PFC Chapter 508 "Infecting the World" - Male Mother (119)
Chapter 508 "Infecting the World" - Male Mother (119)
Chapter 508 "Infecting the World" Male Mother (119)
Zhao Linchuan was telling Lu Liruan with great interest.
Lu Liruan wondered, what kind of space could be related to escape rooms?
But listening to Zhao Linchuan's animated explanation, Lu Liruan couldn't deny that she... was quite interested.
“He was constantly on edge in that space, and he only held everyone back.” Zhao Linchuan gestured. “Later, it seems that it left him with psychological trauma. From then on, he was unable to enter escape rooms, haunted houses, or any of those places.”
"He can't get close to Lao Cheng yet, because Lao Cheng is a walking escape room!" Zhao Linchuan couldn't help but laugh as he spoke. Since Fan Zhenxiang wasn't coming today anyway, he laughed very unrestrainedly.
"What about his tattoo?" Lu Liruan recalled his expectant look a few days ago.
"Who knows?" Zhao Linchuan shrugged.
"What are your feelings for Lao Cheng?" Lu Liruan asked curiously.
I want to see if it's just me and Liao Tingyuan who have similar feelings, or if other people feel the same way.
"Me? I don't know if you did anything to rush to the deadline?" Zhao Linchuan frowned.
"Ah, I think so?" Lu Liruan couldn't think of anything for a moment.
"The first time I met Lao Cheng was not long after I graduated from university. When I saw Lao Cheng, I was reminded of when I was rushing to write my thesis." Zhao Linchuan said, his whole demeanor suddenly becoming listless.
"Ha...that's very urgent." Lu Liruan nodded as if she understood.
"Anyway, rather than being scared, I feel more depressed and anxious. I feel uneasy and constantly have this sense of unease, like there's something I haven't finished. My heart is racing!" Zhao Linchuan explained by gesturing.
&34; Where is Sister Antang? &34;
“Sister Antang said she’s also anxious,” Zhao Linchuan said, sounding like he knew everything.
"How anxious are you?"
She said it was probably like the day Xiao Qi's college entrance exam scores came out, when she couldn't access the website to check her scores, that she was so anxious.
Why are you being so specific?
This was an answer that Lu Liruan had never expected.
But... isn't this just taking care of a child? She's already a qualified parent, Sister Antang, Lu Liruan thought to herself.
"Sister Shiyi, do you really not feel anything?" Lu Liruan was very curious, but she didn't ask Gao Shiyi directly, feeling that it would be impolite.
"Anyway, she said she didn't think it was a problem at all, maybe she was just trying to appease Lao Cheng? Lao Cheng... is like a shady little tagalong, always following Sister Shiyi around." Zhao Linchuan made a very accurate analogy.
Lu Liruan agreed wholeheartedly. Indeed, wherever Gao Shiyi was, Lao Cheng was there in the shadows; they were truly very affectionate.
"Oh, right..." Zhao Linchuan suddenly said, "The chewing gum..."
"Oh! I almost forgot!"
Because Lu Liruan truly felt the strange sensation brought on by Lao Cheng, she almost forgot to do this experiment with Zhao Linchuan.
Old Cheng accompanied Gao Shiyi to the villa today as well.
He was sitting on the sofa in the shadows, all alone in the living room; Liao Tingyuan wasn't there either.
"I bought some chewing gum." Zhao Linchuan took out the chewing gum, tore open the packaging, popped a piece into his mouth and chewed it, then handed a piece to Lu Liruan.
The two squatted in the yard, looking at each other in silence, just chewing gum.
During this time, An Tang opened the window from the second floor, intending to ventilate the house. However, when she looked down, she saw two mushroom-shaped objects squatting in the yard.
Knock on the window frame, and you'll see Lu Liruan and Zhao Linchuan looking up while they're chewing.
Liao Tingyuan was passing by with a water glass when An Tang called him over, gesturing for him to look down. The four of them, one upstairs and one downstairs, then made eye contact.
"They actually get along quite well," An Tang said quietly.
"Mm." Liao Tingyuan nodded.
He pointed at Lu Liruan, who looked in the direction he was pointing and saw that her skirt was dragging on the ground. She quickly picked it up and patted it off.
“You really…” An Tang looked at Liao Tingyuan, hesitant to speak.
Even without her saying it aloud, Liao Tingyuan knew what she was trying to say. After pondering for a moment, he turned his back, leaned against the window, and suddenly asked, "How... can I avoid being treated like an elder by younger people?"
"Pfft—" An Tang couldn't hold it in any longer. She hadn't expected Liao Tingyuan to ask such a question so bluntly. Caught off guard, she burst into laughter, bending over with laughter.
Most people would feel uncomfortable or embarrassed by such a direct laugh, but Liao Tingyuan simply waited for her to finish laughing, as if he was still waiting for her to give him some answers.
An Tang composed herself and pointed subtly at Lu Liruan: "What's wrong? Did the young lady say something to you?"
Liao Tingyuan shook his head. In fact, he didn't know why he asked An Tang this question. Although it seemed like life was still the same as before, Liao Tingyuan had a vague feeling that he didn't want to just stay in the status quo.
But what should we do?
He hadn't figured it out, or even had a direction.
“Although we’re taking care of different children… I don’t really know how to be friends with children, but I don’t have a need for them not to treat me like an elder!” An Tang raised her eyebrows and patted Liao Tingyuan’s arm.
“…demand.” Liao Tingyuan found the word a bit strange.
An Tang laughed again: "Don't get hung up on the details! Xiao Qi used to say that I was like her mother all the time, that I was always controlling her. Now that she's gone to university in another city, she's started saying that I'm like her aunt who lives far away, as if I have to be her elder no matter what."
“I can’t figure out what she wants me to do. Before, when I took care of her, she would still throw a tantrum. Now that I treat her like an adult and tell her that she should be independent as a college student, she’s still unhappy and starts to feel that I don’t care about her enough. In short, nothing I do works. She’s very difficult to please. Li Ruan doesn’t seem like that kind of child at all!”
"You..." Liao Tingyuan hesitated, unable to finish his sentence.
"What do you want to say?" An Tang looked at him.
Liao Tingyuan hesitated for a moment, then said softly, "It really sounds like an elder."
An Tang glanced at him sideways, sensing that this man, who wasn't usually talkative, had strangely left his question unfinished today: "And then?"
"I'm actually... not as..."
Nothing? You don't seem like an elder to me, do you?
You come here to ask me questions, and you're here to criticize me! I never said I completely resist being an elder, and besides, we have different perspectives!
An Tang never expected that she would be the one to be criticized by Liao Tingyuan.
Completely unprepared, a string of thoughts rushed through her mind, but in the end, she didn't say them aloud.
"So you can talk now?" An Tang finally uttered a cool remark.
Liao Tingyuan returned to his original state.
"Let's put everything else aside for now. Have you properly explained to Li Ruan your relationship with Gao Shiyi, and what Gao Shiyi and Zhao Linchuan are here for?"
Upon hearing this, Liao Tingyuan clenched his hands slightly as he leaned against the bed, but he shook his head honestly: "No, I was afraid she would worry if I told her."
"Huh?" An Tang found this reason absurd: "Even if you're worried about you, you can't let her know nothing! Wouldn't that make her even more worried?"
An Tang felt that Liao Tingyuan's appeasement approach was not a solution at all; it was just a delaying tactic that made her furious.
“If you won’t say it, I will. You’re talking about how to make Li Ruan stop treating you like an elder, so why don’t you do something that doesn’t act like an elder to her? You’re more than just an elder…” An Tang was almost laughing out of anger.
"Li Ruan is over twenty years old, she's not really a child anymore, what are you going to do about it?"
"When that day comes, I'll find a way to keep her from coming," Liao Tingyuan said calmly.
An Tang's eyes widened: "What nonsense are you spouting?"
"Everyone knows this, but you're keeping it from her alone. You're the person closest to her, the one keeping the deepest secret from her, and you want everyone else to keep it from her too? Liao Tingyuan... are you crazy?" An Tang's voice rose eight octaves. Her usually smiling eyes were now devoid of any smile, replaced by incredulous shock!
Liao Tingyuan was momentarily stunned by her strong reaction.
An Tang was afraid that her voice was too loud and that the two mushrooms downstairs could hear it from the second floor, so she closed the window behind her.
Have you thought about what would happen if Li Ruan found out?
"Maybe we shouldn't let her know..." Liao Tingyuan whispered.
"How long are you going to keep this a secret? For a lifetime? Even if you two are just colleagues for life, you can't keep it a secret forever, right? Besides, if you're just colleagues, what's your purpose in keeping it from her? If she's younger, Xiao Qi would know about it too. Xiao Qi is younger than Li Ruan, right? This doesn't hold water at all!"
Liao Tingyuan remained silent.
“If Li Ruan has something going on and tells everyone but not you, and you’re kept in the dark by everyone, can you still trust everyone?” An Tang felt that Liao Tingyuan was just lacking in common sense and couldn’t think with normal emotional reasoning.
"Leaving aside the relationship between the two of you, if you're kept in the dark like this and treated differently, how can you still feel a sense of belonging here? How can you still wholeheartedly trust your colleagues and partners?" An Tang's expression was very serious.
"If you chose not to be trusted, then I'm not willing to treat Li Ruan that way. I originally thought this was something you should have told her, but now that you're acting this way, I won't help you keep it a secret. I don't want Li Ruan to think of me as someone who isn't trustworthy, and I don't want to hurt Li Ruan with you!"
Liao Tingyuan lowered his head slightly. Suddenly, An Tang's words struck a nerve. If the young girl was hiding something from him, and only from him...
Liao Tingyuan, a man of such stable emotions, suddenly felt a little... irritated?
If I were treated like that by that little girl...
An Tang rarely saw outward expressions of emotion on his face, but it was quite obvious now.
See? People don't feel bad unless the problem happens to them. Isn't that a typical example? An Tang thought to herself.
“If you really don’t know how to bring it up, I’ll have Shiyi talk to her. Anyway, it’s a good fit for Shiyi’s major,” Antang suggested.
Liao Tingyuan hesitated for a moment, then shook his head: "I..."
"Then hurry up." An Tang was really annoyed with him. After saying that, Gao Shiyi called her from outside. An Tang gave him a look, turned around and went out.
The two mushrooms squatting downstairs chewing gum were completely unaware of what was happening upstairs. They were engrossed in chewing, and Lu Liruan was blowing bubbles as she chewed.
"What's the difference between chewing this for a long time and chewing it for a short time?"
"I don't know... This is my first time trying it too," Zhao Linchuan replied to Lu Liruan while chewing.
“When we eat later, Lao Cheng will have to get up from the sofa, right? Let’s start our operation then!” Lu Liruan planned.
"Nobody knows our plan, right?" Zhao Linchuan looked around warily.
Lu Liruan: ...
"Don't worry, no one else is this bored except the two of us." Although Lu Liruan was also quite interested, she still said it from the bottom of her heart.
Zhao Linchuan: Why are you the one criticizing me?
The two finally squatted outside. When An Tang and Gao Shiyi called for dinner inside the house, before the two could react, Lao Cheng had already gotten up, walked to the gate of the yard, and picked up the takeout.
After he entered the house, the two looked at each other in bewilderment.
Then Zhao Linchuan spat the chewed gum, which had almost lost all its flavor, into his palm and tore off a small piece.
Lu Liruan: ...
Although it was my suggestion, but...
Then Zhao Linchuan tore off another piece and handed it to him: "Shall we split up and go to two different places? Let's wait for the right opportunity..."
Lu Liruan shook her head: "No."
Zhao Linchuan: ? ? Did you have to refuse so quickly? I hadn't even finished speaking.
Lu Liruan made no attempt to hide her disgust. Although it was her idea, she had absolutely no intention of touching chewing gum that someone else had chewed.
Zhao Linchuan had no choice but to settle for second best: "Then you cover me."
“…Okay.” Although Lu Liruan didn’t know how to cover it up.
Upon noticing the two sneaking in, Gao Shiyi merely glanced at them before naturally turning her gaze away, appearing completely unaware of their intentions and showing no intention of telling her boyfriend that someone was going to use him for experiments.
And An Tang...
Lu Liruan inexplicably felt that the other person seemed to be in a bad mood and angry.
But it probably wasn't directed at me; when I passed by her just now, she touched my hair very gently.
Lu Liruan ate her lunch without tasting it, because Zhao Linchuan used the opportunity of picking up chopsticks to set a chewing gum trap!
For the rest of the time, the two of them kept a close eye on Lao Cheng's... feet.
When the two of them took turns picking up the chopsticks for the third time, Old Cheng, who was sitting next to Liao Tingyuan, looked over with a lifeless expression and asked in a cold voice, "What's wrong with you here? How come such a young child has physical degeneration?"