"Stubborn kitty."

At this moment, the room fell into a no-man's-land silence.

Lin Jian maintained a slightly odd posture for several seconds before stiffening and turning his head to look at Shen Ke.

The voice was retrieved from somewhere, and Lin Jian almost wondered if it was the sound of his own voice spitting out.

Half the time, his throat rolled hard, confused and shocked, "Ai Jia sister ...... just call, call me what?"

Shen Ke did not expect this cousin, who had always been unconventional, to come up with such a surprising remark, and meeting Lin Jian's desolate and bewildered eyes, Shen Ke pondered for a couple of seconds, and could only give a "hmmm"---.

"That cousin you're supposed to call your little aunt, suddenly called you sister-in-law, remember?" Shen Ke said.

Lin Jian: "......"

Now is not the time to recall the joke, Lin Jian's subconscious first reaction is to look at Shen Zhangqian couple's face, in the face of such a sudden explosive message, Lin Jian instinctively want to explain or even cover up.

But Shen Zhangqian and Cong Wan were just sitting in their original positions, and after hearing Ai Jia throw out such earth-shattering words, they both just froze, and then Cong Wan whispered to Ai Jia in anger: "Nonsense, there is no such thing as shouting seniority, you might as well talk about your own. You might as well talk about each other."

Once again, Lin Jian's eyes widened in disbelief.

What shocked him even more was that Shen Zhangqian also coughed and said, "No."

Lin Jian: "......"

Lin Jian was completely confused.

As if trapped in a huge void of confusion, a heart that sways up and down and flutters to nowhere, he seeks to cling to it like driftwood, and with instinct casts his eyes to Shen Ke.

Shen Ke's brows knitted up a very faint crease, originally wanted to take advantage of the two days Lin Jian was here, slowly penetrate this matter to him, who would have thought that Ai Jia out of the blue is a king of bomb, when Shen Ke heard the word "sister-in-law", a rare moment, also joined Lin Jian's duo! Ai Jia's hand is a bomb.

Luckily, he was born with excellent field control and quickly adjusted his demeanor in the shortest amount of time.

Shen Ke walked over, put one hand on Lin Jian's shoulder, and without moving, brought him into his arms a little bit, with the help of such a small action, slightly soothing Lin Jian's nerve line that had already exploded.

But it has to be said that Shen Ke's embrace has worked wonders in healing Lin Jian under any circumstances.

Feeling her shoulders slowly relax under her palm, no longer so unusually tight, Shen Ke said warmly, "It's what you think, my parents know, but don't be too anxious, it turned out just as you see it, all good."

Lin Jian still didn't dare to look at the expression on the face of Mr. and Mrs. Shen Zhangqian.

Ai Jia, who had just given a frantic output, realized that he seemed to have made a mess of things, and explained to Lin Jian, "I'm sorry Lin, I didn't know that you didn't know that we knew, that's why--"

"This child, don't go around Xiao Jian." Cong Wan interrupted his niece's incoherence with a good laugh, and then walked over to Lin Jian's side, very gently took his hand again, and said softly, "In fact, we all know, so you don't have to have any worries, and ...... don't feel uncomfortable, okay? "

The warmth on the back of his hand traveled up his wrist and down his arm, then turned and flowed properly through his heart, and Lin Jian's frantic heart gradually calmed down, but then came a flood of guilt.

He moved his lips for a long time before a few hoarse syllables came out, "...... I'm sorry, I--"

"Say something stupid." Shen Zhangqian turned his wheelchair and came to his wife's side, facing Lin Jian, who subconsciously squatted down to his usual level.

Shen Zhangqian sighed, suddenly raised his hand and rubbed the top of his hair, this small action made Lin Jian suddenly froze, because even when he was very young, when he first came to the Shen family, Shen Zhangqian had not shown such intimate behavior.

Perhaps even Shen Zhangqian himself is not accustomed to such a generation of bluntly express intimacy to the younger generation, palm on the top of Lin Jian's hair stayed for two seconds, but then he looked not too natural to retract, but then, he warmly said to Lin Jian, "you this child what to apologize, and with whom to apologize?"

Lin Jian's throat rolled, but he no longer hid his concealment and said in a muffled voice, "To you and Grandma, of course, I--"

As a child who has been pampered by these old couple since childhood, the warmth and love Lin Jian received from them is actually no less than what he received from Shen Ke, but now, this person whom they protected and pampered is dragging their son into this soft red dust, privately detaining him by his side, undying and so stubborn that he refuses to let go.

You know, Shen Ke is the only son of the Shen family.

This is tantamount to cutting off the hope that Shen Zhangqian and his wife once had of enjoying their grandchildren and enjoying their family life with their own hands.

That's why he can't help feeling guilty about it.

But Shen Zhangqian but once again interrupted him, and even laughed softly, glanced at Shen Ke next to him, humming: "What are you apologizing for, I raised in the Shen family for so many years of a good child, just like this to be fooled away, I'm afraid that the person who should apologize for it is someone else."

Finished stopping for two seconds, actually also slightly disdainful whispered to add a sentence: "Than people older so many years, at least also called you for so many years of the little uncle,亏你下得去手，也真好意思......"

Lin Jian was once again shocked by this statement, but then the man who had been criticized by his own father for being "old" laughed softly and answered, "What should we do then, or should I stop growing and wait for him?"

Lin Jian turned his head in surprise and sluggishness, and in the next moment, he met Shen Ke's slow and soft gaze with his eyes downcast.

"Grandpa ...... grandma ......" Lin Jian hold on Shen Zhangqian wheelchair armrests fingers clenched extremely tight, vigorously under the bone joints are slightly white,. "You do not blame me, really ...... acceptable?"

After all, this is something Lin Jian never dared to think about.

It's even worse than the obsession with Shen Ke in the first place.

"How much more do we have to say, how many times do we have to say it before you can believe in peace of mind?" Shen Zhangqian smiled and sighed, saying, "There's only one thing ah little Jane."

Lin Jian immediately said, "You say it, I'll listen and agree to it all."

The smile under Shen Zhangqian's eyes then became gentle and loving as he shook his head and admonished, "From now on, don't let yourself be aggravated."

Lin Jian was stunned, and his eyes quickly became sore.

"Get up, don't squat." Cong Wan pulled Lin Jian's arm, gently pulling the person up from the ground, and then slightly tilted his head, looking at this youth who was already much taller than himself, and said despondently and sighingly, "Xiao Jian ah, as a parent, there's no one who doesn't love his own child, no matter how old he grows up to be, at his parents' knees, he's always a child. "

Just as they love Shen Ke, they have never changed since they were small.

Even if their son has been over the years, has long been the only one to call the shots, but in the eyes of the parents, is still just a child.

"But you have to realize that you are also the child we watched grow up." Cong Wan was still wearing the wide-sleeved shawl Lin Jian had given him, and looked very much in love with it indeed, "So in our eyes, you and Xiao Ke, are the same."

The same pain, the same hang-ups, the same, can't bear to see him hurt in the slightest.

Just wishing him a long and smooth life would be enough, would be enough.

"So don't say anything about being sorry in the future." Cong Wan stepped up to her husband's side, and the two of them looked at Lin Jian with smiles, adding an unmistakable ink to a relationship that to outsiders might have sounded glamorous -

"We are Xiao Ke's parents, and as of today, yours too."

*

Lin Jian and Shen Ke accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Shen Zhangqian for three days in Australia.

During these three days, Lin Jian thought all the time that if life is really complete, the most precious time in his life would be now.

How virtuous and how fortunate he was to have been blessed with such incomparable affection and cherishing.

Affection warms the heart, while love, all the time, softens the heart.

Some time after returning from Australia, Lin Jian realized that it was Shen Ke who took the first step and ran to his parents to "confess", and he asked more than once: "What did you say at that time, and why did they accept it so easily? "

"It's probably due to habit." Shen Ke thought about it and smiled back at him, "After all, since childhood, they've been the most heartbroken about you, and knowing that you traveled across the ocean for their son back then and floated alone abroad for so many years, and now that the person has finally returned, they naturally won't be harsh about anything."

Lin Jian couldn't help but believe it.

Shen Ke did not intend to let him know the shocking waves behind the so-called "truth" because, in his opinion, the ups and downs of the process were unimportant compared to the happy ending of the incident.

So this became the only thing he kept hidden from Lin Jian for the rest of his life.

After the vacation, Lin Jian once again got involved in the city park project, repeating the three-point-one-line day between the construction site and the workplace apartment. The only thing that added color and warmth to the monotonous life was that Shen Ke would come from the southern city whenever she had the time to be with him as much as she could.

Shen Ke once said, he likes the person, naturally can not let him come for their own running, Lin Jian need to rest assured that the original place, waiting for him to come.

Shen Ke has always been true to his word.

After a long time, every time Shen Ke appeared in front of him wearing stars and moonlight, or every time Lin Jian noticed and felt his hidden tenderness in those silent details, it would give him an illusion that "Shen Ke is making up for it" for no reason at all.

To make up for all those years of missed companionship, and for the blank time that lay between them, when they were separated by the sky.

Turning to July, it's the hottest time of summer in the north.

Lin Jian returned to the campus from the project construction site that morning, and Fang Jingwei called a short group meeting with all the project staff.

After the meeting was adjourned, Lin Jian returned to his workstation, turned on his computer and replied to a few e-mails about his work, then logged on to the intranet of the headquarters of the design institute as usual, to learn about the latest news of his work.

A few moments later, Lin Jian's hand on the mouse paused slightly, and his eyes gathered on a job announcement that had been posted on the information board half an hour ago.

It's a list of the final members of the design team for a private Chinese garden.

This project as early as Lin Jian is still in the headquarters of the city of Hong Kong when the attention, and participated in the initial version of the program prototype design, and about the design team, the design institute at the time of the big boss is also very much in favor of him, but now, this pass hangs on the intranet list of designers, and did not have his name.

Lin Jian sat in front of the computer, there was no change in his face, but his eyes were a little cold. After a moment, he closed his laptop, got up from his workstation and walked directly to Fang Jingwei's office door in the office area.

Standing behind the heavy frosted door, Lin Jian breathed a soft sigh of relief and raised her hand to knock.

"Come in."

When he was promised, he pushed his way inside.

Fang Jingwei sat behind his desk and was slightly stunned when he saw the visitor, then he put down the work in his hands, leaned on the back of the wide office chair and asked in a loose tone, "What is it?"

Since Fang Jingwei was "hit hard" by Shen Ke a few months ago, when we met again, Lin Jian and him have maintained a weird and calm harmonious relationship, with normal communication on work matters and nodding in private, and no more interactions.

Lin Jian thought this was the best way to deal with the situation. After all, we are all adults, and not bringing personal emotions into the workplace is the minimum workplace principle, and Fang Jingwei has been in the workplace for many years, so of course he understands this.

However, today's incident had made Lin Jian think a little something else, hopefully he was overthinking it, but it was a matter of work and he needed to ask for a direct confirmation.

"Team leader, today the headquarters intranet put up the list of design teams for that private garden in Shanghai, you know about it, right?" Lin Jian opened the door in a polite and unassuming manner.

"I know." Fang Jingwei lifted his coffee cup and took a light sip, a smile still hanging on his face, "This case was decided by the senior management of the headquarters not long ago, only the announcement was sent out today, so I knew about it a long time ago."

As the vice president of the design institute's headquarters, there was a legitimate information gap between Fang Jingwei and Lin Jian.

Lin Jian to do not care about this, sooner or later does not matter, just ask: "Then I ask, why take my name out of the list of designers members, when the program prototype, I was involved in the whole process."

"Oh, you ask this ah ......" Fang Jingwei still had the same nonchalant tone, with a smile on his lips, but Lin Jian suddenly had an intuition - he had known that he would come to the door because of this matter.

"Didn't I just say that?" Fang Jingwei water sleeve good dance, play a hand of workplace beautiful Tai Chi, "This is the headquarters of the senior management of the comprehensive study and judgment, collective resolution."

"Is ...... that so?" Lin Jian took a deep breath and said bluntly, "Then could Vice President Fang please enlighten me as to the reason for removing me from the design team?"

"That's a lot of reasons." Fang Jingwei put down his coffee cup, folded his hands on the desk in front of him, leaned forward slightly, and laughed, "For example, considering that you are now stationed in the Mainland, you need to follow up on this city park project for a long period of time, so I'm afraid you don't have as much energy to put into other design cases, and then for example- -"

Fang Jingwei paused slightly and looked at Lin Jian and smiled before continuing, "The company's senior management may feel that you may not be the best candidate to become the designer in charge of this project, both in terms of experience and ability, so what's wrong with taking the best out of the best and eliminating them down the line?"

Lin Jian stood in front of Fang Jingwei, separated by a desk and a not-so-long distance, and Lin Jian suddenly thought, "If I rush over and swing at him now and then leave, then according to this distance, he may not be able to catch up with me.

Forget it, it's too childish and middle-aged.

And, well, it's not worth it.

Lin Jian face sinking like water, condensing cold eyes condescending to fall, as if covered with a layer of fine and solid frost, a moment later, he hooked the corner of his mouth, bluntly said: "Fear that I delayed the progress of the work? But in addition to the current project of this city park, I still have three design plans to be molded in my hands, and the scale of one of the projects is much larger than the case in Shanghai, the headquarters will be handed over to me when these projects, how did not consider that I will be due to the increase in the workload and lose sight of the other?"

"And ......" Lin Jian has a reasonable argument, "Of course I am not so conceited as to think that my ability and experience can take over all the pending projects of the design institute, but the prototype of the design program of the Shanghai garden was designed by me from the very beginning, and if I think that my ability is not good, why is the design still being extended to the original version? But the prototype of the design program for the Shanghai city garden was designed by me from the very beginning, if I think that my ability is not good, why is it still the same version of the design draft that is still being used now? Or is it the so-called "best of the best, eliminated in order--"

Lin Jian's voice paused when he said this, and the warm and decent smile on Fang Jingwei's face had disappeared, replaced by the somberness of being confronted.

Lin Jian The edge of his mouth hooked up a trace of a playful and mocking smile: "Is it the result of the research and judgment of the senior management of the headquarters, or is it an excuse for you, Vice President Fang, to use publicity for personal gain?"

A silent confrontation filled the large office.

For a long time, Fang Jingwei completely converged on the smile, asked in a deep voice: "How, if so, what are you going to do? Ran to your uncle there to complain, let him heartache pity, or worse, directly rushed to the crown for the blue face, annexed the acquisition of the design institute, and you change, directly do my boss ...... oh, or the boss's wife?"

Fang Jingwei smiled a piercing smile, "Lin Jian, would you?"

That's a direct admission, no cover-up.

Lin Jian did not respond for a long time, and after a few moments, he turned straight around and left with a big stride.

Before walking out of the office, he paused slightly in his steps and inclined his head to leave a remark--

"Substituting personal grudges for workplace behavior ...... You have not underestimated Shen Shen Chairman, and also underestimated me."

After saying that, he didn't stay any longer and turned around to go out the door.

*

On a summer night, Shen Ke drove off the highway and called Lin Jian at the toll booth to ask where he was.

Lin Jian over there sounded extremely quiet all around, and as expected, answered over the phone, "At the city library."

Shen Ke subconsciously glanced at the time on the center console, "It's almost nine o'clock and you're still not back?"

There was a subtle chatter in his ear, and two seconds apart, Lin Jian gave a laugh over the phone and said, "Checked out, will be right back."

Shen Ke glanced through the front glass at the heavy night sky and said in a muted voice, "I'll be in the center of town in a few minutes, pick you up on the way?"

"It's not on the way." Lin Jian pointed out rigorously and bluntly, "You go back to your apartment and wait for me. Lin Jian pointed out rigorously and bluntly, "You go back to the apartment first and wait for me, my side of the bus happens to have a stop at the entrance of the park, just four stops, will not be a few minutes later than you, may even catch up in front of you, don't toss."

The child was independent and strong since he was young, Shen Ke silently ticked the corner of his mouth, and without forcing him, turned left at the next intersection and took the lead in the direction of the park.

When we get to the campus apartment building, Shen Ke turns off the engine and gets out of the car.

In the middle of summer, the park is not as sparsely populated as it is in winter, and the night breeze fades away a bit of the sultry heat and hustle and bustle of the day, and there are not many people in the plaza taking a cool break from the summer heat.

Shen Ke got out of the car, went upstairs and took the elevator to Lin Jian's apartment.

Through the cat's eye on the security door, you can see that the living room is dark, which means Lin Jian is not yet back.

But it doesn't matter, since Shen Ke first came to the door, the next day he was given a key that Lin's designer had personally made at an old-fashioned market, so Shen Ke could enter the house in a dignified manner.

The sound-activated light in the stairwell was on, Shen Ke pulled the single key out of his pocket and was about to open the door when he looked down and his eyes were drawn to a delivery box in the corner of the doorway.

He thought the delivery of Lin Jian's online shopping had arrived, and since no one was home, the courier left the item at the door.

Shen Ke originally did not care, directly bent down to pick up that box, ready to bring it into the house, but the moment he brought the box up, he was sensitive to smell a trace of blood if any.

Shen Ke subconsciously went to look, only to realize that the courier does not have the address and sender of any information.

The box was so tightly packed that it was impossible to see the mailed items inside, but the palm of the hand holding the box was slightly cold, as if an ice pack had been placed inside, and the coldness seeped out at that moment.

With that, Shen Ke's fingers on the courier box suddenly moved.

He moved his fingers to his eyes, reflecting the light from the sound-activated lamp overhead, and clearly saw the blood that stained both fingers and swam through the box.

Shen Ke frowned slightly, put the key back into his pocket, raised his hand to glance at his wristwatch, and then left the door of Lin Jian's apartment with that delivery box.

Inside a fitness park in an industrial park.

Shen Ke stood next to a bench and used a key to cut open the tape seal wrapped around the outer layer of the delivery box, and in the next second, the thick, wet and cold smell of blood hit him.

Shen Ke There was little expression on his face, but his brow was slightly furrowed, and when he lowered his eyes to look inside the courier box, the first thing that caught his eye was a handwritten Post-it note, the edges of which had already been soaked with blood, taking on the dark red color of rotting and drying.

"Stubborn kitty, I have missed you so long, and am looking forward to being reunited with you again."

Shen Ke's face was sober, the bloodstained note was held between his long fingers, and he gently lifted--

The body of a kitten, already frozen stiff, appeared right in the middle of several ice packs.