Chapter 41 Chapter 41 Tell me, do you like me?

“Yes, I know.”

Ruan Zhao stared at Gu Huaiyan who was so close to him with wide eyes, and his eyes, which used to be clear, were now full of helplessness.

He knew that he must have annoyed Gu Huaiyan today, and he had imagined that Gu Huaiyan would be angry, but when Gu Huaiyan really did that, or even just pinched him to prevent him from escaping, he felt that he could not bear the pressure.

The one who would not be trapped and beaten in the past? The fallen Ruan Zhao disappeared. In front of Gu Huaiyan, he became fragile and aggrieved.

However, Gu Huaiyan did not let him go, and even pinched him tighter and tighter when he struggled, as if he wanted to press him on himself?

Gu Huaiyan thought so, and actually did so. He used his palm to push Ruan Zhao's waist, and Ruan Zhao couldn't bear the force and fell directly on his chest.

With a bang, the popcorn bucket on his knees fell to the ground. Ruan Zhao subconsciously tried to pick it up, but his body twisted outward. Gu Huaiyan only felt his movement and suddenly grabbed his wrist, forcing him to look at him again.

"You really know?" Gu Huaiyan asked in a low voice, "Have you forgotten what I told you on the phone?"

Faced with Gu Huaiyan's anger, Ruan Zhao was uneasy.

"You are engaged to me but you go to bars with other men, sit among other men, and even get hugged by others. Do you really know what an engagement is? Or do you just want to have a legal relationship?"

"No, it's not." As soon as Ruan Zhao opened his mouth, his voice trembled violently and he completely lost the momentum to refute.

That's not the case! He went to the bar with Zhang Ming just because Zhang Ming helped him, sat among the men just because they were all friends, and was hugged by Zhang Ming just as their way of welcoming him. That hug came too suddenly, and he didn't even have time to react!

Ruan Zhao kept explaining in his mind. He looked at Gu Huaiyan with his mouth half open, but he couldn't say a word? Couldn't say a word?

Because Gu Huaiyan's last sentence, that he only wanted to have a legally recognized relationship, hit the mark!

Ever? He had been thinking this way since he got here.

Want? A stable relationship...

Whatever it is, it doesn't matter who the other party is. Even on the first day of his visit, he was ready to sacrifice his body.

He only knew this unspeakable thing, and he didn't think it was shameful. He enjoyed it, thinking that as long as he could make Gu Huaiyan feel comfortable and satisfied, his existence here would have meaning.

He didn't dare to look into Gu Huaiyan's eyes again, avoiding Gu Huaiyan's gaze that was fixed on his face. If he couldn't run away, he would just lower his head, preferring to be an ostrich that deceives itself.

His fiancé was irritated by him and he no longer had the qualifications to pursue a stable relationship.

The hand that was pinched drooped limply, and Ruan Zhao's tense body seemed to have lost all its strength. He has always been optimistic, but at this moment he was not sad about losing a stable relationship, but felt a pain in his heart as if it was being squeezed.

His mind couldn't help but recall every detail of the past few days, all of which were related to Gu Huaiyan. The more he recalled, the more his heart ached, so much so that tears rolled out.

At some point, the hand that was pinching his waist loosened and became the only support for his body. His wrist was freed, and Gu Huaiyan used the hand that had controlled him to wipe his tears.

"Now do you know what an engagement is?"

A low voice came from above my head, with a soothing tone.

Ruan Zhao lowered his head and blinked his swollen eyes, as if he understood and yet didn't.

After the tears were wiped, Gu Huaiyan's fingertips were still on his eyelids, gently rubbing them to relieve his discomfort. His bulging eyeballs trembled under his eyelids. Gu Huaiyan said slowly, "The engagement is what you just thought about. You are thinking about it, and I am thinking about it too."

I miss the beginning of our relationship, the ill intentions when we first met, the helpless misunderstandings, the cold courtyard in the morning and the warm lights in the house, the cashmere scarf around my neck and the scallion noodles that separated us, I want to eavesdrop on your inner voice, and I also miss you being ignorant and not yet in love with me.

"Zhao Zhao, I like you." Gu Huaiyan said seriously, his voice blending with the background music of the movie, "It has nothing to do with the engagement between the Ruan family and the Gu family, and it does not require a legal relationship to restrict it. It is just the love between two independent individuals. Even if you and I are nothing, we still want to be together."

Just like the truth he heard when he walked into the bar, what they wanted was to be together forever.

It's a pity that Ruan Zhao didn't have the chance to speak, but fortunately he could hear it.

His fingers slid across his cheeks, and Gu Huaiyan lifted Ruan Zhao's chin. Under the flickering light, Ruan Zhao's eyes were red. Gu Huaiyan lowered his head and gave him a kiss on his forehead, then on his eyes, nose, and corners of his mouth. He took out the bouquet of roses that he had prepared earlier from behind the sofa and placed it in Ruan Zhao's arms.

I don't want Ruan Zhao to continue to speculate about my health. I have to avoid him today, go to the hospital tomorrow, and I don't know what I will do the day after tomorrow. What will happen?

I thought it was just Ruan Zhao who was overthinking, but in the end? It turned out that he was the one who was uneasy.

"Tell me, do you like me?" Gu Huaiyan asked.

In the dim room, the cool scent of the rose pierced the burnt sweet smell of popcorn. Ruan Zhao lowered his head in a daze, with the fiery red sparks of the rose in his arms.

Redder than any bouquet of roses before, irritating his swollen and aching eyes, he finally regained consciousness, and the panic just now returned to his eyes again. He didn't dare to look at Gu Huaiyan, and he flipped the rose on his lap as if he had been electrocuted, and then ran out without looking back.

As soon as the person left, the room suddenly became quiet. The movie hadn't even finished yet, and Gu Huaiyan sighed and picked up the broken rose bouquet from the floor.

-

"Zhao Zhao?"

Mrs. Ruan had an appointment to play mahjong at home, and Ruan Zhao ran upstairs like a gust of wind. Mrs. Ruan was surprised. She didn't expect him to come back so suddenly that he even forgot to play the nine bamboo cards in his hand. Just as she was about to catch up with him upstairs, she heard Gu Huaiyan calling her aunt at the door.

Gu Huaiyan is a handsome man with a noble bearing. His appearance is eye-catching, not to mention that he is holding a bouquet of roses in his hand.

When the mahjong aunties saw Gu Huaiyan, they all came up to praise Mrs. Ruan for her good taste. Mrs. Ruan was so happy that she forgot about her little son who was playing upstairs.

"Nowhere, no where," Mrs. Ruan covered her face shyly, "Huai Yan's father and Old Ruan are old friends. When Huai Yan was little, he often played at our house. It's not that we picked him specially, he is a relative... Oh, I won't tell you guys, when the two boys come back, I will quickly ask Auntie to cook, and I will invite you guys to play mahjong next time!"

After sending off a few chattering aunties, Mrs. Ruan started to ask the aunties to buy food. Gu Huaiyan placed the flowers in his hand on the tea table. "Auntie, I don't want to eat anymore. Do I have anything else to do today?"

"What's the matter? It's so serious? You don't even want to eat?" Mrs. Ruan took a look at the rose and suddenly seemed to understand something. "You guys? Are you making trouble? "

Gu Huaiyan smiled and said, "I'll need it later. Let's go back to the company."

"Why are you so busy?" Mrs. Ruan looked back at the second floor. "Zhao Zhao blames you for being too busy?"

Gu Huaiyan shook his head and said, "I'll come back in two days after I finish my work to pick him up."

Seeing that Gu Huaiyan was about to leave, Mrs. Ruan was afraid that he would be delayed in his work, so she had to say, "Well, it just so happens that his brother is coming back soon. You can come over to eat then. Auntie will make you some soup. Your mother can't go abroad these days, right? Ask her to come over as well."

Gu Huaiyan nodded, looked upstairs, and then left the Ruan family.

The door of the room on the second floor was not closed tightly. Ruan Zhao leaned against the door and vaguely heard Gu Huaiyan going back to the company. Not long after, he heard Mrs. Ruan's voice, calling his father and saying that he was back.

After wandering around the door for half an hour, seeing that Gu Huaiyan was really gone, Ruan Zhao covered his chest and lay on his back on the bed. His heart, which had been beating wildly just now, slowly calmed down, and a trace of sadness appeared again, just like the sky outside the window, which was getting darker and darker.

The soup was cooked at home. Mrs. Ruan cooked it herself. Father Ruan came back from work early. Under the warm yellow light, the bowl of soup in front of Ruan Zhao was steaming.

The ceramic spoon hit the edge of the bowl with a crisp sound. Father Ruan scooped a spoonful of steamed egg with clams and gave it to Ruan Zhao: "Try your mother's cooking. Your brother and Huai Yan used to fight for it when they were little."

It would have been fine if he hadn't mentioned it. Ruan Zhao just didn't have the energy. But when he mentioned Gu Huaiyan's name, the sour feeling in his heart came out again, aggrieved, like a thin thread wandering in his body, entangling him.

He had no appetite, but seeing how hard Mrs. Ruan was working to cook, he forced himself to eat a few mouthfuls of rice.

At night, while taking a shower, Ruan Zhao put his cell phone beside him and looked at it every once in a while. When he came out of the shower, Mrs. Ruan was knocking on his door.

"Mom." Ruan Zhao opened the door. "What's the matter?"

Mrs. Ruan had already noticed that he was unhappy, and now she came in with a large photo album in her arms? "Come? Let me see you. Let me show you when you were a child."

Ruan Zhao was lost when he was three years old. Fortunately, there were many photos of him before he was three years old. The mother and son sat on the edge of the bed, and Mrs. Ruan pointed at the photos one by one and showed them to Ruan Zhao.

"This is you, with big eyes. Aren't you cute? When your brother was little, he always said you were his younger sister. But at that time he was in the country, and you and I were abroad. He only saw you once during the summer vacation." Mrs. Ruan said, and she became sad as she spoke. She was the one who lost his little son.

Ruan Zhao couldn't bear to see him sad, so he patted her shoulder and quickly flipped through the photos.

"Mom, please tell me what happened next. Although I wasn't at home, I also want to know what home was like back then."

Ruan Zhao actually didn't have much feeling about his original past. All his joys, sorrows, anger and happiness came from his past. After coming here, Mrs. Ruan and Father Ruan treated him well, so he respected them.

"Okay, okay, let's look at the back." Mrs. Ruan rubbed her eyes and continued to flip through the photo album with Ruan Zhao.

"This is the house we bought after I returned to China when your father started a company and made money." Mrs. Ruan pointed at the photo, "This is your brother in the third grade of elementary school, and next to him is his bicycle."

Ruan Zhao looked at the photo and listened quietly to Mrs. Ruan's chattering. When Ruan Cheng was in the fifth grade, there was a boy in the photo.

"This is Huai Yan." Mrs. Ruan's voice suddenly became higher. "Can you tell? Does he look like he does now?"

Ruan Zhao's pupils shrank, and his eyes seemed to be fixed on that photo?

Gu Huaiyan looked more like his mother when he was young. He was only about ten years old, with a flamboyant smile on his face.

He and Ruan Cheng had their shoulders hooked, their heads touching, as if they were very close.

"When Huai Yan was little, he only got along with your brother." Mrs. Ruan recalled the past, "They went to school together and did homework together. At that time, we adults were very busy and had no time to cook for them, so they cooked for themselves. Huai Yan cooked rice and your brother cooked vegetables. Although they didn't look very good, they actually tasted very good."

It was late at night and Ruan Zhao was feeling very depressed. As soon as Mrs. Ruan left, he opened the window as wide as possible.

Cold wind blew into the room. Ruan Zhao sat at the desk, flipping through the photo album page by page. His fingers were red from the cold. He didn't realize that since Gu Huaiyan and Ruan Cheng met, they had been together every day.

The photo is full of bright sunshine, which is a time when Ruan Zhao did not exist yet.

Until the early morning, Ruan Zhao's phone did not receive any messages. He lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. He sat up, walked out of the room, and saw that everyone in the house was asleep. Then he quietly went downstairs and took the roses from the living room back to his room.