Rebirth 1990: The beginning is sweet and cool Bai Yueguang

Zhou Qi noticed that there was still flour in the cracks between her neatly trimmed nails, and suddenly remembered that the girl must have been kneading dough.

The glass on the coffee table reflected the blurry outlines of the two people. Zhou Qi reached out and brushed away the strands of hair on her forehead: "Do you think they care about this?"

Seeing that the other party still pursed his lips until they turned pale, he suddenly spread out his palms like a magician: "Give me a smile and I'll give you something good."

Lin Xindie raised the corners of her mouth reflexively, and the smile seemed like a template copied from a textbook.

Until the touch of cold metal fell on the palm of her hand, her pupils suddenly shrank into the size of a needle point - the small silver bowl lying in the lines of her palm still had a crescent-shaped dent on the edge where it had fallen on the bluestone slab.

"The pawnshop owner said that a little girl hugged his trouser legs and cried all over the street."

Zhou Qi wiped the water marks on her cheek with his thumb: "Your mother is very smart. She used the word 'bowl' to leave you a way out."

The silver chain caused a slight tremor as it brushed against her collarbone, and the girl's pulse in her neck beat wildly under the pendant.

The moment the file bag was pushed over, Lin Xindie dug her fingertips deeply into her palm.

The corner of the household registration certificate poked out from the brown paper, and she suddenly remembered the mud and water splashed in her face when her adoptive father threw the same document in a rainy night when she was fifteen.

"Now it's your bowl."

Zhou Qi held her trembling shoulders tightly: "Give her rice, give her food, give her freedom, give her a future, it's up to you."

A few cherry blossoms floated in from the floor-to-ceiling window and landed on the document bag that Lin Xindie was tightly holding, leaving some water marks.

"The matter with the Bai family...is resolved."

Zhou Qi placed the brown paper bag on the coffee table, and the metal buckle made a crisp sound when it collided with the glass.

Lin Xindie stared at the gold-embossed "white" pattern on the folder, her fingertips unconsciously curled into her palms, and her neatly trimmed nails carved crescent marks in the palm lines.

The scent of locust flowers wafted in from outside the building, and tiny dust particles floated in the sunlight coming through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Du Qianqian deliberately walked lightly as she passed by carrying the tea tray, but the celadon tea set still made a slight vibration on the mahogany tray.

Lin Xindie was startled by the subtle sound, her eyes hurriedly swept across the hem of Zhou Qi's neatly ironed suit, and finally stopped at his right hand holding the teacup.

There was a light brown scar on the base of her thumb, which was caused by this man blocking the casserole for her when she knocked over it in the kitchen last year.

"From now on, you and the Bai family will completely cut ties."

When Zhou Qi put down the teacup, the sound of the white porcelain base touching the glass tea table was like the lingering sound of the morning bell in a temple.

Lin Xindie suddenly remembered the rainy night five years ago when Bai Qinghong slammed the adoption agreement soaked in rain on the sandalwood table, making a similar sound.

She reached out to touch the briefcase, but pulled her hand back as if she had been electrocuted when she touched the cold metal buckle.

The sunlight cut across her trembling eyelashes, casting a shadow on her cheek like the fluttering wings of a butterfly: "A person like Bai Qinghong...what can you exchange with him?"

The sound is like crumpled silk, wrapped in the smell of rust from years of accumulation.

Zhou Qi pulled out a pen from the inside pocket of his suit, and the light reflected from the metal pen cap swept across the light pink scar on Lin Xindie's collarbone.

That was when I was twelve years old and was burned with a cigarette butt by my cousin from the Bai family.

"When the third phase of the Xijiao Science and Technology Park project was accepted, the Bai family took the initiative to give up three points of equity."

He unscrewed the cap of the pen and signed the last page of the document, the tip of the pen scratching on the recycled paper: "These should have belonged to you."

Lin Xindie looked at the cherry blossom petals falling on her knees and suddenly realized that this was the first time in seventeen years that she could see the veins of the petals clearly.

When Zhou Qi put the pen into her cold palm, the remaining body temperature of the pen reminded her of the touch of her sister holding her fingers when she was one year old.

"My sister's adoptive family..."

The ink in her signature spread like raindrops falling on paper: "I want to meet the aunt who takes care of my sister first."

The sound of high heels hitting marble could be heard from the spiral staircase. When Du Qianqian was walking down the stairs with her skirt lifted up, she saw Lin Xindie burying her face in the front of Zhou Qi's suit.

The wind at the end of spring lifted the gauze curtains, and rolled a few cherry blossoms towards the documents spread out on the coffee table. In the signature column of the latest page, the three words "Lin Chuxue" still glowed with moist ink.

Lin Xindie sniffed and forced a smile: "I'm really not sad, these are tears of joy."

Zhou Qi looked at her awkward appearance of crying and laughing, and pushed the tissue box on the table over to her: "Little cat, go change your clothes first, I'll take you to eat ice cream later."

Du Qianqian watched the little girl run upstairs with the file bag, then turned around and poked Zhou Qi's arm with her fingernails:

"Master Zhou is having a lot of fun right now? He asked us to take good care of him in the morning, but in the afternoon he made us cry."

"It's unfair, Teacher Du. Didn't you see the admission letter she was holding?"

Zhou Qi cried out in injustice while dodging, his eyes sweeping over the other's snow-white legs swaying under the silk skirt: "Besides, I am creating an opportunity for you sisters to show your motherly love."

Du Qianqian suddenly leaned forward, her citrus-scented hair brushing against Zhou Qi's nose: "Mr. Zhou, you observe very carefully, don't you?"

The fingers painted with nude nail polish pretended to strangle him: "Then tell me what else you observed?"

Suddenly there was the sound of slippers clacking at the stairs.

Zhou Qi immediately jumped up and rushed to the stairs, just in time to see Qiao Xuying coming down with a laundry basket.

He pulled the girl into his arms and whispered something into her ear, which startled the girl so much that the clothes in her hands fell to the ground.

"Zhou Qi, you are crazy!"

Qiao Xuying blushed as she tried to pick up the scattered shirt, but was suddenly held down by Du Qianqian from behind: "Silly girl, this guy is using you as a prop to piss me off."

He pinched her waist mischievously and said, "But it does feel good."

While the two girls were playing, Zhou Qi's humming could be heard from upstairs.

Qiao Xuying picked up the last piece of clothing and threw it towards the stairs: "Childish!" The smile in her eyes turned into a crescent moon.

"oops!"

Qiao Xuying rubbed her red arm and scolded: "You are the one who is annoying me. The slap was really powerful... Sister Qianqian, you really deserve to be punished!"

Before she finished her words, she suddenly reached out and fought back, scaring Du Qianqian so much that she dodged with a smile.

The two girls were chasing each other in the living room, and the light-colored curtains were gently blown by the wind.

In the locker room at the end of the corridor, Zhou Qi was tying the belt around the waist of his home clothes.

The off-white cotton and linen fabric exudes the scent of being sun-dried, and clothes for all four seasons are neatly hung in the closet.

Du Qianqian always said that this seaside villa was a nest for migratory birds. Even if the owner did not come often, every corner must be kept warm enough to welcome guests at any time.

When passing the corner of the second floor, Zhou Qi's eyes stopped on the half-open walnut door.

The sound of knuckles tapping had not yet faded away when he pushed the door open.

The morning light fell obliquely on Lin Xindie's red eyelids. She hurriedly pressed down her messy hair with her palms, but a smile appeared on the corners of her mouth before she realized it.

Zhou Qi's Adam's apple rolled slightly.

The girl's slender shoulders were wrapped in a large nightgown, and her eyelashes were still stained with tears. Her fragile and stubborn appearance was very much like a gardenia wet by the rain.