RES Chapter 94

The air froze at this moment, Chi Qiu’s jaw tensed and tears were about to come out of his eyes.

He was not a person who could say too many cruel words coherently and he did not want to lose face in front of Lu Ming at all. So, he turned around and walked towards his room, saying in a loud voice: “Auntie Su, call the security guard and drive him out! Throw that painting out with him!”

He didn’t give Lu Ming any face at all.

“Chi Qiu!”

Lu Ming got anxious and took a few steps forward to grab his wrist, talking without any restraint: “I’m not acting! I was really sick before. I have no memory of you because I was partly responsible for my mother’s death. This made me feel very guilty. I couldn’t bear that kind of pain at the beginning so I implicated you and forgot about you…This is all my fault, I’m sorry, I do not ask you to forgive me. But Chi Qiu, can you give me one more chance…”

Chi Qiu yanked his hand hard and took two steps back, almost stumbling and tripping.

Lu Ming caught him with his eyes and hands, hugging him tightly.

Chi Qiu pushed Lu Ming away with all his might, but Lu Ming still insisted, standing abruptly in front of him, with no intention of giving up.

If sanity was a wall, then Lu Ming didn’t need to think at all, he could smash a big hole in the wall for Chi Qiu.

He no longer waited for the opportunity and said recklessly, “Chi Qiu, I love you!”

The air was as silent as an abyss, and it was terrible.

Lu Ming’s eyes were red as he said affectionately: “Ten years ago, and ten years later, I have always loved you. I was wrong for cheating you into marriage for the sake of property, I was wrong for helping Jin Chengjun privately, I was wrong for being cold to you all along, I was wrong for always selfishly letting you match my pace! I know you don’t want to trust me anymore, so we can divorce first——”

“Slap-——”

A brittle slap swung to Lu Ming’s face, shattering all his unfinished words. The crisp sound silenced the entire room.

Chi Qiu, who was using all his strength, was stiffened.

He would rather Lu Ming be the same as before, being perfunctory to him, than to see Lu Ming pretending to please himself in order to achieve his goals.

“Shut up.”

“…”

“Lu Ming.” Chi Qiu’s tone was unsteady. He swallowed a mouthful of dry saliva and threw out the last evidence¹here, the author used 把柄 (handle). Figuratively it means something that you can use against someone but my brain can’t function properly right now. I think evidence is not it, but that is the closest I can think of right now. Though, in this context, blackmail material fits better haha hoping that Lu Ming would give up himself. “I have the evidence of your investigation into the past between your grandfather and my grandfather. You should know what your grandfather hates most.”

The slap marks on Lu Ming’s face were clear, he was blinded and his head was buzzing.

He couldn’t hear the words from Chi Qiu’s mouth as the stinging pain spread through his body.

He suddenly remembered that ten years ago, he and Chi Qiu leaned together to listen to the songs on the phone. A pair of headphones shared by two people. Chi Qiu was holding his hand and resting on his shoulders sleepily. The teenager’s hair had the fragrance of grass under the sun; and even if it was lonely, it was still vibrant.

Lu Ming reached out to brush the hair on his forehead, but was caught by the half-awake Chi Qiu.

The fifteen-year-old Chi Qiu’s voice was like a soft cloud, and Lu Ming was afraid it would melt when he held it in his mouth: “I’m sorry, I fell asleep. Does your face still hurt?”

The seventeen-year-old Lu Ming shook his head, “It’s amazing, it stopped hurting after you stayed with me.”

Chi Qiu rubbed his eyes before reaching out to touch his slightly swollen cheek. He said in distress: “Your father is really bad, how can he hit you.”

Lu Ming said, “It’s okay, I’m used to it.”

“Don’t get used to it!” Chi Qiu was rarely capricious but only in front of Lu Ming could he become capricious. His slightly cold fingertips comforted Lu Ming gently as he complained in a low voice: “I hate it when he hits you…”

Chi Qiu hated everyone who hurt Lu Ming.

And now.

Chi Qiu’s tears fell just like that. His palm was burning with pain and repeated emotions engulfed his calm. He once regarded Lu Ming as a star in the sky. Even if he spread his palm, it was to protect Lu Ming, to cherish Lu Ming, never a slap to hurt Lu Ming.

But now he also hit Lu Ming…

Chi Qiu’s tears marked a ravine. He turned his back miserably and gave an ultimatum: “Don’t come to me again, or I will give all this evidence to your grandfather, so you won’t even get a penny of his property.”

This time, he easily pushed Lu Ming away and stumbled towards his room.

He closed the door and pressed the latch.

He heard that outside the door, Auntie Su was stopping Lu Ming and persuading him in a panic: “Young Master Lu, you should go now! If you, if you don’t leave, I’ll really have to call security!”

Lu Ming’s footsteps did not move any closer, he came back to his senses and was once again awakened by pain.

Surprisingly, after being hit, Lu Ming’s tone did not change, it was still the same gentle tone as when he opened his mouth for the first time. After a while, he ignored Auntie Su’s obstruction and walked all the way to the door of Chi Qiu’s room and said softly: “It’s my fault for making you unhappy today, I’m sorry.”

Chi Qiu covered his ears in annoyance inside the door, he wanted to scold Lu Ming, but he couldn’t curse. He didn’t want to listen, but he couldn’t cover his ears, Lu Ming’s voice always penetrated his defense line.

Outside the door, Lu Ming, who did not get a response, continued, “Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, the day after overmorrow, the day after…I’ll keep coming over until you calm down.”

After a few minutes, the villa finally cleared up.

Lu Ming didn’t take the ‘Re-engraved Spring Day’ with him, he left it at Chi’s house. For this painting, Chi Qiu pretended not to see it but did not keep it nor throw it away. Auntie Su then made her own decision and put it temporarily in the villa’s collection room, covering it with a curtain.

On this day, Chi Qiu didn’t have an appetite, and didn’t come out to eat until the evening.

Auntie Su went into his room for a little cleaning and took the garbage bag out of the trash can.

Chi Qiu saw it and unexpectedly did not say anything.

Whenever Auntie Su changed the garbage bags in the bedrooms, she would always habitually check what was thrown inside so as not to throw away some valuables.

When she found the envelope with the handwriting smudged by the rain from the trash can, she was heartbroken, for Chi Qiu and for Lu Ming.

Auntie Su thought for a long time before finally taking the envelope out of the garbage bag. She folded it and put it in the drawer in Chi Qiu’s room without permission.

She shook her head and thought to herself that she was nosy.

For the next week, Lu Ming appeared at the gate of the community with roses as usual. No one knew how long he could hold on but at least now, Lu Ming had no intention of giving up.

The second Saturday came in the blink of an eye. At ten o’clock in the morning, Chi Xia came back to take her old books.

Chi Qiu didn’t come out to greet her. Instead, he stayed alone in the room to read the notes. Unfortunately, not knowing what kind of wind was blowing today, an uninvited guest, Jin Chengjun, visited the Chi family house.

Auntie Su’s first reaction was to keep Jin Chengjun out of the house, not letting the guard allow him into the villa area. She was about to call to inform Chi Lanyan when Chi Xia stopped her.

“Mom is busy with work abroad. Don’t disturb her with such trivial matters.”

It was obvious that Chi Xia’s emotions towards Jin Chengjun were much calmer than the day she just came home: “Let him in, ba.”

Aunt Su hesitated to inform the guard and said worriedly, “Young Miss, this is not good, right? Young Master is also at home, in case something happens.”

“He is not that kind of person.” Chi Xia spoke with a cold face. “And I now have a doubt in my heart that I must ask him. I believe that my brother must also be eager to know the answer.”

She told Auntie Su not to bother with this matter, and at the same time, she also instructed Auntie Su not to inform Chi Lanyan about Jin Chengjun’s coming over.

But when she thought about it, Auntie Su was also an extremely partial person who never cared about her. Even if she asked Auntie Su not to talk too much, Auntie Su would still end up telling Chi Lanyan about it.

Besides, there was a Chi Qiu in the house. She couldn’t hide anything.

Seeing that Auntie Su was hesitant to do anything, Chi Xia ignored the persuasion and directly pressed the ‘enter’ button at the entrance to let the guard allow him.

Fortunately, Jin Chengjun was indeed a gentleman as Chi Xia said.

He was dressed in a simple autumn suit and stood cautiously in the large living room, putting down the two gift boxes in his hands. He had a gentle appearance, somewhat similar to Lin Yuming’s temperament.

Jin Chengjun politely introduced himself to Auntie Su: “Hello, I guess you are Auntie Su, right? I’m Jin Chengjun, Chi Xia’s…” He hesitated for a moment before saying: “I’m Chi Xia’s friend.”

Aunt Su nodded in horror and brought a cup of tea, “Mr. Jin, please have some tea.” She said, “You can sit first.”

Jin Chengjun nodded and carefully sat down on the sofa.

Chi Xia spoke coldly, “I have something to ask you.”

Jin Chengjun, who had a guilty conscience towards Chi Xia, immediately stood up. Chi Xia glanced at Auntie Su and pursed her lips. Without even giving Jin Chengjun a look, she directly said. “Come with me to the study.” She also said, “Auntie Su, go and do your work. I’ll see the guest off later.”

…

Half an hour later, Chi Qiu, who was studying in his room, went to the living room to pour water because he was thirsty and happened to run into Jin Chengjun, who was just about to leave.

Aunt Su walked to Chi Qiu with a short stride, smiled embarrassingly at Jin Chengjun, and made a ‘please’ gesture towards the door.

Chi Xia also told Jin Chengjun to leave without mercy: “Take your gift box away, our family does not care about such shabby things.”

Jin Chengjun’s hands froze: “Okay.” He subconsciously nodded politely towards Chi Qiu, then, after thinking about it, he said to Chi Xia: “I…I’m going back to my hometown. I came over today, actually to say goodbye to you. I won’t go to the job that Mr. Fang arranged for me earlier. Chi Xia, I’m really sorry for this time.”

As soon as Chi Qiu heard it, he knew that ‘Mr. Fang’ in Jin Chengjun’s mouth was Fang He, the one who once helped Lu Ming.

And Jin Chengjun once again glanced at Chi Qiu, and spoke in a low voice to Chi Qiu: “I will be responsible for half of the money you helped us with before. After that, I will pay you back in installments to a card as soon as possible.”

After saying that, Jin Chengjun left Chi family villa without looking back.

T/N: It’s 2023! Happy new year guys. May we all follow through our new year resolution this year. May I (and those who want to hit the gym this year) won’t stop going to gym after the second week of january hahaha Anyway, today also is double update!

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  here, the author used 把柄 (handle). Figuratively it means something that you can use against someone but my brain can’t function properly right now. I think evidence is not it, but that is the closest I can think of right now. Though, in this context, blackmail material fits better haha