The meeting place was set in a restaurant.
Mother and son met formally for the first time, both feeling a sense of unfamiliarity with each other. Until the dishes were served, they remained silent.
Having come to terms with certain matters, Zheng Qiuyi no longer displayed her past cold and sharp demeanor when facing Tang Zhou.
She carefully examined her son, who was so close at hand.
With a handsome appearance and extraordinary demeanor, except for the aloof expression, there was no flaw to be found in his entire being.
After looking at him for a long time, she withdrew her gaze, picked up her chopsticks, and said, “Let’s eat first; the dishes will get cold.”
Although Tang Zhou felt awkward, he wouldn’t go against his own stomach. He picked his favorite dishes and started eating them slowly.
He never made a sound while eating, as etiquette and manners were engraved in his bones. His lowered eyelashes cast shadows beneath his eyes, making him look unusually gentle.
Zheng Qiuyi secretly smiled, feeling like she was losing her mind. People outside always said her son was aloof and arrogant, so how could he be the type to be gentle and cute?
Tang Zhou actually had a lot of questions he wanted to ask, but since Zheng Qiuyi didn’t speak, he didn’t want to take the initiative.
His relationship with Fu Shen was fake, but others didn’t know that. He worried that Zheng Qiuyi might have said something she shouldn’t have to Fu Shen. Even though he was someone who could adapt to various situations, this incident originated because of him. If Fu Shen suffered any undeserved blame, he’ feel guilty and uneasy.
Moreover, experiencing such a dog blood plot happening to himself always felt a bit strange.
Amidst the mother and son’s contemplation, the meal came to an end.
Zheng Qiuyi silently noted the dishes that Tang Zhou favored with his chopsticks. With a serious expression, she asked, “Do you really like him?”
Tang Zhou lifted his eyelashes, revealing his light brown irises, looking as transparent as glass, yet with a hint of impatience hidden within.
“What exactly did you say to him?”
Zheng Qiuyi spoke truthfully, “I asked him to leave you.”
Tang Zhou: “…”
It’s truly a cliché dog blood plot.
Poor Fu Shen.
“But he didn’t agree,” Zheng Qiuyi continued, “he seems to have some genuine feelings for you.”
She could see that the boy named Fu Shen indeed had a different look in his eyes when talking about Tang Zhou.
Of course, the other party’s excellent acting skills could not be ruled out.
Tang Zhou almost laughed out loud.
Genuine feelings? Fu Shen was only interested in his investment, where would the genuine feelings come from?
With an expressionless face, he said, “I hope you won’t do these things in the future.”
Encountering this attitude of his, Zheng Qiuyi instinctively flinched a bit, but as soon as she thought about today’s purpose, she gathered courage and said, “I just want to ask, do you want Tang’s family or not?”
Tang Zhou was surprised.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ktlr wbatfg, ktb tjvc’a tjv wemt qgfrfcmf lc tlr bnfg akfcas sfjgr bo ilof, kjr cbk ibbxlcu ja tlw klat jiwbra afcvfg fsfr, jcalmlqjalcu j gfrqbcrf.
Pa wera yf jc liierlbc, tf atbeuta.
Snfc lc tlr vgfjwr, ktfc tf kjr qfcclifrr joafg agslcu ab rjnf atf Kjcu ojwlis, jii tf gfmflnfv ogbw Itfcu Hlesl kjr tfg mbiv lcvloofgfcmf.
Tang Zhou didn’t want to experience that feeling of being abandoned by all his relatives a second time.
The resentment hidden in his heart turned into a strong hostility. He answered with a sharp tone, “Since you’ve never cared about me, why bother asking all that now?”
The young man’s eyes were slightly red, and his questioning tone sounded harsh, but it made people’s hearts feel sour.
Zheng Qiuyi’s heart felt like it was being stabbed by needles, and a wave of aching pain spread through her chest. She almost cried.
While she loathed the Tang family, where did she stand herself? How heartless she was to leave such a small child in that cold-blooded mansion?
In that moment, Zheng Qiuyi was genuinely remorseful.
Rubbing her eyes, she said with a hoarse voice, “If you want it, I’ll fight for you; if you don’t want it, I don’t care anymore.”
Tang Zhou sensed the weariness in the latter part of her statement and was surprised, “What do you mean?”
Zheng Qiuyi smiled and changed the topic, “Do you only like boys?”
Tang Zhou turned to look at the teacup.
He had never liked boys or girls. He didn’t even know himself, how could he answer this question?
But his appearance was interpreted as a tacit confirmation in Zheng Qiuyi’s eyes. After understanding everything, she found it hard to oppose.
A person’s life is only a few decades long, and she had spent forty years as a muddle. In the eyes of others, it was considered a happy and fulfilling life, but who could understand the bitterness in her heart?
If you are destined to marry someone you don’t like, it’s better to find someone you like and spend the rest of your life with them.
“If he can accompany you for the rest of your life, it’s not bad,” Zheng Qiuyi sighed slightly, “But his temper is just a bit overbearing.”
She didn’t mince words with this younger generation, fearing Tang Zhou might suffer.
He’s not polite to her, even though she’s his elder, so Zheng Qiuyi is worried that Tang Zhou might suffer.
Tang Zhou: “……”
Isn’t he overbearing? It makes sense since it’s Fu Shen, who appears polite and gentle on the surface, but who’s more dominant than anyone inside. He is also meticulous, vengeful, and won’t let himself suffer the slightest loss.
Tsk, why do I keep thinking about him?
After chasing away the figure from his mind, Tang Zhou stood up, saying, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll leave first.”
Zheng Qiuyi panicked, “You haven’t said whether you want the Tang family or not.”
Tang Zhou replied coldly, “Those are my affairs, I’ll handle them myself.”
With that, without giving Zheng Qiuyi a chance to speak, he left the restaurant in long strides.
Back in the car, Tang Zhou leaned back, letting out a deep sigh.
He felt like smoking again.
As his hand reached for the storage compartment, Fu Shen’s words echoed in his mind and he instinctively withdrew.
He didn’t understand. Since she had left him behinf for so many years, why was she coming to him now? Just because of the successor issue?
But the soft light in Zheng Qiuyi’s eyes and the gentleness in her voice didn’t seem fake. This was completely different from the image of his mother in his memory, yet… it had an unparalleled charm.
A long-forgotten bitterness welled up in his heart. Tang Zhou reached up, covering his eyes with his hand, attempting to conceal the hint of tears at the corners pf his eyes.
He continued to berate himself; this was just a hypocritical concern, isn’t it? It wasn’t worth caring about.
Really, it wasn’t worth caring about.
He sat in the silence of the car for ten minutes before he regained his composure and drove back to his place.
Upon entering, the soft lights in the living room greeted his eyes. A warm suddenly filled into his cold heart.
Fu Shen was sitting on the sofa, attending to matters. When he heard the commotion and turned around, his amber eyes instantly lit up with a smile. He stood up, walked over, took slippers from the shoe cabinet, and bent down to place them in front of Tang Zhou, asking, “Have you eaten?”
The tall and handsome young man, with thick eyebrows and deep, dark eyes, was currently focused on someone. The figure reflected in his pupils was staring blankly at the cool slippers on the floor, not saying a word.
Sensing that his mood wasn’t great, Fu Shen spoke warmly, “What’s wrong?”
Tang Zhou put on the slippers, looked up at him, his eyes slightly red, and his voice soft.
“I want to smoke.”
Fu Shen raised an eyebrow, “…No.”
Tang Zhou sniffled and said hoarsely, “I just want to smoke.”
His initial sadness wasn’t as intense, but in that fleeting moment just after entering the door, seeing the warm and harmonious home, seeing Fu Shen coming over with a smile on his face, the grievance in his heart came tumbling all at once.
Since he was old enough to understand, he had never cried. Even in the coldest moments his dreams, he never cried.
But now, he felt his nose tingling, his throat dry, and completely out of control. Yet, he continued to suppress it, trying to vent it through smoking.
Seeing a mist forming in those light brown eyes, then try to back away, Fu Shen’s heart softened, mixed with a hint of bitterness.
He held Tang Zhou’s wrist, guiding him to sit obediently on the sofa. “Instead of smoking, how about having a drink?”
Tang Zhou looked up at him, not blinking. “But I don’t know how to drink.”
Fu Shen smiled, turned to the fridge, grabbed two cans of beer, and handed one to Tang Zhou. “Give it a try.”
The aggrieved young man hesitated to take it, but when Fu Shen took the lead in taking a sip, he also took a small sip.
It was cool going down, but in no time, warmth spread across his body and face.
His tolerance for alcohol was indeed low. After just half a can, he was already feeling a bit dizzy, his eyes unfocused. He stared at the person in front of him and asked, “Why are there two Fu Shens…?”
Fu Shen stood up, pretending to take the beer from his hand. “You’re drunk. Stop drinking.”
“No!” Tang Zhou unreasonably waved his hand away. “I want to drink!”
He gulped down a few more sips.
A small amount of alcohol trickled down from the corner of his lips, followed the graceful lines of his jaw, flowed over the slender, fair neck, and settled on his collarbones, rolling back and forth, as if tempting people to pick it.
Fu Shen’s eyes suddenly darkened, and he pulled out a tissue to wipe it away for him. With careful movements, he wiped away the pale yellow liquid, revealing the originally delicate skin.
His touch was incredibly gentle, and Tang Zhou felt a bit ticklish. In a daze, he reached out to push him away and complained with red eyes, “Why are you bullying me?”
Fu Shen tightened the soft tissue in his hand, his gaze focused and dark.
“I’m bullying you?”
Tang Zhou covered his neck with his hand, tears swirling in his eyes but not falling.
“You made me so itchy.”
Fu Shen sighed inwardly. Even when someone felt like crying, they would still try to endure it with all their might. If it weren’t for the alcohol, Tang Zhou would probably have to endure it again tonight.
“You’ve got something on you, let me wipe it off for you.” Fu Shen exlpined patiently.
Tang Zhou stared at him for a few seconds, then huffed coldly and turned his head away, refusing to look at him.
“Alright, alright. My bad. I’s my fault I made you feel itchy. I apologize, so don’t be angry.” Fu Shen squatted in front of him, playfully tugging at the corner of his clothes.
Tang Zhou saw that he had apologized, so of course he chose to forgive him. As he turned around, a glistening tear slid down from the corner of his eye.
He froze in shock and gently wiped it away with his fingertips, whispering, “How could this be?”
Fu Shen was about to comfort him when he saw the young man suddenly stand up and staggeringly rush into his bedroom. He was uneasy and hurriedly followed.
Just as he walked in, he froze in place.
The closet door was wide open, and Tang Zhou, with his back to him, was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding a large stuffed teddy bear in his arms, unmoving.
Fu Shen stood at the doorway for a while until the faint sound of sobbing reached his ears, snapping him back to his senses.
A heavy feeling pressed on his chest, nearly causing pain as he walked towards Tang Zhou.
The young man buried his entire face in the teddy bear’s fur, and his slender shoulders trembled slightly.
Even in crying, he restrained himself from making any sound. He was always so well-behaved that it made his heart sink.
Fu Shen knew he should give him space to vent, but he was genuinely concerned that Tang Zhou might suffocate himself with the teddy bear, so he whispered, “If you do this, the bear will feel suffocated.”
The young man holding the bear paused for a moment and slowly lifted half of his face. His eyes were red from crying, and he looked at Fu Shen pitifully, “Then what should I do?”
“I won’t.”
Tears clung to Tang Zhou’s eyelashes, puzzled by the statement.
Fu Shen took the stuffed bear away and held it in his arms.
“I won’t suffocate.”
The warm and gentle atmosphere surrounded Tang Zhou completely. The man’s embrace felt like a shelter from the wind and rain, instantly calming his heart.
🥺 Thank you for the updates! 💕
Thank You for the new chapter (⋈◍＞◡＜◍)。✧♡
❤️❤️❤️