The Tang Family’s Seven Os - Chapter 151

When Tang Liu Yuan sat in Xia Cheng Lang’s car, Xia Cheng Lang’s mouth was smiling until he almost couldn’t close it. He helped Tang Liu Yuan adjust the angle of the seat and fasten the seatbelt at the same time, and he tossed around for a while before he was done.

Tang Liu Yuan glanced back at the pile of things in the back seat of the car, including cat food, dried fish, cat toys……and all kinds of things that kittens could use were basically bought, he asked a little speechlessly: “Bought for Xiao Nai Cha?”

“En!” Xia Cheng Lang nodded proudly, “I spent all afternoon choosing them, I don’t know if Xiao Nai Cha will like them.”

Tang Liu Yuan inexplicably felt that he and Xia Cheng Lang were now like a separated divorced couple, and that Xia Cheng Lang, the old father, was so excited to see his child, whom he hadn’t seen for years. He silently withdrew his voice and decided to end this evocative conversation, turning his head to look out of the window.

Xia Cheng Lang started the car and glanced at him with the steering wheel in his hand, his voice still holding back some excitement, “Anyway since we’re on the way, why don’t we go and see Grandma Wang?”

Tang Liu Yuan glanced at him coldly and asked: “How do you know it’s on the way?”

He hadn’t told Xia Cheng Lang his current address since he got into the car.

“……” Xia Cheng Lang felt a burst of guilt, he couldn’t possibly tell Tang Liu Yuan that Chen She had already investigated his home address right?

Tang Liu Yuan raised his eyebrows slightly, his voice not distinguishing between happiness and anger, but implicitly threatening, “You’d better tell the truth, and everything else together.”

How could Xia Cheng Lang still dare to cheat Tang Liu Yuan now, so he has to confess. Incidentally, he betrayed Chen She without hesitation, “Actually, before I returned to the country, Chen She had already helped me investigate your address…”

“What else?” Tang Liu Yuan’s voice was still calm.

“……Over the years, he would occasionally secretly take a few photos of you and send them to me……”

Xia Cheng Lang finished speaking intermittently and he hurriedly looked up and caught a glimpse of Tang Liu Yuan. After seeing that Tang Liu Yuan did not care much, the expression on his face did not seem to show signs of anger and remained insipid, only then put his heart down, his shoulders also relaxed a bit.

“It turns out that the police have such a wide range of business, including private detectives. How about I personally go to the police station tomorrow and send him a banner1

Something usually given to people who does good stuff, it usually has poetic praises embroidered on it.?” Tang Liu Yuan suddenly spoke in cold derision, he was smiling, but his mouth curved in an icy tone.

Xia Cheng Lang’s shoulders tensed up again, alarm bells ringing in his heart, and he hurriedly smiled curtly, “No need, no need, these are all things he should do, he’s also doing it for our happy and bright future.”

Tang Liu Yuan gave a cold, soft hmph, he now finally understood what was going on all these years when he would occasionally feel like someone was peeking at him from the corner.

After a long time, Xia Cheng Lang stole a cautious glance at him and asked in a small voice: “Are we still going to Grandma Wang’s?”

“En.” Tang Liu Yuan responded carelessly, yawning softly and closing his eyes to rest against the back of his chair.

He had done experiments for several days in a row and although he didn’t go to the research institute last night, he had tossed and turned all night without sleeping, and only in the early hours of the morning did he finally drift off to sleep for a while, so he was now a little sleepy.

When Xia Cheng Lang turned his head to look at him, Tang Liu Yuan had already fallen asleep, his cheek resting on the back of the chair, looking innocent and defenceless. Xia Cheng Lang couldn’t help but feel soft in his heart. Taking advantage of the red light, he took a thin blanket and carefully covered Tang Liu Yuan with it.

Tang Liu Yuan took off his lab coat after work and wore a beige sweater. The softness of the sweater made him less cold and his whole silhouette softened. The sunlight outside the window projected on his face, and his eyelashes danced with a halo, his sleeping face looked serene and quiet.

Xia Cheng Lang couldn’t help but move closer, his gaze falling on his long eyelashes, then moving down to the tip of his upturned nose, and finally fixing his gaze on his moist lips, looking straight at them for a long time before he couldn’t help……reaching out and tapping his finger on his white cheek.

It’s smooth and soft.

When Xia Cheng Lang withdrew his finger, his heart beat wildly. He actually wanted to steal a kiss, but unfortunately, while he had the heart of a thief, he didn’t have the guts.

After a while, he recovered from the tender touch from his fingertips and started the car, the red light had passed some time ago and the car behind him had honked several times.

He drove the car steadily and slowly all the way, his speed basically on par with the motorbikes on the side of the road, one of which gave him a contemptuous middle finger as it drove past him.

Xia Cheng Lang pursed his lips and returned a pitying look back to the man, who he thought must be jealous that he had a wife.

When he parked his car near the school, it was just in time for school to be dismissed, the students swarmed out with youthful vigour. The bell was a little shrill, Tang Liu Yuan heard a little noise and woke up rubbing his eyes.

He opened his eyes and saw the scene outside the window. He slowly realised that he was in the car, and the thin blanket slipped off his body as he moved. He reached out to pull it off, and was stunned to see the thin blanket, and looked up faintly at Xia Cheng Lang.

He was silent for a moment, turned his head to look at Grandma Wang’s stall and asked: “We’ve reached?”

“En.” Xia Cheng Lang helped him remove the thin blanket from his body, and Tang Liu Yuan’s voice had a little bit of the raspy softness of someone who had just woken up, and he almost lost half of his soul listening to it.

Although there were more and more milk tea chain shops now, they all seemed to have a little less flavour than Grandma Wang’s, so Grandma Wang’s milk tea was still widely sought after, and the students at Huang Han High School all loved her self-made milk tea.

The two of them stayed quietly in the car for a while, waiting for the crowd to disperse before they got out of the car and went over to buy milk tea.

Grandma Wang immediately smiled when she saw Tang Liu Yuan. Tang Liu Yuan came here frequently over the years. Sometimes he helped her sell milk tea, and sometimes he gave her a simple health check. Now that she is old, she always suffers from some minor body ailments and is usually too lazy to go to the hospital, so Tang Liu Yuan often comes to have a look.

When her eyes moved to Xia Cheng Lang, she looked at him carefully for a moment before recognising him and asked with some excitement: “Is that Xiao Xia?”

“It’s me, Grandma Wang, it’s been a long time.” Xia Cheng Lang cracked a smile in response, in reply to Grandma Wang, and also to Tang Liu Yuan.

The smile on Grandma Wang’s face widened as she looked at Xia Cheng Lang with a gaze full of relief, “I heard from Liu Yuan that you went abroad, good boy, you’re finally back, are you still going to leave in future?”

“No.” Xia Cheng Lang looked at Tang Liu Yuan and replied loudly.

“That’s good.” Grandma Wang looked at him and then at Tang Liu Yuan and said with a smile on her face: “After all these years, it turns out that you two are still together, how wonderful, how wonderful.”

Grandma Wang said ‘how wonderful’ many times in a row. She hadn’t heard Tang Liu Yuan mention Xia Cheng Lang again all these years, and thought they had separated, secretly feeling sorry for them. She still remembers how good the two children were then, and they came to buy2卖 (mài): actually means sell, I think the author made a typo and it’s supposed to be 买 (mǎi) = buy. milk tea every evening, almost inseparable. Now, she is relieved to see that they are still together.

Xia Cheng Lang responded in a full voice, while Tang Liu Yuan stood by and pursed his lips, not denying it.

Grandma Wang nagged for a long time that it’s not easy for two people to be together, to get along well, and so on. After the exhortation, she remembered to make milk tea. She looked at Tang Liu Yuan and asked with some expectation, “Liu Yuan, do you want to drink milk tea today?”

“He does.” Before Tang Liu Yuan could say anything, Xia Cheng Lang answered before he could.

Looking at Grandma Wang’s charitable eyes, Tang Liu Yuan pursed his lips and nodded gently.

Grandma Wang suddenly laughed. Over the years, Tang Liu Yuan always said that he grew up and refused to drink the milk tea made by her again. She was lost for a long time. Now she is naturally happy to hear that Tang Liu Yuan is finally willing to drink the milk tea made by her again.

Grandma Wang was in a good mood and took her milk tea making extra seriously. She made two cups of milk tea that were fragrant and delicious.

Xia Cheng Lang and Tang Liu Yuan helped Grandma Wang to close up the stall before leaving. They wanted to take Grandma Wang home, but she lived nearby and was just a few steps away, so she waved her hands and refused to let them send her.

The evening breeze was a little chilly, but Xia Cheng Lang and Tang Liu Yuan were in no hurry to go home, but walked slowly. They used to walk this road when they ended school, but now that they are walking here again, they feel a different feeling in their hearts.

Xia Cheng Lang took a look at the school. After all the students had left, the gate at the entrance had been closed, he was a little regretful, he had wanted to go inside the school to have a look, “Have you been back to school over the years?”

“No.” Tang Liu Yuan lowered his eyes and replied in an extremely faint voice, apart from the day when he looked at his results, he had never taken a step inside Huang Han High School over the years, and every time he came to visit Grandma Wang, he always left in a hurry afterwards.

Xia Cheng Lang nodded and took a sip of his milk tea, feeling relieved through and through. He gently bumped his arm against Tang Liu Yuan’s and asked with some pleasure in his voice: “Why didn’t you deny it just now?”

Just now when Grandma Wang said that they had been together all these years, he was still sweating, thinking that Tang Liu Yuan would deny it, but he didn’t expect that Tang Liu Yuan would say nothing. He couldn’t help but feel happy, and he was still a little excited now.

Tang Liu Yuan put the milk tea to his mouth, slowly opened his mouth to take a sip, the familiar taste instantly spread in his mouth, the sweet fragrance makes people feel a little nostalgic, he paused for a moment before saying: “I just didn’t want Grandma Wang to be disappointed.”

“Oh……” Xia Cheng Lang lowered his eyebrows, while Grandma Wang wasn’t disappointed, he was a little disappointed by this reason, but he couldn’t help but feel happy again when he saw Tang Liu Yuan drink the milk tea.

The two went back to the car, this time driving towards Tang Liu Yuan’s home.

Five years had passed, and Tang Liu Yuan had changed his place of residence, but the house was still as simple and bright as it had been back then, and at a glance, it looked very cosy.

When they arrived at the house, Xiao Nai Cha was sleeping on the cushion, its paws clinging onto the cushion.

Xia Cheng Lang walked over and put the things he had bought for Xiao Nai Cha next to it, then knelt down and carefully touched Xiao Nai Cha’s tail. Xiao Nai Cha looked bigger than it did in the photo. Tang Liu Yuan took good care of it all these years at first glance. Its soft fuzz moved slightly with each breath, and it was as cute as in those days. Xia Cheng Lang couldn’t help but smile.

Tang Liu Yuan stood there and watched them for a while, then turned and went to the kitchen, and when he came out again, he had a plate of fruit in his hands.

Xia Cheng Lang couldn’t help smiling when he looked at the fruits that were washed clean and moist. Back then, when he went to Tang Liu Yuan’s home to do his homework, Tang Liu Yuan also did the same, and prepared a plate of fruit for him every day. It turned out that Tang Liu Yuan still remembered that he liked to eat fruits.

The bottom of the plate touched the glass on the coffee table and made a crisp sound, Xiao Nai Cha’s ears twitched and he woke up.

When Xiao Nai Cha opened its eyes and saw Xia Cheng Lang, it first ducked back cautiously with round eyes, staring intently at Xia Cheng Lang as if he were an intruder.

When Xia Cheng Lang reached out to pet him, it seemed frightened and scratched the back of Xia Cheng Lang’s hand with a claw.

Xia Cheng Lang froze for a moment as he looked at the scratch on the back of his hand, and couldn’t help but reach out and nudge Xiao Nai Cha’s head, laughing: “You heartless little one, I can’t believe you don’t remember me.”

Tang Liu Yuan took one look at the wound on his hand and went into the room to look for the first aid box without saying a word.

Xiao Nai Cha probably knew that it had caused trouble, so it looked at Xia Cheng Lang timidly and meowed twice, and when it saw that Xia Cheng Lang had no intention of hurting it, it finally behaved more honestly.

Xia Cheng Lang couldn’t help but smile, stroking its back soothingly, lowering his head to its ear and whispering in a gentle voice: “Cha Cha, thank you for accompanying Liu Yuan for me all these years.”

1

Something usually given to people who does good stuff, it usually has poetic praises embroidered on it.2卖 (mài): actually means sell, I think the author made a typo and it’s supposed to be 买 (mǎi) = buy.