Chapter 384 Are you hiding something from me?
He needs to calm down.
He took a deep breath, but found that the cold air could not quench the restlessness in his heart.
Finally, he fumbled out his cigarette case a little impatiently, took out a cigarette and lit it.
The flame from the lighter briefly illuminated his tense and stern profile.
He took a deep breath, and the slightly choking smoke rushed into his lungs, bringing a brief feeling of numbness, trying to dispel the bone-chilling cold.
Snowflakes fell silently outside the car window, and the car was filled with smoke and silence.
One burned out quickly.
He lit the second, and the third... until the car was filled with the thick smell of smoke, until the violently fluctuating emotions were forcibly suppressed by nicotine, leaving only an almost numb calm.
He stubbed the last of his cigarette into the ashtray, rolled down the window, and let the cold, fresh air mixed with snowflakes rush in, dispersing the smoke in the car and completely calming his last bit of restlessness. His eyes became clear and determined again.
He started the engine and slowly drove away from the roadside, rolling over a thin layer of new snow and heading towards the dance troupe where Mu Nanyan worked.
He came to see Gu Rushuang this morning, and it was inconvenient to bring Chenchen with him, so the little guy happily followed his mother to work.
At this moment, it was almost noon, and he urgently needed to see them, needed to see Mu Nanyan's warm smile, and needed to hear Chenchen's excited voice, as if only they could dispel all the gloom and coldness that stained this cold morning.
The car slowly stopped in front of the dance troupe. The fine snow had already dyed the street a thin layer of silver.
Lu Yiran walked upstairs carrying the food he had ordered in advance. When he pushed open the door of Mu Nanyan's office, he saw her leaning over the drawing board, while Chenchen was quietly building Lego on the carpet beside her.
Under the warm light, the scene was so gentle that it slightly melted the cold haze in his heart.
"dad!"
Chenchen was the first to notice him, dropped his toys and rushed over.
Mu Nanyan raised her head when she heard the voice, and a smile naturally spread across the corners of her lips:
"Are you back? It seems to be snowing heavily outside."
The three of them sat around the small coffee table and had lunch in a warm atmosphere.
However, although Lu Yiran responded to Chenchen's chattering sharing in a normal tone and occasionally picked up food for Mu Nanyan, under the deliberately maintained calmness, a trace of fatigue and coldness that was difficult to completely conceal was still caught by his closest people.
Mu Nanyan put down her chopsticks, her eyes fell gently on his face, and she whispered tentatively:
"What's wrong? Didn't your meeting with the client this morning go well?"
Lu Yiran was startled when he heard this, and the action of picking up the food stopped in mid-air.
He thought he had hidden his emotions perfectly, but he didn't expect that she could see through all his disguised calmness with just one glance.
He quickly suppressed the fluctuations in his eyes, pulled out a relaxed smile, and reached out to naturally ruffle her hair:
"Nothing, just a little tired. Communicating with foreign partners always takes a bit more effort."
He skillfully steered the topic in an irrelevant direction, speaking in a casual tone as if he were discussing the weather.
"Eat quickly, the food is getting cold."
He didn't want her to know about Gu Rushuang's existence, didn't want her to know that he had such a bad mother, and didn't want any trace of haze brought by that so-called mother to stain her clear and warm eyes.
That woman had nothing to do with him. From now on, his family only consisted of Mu Nanyan and Chenchen.
Mu Nanyan looked at him, a subtle suspicion flashing in her eyes, but seeing that he seemed unwilling to talk more, she considerately did not ask any further questions, but said softly:
"Well, let's take a rest after eating."
Lu Yiran nodded, but because of her keen concern and silent understanding, a more complex emotion surged in his heart, including warmth and a hint of indescribable bitterness.
After lunch, Mu Nanyan hummed softly and gently coaxed Chenchen to take a nap on the small sofa.
The child's eyelids gradually became heavy, his breathing became even and long, and he finally fell asleep.
She carefully pulled up the blanket that had slipped off, tucked in every corner carefully, and made sure that the little guy was wrapped tightly in warmth. Only then did she turn around with relief and prepare to return to the drawing board to continue working.
When she turned around, she was suddenly met with a deep gaze.
Lu Yiran had sat quietly in her office chair at some point, silently watching the scene between her and the child. His eyes were so complicated that her heart trembled slightly.
Seeing that she finally turned around, he stood up, walked straight towards her, and without saying anything, hugged her from behind, resting his chin lightly on her slender shoulders, and his warm breath brushed her neck.
"Are you hiding something from me?"
Mu Nanyan did not struggle, but relaxed in his arms, her hands gently covering the back of his hands folded in front of her, her voice low and full of concern,
"I always feel that you haven't been in a good mood since you came back today."
Lu Yiran was silent for a moment, then hugged her tighter, and a muffled voice came from her shoulder:
"No. It's just... I have to leave tonight, and I'm a little reluctant to leave you."
Mu Nanyan was stunned when she heard this, and subconsciously tightened her grip on his hand. She turned her head slightly to look at him, her eyes full of surprise and reluctance.
"Leaving tonight? In such a hurry?"
"Um,"
He responded softly, with a hint of fatigue and helplessness in his voice.
"There's a lot of backlog in Haicheng, and I have to go back and deal with it."
Mu Nanyan understood in her heart. As the helmsman of Dingsheng Group, Lu Yiran knew better than anyone how heavy the burden on his shoulders was.
It was not easy for him to squeeze out these few days to fly over to accompany her.
She suppressed the bitterness in her heart, turned around, put her arms around his waist, looked up at him, and said in a gentle but firm tone:
"After you get back, no matter how busy you are, you must remember to take care of your health and not work late at night."
She raised her hand and gently stroked his slightly furrowed brow with her fingertips, as if trying to soothe the fatigue.
"There's always work to do, but your health is your most important asset, okay?"
Hearing this, Lu Yiran chuckled softly, and the laughter, with the vibration of his chest, was clearly transmitted to her back.
He suddenly turned his head, and put his warm lips close to her earlobe again, whispering in an almost whispered, extremely ambiguous tone:
"Whether I'm in good health or not...shouldn't you know best?"
The implication in his words was so obvious. With his evil chuckle and the kiss on her ear again, Mu Nanyan instantly realized what he was referring to. Her cheeks and ears turned red, and even her neck was stained with a light pink.
"you……!"
She was embarrassed and annoyed, and she gently bumped him back with her elbow, her voice full of coquettishness.
"I'm serious! What are you doing... Chenchen is still here!"
Lu Yiran looked at her embarrassed look that even her neck turned red, and the smile on his face deepened. Instead of restraining his smile, he turned her around to face him, his forehead against hers, his nose rubbing against hers, his eyes deep and focused, as if they could only accommodate her.
"I'm serious too."
He lowered his voice, the teasing in his tone increasing instead of decreasing.
"It's precisely because I'm leaving that I need to hurry up... I want you to check my physical condition carefully, ok?"
Mu Nanyan's face flushed and her heart beat faster because of his repeated teasing. She couldn't even utter a word of rebuttal and could only stare at him shyly. However, her eyes had no deterrent power at all. Instead, they seemed to be mingled with honey, which made Lu Yiran feel itchy.
Lu Yiran looked at her, who was so embarrassed that she had nowhere to hide, and the smile in his eyes almost overflowed.
Instead of pulling away, he quickly stole a kiss from her slightly parted lips, as gentle as tasting a dessert but with clear intention.
"you……"
Mu Nanyan's ears were red as blood, and her hands were against his chest, but she was too weak to move.
"Lu Yiran! This is the office..."
"What happened to the office?"
He raised his eyebrows, as if it was a matter of course, but his arms held her tighter. He lowered his head and rubbed her hot cheek with his tall nose. His voice was very low, and his breath was scorching.
"There's no one else here, or is it that...Mrs. Lu is actually expecting some more special 'environment'?"
He deliberately misinterpreted her meaning, and the hints in his words were so explicit that Mu Nanyan's heart skipped a beat.
She glared at him in embarrassment, but was locked in his eyes by the deep affection and teasing that filled them, and her slight protest disappeared in his fiery gaze.
"Stop messing around..."
In the end, she could only beg for mercy softly, her voice as thin as a mosquito, burying her hot face in his solid chest, feeling the vibrations from his chest and the low, happy laughter.
Lu Yiran contentedly held the warm and soft girl in his arms, his chin gently resting on the top of her head, inhaling the fresh fragrance of her hair.
The coldness and depression brought by the meeting with Gu Rushuang just now were completely dispelled at this moment, leaving only full of peace of mind and warmth.
"Okay, I won't bother you anymore."
He stopped when he saw that things were going well, and his voice returned to its previous gentleness, but still with a barely perceptible hoarseness.
"Let me hold you for a while, so I can recharge my batteries. We have to go to the airport this afternoon."
Upon hearing this, Mu Nanyan calmed down, snuggled obediently in his arms, and put her arms around his waist.
The sadness of parting quietly filled her heart, making her unable to help but hug him tighter.
The two of them hugged each other quietly, listening to each other's heartbeats and the sound of snow falling outside the window.
until--
"Um... Mommy..."
Chenchen's mumbled voice came from the small sofa, and he turned over.
The two people hugging each other seemed to be paused, and they let go of each other in an instant, quickly opened a little distance, and subconsciously looked towards the sofa.
I saw Chenchen just smacking his lips and falling into deep sleep again without waking up.
Mu Nanyan breathed a sigh of relief, then couldn't help but raised her hand and gently hit Lu Yiran, glaring at him angrily, accusing him with her eyes: See, you almost woke up your son!
Lu Yiran touched his nose, but there was no regret on his face. Instead, he moved closer to her, quickly pecked her lips again, and whispered proudly:
"Looks like we need to find a more soundproof place."
Mu Nanyan's cheeks flushed and her heart beat like a drum because of his ambiguous words and burning gaze.
In order to hide her embarrassment, she could only pretend to be calm. She struggled slightly to get out of his arms, her eyes drifting away, her tone deliberately calm:
"I, I'm going to work! You can also lie down on the sofa for a while and rest."
After saying that, she hardly dared to look at his reaction. She turned around quickly, walked quickly back to her desk, sat down, picked up the paintbrush, and pretended to be fully focused on the design draft, as if the blushing interaction just now had never happened.
Lu Yiran looked at her almost fleeing back and the red tips of her ears, and a doting and complacent smile appeared at the corner of his lips.
He didn't chase after her to tease her, but walked to the sofa obediently.
He didn't lie down, but just leaned there lazily, but his eyes were still fixed on Mu Nanyan, looking at her profile as she concentrated on her work, his eyes gentle and focused.
Perhaps it was because of the exhausting confrontation with Gu Rushuang this morning, or perhaps it was because the peaceful atmosphere surrounding him was truly relaxing, but his forced spirit gradually relaxed, and his heavy eyelids slowly drooped...
He actually leaned on the sofa and fell asleep unknowingly.
His breathing became even and long, and the sharpness and fatigue that often lingered between his brows finally dissipated in his sleep.
Although Mu Nanyan was drawing, she found it difficult to fully concentrate.
After a long time, she didn't hear any movement, and finally couldn't help but raise her head quietly.
When she saw Lu Yiran actually falling asleep leaning on the sofa, her cold heart instantly collapsed.
She put down her pen, tiptoed over, picked up another blanket, and carefully covered him with it, her movements as gentle as if she were treating a rare treasure.
She did not wake him up, but just looked at him quietly for a moment before returning to her seat, even turning the pages very quietly.
In the evening, Chenchen woke up rubbing his eyes. Mu Nanyan made a soft "hush" sound and pointed to his father who was still sleeping soundly on the sofa.
The little guy immediately covered his mouth sensibly, blinked his big eyes, climbed down from the sofa on tiptoe, and went to play by himself obediently.
Lu Yiran didn't wake up until the lights outside the window came on.
I slept exceptionally soundly, and most of the fatigue from the past few days seemed to have dissipated.
He opened his eyes, and the first thing that caught his eye was the soft blanket on his body, and then Mu Nanyan, who was reading a picture book with Chenchen in a low voice not far away. The light cast a warm halo on her.
The three of them had a warm dinner together.
Afterwards, Mu Nanyan drove them to the airport.
The airport hall was brightly lit and bustling with people. Flight information was broadcast on the radio, adding a bit of sadness to the parting.
Chenchen hugged Mu Nanyan's legs tightly, buried his head, and said in a muffled voice:
"Mommy, you have to come back soon..."
"Okay, Mommy will go back as soon as she's done."
Mu Nanyan squatted down and kissed her son's face, feeling reluctant to let him go.
She stood up and looked at Lu Yiran. He reached out and gently held her in his arms. The hug was restrained and warm, full of reluctance and promise.
"Take care of yourself," he whispered in her ear.
Mu Nanyan responded softly: "You too, let me know when you land."
There were no extra words of affection, all the concerns and reluctance were melted into this brief hug and the exchange of eyes.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
