Outside the community of the Chi family villa, Lu Ming was waiting in the heavy rain holding a bouquet of roses.
He had recorded his license plate in this neighborhood before, so the guard knew him. He opened the window of the guard house and called him in to take shelter from the rain for a while. Lu Ming politely thanked him but didn’t walk over.
The guard, who was an uncle in his 40s or 50s, came over and shouted: “Even if you stand until the rain stops, people won’t let you in! Young man, take shelter from the rain first, don’t be so stubborn!”
Lu Ming didn’t move.
The guard tsk-ed and closed the window.
In the heavy rain, Lu Ming lowered his head and saw the rose in his arms being destroyed by bean-sized raindrops. Just like Chi Qiu, who was hurt by him at the beginning, he had no shelter from the rain. Unable to bear it, he took off his suit jacket and covered the rose.
Not far away, a hurried figure called out to him in a loud voice.
Lu Ming vaguely saw it and took a step forward with hope: “Auntie Su.”
Aunt Su, who didn’t even have time to take off the apron she was wearing, was holding an umbrella and trotting over. She stepped on the water, splashing it all the way. Her short stature strained to lift the umbrella high as she exclaimed:” It’s raining so hard, you’re really still here!” She smoothly shoved a folding umbrella in her hand, urging Lu Ming to open it himself.
Lu Ming mistook it for Chi Qiu’s permission to go in, and hurriedly opened the folding umbrella obediently.
The raindrops fell along the edge of the umbrella, and a handful of roses covered with a suit was placed on Lu Ming’s chest, looking pitiful.
Auntie Su stared at the roses for a while, then tightened her hand and splashed Lu Ming with a pot of cold water: “Young master is really unwilling to see you. He said he can’t help you with your affairs and doesn’t want to help.”
Chi Qiu still misunderstood Lu Ming, and their misunderstanding couldn’t be explained clearly in a few words.
After all, the previous deception was true, and the love that couldn’t be said was also true.
“Auntie Su, please help convey it for me. I come to him, not to ask him to do that for me, I…” With a stone choking in his throat, unable to breathe, he said sincerely: “I want to pursue him again, and I hope he will give me a chance. But I don’t need him to do anything, as long as he can stop avoiding me.”
For the rest, Lu Ming would do it himself.
“There are many other words, and I wrote them all in that letter. If you can, can you pass it on to him for me?”
But from Auntie Su’s point of view, she was afraid that Lu Ming had lost his mind.
She said angrily: “Young master Lu, let’s not talk about anything else. Our Young Master can’t see, You wrote to him, aren’t you poking him in the wound?”
Lu Ming was dumbfounded. Of course he couldn’t poke Chi Qiu’s secret out. He also had no choice but to sneak the letter into the tea wrapper bag.
His voice fell to the ground along with the sound of rain, admitting his mistake, “I’m sorry, I didn’t think carefully…” The words ended with an autumnal thunder.
Auntie Su looked worriedly at him who was shivering slightly in the heavy rain and said ruthlessly: “I gave the letter to Young Master, but he didn’t want it. Young Master Lu, I didn’t say this straight before but you continue staying here just make it difficult, not only for me, but also for Young Master.”
“…”
She shook Lu Ming’s arm, and her tone was gentle again: “Go back quickly, don’t catch a cold.”
Words have been passed to, she turned around to go.
As a result, the rose in Lu Ming’s hand fell to the ground all of a sudden and a few of the petals fell off. Lu Ming grabbed her arm with one hand, stopping her from leaving.
Auntie Su looked back with a difficult look on her face as she gestured for Lu Ming to let go of her hand.
Lu Ming clenched his teeth, grasping at the only remaining sliver of expectation. He stammered as he asked: “Umbrella, this umbrella…Did he give it to me?”
“…”
Lu Ming’s Adam’s Apple moved and his ears turned red. He was desperate and asked for an answer: “Auntie Su, did he give me the umbrella?”
If Auntie Su didn’t say anything, he wouldn’t let go.
Auntie Su could not resist him and answered truthfully, “Yes.”
Lu Ming’s nervous expression was relaxed for a moment as he suddenly smiled, a very brief smile, like a rain of sun that came and went quickly.
He held the handle of the umbrella in his hand and felt a trace of warmth. Letting go of the hand that was pulling Aunt Su, he bent down to pick up the roses and suit on the ground, and with a gentle voice and infinite patience, he said: “The roses are broken today, so I can’t give them to him, I will come back tomorrow.”
Auntie Su looked at him in shock, as if Lu Ming was stupid and couldn’t understand her words.
She didn’t want to say anything more to Lu Ming, she was afraid that she would do something bad with good intentions again and give Chi Qiu a hard time again.
Auntie Su heaved a sigh and turned away without looking back. When she reached the villa, she put away her umbrella and was about to enter the door——she suddenly remembered that Lu Ming’s handwritten letter seemed to be still on the table in the front yard because she didn’t have time to clean it up before. She didn’t care about anything and went over with her umbrella again.
However, there was nothing but wet rain on the table.
Auntie Su’s brow furrowed as she muttered: “It was clearly here just now…” She searched back and forth, but still couldn’t find it. However, she did not think much about it, nor did she suspect the ‘blind’ Chi Qiu. Instead, she considered herself old and had a bad memory. Perhaps she tidied up together with the tea set just now.
The rain went fast, and by the time Lu Ming drove to his house, it had completely stopped.
Lu Ming got out of the car and took the rose on the passenger side out with him.
Inside the house, Lu Fengshen had just come out of a study with a paintbrush in his hand: “You’re back.”
“En.”
“Why are you wet?” Lu Fengshen would be staying at Lu Ming’s house in the near future, taking care of his food and drink.
Because of this, Lu Ming had specially arranged a vacant study in the villa to be used as a temporary painting studio for Lu Fengshen. So occasionally, Lu Fengshen would paint in the study just for the sake of it.
Now, Lu Fengshen walked forward and unsurprisingly took the rose in Lu Ming’s hand, saying with pity: “This rose follows you, it is also ‘plagued by many disasters’. Looking at you like this, today is another day with no progress?”
Lu Ming held an umbrella in his hand, his expression was not very heavy, and he coughed clearly.
Lu Fengshen didn’t understand what he meant. He pointed to the umbrella stand at the entrance, “Put the umbrella on the umbrella stand. The part-time worker has just cleaned it up, look at the water you dripped on the ground.”
Seeing that Lu Fengshen was slow, Lu Ming could only take the initiative to confess. He happily put the umbrella away neatly and said, “The umbrella was given to me by Chi Qiu.”
“He saw you today?” Lu Fengshen asked hurriedly.
Lu Ming shook his head, “Although I didn’t see him, Chi Qiu was afraid I would get wet and asked Auntie Su to give me an umbrella. He is still worried about me, so I still have a chance.”
Lu Fengshen was at a loss for words, feeling really sad for his nephew. He went up and pushed Lu Ming, telling him to hurry up and change his clothes, “Hurry up, don’t catch a cold.” After that, he said: “If it really doesn’t work, I’ll go with you tomorrow. Your grandmother is right. I concealed this matter so I was also an accomplice. I have to go together to apologize.”
He believed Chi Qiu would give him some face.
“No.” Lu Ming refused, “I’ll admit my own mistakes. If you go now, Chi Qiu will be angry instead.”
The most urgent task was to meet and talk to Chi Qiu. This matter, Lu Ming was indeed a bit anxious, he still had to think of a way.
In the evening after dinner, Lu Fengshen did not have time to enlighten Lu Ming, he dove into the study room to paint. He had more inspiration in the past two days and had been concentrating on painting.
Lu Ming made a cup of tea and brought it to the study for Lu Fengshen. As soon as he entered, he saw an extra huge painting in the corner of the study.
Lu Ming thought about it for a few seconds and asked in uncertainty: “Is this …’Re-engraved Spring Days’?”
Lu Fengshen paused his brush and couldn’t help but be surprised: “You still remember it?”
Lu Ming nodded his head; of course he remembered. It was painted by Lu Fengshen before he became famous. Although it was not outstanding and the brushwork was very immature, it was praised by him when he was only eight years old and called it Spring Day under his pen.
At that time, Lu You, who was still in good spirits, was accompanied by Lu Rongtian and Lu Ming when she went abroad to visit her parents and brothers. The afternoon breeze was warm and her gaze was gentle as she and her son watched Lu Fengshen finish the painting.
It was Lu Ming’s first time watching someone else paint, and he liked it so much that he carefully asked Lu Fengshen if he could give this painting to himself as a birthday present afterwards.
At that time, Lu Fengshen was only sixteen years old, a half-grown teenager. Faced with a little admirer, he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and readily agreed.
In order to give the painting as a gift to Lu Ming, he searched the warehouse alone for half a day before he found a piece of thick fabric. He tossed and turned for a long time to properly pack the ‘Re-engraved Spring Day’.
Unfortunately, Lu Rongtian didn’t like it and didn’t intend to take it back home with him. This so-called art made him feel suffocated, just like seeing Lu You when she was mentally unstable.
At that time, the sensible Lu Ming grabbed Lu Fengshen’s hand for the first time and tried hard to fight for himself in the company of his uncle. However, in return, Lu Rongtian’s criticism became more and more severe.
The young Lu Ming had to give it up obediently, and accepted Lu Rongtian’s accusations obediently. In a family that lacked love, he had always been obedient and would not talk back.
Today, the painting was safely placed in the Lu family’s villa.
In this regard, Lu Fengshen explained: “I originally sold this painting in the exhibition hall, but the second young master of Ji’s family was arrogant and cocky. He insisted on buying it with me unreasonably, yelling that he didn’t lack money. I don’t really like his attitude, how could I sell it to him?”
In order to avoid Ji Yanchen’s repeated pestering, Lu Fengshen directly took down the painting, lying that he had already found a buyer. And this painting was too big to be placed in the hotel where he lived, but now it was just right to place it in Lu Ming’s villa.
He said with a smile as if he had realized something: “After going around and around, this painting still has a destiny with you. However, you don’t like this anymore, do you?”
Lu Ming, however, grasped the point and replied, “Ji Yanchen is not someone who would appreciate paintings. There is no reason for him to pester you.”
“That’s not clear. Anyway, he said he is going to give it away, but he refused to say who it was when asked.”
Lu Fengshen was a person who cherished his works and was not bad with money at all, so he usually chose the buyers when selling his paintings. When encountering a person like Ji Yanchen, who was full of copper stench1basically means someone who has nothing but money and only ruined art, he would definitely avoid him and wouldn’t sell it no matter how much money he had.
As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Ming suddenly stood in front of the painting, looking at it carefully.
He pursed his lips and understood.
While adding color to the drawing paper in front of him, Lu Fengshen asked, “Why have you become stranger and stranger after you get better?”
Lu Ming didn’t care about what his uncle was muttering and asked: “Uncle, can I still have this painting?”
“Sure, can. Are you interested in this again?”
Lu Ming’s hand caressed the frame, “I want to give it to Chi Qiu.”
Lu Fengshen’s brush paused again, he felt like he was going to have a heart attack: “You…” He suspected that there was something wrong with his ears, “You’re giving a painting to a blind man?”
“Yes.”
“…”
Lu Fengshen felt that Lu Ming would never be forgiven in his life.
The author has something to say:
See you tomorrow! Will anyone guess how Lu Ming got in _(:з”∠)_ I’ll rule out an answer first: not by climbing over the wall.
T/N: it’s quite late but i totally forgot to wish y’all merry christmas to everyone who celebrates it! Enjoy your holiday! Today also is double update hehe
