"Otherwise, you shouldn't eat it..." Yan Shenyu was trying to help him out, but before she could finish speaking, Yan Sheng had already eaten the rice noodles.
He choked on his first sip, letting out a heavy groan.
Yan Shenyu handed her a glass of orange juice: "Take it easy, have some water first."
The latter stubbornly shook his head and slurped up the rest of the rice noodles, only to choke violently before he could even swallow them.
In just a few seconds, Yan Sheng's pale cheeks flushed pink, her lips turned bright red, and tears welled up in her usually cold eyes, revealing her obvious discomfort.
Yan Shenyu handed over a clean small bowl: "If you can't swallow it, just spit it out."
Yan Sheng's eyes widened suddenly, and then she shook her head in shock.
He grew up in a difficult environment, which made him even more strict with himself and he would never do such an uncivilized thing.
In the end, he forced himself to swallow the rice noodles, his lips, mouth and throat burning with spiciness. He drank two large glasses of water before he recovered.
Before leaving, he gave Yan Shenyu a mournful look.
Yan Shenyu: "You have rice flour in your nose."
Yan Sheng's expression immediately turned terrified.
"Hahaha, I was just kidding," Yan Shenyu said, sounding like a child who had successfully pulled off a prank. "Are you kidding me? You actually believed such an obvious excuse?"
Yan Sheng: "..."
Because when he choked just now, it seemed, it was like, he really felt some rice noodles get into his nostrils.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Yan Shenyu looked up at him. "Did you really go inside?"
"No way," Yan Sheng retorted coldly before picking up her bag and leaving.
A white shirt brushed past dewy roses in the courtyard, leaving behind a lonely silhouette.
He hated today; it was terrible from the very beginning.
...
After Yan Sheng left, everyone who had been hiding in the corner came out and started accusing Yan Shenyu all at once.
Yan Zhengang: "What were you doing just now? Why were you feeding him rice cereal?"
Yan Shenyu: "He's staring straight at my bowl, I can't just eat by myself, can I?"
Yan Zhengang was angry for two seconds, then shouted to Aunt Chen in the kitchen, "Give me a bowl of beef noodles, in clear broth too."
Xu Jingshu took a different approach. She glanced at Yan Shenyu's oversized T-shirt and said quietly, "You're wearing this today?"
“No way,” Yan Shenyu raised her chin, looking smug. “I bought new clothes.”
After realizing he didn't have any formal wear during the last photoshoot, he asked the sales assistant to send over a bunch of clothes, which now fill half his wardrobe.
"Can I go out during the day today?" That was Yan Weiwei's voice. "My classmate invited me to play tennis."
“Prepare the gift,” Yan Shenyu reminded her, “and remember to come back before dinner.”
"Why was my gift list rejected?" Yan Yu asked, wearing a navy blue silk nightgown with white trim, her face showing displeasure. "I clearly prepared 22 gifts according to your request, based on our age groups."
"Because all 22 of your gifts were cash red envelopes," Yan Shenyu said, speechless. "Please, have some imagination, okay? What older brother gives his younger brother money every year? Does he need your little bit of money?"
Yan Yu: "Even if he hadn't gotten lost, I would still have given him a cash red envelope."
"Since you like giving money so much, then give it to him in a power-law manner," Yan Shenyu coldly suggested. "Give him 100 when he's 1 year old, 10,000 when he's 2 years old, 100 million when he's 3 years old... By the time he's 24, he'll definitely love you to death."
Yan Yu: "..."
"Can you stop joking?" Yan Zhen had just taken a couple of bites of noodles when he got angry again. "We've entrusted everything to you, so you can't let us down."
“Don’t worry, I have a lot of experience with this kind of thing,” Yan Shenyu patted his chest and assured him, “I will definitely give him a birthday he will never forget.”
On Saturday morning, Yan Sheng's birthday party began amidst a chaotic scene.
Watching the busy family, behind the monitor, assistant director Jiang Xulin finally showed a long-lost smile.
"Little Tiger, Little Tiger, how's Yan Sheng doing?" Shan Li called out to the employees who were out filming.
Xiao Hu: "Yan Sheng worked until noon, then went to the cafeteria for lunch. In the afternoon, he went to the library for a while, and now he's sitting on a bench by the lake eating. Um... I'm guessing this is dinner."
"Uh..." Shan Li was speechless: "This is just wandering around outside."
Xiao Hu: "You could say that."
“But he’s never done this before,” Shan Li guessed. “Do you think it’s possible that he knew someone was celebrating his birthday at home and deliberately left the time for them?”
Jiang Xulin shook his head: "He probably doesn't want to go home."
Dan Li raised his head: "Don't you want to go home?"
“I heard he was abducted on his birthday,” Jiang Xulin said in a deep voice. “His mother had just passed away, and his father was busy with company matters, so he sent the nanny to buy him a birthday cake. The nanny was rather careless and simply took the child out, and that’s when the incident happened…”
There was a moment of silence after these words were spoken.
After a long pause, Shan Li hesitated and asked, "What about Yan Shenyu's birthday arrangements..."
Jiang Xulin looked at the family, who were in high spirits, and remained silent. This was something they could not have predicted.
Yan Sheng sat by the lake for three whole hours, until the sun set and the moon and stars were few, before he packed his bag and took a taxi home.
At 9 p.m., dusk quietly enveloped the villa. No one turned on the lights; the vast house resembled a wild beast lurking in the darkness.
Yan Sheng deliberately returned home after dinner time, just to avoid catching the family eating. If someone mentioned his birthday, he might have to apologize with a guilty look, saying, "Sorry I forgot, you should have told me sooner."
It's better to forget everything; that would actually make things easier.
Yan Sheng opened the front door using facial recognition. The living room was dark, with only a row of outdoor lights illuminating the courtyard and the water feature. Yan Sheng entered the living room, used her phone's flashlight to guide her towards the elevator, seemingly intending to bypass the living room and go directly upstairs.
"Hey, wait a minute, why isn't he turning on the light?"
"Not only did he not turn on the lights, he didn't even glance to the side."
"Where is he? Why did he leave?" Yan Zhengang asked anxiously. "Quickly think of a way to keep him here."
"Don't push! I'm going to fall!"
"I didn't mean to, but Yan Weiwei, your high heels stepped on me!"
"ah--"
With a loud crash, the family of five collapsed like dominoes.
Was your house broken into?
Yan Sheng paused, quickly covered her phone's flashlight, completely concealing herself in the darkness, and then picked up Yan Zhengang's golf club.
Yan Zhengang: "Where's Sheng Sheng? Why is there no light? Did she leave?"
Yan Yu: "Are you leaving? Who told you to be so slow?"
Xu Jingshu: "The elevator lights up, so he probably didn't leave; he's just hiding."
Yan Zhengang: "But why is he hiding?"
Before Xu Jingshu could answer, Yan Shenyu cried out again, "Hiss—my dear sister, could you please take your precious feet off me?"
Yan Weiwei: "Mom, these high heels are rubbing my feet. Don't buy me red-soled shoes next time."
"Yan Weiwei, I'm warning you now, get off me right now, or else I..." Before Yan Shenyu could finish speaking, the swaying human mountain behind him collapsed with a crash, pushing him forward a large chunk of space.
Immediately afterwards, one person after another pounced on him.
Yan Shenyu: "Ah! Ahhh! Ahhh! Ahhh!!"
Even the Five Finger Mountain that suppressed Sun Wukong back then was no more than this.
When he finally came to his senses from the overwhelming dizziness, he suddenly found himself in front of a pair of casual leather shoes.
Looking up, you see the man's long, slender legs, and his cold, handsome features are outlined by the light, making him look like an exquisite BJD doll.
"What are you doing?" Yan Sheng looked at him coldly, holding a golf club in his hand, his voice as cold as ice.
Oh no, I messed up.
Yan Shenyu awkwardly tugged at the corners of her mouth, forcing a smile: "Can't you tell? I prepared a birthday surprise for you!"
Looking at Yan Shenyu, who was covered in a string of human-shaped candied hawthorns, Yan Sheng's expression was somewhat indescribable: "Indeed, it's quite a surprise."
Yan Shenyu's eyes lit up immediately, and she said happily, "Look, Yan Sheng said he was surprised!"
"Surprised? More like terrified!" Yan Zhengang roared, his beard bristling and eyes wide with rage. "Get up right now!"
Yan Shenyu: "I did remember, but you at the top have to move first."
"Uh..." Yan Zhengang, with a large belly, got up, while the others were all covered in dust and dirt to varying degrees. Their once bright and shiny clothes were now wrinkled, and the two ladies' exquisite makeup was ruined.
But none of that compares to the misery of Yan Shenyu, who was pinned at the bottom. Just as Yan Shenyu was about to get up, a sharp pain shot through his waist, and he collapsed at Yan Sheng's feet.
Yan Sheng: "..."
Looking at this absurd family, he suddenly felt that his self-imposed exile that day was both absurd and laughable.
It's like you're reading him "Searching and searching, lonely and desolate," and he just replies with "Chirp chirp chirp"—they're never on the same wavelength.
Yan Sheng looked down at Yan Shenyu at her feet and said coldly, "What trick are you playing now?"
"I wish I could," Yan Shenyu said, on the verge of tears, "but... I think I've strained my back..."
Yan Sheng: "..."
Author's note: Silly humor cures gloom _（:з」∠）_;
Everyone's been urging Xie Siyan to come out after his birthday—
Chapter 36 Is he crying?
"Never mind him," Xu Jingshu's voice rang out. "Yan Sheng, come over for dinner first. Aunt Chen has been preparing all day and made all your favorite dishes."
Yan Sheng glanced at the restaurant; the table was laden with food, a lavish spread that was clearly visible.
"I..." He was about to say that he had already eaten when Yan Shenyu called out in dissatisfaction.
"Hey! What's wrong with you guys?" His voice was full of resentment. "This is all thanks to me, and you're so heartless as to abandon me and celebrate alone?"
“I’ve already called Dr. Lou over,” Xu Jingshu said calmly. “Anyway, you can’t move right now, so let’s eat while we wait for the doctor.”