Once Lu Qi reconciled with his mom, they had a lot to talk about. He took his mobile phone and looked through the past four years of photos with her. Lu Qi didn’t like taking selfies very much, so most of the pictures on his phone were of landscapes and paintings. Then in the past year, Xiao Sanhua and Mu Nanqiao became frequent guests.

The mother and son talked in the master bedroom while Lin Chunhe and Mu Nanqiao chatted over tea in the living room. From time to time, Lin Chunhe’s hearty laughter could be heard. It seemed that the atmosphere was very harmonious. Lu Qi and his mom looked at each other and laughed.

“Okay…..” Lu Fangshu patted the back of Lu Qi’s hand and pointed outside. “Go accompany Xiao Mu, you must take good care of him after bringing him home. The two of you are tired from the trip here, so take a shower and go to bed.”

Lu Qi hummed in agreement and turned to push the door open. Looking at the wrinkles in the corners of his mom’s eyes, he said earnestly, “Mom, thank you.”

Thank you for being able to accept my differences.

Sitting in the living room and talking, Mu Nanqiao saw him come out. He stood up and said in a low voice: “Is Auntie going to sleep?”

“Yes, ah…..” Lu Qi nodded, and was about to ask his dad to go rest when the man who had his back turned to him suddenly turned his head. His reddened eyes startled Lu Qi, and he blinked in confusion, asking: “Dad, what’s wrong?”

Lin Chunhe was choked up, and stood to pat Lu Qi’s hand. He said seriously, “Son, please treat Xiao Mu well from now on……”

Lu Qi: ? ? ?

Then Lin Chunhe wiped his tears and went back to the bedroom.

He knew that his dad was prone to tears, but he wouldn’t cry out of nowhere. Lu Qi turned to glance at Mu Nanqiao, looking puzzled and curious. “What did you say to my dad?”

Mu Nanqiao wore an innocent expression, although his fox eyes made that innocence seem very unreliable.

“Uncle just said that he’s actually not very at ease. He said that my family is wealthy, and so many good things come into my eyes. That if I change my mind later, I should part with no hard feelings and not pester you to have someone on the side.” Mu Nanqiao said, “I can understand why he has this concern.”

Lu Qi was a little embarrassed, but what his dad said was true. Although it was hard to say who would suffer a loss when two men were together, his dad was naturally still partial to his own son.

Although he understood, Lu Qi was still somewhat embarrassed, and whispered: “My dad doesn’t know you yet. He has a bit of a stereotype about rich people. I’ll explain to him tomorrow…..”

“It’s okay, I already explained.” Mu Nanqiao smiled and lowered his voice, saying: “I told him how we met, and that after so many years, I’ve grown from a bullied kid into an adult who can take responsibility for his own actions…..”

“I am not at the hot-blooded age of seventeen or eighteen, and I’ve met all kinds of people over the years. If my heart could be moved by a glamorous appearance, then I wouldn’t be the same person…..” At this point, he paused. Those fox eyes curved with a silken warmth in them, looking at Lu Qi with heated intent. “There may be many butterflies in the world, but they are not the one that flew through the window when I was a teenager.”

He spoke so frankly, as if he had considered how to answer this test paper countless times in his mind. The answer was not empty verbal promises, but a frank reopening of old wounds.

It was very evident that the answer was perfect.

The bottom of Lu Qi’s heart felt sour, and he raised his hand, saying: “That is a great explanation. Come here, I’ll reward you with a hug.”

The big fox would never say no to candy brought to his mouth. He walked around the coffee table and came over to hug Lu Qi.

“It was you who taught me…..” He kissed Lu Qi’s ear and said with a chuckle: “That sincerity is a sure win.”

They were in the living room, and could only whisper. Lu Qi stood on tiptoe to kiss Mu Nanqiao’s ear and said: “It seems Boss Mu has already learned. It’s time to graduate.”

“Don’t want to.” Mu Nanqiao hugged him and shook him. “I’m going to repeat this grade for the rest of my life.”

. . . . . . .

It was the last day of the year. New Year’s Eve was written in festive red letters on the calendar, and although the highlights of New Year’s Eve were in the evening, the sporadic sounds of firecrackers had penetrated into every household since morning.

In addition to the firecrackers, there were also deliberately soft footsteps outside the door and extremely low voices in conversation.

Lu Qi rubbed his eyes, yawned, and turned over in a warm embrace to face Mu Nanqiao. He reached out to hug the other party’s slender waist and asked in a daze: “What time is it…..”

Mu Nanqiao glanced at his phone, then lowered his head to kiss the other’s forehead. “It’s half past six. You sleep a little longer, I’ll go see if Uncle and Auntie need help……”

But Lu Qi didn’t let go at all. He hugged Mu Nanqiao and nuzzled his chest. “Wait a minute, lay down for a while and we’ll go together. Otherwise, if my mom sees you getting up to help and me staying in bed, she’ll say that I’m lazy……”

Mu Nanqiao couldn’t resist his coquettishness at all, so he had no choice but to lay back down with him. He hugged the person in his arms and caressed him, as if coaxing a child.

“Why did you wake up so early today?” he asked softly.

His voice just after waking up was deep and low, very nice to hear, like a cello being played. It was really enjoyable to hear this kind of sound early in the morning. Lu Qi’s ears felt numb upon hearing it. He raised his hand to rub them and replied casually: “I went to bed early last night, ah, so of course I woke up early. You disturb me every day in bed, it’s strange that I’m able to get up…..”

There was natural resentment in his tone. The corners of Mu Nanqiao’s lips rose, and he said with a chuckle: “En, my bad.”

Lu Qi closed his eyes and muttered: “No sincerity at all…..”

He wanted nothing more than to act shamelessly again and make Mu Nanqiao have to deal with it a few times. The big fox would not be fooled like this, and didn’t answer. He just lowered his head and kissed him softly. Pretending to be confused, he asked: “What kind of sincerity does Lu Baby want?”

But when Lu Qi was going to speak, he kissed those newly opened lips with extreme ruthlessness.

On the last day of the year, in the room where Lu Qi had lived from childhood to adulthood, the two of them embraced each other and talked about irrelevant topics. The quilt was very warm, and their body temperatures blended together. This sort of temperature was enough to smooth away all the twists and turns of the year.

There was a lot of noise outside the room. When they heard the sounds of ingredients being prepared in the kitchen, the two of them got out of bed and began to work after washing up.

From time to time, people called to wish them a happy New Year, including Lin Chunhe’s suppliers and Lu Fangshu’s former colleagues. Mu Nanqiao sent big red envelopes to the company group, and employees grabbed them with joy. At first glance, the one with the best luck turned out to be Mu Chuanbai.

They ate something casual at noon. After working busily, they were finally able to take a break when it got dark. They only needed to wait until mealtime to put the prepared ingredients in, and the fragrance of the things that needed time to stew was already wafting out of the pot.

“It hasn’t been this lively in several years…..” Lin Chunhe said cheerfully. After that, he thought of something and looked at Mu Nanqiao. “Xiao Mu, ah, how are your parents celebrating the New Year? If it’s convenient, we can all get together to celebrate, ah.”

Mu Nanqiao was peeling nuts for Lu Qi, and pushed a small pile of peeled ones in front of him. When he heard this, he smiled and said: “Thank you for your kindness, Uncle, but it will have to be next year. My parents are abroad right now.”

Lu Qi held the nuts like a little hamster and ate them, crunch, crunch. There was a sudden buzz, and he glanced at his mobile phone on the table.

Talia had sent him a big red envelope. The amount was relatively large, so it was a direct transfer, and there was also a “Happy New Year” in Russian. Finally, she asked him if it was convenient to make a video call. She and Mu Chuanbai also wanted to greet his parents.

Lu Qi blinked and looked at his parents. “Is it convenient?”

Lin Chunhe sat upright and assumed a diplomatic posture, nodding solemnly: “It is convenient.”

Lu Qi: ……

Someone who didn’t know would think his dad was about to hold some sort of trade talks.

When the video call connected, Talia and Mu Chuanbai appeared on the screen. Talia was as elegant and beautiful as ever, wearing a red sweater dress as she greeted Lu Qi warmly.

While the parents of the two families were chatting, Mu Nanqiao took Lu Qi to the balcony.

The balcony of Lu Qi’s house was open, and it was a bit cold when standing outside. Mu Nanqiao wrapped Lu Qi up in a scarf, leaving only a pair of round eyes. At this moment, those round deer eyes were looking at him in confusion, silently asking him his intentions.

It was rare to see Mu Nanqiao’s eyes suddenly dodge for a moment. He asked Lu Qi: “Do you still remember? When we lived in the Garden Community, if that scum hadn’t appeared, I would have set off fireworks for you.”

Of course Lu Qi remembered. But it couldn’t be that Mu Nanqiao mentioned it now because…..

Whiz—

A thin flame cut through the dark winter sky, flickering upward to suddenly explode in a sky full of stars. But this was just the beginning. All kinds of fireworks in various colors flickered and bloomed under the sky, layer upon layer of fiery trees and silver flowers blossoming in the night.

“Wow!” Lu Qi’s eyes were shining brightly. He wanted to tell his parents to come take a look, but the old couple were having a lively chat with Mr. and Mrs. Mu Chuanbai on the other end of the phone and clearly had no time to pay attention to him. 

Lu Qi looked up to watch. There was a smile in his eyes, and the small dimple on his left cheek appeared faintly. Thinking of something, he turned to look at Mu Nanqiao. “Such large-scale, long-term fireworks displays aren’t allowed in urban areas, right, ah? Could it be that Boss Mu used his monetary power?”

Mu Nanqiao gave a low hum of agreement: “On the surface, these fireworks are to promote several new projects launched by Mu Group in Yuncheng, so they have official approval…..”

His expression was somewhat unnatural, and his eyelashes were lowered. Upon closer inspection, there was clearly a trace of nervousness in those long, narrow fox eyes.

But Lu Qi’s attention was drawn by the fireworks. Hearing what he said, he felt a little distressed at the money he tossed out like running water. He leaned on the railing with his chin in his hand and watched seriously, but couldn’t help whispering, “Isn’t it a bit not worth it just for a short time, ah…..”

Standing behind him, Mu Nanqiao slowly exhaled and took a small box out of his jacket pocket.

He held the dark blue velvet box and ensconced Lu Qi from behind. Dangling the box in front of Lu Qi’s eyes, he whispered: “For this, I think it’s worth it.”

The scarf slipped off his head. Lu Qi looked at the exquisite little box and asked uncertainly: “What is this?”

He actually already had a guess in mind, mainly because the size of the small box was really suitable for holding some sort of metal jewelry with special significance.

The fireworks show was still going on, but Lu Qi couldn’t hear the sound of them exploding, because his heartbeat was so obvious and rapid, beating against his eardrums.

The small box was opened little by little in front of him, and the metal reflected a beautiful arc of light. He heard Mu Nanqiao ask in his ear:

“Lu Baby, will you accept this New Year’s gift?”

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Chapter Fifty-Four << Table of Contents >> Chapter Fifty-Six