Chapter 53
"These past two days are finally over!" Huang Ruoyu started complaining as soon as she closed the children's room door, and continued complaining all the way downstairs.
She paced back and forth in the living room, stiff as a humanoid robot. Cheng Shi knew immediately upon seeing Huang Ruoyu's posture—trouble was brewing.
During the recent "honeymoon phase," Narumi gradually realized that the living room was the least ideal place for communication.
The swaying crystal chandelier above their heads made all the mess and dilapidation in the living room impossible to hide—after living there for nearly three years, not renovating the villa back then had gradually become a mistake—and this mistake now seemed to be silently supporting Huang Ruoyu's thoughts at this moment.
It was indeed Chengshi's suggestion not to renovate the villa, as it would save a lot of money. However, Huang Ruoyu had initially agreed with Chengshi's suggestion. But over the past three years, everything in the living room—the decorations and furniture—had repeatedly and in unison destroyed the carefully constructed facade of Chengshi's character. Chengshi's lofty ideals couldn't withstand the scrutiny of these objects: the cabinets fixed to the walls and floors, the sofas and tables constantly shifting and never finding a proper place, the hardcover books that should have enhanced the house's style but were never opened, the television that served as constant background music, and the pile of toys that should have been thrown into the washing machine long ago…
Because of the weekend spent in Anaya, Huang Ruoyu's forehead, face, and neck were all sunburned, covered in red rashes that looked rather unpleasant. Having worn sunglasses for two whole days, the area around her eyes appeared incredibly pale when she took them off, just like the once-popular "sunburn makeup." After several hours of driving on the highway, Huang Ruoyu's hair was disheveled, so she had to pout and blow the hair away from her eyes from time to time. Her body also looked uncomfortable; she was still wearing that damp linen shirt, and wrinkled blue hot pants tightly constricted her increasingly noticeable protruding belly.
Actually, Huang Ruoyu is increasingly disliking wearing hot pants because they draw attention to her increasingly loose and plump thighs over the years—a reality she can't change even with daily exercise. However, whenever Huang Ruoyu gets frustrated because of this, Chengshi immediately comforts her, saying, "These long legs are amazing! I cherish them even more than before. A real woman's legs should look like this." As a result, upon hearing Chengshi's words, Huang Ruoyu simply starts strutting around in front of him, as if deliberately trying to annoy him.
At this moment, Huang Ruoyu was pacing heavily around the room, her two thick, red legs swaying back and forth in front of Chengshi. Chengshi had no choice but to stare at those legs.
But those legs were truly devoid of their former beauty. So Cheng Shi stood up, went to DK to get a can of beer, leaned against the door of Changhong, and sipped it slowly. After a while, Huang Ruoyu finally slumped heavily onto the sofa, listlessly scrolling through her phone.
A short while later, Huang Ruoyu tossed her phone aside, leaned back on the sofa, and kicked her leg, slipper and all, onto the coffee table. She said to Cheng Shi, "You are indeed nicer than me, which is why I admire you the most."
Although Huang Ruoyu said those words, his expression and tone showed no admiration for Cheng Shi. Instead, he looked at Cheng Shi with disdain.
Cheng Shi tried to ease the hostility in the air, so she sat down on the chaise lounge next to Huang Ruoyu and carefully pretended to be nonchalant as she asked, "Me? I don't think so. What do you mean by 'nice'?"
Huang Ruoyu leaned back on the sofa, her heels propped on the coffee table, swinging her legs wide as if deep in thought. After a long while, she finally spoke, asking, "Is there anything else nice? Isn't nice just nice?"
Cheng Shi wished she could slap Huang Ruoyu across the face—this jerk who only knew how to make sarcastic remarks…
If Huang Ruoyu weren't currently pregnant, Cheng Shi would likely have immediately flew into a rage and yelled at her, "Shut your stinking mouth! I bet your parents are just like this, and your grandma is just like this too, which is why you turned out to be this stinking! With your character, you wouldn't last two episodes in society!"
But Cheng Shi chose to keep his mouth shut, because he knew that there were only 12 days left until the two-month deadline, and he couldn't take any risks during that time. So he tightly closed his lips, staring intently at the can in his hand, but his hands, which were gripping the can tightly, trembled uncontrollably, almost squeezing the liquor out of the can.
However, immediately afterward, Narumi effortlessly delivered the most memorable performance of her life—
Cheng Shi suppressed her anger and said gently, "Little Fish, I know you're tired. Let's not talk about this anymore."
"Why won't you say?" Huang Ruoyu pressed aggressively.
"You're tired, you should get some rest."
“But you’re really nice,” Huang Ruoyu said, sitting up straight on the sofa with a serious expression. She put her feet back on the floor, rested her elbows on her thighs to support her cheeks, and leaned closer to Cheng Shi. “I really think you’re nice. Look, you get along so well with everyone.”
Huang Ruoyu looked so innocent that Cheng Shi didn't dare to look her in the eye.
"Sigh," finally, Narumi sighed and gave in. "Isn't that how it is in this society? What I mean is, in today's society, the most mature thing to do is to be kind to others, and whatever you do, you should go with the flow, and..."
“Here we go again!” Huang Ruoyu leaned back on the sofa and exclaimed. “Actually, I don’t even know what ‘mature’ means. You can talk to me all night about what ‘mature’ is, but I still won’t understand, because to me these are just words. Cheng Sir, every time I watch you speak, I think: Wow, so he really thinks that way. These words really do have any meaning for him! Sometimes I really feel like I’ve spent my whole life watching others talk about and thinking about those words that I’ll never understand.”
But as she spoke, Huang Ruoyu's voice began to tremble.
"This means I'm not normal, but what I'm saying is true. No, no, don't come any closer, don't come any closer to kiss me, and don't touch me, otherwise we still won't be able to solve anything in the end. Just sit there and don't move! Let's just talk like this, okay?"
"Alright." Cheng Shi sat obediently on the chaise lounge.
But trying to chat wasn't so easy, so they could only stare at each other, as if they were sealed by something.
“I only know one thing,” Huang Ruoyu finally broke the silence, “and that is my intuition. My intuition tells me what to do.”
Cheng Shi stood up and turned off all the lights on the first floor, including the ostentatious crystal chandelier, muttering, "This will cool things down a bit. It's so hot this year. Can I turn the air conditioner down by one degree?"
But the darkness and low room temperature offered no help. Narumi realized she'd reached another dead end. If he admitted it was all just "words," what was the point of continuing? Faced with such stubborn defenses, what kind of speech could possibly penetrate that hard shell and reach this woman's heart?
But soon after, Narumi's voice rang out again, but what he said had nothing to do with his original intention; he had only used his last trump card out of necessity.
Since it's a trump card, it naturally carries risks, which is why Cheng Shi hadn't wanted to say it aloud, intending to use it only in a critical moment when facing defeat. After all, there are still 12 days until the deadline, and saying it now seems somewhat reckless, but the words are like spilled water—they can't be taken back.
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