Chapter 1512 - 1501: New Year’s Day, Paying New Year’s Visits (Part 2)

Constantine Stewart’s expression changed slightly as he stared fixedly at her. His face went through several shifts, then he let out a low sigh, walked over, gently wrapped his arms around her, buried his head in the curve of her slender neck, and rasped, "I’m already trying to move on, Chloe."

He had put in a lot of effort—that was why he could let her disappear in the Imperial City for so long. He also tried to face his mother with a calmer mindset, constantly working to change his own temperament, to discard all those fickle, fearful things, because he wanted to become better, wanted to be worthy of someone as good as Chloe Winston.

Chloe reached out and patted his back. The two of them were like little animals huddling for warmth, leaning on each other on a snowy Chinese New Year’s Eve night.

Later, Chloe didn’t really remember when she fell asleep. She only remembered that on Chinese New Year’s Eve she had clutched Constantine and poured out all the words that had been jammed in her heart—starting from those years at the welfare home, then talking about the minor grievances she’d had after he adopted her and started managing her in all sorts of ways, and then sharing the sights and stories from her journey down south. Talking and talking, she drifted off in a daze.

When Chloe woke up early the next morning, she found that the snow outside the window had stopped, and the lake surface was a vast blur of white.

A few winter larks had landed on the balcony thick with snow, chirping crisply.

The heating inside had been on the whole time, so it didn’t feel cold. After washing up, Chloe changed into a loose sweater and went downstairs, only to see Constantine making breakfast.

"Is there any food in the fridge?" Seeing him boiling tea eggs, Chloe froze for a moment, then asked.

"I come over to stay a night here every now and then, so the fridge is always stocked, though it’s mostly frozen stuff. I stewed an old hen—on the morning of the first day of the new year we should have tea eggs and chicken noodle soup." Constantine put the lid back on the pot of tea eggs and said, "Chloe, help me put the tea leaves in the freezer."

Constantine had barely slept during the night. After carrying Chloe back to the bedroom, he’d kept watch by her window, and only when dawn was about to break did he go back to his own room and doze for two hours, then got up to clear the accumulated snow in front of and behind the house.

By the time Chloe woke up, the tea eggs were almost done, and the chicken soup, simmered all through the night, had turned rich and tender.

Constantine fished out the tea eggs, then cooked the noodles in the chicken broth. Finally, he ladled out two bowls and called Chloe over to eat.

"Breakfast is a bit simple today, but I made it myself, so don’t turn your nose up at it." His gaze was deep; his refined, handsome face looked at her as he smiled.

"It’s great." Chloe felt warmed through by him. When she was fifteen and he adopted her, he’d been the lofty young master who kept her under strict control. Now, he’d spent Chinese New Year’s Eve sitting up with her, and on the morning of the first day of the new year he was making her chicken noodle soup. This was probably the warmest bowl of chicken noodle soup she’d ever had.

Chloe lowered her head, blinked, and quickly started slurping up the noodles.

"Slow down. When we’re done eating, we’ll go pay New Year visits." Seeing her little face practically buried in her bowl, Constantine couldn’t help but laugh.

Before the two of them could finish eating, Director Liu’s family next door came over to offer New Year greetings. Seeing the young couple sitting together eating noodles, they laughed and said, "Mr. Stewart, Chloe, happy New Year!"

Aunt Wu had even brought along her son, who was a sophomore in college.

Chloe hurriedly stood up and greeted Director Liu’s family. Constantine went to make tea; Director Liu felt a bit overwhelmed by the attention and immediately smiled and bustled over to lend a hand, not daring to really let this man personally make tea for him and treat him like some big shot.

Before Director Liu’s family left, the elderly Zhao couple from over there came by to offer New Year greetings too. The old man and old lady stepped carefully over the snow, startling everyone in the room—at their age, the roads were slick with snow and ice; what if they took a fall, what then?

"Chloe, you finally came back. Otherwise this brat from the Stewart Family keeps running over to my place, and I don’t even know how many of my antique treasures he’s messed up." As soon as Old Zhao entered, he looked at Chloe with a wide grin.

"You and Ma’am should’ve said something before coming over. The ground outside is icy and frozen—it’s hard to walk." Constantine frowned and said.

"This old man’s body is still sturdy. You brat, quit your nonsense. If I don’t come and talk to your wife about you, tomorrow you’ll end up ruining all my antiques." Old Zhao was notorious for being a solitary old crank. Hearing him say this much, Director Liu’s family just kept smiling politely, not daring to chime in.

The old lady reached out and pinched the old man, saying, "Speak properly."

After listening for a while, Chloe understood. In the three months she’d been gone, Constantine had practically been dropping by every few days, making the rounds all over the complex, and the place he visited most often was Old Zhao’s home. Old Zhao loved collecting antiques, but he’d entered the field halfway through and didn’t have the sharpest eye. Half of the antiques in his house had been exposed by Constantine as fakes. The fury he’d felt over that—he’d practically wanted Constantine to stop coming and wreaking havoc on him.

For over ten years, he’d had no idea those things were counterfeits, and life had been perfectly fine. Fortunately, Constantine knew the old man was upset, so he would regularly send pieces from his own collection over for him to appreciate and appraise.

"Chloe, it’s good you’re back. That brat from the Stewart Family is just too idle, always coming to my place for no reason. You young folks hanging out with an old codger like me all the time, what’s that about?" Old Zhao said, face taut.

Everyone: "..."

Because it was the first day of the new year, people either went around the neighborhood or visited relatives to offer New Year greetings. So Chloe was surprised to find that in just a short while, several families had come by to pay their respects. From their words, they were clearly very familiar with Constantine and treated her affectionately too, as if everyone had been neighbors for years.

She was slightly dazed. She’d only lived here for a few months, yet Constantine had already built up neighborly ties with half the complex on her behalf.

She hadn’t known that while she was away, this man had quietly done so many things for her.