Chapter 48 [VIP]

On the way back, the two snuggled together, Chenmian's face flushed, her hand held tightly by the man.

Lin Langli returned the car first, then went to his second aunt's for a free brunch. Seeing how close they were, his second aunt sighed, "I was worried you two wouldn't get along." Then she looked at Chenmian and said, "Mianmian, you must take good care of Xiaoli. He has indeed suffered a lot over the years."

Chenmian nodded, feeling Lin Langli's fingertips gently stroking the back of his hand under the table. He wanted to pull his hand away, but couldn't. So, with a little annoyance, he lightly kicked the other's shin.

Lin Langli smiled at him without changing his expression, poured him a glass of orange juice, as if those ambiguous touches from before had never happened.

After finishing their meal, Lin Langli took out a stack of red envelopes and a stack of cash from his backpack. The two of them secretly stuffed money into the red envelopes behind their aunt's back.

"Two thousand per person? My second aunt has two kids, and my eldest uncle has three kids, so that's exactly ten thousand..."

"When did you buy this red envelope? And did you bring the cash with you when you went to the county?"

Before leaving, she stuffed red envelopes into her two younger cousins' hands. Chenmian saw Lin Langli and her second aunt refuse for a while, but the woman eventually accepted them, scolding them for giving so much.

Chenmian happily went out the door and went to her uncle's house to discuss the things that hadn't been finished the day before.

To be honest, Chenmian didn't really want to move her household registration or change her name to Lin Langmian, but when she thought about how she had just confirmed her relationship with Lin Langli, it would be difficult to resolve the issue of them being on the same household registration book if they were to get married in the future.

But Chenmian was still a little hesitant. Lin Langli noticed this and squeezed his hand, saying it was okay.

These words, meant to be comforting, only made Chenmian more uneasy. He always felt that behind Lin Langli's tolerance lay something he couldn't understand.

The matter of adding him to the family genealogy was put on hold for the time being. After visiting his uncle and giving his cousins ​​red envelopes, Lin Langli naturally leaned against him and talked about the scenes of his parents when they were alive.

As she listened in silence, her heart gradually tightened.

The train ticket was booked for 4 PM, and they would arrive back at the Shen family home around 9 PM. Su Yueqiu said in the family group chat that she had prepared some desserts for them, so they could eat them fresh from the oven when she got back.

After quickly cleaning the house and wiping the dust off the portrait, Lin Langli locked the door again, got into his cousin's car, and headed to the train station.

As Chenmian slept with her head resting on Lin Langli's shoulder, her cousin in the front row looked at them in the rearview mirror and teased with a smile, "Little Li, you two are such good friends."

"Hmm." Lin Langli responded lightly, placing the sleeping body in his arms and covering the ears of the person in his arms with his hands.

His cousin forced an awkward smile and was about to look away when he suddenly noticed in the mirror that Lin Langli had gently lowered his head and touched Shen Mian's hair with a gentle expression he had never seen before.

He was startled and gasped, wondering if he was seeing things. But upon closer inspection, the two people in the back seat seemed normal and there was nothing wrong with them.

A chill ran from his feet to his entire body, and his cousin nearly lost his composure, repeatedly recalling the scene he had just witnessed.

He was definitely not seeing things.

Lin Langli, and Shen Mian?

Sure enough, after being mistakenly treated differently for over a decade, he still harbored hatred for the Lin family and held a grudge against Chen Mian.

His cousin's heart sank to the bottom, and he began to worry about Shen Mian.

After a four-hour high-speed train ride, Chenmian slept again. When they got off at the high-speed train station, the driver was already waiting. Chenmian yawned and followed Lin Langli with her hair all messy.

But as soon as he got into the car, a chilling voice came from the back seat: "Chenmian, why aren't you replying to my messages?"

Chenmian looked back and was surprised to see that Chen Ci was also there.

He replied casually, "You sent it to me? I didn't notice."

Shen Ci lowered his lips even further, jumped from the last row to the middle row, squeezed between the two, and viciously pinched Shen Mian's face.

"What are you doing?" Chen Mian mumbled, glancing instinctively at Lin Langli, who had been pushed aside by Chen Ci, and guiltily pushed away the person next to her.

Shen Ci lowered her voice and asked in his ear, "Did he bully you?"

Chenmian chuckled awkwardly: "No, we've made up."

Hearing the news of their reconciliation, Shen Ci couldn't quite describe his feelings. He should have been happy that Shen Mian and Lin Langli had made up and that their family members were getting along well. But hearing it with his own ears and seeing Shen Mian pulling at Lin Langli's clothes again made Shen Ci feel terrible.

He became easily jealous, jealous that Lin Langli was increasingly encroaching on the place that was exclusively his beside Chenmian.

She was also jealous of what Lin Langli's abilities or tricks he had used to coax her back from sleep.

It wasn't too late when they returned to the Shen family. Neither Su Yueqiu nor Shen Mianjun had gone to sleep. Seeing the two of them return looking travel-worn, Shen Mianjun gestured for Lin Langli to come to the study to talk.

Chenmian stayed in the living room and ate the desserts that Su Yueqiu had just made. In the evening, the aunt baked cookies and snowflake crisps, and also made pudding.

Chenmian tried them all and then told him what she wanted to eat for tomorrow.

Since returning from the Lin family, Shenmian has felt guilty. Even though Lin Langli said he didn't mind, the Shen family and the Lin family are worlds apart, and the gap between them is so huge that Shenmian can't deceive herself and truly believe Lin Langli's words.

Holding her mother's hand, Chenmian said to Su Yueqiu, "Mom, the conditions there are not good at all when we go back with him this time. There is no air conditioning in the room, and the water heater at home was only installed two years ago. I heard from the neighbors that Lin Langli had to do a lot of housework when he was a child, and he also had to do farm work in middle school. I feel so sorry for him."

"When he first came back, I hated him. I shouldn't have done that, Mom. Was I a bad person?"

Su Yueqiu patted her son's hand and hugged Chenmian. "Mianmian, I'm so happy that you can recognize your mistake. But you don't need to blame yourself too much. You two are in different positions, so it's not your fault."

She sighed and continued, "Your father and I have discussed for a long time how you two should get along. After Xiaoli comes back, will he resent you and hate you? Will you have a hard time accepting the difference? We have thought about it a lot. Now that we see that you know your mistakes and have begun to reflect on yourself, your father will be very gratified. We will do our best to make up for Xiaoli's future. We owe him too much."

“But Mianmian,” Su Yueqiu gently tapped her son’s nose and smiled, “you will always be Mom’s favorite child.”

Chen Mian's feelings were even more complicated. His mother was so good to him. What would the Shen family think if his relationship with Lin Langli were exposed?

Will his mother think he's a bad child?

When Shen Mian wanted to be with Shen Jinshan in the past, she didn't dare to think about how her family would treat them. Now that she is with Lin Langli, it's the same.

Moreover, Lin Langli's influence at home is not as great as Shen Jinshan's. If the two are discovered, will they really get through this hurdle so easily?

Seeing his worried expression, Su Yueqiu assumed that Shen Mian was still immersed in sadness, and gently patted her son's back.

But when she looked up unintentionally, she found Lin Langli standing on the second-floor railing. His tall figure was motionless. Su Yueqiu couldn't see Lin Langli's face clearly, but she could see the dark shadow on his face. His eyes were staring at them intently, and the emotions in his eyes were unreadable, just like he was stalking his favorite prey.

Su Yueqiu subconsciously hugged Chenmian tighter in her arms and looked up again.

Lin Langli nodded to her, smiled slightly, and mouthed the words "Mom".

The young man then came down and walked to the two of them. With a gentle expression, he softly reminded Chenmian, "Chenmian, you've had a long day. Let's go back to our room and take a shower."

"Oh, oh..." Chenmian was completely unaware. She lifted her head from her mother's arms, turned around and said goodbye to Su Yueqiu. "Mom, did I get your clothes dirty? I came back all dirty and snuggled into your arms."

Su Yueqiu smiled and shook her head, beckoning the two to go back to their room to rest. She watched them go upstairs, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious as they walked, but a deep unease still welled up in her heart.

As soon as they reached the second floor, Lin Langli couldn't wait to hug Shen Mian tightly from behind, burying his head in the boy's neck and taking a deep breath, before looking up and kissing Shen Mian on the cheek.

Chenmian subconsciously glanced at the inconspicuous surveillance camera in the corridor and gently nudged the man behind her: "There's surveillance footage, let go of me."

Lin Langli persisted: "It doesn't matter, who would bother checking the security footage for no reason?"

He looked at Shen Mian's slightly bitten lower lip due to nervousness, and the blush rising on her face, chuckled, and snuggled closer affectionately: "I'm not happy that you and Shen Ci are getting so close."

"...He's your own brother, and he used to be my brother too." Chenmian said dismissively, "Besides, that's how we've always gotten along."

"No one else will do." Lin Langli bit his earlobe. "You can only be mine."

"Hmm...we'll talk about it later. I'm going back to take a shower. I'm so tired today." Chenmian tried to brush it off with a laugh.

Lin Langli also wanted to go back to his room with Chenmian.

Two days later, Chenmian was finally able to use the comfortable bathing facilities again, returning to her previous standard of living.

After he came out of the bathroom feeling completely satisfied and smelling wonderful, Lin Langli was still in his room, sitting on the carpet next to him, with the Gundam that he hadn't finished assembling long ago lying dormant.

Chenmian blushed, remembering his room full of doll models, as well as a pile of jewelry and clothes. No one in the family had more stuff than him.

Lin Langli looked up at him. Water was still dripping from Chenmian's hair, and his face was flushed and moist from the steam, making him look even more delicate and beautiful. He was wrapped in a loose nightgown and said in a soft, coquettish voice, "Why are you playing with my model?"

Lin Langli's gaze involuntarily lingered on the person's rosy lips before he looked away after a long while.

"I haven't been to your room much." His tone was disappointed and pitiful, but then he became firm and stared into the sleeping eyes. Lin Langli said, "I'm going to sleep with the baby tonight."

Chenmian bit her finger and thought for a moment, then agreed without any scruples.

When Lin Langli went back to get his clothes and pillow, he happened to see Shen Ci opening the door. Shen Ci thought it was Shen Mian who made the noise, but he didn't expect it to be him.

The door slammed shut immediately.

Less than two seconds later, Shen Ci finally reacted, opened the door again, and looked at the young man with a leisurely demeanor with a scrutinizing gaze: "How did you end up coming out of his room?"

Lin Langli raised the corner of his lips at him, smiling instead of answering: "What's it to you?"

Shen Ci was provoked, and the veins on the back of his hand bulged, but he managed to suppress it. He stared intently at Lin Langli, recalling the scene of Shen Mian crying pitifully in his dormitory that day, and said coldly, "You are always bullying him. He is so stupid that he can't see through your thoughts. But his family members are not as stupid as him. Lin Langli, you had better think twice before you do things."

Lin Langli looked at him tolerantly, feigning confusion: "In what capacity are you admonishing me? My sleeping brother, or something else?"

The young man's smile vanished, replaced by a mocking smirk. "My bond with Shen Mian is far deeper than yours, Shen Ci. What right do you have to question me?"

Seeing that Shen Ci was furious and almost couldn't hold back, Lin Langli composed himself again and casually asked, "Where is Shen Jinshan? Why didn't he come to see his precious younger brother when he came back from his slumber tonight?"

Shen Ci was well aware that Lin Langli knew about the matter between Shen Mian and Shen Jinshan, and naturally, he believed that this was a provocation from the other party.

Shen Ci said coldly, "Shen Mian once told me that you always used Shen Jinshan's matter to mock him." He noticed a subtle change in Lin Langli's expression and continued, "What, you and Shen Mian have reconciled? You're not using this matter to threaten him again, are you?"

Lin Langli's smugness dissipated: "Whether you believe it or not, I never intended to use Shen Jinshan to threaten him."

Shen Ci didn't take it seriously: "That's for the best. In any case, I won't allow it, and neither will my family. You'll hurt Chen Mian."

A note from the author:

No one believed that Lin Langli's kindness towards Shen Mian was without ulterior motives.