Chapter 355 - Break Down the Stalemate (1/2)

Chapter 355 Break Down the Stalemate

Yanqi Lake was located at the foot of Yan Mountain, which was north of Huairou City to the northeast of Beijing. It was bordered by the Great Wall to the north and the North China Plain to the south. Yanqi Lake had a broad body of crystal clear water. Flocks of wild geese would come here to have a rest every spring and winter season yearly, which was the reason why Yanqi Lake had such a name. It was surrounded by mountains on three sides, forming a natural shelter. Consequently, no wind-blown sand had attacked the lake region. The weather there was humid in all seasons. The environment was also extremely good. As a result, Yanqi Lake had been developed over the past few years. Most importantly, several major international conferences would be held here this year, making the popularity of Yanqi Lake rise rapidly.

The distance between the downtown area and Yanqi Lake was 60 kilometers. Qin Ran was skilled at driving, who took her time driving and had a stable mental state. She was simply much better than those so-called street killers. Dating back to when she had started to learn how to drive, Qin Changan had gifted her a Mercedes G63AMG. Though everybody else had thought only a car or sports car would suit a woman, Qin Changan was the only one that thought it would be more elegant of a woman to drive an off-road vehicle.

Along the journey, Qin Sheng still didn’t speak. Qin Ran had been trying to find topics to speak freely about several times, only to find that Qin Sheng didn’t even intend to respond. She had no choice but to give up her idea and stop bothering Qin Sheng. She would leave him alone.

By the time they arrived at the villa district by the side of Yanqi Lake, Uncle Li had sent someone over to deliver the key to them. After that, Qin Ran and Qin Sheng were taken to a villa near the lake. As expected, the scenery here was beautiful.

“Miss Qin, I will take my leave first.” The one who had delivered the key should be Uncle Li’s driver. After he walked Qin Sheng and Qin Ran into the villa, he left sensibly without intending to disturb them at all.

Qin Sheng stood by the side of the windows in the living room and stared at the lake surface, looking thoughtful. The lake surface had been frozen early on. Most of the flowers and trees had withered. Only a minority of the trees were still green, which could pull themselves through the winter. However, after heavy snow, it was a white world outside, making people feel like they stood aloof from worldly affairs.

Over the phone, Uncle Li had told Qin Ran that never had this villa been occupied after its furnishings were done. Consequently, everything was brand new inside. However, some life necessities were still lacking. Originally, he had intended to send someone over to deliver them the necessities. Qin Ran refused his good intentions subtly in the end. After all, she could not trouble others like this. As a result, she planned to purchase the items and stock them up in person a while later. After that, she would buy Qin Sheng something to change into, and so on. The dining problem was the most crucial one. She definitely could not accompany Qin Sheng all the time. Consequently, after Qin Ran thought it over and over again, she thought it would be more suitable to find a reliable maidservant. In the end, she picked an aunt in the siheyuan of the Qin Family who had just worked for the Qin Family for less than three years. Even so, both her temperament and cooking skills were pretty good.

After Qin Ran went downstairs, she walked to Qin Sheng’s side as she asked, “What do you think? Are you satisfied with this place?”

Qin Sheng retrieved his gaze as he replied, “It’s pretty good.”

Qin Ran said in a gentle voice, “Then, you stay here. I will go out to buy some stuff and come back later. If you feel bored, you can go out to hang around. It snowed last night. The scenery here today is extremely beautiful. You are somewhat lucky.” She had a clear target for herself, namely, not only should she shoulder the responsibility of being a sister, but also she needed to act like a mother. She had to make Qin Sheng sense the warmth of the family, the care of the family members, and so on. After all, Qin Changan was not capable of doing all of this stuff. He had been solemn all the time. He couldn’t get along with Qin Sheng the same way that the fathers and sons in other families did.

Qin Sheng didn’t know why his feelings for his sister had exploded in an instant ever since he went back to the old house even though he had just reconciled with her. He was not feeling strange about her at all. If he had any request, he would let her know immediately. Even he did not know the reason. Perhaps it might be the ties of blood that had worked.

As a result, Qin Sheng troubled Qin Ran freely once again as he said, “Sister, you can buy me some books if it doesn’t bother you. I like reading when I am alone.”

Qin Ran pursed her lips, smiled gently, and said, “All right. What kinds of books do you want? I will go to the bookstore to check at that time.” It’s good for the young to like reading in the current society, where many impetuous and overconfident young people prevail and down-to-earth young ones lack, who work hard to enrich themselves.

Qin Sheng replied, “Books related to philosophy and history will work. You pick a few ones for me conveniently.”

On usual days, Qin Ran also liked to read, whose character was almost the same as that of Qin Sheng. She had read various books cursorily. As a result, it is not a difficult thing for her to fulfill Qin Sheng’s request.

After they chatted randomly for a while, Qin Ran left. After all, the villa was quite far away from the downtown area. It would take her a pretty long time to do a round trip. Qin Sheng stayed in the villa for a while. After that, he went out to stroll around, getting himself familiar with the surroundings and sensing the unique beauty of Yanqi Lake amid the snow.

It was not until nightfall that Qin Ran came back. Her hands were full of bags since she had purchased many things. Two men and two women came back together with her, who had helped Qin Ran carry many things inside. Otherwise, Qin Ran would not have made it on her own.

Qin Sheng was somewhat dumbfounded. If it were outsiders, they would think Qin Ran was going to move out. He had no choice but to stand by and watch how Qin Ran ordered them to place the things in the respective locations.

The two men left after all the things were packed up. Qin Ran opened one of the paper boxes as she said, “These are the books you requested of me. Check them out and see how they are. If they are not good, I will ask somebody else to buy more for you.”

Qin Sheng bent over and started to organize the books. Though he had read most of the books, at least they suited his reading habits well. At this moment, Qin Ran pulled a middle-aged woman over and said, “Qin Sheng, this is Aunt Zhao. She will come here to cook for you and do some cleaning every day during the period that you stay here.”

Qin Sheng smiled politely. “Hello, Aunt Zhao.”

It seemed that Aunt Zhao was somewhat embarrassed when facing strangers. She had been busy doing the chores in the kitchen since this morning. Consequently, she had not seen Qin Sheng at all. Looking blushed, she replied in her Mandarin, which had a somewhat Shandong accent, “Mr. Qin, feel free to let me know if you have any request and feel free to criticize me if I do something bad.”