Chapter 162: Buzhou Mountain (IV)
When Lu Ren opened his eyes, he found himself in his own living room.
The warm yellow sunlight shining in from outside made the old house look as if it was coated with a layer of gold.
This house was not decorated like the straight man's house that Lu Ren remembered. Instead, it was decorated with floral patterns that reflected the aesthetics of the last century: handmade sofa covers, bright red TV covers, and bright red and green sheets and bedspreads drying on the balcony. When the breeze blew, the scent of soapberries reached Lu Ren's pen.
The sound of cooking could be heard from the kitchen , and an obviously older female voice came: "Lu Ren! Wash your hands quickly, it's time to eat."
Lu Ren realized an almost absurd possibility - he stood blankly in front of the sofa, his eyes red.
The person in the kitchen didn't hear a reply for a long time, and finally opened the door and walked out. She was wearing the simplest clothes and a pink lace apron. Although her beautiful face could be vaguely recognized, wrinkles had already climbed up the corners of her mouth and eyes, and the years were engraved on the corners of her eyes and eyebrows.
It was a face that was no longer young.
The woman who came out of the kitchen looked at Lu Renzhi who was standing in the living room and frowned: "You kid, why are you still stupid? Really, you are old, but you don't know how to go out and find a girlfriend. You just stay at home all day..."
Lu Ren didn't listen to a word. He rushed forward, hugged the woman who suddenly appeared tightly, and buried his head deeply in the woman's shoulder.
Before the woman could react, she heard Lu Ren whispering in her ear with a crying voice: "Mom..."
Lu Ren's mother is Zhang Chunhua. When she smiles, she has two deep dimples at the corners of her mouth. She is gentle most of the time, but occasionally her face will turn from sunny to cloudy because of the setbacks in life.
Zhang Chunhua was stunned for a moment. She didn't understand why her son suddenly became so sad today. She could only call for help in confusion: "Old Lu, come and see what happened to your son."
A burst of hurried footsteps sounded from the room, and then a head with messy hair popped out from the study.
Lu Ren's father, Lu Mingyue, asked Lu Ren in his clear and cheerful voice that only belongs to middle-aged people: "Son, what's wrong? Are you depressed?"
Zhang Chunhua was unhappy when she heard this: "Go to hell, you don't know what's happening every day, and you hope your son will be better."
The voice stunned Lu Ren for a moment. He raised his head from Zhang Chunhua's shoulder in disbelief and looked at his father, whose appearance he had almost forgotten.
Lu Ren seemed to have a lot to say, but in the end he just pursed his lips and solemnly called out to Lu Mingyue: "Dad."
Lu Ren's eyes were red and he looked like he was about to cry at any moment.
Sensing Lu Ren's abnormality, Zhang Chunhua and Lu Mingyue were a little panicked: "You're fine, what happened? Are you being bullied? Don't scare us. Tell mom and dad if there is anything. Mom and dad will help you."
Lu Ren didn't say anything, he just shook his head.
"No, I just haven't seen you guys for a long time. I'm a little excited."
After hearing this, Zhang Chunhua put her hand on Lu Ren's forehead and carefully tested his body temperature.
"Do you have a fever? What nonsense are you talking about? You've been staying at home for the past two days, and your parents see you every day."
Lu Ren denied this statement: "No, I clearly..." What was "clearly"?
The words were already on the tip of his tongue, but Lu Ren suddenly couldn't remember what he was going to say. His head seemed to be covered with a layer of gauze. He felt that the words were within reach, but he couldn't see them clearly. Even if he reached out to touch them, there was still a layer of unclear illusion between them.
Zhang Chunhua didn't seem to take Lu Ren's words to heart: "You are obviously fine... You don't have a fever. Wash your hands and eat."
The aroma of the food drifted under Lu Ren's nose. Lu Ren, who was still struggling with what to say, instantly put aside all the distracting thoughts in his mind.
Lu Ren happily sat down at the dining table: "What are we having for dinner tomorrow?"
Zhang Chunhua cooked all her specialty dishes today. As she filled a bowl of rice for Lu Ren, she said, "Braised spareribs, stir-fried Chinese cabbage, and seaweed egg drop soup. These are all your favorites. Eat them now."
The three of them sat around the dining table, eating and chatting idly.
Lu Ren praised Zhang Chunhua's cooking skills: "These ribs are really delicious, much better than mine."
Lu Mingyue smiled and said, "Silly child, when have you ever cooked? Hasn't your mother always cooked?"
After hearing this, Lu Ren was confused for a while: "Really?" Yes, my mother has always cooked in our family, and I have never cooked. My mother's cooking is so delicious, why should I cook?
This was just a small episode at the dinner table. Soon Lu Ren was immersed in the delicious food and had no time to care about these strange thoughts.
After dinner, Lu Ren took the initiative to help clean up the table. He collected the remaining garbage and put the dishes in the sink to wash them. Zhang Chunhua was busy putting the leftovers in the refrigerator so that she could heat them up and eat them in the evening.
Lu Ren, who was draining water, saw Zhang Chunhua opening the refrigerator door and hurriedly stopped her, saying, "There are still some Gu Diao and Li Li left in the refrigerator. It's full and can't be put in any more."
Lu Ren blurted out these words almost subconsciously, and when he finished he was stunned: What did he just say, what was in the refrigerator?
After hearing what Lu Ren said, Zhang Chunhua, who had already opened the refrigerator, paused and looked at Lu Ren in confusion while holding the plate: "Ah? What did you say?"
Lu Ren looked in the direction of Zhang Chunhua and saw that the refrigerator was empty.
Zhang Chunhua put the leftovers in smoothly, and then drove Lu Ren out of the kitchen: "Why are you acting weird today, kid? Forget it, don't make trouble here, go talk to your dad."
Lu Ren, who was driven to the living room, attributed today's abnormal behavior to his being too tired, so he followed Zhang Chunhua's arrangement and decided to chat with his father.
Lu Mingyue has already returned to her room.
Lu Ren stood in the living room and asked, "Dad, which room are you in?"
Lu Mingyue's voice came from inside: "I'm in the study."
This was originally just an ordinary answer, but Lu Ren instinctively felt puzzled after hearing this: "Study? We don't have a study at home. It has been converted into Lu Yang's bedroom."
This thought only flashed through Lu Ren's mind , and then came a bigger question: "Who is Lu Yang?"
A name that he had never heard of naturally appeared in Lu Ren's mind. This was something that was incomprehensible.
"Who is Lu Yang?" This thought entangled Lu Ren like a wildly growing vine, making him stand in the living room for a long time unable to move.
Lu Ren stood silently in the living room just like when he had just woken up. He looked at the balcony where clothes and bed sheets were hung out to dry. The balcony covered with white tiles was spotless and there was not even any debris placed on it.
"Strange." Lu Ren muttered, "Is our balcony so clean? I clearly remember that I should have planted..." What did I plant? Peonies? Roses?
Some things cannot stand up to careful scrutiny. He felt that his hand had pressed into the gauze in his mind. The gauze began to deform and seemed to be about to burst.
Lu Ren's head also began to hurt. In order to relieve the pain, Lu Ren tapped his temples.
"What are you doing again, kid?" Zhang Chunhua came out after washing the dishes and got angry when she saw Lu Ren doing nothing in the living room. Seeing Lu Ren rubbing his temple, she said firmly, "Headache? It must be because you played with your phone too much."
Mobile phones are the eternal root of all evil.
Lu Ren could have broken through the fog in one fell swoop, but he was defeated by Zhang Chunhua who kept talking on the phone in his ear. But even though Lu Ren no longer thought about the flowers on the balcony, his brain still hurt more because of Zhang Chunhua's continuous output.
Fortunately, Zhang Chunhua did not dwell on this issue for too long. She quickly changed her previous look of disgust and mysteriously led Lu Ren to sit on the sofa, as if she wanted to have a heart-to-heart talk with Lu Ren.
"Renren."
Zhang Chunhua's voice was deliberately sweet, which made Lu Ren's heart tremble: "What, what's wrong?"
Zhang Chunhua said to Lu Ren mysteriously, "Guess what I saw when I went shopping for groceries today?"
"What?"
"Auntie Sun from Building 3 is playing downstairs with her granddaughter."
A bad premonition flashed before Lu Ren's eyes.
As expected, Zhang Chunhua, who was showing her true colors, said to Lu Ren earnestly, "Auntie Sun is a little younger than me. When will I be able to hold my grandson in my arms?"
A drop of cold sweat ran down Lu Ren's forehead: "I, I'll try my best."
Zhang Chunhua was gentle most of the time, like the gentle falling flowers in spring. But occasionally there would be thunderstorms, for example, when she was talking to her son about her lifelong affairs and her son gave a perfunctory answer.
"What do you mean by try your best?! You stay at home all day, when will your friends find a girl who is willing to date you? Are you waiting for the girl to knock on our door on her own?"
Zhang Chunhua issued an ultimatum.
"I'm telling you, I've already talked to your Aunt Sun. She said she has a few nice girls on hand, all single. You're going to go on blind dates starting tomorrow!"
Blind date?!
Lu Ren felt terrified: "I'm not in a hurry yet."
Zhang Chunhua insisted: "If you don't rush to choose now, you won't have a choice when you are in a hurry. There is no room for negotiation. Unless you don't want me as your mother anymore!"
Of course Lu Ren couldn't give up this mother, this was someone he had worked so hard to get -
Hmm? Just what?
After speaking, Zhang Chunhua stood up and went into the room to find Lu Mingyue, leaving Lu Ren alone in the living room facing the bright sunlight.
Lu Ren wanted to continue thinking about his previous doubts, but soon, he found that he couldn't even remember what his doubts were.
Lu Ren couldn't help but think to himself, "Is it because I'm getting older? I feel like my memory is getting worse and worse."
Lu Ren stopped thinking about it when he couldn't remember. He sat on the sofa and worried about tomorrow's blind date: "Will people like someone like me? I hope it won't be too embarrassing."
However, by the next day, Lu Ren no longer had such worries, because the atmosphere could no longer be described as awkward. If one had to say it, it could only be called a disaster.
The blind date partner is said to be a law enforcement officer. We had originally agreed to meet in the morning, but he had a sudden mission and was out of town.
Lu Ren was very considerate. After receiving the message, he drove his electric car to pick people up so that they could have dinner together.
As a result, she found out that her blind date was a cold beauty with red lips, leather jacket, short skirt and high heels. She stood in front of Lu Ren, looked at him and his small battery coldly, and introduced her name sparingly: "Tushan Qiluo."
