"Lin Chu"s outstanding, and she gets along well with her colleagues," Wei Zilin replied indifferently.
"I"ve nothing to do anyway. Sister-in-law, I"ll come visit you when I have nothing better to do." Yan Zhiqing looked at Lin Chu.
Lin Chu saw Wei Zilin"s facial expression changed as he started to lose his patience, and quickly said, "The time"s almost up, s.h.i.+ Tou, Jinxi, can you help pull down the curtains?"
s.h.i.+ Tou and Jinxi nodded and went to the window to pull the curtains down. Yan Huaian then brought the lighter to light the candles.
The group took the opportunity to switch up the topic, they acted as if they had not heard what Yan Zhiqing just said.
Yan Zhiqing was p*ssed to no end. As the curtains were being pulled down, the house was getting dimmer akin to nightfall. She glared fiercely at Lin Chu.
If it was Lu Weining, she would have helped her out. Unlike Lin Chu who purposely averted the topic!
Although now everyone"s eyes were on the birthday boy, Yan Ningbai, no one noticed Yan Zhiqing"s peculiar change in att.i.tude.
Yan Ningbai clasped his fair little fat hands and puffed up his cheeks to make his wishes. Yu Zi turned on the lights.
The group then cut the cake and started eating.
Yan Beicheng used the fork with his left hand and started to eat. Han Zhuoli asked surprisingly, "Cheng"er, when did you start wearing a ring?"
Yan Beicheng gave out an "I wanted to be humble about it, but you asked anyway" expression at him. He placed the fork back on his cake plate and extended his hand in front of Han Zhuoli. He then proudly said, "Lin Chu made these herself."
Han Zhuoli was astonished, "Hand-made?" Give me a break!
Yan Beicheng nodded shyly, "Yes, it"s for my birthday. She went to a handmade ring shop and made a ring as a gift to me. Because of this, her fingers were all swollen."
Han Zhuoli, "..."
Upon looking at Yan Beicheng"s bashful face, he wanted to hit it!
Yan Beicheng patted Han Zhuoli"s shoulder in consolation. "Don"t rush, one day you"ll get a wife like Lin Chu, Of course, you might not find one similar who will make you a ring. But, if she bought one for you that would be just as good."
Han Zhuoli, "..."
Why would his future wife not make him a ring as well!
Who knew that Yan Beicheng was not even done? He took off the ring and showed Han Zhuoli the inner part of it. "Look, the words were engraved by Lin Chu herself. It"s all her love for me!"
Han Zhuoli wanted to get a closer look at the engraving, but Yan Beicheng immediately put it back on his finger.
Lin Chu, "..."
She was listening to Yan Beicheng"s words and felt that the thickness of her skin was not enough to handle it.
She was even embarra.s.sed to look at Yan Beicheng. She averted her sight and just happened to gaze upon Yan Huaian and Yu Zi"s smiling face, which made her face turned even redder.
"There"s no more cake?" Chu Zhaoyang who hardly spoke suddenly asked.
When the group looked over, they noticed his plates were empty with only some cream left on it.
"Yeah, each person only gets a slice," Lin Chu nodded as she explained.
The cake was huge, but it was outnumbered by a big group of people.
One would get tired of cake if too much was eaten. Moreover, other than a few of the kids, no one else would be interested in cakes and the kids would not eat such big slices anyway.
Chu Zhaoyang nodded, and silently took away the cake that Yan Beicheng was holding.
Yan Beicheng was not looking for a moment and was surprised when he saw Chu Zhaoyang slowly put the cake into his mouth. As he saw Yan Beicheng staring at him, he gave him a sneer, "Hehe!"
You could continue to show off!
Was there something amazing about getting a ring?
You could not even eat one bite of Lin Chu"s homemade cake!
Yan Beicheng, "..."
Wei Ziqian then ate the cake as well and grinned as he said, "That"s what you get for abusing the single dogs."
Chu Zhaoyang and Han Zhuoli stared at him, who were you calling dogs!
Wei Ziqian, "..."
As the main character of the day, Yan Ningbai was scared big nephew would steal his cake. He opened his eyes widely and gobbled it down in big bites. His whole mouth and cheeks were smeared by cream.
Yan Beicheng saw Yan Ningbai"s childishness and twitched his mouth.
If he wanted to eat them Lin Chu would make it for him any time, why would he want to steal his!
Moreover, he had been eating cake for a week!
Yan Beicheng snorted at them and did not want to stoop to their level.
Yan Ningbai licked the cream around his mouth clean. Yu Zi could not stand the ones that were smeared on his cheeks, she took a tissue out and wiped it off his pretty little face.
Yan Ningbai then took the chance to ask in a low voice, "Mom, when are you giving me my birthday present?"
"..." Yu Zi looked at Yan Ningbai"s antic.i.p.ating gaze and went to call Yan Huaian. The two then took out the present they had prepared for him.
Yan Huaian had bought an Xbox One for Yan Ningbai. Yan Ningbai laid his eyes on the box, his mouth gaping open in surprise and could not shut them close for a while.
"Da… Dad, why are you so… so generous this year?" Yan Ningbai hugged the Xbox One and asked a question that made Yan Huaian wanted to grab the present back.
Yu Zi had to admit as well that her brat of a child would constantly say words that would make one angry. Before he said more things that would provoke Yan Huaian, she quickly took out her gift for him. "These are games for the Xbox One."
Yu Zi had picked out sports games for him, she thought that when Yan Ningbai was playing, he could also get some exercise out of it. Dieting was the second priority, the main priority was to exercise as health was the most important.
Yan Ningbai was not aware of his mother"s dark twisted strategy, he received the beautiful gifts and exclaimed toward Mo Jinxi and the other, "We"ll play with it together later on!"
Lin Chu then took out the Pikachu bag she had prepared for Yan Ningbai. It was very cute pairing such an adorable and plump little yellow character with Yan Ningbai.
"Thank you, big niece-in-law!" Yan Ningbai happily shoved his newly received Xbox One and games inside the Pikachu bag.
He flashed his expecting eyes towards Yan Beicheng, "Big nephew, what"d you get for uncle?"
"..." Yan Beicheng suddenly did not want to hand his gift over.
Lin Chu was getting quite worried. She was afraid that Yan Beicheng really did buy an Oxford Dictionary for Yan Ningbai.
Yan Beicheng said, "Wait", and left the place.
After a while, he was seen carrying a children"s mountain bike. His left hand was holding on to a plastic bag from Xin Hua Bookstore.
Lin Chu sighed in relief and was glad Yan Beicheng did not give him a dictionary. She did not know that Yan Beicheng would get him the other present. It was because Lin Chu had not forgotten his birthday. As he was happy, he did not vent his anger towards Yan Ningbai.
Although, because of Yan Ningbai"s bratty att.i.tude earlier, Yan Beicheng gave him the plastic bag with the name Xin Hua Bookstore printed on it. "This one"s for you."
Yan Ningbai took the bag with a sunken heart, he opened it and looked inside.
Yan Ningbai, "..."
"This is a piece of your nephew"s heart just for you," Yan Beicheng grinned in complacent and raised his eyebrows at Yan Ningbai.
Yan Ningbai, "..."
He had a nephew that was not filial and only knew how to stifle the elders all the time, what could he do!
At three o"clock in the afternoon, the children were tired from playing and they all fell asleep on the sofa.
Chu Xi was lying on top of Mo Jinxi and Yan Ningbai"s legs with its stomach facing up as it slept soundly. From time to time, it would even twitch its paws. Chu Xi"s head was opposite of Qi Youxuan"s head and its back paws were almost stepping on Wei Muche"s bratty head. A bunch of kids and a dog, sleeping together with no grace.
When everyone else saw this, they felt the birthday celebration was close to an end. Hence, they bid their farewells.
Yan Zhiqing looked at Wei Zilin reluctantly. Unfortunately, Wei Zilin did not even give an ounce of attention back to her.
Yan Zhiqing wanted to follow Wei Zilin along in his car unashamedly. When she was about to open her mouth, she heard Old Lady Yan coldly called out to her, "Zhiqing, you"re following us."
Yan Zhiqing could only shut her mouth that she had just opened.
Following the two elders as they entered the car, Old Lady Yan disregarded Xiao Deng"s existence and spoke to Yan Zhiqing. "Zhiqing, you"re still young. It"s impossible between you and Zilin. He was being polite because of your brother, but stop doing it, don"t embarra.s.s your big brother."
"Granny, what are you saying, I"m not a child anymore!" Yan Zhiqing looked at Xiao Deng who was driving and felt embarra.s.sed.
Even though an outsider was present, Old Lady Yan spoke to her without considering her dignity!
Old Lady Yan looked at Yan Zhiqing"s expression and knew what she was thinking. She was doing it on purpose as Yan Zhiqing had done the same towards Wei Zilin in front of everyone. She was not acting as the household"s reserved daughter at all and made the household members lose face. She was giving Yan Zhiqing a taste of her own medicine, to know how awkward it was for them a while ago.
Even though there was only a gauze in between when a girl pursued a boy, 1 when the other party was already clearly uninterested, it would be annoying if one kept up with the pursuing.
Wei Zilin could not say much because of Yan Beicheng, but it did not mean that they should pretend to not notice and make the other party continue feeling bad.
"Anyhow, you"re still a student. A child. Don"t think about nonsense all the time," Old Lady Yan said in a harsh tone.
Yan Zhiqing wanted to refute back, but looking at Old Lady Yan"s harsh gaze, she dared not open her mouth.
Lin Chu and Yu Zi had not left, they stayed behind to help the old princ.i.p.al to clean the house.
Yan Beicheng and Yan Huaian rolled up their sleeves and stepped on the ladder to remove the ribbons.
Once they finished cleaning, Lin Chu shook Chu Xi a bit. Chu Xi woke up with a confused look as if it had forgotten where it was. It flipped over and fell onto the floor stupidly. It innocently lifted its head as it looked at the sofa, almost as if it did not understand how it fell from it.
It continued to shake its head, and its fur ruffled in the air.
Lin Chu smiled as she put a leash on Chu Xi, Yan Huaian also came over to pick Yan Ningbai up.
Yan Ningbai"s small round face was on top of Yan Huaian"s shoulder. He opened his sleepy eyes and saw that his little friends had left. The living room was clean as well, it was not as messy as before.
"Are we leaving?" Yan Ningbai asked sleepily and closed his eyes. He then laid on Yan Huaian"s shoulder again and almost fell asleep.
"Yeah," Yan Huaian said as he carried him out.
Lin Chu also had Chu Xi in her hand, as she bid farewell to the old princ.i.p.al and the children. She then left with Yan Beicheng.
The old princ.i.p.al brought along a few of the children and was reluctant to watch them leave. She sent them to the entrance of the orphanage to see them off.
Yan Ningbai woke up as they were leaving and was put down by Yan Huaian.
"I"m leaving now," Yan Ningbai said as he waved at them.
Mo Jinxi clasped his hands behind his back as he awkwardly twisted his soft, white fingers. "You… Even if you don"t come over, I won"t miss you."
Yan Ningbai did not understand him at first, he rolled his eyes and finally got it. He grinned at Mo Jinxi"s statement.
It was obvious that Mo Jinxi was the kind of person his father mentioned before. The mouth would deny but the body was an honest type of person.
"I"ll call you when I get home," Yan Ningbai said elatedly.
Mo Jinxi blushed and raised his head looking at the sky. "Then I"ll just force myself to talk to you for one… No, it"s ten… twenty minutes on the phone!"
Yan Ningbai blinked a few times, and innocently said, "I only want to talk to you for about one minute."
Mo Jinxi, "..."
Watching Mo Jinxi"s small face turned red, Yu Zi rubbed Yan Ningbai"s head. His hair had grown out and trimmed a couple of times. The grey dyed hair he had for New Year was long gone and his original, brown colored hair had grown back.
"Stop teasing Jinxi," Yu Zi said as she smiled.
Yan Ningbai giggled twice and said to Mo Jinxi, "I"m just teasing, let"s talk for half an hour!"
Mo Jinxi blushed in embarra.s.sment as he said okay.
"You should take the children back in and have a good rest. It"s been an eventful day, you must be tired." Lin Chu said as she noted the old princ.i.p.al"s face was looking a bit tired.
It was a rare occurrence for them to be this lively, the old princ.i.p.al was happy from the bottom of her heart. Hence, she had not noticed that she was tired.
Once Lin Chu had mentioned it out loud, she immediately felt that she was indeed tired and did not deny it.
The children then said their goodbyes, even Chu Xi wagged its tail and barked as if saying goodbye to them.
When the old princ.i.p.al brought the children back in, Yan Beicheng and Lin Chu then turned to leave. When they were out the main door, they saw a middle-aged woman standing by it.
It was near the end of April and was almost May, the weather was neither hot nor cold. The current climate was the most pleasant and comfortable.
The woman by the door was wearing a simple and plain attire. The clothes seemed worn out and she was wearing sneakers of a brand that they were not able to make out. Although it was clean, one could see the hards.h.i.+p of her life.
She had black hair, but her roots were showing three to four centimeters of white hair that were exceptionally garish. Her hair also looked dry and malnourished.
The wrinkles on her dry and sallow skin seemed to be very deep. Even if she were not smiling, it was akin to land in drought season. People would find it hard to guess her actual age. Looking at her from their point of view, they would have guessed she was about fifty to sixty years old.
When they came out, the middle-aged woman was looking into the orphanage.
Lin Chu looked over curiously, the woman immediately looked away. She flinched as she hurriedly lowered her head, putting up an act looking in another direction.
This kind of reaction was even more suspicious. It was not just Lin Chu, even Yan Beicheng and Yan Huaian started looking over at her.
Both had similar facial features with an imposing aura. They looked over with a serious expression on their faces. The middle-aged woman was scared out of her wits, and subconsciously, she retreated two steps. She looked at them with a bewildered look, then immediately averted her gaze.
Lin Chu frowned as she looked at the middle-aged woman. As she saw the woman looking into the orphanage, she asked, "Are you looking for somebody or…?"
The middle-aged woman shook her head with force but hesitated for half a second before nodding.
"Lady, are you… familiar with the orphanage?" The middle-aged woman asked timidly.
Lin Chu nodded. She confirmed that the person was here for the orphanage.
"I…" The middle-aged woman wanted to say something and immediately shook her head. "Never mind, sorry for bothering you."
After finis.h.i.+ng her words, the middle-aged woman turned around and ran off.
"Wait a moment!" Lin Chu shouted, but the other party ran even faster and disappeared among the crowd.
Yan Beicheng frowned slightly and looked at Lin Chu who was pondering.
"What"s wrong?" Yan Beicheng asked as he lowered his head and held onto Lin Chu"s hand.
Chu Xi was beside them. It lowered its head and sniffed while moving around in circles getting its leash twisted into knots. It then went below a nearby tree that had a patch of pitiful looking yellowish gra.s.s. It squatted and peed on it then stood back up and sniffed it for a long time. That was to remind itself of this location. It then sat on the ground in satisfaction and put out its tongue gallantly as if it were a queen.
"Nothing, I just thought that the person just now looked familiar," Lin Chu replied.
Yan Beicheng turned around once more glancing at the direction which the middle-aged woman ran toward. It was just that she was gone now and they did not manage to find out her name. Even if he wanted to check, he had no idea where to start.
"Big nephew, big niece-in-law, we"re leaving now!" Yan Ningbai"s voice resonated, making the two of them looked over.
They then saw Yan Ningbai that was holding on to Yu Zi"s hand, waving at them energetically.
Yan Beicheng gave him a cold glance, Yan Ningbai did not mind and said a warm goodbye to Lin Chu instead. He then lowered his head towards Chu Xi, "Chu Xi, I"ll come find you again!"
Chu Xi, "Woof!"
Yan Ningbai got in the car, Lin Chu and Yan Beincheng then returned to their car.
After driving the car for a distance and stopping at a red light, Lin Chu then held onto Yan Beicheng"s arm. "I remember now why the person looked familiar."
She had already recalled it just as Yan Beicheng started the car, but she was afraid of startling him and caused an accident. Hence, she restrained herself with great difficulty and waited until they reached a red light.
It was her first time looking forward to reaching a red light.
Yan Beicheng looked over with his inquiring eyes. Lin Chu immediately continued, "On New Year"s Eve, that was the day we found Chu Xi right? I brought her to the vet and when I returned, she was most probably the one I met near the orphanage door. It was just that it was nighttime and because it"s winter, her items of clothing were thicker and I couldn"t recognize her. I just gave it a thought, even her voice was familiar, so I was able to recall from her voice."
"So, she was there before." Yan Beicheng frowned.
Lin Chu saw that the light had turned green, she nudged him and Yan Beicheng stepped on the gas pedal.
"Stop thinking about it." Yan Beicheng told her. "I"ll have somebody to watch over the orphanage. Since she"s been there twice, she must have wanted to do something or wanted to find out something. She"ll definitely be back. When the time comes, we"ll ask her nicely."
Lin Chu nodded. It was all they could do now.
At noon the next day, Lin Chu and Zheng Yuntong were just about to go out for lunch. When they reached the doorway of the office building, Lin Chu paused.
Zheng Yuntong did not see anything amiss and asked, "What"s wrong?"
Lin Chu was looking at the lobby and saw Yan Zhiqing constantly looking inside. She did not know how to explain to her.
Since it was a Yan Family matter, she was afraid she might let out too much. To say that she did not have a good relations.h.i.+p with Yan Zhiqing was unsuitable as well.
She did not even know whether Yan Zhiqing was there for her. But Lin Chu knew that there was a higher possibility that Yan Zhiqing was there to look for Wei Zilin. A saying in Chinese 女追男隔层纱, implying it was easy for a girl to chase after a boy