Chapter 17 Wen Ling, use your mouth, don't hit me...
Wen Ling had always known that she was somewhat protective of her own.
But only for family members.
However, on the way back, when she heard Wen He complaining to her older brother that Shang Chen was usually arrogant and looked down on everyone, she felt a little uncomfortable. Touching the daisy bracelet on her wrist, Wen Ling weakly retorted, "Brother... don't listen to him, he's talking nonsense. Shang Chen is a very nice person."
Wen Zan raised an eyebrow in surprise.
He chuckled, glanced at Wen He's dark face in the passenger seat, and then at Wen Ling in the back: "So, what's going on?"
Wen He seemed to have expected this, gave a light snort, turned his head away, and said nothing.
After watching the fireworks that day, only he and Shang Chen were in the dormitory. Wen He directly confronted him, asking how much the bracelet cost and offering to transfer the money back to him.
Shang Chen scoffed: "What does the gift I gave to Wen Ling have to do with you?"
Wen He flew into a rage: "I'll give my sister whatever she wants, why should you fawn over her? I know you like her, but I'll be frank, even if she likes you in the future, it's impossible for you two!"
Shang Chen frowned, still unable to find the right words to refute.
Wen He continued, "From my grandfather to me, there are three generations and more than a dozen descendants, but my sister is the only girl. Our family values her more than anyone else, and we only have one requirement for her future husband: that he must marry into the family!"
“Obviously,” Wen He glanced at him, “you don’t meet the requirements, so don’t waste your time.”
Shang Chen had assumed it was some difficult problem, but upon hearing this, he asked without much emotion, "Are you sure, is this the only request?"
Wen He hadn't realized the seriousness of the problem: "Yes, just this one is enough to filter you out."
Shang Chen sneered, saying each word clearly, "What gives you the right to screen candidates for me, and what makes you think I don't meet the requirements?"
Wen He had been so confident that he would hesitate and remain silent, but he never expected him to be so self-righteous. He was stunned for a moment, his brows furrowed as he stared at him: "Did you understand what I meant?"
Shang Chen gave him a look as if he were an idiot.
Wen He could tell he was serious and was slightly surprised: "Are you kidding me? You're the only son of the richest man in G City, do you think your family would let you marry into a woman's family in another city?"
"Don't worry about that."
Wen He still felt something was off, and stroked his chin, analyzing, "Could this be just a stopgap measure on your part?"
Shang Chen was too lazy to argue with him, so he took off his coat and went to the closet to find clothes, intending to take a shower.
Wen He remained stubbornly insistent, saying, "I won't believe your nonsense!"
The recollection ends.
Wen He hadn't intended to say anything and was about to close his eyes to catch up on sleep when he heard Wen Ling explaining in a very soft voice, "Xiao He has a little opinion about... Shang Chen."
Wen He almost fainted from anger: "When did I have a problem with him? We just don't like each other and can't get along. Sis, I think you've really been bewitched by him. Nothing's happened yet, and you're already speaking up for him."
Wen Ling's face flushed, and she quietly shut her mouth. Wen He seemed about to cry from anger.
Wen Zan caught the key information in the words: "What do you mean? Lingling is getting very close to Shang Chen now?"
Seeing that Wen Ling had no intention of explaining, Wen He pouted and said, "It's not really like that. Shang Chen just saw that my sister was soft-hearted and kept hanging around in front of her like a peacock spreading its tail. My sister has never been in a relationship before, so she's never seen him use such methods before. She was just captivated."
Wen Ling blushed and, still angry, slapped Wen He's arm, saying, "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Absolutely not, okay..."
Wen He dodged slightly: "Of course not."
He didn't want to say anything. Yesterday, she even refused his invitation to dinner. When asked what she was doing, she wouldn't say. It wasn't until someone saw them coming back from outside the school together and told him that Wen He found out that the two of them had gone out together again.
Wen Zan smiled, her emotions much more stable than Wen He's.
He looked at Wen Ling through the rearview mirror and said gently, "Lingling, what do you think? Is he pursuing you?"
"...Big brother."
"It's okay, Lingling won't say if she doesn't want to."
Wen Ling wasn't unwilling to speak, but she was also confused: "I think... it shouldn't be. It's just making friends. He and my brothers feel the same way about me. He's very caring."
Wen He was about to argue when Wen Zan glanced at him, and Wen He immediately became obedient, turning his head back to look at the scenery.
"Okay. Do whatever makes Lingling feel comfortable." Wen Zan gently guided her. "If his touch makes Lingling uncomfortable, tell me immediately and I will take care of it."
Wen Ling smiled and said, "Okay, thank you, big brother."
-
The Wen family built a five-story villa in the countryside, and the Wen residence is always the liveliest during holidays.
The elders and younger generations of the family will come back to accompany the two elderly people, stay for a while, and then go back to the city to do their own things.
Don't live too comfortably back in your hometown, except for the fact that you have too many guests to entertain.
The first and second floors are always bustling with people.
Wen Ling rarely shows herself; except for mealtimes, she stays in her room.
Or she might be in the greenhouse on the rooftop terrace, listening to music and painting, enjoying these relaxed and leisurely days.
that is...
There was something that was troubling her greatly.
It bothered her so much that whenever she saw a call from Shang Chen, she would instinctively throw her phone away.
The phone rang at the other end of the sofa. Wen Ling sat at this end of the sofa, her legs tucked in, hugging herself tightly.
When I can't stand it anymore, I cover my ears and pretend I didn't hear it.
When the ringtone stops, two more messages will pop up on the screen.
Shang Chen: [Why aren't you answering the phone?]
Shang Chen: [Wen Ling, are you finding me annoying?]
The second sentence wasn't even a question.
Wen Ling wanted to pretend she hadn't seen the message and not reply, but she couldn't help imagining him looking pitiful, holding his phone and waiting for her reply.
A few minutes later, I couldn't help but reply: 【No...but, can I take a day off today?】
A long time ago, Shang Chen had taken the initiative to mention that he wanted to help her correct her stutter.
Wen Ling was conflicted and hesitant because she knew it would be a very difficult task.
What's more, Shang Chen didn't accept money, only saying that he would treat her to a meal when school started. Wen Ling didn't know why he was so insistent on her treating him to a meal.
But Wen Ling was still afraid, afraid that the same situation as before would happen again.
Shang Chen was a hard-won friend for her, and Wen Ling didn't want to get too much personal stuff involved, which would affect their friendship.
The decision to have him help with the correction was made because of a misunderstanding.
...
That day, my mother's friends came to visit; they were all aunties who had watched her grow up.
Even though Wen Ling didn't really want to face them, she stayed on the first floor out of politeness and chatted with them for a long time, albeit haltingly.
She was uncomfortable, and every now and then she would pretend to be busy and pick up her phone to swipe around a bit, looking serious, but she didn't know what she was actually doing.
The housekeeper brought out fresh fruit, which was handed to me by an aunt.
Wen Ling quickly tossed her phone aside, took it with both hands, and was forced to listen to them talk about their funny childhood stories.
Halfway through their conversation, Wen He, who was playing games in his room, suddenly came out and stood in the hallway of the living room, calling out to her with a livid face: "Sis, come upstairs, I have something to tell you."
Wen Ling was puzzled, but she was secretly delighted that she could finally escape their nagging. As soon as she entered his room, before she could even speak, Wen He put his phone to her ear.
"you--"
"Wen Ling." The voice on the other end of the phone sounded very unsteady.
Wen Ling recognized the voice; it was Shang Chen's.
She paused, then looked at Wen He, wanting to get an answer from him.
Wen He awkwardly replied, "He can't get through to you, you talk to him, I'm going back to playing games."
Wen Ling went to the rooftop greenhouse.
Shang Chen seemed to still be in a state of lingering fear, and he was breathing slightly heavily.
Wen Ling hesitated, "You... what's wrong? Did something happen? What's wrong?"
"Wen Ling." He called her name again, his throat bobbing, "I'm so afraid I won't be able to find you."
Wen Ling couldn't stop her heart from racing.
She touched her face, and in an instant, it began to burn: "You... called me?"
Wen Ling explained softly, "I was just chatting with my mom's friends and didn't see it."
"Um."
Shang Chen said, "It's good that you're alright."
He paused, then apologized to her again, his voice a little hoarse: "Sorry to bother you, you can go back to your work."
Before Wen Ling could say anything, he hung up the phone again. Wen Ling was completely bewildered and had no idea what had happened.
After a while, she went to the living room and found her phone.
After turning off the phone, which was scalding hot, I plugged it in to charge and turned it on. Countless voice calls from Shang Chen popped up.
And going back to the very first record, it was that she inexplicably dialed a number, which was then hung up before the call was answered.
Shang Chen replied immediately, asking her what was wrong.
Wen Ling didn't reply, so he made a phone call.
For the next ten minutes, Shang Chen remained calm.
By the eleventh minute, Shang Chen couldn't contain himself and kept dialing.
Wen Ling's phone was always on silent, so she didn't hear a thing.
"Oh my god..." Wen Ling covered her face with her hands, "What... have I done?"
It was just an accidental touch, how did it cause so much trouble?
Shang Chen must have thought... something had happened to her, that's why he called Wen He.
Wen Ling: [Sorry.jpg]
Wen Ling: [My phone is usually on silent, so I didn't hear it and made you worry.]
Shang Chen: [It's good that you're alright. Are you done with your work?]
Wen Ling: [Yeah, time to go eat.]
Shang Chen: [Okay, go ahead.]
The chat ended just like that.
Wen Ling's heart still couldn't calm down, as if they shouldn't be talking like this.
The calm and collected Shang Chen on the phone was like a completely different person from the panting and anxious Shang Chen on the other end.
Wen Ling didn't know which part of the process went wrong.
If I can't figure it out, I'll stop thinking about it.
After that, Shang Chen never sent her any more messages.
Before this incident, even if they didn't chat much, Shang Chen would still routinely ask her good morning and good night.
But after the misunderstanding, Shang Chen completely ignored her, which Wen Ling found strange and unsettling.
She seemed to be really looking forward to receiving a message from Shang Chen.
Several more days passed, and still no news. Wen Ling couldn't hold back any longer.
I looked up his chat history and really wanted to just ask him: Why haven't you sent any messages these past few days?
But why ask that question? Wen Ling couldn't find a reason to convince herself.
I typed "Are you busy?" hundreds of times in the chat box, but it still didn't go through.
She curled up on the pink fabric sofa in the room, nervously biting her thumb. Her hand trembled, and the three words were uttered.
Wen Ling's eyes widened, and she subconsciously tried to press and hold to undo the action, but another voice rang in her mind.
The message has already been sent; let's see how he replies.
Isn't it normal for a friend to ask if you're busy?
Wen Ling thought it made sense and silently withdrew her hand.
And so began the long wait, though only two minutes had passed before Shang Chen replied.
Shang Chen: [Not busy.]
Wen Ling didn't even dare to look at what he replied.
After finally mustering my mental strength, I opened my eyes and saw those two cold words, and I was speechless.
Not having the courage to ask a second time, Wen Ling replied with an "okay" emoji.
Indeed, friendships are only temporary; one shouldn't have too high expectations.
Wen Ling took a deep breath, but before she could exhale, her phone received a new message.
She choked, coughing until her face turned red. She looked at the message; it was still from Shang Chen: 【Is there something you want to tell me?】
No, I was just asking.
No matter how you looked at it, something felt off. Wen Ling deleted it and retyped: "I noticed you hadn't messaged me for a few days, so I assumed you were busy."
The words the other person was typing lit up for a long time.
Shang Chencai sent two words: 【No.】
Wen Ling was a little discouraged. He sent another message: "[I'm just worried you'll get annoyed.]"
No. Actions speak louder than words.
After sending the message, Wen Ling added a comment to comfort herself: "[It's not that annoying. Anyway, I'm at home, and I have plenty of time.]"
Wen Ling wanted to retract her message, feeling that it sounded a bit off, so she tried to smooth things over: "You can send whatever you want, I'll reply when I see it, it won't bother me..."
Shang Chen: [Can I call you?]
Wen Ling has always refused to communicate by phone, preferring to communicate via text whenever possible.
This time, however, Wen Ling couldn't help but nod: "Yes, you can."
Wen Ling assumed that Shang Chen called simply to chat with her.
The reason was to correct her stuttering. Shang Chen said that if she talked more and communicated more, her stuttering would be greatly improved.
With the help of tongue twister training, at least speaking a complete sentence won't be a problem later on.
Wen Ling thought that it would only be an hour a day at most, which wasn't unacceptable.
As a result, Shang Chen could talk to her on the phone for five or six hours a day, and even their usual text chats turned into voice conversations.
Wen Ling is occasionally rebellious, like today when she doesn't answer the phone and replies to him in writing.
Shang Chen would then send a few messages feigning pitifulness.
Even though she knew he was faking it, Wen Ling couldn't bear to ignore him for too long.
After all, his intentions were for her own good.
...
On the other hand, can't we really take a day off today?
Shang Chen: "No, I've looked it up. Correction requires consistency; you can't miss a single day, and also..."
Shang Chen's tone was filled with a faint threat: "Wen Ling, use your mouth, not your hands."
Wen Ling: "......"
She's no longer stressed about her stuttering, but she's stressed about Shang Chen as a person.
She pressed the record button and complained, word by word: "I have so many mouth ulcers from being so hot and bothered, my mouth hurts so much!"
Compared to the devilish Shang Chen, Wen Ling actually missed the teacher who had spoken ill of her.
At least when that person was teaching her, they didn't force her to repeat a single sentence a hundred or eighty times until it became a headache.
Before, Wen Ling complained that a sentence was repeated too little; now she complains that a sentence is repeated too much, to the point that she's about to vomit.
Even so, Shang Chen wouldn't let it go, insisting that she make sure she understood that sentence. Wen Ling had never thought Shang Chen was so terrifying.
Thinking of this, she rebelliously typed: "Shang Chen, I don't want to study anymore."
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