20 – No birth, thеn nо birth
Drivеr Li finаllу соuldn’t hold baсk аnуmоrе, lowering his heаd tо covеr the cоrnеr оf his mоuth, his shоuldеrs trembling with lаughtеr.
Сhеn Qingzhi struggled twicе with force but cоuldn’t brеak frее frоm Lu Jin’s griр.
Shе had nо сhоice but tо surrеnder, sоftening her tonе as shе whispered:
“Вrothеr, is that еnоugh?”
The mаn nodded with satisfасtiоn, subtlу releаsing hеr wrist.
Тhе Bentlеy sрed awаy.
Chеn Qingzhi remainеd where she wаs, silеntlу cursing.
Whаt а terrible habit.
Shе had оnlу callеd him “brother” еarliеr tо tеasе him.
She didn’t understаnd why he wаs sо fiхated on that title.
When she was littlе, Сhen Qingzhi had alwaуs сalled him brothеr, but lаter, during her teenage years, after reading too many romance stories in various girls’ magazines, she realized how ambiguous that term could be.
Suddenly one day, she started calling him by his name, Lu Jin.
He had been upset about it for a long time.
“Am I not your brother anymore?”
Just starting eighth grade, teenagers develop quickly during puberty, and Lu Jin was already a head taller than Chen Qingzhi.
The two of them had always walked home together after school.
“You’re not really my brother.”
Chen Qingzhi wanted to create some distance from Lu Jin and deliberately walked faster.
“How am I not?”
Lu Jin tugged on her backpack, pulling the girl a couple of steps closer to him:
“Who was it that cried her heart out back then, saying she couldn’t live without her brother?”
When they first moved in, Lu Mingze had gone out of town for an art exhibition, leaving Lu Jin at the Chen household and asking Chen’s parents to look after him for a day.
Lu Zheng had brought a group of bodyguards to take his grandson away, just as Chen Qingzhi’s parents had gone out to buy groceries.
To prevent Old Master Lu from taking him away, she clung to Lu Jin on the street, refusing to let go, crying pitifully as she claimed the siblings were struggling to survive and that bad people were trying to kidnap her only brother.
The sympathetic crowd believed her moving performance, surrounding the bodyguards and the luxury car, filled with righteous indignation.
The old master, who had always been high and mighty, had never been subjected to such public criticism before. His face was extremely grim as he drove away.
Later, for reasons unknown, Lu Jin must have compromised on something, as he would return to the Lu Mansion for over a month every winter and summer vacation.
But the title “brother” was something Chen Qingzhi had used from the age of six and a half until thirteen and a half.
“That was only to protect you, afraid you’d be taken away by bad people.”
Chen Qingzhi glanced at the looks from her classmates around them, pushed Lu Jin away, and created some distance again.
“Stop following me.”
On the way home from school, there were many classmates around, and if Lu Jin kept acting so boundary-less with her, people would start teasing them again.
Right in the middle of puberty, with gender awareness just awakening, boys and girls were often pitted against each other.
“If the class monitor sees us, she’ll report us for dating too early again.”
A faint blush crept onto Chen Qingzhi’s cheeks. She smoothed the stray hairs on her forehead and lowered her head, not daring to look at Lu Jin.
Lu Jin didn’t notice her small movements, pulling a pink envelope from his backpack and handing it to Chen Qingzhi:
“The class monitor just gave me a love letter yesterday.”
?
How could the class monitor do that?!
“What did she write?”
Chen Qingzhi felt too embarrassed to read someone else’s letter.
Lu Jin curled his lip:
“Couldn’t get through it, it was a bit disgusting.”
Lu Jin had always been exceptionally good-looking. Many handsome guys go through an awkward phase at some point, but he never did.
Good looks, good grades, good at sports, and even exceptionally talented at drawing.
The only downside was his arrogant attitude. Girls privately complained about how annoying it was to deal with such an aloof, unapproachable “flower on a high peak.”
To fit in, Chen Qingzhi had already tried to reduce her interactions with him as much as possible.
Yet the class monitor still constantly found fault with her.
It was all Lu Jin’s fault for being so eye-catching.Chen Qingzhi blamed all the mistakes on Lu Jin’s face.
“Just stay away from me! From now on, we need to keep our distance near the school.”
Chen Qingzhi instinctively glanced around before quickly running off.
Lu Jin let out a light snort, crumpling the letter in his hand into a ball and tossing it toward a trash bin.
Perfect shot.
When they were young, Chen Qingzhi was simple, transparent, and adorable, always following him around. “Brother is so amazing” and “How does brother know everything?” were her catchphrases.
As they grew older, her thoughts became increasingly difficult to decipher.
Lu Jin stood there for a long time, trying to guess but failing to find an answer.
For several days afterward, Chen Qingzhi avoided him.
Finally, one evening at dusk, he skillfully climbed over the balcony and slipped into the girl’s bedroom.
Leaning over Chen Qingzhi’s bedside, he offered his second apology in his life:
“If you don’t want to call me brother, then don’t. Just don’t ignore me, okay?”
Chen Qingzhi was sound asleep when he shook her awake and covered her mouth, leaving her flushed and breathless.
In the end, she hit him repeatedly with a pillow before her anger subsided.
After all, Lu Jin’s habit of climbing to her bedside in the middle of the night was something she had allowed to develop.
Last night was no different—he leaned over her bedside, mischievously waking her to complain that her bed smelled bad.
It was the same old habit from childhood, unchanged.
At 4:30 in the afternoon, Lu Jin had been waiting in the Coast International parking lot for an hour.
After five phone calls urging her, Chen Qingzhi finally dawdled downstairs with two children.
Lu Jin had little experience with children. Watching Chen Qingzhi carry Rong Rong in her arms while Chengcheng struggled to hold onto the hem of her clothes, he clicked his tongue in annoyance and got out of the car to help.
Chengcheng had inherited Liang Yilou’s trait of being naturally sociable. Operating on the principle that familiarity grows with time and having had a fun day, he shouted at Lu Jin:
“Godfather!”
Under the surprised gazes of passersby, Lu Jin arrogantly responded with an “Mhm.”
He then took Rong Rong from Chen Qingzhi’s arms.
Rong Rong was almost three years old, an age full of playful energy.
The little girl was sweet-looking and had perfectly inherited Su Qian’s social finesse.
She had also inherited Su Qian’s appreciation for good looks.
Wide-eyed, she exclaimed:
“Godfather is so handsome.”
Lu Jin’s cold expression immediately softened into a smile. Protecting the little girl’s head, he carefully placed her in the car, careful not to let her bump against the doorframe:
“You have much better taste than your godmother.”
At first glance, if not for his clumsy way of holding the child, Chen Qingzhi might have mistaken him for Rong Rong’s biological father.
“If you’re their godfather, why do you keep having them call you ‘godfather’ like that?”
Chen Qingzhi placed Chengcheng in the car and said discontentedly:
“Chengcheng is a boy, so it’s fine if he calls you that, but Rong Rong is a little girl. Have some shame, will you?”
In the entertainment industry, “godfather” wasn’t exactly a respectable title, and she couldn’t understand why he took such pleasure in it.
Seeing the two adults about to argue, Rong Rong obediently tugged at Chen Qingzhi’s sleeve:
“Godmother, you can’t bully Godfather.”
A true admirer of good looks.
Exactly like her mother.
Chen Qingzhi glared resentfully at Lu Jin before closing the car door.
Lu Jin had never taken care of children and didn’t know that child seats were necessary in cars. Chen Qingzhi carefully fastened the seatbelts for the two children in the back seat.
Through the rearview mirror, Lu Jin observed Chen Qingzhi.
Calmly, he remarked:
“Suddenly, I think having a daughter wouldn’t be so bad.”
Chen Qingzhi:
“…”
What did he mean by that?
Was he urging her to fulfill her duties as a wife sooner?After two years of marriage with zero intimacy, how did he have the nerve to bring up the topic of having children with her.
Wait, he never said he wanted to have a child with Chen Qingzhi.
They weren’t an ordinary couple, and it was impossible for them to have a child together.
She was just reading too much into it.
Chen Qingzhi fell silent for a few seconds before responding:
“Daughters are obedient, and according to Su Qian, a daughter’s intelligence comes from the father. If you had a daughter, she’d definitely be very smart.”
Her tone was polite enough.
“Of course, if she took after you, wouldn’t that be a disaster?”
Lu Jin adjusted the rearview mirror, just in time to catch Chen Qingzhi’s gaze as she lowered her eyes and glanced out the window.
He waited for a while, but she ignored him.
He slammed the accelerator to the floor, the sudden surge of force making the two children in the backseat scream.
This guy was such a jerk—insulting her once wasn’t enough.
He even had to scare the kids.
Chen Qingzhi immediately snapped:
“You’re insane! There are children in the car!”
Lu Jin snorted in displeasure.
A man like him, married for two years without a single intimate moment, still dreaming of having children?
Fine, no children then. Whatever the hell he wants.