The Lover's Prattle

The Elegant Lunatic//7.2

Xu Nianyang followed behind Qing Ruo's father as they were conversing and entered the door. Qing Ruo's father and Xu Nianyang were both carrying some stuff in their hands.

Mrs. Fang stopped talking and stood up before taking the stuff from Xu Nianyang's hand and muttered, "You shouldn't bring these stuff every time you come home, we are a family so next time you don't need to act so formal and bring stuff. Let's eat, you should be hungry by now."

"Auntie." Xu Nianyang called Mrs. Fang and smiled before changing his slippers. He came over to Qing Ruo and patted her head before taking the remote control from the table and turning off the TV. Then he pulled the pouting little lass to the dining table.

Qing Ruo's parents put down the things Xu Nianyang bought for them and the dinner table was all set. They all sat around the table while Xu Nianyang still stood and served the food.

Qing Ruo had already sat down and started eating with chopsticks, her mother reached a hand and knocked her head lightly, but she also had no way to manage her. The point was that Xu Nianyang was used to it, he was happy and willing to pamper her. Then what could she do?

The atmosphere was quite harmonious as the four were dining and chatting as they sat around the table.

Qing Ruo's father and Xu Nianyang each had a small glass of medicinal wine. Qing Ruo's father was addicted to cigarettes in his early years and his lungs were now in a bad condition. Seeing that in winters, Qing Ruo's father coughed all the time, Xu Nianyang bought this wine for him. This medicinal wine is very effective for Qing Ruo's father so he drinks it a little sometimes.

"Nian Yang!" Qing Ruo's father opened his mouth then closed it again. He didn't know how to start the topic.

"Yeah." Xu Nianyang responded while reaching out to put the vegetables in Qing Ruo's bowl, "Uncle please continue what you were saying."

Qing Ruo's father frowned slightly before saying, "Well, you and Xu family.....it's not a proper way to support them."

After all, he was Qing Ruo's father so he must be biased towards his own daughter. Xu Nianyang was more than good at treating and raising the Xu family. Although he was not worried about his conduct and treatment towards Qing Ruo in the future, he still felt worried because of the disgusting Xu family.

Xu Nianyang's expression was gentle as he nodded slightly before saying softly, "Uncle and aunt, I know. Don't worry."

Xu Nianyang politely listened to Qing Ruo's parents without any complaints. When Mrs. Fang saw his attitude was still nice, she started her criticising mode. She complained for some time that the deeds done by the Xu family were really unpardonable, and finally concluded, "Nian Yang, you care about their living all the time but I haven't seen them thanking you once for supporting them for so many years. Not to mention when you were young, they....." She became quiet and didn't continue the topic further.

Now, Xu Nianyang had a bright future. Zhang family's attitude towards him was as if he was a god of wealth. Mrs. Fang had not seen him in front of outsiders, so she didn't know much about Xu Nianyang's personality. But she heard from one of her female colleagues about his temperament towards other people.

The female colleague's husband was a municipal government official. She told her about a project of the K City that needed cooperation from the Zhang family and Xu Nianyang was the representative of Zhang's for the project. The city mayor received Xu Nianyang in person and could only chat amiably while accompanying him. He had to laugh it all out when he saw that Xu Nianyang was still indifferent to everything while giving curt replies to his questions.

Mrs. Fang thought that although Xu Nianyang behaved indifferently towards outsiders, he was like their son at their home. Even when they spoke so much in order to teach him, he was still speaking cordially to them and didn't look offended.

That's good enough.

The house that Xu Nianyang bought previously, now started to be renovated. The last time Qing Ruo took the apartment's key, since then it had been kept with Qing Ruo's parents. Xu Nianyang was in the imperial capital during this time while Qing Ruo was busy in her studies. So, the decoration of the house was decided by Qing Ruo's parents and Xu Nianyang on the phone, and Qing Ruo's parents were in charge of the renovation.

The lass who was attending high school now, still persisted on the pink and strawberry style decoration. Xu Nianyang invited many interior designers and some of them were even from the capital. Qing Ruo's parents and Xu Nianyang discussed all these issues on their own while hiding the progress from Qing Ruo.

Over the weekends, Qing Ruo's parents would go to look at the decoration of the house in the afternoon as usual. Her parents were not only relieved about leaving Xu Nianyang behind but even felt fully reassured to leave both of them together at home.

So, Qing Ruo's parents left together leaving the both of them behind.

It became Qing Ruo's habit to take a small nap in the afternoon. She laid lazily on the sofa, feeling drowsy. Xu Nianyang took a small quilt to cover her and quietly sat next to her.

Qing Ruo suinted her sleepy eyes at him and kicked off the slippers while pulling on the quilt before laying her head against his thighs to use them as a pillow.

Xu Nianyang looked down at her and started stroking his fingers gently through her hair. Qingruo got heavy-eyed with the constant stroking and tickling on her scalp. It was very comfortable. She squinted her sleepy eyes and smashed her lips together before saying, "Gege, I'll sleep for a while."

'Just like a cat.' He thought.

Looking at her, Xu Nianyang hooked his lips upwards but didn't respond to her as she closed her eyes to sleep.

The living room was very quiet and curtains were not drawn, and there was a row of flower pots behind the sofa. The flower pots with simple style were bought by him or Qing Ruo's father while the exquisitely styled ones were bought by her mother. There were also several pots of succulent plants beside them, their pots looked prettier than the others. Qing Ruo liked to buy it whenever she saw these types of pretty pots.

Obviously, Qing Ruo just liked to buy but never took care of them. But, what she brought was always best in their eyes, so everyone took special care of them for her.

Besides, there was also a small cage with a few chubby little hamsters in it. Qing Ruo wanted to raise a little kitten or puppy, however, her parents were troubled that the house would smell stinky. So, they bought some hamsters to coax her.

The little girl was in high school now so how could she have extra energy to manage them. When she had a test or was on holiday, she couldn't even remember her little animals for about two or three weeks.

In the morning, Xu Chaoyang and his mother indeed met Xu Nianyang at the entrance of the community. Xu Chaoyang was a lot thinner after he took drugs and was covered in a gloomy aura. He was dressed in black and looked like a fierce ghost with his red and green eyes. Xu's mother was well-dressed, but she was too old to look attractive.

Xu Nianyang gave another sum of money to them.

Some time ago, during a family banquet, Zhang's family head introduced him to the guests as his favorite son by pulling him forward. The original heir shrank behind and was full of hatred but he was too afraid to step forward.

Xu Nianyang still remembered the special attention given to him by the organization that the Zhang family had a grudge with in his previous life. In return, he would let them experience the new reagent that he had recently researched and the heir who had been doing small movements behind his back was also invited to watch the show.

Now, the Zhang family either had his people or those who dared not provoke him.

The house on the other side of the playground would be renovated in another two or three months. The little girl would be in her third year of high school in the next term. Xu Nianyang moved his fingers through her hair to help her gently manage them for her. Thinking through all this, he thought, 'It seems that we can start to close the net now.'

***

[No Black Box Today]