This was the second time that both of them woke up together in the morning. The last time in the villa, Yan Beicheng was not able to look at her properly because they had to rush back home.
"I rarely get to see you the moment I open my eyes in the morning, with you lying by my side and in my arms." Yan Beicheng ran his slender and structured fingers through her long hair. "The last time in the villa, I didn"t get to experience this because we had to rush off."
"Me… Me too. Being able to see you the moment I open my eyes makes me feel at ease." After Lin Chu said that, she felt very embarra.s.sed. When she saw the somewhat proud smile on Yan Beicheng"s face, she immediately changed the topic. "Are you hungry?"
"I"m hungry." Yan Beicheng answered very quickly. Then, he stared at Lin Chu with his burning eyes, as if he was about to swallow her up.
"Stop fooling around." Lin Chu kicked his calf gently under the blanket. Unknowingly, Lin Chu had started to be less modest toward him. There was not a hint of awkwardness or hesitation at all. She could act like a spoiled child or be rough with him without any pressure.
In the past, she dared not even think about doing such a thing to the graceful and handsome man in front of her.
Yan Beicheng chuckled. He liked it when she treated him roughly without any modesty. After all, she would never truly hurt him. Her punches and kicks were as soft as a scratch.
"I"ll go buy some breakfast." Yan Beicheng said, "If you are too lazy to get up, just lie down for a while."
Not knowing whether Yan Beicheng was being considerate of her embarra.s.sment or not, but he did not tease her to get out of bed together. However, he did not cover himself in front of Lin Chu. He flipped off the blanket and got out off bed n.a.k.e.d.
Be it the last time or last night, Lin Chu never looked at him when she was in his arms as she was too occupied. All of a sudden, Lin Chu saw his body and she almost shouted. Then, she immediately grabbed the blanket to cover her head.
Yan Beicheng chuckled. Lin Chu hid under the blanket and dared not show herself. Suddenly, she heard a vague sound and her blanked was being pulled away.
She saw that Yan Beicheng had already dressed neatly in yesterday"s clothes. After clothing himself, he immediately appeared to be a proper man who did not seem to belong in this world.
Yan Beicheng saw that her face had turned red hiding under the blanket. Now that she was out of the covers, she quickly gasped for air. He pinched the tip of her nose and lowered his head to plant a kiss before leaving.
Since Yan Beicheng was not around, Lin Chu quickly got ready.
She found a new toothbrush for Yan Beicheng to use when he returned. After a while, she heard the doorbell ringing. When she opened the door, she saw Yan Beicheng in a suit. He had soymilk and fritters in one hand, and a paper bag in the other.
Lin Chu took the breakfast from his hand. While she was curious about the paper bag, she saw Yan Beicheng taking out a clean set of clothes from the paper bag and explained, "I"ve always kept a spare change of clothes in the trunk."
Lin Chu did not say anything. "..."
She felt that he had been planning to wait for an opportunity to enter her house and sleep here.
Yan Beicheng went to change while Lim Chu took the breakfast to the kitchen. She plated the soymilk and fritters, and quickly prepared two side dishes.
As she was about to bring the dishes out, she felt the kitchen s.p.a.ce got smaller. She turned around and saw Yan Beicheng walking in.
Lin Chu had always been an attentive person, but she felt very useless when Yan Beicheng appeared. She seemed to have lost all her senses and she could not even hold a bowl of soymilk properly.
Yan Beicheng did not say anything. He took the two bowls of soymilk from her hand and said, "It"s very hot, I"ll bring it out for you."
He held the two bowls of soymilk in his hands very firmly. However, instead of turning around, he quickly lowered his head to plant a kiss on her lips before walking away.
Lin Chu did not know how she brought the side dishes to the table. She sat down and noticed that Yan Beicheng was not eating. She was wondering why when she saw him raising an eyebrow and asked, "Where are the fritters?"
Lin Chu did not say anything. "..."
She forgot about it!
Lin Chu blushed, feeling embarra.s.sed. She lowered her head and ran back into the kitchen.
She brought the fritters out. Yan Beicheng picked one up and started eating. While he was doing so, he kept glancing at her with a faint smile on his face, as though he was making fun of her!
Lin Chu was furious and kicked his legs under the table. "Aren"t you tired of it? Is it really fun to tease me!"
Yan Beicheng wanted to nod, but it seemed like Lin Chu was annoyed, so he grabbed the soymilk and sat next to her. "I wasn"t making fun of you, don"t be angry!"
Lin Chu saw the sorry look on his face, and she was no longer angry. She could not control herself as the corners of her lips curled up.
Yan Beicheng did not move back to his original seat. He continued sitting there and said, "I went back to the mansion yesterday. My grandparents know about you and they want to meet you."
Although Lin Chu was nervous, she wanted to meet the people of the Yan Family to get their approval. Thus, she did not decline his invitation. "When will it be the right time?"
"It will be Chinese New Year next week and there will be too many people visiting the house on the first day. With all the people coming and going, we won"t be able to have a proper conversation. My grandparents want to meet you as soon as possible, so what about the second day?" Yan Beicheng spoke very earnestly as he dared not tease Lin Chu for being anxious to meet his grandparents.
Lin Chu thought about it and nodded. "Okay. Then... What kind of hobbies do they have and what do they like?"
She did not need to go around visiting families as her colleagues had already gone back to their hometown, so only a few stayed in B City. Moreover, since her leader was Wei Zilin, there was no need to deliberately please him.
She will be free on the first day, so she could pick up some gifts for his grandparents.
"The old master doesn"t have any hobbies other than gardening. Usually, he likes to buy some flowers and plants to take care of it. When he comes across beautiful flowerpots, he would buy it regardless of its material. The old lady likes to watch TV series that youngsters watch. She would watch it as long as the TV series is trending. Other than that, she doesn"t have any other hobbies," Yan Beicheng answered. When he saw the puzzled look on Lin Chu"s face, he asked with a smile, "Are you thinking about what gifts to get for them?"
Lin Chu nodded. "I have to think about it thoroughly. The old master"s one is easy, I can make a trip to the flower market, but what can I buy for the old lady?"
"The old lady is just like Ningbai, she will collect the merchandise of the things that she likes. Ningbai likes to watch cartoons, and he is trying to get his family to buy him the cartoons" toys. Occasionally, when the old lady finds merchandise of the TV series that she likes while shopping, she will buy some of it. However, given her age, shopping can tiresome for her so she generally doesn"t buy much. I"ll ask Zuo Qiu to buy some for us to bring it over. The old lady will be happy."
Lin nodded and did not insist on buying the gifts on her own. Since Yan Beicheng took the initiative and was considerate, she did not want to decline his good intention.
On Chinese New Year"s Eve, the company gave the employees an early leave. Xu Moyan had gone home two days ago. Lin Chu went to the orphanage early in the morning.
When she was a child, she had always looked forward to Chinese New Year.
However, it was never because of the new clothes, or the delicious food. After all, the Lin Family had never treated her well. All her clothes were Lin Yuwen"s unwanted clothes. Despite how rich the Lin Family was, Shu Changxin did not want to waste any more money on Lin Chu. Giving her food and sending her to school was sufficient.
Therefore, Lin Chu never looked forward to having new clothes during Chinese New Year. The reason why she liked the festive season was that the Lin Family and their neighbor would set off fireworks during Chinese New Year. It was extremely beautiful, with all kinds of fireworks blooming in the sky.
Now that she was older, she no longer cared about the custom of wearing new clothes during Chinese New Year. She would only buy when she was short of something and she had enough clothes already. Thus, she only bought a sweater this year and took it to the orphanage.
On her way there, she also bought some fireworks and was planning to set it off for the children at night.
Nowadays, Chinese New Year was no longer as festive as it used to be, as the a.d.u.l.ts no longer have any special feelings towards it. However, the children were still very excited. They got up early in the morning out of excitement and looked outside from the window of the living room. Some children were too short, so they stepped on a small stool.
When Lin Chu first entered the entrance of the orphanage, she saw a few brats leaning on the window. It seemed as though there was a row of tiny heads on the windowsill and she could not help but laughed.
Mo Jinxi cheered in excitement, "Chu Chu!"
He was the first to rush forward. The rest of the children noticed and followed behind him tightly.
"You"ve come, Chu Chu!" Mo Jinxi said excitedly. Along with other children, they took the fireworks from Lin Chu"s hands.
"Are we setting this off tonight?" s.h.i.+ Tou was holding a huge firework, which had filled his arms.
"Yes, after we finish eating the Chinese New Year"s Eve dinner, we can set off some before it turns midnight. If you guys are not interested in the singing and dancing programs on TV, we can continue with the fireworks. This way, I won"t interrupt the cross talks." Lin Chu said while smiling and she touched s.h.i.+ Tou"s tiny head.
s.h.i.+ Tou was the same age as Mo Jinxi. The two of them were in the same primary school and the same cla.s.s.
Children of their age had already started to have a favorite celebrity. However, they were not interested in the usual singing and dancing performances. Instead, their favorite entertainment was cross talks.
"There are firecrackers outside the entire day, it"s very lively!" He said while raising his head.
"Chu Chu, did you buy firecrackers?" s.h.i.+ Tou raised his tiny face and asked with antic.i.p.ation.
After the children had put down the fireworks, Lin Chu took out a few tiny boxes and gave each child a box. The box contained small little rounded firecrackers that would make a popping sound when being thrown onto the ground. It allowed the children to play safely and would satisfy their desire to play with firecrackers.
"Go play in the yard, but don"t stay out for too long, it"s cold outside," Lin Chu reminded.
The children took the boxes out happily. In just a while, there were popping sounds everywhere and they could hear it even from inside the house.
The princ.i.p.al had taken out all the Chinese New Year nuts, fruit candies, and chocolates. She walked to the dining table with Lin Chu and started making dumplings while chatting.
Lin Chu mentioned about visiting Yan Beicheng"s grandparents on the second day of Chinese New Year.
"Yan Beicheng is a good child. I could tell from the way he carries himself that there shouldn"t be a problem with his family"s moral and education. His grandparents must also be good people," said the princ.i.p.al.
"Yes, he told me not to worry. I"m just nervous because I"m afraid that I can"t please his grandparents," Lin Chu said.
"Oh right, he told you that his father pa.s.sed away a long time ago, but what about his mother?" The princ.i.p.al suddenly asked.
Only then, Lin Chu recalled that Yan Beicheng only mentioned his father to her. He did not mention anything about his mother. Moreover, he said that only his grandparents and Yan Huaian were the only ones at home. He did not include his mother.
These days, she had always been nervous about meeting his family, so she had no time to overthink. Now that the princ.i.p.al mentioned it, she felt as though Yan Beicheng purposely did not speak about his mother.
If nothing happened, no one would forget about their mother.
Lin Chu figured that something must have happened since Yan Beicheng did not speak about it. She will not ask if he did not want to talk about it. He would eventually tell her when he is ready.
She felt that Yan Beicheng would not deliberately hide something from her. The reason why he never talked about it must be due to the hurdle in his heart. Perhaps there was a reason why he did not say anything. If he could say it, he would have told her already.
The princ.i.p.al nodded in agreement. At that moment, they heard some noise at the door.
Lin Chu put down the dumpling skin that she had just picked up and walked out the door. She saw Mo Jinxi holding a puppy in his arms. There were patches of missing fur on its body, revealing its skin underneath. However, the remaining skin covered in fur was dirty and tangled, with pieces of snow on it.
After looking at it thoroughly, it should be a Husky.
"Chu Chu, come take a look at it," Mo Jinxi ran over to Lin Chu.
Due to its lack of fur, the dog was s.h.i.+vering.
"What happened?" Lin Chu asked surprisingly.
"We were playing in the yard just now and we saw someone leaving it on the road outside. We chased after him and called out to him, but he never turned back. Then, we heard some pa.s.serby said that the dog looked sick, so that person abandoned it."
Mo Jinxi said, and his eyes teared.
Tian Tian had already started crying, "How... how can he be that bad! It can be cured, why does he have to throw it away. The dog is so pitiful!"
When Tian Tian cried, the other children also began to cry. The children thought of themselves, as they were abandoned by their father and mother. Were they also thrown at the side of the road?
These children were very compa.s.sionate, so they became sadder.
"Stop crying. I think it has some sort of skin disease. I will take it to a veterinary to check if it has any other problems, and I"ll try my best to save it." Lin Chu said as she took the little husky from Mo Jinxi. She did not mind that it was dirty. "However, I was making dumplings with the princ.i.p.al. Now that I"m gone, the princ.i.p.al won"t be able to do it all by herself. You all need to help the princ.i.p.al. It"s cold outside, so don"t go out anymore."
"Chu Chu, I want to go with you to treat the puppy," Mo Jinxi said.
"Be good and wait for me here. I"ll call you if anything happens," Lin Chu said.
It was cold outside, and the puppy was very weak, so she dared not bathe it. All she could do was wrap a blanket around it and called for a cab to drive her to a veterinary nearby.
Fortunately, it was not a big problem. It was just a skin disease that caused its fur to fall. However, the charges of the veterinary were even more expensive than a normal clinic. Therefore, many people abandoned their pets because of a small issue like this.
The doctor gave the puppy an anti-inflammatory injection and prescribed some oral medications and an ointment to be applied to its wounds. Lin Chu thought that since they were already there and the puppy seemed very pitiful, she asked the doctor to vaccinate it. After all, she had to take care of it for a while, be it temporary or permanent.
After a few injections, the puppy was already s.h.i.+vering and trembling in pain. Lin Chu picked it up and accidentally pulled on to an injection site, making the puppy howled in pain.
"Do not bathe him for a week. You can clean the affected areas, disinfect it, and apply medicine on it," the doctor advised.
Lin Chu noted the precautions and asked about its suitable diet at the moment.
The doctor looked at its teeth and said that the puppy was about three or four months old. He recommended a few canine food brands for puppies, as well as canine formula milk powder and calcium supplements. Lin noted it all down.
It was Chinese New Year"s Eve today, so it was particularly difficult to get a cab. Lin Chu waited on the roadside for a long time before managing to hail a cab driver who was ready to leave for work early. Hearing that the location was near and on his way back home, he agreed to send Lin Chu.
After a hectic day, it was close to 5 o"clock upon returning and the sky was starting to turn dark.
Getting out of the car, Lin Chu saw a woman in her fifties hovering around the orphanage"s entrance. From time to time, she would peep inside through the orphanage"s iron fence door.
The woman did not dress very well. It seemed like she has had her coat for years and the boots on her feet were torn.
"Is there any matter?" Lin Chu asked suspiciously.
The woman was stunned, and she quickly shook her head. "No…nothing."
She did not look at Lin Chu and quickly turned and left. As she hurried away, she turned around to glance at her.
Lin Chu frowned slightly as she was afraid that someone was here to abandon their baby again. She looked around and did not find anything suspicious. She a.s.sumed that the lady was a freak and pushed the door to enter the orphanage.
The sky had turned dark and she did not forget to lock the door.
Stepping in, the children rushed forward, "Chu Chu, how"s the puppy?"
The princ.i.p.al also came out as she was very worried.
"Don"t worry, it"s just a skin disease," Lin Chu said. "I"ve given it some injections and bought some medicines. Nonetheless, since it has a skin disease, you guys would need to wash and disinfect your hands every time after you"ve touched it."
The children nodded obediently and asked, "Then... can we keep it?"
"It needs people to take care of it now. It is inconvenient for the princ.i.p.al as she"s too old and you guys are too young. I"ll bring it back home in the meantime and I"ll bring it along when I come over, okay?" Lin Chu discussed with them.
Although the children were reluctant, they had no choice but to agree as they looked at the puppy"s pitiful look.
"Can we give it a name?" Tian Tian asked. She could not help to fondle the puppy"s head with her little hand.
"Yes. Can you guys come up with a name for it?" Lin Chu said with a smile.
"Is it a male or a female?" s.h.i.+ Tou asked curiously while he blinked his eyes.
"It"s a girl." Lin Chu said.
Mo Jinxi stared at the puppy for a long time and said, "What about… what about Chu Xi? Since we brought it back today."
It was a good name and everybody approved of it. The puppy"s name was then fixed as such.
The children were excited, and they kept calling for "Chu Xi".
"It can"t be exposed to water right now, so do not bathe it." Lin Chu said.
After the children had given their promises, Lin Chu asked, "How about the dumplings?"
"It"s done! We rolled out the dumplings sheet at the side. We did it very quickly!" Tian Tian said happily, "The princ.i.p.al praised us for doing a good job! The dumplings are done!"
"We did not prepare anything for the puppy, but I"ve found a few old blankets just now. I can make a simple cot out of it and let it sleep on it for the time being." The princ.i.p.al said and went to take the blankets.
There were several layers of blankets, so it was thick and warm.
Lin Chu placed Chu Xi on top of the blankets. She went to the kitchen to pour a small bowl of milk and steamed some minced meat. She did not add any spices to it and mixed it with some vegetables for Chu Xi. She would be going to the flower market tomorrow to buy some flowerpots for the old master. She could buy some dog food and calcium tablets for Chu Xi as well along the way.