Episode 21 Family members read
This name made the smile on Lin Ying's face freeze.
Seeing her reluctance beneath her stiff smile, Jiang Shu took the lead as a waiter and walked towards Ruxing, saying, "Will your uncle carry you up?"
After settling the child, he also gave the waiter a way out and said, "We can do it ourselves, you go ahead and do your work."
Throughout the meal, Lin Ying behaved appropriately but remained quiet. She preferred to talk to her daughter rather than exchange pleasantries with Jiang Shu. Besides that, she ate while gazing out the window at the night view, occasionally drawn to the glittering advertisements on the cruise ships and office buildings on the river, some of which were for the Jianglin Group.
The neon river view remains the same as it was back then, majestic and mysterious.
"You've been watching it for so many years, haven't you seen enough?"
Jiang Shu pulled her gaze back, but Lin Ying shook her head and joked—
"You haven't been in Shanghai these past few years. To save energy and reduce emissions and light pollution, the night view is no longer as gorgeous as it used to be. But I think it's good this way. Before, the flashing lights hurt my eyes..."
"The Victoria Harbour is pretty much the same now, with the lights only coming on occasionally."
Jiang Shu cut the steak in front of him into dices, then used a knife and fork to transfer the pieces one by one onto a small plate, pushing it in front of Ruxing. The girl happily thanked him, "Thank you, uncle!"
"How can she eat so much? Crepes are enough..."
"I asked the chef to serve the portion according to the children's meal size. I picked the tenderest beef. Not too much. As long as the children like it, it's fine."
Seeing Ruxing crying for food, Lin Ying had to compromise. She picked up the small fork and fed the food into Ruxing's mouth one by one. She had a delicious meal and ate happily.
"Little greedy cat, you've never eaten your mother's cooking like this before."
"Hmm... Mom's food... isn't as delicious as here..."
Lin Ying pretended to be annoyed. "What do you mean? Comparing my mother to a Michelin chef?"
Jiang Shu couldn't help but laugh, and patiently explained to Ruxing, "Ruxing, today's meal was prepared by a professional chef. Mom has to take care of you and work, so she doesn't have time to delve into so many delicious dishes. So don't be so harsh on her, okay?"
Ruxing obviously couldn't fully grasp the meaning of this with her comprehension ability, but judging by her expression, she should have roughly understood it. She nodded and said -
"Mom's cooking is delicious too. Has Uncle tried it?"
"not yet."
"Then let's have dinner at my house next time, uncle? Mom, let's invite Aunt Xinran to come along..."
Lin Ying stopped her: "Have you arranged it? It's so hard for mom to cook for four people alone."
Ruxing understood what he said and was about to show some difficulty when the person on the other side said:
"Uncle will help her, don't worry."
At this point, Lin Ying had roughly understood Jiang Shu's intention - could he be trying to rekindle their old "love" with her?
So many years have passed, and the children now call him uncle. Could he still be thinking about the past?
Lin Ying wanted to say something to dissuade him from this idea. This matter should have ended six years ago, and he couldn't make it worse by exaggerating it now, otherwise all these years would have been in vain... But in front of the child, she couldn't say anything cruel to Jiang Shu, nor could she say anything explicit.
At this moment, she felt torn apart.
For the first time, she wished that everyone was the same, either mature adults or naive children.
And in these six years, her mood seemed to be constantly jumping between the two.
Sometimes she didn't know whether she was playing a child or an adult.
But playing any role for a long time is equally tiring.
After the two of them had their fill, Ruxing clamored to go to the bathroom. Lin Ying took advantage of the situation and said, "We've almost finished eating. How about...let's stop here for today?"
Jiang Shu nodded.
He was a regular customer here and followed the waiter to the restaurant front desk to pay the bill.
While waiting for the order to be settled, he heard some arguing in the corner of the hall.
"Ma'am, I understand how you feel, but this situation...it's difficult for us to help you from a practical perspective."
Next to a two-person table sat a pretty young woman, looking at the bill with a troubled expression on her face, tears streaming down her face.
Looking more closely, the girl's face seemed familiar. Wasn't she the female college student who almost went home with him the night he just came back from Hong Kong?
The waiter next to me was also in a difficult situation——
"If you don't have a credit card and your Huabei credit limit is insufficient, why not ask your parents or classmates for help..."
"If I could find someone, would I still have to stay here? Do you think I want to stay here? Are you guys trying to rob me? I'm asking for 200 for a piece of bread before dinner! What kind of RMB exchange rate is this! Why can't you put it on that scumbag's account? Why…"
"I'm sorry, but that gentleman clearly explained before he left..."
"What's wrong?"
Jiang Shu's sudden intervention startled the waiter, and the girl's red eyes warmed up a little, as if she had suddenly met a savior... but she was still a little hesitant, as if she didn't expect that they would meet again.
This wasn't the first time Jiang Shu had seen her situation. A newlywed girl, thinking she'd hooked up with a wealthy second-generation husband, wanted to indulge in luxury and take advantage of him, but the other party always caught her off guard and turned against her, leaving the girl to pay the price...
Back then, Jiang Shu broke up with his first girlfriend under similar circumstances, but he wasn't so shameless as to not even settle the bill, so it was considered a friendly parting.
After listening to the waiter's brief explanation of the reason, Jiang Shu took a look at the bill - 5666.
For a college student, it is indeed not a small amount, but for him, it is not even a number.
"Put it on my account, write her an invoice and let her go."
Seeing that he was generous, the waiter didn't say much. After checking the dishes for the person concerned, he immediately gave him the bill.
At Jiang Shu's suggestion, the list was handed over to the girl for safekeeping.
“…Thank you, thank you.”
She took the order from the waiter in a daze and thanked Jiang Shu tepidly, but he had already turned around and reunited with the mother and daughter at the door...
Are those his wife and daughter? So he's already married and has children?
Lin Ying happened to see this scene when she came out of the bathroom. She walked out of the restaurant with Jiang Shu and asked curiously, "Your friend?"
"Friend Eric, I met him at a drinking party before."
Out of some stereotype, as they entered the elevator, Lin Ying asked in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Sex partner?"
Jiang Shu denied it instantly: "No."
The elevator went down to the first floor of the restaurant. The three of them went outside. The driver was already waiting at the door. Thinking that Jiang Shu would definitely take her home first, and Lin Ying didn't want him to know her address, she suggested:
"Ruxing gets carsick, shall I take her back by subway? Thanks for treating me tonight, brother."
After hearing this reason, Jiang Shu didn't try to comfort her. He said, "Then I'll walk with you to the subway station."
"No need, the road is narrow because there are too many people..."
Jiang Shu knocked on the driver's window and told him, "Wait for me near the subway entrance later."
How come it's still the same as before, leaving no room for refusal at all?
Lin Ying inexplicably felt a sense of turmoil in her heart, and this turmoil soon grew stronger with the flow of people colliding on both sides of the road...
Ruxing was small and didn't walk very fast. The three of them were always bound to bump into other people. Fearing the child would get hurt, she simply picked her up, supporting her hips and hugging her. For convenience, she simply walked in front of Jiang Shu...
Seeing that she was wearing small leather shoes with lame heels, Jiang Shu offered, "Let me carry her? Your shoes are not comfortable."
"I'm used to it." Lin Ying explained calmly without looking at him, "Besides, Ruxing doesn't like being hugged."
Just when Jiang Shu was about to be humiliated, the child himself took the initiative to speak - "Uncle can hold me, uncle is not someone else."
"You! I like whoever takes you to eat delicious food."
Jiang Shu couldn't help laughing and stepped forward to pinch Ruxing's face. Lin Ying had no choice but to compromise. While waiting for the traffic light at the crosswalk, the two of them took over holding the child.
Worried that Jiang Shu wouldn't know how to hold her, Lin Ying even demonstrated it herself, "She's not light, don't feel tired."
While taking Jiang Shu's suit jacket, he ordered Ruxing, who had already wrapped her arms around Jiang Shu's neck, "Keep your legs and feet in place and don't dirty your uncle's clothes anymore."
Jiang Shu was about to use the same trick again, "It's okay, I have too many clothes..."
"Who asked you? I'm educating my children."
After he finished speaking, the green light came on and Lin Ying was the first to walk onto the zebra crossing.
Jiang Shu watched this scene, holding the child to his chest, and couldn't help but feel infinite comfort in his chest - it was a long-lost sense of security.
Ruxing asked, "Uncle, you promised Ruxing that you would come to my house for dinner, right?"
"Of course. When does Ruxing want her uncle to go?"
"Mom, Mom!"
She urged Jiang Shu to catch up with Lin Ying, as she had already heard their conversation.
"Mom is a bit busy recently, and uncle is also very busy. Let's talk about it when they are no longer busy..."
Jiang Shu said bluntly: "I'm fine, it depends on your time."
"Then uncle, can you come over next weekend? Mom will be with Ruxing on weekends, so she shouldn't be busy."
Oh my god, they arranged it for her again?
Jiang Shu couldn't help but admit: "Ruxing is really smart. She has such clear thinking at the age of five."
"Of course. Doesn't it matter who her mother is?"
When they reached the subway entrance, Jiang Shu carefully put the child down and let her hold Lin Ying's hand before he stood up with confidence.
"Okay, say goodbye to your uncle. We're going down to take the subway."
Just when Lin Ying thought that today's dealings would end here, Jiang Shu had indeed prepared a topic that would spoil the mood -
"I'm planning to go home in a couple of days. Do you want to take Ruxing with you?"
"I'm busy with work and don't have time."
She thought that if she simply refused, Jiang Shu would not continue to pester her, but he came prepared: "You haven't been back for the past two years. What's wrong with letting Ruxing go back to see Grandpa?"
"It's not like I didn't see it when I was born."
"Then why did you move out?"
"Jiang Shu."
Lin Ying addressed him by his first name without hesitation, her tone colder. "I don't need to report everything to you. Please respect me."
Her eyes were filled with fierceness, but Jiang Shu had to soften his attitude when he thought of Ruxing's presence. "It was just a casual question. If you don't want to reply, forget it."
"See you later."
Lin Ying immediately turned around and pulled Ruxing onto the escalator without even glancing at Jiang Shu.
Ruxing stretched out her little hand again to greet Jiang Shu - "Goodbye, uncle! Come to my house next week!"
The subway line was packed on Sunday night.
After squeezing onto the train, Lin Ying immediately regretted her decision to take the subway. It was during the evening rush hour, the train was packed with people, there were no seats, and the air was not good.
She had no choice but to hold the child to her chest, just like before, but it was difficult to hold the handrail tightly. Every time she arrived at the station, she had to use her shaky high heels to find the right angle and firmly plant her lower body on the ground to prevent herself from being carried away by inertia...
At that moment, her mind was filled with chaotic complaints: Why did she have to send her car in for inspection today? Why did she have to run into Jiang Shu today? Why did she have to compromise and let him walk her to the subway station?
The moment he returned to the surface, Lin Ying took a few deep breaths. Fortunately, it was summer, and the temperature was just right in the evening. This place was not like the Bund, where there were many people and narrow streets. The small streets were quite pleasant to stroll along at night.
She was walking home holding her daughter's hand when Ruxing suddenly asked:
"Mom, don't you like your uncle?"
"Hmm? Why do you ask?"
"I saw how fierce Mom was to Uncle back then. She was also fierce when she didn't like Ruxing..."
Lin Ying thought for a while before explaining, "No, Mom was mean to Ruxing before because she didn't like the mistakes she made, not because she disliked Ruxing. So, Mom was mean to Uncle today because he mentioned something Mom didn't like."
"Then... Mom still likes Uncle as a person, right?"
Lin Ying sighed silently. The world of children is really divided. They only like or dislike everything and everyone, with no middle ground.
"You care so much about your uncle? This is only the second time we've met today."
"Well...but my uncle is a very nice person. He takes Ruxing to eat delicious food and listens to Ruxing's words."
"So that buys you off?"
Ruxing blinked, "But, uncle is our family, isn't he?"
Lin Ying's hand holding her daughter froze... What strange words.
"The teacher said that Mom and Dad's family is also our family, so my uncle is Mom's family, which means he is Ruxing's family, right?"
Lin Ying suddenly felt that with Ruxing's current ability to express and reason, she might not be her opponent in a dozen years...
"Mom, I don't have a dad, and no family has ever come to meet Ruxing before, so I want my uncle to come home to see Ruxing and also come to see Mom. That way... Wouldn't Mom be happier with family around?"
I never thought that one day I would be persuaded by my five-year-old daughter.
Such a simple relationship, such straightforward logic.
In the child's world, she is everything, but her world is far more complicated than that of a child.
In the established world, she is abandoned by everyone, and so are her children. After hiding for a long time, she will subconsciously avoid those "family members".
So she resisted Jiang Shu's invitation, simply because she didn't want to get involved in the vortex of the past, but the child was innocent. Putting aside all prejudice, he was indeed Ruxing's family. Although they had not been together for long, he didn't seem to have made any extraordinary demands...
He wanted her to go home and visit him, but it was also out of a worldly courtesy. He didn't know the truth of that year because she deliberately concealed it.
But the truth cannot be hidden, and this fire will be exposed sooner or later.
"Mom, will you let your uncle come?"
Ruxing shook Lin Ying's wrist and begged in a coquettish manner.
Lin Ying was defeated by her and compromised: "Okay, then I'll invite my uncle to our house as a guest."
Ruxing was so happy that she jumped for joy and almost ran all the way to the doorstep of her home, pulling her mother.
Lin Ying was about to take out her keys when she was drawn to a familiar silhouette under the streetlight outside the corridor...
"Hey little star? Where did mommy take you to play today?"
Ruxing didn't let go of her mother's hand. She just stared at the tall and handsome young man in front of her with wide eyes, slightly wary. "Brother Cen?"
Young people are so energetic. After a whole day of river tracing, they still have time to come and block her door...
"Today my uncle took me to eat crepes and tender beef..."
Ruxing spoke truthfully, but Cen Shuo's attention was no longer on her words. He turned to ask Lin Ying, "Why don't you invite me upstairs and sit with you?"
"Why didn't you tell me in advance?"
"If I tell you in advance, will you still let me come?"
Cen Shuo raised his eyebrows slightly, what a pair of beautiful and charming peach blossom eyes.
The last incident happened suddenly, and Lin Ying hadn't figured out how to deal with this relationship yet. She had planned to wait until tomorrow at work to find time to talk privately, but she didn't expect him to take the initiative and even flirt with her in front of the child.
"You came at a really bad time. I have to check Ruxing's painting homework when I get home tonight. The teacher asked me to do that."
"Then I'll go with you..."
"no."
The tone was calm, the tone resolute. Lin Ying turned around and used gestures to re-confirm the visitor - no.
"You've had a lot of fun today. Go home early. I have something to tell you about work tomorrow."
"What's up?"
Before going upstairs, Lin Ying glanced at him and explained word by word: "Don't talk about work on weekends."
"besides…"
She added, "Next time, please come and say hello in advance. At my age, I don't like surprises that much."
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