Chapter 285: 285: Drunken assist, here cos a wave of deepening emotional developnt (one more update
Knock! Knock! Knock!
“Please co in.”
The assistant opened the door and said, “Mr. Zhou, there is a visitor outside looking for you.”
Zhou Qingrang set the press release aside and took his cane to go out.
The woman looking for him was dressed plainly but had an extraordinary aura about her, she stood up when she saw him approaching: “Hello, I am Lu Sheng’s mom.”
It was Mada Yao Bixi from the Lu Family.
Zhou Qingrang replied, “Hello.”
Up close, he was even more strikingly graceful and well-mannered, but it was a pity…
Yao Bixi glanced at his cane, not wanting him to stand awkwardly, and casually took a seat: “I’m very sorry for coming unannounced like this.”
“It’s all right.” He was very polite and considerate, asking, “Would you like so tea?”
“No, thank you.”
Only then he sat down, putting his cane at his right side. While standing, it wasn’t noticeable, but sitting made his left leg’s prosthetic slightly more awkward-looking.
Yao Bixi picked up the glass of boiled water from the table, drank half of it, and remained silent, her hand switching the grip on the cup back and forth.
She struggled to find the right words.
Zhou Qingrang saw her distress and spoke first in a very gentle tone, “It’s no trouble, you can speak frankly.” Truth be told, he could guess what she was about to say.
Yao Bixi placed the cup back, “It seems like Shengsheng is quite fond of you.”
He didn’t reply, quietly listening.
“She has grown so much and yet this is the first ti she has liked soone.” As her mother, she too witnessed her daughter holding back tears for the first ti while pleading, “I should be happy—”
Yao Bixi couldn’t continue.
The rest of her words were unnecessary.
Zhou Qingrang responded, still calm and composed, “I understand what you an.”
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Zhou.”
Yao Bixi felt utterly embarrassed, her hands awkwardly folded in her lap.
He shook his head, candid and serene, with not a trace of resentnt or injustice in his eyes: “It’s all right, my thoughts are the sa as yours, Lu Sheng and I are not suitable, and it will never be possible.”
He harbored no ill will towards anyone and accepted all prejudice with complete resignation.
Yao Bixi felt an uneasy regret building up, her eyes reddening: “I’m sorry.” She kept apologizing, “I’m sorry, Mr. Zhou.”
She respected him, which is why she had referred to him respectfully as Mr. Zhou from the mont she arrived. He was an outstanding person, soone many girls would be fond of, but as a mother, she was biased towards her own child.
“There’s no need to apologize,” he said, “it’s really nothing.”
She felt as if she was committing a wrongdoing.
He bore no grudges and even comforted her instead.
Yao Bixi felt even more ashad: “It’s not you, it’s .” Her selfishness was to bla, “I hoped our Shengsheng could find soone healthy, soone who would be with her long-term, sparing her so suffering, just like any ordinary person, to marry, have children…”
He understood, he understood it all: “She will, just as you wish.” She would find a healthy, long-living person and lead a simple life.
“I’m sorry…”
Her voice cracked, a senior figure apologizing over and over.
And Zhou Qingrang patiently replied each ti, “It’s all right.”
How could it not matter, when everyone’s heart is made of flesh.
It was four o’clock in the afternoon, and the recording had to start earlier.
The assistant ca to fetch Zhou Qingrang: “Mr. Zhou.”
He was sitting still, looking up: “Hmm?”
“It’s ti to start recording, are you ready?”
He shook his head, a rare admission: “Not yet, could you give five minutes?”
“Of course.”
He stood up, took a glass of water, and retrieved the bottle of dicine that he frequently used from the drawer, pouring two white pills onto his palm and swallowing them with the water.
The skin of his palm was broken, marked by pinched fingertips.
After standing for a while, he put the dicine back and went out, leaning on his cane: “I’m ready to start now.”
That sa evening, Lu Sheng drank a lot of alcohol, nearly drunk to the point of stupor, slumped over the dining table at ho, not crying or making a fuss, just muttering on and on.
“Brother.”
“Hmm.” Lu Xinglan sat opposite her, not joining her in drinking, nor stopping her. He wore a black shirt, buttoned all the way up.
The imposing figure who usually carried an aura of dominance now seed like a child when drunk, tragically squeezing out tears, on the verge of crying but not quite there: “I’ve been heartbroken.”
Lu Xinglan sipped his water: “I know.”
She grasped the bottle of foreign liquor, pouring it into her mouth, spilling it all over her face: “You don’t know.” She mumbled incoherently, drunkenly complaining, “You don’t know anything, you only know how to sleep.”
The Lu Xinglan who only knew how to sleep said, “Stop drinking.”
She clung to the bottle: “I want to drink, just let drink myself to death.” She tilted her head back, looking up at the chandelier, talking to herself, “If I die of drinking, you’ll have to carry my body to Zhou Qingrang’s house, I want to die there, I want to be buried in his house.”
What nonsense!
Lu Xinglan snatched away her bottle of liquor, “Keep spouting nonsense, and I’ll knock you out.”
And he wasn’t kidding.
Having her bottle taken away, Lu Sheng was dissatisfied and continued to whine in a soft, sticky voice, annoyingly repeating, “Bro… Bro… Bro…”
As if performing a séance.
Lu Xinglan listened until irritation got the better of him, “Stop calling, it’s annoying.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling overwhelmingly sleepy.
Lu Sheng stopped calling and leaned her head on his shoulder, mumbling as if talking in her sleep, “I really like him, like him so much…”
“I know.”
She murmured and humd for a while before quieting down.
Lu Xinglan hadn’t gotten enough sleep; his entire being felt lazy. He poked the girl’s head on his shoulder, “Lu Sheng.”
There was no response; she was asleep.
He drank the half glass of liquor she left behind. It was potent, and montarily the sharpness of the alcohol woke him up. He lifted her and stepped out of the house.
Because of his propensity for sleep, he couldn’t drive. The Lu Family had arranged a young chauffeur for him, a fellow known as Xiao Bei.
Xiao Bei ca forward to help, opening the rear car door and, while yawning, asked, “Young Master, where do you want to go this late?”
Lu Xinglan placed Lu Sheng in the car and settled in beside her, “I sent you the address. I’ll take a nap; wake when we get there.”
“Oh.”
After popping a mint-flavored gum to freshen up, Xiao Bei fully woke up and started the car. In just a short ti, the person in the backseat fell asleep.
Such a sleeper; he’d never seen anyone who could sleep like this.
Apparently, it’s so kind of illness.
The address was in an old residential area. It took over forty minutes to drive there. By the ti they arrived, Lu Xinglan still hadn’t woken up, so Xiao Bei parked the car.
“Young Master.”
There was no response.
Xiao Bei called out again, “Young Master.”
Still no response from the back.
Well, can’t wake him.
Xiao Bei just sat in the driver’s seat and waited… waited and waited, and then four hours passed.
Lu Xinglan woke up naturally, stretched his muscles, moved his stiff neck, straightened his clothes, and returned to his proper official appearance, though his voice was hoarse from sleep, “What ti is it?”
Xiao Bei replied, “It’s one in the morning, Young Master.”
Lu Xinglan glanced at his watch. It really was that late, “Why didn’t you wake ?”
“…” Xiao Bei felt wronged, “I called you, but couldn’t wake you up.”
One can’t just forcefully wake soone up, especially since excessive sleepiness was a dical issue.
Lu Xinglan yawned, carried Lu Sheng down, and placed her on the doorstep of Zhou Qingrang’s house, just on the ground, then rang the doorbell and turned to leave.
What was he doing?
Xiao Bei didn’t understand, “Young Master, what is this all about?”
Lu Xinglan got back in the car and closed the window, “Don’t make a sound.”
Xiao Bei kept quiet, thinking to himself, what kind of scene was the Young Master playing out?
This place was another of Zhou Qingrang’s residences, primarily inhabited by his coworkers from the TV station, with one household per unit, very quiet at night.
Soon after, Zhou Qingrang ca out with his crutches, surprised to see the person sleeping at the door.
“Lu Sheng.”
“Lu Sheng.”
Zhou Qingrang called out twice, but she didn’t wake up; he slled a strong scent of alcohol.
The night was breezy, and the person sleeping on the ground shivered, mumbling so dream talk.
Zhou Qingrang took off his coat and covered her with it, standing on one foot. He looked at her for a long ti before dialing a number, “Sorry to bother you this late.”
“No problem,” ca the voice of the TV station’s manager, Xu Jinlin. He asked, “What’s up?”
“Could you give the Lu Family’s contact information?” Zhou Qingrang knew Xu Jinlin had a good relationship with the Lu Family.
Forty minutes later, it was Lu Jingsong and his wife who ca to pick up the person.
When Lu Jingsong saw his darling daughter asleep on soone else’s doorstep, he was wildly shocked and hurried over, “Shengsheng, Shengsheng.”
Lu Sheng was dead asleep and didn’t respond to his calls.
Yao Bixi shouted, “Lu Sheng!”
Still no response.
Lu Jingsong was terribly worried, “What’s going on with our darling? Why is she lying on soone else’s doorstep?”
Yao Bixi, not bothering to explain to her husband, urged, “Aren’t you going to carry her to the car?”
“Oh.” Lu Jingsong quickly lifted his darling daughter into the car.
Yao Bixi took out her cellphone and sent a thank-you reply to Zhou Qingrang.
Only after the car had driven off did the door open again, and Zhou Qingrang stood at the doorway, looking into the distance for a long ti, unable to snap out of it.
Inside the car, Lu Xinglan made a remark, “He’s such an idiot.”
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