Chapter 61
The air in the Chu family's living room was as silent as death.
Chu Lang and Yang Yuxiao sat on one side of the sofa, Xia Lanzheng and Chu Linchuan sat opposite the coffee table, and Chu Linyu sat alone on the side.
The vast space had never felt so cramped. Xia Lanzheng measured the distance with her eyes. If Chu Lang stood up, she would have to pull Chu Linchuan around the coffee table, potted plants, and sofa to get to the other side.
Chu Lang's face darkened, and his temperament was very similar to Chu Linchuan's.
Just looking at their expressions, it's hard to tell what they're thinking. If they say they're angry, there's a faint smile in their eyes. If they say they're not angry, the corners of their mouths are straight, and if you look closely, even their eyebrows are frowning.
"Auntie," Yang Yuxiao was the first to break the silence, "You should go back and rest today. You've worked hard."
Auntie put down the clean dishes she had wiped five times and said, "I'll be leaving now. Sir and Madam, please talk things over nicely...don't be impulsive."
As soon as she left, Xia Lanzheng felt even more uneasy, her knees uneasily pressed together, and her hand on her leg was suddenly held by Chu Linchuan.
This little action did not escape the eyes of the two people opposite him. Chu Lang immediately snorted and laughed: "Chu Linchuan, what are you thinking?"
Chu Linchuan's aura was no less than Chu Lang's. Despite facing several stares, his expression remained unchanged: "Dad, Mom, I've already said everything I need to say."
Xia Lanzheng nudged him with her elbow: "Dad, I'm also involved in this, you can scold me too."
"Alright, Zhengzheng," Yang Yuxiao, who hadn't participated in the conversation, suddenly laughed and said with a squinting look, "Did you and your brother discuss this? One of you plays the good cop, the other the bad cop?"
This was the first time Yang Yuxiao spoke to Xia Lanzheng like this. Xia Lanzheng couldn't help but open her eyes wide, her lips slightly parted, but no sound came out.
Chu Lang glanced over, but Yang Yuxiao didn't look at him. He glanced at his three sons and said to Chu Linyu, "Take your brother to play somewhere else."
Chu Linyu answered "Here" when his name was called, and then racked his brains to come up with a sentence: "Come on, you two, let's go for a walk?"
After being glared at by Yang Yuxiao, Chu Linyu had no choice but to give up and gave Xia Lanzheng a look.
"Go ahead," Chu Linchuan let go and patted Xia Lanzheng's back soothingly in front of everyone. "It's okay."
There were two more ambiguous smiles from the opposite side.
There was no point in Xia Lanzheng staying here, so she could only stand up with Chu Linyu. When she reached the door, she looked back and realized that it was Yang Yuxiao who was more angry than Chu Lang.
"It turns out Chu Linchuan inherited his mouth from his mother."
He stared at the wilted flowers in the corner of the yard and sighed.
Chu Linyu laughed at this point: "It seems to be true. This is the first time I've heard our mother speak like this."
Xia Lanzheng also wanted to laugh, but she couldn't. Her facial features were wrinkled together, which looked uglier than crying.
He didn't say anything, but Chu Linyu had a lot to say: "You're talking about this incident, hey, how long have you two been doing that?"
"I'm not kidding, I'm serious," Xia Lanzheng corrected him, "Not for long, just these few days..."
Chu Linyu couldn't believe it: "You two came out in just a few days. What are you thinking? Are you really so sure that you won't think about it anymore?"
Xia Lanzheng squatted down and curled himself up into a ball. He was thinking about Chu Linyu's words, and he felt depressed.
"What I said makes sense, doesn't it? Listen to my advice, falling in love is not as simple as you think. Not to mention that Chu Linchuan is your brother, he is older than you..."
Xia Lanzheng raised her head abruptly: "Brother, what do you want to say?"
Chu Linyu was stunned by his look and immediately forgot what he was talking about.
"He's not the type to joke about something like this," Xia Lanzheng moved closer to Chu Linyu's legs, "and neither am I."
"I know, I was wrong."
"For us, being in a relationship is not about having the other person fill each other's void."
"What's the meaning?"
"When we were in the ancient town, I saw Chu Linchuan standing at the entrance of the alley. He didn't say anything, but I felt very happy," Xia Lanzheng said slowly, looking up at the sky. "At the time, I thought I was drunk, but I wasn't."
Chu Linyu also squatted down, and the two of them looked up at the sky side by side: "What is that?"
"Chu Linchuan was also very happy at that time, and I wanted to let time stop at that moment."
"Where did you learn that? It's so complicated." Chu Linyu said with a smile.
Xia Lanzheng hugged her calf and spoke whatever came to her mind: "I don't know what it's like for other people to fall in love, but my idea is very simple: be happy every day and live a happy life."
Chu Linyu was rarely serious. He touched the back of Xia Lanzheng's head and said, "How can your idea be simple? Do you know how difficult it is to be happy every day?"
Xia Lanzheng chuckled: "That's why I said it. I hope Chu Linchuan, you, my parents, and all the good people are happy every day."
Chu Linyu's heart trembled, and something was blocking his throat. He swallowed hard.
He finally found his voice and pretended to be relaxed: "What about the bad guys?"
"Bad guys," Xia Lanzheng was still laughing, "I wish them all the worst."
Before he could finish his words, he was suddenly kicked lightly on the butt.
“Wish who a bad journey?”
Xia Lanzheng looked up and saw Chu Linchuan's face, intact and still handsome.
"elder brother!"
"Get up," Chu Linchuan pulled him up, "We're done talking, it's your turn to go in."
Xia Lanzheng's feet were numb, so she leaned on Chu Linchuan's arm to help him recover. Chu Linchuan didn't say much, but Xia Lanzheng knew the deal was done.
"How is it?" Chu Linyu was genuinely curious. "Is everything okay? Can I come in?"
Chu Linchuan glanced at him and said, "It's okay. You still have to wait here."
Chu Linyu scolded him and said that after the day was over, Xia Lanzheng and Chu Linchuan would have to give him a big gift.
Chu Linchuan escorted Xia Lanzheng into the house, and when he came out, he sat down where he had just been squatting. Chu Linyu took out a cigarette case, shook it, and handed it to her.
"Did you hear everything just now?" Chu Linyu asked, biting his cigarette.
Chu Linchuan held the cigarette in his hand without saying a word. After a few seconds, he picked up the lighter and lit the cigarette.
He heard every word Xia Lanzheng said. When Chu Linyu said it was difficult to be happy, Chu Linchuan answered for Xia Lanzheng in his heart.
He has spent many unhappy days and nights, how could he not know?
However, Xia Lanzheng did not complain at all. Like a silly lamb or a sunflower, her vitality was much stronger than that of the flowers planted by Chu Linchuan.
He also hoped that Xia Lanzheng would be happy, but time did not need to stop. It should just flow slowly and merge into a wider river along with the mood at that time.
"If you don't want to smoke, stop asking me for cigarettes," Chu Linyu said. "Just put it out. What are you staring at?"
"Didn't you give it to me?" Chu Linchuan put the unsmoked cigarette directly into Chu Linyu's mouth. He didn't get angry even when he was scolded. "Can't I just stare at you and have fun?"
*
The atmosphere in the room was much more relaxed than before, but still different from the outside.
Yang Yuxiao returned to the look that Xia Lanzheng was familiar with, while Chu Lang had a stern face and followed him with his eyes since he came in.
Xia Lanzheng suddenly felt unsure. Did Chu Linchuan fail to reach an agreement? But he had clearly acted confident just now. This shouldn't be the case.
"Zheng Zheng," Chu Lang gestured for him to sit down, "Do you remember that your name isn't in the Chu family?"
Xia Lanzheng nodded: "I remember, what's wrong?"
Chu Lang clasped his hands together and said, "When I first brought you back, you weren't very happy about it, so I told you to wait until you were 18 and then make your own decision."
Xia Lanzheng said "hmm" and almost immediately remembered this incident.
Yang Yuxiao poured Xia Lanzheng a glass of water and said, "Now that you've decided to be with Lin Chuan, the nature of this matter has changed."
Xia Lanzheng was momentarily stunned. He had prepared for the worst, but he hadn't expected Yang Yuxiao and Chu Lang to be so direct. He could only nod blankly and wait for the final judgment.
Yang Yuxiao crossed one leg over the other and pushed the cup forward a bit: "Why are you so nervous? We haven't finished talking yet."
Xia Lanzheng picked up the cup but didn't drink: "I... am not nervous."
Chu Lang glanced at the door and said, "Of course, that's just the surface. No matter what, you are the youngest son of the Chu family."
Xia Lanzheng fell into silence for quite a long time. He stared at Chu Lang and Yang Yuxiao in a daze, even forgetting to blink.
I don’t know what happened in the room just now, but the words of Yang Yuxiao and Chu Lang were like a shot of adrenaline, telling him that he was a member of the Chu family no matter what.
Yang Yuxiao smiled and continued, "That's all. Mom and Dad want to say. Don't think too much."
Xia Lanzheng's nose felt sore, and she held her head high, not daring to look down. He should have said something at this moment, but there was so much he wanted to say that it all turned into a tear.
Chu Lang didn't expect him to cry. He froze for two seconds and then pulled out a tissue for him. Yang Yuxiao pulled Xia Lanzheng up from the sofa and pushed him upstairs.
"Don't cry, Zhengzheng. Traveling must be tiring, right? Go back and have a good rest and go to bed early."
More words were shut outside the door. Xia Lanzheng leaned against the door. There was no sound outside, but the conversation in the yard downstairs came in through the window.
"Chu Linchuan, you've always had a sour face since you were little. Don't smile, it's disgusting."
"Then stay away from me, close your eyes, and better yet, shut your mouth. Why do you talk so much?"
Xia Lanzheng felt inexplicably relieved after hearing this. She ignored the open window and laughed.
This room, neither too big nor too small, is like a tightly wrapped heart, hidden in the deepest part of the body, beating secretly.
There was a knock on the door. Xia Lanzheng sat up from the bed without asking who it was, because his intuition had already told him.
There was no need to hide anything. Chu Linchuan probably wanted to tease him, so he made a gesture to keep quiet and slipped into the house through the crack in the door.
Xia Lanzheng cooperated with him and whispered, "Have you been discovered?"
Chu Linchuan leaned over and hugged him: "We've been discovered, what should we do?"
"What should I do?" Xia Lanzheng touched Chu Linchuan's earlobe, then reached back and touched the back of his head. "You washed your hair, why didn't you blow dry it?"
Suddenly, he was picked up and his legs subconsciously clamped around Chu Linchuan's waist. Chu Linchuan dragged his thighs and carried him for a few steps.
Xia Lanzheng's steady breathing echoed in her ear, his back pressed against the soft mattress. The quilt, still warm, embraced him, and then he fell into another warm embrace.
The dense kisses extended from the forehead to the corners of the lips.
At first, it was like a small stone that was heated up and slowly fell into Xia Lanzheng's pajamas, leaving tiny red marks on her body.
Xia Lanzheng's toes were tensed, and his lower back left the mattress. Chu Linchuan's arm passed through the gap in between, his palm clasped his side waist, and he lowered his head to block his faint breathing.
This time, it wasn't just his hands that were tied; he felt as if he had fallen into a large net carefully woven by Chu Linchuan.
The silk screen after the rain was wet and sticky, completely filling my heart.
The sky seemed to be neither bright nor dim, and Xia Lanzheng couldn't tell clearly, but the moon was very round and kept shining in her eyes.
At some point, the surroundings became quiet, only the blood was still boiling.
"What did mom and dad... tell you?" Xia Lanzheng had tears in her eyes. After her brain started working, she wanted to understand clearly as soon as possible.
His eyes were still hazy and his voice was low. Chu Linchuan patted him on the back and said jokingly, "Are you sure you want to talk about this now?"
Xia Lanzheng rolled her eyes, thinking it was indeed inappropriate: "Oh, we can talk about it next time."
Chu Linchuan was silent for a while, then grabbed the tip of his hair and said, "I'll tell my parents, if they don't agree, I'll elope with you."
"Is this true?" Xia Lanzheng narrowed her eyes. "Don't pull my hair. It hurt just now!"
Chu Linchuan laughed and said, "Do you really believe it? It's fake."
"No, I'm just teasing you."
"Okay, go ahead," Chu Linchuan started braiding Xia Lanzheng's hair. His fingertips went around the ends of her hair, and he suddenly stopped. "Zhengzheng, I want to tell you something."
Xia Lanzheng raised her head and looked into Chu Linchuan's eyes. She reached out and touched his eyelashes, then hummed softly.
Chu Linchuan kissed the back of his hand.
"I have to go out tomorrow, wait until I get back."
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