Chapter 497: Chapter 497

"Shi Che... Shi Che..."

Whisper after whisper called out, echoing in his ears, Ling Chuxia’s face suddenly appeared before him, he heard her voice, crying out for him, urging him to wake up.

He reached out, embracing her tightly, fearing she might run away, then his lips pressed down on hers, kissing her without restraint. And then, he was enveloped in a passionate and satisfying dream.

Shi Che’s eyes snapped open, his hands reflexively reached out only to clutch at empty air; there was nothing before him, all the dreams had vanished like smoke.

Shi Che’s brow furrowed, a trace of sorrow passed through the depths of his eyes that he couldn’t hide. These days, every time he fell asleep, images of him and Chuxia together involuntarily surfaced in his mind, each time feeling more real than the last, yet followed by disappointment with each awakening.

He truly... missed her that much, didn’t he?

Nearly a month had passed since she left, and he had spent his days either in a drunken haze or struggling with a gnawing longing.

After Chuxia left, it felt as if even the air around him had been taken away. He didn’t know how much oppression he had to endure to maintain his cool composure.

Unable to fall back asleep, Shi Che threw back the covers and got up, walked to the liquor cabinet, poured himself a glass of red wine, and slowly made his way to the balcony.

It was deep into the night by now; the lights of thousands of homes had long since been extinguished. The villa’s location on the outskirts rendered the surroundings so quiet it was almost deafening. The night sky was exceptionally dark; even the stars were sparse. Shi Che leaned against the railing, his dark eyes unfocused as he stared at the layer upon layer of darkness on the horizon, drinking the wine sip by sip, until dawn.

Ling Chuxia officially started her job. Bai Yixuan said he would pick her up every day, but she firmly refused. Her reason was that she was just a junior assistant; how could she trouble Bai Yixuan, the general manager, to pick her up for work? She should do things befitting her status as a junior assistant—take the subway to work every day.

Truth be told, even though the subway was so common and ordinary, Ling Chuxia had only ever heard about it. From childhood to adulthood, she was always chauffeured by the Shi Family’s drivers; if not, she would take a taxi. She had never even been on a bus, not to mention the subway.

But people truly are creatures of incredible adaptability. Ling Chuxia went from knowing nothing about the subway, always catching the wrong direction, missing her stops, or being unable to squeeze in. Half a month later, she was already able to hustle into the subway in high heels, ensuring she caught the train during the busiest times for work, accurately reaching her station, and then arriving on time at the company to clock in.

In the half-month she had worked at the company, she had demonstrated her remarkable adaptability. Being a junior assistant was, in reality, akin to being a gofer with no specific duties, yet she had to do everything, because everyone conveniently handed her tasks, which she completed one by one. Before marrying Shi Che, Chuxia was the young lady of the Shi Family. Although she had to learn this and that every day, those weren’t tasks that required much effort. And after marrying Shi Che, she lived even more comfortably as the young madam, spending her days tending to her flowers, shopping, and getting spa treatments. Nothing like now, where she was the first to arrive at the company and the last to leave every day.

Consequently, in the half-month since she started working, the number of times Bai Yixuan saw her could be counted on one hand, because every time he called to ask her to dinner, her answer was always the same.