Chapter 33
When Sun Pengfei walked into the kitchen, Su Ningna was serving cold dishes onto plates while secretly eating peanuts from them.
"Excuse me," Sun Pengfei squeezed past Su Ningna, "I'll just grab a few things and leave."
Sun Pengfei then took a bottle of chilled beer from the refrigerator and went to the backyard to drink silently. Looking down the hillside from there, across an artificial lake, one could see the outline of Cheng Shi's house at No. 5 Napa Valley. Sun Pengfei gazed at the hazy outline of the small yellow villa for a long time, his mind still preoccupied with the question he had just been pondering.
Sun Pengfei wondered, if the feeling he had when he saw his three sons just now wasn't disgust, then what was it? Was it because the way they were staring intently at the TV made him think they were too silly and childish? Or... did he think they were too idle, not doing anything productive, and acting like spoiled young masters? What nonsense was that? Did he really want to see them like he did when he was a child, with their hair parted in shorts, wearing suits, sitting at the piano mechanically striking the black and white keys, or going to school in ridiculous pink sneakers?
No! Sun Pengfei felt there must be another reason for his aversion to his sons. If he were to be honest with himself, another reason was that their appearance had shattered his previous fantasies about Huang Ruoyu. In fact, Sun Pengfei did indeed harbor many fantasies about Huang Ruoyu, including all sorts of sexual fantasies!
"Okay! That's it!" Sun Pengfei told himself the truth. His sons' appearance had shattered his fantasies about Huang Ruoyu, infuriating him. Sun Pengfei thought that since he had to face reality now, he allowed himself to focus his gaze intently on Huang Ruoyu's villa. Since the beginning of summer, the views from the villas on higher ground in Palm Beach Phase II had become even more expansive. From Sun Pengfei's yard, he could see most of the outline of Huang Ruoyu's villa, and at night, he could even see the light from Huang Ruoyu's bedroom. So Sun Pengfei began to imagine what Huang Ruoyu was doing now—was she putting on makeup or changing clothes? He silently prayed that she would wear her nude apricot-colored dress to his house tonight.
"I love you, Little Fish," Sun Pengfei murmured softly, as if anticipating the consequences of such a confession. "I love you, I love you..."
"Pengfei, what are you doing out there?"
Sun Ningna stood at the bright kitchen doorway and called out to Sun Pengfei, while Cheng Shi and Huang Ruoyu stood behind her, smiling.
"You're here?" Sun Pengfei stood up and walked towards the door, saying, "I didn't see you coming up."
After he finished speaking, Sun Pengfei realized that his words had exposed his secret. So he stopped and tried to finish the last sip of beer in his hand, but when he tilted his head back, he realized that he had already drunk the last sip of beer. Now even the aluminum can was warmed up by him.
Although Su Ningna had sent the three boys upstairs to sleep, something felt off from the very beginning of the night. At the start of the game, Sun Pengfei avoided Su Ningna's eyes, constantly worried she would see through his intentions. What made Sun Pengfei even more uneasy was that Cheng Shi and Huang Ruoyu were completely out of sorts; they were both very nervous, frequently calling the wrong cards and constantly making random plays.
Fortunately, Huang Ruoyu did indeed wear her nude apricot-colored dress tonight, and she looked even more charming than usual. However, at the same time, she exuded a strange sense of detachment. Throughout the card game, she seemed like an out-of-place observer—she didn't seem like someone who came to play cards, much less a guest visiting a friend's house. No matter what anyone said to her, her response was either "Oh" or "Ah, really?"—she was extremely perfunctory.
Cheng Shi was the same, and ten times more distant than Huang Ruoyu, wearing an icy, domineering CEO expression. Normally quite talkative, Cheng Shi not only remained silent today, but also made no attempt to hide the fact that he hadn't listened to a single word Su Ningna said. Tonight, Cheng Shi's behavior was that of a utterly repulsive megalomaniac.
Sun Pengfei couldn't help but steal a glance at Cheng Shi. His captivating, alluring eyes were darting around, scrutinizing every piece of furniture and decoration in the Sun family home, as if he'd never seen this typical, understated luxury style before! As if he'd never left any cigarette ash or beer foam scattered around the place in the past two years! Sun Pengfei recalled with disgust that around this time last year, Cheng Shi had burned a hole in the fabric sofa while smoking here! And another time, he'd gotten drunk on the very carpet they were standing on now, shamelessly snoring!
Just as Sun Pengfei was thinking this, he saw Cheng Shi lean forward slightly, his gaze passing over Su Ningna, who was playing cards and talking, and his captivating eyes fixed intently on something behind her. After a while, Sun Pengfei finally understood: Cheng Shi was looking at the books on the bookshelf opposite him. Worse still, although Sun Pengfei was unhappy, he almost confessed to Cheng Shi, "There aren't many decent books on the shelf; these are just there to make it look nice. The books I actually read are..."
Why should he explain all this to Chengshi? Why was he afraid that Chengshi would question his lack of education? Thinking this, Sun Pengfei tightly shut his mouth and took the empty wine glasses of the four people to the kitchen.
The game was getting increasingly boring, so the four of them decided to end it. Sun Pengfei brought Cheng Shi and Huang Ruoyu some IPA with a higher alcohol content, hoping it would improve the atmosphere.
After another round of drinks, Cheng Shi and Huang Ruoyu finally relaxed. However, when they started talking, Sun Pengfei felt that they might as well have kept quiet.
"Actually, we have some very important news to announce. We plan to..." After a few rounds of drinks, Cheng Shi cleared his throat, blushed, and said half a sentence before turning to Huang Ruoyu and saying, "Why don't you tell us?"
Huang Ruoyu smiled sweetly at Cheng Shi, an expression that drove Sun Pengfei to the brink of madness with jealousy.
However, Huang Ruoyu was completely oblivious to Sun Pengfei's reaction. She turned to her audience and announced, "We're going to Yunnan, to Dali, and we're never coming back."
"Huh? When are we going? How are we going? Why are we going?" Sun Pengfei and Su Ningna fired off a barrage of questions like machine guns. Cheng Shi and Huang Ruoyu answered them one by one with smiles. For a moment, everyone in the room was talking, creating a noisy atmosphere.
“…Well, it was about a week or two ago,” Huang Ruoyu confessed under Su Ningna’s persistent questioning. “I can’t say the exact time, but it was a sudden decision we made.”
"Okay... but what exactly happened?" Sun Pengfei had already repeated his question for the second or third time. "I mean, Xiao Cheng was sent to Dali by the company, or what happened?"
"Uh...no, it's not..." At this point, Cheng Shi and Huang Ruoyu exchanged a glance, and the conversation ended there.
This kind of intimate flirting is infuriating. Sun Pengfei couldn't help but curse inwardly: Fine, say it or not! Who the hell cares about your family's messy affairs!
But then the conversation resumed. Cheng Shi and Huang Ruoyu leaned forward, interrupting each other and holding hands, like a pair of kids caught in the act by their parents. Finally, however, they managed to explain what had happened.
Just like whenever bad news came crashing down on him, Sun Pengfei used his usual coping method: taking things as they come—he let each piece of bad news silently slip into a corner of his mind and hide away, preventing them from causing unhappiness or sadness. He forced himself to think: "Okay, okay, I'll think about this later." In this way, he could always leave a little clear space in his mind to deal with the current situation; in this way, he could maintain an appropriate expression and say the appropriate words. He could even think cheerfully: "The atmosphere tonight has finally livened up; at least now everyone has something to say!"
What surprised and impressed Sun Pengfei was that Su Ningna was able to handle this terrible situation with composure.
"Wow! This decision is fantastic!" After Chengshi and Huang Ruoyu finished explaining the whole thing, Su Ningna exclaimed excitedly, "Really, this is an amazing decision! It takes so much determination and courage! Actually, Pengfei and I had talked about this before. Everyone's talking about 'lying down' and 'saving enough money to retire.' If only that were possible! Yes, our generation lives such a tiring life, with elderly parents to care for and young children to raise. We can never make decisions as we please! But honestly, how many people would dare to do what you did? You guys are so brave. I'm so happy for you, and I really admire your courage! We'll definitely miss you so much after you're gone. We have to keep in touch! Right, Pengfei?"
Sun Pengfei nodded in agreement.
So Cheng Shi and Huang Ruoyu put on an elegant, polite, and sentimental act, saying that they would of course miss Sun Pengfei and Su Ningna, and miss them very, very much.
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