Morning Longing for Warmth – Chapter 26

Going Home

Do you want to go, or not?

——Little sister, I’ll give you a chance to say it again, whose girlfriend are you?

            

——Why is there another one coveting Huihui? Don’t you know she’s mine?

——Hey, little sister, as long as you like Huihui, then you’re the rival in love of our whole group!

——Yueming, where did this little girl come from? Doesn’t she know the rules, doesn’t she know to queue?

            

……

Shiyi couldn’t read the words that fast, messages came one after another quickly, she just read the last one and was about to reply, just finished typing, they were already on the next topic. After a while, she held up her phone, and Du Yueming beside her laughed at her tangled little face: “Shiyi, are you really from another era?”

Typing so slowly, not even able to use a phone, it really doesn’t make sense!

            

Shiyi bit her lip and said: “I haven’t used a phone before.”

Du Yueming was puzzled: “Why?”

Shiyi lowered her head: “Very poor, couldn’t afford it.”

            

The corner of Du Yueming’s mouth, which was ready to smile, froze. She didn’t expect this reason. In her world, she never worried about money, even her friends were from similar backgrounds, and she really hadn’t encountered anyone too poor to afford a phone.

If someone had told her this normally, Du Yueming would definitely have thought they were joking with her, but Shiyi standing in front of her made her feel that she wasn’t lying.

“You…” Why no money, what about family members – various words circled on her tongue, but she found none of them appropriate to say, so she simply changed the topic, saying: “It’s good that you can use it now.”

            

“Everyone’s like this when they first use phones, not used to it, will slowly get better.”

“If there’s anything you don’t understand, just ask me, it’s very simple.”

She picked up her own phone somewhat awkwardly, not even knowing what she was saying – when did she, who had always been without heart or lungs [carefree], become so good at comforting people? Du Yueming still felt embarrassed after speaking. She saw the group was still making a fuss about Shiyi’s words. These sisters were used to talking wildly [exaggerating/being dramatic], extremely obsessed with Wei Hui, and secretly gossiped about Wei Hui’s preferences, so when they saw someone claiming to be her girlfriend, they immediately became excited. Du Yueming typed: What nonsense! She really is President Wei’s girlfriend, okay!

            

The group visibly went cold, then became unprecedentedly lively, even the usually quiet sisters got excited: “What did you say?”

“I don’t believe it.”

“Yueming feels uncomfortable if she doesn’t deceive me for one day.”

            

“If we’re talking about Huihui really dating, it’s probably with Shen Hao, right?”

“I heard Shen Hao went all out this time, giving away an unfinished building for his beloved.”

Du Yueming shook her head disappointedly watching these sisters not believing the truth, she had originally wanted them to help her find out more gossip.

            

Shiyi looked at the group worriedly. Wei Hui had never talked about their relationship, although everyone could see they had a relationship, but this was different from spreading it around. She was afraid that if this spread out, it would damage Wei Hui’s reputation, so she pulled Du Yueming’s arm and said: “Miss Du, I should quit this.”

Du Yueming thought she was unhappy and immediately comforted her: “It’s nothing, they’re just used to joking around, I’ll talk to them in a bit.”

“That’s not…” Before Shiyi could finish speaking, she heard someone calling: “Shiyi.”

            

The voice was cool and clear, immediately recognizable as Wei Hui. Sure enough, when she turned her head, she saw Wei Hui looking at her, calling: “Shiyi.”

She let go of Du Yueming, walked over, and obediently lowered her head: “Third Miss.”

“Let’s have dinner together tonight.” Du Yuehan beside Wei Hui said: “Grandfather hasn’t seen you for a long time, don’t disappoint the old man.”

            

The two had just finished discussing the follow-up arrangements for the unfinished building, the Du family decided to step in, so Wei Hui was in a good mood and slightly nodded at his words: “Then I’ll trouble President Du.”

Du Yuehan’s handsome face carried a smile as he said to Wei Hui: “No trouble at all, I’ll go to grandfather’s side first.” As he spoke, he looked at Du Yueming: “Come with me.”

Unlike his attitude toward Wei Hui just now, his face became stern when looking at Du Yueming, quite severe. Du Yueming had never feared her parents since childhood, but was afraid of her two brothers. Seeing him like this now, her scalp tingled as she said: “Coming.”

            

“Why are you being so fierce?”

“What were you chatting about with the guest just now?”

“Nothing, just casual chat, that Shiyi, my friend…”

            

The intermittent conversation sounds came over. Wei Hui turned her head to look but didn’t make a sound. She knew Du Yueming’s personality – back in school she loved to stay around pretty girls, even created a sisters’ group, and even wanted to pull her in. Only after being coldly rejected several times did she become more proper. However, every time they met, her gaze was still direct, making no effort to hide her interest, just like how she had been looking at Shiyi earlier.

She rarely took the initiative to speak: “What were you talking about just now?”

Shiyi hadn’t expected her to ask actively, her thoughts became scattered. She looked up at Wei Hui, meeting her cool eyes, Shiyi bit her lip: “Nothing.”

            

After speaking, her right hand gripped the phone, which kept vibrating – it should be the group chat still going on. She said softly: “Third Miss, Miss Du said some things just now.”

Wei Hui nodded slightly, standing against the wind, her long hair blowing up to reveal her fair forehead and beautiful face, her profile cold: “What did she say?”

Shiyi stood beside her, thought for a moment and still repeated what Du Yueming had done, finally saying: “I’m sorry, I didn’t know she…”

            

Everything happened too fast, she couldn’t stop it in time.

After listening, Wei Hui’s lips curved upward, in the way Shiyi was used to seeing – when she smiled, it was just a slight upturn of her mouth corners, a very faint smile, completely unlike Du Yueming’s earlier unrestrained, bold one.

Looking at Wei Hui like this, she suddenly wondered, what would Third Miss look like if she smiled brightly?

            

Would she be more moving than fresh flowers?

Shiyi seemed to imagine that scene, her heart beating furiously. She stared at Wei Hui, hearing her say: “It doesn’t matter.”

Since she had brought Shiyi to the Shen family’s banquet, and now to the Du family, it showed she intentionally wanted people to know about Shiyi’s existence, and wouldn’t worry about what others said. Seeing this child so troubled over this small matter, Wei Hui continued: “If you mind, I’ll say something to Miss Du.”

            

“I don’t mind,” Shiyi immediately replied to her, then lowered her head with a slightly red face: “I just worry it will affect your reputation.”

Wei Hui opened her lips: “My reputation has never been good anyway, it doesn’t matter.”

Actually, she was still lying – her reputation was bad, but only in the business world. In her private life, she was famous for being pure as ice and jade, otherwise how could she become the object of desire for Jiangcheng’s young gentlemen? But these things, she didn’t want to tell Shiyi. Rather than letting her be confused over an unimportant reputation, it was better to let her think she was someone with a bad reputation.

            

After all, reputation wasn’t that important to her.

Thinking of this, Wei Hui slightly furrowed her brows, not because of the reputation matter, but because she realized she had once again crossed her own boundaries in front of this child, even explaining so much. She shook her head, and Shiyi immediately asked with concern: “What’s wrong, Third Miss?”

Her little face leaning close was full of worry, a pair of sincere eyes black and bright. Wei Hui stared at these eyes for a few seconds before saying: “Nothing.”

            

Shiyi obediently made a sound of acknowledgment.

After telling Wei Hui about what happened earlier, Shiyi felt a weight lifted from her heart, especially since Wei Hui had said she didn’t mind. This gave Shiyi an inexplicable little secret joy, although she didn’t even know what she was happy about, but she just wanted to smile for no reason.

Dinner was at the Du family home. The Du family clearly treated her the same as Third Miss, taking good care of her at the dinner table. Du Yueming and Wei Hui were the same age, yet had nothing to talk about, and during dinner, she only focused on talking to Shiyi.

            

“What about weekend? What are you doing on weekend?”

“I— nothing much.”

“Come out to play, let me tell you, I recently found…”

            

The rambling words came from beside her. Wei Hui sat next to Shiyi, originally discussing the unfinished building matter with Du Yuehan. Hearing Du Yueming’s voice, she became slightly distracted, didn’t speak for a while, until Du Yuehan called: “President Wei?”

Wei Hui raised her eyes: “Yes, I’ve noted down everything President Du said, I’ll have Pei Tian send it to you later.”

Du Yuehan smiled: “Then I’ll trouble President Wei.”

            

The dinner was enjoyable for both hosts and guests. As it was ending, Shiyi saw the butler hurriedly enter the living room and whisper something in Du Yueming’s ear. Then Du Yueming stood up: “Not eating again?”

Her eyes were full of unhappiness. Old Master Du scolded: “Yueming, what are you doing? Where are your manners?”

Du Yueming lost her happy expression from the afternoon, face dejected: “Grandfather, my Sisi isn’t eating again.”

            

She nodded to everyone: “I’m sorry, I need to go out for a moment.”

Old Master Du paused for a few seconds and waved at the butler, then said to Wei Hui: “San’er, sorry you had to see this embarrassing scene, this child Yueming just has no manners.”

Wei Hui shook her head and smiled: “It’s fine.”

            

When leaving the Du family, Shiyi hadn’t seen Du Yueming again. She followed Wei Hui into the car, no words were exchanged on the way. When they were almost at the Wei family home, Shiyi’s phone vibrated. She glanced at Wei Hui and quietly opened it, seeing a message from Du Yueming: Did you leave?

Shiyi tilted her head slightly, thought for a while and slowly replied: I went home.

Du Yueming: So early.

            

Shiyi lowered her eyes, thinking of Du Yueming’s hurriedly leaving figure before departure, and typed: Are you okay?

Du Yueming: Not really.

Shiyi: What’s wrong?

            

Du Yueming: It’s nothing, never mind, are you free on the weekend?

The topic circled back here, Shiyi instinctively looked toward Wei Hui, meeting her gaze directly. Those cool eyes made Shiyi immediately confess without being asked: “It’s Miss Du messaging.”

Wei Hui’s expression was cold, her voice also carrying a chill: “What does she want now?”

            

Without thinking, Shiyi handed her phone to Wei Hui, eyes full of trust. Wei Hui glanced and pushed away her phone, asking: “Want to go?”

“Don’t want to.” Shiyi replied without hesitation, making Wei Hui furrow her brows: “Why?”

Shiyi closed her phone, saying softly: “Because I don’t want to bring you any trouble.”

            

Everything she had now was given by Wei Hui, and Du Yueming inviting her out – she knew it was because of Wei Hui, that’s why she didn’t want to go.

Wei Hui hadn’t expected this reason. Her beautiful eyes became slightly unfocused, and after a few seconds she said: “You don’t need to have this kind of worry.”

Shiyi raised her head to look at her profile. The car interior was very dark, streetlights from outside jumped into the car, flickering unsteadily. She heard Wei Hui’s slightly lowered voice say: “If you want to make friends, you can do so anytime.”

            

Shiyi’s small face showed confusion: “You mean, I can go?”

Wei Hui turned to look at Shiyi, her black pupils appearing even clearer in the darkness. She said: “What I mean is, you are an independent person. I won’t interfere with your freedom. Whether to go or not, make your own decision.”

The car fell into silence because of these words.

            

Shiyi thought seriously for a long time, and only when getting out of the car did she solemnly say to Wei Hui: “I’ve thought it through clearly, Third Miss, thank you.”

Her attitude was respectful. Wei Hui stared at Shiyi who was bowing her head in front of her, suddenly asking: “Will you go?”

“I…”

            

Wei Hui interrupted her: “Never mind, no need to answer me.”

Shiyi fell silent for a moment.

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