Chapter 148: So You’re Lu Qingyue?

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Lu Qingyue had not expected Cheng Xingye’s parents to arrive so suddenly. Though surprised, she hurried to open the door and let them in.

Guo Mengyun entered first. As she changed her shoes in the foyer, she quietly surveyed the apartment.

The once plain and minimalist place was now filled with the soft, feminine presence of a young woman.

Several pairs of girls’ shoes were neatly arranged on the shoe rack by the door, while fresh, delicate decorations had replaced nearly everything throughout the apartment.

Pink curtains. A fluffy white carpet. Even the two drinking glasses on the table had been replaced by a neatly arranged pink-and-blue couples’ set.

Guo Mengyun knew her son well. Though he had grown up surrounded by every luxury, he had never paid much attention to the finer details of daily life unless someone else took care of them for him.

Yet every decoration and arrangement in this apartment revealed thoughtfulness and indulgence. It seemed Cheng Xingye had truly taken this girl to heart.

Guo Mengyun withdrew her gaze and suddenly felt that the girl was rather impressive. To have tamed her seemingly aloof son so completely was a skill in itself.

She marveled silently, then glanced at Cheng Li, who was about to walk farther inside.

To her surprise, she discovered that the usually decisive and commanding General Manager Cheng, who ruled his company with an iron hand, had become exceedingly awkward in his own son’s home. Under the gaze of his future daughter-in-law, he was actually walking with both arms and legs moving in perfect unison.

Guo Mengyun: “...”

...

The couple entered the living room and sat down on the sofa.

Lu Qingyue brought them two glasses of water. Guo Mengyun quickly reached out to take one, smiling as she said, “You don’t have to fuss over us. Come sit down, too.”

“Oh.”

Lu Qingyue obediently sat on the sofa opposite them.

It was her first time meeting Cheng Xingye’s parents, and she was both nervous and uneasy. Her small hands rested properly on her knees, and she sat bolt upright like an elementary school student.

Seeing this, Guo Mengyun could not help finding it amusing.

“There’s no need to be nervous.”

Caught out, Lu Qingyue’s cheeks flushed slightly. Pressing her lips together, she said softly, “I’m not nervous.”

Though she said that, they were still her elders, and she could not truly relax. She sat stiffly upright, her uneasy gaze shifting repeatedly between the two of them.

In truth, someone else was even more nervous than she was.

At first, Cheng Li had assumed that his son had found a vain, status-conscious girlfriend and brought her home to live with him for a while. He had not thought Cheng Xingye was particularly serious.

Among people of their social standing, becoming tired of one another and breaking up was perfectly ordinary. Cheng Li had therefore never paid much attention to the girl.

But now, with the young woman sitting obediently across from them and speaking in a gentle, soft voice, she looked every bit as well-bred as could be. Cheng Li suddenly realized that Cheng Xingye might truly be serious this time.

Since her husband remained silent and offered no clear stance, Guo Mengyun had no choice but to take on the role of spokesperson.

She lifted her glass and took a sip before looking up at the sofa opposite them. In a gentle voice, she asked, “Are you Lu Qingyue?”

.....

Toward evening, crimson clouds piled up along the horizon.

After finishing his meeting, Cheng Xingye returned to his office and noticed an unread message on his phone.

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He pressed his lips together as he read it. Then he suddenly snatched the coat from the back of his chair and strode out without a word.

“Assistant General Manager Cheng...”

Employees passing through the corridor greeted him, but Cheng Xingye had no time to respond. Calling Lu Qingyue as he hurried toward the elevators, he moved with uncharacteristic haste.

It was the evening rush hour. Traffic crawled, and the city streets shone like a sea of stars.

Cheng Xingye called Lu Qingyue several times. Each call rang until it disconnected, yet no one answered.

A powerful sense of foreboding seized his heart.

His lips were tightly pressed together, his eyes fixed on the road ahead. He still appeared calm and composed, but the moment he cleared the congested stretch of road, he abruptly floored the accelerator and sped away.

....

Half an hour later.

The apartment door was flung open with a bang, and the motion-sensor light on the twelfth floor came on at once.

The instant the door opened, Cheng Xingye felt as though all the blood in his body had rushed back toward his heart. Every beat stabbed with pain.

Two pairs of shoes that belonged to neither of them sat in the foyer. A pink suitcase had been left two or three meters away.

Cheng Xingye’s heart sank.

“Dottie?”

He did not even have time to remove his shoes, nor did he notice the faint tremor in his voice.

Hurried footsteps soon sounded from inside. Lu Qingyue came running over, her face filled with astonishment.

“Cheng Xingye? Why are you back...?”

Before she could finish, someone suddenly seized her wrist.

It seemed he had lost control of his strength today. His grip was so tight that her wrist bones ached, and she could not struggle free in the slightest.

His entire body radiated the overheated breath of someone who had run all the way there. His eyes fixed on her with crushing intensity.

“Where are you going?”

Lu Qingyue froze. “I’m not going anywhere...”

She was still too bewildered to understand his question when she was suddenly pulled into a scorching embrace.

His whole body emanated a fierce, overwhelming presence. Bending down, he buried his face in her shoulder, his tall frame almost completely enveloping her.

His breathing rose and fell unevenly, hot air washing over the hollow of her neck. It surged and billowed like invisible vines rapidly sprouting from the earth, winding around her layer by layer.

Bearing most of his weight, Lu Qingyue was held so tightly that she could not move at all. Her mind, however, remained muddled and dazed.

Perhaps because he was in an intensely defensive state, Lu Qingyue could only wrap her arms around his waist, too bewildered to interrupt him.

It was not until she realized that someone behind her had been watching them all this time that she gently pressed her lips together and reminded him in a quiet voice, “Your parents are here.”

Cheng Xingye did not move.

After a long while, he answered with a deep hum. Ignoring the astonished gazes behind him, he lowered his head and kissed her forehead deeply before slowly releasing his arms.

He stared at Lu Qingyue for several seconds, his expression solemn and reverent, as if he needed to make certain that she was truly beside him and that no one could take her away.

Only then did he lift his eyes coldly toward the two stunned people behind him.

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The atmosphere in the apartment was far from pleasant.

Facing their son’s cold expression, Cheng Li and Guo Mengyun knew he had misunderstood. Guo Mengyun hurriedly explained, “Well... we were only passing by. We didn’t expect to run into Dottie here.”

It was true, though there was no telling whether he believed them.

Perhaps too many past events had worn away his trust in his parents. Cheng Xingye neither agreed nor disagreed. He merely lowered his hand without a word, took Lu Qingyue’s hand, and led her toward the living room.

The four of them sat facing one another on the sofas. As their gazes met, a stifling silence slowly filled the room.

Lu Qingyue looked at him, then at the couple opposite her. Her heart was uneasy and confused. She did not understand why biological parents and their own son would interact in such a strained manner.

Cheng Xingye said nothing. His palm enclosed Lu Qingyue’s hand, protecting her firmly at his side, while his indifferent gaze swept over the glasses on the table.

There was less than half a glass of water left in each of the three glasses. It seemed the three of them had not been completely at odds just now. At the very least, they had been able to drink.

He calmed down a little and finally raised his head to look indifferently at his parents. His tone was somewhat harsh.

“What are you doing here?”

Guo Mengyun knew that ever since what had happened the previous year, her son had been extremely wary of them. Afraid that he and his father might start arguing, she quickly explained in a gentle voice, “We came to see you. How long has it been since you last came home?”

That much was true.

Ever since Cheng Xingye had found a place of his own, he had had little interest in returning home, especially after the unpleasantness between him and his family.

But Cheng Xingye merely curled his lips in a cold smile. He idly squeezed Lu Qingyue’s palm as he asked, “Did you really come only to see me? Didn’t you have someone investigate her?”

His voice was calm and measured, yet the accusation in his words was unmistakable.

Cheng Li frowned. Though he knew the young woman was sitting right beside them, his dignity as a parent had been challenged, and he spoke with obvious displeasure.

“We did that for your own good! We heard you were in a relationship, yet you refused to bring her home to meet us. How were we supposed to feel at ease?”

Cheng Xingye let out a mocking laugh. “Bring her home for you to see? So you could tear us apart again?”

The atmosphere in the room instantly turned rigid.

Cheng Li was rendered speechless, his face livid. Guo Mengyun also fell silent, her expression embarrassed and heavy.

Lu Qingyue did not know what had happened between them in the past. She also did not know that Cheng Xingye’s former arranged marriage with the Ye family had once received General Manager Cheng’s tacit approval.

She only saw the gloomy expression on Cheng Xingye’s face and the look of someone on the verge of erupting. Uneasy and frightened, she glanced repeatedly between him and his parents.

Caught in the center of the storm, she hesitated for several seconds before carefully taking his hand. In a soft, quiet voice, she said, “Cheng Xingye, don’t argue with your parents.”

The man, whose face had been cold, paused.

Guo Mengyun and Cheng Li watched in astonishment as his eyelashes flickered ever so slightly. The violent anger in his eyes vanished in an instant.