Chapter 16 Buds about to bloom
rustling…

The blade cut through the apple, leaving a long trail of peel.

Little Yangzhi occasionally sobbed, but it was quickly covered up.

After venting his emotions, Yang Zhi felt ashamed. He lowered his head and looked at the floor, wishing he could find a crack to crawl into.

Fortunately, the lights in the living room were not on, and only the light from the TV was flickering, so he didn’t look even more embarrassed.

“Look, isn’t this brother awesome?”

Xu Mingyuan carefully picked up one end of the peel, and a long string of peels broke slightly in the air, trembling and showing off.

“sharp……”

Yang Zhi cleared his throat and nodded.

“Here.” Xu Mingyuan put the apple in her hand and stroked her soft hair. “Since you call me brother, I won’t ignore you. Let’s go back to the room after eating.”

“Um……”

Yang Zhi nodded and ate in small bites.

Xu Mingyuan smiled and rubbed her head, wiped it with an apple, and sat aside to eat it.

I don’t know how long I chewed it, but when I chewed the apple seeds, Yang Zhi came to his senses.

I have thought a lot these days, both good and bad, but I just can’t help wanting to cry.

She just kept crying without saying anything, and Xu Mingyuan just listened quietly without asking any questions.

After Yang Zhi had cried enough, she calmed down. She secretly glanced at Xu Mingyuan who was sitting nearby watching TV, and felt much more at ease.

In fact, I am not very familiar with Xu Mingyuan. When I first came to this family, this brother always scared me.

But he is the closest person to me after all.

Yang Zhi still remembers that when she was a child, her mother would lock her in the rental house because she was disobedient. Once there was a power outage and she didn’t dare to sleep for a whole day. Later she became obedient.

Very obedient.

“Brother, I’m going back.” Yang Zhi said in a low voice.

“Ah.”

Seeing Xu Mingyuan nod, Yang Zhi, holding the fruit core in her hand, was too embarrassed to throw it into the trash can in front of him, so she just walked back to the room with light steps.

Xu Mingyuan wanted to take Xiao Yangzhi out for a walk on Sunday, but she made the excuse that she had too much homework.

Seeing that Xiao Yangzhi’s face was flushed and she was trying hard to hide it under her hair, I knew that she was thin-skinned, so I didn’t force her.

Actually, Xu Mingyuan had a lot of things to deal with. Xu Jun was sentenced to three and a half years, and with the reduction in sentence, it would be at least two years. He had to pay the fine while he could spare some money, and also find a lawyer to ask what to do.

Today is Sunday and the court is closed, but you should be able to find a lawyer.

The family was still short of a computer, but Xu Mingyuan was too lazy to buy one himself. No matter how high the configuration of the computers at that time was, they would not be as good as the computers that would be eliminated twenty years later. It would be enough for him to just ask Cheng Liang for one.

He went to the law firm and asked for a business card from the front desk. He called and was told that the maximum reduction was three months. Xu Mingyuan sighed.

After all, he is the old man’s only child and his biological father. Even if Xu Mingyuan has complaints about what he did, he can’t just ignore it.

“What are you doing? Are you embarrassed? Damn, were you beaten by several people?”

Seeing that Cheng Liang was wearing a hat and covering his face with his arms, Xu Mingyuan went up and pulled his arms down, then saw his bruised and swollen face.

The cheekbone on his left face had turned purple, there was a swelling on his right eye, and his cheek was also bulging, and it looked like he had been beaten pretty hard.

“Cao! My father beat him up! Bah!”

Cheng Liang spat forcefully, his eyes filled with hatred and resentment.

“Didn’t you call your dad to explain?”

Xu Mingyuan was a little puzzled. When he returned to Nanxi yesterday, he also met Cheng Dahai. He was a fat man who was always smiling. He looked kind and did not look like a gangster big brother.

Besides, his useless son has at least some promise, so why did he start to fight with him?

“I got into an argument with my dad yesterday after drinking, but I didn’t hit him.” Cheng Liang felt a little embarrassed.

“Niubi, a filial son.”

Xu Mingyuan gave a thumbs up. This kid is really brave. He looks like a stick, but he dares to fight with the big and strong Cheng Dahai. It seems that he has become arrogant because he has been called “Mr. Cheng” these days.

“Let’s go to the main store first. There are spare machines in the warehouse. We can get you a new one.”

“That’s fine. Hey, can you still go to Jiangcheng to watch over the office tomorrow?”

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing serious. Who among the young people hasn’t been injured?”

Cheng Liang gritted his teeth and gasped, calling for him to take a taxi.

This kid is shameless. He was beaten many times when he was a child, but he is not afraid of others looking at him strangely.

The two of them arrived at Longda Internet Cafe No. 1. Cheng Liang even secretly asked if his father was there, and then he casually asked the network administrator to prepare a computer for him to take away.

Today is a crowded Sunday, and there was a lot of shouting and noise in the Internet cafe. Xu Mingyuan didn’t want to go in, so Cheng Liang pulled two stools and sat outside, smoking.

“Xu Mingyuan! You, you, you! You are such a bad boy! How dare you smoke?!”

The angry and unbelievable shout startled Xu Mingyuan so much that even the cigarette ash fell onto his legs.

When he turned his head to look, he saw a short-haired girl running towards him and kicking him hard in the calf.

Xu Mingyuan was quick-witted and dodged sideways, allowing her to kick the leg of the stool.

The short-haired girl used a lot of strength. It was the tail end of the autumn heat and the girl was wearing thin white canvas shoes. She kicked the leg of the stool.

Xu Mingyuan saw her face turn from pale to red at a speed visible to the naked eye, and then she squatted on the ground and covered the toe of her shoe.

“Oh oh… huhuhu…”

The short-haired girl covered the tip of her shoe with a painful look on her face. She no longer cared about her image and sat on the ground and started rubbing her feet.

“Oh my god!” Xu Mingyuan, who had been squinting at her, suddenly opened his eyes wide and said in surprise: “Oh my! Isn’t this the class monitor?”

Tao Shuxin.

Xu Mingyuan is one of the few classmates who still keeps in touch after graduation.

The two were not very familiar with each other. They had a good relationship in high school, but after going to college, Xu Mingyuan forgot about her and gradually lost contact.

But if you say you are not familiar with each other, there are always opportunities to meet each other over the years.

After graduation, she seemed to have worked in finance for a while. Later, her mother became the vice principal of the No. 3 Middle School in the city, so she returned to Nanxi City to teach.

At that time, No. 3 Middle School was going to build a new campus and was looking for outstanding alumni to sponsor it, and that’s how Xu Mingyuan got in touch with her again.

I remember one time when we were drinking tea, Xu Mingyuan said casually: “Hey, class monitor, you know, I used to like you when we were in school.”

“Oh? Really? How come I didn’t know? You should have told me earlier. Sigh, I might have agreed to it at that time because my mind was in a trance.”

Tao Shuxin, with her long hair draped over her shoulders, had long since lost her youthfulness and was now full of intelligence and elegance. She chuckled as she took a sip of tea.

“It’s not too late now. I’m not married and you’re not married yet. How about it? We can just make do with each other?” Xu Mingyuan teased.

“You are a person who doesn’t say what you mean, and you don’t always say what you mean. Can you guarantee a safe and stable marriage?”

There was something ambiguous in Tao Shuxin’s eyes, and it seemed like a teasing look.

“Well… by the way, I have an appointment with a friend. The tea here is good. I’ll ask the waiter to prepare two boxes for you. I’ll contact you next time.”

Snapped!
Ignoring the sound of the teacup being placed heavily on the table, Xu Mingyuan quickly went to have some fun with his 20-year-old girlfriend.

It’s not that Xu Mingyuan hadn’t thought about getting to know Tao Shuxin better, but they were all getting older, and it was okay to just chat and reminisce about their youth, but once they were really in bed, it would be hard to get off.

Tao Shuxin has maintained herself to be very graceful.

But this was a high school principal who had not married for many years. Xu Mingyuan finally used his big head to control his small head. After reason prevailed, he only felt palpitations.

After that, Xu Mingyuan didn’t see her for a while, and then it became until now.

Tao Shuxin, who is still in her prime, is still as enthusiastic and beautiful as before, but she is full of liveliness, cheerfulness and the energy unique to youth.

Many people liked her. Xu Mingyuan was also young and ignorant, and he took every opportunity to play tricks on her.

At this time, this budding girl sat on the ground, hugging her calves, tilting her head to the side, looking at Xu Mingyuan with shame and anger in her eyes.

(End of this chapter)