Chapter 26
"Hey, why is Brother Yu wearing a bracelet on his wrist?"
Even after Yuan Chuyu led his team back home, Cheng Yanjin still lingered and refused to leave.
He circled around Lin Langyi, asking him what was wrong, but Lin Langyi kept changing the subject until they were truly alone before finally asking the question hesitantly.
Lin Langyi pointed to the pitch-black night outside the window: "They're opening clams on the spot. He bought quite a few, and then picked out the ones with good quality to process."
Cheng Yanjin drawled an "Oh," glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, looking for trouble: "It's not that valuable. He has two or three Richard Mille RM watches at home. Doesn't it seem strange to wear this bracelet with such an expensive watch?"
"Then I won't care." Lin Langyi spread her hands. "If I were a salesperson, after a customer bought the store's prized bag, would I care whether they displayed it or used it to carry food?"
Cheng Yan and Jin Dong looked around, hesitated for a long time, and finally squeezed out, "I want one too."
"ah?"
He abruptly turned his face away, glaring at her with a somewhat fierce expression: "Huh? Can't I have a souvenir?"
"Then go and fish it out of the river yourself." After saying that, Lin Langyi seemed to have thought of something, her eyebrows furrowed and her face scrunched up. "My God, just imagining your muscular arms wearing a string of tiny pearls the size of rice grains gives me an indescribable sense of incongruity."
Cheng Yanjin: ...
He was discouraged for a few seconds, then rallied his spirits: "You see how dangerous it is here lately, why don't you stop sending me to chant sutras and let me stay and be your bodyguard every day?"
Lin Langyi glanced at him indifferently and said nothing.
“Look, if it weren’t for Brother Yu here today, it wouldn’t just be your brother who got beaten up and ended up in the hospital, you wouldn’t have escaped either.” He frantically waved in front of her like a peacock spreading its tail feathers, trying to attract her attention. “But it’s different with me here. I guarantee no one can touch a hair on your head.”
Lin Langyi curled her lip: "Do you believe you have such good intentions? If you were released, you'd be like a chicken released from its coop, running wild all over the world without a trace. Do you expect me to stay with you every day as your bodyguard? Are you possessed by a ghost or am I cursed?"
Cheng Yanjin didn't argue back after being rebuked. He just glanced at her awkwardly and said haltingly, "I'm not that bad... You, I saw your brother was sent to the hospital today and posted a message on my WeChat Moments. I thought you were involved too, so I immediately dropped my dinner and came to find you. I can argue with you, but as for other people, I'll definitely side with you."
He whispered to her, "You make it sound like I'm some kind of heartless person."
After hearing these words that still sounded like they came from a human being, Lin Langyi turned around completely to face him, looking him up and down several times: "Speak, why are you suddenly giving in today? Is there something you want from me this time?"
The other person hesitated for two seconds, then honestly replied, "That retreat camp..."
Lin Langyi made a "stop" gesture to interrupt: "Don't even think about it!"
Cheng Yanjin said anxiously, "I didn't say I wouldn't go. It's just that the timing of the retreat is not good. There's a skateboarding competition in early June, and I made plans with some friends to participate a long time ago. I can't break my promise!"
"Oh...Is that so? It's alright, you can take leave." Lin Langyi was incredibly understanding, just like a kind boss approving leave for her subordinates. She said, "Which day is your competition? I'll have Aunt Feng ask you for leave later. She knows Laoshan Temple well."
Cheng Yanjin had a look on his face as if he had swallowed a fly.
After a long pause, he finally managed to squeeze out a sentence through gritted teeth: "Beg her? I might as well just sneak out by climbing over the wall."
Lin Langyi laughed out loud. She had accomplished a major task today and was in a very good mood. She even found Cheng Yanjin much more agreeable: "What number? I'll talk to Aunt Feng for you."
He hummed for a while, glancing at her frequently: "June 18th, the preliminary round is fine, but can you come to the final?"
Lin Langyi thought she had misheard and pointed at herself: "Me?"
“Yes, contestants have front-row tickets for their families. Hmm… I’ll give you a chance to show you my impressive skills.” He looked up at the sky and down at the ground but not at her. “Most others will probably come with their families, but I don’t plan to invite Cheng Yangkang and the others, so I’ll definitely have extra tickets. You can invite your friends if you want.”
Lin Langyi had never watched a skateboarding competition before, and asked with great interest, "When?"
"Around the Qixi Festival," he cleared his throat casually, "you should be alright, right?"
Without hesitation, Lin Lang replied, "It won't work on Qixi Festival."
He was stunned for two seconds by the unexpected answer. Lin Langyi continued to press the issue: "Valentine's Day, 520, Qixi Festival, Christmas, I'm usually too busy for those."
He suddenly became agitated: "Why aren't you available?!"
Lin Langyi replied matter-of-factly, "I have an appointment."
*
"Tell me, under what circumstances would a girl say she already has plans for Valentine's Day, 520, Qixi Festival, or Christmas?"
Xiao Pucheng sighed heavily. This was already the umpteenth time Cheng Yanjin had brought up this matter in the past few days.
When he first heard it, he casually remarked, "No matter what it is, it's obvious that you're not as important as that agreement, haha. You argue with people every day, and now look what's happened, they won't even celebrate holidays with you."
However, Cheng Yanjin kept muttering about this matter over and over again for a long time, and after a while, Xiao Pucheng gradually lost confidence.
He began to recall the absent-minded appearance of his other close friend, Yuan Chuyu, at the Jinsha Mansion. Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind, and he realized that he was the only one who had seen through the truth. He immediately felt immense pressure, as if he had become a parent torn between two equally beloved children, unable to tolerate any of them being wronged.
Could it be... that she went on a date with Ayu?
That kid looks so polite and well-behaved, he wouldn't do something so unconventional, right?
Xiao Pucheng swallowed hard, suddenly feeling a heavy responsibility on his shoulders, a duty he could not shirk. He found an excuse to sneak out and make a phone call to Yuan Chuyu.
He was busy; the first two calls went unanswered, and the third was hung up on, with the caller saying he was in a meeting. When Xiao Pucheng finally answered his call back, Yuan Chuyu immediately asked, "What is it?"
Xiao Pucheng: "Hey bro, let's hang out on 520!"
There seemed to be someone still talking on Yuan Chuyu's end. He held the phone away, and the voice suddenly became faint. After a while, he replied, "I'm busy."
We're doomed!!!
Xiao Pucheng was shocked and blurted out, "No time?! How can you be no time? Come out for tea with your brother! You used to be able to get people to come on these fancy holidays, why can't you do it this time?"
Yuan Chuyu didn't answer immediately. He was being interrupted intermittently by someone, who sounded like his assistant giving a progress report. He couldn't attend to both at the same time, so Yuan Chuyu simply said, "I'll contact you later," and hung up.
Xiao Pucheng stared worriedly at his phone, now closed after a call, his anxiety impossible to hide. He finally managed to rub his face to calm himself, but as soon as he opened the door, he heard Cheng Yanjin blurt out:
"Hey, do you think if I called Lin Langyi on the night of May 20th to sound her out, and then secretly went to see her, wouldn't the truth come out?"
That won't do!
Wasn't that an on-the-spot arrest?!
"No way!" Xiao Pucheng flatly rejected the idea, his expression serious and unyielding. "This is really wrong of you. I have to give you a good talking to! Couples should trust each other. A lot of things are just rumors, nothing of the sort. You're just overthinking and scaring yourself. Haven't you heard the saying? No one can come out laughing from their partner's phone. Why are you doing this?"
Cheng Yanjin did not answer the question directly, but kept his brows furrowed, his left hand pressed against his chest, and his face showed some confusion.
He said, "Xiao Pucheng, I don't really know what's wrong with me. Sometimes I find Lin Langyi really annoying, especially when she goes against me and tries to sabotage me. I think there's no girl in the world more annoying than her."
“But sometimes, I find myself thinking about her. For example, when Xiaoshan gave me tickets to a skateboarding competition, the first person that popped into my mind was Lin Langyi; and when her brother was beaten up and hospitalized, I saw that post on my WeChat Moments and didn’t even eat. I threw down my chopsticks and went to Yingshan Lake.”
"Most importantly, she was so cruel to me, she treated me badly, and she even locked me up in a temple for a month. I've never been locked up for a month before, this was a whole month! When I sprained my ligament, I even had people come over to play games, afraid they'd get moldy. I can't stand all this, but after a big fight with her, I always close my eyes, sleep it off, and forgive her as if nothing happened."
"I seem to always forgive her very easily."
He clutched at the front of his shirt, as if scratching at his strangely beating heart from afar: "But next time, I'll still argue with her. Sometimes when I calm down, I think she's really bad, and sometimes when I calm down, I think she's actually pretty good... no, not that bad."
Xiao Pucheng acted as a matchmaker, speaking sincerely: "What you're doing is called getting to know each other, but my judgment is right. You're just too close to the situation to see clearly. Your feelings for her are definitely different. Look at all the times you've suffered in silence. Apart from being powerless and furious in front of us brothers every day, have you ever really done anything for Lin Langyi?"
Cheng Yanjin, caught off guard, shifted his position restlessly, resting his arm on the sofa. After careful consideration, he offered his opinion: "No, I still think it's impossible for me to like her. The reason I'm so tolerant of her is mainly because I've matured, become more stable, and don't argue with women anymore, you understand?!"
He thought he made a lot of sense and began to analyze logically: "Actually, I was just too magnanimous. That's why I forgave her after being treated like this for two days. Once I actually go to chant sutras and experience hardship firsthand, I'll definitely want to curse her with voodoo dolls every day!"
Speaking of the upcoming retreat, he sighed deeply, feeling utterly hopeless: "I don't even dare to look at the retreat guides online anymore. Lin Langyi sent me one last time, and now my homepage is full of nuns and monks. It's giving me a headache."
Xiao Pucheng didn't say anything more, but just glanced at him with that unfathomable, teasing look, hoping that this living father could stay stuck in his emotional problems and stop thinking about 520 or not.
But who knew that Cheng Yanjin was such a person who never forgot his original intentions? One second he was saying that he was "tolerant and magnanimous," and the next second his eyes started to wander.
"But Lin Langyi and I will be spending time together after all, so it's normal for her to know about the daily life of the people around her... I promise, I'll just take a quick look on May 20th and I won't get angry. Besides, why would I get angry?! If she doesn't focus on me, wouldn't I be even more relaxed and no one would care?"
That depends on who the adulterer is!
Xiao Pucheng's face turned ashen.
Why isn't this person's solitary confinement starting today? Why is it starting on the 25th instead?!
The fact that this love idiot had just finished analyzing his inner thoughts and then brought up the 520 topic made Xiao Pucheng even more frightened. His heart was in turmoil, and this association filled his mind with a doomsday scenario of a comet hitting the earth.
After thinking it over, Xiao Pucheng quickly tried to salvage the situation: "How about this, how about this? It's not good for you to go directly there. It's easy to give yourself away. What if nothing happens and Lin Langyi catches you? She'll think you don't trust her. I'll teach you. You pretend to be drunk that day, and I'll use your phone to call Lin Langyi for you. I'll check things out first. If nothing happens, great. If something happens, I'll call her over and say you were drunk. How about that?"
"If she can leave that place behind to come find you, then that place is nothing to worry about."
Cheng Yanjin's eyes lit up, and he looked at Xiao Pucheng as if he were looking at a military strategist. He patted Xiao Pucheng's shoulder with great satisfaction: "It has to be you!"
Xiao Pucheng smiled bitterly at him, but he had to force himself to look good.
He stressed to himself that if he heard A-Yu's voice on the phone that day, he must firmly state that it was a woman on the other end.
We absolutely cannot allow Cheng Yanjin and Yuan Chuyu to face off against each other.
*
On the night of May 20th, Xiao Pucheng and Cheng Yanjin deliberately didn't invite any other friends. The two of them booked a private room, sat upright, and looked like they were about to do something big.
Xiao Pucheng still failed to get Yuan Chuyu to come out, a result that made him very uneasy, and he dared not look Cheng Yanjin in the eye for almost the entire time.
I hope Yuan Chuyu doesn't actually do something stupid!
Cheng Yanjin couldn't sit still either. Every time he went out, the atmosphere was lively and friendly. Today, he and Xiao Pucheng were sitting quietly, preparing to get down to business. This unfamiliar scene made him even more uncomfortable.
"Hurry up and call," he urged. "Put it on speakerphone and say I'm drunk."
Xiao Pucheng was still mentally preparing himself. At this time, it was either the end of the meal or the start of the next activity. Whether it was watching a movie together or going for a walk, it wasn't a good idea.
He tried every means to stall for time: "It's too early. Who gets drunk at 8:20? You just finished warming up at 8:20!"
While making excuses, Xiao Pucheng secretly sent Yuan Chuyu a series of text messages on his phone. He didn't need to say anything else; he just needed to send the location information over and over.
A waiter came in and brought several bottles of wine, which Cheng Yanjin had ordered. He looked preoccupied and, seeing the wine was opened, he first downed a glass on an empty stomach, leaving Xiao Pucheng stunned.
What are you doing?
"When Lin Langyi comes over, she'll see there are no empty bottles here, and I don't smell of alcohol at all. Won't that give me away?"
Xiao Pucheng thought bitterly, "Jin Gou actually grew a brain one day. Is it really true love that he's become intelligent?"
Cheng Yanjin showed no mercy to himself; he had a good tolerance for alcohol, and within two sentences, he had downed another glass.
"Don't be like this..." Xiao Pucheng's words of advice were only halfway through when Yuan Chuyu did not respond. So he changed the subject at the last minute, "Don't be so indecisive. Hurry up and say it. The sooner you act like you're drunk, the sooner I can call Lin Langyi."
Cheng Yanjin had no doubt about his good brother's intentions. Hearing this, he thought it made a lot of sense. He was already as restless as an ant on a hot pan. Upon hearing that he could call Lin Langyi sooner, he immediately abandoned his cup and started chugging straight from the bottle.
After downing most of the bottle, Xiao Pucheng was terrified by the momentum. Just as he was in a dilemma, the waiter knocked on the door and said, "This is it." The door opened, and standing there was none other than Yuan Chuyu.
Xiao Pucheng froze for two seconds, then instantly sprang up from the sofa, his tone filled with resentment: "You're here? You actually came?"
Yuan Chuyu hadn't even had time to change out of his formal attire. After entering the room, he first glanced at Cheng Yanjin and noticed that he seemed to be "drinking alone" on the night of May 20th. He smiled inexplicably and greeted him, "Yanjin."
Xiao Pucheng blocked the man at the door, pretending to pull him in, but secretly pressed him with a question: "Did you come from the company or from Ying Shan Lake?"
Yuan Chuyu paused for a moment: "The company, the bulk commodity market has opened, Yingshan Lake has turned around, Lin Langyi must be extremely busy these days, and so am I."
It was all a misunderstanding!
Xiao Pucheng breathed a sigh of relief. All he could hear were the words "company" and "busy." He immediately realized that he had been daydreaming and thinking about all sorts of nonsense all day.
"You want to make a call, right?" He felt much lighter now, and his steps toward Cheng Yanjin were much easier. "Call now, I guarantee you, Lin Langyi is busy, it's all company business, didn't you hear what Ayu said? Honestly, you're always thinking about those unreliable things. If I call now, as soon as it connects, all I'll hear from Lin Langyi is the voice of a middle-aged man."
"What call?" Yuan Chuyu asked.
Cheng Yanjin has been struggling with her inner turmoil these past few days and has a strong urge to confide in others. She finally managed to get hold of Yuan Chuyu, who seems to be the second "Mother Moon" confidante, and immediately poured out the whole story.
Hoping to gain some comfort and some clever ideas, Yuan Chuyu put his coat aside after listening and said in an unfriendly tone, "You're overthinking it. You treat Lin Langyi no differently than you treat others. It's not that you like her."
Xiao Pucheng cast a long, unsettling gaze over him, his expression unreadable.
Yuan Chuyu remained calm and composed: "And you're right. If you can catch her red-handed, you'll have the upper hand in the next argument. So this call shouldn't be made by someone else; you should make it."
Xiao Pucheng's head ached from listening to this nonsense. He grimaced and rubbed his head. It was obvious that they wanted Jin Gou to cause trouble and argue with Lin Langyi again. Was A Yu just eager to see his brother's household in turmoil?
Cheng Yanjin believed Yuan Chuyu's words, which he considered "closer than a brother," and immediately couldn't resist making a phone call to Lin Langyi.
During the busy signal, Xiao Pucheng was still comforting himself. It was okay. Anyway, Yuan Chuyu wasn't by Lin Langyi's side right now, so there couldn't be any problems there. It was definitely either a client or a business partner, and maybe it was even a woman's voice.
The first few calls went unanswered, but finally the call connected. Cheng Yanjin put the phone on speakerphone and placed it on the coffee table. The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop as the three men waited for Lin Langyi to speak first.
It's noisy over there; it sounds like it's outside.
Lin Langyi: "What is it?"
Cheng Yanjin enunciated clearly and with overwhelming force, speaking in a tone comparable to an oath: "I'm drunk."
Xiao Pucheng closed his eyes helplessly, his expression pained.
Lin Langyi: "...So what?"
"Come pick me up."
As expected, Xiao Pucheng thought he would receive a rejection. With Lin Langyi's side so noisy, she must still be busy and probably thinks Cheng Yanjin is just making trouble for no reason.
But before Lin Langyi could speak, a gentle male voice, as youthful as the rising sun, suddenly came through the receiver. He affectionately called out "Langyi," and then softly called out "Sister."
The sound was so close to the receiver, so close it sounded like a lover whispering in your ear, and it was especially clear and pleasant against the noisy background.
Pleasant to hear, my foot!
The private room was deathly silent; even Cheng Yanjin remained silent.
His face looked terrible, his lips were pressed tightly together, forming a white line, and he stared intently at the call timer on his phone screen, which was still ticking away second by second.
The young man, whose voice could be so sweet it could melt water, said in a half-coquettish tone, "Sister, if you have something to do, go ahead and do it. We don't necessarily have to meet today..."
Cheng Yanjin suddenly acted swiftly, hanging up the phone abruptly.
The screen went completely dark.
Xiao Pucheng dared not breathe, wishing he could bury himself between the sofa and the wall and become a silent, abstract painting.
Cheng Yanjin stood up, but as soon as he moved his leg to the side, he tripped over the wine bottle, which smashed to the ground with a crisp "clang" and then rolled under the sofa.
He had no time to consider that; he simply said with a stern face, "I'm going to find her."
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