Chapter 35 Filling This Empty “Heart” to the Brim…

Chapter 35: Filling This Empty Heart...

It was nearly 10 PM when Lu Yingxiao and the rest, who'd been out all day, finally got home.

Both Gao Yan and Gao Youhe were still full of energy, neither sleepy nor tired, with enough stamina for another round of fun.

But Lu Yingxiao was done for.

Worn out, once back in her room, she hit the pillow and didn't want to move.

She didn't even know when she fell asleep.

When she opened her eyes, the room was bright, but outside the window was pitch black.

She checked her phone: 2 AM.

She'd slept, and her body felt lighter than before bed. Lu Yingxiao got up, grabbed her pajamas and went to wash up.

She glanced over at the nightstand—the vase was gone!

She looked down. The vase had somehow fallen from the nightstand. Water had spilled all over the floor, and the lotus flower was lying on the floorboards.

Lu Yingxiao quickly picked up the vase to inspect it carefully.

The nightstand wasn't tall, but the solid wood floor was quite hard. A sudden fall could easily have chipped it.

She checked it over two or three times. Aside from the spilled water and the fallen lotus, even the most fragile part—the three-dimensional wolf relief—was completely intact, without even a scratch on the glaze. Lu Yingxiao, who already thought the wolf relief resembled Gao Yan, now felt it was even more like him—just as resilient.

Reaching out, she touched the wolf relief. The texture was also similar to Gao Yan's sturdy arm—smooth and fine.

She unconsciously stroked it several times.

She got up and cleaned the mess on the floor, then refilled the vase with water and placed the lotus back inside.

When putting it back on the nightstand, to keep from knocking it over again during her sleep, she deliberately placed it a bit farther away.

She went to wash up only after doing this.

Returning from the bathroom, Lu Yingxiao, who usually only glanced at the vase before sleep, now stared hard at it, afraid that if she blinked, it might fall to the floor again.

She laughed at herself.

She was really being overly cautious.

Besides her, there was no one else in the room. As long as she didn't touch it, how could it possibly fall for no reason?

Time to sleep.

Lu Yingxiao lay back down in bed.

Even though the vase had been moved farther away, she still gave up her usual habit of sleeping on the edge and lay in the middle, keeping her distance from it.

She slept dreamlessly.

When she woke and opened her eyes, seeing her position, Lu Yingxiao was stunned.

At some point, she had moved from the middle of the bed to the edge, her face turned toward the vase on the nightstand, her hand resting on the nightstand too.

Fortunately, she had changed the vase's position before sleeping, so her hand was still some distance away. Otherwise, she might have swept it onto the floor in her sleep again.

Lu Yingxiao let out a long, relieved sigh.

"Youhe, what are you doing sitting here?"

After washing up and opening her door, Lu Yingxiao was startled. Gao Youhe had come upstairs at some point and was sitting by her door, hugging her knees.

Lu Yingxiao reached out to help her up.

Gao Youhe used the leverage to stand, freeing one hand to pat the dust off her bottom. "Sis-in-law usually gets up very early, but today you were late, so I came up to check."

"Why didn't you knock?"

"I was worried I might disturb you."

A warm feeling spread in Lu Yingxiao's chest. She took Gao Youhe's hand and led her downstairs. "Whenever you come looking for me, you won't disturb me. Next time, don't just sit by the door."

"Mm, okay."

Downstairs, she found that Gao Yan, who should have been on his morning run, hadn't gone either.

Lu Yingxiao went over and said to him first, "I'm fine, I just overslept."

Gao Yan carefully observed her complexion—fair with a rosy tint, her eyes bright and alert. He felt more at ease but still advised, "Don't push yourself too hard during the morning exercise later."

Lu Yingxiao agreed. "I won't overdo it."

Just like the day before, the three did warm-ups first, then jogged slowly along the garden path.

Gao Yan ran at the front, Gao Youhe in the middle.

Lu Yingxiao didn't run; she just strolled slowly, looking at the flowers and trees in the garden, and it was quite nice. Occasionally, when she looked up elsewhere, perhaps by coincidence, her eyes would meet Gao Yan's from not far away each time. They would nod at each other in greeting, then she would continue her stroll, and he would continue his jog.

After exercising, while sitting at the table eating breakfast, Gao Yan suddenly asked, "I'm going to the photo studio later. Are you two coming?"

Gao Youhe's eyes sparkled. "Are we going to print the photos we took yesterday?"

Gao Yan nodded.

Gao Youhe immediately raised her hand. "Yes, of course! I want to choose the photos myself!"

Gao Yan looked at Lu Yingxiao.

Gao Youhe also looked at her.

Although neither sibling said anything, Lu Yingxiao knew they both hoped she would come. Since she had already memorized the entire employee handbook by Friday night, staying home would just be boring. So, she nodded at them. "I'll go with you."

Gao Youhe cheered happily. "We can choose the photos together then."

After breakfast, Gao Youhe couldn't wait to urge Gao Yan to drive them to the photo studio.

They arrived early, and the studio had no other customers. The owner warmly received them.

When selecting photos, Gao Youhe thought every single one looked good.

The owner chimed in from the side, "They are good! Who took these? Every photo is so skillfully shot. I'd love to hire them as a photographer for my studio."

Aside from the group photo of the three, which was taken by a helpful tourist, the other photos were taken by either Lu Yingxiao, Gao Yan, or Gao Youhe.

The two adults knew the owner's words were just flattery, hoping they would frequent her studio. But Gao Youhe, who genuinely believed all three of them were excellent photographers, was overjoyed and beamed with delight upon hearing the owner's approval.

When the photo studio owner said, "Such beautiful photos need matching frames," Gao Youhe nodded without a second thought, agreeing repeatedly that the lady was right.

In the end, Gao Youhe insisted on printing out all the photos taken the previous day, each paired with a corresponding frame. Even though several photos were duplicates and it wasn't necessary to print them all, seeing Gao Youhe so enthusiastic, neither Lu Yingxiao nor Gao Yan wanted to dampen her spirits. They accompanied her in selecting the frames.

Thus, by the time they finally left the photo studio, the car's trunk was packed full of framed photos.

Gao Youhe also held three photo frames in her hands, all containing the same image—a group photo of the three of them. Yet, she still gazed at them delightedly, excitedly planning from her seat in the car where to place the three frames. "I think we should put them on the nightstands in our respective rooms. What do you think?"

Lu Yingxiao had no objections.

Gao Yan glanced at Lu Yingxiao and certainly had none.

Gao Youhe announced, "Alright, since everyone agrees, it's settled."

Back home, Gao Youhe handed the frames to Lu Yingxiao and Gao Yan, urging them to place the group photo on their nightstands.

The three of them headed to their respective rooms with the framed photos.

Lu Yingxiao's bedside had two nightstands.

One on the left, one on the right.

The one against the wall was bare.

The one by the window already held a vase.

Returning to her room, Lu Yingxiao didn't hesitate. She walked straight to the nightstand by the window, bent down, and placed the framed photo next to the vase.

The vase was half again as tall as the frame, and the lotus flowers inside were in full bloom. Placing the frame next to the vase made it look somewhat obscured by the vase and the flowers. But being obscured also meant being protected—the frame was shielded from much of the harsh sunlight streaming in from outside.

Looking at it, Lu Yingxiao couldn't help but reach out and shade the frame with her hand.

With most of the sunlight blocked, the glare on the frame disappeared, and the photo inside became clearer—it showed her standing close to Gao Yan and his sister.

The atmosphere was harmonious and warm.

After placing the frame, she returned downstairs to find Gao Youhe holding the remaining frames up against the living room wall. "I want to create a photo wall here. What do you think, brother?"

Gao Yan didn't give a definitive answer.

He looked up at Lu Yingxiao, who was coming down the stairs, and said, "Ask your sister-in-law first."

Following Gao Yan's gaze, Gao Youhe also looked at Lu Yingxiao.

She trotted over, pulled Lu Yingxiao to look at the living room wall, and animatedly described her idea of creating a photo wall on that surface.

After finishing, Gao Youhe looked at Lu Yingxiao eagerly, waiting for her response.

Lu Yingxiao instinctively wanted to refuse.

Photos placed on a nightstand could be put away at any time, but once a photo wall was created on the living room wall, not only would it be visible every time someone entered or left, but it also wouldn't be easily taken down.

During Lu Yingxiao's silence, Gao Yan walked over.

He ruffled Gao Youhe's hair and said, "Let's just display the remaining photos. If we make a photo wall, it'll be hard to clean if it gets dusty."

Gao Youhe frowned slightly.

Her brother had clearly agreed to the photo wall earlier; otherwise, he wouldn't have told her to ask her sister-in-law's opinion before making the final decision. Did this mean her sister-in-law didn't agree?

She looked up at Lu Yingxiao again.

Lu Yingxiao hadn't answered for a long time, which seemed to indicate she really didn't want the photos hung up.

Gao Youhe felt a bit disappointed, but she didn't show it. Holding Lu Yingxiao's hand, she followed Gao Yan's lead and said, "A photo wall really would be hard to clean. I won't make one; I'll just display the photos instead." Not finished, she asked Lu Yingxiao, "Sister-in-law, where do you think we should put the remaining photos? You tell me, and I'll arrange them."

Lu Yingxiao met Gao Youhe's gaze.

Gao Youhe's eyes were bright and cheerful, as if she wasn't at all disappointed about the photo wall not happening. But how could that be? Just moments ago, she had been so excited about creating one, even planning out how it should look and where each photo should go.

Now, not wanting to make a photo wall was simply because she sensed Lu Yingxiao's reluctance.

Lu Yingxiao instinctively glanced at the small red flower reward chart posted on another wall.

Actually, since the reward chart was already up, adding a photo wall wouldn't be a big deal.

Lu Yingxiao patted the clean white wall and asked Gao Youhe, "Are you sure you don't want to make a photo wall? Cleaning might be a bit inconvenient, but since it's indoors, there won't be too much dust. Cleaning it once every half month would be enough, and we could rearrange the photos and redesign the layout at the same time."

Gao Youhe blinked, her face lighting up with surprise. "Sister-in-law, you support making a photo wall too?"

Lu Yingxiao affectionately ruffled Gao Youhe's hair. "Of course! Your idea is so good; of course I support it."

Gao Youhe was overjoyed, hugging Lu Yingxiao tightly. "Sister-in-law, you're the best!"

After the hug, Gao Youhe excitedly started arranging the photo wall.

Lu Yingxiao helped by passing the frames.

Gao Yan followed Gao Youhe's instructions, hanging the frames Lu Yingxiao handed to him in their designated spots.

The three of them were busy but worked systematically, each with their own role. Through their combined efforts, the photo wall was quickly set up. Frames of various sizes formed a large heart shape, which took up almost the entire wall. Because the heart was so large and there weren't enough frames, only the outline of the heart was filled with frames, leaving the inside empty.

Standing in front of the photo wall, Gao Yan placed his large hand inside the empty "heart" and observed objectively, "This 'heart' is too empty."

His gaze fell on Lu Yingxiao.

Gao Youhe, who was responsible for the photo wall's layout and design, said proudly, "I designed it this way on purpose."

She walked over to Gao Yan, imitated his gesture, and raised her hand to press inside the empty "heart." "In the future, we'll take lots more photos, and then we can fill this heart up." She looked at Lu Yingxiao, her eyes sincere and enthusiastic as she invited, "Sister-in-law, let's fill this 'heart' together, the three of us. Okay?"

"Fill it?" Lu Yingxiao murmured, repeating the words.

She looked up at the two hands, one large and one small, inside the empty heart, and at the same time imagined in her mind what the "heart" would look like once filled.

It would probably look better than the current empty "heart," and the process of filling it would feel very rewarding.

Because even before filling the empty "heart" on the wall, the heart in her own chest already felt heavy, as if it were gradually being filled.

Without hesitation, Lu Yingxiao stepped toward Gao Yan and Gao Youhe, imitated their gesture, and placed her hand next to theirs. "Okay, let's work together to fill it."