He hates being lectured.
Including that old man Mu, theoretically his grandfather, was just someone who took him in as a safeguard because the Mu family was small.
After all, his adoptive father died too early, and the Mu family always had only one son per generation. In order to prevent the family line from dying out, Old Master Mu brought him to the Mu family so that if something happened to Mu Zehai in the future, their Mu family would not be without an heir.
Therefore, he was an insignificant existence from the very beginning.
Old Master Mu was strict with him, Mu Zehai and his mother regarded him as a thorn in their side, and the entire Mu family looked down on him.
He grew up being pointed at and gossiped about by those around him, and had long since developed the habit of letting these unpleasant lectures go in one ear and out the other.
But as memories returned.
Faced with Yu Tang's lecturing and meeting his concerned gaze.
But for some inexplicable reason, he remembered it.
Now, she can't even bring herself to continue speaking coldly to that man.
I really don't know... why it turned out like this...
Chapter 16
Died for the villain for the eighth time (16)
While Yu Tang was cooking at home, Aunt Li came over again, this time with a rather pretty girl.
Seeing them come in, Yu Tang quickly put down what she was doing and invited them to sit down.
He asked, "Aunt Li, what's wrong?"
"Tangzi, you're so lucky." Aunt Li said to Yu Tang with excitement, "This girl came to see me again today. I told her about your family situation, and she said she doesn't mind that you took in such a younger brother."
She said she fell for you because she thought you were kind-hearted and that she could spend her life with you.
So today, that's why I brought her here to meet you!
Aunt Li exchanged glances with the young woman beside her and said, "I'll stay in the outer room. You two go into the inner room and chat. If you feel it's a good match, you can try getting to know each other."
"But Aunt Li, I already said I'm not interested in that anymore." Yu Tang was both amused and embarrassed. "With my looks and circumstances, being with any girl would only be a waste of her time!"
"Oh my, oh my, what man doesn't like women!"
Aunt Li, with the air of someone who's been through it all, stood up, grabbed Yu Tang and the woman's arms, and shoved them into the house: "Besides, the girl has already come along, you can't just not give her face, can you? Come on, let's go talk, and then we'll see if it's a good match, and whether you want to be together."
"Aunt Li, this..."
"Go in, go in!"
The curtain was abruptly closed. Yu Tang scratched his head, his embarrassment impossible to conceal, and was fully exposed to the young woman's eyes.
But the woman didn't seem to care about his attitude. Instead, she kept glancing at him with her round eyes, her oval face slightly flushed.
She asked, "I'm sorry, did my sudden visit to your house cause you any trouble?"
Yu Tang then came to his senses and looked at the woman.
Upon hearing the other person's words, he realized that his reaction had been somewhat excessive.
He said, "No, don't think that way."
"It's my fault for not explaining it clearly to Aunt Li."
Since things have come to this point, we have no choice but to bite the bullet and deal with it.
Yu Tang handed the woman a stool opposite the earthen bed: "Hey, you sit down first."
Then I sat down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) at a great distance.
The atmosphere was somewhat silent until the woman finally spoke, but what she said was unexpected by Yu Tang.
"Hello, my name is Li Juan." She seemed to have mustered up a lot of courage, lowered her head, and said with her ears turning red, "Actually, I've liked you for a long time."
Upon hearing this, Yu Tang was completely dumbfounded.
"You like me?" he asked, "We've never even met!"
“I saw you a few times when you went to town to sell vegetables. Once, you were setting up a stall right next to me. Someone said I was shortchanging people when I sold tofu, and you came to my rescue.”
Li Juan said slowly, "After that, I started to take a liking to you, but I was always too shy to reach out to you."
“I mustered up the courage to ask Aunt Li for help before, but you refused. I was thinking of just giving up. But I saw you in town again a while ago. You were with your younger brother, and you two were laughing happily.”
"After that, I would always sneak peeks at you at school. I... I really liked the way you taught, you were so... so handsome..."
At this point, Li Juan's face turned completely red, her head was lowered, her fingers twisted tightly around her clothes, and she dared not look at Yu Tang at all.
Yu Tang was completely dumbfounded.
He never expected to have such a romantic encounter.
Moreover, the fact that the other party seemed so deeply in love left him momentarily at a loss as to how to minimize the hurt the girl would suffer after being rejected.
“Actually, what you see is only one side of the story.” Yu Tang intended to belittle himself and said to Li Juan, “The real me is poor and stupid. I can’t earn much money, and I have to support my younger brother. I don’t have that much energy to start a relationship with you.”
"And I have many bad habits that you absolutely cannot tolerate..."
Before he could finish speaking, Li Juan interrupted, "I can tolerate it!"
Yu Tang was speechless, and in frustration, he scratched his head and gritted his teeth, saying, "Girl, please don't say that. You'll regret it when you meet the real me!"
"I'm not afraid!"
Yu Tang really had no other choice this time.
He looked at the woman with clear and determined eyes, and felt his head buzzing.
Xiao Jin tried to suggest a solution in his mind: [Host, why don't you try telling her directly that you actually like men, not women? That way she'll definitely give up!]
However, Xiao Jin then added: "But this approach is risky. Society is less tolerant of homosexuals now, especially in rural areas."
If word gets out that you like men, it will seriously damage your reputation.
Yu Tang: I don't care about public opinion. I'm afraid if I don't speak up, Mu Nancheng will come back, and then there will be chaos.
He gritted his teeth: Fine, let's try anything, even if it's a long shot.
So, Yu Tang took Xiao Jin's advice and said to Li Juan with a serious expression, "Girl, let me tell you the truth."
"Actually, when I said I didn't want to hold you back, I meant it, because..."
"I don't like women at all."
He solemnly declared, "I like men."
These two sentences left Li Juan stunned on the spot.
The blush on her face quickly faded, and her pretty face turned deathly pale.
She stared at Yu Tang in shock: "How can a man like another man?"
How could you possibly like men?
At this point, her eyes widened suddenly, she stood up, pointed at Yu Tang, and said in a trembling voice, "Did you take in that child named Nancheng just because you like men?"
Reaching this conclusion, it seemed as if all her previous observations now made sense. Li Juan looked at Yu Tang with extreme disgust and said, "No wonder you were so good to him!"
"Besides, he's not very intelligent and behaves immaturely. You just tricked him like that!"
"Yu Tang, I misjudged you!" Li Juan's attitude changed drastically as she said, "You're utterly despicable!"
Yu Tang was completely dumbfounded.
He never expected that simply admitting he liked men would lead Li Juan to conjure up so many things.
He was stunned and speechless for a moment.
At the same time, the curtain between the inner and outer rooms was lifted from the outside, and Aunt Li and Mu Nancheng stood outside, looking at the two people inside in astonishment.
Clearly, they had overheard the entire conversation between the two...
Li Juan left in anger. Aunt Li pointed at Yu Tang with disappointment and cursed, "Tangzi, I really misjudged you!"
After saying that, he quickly chased after Li Juan and went out.
In the end, only Yu Tang and Mu Nancheng remained in the room, staring at each other in bewilderment.
After a long while, the curtain fell, and Mu Nancheng walked into the inner room, his sharp gaze fixed on Yu Tang.
Yu Tang tried to explain: "Nancheng, actually what I was doing just now was..."
"So this is the real reason you took me in?" Mu Nancheng interrupted Yu Tang, moving closer to the man and asking expressionlessly, "You... like me?"
Chapter 17
Died for the villain for the eighth time (17)
"Hahaha, holy crap! Amazing! How come it's always such a coincidence!"
Xiao Jin was practically dying of laughter: [Host, it's not that Mu Nancheng is going to move to a different planet now. It's that you need to figure out how to move to a different planet!]
I'm already embarrassed for you!
Yu Tang: I could only tell you were gloating again.
Ignoring the unreliable Xiao Jin, Yu Tang propped himself up on the headboard, creating some distance between himself and Mu Nancheng, and explained earnestly, "Nancheng, let me explain, this is actually a misunderstanding."
Xiao Jin couldn't resist adding insult to injury: [Haha, what classic scumbag quotes!]
Yu Tang: You'd better shut up!
"What misunderstanding?" Mu Nancheng has grown rapidly in the past six months. Standing in front of Yu Tang, his height of over 1.8 meters casts a shadow, creating a strong sense of oppression.
"Are you trying to say you only said you liked men in order to get rid of that woman?"
Good grief, you've said it all.
Yu Tang internally cursed, twitched his lips, and continued, "Ah, that's what I mean."
"Liar..." Mu Nancheng scoffed, "Do you really think I've forgotten what happened between us before?"
"Just now, I remembered everything."
“In the past six months, you’ve told me you like me more than once.” Mu Nancheng said disdainfully to Yu Tang, “You even helped me take a bath and made intimate gestures like kissing my forehead.”