stranger

Christmas night a year ago.

Through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the store, you can see Christmas trees with various gifts hanging between the counters, and couples holding hands and walking on the brightly lit street together.

A blue Porsche slowly stopped at the entrance of the hotel under the name of Wele Resort. A waiter at the door stepped forward and opened the door for the back seat, putting his hands on the edge of the car to avoid people in the car from being hit. Then he ran to the driver's door and took Esther Li's car keys.

"Go in." Esther Lee, who was wearing a nude pink knee-length dress, put on a white coat, and turned her head to Liu Rachel and Zhixi who came out of the back seat.

At this time, Zhixi was almost able to walk like a normal person after daily rehabilitation that almost exhausted her physical strength, but Liu Rachel was still a little worried, and gently supported Zhixi with one hand.

When the three of them arrived at the auditorium where Cui Dongxu, the chairman of Wele Resort, specially held a birthday party for Zhixi, there were already many people in the auditorium, all of whom were well-known figures from all walks of life in Korea.

"Esther Lee, you are here," Cui Dongxu walked up to Esther Lee with a smile, gently shook the red wine in his glass, looked at Liu Rachel and Zhixi and said, "These two are the daughters of Esther Lee, sure enough It’s all eye-catching.”

"Uncle Cui." Liu Rachel and Zhixi both called out, with just the right smiles on their faces.

Esther Li seemed to be very satisfied with the performance of the two of them today, and greeted some guests with a smile to take their seats.

"I don't like that President Cui." Liu Rachel took a sip of the red wine in the glass, and said dissatisfiedly watching Cui Dongxu who was talking and laughing with his mother all the time, the smile on his face completely disappeared.

Liu Zhixi looked at Esther Lee, who was chatting and laughing with President Cui, with a complicated expression, lowered her eyelids, and sat silently in her seat.

At this time, Cui Yingdao, who was in the kitchen with an extremely unhappy expression, was washing the dishes without saying a word, and the expression on his face became more and more gloomy.

The staff in the kitchen did not dare to provoke the future heir at this time, but they also did not dare to wash it for him. Who said that President Cui personally issued this order.

"Pa——" Cui Yingdao put the last plate heavily on the table, raised his eyebrows obliquely, took off the glove with a full face and threw it on the ground, turned around and was about to leave.

"Wait a minute!" At this moment, Manager Liu from the front hall of the hotel ran in in a panic, trembling when he saw Cui Yingdao's gloomy eyes, and stammered, "An important guest in the auditorium said the plates were dirty, The president said that those who wash the dishes should go...to the auditorium."

"Ha, so you're saying that I didn't clean the dishes?" Cui Yingdao sneered, stepped forward, put his hands in his belt, and looked down at Manager Liu, whose forehead was already sweating.

"This...well, you are the only one washing dishes in the kitchen today, Young Master Cui..." Manager Liu could almost predict his own consequences.

Cui Yingdao's eyes turned, and he bypassed Manager Liu and walked directly to the auditorium.

"Pa—" Just as the auditorium was in an awkward atmosphere because some guests got dirty dishes from Chairman Cui's hotel, the door of the auditorium was pushed open.

Cui Yingdao's tall and straight figure appeared at the door, he looked at President Cui whose face was obviously stiff, and slowly raised the corner of his mouth, and walked in leisurely, "Oh, what a coincidence, there are many people I know at the scene , the president of the construction company, the president of the Jindu Group, ah, and the president of the Crystal Hotel," he smiled mischievously, walked up to Esther Li, stretched out his hand and said, "Hello, I'm Cui Yingdao, He is the son of Chairman Choi Dong Wook."

Because of Cui Yingdao's arrival, the scene fell into a completely silent atmosphere. Esther Lee could only hold his hand in embarrassment and said, "Chairman Cui really has a very good son."

"Yeah," Cui Yingdao ignored Cui Dongxu's bad face, "but today I ruined the banquet because of me," he stared at Cui Dongxu, "I washed all the dishes today, and I am the heir of Wele I did the washing, so I also did the washing of the dirty dish."

"what's up?"

"Why does Wele's heir come to wash the dishes?"

"President Cui's face is really going to be lost..."

…………

The scene suddenly fell into a whisper.

"Enough, mother," Zhixi, who had been silent all this time, suddenly stood up from her seat, looking at Esther Li with sparkling eyes, "This birthday... is really enough."

"Liu allie..." Liu Rachel also stood up and held Zhi Xi's hand to tell her not to continue talking.

"Isn't my sister also happy to be here?" She bit her lower lip and looked at Esther Li's ugly face, "Mom, I thought it was just the three of us's birthday, but is it still a birthday now? You didn't say happy birthday to me, you didn't stay by my side, but you talked and laughed with others, you didn't cook seaweed soup, and even, because of a dirty plate..." She turned her head, and she couldn't hold back her tears.

Cui Yingdao stared blankly at Ji Xi's bright and fair face with tears streaming down her face, her small and delicate nose and eye rims were red.

"Ah, Liu allie..." Esther Li's complexion was no better than President Cui's. Just as she was about to speak, she saw Zhixi push away the chair and walk towards the door alone. After walking a few steps, her footsteps paused, and then Just walking out with some irregular steps.

Rachel Liu took a step forward and wanted to follow, but Esther Lee grabbed her hand.

"Don't worry about her." Esther Li looked at Zhixi's leaving back with a bad expression, turned around and walked towards a place.

Rachel Liu turned her head and looked at Zhixi's unsteady gait, with a layer of worry in her eyes.

Zhixi's feet... are not completely healed yet...

Winter nights look cold and bleak, and occasionally there are a few places that cannot be illuminated by lights, which is even more gloomy and terrifying.

Liu Zhixi stopped in the VIP garden specially built by Wele Hotel, leaned on the wall and sat slowly on the steps, took off the pair of high heels on her feet and put them aside, and stepped on the cold tiles with bare feet. The cold feeling spread throughout her limbs in an instant.

She hugged her knees with her hands, huddled alone in the corner like a shadow that merged into the night.

"Is it cold..." She murmured with a trembling voice, "It's very cold, Liu Zhixi..." Her eyelashes trembled slightly, and there were faintly shining tears on them.

Cui Yingdao stood quietly in the corridor looking at her figure huddled on the steps, and let out a long breath, not sure if it was reassurance or other emotions, anyway, he found her, didn't he?

He glanced at the piece of cake in his hand, and pressed a switch on the wall. After seeing the streetlight above Liu Zhixi's head turned on, he took the cake and walked towards her.

Zhixi was also taken aback by the sudden lighting of the lights, she looked up and saw Cui Yingdao walking towards her.

"Although I'm not the one who messed up your birthday fun, I'm a start. This cake is for you," Cui Yingdao's tall and tall figure stood in front of her, holding a cake for one person, Touching the bridge of his nose, he added, "Also, it's from the bottom of my heart, and I want to give it to you."

Liu Zhixi stared blankly at Cui Yingdao who handed her the cake. Under the warm yellow light, that unrestrained face seemed to be softened a little, and the sharp edges and corners were worn away a little, with a little bit of a smile in his eyes. ripples.

"...Thank you," she pursed her lips slightly, took the cake in his hand, and added at the end, "It's also sincere."

Cui Yingdao couldn't help grinning. Seeing her stepping on the tiles with bare feet, he simply took off his coat, squatted on the ground, and wrapped her feet in the warmth of his body. in the coat.

"You wrapped my feet, how will I go back later." After blushing slightly, she forced herself to be calm and said to Cui Yingdao who was squatting in front of her.

"Are you going back? A banquet like that." He looked at Zhixi with a wicked smile on the corner of his mouth.

Just when she was about to speak, velvet-like snowflakes slowly fell from the sky.

"Oh, it's snowing." She looked up at the sky, a few snowflakes immediately fell on her smooth forehead, and the hair wrapped around her neck was scattered behind her back.

Cui Yingdao looked at her side face under the light, there were a few snowflakes falling on his face, it was icy and cold, as if it was going to drill into his heart...

"Oh, it's snowing!"

An exaggerated voice immediately pulled Cui Yingdao back from his memories. He sat up and looked at Zhao Mingxiu who was sitting on the carpet and watching TV with great interest, rubbed his hair angrily, and threw a pillow directly at Zhao Mingxiu on the head.

"Ah, Cui Yingdao, why did you hit me!" Zhao Mingxiu immediately stood up, rubbing his head, and looked at Cui Yingdao depressedly.

"What idiot said is it snowing?" Cui Yingdao glanced at Zhao Mingxiu, went to the glass cabinet and took out a bottle of soda, and then sat on the sofa again.

"I said it's snowing in Switzerland, why don't we go skiing there in a few days?" Zhao Mingxiu immediately forgot that Cui Yingdao hit him with a pillow just now, and threw himself on the sofa to look at Cui Yingdao helplessly, "Go Go, I'm so bored by myself!"

"No," Cui Yingdao refused bluntly, and asked again when he remembered something, "When did the broadcast end?"

"It's been a while since the end, what's wrong?" Zhao Mingxiu asked suspiciously.

"It's nothing, I wanted to see her." He picked up his mobile phone and opened it to take a look. "The battery of the mobile phone is almost dead."

Zhao Mingxiu was particularly obsessed with the previous sentence Cui Yingdao said, as if he had caught a particularly big gossip news, his eyes were shining like stars, "You are really tricky, someone said in the morning that you gave a girl away I still don’t believe it when I come to school, but now it looks like it’s that Liu Zhixi, right?”

Cui Yingdao looked at Zhao Mingxiu with a sneer, and walked out with his hands in his trouser pockets.

"Ah, Cui Yingdao, you told me!" Zhao Mingxiu hurriedly chased him out when she saw him go out...

Just as South Korea gradually entered the cold and bleak autumn, California, the United States, across the Pacific Ocean, was bathed in warm sunshine, golden sandy beaches, light blue ocean, everything seemed so beautiful.