Chapter 58

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Your Gaze Upon My Heart

Since leaving his house that day, Xu Huiling had not sought Xiang Chong out for several days now. On Huo Cheng’s side, the investigation had also come to a standstill. He had looked up Xiang Chong only to discover there were far too many people with the same name, as a result, he was unsure where to begin.

Perhaps I should visit Mother’s grave again…

While Huo Cheng was still trying to find the right time to visit the cemetery, the school announced that it was going to hold the sports day for the semester.

As an all-rounder, Shen Wanying had always signed up for multiple events each semester. Although Huo Cheng was a newcomer this semester, since he was usually very athletic in gym class, his classmates tried their best to persuade him to sign up for a few events.

In the end, Huo Cheng signed up for all the events Shen Wanying was participating in. In the men’s category, of course.

Apart from the individual races, there would be a mixed-relay on the final day. In PE class, the teacher picked out some of the fastest runners and created a team according to their standard performance in class.

“Huo Cheng has good explosive power,” the PE teacher held a scorebook in his hand and crossed off names as he said, “you’ll run the last leg. As for the third runner, it will be Shen Wanying.”

That one sentence was enough to change Zhao Yimeng’s opinion of the PE teacher. Surely he isn’t a Huo Cheng-Lady Shen shipper, is he?

“Everybody, stand in the order I just gave you. Let’s train a few times.”

The students who weren’t taking part in the relay went off on their own, while those who were formed a line. The PE teacher then handed the baton to the first student and stepped aside with a stopwatch.

“Ready—go!”

The first runner dashed off quickly. He was fast, but he didn’t work well with the second runner, who dropped the baton as soon as it reached him. With that, those that followed were on high-alert, being extra careful during the exchange in order to avoid mishaps, thus slowing down considerably on the whole.

The teacher kept urging the runners to buck up even as he timed them.

Shen Wanying preferred running to archery. To her, this was a way to release the pent-up pressure in her heart. The harder she ran, the lighter she felt. However, in her mother’s eyes, of course, archery suited an elegant young lady better.

She ran swiftly, while Huo Cheng stood at the end of the track, ready to receive the baton.

This was the first time he had seen Shen Wanying running so hard towards him.

During the year they were married, they had gotten along well enough, but he had never been sure in his heart whether she was in love with him or not. Sometimes he would feel that he was the only one trying desperately to close the distance between the two of them, while she stood still, unmoving.

“Huo Cheng.” Shen Wanying suddenly called out to him. He instantly snapped back to attention, taking the baton from her hand with unerring accuracy.

The moment the baton passed over, their hands gently brushed against each other.

The wind lifted her hair, distracting him slightly, before he gripped the baton tightly in his hand and rushed off.

Shen Wanying turned back to look at Huo Cheng as she slowed to a stop. Under the sun, she watched his back as he rushed single-mindedly towards the finish line.

The stopwatch in the teacher’s hand pressed pause at this moment, and Huo Cheng turned around after running across the finish line, just in time to see her looking at him.

A breeze blew gently across the track between them, and Huo Cheng suddenly remembered a poem by Rabindranath Tagore:*

‘I feel thy gaze upon my heart this moment, like the sunny silence of the morning upon the lonely field whose harvest is over.’

“It took a little longer than expected. Everyone, one more time.” The PE teacher organised the group for a second run.

After a total of three races like this, everyone was a little tired; the teacher ended practice and let them go. Huo Cheng bought two bottles of water from the canteen kiosk and came over to Shen Wanying, who was stretching in the corner.

“Want some water?” Huo Cheng’s voice came from overhead.

Shen Wanying looked up and smiled at him, “Thanks.”

The cap of the water bottle was loose, so she opened it and tilted her head to take a sip. “Do you feel better after a bit of exercise?”

“Mmm.” Huo Cheng also took a sip of his water, staring out at the field.

“Actually, it’s been so long since your mother’s incident, I think your father and the others didn’t tell you because they didn’t want you to think too much about it.” She knew that Huo Cheng was very concerned about his mother in his heart, but she didn’t know if it was right or not for them to look into it like this. If the truth was actually very cruel, would he be able to bear it?

Huo Cheng’s eye twitched, and he didn’t reply. He understood what she meant. The deceased were gone, and things had passed for so long, there was no need to become obsessed and dwell on it. But in his heart, Huo Cheng always felt that he had to get to the bottom of these matters.

Perhaps it was because of this, that he was returned to this body, to this time in his life.

“I’ve recently been trying to find the police officer who was in charge of this case back then,” he said. “If we can contact him, we should be able to find out the truth about what happened back then.”

Hearing him say that, Shen Wanying knew that he had to find out, so she let out a soft breath, “Then I can help with anything you need.”

His soft gaze fell on her. “Thank you,” he said gently, with an imperceptible smile.

Lately, Shen Wanying found herself increasingly unable to stand Huo Cheng’s look. She took a sip of water to cover-up and responded vaguely.

“I’m planning to visit my mother’s grave again this weekend, would you like to accompany me?” He asked.

She froze, then nodded, “Yes.”

Zhao Yimeng had wanted to ask Shen Wanying to play badminton, but now she saw her and Huo Cheng standing together, not knowing what they were talking about. The dynamic between the two simply looked too good to be true.

Suddenly …… The air seemed to grow stale and sour.

After school was over that afternoon, Shen Wanying still walked with Huo Cheng. Fang Yichang waited at the stairway ahead. When he saw the two of them coming down, he walked with them towards the bottom.

“Why don’t the three of us walk together after school from now on, to save you two from being alone together and rumoured to be in love again.” Fang Yichang suggested righteously.

Huo Cheng glanced at him lightly and didn’t say anything. Putting on his best performance, he continued, “Missy, recently I’ve been staying up late studying every day, I always feel breathless and unwell. Do you guys feel that way?”

*The poem is Stray Birds by Rabindranath Tagore, and it is beautiful. I’ll link it here if you want to have a look! The line Huo Cheng references is pretty far down, line 318, but I do feel like you could use a lot of it to reference how he feels about her. My heart, okay. I’m weak.

T/N: Thanks Bright Eyes for the help with yet another chapter! THE FIRST THING is that Tagore poem, okay, who is going to quote me poetry? Who??? Romance is dead. OK, I jest, but excited to see how their relationship pans out! And equally excited to see where their investigation will lead, of course. I guess things will only get more exciting from here. Do you want more? Do you want it now? If you ask, there is always the option of advance chapters~ but either way, I hope you enjoyed! See you in the next chapter (: