Chapter 39
Perhaps because of the recollections of the past, Lu Mingxiao had a nightmare.
The courtyard when I was six years old is not much different from now. Lu Chuan was not sick yet and worked the night shift at the factory. Li Qing's decoration team completed several jobs very well and was finally no longer looked down upon because of their gender. They gained a reputation and received several orders, even from the next city. Sometimes they couldn't come back at night.
That night, Li Rui suddenly developed a fever. Grandma Li and Grandpa Li were busy taking care of their own child, so little Lu Mingxiao took the initiative to ask to go home to stay. In the midst of the commotion, Grandpa Li grabbed a handful of candy for him, saying that he would be back to pick him up soon, and also greeted Lu Mingxiao's original neighbors.
The neighbor uncle readily agreed, then turned around, drank, and went to sleep.
Lu Mingxiao, a tiny boy, huddled in the corner of the sofa, clutching his little backpack full of candy, waiting for Grandpa Li to come home. He was too young and a little scared to be alone in the empty house, so he turned on all the lights and the TV.
His favorite cartoon was playing on TV, and he was initially engrossed in watching it, but soon his eyelids started to droop. In his drowsy state, he heard a rustling sound.
"It's probably a big rat," Lu Mingxiao thought.
He cautiously peeked out from behind the sofa and looked toward the source of the sound.
A dark figure squeezed in through the slightly ajar kitchen window.
The bizarre and fantastical dream combined with past memories made the dark shadow particularly distorted and terrifying, like a wild beast with all four limbs on the ground, falling heavily onto the kitchen floor. He looked around and saw Lu Mingxiao lying on the sofa.
Luo Gui's face was already blurry in my memory. The dark figure stood up and walked towards Lu Mingxiao, panting like a wild beast.
The perspective in the dream suddenly shifted, and he saw Luo Gui punching and kicking something in the corner, as if it were a lifeless sack. The small lump at his feet was whimpering and pleading like a puppy.
Until Luo Gui spoke with utter malice:
"Your mother is a good-for-nothing traitor. I raised her for years, and she didn't even give me a single child. But she found some random guy and had a little bastard..."
The child, who had been motionless, suddenly jumped up and bit the man's hand hard. No matter how the man kicked and hit him, the child wouldn't let go until a series of slaps landed on his face.
In the end, Lu Mingxiao's ear was ringing in one ear, while in the other ear where he could hear clearly, he heard the most vicious words he had ever heard in his life.
"Your mother's a slut, she cost me five thousand yuan, and I slept with her when she was only seventeen..." He pinched Lu Mingxiao's face and looked him over: "Damn, it's a pity she's a guy, otherwise I'd have a taste of her tenderness too..."
This dream had haunted Lu Mingxiao for many years, so there was nothing new about it. He looked down at him, coldly waiting for the next wave of torment.
But this dream seems a little different.
Amidst the ringing in my right ear, a childish voice suddenly broke in:
“Lu…Mingxiao…Lu Mingxiao…”
The voice, like sunlight piercing through the fog, gradually became clear and distinct.
"Lu Mingxiao—!!!"
A tiny figure opened the window and crawled in. It was a snow-white blob, and it ran over on its short legs, pulling out a recurve bow that was taller than itself from behind its back.
Lu Mingxiao: ...
Is this reasonable?
Xiao Jiang Huaiyu drew his bow and nocked an arrow, striking Luo Gui squarely in the forehead. Luo Gui let out a "whoop" and shattered into countless colorful pieces of paper, which were swept away by the wind through the open window.
"Lu...Mingxiao...Lu Mingxiao!"
The sounds around him gradually became clearer; someone was anxiously pinching his cheek.
Lu Mingxiao opened his eyes, and the soft, round face in his dream gradually overlapped with the handsome young man's face in front of him. He was momentarily disoriented and groggily touched Jiang Huaiyu's earlobe: "How did you climb in through the window?"
"What do you mean, climbing through the window?" Jiang Huaiyu touched his sweaty forehead. "You were talking in your sleep the whole time. What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"
The bed was too small, and the two of us squeezed together all night. We both had aches and pains in our backs and legs. Sleeping so crampedly, it's hard not to have nightmares...
But Lu Mingxiao didn't say anything. He hugged Jiang Xiaoyu, who was lying on his chest, and buried his head in his neck to take a deep breath.
"It's okay, it's not a nightmare, it's a dream with a happy ending."
Although he was the one who proposed dating, Jiang Huaiyu was still a little unaccustomed to such intimacy, but he didn't reject it. However, his ears turned excessively red, and when Lu Mingxiao saw this, he couldn't help but lean over and kiss his earlobe...
The body under the covers trembled slightly, and Jiang Huaiyu couldn't help but call out to stop him: "Brother Xiao..."
"Knock knock—"
Li Qing knocked on the door from the outside, her voice more energetic than the morning sun: "Children, wake up!"
Jiang Huaiyu was startled and instinctively tried to get out of bed, but her long legs were still wrapped in the blanket, so she rolled off the bed in a disheveled manner. Lu Mingxiao quickly reached out to catch her, but was pulled off the bed along with her.
The two of them rolled around in the gap between the table and the bed. Li Qing heard the two loud noises and knocked on the door twice: "What are you two doing? Are you tearing the house apart so early in the morning? Or are you fighting?"
The blanket was thick, so the fall didn't hurt, but the gaps were too narrow, and the two of them couldn't get up for a while. If their mother found out that the two of them were "fighting" like this, then their family wouldn't need to set off fireworks. Li Qing could beat Lu Mingxiao to a pulp, so why didn't she beat Jiang Xiaoyu...
Jiang Huaiyu bumped into a table leg, her eyes reddening with pain, her beautiful eyes misting over.
Who could bring themselves to do that?!
"Mom, it's nothing, I just fell down because I was half asleep!" Lu Mingxiao said, "Don't come in, okay? I forgot to turn off the electric blanket last night, it was a bit hot, so I took off my pajamas..."
"You even took off your pajamas!" You could tell from her voice that Li Qing's eyebrows were practically flying: "Do you think you're pretty? You're an eyesore!"
Lu Mingxiao: ...
You are truly my mother.
After Li Qing left, the two of them hurriedly got up. Lu Mingxiao rescued Jiang Huaiyu from under the covers, pulled him up, stood by the bed, brushed aside his hair, and examined the young master Jiang's precious head.
"Thank goodness, there's no broken skin or swelling..."
Jiang Huaiyu grasped his wrist and looked up at him: "Do you often dream about things from the past?"
Lu Mingxiao hadn't expected this matter to be over yet. He ruffled the boy's soft hair and said with a smile, "Nothing of the sort. Would I be affected by something so trivial?"
Young Master Jiang remained silent, staring stubbornly at him. A tuft of hair stood up on his head, defiantly sticking out. Lu Mingxiao reached out and pressed it down twice, but the hair still stood up unruly, like a small antenna, sending a signal of dissatisfaction to Lu Mingxiao's perfunctory attitude.
“Okay, okay…” Lu Mingxiao sat down next to Jiang Huaiyu and naturally took his hand: “I used to have nightmares a lot. I didn’t know who to talk to back then. Li Rui was just a little kid. He didn’t understand anything except having a runny nose. I couldn’t tell my parents either. They already felt very guilty. My mom even found a psychologist for me back then, but I was too young and wouldn’t cooperate…”
Jiang Huaiyu simply listened quietly to him; any words of comfort seemed inadequate at that moment. Only their clasped hands and the slow, gentle warmth of their bodies mingled.
Surprisingly, Lu Mingxiao's hand was warmer, as if he had grasped a vibrant little sun.
“Back then, I couldn’t sleep at night. That’s when Tiger was brought home. If there was even the slightest noise in the yard, it would bark incessantly. Mom said Tiger would grow up and become a big dog that could protect me…” Lu Mingxiao smiled gently: “Yes, grow up. I think I will grow up too.”
"Later, as I grew taller and stronger, I learned boxing from Brother Hao, and gradually the nightmare stopped..." Lu Mingxiao narrowed his eyes, a cold ruthlessness slowly emerging between his deep brows: "I even think Luo Gui came out a bit 'late.' If it had been earlier, while I was still a minor, maybe I..."
A kiss landed on his fingertips, the cool temperature instantly dispelling his gloomy mood. Lu Mingxiao came back to his senses and looked at the boy who was kissing the back of his hand with his eyes lowered. His eyelashes were so long, thick and dense, trembling restlessly like butterfly wings.
Lu Mingxiao paused, calmed himself down, and was about to ask Jiang Huaiyu if she was frightened.
Jiang Huaiyu: "Try to run over this scumbag and kill him. Don't dirty your hands."
Lu Mingxiao: ...
No wonder he's Li Qing's biological son.
As it turns out, the solution to treating a madman is to be even mader than him. Lu Mingxiao regained his senses and gently advised, "This isn't a good idea... We still need to abide by the law."
This is certainly not good, but the Jiang family can use law-abiding methods to ensure that Luo Gui can never get out of jail for the rest of his life.
...
After learning about Tiger's background, Jiang Huaiyu doted on him even more, feeding him all sorts of high-end pet treats until he became plump and strong. When Brother Hao, whom she had met once at the bathhouse, came to pay New Year's visits, he saw Tiger and his eyes lit up. He suggested taking Tiger to a blind date.
Tiger was borrowed for a week, and when he came back, his eyes were dull, and he brought back two hundred yuan as a reward for his hard work.
As an adult dog, it's only natural for Tiger to accomplish the important things in his dog life. As a minor, Lu Mingxiao hasn't even considered taking that step yet. But with four pairs of eyes watching at home, it's extremely difficult to even hold hands or kiss someone's cheek. And the fact that four parents randomly refresh the table is just too much.
“Jiang Xiaoyu…” Back in the room that night, Lu Mingxiao squatted by Jiang Huaiyu’s bed and grumbled, “Let’s take the wooden planks apart, and it would be better if we put the bed together too.”
Jiang Huaiyu: "Why don't you take the cabinet doors off too?"
Xiao Ge, who had become a monk halfway through his life and whose face was bent at a right angle, looked bewildered: "What cabinet?"
Jiang Huaiyu: "I mean, you should tone it down a bit and not let your parents notice anything amiss."
"When will this ever end..." Lu Mingxiao lay on Jiang Huaiyu's pillow, propping his chin up as he looked at her. Not satisfied with just looking, he reached out and touched her eyelashes. "Jiang Xiaoyu... I heard from Mom and Dad that you're going to study abroad at university?"
Jiang Huaiyu turned to face him as she lay down: "This was originally the plan..."
"Originally?" Lu Mingxiao asked, "Has the plan changed?"
Jiang Huaiyu stopped talking and just looked at him quietly.
His eyes were beautiful, with slightly upturned corners, like a beauty in an ancient painting, or a bit like a cat. Even without speaking, his eyes could express a lot of emotions. Lu Mingxiao was mesmerized, and after a moment he couldn't help but lower his head and kiss his eyelashes.
"Beauty can be a trap, Young Master Jiang. Don't let my situation ruin your future..." Lu Mingxiao said, "You don't need to stop and wait for me. I will try my best to catch up with you."
Author's Note:
I haven't dared to look at the comments section these past few days since there haven't been any updates [crying emoji]
Sorry, everyone, I've been so tired these past few days. I just wanted to lie down when I got home, but I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow and didn't wake up. I only managed to write this after waking up from a nap. [crying emoji]
I'll make up for it in the next few days, and I'll aim for at least six thousand tomorrow.
Leave a comment below and I'll randomly send out 100 small red envelopes [cat paw].
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