Once in awhile, Lil Wen Ming would clap his hands and exclaim, "Daddy! Daddy!"
At other times, he would clap his hands and exclaim, "Mommy! Mommy!"
Lin Chu, "..."
The two finally ended their argument after going at it for quite some time and sat back in their seats as if nothing had happened.
Fang Jiaran noticed the tenseness permeating the seemingly calm atmosphere, so she acted as if the argument that had just happened was not her doing. She turned and smiled at Lin Chu. "Don"t listen to Wen Ren, he"s talking nonsense. I"m not that type of person. Usually, I"ll only read serious literature. When I was pregnant with Wen Ming, I might"ve… might"ve read…"
Fang Jiaran played with the strand of hair that had fallen in front of her face and cooly continued, "I might"ve read the book "Red Sorghum". 1 "
Yan Beicheng, "..."
Lin Chu, "..."
Apart from this small incident, due to their bonding over Lil Wen Ming, Lin Chu quickly became familiar with Wen Ren and Fang Jiaran throughout the journey.
When Wen Ren"s temper started to show, they would let Yan Beicheng handle him. Lin Chu and Fang Jiaran got along well, and there was not a moment of silence as they chatted away.
The journey ended once they reached the foothill of the Lanshan Inst.i.tution. The secret guards that were hidden in various corners did not block their path when they saw Wen Ren"s car approaching. They went straight up the hill without any obstruction.
Even though Lin Chu did not see a single soul on the way up, she knew from Yan Beicheng"s stories that many guards were hiding in the shadows to stand guard over the property.
She thought of this and could not help but feel solemn and respectful. The Lanshan Inst.i.tution was truly a prestigious place. She should not take it lightly just because the husband and wife pair were pleasant to her.
Wen Ren"s father had retired as soon as he had successfully captured the Gong Family"s father and son duo years ago. The old master remained in his position as master of the house for many years not because he was unwilling to let go of his power or because he did not feel a.s.sured about his son taking over. He did this because he wanted to personally avenge his dead wife.
After finally releasing all these years-worth of vengeance and hatred, the old man was no longer nostalgic when he handed the position of house leader to Wen Ren.
Afterward, Wen Ren was promoted from being the young master of the Wen Family to the master of the Lushan Inst.i.tution.
Old Master Wen, who had by now retired, began concentrating on gardening on the mountainside, spending his time raising eagles and playing with the birds.
Since the whole mountain was their home, the amount of land they possessed was vast. When the car was going up the hill, Lin Chu saw a neat patch of land that had been cleared for cultivation. It was very different from the other areas which were surrounded by trees, weeds, and wildflowers. This was all Old Master Wen"s doing.
There was a shed nearby too, whilst the old master spared no expense in changing and fertilizing the soil in the area. He had planted a row of green onions, a row of leeks, a row of r.a.p.eseeds, and a row of corn. One did not know if the seeds planted would actually sprout vegetables, but even if they did successfully grow, the value of the vegetables could not compare to the amount of money that Old Master Wen had invested.
After all, this was the mountainside and it would be hard to plant these things here. Thus, Old Master Wen took every possible measure to ensure that they would be able to grow them here.
Fang Jiaran was giving them a walkthrough of the area on their way up when Wen Ren suddenly decided to interrupt and say, "The old man spent so much money in order to grow these things."
There was a pained expression on his face as he said these words.
They also mentioned that Old Master Wen had also developed an area just for raising animals. There were Sheepdogs, Corgis, Labrador, Alaskan Malamutes, as well as Chihuahuas and Toy Poodles. The dogs he owned ranged from truly strong and majestic breeds to pet.i.te and cute lap dogs. Because of this, it was hard to pinpoint exactly what Old Master Wen"s hobby truly was.
There was also a shed in the back where he was raising an eagle. If he was not farming, you would find him taking a stroll at the back of the mountain and letting the eagle out.
This had become one of the main sights to see in Lanshan. There was a one-hour sightseeing tour available at the foothill of Lanshan Mountain, during which, if they spotted an eagle flying out from the mountain, the tour guide would excitedly exclaim to the tourists, "Look, there"s the Wen Family"s eagle!"
Lin Chu heard this and felt that the Lanshan Inst.i.tution must be bustling with noise and excitement every day!
There were a thousand things racing through her mind, such that it became difficult to differentiate her thoughts. For a moment, she was unable temporarily rendered speechless due to her being awestruck.
Once the car stopped, they realized that they had reached the entrance of the Lanshan Inst.i.tution.
After getting down from the car, Lin Chu saw an old man wearing nothing more than a white unders.h.i.+rt and an unb.u.t.toned plaid s.h.i.+rt. This was despite the fact that it was already late autumn and the temperature had started to dip. He walked toward them whilst carrying a fruit crate on his back and a stick in his hand. There was something inside his crate, but she could not make out what it was.
"Gwamps!" Lil Wen Ming called out while he was still in Wen Ren"s arms. He was particularly excited as he pointed toward the old man that was carrying the crate.
The old man smiled as well before walking toward them and said, "My sweet grandson!"
"Gwamps!" Lil Wen Ming called out excitedly once more with tear-filled eyes.
"Grandson!" The old man"s eye started tearing up as well, clearly touched by Lil Wen Ming"s affection.
"Gwamps!"
"Grandson!"
Yan Beicheng, "..."
Lin Chu, "..."
Wen Ren and Fang Jiaran appeared unbothered by this interaction. It appeared to be quite normal for them.
There was no need to guess the ident.i.ty of the old man as he walked toward them. Yan Beicheng and Lin Chu both greeted him with the utmost respect.
The old master appeared kind and harmless now, but in the past, he was a cold-blooded and ruthless killer that had struck fear into the heart of T City.
The old master pointed at the crate on his back. "The figs are ripe, so I"ve harvested a crate of them. I"ll ask someone to wash them and you guys can enjoy them later. They"re really sweet."
They entered the house soon after this. Because Wen Xu was still at school, they could not meet him right away as he would usually only return in the evening.
Lin Chu first took out the children"s gifts. Fang Jiaran opened Lil Wen Ming"s toy and placed it on the floor so that he could play with it.
The silly yet sweet runt sat in the middle as he watched the toy get connected to the power source with a small hammer in hand. He was still wondering about what the hammer was for when suddenly, a gopher popped out of one of the holes, causing Lil Wen Ming to jump in surprise. His mouth gaped open in astonishment as he giggled playfully at the gopher.
Lil Wen Ming was playful, but he was smart enough to figure out how the toy worked. There was no need for an a.d.u.l.t to teach him how to use it.
This was due to all the cartoons that he had watched.
He held onto the hammer and whacked each of the gophers cheerfully. He spun around as he continuously hammered away, eventually making himself dizzy. After this, he flopped onto the ground with his tongue sticking out and refused to get back up.
As this was going on, Wen Ren and Yan Beicheng went into the study room to discuss their matters in private. Lin Chu was not curious about what the men were discussing since Yan Beicheng would tell her all about it later anyway.
The servant soon brought the washed figs over, after which, Fang Jiaran proceeded to stuff a whole fig into Lil Wen Ming"s mouth without cutting it into smaller pieces.
Lin Chu saw Fang Jiaran do this and came to the stunning realization that she was not the type to pamper her son.
However, when she thought about it, she remembered that the Wen Family"s boys would undergo harsh training beginning at the age of five, whilst the girls were not required to receive such training. Hence, if the boys were pampered, it would probably be difficult for them to bear the training in the future. Thus, they might as well be brought up in a more rugged way. They would not be short of anything material-wise, but they would not be pampered when it came to their lifestyle.
Lin Chu nodded as she felt that boys should be raised like this regardless of the household they were in.
Lil Wen Ming held on to the soft mushy fig with his tiny hand as he used a little amount of force to squeeze the fig and turn it into mush. Then, he used his tiny fingers to dig into the fig"s flesh, making it break apart into pieces.
After ferociously tearing apart the flesh of the fruit, the little dango 1 became happier for some unknown reason as he grinned from ear to ear.
Suddenly, a skin-colored worm began to wriggle out of the flesh of the fruit. It was about two centimeters long and wriggled its way out until it reached Lil Wen Ming"s thumb.
Lil Wen Ming"s eyes widened in surprise as he pinched at the worm. He giggled twice before trying to shove the worm directly into his mouth.
Fang Jiaran shouted in disgust when she saw this, "Stop right there!"
She dashed toward him to s.n.a.t.c.h the worm out of his hand and throw it out of the house.
Then, she washed her son"s hand and threw away the infested fig he had previously been eating before giving him a new one.
However, this time Fang Jiaran cut it up into four small pieces for him. She checked once more to ensure that there were no hitchhikers hiding inside before placing it on the plate so that Lil Wen Ming could eat it with his hands.
Lin Chu saw this and realized Fang Jiaran that had given him the whole piece earlier not because she did not want to pamper him. It was simply because she had not been very thoughtful.
After a while, Yan Beicheng and Wen Ren finished their discussions. Despite this, Lin Chu was in no hurry to find out what they were talking about.
Once everyone had eaten their lunch and Yan Beicheng had drunk a cup of tea to cleanse his digestive system, he said to Lin Chu, "Let"s go, I"ll bring you around for a tour. Wen Ren looks like an uncultured person, but his house is truly beautiful. They made it look like one of those 5A scenic spots 1 but it doesn"t require an entrance fee."
"..." Wen Ren hugged Fang Jiaran as he said in annoyance, "What do you think the Lanshan Inst.i.tution is?! Are you here on a tour?"
The dango-like Lil Wen Ming saw Lin Chu about to leave and quickly got up. He chased after her as he bobbed left and right like a penguin. "Pweety! Pweety!"
"Pretty girl, please don"t go!"
Fang Jiaran pulled away from Wen Ren"s embrace to tell Lil Wen Ming that Lin Chu would come back later. Then, she switched the Whack-Mole game on to distract Lil Wen Ming. Thus, he sat back down in the middle of the game while grinning and whacking away.
At around four o"clock in the afternoon, Wen Xu was picked up from school.
Fang Jiaran proceeded to introduce Wen Xu to Yan Beicheng and Lin Chu. Even though Wen Xu had a stoic expression on his face, as though he had been born without any emotions, he still politely greeted the two. "h.e.l.lo uncle, h.e.l.lo aunty."
When she saw this, Lin Chu thought to herself that having sons with such contrasting personalities would be great.
After an afternoon nap, Lil Wen Ming became more energetic than ever. He crawled over excitedly when he saw his big brother, then used his hands to cling onto Wen Xu"s leg and tried to claw his way up. He looked up at him with his small head and exclaimed, "s.h.i.+ s.h.i.+! s.h.i.+ s.h.i.+!"
Lil Wen Ming was still not able to talk properly, but he had no problems p.r.o.nouncing specific words that simply required his lips to touch. He had learned the word "Grandpa" through Old Master Wen"s sheer determination in teaching him. Lil Wen Ming just happened to be so lazy that he decided to ditch the second syllable. After all, he felt that calling out the word "Gwamps" was way less tiresome.
He was not great at p.r.o.nouncing words that required his tongue to touch the roof of his mouth, which was why he could not p.r.o.nounce the word "Ge Ge". 1 Thus, he tried calling out to Wen Xu"s name instead, and, in the end "Xu Xu" eventually turned into "s.h.i.+ s.h.i.+".
Wen Xu looked down at his koallike little brother that was currently clinging to his legs. Although he had no expression on his face, you could still feel the warm and gentle aura he was emitting through his smiling eyes.
He did not even put his bag away before bending down to pick up the fat dango. Then, he sat down with him nearby.
Lin Chu felt envious and said, "They have a great relations.h.i.+p. I want my children to have an age gap as well so that the big one will know how to take care of the little one."
Fang Jiaran suddenly made a strange expression as the corner of her mouth twitched. She looked at Lin Chu and whispered, "Just continue watching them, you"ll change your mind."
Right after saying this, the look on Fang Jiaran"s face turned to shame.
Lin Chu was taken aback as she turned and saw Wen Xu take a lemon out from his bag. Then, he proceeded to take a Swiss army knife out from the side of his bag and flicked out a small carving blade. He cut out a slice of the lemon and ate it, acting nonchalant as he held it in his mouth without chewing.
Lil Wen Ming saw this and reached for Wen Xu"s mouth with his small chubby hands. He wanted to take the lemon slice out of his mouth as he exclaimed, "Ah! Ah!"
"I want one too!"
Wen Xu cut another slice without batting an eyelid before handing it to Lil Wen Ming.
With that, Lil Wen Ming took the lemon slice and shoved it into his mouth to try to imitate Wen Xu. Unfortunately, his mouth was too tiny, and he was only able to shove one-third of it in. Then, he bit down hard on the lemon slice without the slightest concern.
Lil Wen Ming suddenly stopped moving as he struggled to keep his eyes open due to the sourness. He squinted as his face scrunched up and his eyelids began to tremble. That face of his that originally looked like a smooth and round steamed bun creased up so much that he began to look like a raisin. His whole body trembled from the acidity as he began to sway back and forth as though he was having muscle spasms.
Lin Chu, "..."
It seemed that if the age gap was too wide, there would a big gap in intelligence as well. The little one would be too easy to bully.
Lin Chu looked at Fang Jiaran as Fang Jiaran let out an awkward laugh.
Lil Wen Ming threw away the lemon slice without hesitation. Then, he saw Wen Xu rummage through his bag for quite a while before taking out an apple-like fruit he had picked from an unknown tree at his school. He wiped it on his sleeve and then took a bite from it.
Upon seeing this, Lil Wen Ming seemed to forget all about what had happened earlier and tried to pry open Wen Xu"s lips to retrieve the fruit.
Wen Xu gave the rest of the fruit to Lil Wen Ming and Lil Wen Ming proceeded to use his six tiny baby teeth to gnaw at the fruit with much difficulty. After taking a bite, his eyes suddenly widened in surprise, as though he had seen a whole new universe.
After this, you could see his mouth pucker up, but it was not due to sourness. This time, the sensation was even more torturous than before.
"Bwitter! Bwitter!" Lil Wen Ming exclaimed pitifully. His hands gestured at Wen Xu while an angry expression spread across his face. "Bwitter!"
"Hey! What did you give your brother?" Fang Jiaran asked before quickly getting up to look for a bottle of juice. She poured a mouthful"s worth into a milk bottle, then gave it to Lil Wen Ming. He held onto the bottle and suckled on it desperately to get rid of the taste.
Lil Wen Ming gulped it down and proceeded to heave a heavy sigh of relief as though he were an exhausted old man. Then, he looked at his big brother with grief and resentment.
Where is the trust between us?
Wen Xu squinted his eyes slightly and looked that the little dango in his arms. Seconds later, the little dango threw the milk bottle away and snuggled himself deeper into Wen Xu"s embrace as he giggled sweetly without bearing any grudges. "s.h.i.+ s.h.i.+! s.h.i.+ s.h.i.+!"
Lin Chu, "..."
She realized what Yan Beicheng meant about Wen Ming being silly yet sweet.
The Wen Family had prepared the guest room for Yan Beicheng and Lin Chu, with the said guest room being a house located in the family"s courtyard. It was as if they had gone back in time to a Suzhou prefecture garden courtyard that was filled with winding corridors. The pillars were all engraved whilst the inside was filled by antiques. Even the huge bed in their bedroom had an exquisite and delicate decorative pattern carved into it. Ever since they had reached the top of the mountain, it was as though they had traveled back through time and become isolated from the outside world.
"It"s so great to enjoy this kind of environment every day." Lin Chu could not help but sigh.
The air quality was superb, the environment was gorgeous, and their surroundings were quiet. It was as if all their worries had just melted away.
"Then, we"ll come back for a visit again when we have the time." Yan Beicheng said in a relaxed tone. He acted as if the Lanshan Inst.i.tution was his own backyard that if they could visit whenever they wanted.
Lin Chu could not help but think of Wen Ren"s infuriated expression and started to giggle. "I like Jiaran a lot. She"s an interesting character. Whenever I chat with her, I can feel my mood improve. I"d actually be quite pleased if we could actually come by more often - I"d be more than willing to come."
Then, the two went over to feel the large bed before Lin Chu asked him what he and Wen Ren had been discussing.
"It"s not anything complex, I just wanted Wen Ren to investigate Lu Zhenghang"s existence from birth to the present day. Although I used to have someone keep an eye on Ning City for me, there were certain things that the Lu Family hid quite well. I had only requested for them to watch their movements but not specifically investigate any matter, so it was inevitable that my contact would miss out on a couple of things. Since Lu Zhenghang had finally shown his cards, even though I don"t believe that he"s from the Yan Family, I still have to ease my doubts with hard evidence. Moreover, we"ll see if we can investigate the reason why Lu Zhenghang had the audacity to speak so foolishly. Regardless of it being genuine or fake, we need hard evidence in our hands before we decide how to act." Yan Beicheng said as he played around with Lin Chu"s hair.
Lin Chu felt at ease now and nodded.
Lin Chu woke up early in the morning as she was someone that was sensitive to changes in her bed; she normally could not sleep well if she was not sleeping in her usual bed. If they were at home, she slept so well that even thunderstorms in the middle of the night could not wake her up. For someone that loved sleeping as much as her, this was the perfect time for her to sleep in. Nevertheless, she was forced to wake up early in the morning due to her unfortunate trait.
She was unable to fall back asleep since first waking up at five o"clock in the morning. Every so often, she"d look at the time on her phone and see that barely any time had pa.s.sed. For the first time ever, she felt that time was moving too slowly in the morning.
Finally, she could not stand it anymore and got up at six o"clock.
When she started moving about, Yan Beicheng also awoke in a daze. His bed-head coupled with his blank expression made him look like a far cry from his usual das.h.i.+ng self.
He slowly opened his eyes with great difficulty. His eyes were filled with confusion as he wrapped his arms around Lin Chu"s waist and placed his head on her neck before snuggling himself into her body. "What time is it? Why are you awake so early?"
Lin Chu turned her head and kissed his ears before starting to nibble on it. Her soft lips continued to press against his ears as she rubbed herself on it intimately. "The bed"s different and I"m not used to it. It"s quite rare for us to be in the mountains where the air"s great. Things like this are hard to come by in B City, so I might as well get up early to breathe in some fresh air."
Yan Beicheng thought that this made a lot of sense. Ever since Lin Chu had gotten pregnant, he had been particularly worried about the air quality in B City.
Thus, the two tidied up their things and left the house. They just so happened to b.u.mp into Wen Ren and a few members of the secret guard that had just finished running a lap from the top of the mountain all the way to its base. In addition to this, Wen Xu was also running along with them.
Lil Wen Ming was in Old Master Wen"s arms waiting for Wen Ren and Wen Xu to finish their training. This was something they would do every morning.
Lil Wen Ming was holding onto a clean towel as he happily waved at Wen Ren and Wen Xu upon spotting them.
"Daddy! s.h.i.+ s.h.i.+!" Lil Wen Ming exclaimed in excitement.
The father and son duo walked toward him and took the towel to wipe the sweat off of their faces. The towels that were dr.a.p.ed around their necks from earlier were already soaking in sweat.
There were four people following them closely from behind. The first had a wheat-colored skin tone and was tall and st.u.r.dy; he looked handsome and appeared to have an honest and straightforward temperament. The one behind him appeared a little sloppy when Lin Chu first glanced at him. The third one had short hair and a beautiful face that had a certain feminine beauty to it, similar to Wei Ziqi. Finally, the last man appeared to be bulkier than the first three.
Yan Beicheng introduced them to Lin Chu one by one. The first one that looked like he had honest temperament was Hao Donghuai. He was in the Wen Family"s Department of the Dark"s Intelligence Department called Dark Shadows. Hao Donghuai was Dark Shadow"s Sun Shadow Department"s captain. The sloppy-looking man behind him was Yuan Jiangyi, the Moon Shadow Department"s captain. Lastly, the beautiful one was the Shadowless Department"s captain, Wei Wucai.
The bulkiest man at the back was Chai Yu, he oversaw safety and general security in the Department of the Dark. He was also Wen Ren"s personal bodyguard and would follow Wen Ren everywhere he went.
At this moment, Lil Wen Ming handed the towel in his hand over to his father and brother. Then, he used his now empty hand to point at Wei Wucai and happily exclaim, "Aunt! Pweety!"
Yuan Jiangyi suddenly spurted out the water he had been drinking everywhere upon hearing this.
"Cough! Cough!" Yuan Jiangyi began to laugh hysterically. He pointed toward Wei Wucai that was now wearing a gloomy expression and said, "This is your Aunt Cai! Aunt Cai! Okay?"
"Aunt! Aunt!" Lil Wen Ming giggled while clapping his hands.
Wei Wucai could not punch Lil Wen Ming, but he could, however, punch Yuan Jiangyi. He was not planning to launch a sneak attack either as he smiled sinisterly and rubbed his hands together whilst walking toward Yuan Jiangyi. "Let me help loosen you up a bit, I noticed you were running quite slow this morning." A Chinese language novel by Mo Yan. Published in 1986, it was Mo"s first novel and remains one of his best-known works. It"s a little e.r.o.t.i.c. Dango is a j.a.panese dumpling and sweet made from mochiko, related to mochi. It is equally soft and squishy. Tourist attractions or scenic areas rated AAAAA (5A) are the most important and best-maintained tourist attractions in the People"s Republic of China. This is the highest rating that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism can issue. 哥哥 is the Chinese word for big brother.