Chapter 262: He"s Almost 12 Years Older Than You, How Can You Think That Both Of You Are Compatible?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

This was why Yan Ningbai knew that Mo Jinxi"s past would not matter, because as long as he had the Mo family now, n.o.body would dare trouble him in school.

With everyone"s encouragement and Yan Ningbai"s support, Mo Jinxi felt a lot more secure. He even agreed to meet Yan Ningbai at the school gate the next morning so that they could go to cla.s.s together.

To be frank, Mo Jinxi had nothing to worry about. The teaching and administrative staff at Jixia Academy were more professional than those at regular schools. Besides, even though the cla.s.s teacher knew about his family background, the cla.s.s teacher would have still naturally paid more attention to him because he was a new transfer student.

Yan Beicheng and Yan Huaian soon got up to leave together with their wives and Yan Ningbai. Just as they were about to leave, Liang Wenyin asked them to wait for a minute while she rushed to her bedroom.

A moment later, she came out with two mounted paintings in her hands before handing them over to Yan Huaian and Yan Beicheng.

“Here, I painted them and I daresay they have quite a high market value. This is our first meeting and I don"t know what to gift you guys, so I just thought that it"d be easier to just gift you my paintings. I also have a couple of tickets to my exhibition here, so please go if you have the time, and if you don"t, just give the tickets away,” Liang Wenyin said to Lin Chu and Yu Zi with a polite smile, “You really don"t have to go if it"s inconvenient; if so, you can just give the tickets to your clients or something. Oh, and Lin Chu, once you have your child, I"ll draw a family portrait for you guys.”

Lin Chu accepted the gift gratefully and thanked Liang Wenyin. Liang Wenyin had a sort of poised elegance of an artist that Lin Chu and Yu Zi liked very much. On the other hand, some women were just too pretentious such that they could not help but keep their distance.

Nevertheless, Liang Wenyin was unlike the conventional pompous female artist, so they felt quite comfortable with her. However, this did not mean that they would necessarily become good friends who constantly hung out together. After all, their environment and hobbies would take a huge part in deciding this. Liang Wenyin was an artist, so the environment she surrounded herself in was different from the two women, but that did not mean that they could not get along.

In the car, on the way back, Yan Beicheng kept sneaking glances at Lin Chu as he drove. They were caught in a heavy traffic jam, so the car barely moved most of the time, hence Lin Chu was not worried about Yan Beicheng getting distracted.

However, it gradually became weirder when he kept staring at her silently.

Seeing that Yan Beicheng looked like he had something to say, Lin Chu planned to wait for him to take the initiative to speak first, but after waiting for almost half journey home, he had yet to say anything.

Lin Chu could no longer control her curiousity and asked first, “Is there something that you want to say?”

Yan Beicheng paused as he gawked at her for a moment before asking her in response, “Don"t you have anything to ask me?”

Lin Chu paused as she thought to herself, "Weird… What am I supposed to ask him? There"s nothing I need to ask…"

Lin Chu carefully studied Yan Beicheng"s face. At first, he felt at ease, but as she continued staring at him intently, he began to feel anxious.

Almost immediately, Lin Chu picked up on his anxiousness and narrowed her eyes at him. “What are you feeling guilty about?”

“…” Yan Beicheng took a deep breath. “What could I possibly be guilty of? It"s just… you keep staring at me! How can I remain calm when you"re staring at me so strangely?”

Lin Chu pouted when she heard this. She had merely casually asked him this, and it wasn"t like she was doubting him.

After a short moment of silence, Yan Beicheng coughed awkwardly. “Well, I was waiting for you to ask me about Liang Wenyin.”

Lin Chu had almost forgotten about the incident. Not that she did not care, but her woman"s instincts were telling her that Liang Wenyin was not romantically interested in Yan Beicheng. She was just excited at encountering a long-lost childhood friend.

If a woman had set her eyes on her man, no matter how well they disguised it, she would still be able to pick up on it.

This was why she had long since forgotten the interrupted conversation from before.

Now that Yan Beicheng had reminded her, it finally came back to mind, so she seized the opportunity and asked, “Oh, how did you guys meet when you were kids?”

“Grandma told you that I used to stay with Jiang Changdai when I was a child, and back then, I was always mistreated. Unlike now where I don"t bother anymore, I cared a lot back then and had always hoped that things would change between us. Naturally, I was often disappointed and I had to keep the sadness to myself. Once, when I was feeling down, I was sitting on a bench by the roadside in the neighborhood, and that was when I met Liang Wenyin. I still remember what she told me that day —— when you"re feeling down, have some chocolate. I remember her by these words,” Yan Beicheng slowly explained.

“Back then, she was still a small child. She was quite chubby, a little like Ningbai, so when I got to know her better, I gave her the nickname Half Moon,” Yan Beicheng continued.

Earlier on when Liang Wenyin had mentioned it in their conversation, Lin Chu did not immediately realize what it meant, but now, she finally understood how the nickname came about.

“Wow, you"ve really been mean ever since you were a kid,” Lin Chu said, dumbfounded.

“After she left with her family, we"ve never seen each other since, but thinking back now, I"m very grateful to have had her at that time. She was a kind young lady during a period when I was slowly gravitating toward anger and hatred. When I began to detest the world and its ways, and was slowly stepping toward depression, she was the one who brought me back. Although I never revealed anything to her, she knew I was unhappy. I think that it was fortunate that she never knew the cause because she could then concentrate on trying to get me to let go of all the sadness and just try to be happy.”

When Lin Chu remained silent after Yan Beicheng finished speaking, he thought she was angry at him and that she jealous of his childhood innocent friends.h.i.+p.

He turned toward her, only to see her head lowered down and her shoulders drooped. The only light in the car came from the lights of the cars ahead of and behind them, as well as the neon lights from the buildings by the road. When vehicles pa.s.sed them from both sides, a dark shadow would cast over her face.

Just as Yan Beicheng was about to speak, Lin Chu reached over and placed her hand on his. He could feel a tingling warmth on the back of his hands radiating from her palms.

The weather was cold now, and though Yan Beicheng never had the habit of wearing gloves, Lin Chu had been making sure to remind him to do so.

This morning, Lin Chu watched him as he put on his gloves before leaving for work, but when he left the office, he had forgotten about the gloves and left them in his office.

Due to his momentary forgetfulness, Lin Chu had nagged him as they headed to the Mo family"s house together.

However, Yan Beicheng was not annoyed at all. After all, Lin Chu was doing it for his own good. Aside from that, he clearly remembered what Lin Chu had said, “It"s okay if you don"t mind freezing your hands off and getting frostbite, but my heart will ache if that happens. Just do it for my sake, alright? Don"t be so forgetful and always remember to wear your gloves in the future, please?”

Because of this, Yan Beicheng could not bring himself to get annoyed, and no matter how long she nagged him, he would merely quietly accept it.

At that moment, there was heating in the car, so it was quite warm. After staying in the car for a while, Yan Beicheng"s hands slowly began to warm up from the numbing cold and was gradually able to wriggle his fingers. However, after coming into contact with Lin Chu"s soft palm, he felt even more comfortable.

He had not liked wearing gloves since young out of habit and Old Lady Yan had never nagged him about it in the past. In reality, this was something he was headstrong about it due to the aesthetics.

He always wore his coats unfastened; whether they had zippers or b.u.t.tons, he always left them undone. Wei Zilin had teased him about this multiple times in the past, but Yan Beicheng insisted that he looked cooler and more handsome this way. His stance on this subject was equal to his love for wearing brogues.

The same goes for wearing gloves. Yan Beicheng disliked the feeling of sweating inside his gloves and the way leather smelled when it came into contact with sweat. As for furry gloves, he just felt like they were unnecessarily bulky.

Therefore, no matter how much Old Lady Yan lectured him, Yan Beicheng had never listened.

Now that he was married to Lin Chu, she was supervising him every day so he had no choice but to wear them.

On the first day of winter, when he went back to the old mansion wearing gloves, Old Lady Yan was completely ecstatic and kept going on about how great her granddaughter-in-law was in that now somebody was finally able to manage her grandson.

In reality, apart from those two reasons, Yan Beicheng had another reason why he disliked wearing gloves after he got together with Lin Chu. He found it uncomfortable to hold Lin Chu"s hands when he wore gloves as he was unable to directly feel the softness of Lin Chu"s palms. He loved the feeling of their skin touching, such that even on the hottest days of summer when their palms would be laced in sweat, it was something he looked forward to.

During winter, he would hold Lin Chu"s hand and they would stuff their interlinked hands into his pocket to keep warm. He loved the feeling of their fingers closely knitted together as they walked through the streets.

Although he never told Lin Chu this, she seemed to be aware of it, so whenever they were together, she had never asked him to wear his gloves. However, she would insist that he wore his gloves when he went out alone.

“I know it"s pointless to talk about my regrets but I just wish you had met me earlier. No matter how your fate deals its cards, and even though we"re now together, I just wish I"ve always been in your life since the very start,” Lin Chu said softly, her velvety voice laced with deep regret.

Yan Beicheng kept one hand on the steering wheel as he stretched out his free hand to hold Lin Chu"s hands.

Her hands were soft and warm, and his hands immediately felt comfortable as he touched her.

Yan Beicheng gave her a tender and sincere smile. “You"re so much younger than me so how could you have met me earlier? You weren"t even born then.”

Lin Chu pouted when she heard his words. For a moment, she had forgotten about their age gap

Then, she simply pulled Yan Beicheng"s hand over and rested it on her knees.

The car was warm, so after a while, their palms began to sweat. Instinctively, Lin Chu wanted to let go of his hands as she thought it was awkward to hold his hand with her sweaty palms. It was not that she was turned off by Yan Beicheng"s sweaty palms, and similarly, she knew that Yan Beicheng did not mind her sweat either, but she instinctively wanted to maintain her best image in front of him at all times.

Instead, Yan Beicheng held onto her hand. “Don"t,” he pleaded.

With that, Lin Chu relented and held his hand once again.

Liang Wenyin"s art exhibition was held for two weeks and, holding true to prenatal culture, Lin Chu decided to bring Yan Beicheng along to have a look. Yu Zi brought Yan Ningbai along too, eager to improve Yan Ningbai"s knowledge of the arts.

Her son was utterly ignorant of anything related to culture. He was someone who could fall asleep when listening to music and never understood the aesthetic appeal of art. Aside from that, his artworks for art cla.s.ses in school were too horrible to even look at.

Yu Zi had also tried signing Yan Ningbai up for piano lessons. Qi Youxuan of the Qi family had an extremely good piano program, so Yu Zi thought it would be a good idea to get Yan Ningbai to join. However, even after going for some time, Yan Ningbai was still unable to read the piano score, nor was he able to correctly locate the right piano keys. With that, Yu Zi gave up; there was nothing she could do about her son"s absolute lack of artistic talent.

Yu Zi never planned on cultivating Yan Ningbai to become an artist, but she just wanted him to have some exposure to the field since it would be helpful for character-building. Unfortunately, her attempts were met with reality giving her a hard slap in the face, telling her that it was pointless to try anymore.

Nevertheless, Yu Zi had not yet completely given up. When she heard that Lin Chu was trying out prenatal education, she immediately jumped at the opportunity to bring Yan Ningbai along.

Liang Wenyin had given them quite a lot of tickets, and Lin Chu had originally planned to give the extra ones to Xu Moyan and Zheng Yuntong. However, both of them straight up rejected the offer without hesitation, stating that they did not have an artistic bone in their body so they would not know how to appreciate the art. If they had free time, they would much rather watch a movie instead.

Though Lin Chu could not talk sense into them, she still insisted on giving them two tickets each. This way, if they were adamant about not going, they could simply give the tickets away to their clients.

Yan Huaian had work that day so he was unable to make it, leaving them an extra ticket which Yu Zi had to contemplate about who to give it to.

This was supposedly not a big deal, but Yu Zi was always thoughtful and considerate about these things. She knew that not everyone would be interested in artistic things like art exhibitions. This sort of event was more appropriate for a couple"s first date, as there would normally be filled with awkward silences. The quiet environment of the exhibition couple with the crowd surrounding them would thus ensure that things would not be awkward for them as they would always have something to talk about. However, not a lot of couples appreciated this sort of a first date.

If she simply gave the tickets to someone who was not interested, it would become the person"s burden.

When Yu Zi brought this up to Lin Chu, they were at the old mansion.

Yan Zhiqing had been living at the old mansion ever since she injured her leg.

As the old saying went, “If you hurt your bones or muscles, you must rest for a hundred days to recover.” Even the doctors ordered her to rest for at least three months, which was why she had been staying at the old mansion these days. Since her leg was still in a cast, it was inconvenient for her to move around, so she applied for leave from school for three months.

The cast on her arm had by now been removed, so her daily routine was not too badly affected. The doctor reminded that she should not be exerting too much force on it, but since there was not much for her to do anyway, and since she was able to handle her own daily needs, she no longer needed a caretaker. If she encountered something that she was unable to deal with alone, she would ask for Aunt Chen"s help.

Furthermore, she felt uncomfortable and uneasy with an adult always by her side.

As Lin Chu and Yu Zi were discussing this, she wheeled herself toward them in her wheelchair. She also had a ticket for herself as Lin Chu thought that she was spending too much time cooped up in the old mansion because of her injury, so this was a great chance for her to go out and get a breath of the outside air.

When Yan Zhiqing heard Yu Zi"s worries, she immediately suggested, “You can give it to Wei Zilin!”

Yu Zi, “…”

Lin Chu, “…”

Both of them admired Yan Zhiqing"s bravery and spirit to be able to suggest him without feeling ashamed or shy.

“…” Yan Zhiqing continued wheeling herself over on her new electric wheelchair. The manual wheelchair that she had used earlier was merely temporary.

Yan Beicheng and Yan Huaian focused so much effort on their wives that they had somewhat neglected Yan Zhiqing. They were not mistreating her, but they were not as thoughtful toward her as they were to their wives.

Old Lady Yan was the one who first noticed Yan Zhiqing"s inconvenience and casually gave a suggestion, “With the advanced technology these days, are there no controlled electric wheelchairs we can buy?”

With that, the issue was finally brought to light and Yan Beicheng immediately bought a new wheelchair for Yan Zhiqing. There was a manual joystick on the handrest that allowed the person sitting on it to be able to manually control the wheelchair"s movements and direction, which made it much more convenient.

“Why are you guys looking at me? It"s no secret that I like Wei Zilin,” Yan Zhiqing said as she tilted her head upward, seemingly proud of herself.

Perhaps it was due to her change of personality, but back when Yan Zhiqing was still acting like a stupid spoiled brat toward Lin Chu, Yan Beicheng hated that she had a crush on Wei Zilin and was determined to not let her date his best friend. This was also partly the reason why he was never that nice toward her either.

However, now that he knew that Yan Zhiqing was not so bad, aside from her character that was a bit hard to deal with, he found himself slowly accepting the fact that she truly liked Wei Zilin. Nevertheless, he still disapproved of it. It was nothing personal, as it was not like he thought that Yan Zhiqing not good enough, he just felt like they would not be a good match.

Their personalities were too different and the age gap between them was too large. He also knew Wei Zilin well enough to say that Wei Zilin would never fall for someone like Yan Zhiqing.

Still, he was not angry as before and harbored no harsh feelings toward Yan Zhiqing.

Noticing that he had a change of heart, Yan Beicheng shook his head with a soft smile.

“Come on, guys. You know I like Wei Zilin, so why can"t you help me out? It"s not like I"m asking you to force him to be with me, I"m just asking that you help me create an opportunity so we can get to know each other better.” Despite how shameless Yan Zhiqing was being, her face was slowly getting red as her head dropped. She no longer dared look at Lin Chu and Yu Zi in the eye but still continued, “I… I don"t usually ask you guys for any help anyways, so just do me this small favor this time…”

“You"re not a good match for Wei Zilin,” Yan Beicheng said unflinchingly.

“How am I not suitable for him?” Yan Zhiqing immediately became upset as she raised her head to glare at Yan Beicheng.

“He"s almost twelve years older than you, how can you think that the two of you are compatible?” Yan Beicheng responded in a straightforward manner.

“You"re one to talk! You"re a lot older than Lin Chu too – just a little less than twelve years!” Yan Zhiqing retorted.