Chapter 451 - What Was Going On With Their Encouraging And Caring Gazes On Him?
Chapter 451: What Was Going On With Their Encouraging And Caring Gazes On Him?
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Ruan Zeer tried to move his legs, figuring if Qi Youxuan was unwilling to get down from his legs despite his pleas, he would piss into the wind and drag the kid into the restaurant instead.
However, Ruan Zeer was not strong enough.
Ruan Zeer let out a heavy sigh. His niece was really heavy!
Motivated by the huge feast, the kid instantly climbed down Ruan Zeer’s leg and walked hand-in-hand with Ruan Zeer into the restaurant.
The table Ruan Zeer deliberately chose was inconspicuous but the entrance remained visible from that spot. Normally, the customers were unwilling to choose this table due to difficulty in getting the waiters’ attention and it would be extremely troublesome if they required assistance.
Ruan Zeer was lucky enough to have such a strategic location without prior reservation.
The waiter came over with a menu after the duo sat down. Ruan Zeer passed the menu directly to Qi Youxuan for him to choose the dishes while he stared out of the window.
After the child finished ordering dishes, Ruan Zeer asked the waiter for a bill straight away. That way, their actions would not be considered as dine-and-dash when they pretended to leave the restaurant later.
“Don’t clean the table if we leave the restaurant later. We’re just taking a stroll and will return for this meal afterward,” Ruan Zeer instructed.
“…” The waiter was dumbfounded.
Why did the waiter feel that these two were unreliable?
Ruan Zeer had at least paid for the meal, so the restaurant would not suffer any loss despite the unreliable sensation.
The dishes were served one after another momentarily. The kid reached out for a piece of fried chicken wing directly with his sinful and chubby hand and started chewing, smearing oil and crispy crumbs across his face.
“He’s here!” Ruan Zeer exclaimed before standing up.
One of Qi Youxuan’s hands grabbed the chicken wing he had earlier munched on while the other was held by Ruan Zeer as they walked out of the restaurant under Ruan Zeer’s calculation.
The kid was curious when they passed by Chang Zhiyuan at the best possible location at the entrance. He was unsure if this was a result of his uncle’s precise calculation as a mathematical genius.
The kid seized the opportunity and asked immediately, “Uncle, Uncle, tell me more about my grandpa. His name is Ruan Keyu, so what’s my grandma’s name?”
“I think her name is Chang Yuehuan if I remember correctly. To be honest, our family knows nothing much about my aunt, because my uncle didn’t speak much about this to my grandpa and parents. Her name is the only thing we know…” Ruan Zeer’s tone was soft and calm, with a unique melodious tone of a youngster that sounded pleasant to others.
Chang Zhiyuan froze immediately and turned to them, ignoring the latter half of Ruan Zeer’s statement.
“You… What did you say just now?” Chang Zhiyuan grabbed Ruan Zeer’s arm and asked in agitation.
Chang Zhiyuan could not describe his current mood. He only knew Ruan Keyu was his brother-in-law’s name, but Ruan Keyu’s other details remained a mystery to him.
It could be a coincidence if Ruan Keyu’s name was mentioned only, but how could Chang Zhiyuan explain when they could say Chang Yuehuan’s name correctly too?
Moreover, Chang Zhiyuan overheard a kid referring to Ruan Keyu as his grandfather clearly just now, but Chang Jingqiu was Ruan Keyu’s daughter and she did not even have a child.
Unless Ruan Keyu had two daughters, Ruan Keyu only had one daughter as far as Chang Zhiyuan was concerned.
If this kid was referring to Ruan Keyu as his grandfather, what about Chang Jingqiu then?
Chang Zhiyuan did not consider the possibility that Chang Jingqiu was a fake at all, or perhaps he refused or unwilling to think about it. This was mind-blowing and his mind was in a whirl at the current moment.
Chang Zhiyuan’s first reaction was to stop these two youngsters. His next thought was, if the people they mentioned in their conversation were really his sister and brother-in-law, then his brother-in-law’s family was probably deceived.
The real child was living in the Chang family at the current moment.
What was Chang Zhiyuan thinking about when he stopped the two youngsters?
Chang Zhiyuan was unsure of his own intention too. Did he want to make things clear, clear up the misunderstanding and debunk the imposter, or was it… something else?
With a chaotic mind, Chang Zhiyuan lowered his gaze to the child who referred to Ruan Keyu as his grandfather, and to his astonishment, he was Qi Youxuan!
Naturally, Chang Zhiyuan recognized Qi Chenglin’s son.
“You…” Chang Zhiyuan had a lot of questions in mind but he failed to voice them out as his throat went on a pause.
If he was Qi Chenglin’s son and referred to Ruan Keyu as his grandfather, then Ruan Keyu’s daughter would be Ruan Danchen. If she was Ruan Danchen, why did she need to deceive others when she already had Qi Chenglin and the Qi family?
Despite Chang Zhiyuan’s biased thinking, he could not figure out Ruan Danchen’s need to lie.
Chang Zhiyuan froze after lowering his gaze to the kid.
“Anything I can help you with, mister?” Ruan Zeer shielded the kid before shifting his gaze to Chang Zhiyuan’s hand on his arm.
Chang Zhiyuan frowned and asked without any intention of releasing his grip, “The Ruan Keyu you mentioned just now—”
Then, someone interrupted before Chang Zhiyuan could finish his inquiry. “Director Chang.”
The voice sounded mellow, calm and cold, but it shuddered both Ruan Keyu and Qi Youxuan.
The duo thought of the exact same thing after making direct eye contact—they were doomed!
Chang Zhiyuan was stunned and shocked upon noticing Qi Chenglin and Jiang Yuan walking toward them. He quickly released his grip on Ruan Zeer and nodded. “Director Qi.”
“Is there something wrong?” Qi Chenglin stood firmly beside the kid, fixing his gaze on both Ruan Zeer and the plump child before averting his eyes back to Chang Zhiyuan.
Qi Chenglin’s expression remained calm but his gaze radiated warning, which made Chang Zhiyuan feel that he was protecting the youngsters firmly even though he was not standing in front of them.
Finally, Chang Zhiyuan regained his cool and smiled while shaking his head. “Nothing, I just ran into them coincidentally.”
Qi Chenglin nodded slightly and replied Chang Zhiyuan without asking Ruan Zeer and Qi Youxuan’s intentions on coming to this place. “After you.”
Then, the two of them walked into the restaurant together. Ruan Zeer finally realized that the client Chang Zhiyuan was supposed to meet this afternoon was Qi Chenglin after all. Everything made sense right now. Qi Chenglin mentioned that he had an entertainment today too, right?
Qi Youxuan merely felt that life was extremely difficult!
He was caught by his father while trying to set the Thames on fire with his uncle.
His father’s ubiquitous existence made his life especially rough!
Chang Zhiyuan turned around and took a glance at the two dispirited youngsters again before continuing forward.
Qi Youxuan then shook Ruan Zeer’s arm after noticing Qi Chenglin had walked further into the restaurant. “Uncle, since we can’t change the past now, we should go back and eat the meat first, or else they’ll become cold.”
“…” Ruan Zeer was left speechless.
Was it really good to think of food at this difficult moment?
However, Ruan Zeer figured it was unwise to waste those foods since money had been spent. He thus nodded with a heavy sigh and returned together to their table.
They failed to notice Qi Chenglin turning around to look at them when they returned to their table. Then, Qi Chenglin squinted upon noticing their dish-filled table at the corner before averting his gaze elsewhere with twitched lips.
Chang Zhiyuan could not think of anything else when the conversation between Qi Youxuan and Ruan Zeer seared into his mind. There were numerous times when he wanted to bite the bullet and question Qi Chenglin, but would swallow it back after noticing Qi Chenglin’s flat expression.
After they sat down in the private dining room, Chang Zhiyuan instructed his assistant to order food so that they would not receive disturbance from the waiter. Then, he started stammering. “Just now… the young man with Youxuan…”
“He’s my brother-in-law,” Qi Chenglin answered calmly, knowing all too well what the youngsters were up to. They came here deliberately to talk to Chang Zhiyuan.
Somehow, Qi Chenglin could guess the reason why they wanted to do this all of a sudden.
Perhaps Chang Jingqiu was putting on airs and even provoked Qi Youxuan with Grandmother Chang last week. Qi Youxuan was still young and could not tolerate them further, so he planned to disclose this information to Chang Zhiyuan.
Qi Chenglin made no attempt to stop the youngsters’ actions. Chang Jingqiu occupied Ruan Danchen’s place as the precious daughter of the Chang family and calumniated Ruan Danchen, so even though Ruan Danchen had no intention of associating herself further with the Chang family, he did not plan on letting Chang Jingqiu off the hook too.
Thus, Qi Chenglin did not expose them until now.
“I heard Mrs. Qi found her long lost family…” Chang Zhiyuan did not expect the Ruan family was actually Ruan Keyu’s own family.
Who could have thought about it?
Ruan Keyu’s parents and older brother were just ordinary teachers in those days. They could not even afford to buy meat with their perilously few wages and had to buy lard in order to make more palatable dishes.
To be honest, that was how most commoners survive at that time, but such a life was too agonizing for the Chang family. Thus, Grandmother Chang and Grandfather Chang’s oppositions on the marriage between Chang Yuehuan and Ruan Keyu at that time were unblamable.
However, who could have expected such an ordinary family achieved success and was well-reputed today? Both father and son in the Ruan family worked in the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the father was even a fellow who was prestigious across the world.
Perhaps their incomes were not as much as entrepreneurs such as the Chang family, but money could not buy such identity status and reputations. Most rich and powerful families would be envious of such achievement in life.
However, if Ruan Danchen was not the daughter of the Ruan family and she actually took over Chang Jingqiu’s right in the Ruan family, Chang Zhiyuan figured that he would not let this mistake continue further.
Even so, Chang Zhiyuan was in doubt. Would Qi Chenglin make such a silly mistake?
Other families might harbor envy on the Ruan family’s fame, but it was highly unlikely for the Qi family to do so. Judging how Qi Chenglin’s pampered Ruan Danchen, it was improbable for Qi Chenglin to allow such a simple mistake as recognizing the wrong family. The pain would be excruciating if the truth was finally revealed at that time.
Alternatively, perhaps Qi Chenglin planned on leaving the mistakes uncorrected for the sake of Ruan Danchen’s dignity?
Chang Zhiyuan’s mind was in a whirl at the current moment. There were endless possibilities and all of them were negative thoughts.
Qi Chenglin was unbothered about Chang Zhiyuan’s train of thoughts. He merely asked the waiter to come over and gave the waiter a few instructions in a soft voice.
…
…
The kid and Ruan Zeer returned to their seats again. Qi Youxuan was the kind who would ignore everything in the presence of meat, so his philosophical belief was that the past could not be changed even if there was no meat consumption. Thus, there was absolutely no need for melancholy since it was just mental suffering in oneself.
Since it was guaranteed that the next moment would not end well, it was better to enjoy the current moment happily.
With that in mind, the kid continued to munch on the chicken wing carefreely.
After listening to the chubby kid’s explanation, Ruan Zeer felt that his perception level was not high enough and he needed to learn more from his niece in this aspect. Thus, Ruan Zeer started to consume those meat pieces in a relaxing manner under the kid’s encouragement.
However, the duo took only a few bites out of those meat pieces before the waiter approached them and said, “I apologize for the interruption, Young Master Lin invited you to dine with him.”
The kid was about to devour a piece of short rib but stopped short, with the short rib almost touching his lips after listening to the waiter.
“We’re not done with our food yet!” Even though the kid failed to realize the profound meaning behind this, his intense sixth sense told him not to dine together with his father.
“Young Master Lin said you can enter his room directly and dine together with them,” the waiter conveyed the message softly and politely.
Qi Youxuan stared at all the meat on the table reluctantly. He wanted the waiter to carry all these dishes into the room initially but on second thought, he said, “Take-away all these please.”
Then, he turned toward Ruan Zeer and pleaded. “Dad won’t let me eat all these if we take them into the room, so I’m taking these away. Uncle, you need to hide these and let me eat secretly.”
“…” Ruan Zeer and the waiter were dumbfounded.
The waiter could not describe his feelings at the moment and could only reply softly, “Alright.”
The waiter then took some takeaway containers and put all those foods—which were basically left untouched—into the containers.
Ruan Zeer carried the takeaway foods and followed behind the waiter into the private dining room with the kid.
Qi Youxuan even made the best use of his time and devoured the short rib while they were on their way toward the dining room, swallowing it just in time when they entered the room.
Chang Zhiyuan’s gaze on Qi Youxuan was a little complicated when they met once again.
Chang Zhiyuan opened his mouth in an attempt to inquire further, but there were so many questions in his mind and he had no idea which question to start first. Then, Qi Chenglin said, “Director Chang, let’s finish our business first.”
The absent-minded Chang Zhiyuan nodded in response and forced those questions down his throat again.
Qi Chenglin instructed Jiang Yuan to order a few greens and put them in front of Qi Youxuan on purpose. Qi Chenglin would even shift his gaze to Qi Youxuan from time to time to supervise the kid’s green-eating progress while he discussed business affairs with Chang Zhiyuan.
The kid was dispirited instantly while chewing on the leaves. It was supposed to be a joyous day where he could attract Chang Zhiyuan’s attention while having a feast in the meantime, but who would expect to meet his father on the same day too?
The kid had no idea what kind of punishment awaited them after they were caught red-handed.
The kid gave a doleful look on Qi Chenglin, ignoring the business discussion between Qi Chenglin and Chang Zhiyuan.
After eating for quite some time, the kid noticed that Qi Chenglin seemed to be focused on the business discussion with Chang Zhiyuan and paid no attention to him anymore, so he seized the opportunity and got under the table secretly.
All of a sudden, Ruan Zeer felt something pulling on his pants which gave him quite a shock. It was in the middle of the day and Yang energy 1 was at its peak at this moment, and there were lots of customers in the restaurant too. It should not be a frightening manifestation of the supernatural, right?
The ashen-faced Ruan Zeer summoned up the courage to shift his gaze downward.
“…” Ruan Zeer was dumbfounded.
Ruan Zeer did not expect to see a chubby face emerging from under the table.
Qi Youxuan placed his chubby index finger vertically over his lips to beckon Ruan Zeer not to speak. Then, he pointed at the chopsticks on Ruan Zeer’s hand before pointing at his widely opened mouth and made a silent “Ah”.
“…” Ruan Zeer was dumbfounded.
Oh, dear niece. Did you think you were a puppy?
Qi Youxuan thought his hint was not obvious enough and pulled Ruan Zeer’s pants again. Ruan Zeer noticed the anxiety on Qi Youxuan’s face and shifted his gaze to Qi Chenglin and Chang Zhiyuan before placing a piece of squab drumstick on his plate. Ruan Zeer quickly passed the squab drumstick to the kid when the adults were not paying attention to him.
“Excuse me, I’m going to the washroom,” Qi Chenglin said suddenly and stood up. Coincidentally, he went around Ruan Zeer and Qi Youxuan on his way to the washroom.
The kid was taken by surprise. He could not decide whether to back off and hide under the table or to return to his seat when he was in panic mode.
When the squab drumstick was still in the kid’s mouth, a pair of long legs appeared before his eyes.
The petrified child lifted his head and saw the expressionless Qi Chenglin staring back at him with his eyebrows raised.
The kid assumed a slouched posture and swallowed the squab drumstick in a blink of an eye before returning to his seat cowardly. Tears started welling up in his eyes as he put a piece of broccoli in his mouth before saying agonizingly and against his heart, “Delicious!”
Qi Chenglin sneered at him before going to the washroom.
Chang Zhiyuan’s stress level reduced drastically in Qi Chenglin’s absence. He could not deal with Qi Chenglin, but at least he could deal with the two youngsters, right?
Chang Zhiyuan leaned closer to Ruan Zeer and the kid and asked, “Er… Youxuan, he is your uncle?”
The kid nodded innocently. “Yes.”
“Hello, my name is Ruan Zeer,” Ruan Zeer introduced himself with a warm expression, acting like he was very well-educated.
“Well… you’re Youxuan’s mother’s long lost family? I don’t mean anything else and certainly not being rude, I hope you don’t mind,” Chang Zhiyuan leaned in closer to Ruan Zeer again.
“Yes, we’re cousins.” Ruan Zeer nodded as though nothing was wrong and he did not mind at all.
On the other hand, the kid stared at Chang Zhiyuan with his big, sparkling eyes, which made Chang Zhiyuan wonder if he became a huge piece of meat. If not, why would the kid’s gaze on Chang Zhiyuan be so bright that it almost became dazzling?
“Well… I really hope you don’t mind my questions!” Chang Zhiyuan repeated again since he figured his next question would probably be rude.
Ruan Zeer and Qi Youxuan rolled their eyes deep down. His granduncle was not being straightforward in his questioning; was it really reliable to hope that he would stand firmly at Ruan Danchen’s side?
Thus, the duo stared at Chang Zhiyuan honestly and sincerely, and their gazes even radiated warmth and encouragement.
“We won’t mind, so you can ask anything you want,” Ruan Zeer replied and his gaze radiated even more encouragement.
The kid was so anxious that he almost yelled, “Dad’s coming back from the washroom if you don’t shoot your questions!”
Chang Zhiyuan felt uncomfortable and weird under these two youngsters’ gazes. What was going on with their encouraging and caring gazes on him?
“Well, I heard Youxuan’s mother was born an orphan, so… how can you be so sure that you’re her long lost family? Ha ha, I’m just… just asking. I don’t mean anything else and mean you no harm!” Chang Zhiyuan felt diffident for some inexplicable reason when he faced the youngsters’ gazes which radiated sincerity, encouragement, and care.
Ruan Zeer was worried that Chang Zhiyuan might not inquire about this, so his gaze became more gentle as he answered with a warm and calm voice. “It’s alright, anyone will have the same doubt too. My uncle and aunt passed away and thus eliminated the usage of paternity test, but my grandpa and dad did genetic profiling to crossmatch with my cousin sister. It may not be as accurate as paternity testing, but even paternity test isn’t one hundred percent accurate too. The genetic cross-matching between my cousin sister and my grandpa and dad were more than eighty percent. It may be a coincidence if one of the results showed such a high percentage, but both? Besides, when my grandparents and parents first saw my cousin sister, they knew straight away that she must be my uncle’s daughter, as my uncle and her really looked alike. If not ninety percent alike, they looked at least eighty percent alike.”
Then, Ruan Zeer took out his cellphone and searched for Ruan Keyu’s picture saved in the phone beforehand before showing it to Chang Zhiyuan.
“Look, this is my uncle.” Ruan Zeer put the phone in front of Chang Zhiyuan.
Chang Zhiyuan felt familiar at first glance but it was not due to the fact that he had seen Ruan Keyu almost thirty years ago. He was still a child when Ruan Keyu visited the Chang family for the first time, and as a minor, he was disallowed to join in the adults’ affairs.