CH 61

As he finished speaking, Ning Yi tossed her phone down as if she was fiercely burnt by a red hot iron, flustered. Her entire person shrank under the quilt. Only when even breathing got difficult did she grasp the corner of the quilt and stick her head out, sticking the back of her hands to her hot cheeks to cool down.

But her gaze seemed out of her control, always shifting to the phone that landed by her pillow.

After a while, Ning Yi bit her lip and swiftly retrieved her phone. The tip of her finger hovered over the voice message, hesitating for a long time before finally pressing down.

Unskilled singing once again filled the quiet room. Although listening to it felt a little cramped, you could still hear that the singer was singing very seriously.

Ning Yi tilted her ear as she listened and when the song ended and the light sound of breathing followed, she couldn’t help but hold her breath as well.

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The words after this were actually spoken very quietly, it seemed like he purposely didn’t want people to hear clearly but also couldn’t resist and wanted to say it. There was clear reservedness.

But it was clearly very difficult for Ning Yi to detect his tone right now because the heat that had just retreated from her cheeks returned even stronger than before, even spreading to the rest of her body.

She suddenly stuffed the phone under her pillow and completely hid herself under the quilt again, pretending that she hadn’t received this message.

Gqvla y zsdt vkxl, y qssv iwklvzu xyel kvp oyu swv qasx wdela vbl czydjlv, poyukdt byrrkzu…

–

Nw hkzzy.

Hbldt Zw Tsdt bye fwpv qyzzld ypzllr caklqzu obld pbl oyp osjld wr cu y qzwaau sq pvaydtl cydtkdt. Fbl alynble swv y byde, ycswv vs vwad sd vbl clepkel zktbv, yde oyp nyrvwale yde pvwqqle cynj kdvs vbl iwkzv cu bla bwpcyde obs bye fwpv qkdkpble osaj yde alvwadle vs vbl assx obkzl qwxczkdt kd vbl eyaj.

Nw Mkdt tldvzu ryvvle bla cynj vbaswtb vbl iwkzv, bl pyke, “Rv’p dsvbkdt, ts cynj vs pzllr. Mbl pvkdju cayv fwpv oldv naygu yde bsozle qsa byzq y eyu qsa psxl alypsd, bl’p rascyczu bkvvkdt vbl oyzz qasx bkp sod cye pkdtkdt!”

Hbldt Zw Tsdt nbwnjzle yde pyke, “Lsdpldpl, Dkys Lyd kp y zsv clvvla vbyd usw yv pkdtkdt.”

Nw Mkdt pdsavle, “Jwv usw sdzu zkjl vs zkpvld vs xl pkdt.”

“Zsw esd’v oydv qynl yduxsal?” Hbldt Zw Tsdt nzsple bla lulp pxkzkdt yde pzllrkdlpp nyxl ytykd. Fbl hytwlzu dyttle, “Tso xydu vkxlp byhl R vsze usw? Mwad sd vbl zktbv obld usw nsxl cynj yv dktbv, esd’v cl zkjl zypv vkxl, cawkpkdt uswa pbkd ps byae vbyv kv vssj plhlayz eyup vs ekprlapl…”

“I know.” Lu Ting softly answered. After watching his wife fall asleep again, he then quietly stood up and walked out of the bedroom again, fumbling in the dark.

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He went to the door of his son’s bedroom next door and knocked twice.

Soon, Lu Xu Nan, with an obvious red mark on his forehead, opened the door.

That was made by hitting the bedpost out of excessive self-shame after secretly saying “little darling”.

The tip of Lu Ting’s eyebrow rose. “You really hit the wall? What are you up to at night!”

Lu Xu Nan touched his forehead, a little angry out of shame, “What are you doing managing me? It’s so late and you’re still not asleep, be careful of going bald.”

“Smelly brat.” Lu Ting couldn’t resist scolding, then he warned, pointing at him, “Your mother is a light sleeper, settle down for me starting now. If you continue to wail and howl and hit walls, then just take your stuff and go down to sleep on the first floor!”

Lu Xu Nan who was suddenly stuffed with a mouth full of dog food tsked and impatiently said, “Why don’t you just tell me to go to the Ning family to sleep!”

Lu Ting scoffed, “If you have the ability, don’t mention going to sleep with the Ning family, even if you go be a son-in-law that marries in, I won’t stop you.”

Lu Xu Nan: ……Ah, so angry!

The sound of footsteps at the door gradually got farther away, Lu Xu Nan looked at the phone that still had no notifications and dejectedly fell back onto the bed.

Thirty minutes later, he opened his chat with Ning Yi for the nth time, finally confirming that she wouldn’t be responding again today.

He messed up again??? Sure enough, he shouldn’t have listened to that punk Fang Ci and sang some song! Of all the times that he did something flashy, not once has it ever been useful! Fuck!

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Utterly discomfited, Lu Xu Nan sent a screen full of middle fingers to Fang Ci to express his fury, then stuffed his phone under his pillow. He lifted his quilt with a swish and completely covered himself, and finally gradually entered sleep in the midst of restlessness…

–

As night faded, dawn was approaching.

Ning Yi once again woke with a start in the middle of a nightmare. She gasped for air with lingering fears, lifted her hand weakly to wipe her face, coming away with a hand full of sweat.

She sat up in bed somewhat absentmindedly, turning on the light at the head of her bed. The entire room filled with light allowed her to gradually find some sense of reality. Then, she lifted the quilt and got out of bed. She washed her face with cold water several times before finally waking up fully.

Ning Yi placed her hands on the washbowl and looked at herself in the mirror, infinitely bewildered.

Dreams can be serialized dramas? She had actually dreamt the continuation of yesterday’s dream.

After the family suffered a sudden misfortune, the her in the dream came down with extreme depression. She had insomnia all through the night every night, wanted to give up on life countless times, to end her life, struggling with the “demons” in her mind every day.

Finally, one day, after going through countless dark days, she couldn’t stand it anymore. She decided to cast herself into the demons’ embrace, warm water surrounded her body, and the warmth of her body left with the flow of blood…

Then, she woke up from the dizzying weightlessness.

Ning Yi stroked her clean and unblemished left wrist and suddenly had the illusion of feeling a handful of sticky fresh blood.

Ning Yi exhaled a long breath. When she returned to bed, she discovered that it was still early and laid down planning to go back to sleep, but no matter how she tossed and turned, she couldn’t go back to sleep. She could only sit up again and pick up a book, leaning against the headboard to read…

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“Dinglingling, dinglingling–“

Ning Yi suddenly returned to her senses. She unconsciously picked up her phone to turn off the alarm. Seeing the time, she couldn’t help but freeze.

The alarm that automatically rang every ten minutes had actually already rang twice.

She blankly stared at the book in her hand, yet it was still on the very page that she had originally opened it.

Could it be that she had fallen asleep again in between?

A “knock knock” sound came from the door. Ning Xiu’s voice sounded from outside the door.

“Yiyi? Are you up yet? You’re going to be late for school!”

Ning Yi had no time to think deeper, she hurriedly closed the book and tossed it on her bedside table, and got out of bed to look for her clothes while raising her voice, “I’m up, I’m up, I’ll go down soon after I change!

She packed up in a flurry and opened the door with her schoolbag, scaring Ning Xiu who was standing outside the door.

“Brother, what are you doing? You’re standing here like a door god without a sound, you scared me to death!” Ning Yi patted her heart, complaining.

Ning Xiu crossed his arms over his chest, looking down at her from above. His expression seemed worried and seemed displeased, it was very subtle.

Ning Yi didn’t look into it. She shuffled in her slippers, about to run downstairs.

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Ning Xiu yanked the strap of her schoolbag, speaking sourly, “You’re in such a hurry?”

Ning Yi pulled her strap back, saying anxiously, “I’m going to be late!”

Ning Xiu noncommittally humphed and passed her to go downstairs first. All he was missing was straight up writing the four words “I am very unhappy” on his forehead.

Ning Yi was confused until she saw Lu Xu Nan sitting in her dining room, then she belatedly realized- her brother wouldn’t have thought that she was in a hurry to come down and see Dog Lu, right?

Lu Xu Nan’s gaze toward her seemed to carry some avoidance. Ning Yi immediately recalled that voice message from last night and felt awkward too. She tugged her straps and didn’t move forward, instead, she asked out of nowhere, “Why are you here?”

Lu Xu Nan rubbed his neck, he said, “Didn’t I say I will come take you to school today…”

Ning Xiu’s gaze swept over the two youths, one standing and one sitting. The eyes behind his glasses narrowed.

He set down the coffee mug in his hand with a bang, breaking the ambiguous atmosphere between the two people. He said jokingly, “You specially came to pick her up for just those few steps to school, those that don’t know…would think that, Xiao Nan, you came over to get breakfast and a ride!”

Lu Xu Nan who suddenly received his brother-in-law’s ridicule showed an extreme desire for survival. He “hehe”‘d, laughing apologetically, lifted the glass beside him, and lowered his head silently to drink orange juice.

This breakfast nearly gave Lu Xu Nan indigestion. Fortunately, it was almost time for school so the time was shortened by a lot.

He finally waited until Ning Yi set her chopsticks down. He stood up with a whoosh, speedily bypassing the dining table, and took Ning Yi’s schoolbag that was hanging on a chair, urging in a small voice, “Hurry up, we’re going to be late.”

The pressure around Ning Xiu who had just put down his napkin and about to take his little sister’s schoolbag became even lower. He quickly sent a message to his assistant to postpone the company’s morning meeting today, then picked up the car keys beside his hand. Pretending to play it down, he said, “I don’t have anything today, I’ll send you guys to school.”

Lu Xu Nan: …Sss, my stomach hurts.

Ning Xiu drove, so Ning Yi naturally sat in the passenger seat. Lu Xu Nan could only dejectedly sit in the back seat alone and firmly resolved in silence to immediately, right away get his driver’s license!

Because of Ning Yaojin1 who came out of nowhere, Lu Xu Nan simply couldn’t find an opportunity to say a word to Ning Yi the whole morning.

Finally arriving at the school, he pushed open the car door and jumped out fast as lightning. Before he could open the door for Ning Yi, the window rolled down.

Ning Xiu smiled at him past the passenger seat and said, “Xiao Nan, tomorrow is the weekend. Prepare yourself at home tonight and go to the company with me to intern tomorrow morning. A job will definitely make Aunt Hong and Uncle Lu satisfied, it’s very good at tempering people.”

My parents are satisfied + tempering people- doesn’t that just mean that it’s definitely not an easy matter!

Lu Xu Nan immediately felt like his stomach hurt even more…

But thinking about Ning Xiu implying his standards for selecting a younger brother-in-law at the dinner last time, Lu Xu Nan knew in his heart that the opposite party was also doing this to temper him, thus he seriously nodded and said appreciatively, “Okay, thank you, Brother Xiu.”

Ning Xiu waved his hand. After watching their two well-matched figures disappear at the school gate from afar through the car window, the hand on the steering wheel tapped rhythmically. He sourly pondered: Some day, should he peel one layer of this stinky punk’s skin first or two layers?

[1] Reference to Cheng Yaojin (Wikipedia)