Re-engraving the Spring - Chapter 59

Facing the text message from Xia Zhiyan, Lu Ming ignored it without hesitation. He really didn’t have much affection for Xia Zhiyan.

After the death of Lu You, Lu Ming had taken a year off from school because of his poor mental state.

This was also how he met Xia Zhiyan, who was one year younger than him.

Back then, Xia Zhiyan was a thin and poor bastard who was bullied everywhere he went to. Lu Ming would help him out because subconsciously, he would help people who were similar to Chi Qiu.

In Lu Ming’s heart, the fruit left by his first love was fresh and sweet, and it was hard to fall off the branches. Even if he forgot Chi Qiu, he couldn’t really remove Chi Qiu from the depths of his mind.

Therefore, Xia Zhiyan was not the first person Lu Ming helped, nor the last.

Lu Ming just didn’t expect that Xia Zhiyan would stick to him since then.

In a foreign country where he was unfamiliar, Xia Zhiyan understood profoundly that he had to rely on others in order to make his life safe. So, he cheekily ignored Lu Ming’s indifference, ingratiated himself with Lu Ming and deliberately told others that he and Lu Ming were friends.

At first, Lu Ming warned him not to do so. But every time he saw Xia Zhiyan’s pitiful eyes after being beaten, Lu Ming stopped saying anything.

He acquiesced in poor Xia Zhiyan following behind him, although he never paid much attention to each other. But this kind acquiescence led to Xia Zhiyan’s wrong perception.

When Xia Zhiyan was twenty years old, he stole Lu You’s design draft and successfully became a student of a designer, changing his wretched life——Xia Zhiyan was a small ant on the ground;1fig: tiny individuals with no power once he had the opportunity to climb high, he would bite off all obstacles and try his best to tear in the desire.

After Lu Ming learned of this, he was not too surprised by his betrayal.

In his eyes, Xia Zhiyan had never been a ‘good person’.2i can’t figure out why the author quoting this good person

And this matter, in the beginning, Lu Ming was actually unaware of it.

It was Xia Zhiyan who naively thought that Lu Ming would not notice, let alone be angry with himself. So he actually had the audacity to let Lu Ming see a piece of Lu You’s work that he had altered.

After Xia Zhiyan’s alteration, it had turned into a different look, but Lu Ming still recognized the prototype at a glance.

In that instant, Lu Ming’s calm emotions were ignited like a fire.

Xia Zhiyan, however, confidently admired his work and said, “Does it look good? Teacher said that he wants to show my work to the public. When the time comes, more people will get to know me, right?” He was looking forward to it, his greedy heart stirring: “Lu Ming, I can finally be your friend openly and honestly.”

“…”

Lu Ming looked at the shameless Xia Zhiyan. His heart should be full of disgust, but his stiff face did not show the slightest emotion, and his numb heart was unable to reveal his anger.

The endless repression had caused his tolerance for Xia Zhiyan to shatter one by one and turn into powder.

He looked at Xia Zhiyan indifferently. After looking at the other party who thought he didn’t notice and was complacent, Lu Ming didn’t hesitate to destroy the finished product, effortlessly tearing it in half.

Xia Zhiyan’s face suddenly turned pale.

Lu Ming’s throat was dry and hoarse: “There is one less design draft in the attic. You took it.”

“Lu Ming, I…”

Lu Ming interrupted him. His face was covered with clouds as he said coldly: “Give it back to me.”

“Lu Ming, I…”

“Give it back to me!” Once again, Lu Ming interrupted him with red eyes, almost growling. It could be seen that Lu Ming was trying his best to suppress his emotions. Otherwise, in the next second, it seemed that he would smash Xia Zhiyan into ten thousand pieces.

Xia Zhiyan saw such a terrifying Lu Ming for the first time, and he was so scared that his hands and feet went numb. He hurriedly found the design draft he had hidden and handed it back to Lu Ming with shaking hands.

Without waiting for his apology, Lu Ming said in a deep voice: “Do not use the things in this design draft again. Otherwise, I won’t let you go.”

This was his last warning to Xia Zhiyan.

Since then, he had drawn a boundary with Xia Zhiyan.

The memories of Xia Zhiyan were not pleasant. Inside the car, Lu Ming, who had taken the medicine, gradually calmed down. His collar was slightly wet and sweating. He lowered his head slightly, closed his eyes, and didn’t have the energy to worry about other things.

When the car arrived at the parking lot on the first floor, Lu Ming received a call from Chi Qiu.

Lu Ming’s face was not very good. He looked at the phone and paused for a while before picking it up: “Hello.”

“Are you busy?” Chi Qiu’s voice sounded careful and well behaved, “If you are busy, let’s talk about it tonight. It’s not something important.”

“Not busy, you say.” Lu Ming listened to Chi Qiu’s warm and gentle voice, and calmed down.

Only then did Chi Qiu feel relieved, and his tone gradually rose: “Auntie Zhang said that the roses are almost dry, and I put all the successful ones in a vase with her. She said that they are very beautiful! It’s just that some of them may not be hung properly, so the petals withered…”

It was obviously a few very boring words, but Lu Ming listened carefully and even answered: “It’s okay, next time make more good ones. What else?”

“There’s nothing else, I’m just so happy that I couldn’t help but want to tell you sooner.” Chi Qiu pursed up the corners of his mouth and repeated on the phone, “Auntie Zhang said the dried flowers we made were really beautiful…Lu Ming, do you want to see the pictures? I can ask Auntie Zhang to take one for me and send it to you. Do you want to see it?”

It was a question on Chi Qiu’s lips, but in reality, the sentence that fell into Lu Ming’s ears was a sound of attachment and anticipation, as if he was acting like a spoiled child, saying, “Take a look!”

You want to see it, right?

Right!

Lu Ming was helpless; he said in a gentle tone: “En, want to see it.”

“Okay oh, you wait for me!” The phone was immediately hung up, and a few minutes later, Lu Ming received a short video on his phone.

In the video, Chi Qiu hugged a bunch of dried roses and smiled shyly. He asked Auntie Zhang several times: “Has you taken the picture.”

Auntie Zhang seemed to be doing it on purpose: “Not yet. You smile again, yes, smile a little more happily.”

“I’m smiling.”

“Oh, shot shot, 123 cheese.”

Chi Qiu foolishly said ‘Yeah’. He probably didn’t know how to take photos properly.

“Auntie Zhang, did you take a lot of pictures? You help me choose the best one to send to Lu Ming, otherwise he will laugh at me.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll send it to Mr. Lu for you…”

The video ended here, and Lu Ming rewatched it for three times as if there was no one around, then he put away his phone and went up the elevator with Xu Ling and the others. About ten seconds later, Lu Ming inexplicably smiled, and the gloom in his heart was swept away.

The driver who was following him knew for the first time that his boss could actually smile. He glanced at Xu Ling, looking so shocked.3in raw it’s actually ‘glanced at Xu Ling with million of shocks’ but in English this sentence just sounds so weird. But I still wanna write this footnote to tell you guys that is how shocked the driver was (because I feel like so shocked just doesn’t explain his reaction hahahah

Unfortunately, Xu Ling was a person who had seen such big scenes. He nodded calmly and made a mouth gesture to the driver, saying silently, “Showing love.”

Just get used to it.

End of summer.

Auntie Zhang asked the gardener to plant a few jasmine flowers in the front yard. Surrounded by green leaves, the snow-white flowers huddle together leisurely. A few bloomed early, and in the early morning, they were full of crystal water droplets. The fragrance swayed with the breeze.

As soon as Auntie Zhang stood in the front yard, she felt relaxed and happy. She tended to them carefully, and the scene surrounded by plants was like a fairy tale. However, a high-profile sports car appeared untimely. The man in the car honked, scaring off a petal of jasmine.

Auntie Zhang’s heart trembled. She hastily picked up the flower petals and put them in her pocket. She looked outside and saw that it was the second young master of the Ji family, Ji Yanchen, whom she had not seen for a long time, had come.

Lu Ming inside the house had heard the sound and put down the tableware in his hands.

But a moment later, Ji Yanchen swaggered into the room: “Good morning, just had breakfast?”

Lu Ming had almost finished eating, he took a sip of warm water from the glass: “Chi Qiu is changing clothes, you wait a moment.”

Ji Yanchen made an ‘OK’ gesture, treating the Lu house as if it were his own home, sitting on the sofa with his butt, drinking tea and eating fruit.

Seeing his condescending appearance, Lu Ming thought over and over again. Like a parent, he asked worriedly, “Which mall are you going to go to today?”

“The one owned by my auntie’s nephew’s mother’s cousin’s family.” Ji Yanchen peeled off a grape indifferently and put it into his mouth with a sting. It was so sweet that he raised his hand and drank half a cup of tea, “Lu Ming, your grapes are really sweet, what kind of grape is this?”

Lu Ming didn’t want to talk to him about grape varieties, he asked, “If it’s convenient to tell me, what are you going to do together with Chi Qiu?”

“Take him to a bar to find a hot guy and play at a big disco.” Ji Yanchen’s ears perked up and said provocatively, “Do you mind?”

Lu Ming knew Chi Qiu and knew that Chi Qiu didn’t like going to noisy places: “He won’t go.”

Ji Yanchen shrugged his shoulders. He tapped his finger on the coffee table, then picked up a bunch of grapes and ate it: “That’s not necessarily true.”

Lu Ming calmly picked up a glass of water and took another sip of warm water, then he put the glass down and indifferently straightened his tie: “In fact, I don’t like to joke very much. Second Young Master Ji, I hope you can stop poking fun at me.”

“I’m not teasing you, I’m telling the truth. But, you don’t be too strict. Chi Qiu used to hang out with me like this. Auntie Chi is very comfortable with me.” Ji Yanchen said nonchalantly, “You should thank me, you’re so busy you don’t have time to take him out for a walk, I’ll help you ah~”

Really ungrateful.

“…”

But obviously Ji Yanchen did not intend to make it easy for Lu Ming to know where exactly they were planning to go today.

Lu Ming looked at him and changed his approach, “I’m not busy with work today. When you guys are done, you send me a location in advance, I’ll pick up Chi Qiu.”

“No, you can go do your work with peace of mind. I’m driving today and will send him back.” Ji Yanchen had a bad plan in his heart but he was afraid of Chi Qiu’s anger. He began to eat grapes without spitting grape skins, trying to explain the matter: “The exact address is the shopping mall my aunt’s nephew’s mother’s cousin’s family had just opened. I’m not talking nonsense. You can’t complain to Chi Qiu. ”

“…I won’t, I’m not that boring.”

Under the 100% defense of Ji Yanchen, Lu Ming still couldn’t know where they went out today.

In the past, Lu Ming would never ask a word more. He had always felt that Chi Qiu had Chi Qiu’s social circle, he had his own, and in this regard, two didn’t have to overlap or interfere with each other.

But now he had changed.

Lu Ming believed that Chi Qiu and himself were partners who wanted to spend their lives together, so it was normal to tell him if he wanted to go out. But since Chi Qiu told him about going out last night, he had been faltering and couldn’t tell where the location was, only telling him that he was going to accompany Ji Yanchen to buy something today.

It was strange.

Lu Ming was not at ease, but in the end, he gave up intervening. An important company meeting this morning caused him to compromise first. He hurriedly went out and slowly frowned as he looked at Ji Yanchen’s unusually eye-catching sports car.

He sent a message to his personal assistant: [Find out, Ji Yanchen, the second young master of Ji Group, what is the name of the shopping mall owned by his auntie’s nephew’s mother’s cousin’s family, and exactly where is it located].

Immediately after, he sent another: [Also, check if there is a concert closer in time in the near future].

The assistant’s heart: Can you let me do some human work? I TM4ta me – fucking/freaking be a love assistant for you two???

The assistant on the surface: [Yes, Mr. Lu! You and Mr. Chi have such an enviable relationship]

The author has something to say:
Notice! Not a stand-in! Lu Ming never had feelings for Xia Zhiyan! And Lu Ming is sick, how could he find a substitute while he’s sick! If there is no Chi Qiu, he will be alone for life! Ahem, the specific role of Xia Zhiyan will be explained in the follow-up plot. I won’t spoil it for now~ The only thing that can be said is that Xia Zhiyan is indeed a character that cannot be described in words! It is also one of the small reasons for the break up, but the big reason for the break up is not because of him at all!

1fig: tiny individuals with no power2i can’t figure out why the author quoting this good person3in raw it’s actually ‘glanced at Xu Ling with million of shocks’ but in English this sentence just sounds so weird. But I still wanna write this footnote to tell you guys that is how shocked the driver was (because I feel like so shocked just doesn’t explain his reaction hahahah4ta me – fucking/freaking