Before Sheng Yan could react, Ms. Xu unleashed a furious shout in her perfect soprano voice: "Sheng Yan!"
Sheng Yan hurriedly jumped off Qin Zigui, attempting a final act of defiance: "Mom! Let me explain!"
However, seeing the scene of catching the culprit red-handed before her, Xu Qingrong had no desire to listen: "Explanation? What explanation? I saw it with my own eyes, what explanation do you have?"
Sheng Yan panicked: "Mom! Listen to me!"
Xu Qingrong remained unmoved: "I won't listen."
Sheng Yan felt that all explanations might be too late, so he could only stand in front of Qin Zigui and say, "Mom, this is mainly my fault. It's all my fault. Don't blame Qin Zigui."
Xu Qingrong replied without hesitation, "Nonsense, why would I blame Zigui?"
Sheng Yan: "?"
Isn't dating a matter between two people?
Xu Qingrong pointed her slender finger at Qin Zigui, who had just sat up in bed: "Zigui is so good to you, and you still bully him. Who else is to blame but yourself?"
Sheng Yan: "??"
Xu Qingrong continued her accusation: "How can you treat him like this? How can you face the food your brother Zigui has brought you every day for the past month? Look at how weak and helpless your brother Zigui looks, how can you do this to him?"
Sheng Yan: "???"
Who is weak? Who is helpless?
Sheng Yan didn't know if Ms. Xu was having another dramatic moment, but her description truly shocked him.
How could she possibly think that Qin Zigui, who was 187 cm tall, weighed 145 kg, and had physical strength that perfectly overwhelmed her, was weak and helpless?!
He turned around in shock to look at Qin Zigui.
Qin Zigui suppressed a laugh and calmly said, "Don't worry, Aunt Xu, Sheng Yan and I were just joking around."
Xu Qingrong said with exasperation, "You're just too honest and easy to bully. You're just spoiling him."
Sheng Yan: "???"
Who's honest and easy to bully?!
At that moment, Sheng Yan wished he could tear off Qin Zigui's hypocritical good student facade. However, if he didn't admit that he was indeed beating Qin Zigui, then the posture he had just displayed was truly inexplicable.
So Sheng Yan could only grit his teeth, clench his fists, and endure the humiliation, saying, "Mom, I'm sorry, I was wrong."
"What good is it if you just say you're wrong?" Xu Qingrong raised her chin.
Sheng Yan suppressed the urge to beat Qin Zigui to death and said, "It's no use."
“If you know it’s useless, then take some practical action.” Ms. Xu stepped aside. “Grandma made a big table of drunken crabs. Go to the supermarket near the entrance and buy a bottle of vinegar. Don’t always make Zigui run errands.”
But Qin Zigui used to do this kind of work.
Sheng Yan turned around and glared fiercely at Qin Zigui.
Knowing he was in the wrong, Qin Zigui quickly coaxed in a low voice, "You stay at home, I'll go buy it."
Xu Qingrong, who had been supporting Qin Zigui for a long time, rolled her eyes at him, thinking "this kid is hopeless," and then turned to go to the kitchen to get the crabs.
As soon as she turned around, Sheng Yan angrily kicked Qin Zigui.
Qin Zigui knew that Sheng Yan had suffered a great deal because of their great underground relationship, so she smiled, hugged him, and kissed him: "My boyfriend has been wronged."
Caught off guard by the kiss, Sheng Yan hadn't even reacted when he heard his grandmother and mother talking from the other side of the wall. His ears turned red, and he lightly kicked Qin Zigui again, saying, "Get out of my way! Are you trying to get me scolded by my mom again?!"
"No," Qin Zigui replied, but did not let go.
Sheng Yan, furious that he had been unfairly blamed for something, pried his hands off and said, "Then stand properly!"
Qin Zigui listened to Sheng Yan's words and stood up straight.
Sheng Yan gritted his teeth and said in his fiercest tone, the kind he used in front of Qin Zigui, "I'll let today's matter slide for now, but from today onwards, unless no one else is home, you're not allowed to hug, touch, or do anything inappropriate at home! You're not allowed to do anything that goes beyond brotherhood! You're not allowed to use any intimate nicknames!"
The request wasn't too unreasonable, and Qin Zigui didn't want her boyfriend to die of shame before the relationship was even public, so she nodded.
Sheng Yan continued his menacing threat, "If you're a man, you should keep your word! Otherwise, don't blame me for being impolite!"
"Yeah, whoever can't do it is a little dog." Qin Zigui, who had already become a dog, set his flag without any burden.
Sheng Yan gave a satisfied "humph": "That's more like it. Go buy your vinegar."
Following the smell of drunken crab, I headed to the restaurant.
Qin Zigui thought Sheng Yan was probably the easiest boyfriend in the world to coax, so she smiled, ruffled his hair, and then went out.
As soon as Sheng Yan arrived at the restaurant, he saw Xu Qingrong and a table full of drunken crabs.
The elderly couple were still busy in the kitchen, and finding Xu Qingrong in their way, they kicked her out.
She might not be good at anything else, but she's really good at peeling crabs. When she saw Sheng Yan arrive, she noticed how thin her precious son had become. She quickly peeled a crab and put the crab roe and meat into his bowl, saying, "I'll give you the biggest one, so you won't say I don't care about you."
Sheng Yan held the bowl and, taking advantage of Qin Zigui's absence, leisurely enjoyed his meal.
Xu Qingrong slowly peeled the second crab: "When exactly is your competition?"
Sheng Yan said, "This Saturday."
"There are only a few days left, so will you be training these next few days?" Xu Qingrong asked again.
Sheng Yan nodded: "I've already discussed the training with the coach. We'll go to school every morning, train in the afternoon, and come back after evening self-study."
"Isn't that tiring?" Xu Qingrong put the second piece of crab roe into Sheng Yan's bowl.
Sheng Yan didn't refuse: "It's alright. Qin Zigui is going to the provincial competition soon. His class is close to our training place, so we can be together every day."
Xu Qingrong didn't understand the relationship between "whether you're tired" and "being able to be with Qin Zigui," and just nodded: "It's good that you're okay, but don't put too much pressure on yourself. It's okay even if you don't get a ranking in this competition."
"Don't worry, I've been aiming for second place and striving for first during this training camp. As long as there are no unexpected situations or me underperforming, I'm basically guaranteed a top-three finish in the city." Sheng Yan said, picking up another crab to break it open.
Just as he grabbed one of the legs, the living room door opened.
Sheng Yan and Qin Zigui met face to face.
Sheng Yan looked at Qin Zigui.
Qin Zigui looked at the crab in his hand.
In the silent exchange of glances, with a snap, the crab leg broke off.
Qin Zigui walked over with a sullen face and counted the crab legs on the table: "How many are there?"
Sheng Yan felt a little guilty: "Two."
Qin Zigui sighed helplessly, put down the vinegar, and turned to go into the kitchen: "Grandma, I'm going to make some ginger soup for Sheng Yan. He's been stealing crabs again."
As soon as she finished speaking, Grandma, still holding a shovel, immediately walked out of the kitchen and angrily called out, "Xu Qingrong! Did you peel crabs for Xiaoyan again?!"
Ms. Xu was peeling crabs peacefully when her mother suddenly yelled at her, startling her so much that she tore off a crab leg as well. Then, confused, she asked, "Mom, why are you yelling at me?"
"Why are you asking me why I'm being so mean to you?! Don't you know that Xiao Yan has a sensitive stomach and can't eat cold foods like this?!" Grandma was furious.
Xu Qingrong was a little confused: "Is it that serious? I remember taking it last year too?"
“Before, every year when he ate it, Zigui peeled it for him, controlling the amount to half a cuckoo each time, and we would also give him ginger tea! How could you feed him a whole cuckoo like this!” The grandmother scolded her daughter for her grandson, leaving her speechless. “And what do you remember! The first time you fed Xiaoyan like this and he got acute gastroenteritis, you left after dinner and flew away on a business trip, leaving Zigui alone at home. She couldn’t find any adults and carried Xiaoyan to the clinic at the door by herself. What do you know! I’m so angry! You’re not eating dinner tonight! Write a self-criticism!”
Xu Qingrong: "???"
She truly never imagined that a beautiful, powerful female CEO in her forties could end up in such a state after returning home.
She turned to Sheng Yan in shock: "Is that so?"
Sheng Yan vaguely remembered: "There should be such a thing."
The main reason was that his health was really poor when he was a child. Ms. Xu and Qin Ru were extremely busy at that time, and his maternal grandparents had not yet retired. So Qin Zigui took him to see a doctor, fed him medicine, and held him and coaxed him to sleep many times by himself, to the point that he couldn't remember which time it was.
Upon hearing this answer, Grandma wanted nothing more than to shovel them both: "There should be more, two heartless idiots!"
After saying that, he turned around and said gently to Qin Zigui, who was skillfully slicing ginger, "Add some brown sugar to Xiaoyan's drink; he likes sweet things."
Qin Zigui replied quickly: "The brown sugar is already in the pot and cooking."
Grandma nodded: "That's good. You've always been the most worry-free person in my life. I'm relieved to have you taking care of Ayan from now on."
The kitchen was filled with soft, gentle voices.
Two clueless idiots outside the kitchen: "..."
Looking at Qin Zigui's busy figure in the kitchen and Sheng Yan's guilty bowed head outside the kitchen, Xu Qingrong suddenly realized that she had missed too many moments in Sheng Yan's life, and these moments had just been made up for by another person.
Much, much later, she sighed and called out, "Ayan."
"Huh?" Sheng Yan looked up from his "Guide to Winning Over Your Boyfriend" and asked, "What's wrong?"
Xu Qingrong turned to look at him and said very seriously, "Mom has a very serious question for you."
Sheng Yan's heart skipped a beat when he thought she had figured something out.
Xu Qingrong then slowly spoke, asking the serious question that has troubled Chinese men for five thousand years: "If one day Zigui and I both fell into the water, who would you save first?"
Faced with this potentially disastrous question, Sheng Yan suddenly exclaimed: "...???"
He's only eighteen years old, why does he have to face such a cruel problem?!
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