Chapter 143: Unexpected Turn

Yet different times and different settings could always stir a different kind of flutter in the heart.

After the kiss, Rong Shen wiped away the trace at the corner of her lips with his thumb and asked in a husky voice, “Would you like to set off fireworks?”

An Tong was slightly short of breath. After a few seconds, she looked toward the guesthouse building not far away, her eyes filled with the distant ache of memory and a thread of anticipation.

It had been a very, very long time since she had set off fireworks.

...

Meanwhile, Rong Xian sat in the living room, watching television as though nothing were amiss.

Though she had said she wanted to watch the Spring Festival Gala, her thoughts had long since drifted elsewhere.

However, barely ten minutes later, the phone resting on the armrest rang.

It was a WeChat message.

Rong Xian casually opened it, and the bright, striking features of her face were instantly covered by a layer of mocking frost.

She had known it. How could that human sticking plaster, Xiao Mingyu, possibly have been kind enough to let her watch television in the living room?

Rong Xian exhaled deeply and tried to pretend she had not seen it, but another message abruptly popped up on the screen.

Yu: Baby, I have always kept my word.

Rong Xian clenched her phone tightly. Three seconds later, she snatched up her coat and strode out of the living room.

Ruan Danling was still watching a skit from the gala with a beaming smile. Perhaps afraid of developing crow’s-feet, she had raised her delicate little finger and was forcibly pressing down the outer corners of both eyes.

Hearing Rong Xian’s departing footsteps, she turned her head, glanced over, and curled her lips. “I knew she wouldn’t be able to sit still. She just refused to admit it.”

Rong Jinghuai draped an arm over her shoulders and said unhappily, “My dear, our children and grandchildren have their own blessings. You have been devoting far too much energy to them lately.”

...

At the same time, An Tong had already joined Rong Shen in the servants’ fireworks celebration.

More than a dozen servants had stayed at the estate for the New Year, not counting the family members they had brought with them.

An Tong hesitated as she looked at the noisy crowd, but the man gave her no chance to retreat. He took a sparkler from one of the servants and placed it in her hand.

“Young Madam, this is a cold-firework sparkler. There are also plenty of handheld fireworks over there. I’ll bring some for you.”

The servant lit the sparkler in An Tong’s hand with a lighter. With a sharp hiss, sparks burst in every direction.

She watched it for a few seconds, then gently waved it twice. Her movements were restrained, as though something she had not touched in years had suddenly returned to her hand, leaving even her technique unfamiliar.

The firework lasted only briefly, but its radiance was dazzling.

For some reason, An Tong thought of that night at the Christmas attraction. When she had lit the bonfire, Rong Shen had stood beside her just as he was now.

The sparkler burned out, and the servant brought over more cold fireworks.

An Tong gradually relaxed. She rummaged through the cardboard boxes, trying nearly every kind of firework.

She played; he watched.

But before half an hour had passed, the cheerful, lively scene suddenly suffered an unexpected mishap.

An Tong was playing with the smaller cold fireworks suited to girls, while the servants and their families were preparing several large fireworks farther behind them.

She could vaguely hear them discussing how many large fireworks they would need to set off at once to create the grandeur of a true fireworks display.

An Tong was still playing with a spinning firework, the smile on her face growing more and more pronounced.

There was something of the brightness and abandon she had revealed after getting drunk that night.

With a cigarette between his fingers, Rong Shen stood neither near nor far, watching her. His ink-dark eyes held an unmistakable fondness and indulgence.

“Do you want one?”

An Tong had asked a servant to light two sparklers. She ran up to the man and held one out to him.

Rong Shen rubbed her head and curved his lips. “Play by yourself. I’ll watch you.”

An Tong withdrew her hand, waving the sparkler as she turned to look at the people behind them setting off the fireworks.

Slender streaks of fire soared into the night, and golden fireworks burst above them in magnificent colors.

An Tong gazed up at the sky, completely absorbed.

But with so many people setting off several fireworks at once, it was inevitable that someone would lose control of the situation.

When the fuses of four large fireworks had been lit, the person responsible for lighting them turned and ran back. In his haste, he accidentally kicked over a square fireworks box.

The box’s launch opening happened to be aimed directly toward An Tong, and its fuse was nearly burned through. It could spray out fireworks at any moment.

“Everyone, get out of the way—”

“Master Rong, Young Madam, watch out—”

The people around them all cried out in alarm.

An Tong reacted with extraordinary speed. As she dropped the sparkler in her hand, she spread her arms and threw herself toward Rong Shen.

Beside the steps not far away, Rong Xian, who had been pestered by Xiao Mingyu for some time, also witnessed the sudden change.

“Little Ninth, An Tong, move—”

The firework lying on the ground was no ordinary spinning flower or sparkler. The fireworks capable of reaching a height of more than ten meters possessed an explosive force that was easy to imagine.

Especially when An Tong ran toward Rong Shen. Not only was Rong Xian stunned—even Xiao Mingyu raised his brows in surprise.

Was she trying to protect Ninth Master Rong?

If An Tong had simply thrown herself into Rong Shen’s arms at the moment of the accident, no one would have found it strange.

After all, when girls encountered danger, they were usually the vulnerable ones seeking protection.

Yet under the fireworks slowly exploding across the night sky and the bright lamps surrounding them, anyone could see clearly that the instant An Tong opened her arms and embraced Rong Shen, she had deliberately turned her back toward the place where the fireworks were being launched.

She had not even wrapped her arms around the man’s neck. Instead, she had encircled his arms, attempting to shield him with her own slender body.

It had all happened so suddenly. Though it sounded like a long sequence of events, in reality, it had taken no more than the blink of an eye for An Tong to do all this.

Yet in the very next instant, Rong Shen gathered her forcefully into his arms. With a pivot of his foot, their positions reversed, and he turned his body sideways with the momentum.

The next second, the fireworks shot out one after another, skimming past the coat on the man’s back before flying toward the distant flower bed. Several scorched marks were left on the expensive fabric.

An Tong, meanwhile, was protected safely in his arms.

“Are you hurt?”

Rong Shen cupped her face in his hands. The lines of his usually gentle and easygoing features were taut beyond recognition, his brows and eyes dark, his voice low and frighteningly cold.

An Tong had never seen him like this.

Whether in their former “patient-doctor relationship” or now, as husband and wife, all she had ever seen in the man was composed elegance and an unshakable calm.

She had never before seen such obvious anger in him.

An Tong stared blankly for several seconds. Just as she was about to speak, the hands cupping her cheeks unconsciously tightened. His tone softened considerably.

“An Tong, say something.”

He thought she had been frightened. After all, the incident had happened without warning.

Clutching his sleeve, An Tong shook her head dazedly. “I’m fine. What about you?”

Rong Shen’s Adam’s apple moved several times, but the lines of his face remained taut. “Were you frightened?”

His voice had turned hoarse. He loosened his arms and wanted to check whether any of the fireworks had struck her, but An Tong clung tightly to his sleeve, her voice trembling slightly.

“I don’t want to play anymore...”

“All right. We’re going back.”

Rong Shen lowered his head and kissed her forehead. With an arm around her, he turned and walked away.

He sensed that An Tong was in a poor state emotionally and had no time to concern himself with anyone else at the scene. After taking two steps, he noticed how heavily she was dragging her feet, so he simply scooped her up in his arms and carried her back to the villa by the rear lake.

No one at the scene dared to speak. Relieved that nothing worse had happened, they had also lost all desire to continue setting off fireworks.

Rong Xian watched their hurriedly retreating figures, her thoughts unreadable.

At that very moment, Xiao Mingyu’s low voice sounded beside her.

“If the person in danger just now had been me, would you have done what she did?”

Rong Xian gave a dry laugh. “Were you born with such a fondness for daydreaming?”

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