Chapter 43

The elevator doors closed.

Lin Yu quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

When she looked up and saw Chen Lüli watching her, her face flushed. She rose on tiptoe to cover his eyes. "What are you looking at?"

The corners of Chen Lüli's lips curled up. He wrapped his other arm around her waist and let her cover his eyes. The sight of her playfully scolding him made his heart stir.

The underground garage was still deserted. Li City had more people from elsewhere than locals, and when the new year came around, many went traveling or returned to visit family, so the garage was naturally quiet.

They got into the car, and the black Brute started up. Two other vehicles were parked beside its space: a heavy motorcycle and another SUV, both entirely black. Chen Lüli rarely drove that SUV, though, keeping it only as a spare.

Lin Yu remembered the red marks on her neck last time. While Chen Lüli was focused on driving, she pulled down the mirror and tilted her neck up to check whether he had left any this time.

She looked from side to side. There seemed to be none, but then she spotted two hickeys beneath her ear, one darker than the other.

Lin Yu pushed the mirror back up and opened her small bag. She took out a tube of concealer, squeezed out a little, then picked up her compact mirror and turned her face to the side, dabbing it on gently.

Just then, they stopped at a red light.

Chen Lüli glanced over. "What are you doing?"

Lin Yu said nothing, only glared at him.

Chen Lüli's gaze swept over the concealer in her hand and the cream on her fingertip. It seemed to be makeup for covering marks. He remembered Jiang Zao had applied some to her that day, too.

He raised an eyebrow. "Can you reach it? Let me help."

Lin Yu muttered, "No need. I'm almost done. Next time, you..."

She didn't finish, but Chen Lüli understood what she meant. He sat upright and took the steering wheel in one hand, his voice unhurried. "I'll still leave marks next time. I can't control that."

"If you really can't be bothered to cover them, tell Auntie Zhong mosquitoes bit you." His voice turned teasing at the end.

Lin Yu screwed the cap back onto the concealer. "My mom isn't an idiot."

He chuckled softly, his voice mild. "You're the one who wanted to keep our relationship underground."

Lin Yu turned to look at him.

Noticing her gaze, Chen Lüli glanced over. "Hmm?"

Lin Yu pressed her lips together in a smile.

Her eyes shimmered with moisture, flickering like stars.

Seeing that, Chen Lüli tightened his grip on the steering wheel and lightly tapped it with his long fingers. If she looked at him a couple more times, he would pull over and kiss her.

He asked, "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," Lin Yu replied softly. She quietly withdrew her gaze and watched the road ahead. Just now, she had wanted to lean over and kiss his cheek, and to whisper how much she liked him, but she had held herself back from doing both. She kept the joy in her heart to herself, savoring it alone.

The black Brute arrived halfway up the mountain, stopping again on the downward slope some distance from the residential compound's entrance.

Chen Lüli parked and looked up, about to speak.

But Lin Yu quickly unbuckled her seat belt and leaned over to kiss him. Her lips brushed Chen Lüli's thin ones, and he froze for a moment, feeling their softness.

The next second, he raised a hand and held the back of her neck, and in that position, they kissed deeply, their tongues entwined.

This time, Lin Yu took the initiative. Her eyelashes fluttered, a glimmer of moisture gathering on them.

There was moisture on her lips when they parted, too. She blinked and said, "Drive slowly."

Stirred by her teasing, Chen Lüli looked at her and said huskily, "All right. I'll text you later."

"Mm."

Blushing, Lin Yu pushed open the car door and got out, pulling her coat around herself. The dress beneath it was longer than the coat, its hem showing below. Her slightly curled hair hung loose, and her figure was slender and tall from behind.

Chen Lüli watched her walk through the compound's entrance.

He unbuttoned his collar, leaned back, and took a moment to recover.

He realized how intensely attracted he was to her. A single kiss or glance was enough to stir that attraction. He tugged at his pants and leaned halfway against the center console, taking out a cigarette. Just as he was about to light it, he remembered how she had looked when the smoke made her choke. A few seconds later, he put the cigarette back in the console.

Ten minutes later.

Only then did the black Brute start up, turn around, and leave.

By the time Lin Yu got home, the moon was high in the sky, and a few firecrackers could still faintly be heard. Inside, though, the house was quiet. Her mother was in the small sitting room preparing lessons for the new semester. She usually wore only contact lenses, but tonight she had on a pair of black-framed glasses as she leafed through her lesson plans. She looked somewhat like the dean of discipline from Lin Yu's high school.

Lin Yu's steps paused briefly, and she walked on quietly.

Zhong Lixin heard her and looked up. "You're back?"

Lin Yu nodded. "Mm. Where's Dad?"

"Taking a bath."

Zhong Lixin turned a page of her lesson plan. "Have you eaten?"

"I have."

"The housekeeper saved you a bowl of lily bulb and red bean soup. It's warming in there." Zhong Lixin gestured with her pen.

Lin Yu said, "Oh," put down her small bag, and headed for the kitchen. The lily bulb and red bean soup the housekeeper made was delicious; it was Lin Yu's favorite dessert.

She carried it out and drank it.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs. Lin Yu turned to look. "Dad."

Lin Zhenghe came downstairs and saw his daughter standing at the kitchen island, drinking the sweet soup. He said, "You're going back to work on the eighth?"

Lin Yu nodded.

Lin Zhenghe glanced at his watch. "There aren't many days left. Don't go out these next few days; stay home and get some proper rest. You've been out quite a bit this new year."

Lin Yu tightened her grip on the bowl and paused.

Zhong Lixin adjusted her glasses. "She's twenty-eight, not eighteen or eight. Her friends are back for the new year holidays. It's perfectly normal for her to meet up and get together with them. Don't keep her on such a tight leash."

Lin Yu instinctively glanced at her mother and blinked, gratitude in her eyes.

Seeing her daughter like that, Zhong Lixin sighed.

As Lin Zhenghe was about to speak again, she said, "If you have the spare time to meddle in everything, find a suitable match for Yuyu."

Lin Zhenghe faltered.

He said, "Right now, no one looks suitable to me."

"Then what more is there to say?" Zhong Lixin turned the pages of her lesson plan with some irritation, her words carrying the smell of gunpowder. Lin Zhenghe could sense it and didn't dare make another sound.

When Lin Yu finished the sweet soup, the housekeeper quietly reached out to her.

Lin Yu handed her the bowl, then picked up her small bag and went upstairs to her room to rest.

She was afraid of her mother's anger, too.

Zhong Lixin was a very rational mother, but she acted with the force of thunder and the speed of the wind and had a personality of her own. She didn't usually lose her temper, but when she did, a million corpses fell.

Even Lin Zhenghe, who was difficult to deal with himself, feared Zhong Lixin's wrath.

He didn't stay downstairs much longer, either. As for his strictness with his daughter, his attempts to control her had actually become less and less effective over the past few years. His daughter was grown and no longer lived with them, and on top of that, his wife occasionally gave him cold looks or snapped back at him. Some things he said might as well have gone unsaid.

Halfway there, Tan You called Chen Lüli and said Sister-in-law Xiao was still at home keeping her company. Sister-in-law Xiao's husband, Tan Hui, was Tan You's older cousin. When Tan You was studying abroad, he had helped her a great deal, and the two families had always been on good terms. They had happened to run into each other at the private dining restaurant today.

Tan Hui wanted to see him.

Chen Lüli changed direction and headed home.

Throughout the entire new year, the parking spaces outside the Chen house had never been empty. Even the owners had to find spaces for their own cars. Chen Lüli borrowed a space from a neighbor, parked, and pushed the door open.

There were quite a few people in the living room. His father, Chen Songlin, was entertaining guests. His features looked very much like Chen Lüli's, but he had an aloof, stern air about him.

Chen Lüli and his father had never had much to say to each other, and warm exchanges were rare between them. The first person he greeted upon entering was Ming Yu's father, Ming Huaixian.

"Uncle Ming."

Ming Huaixian smiled and set down his teacup. "You're back? Your mother's older cousin is upstairs."

"I know. I was just heading up. Please, stay seated." Chen Lüli nodded to Ming Yu's mother, Li Wenqing, then headed up the stairs. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing his watch, but his collar was buttoned tight. After Lin Yu had kissed him in the car, he had been too hot and unbuttoned it, then buttoned it again once he recovered. His profile was impassive.

He didn't greet Ming Yu.

But Ming Yu's gaze rested on him, and she bit her lip.

Li Wenqing glanced at her daughter, then followed her gaze. His figure quickly disappeared at the stairwell, turning into the sitting area on the second floor.

Li Wenqing raised a hand and patted her daughter's shoulder, watching her expression.

Chen Songlin set down the teapot and looked at Ming Yu. "If you're interested, Ming Yu, Uncle Chen will make the arrangements for you two from here."

Li Wenqing's eyes brightened slightly, and she looked at her daughter, prompting her.

Hearing Chen Songlin's unquestionable tone, Ming Huaixian was momentarily taken aback. He looked at his daughter.

But there wasn't a trace of happiness on Ming Yu's face. She suppressed her unwillingness to accept it, looked at Chen Songlin, and smiled. "Uncle Chen, I don't want that. You can't force him on me."

Chen Songlin raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at Ming Huaixian in puzzlement.

Ming Huaixian smiled and said gently, "Children have their own fortunes. We'd better not interfere in their affairs."

Hearing her father's words, Ming Yu glanced at him.

She could tell he wasn't merely saying it to be polite. He truly believed it.

That left her feeling even worse, with a breath stuck in her chest. Li Wenqing put an arm around her daughter and asked, looking down at her, "Uncle Chen has offered. You could have agreed first, so why did you refuse?"

Ming Yu had her own pride. She looked at her mother. "I just don't want to. You make it sound like I'm throwing myself at him. He doesn't want a relationship, does he?"

Li Wenqing fell silent for a few seconds.

"So what exactly are you thinking?"

Ming Yu glanced at the second floor, then looked away without answering. She toyed with her hair and began playing with her phone, which was prettily decorated with stickers.

Chapter 43

The sitting area on the second floor was smaller than the one downstairs, but better suited to conversation. When Chen Lüli entered, Tan You and Xiao Xi were chatting happily, with Tan Hui sitting beside them. Tan Hui turned and saw Chen Lüli. He smiled. "Lüli, long time no see."

"Long time no see, Cousin."

"Cousin-in-law." Chen Lüli sat down politely. The housekeeper followed him in and stepped forward to refill the tea, but Chen Lüli took the teapot and gestured that there was no need; he would do it himself.

The housekeeper left.

Xiao Xi smiled. "I was just talking to your mom about you and that girl from lunch. Your mom said you were classmates in high school and college, and after graduating, you even worked close to each other?"