75 Chapter Seventy-Four
◎I won't give you that, I won't give you this either. ◎
Li Yingqiao remembers that when she was little, she always liked to peek through the crack in the door and call Yu Jinyang to go to the countryside to catch crayfish. Yu Renjie would stand in the living room. At that time, he still had both legs, tall and steady on the ground. Having never seen her father since she was a child, she especially loved to openly observe him, because she could use him to imagine what her father looked like.
Yu Renjie would stand in front of the mirror and tie his own tie. When he finished and went outside, he would see her lying at the door and would warn her in a fierce but weak tone, "Get out, kid, don't come into my house." He would even draw a line on the door with his foot to indicate that she was not allowed to cross it.
Yu Jinyang came downstairs and saw him, saying he was childish. Tang Xiang came out of the kitchen and also said he was childish, but he didn't seem to care and happily went to work with his briefcase.
Despite this, Yu Renjie was still number one on Li Yingqiao's list of fathers in the small painting town. At that time, she held her head high, stood straight, her back straighter than a flagpole, and watched him leave with a fierce look in her eyes.
Yu Renjie disliked her, yet she still gave him first place, and she thought that even Bao Zheng himself couldn't compare.
She just didn't expect that along with the 38th parallel, Yu Renjie's leg would also disappear.
The warm yellow light inside cast a glow on the floor, like a pot of hot oil spilled and boiling, making it too hot to walk on. She had lived there for almost two months, and this was the first time she had stood at the door, feeling somewhat lost. Yu Renjie's words, "Come in," actually sounded more jarring to her than the words "Go out" she had heard as a child.
Her throat tightened, and she subconsciously rubbed the ice cream cone's head, saying to Yu Renjie, "Uncle Yu, I..."
"Stop standing there, it's not proper for you to be standing at the door. Come in."
Tang Xiang ordered an ice cream cone, and the next second, Li Yingqiao's arm was suddenly yanked—
The girl in the floral dress was a carbon copy of Tang Xiang. Just like when she was a child, he dragged her home to take a bath without a word, with astonishing strength, and forcefully pulled her into the boiling oil pot. Stepping on it, she realized that what the child had spilled wasn't hot oil, but a soft-boiled egg with a runny yolk. The floor was warm, just like Tang Xiang's eyes.
"You two are really something." Tang Xiang said "really something" three times in a row, while throwing the leftover instant noodles she hadn't had time to clean up yesterday into the food waste bin. "You two are really something. He went to a competition and you just ate instant noodles for yourself? How can you be so inconsiderate of yourselves? You're really something. I just opened the fridge and you still put the potato chips you ate in there. You two are really something."
That bag of potato chips was given to her by Yu Jinyang the night before he left. She had been laughing at him all night about the poster incident. While writing her daily work report on the coffee table in the living room, Li Yingqiao still found it funny. After typing for a while, she would turn around and play with her cat.
Yu Jinyang was watching an international breaking competition on the sofa at that moment. Annoyed by her teasing, he coldly snatched the potato chips she was eating and stuffed them into his coat without saying a word. Then he leaned over and kissed her on the mouth.
They decided to share a cucumber-flavored kiss. She gently teased him, their tongues entwining, their breaths growing heavier. The man's attention was quickly diverted, but she used a diversionary tactic, crushing the potato chips to pieces. Li Yingqiao quickly emptied half of the crushed chips into her own mouth, deliberately chewing them in large bites for him to see—
Just like when I was a child and the dentist checked my cavities, I obediently opened my mouth wide for him to examine, and then said, "I'm done eating, la la la."
Yu Jinyang was naturally both amused and exasperated by her. He refused to let her have the remaining half bag and hid it for a while. No matter how Li Yingqiao kissed him or how their tongues entwined in a passionate kiss, he remained unmoved. Finally, her fingers even wandered into his pocket and, without saying a word, went straight for the heart of the matter, grabbing him in one swift motion.
“…You!” He froze for a moment, then laughed angrily, “Let go of me.”
Li Yingqiao wouldn't let go, her palms burning hot, and she even dared to tease him, asking him, "Old Wolf, Old Wolf, what time is it?"
"Li Yingqiao, are you sick?" Yu Jinyang was so angry that he was speechless. His face, with its sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, was as black as the bottom of a pot.
"Give me back my potato chips. I'll finish the last half bag and then I won't think about them anymore."
"Open your mouth so I can see if the ulcer has healed."
Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the small white indentation seemed to be widening. He became even more determined not to give in, wrapping her in his coat and suddenly grasping her hand, intertwining them. He moved it hastily for a moment, but his eyes remained fixed on her. "Continue?"
Li Yingqiao's heart suddenly trembled. Her eyelashes drooped, casting a row of shadows on her eyelids. She subconsciously tried to pull her hand away, but he gripped it tightly, guiding her movements little by little. Then, the tip of his nose touched her earlobe. Why didn't you continue? So she slowly followed his movements, tilting her head back to kiss him again. His breath quickly became hot, only the tip of his tongue was cool. Finally, he whispered in her ear, unusually cheeky, "I won't give you that, I won't give you this, you won't find it."
She really couldn't find it because she never opened the refrigerator. In the past, she would occasionally put a few bottles of water in her own refrigerator, but now that the landlord feeds her three meals a day, of course she doesn't remember to open the refrigerator.
The people inside were all doing their jobs, and the atmosphere wasn't as awkward as expected. Tang Xiang finished clearing the things off the coffee table and came out to put Yu Renjie's feet down. Yu Renjie, without any hesitation, focused on taking off his prosthetic leg. Ice Cream Cone was holding the prosthetic leg he had taken off and charging his toy train engine...
"That's enough, don't charge me out of the way. There's no wheelchair here. Are you going to make Dad hop back home holding his legs?" Yu Renjie had just finished speaking when he turned to look at Li Yingqiao, who was momentarily stunned. "Sit down."
This is too surreal; she doesn't even know what expression to make.
Yu Renjie used to think Li Yingqiao was heartless, but compared to her, Tian Tong was even more heartless. He put his injured leg on the sofa and casually propped his good leg on the coffee table, saying, "I'm used to it. The mother and daughter are just as good. Your Aunt Tang once asked me to take my leg down on the street. I asked why, and she said her phone was dead. I'm so grateful she didn't use me as a barbecue grill."
That's what he said, and he himself was having a great time. Sometimes, seeing an old lady struggling to stomp on aluminum cans while picking up trash by the roadside, he would go over and stomp them flat with his feet, then say "You're welcome" and walk away. The old lady was very grateful and would always give him some fruit whenever she saw him, which he would eat, even though he knew she had picked them up.
Yu Renjie found it very interesting. He had often done similar things before, but people weren't as grateful to him; some even thought he was being hypocritical. In the past, many reports were dedicated to smearing him, speculating about him with the utmost malice. Some even said that his son's kidnapping was a staged act.
Now that he's only missing a leg, even doing what he can brings him far more kindness than before—a treatment that Yu Renjie could never receive.
"Sigh, one can't be too perfect. Kid, stop looking at me like that, okay? Whether I'm the once-powerful Wood King Yu Renjie, or the legless Yu Renjie now, you don't understand my happiness," he said.
“…Since that’s the case, Uncle, I’ll be frank.” Li Yingqiao had hesitated several times since entering the room, but now he finally couldn’t help but point to the coffee table and say, “Could you please take your feet off the coffee table? Yu Jinyang and I will be working here.”
"…………oh."
After moving it down, someone asked, "Wait, whose house is this?"
***
A section of the coffee table was left empty. After dinner, Yu Renjie talked to her about his ideas on the collaboration between wooden toys and scenic spots. When he heard Li Yingqiao say that Li Boqing was going to withdraw, he was a little surprised. "You young people are really amazing. Li Boqing was a rotten radish that had fallen into a pit, but you were able to pull him out. If he is willing to let go, then things will be much easier."
Li Yingqiao nodded. Convey Capital would be taking over Xiaohua City from now on. She didn't really want Li Boqing to sell it to Convey, given his past record. Back then, when Li Boqing was still in power, she hadn't thought much about it or held any hope; it was simply a matter of it rotting in the hands of capital or in the hands of Li Boqing. But things were different now. So, just as she was about to ask Yu Renjie, "Uncle, do you have any plans to start another business?"
Tang Xiang glanced at the time and suddenly said, "It's time, Ice Cream, bring Mom's phone over."
"Okay!" Little Ice Cream immediately stood up from the ground, her skirt twirling into a flower umbrella on the spot. She turned around, unplugged the phone that was charging on her dad's lap, placed it in the middle of the coffee table, and rested her little hands on the coffee table. "Is it because brother wants to make a call?"
"Yu Jinyang?" Li Yingqiao was taken aback.
"You know Jin Yang's phone was confiscated by the production team, right? He can't get leave, he can't even make a phone call. That Director You said he's only allowed to make one call home, and that's only while the cameras are rolling."
Li Yingqiao thought to herself, "Actually, I didn't have to make this call; forty days will pass pretty quickly." Just as she finished speaking, the phone rang. Tang Xiang glanced at Li Yingqiao and said, "Hello."
The voice on the phone was familiar, and the breathing was a bit heavy. Yu Jinyang seemed to have just finished a round of competition. Yu Renjie said, "Why are you exhausted like an ox? Didn't I feed you?"
As soon as she finished speaking, the ice cream cone seemed to want to speak too, waving its little fist in a gesture of urgency, almost shoving the train engine into its mouth. Li Yingqiao quickly pulled it out, saying, "You can't eat this."
"Huh? Who?"
"I."
"Hey, what are you doing in my house?" A laugh came from the other end, a question asked knowingly.
[Author's Note]
I'll update again tomorrow, no matter what, I'm going to update!
The cat immediately got to work, and the scene began with a series of clanging sounds.
(Leaving a note about Talking Tom poses before leaving: Daily updates will be a little late!)
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