Dewdrop Romance
As the Gregorian calendar year draws to a close, Zhang Chenglin's life has become unusually quiet.
Aside from Jiang Xiaoxiao calling him from time to time to ask if he was going back to Shanghai for New Year's Day.
That noon, Zhang Chenglin refused Jiang Xiaoxiao's invitation to go home for the New Year for the seventeenth time. As soon as he hung up the phone, Ji Yuxing, who was having a free meal at his house, chimed in, "I guess only you, Second Young Master Zhang, would dare to slap the Jiang family in such a way."
“If you want,” Zhang Chenglin glanced at him and said, “you can too.”
"I don't want to." Ji Yuxing shook his head frantically, as if afraid that if he shook it too slowly he would be caught out: "This is no joke."
“It’s rare to see this,” Zhang Chenglin said with a faint smile in his eyes, “that there are things in this world that you’re afraid of.”
“What a joke, I…” Ji Yuxing hadn’t finished speaking when Xin Jie rushed in from outside. Ji Yuxing stopped abruptly as he watched Xin Jie lean down and whisper something in Zhang Chenglin’s ear.
Compared to Xin Jie's anxiety and unease, Zhang Chenglin only frowned slightly after hearing the news, stood up, grabbed his trench coat, and prepared to leave.
Ji Yuxing quickly got up and followed him, asking as they walked, "What happened?"
The car that was responsible for Zhang Chenglin's travel stopped in front of the two of them the moment he stepped out of the Zhang residence. Zhang Chenglin opened the door and got into the car first, sitting in the back seat and rubbing his temples.
"Hard to say?" Ji Yuxing looked at him and couldn't help but feel a little worried.
“No.” Zhang Chenglin sighed calmly and explained, “Fengyue was taken away by Zhuang Yanbin’s men.”
Something flashed through Ji Yuxing's mind, and he frowned, asking, "Because of you?"
"Mm." Zhang Chenglin nodded.
Looking at him like this, Ji Yuxing couldn't help but speak again: "You and Fengyue..."
"Seventeen years ago, in Shanghai, the Gu family, Gu Shiyue." Zhang Chenglin uttered four words, each one like a dull thud to Ji Yuxing's heart.
He was left with no chance to breathe.
"So what I've always thought was a fleeting romance," Ji Yuxing sighed, then finished speaking, "was actually a long-awaited reunion of two people who knew each other since childhood?"
Zhang Chenglin nodded: "Mm."
As Ji Yuxing watched Zhang Chenglin gently close his eyes, his thoughts were instantly pulled back to Shanghai 17 years ago.
It was 1919, and the land of China was ravaged by war and death. Shanghai was the last sanctuary.
The year before, Ji Yongkang brought Ji Yuxing to Shanghai for business. At that time, they lived in the most prosperous area of Shanghai, next to the Jiang family on the left and the Gu family on the right.
As a result, Ji Yuxing quickly became friends with Zhang Chenglin, who was the same age as him. That was their first meeting, which laid the foundation for their friendship that would last for more than a decade.
At that time, Zhang Chenglin was merely living in the Jiang family. Zhang Chenglin came to Shanghai earlier than Ji Yuxing. He was abandoned in Shanghai by Zhang Deyue and Jiang Xu when he was five years old, and was there for more than three years.
At the end of his fourth year in Shanghai, Zhang Chenglin met Gu Shiyue, the arrogant and aloof eldest daughter of the Gu family. No one knows how outsiders would judge Gu Shiyue, but Zhang Chenglin's attitude towards her was always indifferent—even after they became good friends.
But Ji Yuxing, as a childhood friend who grew up alongside the two of them, had personally witnessed the high and mighty moon bowing its head to someone close to it.
Many years have passed, and many past events have become blurred with age, but the young Zhang Chenglin and Gu Shiyue are as if they have been engraved in a film of time, forever remaining in Ji Yuxing's memory, like a shadow.
Even today, if someone were to ask Ji Yuxing what the two best people are, he would still answer without hesitation: Zhang Chenglin and Gu Shiyue.
Even though Gu Jia has long been forgotten by many people in the torrent of time.
But after so many years, Ji Yuxing, like many others, had long since accepted that Gu Shiyue and the Gu family had stayed in the heavy snow of Shanghai that year.
But when Zhang Chenglin mentioned that somewhat unfamiliar person, he said:
"Seventeen years ago, in Shanghai, the Gu family, Gu Shiyue."
If anyone mentions this statement today, Ji Yuxing will immediately retort, "Are you crazy?"
He couldn't refute Zhang Chenglin's statement.
If there is anyone in this world who truly understands Gu Shiyue to the core, Ji Yuxing can't think of anyone other than Zhang Chenglin.
——
When Ji Yuxing and Zhang Chenglin arrived at Zhuang Yanbin's residence in Shandong, Ji Yuxing got out of the car before Xin Jie and knocked on the gate of the Zhuang residence.
Unexpectedly, it wasn't the Zhuang family's old butler who opened the door, but rather—Zhuang Eryi.
"Ji Yuxing?" Zhuang Eryi, dressed in a pretty little dress and with exquisite makeup, looking like she had made plans to go out, was naturally surprised to see Ji Yuxing: "Who are you looking for?"
"Find your father."
Eager to see his long-lost friend, Ji Yuxing's tone was far from friendly, leaving Zhuang Eryi bewildered: "Huh?"
For a moment, I couldn't tell if you were insulting me.
Ji Yuxing and Zhuang Eryi were talking when Zhang Chenglin got out of the car. "Not letting us in?"
Seeing Zhuang Eryi standing at the door with his hands still on the two door bolts, he subconsciously asked a question.
"Let them in, let them in! How can we not let them in!" Zhuang Eryi realized what was happening and personally opened both doors to let the two people in.
Because Zhang Chenglin and Ji Yuxing had arrived, Zhuang Eryi temporarily abandoned her idea of going out to play and obediently followed Zhang Chenglin and Ji Yuxing back inside.
Inside the main room, Zhuang Yanbin and Jiang Rusu were both present, with only half a pot of water left in the teapot in front of them, clearly indicating that they had been waiting for a long time.
"You're here?"
Upon seeing the person enter, Zhuang Yanbin, adopting the posture of a host, asked the question first.
Upon hearing the sound, Jiang Rusu turned his head, his gaze lingering on Zhang Chenglin for a few seconds, his eyes dark and somewhat frightening.
"Uncle and Uncle Zhuang want to know what I'm doing," Zhang Chenglin said, not at all like an outsider. He sat down on the guest chair next to him, his tone so deep it could drip water, and his words as unquestionable as ever: "Just ask me directly, why make things difficult for others?"
As soon as Zhang Chenglin finished speaking, Jiang Rusu's eyes flashed with emotion, while Zhuang Yanbin's eyes remained deep and unchanging.
"I thought you just hadn't seen your Uncle Zhuang for a long time, and came to visit me after hearing that I was in Shandong."
Zhuang Yanbin chuckled softly and continued, "From what you're saying, is there something else you want to say?"
"Then tell me what you're capable of doing. Uncle Zhuang will do everything in his power to help if he can."
After Zhuang Yanbin finished speaking, his wife, Li Lianhuan, brought a new teapot to change the tea for him.
Zhuang Yanbin's thoughts were diverted by her, and he frowned in displeasure: "Why are you doing these things yourself? You could have just had your subordinates do them."
Li Lianhuan brought him fresh tea and spoke with a tone that was a little displeased, a little kind, and a lot polite: "Ah Lin only comes once in a long time. Can't we talk things out properly? We've always treated him like our own child. Why make everyone feel uncomfortable?"
After saying these words, Li Lianhuan didn't wait for Zhuang Yanbin to say anything. As she walked out, she smiled lightly at Zhang Chenglin as a greeting.
Zhang Chenglin lowered his eyes and spoke first, "Aunt Huan."
Zhang Chenglin and Li Lianhuan didn't have much contact. The few times they did meet were usually like this: when he and Zhuang Yanbin were at each other's throats due to disagreements, she would quietly appear and, in an inconspicuous way, bring a pot of new tea, a snack, or a bouquet of flowers, and whisper a few words of comfort to Zhuang Yanbin. When Zhuang Yanbin spoke to Zhang Chenglin again, his tone would always be much gentler.
Li Lianhuan did not come from the so-called "socialite circle", so Zhang Chenglin did not hear much about her from the people around him. He only knew that she and Zhuang Yanbin had known each other since they were young, that she had accompanied him through hardships and storms, and that she had always been by his side in an inconspicuous and unknown way.
For a moment, Zhang Chenglin was lost in thought, seeing in her the shadow of his current life as a woman of pleasure...
After Li Lianhuan left the main room, Zhuang Eryi also quietly turned and left, leaving a group of grown men inside to chat about what they needed to talk about.
Zhuang Eryi found Li Lianhuan in her bedroom, pushed open the door and called out, "Mom."
"Ayi?" Upon seeing Zhuang Eryi, most of the worry between Li Lianhuan's brows dissipated, and she beckoned Zhuang Eryi to come in first.
"Is Mom still worried about Dad and Alin?" Zhuang Eryi sat next to Li Lianhuan, obediently taking her arm.
“Yes,” Li Lianhuan’s brows furrowed with worry again: “Ah Lin’s personality is just like his father’s. When he gets stubborn, no one can stop him. Your father is used to being Ah Lin’s elder and always likes to lecture him. When will the two of them be able to have a proper conversation?”
Zhuang Eryi nodded slightly, seemingly lost in thought.
“I’ve heard about what happened this time,” Li Lianhuan sighed, her tone full of helplessness. “Although it’s not good for Alin, your father has his own reasons, so I can’t say much more.”
“What a good child Ah Lin was! But since his father passed away, he has developed a rift with our family.”
“It’s an inevitable trend,” Zhuang Eryi said with a gentle smile after hearing Li Lianhuan’s words. “Alin and Father are ultimately just people with different paths and can’t work together.”
——
The main room of the Zhuang family.
Zhang Chenglin spoke frankly and openly with Zhuang Yanbin and Jiang Rusu, without the slightest guilt or hesitation.
“Since Uncle and Uncle Zhuang are so frank, then I, as a junior, will speak my mind directly,” Zhang Chenglin said, his sharp edge fully revealed, “Fengyue, I’m taking her with me.”
Upon hearing Zhang Chenglin's words, Zhuang Yanbin and Jiang Rusu exchanged a glance, and neither of them spoke for a moment.
Fengyue was taken away from Huayuelou. After Xinjie investigated, he found that it was Zhuang Yanbin's men who did it. Coincidentally, Zhuang Yanbin and Jiang Rusu were both in Shandong at the time. What else could Zhang Chenglin not understand?
They arrested Feng Yue simply to find out if Zhang Chenglin was working for the Communist Party.
But Zhang Chenglin was not so easily manipulated. He revealed his trump card: "You two are well aware of my reputation in both parties."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
