Chapter 2
Faced with Cheng Shi, who remained silent and only kept gnawing on his nails, Huang Ruoyu screamed hysterically a few more times before completely breaking down. She threw down the suit jacket she was holding, flung open the front door of the living room, and rushed out.
Having drunk quite a bit of alcohol, Cheng Shi's reactions became sluggish under the dim light of the floor lamp in the living room. Although he watched Huang Ruoyu slam the door and leave, he still admired her elegant and graceful figure. He even felt a slight regret that Huang Ruoyu's once round and perky buttocks and slender, long legs had become less attractive after having two children.
Approaching 30, Huang Ruoyu is tall, beautiful, and possesses an extraordinary aura—the kind of person who stands out in a crowd and immediately captivates. Although she often projects a cool, aloof demeanor to strangers, she subtly reveals a girlish shyness and rebelliousness in private, though she exudes an elegance befitting someone from a privileged background. At 18, Huang Ruoyu took the entrance exam for arts schools. Lacking any particular talent, she easily gained admission to a prestigious film academy based solely on her looks and figure, becoming one of the most promising young actresses of her year. However, to everyone's surprise, Huang Ruoyu suddenly dropped out during her junior year. What's even stranger is that she dropped out of school not to land a big role or find a sugar daddy, but to marry Cheng Shi, a graduate student who had neither looked for a job nor continued his studies and had no family background. Soon after, Huang Ruoyu gave birth to her and Cheng Shi's first child, Cheng Yushan. Then, she took on the role of a full-time housewife with the dramatic flair of a professional actress.
Here we should add a point: the name "Cheng Yushan" is actually quite dramatic. The character "Yu" in her name not only means "gifted by heaven," but it's also a homophone for "Yu" in her mother's name. This makes it both romantic and fair that each parent contributed a character to the child's name. "Shan" is a homophone for "three," so her name is actually a homophone for "multiplied by three." In Cheng Shi's philosophy, he himself is the first in the family, and each additional person is like multiplying. When he married Huang Ruoyu, the family became two people, which is "multiplied by two." After they had their first child, the family added another person, which is "multiplied by three."
When Cheng Yushan started kindergarten, Cheng Shi and Huang Ruoyu discovered a problem: almost half of Cheng Yushan's classmates had the character "yu" in their names, such as Zhang Yufei, Liu Yufei, Chen Feiyu, Wang Xinyu, and Xia Yuting. "The rain stops?" Isn't that obvious? However, since things had come to this, Cheng Shi still gave his son a name that sounded like "multiplying by four"—Cheng Yusi—and decided that if he and Huang Ruoyu had another child, they would name him "Cheng Yuwu" or "Cheng Yuwu"—the choice of which "wu" character would be used to determine whether it was a girl or a boy. In short, Cheng Shi felt that even when it came to puns, no one could play them better than him.
Just then, he heard faint footsteps on the stairs, "multiply by three," "multiply by four," but Narumi didn't bother to look. His patience with children usually only existed when he was in a good mood, and right now he wasn't.
Suddenly, Chengshi sprang up from the sofa and rushed toward the front door of the living room. For a moment, Chengshi thought that Huang Ruoyu probably wanted to commit suicide because she ran away—given Huang Ruoyu's dramatic personality, she was the kind of person who was capable of anything.
However, Huang Ruoyu only ran a few steps and didn't rush out of the yard. Instead, she stopped under the pomegranate tree in the corner of the yard. It seemed that she didn't intend to hang herself from a branch.
Although Cheng Shi had drunk quite a bit and his reaction was a beat slower, he was tall and had long legs, so he caught up with Huang Ruoyu without much effort. However, he didn't dare to get close to her, and just stood behind her at a loss, keeping a safe distance.
Huang Ruoyu didn't appear to be crying; she was just standing there facing the corner, lost in thought.
"What the hell are you doing, going crazy in the middle of the night?!" Cheng Shi roared after taking a deep breath. "Aren't you afraid of catching a cold running around outside dressed so scantily? Go inside!"
"Leave me alone!" Huang Ruoyu stubbornly shook her head. "Let me be alone for a while!"
Chengshi raised her hands in a gesture of surrender, then silently lowered her arms.
After about five minutes, Narumi called softly, "Little Fish?"
She did not answer.
"Let's go back inside. Let's talk this out. What kind of behavior is this if the neighbors and children see us like this?"
"There's nothing more to say. I should have known what kind of person you were a long time ago!"
“Little Fish, I was wrong today. I shouldn’t have drunk so much, shouldn’t have come home so late, and especially shouldn’t have gone to a crowded place to get my face covered in foundation and perfume. But God is my witness, I really don’t know how or when I got it!” Cheng Shi raised his arm towards the sky again. “I didn’t want this either, but what could I do? You know, I’ve been busy with this event since last year. Some silly foreigner caused us so much chaos, what could I do? It’s my job. And then, when this CEO showed up tonight, everyone went wild! They were practically begging him to be their dad! And Old Classmate, he’s been like a eunuch these past few days.” I'm always bowing and reporting to those Americans. Tell me, how could I, a working-class person, say I wouldn't go to an event like this? The whole 15th floor has to be there, and we have to arrive early. If there's any emergency, we'll have to step in and carry out the plan. It's not just me; even the boss has to be on standby. Even if there's no emergency, we're responsible for creating a lively atmosphere, going on stage like monkeys to participate in those incredibly boring games! Why am I doing this? Isn't it for you and the kids? Isn't it so I can get a raise and a bigger year-end bonus? Isn't it to pay the mortgage and car loan? Isn't it to pay the kids' tuition and training fees? Isn't it so I can buy you a few more bags…”
"Yes, this family depends on you!" Huang Ruoyu said coldly. "Without you, the three of us, mother and children, would all be dead!"
"Damn! Sometimes I really don't know what's going on in your head," Cheng Shi burped, feeling the alcohol fumes had mostly dissipated, but the wind felt biting cold, making him shiver. "And I think you fucking don't even know what you want. But Huang Ruoyu, let me tell you this again: don't give me that crap! Who do you think you are? I'm a son of a bitch outside every day, and when I get home I still have to put up with your attitude! Do I owe you anything?!"
Huang Ruoyu usually requires Chengshi to speak Mandarin, especially in front of the children, and he must not have a "Mandarin accent" because it sounds rustic. However, whenever Chengshi gets anxious, he will automatically use his accent.
"Ha," Huang Ruoyu sneered, "I really admire how you can always be so clear-headed. You know what you can endure, what you can't endure, and you know exactly what you want!"
After saying that, Huang Ruoyu walked past Cheng Shi and headed towards the living room.
"You stop right there!"
Cheng Shi staggered after Huang Ruoyu, and a gust of wind made him feel nauseous, as if the alcohol fumes that had dissipated earlier were making him feel dizzy again. So at this moment, he didn't care about being neighbors or children anymore, and stood behind Huang Ruoyu shouting, "Hey Huang, you stop right there!"
Huang Ruoyu really stopped, then she turned around gracefully, crossed her arms in front of her chest, but put on a pitiful expression.
At this moment, Cheng Shi was like someone with motor coordination disorder, wildly waving the fingers he had been gnawing on in front of Huang Ruoyu.
"Listen to me, you bastard! This time I won't let you twist the truth again! Let me tell you, I didn't do anything today, I did nothing wrong! Do you know what you look like every time you put on this act?"
"Can we go inside to talk? It's too cold."
"Do you know what you look like every time you make that face?" Cheng Shi ignored Huang Ruoyu, repeated what he had just said, and then said viciously, "You're like a lunatic! A madman! Just like your mother!"
"Then do you know what you look like?" Huang Ruoyu lowered her arms from her chest, looked Cheng Shi up and down, and said with contempt, "You're disgusting! You're like a stinking dog that eats any kind of shit!"
As the conversation progressed, Cheng Shi and Huang Ruoyu both lost control. Their arms and legs trembled in the cold wind, their faces contorted in pain, and the words they uttered were utterly vile. These two relentlessly attacked each other's weaknesses, ruthlessly exposing each other's secrets, and then mercilessly killing each other.
Even when they finally had a chance to catch their breath, the two of them worked tirelessly, racking their brains to figure out how to deliver a fatal blow to each other.
This cycle repeats itself endlessly, and people never tire of it.
"Yes, yes, you've never lied to me, Sir! Frankie! You've never lied to me even once! Because you're so magnanimous, and because of your 'love,' your 'sacrifice.' Yes, it's your 'love' for me, your 'sacrifice' for us, mother and children! You've shamelessly had me completely under your thumb, and now you..."
"I'd shamelessly have you completely under my thumb?" Cheng Shi suddenly burst into laughter. "I'd shamelessly have you completely under my thumb? Don't kid me! Who's eating whom here?!"
"It's all because of you that I'm stuck in this lousy place! If it weren't for you, I would have been famous long ago! Tian Tian in my class is much worse than me, but look at her now!" Huang Ruoyu said, exaggeratingly gesturing with both hands to grab her own neck. "It's you, it's you, it's you! You owe me! Look at your current state, how are you even acting like a man?!"
Cheng Shi raised his right hand high again, seemingly wanting to swat it at Huang Ruoyu's face. Huang Ruoyu immediately took a step back, dodging the attack that never actually materialized. But her face contorted with shock and fear—Cheng Shi had never dared to hit her before, and this gesture of raising his hand was the first time he'd ever done it in front of her. Yet, Cheng Shi's seemingly casual movement still made her heart pound; after all, many people had warned her that Northeastern men liked to beat their wives.
However, Cheng Shi probably didn't really intend to attack Huang Ruoyu, so he didn't chase after Huang Ruoyu. Instead, he took a few steps around the corner like a boxer in a very childish way, and then punched the unfortunate pomegranate tree a few times with all his might. Then he jumped to the gate and kicked the gate.
Quickly regaining her composure, Huang Ruoyu stood aside, observing Cheng Shi's childish behavior with a detached eye. When Huang Ruoyu first met Cheng Shi, she found him mature and steady. Although witty, he was also profound, speaking with erudition and references, which inspired admiration. But who would have thought that men could be even better at pretending than women? In Huang Ruoyu's eyes, Cheng Shi was sometimes childish and ridiculous, sometimes vulgar and rude, especially his habit of biting his nails when nervous—it was simply too funny!
After Chengshi finished punching and kicking them, the two cars parked outside their yard started blaring their alarms one after the other.
"Huang Ruoyu, you're a complete bastard! A heartless bastard!" Cheng Shi roared in a low voice, relentlessly.
"Okay, I'm a jerk." Huang Ruoyu shrugged indifferently and asked, "May I come in now, Sir Cheng?"
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