T/N: Today is double update. If you haven’t read the previous chapter yet, please do so first
For several days in a row, regardless of the wind and rain, Lu Ming waited outside the villa community every day.
Even the guards frequently informed Auntie Su, asking if they wanted to let him go in. Auntie Su was unable to decide; her employer wouldn’t let Lu Ming in and she didn’t have the right to decide.
Helpless, Auntie Su could only take advantage of the morning when she was driving out to buy groceries. She deliberately stopped at the door and explained a few words to Lu Ming, who was standing with a bouquet of roses, telling him not to come again. The straightforward words made Lu Ming silently clench his hands.
“Even if he doesn’t want to see me, I will still come.”
The roses in Lu Ming’s arms were bright and new every day. He was determined to see Chi Qiu.
Since Chi Qiu didn’t want to see him, he sent something over every day. The roses in his arms were accompanied by something; sometimes two concert tickets, sometimes a bowl of pork ribs soup that Chi Qiu liked, sometimes a handwritten letter…and so on. As long as Chi Qiu had said he liked it before, Lu Ming would send it in different ways every day.
He didn’t feel bored, much less bothered.
Even if Chi Qiu refused to meet him, he would not stop this behavior.
And Lu Ming’s entire body had lost so much weight that his face was not as healthy as before. Although he still tidied himself up clean and fresh, the days of running around made his tiredness fully visible, together with his eye bags because of insomnia.
It was precisely for this reason that Auntie Su was moved with compassion today and accepted his tea with a sigh. As well as the handwritten letter that was placed together in the tea bag.
The atmosphere in the front yard instantly froze, Auntie Su saw Chi Qiu’s expression change from a smiling face to a sullen expression without speaking, and knew that she had done a bad thing with good intentions. She hesitated for a long time before she gritted her teeth and took out the handwritten letter.
This was what she discovered when she opened the tea leaves just now.
She put the envelope carefully into Chi Qiu’s hand; her heart was wondering why Lu Ming wrote to Chi Qiu. The paper inside the envelope felt thin and smooth, not made in the form of Braille. In her opinion, Chi Qiu simply couldn’t ‘read’ by himself.
Chi Qiu was stunned. His eyes fell on the envelope: Chi Qiu (recipient). He rarely saw Lu Ming’s neat handwriting, so he unconsciously squeezed the envelope tightly, feeling sad.
He wanted to read it, but he thought he should not read it.
He also thought, so what if he read it, would he be soft again? Lu Ming’s pretense suffering1苦肉计 (lit. bitter meat): Harm yourself as a way to gain the trust, liking and sympathy of your enemies and others you seek to influence. was his natural enemy. Out of sight and out of mind.
While he was hesitating, Aunt Su asked tentatively to him who did not say a word: “This is the letter that Young Master Lu wrote to you, shall I read it to you?”
Chi Qiu didn’t let go, but he also didn’t let Auntie Su take it away.
“Young master?”
“…I, I don’t want to hear it.”
Chi Qiu seemed unmoved by Lu Ming’s behavior, but in reality, his heart was filled with confusion.
Auntie Su did not know the inside story and always thought that the always soft-hearted Chi Qiu would sooner or later agree to let Lu Ming in for a chat. She had noticed Chi Qiu’s recent moodiness, so she took it upon herself to do a ‘small favor’.
Unexpectedly, before Auntie Su could say the next sentence, Chi Qiu gradually cooled down and said: “I have nothing to talk with him.”
But Chi Qiu’s heart was as clear as a mirror and he saw things clearly: “He just regretted it.” Regretted agreeing to his divorce, regretted thinking he was generous enough to let himself go.
Lu Ming spoke well and said that he didn’t want that property, but in fact it was all bullshit. Lu Ming had made up his mind to return to China to take revenge, how could he let it go so easily?
Chi Qiu clenched his hand, he really couldn’t figure out——how could Lu Ming dare to come over and persuade him at this point? If Lu Ming really annoyed him and he gave the evidence of Lu Ming’s petty tricks to Elder Lu, Lu Ming wouldn’t get any property.
Chi Qiu’s hand tightened up and squeezed the envelope into a ball. The thick envelope paper kept poking him, it was painful.
Suddenly, his heart was stabbed, and he thought after a while: is Lu Ming sure that he won’t tell Elder Lu, or is Lu Ming sure that he still has a trace of affection for him?
If this was true…
Chi Qiu’s back was numb, he gritted his teeth secretly.
If this was really the case, then Lu Ming was simply selfish to the core.
Chi Qiu admitted that after so many years of love, he just couldn’t let go of the feelings in a few days just because he said so. He did decide to no longer miss Lu Ming, but in his heart, there was still Lu Ming’s shadow.
Chi Qiu had been a stubborn person since he was a child. No matter how well he pretended to be on the surface, his heart still needed a period of time to completely erase a ten-year-long rooted feelings.
And this period of time was undoubtedly extremely tormenting for him.
If Lu Ming was clear about this, he shouldn’t have come to bother him again and again.
Chi Qiu pursed his lips, feeling uncomfortable.
Whenever he clearly understood that he was only a tool for Lu Ming to compete for his property, he could not help but be upset. He hated his heart that couldn’t calm down when he thought of Lu Ming.
Therefore, he was in no mood to drink tea anymore: “I’m going to my room, I’ll come out at dinner time.”
He threw the letter in his hand on the table and didn’t take it with him.
Auntie Su followed with a bewildered face: “Young master, this is something I did wrong. I also saw Young Master Lu’s whole body was haggard, so I just…Young master, you don’t know, Young Master Lu has lost a lot of weight, the whole person is wilted. I’ve never seen him like that before, it’s strange and pitiful.”
“…”
Hearing that Lu Ming was not doing well, Chi Qiu’s heart was not happy at all. He stopped and stayed where he was, unable to say anything. He tried to open his mouth, wanting to care, but he shouldn’t allow himself to care.
Why did it matter to him if Lu Ming was well or not?
Chi Qiu lowered his eyes and said, “If he is not in good health, ask him to go back to rest, do not come to bother me.”
When Auntie Su heard him say that, she nodded her head, not daring to do it again. She admitted her mistake and said: “Okay, tomorrow I will go out and talk to him clearly. You have just gotten better, so don’t be angry.”
Chi Qiu didn’t want Auntie Su to blame herself too much, so he softened his tone and turned around: “Auntie Su, I know you mean well and are concerned about me. But the problem between me and Lu Ming can’t be solved by saying a few words.” He said decisively, “When I said I didn’t want to see him, it was never a joke.”
He would rather continue to be unable to figure it out by himself than to meet Lu Ming.
Apart from the divorce, he had nothing to say to Lu Ming.
Around two o’clock in the afternoon, it started to rain lightly.
Chi Qiu lay quietly on the armchair in his room, flipping through a book in his hand. The sound of the rain gradually became louder, and Chi Qiu half sat up and looked out of the window.
The raindrops hit the glass, reminding Chi Qiu of the day he ran into Lu Ming and said something cruel. But today’s rain was not like the thunderstorm of summer, but the cooling after a humid autumn.
Chi Qiu always remembered what Lu Ming said on that rainy day: “If I wasn’t blind, I wouldn’t marry him.”
He inexplicably raised his hand in panic and couldn’t help but cover his right eye. Such a simple sentence, surprisingly, kept hovering in his mind. To this day, he had been sick and cried once, yet he still found the phrase hurtful enough to make people lose souls and be extremely disappointed.
Chi Qiu’s palm slowly pressed over his closed right eye, hiding the light of day and plunging his world into darkness. The fear that had haunted him since he was a young boy was a constant warning that loneliness was so long.
At the age of fifteen, the morning sun that rose at the beginning of the year had turned into a sunset.
Sitting alone in his room, Chi Qiu withdrew his hand in desolation. He turned his head and the rain curtain became a waterfall that washed over him under his eyes.
He got up and stood in front of the window in a slight daze.
His cell phone was on the bedside table to one side, vibrating gently twice.
Chi Qiu came back to his senses and quickly picked it up, seeing that it was a message from Ji Yanchen: [With my brother’s help, things are going super smoothly. But there are still a few small places to work on, and I guess it will take some time to get it all sorted out. Don’t worry, my brother and I are doing our job, absolutely no problem! You wait for good news!]
Chi Qiu’s body, which was still frozen just now, suddenly relaxed because of a message from Ji Yanchen.
He was full of gratitude, and hurriedly typed a reply: [Thank you, both you and Ning ge for always helping me.]
Ji Yanchen’s reply was simple: [thank you, we’re happy to help. I’m busy, don’t disturb.]
Chi Qiu obediently stopped disturbing him.
Because at this moment, Ji Yanchen was abroad to help Chi Qiu make arrangements and try to take him under the pretext of eye treatment next month, to prepare for the ‘restoration of vision’.
In order not to let Chi Lanyan, or Chi Xia and even other people notice any clues, the two brothers of the Ji family put a lot of thought into it. Of course, Ji Feining contributed money and contacts from afar in China, while Ji Yanchen went abroad to do his best to help him
Everything was moving in a good direction, he should not be frustrated.
Chi Qiu lifted his head and settled down, as if to cheer himself up.
Then, he looked at the pouring rain. He opened the door to his room and called out to Auntie Su: “Auntie Su, go check the door for me. If he is still there, give him the umbrella. Remember to tell him that I can’t help him with his affairs and I don’t want to help.”
