Chapter 61 - The Cousin’s Backstory (3)
On the other end, Lang Jinzhi had just wrapped up his meeting.
Secretary Cheng handed his cellphone to him, “You have a text from Miss Zhong.”
Lang Jinzhi paused for a second.
He could also count all the times that Zhong Yuhuan had called him, and speaking of texts…. Barely ever.
Did something happen?
Was it Xu Yushan? Was his warning not sufficient in deterring her?
Lang Jinzhi took the cellphone from Secretary Cheng, opened it up, before he saw the text: “How are you feeling today, cousin?”
That was it. Just a short and simple sentence.
Yet the short and simple sentence was enough for Lang Jinzhi to feel surprised.
She didn’t text him because she needed something from him; she texted him just to see how he was doing?
He recalled the day before. Zhong Yuhuan was urging him to go home, and wouldn’t let him drive tired….
Lang Jinzhi thought about it for a second. Standing outside the conference room, he lowered his head and responded to the text with utmost seriously: “I am fine.”
He even added the compulsive period at the end of the text.
He looked at the text that he had typed and felt that it might have sounded too distant.
His little cousin had initiated the conversation, he couldn’t possibly be so cold toward her.
He added after that: “How about you?”
He looked at the text some more and they still seemed abrupt.
Lang Jinzhi frowned, turned toward Secretary Cheng and asked, “Do you know how to respond to texts from a kid?”
“What did Miss Zhong say?” asked Secretary Cheng.
Lang Jinzhi handed his cell phone over to him and scooted a little to the side to leave the path in and out of the conference room open.
Secretary Cheng, after reading the text, asked, “Would you like me to respond to her?”
“Please.”
Secretary Cheng clicked the back button a few times and removed everything that Lang Jinzhi had typed and replaced them with: “I was in a meeting earlier and just saw this text. Thank you for asking, Cousin. I felt much better. You should watch out for school/life balance as well.”
Secretary Cheng went on to type some emoji and the text turned into: “I was in a meeting earlier…. You should watch out for school/life balance as well. (づ￣3￣）づ╭～
After he has sent the text, he returned the phone back to Lang Jinzhi, “Done.”
Lang Jinzhi put his phone away.
Lang Jinzhi felt an odd sensation of regret, but at least he has responded back to the texts in a timely fashion and he felt better.
On the other end, Zhong Yuhuan received the text.
Zhong Yuhuan pulled out her phone and checked. She felt that her cousin was much more talkative today and even added emoji, something just felt off about that.
Nonetheless, Zhong Yuhuan responded with: Okay cousin (づ￣3￣）づ╭～
Lang Jinzhi received the text from Zhong Yuhuan shortly.
He was sitting next to his dad in the back of the car and heard a “DING” from his cellphone.
He fished out his phone and took a look.
Even though he didn’t know what an emoji was, but this one was self-explanatory.
That was…blowing a kiss?
Looking at the sudden and direct fondness from his little cousin, his fingers were and all the more he didn’t know how to respond.
Slowly but surely, he began to have a different kind of sensation inside of him.
When Mr. Lang saw that, he smiled so much one could see his crow’s feet and asked, “What seems to be the matter?”
___
Words from the author (not the translator 😊): The male lead and the villain were meanies. One was hiding behind the front of a tender, little angel, and the other was a guy that was passionate deep down inside but also have a bad temper and a difficult time expressing himself. Head scratch. I thought I made that quite clear in my writing.
This was meant to be a slice-of-life story where Huanhuan thought she was the one spoiling the others when, in fact, she was the one being spoiled. _(:3 Personally, I enjoy writing the development at the current pace, I just don’t know whether it was suitable for little cutie.
Chapter 62 - Interlude: Xu Xing (1)
Lang Jinzhi closed up his phone and said in a low voice, “It was from Zhong Yuhuan.”
Mr. Lang paused for a second and said, “Oh, your aunt’s child.”
Lang Jinzhi nodded.
Mr. Lang paused again and said, “I thought you haven’t seen or talked to her since your aunt’s funeral?”
“I helped her out on some things – adopted a couple of kids and put them under the Ding’s.”
“Oh, Zhong Chi was a bit much. It’s not a bad thing to adopt a couple of children to keep her company,” said Mr. Lang.
Lang Jinzhi acknowledged his father’s words then, after thinking for a little bit, added, “Last time I had dinner with grandpa, she came too. Even brought me a gift.”
“Oh yeah? Then if she has time in the future, why don’t you invite her to have dinner at our place?” said Mr. Lang, a bit surprised.
Lang Jinzhi nodded.
The two switched the subject after that, and the topic never came up again.
Lang Jinzhi, on the other hand, made a mental note – he could treat his little cousin better from now on.
They tried a few times to set it up after that but it has yet to happen, either Zhong Yuhuan was too busy or Lang Jinzhi was too busy.
Before they were able to meet up for their dinner, Xu Yunhui’s son had arrived at Zhong’s. Xu Xing came home from school lugging his suitcase behind him.
Zhong Yuhuan leaned over the banister on the third floor and looked down sluggishly.
“What’d you looking at?” asked Huo Chengming as he walked over to her with a big bowl of large strawberries in his hand.
Zhong Yuhuan casually picked one up and tossed it into her mouth as she smiled and said, “Looking at Xu Yunhui’s son, of course.”
Huo Chengming said in a low voice, “If he dares pick on you…”
“He wouldn’t dare,” said Zhong Yuhuan as she patted Huo Chengming on his arm. His arm is tight, slightly bulged up with a thin layer of muscle that only belonged to a youth. Zhong Yuhuan was genuinely surprised, she couldn’t help but exclaim, “Wow, Chengming-ge ge has muscle on his arm now!”
Immediately, Huo Chengming’s mind was somewhere else.
His entire neck turned beet red, and he grunted lowly, “Mmm.”
As they were talking, footsteps could be heard at the front door mixing with the laughing from Xu Yunhui.
“You have never taken a good look at this before you left for school. Come, let us show you your room first, okay?” Xu Yunhui’s tone was more tender than normal and her face szx loving.
Xu Xing was skinny and bespectacled. A backpack on his back, he wasn’t showing a lot of emotions on his face nor did he show much reactions to Xu Yunhui’s tenderness.
Xu Yunhui stroked his face as her heart ached and said, “I never should have let you gone to that school. You’ve been there for too long. You are darker and skinnier than I remember, what had happened to you?”
Xu Xing didn’t say anything but slightly looked up at the banister on the third floor.
Zhong Yuhuan looked at him from the top down and gave him a cold look without hesitation.
Xu Yunhui was still going on, “Why don’t you switch to Murphy High School? All your dad’s friends’ kids go there. And you can get to know them and get closer with them…”
As she went on and on, Xu Yunhui finally noticed that Xu Xing wasn’t responding to her at all.
“What are you looking at?” Xu Yunhui looked toward the direction that he was looking at.
When she saw Zhong Yuhuan on the third floor, she almost couldn’t maintain her smile.
“Oh, she’s the same age as you but a few months older. You need to address her as jie jie,” said Xu Yunhui.
Xu Xing still didn’t say anything.
Xu Yunhui was finally a bit annoyed.
She didn’t care much that Xu Xing wasn’t responding to her, but that was before she knew that Zhong Yuhuan was looking at them. She could only imagine what Zhong Yuhuan was thinking about it all.
Xu Yunhui gently shoved Xu Xing toward the couch and said to him at the same time, “Alright, we don’t have to go check out your room right away. Here, have a seat. Let’s chat for a little while.”
Chapter 63 - Interlude: Xu Xing (2)
Xu Yunhui turned toward the third floor and called out to Zhong Yuhuan, “Huanhuan, why don’t you come down and join us?”
Slowly, Zhong Yuhuan responded with a, “Okay.”
After she said that, she turned to Huo Chengming and asked, “Where’s Li Jinyuan?”
“I don’t know what he is doing.”
“Go get him, we will go downstairs together,” said Zhong Yuhuan as she opened up the door to the staircase.
Huo Chengming nodded and turned around to get Li Jinyuan.
The three of them slowly went downstairs.
Zhong Chi had also arrived home at the same time.
He hadn’t seen this son for a long time so he had on him a very tender and fatherly smile.
“Great, the whole family can spend New Year together!” said Zhong Chi happily.
Xu Xing only grunted an acknowledgement.
That made Zhong Chi somewhat disappointed, and his fatherly love was half gone immediately.
Especially after Zhong Chi saw Zhong Yuhuan and the other two sitting on the other side of the couch.
Even though Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan were adopted kids from the welfare services, they were both very attractive individuals. Even with just simple sweaters and long pants, they already exuded the aura of wealthy young masters.
On the other hand, Xu Xing, with the baggy uniform of 13th Secondary School compounded by his skinniness, make him looked ridiculous.
He did not look like a wealthy young master at all.
The drastic contract made Zhong Chi even more unhappy.
His face darkened and he said, “I have said this many times before. Studying is your duty, as is getting good grades. But you shouldn’t be a nerd. What good is a nerd? You can’t manage business with just knowledge from textbooks.”
Xu Xing’s face started to darken as well, but he slowly responded with a “Mmm.”
Xu Yunhui didn’t interject. She had always wanted Zhong Chi to be more like a father to Xu Xing and to give him more guidance.
The stricter Zhong Chi was to him, the more it meant that he held him to a higher standard, right?
Zhong Yuhuan looked at the scene unfolding in front of her and couldn’t help but laugh to herself.
So, this “family of four” all have their own ideas, they weren’t really that close of a family.
Xu Yunhui didn’t understand her son and daughter, neither did her son and daughter understand her. And they couldn’t see eye to eye with Zhong Chi.
The only reason that they looked like they were getting along happily was all Xu Yunhui’s doing. In truth, any slight pressure could make the whole thing come crumbling down.
That night, everybody had dinner together.
Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan’s dinner table etiquette was taught personally by Zhong Yuhuan.
Looking at Xu Xing, again, he did not measure up to the other two.
Zhong Chi’s face continued to darken progressively.
He couldn’t stand the fact that his own son was inferior to the kids from the welfare services!
Seeing that Zhong Chi wasn’t in the best of moods, Xu Yunhui decided against bringing up the issue of officially making Xu Xing a Zhong.
Zhong Yuhuan and the other two had a good time at dinner. The others, not so much.
Zhong Yuhuan put down the utensils, wiped her mouth, and said in a low voice, “We are going back upstairs now.”
Zhong Chi had intended to take this opportunity to teach Xu Xing some skills, so he didn’t even look up before he said, “Go.”
Zhong Yuhuan had the soul of an adult so she could tell what’s good and what’s not. She could put up with many things, such as studying hard, or reading difficult books…
Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan, on the other hand, were naturally talented so they picked up many things faster than others and didn’t always need to be taught.
Xu Xing, on the other hand, was not particularly talented, nor had a soul that did not belong to his age. The sterner Zhong Chi was with him, the worst results he would get. Any criticism would only bring about his rebellious side.
Zhong Yuhuan smiled and said, “Bye.”
Chapter 64 - Interlude: Xu Xing (3)
Shortly after they went upstairs, they could hear the sound of tea cups being smashed.
It wasn’t this bad just two years ago. The more successful Zhong Chi was, the more draconian he had become and the less patient he was. Smashing tea cups was nothing.
After going back upstairs, Li Jinyuan suddenly called out to Zhong Yuhuan.
“Yeah? What ‘s going on?” Zhong Yuhuan looked at his dubiously, waiting for him to go on.
Li Jinyuan smiled tenderly and with a hint of awkwardness, “I am ready. When do we leave?”
Zhong Yuhuan cocked her head and said, “That fast?”
Li Jinyuan said in a low voice, “Not that fast. 130 days, 3120 hours. Many things could have been done already.”
Huo Chengming also chimed in from one side, “I am ready as well.”
Zhong Yuhuan blinked. It had been that long already?
It had been that long since she had adopted them?
“Wait a little while longer,” said Zhong Yuhuan.
“Why?” asked Li Jinyuan dubiously.
“We will be coming back here in the future so your network is very important. The kids that you hang out with at school right now will become your network in the future. We should be more familiar with them first before we leave,” said Zhong Yuhuan.
She had no idea how Huo Chengming started out in the book.
But if he had natural talent, wouldn’t his possibilities be even broader if he also has a larger network?
The same applied to Li Jinyuan. If he had a big network, then he wouldn’t have to struggle as much as he did like in the book when he went into entertainment.
“Whatever you say,” said Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming simultaneously.
Zhong Yuhuan nodded and said, “Okay, let’s go to bed.”
There were still noises coming from downstairs, but Zhong Yuhuan had no more interest in eavesdropping.
To put it simply, ever since she had replaced the original owner, the new Zhong Yuhuan was no longer on the same level as Xu Yushan and Xu Xing.
All they ever thought about was to plot against what belonged to Zhong Chi. They wanted the shortcut way, not how to make it on their own.
They network only for the purpose of kissing up to others.
But that wasn’t Zhong Yuhuan’s way.
And Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan would also be different in the future.
___
Xu Xing returned back to his school not too long after he arrived at the Zhong’s mansion.
He claimed that the school asked them to go back sooner, but Zhong Yuhuan’s speculation was that he couldn’t stand being lectured by Zhong Chi.
Xu Yunhui had been hinting left and right for Zhong Chi to initiate Xu Xing’s transfer to Murphy High School.
Zhong Chi was in line with that idea as well. However, he didn’t want to hold a banquet in the future while claiming Xu Xing as his own but Xu Xing would show up, act cloddish, and made a fool out of himself among those from the upper class.
***
Time flew by.
Zhong Yuhuan finished junior high school and entered into senior high school.
Xu Yunhui and Xu Yushan never forgot the $5 million that Zhong Yuhuan got from Zhong Chi. During this entire time, Zhong Yuhuan had never moved out. It would be difficult for Xu Yunhui to bring this up to Zhong Chi. Zhong Chi, on the other hand, had long forgotten about that $5 million.
After all, Zhong Yuhuan had stopped causing trouble ever since then. To him, that money had bought him quiet and peace and that wasn’t a bad thing.
Xu Yushan had no interest in sharing what was bothering Xu Yunhui, nor had it occurred to her to reach out and ask about her brother. She wasn’t successful when it came to Young Master Nan, but after several more matching making, she finally found herself Young Master Nan’s cousin, Nan Xuyang.
Zhong Yuhuan took down the #1 position in another examination. The group of second generation rich kids took her out to celebrate.
During the gathering, Yan Sen asked her, “Zhong Yuhuan, when are you going overseas?”
“I haven’t decided yet. What about you guys?”
“Probably another 6 months or so, then we will be ready to go.”
This was when Zhong Yuhuan realized that they were all eager to go overseas; everybody was just waiting for her to say when.
Zhong Yuhuan chuckled and said, “Okay, then we all start getting ready now. We will reconvene overseas!”
Chapter 65 - Zhong Yuhuan’s 14th birthday (1)
Truth be told, if they wanted to go overseas, they could leave any time they wanted. But, Zhong Yuhuan’s purpose wasn’t to be a bum overseas. It was to leave the Zhong’s and gain a real skill. A skill that would allow her to be independent in the future. For that, she needed a lot of preparation.
This preparation took over six months.
Today, Zhong Yuhuan had turned 14.
Standing in front of the mirror, she was now truly a young woman.
Zhong Chi, learning that she would be leaving soon, needed to at least put up the front and host a birthday party for her.
Xu Yushan and Xu Xing had never had one hosted for them since they have come to the Zhong’s, let alone changing their last names. Appearances have always been important to Zhong Chi, Xu Yushan and Xu Xing have not yet reached his standard, so, naturally, there wouldn’t be any name changing. By this time, Zhong Chi even hoped that between Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan, one of them was actually his bastard child.
Almost half of the upper class from Hai City attended Zhong Yuhuan’s birthday party; even the ones who couldn’t go had sent gifts, giving the Zhong’s a lot of respect.
As soon as Zhong Yuhuan walked out in her evening gown, she heard others talking in a low voice, “There is a difference between the daughter from the wife and children from a mistress.”
“Yes, that’s the difference between a pheasant and a phoenix. Even if you throw them a birthday party, will they be able to not embarrass themselves?”
Zhong Yuhuan looked up to the end of the hall when she heard that.
At the end of the hall stood Xu Yushan; obviously she had heard the conversation as well. Her face darkened immediately, and she didn’t hide the hateful look that she gave her.
Zhong Yuhuan, on the other hand, was in a good mood and walked out slowly.
Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan were waiting outside. They were dressed up in formal gears as well; full suits, one in black and one in white. The two of them together looked like white and black knights.
The two kids from the welfare services have slowly grew into young men, and their bodies could now fill out a suit. They looked better and better.
Of course, at their current age, white tees and white shirts were still better choices for them.
Standing in the middle, they were both very pretty boys!
Even undergoing this voice-changing period, Li Jinyuan still said in a low and somewhat coarse voice, “Huanhuan is very pretty today.”
Huo Chengming, on the other hand, didn’t say anything. Ever since he had entered into his voice-changing period, he had been talking as little as possible, as though he didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of Zhong Yuhuan.
Zhong Yuhuan reached out her hands.
Understanding her meaning, Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming both reached out at the same time and each took one of her hands into theirs.
“My shoes today have heels, I don’t want to fall,” said Zhong Yuhuan as she lifted her foot to show them.
She was wearing lace-up shoes; her skin under the laces was white like snow.
They didn’t see whether the heels were high, but they did notice her toes. Her toenails were clipped nicely and her toes were a bit pink; they were very pretty to look at.
“Did you see?“ asked Zhong Yuhuan.
Neither one of them saw anything, but they nodded anyway.
Huo Chengming adjusted from holding one of her hands to her entire arm before he finally said in a low voice, “No falling.”
Zhong Yuhuan cocked her head and smiled at him, “Thank you, Chengming-ge ge.”
As they were talking, they have already arrived at the banquet hall.
The arrival of Zhong Yuhuan immediately attracted most of the attention.