Chapter 77 As for Yu Pan, his future...

Chapter 77

Yes, my boyfriend is my brother.

My boyfriend is my brother.

That's my brother.

From the moment Ling Luo heard those words, it was as if Yu Pan's words were on repeat in her mind.

Ling Luo's mind was in complete chaos. He looked at Yu Pan, who had a calm expression on his face, and was shocked that he could say such a shocking fact in such a casual tone.

"You...aren't you...you guys?" After a long pause, Ling Luo frowned, struggling to organize her thoughts and try to express herself clearly without offending anyone.

But one has to admire the profoundness of Chinese culture. Although the word "that" is vague, both parties are well aware of the meaning it implies.

Yu Pan instantly understood what Ling Luo meant by "that" and explained, "We're not blood brothers."

"Huh?" Ling Luo was completely speechless this time, her eyes widening even more. "Then what are you doing...?"

"I... I guess you could say I'm an orphan. My brother's family took me in and raised me," Yu Pan explained, not intending to go into detail about the complicated situation of her biological parents recently coming to her door.

"Wait... wait a minute, let me catch my breath, there's a lot of information here..." Ling Luo rubbed his forehead, he couldn't quite process what Yu Pan meant by "considered an orphan".

He felt his brain was overloaded and began to re-examine the relationship between Yu Pan and Shen Yanzhou.

In short, thankfully they're not blood brothers... but even so, their current relationship sounds explosive enough!

Yu Pan wasn't in a hurry to urge him to accept it. While Ling Luo was trying to think about and digest this information, he ate his meal at a leisurely pace, not feeling at all how much the news would impact his friend.

Sure enough, after nearly half an hour of difficult thinking and mental preparation, Ling Luo successfully convinced herself and very tactfully blurted out, "Ah, actually I've always felt that you and your brother look particularly good together, you have an aura that no one else can break into."

These words amused Yu Pan, who smiled and said to Ling Luo, "Thank you."

However, most people are gossipy, and Ling Luo was no exception. He couldn't suppress his curiosity and leaned closer to ask in a low voice, "Hey, so how did you two find out... um, that the other person had feelings for you? Who made the first move?"

Yu Pan frowned slightly, thought about it seriously for a moment, and then said, "It seems... there wasn't a very clear moment to talk about it."

Well, except for the first time we did it, but Yu Pan omitted that and continued, "It feels like in our minds, we were born to be together. I don't know if you understand what I mean by that?"

Yu Pan was telling the truth. From the moment he vaguely understood the meaning of the term "child bride," he accepted it without any sense of aversion.

Even if Uncle Shen and Aunt Shen didn't adopt him for this purpose at all, for him, whether he was a child bride or Shen Yanzhou's younger brother, as long as he could stay with Shen Yanzhou, it didn't matter which identity he had.

Shen Yanzhou clearly thought the same way, and at every stage, he never let go of Yu Pan's hand.

Hearing Yu Pan's answer, Ling Luo felt a surge of envy: "You and your brother have a really good relationship."

"Of course." Yu Pan was not modest at all. In his heart, he and Shen Yanzhou were the closest people in the world, without a doubt.

Yu Pan accompanied Ling Luo on a two-day trip to Beijing. On the morning of the third day, Ling Luo's boyfriend, who was far away in the United States, flew back in a great hurry.

"Hehe, he still cares about me after all! I have to talk to him now! I'll bring him to visit you after this busy period!" Ling Luo's happy voice came from the other end of the phone.

Hearing his cheerful tone, Yu Pan was also happy for him, hoping that they could really communicate well this time and clear up the misunderstanding.

However, Yu Pan ultimately failed to meet Ling Luo's boyfriend, because his boyfriend did have urgent business to attend to in the United States. He only made time to fly back this time to appease Ling Luo.

It was at this moment that Shen Yanzhou received a message that had been relayed from Uncle Shen in Xishan Village.

This year marks the seventh anniversary of Uncle Shen and Aunt Shen's burial. According to the customs of their hometown, it's time to "collect the gold," and the eldest son must be present for this.

"Picking up gold," also known as "picking up bones for burial," is an old custom in their area. In the third, fifth, and seventh year after the deceased is buried, the coffin needs to be opened, the bones carefully picked up, and placed in a specially made "golden urn." Then, an auspicious place is chosen for reburial. In Xishan Village, the custom is to do so in the seventh year after burial.

Just as Shen Yanzhou finished his urgent work, and there were still some days before Yu Pan started school, he took Yu Pan with him and set off back to Xishan Village.

On the way back, Shen Yanzhou had already contacted a feng shui master to calculate an auspicious day for breaking ground and to find a new burial site for the reburial.

Yu Pan grew up in Xishan Village, so he had naturally heard of and seen such customs. He was just a little dazed. Since Uncle Shen and Aunt Shen passed away unexpectedly, he rarely calculated how much time had passed. Most of the time, he would just sigh during the New Year, "Another year has passed."

Now, suddenly being called back by Shen Yanzhou because of the "gold finding" incident, he truly realized that Uncle Shen and Aunt Shen had been gone for seven whole years.

Since Shen Yanzhou had arranged for people to clean and take care of the old house in Xishan Village regularly, they didn't have to spend too much time tidying it up after they arrived, and they moved in directly.

That night, Yu Pan lay on the old bed where she had slept for more than ten years, gazing at the light bulb hanging from the beam, which was covered in dust.

This was installed in Shen Yanzhou's home back then because he tripped and fell in his house and had to pay five yuan to skip the queue.

Although they left Xishan Village not long after using it, the wires and light bulbs were of good quality. After so many years, the lights are still bright. However, the light cord is somewhat old and has poor contact, so you have to pull it hard and quickly several times before the light will turn on.

After a quick wash, Shen Yanzhou lifted the mosquito net and got into bed. As usual, he turned to his side and pulled Yu Pan into his arms.

Summer nights in Xishan Village are sweltering, but Yu Pan never rejects Shen Yanzhou's embrace.

"elder brother."

"Um?"

"Time flies." Yu Pan used to watch other families in the village "collect gold," but she never expected that it would be their turn so soon.

"Yes." Shen Yanzhou tightened his arms around him, holding him even closer. "Are you sleepy? Should we turn off the light?"

Yu Pan shook her head in his arms: "No, it's not closed."

"Isn't it too bright for your eyes?"

Yu Pan buried her face in Shen Yanzhou's chest and said in a muffled voice, "This way it won't be too bright. I'm afraid that if I turn off the light, some small insects might crawl in through the gaps in the mosquito net, and I won't be able to find them in the dark. It'll be uncomfortable."

Yu Pan has always attracted a lot of blood-sucking insects since he was a child. Wherever he is, mosquitoes and midges all flock to him.

It's a bit better when the weather is cool, but once the season for wearing tank tops and shorts arrives, Yu Pan's exposed skin is covered with large and small mosquito bites, and Shen Yanzhou can't keep up with swatting them.

Because of this, in the summers when I was a child, Aunt Shen would always gather a lot of mugwort to fumigate the house and repel insects, and the house would be filled with smoke every morning and evening.

Uncle Shen teased Yu Pan, saying that he would find some old mosquito netting to make him a cover so he could take it wherever he went.

In the end, Yu Pan refused with a stern face. He wasn't a dish on the table, so why should he need a cover?

Although the edges and corners of the mosquito net are now firmly covered by the mat, Yu Pan is still worried that some particularly small and agile insects might find a gap and squeeze in.

If the light cord doesn't work, and you're left in complete darkness listening to the buzzing of insects, that will be truly torturous.

“Okay, then we won’t turn it off,” Shen Yanzhou replied.

The two spent more than a day traveling from Beijing back to Xishan Village. After getting off the plane, they were basically on a bumpy ride in the car the whole time. They were both exhausted, and fell asleep in each other's arms after a short while.

The day for "gold picking" was set for three days later. The newly selected burial site was not too far from the original cemetery, but the road leading up to it was a bit steeper.

When Yu Pan and Shen Yanzhou went to check the location in advance, the ground there had already been cleaned up quite neatly.

For some reason, Yu Pan was relatively calm before going up the mountain, but when he actually stood in this place that was about to become the reburial site of Uncle Shen and Aunt Shen, he felt a pang of sadness in his heart.

He still remembers that seven years ago, when Uncle Shen and Aunt Shen suddenly passed away, they spent a lot of money to hire a feng shui master to look at their graves. Because Uncle Shen and Aunt Shen passed away so suddenly and at such a young age, most people in the village were afraid of breaking the taboo, and there were only a limited number of people who could come to help.

At that time, the tomb where Uncle Shen and Aunt Shen are now buried was dug out by Shen Yanzhou, shovel by shovel, with his help.

While professional funeral service providers could certainly handle the work, the fees were simply unaffordable for them at the time.

Funeral arrangements require money at every stage, and on this matter, Yu Pan and Shen Yanzhou were completely in agreement.

They wanted to ensure that Uncle Shen and Aunt Shen passed away with dignity, but the reality was that they only had so much money. They had to scrape together a lot of money from various sources to barely cover the normal procedures of the funeral. So they could only try their best to save money in the areas where they could contribute their own efforts.

On the day they found the gold, just as dawn was breaking, Shen Yanzhou and Yu Pan got up, and the master they had invited and the villagers who were helping them arrived one after another.

As the eldest son, Shen Yanzhou followed his master's instructions step by step, with Yu Pan standing beside him holding an umbrella.

The whole process lasted for most of the day, and when they got home, both of them were covered in mud.

After washing up in the evening, Yu Pan was more silent than usual. He snuggled into Shen Yanzhou's arms, hugging his waist tightly, and remained motionless.

Shen Yanzhou could sense that the person in his arms was downcast, and he knew why. He gently stroked Yu Pan's back, saying, "Panpan, Mom and Dad will be relieved to see that we are both doing well now."

Yu Pan nodded in his arms without saying a word.

Yu Pan didn't sleep well that night, waking up frequently and needing to make sure Shen Yanzhou was still beside her before she could drift back to sleep.

Shen Yanzhou barely slept either, constantly patting Yu Pan's back gently, just like he used to comfort him when he was a child.

They stayed in Xishan Village for two days, and after taking care of the remaining trivial matters, they set off back to Beijing.

The weather was fine the day I left Xishan Village.

Yu Pan looked at the wild grass and trees rushing past the window and said, "Brother, let's come back and visit every year from now on."

“Okay,” Shen Yanzhou replied. “We’ll come back to visit every year from now on.”

"Mmm." Yu Pan responded, avoiding the driver in front, and secretly took Shen Yanzhou's hand. The emptiness in her heart was slightly filled by his words.

Some people and events will remain in the past forever, but those who are alive should carry their love and move forward.

For Yu Pan, having Shen Yanzhou by his side in the future is enough.