Chapter 153

The floor is cold in winter, and Chu Jiujiu is a reckless person, so when winter comes, Chu Liqiang brings back a few soldiers and cleans up the whole house.

The carpet that had been in the utility room for a summer was put back into use. The ones in the living room and other rooms remained the same, except for the one in Chu Jiujiu's room, which was newly bought by Chu Liqiang.

It is big and thick, with brown and white patterns printed on it. According to Chu Liqiang, the fluff on the carpet is animal hair. He thinks this carpet is particularly beautiful, but Chu Jiujiu thinks it is just average, and she always feels that this carpet is prickly to the feet.

What kind of animal's fur is this... so hard? Definitely not sheep, maybe camel.

Apart from being prickly, this carpet has all other advantages, such as being warm, fluffy, and soundproof.

Han Shengyi walked over silently, and Chu Jiujiu had her back to him. She was very sleepy after lunch, but Wen Xiuwei came over just now, and her emotions were so up and down that she lost all her sleepiness. She closed her eyes and thought, I'll wait for five more minutes. If she still doesn't want to sleep after five minutes, then she'll get up.

Thinking of this, Chu Jiujiu turned over again. Her eyes were not closed tightly to begin with, and through the slits of her eyes, she saw a figure beside the bed. The figure was extremely familiar, so familiar that even if he suddenly appeared, Chu Jiujiu didn't think there was anything wrong. She rubbed her nose and was about to continue sleeping when she opened her eyes.

When she found that Han Shengyi had really come in, she sat up straight suddenly. The effect was just like the zombie scene in a zombie movie.

Chu Jiujiu uttered a syllable: "You..."

At this moment, she didn't care about never speaking to him again and ignoring him to the end. She shifted her gaze towards the door, and then her voice suddenly became sharp, "When did you come here?!"

Without waiting for Han Shengyi to answer, she asked again: "Did you two collude with each other?!"

Chu Jiujiu's blood pressure began to rise again. If nothing unexpected happened, her next words should be, "Get out of here." Han Shengyi knew her so well, of course he couldn't give her this opportunity.

Looking at Chu Jiujiu, he touched his neck and said, "I feel cold."

Chu Jiujiu frowned. Han Shengyi was not wearing a coat, nor was his top a thick sweater, but a shirt. Maybe he had another coat underneath, but even if he did, it didn't look very warm. He didn't button the top two buttons of his shirt, revealing a small piece of skin. They would install collective heating in this area next year, and this year, they would still rely on honeycomb coal to solve the problem of the cold.

No matter how vigorously the honeycomb coal burned, the indoor temperature could not reach above 20 degrees Celsius. It was always hovering around 10 degrees Celsius. It would be strange if he wasn't cold in the way he was wearing.

Chu Jiujiu pursed her lips and said nothing. She was no longer the follower she used to be. Go ahead and be cool, who cares!

Although she seemed to be strong on the outside but was actually weak on the inside, Chu Jiujiu's eyes still unconsciously circled around his empty neck several times.

Humph, no one knits a scarf for you, you deserve it.

Chu Jiujiu moved her eyes away. She didn't look at Han Shengyi, but because she was interrupted, she no longer thought about kicking Han Shengyi out.

Looking at Chu Jiujiu, who was silent and as stubborn as a donkey, Han Shengyi suddenly felt like laughing.

If he had seen Chu Jiujiu like this some time ago, he would have felt nothing but pain in his heart, but now that he knew what Chu Jiujiu was thinking, he no longer felt so uncomfortable.

Because there is still hope. He did something wrong and brought the two of them to the point of almost breaking up, but there is still hope.

What he wanted was always simple, and what Chu Jiujiu wanted was even simpler than that. It could be summed up in four words: heart for heart.

Han Shengyi let out a light breath and stood where he was. He didn't move forward, but just half-closed his eyes and talked to himself.

"When my parents got married, there was no love between them. My father was an intellectual, and what he loved most was a room full of books. Besides those, his second love was me. When he had time, he would teach me to read and write, but he never taught me how to get along with others or how to treat the people I loved."

Chu Jiujiu turned her head silently. She looked at Han Shengyi with vigilance because she suspected that Han Shengyi was here to brainwash her. However, Han Shengyi seldom mentioned his father. Chu Jiujiu knew how important his father was in his heart, so even though she thought it might be a sugar-coated bullet, she still wanted to listen.

Han Shengyi didn't see her eyes, and he didn't intend to look at them, so he just continued talking.

"Maybe he planned to teach me when I grew up, but at that time, he didn't think that he would be gone by the time I grew up."

"As for my mom, she likes to pretend to have a harmonious family life. When she gets home, she still plays the role of a good wife and mother. She cooks for me, buys things for me, and does almost everything other mothers do for their children. But she never hugs me, never cares about my grades, and when I'm sick, she just gives me medicine. When I had a fever of nearly 40 degrees, she was out shopping in the department store with another woman."

Chu Jiujiu had a stern face and kept reminding herself in her heart, hold on, hold on, don't be soft-hearted!

Ruan Mengru, you damn bastard, why hasn’t the disease defeated you yet!

…

"I've never told anyone... Actually, in the beginning, I didn't just idolize my dad; I also idolized her. Back then, I didn't understand what a real mother was like. I just thought my mom was the best mother in the world, so I imitated her and tried to learn from her. She didn't like me getting too close to other kids, so I wouldn't play with them. She didn't want me to go out with others, so I stayed home. I didn't understand why at first, but later I realized she thought I was troublesome. If I went out too often and met too many people, it would cause her trouble."

Chu Jiujiu's expression remained silent, but her fists were already stiff.

Showing weakness was not an easy thing for Han Shengyi, especially when he had to admit that this trash Ruan Mengru had had such a huge impact on his life. He felt like he was being stripped naked.

It was humiliating and embarrassing, but the only consolation was that the only person who heard this was Chu Jiujiu.

After a pause, Han Shengyi continued, "You know what happened later. After leaving the capital and arriving in Qingzhu Village, and seeing how Aunt Zhang treated Chu Shao, I realized how wrong my previous thinking was. However, recognizing my mistakes doesn't mean I can correct them immediately. I still memorized the things I once tried so hard to imitate, and I find that these things always help me."

"No matter how much I hate to admit it, I'm also her son. I'm more pretentious than she is, more cunning than she is, and I'm smarter than her. In the past, whenever I wasn't doing well, I would think to myself that it was all her fault. She made me like this, and she passed on all those bad traits to me. I blame all my problems on her, until now."

Chu Jiujiu looked at him at some point, and Han Shengyi could look into her eyes by just raising his eyes slightly.

The two looked at each other, and Han Shengyi felt his throat a little dry.

"The reason I've become what I am now has nothing to do with her. It's just my nature. I exploit those I want to exploit and bully those I want to bully. I think I'm a chivalrous thief, the kind who robs the rich and helps the poor. But in reality, a bad person is always a bad person, and chivalry has nothing to do with it. Because I'm used to it, I never take it seriously. So, I didn't even notice that I actually hurt the person who means the most to me."

After staring at Han Shengyi for a while, Chu Jiujiu turned her head and blinked slightly. A tear immediately flowed down her face. It slid down so fast that she couldn't wipe it away in time. She could only watch it fall on the quilt and be absorbed instantly.

Looking at the tear marks on her face, Han Shengyi suddenly walked over, knelt beside the bed, and raised his hand. Chu Jiujiu was startled by his action. She turned her head, and another tear fell down, right into the palm of Han Shengyi's hand.

She was a crybaby when she was little, and she still loves to cry when she grows up. Chu Jiujiu doesn't think it's embarrassing to cry in front of Han Shengyi. There are more embarrassing times anyway. She is more concerned about Han Shengyi's posture.

"You, you get up."

He knelt beside the bed. Even though there was a carpet underneath, it was still very strange. Kneeling and sitting on your knees are different. Chu Jiujiu sat on the bed. She was much taller than Han Shengyi. She frowned and looked at Han Shengyi beside the bed. Her fingers moved subconsciously, but she didn't really reach out to pull him up.

Han Shengyi saw her little movement, and his palm was still a little wet. He shook it and then put it to his side.

Shaking his head, he replied, "Just let me finish."

As he said that, he smiled at Chu Jiujiu again, "Don't cry. If I hear you cry again, my heart will break into pieces."

Upon hearing this, Chu Jiujiu immediately glared at him. She hugged her chest and moved back a little until Han Shengyi's hands were no longer touching her. Then she cursed softly, "Slippery tongue."

Han Shengyi was helpless. Everything he said was true, but Chu Jiujiu didn't believe it and thought he was just talking sweet words.

Trust was broken, and it was not easy to rebuild it. Han Shengyi did not dare to complain. He pursed his lips and smiled, then he stood up by supporting himself on the edge of the bed and sat next to Chu Jiujiu.

He paid attention to the range and did not get close to Chu Jiujiu. There was a distance of three or four centimeters between them. Chu Jiujiu frowned and looked at him, but in the end she didn't say anything.

Han Shengyi continued what he said before: "You seem to have never realized how important you are to me."

"It's been nine years. Next year will be the tenth year that you and I have known each other. When we first met, you were my friend, my best friend, because you were my only friend. Later, you brought Chu Shao here, and grandma accepted you. From then on, you became my family. But, in fact, I don't care about these two relationships at all."

Chu Jiujiu felt like an electric fan, her head constantly turning back and forth. When she didn't want to look at Han Shengyi, she turned away, and when she needed to glare at him, she had to turn back.

Now she turned back, she wanted to see what Han Shengyi would say next.

Han Shengyi finally felt a little happy when he found out that Chu Jiujiu was a little angry. It was good that she was angry. If she wasn't angry anymore, Han Shengyi would panic.

Looking at her, Han Shengyi explained in a low voice, "You can see that I have very weak family ties. My parents are gone, and I have only a small part of my life with my grandparents. That's the situation. I went to the countryside with them not because I had deep feelings for them, but because if I didn't go with them, Han Jibin would take me away."

"As for friends, I don't care about them at all. Friendship is of no use to me. If I have it, I have it. If I don't have it, I won't bother looking for it."

"So," Han Shengyi said seriously, "you are important to me only because you are you."

Chu Jiujiu looked at him coldly, "So what."

She finally spoke, but it would have been better if she hadn't said anything. "I know I'm important to you, and I'm not stupid, but so what? You heard what I said to Weiwei before. If you've forgotten, I'll repeat it again. You're just used to having me around. If you say this is love, I don't admit it."

Han Shengyi looked down at her and said, "I want to hold you, kiss you, do things to you that only husband and wife can do, sleep in the same bed with you, and let you cry in my arms. Even so, you don't admit it?"

Chu Jiujiu: “…………”

She raised her foot in anger, "Rogue!"

The first time she kicked him, Han Shengyi remained motionless. The second time he kicked him, Han Shengyi took advantage of the momentum to grab her ankle and then moved forward.

He did nothing but push Chu Jiujiu into the corner. His shoulders were much broader than Chu Jiujiu's, and Chu Jiujiu couldn't get out at all because of him. Now it was Chu Jiujiu who was panicking.

Han Shengyi grabbed her ankles and placed her legs on his. He supported himself on the bed and nodded shamelessly. "You're a hooligan. I didn't say it because I didn't want to scare you. But you always don't believe me and think I just want to be with you out of habit. I feel so wronged. I'm an adult man. Ever since I understood what love between men and women was, I've dreamed of marrying you home. Jiujiu, you're already eighteen this year."

Chu Jiujiu: “…”

Damn it, now she believes it, really believes it!

Han Shengyi looked at her with eyes almost like a wolf. What do you mean by "turning eighteen"? You still want to get married this year! You wish!

Han Shengyi was always harmless in front of her. Even though he was a head taller than her, Chu Jiujiu had never felt any oppression from him. But now she felt it, and it was very serious.

She used all her strength to pull her legs back. She tried to shrink back, but this was already the corner of the wall. If she shrank back any further, she would be squeezed into the wall.

Han Shengyi asked her: "Are you willing to admit it now?"

Chu Jiujiu's face was tense, she was panicking inside, but she couldn't admit defeat on the surface: "My dad will be back soon, and when he comes back, he will definitely take you to the police station!"

Han Shengyi suddenly laughed, which meant he admitted it.

He nodded seriously, "That's fine. I did something wrong in the first place. Arrest me and lock me up for a year or two. That way I'll learn my lesson."

When he said he had done something wrong, he definitely didn't mean what happened today. Chu Jiujiu also heard it and kicked Han Shengyi again. This time, Chu Jiujiu used more force. Han Shengyi tilted to the side. Then, Chu Jiujiu took this opportunity to crawl out from the corner.

She wanted to get out of bed, but her slippers were not nearby. When she was looking for them, Han Shengyi held her hand and said, "Wait a minute."

Chu Jiujiu tried to shake him off, but couldn't. She turned her head back unhappily. Han Shengyi had already come to the bed with her. He put away his joking expression and tone and said to Chu Jiujiu in all seriousness, "If this can make you calm down, I'm willing to do it."

"If this isn't enough, let's think of another way. From now on, I'll only tell you the truth. I'll tell you whatever you want to hear. I'll never lie to you again, and I'll never hurt you again. Jiujiu, my life belongs to you. Please don't leave me."

After saying the last sentence, he put Chu Jiujiu's hand on his face, with his palm touching his cheek. The base of his palm felt a little prickly because Han Shengyi had a layer of green stubble on his chin. It turned out that beard is a man's biggest enemy. Just with such a short layer, he actually looked five or six years older.

Chu Jiujiu frowned, feeling a little uncomfortable. She pulled her hand back again, but with much less force than before.

She muttered softly, "Why are you so cheesy..."

Han Shengyi thought for a moment, "Sad? But, it's all true."

Han Shengyi was still looking at her. She felt uncomfortable being looked at by him. She couldn't pull her hand away. Chu Jiujiu had no choice but to give an answer on the spot, "I... let me think about it."

What else is there to think about? Since she didn't point at the door and tell him to get out, it means that Chu Jiujiu has been coaxed by him. Realizing this, Han Shengyi's emotions suddenly surged.

In order not to have too high expectations, he had been restraining his emotions. Now that he finally got the answer, all the nervousness and panic instantly turned into surprise of regaining what he had lost. Holding Chu Jiujiu's hand, Han Shengyi's eyes suddenly became much more serious.

——

Bang!

This was the last sound coming from the Chu family.

Chu Jiujiu ran downstairs and went into the bathroom. Actually, there was one in her room, so there was no need for her to run downstairs. Two minutes after she came out, Han Shengyi slowly walked out.

Even with a slap mark on his face, Han Shengyi smiled as if he had found eight million on the street. Of course, he didn't even realize he was laughing. Looking at the closed bathroom door, Han Shengyi wanted to stay and talk to her again. After two months of not speaking, Han Shengyi felt like he was on fire. He urgently needed a Chujiu brand fire extinguisher.

However, what Chu Jiujiu just said was just to consider it. If he pushed too hard now, it might have the opposite effect.

Thinking of this, Han Shengyi decided to go home first.

But before going home, he walked to the bathroom door, found the crack in the door, and whispered to the inside: "Jiujiu, this winter is only half over, I still want a scarf."

Chu Jiujiu, who was standing by the mirror pretending to be an ostrich, said: "..."

She shouted outside in a bad mood: "Go buy it yourself!"

After shouting for a while, there was no sound outside. Chu Jiujiu opened the door suspiciously and found that Han Shengyi had already left.

He must have heard it.

But if he spoke, Chu Jiujiu would find out that he heard her, so he ran away quietly.

Chu Jiujiu: “…”

Why didn't I realize Han Shengyi was so scheming before?!

That was of course because, in the past, Han Shengyi was just a brother who could get whatever she wanted, but now, brother had become a "brother". Although he still got whatever she wanted, he also started to ask for things from Chu Jiujiu, and he asked for a lot.

I want feelings, I want a scarf, and I want people.

In the past, they were always grateful for what they received, but now, they are equal.

No one should say anything about anyone else.

…

When Han Shengyi came back, the red slap on his face was too obvious. It was even more severe than the one Grandma Han hit him with. When he walked in, Grandma Han and Wen Xiuwei were sitting in the living room. Looking at the wound on his face, both of them were shocked.

As if he didn't see their expressions, Han Shengyi said to Wen Xiuwei sincerely: "Sister Xiuwei, thank you."

Wen Xiuwei pointed at his face blankly: "No, you, this..."

Grandma Han: "Did Jiujiu hit you?"

Han Shengyi smiled and shook his head, "No, we were just joking."

Glancing at his watch, he said, "I'm going upstairs to change my clothes."

Han Shengyi is still the same Han Shengyi, but now he knows the difference between cold and heat, and feels like he is basking in the spring breeze. If it weren't for the ice and snow outside, Grandma Han would have thought that spring had returned to the earth.

After a second of reaction, Grandma Han was ecstatic, "Thank God, we are finally reconciled!"

Wen Xiuwei wasn't as happy as Grandma Han. She was more incredulous. Chu Jiujiu was so determined, and Han Shengyi had only been there for half an hour, and he'd already persuaded her to heal? It was true that the right medicine was the right remedy, but this medicine was even more effective than the elixir stolen by Chang'e!

Wen Xiuwei was stunned. Before she could come to her senses, Grandma Han excitedly grabbed her hand. "Xiuwei, you are really our family's lucky star! If it weren't for you, who knows how long those two would have been fighting. You are so powerful! I knew Jiujiu would listen to you!"

Wen Xiuwei wanted to say that Chu Jiujiu didn't listen to her and she didn't do anything, but Grandma Han's movements were too violent and she couldn't open her mouth for a moment.

Grandma Han was so happy that she didn't notice her hesitation to speak. She was still excited and said, "It stands to reason that the elders should be the officiants of weddings. I'll make the decision! Xiuwei, you will be the officiant of their wedding. When the time comes, grandma will give you a big red envelope and spread all the happiness on you, hahahahahaha!"

Wen Xiuwei: “…………”

You are thinking too far ahead!

——

This time, Chu Jiujiu's movements were too big, causing her to immediately return to her previous state. She couldn't save face, so she had dinner at home tonight. But when Grandpa Han heard about it, he jumped up from the bed with a somersault. He was even more joyful than Grandma Han. He changed into his best Tang suit and greeted everyone at home, "Come on, let's go to Xiao Chu's house for dinner. Xiuwei just came back, and we should all get together to welcome her. Yingping, don't cook, let's buy some food to eat when we get home."

It is unprecedented in this day and age for an elder to accommodate a younger person, but Grandma Han and Grandpa Han are not the type to care about such things. They haven't seen Chu Jiujiu for a long time. Before, they were afraid that they might quarrel and didn't dare to come over. Now they don't have such concerns anymore, so why are they still being so shy?

Holding the key, Grandpa Han pushed open the door of the Chu family, and then announced to the whole house with full energy: "Jiujiu, come down to eat quickly, I bought you a roast chicken from Lao Ma's family!"

After gathering her strength for almost ten days, Chu Jiujiu was almost scared out of her wits by Grandpa Han's shout. Her body trembled and she couldn't hold the things in her hands firmly.

Chu Jiujiu hurriedly stuffed the yarn and needles back into the cabinet and went downstairs.