After Shen Zhongxun finished speaking he nodded to Yang again, but just stood there without moving and did not go back into the house to get the car keys.
After her initial surprise Lin Chu smiled and introduced, “This is the person who rented your house. His name is Shen Zhongxun.” Then, turning to Shen Zhongxun, she added, “He is the landlord’s son. His name is Xiangyang.”
After a brief introduction Xiangyang smiled and extended his hand. Shen Zhongxun shook his hand, and the two exchanged polite greetings. Shen Zhongxun then asked Lin Chu, “Shall I take you back now?”
Seeing that it was getting late and that going back and forth would take too much time and would be too much trouble for Shen Zhongxun, Lin Chu was about to refuse again when Xiangyang said, “Mr. Shen, are you going to take her? Then I’ll be going now!”
Lin Chu and Xiangyang went downstairs first, while Shen Zhongxun went back inside to get his car keys. After thinking for a moment he took out the old photo again. When he reached the entrance hall he hesitated for a moment, then finally stuffed the photo into the shoe cabinet drawer before hurrying downstairs.
Lin Chu stood by Xiangyang’s car, her hands behind her back, looking up as she spoke, appearing somewhat like a naive little girl. After saying something Xiangyang laughed loudly, raised his hand and ruffled her head, seemingly deliberately messing up her hair. Lin Chu dodged and turned her head away, waving her hands haphazardly, her face showing indignation.
Shen Zhongxun’s expression changed several times, but he finally settled on a nonchalant look and stepped forward, asking, “What are you talking about?”
Xiangyang smiled and opened his mouth, but Lin Chu immediately interrupted loudly, “Alright, alright, big brother, you should go back now. Your aunt and uncle have called you several times!”
Xiangyang smiled at Lin Chu, but ultimately did not say anything. He gave her a few words of advice before getting into the car and leaving.
Shen Zhongxun drove toward the city center. The radio was broadcasting evening traffic updates. With more travelers returning home on Sunday, various vehicles were causing traffic congestion in the city. He chose to take a longer, less congested route, saying, “Twenty more minutes is better than being stuck in traffic!”
Lin Chu nodded and asked, “You’ll probably be back after nine o’clock. You don’t need to go through all that trouble in the future. I’m not actually tired from taking the bus.”
Shen Zhongxun glanced at her and smiled. “I just want to spend more time with you.”
Lin Chu was stunned for a moment, then looked out the car window shyly. Shen Zhongxun asked, “You’ve been spending the whole day with Xiangyang? He seems to be quite a bit older than you, but you two seem to get along very well?”
Lin Chu laughed and replied, “We have a very good relationship. When he was little my mom took him out to play, and when I was little he took me out to play.” She recalled, “When I was little I was actually not very popular. I didn’t have any close friends, and I didn’t want to stay at home. Every day I could only watch others play shuttlecock and jump rope. My older brother felt sorry for me and would spend time with me whenever he had free time.”
Lin Chu recounted many childhood memories in a rambling manner. Xiangyang was thirteen years older than her. When she was ten Xiangyang had already graduated from university. She wondered what kind of mentality an adult had when playing with a child. Lin Chu, who was a child herself, did not find it boring at all.
Perhaps it was the reunion with old friends that stirred up too many memories for Lin Chu, and she blurted out a lot of things, such as being caught for forging her parents’ signatures and being spanked by Xiangyang, and how she picked up her deskmate’s mechanical pencil from the ground but did not return it to its owner, instead secretly taking it home.
Lin Chu said, “That time my older brother took a bamboo pole used for drying clothes and smashed down the door to my room, which I had locked from the inside. He grabbed me and started hitting me. He’s so young, yet he uses the old-fashioned method of ‘spare the rod and spoil the child.’ If this happened in this day and age I could sue him for child abuse!”
Shen Zhongxun finally could not help but laugh out loud, but as he laughed an indescribable sadness suddenly welled up inside him. It was the first time he had discovered that Lin Chu had so many secrets.
A lonely childhood, including the experience of stealing, and Xiangyang, who, despite living downstairs from his grandparents, managed to break down their bedroom door.
Lin Chu spoke casually, even recounting her past flaws in detail. Shen Zhongxun glanced at her discreetly. Her profile revealed a straight nose, long thick eyelashes, and hair tucked behind her ears, with a few unruly strands swaying on her cheeks as she spoke, a sight so real it was almost heartbreaking.
Shen Zhongxun’s expression gradually turned serious, and he vaguely sensed Lin Chu’s unusual behavior. She was revealing her true feelings to him.
Finally Lin Chu asked in a soft, almost murmured voice, “What do you like about me?”
The soft “ya” sound seemed almost like an illusion, carrying a sense of unease and shyness. Shen Zhongxun gripped the steering wheel, realizing that his emotions were hard to control, and slowly pulled the car over to the side of the road.
The empty road stretches as far as the eye can see, flanked by lush green bushes and vegetable fields. A few farmer houses can be vaguely seen hidden deep within the fields. Sparse vehicles whiz by. In the bustling city of Nanjiang this is another quiet path leading to a bizarre and wonderful world.
Shen Zhongxun unbuckled his seatbelt, turned to face Lin Chu, and whispered, “Do you really need an answer?”
Lin Chu, who had been waiting for an answer with her head down, paused for a moment after hearing this and turned to look at Shen Zhongxun. Shen Zhongxun smiled faintly and said, “I’m thirty now. It’s time for me to date girls and also time to prepare for the future.”
Lin Chu’s eyes flickered slightly, as if disappointed. Shen Zhongxun noticed her reaction and continued, “I have planned my life very well. I never do anything half-heartedly while studying, and my path to higher education has been smooth sailing. Starting from my sophomore year I did internships everywhere. I used ten years to build a financial foundation. No matter where I go in the future I will not be afraid of not finding a job. My savings and investments are enough for me to live a peaceful life for many years.”
He said softly, “I’ve walked the path before I turned thirty, and I’ve paved the way for the future. My future partner can be a full-time housewife, and I’ll let her enjoy life instead of being controlled by it. I’m missing a woman I like, and you just happen to appear.”
Although Lin Chu was extremely realistic she was still a young woman in her early twenties who must have secretly fantasized about love. But what she was hearing shattered those fantasies, leaving her utterly disappointed. She remembered seeing something similar somewhere before. There were no vows of eternal love, no promises of forever. You just happened to appear at a time when a man wanted to settle down, and thus enviable stories unfolded, and the so-called devoted man was born.
However, perhaps it is because of this female protagonist that a point in time arises where a man wants to settle down.
Shen Zhongxun pulled Lin Chu’s hand and held it firmly in his palm. “Or rather, it was only when you appeared that I realized I needed a woman.”
Lin Chu stared at him silently, feeling only a warmth that was not his on her hand. Shen Zhongxun continued, “You ask me what I like about you? There are all sorts of attraction between people. We have many friends around us. These friends might share your interests, or it might just be for mutual benefit, or their personalities might complement each other perfectly. The reasons are varied. Friendship, in the end, is also a kind of ‘attraction.’ This attraction makes you take the initiative to talk to the other person, no matter the reason. So love is probably the same. I don’t have much experience, and I can’t explain it in grand terms. I just like the feeling you give me.”
Lin Chu blushed without realizing it, her heart pounding like a drum, and she regretted her impulsive question. She laughed it off, trying to smooth things over. “Hey, let’s hurry up and drive. It’s getting late!”
Shen Zhongxun, however, was not about to give up this opportunity easily. He said in a low voice, “I’ve answered all your questions. To be fair, I also want to ask you, how do you feel about me now?”
Lin Chu pulled her hand away and stammered, “What… what feeling?”
Shen Zhongxun chuckled and said, “Don’t try to brush me off. I can take a beating. Tell me!”
Lin Chu pouted, and after a long pause she finally managed to say, albeit indistinctly and reluctantly, “It doesn’t feel bad!”
Shen Zhongxun heard her clearly, but still deliberately asked, “What?”
After being asked several times Lin Chu finally could not stand the atmosphere any longer and said in a loud voice, “It’s not as bad as I imagined!”
Shen Zhongxun chuckled, then suddenly leaned over the line, captured Lin Chu’s lips, and held her face still.
He had long forgotten the promise they made at the beginning. Lin Chu belonged to him!
Shen Zhongxun kissed her deeply, and Lin Chu grabbed his arm, her face flushed, and closed her eyes to receive the kiss. She could not help but let out muffled moans. Shen Zhongxun stole her breath as if he were murdering her, until Lin Chu could not breathe and her chest heaved against Shen Zhongxun’s chest. Only then did Shen Zhongxun slow down and pull away a little, just smacking her lips tenderly and restrainedly, murmuring “Lin Chu, Dao Dao” a few times, his address changing randomly.
They started the car again and drove toward the city. Both of them were a little embarrassed. Shen Zhongxun pretended to be calm and asked a question from time to time. He received an almost inaudible reply. He asked again. It took a long time before they arrived at Guanjin Garden. The car seemed to still be filled with the breaths of the two of them who had been intertwined earlier.
Back in the bedroom Lin Chu sat there for a while, her face burning, when Xiangyang suddenly called. “Are you home?”
Lin Chu hummed in agreement, her mind wandering as she clutched the bedsheet. She talked to Xiangyang for a while, then finally said, “Work hard, but don’t overwork yourself. You need to take care of yourself. I see you’ve lost a lot of weight. I’m planning to start a company now. If you don’t want to work this hard in the future, come work for me. The pay might not be worse than a state-owned enterprise.”
Lin Chu felt a warmth in her heart and thanked him.
Nanjiang City is finally going to carry out artificial rainmaking. The news anchor is there repeatedly describing the same old weather conditions. A few days ago there was a torrential downpour. In just over ten minutes the ground started steaming like a boiler again. If it does not rain soon all the vegetation on the streets will wither.
Shen Zhongxun, however, seemed to be bathed in the air after the rain, his chest filled with boundless ambition, his work became more and more efficient, and his alcohol tolerance also gradually increased.
He video-chatted with Lin Chu that night, and Lin Chu asked him, “Have you been drinking?”
Shen Zhongxun smiled, his eyes sharp. “I drank a little bit.”
Lin Chu frowned. “You seem to be drinking a lot lately. Is it because of work?”
Shen Zhongxun nodded. “The city investment and tourism investment companies have injected another sum of money into the project company. Now both sides are focusing their attention here, and there are more and more people coming and going between companies of all sizes and government departments.”
Lin Chu did not understand these things, and Shen Zhongxun only wanted to share what he was going through with her. He did not need her to understand. Lin Chu listened quietly to his story, occasionally asking a question out of curiosity. As long as it did not involve confidential information Shen Zhongxun would answer patiently. When he mentioned the Nan Gui Catering Group Lin Chu frowned and asked, “Marketing Department? What’s in the Marketing Department?”
Shen Zhongxun raised an eyebrow, not asking why she asked this, but simply replied, “The deputy manager is here today. Their manager isn’t.”
Lin Chu simply said “Oh” and did not say anything more.
On Thursday evening dark clouds suddenly gathered, covering the sky above Nanjiang City. The wind that swept up the clouds also subsided from the heat, and a cool breeze swept through the streets and alleys.
Lin Chu waited for Shi Tingting to come back and open the door. The clothes were all drying on the balcony, and they would definitely get wet in the wind and rain.
Lightning flashed and thunder roared, and after a deafening roar the clouds finally burst open, and a torrential downpour poured down to the ground. The bridge in the distance was blurred into the hazy rainy night, and the lights were blurred into a hazy blur.
Shen Zhongxun called to say he was almost at Guanjin Garden, and Lin Chu said, “It’s raining so hard outside. Don’t rush around!”
Shen Zhongxun said, “We’re almost there. I just went to a restaurant where the crayfish is especially delicious. Don’t you like spicy food? I’ll pack some for you to try!”
Lin Chu leaned against the headboard, her stomach growling with craving. A cured meat was simmering in the rice cooker, her dinner for the night, plus a plate of crayfish. It was truly a treat.
After hanging up the phone she ran outside, opened the rice cooker, and grabbed a piece of meat to satisfy her craving.
Shi Tingting and Sang Feiyan finally returned from work, both soaked to the bone. They complained to each other, “I thought you brought an umbrella. I’ve been waiting for you at the bus stop!”
“I thought you brought it too. I remember reminding you this morning when I left home. My umbrella is broken, and I haven’t taken it to get it fixed yet!”
Lin Chu quickly interrupted them. “Keys, keys. I need to collect the laundry!”
Shi Tingting realized what was happening and screamed as she rushed into the bedroom. The balcony door was not closed, and the rainwater had already been blown into the room by the strong wind, darkening the color of the cement floor and leaving the fluttering bed curtains soaked.
Lin Chu rushed to salvage the clothes, and it took her a while to bring back a pile of rain-soaked garments. She had no choice but to dejectedly go back to the kitchen to wash them again, while she heard the two people complaining about the artificial rain.
Lin Chu shook her head with a smile, slowly finished washing the clothes, and then, clutching her rumbling stomach, ate a few slices of cured meat. After waiting for a long time without seeing Shen Zhongxun arrive she could not help but wonder. After waiting a while longer Lin Chu could not help but call him.
The phone rang for a long time without being answered. After a busy signal she hung up and dialed again. Just before the second busy signal appeared the other end finally answered, and a female voice came through. “Hello?”
Lin Chu was taken aback. She took her phone away and glanced at the screen. After confirming that it was Shen Zhongxun’s name she asked suspiciously, “Hello, I’m looking for Shen Zhongxun.”
“Ah Xun…” The other person seemed a little distracted, and the background noise was chaotic, making it impossible to tell where she was. “He’s busy right now. Can I have him call you back later?”
Lin Chu said dryly, “Okay, okay.” The other end immediately hung up without a word, and Lin Chu did not even have time to say “thank you.”
The torrential rain intensified, pounding against the windows with a crackling sound. The sweltering heat of Nanjiang City suddenly turned into a chilling storm, even chilling Lin Chu’s heart.
![The Return of The Lord God[quick wear]](https://i2.wp.com/knoxt.space/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/007S8ZIlly1ghl04hyuxyj30hs0owwgu.jpg?resize=85,105 "The Return of The Lord God[quick wear]")
loquentes ineptias On PID Chapter 115