Chapter 37
Lu Mingxiao quickly blended into the crowd without saying a word.
Jiang Huaiyu felt uneasy, but he was pushing a shopping cart full of items and was already close to the checkout counter. He didn't know how long he would have to wait in line, so he had no choice but to continue walking forward with the queue.
Li Rui quickly returned with a packet of MSG, looking around and asking, "Brother Yu, where's Brother Xiao?"
Jiang Huaiyu took his MSG and paid the bill together: "He seemed to see someone he knew and left in a hurry."
They bought quite a lot of things, so Li Rui and Jiang Huaiyu each carried a bag and stood in a less crowded spot at the supermarket entrance waiting for Lu Mingxiao to return. Li Rui was chattering away, but Jiang Huaiyu didn't pay any attention; she was just thinking about the look in Lu Mingxiao's eyes.
When Lu Mingxiao looked at him, his eyes were always bright and spirited, like the sun hiding in his eyes after sunset. These eyes perfectly balanced his overly sharp facial features, to the point that Jiang Huaiyu almost forgot what Lu Mingxiao's eyes looked like when they turned cold.
No, it wasn't a coldness devoid of warmth.
Jiang Huaiyu squinted and thought about it carefully again.
Those violently surging...
Those things that turned Lu Mingxiao into a stranger in an instant...
It is hatred.
Li Rui was still squatting beside Jiang Huaiyu's legs, chatting away, when suddenly someone grabbed him by the back of his collar and lifted him up.
"What's wrong, Yu-ge?" He looked up and was taken aback when he saw Jiang Huaiyu's face. "You look so pale? Did you catch a cold from the strong wind?"
"Has Lu Mingxiao had any particularly serious conflicts with anyone?" Jiang Huaiyu couldn't understand how a minor could have such a look in his eyes. He stared at the bewildered Li Rui, and after a moment added, "Not the kind of minor squabbles, I mean... enemies!"
Jiang Huaiyu finally found the right adjective, but this adjective made her even more uneasy.
“Enemies?” Li Rui asked in surprise, “Academic genius, you must be joking. You know how popular Brother Xiao is. Even those who fought with Brother Xiao after graduation are now his buddies. How could he have any enemies?”
“No, not like that…” Seeing Li Rui’s blank look, Jiang Huaiyu changed her question: “Li Rui, you grew up with Lu Mingxiao since you were little, has anything special happened to him over the years?”
“Something special? Nothing, right…” Seeing Jiang Huaiyu’s serious expression, Li Rui also became serious, carefully recalling the events, his face suddenly turning pale: “Brother Xiao doesn’t have any enemies, but Aunt Qing does, and this person… this person…”
"Li Rui."
Li Rui froze, turning to look at Lu Mingxiao who was walking quickly towards him.
Lu Mingxiao was still slightly out of breath. He took two steps up the steps to the door, took the large shopping bag from Jiang Huaiyu, and then looked at Li Rui: "Did you buy the MSG? Let's go."
Li Rui wasn't stupid, but he wasn't blind. Lu Mingxiao practically had "shut up" written all over his face, so how could he not understand? He shrank back, picked up his shopping bag, and left the supermarket first.
Jiang Huaiyu had already gleaned crucial information from Li Rui's few words, but he also knew Lu Mingxiao's temperament. If Lu Mingxiao didn't want to talk, there was no way to get him to open his mouth with a crowbar. So he could only keep his composure and follow Lu Mingxiao quietly.
The three teenagers took a taxi home, and the atmosphere was very tense the whole way, which puzzled the taxi driver. He couldn't understand why these three kids had such long faces during the Chinese New Year. Did they not do well on their final exams and get punished by their families?
Having finally reached the alley entrance, Li Rui dared not stay with Lu Mingxiao any longer. She grabbed her groceries and ran home, completely forgetting about the big floral cotton-padded jacket she had left at Lu's house.
Lu Mingxiao was lost in thought the whole way until the iron gate of the courtyard was pushed open with a creak, which brought him back to his senses.
Jiang Huaiyu seemed not to have heard what Li Rui said, and smiled at him with her eyes crinkling: "We're home now. What have you been thinking about on the way here?"
Lu Mingxiao's thin lips moved slightly, and after a moment he smiled gently: "It's nothing. I just saw a familiar figure from behind, and when I chased after him, I realized I had mistaken him for someone else."
"He was chasing you so fast just now, does he owe you money?" Jiang Huaiyu asked, feigning nonchalance.
Lu Mingxiao didn't answer, but just looked at him quietly. After a moment, he stepped forward and gently pulled Jiang Huaiyu to the shadows behind the door. Before Jiang Huaiyu could react, he reached out and hugged her, buried his head in Jiang Huaiyu's soft, fluffy scarf, and slowly took a breath.
The scent was clean and fresh. Even though they were using the same laundry detergent, the young master had a unique and pleasant fragrance. Lu Mingxiao found comfort in this warm and comforting scent, and his frantic heartbeat finally calmed down.
"Lu Mingxiao." Jiang Huaiyu also raised her hand to hug him, slowly tightening her arms: "I'm scared when you're like this."
Although his tone was calm, Lu Mingxiao knew he was telling the truth.
“I’m sorry to have worried you…” Lu Mingxiao hugged him and shook him, as if he were a large doll: “But Brother Xiao didn’t lie to you, he really just mistook you for someone else.”
"I believe you, so what?" Jiang Huaiyu turned her head, her soft breath brushing against Lu Mingxiao's earlobe: "Who did you mistake him for?"
Lu Mingxiao simply and blatantly cheated: "It's a secret, an insignificant secret."
Young Master Jiang got angry, refused to be hugged, pushed him away, turned around and walked into the courtyard, going into the house first.
When Lu Mingxiao came in carrying shopping bags, the preparations for the New Year's Eve dinner officially began. Song Jingliang was stewing and frying in the kitchen, Lu Chuan was kneading dough, and Li Qing was preparing dumpling filling. When she saw the two children come in, she smiled and scolded, "I thought you two were afraid of the cold and would wait until spring to come back! Did you buy soy sauce? Hurry up and bring it to me."
"Mom, we're going through soy sauce way too fast. My mom and her family are from the south, so they prefer milder flavors. Please put less in." Lu Mingxiao took out the soy sauce and gave it to Li Qing, then took the rest of the food to the kitchen.
Jiang Huaiyu washed her hands and came to help. The family gathered together to make dumplings. They casually mentioned Lu Mingxiao's rapidly improving grades this year, and naturally, the conversation turned to university.
"He finally has a chance to get into a university. If he works a little harder, he might even get into a top-tier university. I never would have dared to dream of that before." Li Qing deftly rolled out dumpling wrappers, her face still a little floury. "It's mainly because Da Bao works hard, and secondly, I have to thank Xiao Bao for teaching him so diligently over the past six months. By the way, which university does Xiao Bao want to go to in the future?"
“He’s planning to study abroad,” Jiang Lan said with a gentle smile. “He has passed almost all the assessments and his grades are excellent, but he is still considering which school to apply to.”
Lu Mingxiao stopped pounding garlic, the rhythmic thumping sound disappeared, and the adults in the room were all laughing, so no one noticed for a moment.
Jiang Huaiyu glanced at him sharply, and just as she was about to say something, her phone vibrated in her pocket. So she said she needed to go to the restroom and made an excuse to slip into the toilet.
He bypassed Song Jingliang and asked the assistant who had accompanied him to Norway last time to help him look into Li Qing's social connections from earlier years.
Feeling bad about making someone work overtime during the Lunar New Year, Jiang Huaiyu sent the young lady a large red envelope before opening the documents and glancing at them briefly. Soon, his gaze stopped on a police report.
He read the announcement word by word. The familiar words pieced together unfamiliar information. Sometimes, he had to read a short sentence twice. For the first time, Jiang Huaiyu felt that he had a problem with his reading ability, but when those words appeared in front of him...
The victim was six years old.
Home invasion robbery...
Intentional injury...
The circumstances were egregious...
This is the insignificant secret that Lu Mingxiao mentioned.
His body temperature gradually evaporated with the words, until his fingertips were icy cold. He tried to turn off the phone screen, but his hand trembled and he lost his grip, causing the phone to fall heavily into the sink. Fortunately, there was no water in it, but the adults outside noticed the commotion. Jiang Lan asked a question, and he hurriedly replied, not even knowing what he was saying.
After a moment, he composed himself, splashed his face with cold water, and then went outside.
Song Jingliang teased him, "Why have you been hiding in the toilet for so long? Don't you want to avoid work? We've finished making the dumplings, and there are fireworks in the yard. Why don't you two go out and have some fun?"
Lu Mingxiao walked by carrying a plate of dumplings. "Let's not go. Jiang Xiaoyu is especially afraid of the cold. Besides, it's just fireworks, what's so interesting about them? They're usually..."
"Okay, let's go set off fireworks, Dad." Jiang Huaiyu reached out and grabbed Lu Mingxiao's wrist, pulling him towards the door.
"Huh?" Lu Mingxiao almost spilled the dumplings on the floor. "Wait a minute, Jiang Xiaoyu, let me put the things down. Why are you in such a hurry?"
Jiang Huaiyu looked at him, her eyes slightly red: "It's urgent."
He didn't want to wait even a minute longer.
Lu Mingxiao was puzzled, but he cooperated fully. The two boys quickly changed their clothes and went out together.
The snow had just stopped, and the air was cool but refreshing. Lu Mingxiao found a large box of fireworks that Song Jingliang had bought in the yard. He opened it and exclaimed in amazement, "Old Song bought every kind in the store! That's so cool!"
Tiger silently dragged the food bowl back into the doghouse.
Jiang Huaiyu had a lot to say, but when those surging emotions were about to be expressed, he was surprisingly calm.
"Don't set off fireworks in the yard, it's too small." He even suggested in a soft voice, "Brother Xiao, let's go to the open space to the west. We don't need to take so many, just pick two."
"Jiang Xiaoyu is very safety-conscious." Lu Mingxiao nodded. "Then let's do as you say and go!"
The open space wasn't far, only a five or six-minute walk away. Lu Mingxiao carried a box of "Wan Zi Qian Hong" (a type of brocade) and placed it in the center of the open space: "This is the most expensive, it must be beautiful."
He told Jiang Huaiyu to go a little further away, lit the fuse, and then turned and ran towards Jiang Huaiyu. However, the fuses for these large fireworks were quite long, and by the time he reached Jiang Huaiyu, the sparkling fireworks hadn't yet exploded into the sky.
He had no excuse to pretend he hadn't heard Jiang Huaiyu's question.
"Brother Xiao, that person still has two years left in his sentence. You insist on staying here not only because you're worried about Dad's health, but also because you're afraid that person will come back for revenge, right?"
Lu Mingxiao stopped and stood a step away from Jiang Huaiyu.
Fireworks suddenly soared into the sky, illuminating the entire open space. Lu Mingxiao, with his back to the dazzling colors, had an unprecedentedly deep gaze in his eyes. He looked at Jiang Huaiyu, watching the fireworks reflected in those dark eyes, flickering in and out of focus. After a long while, he chuckled helplessly, "Young Master, you're too clever and efficient. When did you find out?"
“Time was short, so we only found out part of the information.” Jiang Huaiyu stepped forward.
The distance between the two suddenly crossed the social boundary, becoming intimate and ambiguous. Jiang Huaiyu slightly raised his head, and the fireworks exploded in a brilliant red, the light falling into his pupils and staining the corners of his narrow eyes red. His voice trembled slightly:
“Lu Mingxiao, if we hadn’t been switched at birth, the one who was beaten and abused by that murderer when we were six years old… should have been me…”
Lu Mingxiao interrupted him: "Jiang Huaiyu, no one 'should' be injured, especially..."
He smiled, then looked down and poked Jiang Huaiyu's cheek: "Right now, I just feel so glad that six-year-old Jiang Xiaobao wasn't there..."
The fireworks trailed streaks of light as they fell, followed by an even more dazzling golden display that bloomed in the night sky. The fireworks display was nearing its end, and Jiang Huaiyu could only feel…
All fleeting moments of beauty should be cherished.
Forget about his gradual approach.
“Lu Mingxiao…” He grabbed Lu Mingxiao’s collar, stood on tiptoe and leaned in to announce, “Let’s date.”
Author's Note:
The young couple finally!!!
Oh my god, I had things to do at home during the day and didn't get to write. I started writing again around 9 pm and it was so choppy. I missed Qixi Festival after all. I was so sleepy but I still finished writing. I have to get up at 5 am tomorrow. [crying emoji]
Sorry, everyone, I missed it! I'll randomly send out 100 small red envelopes in the comments section! [cat paw]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com