Christmas Night
First chapter of the week! Pledge on Patreon if you wish to support us. :)
Join our Discord channel and chat with other readers and me. =)
Since it was a Christmas night, Yang Chen wasn’t willing to let Zhenxiu go through it alone at her small rented apartment. As a result, regardless of how Zhenxiu tried to decline, he brought Zhenxiu to the villa at Dragon Garden. He thought Lin Ruoxi would hope him to do so as well, since she witnessed Zhenxiu grow up, although she was only a few years older than Zhenxiu.
When Yang Chen arrived at home with Zhenxiu, the three women were chatting in the kitchen as they busied themselves. It was rare for Lin Ruoxi to come home this early. Naturally, Hui Lin obediently followed her back as well.
Lin Ruoxi still remembered how to cook after learning from Li Jingjing. Having an intelligent mind since born, she was capable of learning anything. On the other hand, Hui Lin knew some basic cooking skills as well despite having lived in the hills with Abbess Yun Miao since young while having a vegetarian diet and chanting scriptures. At least, she wasn’t troubled with small tasks. The two ladies helped Wang Ma in the kitchen cheerfully.
After noticing to the sound Yang Chen made when he reached home, Hui Lin was the first one to rush out. She really treated Yang Chen as her brother-in-law. Her good upbringing let her know that she had to come out to greet Yang Chen.
“Brother Yang, you’re back,” Hui Lin said with a smile before noticing a little girl standing beside Yang Chen, who looked around nervously. When she saw Hui Lin, she immediately greeted her as she lowered her head, but her voice was so soft that no one could hear her.
Yang Chen brought Zhenxiu to the front and started introducing, “This young sister is someone I know, your elder sister knows her as well, she’s Xu Zhenxiu. Since she’s alone, I brought her here to go through the night together.
Hui Lin was really thoughtful. She immediately smiled at Zhenxiu, but didn’t know what to say since she was unfamiliar with her.
Lin Ruoxi who was in the kitchen wasn’t willing to deal with Yang Chen. However, after listening to Yang Chen say ‘Zhenxiu’, she immediately wiped her wet hands before walking out of the kitchen with a pink apron on her.
She didn’t look at Yang Chen at all, and walked directly to Zhenxiu. She held Zhenxiu’s hand and asked with a smile, “Did you visit the president today?”
When Zhenxiu saw LIn Ruoxi, she seemed like she got slightly relieved. Smiling sweetly, she nodded and said, “Yes, I did. Brother Yang even brought me to get lots of gifts for the children and President. We had lunch there as well.”
“Great, President must be elated. It’s your first time at Elder Sister’s house, you may sit there to watch the television. Make yourself at home, the meal is going to be ready really soon.” Lin Ruoxi didn’t even glance at Yang Chen from beginning to end. Evidently, she started an utter cold war.
Yang Chen smiled bitterly in his heart as he couldn’t do anything about it. Since he chose this path, he had to be prepared with such a consequence.
Hui Lin noticed the cold gap between the two. It was evident that she felt terrible, but she didn’t say anything in the end.
Lin Ruoxi pulled Hui Lin back to the kitchen to cook while Yang Chen led Zhenxiu to the sofa. He took out some candies and dried beef prepared by Wang Ma for her, causing her to feel embarrassed. The money she earned every month was barely enough to pay for rent, water and electricity bills and food. To her, even snacks were considered to be a luxury.
It wasn’t that Yang Chen didn’t know she was living a hard life. He felt distressed for her as well, but Zhenxiu’s pride evidently wouldn’t allow Yang Chen get her nice food and clothing for nothing. It took her awhile to finally agree to return to high school using the money Yang Chen lent her.
The steaming-hot rice and other dishes got served from the kitchen within half an hour. Being thoughtful, Zhenxiu forced her way into the kitchen to help carry the dishes out.
When Lin Ruoxi saw that Zhenxiu’s tiny hands were reaching to a plate which just got steamed, she hurriedly said, “Zhenxiu, don’t touch that one, your hands will get burnt!”
Zhenxiu looked like she didn’t feel anything. Smiling, she said, “It’s fine, Sister Ruoxi. It isn’t hot.”
Lin Ruoxi was surprised that Zhenxiu really wasn’t affected by the heat. She didn’t dare to even touch the plate once.
“The hands of this child are full of callus, she must’ve done lots of rough work.” Wang Ma’s eyes were sharp. She noticed that certain parts of Zhenxiu’s palms were yellow and lifted. “I feel bad for even looking at it.”
Lin Ruoxi talked about Zhenxiu with Wang Ma before, so Wang Ma didn’t feel too strange towards Zhenxiu.
Zhenxiu smiled faintly. Since she was in such a luxurious villa, she didn’t dare to speak too much.
Very quickly, the five of them got seated around the dining table. Yang Chen sat at the main seat of the table. Wang Ma and Hui Lin sat on one side of the table while Lin Ruoxi and Zhenxiu, the other.
Suddenly, he thought, If one day, all of my women can dine together at the same table, sitting on both rows. How spectacular, what an achievement!
However, he merely thought about it for a while. Although Yang Chen was slightly domineering since he was possessive towards the women he liked, he didn’t think he was an ancient emperor, and needless to say, he wouldn’t treat these women as concubines in the palace. So, he wouldn’t expect the women who would treat him nicely to treat his other women in a friendly manner. Similarly being beauties, all of them would have their own pride. Their hearts that strived for complete love were all the same. How could they tolerate each other just because Yang Chen wanted them to?
It was good enough that they didn’t choke each other to death in front of him, but behaved nicely on the surface instead. He still had to go through countless battles if he really wanted them to truly live in harmony, to take up this huge responsibility.
However, Lin Ruoxi who was currently beside him shouldn’t be with him anymore at that time...
As they had their meals, the four women interacted particularly well, even Zhenxiu who was previously shy slowly relaxed and started talking more often.
At this moment, the doorbell rang.
Wang Ma stood up and walked to the door to look at the display. She stunned for a while, and said, “It’s the big sister from Cai clan,” before opening the door.
The big sister from Cai clan was naturally Cai Ning.
Yang Chen felt rather surprised. He knew that Cai Yan was Lin Ruoxi’s close friend while Cai Ning shouldn’t be too close with her. It was more likely that she came for Yang him. But what made her come over during Christmas night when everyone is gathered for a meal?
Cai Ning wore a black windbreaker. Since she practised internal energy, the cold of winter didn’t affect her much. Her tall and slim figure was extremely eye-catching in the windbreaker. Her face was about as cold as Cai Yan. Currently, she looked like she newly defrosted. The cold aura she exerted would injure people.
After walking inside the house, Cai Ning didn’t look at anyone else, but stared at Yang Chen with a bone-penetrating gaze, as if she held a deep hatred towards him!
Yang Chen felt confused while Lin Ruoxi and the others got surprised as well. None of them dared to greet Cai Ning.
“What did you do to my sister?”
Cai Ning’s question stunned Yang Chen, while Lin Ruoxi and Wang Ma both revealed a shocked expression. Hui Lin knew that Cai Ning was Flower Rain, but didn’t know who her sister was, while Zhenxiu was completely confused.
“What did I do?” Yang Chen shook his head. “I had lunch with her yesterday and talked for a while, but I didn’t do anything to her.”
Agitated, Cai Ning shouted, “What did you say to her?!”
Yang Chen hesitated for a bit before walking towards Cai Ning and briefly explained to her what happened yesterday, using a volume that only Cai Ning could hear. In general, he told her about rejecting Cai Yan.
Cai Ning widened her eyes and stared at Yang Chen fiercely. “How can you do this to her?! Do you know how terribly she’s been living because of this?!”
“I can’t do anything else. This kind of things cannot be forced, you also wouldn’t hope that she went on the wrong path,” Yang Chen said helplessly.
“You… you have no idea what I’m talking about!” Crystal-like teardrops fell out of Cai Ning’s eyes. “Do you know that… you’re very cruel…”
Yang Chen kept quiet. He was indeed cruel, but wouldn’t he also be cruel if he accepted Cai Yan?
Cai Ning took a deep breath. Coldly, she said, “Yang Chen, if anything happens to my sister, I’ll definitely come at you, even if I know I can’t defeat you. I definitely won’t let you live a good life.”
“What exactly happened to her?” This was the question Yang Chen really wanted the answer to.
Cai Ning glanced at him before saying, “You don’t need to know, and you don’t deserve to know.”
After she finished speaking, Cai Ning turned around and left.
Yang Chen looked rather gloomy. Did the woman do something foolish after I rejected her?
When he thought of Cai Yan’s look as tears fell from her face, Yang Chen suddenly noticed that he was actually worried about her safety.
At this moment, Lin Ruoxi walked forward. Without any expression, she suppressed her anger and asked, “What happened to Yanyan? What did you do to her?”
Yang Chen sighed. “I don’t know, I really want to know what happened to her as well.”
Lin Ruoxi looked at him as she didn’t believe what he said. She walked to the landline and dialed Cai Yan’s number.
When the phone played the message of a turned-off cellphone, Lin Ruoxi’s look got worse. The gaze she gave Yang Chen turned from the initial coldness to one full of hatred.
Wang Ma looked sad when she saw how the previously warm family dinner turned out this way, especially the discomfort between Yang Chen and Lin Ruoxi that anyone could notice.