As time passed, the initial sadness and gap gradually faded, and the two families began to return to normal life. Xu Nuo moved into the Li family and would return to his original home for a few days on weekends. Li Yao was the same as him, but he would rather stay wherever Xu Nuo was.
The two were born on the same day and experienced a series of events after being taken away by mistake and having their lives swapped. The parents of both sides decided to hold a coming-of-age ceremony for the two children together.
Ever since Xu Nuo decided to study acting, he has been busier than usual. Cen Su is an artist herself, so she naturally supports her son in pursuing his passion. Li Feng has no objection either. He has never been a student, so he just hopes that Xu Nuo is happy and healthy.
After the monthly exam, the classes were divided. Li Yao was assigned to the science experimental class, and the school dismissal time was delayed by one hour. Xu Nuo went to the art class, and his classroom was not even in the same building as Li Yao's. In the end, the only time the two of them spent together was the one and a half hours of lunch break.
The high school had dormitories, but few students wanted to live on campus; most stayed there just for lunch breaks. Li Yao applied for a double room, and during lunch breaks, he and Xu Nuo would stay there to eat and sleep.
Li Yao's stomach problem was probably congenital. When Xu Nuo knew about it, he no longer dragged him to snack stalls and restaurants, and simply brought lunch boxes from home in the morning to eat at noon.
Now that his true family background has been exposed, Li Yao no longer pretends to be a pitiful little white flower, but shows his real bad side to Xu Nuo. His appearance is already very aggressively beautiful, and now he is like a gloomy giant wolf, circling around Xu Nuo and keeping strangers away.
The rich second-generations who had provoked Li Yao in the past disappeared without a trace. When they saw Li Yao, they hid away. It was not known whether they were scared by the beating or were afraid of the family behind him.
Xu Nuo knew nothing about this. He was leisurely swinging his legs in the dormitory, waiting for Li Yao to come back with the food heated up.
The dormitory door was pushed open, and a broad-shouldered, long-legged boy came back with a lunch box and placed it in front of Xu Nuo, even neatly placing the chopsticks next to him.
"Thank you, brother—"
The obedient and soft boy's voice stretched out. Xu Nuo now found it very comfortable to call him brother. Whenever he wanted something from Li Yao or tried to please him, he would call him brother with the trailing tone.
Li Yao also went from trying to hide his violently beating heartbeat unnaturally at the beginning to being able to respond without changing his expression now.
"good."
After the puberty period, the voice of the adolescent boy was no different from that of an adult man. Xu Nuo's attempt to flirt with her failed and ended up making himself blush. He lowered his head and took a big bite of rice in silence.
He was a simple-minded person and soon forgot about his embarrassment and was thinking about talking to Li Yao again.
"Li Yao, do we have to change our surnames during our coming-of-age ceremony?"
The two families planned to use the coming-of-age ceremony as an opportunity to announce the change of heirs.
Li Yao didn't answer directly, "Does Nuonuo want to change?"
Xu Nuo moved his little head and thought for a while, Li Nuo, Xu Nuo, Li Yao, Xu Yao...
"I don't want to...it sounds so awkward."
"Then don't change it."
“Is it really okay not to change?”
"It doesn't matter..."
Li Yao smiled faintly, but what he was thinking about in his heart was that they would get married in the future. It didn't matter whether the two families changed their surnames or not after the marriage.
…
On the day of the coming-of-age ceremony, the Xu and Li families booked the entire hotel owned by the Li family. Almost all the important figures in City A were invited. Li Yao stood next to Yu Manman in a sophisticated black suit. The silver tie inside revealed subtle dark patterns under the overhead light. He looked dignified and upright without losing the demeanor of a superior. The deep mixed-race face was fully displayed on the faces of the mother and son.
"Manman, Ayao, have you seen Nuonuo?" Cen Su looked around and asked softly.
Yu Manman pointed to a room not far away and said, "Nono is changing into her dress and hasn't come out yet."
As Yu Manman finished speaking, the door to the room opened. Xu Nuo wore a moon-white handmade suit, with the same silver tie as Li Yao, though the pattern on his tie was slightly different. His chestnut-brown hair had been meticulously styled by a stylist, creating soft, fluffy curls.
The boy looked up and saw three people not far away. He smiled brightly and ran over, "Mom! Ayao!"
Cen Su held him in her arms, and Yu Manman gently pinched his chubby little face with her nude-painted nails.
"Whose sweet baby is this?"
Xu Nuo felt a little embarrassed when he was suddenly praised so directly. He put on some blush, and a layer of red covered his fair face. He still muttered something obediently.
"Mom's."
Li Yao curled up his hands at his sides, staring at the boy with burning, naked eyes, like a wolf staring at its prey.
Lovely, my.
Xu Shu and Li Feng took the two of them to recognize each other, and then went to the front of the stage to introduce the two children as usual. Everyone present was smart, and they had more or less heard about the story of the Xu and Li families holding the wrong children for eighteen years. At this moment, they cooperated and said a few polite words.
Xu Nuo was not very good at this kind of occasion, so he had to follow his father with a fake smile. Li Yao accepted it well, spoke to different people in a tactful and measured manner.
After finally finding a chance, Li Yao grabbed his wrist and hid in the garden behind.
The traditional Baroque garden was lush with vegetation, and rose bushes climbing the high wall just blocked the two of them. Li Yao had some impression of this place, so he took his hand, slowed down his pace, and walked to the bench in the middle to sit down.
The garden was different from the brightly lit lobby. The dim lights in the garden added a touch of ambiguity to the dim scene. Xu Nuo swallowed nervously.
"Brother...what are you doing here?"
"Take you out for some fresh air."
After hearing what he said, Xu Nuo was not so nervous anymore. She leaned against him and let out a long sigh.
A cold metal ring was suddenly put on the middle finger. Xu Nuo lowered his head and saw that it was a plain silver ring with several diamonds inlaid in the middle. It looked particularly dazzling in the dim environment.
"Nono, I like you."
Xu Nuo looked up suddenly. His confession came without warning and with such force that he didn't know what to say for a moment. He stammered and his face turned red.
"If you wear the ring, you're my boyfriend. Do you agree? Huh, baby?"
"You've already put it on me..." The boy's weak protest was met with a chuckle.
"Yes," Li Yao reached out and pinched his chin, rubbing it. His skin was too tender, leaving a faint red mark. "You don't have the chance to refuse."
"I didn't mean to refuse..."
Before he could finish his words, Li Yao lifted his chin and kissed him. Their hot breaths entangled with each other, inseparable. Behind them was a banquet where everyone was toasting, and the two protagonists were squatting behind a rose bush, kissing passionately.
The moonlight is bright and the wind is gentle.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com