#47: Qing Hang, You’re Very Lucky.

One pretended not to hear, the other not to see.

Cheng Yanqing looked Qing Hang up and down. “Still wearing yesterday’s clothes. Don’t tell me you got here early.”

Then he turned to the frozen Cheng Wanyue.

“I’ve told you a hundred times—wear shoes! How urgent could it be? Would Qing Hang die of thirst without this milk? When I’m rushing to work with no time for breakfast, do you ever bring me milk?”

Even though he didn’t like milk, that wasn’t the point.

Qing Hang took off his slippers and let Cheng Wanyue step into them.

“Oh, how thoughtful!” Cheng Yanqing even clapped. “Why don’t you just carry her—then she definitely won’t catch a cold.”

“Cheng Wanyue, stop playing deaf. Face your mistake. Who taught you to hide someone in the room without a heads-up?” Cheng Yanqing grew more furious. “You two are something else. Maybe I should just move out with my niece and leave this place to you.”

Cheng Wanyue swallowed hard.

He was really angry. She was in serious danger.

Maybe he had sensed something was up recently and didn’t sleep well last night.

“Er Kang, Er Kang,” she touched Qing Hang’s face, “I can’t see…”

Cheng Yanqing clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles cracked. “Cheng Wanyue. Leave.”

“Qing Hang, take Coalball with you,” Cheng Wanyue switched tactics. “He just threatened to kill her. That’s traumatic for a little kitten.”

Cheng Yanqing objected immediately, “No!”

His tone softened as he looked at Qing Hang. He no longer seemed like he was about to get a knife. “You already gave her the cat. Taking it back now would be immoral and ungraceful. A man shouldn’t do such things.”

Cheng Wanyue coughed. “I was the one who didn’t let him leave last night. Don’t scold him.”

Cheng Yanqing finished the rest of his water. “I’m an intellectual—I don’t curse. Swearing all the time is so vulgar.”

Cheng Wanyue looked troubled. “Then leave the cat with him. He’s all alone anyway. A cat will keep him company.”

Qing Hang nodded. “Okay.”

Cheng Yanqing went to his room, then came out with a cat in one hand and a brand-new shirt in the other. “It’s new, never been worn. Qing Hang, change out of that shirt.”

Cheng Wanyue also felt it wasn’t great for Qing Hang to go to work in yesterday’s clothes. “Don’t worry, wear it. I’ll buy him another.”

Qing Hang caught the shirt. As he was about to undo his buttons, his fingers paused at the collar. His eyes met Cheng Wanyue’s, and in that moment, she realized why he wasn’t changing in the living room.

She’d scratched and bitten him quite a bit last night.

“Why are you blushing?” Cheng Yanqing couldn’t smile, but forced himself for Coalball’s sake. It was unsettling.

Cheng Wanyue wasn’t fazed. “He’s got a great body. Isn’t it normal for me to blush?”

“Go back to your room and sleep!”

“…Fine, I will.”

She walked slowly back to her room wearing those ill-fitting slippers. Once the door was closed, she couldn’t hear what was going on outside.

If Qing Hang called a cab to the hospital, he could still stall for another 20 minutes. He folded the shirt and placed it on the couch—there were clean clothes in the hospital’s break room.

“I didn’t want to leave last night. Don’t blame her. Did we wake you?”

“No,” Cheng Yanqing replied. “The walls are well-insulated. It would’ve taken quite a commotion to wake me.” Then, for some reason, he started wondering if maybe he shouldn’t have come home to be a third wheel. “As long as Wanyue likes you, I have no objections. Just figure out how to explain it to our parents.”

Back in senior year, Cheng Guoan had thought about adopting Qing Hang, but Cheng Wanyue objected. In front of everyone, she’d declared that if they took in Qing Hang, they could forget about having her.

From the start, Qing Hang’s relationship with the Cheng family was unequal. He was the one being sponsored.

“I’ll find time to visit Uncle Cheng. Wanyue said she was sick a few years ago. What was it?”

Cheng Yanqing knew she wouldn’t tell Qing Hang—at least not yet—but sometimes people let things slip. “Didn’t you not believe it?”

Qing Hang thought for a while. “That phone call eight years ago?”

It was the only time they spoke in eight years, and even then, it was through Cheng Yanqing.

“She’s lied to me many times,” Qing Hang said. “But that was the only one I didn’t believe.”

“It’s hard for anyone when they’re sick—lots of medication, constant tests, poor appetite, bad skin, bad temper,” Cheng Yanqing said plainly, summarizing the two years Cheng Wanyue had been ill. “If she doesn’t bring it up, don’t ask. It’s in the past.”

As a doctor, Qing Hang faced life and death daily. He’d seen too many people tormented by illness. “She dropped out because of it?”

“Yeah.”

“…I thought she took time off to date.”

“That would’ve been better,” Cheng Yanqing said flatly. “Qing Hang, you’re pretty lucky. Even if she hasn’t forgiven you for disappearing back then, she still came to Beijing to find you.”

Qing Hang’s past eight years had nothing to do with luck.

He had never managed to erase Cheng Wanyue from his life, not even a little. He could never love anyone else. Even if she hadn’t come to him, he would’ve gone to her.

“All right, all right. If you dawdle any longer, you’ll be late,” Cheng Wanyue said, having not slept at all. She checked the time and came out to urge Qing Hang to leave for work.

She walked him to the elevator. As the doors were about to close, she crooked her finger at him.

Qing Hang didn’t care if Cheng Yanqing was still in the living room. He walked over and kissed her immediately.

“Not that—”

She leaned back, but he followed with another kiss. She couldn’t even speak clearly. “I meant… in a few days I’ll help you get revenge. Cheng Yanqing is going to suffer.”

That hug between Qin Hua and Cheng Yanqing in the parking lot had indeed been caught on camera. Qin Hua either didn’t want to spend on PR or deliberately left it alone. In any case, the buzz was high that morning.

The public didn’t recognize Cheng Yanqing, an outsider, but his girlfriend surely did. That was why he’d been so irritable earlier.

Qing Hang was still holding the milk. He walked a few steps, then turned back to kiss her again. “I’ll come cook for you tonight. Do you want chicken soup or tomato beef brisket?”

“Beef brisket. I also want pickled pepper stir-fried duck intestines and green pepper scrambled eggs,” Cheng Wanyue helped adjust his collar. “Can we attend Ayu and Cheng Yuzhou’s wedding? I’ll book our tickets this afternoon.”

“I can’t go too early—only the day before or on the day itself.”

“Then I’ll go ahead first. There’s a lot to help with. What about Coalball? If Cheng Yanqing drives, I won’t buy a ticket—we can take the cat too.”

“If it’s inconvenient, I can ask a colleague to look after her for two days. I’ll go with you to see the flag-raising on National Day. Just sleep well this week.”

“Mm-hmm! Bye! Go to work, Dr. Qing!”

After sending Qing Hang off, Cheng Wanyue made herself a jianbing with two eggs and coffee, then knocked on Cheng Yanqing’s door.

He hadn’t fallen asleep either.

When he saw her standing there with a plate, his mouth twitched into a smile he tried to suppress—and ended up choking on his own saliva.

He didn’t mind Qing Hang staying the night. He wasn’t some old-school fossil from the Qing dynasty. He was just overly critical of the guy dating his only sister.

“This cup’s been stepped on by Coalball. You trying to poison me so you and Qing Hang can elope?”

Cheng Wanyue: “…”

She wasn’t that evil.

“You’ve already drunk from it twice. One more time won’t kill you,” she didn’t bother changing it. “After Ayu and Cheng Yuzhou’s wedding, I want to take Qing Hang to Second Uncle’s place. Any thoughts?”

Cheng Yanqing choked on the jianbing. “You testing me?”

“Ge,” Cheng Wanyue smiled, wiping the tomato sauce from the corner of his mouth, “I need your help.”

“He hasn’t even confessed. What’s the rush?”

“I’m not rushing, but I should give our parents time to mentally prepare. One day, I might suddenly feel like getting married and drag him off to register. That would be a bigger shock.”

Cheng Guoan didn’t dislike Qing Hang, but their generation had some deeply ingrained ideas. In his mind, Qing Hang was already Cheng Wanyue’s brother, just without the surname.

Cheng Yanqing bit into an eggshell and immediately woke up. “You be the beauty, I’ll be the hype man.”

Cheng Wanyue was very satisfied. “I’ll save you a bowl of beef brisket soup for a late-night snack.”

“You better stay out of the kitchen.”

“Qing Hang will cook for me. You’ll just benefit from it.”

Cheng Yanqing: “…”

Young couples. So annoying.