Praise You
When Qin Ling brought Dian Dian home, his uncle Long Yue was secretly cooking in the kitchen.
He loved both spicy and sweet dishes, and he couldn't resist anything rich in oil or sauce. He especially loved the three-layered braised pork, a dish with alternating layers of fat and lean meat. It was tender but not greasy, rich and sweet, and he devoured it relentlessly, making up for the hardship of his youth. Unfortunately, a checkup before the Lunar New Year revealed all the indicators were negative. Ye Yuanyin strictly controlled his diet, so every meal consisted of just a few tasteless shreds of pork and two or three stalks of green leafy vegetables blanched in boiling water. The taste was so bland that it made him want to die.
As soon as he saw his son come in, Long Yue hurriedly hid the plates and bowls, and tried his best to destroy the crime scene.
"Ayin!" Long Qinling stopped him and yelled towards the second floor, "Dad is stealing food again!"
Like a routine he'd performed countless times, his uncle raised his hand to slap him, and Qin Ling dodged back and forth. The sound of a door opening came from overhead, and Ye Yuanyin walked down the stairs, his voice filled with helplessness: "Uncle, please, just let me get some sleep..."
Her words were suddenly choked in her mouth. Chen Dian looked up and their eyes met.
Ye Yuanyin was extremely surprised, "Oh my God, why are you here!"
"I invited you." Qin Ling patted his chest and stopped walking. After all, he was young, and the sweat evaporated, and the smell of alcohol dissipated a lot. He reached out to support Long Yue and said with a smile: "Dad, I'll let you eat meat tonight and have a drink with my brother-in-law."
Ye Yuanyin frowned, thinking that it was already so late and he was still eating, and he was not afraid of indigestion.
Long Qinling enthusiastically invited Chen Dian'an to sit down. The house they'd bought, though called a villa, was actually just a sandwich of two or three small houses stacked together. The third floor was a small attic, too cramped for living, just enough for miscellaneous items. Because it was secondhand, the space wasn't well designed. The dining room was directly above the stairs, making it look small and shabby.
Her uncle was chatting with Chen Di'an outside, while Qin Ling dragged Ye Yuanyin to the kitchen to prepare a simple meal. She felt speechless and couldn't help but get angry: "It's so late, why are you still treating him to a meal? Besides, he has been eating delicious food since he was a child, and he never tires of fine food. Does he need you to offer such courtesy?"
Qin Ling got anxious and glared at me, "Don't bully me because I'm not well-educated and just talk nonsense! If he wasn't my brother-in-law, why would I entertain him?"
"Why do you call him that so easily?" She sneered, "Which of your sisters married him?"
"Ayin, you've become stupid from studying. This isn't how society works." Qin Ling apologized to her with a smile, "Go out and look in the mirror later, and you'll know which of my sisters is married."
She was too lazy to waste words with him and served the dishes. She just felt that he was sitting there in a suit and tie, which was out of place with the atmosphere of the whole house.
"Ayin, don't go yet." Seeing her turn around, the uncle quickly stopped her. He thought, "Who on earth is this big boss here for? You can't come here and not see him, right?"
Ye Yuanyin had no choice but to sit beside them and listen to them talk. Dian Chen didn't say much at all, but her uncle, after two or three drinks, talked about his entrepreneurial history, occasionally throwing in a few swear words. He was so drunk that he even listed all the women he had loved.
She was anxious and wanted to stop him from losing his composure, but Qin Ling took over the conversation again, asking about her well-being, speaking in a humble and subservient manner, and boasting about himself as if he were the best in the world, and then talking even more nonsense. Her face turned from red to purple, and she kept glaring at Qin Ling, but she really couldn't sit still any longer.
"I'm sleepy. I'm going to sleep first."
Chen Di'an also said, "Thank you for your hospitality. It's too late, so I won't disturb you to rest."
"Why are you so reserved, brother-in-law? Although our house isn't big, you can definitely live here if you squeeze in."
"Qinling!" Ye Yuanyin glared at him and said word by word, "Boss Chen can't get used to living here."
"Don't bother," seeing her reluctance, Chen Yan indifferently declined, "I'll come for a formal visit another day. Please stay." He cast a roundabout look at Ye Yuanyin, "I have a few more words to say. Please come and see me off."
Secretary Ma went out to drive the car.
Long Yue nodded at his niece and said, "Then, Ah Yin, please go and see Mr. Shen off for your uncle."
She saw him out, and Dian Jing didn't say anything, which made people feel uneasy.
He walked a few steps in silence and suddenly stopped. The two stood face to face, and he lowered his head to look at her.
Ye Yuanyin stood there awkwardly, only to hear him ask, "Do you remember the appointment for tomorrow night?"
About the dinner party? She looked at him and nodded.
“How many people are attending?”
She actually counted in her mind, "One, two, three..."
Seeing her serious expression, Chen Yan thought to himself, she was always this serious. She was serious with the people around her, serious when she liked someone, and even more serious after they broke up. He couldn't bear it any longer, so he reached out and grabbed her.
Ye Yuanyin was startled. His heart tightened. He tried to pull his hand back but couldn't. His face was frozen, and his heart was sinking. "Can you please stop torturing me?"
"I don't understand." He released one hand, raised it and lifted it to lift her fluffy bangs, revealing her smooth and beautiful forehead. "If you really let it go in your heart, who can torture you?"
Ye Yuanyin frowned and said angrily, "There are so many people around you, whether it's the people here tonight or Ji Quan, why do you always hold me back?"
"No matter how good others are, it has nothing to do with me. I don't like them."
"Don't say that anymore. I really... don't want to make the same mistake again."
Chen Yan saw her pretty face turning red and white with anxiety, and she was arguing with herself, but refused to tell the reason behind it - she thought that the people in the Shen family must have done something very unfair to her.
"Yin Yin, look at me." He forced her to look up, his eyes burning. "I will change everything you don't like in the future. I will never make you sad again. Please like me again, okay?"
She thought he was really abnormal. He was usually so cold and solemn, and never said a soft word, but now he spoke one sentence after another, and every word was fatal.
Reason told her to refuse, but emotion said no. The two sides were fighting each other, and she was so confused that she didn't know what to do for a while.
Yandi'an gently circled her wrist with his other hand. The bracelet was missing, leaving her thin wrist empty. That was the whole heart her parents had given her. His heart was throbbing with anger, but his tone was gentle as he spoke to her. "I will return everything you lost, piece by piece. Believe me."
She didn't sleep much that night and had nightmares repeatedly. Her mother was standing not far away, smiling and waving at her, calling her, "Ayin, come quickly." She ran for a long, long time, but no matter how fast she ran, she could not catch up.
After waking up, she couldn't help but think, yes, it wasn't that she didn't want to accept him, it was that she couldn't forgive herself.
Why did she run to someone else's house when her mother needed her most? She selfishly thought she could do something for her. But in the end, not only did she accomplish nothing, she even had to learn about her mother's death from someone else.
She overestimated her own abilities and lost the most precious thing in the world.
*
Qin Ling didn't have to work, so he usually went to bed around 4 or 5 in the morning and didn't get up until around noon the next day. One morning, he was woken by the urge to go to the bathroom and saw his cousin getting ready to go out.
Long Yue asked, "Ayin, have you prepared everything for your mother's death anniversary?"
"It's ready. Leave it at my aunt's place."
"That's good. Come back early after get off work tonight." The uncle then instructed her, "Let Qinling get some more sleep. After he's had enough sleep, you can leave early. The journey is too long."
"knew."
"Ayin," her uncle called her again, "that guy last night was pretty good. I didn't say that just because he was well-off. Over the past few decades, although I haven't done any big business, I've met a lot of people in this circle, and it's rare to run into someone like him. You should be aware of this."
"I know."
She opened the door and left.
…
They made an appointment to have dinner after get off work. At three or four o'clock, Dian Dian received another temporary meeting arrangement. Ji Quan brought a message to Maha, saying that you should start first and there is no need to wait.
The average age of the team members was 28 years old. The dinner was held at a hot pot restaurant. Men and women gathered together and chatted animatedly.
Qin Ling sent a message to Ye Yuanyin, asking her what time she would finish so that he could come directly and go back to Jiutao Village.
[Ayin, let's go in the early morning. There are fewer people on the road, and you can sleep in the car for a while.]
Ye Yuanyin replied, [As long as you are not sleepy, I don’t care]
[Not sleepy, I slept until 3pm]
After she finished replying the message, she looked up and unexpectedly met the eyes of the boy sitting opposite her. Ye Yuanyin looked at him for a while in confusion, but the boy looked at her playfully and then looked away.
The girl sitting on the same side was in a listless mood and said to another girl next to her, "Why didn't Mr. Chen come? I even bought a new dress and put on full makeup. It's really a bummer."
The girl teased her, "I've seen all kinds of women, how could he be interested in us?"
"Who knows? I heard his ex-wife was very poor. Maybe he'd like that."
Two young girls huddled together and giggled.
The boy, however, gave her a cold look and said sarcastically, "Have you ever seen her in person? Do you know her background? Don't just focus on her poverty."
"You talk as if you've seen it."
The boy smiled, but his eyes were intentionally or unintentionally on Ye Yuanyin.
She couldn't remember where exactly she had seen this person.
I received a message on my phone. I looked down and saw that it was from Chen Di'an.
【Come out for a moment】
Ye Yuanyin looked out from the transparent floor-to-ceiling window and saw Secretary Ma standing in the darkness not far away, smiling and waving at her.
She said something to Maha and left the hot pot restaurant.
After walking a few steps forward, I saw a black car parked on the opposite side of the street. It was so low-key that it blended in perfectly with the night, and it was not very clear unless you looked closely.
"Miss Ye, the boss is waiting for you in the car."
"He—isn't coming down to the party?"
“There are too many people. It’s inconvenient.”
"Then why should I treat everyone..." She stopped talking halfway.
Secretary Ma smiled and let her go. Ye Yuanyin didn't want to go, so she made an excuse and said, "I still have to pay the bill."
"The boss is already married."
…
She had no choice but to go around the front of the car and prepare to open the right rear door. The passenger window was lowered, but she didn't expect that it was Dian Jing'an who was driving himself.
"Come up."
"What are you doing?"
"Take you back to Jiutao Village."
"But Qin Ling..." She looked down at her phone. It was just past nine o'clock. "He will be here to pick me up soon."
"I know," Yan Zhan looked at her with a smile in his eyes, "He entrusted you to me and has already left."
This cousin sold himself out just to curry favor with the person in front of him? How unreliable.
Seeing her sulking, Chen Yan'an's expression and tone were very soft: "Shall we go?"
Of course I have to go, otherwise how can I go back?
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