After uttering those harsh words, Shin-chan's mother stomped out in her leather boots. Shin-chan's father glanced at his son and You Ran with disgust, and then did the same as his wife.
In just a few minutes, only You Ran and Xiao Xin remained in the private room.
You Ran couldn't have gotten her wish, so she quickly sat down, picked up her chopsticks, and began to feast.
Shin-chan pulled out a chair and sat down next to her, ignoring her completely and continuing to eat.
Shin-chan rested his chin on his hand, tilted his head to watch her eat, and continued eating leisurely without paying any attention.
Shin-chan sighed slightly, indicating that he had a lot on his mind and wanted to tell someone, but he ignored her and continued eating.
Xiaoxin grabbed You Ran's hands that were holding chopsticks, preventing her from eating anymore. This time, You Ran had no choice but to give in.
"Don't you have any questions you want to ask?" Shin-chan asked.
Looking at the meat on her chopsticks, You Ran pondered for a moment and voiced the question that had been lingering in her mind since earlier.
"Your parents should still be paying for this meal, right?"
Shin-chan seemed to catch his breath for a moment. After catching his breath, he said angrily, "I mean, don't you have any questions about my family?"
"If I ask you, will you treat me to another meal?" A look of longing flashed in You Ran's eyes.
Shin-chan's forehead veins looked like they were about to burst: "Is eating all there is to your life?!"
"Of course not," You Ran added with a touch of self-importance, "There's also drinking and excretion."
Eating, drinking, and relieving oneself are the most authentic, noble, and boundless pursuits in life.
Shin-chan truly understood the word "retribution" at this moment, and he guessed that his parents were feeling the same way he was now.
"They want to use my marriage as leverage to help their business grow better." Xiao Xin had given up on the idea of letting You Ran ask on her own.
"Actually, that girl has a lot of class; she would be a good wife." You Ran was telling the truth.
"Maybe she's great, but I just don't like her." Xiaoxin poured himself a glass of wine and drank it down in one gulp.
"So what kind do you like?" You Ran handed the cup to Xiao Xin, gesturing for him to fill it up.
“I like…” Xiaoxin glanced at You Ran, and after a long pause, a faint smile appeared on his lips: “Big breasts, long legs, pointed chin, short hair, and a gentle and quiet personality.”
After thinking it over carefully, You Ran said with great self-awareness, "That's practically the complete opposite of me."
Shin-chan just smiled and remained silent.
"Alright, tell me, why do you hate your parents so much?" You Ran asked.
“Actually, I didn’t spend much time with them growing up. I was basically raised by my grandfather.” Xiao Xin began to recall: “My parents’ marriage was a political one. Although they were married, they still did their own thing. When they occasionally got together, it was to talk about business. They never suffered a loss, and they even kept their feelings to themselves. I admit I was unfilial, but they weren’t loving towards me either. I remember when I was little, my grandfather stipulated that they should take me to the amusement park once a month to foster a relationship between my parents and me. But they found it troublesome, so they agreed that each of them would take turns taking me out each month. Once, my dad was having a passionate affair with his fifth secretary and couldn’t get away, so he asked my mom to take his place. I still remember their conversation at that time.”
“‘I’ll take him out next month and the month after, okay?’ ‘I’ve already made plans to go shopping with friends tomorrow, where am I going to find the time? When it’s your turn, it’s your responsibility, don’t come to me.’ ‘Since you say that, then I’ll just leave him at home.’ ‘Fine, leave him then. He’s not just my son. I didn’t want to have him in the first place, it was your family that forced me to. They said I only needed to give birth, and they would raise him. But now? One minute it’s parent-teacher conferences, the next it’s taking him out to play, taking up my time every few days.’ ‘Hey, hey, hey, that’s right.’” "I begged you to have this child. I haven't had enough fun yet, and I don't want a child. If you want to blame someone, blame my dad." Xiao Xin was usually a person of clear emotions, like a richly colored oil painting, but at this moment, his eyes were lowered, and many lonely spots were scattered between his brows: "I was standing outside the study door at the time, and I clearly heard these words. It turned out that, to them, I was just a burden. From then on, I never wanted to go out with them again, and Grandpa gave up. And they were much more relaxed... This is my family, a family that is not quite normal."
You Ran had already put down her chopsticks. After Xiao Xin finished speaking, she reached out, stroked his hair, and said something sincere.
"I'm really happy to see people who are worse off than me..."
Shin-chan's eyebrow changes:
“╰ ╯”
"— —"
"╯╰"
Xiao Xin sighed resignedly, having known all along that this woman was heartless and immoral, and scooped up a bowl of turtle and black chicken soup.
Just as they were about to start, they suddenly heard You Ran softly call his name, his real name: "Long Xiang".
"Hmm?" Shin-chan replied lazily, ignoring him.
You Ran said softly, "If you ever want to go to an amusement park, just let me know, and I'll take you."
Upon hearing this, Xiaoxin paused. He had been keeping his head down, and the blurry reflection of his eyes was swaying on the delicious soup.
After a long while, he saw a faint smile appear in the eyes reflected in the soup.
Shin-chan scooped up a spoonful of soup with a porcelain spoon, drank it down, and suddenly felt a sense of calm.
"good."
He answered softly.
The two of them ate with great relish and, naturally, drank quite a bit as well.
The days passed in a daze. You Ran still went to the storage room to organize her things every day, and as usual, Qu Yun would come every time. But You Ran was fully prepared. She threatened to kill herself and dragged her three roommates to help her.
Of course, the death mentioned here refers to the lives of the roommates.
With outsiders present, Qu Yun didn't make any special moves for the time being, and You Ran quickened her pace in tidying up. By Tuesday, she had successfully completed the task, cleaning the storage room to the point of being almost spotless.
You Ran originally thought she could get a reprieve, but things didn't go as planned.
It was real wind, real clouds, and real torrential rain.
The wooden boards used to seal the windows of the storage room were blown open, and the wind and rain rushed in, sweeping away the contents and making a mess of the place.
This happened on Wednesday afternoon.
When You Ran received Qu Yun's call and rushed over to check on her, she felt like she wanted to die.
The feeling was like that of someone who had raised their beautiful daughter for eighteen years with great care and effort, only to have her violated by a group of unknown thugs.
"Who did this?!" You Ran's eyes were bloodshot with rage.
Qu Yun calmly answered her question: "God."
Well, God is the greatest. He calmly suppressed his anger, secretly wiped away his tears, and picked himself up again.
But seeing this mess, he figured he couldn't clean it up even if he stayed up all night. You Ran was in great pain, but gritted his teeth and began to work hard.
Many items on the upper shelf of the wooden frame were blown down by the wind, so You Ran had to climb the ladder to put them back up.
Unfortunately, she was wearing a skirt today, and once she stepped up, the view underneath was completely exposed.
Yu Ran, oblivious to everything, didn't notice at first. It wasn't until she inadvertently looked down and saw the glint in Qu Yun's dark eyes that she suddenly realized something was wrong. She quickly covered her skirt and angrily said, "What are you doing?"
"Enjoying the scenery." Qu Yun leaned against the wooden frame, his hands folded in front of his chest, his long, slender fingers tapping rhythmically, looking quite pleased with himself.
"Teacher, please step aside and let me clean up myself!!!" A fierce glint flashed in You Ran's eyes.
"I'm sorry, I can't leave until I see you're all done." Qu Yun smiled gently, her eyes still fixed on the so-called "beautiful scenery."
You Ran's eyes turned cold, and the next second, she picked up something from the shelf and threw it forcefully at Qu Yun.
Qu Yun reacted incredibly fast and had top-notch dodging speed. Even when those potentially lethal objects were about to hit him, he always managed to dodge at the perfect moment.
His movements were quick, yet they gave the impression of complete calmness, as if he were strolling leisurely.
His elegance fueled You Ran's anger. She completely forgot what she was standing on, picked up a bunch of things, and threw them forward.
As a result, the ladder tilted, and You Ran didn't have time to grab it, so she fell straight down from the top.
Fortunately, You Ran had good balance and landed relatively steadily. However, the heavy wooden ladder was hooked by You Ran's foot and, guided by gravity and inertia, crashed straight down towards You Ran's head.
Everything happened too fast; You Ran had no time to react and could only watch helplessly as the giant object crashed into her already not-so-bright head.
However, a figure suddenly flashed before his eyes, and his leisurely cheek touched a familiar chest, followed by a muffled "thud".
After everything was over, there was a moment of silence. You Ran slowly looked up and found that Qu Yun was holding her in his arms with his left arm, while his right hand was blocking the falling wooden ladder.
"Are you alright?" He lowered his head, his dark eyes shimmering with a watery light.
Qu Yun saved himself.
Realizing this, You Ran began to think about how she should answer.
Should I thank him? Or should I blame him for meddling?
In the end, You Ran chose the safest and most meaningless answer: "Teacher, it's so hot."
After saying that, she broke free from his embrace, took a step back, and stood a meter away.
Qu Yun smiled but didn't say anything.
You Ran looked away, bent down to pick up the scattered items on the ground, and prepared to continue tidying up.
He picked up a pile of books, stood up leisurely, and saw that Qu Yun was still standing in the same place, with the wooden ladder leaning against his right arm.
In other words, he remained in a blocking posture.
"Give me the ladder," You Ran said.
"That might be a bit difficult," Qu Yun replied.
"I don't want to waste my time with you," You Ran said, her tone slightly impatient.
"Is talking to me a waste of time?" Qu Yun asked.
You Ran pursed her lips, not wanting to say anything more to him, and walked straight over, preparing to take the wooden ladder away.
But upon closer inspection, You Ran discovered that Qu Yun wasn't deliberately teasing her; there was genuinely no way to give her the wooden ladder.
Because—a long, rusty nail protruding from the wooden ladder was embedded in Qu Yun's right arm.
You Ran hadn't noticed that Qu Yun was standing with his back to the light. Only upon closer inspection did she realize that Qu Yun's forehead was covered with tiny beads of sweat, and his right arm was soaked in blood, damp and sticky in the dim light.
The wooden ladder was also old, and the exposed nail on top was about five centimeters long, completely driven into Qu Yun's right arm.
Upon seeing this, You Ran's face turned pale instantly, and her hands and feet began to tremble slightly.
"Don't be afraid, give me the toolbox over there," Qu Yun said gently, trying to comfort him.
You Ran was completely disoriented at this moment. Upon hearing this instruction, she hurriedly ran to get the toolbox, opened it, and placed it in front of Qu Yun.
Qu Yun glanced at the toolbox, quickly found the pliers, and with a little force, cut the long nail in half.
You Ran quickly held the wooden ladder steady and placed it aside, then took Qu Yun to the hospital.
You Ran was terrified, while Qu Yun kept joking around to ease her tension.
With great difficulty, the emergency room staff managed to pull the long nail out. However, after examining the X-ray, they discovered that it might have damaged the bone, and Qu Yun needed to stay in the hospital for further examination.
You Ran quickly ran to complete the hospital admission procedures and buy daily necessities. Only after everything was done did she calm down.
Qu Yun, with bandages wrapped around her waist, sat on the hospital bed, quietly watching You Ran.
You Ran had originally decided to rest with her head down, but later, unable to withstand his intense gaze, she looked up and asked, "What are you looking at?"
Qu Yun remained silent, but his eyes, like a serene autumn moon, reflected endless cloud patterns.