Chapter 49 The Angry Old Man: "Curiosity will kill you, you little brat..."
"Curiosity will kill you, you little pig." A hand pinched the back of his neck, and Ning Buyi turned his head with his neck stiff, meeting the person's ambiguous smile.
"You're the pig, Zhu Yanhe is the pig." He retorted with a sidelong glance. The assistants around him kept their eyes down, not hearing a thing, as did the president's wife.
Zhu Yanhe's smile didn't reach his eyes. He withdrew his hand and strode outside, saying, "That pig has gone to eat."
Hey! They didn't mention dinner! He was getting anxious and almost grabbed the fluttering hem of his clothes: "Why didn't you take me with you!"
Zhu Yan glanced down at the hand clutching his clothes, then reached out and grabbed it, pulling it away: "Am I a pig? How am I supposed to take you?"
The warmth of his palm imprinted on the back of his hand was still there. Even though he wasn't using much force, Ning Buyi still strained with all his might, shaking his head and changing his tune: "No, no! I was wrong, I was wrong."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Yanhe paused in his steps. Ning Buyi, as if seeing the dawn of victory, continued, "Zhu Yanhe is the best brother in the world. I like Zhu Yanhe the most."
Ning Buyi racked his brains to praise him to the skies, but when he heard the word "like," Zhu Yanhe turned around with a smile and pushed the person away.
"Holy crap, this is so sweet."
"If only I could slack off at work every day and watch my boss date."
"Tsk tsk tsk, whose good brother is doing this and that."
"Isn't the main point the boss's expression? Is that the kind of expression he'd actually show?!"
The people who had been acting as background figures thawed instantly as the two stepped out. The scene they had just witnessed had left them quite shocked, and now they had a lot to say.
"What do you want to eat?" Ning Buyi sat with his legs together on the office sofa, watching him take out a lunchbox from the bag, the one he had brought when he was hospitalized.
The sound of knuckles tapping open the lunchbox was followed by Zhu Yanhe pushing it in front of him: "Someone's favorite food."
He exclaimed "Wow!" and started stuffing food into his mouth, bite by bite. He really deserved to die for calling his good brother a pig. Thinking this, he glanced at the person eating slowly and deliberately, and his puffed-out cheeks slowed down as well.
Zhu Yanhe looked up and watched him eat, his face expressionless, only chewing a little slower. Ning Buyi watched him take so long to eat a single bite, then chewed for a while before swallowing his food in two or three bites.
"Zhu Yanhe, is Xiao He also at this company?"
He paused for a moment with his chopsticks, then continued putting the food in his mouth: "Mmm."
He glanced at Ning Buyi again quietly: "How did you know?"
"Jingjing said that Xiaohe is the big boss of Lemon Entertainment. I just saw that logo over there." Ning Buyi felt too tired from holding the lunchbox, so he slid off the sofa and sat on the white tile floor to eat his rice.
Zhu Yanhe remained noncommittal. He put down his chopsticks and moved the person on the floor back onto the sofa: "Want to get sick?"
He didn't want to eat while holding the lunchbox, Ning Buyi pouted, "My wrist hurts..."
The seat next to him sank down, and Zhu Yanhe sat down next to him, scooping up some food and bringing it to his mouth. Ning Buyi naturally opened his mouth wide and took a bite, thinking to himself how kind Zhu Yanhe was.
"Zhu Yanhe, will I be able to see Xiao He?"
Seeing the sparkle in Ning Buyi's eyes, he said in a flat tone, with a hint of inexplicable displeasure, "I can't see her. She's not at work."
Ning Buyi's ears drooped down, wondering why his sister was right beside him but he couldn't see her.
"What do you plan to do when you see her?" Zhu Yanhe took out a tissue to wipe the grease off his mouth. He hadn't thought about it yet; he just wanted to take a look.
"You say you're her boyfriend? She hasn't spoken to you for days, maybe she's forgotten about you." Zhu Yanhe scooped up a spoonful of rice, emanating a hint of jealousy that she herself didn't even realize.
He paused, then rested his head on the man's arm, and started to sulk with Zhu Yanhe: "No way, you can't say that about Xiao He!"
Zhu Yanhe is not doing well!
"Why not? She told me a few days ago that she was just playing around with you. Do you think you could have gotten through to her yesterday if I hadn't answered the phone?" The man grabbed the boy's chin, not even knowing why he was suddenly saying these things.
Ning Buyi broke free from his grasp, pushed him away, and moved back to the sofa: "No, it's because I made her angry."
That was the first time Ning Buyi pushed him away. The air seemed to quiet down, with only Ning Buyi's slightly heavy breathing remaining. The wind outside the window almost shattered the glass, and the lunchbox slipped from his hand and fell face down on the ground.
Zhu Yan and Ding Ding looked at the boy in the corner with his head down, his hair covering most of his face.
Ning Buyi liked him, but she also pushed him away.
Zhu Yanhe has left.
He was left alone in the empty office, the huge space so quiet you could hear a pin drop. He leaned on his knees and counted on his fingers. Zhu Yanhe was angry again, but he was the one who started talking about Xiao He.
But Zhu Yanhe is both a bad guy and a good guy.
He buried his face in the back of his knees, not knowing what to do. He hadn't pushed him on purpose; it was just that Ning Buyi was unwilling to admit it.
The clock ticked away, its sound mirroring the pounding of his increasingly cold heart. The office door opened, but he didn't look up. When Zhu Yanhe entered, he saw the small figure huddled in the corner. The sky outside had darkened, and no sunlight penetrated; he was now hidden in the shadows. Zhu Yanhe's heart trembled slightly, and he tightened his grip on the bag.
He walked over to the sofa and sat down a short distance away. He opened the box he was carrying, which contained a delicate crab rice dish.
He clearly wanted to break the ice, but his voice was cold: "Look up."
Ning Buyi's heart skipped a beat from the cold. She obediently raised her head, but stubbornly turned it away, refusing to look at him.
"Eat." Zhu Yanhe scooped up some rice and held it to his lips. Ning Buyi glanced at it out of the corner of his eye, and the aroma traveled through his nose and into his nerves. He tilted his head and ate the rice on the spoon.
Zhu Yanhe would feed him a bite, and Ning Buyi would eat a bite, but he wouldn't turn his head to look at Zhu Yanhe.
After finishing a bowl of rice, Zhu Yanhe put the bowl and spoon aside, took out a tissue, turned the boy around, and saw that his eyes were red and glistening with tears.
Zhu Yanhe paused slightly as he gently wiped his skin. Suddenly, the person under his arm wrapped around his waist without saying a word.
Zhu Yanhe tried to pry it open, but it coiled around him tightly like a snake coiling around its prey.
After a long silence, he said in a muffled voice, his hot breath spraying onto Zhu Yanhe's lower abdomen, "Zhu Yanhe, I'm sorry."
Zhu Yanhe said calmly, "You have nothing to apologize to me for."
Even though his heart had softened completely and he wanted to say the words of forgiveness, he hesitated and became conflicted.
Ning Buyi looked up and met his eyes: "I shouldn't have pushed you, I'm sorry."
He had already forgiven Ning Buyi.
Zhu Yanhe couldn't help but curl her lips when she succeeded, and then she saw that Ning Buyi's eyes, which were originally sincere, had a different meaning, like a kitten's eyes suddenly widening, as if it was about to do something bad.
The next second, Ning Buyi pressed against his lower abdomen and started rubbing wood to make a fire.
"You laughed! You laughed! Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me..."
Zhu Yanhe felt like he had a curse on his head, so he covered Ning Buyi's incessantly babbling mouth and helped him up.
"Wasting food will get you a beating when you get back."
He immediately became obedient. The bowl of rice that had been overturned was still lying quietly on the ground. The boy sullenly avoided Zhu Yanhe's staring gaze, knowing that he was about to get a spanking again!
That works too!
In the afternoon, Zhu Yanhe was sitting at his desk handling official business. The sky outside had cleared up again sometime during the day. Ning Buyi was taking a nap in his office room.
He looked down at the documents in his hand when a figure pushed open the door and entered.
"You're bored again." Zhu Yanhe knew who it was without even looking up; apart from his father, no one dared to just push the door open and come in. He was already mentally planning to pack this guy up and send him on a senior citizen tour.
The newcomer snorted coldly, with two bodyguards standing on either side: "I've come to see your sister. How long has it been since that brat came home? Her mother nags her about it every day."
Zhu Yanhe lazily raised his eyes, wondering what his father was up to now: "Zhu Zhu has resigned."
Then, as if remembering something, he added, "You were so angry."
These words were like a second burn, scalding the middle-aged man's heart. Zhu Guanghai coughed heavily and said, "Call her back to work. If she doesn't come back, I'll pretend I don't have a daughter!"
He said casually, "Don't you have a smartphone? Or do you not know how to tap on her profile picture and send her a message by handwriting?"
His dad usually uses video streaming apps with a speed of up to 8G, but at times like this, he's like an old man who doesn't know how to use a mobile phone. Although he knows that the old man likes to pretend, Zhu Zhu won't listen to his dad, but she will listen to her brother.
Just as Zhu Guanghai was about to say something more, another door opened, and a head popped out first. Both of them were drawn to the sound and met his gaze.
"You wicked old man!" Ning Buyi recognized the person standing in front of the table at a glance as the old man who had hit Sister Zhu in the photography studio that day.
The first to be shocked was Zhu Guanghai, whose eyes widened as he questioned Zhu Yanhe, "What is he doing here?"
"My friend." Zhu Yanhe's voice was flat, his brows slightly furrowed. He was worried that if he walked barefoot on the floor, he would catch a cold and complain of feeling unwell.
Zhu Guanghai pointed directly at Ning Buyi: "So you two siblings have made such shady friends, haven't you!"
"I've eaten more salt than you've walked roads, you two siblings—"
Hey! What's wrong with him?! He was about to confront this old geezer again when Zhu Yanhe interrupted him.
"You must have eaten a lot of salt, otherwise you wouldn't be so idle now."
The words "utterly rebellious" exploded in Zhu Guanghai's mind like a thunderbolt. Even though Zhu Yanhe had previously resisted him, he had at least maintained the most basic respect for his father. Today, however, he was openly and secretly defying Zhu Guanghai.
Zhu Guanghai was naturally furious. He slammed his hand on the table, a sharp sound rang out: "Do you even know what a father is? You don't even have basic respect for your father. Is this how I raised you?"
Zhu Yanhe didn't say anything. He was too lazy to argue with his father and just let him catch his breath. It seemed that his father was still too full of energy and was so angry that his face turned red and his neck was thick.
"That's not what I meant; I was just going along with what you said."
Then he said to Ning Buyi, "Go back."
If his father can't persuade him, he'll inevitably turn his anger towards Ning Buyi, which could cause his father to fall ill, and that would be even more troublesome.
A fluffy head shrank back in, slamming the door shut as if protesting the old man's nonsensical words.
"You, you, you, I can't control you anymore! Call your sister back to work!" Zhu Guanghai clutched his chest in anger. He had been having a really bad run of luck lately, constantly getting frustrated by his two kids.
Zhu Yanhe coldly said to the bodyguards around him, "Aren't you going to take the gentleman back?"
As the farce subsided, he got up and walked towards his room, wondering if Ning Buyi had been frightened.
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Author's Note: Other people's old men are authoritative without being angry, but the Zhu family's old man gets angry with his son and then his daughter. Aside from being good at making money and raising kids in his early years, he's completely useless. [doge]
(This chapter was written a bit rushed, I might make some minor revisions tomorrow, but the overall structure will remain the same.)
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