When he was first listening to her speak, Yan Beicheng seemed to be in good spirits as he was smiling away. However, his expression immediately sunk when he heard Lin Chu"s last few sentences.
His black eyes watched Lin Chu intently as if she had been blacklisted by him. His deep eyes made a chill run down Lin Chu"s neck. She had no idea what she had done wrong, but his gaze made her feel terribly guilty.
Without another word, Yan Beicheng turned around and walked away. Although he made no move to remove the hand in his pocket, he showed no signs of wanting to pay her any attention either. It seemed like he was throwing a tantrum at her.
Lin Chu felt especially confused like she had been wrongfully accused of a crime.
However, Lin Chu refused to let him get used to the bad habit of falling out with her without saying anything. If she were to let him continue acting like this, it would only get worse from here on out!
She had just forgiven him for yesterday"s issue. She decided not to argue with him about the matter because she was generous. Now, he was taking advantage of that. Since she was not easy to anger, he was not nervous about it at all!
Lin Chu groaned in anger inwardly and felt her temper boil. With an icy expression, she took her hand out of his hold in his pocket without a word to Yan Beicheng. She walked past him quickly and entered the house.
Everyone at the dining table felt the off-putting atmosphere between Lin Chu and Yan Beicheng not long into the meal. The pair had not spoken to each other since they entered the house.
Mo Jinxi"s gaze danced back and forth between the pair.
Lin Chu treated Yan Beicheng harshly, yet she treated everyone else as per usual.
The old Princ.i.p.al was still worried right as they were about to leave. She pulled Lin Chu away and whispered, "What"s going on between you and Beicheng? You both were still fine in the morning so why aren"t the both of you talking to each other now?"
"It"s nothing, I"m just not used to some of his bad habits," said Lin Chu dismissively. However, her gaze still drifted toward Yan Beicheng, but Yan Beicheng caught her gaze right away. She felt guilty and retracted her gaze quickly. The tips of her ears went red.
The old Princ.i.p.al did not advise Lin Chu further since she knew Lin Chu had a sense of propriety. Besides, it would not be wise if she meddled further in matters between youngsters.
Nonetheless, she was still worried that an actual grudge would grow between the two from this petty fight. As she sent the pair to the door, she handed a wooden food container to Yan Beicheng and said, "I noticed you ate my snacks quite happily yesterday afternoon. I couldn"t sleep well this morning so I woke up earlier than usual and made a few dishes for you. Do eat them at home. You usually eat refined dishes, so think of eating these dishes as a change in tastes."
Although there were not a lot of snacks in the container, there was still a variety of them to choose from. In order to make all the snacks, the old Princ.i.p.al must have woken up at an unG.o.dly hour and had probably only slept for an hour or two.
"Princ.i.p.al…" The corners of Lin Chu"s eyes began to water.
n.o.body has ever taken to so much trouble for her before.
She knew the reason behind the old Princ.i.p.al acting like this. The old Princ.i.p.al wanted to treat Yan Beicheng as well as she could so that he would remember to treat Lin Chu the same.
The old Princ.i.p.al had dedicated her everything to the orphanage so she could not live in good conditions. All she could do were things she was good at.
"You stupid child, there"s no need to cry. I don"t sleep a lot nowadays, so I won"t sleep even if you forced me to." The old Princ.i.p.al tugged lightly at Yan Beicheng"s hand as she spoke. "I don"t know what"s happened between you both today. It"s normal for you young people to quarrel occasionally, so I won"t care about this too much. But you better not bully Lin Chu just because she doesn"t have a home to return to. Although I may have a body of old bones, I"m her home. If you dare bully her again, this old bag of bones won"t let you go so easily. I have to let you know that Lin Chu… Lin Chu has a home too! Ever since she was a child, I haven"t been able to protect her. I couldn"t bring her back despite knowing how much she"s suffered at the hands of the Lin family."
"What are you saying," said Lin Chu with watery eyes. "It was never your responsibility."
"You keep quiet!" the old Princ.i.p.al interrupted, not allowing herself to be soothed at all. "This is between Yan Beicheng and I so don"t interrupt me. All in all, this child has suffered a lot, and she even had to meet a man like Cheng Ziming. I can"t ask her to suffer anymore."
Yan Beicheng did not look at Lin Chu and merely nodded solemnly at the old Princ.i.p.al without making any promises.
Just looking into his pair of deep, black eyes was more than enough for the old Princ.i.p.al to release her hold on him.
"You both can go now. Drive safely. Beicheng is surely busy with work, but Lin Chu must visit often. I know you want to be strong, but taking care of your health is important too, so don"t overwork yourself." The old Princ.i.p.al caressed Lin Chu"s face and watched as Lin Chu nodded her head. With a loving smile, she said, "Good child, go now. You spent an entire day here yesterday, and you still have work tomorrow. Go home and rest early."
"If I have nothing going on next week, I"ll come to visit you again," said Lin Chu.
She would only drop by once or twice a month usually. When she dropped by this time, the old Princ.i.p.al seemed like she had aged a lot, which made Lin Chu feel like she was suffocating. She could only blame herself for not visiting more often.
"Don"t be ridiculous. There"s no need to visit if you"ll be busy. Besides, won"t you be too busy dating?" the old Princ.i.p.al joked.
Mo Jinxi grabbed onto the old Princ.i.p.al"s leg and lifted his pale and delicate face to look at Lin Chu. He said, "Lin Chu, it"s bad if he makes you angry. If you"re unhappy, think of me! I, I"ll always be here waiting for you!"
Lin Chu smiled and hummed her agreement, unwilling to disappoint the child.
To the side, Yan Beicheng scoffed coldly, glaring at the unlucky child before him.
He was still wet behind the ears, yet he was already thinking of going after someone else"s woman!
How ambitious!
Lin Chu refused to let the old Princ.i.p.al stand out in the cold to watch them go, so she insisted on the old woman and the child to return into the house. Right after she watched the old Princ.i.p.al enter the house with the child, her smile immediately fell and she did not even spare a single glance at Yan Beicheng.
Yan Beicheng was also sulking due to reasons unknown, so he could only follow Lin Chu. However, he could not help feeling secretly relieved once he saw her enter the pa.s.senger"s side of the car before he did.
Just as Yan Beicheng settled into his seat, a BMW X1 pulled up slowly behind him.
Cheng Ziming had seen the Grand Cherokee upfront before but it was too dark for him to see the license plate clearly. This time, he would remember it clearly.
Nevertheless, he had arrived just a bit too late and saw only the back of the person entering the car. He could not make out the person"s appearance or age at all.
He had no doubts that this was the car that he saw parked below Lin Chu"s home. He had decided to visit the orphanage on a whim, so there was no explaining why he suddenly felt like seeing how Lin Chu had lived all those years ago.
When he was in college, Lin Chu had brought him to the orphanage a few times so he knew the old Princ.i.p.al as well.
Ever since Yang Zhiyuan expressed his liking for Lin Chu, he had always felt a little uneasy on the inside, making him be on edge.
He never expected that he would see this familiar black Grand Cherokee upon arrival. He refused to believe that it was merely a coincidence for the same model to appear at the entrance to the orphanage, so it could only be the one that Lin Chu was with.
Once the Grand Cherokee drove off, Cheng Ziming followed it without a moment"s hesitation.
He still picked up his phone to give Lin Chu a call though.
In the car, Yan Beicheng and Lin Chu were still giving each other the cold shoulder. When Cheng Ziming"s name showed up on her phone, Lin Chu had immediately hung up. However, Cheng Ziming"s name appeared once more merely a few seconds later.
Lin Chu had had enough of his hara.s.sment and was unwilling to speak to him since she knew that he was only calling to repeat nonsense, so she hung up the call once more.
As Yan Beicheng drove, he glanced quickly at the screen of Lin Chu"s phone just as the phone call came in the second time and managed to see Cheng Ziming"s name flash brightly across the screen.
Yan Beicheng was still angry that Lin Chu could not remember him. After all, he had spent all these years thinking about the young lady. His memory of her was completely unaffected by time. He had recognized her immediately after seeing her photo in the newspaper. Lin Chu still had not recognized him at all.
Even when he stood under the old paG.o.da tree and tried to lead her into reminiscing about her memories, Lin Chu still spoke as if she was talking about a stranger.
Yan Beicheng had completely forgotten that when they had first met, Lin Chu was only six years old, which meant that she could not have remembered much about him at all.
Before his sulky mood could improve, he noticed Lin Chu was just about to reject yet another call. He asked with a sarcastic tone, "Why are you so shy about picking up phone calls with me here?"
Lin Chu glared at him once he spoke. They were just fine before, but here he was being sarcastic all of a sudden. Did he wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?
Lin Chu gritted her teeth and picked up the call right in his face. Yan Beicheng"s expression only grew darker in response.
His girlfriend was picking up a phone call from her ex-boyfriend right before his eyes, he could not imagine anything more infuriating than this.
If Lin Chu knew what he was thinking, she would definitely feel that he was just being over-the-top.
Lin Chu answered the call coldly, then Cheng Ziming"s voice could be heard asking, "Have you been to the orphanage today?"
"What"s it to you?" Lin Chu said indifferently.
"All you have to say is yes or no. Did you go with that person that drives a Grand Cherokee?" questioned Cheng Ziming.
Lin Chu"s eyebrows furrowed, but she did not answer. Cheng Ziming interpreted her silence as a sign of guilt. "I saw it."
"Cheng Ziming, it"s none of your business. Stop poking your nose in other people"s affairs and acting so annoying." Lin Chu ended the call without waiting for an answer and immediately blacklisted Cheng Ziming"s phone number.
She had not done so previously because she had forgotten this nuisance of a man. Cheng Ziming had never called her before either.
As for the conversation she had just shared with Cheng Ziming, Yan Beicheng had heard it as clear as day. He took another quick glance at Lin Chu and saw that she was frowning into the rearview mirror.
He looked into the rearview mirror as well and saw the BMW X1 that was following them.
Yan Beicheng sneered before suddenly turning his steering wheel to one side. He stopped his car by the side of the road, and sure enough, the BMW X1 that was tailing them stopped as well.
Lin Chu looked at Yan Beicheng questioningly, but he merely retrieved his phone to make a phone call.
"Master Yan," answered Zuo Qiu immediately.
"Is your car under insurance?" asked Yan Beicheng.
"Of course, the complete package!" Zuo Qiu said excitedly despite not knowing the reason behind the question.
Yan Beicheng"s expression remained the same as he continued, "I need you to come over to run into a car, just enough until it hurts."
He then proceeded to tell Zuo Qiu their location.
"Master…Master Yan…" Zuo Qiu was dumbfounded. "I…I just bought this car, I only received it last week. It"s completely brand new. I can"t even bear to dirty it with a single drop of mud."
Without a change in tone, Yan Beicheng replied calmly, "Once you claim insurance for your car, pa.s.s me the bill and I"ll pay you the same amount again."
"Okay, I"ll go over right this moment. I"ll be there in fifteen minutes," Zuo Qiu replied in slight excitement.
Yan Beicheng raised an eyebrow upon hearing the reply. "It seems like this kid is close by."
Yan Beicheng then ended the call without another word. He noticed Lin Chu"s shocked gaze.
Yan Beicheng"s phone was of much better quality than Lin Chu"s, at least it did not suffer from sound leakage. Lin Chu could not have heard whatever Zuo Qiu had said, but Yan Beicheng"s words could be heard by her clearly.
Although she may be shocked, she made no moves to stop him either.
Yan Beicheng dared to do so because he was not worried about the consequences. Besides, Cheng Ziming was the one that wanted to tail them. He ignored everything they said like a miserable wretch too.
She would never plead for mercy on Cheng Ziming"s behalf. After all, his car would merely be ran into a few times. Cheng Ziming would not be the one getting run into either.
After all, although Yan Beicheng was still angry, she had no idea just what exactly he was sulking about. This was a matter between the two of them too. Naturally, she would not allow Cheng Ziming to further aggravate the unpleasantness between them.
Lin Chu felt that a minor disagreement like this was nothing more than a regulator between lovers. However, if Cheng Ziming were to be added to the mix, it would only he was asking for death.
Thus, Lin Chu said nothing. Yan Beicheng raised an eyebrow once more as if he was waiting for Lin Chu to plead for mercy, but Lin Chu said nothing at all.