Chapter Twenty-Seven
Once the seed of doubt is planted, it will quickly take root and sprout.
Long Jiu Mo was right. Chu Lian had long suspected that the relationship between Lu Nan and Cheng Xiang Bei was not normal, but she just didn't want to believe it.
In a quiet coffee shop on a leisurely afternoon, Chu Lian and Meng Tianze sat facing each other, hesitant to speak.
"Brother, you're talking about Lu Nan and Xiang Bei..."
Meng Tianze sipped his coffee and asked casually, "What happened to them?"
"Do you think they might... be a couple?" Chu Lian asked hesitantly.
"Hmm, maybe." In any case, Lu Nan being gay is definitely a good thing for him.
"Why aren't you surprised?" Chu Lian frowned.
Meng Tianze chuckled. Why should he be surprised? The intimacy, unconditional trust, and dependence between Cheng Xiangbei and Lu Nan were also reasons why he hesitated. Those two were too well-matched; it was difficult for outsiders to interfere. Even if he liked Lu Nan very much, he wasn't confident he could oppose Cheng Xiangbei right now.
"Brother!" Chu Lian pouted.
"Girls shouldn't make that face," Meng Tianze patted her hand. "It's very unladylike."
"Brother, why do you always take their side?"
Meng Tianze shook his head, his eyes filled with helplessness. "When did I speak up for them?" He really wanted to make Lu Nan one of his own, but Lu Nan had to be willing first. Since the mountain climbing incident, let alone having a meal with Lu Nan, even deliberately trying to catch her was impossible. Because of his frequent appearances at the Engineering College, some people were already speculating that he might have taken a fancy to one of the girls there. Thinking of this, Meng Tianze sighed softly; he had only taken a fancy to a blade of grass.
Unfortunately, that plant seems to, possibly already has an owner.
Unable to get the support she wanted from her cousin, Chu Lian felt increasingly frustrated.
She began to slowly ingratiate herself with those around Cheng Xiangbei, but every time she inquired about him, snippets of information about Lu Nan would always be included. As time went on, Chu Meiren's expression grew increasingly somber. She deliberately went to Cheng Xiangbei's elective class; after a polite greeting, he calmly walked away. When she tried to get closer under some pretext, other boys were always present. She couldn't disregard the reputation of the department's most beautiful girl, so despite her efforts for nearly a month, their relationship remained that of ordinary classmates.
An unprecedented sense of defeat tormented Chu Lian. Rumors were already circulating that her pursuit of the engineering college's most handsome man had ended in a disastrous failure. How could the ever-proud Chu Lian bear such gossip? In public, she forced a smile; in private, she gritted her teeth. She firmly believed it was all Lu Nan's fault! If he hadn't been in her way, Cheng Xiangbei wouldn't have ignored her.
When resentment blinds a person, reason is lost forever. However, Chu Lian did not expect that an even greater shock awaited her.
It was another long English class. Chu Lian and her friend had arranged to go to the engineering classroom early to reserve seats. She had already spotted Li Weide reserving seats at noon. So she and her friend sat in front of them, hoping to bump into each other and hear them talking.
When class started, Lu Nan and Cheng Xiangbei entered. They were indeed sitting in the seats Li Weide had reserved. Chu Lian's heart skipped a beat; she was thrilled that her crush was sitting diagonally behind her. She turned her head slightly, first glancing at Cheng Xiangbei seemingly casually, and Cheng Xiangbei nodded politely. Chu Lian blushed.
Lu Nan snorted, loud enough for Chu Lian to hear. Chu Lian pursed her lips, pretending not to hear. Then, she gave Lu Nan a cold look, to which Lu Nan retaliated without backing down.
The two exchanged glances, locked in a fierce battle of wits. This struggle only temporarily ended when the school bell rang.
Feeling indignant at being "bullied" like this by Lu Nan, Chu Lian hoped that Cheng Xiangbei would say a word for her, but apart from the occasional soft laughter, she heard nothing else. Overwhelmed with resentment, she angrily slammed her pen to the ground.
The surrounding students were either listening to the lecture, reading novels, or even secretly playing cards; no one noticed the pen had fallen. Chu Lian gambled for a while, but received no response, so she had no choice but to sheepishly bend down to pick it up herself. The pen had landed a bit far, so she had to slide off her chair and squat down to retrieve it.
In the instant she looked down, she instinctively turned back to look. Through the gap between the table and chairs, she could clearly see two hands, fingers intertwined, caressing each other. She was startled and carefully observed the two hands. The owner's position made her begin to feel dazed, until the two hands loosened slightly in their playful interaction, and one of them even more restlessly groped the genitals of the person wearing jeans.
"Ah!" Chu Lian cried out softly.
"What's wrong?" his companion asked, looking down.
"Oh, it's nothing." Chu Lian hurriedly picked up her clothes and stood up straight. "I bumped my head."
"Be careful!" his companion reassured him.
Chu Lian nodded, absentmindedly turning her head to look. Lu Nan and Cheng Xiangbei both seemed normal. She steadied herself, wondering if she had just imagined it. This doubt lingered until the break, when Cheng Xiangbei hurriedly stepped over the crowd and ran out of the classroom. Li Weide exclaimed, "Boss, where are you going?!"
"restroom!"
Chu Lian stared intently at his retreating figure, a flash of lightning striking her eyes. Without a doubt, it was those jeans.
She turned around blankly, and Lu Nan was sitting there laughing heartily. That smile was like a sharp sword slicing through her heart, drawing blood.
On Monday afternoon, Lu's mother was preparing lessons in her office when the phone rang.
"Hello." She answered the phone while simultaneously writing.
"Huh? What did you say?" With a flick of her pen, she wrote a word crookedly. Lu's mother frowned and said unhappily, "You said my son is seducing boys?"
"Yes!" the woman on the phone replied, "I saw it with my own eyes!"
Aunt Lu looked up at the office; thankfully, she was alone. "Who are you?"
"Don't worry about who I am, I'm just kindly reminding parents to pay attention to their children!"
Hearing her words, Lu's mother didn't get angry but laughed instead. "You kindly remind me to watch out for my son? You don't even dare to leave your name, why should I believe you?"
"Anyway, what I said is the truth!" The other person's tone became unsteady.
"Alright, then tell me, who did Lu Nan seduce?" There was a hint of a joke in Lu's mother's tone. She knew her son was her own; if Lu Nan knew how to seduce people, that would be quite an improvement! But if it were true, she would definitely go and skin Cheng Xiangbei alive! He had taken care of Nan Nan since she was little, and he dared to lead her down the wrong path!
"He...he..." The other person hesitated.
Instead, Lu's mother felt relieved; her years of teaching hadn't been in vain. This girl probably had some grudge against Lu Nan, but tattling was rather low-class. Thinking this, Lu's mother calmly said, "Young lady, if you have nothing more to say, you can hang up!"
How could you not believe me?!
Lu's mother chuckled. "You didn't even dare leave your name, only saying you were an eyewitness. But let me ask you, as a mother, if I don't trust my own son and instead believe an anonymous phone call, wouldn't I be neglecting my duty?" After a pause, she continued, "What exactly happened to my Lu Nan?"
"He's always clinging to Cheng Xiangbei, and...and..." The boy couldn't bring himself to say anything more, so he blurted out, "Anyway, he and Cheng Xiangbei are just acting strangely. You should control your kid! He's shameless!" With that, he slammed down the phone.
Looking at the phone with a dead tone in her hand, Lu's mother wondered, "What's wrong with Lu Nan and Xiang Bei?"
That same afternoon, Cheng Jia also received a phone call.
Grandma Cheng answered the phone; she was watching a show on the big TV in the living room at the time.
"Excuse me, is this Cheng Xiangbei's house?" a girl with a cool voice asked.
Grandma Cheng nodded, then realized the other person couldn't see her, and replied in her dialect, "Yes."
However, the two then started talking at cross purposes. One said "north," and the other replied, "Oh, Tiger..." and then rambled on in dialect. This left the informer completely confused and disoriented.
Just as the two were getting anxious, Cheng Xiangdong returned. Grandma Cheng breathed a sigh of relief and handed the phone to her grandson. "Tiger's phone call... it's hard to explain."
Cheng Xiangdong sat down, puzzled, thinking to himself, "When did Grandma stop understanding my brother's calls?" "Hello?"
"Who are you...?" came a cautious female voice.
Cheng Xiangdong frowned. "Who are you?"
"Are you Cheng Xiangbei's family?" the other party asked in return.
Yes. Is there anything I can help you with?
"A guy is harassing your brother! It's disgusting to be harassed by a homosexual!" the other person said indignantly.
Cheng Xiangdong was taken aback, then vaguely understood. He leaned back comfortably on the sofa and said slowly, "Why didn't I hear Hu Zi mention this? He should have reported such a 'disgusting' thing to his family."
"He's already been seduced! Aren't you worried he'll be led astray and become gay?!"
"Why should I worry? This is his private matter."
"How can you be a parent like this? How can you let him go astray!"
"Hey kid, calm down. Sexual orientation has innate factors. As long as your worldview and values are correct, it doesn't mean you'll go astray." Tiger, Tiger, what kind of tigress did you provoke?!
"In short, you are not Cheng Xiangbei's parent, I need to talk to his parents!"
Cheng Xiangdong sighed, once again lamenting the other person's lack of intelligence. "Young man, putting aside your refusal to reveal your identity, let me be frank: I am Xiangbei's older brother, practically a patriarch. The person who answered the phone just now was my grandmother, the absolute matriarch. Do you have any further questions?"
"You...don't you want to know who seduced Cheng Xiangbei?" the other party threatened.
"Please go ahead."
"Aren't you afraid I'll tell your parents the truth?"
"Excuse my frankness, but to see my father, an appointment is required. Which secretary would you like to contact?"
"You..." The other person was taken aback, and finally blurted out, "Cheng Xiangbei and Lu Nan are gay! They will definitely get their comeuppance!"
Sensing the intensity of their conversation, Grandma Cheng looked at her grandson with concern. Cheng Xiangdong patted his grandmother's hand, mouthing that she was alright, and considerately turned up the TV volume for her. Only after doing these things did he feel like replying.
"First of all, homosexuality is not shameful. Secondly, don't curse others casually, especially since that person is my brother." Cheng Xiangdong smiled faintly and said, "I've heard that curses can backfire, so I wish you good luck."
After pondering the mysterious phone call, Lu's mother dialed the Cheng family's number.
Years of experience in education told her that this was likely a classic case of love turning into hate. And the culprit was definitely not her husband, Lu Nan, but Cheng Jiaxiangbei.
Cheng Xiangdong answered the phone; he was just about to inform his younger brother of the situation. After receiving Lu's mother's call, Cheng's older brother said that his family had also received an anonymous call, and the caller seemed quite dissatisfied with Lu Nan. The two sighed in unison; the two children had been inseparable since childhood, and nowadays, girls' jealousy was far too intense.
However, Lu's mother wondered: Could there really be something between Nan Nan and Hu Zi?
Cheng Xiangdong was taken aback, then deftly deflected the criticism. "Really? Girls still causing such a ruckus? They're still young!"
Lu's mother nodded. "Yes, the children are still young! Look at girls these days, they're even making anonymous phone calls to our homes. I'll remind Nannan that she's not allowed to date before graduating from university!"
Cheng Xiangdong quickly agreed, deciding to follow Lu's example and impose a ban on his younger brother. His primary task in Haicheng was to study hard and make progress every day, and to take good care of Nannan.
The two chatted for a while longer before Lu's mother hung up. Cheng Xiangdong breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed the plan to educate parents about basic homosexuality would have to be brought forward.
Before dinner, Lu Nan received a call from his mother. He was sitting with his legs crossed in a chair, while Cheng Xiangbei was cooking in the kitchen wearing an apron. "Mom, don't listen to that woman's nonsense! She just couldn't catch a tiger, and now she has a hormonal imbalance."
"Then what do people say about you seducing Hu Zi?"
"Mom, does a tiger even need to be seduced?" Lu Nan scoffed, "Your son can just beckon him with his little finger and he'll..." Cough, stop, stop, don't get carried away.
"What about him?" Aunt Lu raised an eyebrow.
"He...he just cooks for me." Lu Nan stuck out her tongue and made a face at Cheng Xiangbei.
"Look at you, so pathetic! Stop bullying Tiger all the time. Don't you understand that housework should be done in turns?"
"Okay, I know." Lu Nan swung her feet. "Mom, is there anything else?"
"That's all. Take good care of yourself as it gets cold. Also, I want to say a few words to Tiger."
"Tiger! Your mother-in-law is on the phone!" Lu Nan shouted with a grin.
"How can you talk like that?" Lu's mother said, both amused and exasperated. "It's utterly incoherent."
“How is it inappropriate?” Lu Nan protested. “Everyone says I seduced a tiger, so I should at least be given a title! Right, huh?” She said this to Cheng Xiangbei, who rubbed his hands on his apron, stood at attention, and respectfully greeted Lu’s mother on the other end of the phone, “Hello, Mother-in-law!”
Lu's mother chuckled, the last trace of unease in her heart vanishing. The two children's behavior was upright and honest; there was really nothing to doubt. Thinking of this, Lu's mother smiled and said to Cheng Xiangbei, "Tiger, thank you for your hard work."
Cheng Xiangbei and Lu Nan exchanged a glance and smiled mischievously. "Serving the people! It's not hard work!"
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