Chapter 55 Congratulations to the Bridegroom
The painting of the moon was carefully covered with a dust sheet. When He Dongli came out of the shower, Zong Chi left his luggage behind and held the painting. He looked around and finally asked her, "Where should I hang it? Look."
He Dongli wiped his hair with a towel and suggested, "You're going to be meeting guests upstairs, right? Hang it up there."
"They don't deserve it." Zong Chi refused. "People who negotiate business with me don't deserve to see my moon."
He Dongli listened, and although she hadn't wanted to laugh, she couldn't help it. Zong Chi, unwilling to let her leave the stage so easily, stepped forward and said, "What are you laughing at? Am I wrong? I bought it for you to enjoy, not for those rough old men. They only deserve to be sued by me."
He Dongli sat on the sofa outside, legs crossed, and was silent for a moment before asking, "How do you remember the painting?"
He was a complete art nerd. Back in school, he slept through nine out of ten classic book appreciation classes. He didn't enjoy many things at all; they were more like a disciplined test, yet he could still do better on those who enjoyed them. Like swimming for exercise, playing the clarinet in concerts, and getting those four A's...
That private exhibition was originally assigned to him by his father, but because He Dongli liked it, he accompanied her to the whole show. It was also the first time He Dongli had seen the original work of that master painter.
He couldn't remember the overwhelming number of collections and famous artists in the auction brochure, but at least the moon was still there. "I'm not old, I'm not old, I can always remember if I pay attention."
"Is it true that Winter came to give me a birthday present?"
"Isn't that nonsense?" He held the painting in his hand. It felt heavy. He wanted her to be definite. "Where should I hang it?"
"When you learned from Senior Brother Tan that I helped Zou Yan contact Fei Dao, what were you thinking at that time?" He Dongli continued to question steadily.
"I thought you were so busy and still had time to look for a man. You must be really hungry." Zong Chi had just finished speaking when a pillow flew onto his head from the sofa. He let it go and continued viciously, "I think it's either a patient's family member or a colleague. I think I will never let you get what you want. If you agree to marry another man, I will take you back to Sangtian Road. I mean what I say."
"Stinking shit!"
Zong Chi looked unconcerned. He glanced down at the painted moon, then raised his eyes to the person on the sofa and slowly pleaded, "Tan Zhengjin told me that you personally went over to help. My heart is broken. Doctor He, if you turn around and love someone else, what will I do? I'll become a laughing stock to all of them."
"You can also love others." He Dongli's eyes traced the outline of his entire body and he answered him casually.
"Get lost, you fool. I love you, don't I? I love you enough, don't I? I'll suffer for you, but I won't let another woman have this chance. They don't deserve it."
He Dongli didn't want to expose him. You will never find another person who can tolerate your bad character!
The conversation died down, and no one, standing or sitting, urged the other. After a moment, He Dongli stood up from the sofa and pointed to the white wall in the corridor leading upstairs, indicating that it should be hung there. "That way, everyone can see it when they come in and out, and your visitors won't be able to smoke her with their cigarettes."
Zong Chi followed her advice, put the painting aside, and said he would have someone come to level and nail it tomorrow.
He Dongli thought about it and still felt it was too valuable. "What if it gets stolen?"
"Nonsense. Who dares to steal? If it's stolen, I'll cuff everyone who comes to my house. Anyone who sees it will be a suspect."
He Dongli took a break from this. She decided not to provoke a crazy person to unleash his emotions in his comfort zone late at night.
*
While he was washing up, He Dongli helped him unload several sets of clothes from his suitcase. He mostly wore formal attire for social events, where ironing was more important than fancy. He Dongli had already seen him in every brand and every style of business suit. He kind of missed his uninhibited school days, wearing the same uniform that made no distinction between class and style. He always managed to be more stylish than everyone else. On the rare occasions when he went out with his friends, he was the least pretentious, yet at first glance, it was clear he was the center of attention. Back then, the homeroom teacher criticized the Zongchi faction with the same criticism Jia Zheng had given Baoyu: exquisite mischief.
He Dongli felt that this was not accurate enough. In fact, Zong Chi was not naughty, but his lifestyle must have been refined and rough.
Perhaps it's because he's been so pampered that he doesn't like to ask for anything. Most of the time, he'll express disapproval, but he's more adaptable than anyone else. He's the kind of person who, even if you pay him a salary, won't question you if you serve him a bowl of noodles, asking, "Why are you only giving me this?"
Moreover, the closer he is to people, the more he is willing to show his rough nature.
He could spend eight figures on a painting and not even bring a bottle of decent face makeup in his luggage bag. Of course, the hotel he stayed in was not short of these.
But He Dongli really wanted to correct him, body lotion is for the body, not for his face.
She smelled the familiar rose scent. "With so many creams and lotions, why do you have to stick to just this one bottle of mine?"
"I bought it, so what if I put some on!" He came back from the shower, relying on the strong heating in the room, bare-chested, his short hair a little frizzy from the hairdryer, and said as he stepped onto the bed. With his height and physique, He Dongli immediately felt like collapsing on the latex mat. Then he said, "I love you to use the same thing you put on your body to put on your face."
“…”
“Fragrant and smooth.”
He Dongli gnashed his teeth in anger, "If you put on so much perfume, people will think you're coming out, Master Zong!"
The straight man couldn't bear it any longer, and with a mouthful of the fragrant Chinese quintessence, he immediately pushed her down, rubbing his fresh scent against her face, and warned her, "No, I will put your favorite body lotion on my desk, and then complain to every employee who comes in to report on the work, saying that it's too fragrant. There's no other way, just bear with it. The woman at home forced me to use it. She controls me very strictly and requires me to have this scent on my body. Any female employee who uses the same product will be on her assassination list. Be careful!"
He Dongli was nearly suffocating, and she had no doubt he was capable of such a thing. Otherwise, why did everyone in the school unanimously believe she was the one who pursued him?!
"Zongchi, you still think my reputation isn't bad enough, right?"
"Bullshit. I value your reputation more than you do. If anyone dares to slander you, I'll hire the best lawyers to get you back. But, your reputation is tied to mine, so don't even think about clearing it! You were the one who pursued me, you were the one who controlled me, you were the one who forced me to use your body lotion, you were the one who dumped me, and yet I still come back to you. And in the end, I'm so fucking henpecked!"
The last sentence successfully caused He Dongli to lose her composure. She laughed in frustration and scolded him, "Asshole, no future."
The bastard showed her how to be a bastard in detail the next second.
However, He Dongli held his head and asked in a negotiating tone, "How about tomorrow night?"
"not good."
"Zongchi, I have a very important multidisciplinary discussion tomorrow morning."
Someone froze there for a moment, looking as if he had heard it but also as if he was lost and compromised. After a moment, he rolled aside and let out a long sigh, "Whatever you say, it's not the first time you've left me like this."
He Dongli instantly became the guilty party. The 1.5-meter-wide bed was a bit too cramped for two people. She took the initiative to say, "Let's go look for a new bed when I have a holiday."
"No need. See if your hospital has any of those old bunk beds that were discarded. You could buy one. They're narrow and don't take up much space. One bed for each person, perfect."
He Dongli couldn't stop laughing when he heard this.
However, the tall and strong man had his back to her, so even if there was a little relaxation on her face, he could not see it.
She simply agreed with him and said, "It's not impossible, but you have to sleep down there. I'm afraid you'll fall and crush me to death."
Someone turned over and he would crush her to death, hard. He was so angry that he blamed her all the time. She did it on purpose, deliberately making fun of him, deliberately torturing him. He blamed her again. Where was the physical strength she talked about during the meal? She was so strong when she hit people, but when she got on the bed, she was like tofu and couldn't be touched!
As he spoke, he unbuttoned her clothes and used his previous words to choke her, telling her not to wear them and it was a waste of time.
He Dongli grabbed her collar uncooperatively. At the critical moment, she asked a bunch of questions, "You said you watched my video..."
"Of course. Do you want me to show you?"
"Damn guy." He Dongli cursed, but let him remove her hand. She wasn't that squeamish; instead, she needed morale, more like military spirit. She always kept her heart pure before important matters. But tonight, she became the foolish monarch, seduced, tempted, and pitied.
I was bewitched by his coming back again and again.
No matter how childish the trick is, he can always turn it into fun and even fall in love with it.
He held her heart with one hand and said something frivolously, in a negotiating tone, "Take a sip, I promise I won't do anything, okay?"
But when he left them and went somewhere else, He Dongli scolded him like a daughter, asking him what about the promise he had just made.
Zong Chi frowned and denied anything. What did I say? I said nothing.
"That's not what I said just now, Xixi."
He Dongli scolded him, "Shameless."
The next second, his meanness seemed to have truly begun. He was about to move down from her waist, and He Dongli keenly sensed it. Just as her legs were about to close, he grabbed one of her ankles and asked her without even looking up, "Why don't you want to?"
"Baby, let me see you."
As she said this, she kissed him.
He Dongli regretted it from that moment on. Anything that could shake the army's morale needed to be abandoned. She was afraid of Zong Chi's shaking, which was more devastating than licking her flesh and blood.
Like the traces of grass burned by the underground fire started by spring thunder;
Like the wind that beats against the door again and again during the passing of summer;
Like a begonia shaking off the rain that fills a pond lying above;
…
There was no winter, winter had returned. His chest was like a burning fireplace, crackling with sparks, and she, caught in the blaze, was reduced to ashes.
As he collapsed, He Dongli's hands were rubbing back and forth on his back, and he could feel the most obvious goose bumps on his skin due to pleasure.
That subtle reaction crept into He Dongli's mind, a tingling sensation that she couldn't erase.
*
Even though he had sweated a little, He Dongli was not happy to take a shower.
Zong Chi stood up and threw a hot towel to wipe her, so she supervised him, opening and closing her eyes, "The one in your hand is for wiping your body, not for wiping anywhere else, you have to keep them separate."
"There are so many things to do. If you still have the energy to talk, then get up and wash yourself."
Some people imitate his roughness, so they just live in this rough way. "No need to wash it. This is my own bed and four-piece set. I can sleep on it however I like."
Zong Chi laughed and scolded, "Fool."
"I seem to have forgotten to tell you something."
"Except that you love me, I don't want to hear anything else. Go to sleep, aunt."
"Then hurry up, clean up, turn off the lights, and stop making noise, Xiaochi."
The man who had been busy for a long time was stunned there, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Finally, he took the towel and basin in his hands back without any joy, and just put them aside. He climbed onto the bed, turned on the light, and held her tightly in his arms. "You asked me all the questions and I answered them all. In the end, I became a noisy bird, right?"
"You're noisy."
The last question that Crowdbird asked before going to bed was, "What was the score just now?"
"If you say one more word, your score will be cancelled if you continue answering questions after the exam."
The room was dark and quiet, the only things that could not calm down were the synchronized breathing and heartbeats.
*
The next morning, He Dongli's alarm clock went off half an hour earlier than usual because she had to arrive early today.
When he tiptoed out of bed, he woke up the person sleeping outside. He sat up and asked her why she didn't turn on the light. He Dongli turned on the light outside and stood by the bed to change clothes. "It's too bright."
After hearing this, he said nothing and reached out to touch the pull cord of the desk lamp. He was not familiar with the position and was groping for it. He Dongli's hand came over and helped him pull it.
A light was on in one corner of the room. The person leaning against the headboard looked sleepy. He rubbed his face and said, "So even though we live so close, I don't see you getting much sleep."
"Today is special, so I got up early." The person beside the bed quickly changed his shirt and turned to him, "You can continue to sleep."
"What would you like to eat in the morning?"
He Dongli was afraid that he would get up and make her white food again, so she declined politely, "I don't want to eat toast with milk."
Zong Chi, shirtless, lay on her pillow and laughed darkly, "Do you still remember the joke about ordering milk?"
She loved drinking fresh milk from glass bottles, so Zong Chi kept ordering milk for her. But one day, she was so busy that she didn't put the empty bottles in the milk box. The next day, the milk delivery driver discovered the milk from the previous day still in the box. The phone number for milk orders hadn't come back, and the milk box was almost full of glass bottles. The driver, anxious, called the police.
They were in a cold war at the time. He Dongli didn't want to answer his calls, and Zong Chi was so angry that he sent her a message, saying that if she didn't go back, the milkman would have a plan for where to bury her. That day, He Dongli rushed back to explain to Uncle Hat and apologize to the milkman. Zong Chi even returned to China specifically for this matter. To thank the milkman for his kindness, he added a fresh milk coupon to the Mid-Autumn Festival employee benefits list at their headquarters that year.
He asked the well-dressed man, "Would you like to order milk now?"
"I'm not happy. I don't have time to take it and put it away every day."
"Order it. I'll help you get it and put it away."
He Dongli hurriedly took the basin and towel back to the bathroom, not believing his words, "Wait for you, the master is going to call the police in a hurry again!"
Zong Chi threw off the quilt and got out of bed, then grabbed a sweatshirt and put it on. He followed her to the bathroom and told her not to disbelieve him. "When I said I was staying with you, it definitely wasn't like staying in a hotel."
He Dongli ignored him and blamed him, "Why did you get up!"
"Take you to work."
"Stop it, I can walk there faster."
"Then I'll walk with you."
The person brushing his teeth at the basin hurried along methodically, "Zongchi, I'm going to work, not to kindergarten."
"I know. I'm taking you to work. That's absolutely right. You can take you to the hotel, but not if it's too close."
"Why do you want to send me off when it's so close? I'm not a child." He Dongli complained to him with foam at the mouth.
"Who says only children need to be sent? For children, that's called guardianship, it's an obligation. I want to send you, it's a right you agreed to give me."
"Zongchi!"
"I want to make up for the time I owe you for commuting over the years while I have some free time."
He Dongli stood there, like an old-fashioned tungsten filament light bulb, which was clearly powered but suddenly went out. She let Zong Chi take the toothbrush and toothpaste and hurried to wash up at the kitchen faucet.
After a while, while applying the cream, she remembered something and told the person washing her face, "I forgot to tell you last night that Dongsheng and Xinchao are coming over."
He Dongsheng is a project supervisor. They will be stationed here for more than two years for this project. His wife Chen Yuan is in luxury goods sales. The couple had planned to transfer here a few years ago. This time, Ah Sheng's project lasts long enough, so they made up their minds to settle here with their children following Chen Yuan's promotion.
The adults' work was easy to accommodate, except for the Xinchao student's placement. With the semester approaching, the number of places at the primary school affiliated to No. 1 Middle School was already very limited, and the score requirement was very strict. He Dongli was also extremely worried. Even good students can slack off sometimes. Ah Sheng and his wife were determined to get their son into the best school. In fact, the settlement and the student registration had not been a big deal for them. However, this visit to Xinchao was not a pleasant one. Ah Sheng asked Dongli, as an aunt, to counsel her nephew with the perspective of a person who had experienced studying.
He Dongli complained to Zongchi, "Encouraging study is such a daunting job." As she spoke, she smeared the excess cream from her palms onto his face and instructed him to spread it evenly.
Zong Chi was confused by what he heard. "Is Xin Chao the son of Ah Sheng and his family?"
He Dongli nodded. They had attended Ah Sheng's wedding together. Xinchao was now over seven. "Ah Sheng and I were both named by my father. When it was the next generation's turn, they wanted me to name one too. Back then, we either quarreled or spent less time together..." He Dongli had forgotten whether she had ever mentioned Ah Sheng's child to him.
"He Xinchao. As expected of a child from your He family." Zong Chi didn't mind at all whether she had told him about this family affair before; it wasn't too late to know now. He praised her father for both names being so well chosen, and when it was her turn to name her nephew, he corrected her, "It's nice and easy to remember. I'd be reluctant to give it to someone else's child."
He Dongli didn't want to listen to his crazy talk so early in the morning, so he acted impatient and said he didn't want to bother with an idiot and was about to go out. "Are you done? I'm leaving now."
"I haven't had breakfast yet."
"I'm going to buy some fried dough sticks and soy milk. There's a stall next to the hospital that fries fresh dough sticks. If you want, you can grab a cup and get a cup of hot soy milk."
So, the two of them hurried out the door, talking about whatever they thought of. When He Dongli finished buying two breakfasts, she took one away and handed the other to the young master who had brought her breakfast early in the morning and had caused her more trouble. "Heat the soy milk. Be careful when you open the thermos, don't let it get on your face."
The words sounded familiar. Zong Chi reached out from his jeans pocket to take the breakfast from her hand. He stood amid the clamor, his features arrogant and even standing out from the crowd. Deep affection welled up in his eyes, and he said lightly, "I thought you were so nice to me so early in the morning, but it turns out you wanted revenge."
He Dongli didn't have time to deal with his head full of dirty trash. She told him to just leave it there and said, "Go back, wash the clothes that need to be washed, and put away the things that need to be tidied."
He nodded, a rare gesture. His next words were filled with promises, "Since Dongsheng has settled down here, let's welcome them home. I'll take care of the child's schooling. I wasn't able to help you get into No. 1 Middle School back then, but now he's your nephew, so I'll definitely take care of him. And he's the one you named yourself, so for that alone, I have to look at him differently."
He Dongli stood there in a daze.
Zong Chi smiled and said, "Then my child will have your surname. What name will you give him?"
The stunned person recalled that night when he asked her how she would rate him. He had this ability to rationalize absurd things and encourage those who spent every day with him to do the same: absurd and unconventional. "Congratulations, bridegroom."
Zong Chi was not annoyed at all when he heard this. Instead, he was as picky as a party member could be. He was so picky that he could barely use it and said in amazement: "What an ugly name for bridegroom. Let's call her Xinlang. My daughter will be called Xinyou. It's settled."
The crispy dough stick in He Dongli's mouth suddenly lost its fragrance. What's decided? What's decided?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
