The light in the window suddenly dimmed. He looked at the small patch of darkness that was becoming more and more obvious. He brushed off the scratches on his shoulder and extinguished the cigarette B*tt that had burned to the filter for Adrian Ling. He thought the child's temper was funny and a little cute.
-
He had been to this mansion when Ling Jiang got married, and he could barely remember the location of the kitchen. He went to ask the maid for the desserts and fruits that Clara Jiang said she had prepared specially for Ethan Ling.
Desserts and fruits were taken out of the refrigerator, put on a tray, and handed to him, still emitting a hint of cold steam.
Lucas Qi took a look and was speechless for a moment. Mango sago is the most common Hong Kong dessert. The sour and bitter grapefruit is replaced by the sweet red grapefruit. The clear flesh is embraced by the big mango and sleeps on the sago coconut milk.
Sweet and greasy, suitable for children's taste.
Hearing Clara Jiang solemnly biting into "his favorite dessert", he thought it would be something unusual. It seemed like another example of Clara Jiang's exaggeration.
The fruit was pomegranate seeds served in a glass cup, the ends of which were picked clean, and each grain was crystal clear and tender, like a light pink transparent gem.
Lucas Qi looked at the pomegranate for a few more times, picked up a few and put them in his mouth. He picked off the flesh with his teeth, and his mouth was filled with a light sweetness.
After asking the housekeeper, he went upstairs with the tray and knocked on Adrian Ling's door. The child probably thought it was the housekeeper and said "come in" politely. Lucas Qi then opened the door and went in without any hesitation.
The lights in the room were not turned on yet. Ethan Ling was sitting on the windowsill, and the light coming in from the window made a sharp silhouette. He had a very cold temperament, as if he was lying down like a snow-covered glacier. He didn't look at who was there, but lowered his head and scrolled through his phone and asked, "What's the matter?"
Lucas Qi was very conscious of being an elder. He turned on the light and placed the tray on the table: "Turn off the light and look at your phone. It's bad for your eyes."
The light was dazzling. Adrian Ling frowned, and continued to look at his phone without raising his head. He said bluntly: "Climbing into the bed of a rich man will affect one's character."
There was no malice in his tone, but it was enough to get a beating. However, his pronunciation was a little soft, which smoothed out the sharpness of his words and made him look arrogant, rather than rude. He was like a cat, spoiled and soft, but with sharp claws that scratched people until they bled, but people couldn't bear to blame him.
Lucas Qi looked at him speechlessly. He felt that it was all thanks to Clara Jiang, who made him feel thirty years older inwardly during the dinner. This allowed him to face Ethan Ling with such a peaceful and tolerant attitude.
Seeing that Lucas Qi didn't reply for a long time and didn't mean to leave, Adrian Ling glanced at him impatiently. She saw the tray on the table from the corner of her eye, and she sneered and jumped off the windowsill, tilted her neck and loosened her tie embroidered with the school emblem, met his eyes, and asked him: "Do you want to eat?"
Adrian Ling's eyes were distinctly black and white, with the clarity and brightness peculiar to young people. They seemed to be filled with light, rising and falling with the tide with her breathing, and looking straight into people's eyes.
Normally, when someone stood in front of him and loosened his tie like this, it was a different situation. Lucas Qi was stunned by Adrian Ling's gaze again, and his thoughts were interrupted for a moment: "...I don't want to eat."
After he finished speaking, he came back to his senses and realized that Ethan Ling was talking about the bowl of mango sago.
Adrian Ling spread out her hands, her thin lips curved, and said softly: "Then why are you still standing here? I don't have any free food to give you."
His choice of words was not enough to anger Lucas Qi, but only made him feel amused, and he suddenly didn't even want to explain his identity anymore.
He curled his lips and said, "Student Ling, please be careful about your words and actions. I can sue you for S3xual harassment."
Without noticing Adrian Ling's expression that suddenly turned cold, Lucas Qi walked to the beanbag sofa, leaned down generously, and adjusted his sitting position to be comfortable: "The housekeeper said that the school requires your parents to sign your transcript. Where is the transcript?"
"It's not your turn to sign." Adrian Ling tapped the cigarette box, put a cigarette in his mouth, and looked at Lucas Qi with disdain, "Please get out of here."
"You can ask Clara Jiang if it's my turn to sign." Lucas Qi laughed and took out his lighter and threw it over. He was smart enough. In addition to a group of brothers, he also helped Clara Jiang forge the fake slips for skipping school during her rebellious period.
The light gold Dupont drew a bright parabola in the air. Adrian Ling didn't reach out to catch it, and the lighter hit his shoulder, the same place where Lucas Qi was hit by the cigarette B*tt, and fell on the carpet with a dull sound. The place on his shoulder where the lighter hit him was dull and painful, reminding him of Lucas Qi standing under the lamp in front of the flowers.
He asked, "Are you good in bed?"
Lucas Qi almost laughed out loud at his straightforwardness, but he held back his laughter and replied, "Everyone who has tried it says it's good."
"That's right," Adrian Ling bent over to pick up the Dupont cigarette, but didn't light it, just tinkled the lighter, "otherwise it wouldn't have been taken home, and it would have given you the illusion that you could sign my transcript for me."
Clara Jiang never shied away from the fact that she had a lover outside, but she had never brought anyone back to the Ling family. The person in front of him was her first. He couldn't help but look at Lucas Qi again. The latter still looked listless, even more listless than at dinner. There was no shining point, only a good-looking appearance.
Ethan Ling curled her lips. The existence of this person simply redefined Clara Jiang's criteria for selecting people: superficial.
"Are you scared?" Lucas Qi asked.
Ethan Ling raised his eyebrows, bit open the popping bead in the filter, and a few mint flavors spread in his mouth, icy and cool. He lit the cigarette and exhaled thin smoke: "Afraid? What are you afraid of? How much money do you think you can get from Clara Jiang, or do you think you can get a share of the Ling family's property?" He threw the Dupont up and caught it again, looking at the delicate patterns on it, "But it's true, she has always been very generous to her lover, giving her luxury cars and houses, it's inevitable that people will have thoughts."
The disdain in his words was very obvious. He had seen Clara Jiang's previous lovers driving her home. They were driving the cars given by the women and looked very proud.
Lucas Qi rubbed his forehead. He bought this DuPont when he was shopping with his younger sister in Italy a few years ago and couldn't find a lighter. But looking at Ethan Ling's expression, he guessed that this was also one of the evidences of his being a gigolo.
Did he really look like someone that even Dupont couldn't afford to hire? Lucas Qi touched his chin unconsciously, a little stubble scratching his fingertips. Yes, anyone who sat on a plane for so long without getting any rest would look listless.
He belatedly remembered that he was a traveler who had been bumpy for nearly twenty hours. The bean bag sofa was too soft and too comfortable. His biological clock and fatigue urged sleepiness to creep into his body little by little.
It's time to go to bed. He stood up, realizing that his current image and condition were not good, but he still didn't want to miss the opportunity to tease Adrian Ling.
-
"Then you are afraid of---"
Adrian Ling raised his head slightly and looked at the person standing in front of him. He saw the person reaching out to take the cigarette from his mouth, and then put his lips to his ear. His voice was muffled and full of laughter, and each word hit his eardrum: "---Mom doesn't want you?"
Clara Jiang took the earliest flight to France. It was still dark when she left with her luggage. By the time her cousin and stepson had finished washing up and sat at the table for breakfast, she had already put on a silk eye mask and was catching up on her sleep on the plane.
Thanks to Clara Jiang's ridiculous welcome banquet yesterday, Lucas Qi stayed up until 11pm to pack the luggage that was sent to him. He was woken up by the housekeeper at 7:30am and told that breakfast was ready. He didn't want to cause too much trouble to the Ling family, so he forced himself to get up. He adjusted to the jet lag a little bit, and he felt much more refreshed after shaving his beard.
Last night, he went back to his room after talking, ignoring Adrian Ling's reaction. He thought he would be splashed with coffee when he saw him this morning, and he even wore old clothes to go downstairs. It seems that he underestimated the child's heart. Strangely enough, Adrian Ling didn't even slam the door at him except that he spoke a little harshly. When he asked the housekeeper in the morning, he said that the bowl of mango sago and pomegranate had been eaten.
Lucas Qi thought about himself when he was seventeen years old. Wherever he went, there was smoke of gunpowder. He felt that he really should praise Ethan Ling for being sensible and well-behaved.
He put the crispy and soft croissant into his mouth and drank hot chocolate. He was eating a boring breakfast. Seeing the person sitting opposite him looking at him coldly, he smiled and greeted him: "Good morning."
Ethan Ling did not respond. He looked at Lucas Qi, whose temperament had changed drastically overnight and seemed to be reborn. His thoughts were wandering in an unhealthy direction. He felt a little nauseous when he thought about himself. His face turned pale and he glared at him.
Accepting the child's hostility, Lucas Qi was inspired to tease him again, and reached out to knock on the table: "Report card."
The knife that was cutting sausages tilted heavily, making a sharp noise on the porcelain plate.
"Clara Jiang went to France. According to her travel habits, I don't know when she will be back," Lucas Qi explained calmly, spreading butter on the bread, "The housekeeper said it should be handed in tomorrow. Anyway, you will be punished if you don't sign, it has nothing to do with me."
"It's the same if I ask the housekeeper to sign. The teacher won't know you are my parent." Adrian Ling calmly pointed out the blind spot, "and you are not my parent either."
Lucas Qi shrugged: "Whether it is or not is another matter. I called your teacher after returning to my room yesterday. Teacher Mo said that your grades have dropped seriously this semester---"
There was another noise of metal rubbing against a porcelain plate. He paused, pinched his earlobe, ignored the rude and childish behavior, and continued, "And we need to talk about your smoking problem, too."
He didn't like seeing kids smoking, acting pretentiously, or suffering from impotence and premature ejaculation.
Ethan Ling pushed the plate hard, and the sauce on the fried egg splashed onto the table. Lucas Qi wiped it for him with a tablecloth. Seeing the child's cold face, he took out a piece of paper from his schoolbag and slapped it in front of him in annoyance.
The butler brought him a pen, and he signed smoothly, looking at the number on it: "Not bad, not particularly bad, and then--"
The paper was taken away, and when I looked up, Ethan Ling had already walked out of the dining room carrying her schoolbag.
-
"Mr. Qi, are you going out today? Would you like to stay at home for lunch?" asked the housekeeper.
"No, I'm going back to the Qi family to pay my respects." Lucas Qi stood up and stretched his back. It was really troublesome to educate a child so early in the morning. Fortunately, he would never have to think about this problem in his life. He would just take care of Adrian Ling as an experience of life. "After Clara Jiang landed, you asked her to send a message to Adrian Ling to let her know that she was safe. She definitely didn't remember and was afraid that he would worry."
-
His brother and several cousins were about the same age as him and had a close relationship with him. When they heard that he was called away by Clara Jiang as soon as he got off the plane, they laughed so hard that they kept saying that they were lucky that they didn't go to pick him up at the airport.
The group of people had morning tea until two o'clock in the afternoon. The career-oriented players headed by Qi Jinguan all went back to the company. He, Qi Xiao and Qi Tian were left with nothing to do. After driving around for a few laps, they went to Qi Tian's house to play video games. For dinner, they each ordered a takeout of beef brisket and barbecued pork with a lemonade, and waited for the big brothers to get off work to have a midnight snack together.
"Children are hard to discipline." Lucas Qi complained while rubbing the handle, "She thought I was a gigolo and told me to get out."
Qi Xiao shrugged, his tone was neither cold nor hot: "Even if Clara Jiang really brings her lover back, so what? She has been a widow in her twenties---" Everyone always sides with Clara Jiang, indulges her innocence and straightforwardness, but will not be too biased. He slowly used a straw to mash the lemon slices in the cup, "But that child, he lost his mother when he was only a few years old, and a few years later he had a stepmother, Clara Jiang. A few years later, Ling Jingxiang had a car accident. Clara Jiang can't even take care of herself, how can she take care of the child? Children of the same age have already gone abroad to study, leaving him alone in China, so pitiful."
Lucas Qi didn't say anything. He knew about these things, otherwise he wouldn't be so good-tempered towards Ethan Ling. In fact, based on this background, Ethan Ling could be considered a good kid. After all, he was the one who broke into someone else's home, and Clara Jiang didn't make things clear.
Besides, he didn't explain.
He didn't know why he didn't want to explain this misunderstanding clearly. It was like there was a layer of membrane blocking his actions, telling him that it would be better and more interesting not to explain. He has always been a person who follows his heart, so he naturally acts according to his subconscious.
He took the lemonade from Qi Xiao's hand and took a sip, then put it back in his hand: "Clara Jiang will only let me stay for a few weeks at most, it doesn't matter."
"Yes, since you won't have any children anyway, just treat it as a good deed and help the Ling family teach their children, so that you can experience the feeling of being a father." Knowing that Lucas Qi was lazy, Qi Xiao lit a cigarette for him and handed it to him. When he heard him say, "He also asked me if I was good in bed," he laughed so hard that his hands shook, and the cigarette ash fell all over him. He said in a trembling voice, "Let him try it with you in bed, and you'll know if he's good or not."
His hand suddenly slipped, and a combo was interrupted. Qi Tian finally seized the opportunity and won. Lucas Qi suddenly stood up and pushed Qi Xiao down amid Qi Tian's cheers. After laughing and making noise for a while, he pushed Qi Xiao and got up to get the car keys, urging the two of them, "Let's go, let's have a midnight snack. Go and warm up the car."
The image in his mind flashed back to Ethan Ling loosening his tie in front of him, with a provocative smile on his face, his black and white eyes looking at him, and he said, "Want to eat?"
-
The eldest sons of the Qi family did not have any airs of a young master. They could stand up or sit down. Several of them sat on the side of the road, eating rice rolls with bamboo chopsticks and plastic forks. Each of them was served a serving of braised chicken feet and held a bottle of frozen Vitasoy in a glass bottle with a red and white straw inserted in it. They were chatting and laughing.
Lucas Qi hadn't returned for several years, so he naturally became the center of conversation. Everyone exchanged a few words about his recent situation and mentioned the past, and they all asked about his love life.
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