Chapter 139: Troublesome

Chapter 139: Troublesome

Lin Guohui knew his son was determined. He took a few deep breaths, put his arm around Cheng Qiuyan, and said, "Qiuyan... I... let's go back to the room."

Cheng Qiuyan wiped away her tears and looked at her son. "Get up and go back to your room. Also, don't tell your sister, grandpa, or grandma what you've said."

Cheng Bing stood up.

Lin Guohui led Cheng Qiuyan away, glanced back at him as if he wanted to say something, but then simply turned his face away and said, "Let's go."

This unexpected turn of events was a huge blow to the couple. Whenever Cheng Qiuyan thought of the young man who had learned the craft from Cheng's father-in-law, her heart ached, and she didn't dare to say a harsh word to her son.

Lin Guohui pulled her back to the room, made her sit down, and then got her some tissues to wipe her tears, asking softly, "Would you like some water?"

“Guohui,” Cheng Qiuyan said in a trembling voice, her heart aching, “this cannot be changed. Forcing it to change will only make things worse.”

Lin Guohui patted her shoulder and sighed slowly, "I know."

“He asked us what we thought three or four times, still afraid that we would find him disgusting,” Cheng Qiuyan had just wiped away her tears, which then welled up again. “He’s always been the best kid, everyone praises him and likes him, and now he’s even afraid that his own parents will look down on him…”

In the afternoon, Cheng Bing finally came out of her room.

He felt a headache and went to the kitchen to get some water.

His parents' bedroom door was open. He drank some water and slowly walked over to take a look, but found that no one was inside.

At this moment, Cheng Qiuyan and Lin Guohui were in the computer room upstairs, searching for information about homosexuality with some difficulty.

Anyway, the rumors were nasty, as if people like that should be neither male nor female, and pretentious. But Cheng Qiuyan remembered that the young man didn't look anything special. He was cheerful, hardworking, acted normally, and was always the best at working.

Cheng Bing is like that.

Walking outside, he was a boy who was a bit aloof but generally peaceful, with no lack of masculinity. Fang Yuenian was even more so. When he was young, he was lively, playful and mischievous, breaking pots and pans. Later, as he became more sensible, he became a bit like Cheng Bing, with no timidity.

Because they were not very familiar with the online world, the couple initially found a lot of alarming things, such as infectious diseases and hidden injuries. It took them quite a while to finally find some relatively scientific explanations and opinions.

They looked at the information and discussed it with a heavy heart and frustration. Cheng Qiuyan cried several times during this time. The two of them spent a lot of time on the research. When they went downstairs, they saw their son sitting at the table, holding a water glass and staring blankly.

"...Mom, Dad."

Upon seeing her parents, Cheng Bing instinctively stood up.

Seeing his anxious look, Cheng Qiuyan felt a pang of pain in her heart and turned to look at her husband.

Lin Guohui coughed. "Aren't you cold sitting here like this?"

"It's nothing," Cheng Bing replied, standing there.

Cheng Qiuyan realized that they hadn't eaten yet, and it was already past two o'clock, so she said softly, "What should we eat for lunch?"

"You spent half the morning with..."

Lin Guohui was about to ask if Cheng Bing had eaten fried chicken with Fang Yuenian, but he realized he couldn't bring himself to ask that question, so he swallowed it back and changed his mind, saying, "How about we just make some noodles?"

Cheng Qiuyan was also unhappy. She had put a lot of effort into cooking every meal when her daughters were home. Now that the sisters were gone, would the three of them just make do? Although she was still confused, she decided to deal with things one by one. It was the middle of winter, and the New Year celebrations weren't over yet. She couldn't let her children suffer. After all, her troublesome son was going to Beijing in a couple of days and wouldn't be back for a whole semester.

"I'll go make a couple of side dishes. There's still one fish left from what Auntie gave us yesterday, I'll make you some soup." Cheng Qiuyan didn't look at her son and hurried downstairs to the kitchen.

Lin Guohui and Cheng Bing were in an awkward silence. After a long pause, Lin Guohui looked at Cheng Bing, hesitated, then took two steps forward, his face very unnatural, and asked in a low voice, "You, you're all grown up now. Tell Dad the truth, you and Xiao Yuenian, did you, did you..."

Lin Guohui couldn't bring himself to say what he'd seen online. After carefully reviewing his son's usual interactions, he realized that his son was more like the one in charge. So he reluctantly pretended that his son was just dating at a young age and came to ask if he was doing anything inappropriate.

Cheng Bing looked at her father, and seeing that he seemed unable to say anything after "maybe," she whispered, "No."

Lin Guohui breathed a sigh of relief, but then felt a sharp pain in his lungs from worry. He glared at his son and scolded, "Good thing it's nothing! Stop messing around!"

Cheng Bing shrugged as he was scolded.

Seeing this, Lin Guohui softened a little. "You...you should know that he is someone else's precious only son. How could he give him to you...sigh, never mind, I'm not talking to you anymore, you're so annoying."

“Dad,” Cheng Bing called to him, “I didn’t lie to him, and I didn’t bully him.”

Lin Guohui couldn't listen to it anymore and turned to go to the kitchen.

Soon the dishes were served, and the family of three sat down to eat in silence.

No one spoke.

Lin Guohui served soup to his wife, Cheng Qiuyan served food to her husband, and the couple went to get more rice together—Cheng Bing remained silent, did not look up, and rarely picked up any food.

Eventually, Cheng Qiuyan couldn't hold back any longer and said in a muffled voice, "Drink more soup. It's so annoying that there's no room for leftovers in the fridge."

Lin Guohui glanced at her, then followed suit, sternly reprimanding his son: "Did you hear me!"

Cheng Bing immediately scooped up the soup.

After the meal was finally over, Cheng Bing was about to wash the dishes when Lin Guohui pushed her aside, saying, "Go, go, we don't need you here."

Cheng Bing said helplessly, "Dad."

"What are you doing?" Lin Guohui glanced at him.

"Let me do it, I..."

"What do you mean, 'you'?" Lin Guohui said irritably, "Go out and keep your mother company."

Cheng Qiuyan was mopping the floor outside.

The floor was actually very clean and didn't need mopping at all. Cheng Bing went over to take the mop, saying, "Mom, let me do it."

Cheng Qiuyan didn't push or pull him. She let go, sat down at the table, and stared blankly at him as he busied himself.

After Cheng Bing finished her work, she prepared to take the mop to the backyard to wash it, but Cheng Qiuyan finally spoke up to stop her, saying, "Don't go, wash it tonight."

Lin Guohui finished washing the dishes and wiped his hands as he came out. Cheng Qiuyan saw him and said, "Come and sit down."

Lin Guohui looked at Cheng Bing: "Can't you hear me? Come sit down!"

Cheng Bing had no choice but to go and sit down.

Sitting across from my parents felt like being on trial, yet there was also a hint of anticipation.

Cheng Qiuyan sighed helplessly and looked at him: "Bingbing, your father and mother have something to ask you. Tell the truth, don't lie, and don't hide anything."

"……good."

Seeing this, Lin Guohui began to ask, "When did you and Xiao Yuenian say this? Who said it first?"

"I spoke first after the college entrance examination was over."

Cheng Qiuyan was slightly out of breath. She was only eighteen years old at the time, and all she knew was to do her homework and eat...

"And then you..."

"For quite a while afterward, we were both thinking about it," Cheng Bing breathed a sigh of relief, "but in short... we liked each other."

Lin Guohui's expression was not good. He gritted his teeth and said, "That means it's only been half a year."

"Um."

"In the past six months, have you ever quarreled, argued, or joked with each other, or told the truth?"

“We never argued, and college was busy, so we didn’t have time to see each other. He had two very good friends in his high school class, and we talked about it in front of them.”

Cheng Qiuyan was surprised: "What?"

High school students these days can easily accept this kind of thing?

Cheng Bing said, "There were only two, and we didn't mention it to other classmates. We were very careful both at school and outside of school."

Lin Guohui couldn't help but shout angrily, "You two are having a puppy love affair! Do you want everyone to know?!"

Cheng Bing quickly said, "We didn't affect our grades, nor did we affect anyone else."

"You..." Lin Guohui was furious. "You think you're so great?"

Cheng Qiuyan patted her husband's arm, and Lin Guohui reluctantly stopped. After a moment, he continued, "After you got into university, did you tell anyone about your classmates and friends there?"

Cheng Bing finally understood what her parents were worried about.

“No,” he said in a deep voice, “we won’t tell anyone casually, nor will we be careless in our behavior and let others see through us and gossip for no reason. Not only now, but we will always be like this in the future.”

Hearing him say that, Cheng Qiuyan softened.

For no reason, she thought that if she were with a girl, like other couples, being affectionate, holding hands, and linking arms, it would be a happy sight, and there would be no need to worry about so many things.

Sigh, what's so good about taking this path?

If they keep it a secret from everyone, and if their family doesn't accept it, then there's really no one left to tell. If the two of them go down a dark path, what will they do in the future?

Lin Guohui and Cheng Qiuyan were speechless for a moment. After a while, Cheng Bing said in a low voice, "He and I have considered these things, but I am telling you about it now without discussing it with him."

"No, you didn't tell him?" Lin Guohui was furious. "You really... What if he still didn't want to tell you? You've always been like this, never discussing anything with him?"

“No,” Cheng Bing said, not daring to accept the blame. “I discuss everything with him… but Aunt Wang Jing is like this now, and I don’t want to distract him. He told me what Aunt Wang Jing said, and that’s why I felt I should tell you, because at least we now have the approval of his family.”

Cheng Qiuyan's face paled, and she looked at Lin Guohui.

Lin Guohui also felt a tightness in his chest. "Sigh, you guys... Wang Jing's feelings for him are definitely beyond reproach."

Cheng Bing nodded. "Yes."

Cheng Qiuyan sighed repeatedly and said hesitantly, "You need to take it easy on your second sister."

Cheng Bing looked at her parents, not daring to reveal that her sisters already knew about it, "I will talk to my older sister and second older sister properly, don't worry."

Having said that, Lin Guohui let out a long sigh, put his hand on Cheng Qiuyan's shoulder, and cleared his throat.

"Okay, now that things are like this, Mom and Dad have something to tell you, so listen carefully." Author's Note: Thank you to my mentor 9492239 (9492239) for your support! For more exciting content, please leave a message for this book on Liancheng Reading.