say we’re even now, in terms of favors."

Checking the time, she slowly rose to her feet. She adjusted his pillows, refilled the water in the humidifier, double-checked the temperature, then analyzed the stats on the machine. After her work was done, she timidly slipped away from the bed.

"Sleep well, grandfather..." She opened the door and flickered off the light directly on top of his bed. The rest of the lights were turned on, but she wanted him to rest at ease. She was going to close the door, but then stood by it for a few seconds and finally said, "I will be back tomorrow." Then she left.

Haggard eyes, weighed with bags fluttered open and close. A dry, heaving voice breathed out, "They...were...never...favors." A finger twitched, rough and deep breathing for air could be heard. His head slowly rolled to the side where Zhao Lifei had previously stood. "Xiao Fei... Don’t fly away... from the nest... so quickly." [1]

Then he slipped back into the abyss of black, his taunt body finally relaxing. Slowly, but surely, his body eased into a comfortable sleep.

- - - - -

Stepping out of the elevator, Zhao Lifei was surprised to bump into her cousins all together. Zhao Xingxing was accompanied by Zhao Jing, which wasn’t a surprise to her, considering that both of them had been close ever since they were children.

"Lifei, I didn’t expect to see you here so late." Zhao Xingxing was as elegantly composed as Zhao Lifei had last-remembered this woman to be. Fairy-like features, delicate shoulders, demure posture, and long, slender legs which could stretch for miles, and excelling height enhanced by the moderately-tall heels, Zhao Xingxing’s beauty was out of this world. This was the exact reason why her suitors could form a line that wrapped around her enormous house.

Zhao Lifei’s eyes trailed to the fruit basket in Zhao Jing’s hands. Seeing as he had already given their grandfather a fruit basket, she could only assume that he was holding it for Zhao Xingxing.

"Yes, I was just leaving." She amicably smiled, polite and guarded as always.

historical

She consistently maintained a safe distance from her conniving relatives, but Zhao Xingxing and Zhao Jing were the only ones she didn’t mind. So far, they had never given her a reason to not trust them. They were laid back people of the family and don’t meddle in unnecessary affairs beneath them. All three of them were just trying to survive in their equally screwed up families. Entangling themselves in backstabbing was deemed all too tiring.

"If that’s the case, please take my coat. Now that the sun has set, it has gotten very cold." Zhao Xingxing slipped off the knitted white and pink shawl off her shoulders.

Zhao Lifei politely declined it with a shake of her head. "You’re wearing a dress shorter than me. You will be cold as well. Don’t worry about me." She helped button the shawl for Zhao Xingxing.

Zhao Xingxing glared at Zhao Jing. Ugh, chivalry was so dead in this era of technology. Zhao Jing’s brows creased in confusion before it finally clicked for him. "Oh, take my suit jacket—"

"Jeez, took you long enough." Zhao Xingxing scoffed, rolling her eyes at her dense older cousin. Sometimes it was hard to tell which one was the oldest based on how frequent she bullied him.

Zhao Lifei’s eyes widened a bit, "No, it’s fine. Really—"

"Trust me, if I let you get sick on my watch, my mother will kill me." Zhao Jing didn’t tell her why. He slipped off his jacket and shuddered when the cold nipped at his skin. That’s strange, why did it feel much colder...

Zhao Lifei, too, felt the drop in temperature. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was. Oh dear. There’s a scorned wife drinking vinegar by himself.