She was curious about Yan Beicheng"s past. She had searched for information, but there was little on the Internet. Lin Chu found it embarra.s.sing to speak of that.
"But I know that you"re not a kid in your twenties," said Lin Chu. "Your maturity and staidness are something that men in their twenties don"t have. I like men like you more. Every single gesture of yours oozes charisma."
The corners of Yan Beicheng"s mouth could not stop lifting. He was stupidly happy when he heard her praise, but he had to a.s.sume his maturity and staidness and not laugh in such an unseemly way. The corners of his mouth spasmed with his attempt to push down his elation.
"I"m 33." Yan Beicheng said in a steady, deep voice. "I"m a 33 years old kid."
Lin Chu, "…"
Yan Beicheng, how did you utter such shameless words with a straight face?
Isn"t being 33 the same as approaching your forties?
And he had the nerve to be annoyed at her.
Yan Beicheng was cheered up by Lin Chu. He turned back toward her, embraced her and shrugged. "My back is not completely due to the mopping. The main reason is me working myself too hard on you before mopping the floor. I"ve used up all my energy on that."
"…" Lin Chu had no remedy for his shamelessness. She smacked his hand and said, "Sleep. We don"t have much time left, and we still have to wake up early tomorrow."
As a result of their fooling around, they only got three hours of sleep.
Lin Chu sensed movement beside her. She opened her eyes to see Yan Beicheng already awake and putting on his clothes. When he was putting on his pants and sweater, the muscles on his body stretched and contracted in a mesmerizing way.
She still remembered the firmness of his muscles under her hands.
Yan Beicheng did not expect Lin Chu to be awake. He turned back wanting to kiss her and saw Lin Chu staring at him with sleep-muddled eyes.
Although the house was heated up, it was still a little cold in the morning. Yan Beicheng lowered his head and kissed her on the lips, "Already woke up?"
"Mm." Lin Chu felt chilly without his body heat to keep her warm. She wrapped herself tighter with the sheets, "Are you leaving now?"
"No. I"ve brought a change of clothes. It"s in the car, so I"m going down to get it and change into it," Yan Beicheng said. "Also, I"ve bought some new clothes for the kids. They"re now growing fast, so it won"t matter if the clothes I bought are slightly bigger for their size. Let them wear some new clothes and have high spirits for the New Year."
Lin Chu looked at him with a smile. She never thought that this man would think of that when he was already extremely busy every day.
Yan Beicheng was no longer just a good-looking specimen in her eyes. Every time she would spot more good qualities in him and discover no shortcomings.
Lin Chu extended her two arms out from inside the sheets, and gooseb.u.mps immediately formed on her skin.
Yan Beicheng gazed at her gently and with a doting smile. He carried her in his arms and wrapped her tightly with the blankets in fear that she would feel cold. Only after that did he settle her on his lap.
Lin Chu"s arms wrapped around his neck and rubbed her forehead on the curve of his neck in a gesture that resembled Chu Xi. Her bare forearms were perched on his sweater that felt cool to the touch.
Yan Beicheng lowered his head, pinpointed her lips and kissed them. "What"s wrong? You"re particularly clingy this morning."
"I"ve discovered now that seeing you the first moment I open my eyes feels really good." Lin Chu said, and she could not help smiling. "Just now when I saw you, I realized that… I really like you. I really, really like you. I won"t be able to find another man like you."
Lin Chu tightened her arms around him.
His solid muscles were firm to the touch and gave her a sense of security.
Her words touched Yan Beicheng"s heart, and he was filled with affection for the woman. His thin, heated lips pressed against hers, and his s.e.xy, light chuckle was music to her ears.
Yan Beicheng fooled around with her in his arms for a while before he left. Looking at the closed door, Lin Chu could not control her smile -- happiness was always expressed clearly on the face.
She felt that she had considerable good luck ever since she was born. She could not compare herself to luckier people; she would never be satisfied if she were to do so.
Although she was an orphan abandoned by her parents, but she was lucky to be placed at this orphanage. News of orphanages abusing children has been reported quite frequently in the past years. There were cases that had not been revealed yet. No one knew what sort of nefarious misdeeds those people had committed in secret.
She, on the other hand, did not suffer from any abuse and had caring people like the old princ.i.p.al that took care of her.
She was adopted by the Lin family later. Although she suffered from beatings and scoldings, she still had the chance to study. She did not pity herself for not being able to attend private schools like Lin Yuwen. She considered herself lucky as long as she had the opportunity to go to school. She had nothing to complain or ask for when she got to finish university. At least she could find a job with her qualification and work for a living like normal citizens.
And she met Yan Beicheng. In her mind, it was the luckiest event in her lifetime; she had probably used up all her luck on this.
She did not know what good deeds she had done in her past life that made Yan Beicheng notice her and like her in this lifetime, made an extraordinary man like him sacrifice his dignity and gotten close to her just to be together with her. Now that she thought of it, it still felt like a dream.
Lin Chu smiled and shook her head, discarding those thoughts, and got out of bed to change into the outfit of the day. Coming down the stairs, she saw Yan Beicheng hauling in several bags, with s.h.i.+tou and Mo Jingxi helping to carry a few each. Chu Xi was wagging its tail and circling them with gusto, almost tripping s.h.i.+tou a few times.
Yan Beicheng dismissed the children back to their rooms to change into their clothes. The children shrieked in happiness and ran with their new clothes in their arms. Even Mo Jingxi had discarded his ident.i.ty as the man"s love rival temporarily. He was overjoyed, but he thought he should have shown more dignity. He covered his mouth to contain his elated shrieks and ran back to his room red-faced.
Yan Beicheng also returned to his room to change. Lin Chu took the past day"s dumplings from the fridge to sear.
The old princ.i.p.al came out with a tiny s.h.i.+rt in her hands, a baby"s outfit judging from the size.
Lin Chu went out for a look and asked curiously, "This is…"
"This is Tian Tian"s outfit from when she was little. I rummaged it out and tailored it for Chu Xi," The old princ.i.p.al explained. "We have to make Chu Xi a new outfit for the New Year, right? It has so little fur and most of its skin is exposed, too. I feel cold just from seeing it."
Lin Chu carried Chu Xi over. Chu Xi"s sharp little mouth moved close towards the cloth. It sniffed for a while but did not get any smell, so it whimpered and pushed at the cloth with its tiny paws in rejection.
"Be good. It"s the New Year, so we got you a new outfit," Lin Chu coaxed.
Lin Chu tried to fit her paws into the sleeves, and Chu Xi started to lick Lin Chu"s hand persistently until it was all wet and sticky and itchy.
After she finally outfitted Chi Xi with difficulty, her hand was as wet as if she had dipped it in water.
It was the first time for Chu Xi to wear clothes, and it was so discomfited that it was at a loss on how it should walk. It held its front paw up, put it down experimentally and tried to take its first step. After a few attempts, it could finally walk, but its two front paws were angled hilariously wrong.
Chu Xi grunted when it heard the old princ.i.p.al and Lin Chu"s laughter and turned to walk away, but its front paw slipped accidentally, and it tumbled to the ground. Chu Xi felt embarra.s.sed, turning its head towards the two women, and went to hide behind the sofa with its head hung low.
Yan Beicheng and the children had finished changing. The children were extremely excited with their new clothes on, including Mo Jingxi, who grinned with a flushed face, the thought of staying calm and collected thrown away.
"Chuchu, Chuchu, look, do I look pretty?" Tian Tian asked with her new clothes on.
Lin Chu had just finished plating the grilled dumplings. She scrutinized her with seriousness and said, "You look as pretty as a model." Tian Tian left the kitchen, happy and satisfied.
Lin Chu turned back to continue grilling the dumplings, and she heard the sound of familiar and steady footsteps.
She did not need to guess who it was. Lin Chu shoved the plate of dumplings into his hands. "Take this out for the princ.i.p.al and the children to eat first."
Yan Beicheng was confused for a while before breaking into a helpless smile. He served the dumplings and returned to the kitchen.
"They"re not ready yet. Why did you come back here?" Lin Chu did not want him to know that she would be unable to work under his presence.
Yan Beicheng stepped closer to her and enveloped her in his arms from the back. His chin perched on her shoulders, and he turned his head to kiss her on the earlobe expertly.
His lips never did leave her ear, playing with her earlobe intimately. He found the pearly, full lobe extremely pretty.
"When I was eating dumplings yesterday, I can"t stop thinking how nice it would be if the ones I was eating were made by you. I want to try the dumplings you wrapped and know how they taste like." Yan Beicheng held her tighter, his deep, melodic voice flowing into her ears along with his hot breath, the itchy and tingly sensation weakening her legs.
"You can eat all you want this morning. You can"t say that they don"t taste good," Lin Chu said while plating the dumplings.
Yan Beicheng chuckled, "Turn around and let me kiss you."
Lin Chu was embarra.s.sed by his direct demand. She patted his interlocking hands currently resting on her waist hastily. "Don"t fool around. The kids will come in anytime."
"Let me kiss you once, and I"ll let you go." Yan Beicheng tightened his hold instead of loosening it. "If not, if the old princ.i.p.al or the children come in suddenly…"
Lin Chu did not let him ramble on. She turned around quickly, planted a kiss on his smiling lips, and turned back with her face already impossibly flushed.
Yan Beicheng kissed her earlobe before letting go. He feared that he would not be able to contain his urges even before she became annoyed.
He straightened his back and contained the raging urge to abduct her back into the room with much difficulty. He coughed lightly, "Anything else that you want me to bring out?"
Lin Chu pointed at the rice cooker. "Take the congee out."
The children had finished the first plate of dumplings and failed to discover a single coin. When Lin Chu served the remaining two plates, the children could not eat anymore. The boys stuffed some more into their mouths, but no coins appeared.
And then they saw Yan Beicheng fish a coin from his mouth with his chopsticks in a sudden while he was eating congee and dumplings with an elegance fit for a Michelin establishment.
After a few more dumplings, he picked out another coin and put it aside.
The children, bellies full of dumplings, were desolate. They stared at the few dumplings left in the plate. Yan Beicheng raised his brow, picked one up randomly, and finally unearthed the last coin left in the bunch.
He scanned the children"s disappointed gazes and smirked. "I don"t care if I can find coins in my dumplings, but they came for me on their own. I can"t help it."
The children: "…"
Disappointed, all the children ran to play with Chu Xi. Lin Chu glanced at Yan Beicheng, who was still eating his congee slowly. She also had no way to deal with Yan Beicheng"s annoying childlike tendencies.
The previous moment he was thinking of the children and buying new clothes for them, and the next he was deliberately riling the kids up. Yan Beicheng had done it inadvertently, as he did towards Qi Chenglin"s son, Qi Youxuan, and Yan Ningbai. Both were incredibly insolent children that he had to shut up with incisive words. It was also his relations.h.i.+p with the two children that had determined his way of dealing with those children for worse. His words earlier were uttered out of habit.
"I wanted to tell you yesterday, but I didn"t have the time," Lin Chu said. When she saw Yan Beicheng looking at her with a half-smile, she instantly knew what he was thinking.
Luckily, the old princ.i.p.al and the children were not present. Lin Chu ducked her head, flushed, "This is serious! Don"t think of all that indecent stuff."
"What indecent stuff?" Yan Beicheng chuckled. "What do you think I"m thinking about? Or where you think of something? Let me guess?"
Lin Chu"s face heated up. She glared at him, "Stop it!"
Yan Beicheng read the situation. He said, "What serious topic were you talking about?"
"I wanted to visit the flower market and buy a potted plant for your father today," Lin Chu pinched her spoon and stirred her congee a few times before scattering a little meat floss on it and eating a mouthful. "What kind of plant does your father like?"
She must gift them with something that was to their liking on the first visit. Mr. and Mrs. Yan knew of her situation, so she would not need to purchase something valuable for them that she could not afford. The status of the Yans also meant that there were few things they coveted.
And those were things that she could not afford, so she decided not to embarra.s.s herself. The gift she bought would be a good one as long as it was chosen with care and to their liking.
If she bought an overly expensive gift, she would probably be looked down upon even if she had spent her savings. If she were to use Yan Beicheng"s money, his parents would see through it -- they were not stupid.
"You can get one that"s easy to care for, one that can grow well with a little water and no fertilizer," Yan Beicheng said. His slender, bony fingers pinched a small clump of meat floss and scattered it on his congee. The whitish congee gleamed with reflected light and looked appetizing paired with the fragrant meat floss.
"The old man likes to grow plants, but he"s the opposite of a green thumb. In the beginning, he had high hopes, and he bought many rare plants back home and cared for them. He fertilized and regulated the environmental temperature for them, but they didn"t bloom and their leaves all wilted. This made him the subject of my mother"s teasing for a month. Next, I bought him some plants that were easy to look after, but he fertilized them to death. He did not dare to fertilize his plants at all after that, so the plants I buy for him are all easy to care for. The species is not a matter of concern as long as it looks festive," Yan Beicheng explained. He noticed that there was no meat floss left in Lin Chu"s bowl, and he reached over to scatter a pinch onto it.
Yan Beicheng could not help to laugh as he recalled an event. "One year someone brought him an epiphyllum plant. The old man was so happy, but then the plant did not blossom at all after a long time, and the few leaves it grew wilted. From then on, the old man stopped trying to care for those rare plants. So, you won"t need to worry. You can just bring any normal plant. The species is not the main concern, as long as it looks pretty and festive. It won"t matter if it"s just any plant that you can see on the streets. My father will be happy if he can care for it well."
Lin Chu nodded with a smile. She heard Yan Beicheng continued, "I"ll fetch you after I finish my visits, and we can get the plant together."
"There"s no need. It"ll waste a lot of time. I don"t have anything to do in the day anyway, and I don"t have to visit anyone." Lin Chu collected Yan Beicheng"s bowl and utensils when she noted that he had finished his meal and took it to the kitchen along with hers. "Don"t you have to move my stuff into your home? We"ll have to pack for a long time."
Yan Beicheng stopped arguing. Currently, the most important task in his mind was to bring Lin Chu to Ding City.
"I see you"ve been thinking of it." Yan Beicheng scooted closer, his warm palm kneading her waist.
"If you"re going to laugh at me, I"ll rescind my decision." Lin Chu glared at him.
Yan Beicheng chuckled and looked at the time. "I got to go. I"ll return in the afternoon as soon as I can."
Lin Chu saw Yan Beicheng out and returned to prepare rice and milk for Chu Xi.
It was the New Year, so most of the shops were not open. The largest shopping complexes were, but private-owned shops like the pet shops would probably be closed.
Lin Chu went to the flower market. There were a lot of pet shops along a street there, and she planned to make a detour and see if any of them were open. If they were not, she would have to buy it online.
It was two-thirty in the afternoon when Lin Chu returned.
Chu Xi lay in wait in front of the door when it heard footsteps. When she entered, it stood up and bowed to her.
The old princ.i.p.al chuckled at the sight. "Look, Chu Xi"s in a festive mood. It"s bowing 1 to you."
Lin Chu put the flowers she bought on the table so that Chu Xi would not dig it out from the pot out of curiosity. She squatted down, carried Chu Xi up and said to the old princ.i.p.al, "The pet shops aren"t open today, so we"ll have to make its food by ourselves for the time being. I"m just scared that this would make it a picky eater that doesn"t like dog food."
Chu Xi barked towards the door just as she finished speaking.
And then she heard a familiar childlike voice yelling, "Niece-in-law!"
Lin Chu released Chu Xi and opened the door for Yan Ningbai who ran inside. His red snow boots were particularly eye-catching. Following behind Yan Ningbai, Yan Huaian and Yu Zi walked in with Yan Beicheng, whose stony face told her that he thought the three of them a hindrance.
Lin Chu welcomed the three of them into the house. Yan Ningbai called with surprise when he spotted Chu Xi, "Why, there"s a dumb 1 husky here!"
Chu Xi immediately barked, showing her dissatisfaction at the name.
"This is Chu Xi," Lin Chu explained. "Jingxi and his friends brought it back yesterday. It was abandoned by its old owner because he was sick, so I"m caring for him for now." Although Chu Xi did not have much fur, it was in considerably higher spirits. Its azure eyes gleamed prettily.
"Er Er, come!" Yan Ningbai squatted on the floor and extended his hand towards Chu Xi.
"Its name is Chu Xi!" Mo Jingxi popped out from somewhere, voicing Chu Xi"s dissatisfaction on behalf when he heard Yan Ningbai calling it Er Er.
Chu Xi, "Bark!"
"Er Er is a nickname. It means that I love you and I"m calling you cute!" Yan Ningbai lied to Chu Xi sweetly without considering if Chu Xi would understand his words. the "bai" in "bainian" means "bow" "er" means "dumb"