Miss you
Wen Zheng's eyes flashed with loneliness and gloom, "Do you really not remember me at all?"
At this moment, Xia Tangyue was very confused.
Remember what?
She is about to turn into a stone statue, she is petrified.
God knows she mustered up the courage to confess her feelings, only to receive such a response. It was too horrifying. What kind of "thunderstorm" plot was this?[1] She really hoped she was hallucinating.
Wen Zheng took a step closer to her, reached out and picked up the pink bear doll hanging on her bag. He looked into her eyes and said, "I have the same doll, but it's blue."
"When you were a kid, you followed me around and called me brother Xiong every day. Do you really not remember anything about that?"
Xia Tangyue's eyes suddenly widened.
"You!" She pointed at Wen Zheng's face. All of a sudden, it seemed as if another similar face gradually overlapped with his, smoothing out the years at the corners of his eyes and transforming into a childish, chubby, fleshy boy's face.
Her heart began to pound, and she asked in disbelief, "You, you are Brother Xiong, it's really you!"
Wen Zheng nodded calmly and firmly.
Xia Tangyue's whole body stiffened and she took several steps back unconsciously. She opened her mouth, her lips trembling uncontrollably. She stood there at a loss, unable to utter a complete sentence.
She didn't remember how she got back to the B&B.
As soon as she came back, she closed all the doors and windows in the house, then squatted on the sofa, hugging her knees, and the tingling feeling on her scalp appeared and disappeared in the silence.
In her distant memory, there was indeed a brother.
——That was when she was five or six years old.
I remember someone brought a little boy to her and told her to call him brother from now on.
Wen Zheng at that time was very different from Wen Zheng now, especially in his facial features. When he was a child, his face was round, his facial features were not prominent, not as three-dimensional as they are now, and he was fat. She liked to sleep on his chest the most.
There is a leisure chaise longue at home. Whenever Wen Zheng lies on it, she will make trouble, tear off stickers and stick them on his nose, or just lie on his chest and ask him to tell her stories.
Every time, the little brother would do as he was told lovingly.
"Brother, I'm so hot." Six-year-old Xia Tangyue muttered.
Wen Zheng used a sunflower fan to slowly cool her down and smiled softly, "Why don't you get up from lying on me?"
"I don't want to get up." Xia Tangyue didn't even raise her head, and said in a baby voice, "Brother's body is the most comfortable, so soft."
As if she had thought of something, she opened her eyes again in a daze: "But they said that when I grow up, I can't lie on my brother like this. What should I do?"
Wen Zheng ruffled her hair and said, "How old are you and you're already thinking about the future?"
Xia Tangyue closed her eyes again, hugged her brother's neck and acted coquettishly: "But I don't want to be separated from my brother."
"Who said we were going to separate?"
But the fact is, they really broke up. If we calculate based on their age of six, they were separated for a full 18 years.
In the past eighteen years, there has been no news from Brother Xiong.
Her family never mentioned this person or this incident in front of her.
Unexpectedly, the world is full of twists and turns. Eighteen years later, she reunited with her little brother and fell in love with him.
Xia Tangyue closed his eyes in pain.
There was no light in the dark room and everything around was quiet.
The pink bear doll slipped from her hand and fell to the floor.
She picked it up and brushed off the dust.
This was her birthday present that year. Her mother refused to buy it for her, so she turned to Wen Zheng and begged her brother to buy it for her. Not long after, he brought back two identical teddy bears, one pink and one blue.
She held the doll next to Wen Zheng's face and gestured, saying with a smile: "Look, my brother is just like this bear, fat and plump. My brother is a bear."
Wen Zheng picked her up and let her play around: "Brother is a bear, so aren't you a bear too? After all, we are brother and sister."
Xia Tangyue thought with her little head: "Then you are the big brother bear, and I am the little sister bear. We will never be separated."
Never separate.
What a naive wish.
The thoughts of children are always so simple and naive. We would have never imagined that the adult world would have so many twists and turns.
Xia Tangyue fell on the bed, covering his ears, as if he would not be able to hear the chaotic thoughts circulating wildly in his mind.
She felt miserable, a numb feeling of nausea struggling within her.
Once upon a time, she really regarded him as her brother.
Although there is no blood relationship between them.
But now in such a twisted emotional state, forbidden feelings are like creeping poison ivy. The scenes of brother and sister getting along in the past and the restless heart palpitations of today are constantly intertwined. This almost suffocating sense of contradiction is constantly gnawing at her sanity.
No wonder Wen Zheng was so considerate to her, no wonder Wen Zheng made that expression... Could it be that he now also felt horrible and disgusted like her?
Knock knock——
The sudden knock on the door startled Xia Tangyue.
She jumped up from the bed, looked at the door in shock, and asked in a hoarse voice, "Who?"
"It's me."
Wen Zheng's mellow and steady voice came through the door.
Xia Tangyue was speechless all of a sudden, not knowing what to say. She just wanted to escape from it all and didn't know what expression to use to face him.
She stared at the door blankly, motionless.
It seemed like a long time had passed.
It seemed like not much time had passed.
There was another knock on the door—knock knock.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Xia Tangyue kept his lips tightly closed and did not answer.
He began to chuckle, "What? Are you going to keep hiding from me?"
"I..." Xia Tangyue opened his mouth, but stopped talking after saying just one word.
"If you don't come out, I'm going to go in." Wen Zheng gave her an ultimatum outside the door, and it sounded a little provocative.
"You!" Xia Tangyue was startled and quickly got off the bed, jogging to grab the door handle, worried that Wen Zheng would really use the spare key to force the door open.
Fortunately, he seemed to be just talking and not taking any action.
"It's only natural for a sister to like her brother." He spoke slowly, his voice as calm as ever, without any emotion in it.
"I like you too...sister."
Xia Tangyue tightened his grip on the door handle, his knuckles turned white and his eyes were glistening with tears. He stood behind the door for a long time without moving.
She couldn't possibly keep hiding from Wen Zheng.
The door in front of her was like the last layer of window paper between her and Wen Zheng.
She didn't dare to think about what she would face if she opened it.
"Sister." He said gently, "Come out, I have something to tell you."
Xia Tangyue behind the door was hesitating.
Three seconds later.
The door was opened.
Wen Zheng smiled and looked down at her: "Why did you get yourself into this state?"
He reached out to tidy up her messy hair, but Xia Tangyue took a step back.
He withdrew his hand.
"Come on, let's talk?" he said.
Xia Tangyue nodded silently, followed Wen Zheng downstairs and came to the small garden in the backyard.
After living here for so long, this was her first time stepping into the backyard. At the end of the flower-filled Endless Summer Trail, there was a small wooden pavilion with a marble table in the middle. A pot of flower tea was brewing on it, and the elegant fragrance was gushing out from the spout of the pot.
After she sat down, Wen Zheng poured her a cup of tea.
Xia Tangyue said nothing and silently lowered her head to drink water. She could sense that Wen Zheng was looking at her.
"Why do you have that expression?" He broke the silence and said with a smile, "When you were little, didn't you always say that you liked your brother and wanted to be with him every day? Why have you changed now?"
Xia Tangyue was speechless, and couldn't help but muttered: "How can childhood be the same as now?"
"Why is it different now? Or do you not recognize me as your brother anymore?"
"……No."
Wen Zheng curled his lips lightly and stared at her: "I haven't seen you for more than ten years. You are already a big girl. You are no longer the little sister who only tugs at her brother's clothes and acts like a follower."
"Who are you calling a follower?" Xia Tangyue finished his tea in one breath and glared at him unconvinced.
Under such teasing, the awkward atmosphere dissipated a lot. Xia Tangyue couldn't help but smile, and then sighed from the bottom of his heart: "I can't recognize you."
When she was a child, she knew few words and never remembered her brother's name. She always called him Big Bear, Brother Bear, and Brother Bear Bear.
Otherwise, she should have realized something when she first heard the name Wen Zheng.
Wen Zheng pondered.
"Actually, I didn't recognize it was you at first. I saw your name on the tenant registration and thought it was a coincidence. After all, there are so many people with the same name. Until I saw your face and the pink bear doll that fell out of you."
"I didn't expect you'd still be carrying it after all these years."
"Yeah." Xia Tangyue took a breath, "I'll keep everything you gave me."
For her, these little gadgets are endowed with special childhood memories and carry the good times of her childhood. They are no longer just cold objects.
Wen Zheng hesitated as if he was thinking about how to express himself. The silver-like moonlight passed over his lips, casting tiny shadows on his eyelashes.
"How much do you remember about that time?"
Xia Tangyue shook his head in confusion: "I don't know what happened that year, I just know that you left suddenly. I looked for you everywhere but couldn't find you. I cried for many days. I asked mom where you went, but mom didn't want to mention you."
"Later, I gradually forgot this memory."
Wen Zheng clenched the cup in his hand.
"Do you still remember that you have an aunt?"
"Remember."
"Then you should still remember that I am your aunt's adopted child?"
“I know a little bit, but I don’t know the details.”
Wen Zheng continued, "Back then, your aunt, my adoptive mother, Zhuang Hongyu, brought me to your house to stay for a while. That was when we met."
"My adoptive mother's family thought that it would be difficult for her to get married with me, so they asked her to send me away. She disagreed and had a big fight with her family. It happened that she met Zhuang Chen's biological father at that time, and they came to this town together and made a living by running a B&B."
Xia Tangyue gasped in surprise: "In other words, Zhuang Chen is actually my cousin?"
"Um."
"Zhuang Chen suffered from polio when he was a child. His father thought that treatment was a bottomless pit, so he took away all the family savings overnight and abandoned our family."
"But..." Xia Tangyue asked doubtfully, "Since you are in such a difficult situation, why doesn't Auntie ask for help from home?"
Wen Zheng smiled somewhat sarcastically: "You are wrong, it's not that she didn't take the initiative to ask for help, but her family despised her for being shameful and took the initiative to cut off relations with her."
"Have you ever heard your aunt's name at home in these years?"
Xia Tangyue sat there with his eyes unfocused, his temples throbbing wildly. In that conservative era, if my aunt married out with her child, it was like throwing a huge rock into a calm lake. Not only did she have to endure the pointing and criticizing of the neighbors, she also had to face the harsh rebuke of the clan elders.
No wonder this matter is never mentioned at home.
She was silent for a moment, feeling heavy-hearted.
"Then how did my aunt... leave?"
"She was sick. It was breast cancer. So I came back here from Beijing to accompany her through her final journey."
Xia Tangyue rested his elbows on the table, hugged his head, his knuckles dug deep into his hair, and his shoulders trembled slightly uncontrollably.
The continuous shock and shock made her fall into a chaotic blank.
After a long time, she asked, "Does Zhuang Chen know about our relationship?"
Wen Zheng shook his head.
"I'll choose the right time to tell him."
"Okay." He stood up and tapped the table: "Take a shower and have a rest. Don't you have to catch a flight tomorrow?"
Seeing Xia Tangyue looking dejected, he pinched the back of her neck and asked her to straighten up: "Why are you frowning? Go to bed. Do you want me to take you to the airport tomorrow?"
The nearest airport to the town is in Linshi, which takes three hours to drive. If Wen Zheng sends her, it will take six hours to go back and forth, which is very tiring. She shook her head and said, "There is an airport express here, I can go by myself."
"Yeah. Go to bed early."
After returning to the room, Xia Tangyue packed his luggage and went to wash up. After finishing, he lay on the bed and could not fall asleep for a long time.
She tried hard to recall what her aunt looked like.
But what came back to her mind was a blur. She could no longer remember what her aunt looked like.
Now that I calm down and think about it, I find some things very strange.
My aunt is two years younger than her mother. She was only a woman in her twenties at the time. How could she adopt Wen Zheng as her son? And if you calculate it, Wen Zheng was already twelve years old at that time.
Is this reasonable?
…
I tossed and turned all night.
On the second day, when Xia Tangyue was carrying his luggage downstairs, he happened to meet Zhuang Chen playing games with his classmates.
She couldn't help but pause and look at him again.
She never expected that there would be a blood relative of hers in a small town thousands of miles away.
Wen Zheng's voice sounded from behind: "Do you want to say goodbye to him?"
Xia Tangyue shook his head and looked away: "He doesn't know about these things yet, forget it."
"Um."
Wen Zheng saw her out the door and said, "Have a safe trip. I'll go to Jing City to find you."
Xia Tangyue pursed her lips and nodded slightly.
She took the Airport Express to the airport and boarded a flight to Beijing. She stared blankly at the white and dense clouds outside the window. She didn't expect that a short one-week trip to the small town would yield such a shocking harvest.
The brother who was lost and found again, the cousin who showed up unexpectedly, the news about her aunt... Should she tell her family?
-
Back home.
This is a three-story townhouse. Worried, Xia Tangyue dragged her luggage into the living room and didn't notice Xia Xiucheng sitting on the sofa. It was not until he said coldly, "You're back," that Xia Tangyue woke up.
"dad."
Xia Xiucheng snorted and looked at her with dissatisfaction: "What's the point of running around here and there every day? I told you to study law a long time ago, but you didn't listen and insisted on tinkering with your shabby art gallery."
Xia Tangyue held his breath and waited until he finished speaking before retorting, "It's not some shabby art gallery! I'm tired and I need to go rest. I won't talk to you anymore."
"You kid!"
She carried her luggage upstairs. The door of Xia Chengan's bedroom next to her was closed. He must have gone to school for class.
Tired from the long journey.
Xia Tangyue slept for a long time before waking up. When she went downstairs, no one was at home, so she went straight to the art museum.
Assistant Xiaoyu brought her a cup of refreshing coffee and a printed activity plan.
"Director, this has been modified according to your request. Can you see if there are any problems?"
Xia Tangyue picked up the coffee and took a big sip. The bitter taste flowed through her throat, which was very refreshing.
"Okay, let me take a look first."
Xiaoyu closed the office door.
Xia Tangyue put aside all distractions and read through the pages one by one, stroking the paper with his fingertips. After confirming that there were no problems, he began to organize recent exhibition data and past successful cases, striving to achieve the most favorable situation for the project with detailed results and precise planning in the meeting with investors tomorrow.
The sky outside the window gradually darkened.
The staff members clocked out one by one. Xia Tangyue stretched and was about to turn off the computer. Just at this moment, Xina called.
"Girl, I just passed by the paper room and saw your car. Are you back?"
"Yeah, I'm back." Xia Tangyue let out a long sigh and asked, "Are you free? Do you want to have dinner with me?"
"Let's go."
Xia Tangyue picked up her bag, turned off the lights, drove to a nearby shopping mall, met with Xi Na, and chose a Korean barbecue restaurant for dinner tonight.
"Nana, I have something to tell you, but you have to promise me first not to get too excited."
When Xi Na heard this, her eyebrows almost flew up, and she looked at her with an expression of gossip, and her eyes were very ambiguous: "Could it be that you and that handsome boss have a crush on each other?"
“So fast!”
"Looking at his physique, he must be very capable in bed. You'll be very happy."
Xia Tangyue let out a long sigh.
Xina: "What's wrong with you? Are you overindulging yourself?"
Xia Tangyue told her that his confession had failed and that Wen Zheng was her long-lost cousin.
"Fuck!"
"Yes, you heard it right, it's true."
"Fuck!"
"He's my long lost cousin."
"Fuck!"
Xi Na said "Fuck" three times in a row, which made Xia Tangyue confused. She stretched out her hand and waved it in front of her, trying to bring Xi Na back to her senses.
"Here's the thing, Nana, I'm going crazy, you know?"
"Although we are not related by blood, he is my aunt's adopted child, and when I was little, I sincerely called him brother. That feeling is really weird, I don't know how to explain it."
Xia Tangyue propped up his head, his eyes dull and lifeless.
Xi Na finally reacted from the series of surprises. She took a big sip of milk tea to calm herself down, then said, "This..."
“Oh my god.”
She sighed.
"What I said about abnormal love is really right. There are so many people chasing you but you are never moved. The only one you like is your cousin. It's incredible. It's too incredible. What kind of thing is this? You have encountered something with a lower chance than winning the lottery."
"Does your family know about this?"
"have no idea."
Xi Na was silent for a moment. Seeing her friend's sad look, she couldn't bear it and said in a consoling tone, "Oh, it's actually nothing. He and you are not related by blood, right? You can still be together. What's the big deal? And you also said that your two families severed their relationship more than ten years ago. He is not your brother anymore."
Of course Xia Tangyue understood this principle, but it was difficult for her to get over the hurdle in her heart.
"After you confessed your feelings, did he have any other reactions besides surprise, such as surprise or joy?"
"I don't know." Xia Tangyue recalled the scene at that time. Wen Zheng always smiled when facing her, looking as warm as the spring sun, but that smile was only on the surface, and there was a bottomless pool in his eyes, which swallowed up even the slightest emotional fluctuations silently.
She had never really seen what Wen Zheng was thinking through his expression.
Xi Na coughed lightly, looked at her seriously, and asked: "So do you think he likes you?"
Xia Tangyue had been deliberately keeping this delicate question in her heart, but now that Xi Na had pointed it out to her, she was startled and her throat instantly tightened.
"I...I don't know."
"I think he might treat me as his sister."
"The reason why he was so considerate to me was because he recognized who I was early on."
Xina said nothing more. The dog-headed love strategist also failed in such ethical and emotional issues.
"Okay, okay, it's okay." She encouraged Xia Tangyue.
"Just pretend you've never liked him. There are so many men out there, why bother to love just one? I'll find you eight tall and long-legged male models, and we'll have fun together until dawn! Forget about him."
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