chapter 12 - xie family's past

The voice was deep, mature, and lively, and was hard to forget.

Xie Ning knew who it was immediately, raised his head to take a look, and was still stunned.

Zhuang Yan, at the same time, lowered his head to look at him, so the two were staring directly at each other. Xie Ning saw a flash of playfulness in his eyes.

It was Xie Ning’s first time seeing Zhuang Yan at such a close distance. Looking at his face zoomed in, its impact seemed to be several times stronger.

Those who were caught off guard would feel their heart jump.

Especially since he was still in Zhuang Yan’s embrace, he felt the strong hormonal breath at close range…

Xie Ning was just like a little white rabbit that was caught in a wolf’s mouth, surprised and panicked, and his cheeks immediately became red.

He didn’t know why, but in front of others, he never felt anything in his heart, yet every time he faced him, his face would flush and his heart rate would increase.

He steadied his spirit and held onto Zhuang Yan’s arm to stand up. He took a slight step back.

“Thank you.” He pretended to not hear what Zhuang Yan said about throwing himself into this arms, and thanked him quietly.

Zhuang Yan lifted his eyebrows, and the smile on the corner of his lips deepened.

He’d finished buying the snowflake pastries that Yang Rui had asked for, and as soon as he paid for them, he turned, only to see Xie Ning.

Xie Ning was dressed in a way that made him look clean and fresh, with an aura of elegance and otherworldliness. He looked more youthful than a college student, and looked like a little white rabbit as he walked over.

The little white rabbit hopped into the shop and tripped, frightening those who saw it happen.

Zhuang Yan reflexively reached his hand out to steady him, and coincidentally gave him a full embrace.

His hands were selfishly grasped around Xie Ning’s waist, and it felt so nice that he didn’t want to let go.

Although Xie Ning wasn’t as tearful as Zhuang Yan had imagined after he raised his head, when he saw Xie Ning’s flushed face, the corner of his lip lifted into a small smile.

“No need to thank me, I just did it in passing.” Zhuang Yan looked at him, in high spirits, and said, “Such a coincidence. Are you also buying something from this shop?”

It was quite a coincidence, Xie Ning thought while nodding his head.

Zhuang Yan had planned to walk out already, but after seeing Xie Ning, he responded leisurely, “It seems like we’re quite fated. Within two weeks, I’ve met you three times by chance.”

Xie Ning recalled the past for a moment. One time at the claw machine, on the banks of QiuMing Lake, and this time. They were able to meet in three places that were not connected with each other at all, so he smiled and said, “We really are somewhat fated.”

“What kind of desserts are you here to buy? I seem to remember that you don’t like eating sweet things,” Zhuang Yan asked.

He was already familiar with Xie Ning’s tastes after having dinner at his house a couple times.

He likes spicy and sour flavors, and thinks sweets are too greasy and dense-tasting so he rarely eats them. When he does occasionally eat sweet things, it’s dishes such as sweet and sour fish, sweet and sour pork, and the like, sour and sweet.

But seeing how Xie Ning had traveled a long way to come to this store, Zhuang Yan became uncertain.

Xie Ning said, “I heard the pastries at this shop are quite good, so I wanted to buy some for my grandfather since he might like it.”

“So, for the elders in your family.” Zhuang Yan thought about it, and said, “I heard that this shop’s snowflake pastries are good, so he might like that.”

Teacher Yang Rui had also recommended these snowflake pastries. It seems like this shop is indeed well-known, especially since someone as picky as Zhuang Yan came.

Xie Ning looked around the shop as he was thinking.

There were many types of pastries, and the packaging was pretty uniform. There were porcelain plates for tasting in front of the counters, and there were many different flavors. The sweet scent permeated through the store; any sweets lover would have unconsciously started moving their finger if they smelled it.

Zhuang Yan held the snowflake pastries and unhurriedly followed Xie Ning around the shop in a circle.

Xie Ning stopped, and he also stopped.

“Didn’t you already finish buying things?” Xie Ning asked, “Why are you following me?”

Zhuang Yan didn’t feel as if he was being disliked, and responded easily, “Oh, I just remembered that there are other pastries I forgot to buy, so I looked around again.”

Xie Ning: “...”

Xie Ning walked forward, not wanting to humor him.

Whatever. If he wanted to follow, then let him. There are so many customers around, so he shouldn’t act unscrupulously…

Without finishing his thought, Zhuang Yan suddenly pulled his arm, and he nearly lost his balance and fell into his arms again.

Xie Ning’s body stiffened. “You…”

Zhuang Yan ignored him, and pointed at the counter in front of him. “What were you thinking about, to miss these large words? The snowflake pastries are right here.”

Xie Ning turned his head and saw the words “Snowflake Pastries” written vertically on a sign on the counter.

Zhuang Yan didn’t stay with Xie Ning until the end, actually. Halfway through, he picked up a phone call and left first.

After all, he could see Xie Ning every night at dinner, and Yang Rui was still waiting for his snowflake pastries.

He was going to ask a favor from him, so he couldn’t let Elder Yang wait too long.

Xie Ning took a long time to choose pastries. Other than snowflake pastries, he also bought the pineapple cake and mung bean cake that the clerk recommended.

At the cashier, he had just opened his phone to scan the code to pay, but was stopped by the clerk. “Hello, someone else has already settled your bill.”

Xie Ning: “???”

Xie Ning, confused, asked, “Who settled it? Did they get the wrong person?”

The clerk very confidently said, “There’s no mistake, it was your bill. It was the gentleman that was with you before that settled it.”

Oh, it was him.

Xie Ning suddenly thought that it was strange. When Zhuang Yan left, Xie Ning hadn’t finished choosing yet, so how did he know how much it would cost?

As he was thinking this, the clerk said, “The amount the gentleman paid exceeds your bill. I’ll transfer the remaining balance to you.”

After a couple seconds, an extra 600RMB was added to Xie Ning’s account.

The most expensive box of pastries at this shop was 50RMB. 5 large boxes are considered a large package, and 3 boxes are considered a small package. Xie Ning was buying one large package and one small package, which means the total is 400RMB.

This also means that Zhuang Yan paid 1000RMB for him.

Xie Ning held his pastries, not knowing what to say.

Who could spend 1000RMB on pastries?!

Fortunately, the clerk was honest and didn’t pocket the rest of the money.

Wu Shu had patiently waited for most of the afternoon. He waited for Xie Ning to sit in the passenger’s seat and fasten his seatbelt before starting the car.

“There’s a shop here with tasty pastries, so I bought some. Wu Shu, help me bring them to Grandpa.” Xie Ning said, leaning back on his seat.

“Okay.” Wu Shu had seen Xie Ning bring them onto the car, and smiled, asking, “So many?”

“The large one is for Grandpa, and the small ones are for everyone else.” Xie Ning smiled, saying, “You, Auntie Hong, and Uncle Zhong can split it, since there are three.”

Wu Shu paused, saying, “Young Master, this...why did you spend money on us?”

Xie Ning: “I’m not able to take care of Grandpa, so you guys are taking care of him every day. Also, it’s not my expense…”

He said the last sentence vaguely, and Wu Shu didn’t hear it clearly. He did, however, hear Xie Ning ask, “How is Grandpa’s health recently?”

Wu Shu became spirited again, and replied, “The elder’s body is still tough. A couple days ago, he even went fishing with some old friends of his in the compound. He came back with two large fish, lively as ever, with a big smile across his face.”

Xie Ning was relieved when he heard this, and with a smile on his face, said, “That’s good, then.”

Wu Shu, taking the opportunity at a red light, turned to look at his expression, and thoughtfully said, “If you asked me, Young Master, even if you’re worried and can’t stay for long, it would still be good if you could take some time and stay with him for a couple days. Elder Xie is looking forward to your coming.”

Xie Ning was sluggish for a moment, and shook his head, saying, “I’m afraid conflict will start again...when I have time, I’ll visit Grandpa.”

Every family has a difficult situation, without exception. The Xie family, with such a large capital, was naturally not peaceful at home.

Elder Xie has two sons. His eldest son, Xie Zun, inherited the family business, and his younger son, Xie Jing, went to the south to open and develop shopping malls, allowing the Xie’s family business to become nationwide.

Xie Ning is Xie Jing’s only son. As soon as he was of age, Elder Xie stepped over Xie Jing, Xie Ning’s father, to transfer 10% of the company stocks to Xie Ning.

The younger son Xie Jing didn’t say much, but the eldest son was dissatisfied, and caused trouble in private and in public a couple of times.

Truthfully, the transferred shares were supposed to be Xie Jing’s and were only given to Xie Ning in advance, but--they were afraid that the old man would be confused and give a portion of Xie Zun’s shares to Xie Jing.

Thus, when Xie Ning still lived at the large compound, Xie Zun was afraid that Elder Xie would spoil him too much, and sent his own son Xie An to live with them as well, saying that he couldn’t let Xie Ning be the only filial one.

Xie An is Xie Ning’s cousin, and is part of the company as well, so he was as busy as a bee. There was never a lack of people who would come to visit him, saying they were looking for Xie An, but secretly looking for Elder Xie to make a connection with him.

With so many people coming in and out, even the large compound wasn’t quiet anymore.

In the end, Xie Ning suggested that he himself move out.

When he got home, Xie Ning took out the art drafts and began to correct them according to Teacher Yang Rui’s suggestions.

He hadn’t started yet when his phone rang.

The caller ID said: Ms. Xia.

“Mom.” Xie Ning picked up the phone, his voice calm, and said, “Why did you suddenly call me?”

Ms. Xia Wan’s voice sounded a little sharp. “Why, I can’t call my son for no reason?”

Xie Ning paused for a moment, and didn’t make a sound.

Seeing how he was being slightly rebellious, Xia Wan became even more uncomfortable. “I heard you and Xu Qing broke up?”

“Yes, we did.”

Xia Wan breathed a sigh of relief. “You guys should have broken up a long time ago. What kind of good future would two men have together? Even if you can get married, there’s nobody around to give you a marriage certificate. You can’t even have a kid. Listen to mom, you should…”

“Mom.” Xie Ning interrupted her prattling. “I still have things to do, so if you don’t have anything else to talk about, then I’m going to hang up.”

Xia Wan became angry. “What’s the meaning of this? I’m your mother, can I not say a few words about you?”

Xie Ning was silent for a few seconds. “You’ve already said these things for more than ten years. Aren’t you tired?”

As if she thought of something, Xia Wan softened her attitude. “NingNing, Mom is doing this for your own good.”

Xie Ning lowered his eyes, and seemed to chuckle to himself.

“If you don’t like to listen to it, then Mom won’t say it anymore.” Xia Wan warmly said, “It’s already New Year’s. Why haven’t you come home at least once yet?”

Xie Ning said, “But you guys don’t celebrate the Gregorian New Year.”

Xia Wan: “It’s about time for you to come home and even just look around.” After a pause, she said, “Even if you don’t come to where your father and I are, you should still go see Elder Xie. I’ve asked already, and he’ll be at home this weekend. It’s a good time to eat a meal with him.”

Xie Ning thought about it, and asked, “Am I the only one going?”

Xia Wan said, “Your father, your aunt, your uncle, and I will all go.”

“I got it.” Xie Ning smiled. “I’ll go.”

“We’ll come pick you up…”

“There’s no need.” Xie Ning refused, and said, “I’ll go by myself.”

Xia Wan wanted to say something else, but she understood her son’s temper and that she wouldn’t be able to persuade him, so she could only say, “Okay, then.”

Before she hung up, Xia Wan couldn’t resist, and said, “NingNing, it’s been over ten years. Even if there is an estrangement, between a mother and son, it’s time to let it go.”

Xie Ning squeezed his wrist, and didn’t respond.

The good mood from before was ruined by this phone call. Xie Ning glanced at the scenery outside for a while, but still wasn’t able to calm down.

He might as well use his tablet and draw something random on it.

His thoughts floated elsewhere. Sometimes he thought about his family’s past, and sometimes he thought about Xu Qing’s annoying events. His thoughts hovered for a while before settling down again.

After he returned to his senses, he looked at his monitor and was surprised.

He’d randomly drawn something without paying attention to it, but he’d unexpectedly sketched a blue whale.

Thinking of Mr. Blue Whale, Xie Ning’s expression looked strange for a moment.

Actually, Mr. Blue Whale wasn’t really similar to a blue whale. One can tell that he’s from a wealthy background right away, From his clothes, to his food, to his housing, he wanted everything to be the best. If it was lacking even a little bit, he would become dissatisfied. His temper wasn’t really good, either, and most of the time, his mouth wanted to anger someone to death.

He’s quite similar to a lion, or another kind of prideful cat.

But when interacting with him, Xie Ning was able to feel some sort of peace and tranquility.

This feeling came mysteriously, as if he was the only one who had this effect on him--he made people feel like he was a reliable pier to dock at.

Xie Ning recalled the embrace from this afternoon.

His broad chest and strong arms were just like the huge back of a blue whale.

Breathing in the oak musk of his cologne made his heart feel at peace.

That was probably the only similarity between Zhuang Yan and a blue whale.

As he was deep in thought, his pen didn’t stop moving either, and was coloring the sketch.

When he finished drawing the blue whale, he could hear some movement from the front door downstairs.

Xie Ning paused, and picked up his phone to look at the time.

It was time for dinner, so Mr. Blue Whale had come to eat.

Oh no!

Xie Ning suddenly remembered that he seemed to have forgotten to make dinner!

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Author’s Note: Isn’t the NingNing who forgot to make dinner also super cute~ With the cute NingNing, I’d like to ask you to favorite this (work). I suddenly want to change the title to <An Atypical Proposal>, which one do you guys think is better?

Translator's Notes:

uncle - not an actual uncle, probably someone who works at the compound!