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Chapter 44: He was quite squeamish when he was little.
But in fact, whether it was Mu Qing wanting to become popular or wanting to organize a personal art exhibition, even if it was held at the Louvre, it was a reassuring matter for Chen Wengang. At least he had shifted his focus from himself.
Since the forum revised its rules once, posts attacking reputations have lost their space to thrive. A batch of accounts got banned, and not many people were randomly talking inside. So, as the last female student mentioned, the place where Chen Wengang could be seen the most now was the confession wall.
Even the photos that Qi Tongzhou took of him last time somehow leaked out.
In the photos, only the back of a slender and tall figure was revealed, avoiding the moderator’s sanctions. Those who know could recognize the person, while those who don’t know praise the atmosphere of the beautiful silhouette. It suddenly became a hot topic, and some even stole it to use as their profile picture.
However, Qu Tongzhou wasn’t too happy about it. His hidden treasure was exposed, and he had to deal with a wave of reposts in his friend circle.
Chen Wengang remained oblivious to all of this.
When it was almost time to go out and meet people, exam week had arrived. The results of the campus star selection came out before, and somehow Chen Wengang became the champion in a matter of course. It wasn’t until the campus media reporter called Chen Wengang that he learned that there would be an interview as usual.
The young reporter was afraid he wouldn’t agree: “Senior, it’s just a chat for two hours; it won’t delay your exam preparation.”
Chen Wengang smiled and said, “I’m afraid it will delay your study. Can you handle it?”
The other party replied, “It won’t be delayed. It won’t be delayed. This is the last issue of this semester, and we want to end it perfectly.”
So just like this, on the day of the call, he conducted an interview and chatted for two hours in a cafe.
The reporters and editors of the campus newspaper were all students, mostly sophomores and juniors.
They held recording pens and cameras, with clear and youthful faces, asking typical casual questions like “What do you usually like to do?” Not that professional, but that youthful enthusiasm was something hard to find after entering society.
Afterward, Chen Wengang treated them to a meal.
The younger students felt he was friendly and easy to chat with. He even invited a few people, including the chief editor studying in the classroom, to a small restaurant near the school gate and booked a private room. A group of young people chattered away, making a lively scene with plates and cups clattering.
Chen Wengang smiled as he watched them play around. This was the natural energy of youth, something he could only observe from the sidelines.
But sitting among these young people, bombarded by their laughter and noise, his face also gained a slight blush.
As they were leaving, everyone bid him farewell.
He waved his hand, parting ways with the group of young people, leaving behind a solitary figure.
Chen Wengang had fewer classes and exams. When he received a call from Chen Xiangling, he had just walked out of the last exam room.
The original situation was that the tenant renting Chen Wengang’s family house was causing trouble.
Chen Wengang’s uncle had returned the house left by his father to him, and the formalities were already done. He requested the tenant to move out after the lease period.
The tenant originally agreed, but later after asking around, they found that they couldn’t find another place with such a cheap rent and suddenly wanted to change their minds. This family had already bought a new house elsewhere, but it was still under renovation, and it would take a year or so before they could move in.
With the pressure of repaying the housing loan, every penny was saved. Among them, there was only a transition period of half a year to a year. Moving to another rental would be troublesome, especially considering that they had lived there for several years, and the cost of moving in terms of manpower and resources was not low.
All of this was understandable, but when Chen Wengang arrived, Chen Xiangling was being pushed out by the tenant.
“Don’t think we don’t understand the law! As long as we are still living here, even if you are the landlord, you cannot intrude into a private residence!”
Chen Xiangling was still trying to reason with them, “Your lease has already expired!”
The man’s expression turned fierce, “You locals always bully us outsiders! It was clearly stated that we could continue the lease at the time. Otherwise, with our family, we wouldn’t have chosen to live in this house at all! Let me tell you, verbal agreements are also agreements. This is a breach of contract!”
Chen Wengang hurriedly stepped forward to support his cousin, “What’s going on? Why are you using force? Are you still a man?”
Chen Xiangling felt wronged when she saw him, “Ge…”
Amidst the commotion, he roughly understood what was happening.
Chen Wengang knew that Lawyer Cao’s office had been sending assistants to urge his uncle to fulfill the contract. His uncle wasn’t concerned about the family matters, leaving it to his Aunt, who was too lazy to get involved and directly sent her daughter to negotiate with the tenant.
Today, Chen Xiangling came, thinking that since the lease period had passed, she could enter without knocking since the main door wasn’t closed.
However, the male tenant suddenly rushed out, mistaking her for a thief and pushing her out.
Chen Wengang grabbed Chen Xiangling’s hand, and the back of her delicate hand hit the door frame, causing a small cut.
He said coldly, “If there’s a misunderstanding, you could have asked verbally. A young girl like her, does she look like a thief?”
The man was quite burly, with a tough look on his face, making him seem difficult to handle. But his wife seemed to have a bit more reason. She came out of the house, pulled him back, slapped him a few times on the back, scolded him, and then smiled apologetically to the young landlord:
“Hey handsome, beautiful lady, sorry about that. It was definitely his fault for pushing someone, but you can’t just barge into our house like this. When we signed the contract with the previous landlord, it was clearly agreed that we could continue living here. How can you change your mind like this?”
Chen Xiangling puffed her cheeks and glared at her.
The woman paused for a moment, speaking in a pitiful tone, “Actually, we’re just a small family struggling to make a living. Every penny we earn is hard-earned money, and we have a child to support. You see, you’re not short of money; we just want to stay for another six months. Otherwise, give us a little more time, let’s compromise. We’ll continue paying the original rent for a few more months until our house is ready, and then we’ll definitely move out.”
Chen Wengang still maintained a cold expression, ignoring her, and continued to hold Chen Xiangling’s hand.
The lady said, “It was all a misunderstanding just now. It’s all his fault. I’ll make him apologize.:
However, the male tenant showed no intention of apologizing.
In the end, Chen Wengang politely smiled at her, “I understand now. Everyone has difficulties, and if you had explained earlier, I could have been flexible for a few months. But your husband pushed my sister, and I’m not too inclined to negotiate anymore. It’s better for you to find another good place.”
This led to a back-and-forth argument. The other party kept pleading, citing their tough livelihood. The male tenant worked on a construction site, and the wife didn’t have a job, taking care of the child at home. The child’s education expenses were high, and in short, not giving them a few months’ leeway was pushing them to the limit.
Chen Wengang decided to take Chen Xiangling away. The sun was scorching, making people sweaty, so they found a place to sit and eat ice cream.
Chen Xiangling sighed heavily, “These people are really annoying. We’re not having an easy time either.”
Chen Wengang then reproached her, “Is that the issue? He laid hands on you, why didn’t you run away?”
Chen Xiangling glanced at him, and Chen Wengang patted her head, “Being assertive is a tactical attitude. Challenging a big man is just foolish.”
At this moment, Chen Wengang seemed to have lost a bit of his gentlemanly demeanor, squinting his eyes and stirring his red bean ice with milk. Chen Xiangling felt that he was calculating something in his mind. When he confronted the male tenant earlier, he might have been physically at a disadvantage, but his posture didn’t appear weak.
Curious, Chen Xiangling asked, “Ge, what are you thinking? How about the matter with the house?”
Chen Wengang smiled, “Nothing. Eat quickly, the ice cream is melting.”
He lowered his head to send a message but didn’t contact Lawyer Cao this time. Instead, he messaged Lawyer Zhu.
Perhaps Lawyer Zhu was busy; he replied with an “ok” gesture and didn’t say anything else.
Putting away the phone and finishing the ice cream, Chen Wengang took Chen Xiangling home and decided to visit his uncle’s house since they were already out. On the way, they also retrieved Chen Guangzong and Chen Yaozu, who were busy playing games in an internet cafe.
These two younger cousins had already finished their final exams at school, but their mother spoiled them, allowing them to spend their days playing games in the internet cafe. The management of the shady internet cafe was chaotic, turning a blind eye to underage individuals who sneaked in.
When Chen Wengang pulled them out, he noticed that the secluded room at the back was filled with children around ten years old.
He sighed.
Chen Guangzong and Chen Yaozu were happy to see him. They rushed over, hugging his waist and asking for red envelopes.
Every summer and winter vacation, Chen Wengang used to give some pocket money to his cousins under the pretext of rewarding their academic achievements. However, Chen Xiangling recently told him that her share was taken away by her mother.
If she refused, the shrewd mother would be difficult to handle, claiming financial difficulties at home one moment and asking her to pay utility bills the next. That’s why Chen Wengang taught her to be assertive—to keep the money in her hands. But who knew how this girl interpreted it?
Maintaining a calm demeanor, he looked down at them, “You’re both big kids now. We’ll have to change the rules for the ‘scholarship’ in the future. I have expectations for you; there will be rewards only for the top ten students in the class when the exam results come out.”
The two younger ones cried out, “No, that’s too hard—”
“Ge, this requirement is too high! Can you even do it yourself?”
Chen Wengang smiled and said, “Is it difficult? I used to be the first in the class.”
The two cunning kids realized it when they got home and accused their elder cousin of not wanting to give them pocket money. Chen Zeng awkwardly gave his son a slap each and told them to quickly go back to their rooms and do their summer homework.
However, after sitting for a while, Chen Wengang seemed to sense that something was off. His uncle appeared uneasy, avoiding eye contact, and smoked one cigarette after another.
As he left, he passed by two hurried individuals near his uncle’s house. Suddenly, an intuition struck him, prompting him to glance back.
After a moment of thought, Chen Wengang called Chen Xiangling, “Come up with an excuse, tell your parents that you need to go for an internship… yes, say they provide accommodation. It’s summer vacation, and you should focus on studying. I’ll find you a quiet place; you shouldn’t stay at home for now.”
***
Chen Wengang anticipated that his uncle was going to face some troubles.
Even without the experiences from his past life, it wasn’t surprising. Approaching fifty, with three children at home, and being flattered by others, it was easy to become unaware of reality. Chen Wengang had advised him a bit last time, but he didn’t want to interfere too much.
His energy was only enough to manage himself and Chen Xiangling. He couldn’t handle much more. If there were lessons to be learned, then let them be learned.
However, considering it was a girl, he didn’t want her to stay at home during this time. Chen Wengang had already found a one-bedroom apartment for his cousin. But just before moving in, the landlord changed his mind, claiming his niece was coming to stay. The rent and deposit were refunded through the agency.
Since it couldn’t be helped, he asked the apologetic agent to continue searching.
During the first few days of summer vacation, Chen Wengang took Chen Xiangling to visit several apartments for her to personally inspect. In the end, they settled on a new one, which was more convenient than the previous one. It was near the cram school, with a serene environment.
The interior had excellent natural lighting, white walls complemented by wooden furniture, and the decor followed a Japanese-style minimalist design. However, it was a bit expensive.
Chen Xiangling felt it wasn’t necessary to spend so much money, especially since the cram school had dormitories. She only needed a place to crash during holidays and occasional weekends.
Chen Wengang told her not to worry too much about it.
He directly moved Chen Xiangling’s personal items from the vocational school dormitory. She pretended to pack a suitcase for her “internship” at home, dragged it out, turned a couple of corners, and found Chen Wengang’s car parked on the street.
Lu Chenlong was also in the car, there to lend a helping hand.
While Chen Xiangling was organizing things in the rented house, the other two went to the supermarket to buy bedding, cookware, and some groceries. It was a simple celebration of the new move, and all three were cheerful, despite the scorching heat.
Chen Xiangling asked Lu Chenlong, “Where is your little brother Xiao Bao?”
“He’s at school, with a one-on-one teacher looking after him.”
“How’s the new school?” Chen Wengang inquired.
“It’s still early, but he seems to speak more clearly now and knows how to ask for help when he needs to go to the bathroom.”
After moving, cleaning, shopping, cooking, and washing dishes for most of the day, everyone was exhausted. After a satisfying meal, they felt particularly drowsy.
Originally planning to gather on the carpet to watch some funny videos, they unintentionally dozed off in various positions.
Chen Xiangling only squinted briefly and was the first to wake up. Lu Chenlong heard a slight click and also got up.
Yawning, he said, “Don’t disturb your brother, let him continue sleeping.”
Chen Xiangling covered her mouth and laughed; that slight click was her taking a sneak photo, which she showed to Lu Chenlong.
Lu Chenlong scratched his head and, seeing the two of them sleeping head to head on the carpet, nonchalantly said, “I’ll show you the childhood album later. There’s a photo of both of us in the same pose from kindergarten, exactly the same. It means we’ve always been consistent.”
Chen Xiangling chuckled as well.
A mosquito buzzed loudly from somewhere, and Lu Chenlong waved it away from his face, successfully driving it off.
“Do you know how much your brother used to cry when he was a child?”
“Not really,” Chen Xiangling was somewhat skeptical, “I don’t remember that.”
“You’re a girl, you couldn’t see it. He used to pretend when you were around,” Lu Chenlong said, “He was quite delicate as a child. Even when he dropped an ice cream ball, he cried. In the end, I had to give him mine to make him feel better. Uncle bought him a small car-shaped eraser, and on the first day of elementary school, someone snatched it away. I had to fight with his desk mate to get it back. Actually, that eraser had been cut with a small knife. If he saw it, he would cry, so I didn’t dare to tell him and bought him another one. Guess what, he still doesn’t know until now.”
Chen Wengang finally heard their chattering, rubbed his eyes, and sat up, “What bad things are you saying about me?”
Lu Chenlong remained composed, “Nothing, just good things.”
Chen Wengang suspiciously frowned, “Impossible, I heard everything.”
Lu Chenlong messed up his hair, “Sweetheart, you were just daydreaming.”
Reflecting on his childhood, Lu Chenlong actually envied Chen Wengang. Despite not having a mother, he had a father who loved him dearly, treating him like the apple of his eye. Compared to his own father, who was like muddy water, it was like night and day.
Yet, he also felt that time had changed many things. The image of the delicate little bean sprout, who used to be so sensitive, was nowhere to be found now.
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