Contract Couple – CH57

Chapter 57

Beside Aunt Wei stood a young girl, holding an umbrella for her and talking to her. The girl had long, flowing hair and a small, delicate face. She listened attentively to Aunt Wei, her smile sweet. Her floral dress made her look gentle and lovely, and she seemed quite obedient.

Fang Jing Yao recognized her. As he approached with Long Yu, the girl looked up at him. Her gaze lingered on Long Yu’s face for a moment before she looked at Fang Jing Yao and tentatively asked, “Jing Yao?”

Fang Jing Yao recognized her and called out her name: “Xu Lianlian?”

The girl exclaimed “Oh my!” and then laughed, “It really is you! I thought it looked like you just now, but I haven’t seen you for so many years, so I didn’t dare to recognize you. What are you doing here?”

Fang Jing Yao chuckled, “I’ve been looking at you the whole time, you look just like me, what are you doing here?”

Xu Lianlian said a little shyly, “I’ve come to ask Aunt Wei to watch something for me.”

Fang Jing Yao said, “What a coincidence! Long Yu and I are also here to see Aunt Wei. We’ve been traveling together.”

Xu Lianlian looked at Long Yu with some curiosity, but Dr. Long clearly had no desire to talk to her. He simply nodded and moved aside to help his aunt with her chores.

Fang Jing Yao followed, and Aunt Wei glanced at him again when she saw him. Fang Jing Yao, shameless as ever, said ingratiatingly, “Auntie, I’ll help you…”

Aunt Wei’s expression was indifferent, but there was a hint of teasing in her eyes: “I can’t afford it. You used to ruin my vegetable garden a lot. This one patch, in particular, always suffers when you come. You’ve peeled off the leaves and secretly fed them to the rabbits.”

Long Yu looked at Fang Jing Yao and said, “You’ve done this kind of thing before?”

Before Fang Jing Yao could speak, Aunt Wei nodded and said, “That’s right. He was so silly back then, he thought I didn’t know! How could I not see? He’s quite the picky one, always grabbing the biggest lettuce and pulling out its leaves, leaving the lettuce bare, but he wouldn’t dare pull the whole thing out. I was both annoyed and amused, and I felt bad for letting him pull it out, so I let him come and tear off a leaf every now and then…”

Fang Jing Yao blushed from what the old man and the young man said, grabbed the hoe, and buried himself in work, quickly turning over the vegetable patch.

They were originally from the same compound, speaking familiar words and doing familiar things, and quickly became much closer. Fang Jing Yao, in particular, had somewhat forgotten his childhood, but others dug it all up again with just a glance and a few words. He himself didn’t even remember doing so many embarrassing things when he was a child.

Aunt Wei was holding a bunch of freshly picked greens. Long Yu stepped forward and naturally took the basket for her. The old lady probably didn’t expect her place to be so lively today. She called to the children, “It’s going to rain harder outside. Don’t just stand there. Come on, let’s go inside and talk.”

There wasn’t anything special in the old house in the compound. There was an old desk that the children used back then, and the only other thing was a rattan sofa. The old cushions had been thrown away, leaving only the sturdy rattan. After so many years, apart from being a bit darker in color, the wood looked even shinier and was a good piece of wood.

Aunt Wei told them to wash their hands, then poured a few glasses of water and brought them over.

Fang Jing Yao went over and tapped the sofa armrest twice. Hearing the “clang” sound, he asked with a hint of surprise, “This wood is really nice. What kind of material is it, Auntie?”

As Aunt Wei gave them water, she glanced at Fang Jing Yao and smiled, saying, “You have such a sharp eye. The piece you just chipped is a Merbau, an old piece of wood that’s been sitting around for decades. I came here today to clean it up. Someone wants to buy it in a few days, saying they want to collect it. I don’t really understand these things. Anyway, kids these days don’t care about wood anymore. It’s good that someone wants to keep it; it’s a waste to just leave it sitting there.”

Aunt Wei went to get a rag, but Fang Jing Yao nimbly grabbed it first and started working quickly. He was eager to show off, and Aunt Wei didn’t argue with him. She pointed out a few areas to wipe, then turned to Long Yu and asked, “Why are you here today? Isn’t the hospital busy?”

Long Yu said, “Today is Sunday, so we’re off work.”

Aunt Wei then remembered and nodded, saying, “Yes, I’ve become quite confused about life since I retired.”

Xu Lianlian, who had followed in, had been waiting patiently without getting a chance to speak. Upon hearing this, she quickly said, “Don’t be confused, don’t be confused. I didn’t remember anything about those glass snuff bottles you told me about earlier! You remember them clearly.”

Aunt Wei shook her head and said, “That’s all in the past. Your dad used to enjoy collecting these things. You should ask him more when you go back; he knows more than I do.”

Xu Lianlian smiled but didn’t say anything. She seemed like an honest girl, but it was unclear what she was thinking, as she looked for work to help Aunt Wei clean the room.

She was quick and efficient, which annoyed Fang Jing Yao. “What are you doing? Trying to steal my job?”

Xu Lianlian felt a little wronged, clutching her handkerchief as she said, “You never used to do any housework, why are you so diligent today? You used to say that you wanted to find a wife who could cook and was hardworking…”

Long Yu looked up at him.

Fang Jing Yao snapped to attention and immediately distanced himself, saying, “Don’t talk nonsense! I’m very hardworking myself, okay? Besides, that’s something I said when I was a kid. I even said I wanted to go to Peking University when I was little. Did I get in?”

Xu Lianlian pouted, “You’re so shameless, I can’t argue with you.”

Fang Jing Yao didn’t give her a second word and retorted, “I’m just quick-witted, what does it have to do with being shameless!”

Xu Lianlian then mentioned two embarrassing things Fang Jing Yao had done when he was a child, such as claiming territory and acting as the boss. They had all grown up together since childhood. Xu Lianlian moved away after junior high school and became estranged from them. Before that, she was closest to Chen Xi and Fang Jing Yao. When these boys got into trouble, she would stand guard for them and stand in line with them to cry when they got scolded.

Perhaps because they were too close, Fang Jing Yao didn’t really treat her like a girl. He joked around with her for a bit, and then simply denied all the embarrassing things he hadn’t remembered.

Xu Lianlian was quietly arguing with him when she reached up to wipe a wooden board on a high shelf, but couldn’t quite reach it. Fang Jing Yao quickly fixed it for her, raising an eyebrow and saying, “With a memory like yours, it’s only useful for exams…”

“You didn’t say that when you copied my homework before,” Xu Lianlian said indignantly.

Long Yu watched intently, his brows furrowing slightly.

Aunt Wei looked at him and said with a smile, “I thought you came to see me today.”

Long Yu felt a little embarrassed, and after calming down, he said, “My mother is busy, so she asked me to bring Jing Yao over to see you first.”

Aunt Wei nodded and said, “I’ve watched this child grow up. He’s good. Don’t be too strict with him.”

Long Yu remained silent for a moment, then nodded.

Fang Jing Yao had just finished his work and turned around, his smile still lingering. When he saw Long Yu, he was even more smug, as if he had done something good and was asking for praise. “I’m all done, Auntie, can you check it? I followed Long Yu’s usual requirements exactly, so I guarantee it’ll be spotless!”

The cold corner of Long Yu’s heart was struck by his smile, and those thoughts and impulses quickly dissipated and faded away. He smiled back and said, “Not bad, you’ve improved.”

Fang Jing Yao was delighted. He was used to Long Yu’s kind and gentle manner, so he didn’t notice anything unusual. Xu Lianlian, standing next to him, blinked several times, a hint of surprise in her eyes. Her memory was better than Fang Jing Yao’s; she remembered Long Yu, and she also remembered that this older brother, two years their senior, was always serious and unsmiling.

Xu Lianlian said, “So that’s what you look like when you smile. We’ve been guessing before because we’ve never seen you smile like that…”

Long Yu looked at her, “What?”

Xu Lianlian twisted the handkerchief in her hand a little shyly and smiled, “Back then, actually quite a few people liked you. Since you didn’t come out often, we even asked Jing Yao to call you twice… Do you remember that time we played sandbag together?”

Fang Jing Yao became wary again, wondering if this woman was interested in Long Yu. After all, while Fang Jing Yao was proud of Dr. Long’s appearance, he was also a little uneasy. He leaned over and chimed in, “Oh, that time we played with the sandbag? I remember! Were you playing with the people from our department?”

Xu Lianlian said, “No, it was with the older students. I even bled that time.” She said with lingering fear, “You picked up several, and one of the older students wasn’t happy about it. He deliberately messed with you and hit your face with a sandbag. Your nose started bleeding immediately. It was Sun Yizhe and the others who took you to the infirmary.”

Fang Jing Yao vaguely remembered that something like this had happened. His mother felt sorry for him at the time and bought him five pounds of honey cake for breakfast.

Xu Lianlian said, “After you left, Long Yu led us to continue playing. We were all a little scared at the time, but Long Yu organized it very well and won back all the points. It was the last few times that Long Yu hit us. Although he didn’t score any points, he hit the person who bullied you on the head with a loud bang, and it swelled up into a huge bump!”

She gestured to Fang Jing Yao, who paused for a moment, then looked up at Long Yu and grinned, “Hey Long Yu, you used to do this kind of thing when you were little?”

Long Yu chuckled, “It’s been too long, I don’t even remember.”

Fang Jing Yao immediately said, “Then let’s eat fish, fish will help us replenish our strength.” He turned to Aunt Wei and smiled, “Auntie, how about Long Yu and I treat you to dinner tonight? There’s a place that makes really good Tianma fish head soup, shall we go and try it together?”

Aunt Wei said, “You can go by yourselves, I won’t go with you.”

Fang Jing Yao said, “No way, we came here specifically to invite you. Just tell us if there’s anything else we need to do. Once we’re done, we’ll go have dinner, okay?”

He was as warm and friendly as one of their own, and his cheerful demeanor was endearing. Aunt Wei couldn’t bring herself to be strict with him, and since the children had come to invite him so sincerely, she nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll call the furniture collector over there. While you two are here, I’ll have him come and take the things away today, so it’ll be peaceful.”

The furniture collectors arrived quickly. They were well-dressed and praised Aunt Wei’s old wooden furniture, saying it was well-maintained. They specially arranged for two vans to pick up the wooden sofa set, disassembled it, wrapped the edges and corners, and carried it in. They didn’t even use a truck, for fear of damaging it even slightly.

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