Re-engraving the Spring - Chapter 13
Lu Ming was a man who did what he said he would do.
From this day on, he came home from work every day on time. If he worked overtime, he would call ahead to let Chi Qiu know.
The time had come to Friday in the blink of an eye.
It was a rare occasion for Chi Qiu to attend someone’s birthday party, so he couldn’t help feeling nervous. He changed early into the light-colored suit that Aunt Zhang had picked out for him and got ready to go out.
Lu Ming came out of the bedroom, wearing the usual dark suit with an unsmiling expression on his face.
Considering that he might have some wine in the evening, Lu Ming brought Xiao Yan as his driver.
Along the way, Chi Qiu was always straightening his tie, visibly nervous.
He said to Lu Ming: “The last time I wore a suit was when we had a wedding.”
Lu Ming frowned, remembering that on their wedding day, not many people were there, a total of two dozen people came.
“Lu Yinliang’s birthday party have much more people than the number of people attending our wedding.” Chi Qiu laughed, pretending to be relaxed.
He had never seen any big scene, and could not help but be afraid that he would say the wrong thing and do the wrong thing. He was like a schoolboy who was giving a speech on stage for the first time, and was distracted.
Lu Ming said: “Very nervous?”
Chi Qiu shook his head and made an excuse: “Actually, I’m not used to wearing a tie, it’s a little tight.”
Lu Ming helped him sort it out and loosened the tie knot: “The people coming today, although most of them are relatives and friends on both sides, but the occasion should not be too casual. If you feel uncomfortable later, let’s leave early.”
“Is it okay to leave early?”
“Just show up.” Lu Ming didn’t intend to help Lu Yinliang in his career. He was just pretending, not wanting to make it difficult for everyone.
He thought about that year when Zhen Zhen dragged Lu Yinliang to the door to provoke them, Lu Ming’s mother happened to be sick.
Lu Ming would probably never forget that day, Lu Yanliang’s fearful eyes and Zhen Zhen’s harsh scream. Scene after scene, sound after sound, the first bud of knot fell in his young heart.
“What a thing you are! No wonder, no wonder Rongtian is disgusted with you!”
It was as if Zhen Zhen saw a monster hiding in the darkness. Disgust and loathing burst out in the rotting blood plasma, devouring a patient who had been mercilessly forced to the bottom by Lu Rongtian.
When Lu Ming was a teenager, there were bloody scratches and teeth marks imprinted on his arms. He raised his head and saw his half-brother Lu Yinliang, holding the wall, vomiting from the smell in the house. The dirty vomit flowed along the floor and outside the house, winding into a giant black lizard.
Climbing in his memory.
Lu Ming couldn’t think of this. His head was buzzing; something squeezed and swelled in his temple. It hurt so much that he clenched his back teeth.
At the age of seventeen, he accompanied his mother, who was finally divorced, to a foreign country for medical treatment and recuperation, and unfortunately had an accident. He got a big wound on his head, shed a lot of blood, had several stitches, and recuperated there for a long time before he recovered.
And during that time, Lu Ming’s mother died a tragic death. When Lu Ming returned to his temporary home abroad, he was greeted by a sight he would never forget.
The smell of blood wrapped around him and his mother’s eyes were like ropes from hell, strangling Lu Ming’s neck and forcing him to look at them.
The bag of medicine in Lu Ming’s hand fell to the ground and the bottle rolled into the corner. He knelt on both knees, unable to make a sound…
The news quickly spread back to China.
Assassination? Love killing? Homicide? Vengeance murder? In time, the case turned into a staggering existence.
When Elder Lu heard about it, he became very angry. He called out the trembling Lu Rongtian to scold him, and then escorted Lu Rongtian to the foreign country without stopping.
Unfortunately, Lu Ming’s maternal grandfather did not welcome their arrival, let alone accept their apologies.
“They said that it was my daughter who opened the door herself and let that man into the house.” The old man spoke tremblingly, his eyes covered with tears, “Why would she do that?”
He looked at Lu Rongtian in front of him with hatred, saying one word at a time while gritting his teeth: “You were the one who said that even if she was born with defects, you would be loyal and loving to her. But you betrayed her, cheated on her, tortured her! Let her live without hope…”
Lu Rongtian, who was pressed to kneel on the ground by Elder Lu, didn’t dare to say a word.
Because of this incident, Elder Lu has removed all his positions in the company. At this moment, the benefits he gained from climbing on Lu Ming’s mother at the beginning were stripped alive.
He regretted and finally admitted his mistake in tears, hoping that the two old men would give him another chance.
The person was dead, but he was talking about ‘opportunity’.
Elder Lu hit him with a cane, trembling with anger that couldn’t even spit out the word ‘animal’.
Lu Ming’s grandfather looked at the cowardly and greedy Lu Rongtian in front of him and closed his eyes: “Go away and never appear in front of me.”
The only thing he asked for was to leave behind Lu Ming, who was still a minor and his grandson who was almost carved out of the same mold as his daughter.
Lu Ming remembered very clearly that his grandfather’s hand kept trembling. The sorrow of losing his daughter in his old age pressed him like a collapsing mountain. He held Lu Ming’s hand and sobbed uncontrollably.
In his old age, he was afraid that Lu Ming would also embark on the same path of no return as his daughter, so he did not hesitate to break the relationship between Lu Ming and Lu Rongtian.
For this reason, nearly nine years, before the death of his maternal grandfather, Lu Ming did not return home once.
…
At the red light, Xiao Yan stepped on the brakes slowly.
Lu Ming closed his eyes and took a nap, frowning deeply.
The air was humid today, but the temperature was comfortable. It was only in the afternoon that a rainstorm fell, wetting the city, and now, the sky showed a clear bright color. There was a rainbow that was neither thick nor light.
The atmosphere in the car was unexpectedly dreary, and Xiao Yan dropped the window a little.
Chi Qiu habitually held Lu Ming’s hand and found that Lu Ming’s palm was sweating.
He tried to call him, “Lu Ming?”
“…”
“Lu Ming, what’s wrong with you?”
Lu Ming opened his eyes tiredly, and Chi Qiu’s hand was already running along his arm and found his forehead. After making sure that Lu Ming did not have a fever, he asked worriedly, “Are you not feeling well? Your palms are so sweaty and your forehead is too, but your body temperature seems normal.”
“I’m fine.” Lu Ming tried to calm down and forced himself to stop thinking about the fragments that he had hidden deep in his memory.
Chi Qiu held his hand tightly with one hand, the other scrambled to caress his shoulder: “Want some water?”
Lu Ming gestured for Chi Qiu to sit back and said again, “I’m fine.”
Xiao Yan asked, “Mr. Lu, do you need me to turn around and go to the hospital?”
“No need.”
Lu Ming took out an unopened bottle of mineral water and a bubble pack of medicine from the storage box in the car, took out one, and swallowed it with cold water. His headache was an old problem; as long as Lu Ming’s emotions were strong or emotionally unstable, it would happen frequently.
A psychiatrist who was abroad once said that Lu Ming would develop emotional apathy. The main reason was that his body might be protecting itself.
Only when all emotions were hidden and buried deep, Lu Ming wouldn’t suffer.
Hearing the sound of him peeling the capsule from the aluminum foil, Chi Qiu beside him asked anxiously, “Are you taking the medicine? Lu Ming, what’s wrong with you? Let’s, let’s go to the hospital!”
Lu Ming’s eyes were closed and his heart was beating fast. He was in no mood or time to calm the worried Chi Qiu. He wiped his face hard and waited for the medicine to take effect: “Chi Qiu, be quiet.”
A few minutes passed and the temperature of Lu Ming’s palm gradually normalized.
He lifted his head and saw Chi Qiu turned pale, pinching his own fingers in a helpless manner. He keenly heard the subtle sound of friction between the fabric of Lu Ming’s suit and jerked his head around. He was about to speak but shut up passively.
The corners of Chi Qiu’s eyes were slightly red, and if Lu Ming still didn’t say anything, he would probably be so anxious that he would drop tears.
“Chi Qiu.”
“I’m here!”
Lu Ming held his hand, then let go: “I’m already fine, don’t worry.”
Only then Chi Qiu hurriedly grabbed his hand that was about to recover, held it tightly, rubbed it with little force, as if to warm him up. Chi Qiu opened his mouth with a cry, probably really frightened: “What is wrong with you?”
“A headache, probably because I didn’t sleep well last night.” He casually told a lie.
But Lu Ming’s behavior just now didn’t look like an ordinary headache. He even had medicine in his car. Obviously, it wasn’t a problem that happened because he didn’t sleep well. Seeing that he didn’t want to say anything, Chi Qiu hesitated and swallowed back what he was about to say.
“We’re not going to the birthday party, okay?” Chi Qiu turned his mouth and said, “Let’s go home, you have a good rest tonight.”
However, the car had already pulled into the entrance of the hotel where the birthday party was held.
“It’s already here.”
Lu Ming did not want to let this small matter affect the business affairs, he told Chi Qiu to rest assured. In order to calm Chi Qiu’s emotion, Lu Ming gently touched the corner of his eye with his fingertips and wiped away some tears.
“I’m really fine.” He said, “Let’s rest in the car for a while before we go down.” Otherwise, with Chi Qiu’s expression, whoever saw it would mistakenly think that the two of them just ‘finished a fight’.
Chi Qiu rubbed his eyes: “Okay.”
…
Twenty minutes passed.
Lu Ming got out of the car and took a big step to the side of Chi Qiu and opened the door. He protected the roof of the car with one hand, let Chi Qiu hold his other hand and took Chi Qiu out of the back seat.
Xiao Yan, under the professional direction of the hotel attendant, drove the car to the corresponding parking lot, where there was a pantry dedicated to the chauffeur’s rest.
On this side, the attendant politely took them into the corresponding elevator after learning their intention.
The birthday banquet was arranged on the fifth floor, in a Western-style buffet.
When the two arrived, there were already many people inside. Lu Yinliang was the first to see them and went up to greet Lu Ming: “Ge! Qiu ge! What took you guys so long to get here, we’ve been starting for a while.” His tone was so enthusiastic that if he didn’t know it, he might even mistakenly think that the two brothers were in a good relationship. .
“Happy birthday, this is the gift Chi Qiu and I picked out for you.” Lu Ming even sent his blessing with a fake smile. He took out the prepared gift box and handed it to Lu Yinliang.
Chi Qiu didn’t even know that Lu Ming had prepared a present.
Lu Yinliang opened the box without hesitation and was pleasantly surprised, “I’ve liked this watch for a long time, thank you, ge! Thank you Qiu ge!” He turned his head, pointed inside, and said heartily, “Go in, we are all acquaintances today.”
