Chapter 365: 365: Xu Fang grows suspicious, Jiang Zhi’s biological father (second update)
“I feel inferior,” he said, “using a cane in front of your family will make feel inferior.”
So he endured the pain, walking like a normal person.
Lu Sheng held his hand, the palm of which had calluses from years of pushing a wheelchair; she gently stroked them with her fingers.
“There’s no need to feel inferior. We, the Lu Family, always lose our composure in front of those we like. Look at my dad, he’s so imposing outside, but at ho, he still puts on an apron to cook for my mom.” She squatted in front of him, looking up at him, “I lose my composure around you too, so you shouldn’t feel inferior. It’s okay to bow your head a little because I am looking up at you.”
She liked him so much that she would lower herself to the dust for him.
“Shengsheng.”
“Uh-huh.”
He lowered his head and hugged her: “My leg hurts a lot.”
His voice was pleasant, lowered like that, tender and weak, as if showing vulnerability to her.
Lu Sheng’s heart softened completely: “Sit for a while, I’ll get so hot water.”
He hugged her for a while before letting her go.
She went to the bathroom, brought back a basin of hot water, and squatted down. She placed the basin on the ground, and the towel got soaked in the hot water. She reached to pull up his pant leg.
Zhou Qingrang grabbed her hand and slightly turned away: “I’ll do it.”
Lu Sheng knew what he was being considerate about: “Let apply it.”
He shook his head, bent over to wring out the towel; the water was a bit hot, and she also put her hand in: “Qing Rang, you’ll have to let see it sooner or later.”
She was smiling, as if saying sothing frivolous.
Zhou Qingrang hesitated for a long ti but eventually gave her the towel.
She pulled up his pant leg, and under the light, she saw his calf was covered with scars. So were from the car accident, so from major surgeries, uneven when touched.
Inside his right leg, there were still seven steel pins.
She applied the hot towel on top, eyes reddening as she looked at him.
“What’s wrong?” He was worried that he had frightened her, and his leg subconsciously moved back.
She sniffled: “It hurts my heart.”
That was the sweetest thing Zhou Qingrang had heard.
He had laid in the hospital for over a decade, undergoing so many surgeries, taking more pills daily than food. One of his legs was amputated, the other crippled. Many people, upon seeing him, would be careful and avoid talking about it, as if afraid to touch his wounds. Then behind his back, they would call him pitiable and unlucky.
She was different. She often wanted to touch his leg, to feel those scars, and many tis her eyes reddened like this, saying it hurt her heart.
He covered her hand with his, pressing it down on the hot towel.
“Shengsheng.”
She sniffled, making an acknowledging sound.
He lowered his head and kissed her forehead.
Why should he be considered to have a hard lot in life? Hadn’t he t this girl?
“Zhou Qingrang, shall we live together?”
Lu Sheng squatted, hand still on the towel. Without waiting for his answer, she insisted childishly, unwilling to reason: “I don’t want to hear the words of an upright gentleman.”
He was a gentleman who always knew the limits of propriety, even when kissing her, always stopping at the right mont, extrely conventional.
“Okay.” This ti, he didn’t reply with the words of an upright gentleman, “You sleep in my bed.”
Lu Sheng laughed: “And you?”
“Sleep next to you.”
He wasn’t a saint. With soone he liked, his desires only grew, both emotional and physical.
She laughed as if she’d succeeded, proudly: “I’ve led you astray.”
He put down the towel in her hand and pulled her to sit beside him: “Did you lock the door?”
“Uh-huh.”
Then he could kiss her without worry.
Downstairs, Yao Bixi was helping in the kitchen, Lin Qiunan had gone to the study to answer a call. The TV was on, playing an eight o’clock drama about the feuds between two powerful families, in which one family had switched another family’s heir at birth. The heir grew up and fell in love with his own biological sister…
Zhou Xufang was on the phone with Jiang Zhi.
“I’ve just arrived at the hotel, and I have a script eting later.”
He talked about a bunch of things on the other end: claid he hadn’t eaten, didn’t want to attend the eting, didn’t want to film, only wanted to co back to her, only wanted to be with her, saying a ton of things until at last, he said: “I miss you, Fang Bao.”
In just a few hours, he beca lovesick.
From Zhou Xufang’s side… silence…
“Fang Bao.”
Still no response: “Xu Fang.” The way she addressed him had changed.
The tone changed too: “Xu Fang!”
Directly calling her na: “Zhou Xufang!”
Zhou Xufang snapped back to reality: “Yes?”
Jiang Zhi was silent for a full five seconds: “Are you distracted?” His tone was low, a warning signal.
Zhou Xufang imdiately and firmly lied: “I’m not.” The will to survive prompted her to lie.
“What did I just say?”
What had he just said? Zhou Xufang looked bewildered. Just now, she noticed her uncle’s leg seed uncomfortable, so when Lu Sheng helped her uncle upstairs, her heart went with them. It was her Wandering Soul answering Jiang Zhi’s call.
Jiang Zhi was about to be driven mad by this Wandering Soul.
“Why are you distracted?” Was it because she no longer loved him?
Zhou Youhun detailed frankly: “I was worried about my uncle’s leg discomfort, so I listened in a bit.” Her voice was very low, afraid of being overheard, “Then I heard the private conversation between my uncle and aunt.”
Not loving him was not enough, so Jiang Zhi imdiately stopped being angry, “What were you saying?”
Zhou Xufang said excitedly in a hushed voice, “They’re going to move in together.”
“Why are you so excited about them moving in together?”
She was indeed very excited, extrely excited, “I think it won’t be long before I have a younger brother or sister.” Oh, how happy I was.
Her voice even quieter, she stealthily said to Jiang Zhi, “They’re also kissing.”
“…”
She seed more excited than she was about her own kissing.
Jiang Zhi chuckled, “You even listen in on kissing.”
Zhou Xufang felt a bit embarrassed, “I didn’t an to eavesdrop; I just happened to overhear.” Her hearing was too good; she could hear from afar if she really concentrated on listening.
Right then, Lu Xinglan yanked off the blanket covering his head and opened his eyes, looking stunned for a mont before looking at Zhou Xufang, “Hello.” His voice was hoarse from sleep.
Zhou Xufang was also stunned for a few seconds, “Hello.”
Lu Xinglan got up and went to the bathroom. His shirt was immaculate except for a few wrinkles on the back. His eyes were half-open, half-closed, and he could not walk in a straight line.
Jiang Zhi asked Zhou Xufang, “Who were you talking to just now?”
“Lu Xinglan.”
Jiang Zhi barely suppressed her jealousy, “Call after you’ve finished eating. I’ll have Ah Wan pick you up. He might not be as amazing as you, but he used to be a national athlete.”
Zhou Xufang said, “Okay.”
“Let’s hang up the phone.”
“Oh.”
Zhou Xufang hung up first, as Jiang Zhi never hung up first, always letting her end the call.
In a while, Lu Sheng and Zhou Qingrang also ca down.
Lu Sheng glanced at the blanket on the couch, “My brother is awake?”
Zhou Xufang replied, “Mhm.”
During the al, Lu Xinglan looked sleepy from beginning to end, his eyes were a bit red. That’s how people look when they are tired, with physiological tears shimring.
Lin Qiunan simply said, “If you’re sleepy, go back to sleep.”
Lu Xinglan said it was not necessary. He went to the kitchen, grabbed a chili pepper, took a bite, and instantly beca more alert, his eyes even redder.
Zhou Xufang: “…”
After dinner, Zhou Qingrang kept Lin Qiunan and Lu Jingsong’s company in the living room to chat, while Lu Sheng took Zhou Xufang upstairs for a tour. There were two loungers on the rooftop terrace where one could gaze at the stars.
While lying down, Zhou Xufang said, “Shengsheng.”
Lu Sheng also lay down, “Hmm?”
The night breeze was soft and carried a hint of early sumr warmth, lulling the full and content into a pliable state, “Why does your brother like to sleep so much?”
“He’s been like that since he was born, always needing at least fifteen hours of sleep each day. We’ve seen many doctors, but no issues were found. My mom thinks she might have slept too much when she was pregnant.”
I see.
Zhou Xufang thought to herself, when she’s pregnant with a baby in the future, she should sleep less. Otherwise, she might give birth to a Sleeping Beauty like Lu Xinglan…
With that in mind, she yawned, feeling sleepy.
And then Zhou Xufang really fell asleep.
When Lu Sheng went downstairs, he woke her. As they passed a room on the second floor, Lu Sheng asked her, “Want to go in and have a look? It’s filled with my uncle’s paintings.”
There weren’t many paintings left, and all in them was Jiang Zhi’s mother.
“My dad was afraid that my grandma would beco sad seeing these things, so he burned all my uncle’s belongings, only these few paintings remained,” Lu Sheng said as he lifted the white cloth covering the painting easel, pointing it out to Zhou Xufang, “This is his last painting; he didn’t get a chance to apply the colors.”
Even with just the outlines drawn, the tranquility and beauty of the woman in the painting were evident. Her hands were folded on her abdon, eyes downcast, smiling sweetly.
There was a date in the bottom right corner of the paper, May 16th, the day Lu Jingyuan died.
Zhou Xufang had heard from Jiang Zhi that, on the following year’s May 16th, Guan Wansu had an accident. Jiang Zhi’s birthday was in February, and on the day Guan Wansu died, he had just turned a hundred days old.
There was a caption on the painting. Zhou Xufang looked at the inscription and then back at the painting, deep in thought, then she went downstairs, stealing a few more glances at Lu Xinglan, still deep in thought, her mind also recalling that priti TV drama, feeling quite complex.
On the way back, Zhou Xufang called Jiang Wei’er.
“Wei’er, it’s .”
“I know it’s you,” Jiang Wei’er answered, “What’s up?”
Zhou Xufang hesitated for a mont, “Jiang Zhi was premature, right?”
“Yeah.”
“How premature?”
“Over two months. My brother told that he had underdeveloped lungs and heart when he was born and was kept in an incubator for a long ti.”
Zhou Xufang had heard about this from Jiang Zhi. He had been a preterm baby, inherently weak, hence always dependent on dicines after his birth.
But then, the Jiang Family was always ‘very good’ at using dicines.
“Why are you suddenly asking about this?”
Zhou Xufang was serious, “My boyfriend has had a rough ti. I’ve decided to be extra tender to him from now on.”
Jiang Wei’er: “…”
In the dead of night, why suddenly force-feed soone with public displays of affection?
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Xufang asked Ah Wan, “Do you know where Jiang Weili usually stays?”
Ah Wan was driving, “I do.”
“Take there.”
She still felt that Lu Xinglan and Jiang Zhi were sowhat inexplicably alike.
Additionally, the painting by Lu Jingyuan was titled “First Sun.”
Reviews
All reviews (0)