Hedonist Prodigy

Chapter 107: The Most Familiar Stranger

Yes, he is Jiang Feng.

She found Jiang Feng; she finally found him.

She heard his voice, a sound so familiar that it brought her comfort. She touched his face, feeling the warmth that reassured her.

Jiang Feng was fine, and it seemed that he had saved her; otherwise, she would have died by now.

However, even after finding Jiang Feng, she couldn’t see him at all. She didn’t even know if he had changed—if he had gotten fatter or thinner.

Why was this happening?

Was it heaven punishing her? Punishing her for her foolishness, punishing her for her selfishness, punishing her for the harm she caused Jiang Feng? Was that why it took away her sight and voice, so that even if she found Jiang Feng, she could not see him or make any sound?

Was it really like that?

Ye Qingxuan didn’t know and didn’t want to think about it anymore. As long as Jiang Feng was okay, everything was fine. Even if she were to die now, then she would die without regrets.”That’s great! That’s great!” Although she couldn’t see anything, Ye Qingxuan still stared blankly at Jiang Feng. Even though she couldn’t say a word, Ye Qingxuan’s lips moved as if expressing her gratitude.

Tears rolled down from her cheeks like pearls strung on a broken thread. Jiang Feng could clearly feel the strength in Ye Qingxuan’s hands as they held his face.

She was anxious but more excited than anything else.

Such emotions were not good for her recovery. Jiang Feng reached out and gently patted Ye Qingxuan’s shoulder and said,

“Relax a bit; don’t be too nervous. Your body is still very weak right now; you need to rest well. In a few days, you’ll be fine.”

Ye Qingxuan obediently nodded; whatever Jiang Feng said was what she’d do.

“Then you should sleep a little longer,” Jiang Feng suggested since Ye Qingxuan’s emotions were still unstable. He didn’t have a good way to comfort her right now; all he could do was let her sleep more and learn to accept the current situation.

“But what about you?” Ye Qingxuan looked up at him with red lips expressing emotions that tugged at one’s heartstrings.

“Don’t worry; I won’t leave,” Jiang Feng replied.

“But…” Ye Qingxuan wanted to speak again; there were so many things she wanted to say to Jiang Feng. She needed to apologize to him and tell him that it wasn’t safe back home—that people from the Qin family and Li family were frantically searching for him. If they found him, they would definitely kill him; he needed to leave the country quickly.

But just as those words reached the tip of her tongue, Ye Qingxuan realized completely that she couldn’t make any sound at all anymore. Her trembling hands slipped from holding Jiang Feng’s face.

Before long, however, Ye Qingxuan moved again and lunged into Jiang Feng’s embrace tightly as if letting go would cause him to disappear forever from her world.

With soft warmth in his arms and feeling Ye Qingxuan’s delicate body while breathing in the fragrance surrounding her, Jiang Feng felt little romantic emotion inside himself. He wasn’t naive enough to think that Ye Qingxuan liked him—her actions stemmed partly from helplessness after being deeply hurt but also because of guilt towards him. Yet he did not push Ye Qingxuan away but allowed her embrace despite how much trouble she’d caused him before—what mattered more was how rare it was for Ye Qingxuan to express herself like this afterward.

Ye Qingxuan even risked losing her own life just to find him; what more could he say about this matter? Moreover, since Ye Qingxuan hadn’t done these things intentionally, it made it harder for him to hold onto resentment against her.

Ye Qingxuan buried herself in Jiang Feng’s embrace as if finally finding a warm harbor—the excitement slowly calmed down, and soon enough, fell asleep peacefully in his arms within minutes.

Jiang Feng knew that she was too tired. Searching for someone alone in the snowy mountains was a great torment both physically and mentally. The fact that she could hold on until now before collapsing was already quite remarkable.

Jiang Feng didn’t disturb her. After Ye Qingxuan fell into a deep sleep, he gently placed her on the bed, covered her with a blanket, and quietly left the room.

*****

“Brother Jiang, that woman is alright, right?” Brother Xiong asked playfully as he saw Jiang Feng coming down from upstairs.

Seeing his demeanor, Jiang Feng immediately understood that Brother Xiong had misunderstood the relationship between him and Ye Qingxuan. He had no intention of explaining anything and simply replied, “She’s fine. Why are you just standing here? Don’t you have anything to do today?”

Brother Xiong chuckled awkwardly, “I’m quite free; I’ve been very free all along.”

“Then go find something to do,” Jiang Feng said with a frown.

Noticing that Jiang Feng was unwilling to talk about Ye Qingxuan only made Brother Xiong more curious. However, he didn’t dare ask too much and said instead, “Brother Jiang, it’s like this: Didn’t we say yesterday we’d go get the money? Tsk tsk, there’s quite a bit! Besides those two million from that brat Pi Zhigao, I also got eight million from Shi Qianjin. I’ll deposit this money into your account shortly.” 

“No need; keep it for yourself,” Jiang Feng replied indifferently.

“This…” Brother Xiong didn’t expect Jiang Feng to refuse so directly and momentarily couldn’t grasp his thoughts.

Jiang Feng stated plainly, “The reason I asked you to get the money is naturally so you can handle things properly. How is that town mayor doing now?”

Brother Xiong grinned and said, “I have some connections with several officials in Baishan City. That old guy has done plenty of bad things; his family background must be substantial. There are many who want to deal with him; he has already been put under double regulation (a form of detention), and after some time he should enter judicial proceedings. If nothing unexpected happens, he won’t stir up any trouble again.” 

Hearing what Brother Xiong said, Jiang Feng nodded slightly. A mere town mayor was not worth his attention; however if things were not handled cleanly it would inevitably bring trouble for Hu Ya’s family.

It would be fine if he stayed in Baishan City but if he left later while leaving such a loose end behind then Hu Ya’s family would surely be restless.

If Brother Xiong didn’t manage this matter satisfactorily enough then Jiang Feng even considered directly killing that town mayor himself.

Jiang Feng didn’t say much more and turned to go upstairs.

Brother Xiong followed him out as well; he planned to visit the hospital to check on Hu Ya’s father’s condition. Although Jiang Feng hadn’t instructed him regarding this small matter it was still expected of him as a subordinate to show awareness of his duties.

Furthermore, receiving ten million without any effort made him uneasy about accepting it from Jiang Feng outright; even if deciding to give Hu Ya’s family some money could count as handling matters well for Jiang Feng afterward.

*****

Under Jiang Feng’s careful care, Ye Qingxuan recovered quickly. Two days later she could walk normally again after getting out of bed. Aside from being temporarily unable to see or speak her body had no major issues anymore.

Wearing light blue jeans paired with a black V-neck sweater and simple white snow boots—a common outfit—yet when worn by Ye Qingxuan even ordinary clothes seemed imbued with an astonishing aura.

When Brother Xiong saw Ye Qingxuan once again even though he’d already experienced an initial stunning glimpse earlier he was still shocked beyond measure—she truly looked otherworldly.

He had seen beautiful women before but none compared to Ye Qingxuan’s level where using ‘beautiful’ felt utterly inadequate as a description. But without such words Brother Xiong found himself lacking vocabulary capable of capturing her essence at all.

What particularly drove Brother Xiong crazy was that Ye Qingxuan’s beauty wasn’t constructed through layers of makeup; she appeared fresh-faced without any cosmetics at all—her light purple hair casually gathered at the back yet exuded an air of refined elegance.

At this moment, Brother Xiong glanced at Ye Qingxuan but didn’t dare to look for long, quickly averting his gaze and clicking his tongue, unsure how Jiang Feng came to know such a woman.

As for Jiang Feng, although he had been with Ye Qingxuan these past few days, he was still somewhat taken aback by her beauty. He took Ye Qingxuan’s hand and guided her to sit on the sofa, then said irritably to Brother Xiong, “Aren’t you leaving yet?”

“I’m going, I’m going right now,” Brother Xiong replied with a wink and hurriedly left the room.

Ye Qingxuan listened to their conversation and smiled slightly, using lip reading to tell Jiang Feng that she didn’t mind. 

Over these two days, Ye Qingxuan had gotten used to communicating with Jiang Feng in this way; although it was still somewhat inconvenient, she could at least express what she wanted to say.

However, there were some things that Ye Qingxuan hadn’t told Jiang Feng yet. She wanted to wait until her eyes healed and she could speak again before telling him. It might take a few more days for that to happen, but now that she confirmed Jiang Feng was fine, she wasn’t in such a hurry anymore. Besides, Jiang Feng had taken good care of her these past few days; although she hadn’t said much about it, deep down inside her heart, she cherished this feeling.

Jiang Feng smiled and asked, “How are you feeling now?”

Ye Qingxuan nodded gently to indicate that she was okay.

Jiang Feng asked her to extend her hand so he could check her pulse carefully. After confirming that the cold Qi within her body had been completely expelled, he said: “You’re recovering well; in a couple of days you should be able to speak again. Just pay extra attention over the next few days.” 

Ye Qingxuan gave Jiang Feng a slight smile as if assuring him that she’d be careful and he didn’t need to worry.

That smile made Jiang Feng momentarily lose his train of thought; he didn’t say anything further. Although it seemed like they were already very familiar with each other by now, in reality they weren’t familiar at all—just the closest strangers.

He didn’t know what else he should say to Ye Qingxuan or whether this chance encounter meant something more since Ye Qingxuan had already conveyed some things through her actions without needing many words.

After a while, Ye Qingxuan spoke up: “Jiang Feng, are you thirsty? Let me pour you a cup of tea.” She started getting up to pour tea as she spoke.

Jiang Feng gently pulled her back down and said: “No need; I’m not thirsty.” 

“Then what about me?” Ye Qingxuan looked at him with big eyes and hesitantly expressed through lip reading.

“You don’t need to do anything; just sit here,” Jiang Feng insisted. 

Yet he failed to notice that while saying this, there was a complex hint of disappointment in Ye Qingxuan’s eyes.