Chapter 31: CH 31

Luo Qin and Lin Zhixia took Xiao Ai back to their table. Although the confrontation with Qiao Mei had interrupted their dinner, it was not something worthy of ruining their evening. So they both remained calm.

Luo Qin glanced at Lin Zhixia. He was worried that Lin Zhixia would be angry because of Qiao Mei but Luo Qin saw that he was calmly helping Lin Keai eat and drink. Lin Zhixia’s lips were curled up at the ends, as if nothing had happened. 

Luo Qin’s gaze was so heavy that Lin Zhixia couldn’t ignore it. He raised his head and asked Luo Qin directly, “What’s wrong?”

“I thought you would be angry after seeing her again.”

“I’m angry. Who wouldn’t be after what she did?” Lin Zhixia smiled bitterly, “But what can someone like me do to her? All I have are my words.”

The reality of his personal power had always been clear to Lin Zhixia. For someone like Lin Zhixia to single handedly go against Qiao Mei with no one backing him would be humiliating. For Lin Zhixia, keeping some dignity was better than losing an impossible battle. Scraping by each day just to live was already hard enough. 

A face slapping comeback always looked cool on TV but the reality was most people who were bullied could never strike back. Perhaps there would be a brief moment of victory by retaliating but such a thing always brought endless troubles. Who doesn’t want to counterattack at their bully? 

But Lin Zhixia knew that he couldn’t afford the price that would follow. 

Lin Zhixia touched Lin Keai’s head. After all, he had someone to protect.

But thinking of Qiao Mei’s embarrassed appearance just now, Lin Zhixia was secretly happy. He had to admit that Luo Qin was much more capable with things like revenge. 

In the face of the huge disparity between the two of them, Lin Zhixia’s attitude couldn’t help but change from sour reluctance to helpless acceptance. 

Luo Qin stared blankly at Lin Zhixia’s bitter smile. Lin Zhixia was not a coward nor was it in his nature to run from a problem. It was because he was forced by circumstance to be so restrained. Lin Zhixia’s sobriety kept him from taking action to defend himself. 

Being so helpless also made Lin Zhixia tense all the time, full of vigilance for the world around him and full of internal self doubt. 

But the more restrained Lin Zhixia was, the more painful it was for Luo Qin to watch. 

Luo Qin spoke, his voice low and full of determination, “Zhixia, I won’t let anyone bully you and Keai in the future.”

The words were provocative but their meaning wasn’t relayed to Lin Zhixia. 

At that moment, Luo Qin’s voice was drowned out by Xiao Ai suddenly crying out, “Dad! Daddy! Ahhh!” 

Lin Keai cried and pointed to his throat, “Fish thorn! A thorn. It hurts!”

Luo Qin and Lin Xia were both stunned, “What?”

Lin Zhixia looked down at Lin Keai’s bowl. Earlier, when he had been talking to Luo Qin, this little guy actually pulled the whole fish into his bowl. There was already a large piece of belly meat bitten out of it!

This kid was really not afraid to eat anything!

Luo Qin hurriedly went to checkout and then followed Lin Zhixia quickly to take Lin Keai to the nearest hospital. After a period of chaos, the fishbone in Lin Keai’s throat was finally removed. Seeing how big the thing was, Lin Zhixia was terrified about how Lin Keai had even swallowed it!

Lin Keai was afraid of being scolded so he hid in Luo Qin’s arms and cried. 

Lin Zhixia sighed and patted Xiao Ai’s butt, “See what happens when you’re too greedy? You have to come to the hospital!”

Lin Keai was still crying, “Wu, wu, wu!”

Lin Zhixia felt that his crying sounds were too fake. He turned Xiao Ai’s face towards him to see that there was not a single tear on his face. 

Lin Zhixia laughed angrily, “Lin Keai! Where did you learn how to fake cry?”

Luo Qin jumped forward to protect the little guy, “Zhixia, Keai was wrong.”

Lin Keai’s big eyes really filled with tears this time, “Dad, I was wrong. Don’t be a-angry. It still h-hurts!”

Lin  Zhixia glared at Luo Qin and Luo Qin immediately closed his mouth and stopped talking, Lin  Zhixia gently grabbed Lin Keai’s face, “There will be no fast food the rest of the month.”

Lin Keai yelled out, so grief-stricken that it seemed as if his chin had collapsed. The tone of his sweet, milky voice had changed, “What!”

“That means no McDonald’s.”

“No—”

Lin Keai was really upset now, crying so deeply with real emotion.

Lin Zhixia ignored him and stared intently at Luo Qin, who was known to spoil Lin Keai with no restriction, “You are not allowed to take him to eat fast food in secret.”

Luo Qin hurried to agree.

The nurse standing off to the side had been watching them this entire time. She found the scene very lively. It was not an uncommon sight to see a pair of husbands with children but these men were very handsome. It was rare to see such good looking people with such a cute and beautiful child. 

Usually, families who come to the pediatric department were very quick-tempered, ready to shirk responsibilities and some people fight in front of their children if they disagree. But the atmosphere of this family was exceptionally good. The nurse chuckled and said, “Your family has a really good relationship.”

Lin Zhixia froze and the corners of Luo Qin’s lips lifted as he nodded at the nurse. 

The nurse saw the smile on Luo Qin’s face and her expression brightened. She said sweetly, “You two seem like a good match.”

After hearing that, Lin Zhixia suppressed a deep frown. It would be rude and awkward to outright deny what the nurse had said so he subconsciously looked towards Luo Qin. But Luo Qin said nothing and he even seemed to be a little pleased?

Maybe he just didn’t care to correct a misunderstanding? 

Lin Zhixia sarcastically thought, ‘How nice of him’.

Luo Qin’s mood was good all the way home. After returning, he directly brought a gift box to Lin Zhixia’s room. 

Lin Zhixia had just finished changing into his pajamas and was ready to sleep. He paused at the knock on his door and opened it, “Oh, you prepared a gift, too?”

Luo Qin had already taken them for a meal for Christmas. This seemed too formal. 

Luo Qin looked at Lin Zhixia nervously, as if he were afraid his gift wouldn’t be accepted, “No, this is just an ordinary gift. Nothing special.”

Lin Zhixia felt hesitant to accept. He felt that Luo Qin had been extra kind to him recently. He was so good to Lin Zhixia that he felt something must be wrong. It reminded him of Luo Qin always sending gifts to Lin Keai after their reunion, trying to show the little guy affection. It confused Lin Zhixia because, obviously, this increased thoughtfulness from Luo Qin towards him didn’t come from a place of love. 

It was so confusing. What was the point of all this?

Lin Keai bounced forward and loudy accepted his gift. He jumped around with it, so excited to see inside. After a pause, Lin Zhixia took it from Xiao Ai and opened it. Inside were two scarves, one big and one small, obviously meant for a parent and child.

Lin Zhixia let Lin Keai pull out his scarf and barely glanced at the other one before closing the lid quickly. He silently walked over and put the box in the closet. 

Watching this, Luo Qin hesitated to say something but eventually remained silent. His expression looked a little depressed. 

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After Lin Keai grabbed his scarf, he immediately wrapped it around his own neck. It was white and fluffy with two rabbit ears on one end. He liked it so much that he refused to take it off even though the heating was on and he was starting to sweat. 

“Dad, I’m going to wear the rabbit scarf tomorrow!”

In the face of Lin Keai’s undisguised love for the scarf, Luo Qin’s depression dissipated. He crouched down and helped Lin Keai put it on properly. He had the urge to ask the little guy which one he liked better, this scarf or the one Qin Zhe gave him but in the end he held back. 

This seemed to be a sore spot for Luo Qin. Recently, Luo Qin felt like he was in competition with Qin Zhe…

*

The next afternoon, Luo Qin had just finished a meeting and gotten rid of a group of annoying relatives that had come to see him. He sat back, his eyebrows pinched, trying to relax. A thought came to him, ‘I can leave work soon and in two hours time, I can see Lin Zhixia again’. 

Before, Luo Qin had never looked forward to leaving work on time. 

The assistant knocked on his door and came in, “Mr. Luo, Mr. Qiao is here looking for you. Do you want to see him?”

Luo Qin frowned. He and Qiao Ruxu hadn’t seen each other for a long time. He was probably here about Qiao Mei.

Luo Qin sighed, “Let him in.”

Qiao Ruxu walked in, went straight to Luo Qin and sat down opposite his desk. He said with a smile, “I just came back to town and we haven’t seen each other in so long! What’s with your expression?”

Luo Qin looked at him steadily, “Did you come here about Qiao Mei?”

Qiao Ruxu’s smile faded, “It’s not just because of her. I have something to tell you but it’s not a good idea to discuss it here. There’s a new French restaurant that opened near your office and the reviews are very good. Let’s go there.”

“That’s fine but you will have to wait,” Luo Qin’s attitude was cold and he looked down at his computer, “I still have work to do.”

“Okay.”

Qiao Ruxu left the office, unable to hold back his smile anymore. 

He and Luo Qin had always been an inevitable couple in everyone’s eyes. But their relationship had always been stagnant and indifferent. But Qiao Ruxu knew that Luo Qin’s nature was cold and proud, just like his own. Both were unwilling to take that first step, unable to face being wrong. 

But Qiao Ruxu knew what they had was special so he kept waiting. He knew one day that Luo Qin would show some initiative. 

But he waited so long that Lin Zhixia reappeared. 

No one should like someone like Lin Zhixia. He was wretched, cunning and vicious. 

But even four years ago, Qiao Ruxu could tell that Luo Qin treated Lin Zhixia a little differently. As soon as Luo Qin handed Lin Zhixia that room card on the cruise ship, Qiao Ruxu had found Lin Zhixia’s presence intolerable.  

Qiao Ruxu knew about the stupid thing Qiao Mei had done that day. After it happened, Qiao Mei came running to her brother, drunk and crying, saying that she only wanted to embarrass Lin Zhixia. She never expected that he would enter Luo Qin’s room while he was drugged. That night, she had been so drunk that she didn’t realize her act of malice would bring such trouble to her brother. 

Qiao Ruxu was not a good brother. In fact, he had always felt nothing but impatience towards his spoiled sister. But he was used to pretending. He played the role of ‘good brother’ and appeared an excellent and obedient son in front of their parents. He especially acted well in public, playing an elegant and accomplished elite for society. 

Even in front of Luo Qin, Qiao Ruxu adjusted his personality to best suit what the man needed from him and what made him comfortable enough to lower his guard. He felt that it was normal for everyone to modify their own nature to gain approval of the people around them. This was a common occurrence, especially for the people in his family and high society. 

So even though Qiao Ruxu was furious at what she had done and hated Qiao Mei so much that it made his teeth itch, he only scolded his sister with a few shallow words. After all, Luo Qin’s attitude towards Lin Zhixia hadn’t changed after the incident. 

Qiao Ruxu didn’t try to question Luo Qin directly about the incident, only working to pry for information in a roundabout way. He was invested in seeing these two get a divorce. 

But then Lin Zhixia had taken the initiative to leave forever, walking away in such a spiteful way. 

Finally, the person between Luo Qin and Qiao Ruxu was gone and Luo Qin had broken free of his shackles. But the relationship between Luo Qin and Qiao Ruxu did not progress as smoothly as he had imagined. 

Luo Qin was still indifferent to Qiao Ruxu but over the years, he had become accustomed to it. Qiao Ruxu had never wavered in his belief that Luo Qin was the most suitable candidate to marry. 

Everyone thought that Qiao Ruxu and Luo Qin were destined to be together and so Qiao Ruxu was full of confidence. 

Qiao Ruxu had already discussed the matter of the child with Luo Qin. But Qiao Ruxu hadn’t considered Lin Zhixia a real threat until yesterday when Qiao Mei came to him, complaining about how Luo Qin had treated her badly and protected Lin Zhixia. Surprised by this, Qiao Ruxu had realized that he was losing control of the situation and had rushed to Luo Qin immediately. 

Qiao Ruxu waited for a long time before Luo Qin came out of his office and the two went to the French restaurant. 

Qiao Ruxu saw Luo Qin’s absent-mindedness but he still smiled lightly and looked very gentle.

The two ate in silence for a while until Qiao Ruxu couldn’t hold back, “I want to apologize to you about Qiao Mei. Yesterday, she said some inappropriate things.”

Luo Qin picked up his glass and sipped it lightly. He sighed and spoke, his tone full of condemnation, “That’s your apology? Do you even know about the things she has done?”

“Qiao Mei has never been very obedient and our parents have always indulged her. You know how arrogant she can be,” Qiao Ruxu smiled, “Do you remember in high school when she fought with that girl in her class who gave you a love letter? That’s just how she is.”

“Did you know that she drugged Lin Zhixia?”

Qiao Ruxu’s smile became stiff. Seeing his expression, Luo Qin took it as confirmation, “So you knew.”

Qiao Ruxu’s smile twisted and became bitter, “I only found out much later. By then, everything was already over with. What was I supposed to do?”

“Then why come to see me about Qiao Mei today? Are you here to beg leniency for her? Qiao Ruxu, do you think she doesn’t deserve punishment for what she has done?”

Qiao Ruxu lowered his head and was silent for a long time before he lifted his eyes back up to look at Luo Qin.

“Luo Qin, you have never spoken to me like this before.”

Luo Qin’s eyes darkened slightly.

“I’m here today to apologize to you for Qiao Mei. I can’t control things that have already happened. If you aren’t willing to accept that then there’s nothing else for me to say.”

Originally, Qiao Ruxu had come to try to persuade Luo Qin to go easy on Qiao Mei. But looking at his dark expression and hearing his words, Qiao Ruxu knew that Luo Qin would never waver. 

He immediately gave up and changed the conversation, “There is also a second reason why I am here today. I wanted to discuss our relationship.”

He took out a black box and pushed it across the table towards Luo Qin. Luo Qin opened it to see a pair of rings. He looked at Qiao Ruxu with suspicion, not understanding his intention. 

“What do you mean?”

“Luo Qin, all these years I have been waiting for you to speak first about this. The fact is that I was too proud to admit that I like you more than you like me,” Qiao Ruxu laughed, sounding lost and lonely, “But now I’ve decided that I don’t want to wait anymore. For our relationship to progress, one of us must lower themselves to confess first. I’m willing to do so.”

*

t/n: Uh, If someone confessed to me like that, I would laugh in their face…

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