Chapter 130: Ch 130: Shared Spoons and Resemblance

While the two women continued pouring their hearts out beneath the trees, PD Xu Cui and the children remained outside the village restaurant, eating in relative peace. A large umbrella shielded their table from the sun’s glare, casting a soft circle of shade across the wooden surface and the chairs arranged around it.

A fresh breeze drifted past, carrying the light scents of cooked food from the open kitchen windows and the distant greenery of the surrounding fields. The late afternoon light was warm but no longer harsh, and the quiet murmur of village life—distant voices, the occasional clatter of dishes, the soft creak of a passing bicycle—formed a gentle backdrop.

PD Xu Cui sat across from Leilei and Shen Guoxing. Beside him, Mo Yan rested in her stroller, thoroughly exhausted from a long stretch of being rage-baited and forced to third-wheel.

The baby’s small nose wrinkled in lingering displeasure, as though she were still replaying the earlier events in her dreams. One tiny fist had curled loosely against the soft blanket, and her breathing had settled into the deep, steady rhythm of true sleep.

PD Xu Cui chuckled softly at the sight, the sound low and fond. The youngest of his granddaughters had clearly decided that the adults’ nonsense was no longer worth her energy.

After a moment he tore his gaze away from the sleeping baby and fixed it on the eldest. A complicated expression settled over his usually mischievous face.

Leilei and Shen Guoxing were laughing quietly together, sharing a single tub of Biscoff ice cream that PD Xu Cui had bought for them. The creamy caramelized biscuit flavor had already softened under the afternoon warmth, and the two children leaned close over the table, completely absorbed in the shared treat. And not only were they sharing the tub.... They were even sharing the same spoon.

A clear frown replaced the playful look PD Xu Cui normally wore. He was not at all pleased by how comfortably this village girl was getting close to his granddaughter. The easy way their shoulders nearly touched, the unselfconscious way Shen Guoxing offered each spoonful, the soft pink that kept rising on Leilei’s cheeks—all of it sat uneasily in his chest.

I should tell Su Wanyan about this, he thought. She, at least, would understand the protective ache currently sitting in his chest.

Just then Shen Guoxing scooped up a generous spoonful of ice cream. The soft, melting cream clung to the metal. "Ahh," she said cheerfully, holding the spoon out—not toward her own mouth, but toward Leilei’s. The gesture was completely natural, bright with the simple pleasure of sharing something good.

Leilei froze. A soft pink bloomed across her cheeks, deepening under the open afternoon light. After a brief hesitation she leaned forward and accepted the bite. The cold sweetness touched her tongue, and for a second her eyes lowered, shy and pleased.

Shen Guoxing, completely oblivious to any deeper meaning, simply took the next spoonful for herself and ate it without a second thought, as though the same spoon had not just touched Leilei’s lips moments earlier.

Watching the exchange, PD Xu Cui felt a powerful urge to separate the two children immediately and then bang his own head against the nearest wall. However (and fortunately), he restrained himself. With the corner of his mouth twitching, he forced a smile that looked more painful than pleasant. The umbrella’s shade did nothing to hide the strain in his expression.

"Are you two enjoying it?" he asked. The gentle tone he attempted was so strained it was almost transparent.

Hearing his tone, Leilei instantly straightened, polite composure snapping back into place under the PD’s clearly annoyed gaze. Her small hands rested neatly on the edge of the table, and the soft pink on her cheeks remained even as she tried to look properly attentive.

Shen Guoxing, by contrast, only beamed and nodded repeatedly. "It’s good, Grandpa!" Her voice was bright and completely unhurried. She scooped another spoonful and offered it to Leilei again. "We’re enjoying it." Her eyes curved into happy crescents as she looked back at him, completely unaware of the protective storm gathering across the table.

Leilei’s lips pressed tightly together. Cold sweat gathered along her spine as her eyes flicked between the tempting ice cream and PD Xu Cui’s piercing stare. The soft breeze stirred the edge of the umbrella’s canopy, but the tension at the table remained fixed and quiet.

Noticing that Leilei hadn’t eaten it yet, Shen Guoxing turned to the child beside her and tilted her head cutely, still holding the spoon out. Why isn’t she eating it? She wondered. "Leilei?" she prompted gently.

Leilei snapped out of her dilemma. "Oh.. uh....." she let out, her gaze darted from Shen Guoxing to the PD and back again. The afternoon light caught the uncertainty in her expression.

PD Xu Cui sighed heavily and turned his face away, adopting the classic strategy of "out of sight, out of mind."

The moment his attention seemed elsewhere, Leilei finally accepted the spoonful. A small, soft smile curled at the corners of her mouth. The cold sweetness settled on her tongue, and the quiet pleasure of it softened the earlier tension in her shoulders.

"Thank you," she murmured, the words light and gentle, like a leaf drifting down to rest quietly on an open palm.

Shen Guoxing blinked, then nodded, her eyes shining even brighter. "Un!" She immediately scooped another portion and held it out once more, the cycle of sharing already natural and unbroken.

Although PD Xu Cui kept his face turned, every one of his senses remained locked on the two children. This kid, he thought, hearing the soft thanks. She’s going to steal Xing’er away from us someday. A genuine ache of future loss settled in his chest, sharp enough that he almost felt a tear forming at the corner of his eye.

The image of Shen Guoxing grown and walking away with someone else rose unbidden and entirely too vivid. The soft breeze continued past the umbrella, carrying the scent of ice cream and cooked food, but none of it soothed the melodramatic sorrow currently unfolding in his mind.

Just as the imagined future "abduction" of his eldest granddaughter threatened to overwhelm him, movement at the edge of his vision caught his attention. The cold, indifferent man from the village was walking past their table. His steps were steady and unhurried, the same quiet presence that had marked him earlier.

Is he going somewhere? PD Xu Cui wondered, grateful for any distraction from the protective ache still sitting heavily in his chest.

Suddenly, the man paused mid-step. And slowly, he turned his head and looked directly at PD Xu Cui. Cold, calm eyes met the PD’s suddenly widened ones, and for a moment the lighthearted atmosphere around the table held its breath.

The soft shade of the umbrella, the quiet laughter of the children, the distant village sounds—all of it seemed to thin under the weight of that brief, assessing gaze.

Blinking away the surprise, PD Xu Cui managed a small smile (although it was an awkward one). He raised his right hand and sent the man a small wave. "Hi?" he said, soft enough so only a few could hear them but loud enough to be heard by the man.

In response, the man just nodded at him and continued on his journey, not turning and pausing again. The quiet acknowledgment was brief and complete. His footsteps faded gradually into the soft sounds of the village path.

PD Xu Cui’s eyes followed the man’s retreating back until it disappeared around a distant corner of the village path. Only then did the usual easy expression and small smile return to PD Xu Cui’s face.

Yet something about the encounter lingered.

He found himself replaying the man’s features in his mind—the sharp lines of the face, the unhurried posture, the way the air around him had seemed quieter than the rest of the street. Even the brief nod had carried a weight that felt deliberate rather than polite.

Cold.. calm.. indifferent....

PD Xu Cui hummed softly under his breath, still staring in the direction the man had gone. The path remained empty now, but the memory of the figure walking away stayed clear.

Beautiful, too. Not the soft or approachable kind of beauty, but something more distant—almost otherworldly, as though the person belonged to a different landscape entirely. The kind of face that did not invite easy conversation, yet held the eye once it had been noticed.

He sorted through faces he knew, discarding one after another. Colleagues, acquaintances, the occasional striking stranger who had passed through the production sets over the years.

None quite matched the combination of those traits—the cool detachment, the quiet elegance, the sense that the person existed slightly apart from the ordinary flow of the day.

The soft shade of the umbrella continued to shelter the table, and the children’s quiet laughter still rose nearby, but PD Xu Cui’s attention remained half-caught in the fading image of the man on the path.

Then, without warning, the pieces clicked into place.

"Ah!"

He struck the bottom of his fist lightly against his open palm, eyes brightening with sudden recognition. The sound was soft, almost private, but the satisfaction behind it was clear.

He looks like Mo Xingxue!

The thought arrived with a quiet sense of satisfaction. Both carried that same cool, detached air. Both possessed a beauty so striking it felt slightly removed from everyday reality—elegant, distant, and difficult to look away from once noticed. The comparison settled into place with surprising ease.

The two had the same quiet composure, the same sense of something carefully held back, and the same ability to make the space around them feel a little stiller than it had been before.

PD Xu Cui nodded to himself, thoroughly pleased with the connection he had made. Yeah. They definitely look alike.

The observation settled comfortably in his mind for a few more seconds. He turned the resemblance over once or twice, noting the shared sharpness of the features, the similar way both seemed to carry silence as easily as speech.

Then, as quickly as it had formed, he set it aside. A chance resemblance, nothing more. Village paths were full of unexpected faces; coincidence was far more likely than anything worth chasing.

The soft breeze stirred the edge of the umbrella’s canopy, and the warm scent of the remaining ice cream drifted across the table once more.

He turned his attention back to the children at the table, already letting the brief distraction fade. Shen Guoxing was still offering spoonfuls with bright, unselfconscious generosity. Leilei was still accepting them with soft, carefully contained smiles. Mo Yan slept on in her stroller, the earlier wrinkles of displeasure smoothed by deeper rest. The ordinary, gentle rhythm of the afternoon reclaimed its place.

Unbeknownst to him, the resemblance he had dismissed so easily as mere coincidence would one day deliver one of the greatest shocks any of them had ever faced.

But that was a story for much later.

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So sorry I wasn’t able go update, y’all! I was reviewing for our exams yesterday and after that shi, ya girly went ahead and sleep (because I still have to review more at three in the morning LMAO). I ask for y’alls understanding TvT.