Chapter 10: The inevitable disaster of imposition 1
After we had steak, we went to see a movie. It was already dark. Looking at the neon lights outside the car window, I could hear Hongze and Lingjiao bickering, and Zhou Mian's hearty laughter. The warm air in the car gently brushed my face, and I smiled faintly.
When the car slowly drove into a street I was not familiar with, beautiful villas appeared in front of me. Ling Jiao opened the door and got out of the car. Only then did I realize belatedly that we had arrived at Ling Jiao's home.
"This house is nice." Hongze looked around with appreciation, and when Ling Jiao wasn't paying attention, he nudged me with his elbow, "See, this is someone else's house."
I smiled helplessly: "Yes, it's someone else's!"
I deliberately emphasized the three words "other people's", and Hongze obviously understood what I meant. He muttered, "It's boring," and then walked away.
I couldn't help but smile. The three-story villa in front of me had a white stone road on the wide lawn, white exterior walls and sky blue roofs, and a strong Mediterranean style, just like accidentally entering a Greek town. Walking into the villa, the whole thing is European style, with a white tone and some coffee color.
"This is the living room. That's the kitchen. If you want to drink water at night, just go in there. Behind that door is my study. The second floor is the guest room and my room. The toilet is at the end of the corridor." Ling Jiao gave us a brief introduction, walked up the stairs, and greeted us, "The third floor is my parents' space, so I won't take you to visit. It's getting late, so I'll take you to your room to rest first."
Hongze and I lived in two adjacent rooms, and Zhou Mian lived in the room opposite me.
After saying goodnight to each other, I lay in bed for a while, and suddenly felt thirsty. I turned over and looked around the room, but couldn't find any water. I remembered that Ling Jiao had pointed us in the direction of the kitchen, so I wanted to go to the kitchen to find some water, so I had to put on my shoes.
I touched the soul-binding cage hanging around my neck with one hand, opened the door, and said to myself, "I don't know if Hongze is asleep. It shouldn't be a problem to knock on the door, right?"
Hongze's door was tightly closed, but light shone through the cracks and there were rustling sounds coming from inside. It turned out that he was not asleep, so I raised my hand and knocked on the door with confidence.
"What?" Hongze's voice came from the door.
"I want to go downstairs to get some water. I want you to come with me." I responded, but then I felt a little strange. "Open the door."
Hongze carefully opened the door a crack, blocked it tightly with his body, half of his face was exposed, he looked at me and said, "I'm not going, I'm going to sleep. Go call Zhou Mian."
"Ah? I'm going to bother Zhou Mian?" Hongze's sneaky look confused me. "I saw that the light was on in your room, and there were rustling noises. Why are you going to sleep? How long will pouring water take you for a few minutes?"
"I'm not going, you go by yourself."
Hongze remained unmoved and still looked at me with half of his face exposed.
I stared at him for a while, but he avoided me unnaturally , which made me more suspicious. I pushed the door open and shouted, "What are you hiding for?"
I pushed the door open and felt a buzzing in my head. Ling Jiao was sitting steadily on the chair, looking at us with a playful look on her face.
"You need someone to accompany you even to drink water? Fu Lingmiao, you're getting worse as you get older."
Ling Jiao’s words made me feel like a child who had done something wrong, and my face turned red.
Hong Ze was somewhat dissatisfied. He raised his eyebrows and looked at Ling Jiao, whispering, "'Bread seller', how can someone get smaller and smaller as time goes by? Are you still a person who has received high-quality information technology education in modern society?"
I quietly corrected Hongze: "It is high-quality education, without information technology."
"Whatever." Hongze waved his hand nonchalantly and asked me, "Do you want some water?" I shook my head. I was so scared by Ling Jiao that I didn't remember anything.
"I'm going back to bed."
When I walked out of the door, I remembered that I was so busy not exposing the Soul Binding Cage in front of Ling Jiao that I didn't even ask Ling Jiao why she appeared in Hong Ze's room. I looked back and saw that Hong Ze didn't close the door this time. I squatted at the door and pricked up my ears to eavesdrop.
"She's gone. Go on."
"I've already said it. It's no use asking me every day. If you want to become a family with Fu Lingmiao, just marry her."
As soon as the word "marriage" came out, I bit my lower lip tightly, feeling anxious and angry. It was indeed Ling Jiao who taught him to make fun of me! But my heartbeat accelerated uncontrollably, and the temperature of my face, which had just cooled down, soared again.
"I told her about marriage last time, and you saw her reaction, so I came to you to help me find a solution."
"There's one thing I've always wondered about. Why do you keep emphasizing the importance of becoming a family?"
Ling Jiao’s question made my heart hang in the air, for fear that Hong Ze would blurt out “If you meet the requirements to become my family member, you can get the Soul Binding Cage.”
"Her wish is to have a family ."
"Her wish? You want to fulfill her wish, so you've always wanted to become her family?"
Hongze's words sounded so natural that not only Ling Jiao, but even I wanted to ask him if he was really just trying to fulfill my wish.
"if not?"
Ling Jiao remained silent, and the room suddenly became quiet. I stared at the wood grain on the floor and repeated in my mind over and over again, what else? What else?
"Hongze, do you have a brain? You two like each other, right? Only lovers want to become each other's family."
"What?"
"What?"
I quickly covered my mouth, Ling Jiao's words made me scream out in surprise. But I was not the only one who was surprised. Hong Ze in the room was obviously more surprised than me, and his voice completely covered mine.
I pursed my lips, held my breath, and listened carefully to the movements in the room. Neither of them seemed to notice my presence.
Ling Jiao continued, "Isn't it? Although I'm not familiar with you, I have known Fu Lingmiao for many years. She has always been a person I can't afford to offend or avoid, except for the day when you first spoke to me, when she looked like she wanted to eat me up..."
"Tsk tsk, I've never seen that before. And today, if you hadn't agreed to come to my house, she would have tried every means to make Zhou Mian reject my invitation."
"Although I sometimes feel unhappy, I have never really worried about what will happen to the two of them. Because she always feels that she owes Zhou Mian a favor. No matter who she treats, she is always cautious, polite and distant, until you appear..."
Hong Ze, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly interrupted Ling Jiao: "Who, who would like her? She is stingy and mean, and has such a bad temper. Not only does she hold grudges, she also likes to teach people a lesson."
Ling Jiao's words pierced my heart. Her analysis was very logical and I couldn't refute a word. But I couldn't help but frown when I heard Hong Ze's words. Is this how I am in his mind?
"Hahaha, you're probably the only one in the world who knows Fu Lingmiao like this! She doesn't like you, so she gives you all her temper? If you don't like her, then why are you competing with Zhou Mian? Why are you stuttering and blushing now? My 'Prince Jiaolong'."
"I...I'm not stuttering, you're the one stuttering!"
"Whoever likes Fu Lingmiao will stutter."
"B-By what? I, I... I don't stutter."
"You're just being stubborn! I should have recorded it for you to listen to."
Ling Jiao’s words made me nod my head vigorously. Hongze is really stubborn!
"Admit it, you two just like each other!"
"Nonsense, nonsense." I retorted in a low voice, tiptoed back to the room, covered myself with the quilt and went to sleep.
"Knock, knock, knock, knock..." In a trance, I heard someone knocking on the door.
Then, Zhou Mian's voice came: "Ling Miao, are you awake?"
I opened my eyes dazedly, and the artistic light on the ceiling reminded me that this was not my bedroom. The sunlight poured in from the window at the head of my bed, shining on my quilt. I rubbed my hair and murmured, "It's at Ling Jiao's house."
"Lingmiao? Are you awake?" Zhou Mian was still knocking on the door.
I cleared my throat and said loudly, "Wake up!"
Zhou Mian said through the door: "Ling Jiao has already put the towel and toothbrush in the bathroom. Change your clothes and wash up. After washing up, go downstairs for breakfast."
I nodded, then remembered that Zhou Mian couldn't see, and said, "I understand." I touched the soul-binding cage around my neck out of habit. I wanted to ask where Hong Ze was, but my face turned red when I opened my mouth before any sound came out.
Zhou Mian seemed to know what I was going to ask, and said outside the door: "Okay, then I'll go call Hongze. He's the same as you, he hasn't woken up yet."
I nodded, changed my clothes and went out, and happened to meet Hongze who was also going to wash up.
"Morning, morning."
"You, why are you stuttering?"
I just said hello, but I could clearly feel my face getting red again. I didn't care about Hongze, I rushed into the bathroom next door, turned on the faucet and used cold water to cool my face.
When I looked up, I saw from the mirror that Hongze, who was walking towards me, turned his face away, revealing his red ears.
I wanted to get rid of the silence, so I hurriedly picked up my toothbrush and said awkwardly, "Oh, what a coincidence. You're washing up too."
Hongze raised his hands to cover his ears, and refused to turn his head back. He said to the wall: "Tsk, can you stop stuttering?"
I suddenly remembered what Ling Jiao said yesterday, "Whoever likes Fu Lingmiao will stutter." I stopped talking and silently quickened the movement of brushing my teeth.
After washing up, I quickly left the bathroom and stood at the door waiting for Hongze to come downstairs together.
