A pad? He looked carefully at the object on the floor that seemed to have the tiniest amount of blood on it. No wonder Green Snake looked so tired those days she was here. I thought she was just tired from running for her life.
Seeing Qin Feng fall into contemplation, Sister Flower became more enraged. She punched him in his chest and shouted, "You bastard! Say who was with you! What's your relationship? What happened in my house?"
As she raged, Sister Flower began to pull garbage out of the can, trying to find more clues in there, such as a condom wrapper.
Qin Feng followed her, anxious to explain. "It’s not what you think. She is...a friend of mine. She had no place to stay. When she was drunk, I took her in for the night."
"Who? Is this a bed and breakfast? There are so many hotels around here. Why did you choose my home? And you slept together in my bed!" The more Sister Flower thought, the more terrible she felt. She ran to the master bedroom and lied down on her bed, then sniffed carefully.
Fortunately, Green Snake had taken a shower before bed, so she didn’t leave any trace of her presence on the sheets. There were a few hairs on the pillows, but Sister Flower himself had left a lot of hair on it and couldn’t determine whether they belonged to her. Even if she had doubts, there was no conclusive evidence that the woman had been in her bed.
But she still couldn't let Qin Feng off the hook for lying to her. She wrung his arm and asked, "Why exactly did you take her to my house? Come on!"
Qin Feng was in pain, but he did not say anything to Sister Flower about letting go. Instead, he pleaded, "What can I do? I gave her the second bed to sleep and I slept in the master bedroom. I am sensible. Even if she was naked in front of me, I wouldn’t have any response. Why won’t you believe me?"
"You?" Sister Flower coldly humphed and said, "In the past, if you said this, I would really believe it, but now I’m skeptical. You're not telling me something and it's a big deal."
Sister Flower had never seriously loved a man. This was something she greatly looked forward to but was also terribly afraid of. Since puberty, she had been surrounded by many men who wanted to touch her body, wanted to bully her, and wanted to have sex with her then leave without any responsibility.
Over time, Sister Flower had become untrusting. She felt that all men were equally bad and that there was no real love in this world. She believed that the women in this world were destined to be sad. Still, she had held out hope that she would meet a man who would change her mind. Finally, she met Qin Feng.
Unfortunately, before she was able to confess, she discovered that Qin Feng was not as honest as she had imagined. He also had many unknown people and secrets in his life. For instance, last she knew, he was leaving the Tianhe on some sort of big mission. Then she came home to find that he’d stayed the night with an unidentified woman in her house.
All this proved that Qin Feng was not as pure as she’d thought. There was a lot she had to consider about his inner self.
Qin Feng was silent for a while, then finally sadly said, "Don’t I deserve your trust?"
Sister Flower exploded. "Trust? Well, you said what you wanted to say, and I would normally trust you, but you’re being so vague. How can I trust you?"
Qin Feng was unable to tell Sister Flower that he went to the Middle East to carry out a mission or explain to her the situation with Green Snake. He thought a while and finally said, "Zhu Fei was drunk. Her dad introduced a potential boyfriend to her, but the two didn’t get along well and she was in bad mood. She pulled me along to drink with her then followed me to your house when I stumbled home. I was drunk then and went straight to sleep. When I woke up, I found her in the second bedroom while I was in the master bedroom."
"Zhu Fei! Her again?" Sister Flower didn’t look all that surprised. “I guessed it was her.”
Qin Feng was relieved that she believed him. He didn’t want to have to explain Green Snake. However, he knew it wasn’t a good thing to talk about Zhu Fei like this either.
"I swear, it wasn’t what you think. We are just friends and we have good conversations. After all, we have a similar history. I just regret we didn't meet sooner. It was just like when I first met you," Qin Feng said.
"Us?" This comparison peaked Sister Flower’s interest. She was anxious to ask, "How do you feel with me? How did you feel at first? And now?"
"At first, I was attracted by your charisma, and I thought you were special, like a rose that grew out of the mud. Later, I thought you were very good and kind, and it felt like we shared a feeling between friendship and love. I don't know what you felt, but you are very important in my heart," Qin Feng said seriously, watching Sister Flower’s expression change from upset to pleased.
He was somewhat relieved. Although the situation was a bit sour, his words were true. He wouldn’t be able to make up his feelings.
Sister Flower was moved and said, “Actually, I have the same feelings.” She moved to put away some dinner supplies and said, “During the time I was away, I actually seriously considered whether or not I wanted to be with you…”
Hearing this, Qin Feng felt nervous. He was afraid that Sister Flower could not help but tell him the feelings in her heart. He did like Sister Flower and wanted to experience so much of life with her. However, he didn’t have the ability to guard her for the rest of her life, and he didn’t have enough courage to take charge of her happiness. His status and career destined him to a life alone, unable to love or be loved. This was both his responsibility and sorrow.
The security of the whole country was based on those people who worked behind the scenes, giving up their own lives in exchange for the safety of the people. Even though Qin Feng was lonely, when he thought about what he had accomplished, his heart felt peace. This sacrifice was not enough to be recorded in history books, but he had a clear conscience all the same.
"Sister Flower, shall we go and cook? It smells like we’re ready for the next step," Qin Feng suddenly said. He did not want to let the conversation continue, afraid that he would be unable to face Sister Flower’s true feelings.
Sometimes, he really wanted to drop everything and have no responsibility. He wanted love and to follow his heart, but he remembered his original pledge when he enlisted, and he felt his heart throb with longing and sadness.
He couldn’t become a deserter. Since he had already made his choice, he could only firmly go on. Those who gave up halfway were not true men. If he were to quit, he would lose not only himself but also the face of his entire family.
Sister Flower was anxious to run to the kitchen. Her mouth still chattered endlessly. "Oh, some of it is burned! We should blame you for the distraction. Why do you go to my bedroom?"
Qin Feng was silent. He turned off the stove and put the unburned food on the plate. They both looked at the result, considering for a long time whether to eat the food or throw it away.
Finally, Qin Feng dumped it into the trash can and said, "Okay, you go to the living room and sit down, watch TV, eat fruit, something. Just leave me alone. I’ll handle dinner."
"You're the chef, and this is my fault? I see how it is!” Sister Flower joked. Secretly, she was pleased by what Qin Feng had said, so she happily went to the sofa and rested.
When Qin Feng was finished cooking, they opened a bottle of red wine and talked about a lot of things over dinner. They discussed the past, Xiao He and the future. Eventually, the conversation turned to the shop that Qin Feng wanted to open.
When Sister Flower brought up the idea of renting Free Man from Zhao Jun, Qin Feng refused. He did not want to have any further involvement with Zhao Jun, even if it was the most reasonable and realistic option at the moment. Qin Feng was more concerned with Sister Flower’s face and status in the Tianhe.
Since Sister Flower had left to run her own business, she had to maintain a sense of pride. If she went back to rent her old place, what would people say? Qin Feng thought that they’d likely say she had no backbone and that she was shameless.
"Listen, I can handle anything within 5 million. If you have a better idea, and money is not a problem, then I'll work out a way for us to do it."
Truthfully, Qin Feng had little understanding of money. If he wanted it, obtaining hundreds of millions of yuan would be no problem for him. All his salaries and bonuses in the military were automatically donated to a poverty alleviation foundation he set up privately. Over the past few years, he had contributed millions of his personal income to the cause. It had funded the construction of colleges and universities as well as the improvement of uniforms and school supplies for primary school students in the poverty-stricken areas of the western region.
In Qin Feng's view, it was best to use any extra money to help those who needed it more. No matter what other people might think, he had always done this without speaking about it.
"What? You have 5 million? Where did it come from? Don’t joke with me."
"I’m not joking. You think I’d keep up a charade like this all night?" Qin Feng laughed. "As to where the money came from, you don’t need to know. However, you can rest assured that you can definitely open a store. That won’t be an issue."