Chapter 61
Cheng Yanjin brought Lin Langyi home, and the journey was surprisingly quiet.
She was dozing off in the car and didn't notice his unusual silence.
After arriving home, she quickly washed up, thinking she could sleep for a while, so she turned off the lights and lay down on the bed. A little while later, she noticed a slight indentation on the other side of the bed, where someone, still damp from the sleep, lay quietly beside her.
She regained a little clarity and assumed that Cheng Yanjin, having spent a full month as a monk in the temple, would certainly not let her go this time.
After moving in together, some things happen naturally, and she didn't intend to jump up and scream to kick him out at this point, forcing each of them to have their own room.
And he really has a great physique.
Although Lin Langyi thought this way, she became more and more sleepy, vaguely thinking that what was stronger than sexual desire was indeed appetite and sleepiness.
Cheng Yanjin lay flat on his back, completely still, only managing to touch her hand under the covers and grasp it in his burning palm.
She waited in a daze for his next move, but until she finally fell asleep, the person beside her did not do anything inappropriate.
Cheng Yanjin listened to the gradually long and soft breathing of the person beside him, and finally turned his head to look at her.
The curtains were drawn tightly, and the room was pitch black. He couldn't see her clearly, but he also felt that he could actually see her.
He knew those bright, clear eyes, her delicate, straight nose, and her moist lips that would reveal two small dimples when she smiled. He could completely replicate her face with its bright eyes and white teeth, as well as the captivating charm she exuded when she moved.
He opened his eyes wide in the darkness, but didn't know where to look.
I'm wide awake.
The conversation I had with Bian Shu in the hospital room that night kept flashing through my mind, every detail vivid in my memory.
What can exes and current partners talk about when they're alone together? Naturally, they'll talk about things that are frank and open.
Cheng Yanjin bluntly warned the other party: "I am Lin Langyi's fiancé."
Everything in the ward was white, creating an inexplicable sense of oppression.
Bian Shuren doesn't have an aggressive look; instead, he has a calm and scholarly air about him. Even after leaving the so-called campus youth, the years haven't erased his clean and upright aura.
One can easily imagine him wearing a white shirt and black pants in his school uniform, sitting by the window as a model student in the eyes of his teachers. He would undoubtedly become a symbol representing some people's youthful memories.
He was the kind of top student that Cheng Yanjin got along with the least during their school days.
He likes playing basketball, while Bian Shu prefers to sit in the study room doing homework; the two are worlds apart.
But ironically, Bian Shu's style also appeals to some girls. Cheng Yanjin never cared about these things before. Liking someone doesn't put food on the table. Besides, he had received plenty of love letters, but he had returned them all.
However, if Lin Langyi is among the girls he likes, then the situation changes completely.
He couldn't lie to himself and say magnanimously that he didn't care at all.
He cares about it terribly!
If they were in the same school, and he saw Lin Langyi giving a love letter to Bian Shu, he would snatch the letter and destroy it.
Cheng Yanjin suppressed his surging jealousy and coldly looked at Bian Shu, who was leaning against the bed.
When Bian Shu looked at others, it was as if he were looking at a set of experimental data. His gaze was so steady that it was impossible to tell from his face whether the data met his expectations.
That's not the case either. Cheng Yanjin frowned as he met the other person's gaze, thinking that the way he looked at Lin Langyi was not like that.
Completely undisguised stunnedness, focus, immersion, and joy.
It was as if everyone else was just a string of boring numbers in his eyes, while she was the only one in the whole world who had been painted with vibrant colors.
Bian Shu also bluntly stated: "I am Xiao Yi's ex."
Cheng Yanjin stared at him with a forced smile, leaning back and pressing his shoulders down heavily: "How dare you call me 'Xiao Yi'?"
Bian Shu remained unfazed. His physique was hardly what one would associate with being strong and capable in a fight, yet this seemingly thin and bony man showed no fear in front of Cheng Yanjin. When discussing Lin Langyi, he displayed a fearless and reckless spirit.
When a normal person is facing his ex-girlfriend's current partner, he should at least pretend, and even if he still has feelings for her, he won't directly bring it up.
But while Bian Shu appeared to be communicating frankly and normally, every word he uttered was incredibly sharp.
He said, "I used to call her Zhuzhu."
A vein suddenly bulged on Cheng Yanjin's neck. He opened his hand forcefully, held back for a moment, then clenched it into a fist and said sarcastically, "So you also know it was in the past."
Bian Shu stood up straight and answered directly, "But whether it was in the past, now, or in the future, I will always love her."
Cheng Yanjin's eyes were as cold as ice, and the muscles in his arms were completely tense, as if he were about to suddenly attack someone without any regard for the consequences.
He exuded an immense sense of threat, and every twitch of his facial muscles seemed to warn Bian Shu to stop.
Bian Shu, as if she had lost her mind, added fuel to the fire, recounting the past in front of Cheng Yanjin: "We used to be very close. We would eat together every day, go to the library together. She came to my hometown during summer vacation, and we lay in the rice paddies counting stars. When it got dark, she was afraid to leave, so I carried her slowly back..."
"No one can erase the feelings between Xiaoyi and me. Our breakup is only temporary, and I don't plan to leave now that I'm back."
Cheng Yanjin couldn't stand it anymore and forced himself to distract himself... Lin Langyi had just said that if he didn't behave properly, he would be kicked out. He couldn't let it get to this point, or he would upset her.
With a cold expression, he turned to the side and tore the plastic film off a fruit basket on the bedside table with his five fingers.
These are the gifts that Yuan Chuyu mentioned when he placed the order. He bought three sets, and they were all delivered to the room.
Cheng Yanjin tore open the apple he had paid for, his face ashen, and picked up a knife to start peeling it.
He was actually very good at handling these small, sharp knives: William Henry's folding knife, Largo's folding knife, Sergei, Rick Hinderer, Zirconium-coated blades... He could make every knife look amazing in his hands.
So many people don't believe it, but he actually has very good knife skills.
For example, right now, he can peel the fruit so thinly that it won't break. If Lin Langyi were here, he could even carve a fruit flower for her with this crudely made knife.
Bian Shu looked at his hands as he tried to steady them and said calmly, "I came here to see her anyway."
With a soft "snap," the fruit peel broke and fell to the ground.
Cheng Yanjin held the thin blade at an angle to the apple, ridiculously leaving a scar on the flesh.
His wrist trembled slightly, so he simply let it hang down and shook it in the air to loosen the joints, without glancing at Bian Shu once in the entire process.
Don't listen, don't listen, ignore him.
Don't be angry, don't get upset, Lin Langyi will be back soon.
Cheng Yanjin's Adam's apple bobbed, he swallowed hard, his throat felt dry, and he raised his hand again to peel the skin.
When I started again, it got a bit heavy in my hands. Some of the fruit pulp was stuck to the peels, making them pitted and uneven.
His breathing was occasionally agitated, perhaps due to his mood; the remaining half of the apple was peeled and was badly damaged, looking extremely unsightly.
After peeling one fruit, Cheng Yanjin's fingers were still covered in sweet juice, but he didn't care. He took another fruit from the basket and continued peeling fruit.
Bian Shu did nothing else but sit upright on the bed and watch him peel one after another.
Each one was grotesquely ugly, like a pile of failed clay sculptures lined up on the bedside table, performing a ritualistic dance.
Cheng Yanjin thought he could suppress the turmoil of anger in his heart by diverting his attention, but he used the knife faster and faster, and in the last ten seconds or so, he finished peeling a piece of fruit and accidentally cut his finger.
Even though he managed to stop abruptly when he made that cut, his index finger still bled immediately.
He stared at the line of blood welling up on his fingertip, which quickly spread and blurred, and a strange, indifferent emotion arose within him.
It's like being in a dream where your soul is out of your body, looking down coldly from the air; you won't feel involved no matter what happens.
He was already proficient in using various folding knives when he was in elementary school, and he hasn't been injured by knives for many years.
He pressed down with his thumb, and the blood gushed out even more, staining the apple as if it were a rotten, oxidized, expired product.
Cheng Yanjin stabbed the fruit directly with the knife, piercing it through, and then threw the blood-stained apple into the trash can.
He threw all the peeled apples back into the fruit basket and got up to leave... No, he simply couldn't live under the same roof as Bian Shu.
Just as he made up his mind, Bian Shu suddenly said, "I can tell that Xiao Yi doesn't have much affection for you."
After saying this, the man sitting with his legs open suddenly lunged forward like an enraged leopard, grabbing Bian Shu's hospital gown and shoving him backward.
Bian Shu's back slammed against the guardrail on the other side with a dull thud.
The whole bed was shaking, the IV drip was clanging and clattering, and even the IV tubing looked like a wildly dancing thread, not settling down for a long time.
Cheng Yanjin didn't hold back at all. He slowly twisted his wrist half a turn, making the neckline of the clothes narrower and narrower, and finally tightened his grip on Bian Shu's throat.
The cut on my finger started to throb with pain, like being pricked by needles.
Cheng Yanjin said, "Do you really think I wouldn't lay a hand on you?"
He was having trouble breathing and should have been dizzy, but he never raised his hand to his forehead to show weakness. Instead, he continued to speak calmly: "You're not Xiaoyi's type."
Instead of getting angry, Cheng Yanjin laughed, tightened his arms, locked his throat, and pressed the person off the bed little by little, coldly watching the person in front of him with a red face.
"She doesn't like me? Then she won't like you either. Don't flatter yourself."
Whether it was because the chokehold had been held for too long and reached its limit, or because those words suddenly stung Bian Shu's nerves, the man who had been so determined just moments before suddenly frowned, closed his eyes tightly, and shook his head, as if he had begun to experience dizziness.
Cheng Yanjin abruptly pulled his hand away, causing the person to stumble and hit the railing. He braced himself with his palm and began to cough violently.
Cheng Yanjin showed no intention of calling a doctor. He sat back down, his face still gloomy.
Bian Shu, however, was always single-minded. He caught his breath, checked that the needle was still in his hand, leaned back against the headboard, and fearlessly repeated, "But no matter what, she definitely liked me before."
Cheng Yanjin pressed the cut on his index finger, turned his head away, and pretended not to hear.
Lin Langyi will be back soon, she'll be back soon. Don't waste your breath on this kind of person.
Bian Shu suddenly changed the subject, asking, "What's the relationship between that man who donated blood and Xiao Yi?"
"What?" Even though he had mentally prepared himself to treat Bian Shu's words as nonsense, Cheng Yanjin still frowned at this unexpected question, wondering why Bian Shu would suddenly ask such a question.
"Just friends?" Bian Shu asked again.
Cheng Yanjin turned around impatiently, about to make a sarcastic remark, but suddenly met Bian Shuqing's clear gaze.
That gaze seemed to pierce through all the fog, stripping away the truth and exposing it nakedly under the sun.
Cheng Yanjin's sarcastic words suddenly vanished. He felt the skin on the back of his neck suddenly harden and stiffen like cracked soil, and his body was frozen into an icy wasteland, his limbs stiffening.
He remained motionless and asked, "What do you mean?"
Bian Shu paused for two seconds, then shook his head: "No, I was just asking."
Cheng Yanjin was annoyed by this sudden and nonsensical question. The same sense of oppression and chest tightness bound him again, making him burst with destructive urges.
"Stop spouting nonsense," he sneered. "Take care of your head and get back abroad as soon as possible."
Then, Meng Hui brought in the caregiver. Cheng Yanjin and Bian Shu remained silent, both of them disliking each other.
As for Lin Langyi, she was the last to return.
Cheng Yanjin pretended to be nonchalant and helped her organize the items she had bought, but his eyes kept glancing at her face out of the corner of his eye.
Since she entered the room, she hasn't glanced at the person on the hospital bed once.
This didn't make sense. Cheng Yanjin remembered that before she left, she had kept her eyes fixed on Bian Shu.
He even glanced at Bian Shu's face and saw that the other person's gaze was fixed on Lin Langyi's lips.
An unnamed anger flared up again, and Cheng Yanjin forcefully tore open the packaging of his newly bought water cup and slammed it heavily on the bedside table.
Lin Langyi glanced at him, and Cheng Yanjin noticed her flushed cheeks.
She said she had run a few miles, which was why she was hot.
Cheng Yanjin remembered that she had always been in good physical condition, and he was planning to take her for a walk, ride a bicycle, or skateboard together every night after dinner.
She couldn't do it, but he could get her to stand on the same board and play with her.
...
After Cheng Yanjin finished recalling, he stared straight at the ceiling with his eyes wide open. He wanted to occupy more of her time and appear by her side more often.
The same thing happened a second time, but my state of mind was completely different.
When Chi Shu appeared, he didn't even know where his irritability and nameless anger came from.
He even made a series of blunders, dragging outsiders into the situation, trying to persuade Lin Langyi not to give up their arranged marriage because of love.
But now it's completely different. He hopes Lin Langyi won't rekindle her old feelings; he hopes she can love him.
Last time, Yuan Chuyu had nothing to do with it; it was he who called Yuan Chuyu in.
This time, however, he never intended to involve outsiders in the matter between the two of them, but Yuan Chuyu's name suddenly appeared in Bian Shu's mouth.
What did he mean when he said that?
Cheng Yanjin recalled that when they first met, he had confidently stated that Yuan Chuyu was a high-end version of this type, and urged Lin Langyi to raise her standards.
He suddenly felt as if he were being torn apart by a thousand knives, a dull, agonizing pain shooting through his heart. The hand that had gripped Bian Shu's neck that night seemed to be stuck in his throat now, making it hard for him to breathe.
Waves of dizziness washed over him, and Cheng Yanjin sat up abruptly, pressing one hand to his heart and bending over to breathe heavily.
He felt a throbbing pain in his head and difficulty breathing. He clenched his fist and pounded it hard against his chest, trying to relieve the sharp pain in his heart.
Yuan Chuyu might not be so sure; he should just be more careful in the future. Perhaps Bian Shu just thinks, like himself, that Lin Langyi would like the same type.
However, Bian Shu's appearance was a foregone conclusion, and he was even injured for Lin Langyi, giving him a significant advantage.
If Lin Langyi uses her previous statement about an "open relationship" to reconcile with Bian Shu, what should he do?
Cheng Yanjin bent his legs, bent his upper body even lower, buried his head completely between his knees, and tightly gripped the fabric of his clothes at his chest.
His left hand was still firmly holding the sleeping Lin Langyi, unwilling to let go.
He had never regretted his boastful words so much, nor his seemingly nonchalant demand for an "open-ended" approach. Every word he had uttered had transformed into a sword piercing the future from the past, leaving him wounded all over.
He now suffers the pain of regret for all the things he said before, tossing and turning in the middle of the night, unable to sleep.
...
When Lin Langyi woke up the next day, there was no one by her bedside. She was still sleepy and lay there blankly for a while before sitting up with the blanket in her arms.
There were still traces of someone sleeping on the pillow beside her, but both the blanket and the pillow were cold, indicating that Cheng Yanjin must have been gone for a while.
The room was cool and comfortable. Although the two of them had shared a blanket last night, it was now neatly folded up and pressed under her arms and legs.
Lin Langyi yawned, got up and left the bedroom. She immediately saw five or six small food bags on the table. The inside of the transparent bags was covered with water droplets, so they looked like they had been there for a while.
There were sounds of someone showering in the bathroom, and the washing machine was running on the balcony. Lin Langyi blinked and went back to the en-suite bathroom in the bedroom to wash up.
She had just finished washing her face when Cheng Yanjin, with wet hair and a towel draped over his arm, walked in. He wasn't even wearing clothes, just a bath towel around his waist, and he stood blocking the doorway watching her.
If I'm not mistaken, he looked dejected when he first came in, but he perked up when he saw her and tried his best to act as usual.
"You got up so early?" Lin Langyi was shocked.
Cheng Yanjin looked slightly tired, and now he was even more exhausted: "I can't sleep—I woke up, so I went for a morning run. I brought you breakfast when I came back, let's eat together."
Lin Langyi sat down and watched as he untied one pocket after another, revealing a lavish breakfast spread across the table, making one's mouth water.
The only slight drawback was... Lin Langyi complained, "You bought too much! How can two people finish it all!"
Cheng Yanjin was originally sitting opposite her, but after sitting down, he felt that the distance was too far, so he dragged his chair over and sat next to her, saying casually, "You pick what you like to eat first, I can finish the rest."
Before he could finish speaking, the doorbell rang, and a deliveryman knocked on the door: "I've left your food at the door. Please give me a good review."
Both of them were stunned, but Lin Langyi suddenly twitched her eyelids and was the first to stand up abruptly, pulling her chair back with a loud thud.
She went to open the door, and Cheng Yanjin followed behind. There was another breakfast at the door, as well as a bucket of freshly cut fruit mixed with yogurt.
Lin Langyi kept glancing at the deliveryman out of the corner of her eye, only feeling somewhat relieved when she saw that his figure had nothing to do with Yuan Chuyu.
"You ordered takeout?" Cheng Yanjin asked in surprise. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
Lin Langyi coughed lightly, then casually picked up a bag in each hand and walked into the house: "I didn't know you bought breakfast. I usually wake up at this time, so I order takeout at this time."
As she spoke, she opened the box and found that the breakfast was healthy, exquisite, and nutritious, showing great care. Even the box was more elaborate than that of ordinary takeout. It was less of a filling breakfast and more of a carefully prepared bento box filled with love.
It doesn't feel like takeout... it feels like a custom-made item delivered by a delivery service...
The biggest problem is that, no matter how you look at it, this breakfast is a single serving.
Lin Langyi's hand, which was untying the bag, froze, and the people behind her also fell silent.
After a long pause, Cheng Yanjin finally asked quietly, "What about mine?"
Lin Langyi calmly said, "I thought you weren't going to eat. Didn't you always come home late at night, go to sleep around six or seven, and sleep until the afternoon?"
Cheng Yanjin: ...
He sat back down defiantly, piling up the breakfast he had bought: "Fine, I won't eat it then."
Despite his words, Lin Langyi had only taken a few bites of the lovingly prepared bento box when a pair of chopsticks reached into the neatly arranged box and quickly dropped a few thumb-sized pan-fried buns.
Cheng Yanjin casually withdrew his chopsticks, buried his head in his rice, and muttered to himself, "Why eat a health-preserving meal? Only carbohydrates can give you the energy to eat rice."
Lin Langyi glanced at him, finished eating the few thumb-sized pan-fried buns, and nodded: "Not bad."
He became visibly happy, rummaged around in the air, and pushed the box of pan-fried buns in front of her, saying, "You don't need to buy breakfast anymore, or if you do, buy enough for both of us. I'll get up with you every day and take you to work."
This was so shocking. Lin Langyi, biting her chopsticks, widened her eyes: "Are you possessed by a ghost?"
Cheng Yanjin choked, glared at her fiercely, and said stubbornly, "I have to go to the company now. How can I sleep until the afternoon? I'll go to work as soon as I drop you off."
Lin Langyi was puzzled: "We're not going that way."
He gulped down a can of milk, crumpled the carton, and insisted, "I said it's on my way, so it's on my way."
He paused briefly, then added, "I'll pick you up tonight too."
“Every single day.”
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