Chapter 17: 17

Lin ChengYu really couldn’t refute Jiang Xiao’s words. If you thought about it carefully, that’s what he truly did intend.

Jiang Xiao had rejected everything he tried to say. He hadn’t known Jiang Xiao was such a stubborn, sharp-tongued person.

Even more importantly, Jiang Xiao was standing close to him. He inhaled sharply all of a sudden and his brain blanked out. He opened his mouth, frozen in place, and couldn’t say anything.

He had a bit of a headache.

Jiang Xiao, baby, I don’t know what to do with you….

Jiang Xiao never would have treated him like this in his last life. Was it really just a matter of youthful rebellion?

Just then, the class bell rang for the end of morning self-study. Students streamed into the hallway. Jiang Xiao didn’t want to be surrounded by people, and he didn’t want to talk here with Lin ChengYu. He’d made himself clear. He waved a hand at the other person and walked into the classroom alone.

Jiang Xiao knew that Lin ChengYu had always been arrogant, with little patience for others or himself. It was about time for him to give up.

Lin ChengYu reached out to stop him, but Jiang Xiao reacted immediately, dodging away, and he caught hold of nothing.

“Don’t grab me.” Jiang Xiao didn’t stop walking but continued on. “I really don’t have a good temper.”

His expression lowered as he spoke, which astonished Lin ChengYu.

“Jiang Xiao,” he said with difficulty, as if he’d suddenly thought of something. His throat was tight. “I’m sorry, that is, do you… do you remember what happened before? Is that why you hate me so much? Back then—back then, I really didn’t mean to. If I’d known—if I knew that you were sick, I wouldn’t…”

He stumbled over his words, but Jiang Xiao just looked at him strangely.

“What are you talking about? Before what?” he asked. His eyes were full of doubts, without a trace of anger. “Are you saying you knew me when I was a kid?”

Lin ChengYu: “…”

He stared intently at Jiang Xiao. The other person’s expression didn’t look fake. His eyes were as clear as an adolescent’s, as if one could see right through them.

Was Jiang Xiao good at acting? He wasn’t before, right?

“Never mind.” He forced a smile. “I’m sorry, I thought too much. I shouldn’t have said that to you…. You can go to class.”

It couldn’t be. There couldn’t be that kind of coincidence.

Besides, if Jiang Xiao really was reborn, he must hate him to the core. He would never be this calm.

Lin ChengYu watched Jiang Xiao disappear around the corner. The bell had rung after class and there were a lot of students in the hallway. Many of them stared at him. Lin ChengYu didn’t care. He stood there in a bit of a daze and eventually, after a long time, he left.

The Lin family had parked their car not far downstairs to wait for him.

There was an assistant inside. He’d stood at the fore, working with the Lin family for many years. His name was Yue Cheng. Lin ChengYu called him Uncle Yue. This so-called charity project had actually been quite troublesome to arrange, and Uncle Yue had handled a lot of the details. He followed Lin ChengYu to Houlin at the old man’s request. After all, Lin ChengYu was still underage. Although he’d been working dutifully for a long time, now that things had reached this point, the old man naturally had an opinion.

“No matter the result, you’ve done enough tossing about for so many days.” Uncle Yue took in the young man’s distracted expression. His tone was polite and his words of persuasion might sound soft, but in fact he was a bit unyielding. “I just received a call from the old man. President Lin’s general meaning is that you shouldn’t be too willful. There’s a lot going on at home. You have school to attend.”

Lin ChengYu didn’t nod. He closed his eyes and said, “Uncle Yue, Grandpa promised I could take him back.”

“That child doesn’t want to go. Why force him?” The money spent on Jiang Xiao was nothing to the Lin family. It wasn’t worth mentioning. But Lin ChengYu had paid far too much attention to the matter, wasted too much time on it, and now he’d traveled between the two places yet again. It was becoming a problem.

“With a lot of things, it’s not good to rush. If you push too hard, too fast, you’ll only cause the person to be wary and resentful.” He looked at Lin ChengYu. “You’re still young. There will be plenty of opportunities to take him back in the future.”

It was the truth. Lin ChengYu knew very well that he couldn’t eat hot tofu in a hurry, but he also couldn’t bring himself to leave Jiang Xiao right now.

“Tell Grandpa that I can’t go back yet.” Lin ChengYu gritted his teeth. “I really can’t go back.”

Even after being rejected so many times, he simply wasn’t capable of leaving Jiang Xiao.

When Jiang Xiao returned to class, the morning self-study session was over. Although some of the students in the class were a little afraid of him, others brimmed with curiosity. They looked at him and lowered their heads like they were at a loss. Jiang Xiao was too lazy to snap at them again.

Ye YingYing still came to class most of the time. Although he’d chosen the special student route, he had to take the cultural exams. He was also more serious in class. Once he entered the classroom, the little prince of gossip heard about what happened during morning self-study.

“Who was that?” he furtively asked Jiang Xiao. “Who was that little foreigner? What did he want?”

For a moment Jiang Xiao drew a blank. Then he realized who Ye YingYing was referring to.

Ye YingYing had never met anyone like Lin ChengYu before. In fact, he wasn’t especially exotic in appearance, but his eye color was unique.

“Don’t give people weird nicknames.” Jiang Xiao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Nothing’s going on. He’s gone and he won’t come again.”

But Lin ChengYu, whom Jiang Xiao concluded wouldn’t return, actually met him at home when he went back for lunch.

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Xia WanWan got off work early that day. When she was preparing the meal, she heard someone knocking on the door and saw several of the leaders of the school. She thought it was about Jiang Xiao, so she quickly opened the door.

She might be a simple person, but Xia WanWan wasn’t stupid. It didn’t matter how upright and humble Lin ChengYu’s manner was. When he told his story, Xia WanWan’s face suddenly went cold.

“NianNian won’t go,” she said. “My husband never told me he had friends or acquaintances in Liujiang. I’ll never agree to this.”

The nice things said by the school leaders didn’t matter. As Xia WanWan listened, her vigilance only increased. She even began to wonder about conspiracy theories. She suspected that her in-laws, who had been quiet for some time, were responsible for this, trying to trick her and Jiang Xiao into going to Liujiang so they could occupy the house left by her husband.

When Jiang Xiao came back, Xia WanWan had already lost her temper. Whenever she got angry, she wasn’t able to hold back tears. She wiped the tears from her face with her hand and spoke angrily, “Get out, all of you get out of my house! If you come back to say a word about this later, I won’t let you through the door! I don’t care how important you are. Leave my son alone!”

Lin ChengYu hadn’t met Xia WanWan in person in his last life. He’d only seen a few black and white photos in Jiang Xiao’s hands. Her face was rather beautiful and kind, and she gazed at the lens with large, almond-shaped eyes. She looked as gentle as water and had about the same disposition. Jiang Xiao had inherited most of her features as well as her personality. In his previous life he was a perfect, considerate lover.

But Lin ChengYu began to think he might have misunderstood Jiang Xiao. It turned out that Jiang Xiao’s nature really wasn’t all that gentle. He thought Jiang Xiao’s mother would be easy to persuade. When he and Jiang Xiao were together later on, they’d naturally need her blessing and support, so he came here hoping to leave a good impression. Who knew her reaction would be even more intense?

“Auntie, you don’t have to be angry. We really don’t have any bad intentions.” Lin ChengYu didn’t dare to add fuel to the fire. He was ready to leave first. “Please calm down…”

“Calm down my ass!”

In the middle of this turmoil, Jiang Xiao arrived.

“Mom? What’s wrong?”

When he came in he didn’t notice Lin ChengYu. The first thing he saw was Xia WanWan crying and swearing at the same time. He thought she was being harrassed by someone, so he grabbed the broom next to the door. When he went in and saw the school leaders he didn’t put down the broom.

Xia WanWan was in poor health. It wasn’t good for her mood to fluctuate too much. Jiang Xiao went to help her sit on the sofa, picked up the kettle beside her and poured a glass of water. Now that he’d returned, Xia WanWan gradually calmed down, but her face was still unpleasant.

It was only after Jiang Xiao had comforted his mother that he noticed Lin ChengYu standing in the living room.

His clothes were discreetly luxurious, and the light was behind him. Jiang Xiao could barely make out the expression on his face. As Lin ChengYu stood there in the small living room with a group of other people, the room felt crowded. They looked out of place.

They’d always been like this. They were totally unsuitable for each other. In every way they weren’t appropriate. That’s how it was in their past life, and it was the same after their rebirth. The two of them would never understand each other. All they would do was make each other suffer.

“What are you doing at my house? Can you go now?” Jiang Xiao looked at him. “I don’t know what I did to offend you. Why do you have to disturb our family? Can the rich just bully people like this?”

While Jiang Xiao saw Lin ChengYu in the shadows, Lin ChengYu saw him in the light, and clearly read the expression on his face.

When he was at school before, he thought Jiang Xiao didn’t have much good feeling for him after they met the first time, leaving only the defensiveness and indifference one felt for a stranger. But now he finally saw Jiang Xiao’s mood change.

Aside from defensiveness, there was also disgust and impatience, as if he viewed Lin ChengYu as an enemy. That kind of reaction—it stung like hell, and to see such wariness was painful. He just wanted to hold him and coax him.

“That’s not what I meant. Auntie misunderstood. Jiang Xiao, I’m not here to cause you trouble. I only want to help…”

“Stay away from my home. That would be the greatest help,” Jiang Xiao interrupted. “My family can’t afford you.”

Why had things turned out this way? He’d come a step earlier in his life and tried so hard to be good to Jiang Xiao. Was it really like what Uncle Yue said? He was too eager, so he couldn’t go about things too quickly?

Lin ChengYu’s heart tangled like a ball of string. He felt unwell.

“I’m sorry,” He didn’t know how many times he’d said these words to Jiang Xiao. He didn’t bother with any more insipid explanations. “If you don’t like it, I won’t do it again.”

He couldn’t avoid Jiang Xiao’s gaze. All he could do was go.

Xia WanWan calmed down and asked, “Who was that?”

Jiang Xiao: “A mental case. Just ignore him.”

Who could say why that person became like this after his rebirth? Now that they’d separated, it was best if they remained apart for the rest of their lives.

 

TL Notes:

心急吃不了热豆腐 – can’t eat hot tofu in a hurry – haste makes waste, more haste less speed, one must be patient, haste will ruin everything, 

at a loss – 掉块肉 – dropped a piece of meat – lost something, whether in terms of money or things or psychologically

老死不相往来 – remain apart for the rest of their lives – be completely isolated from each other all their lives; not visit each other all their lives

 

Transliterated names, titles, and places—new in this chapter:

Yue Cheng – 岳城 – ML’s aide Uncle Yue – 岳叔 President Lin – 蔺总 – Lìn Zǒng

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