Chapter 164: Are You Stupid?
Chapter 164: Are You Stupid?
Cheng Xi wished that she could drag Cheng Yang out and kill him right now.
But the following sequence of actions were so bizarre that she was frozen in place as she watched on, speechless. After Lu Chenming figured out Cheng Yang’s identity, he was actually quite happy to see him. After a moment of panic and blank stares, he said somewhat shyly, as if he were pleasantly surprised, “Brother~”
He truly was Lu Chenzhou’s brother only in name, as evidenced by his sweet and intimate call towards a non-family member.
Cheng Yang was somewhat disturbed by his response, as was Cheng Xi, who was still hiding in a corner.
Cheng Yang hesitatingly asked, “……If you knew that I was her brother, then why would you slander my sister?”
What surprised Cheng Xi the most was that, even though Lu Chenming behaved a little awkwardly in front of Cheng Yang, he was more courageous than usual. With a red face, he then stammered out, “You really don’t look like ‘icey’ at all.”
This time, it was Cheng Yang’s turn to be speechless, and he fiercely replied, “Don’t spout nonsense! Don’t expect me to let you go just because you helped me out before. I’m only going to tell you this once. If you keep smearing my sister’s name and make her any more upset, I’ll give you a big beating!”
As Cheng Yang said this, he even waved his fist around threateningly, and his big fist finally roused Lu Chenming from the reverie he had fallen into upon seeing his “sweetheart’s” brother. With a wronged tone, he quickly protested, “I didn’t slander her. I was the one who met her first.”
“You stubborn mule!” Cheng Yang pulled him upright and slapped his head. “What did I tell you before? Was that all for nothing? Everything over the Internet is just a lie, alright? A lie! At one point, I had ten female characters as a wife at the same time over all the games I played. Do you think that I had to take responsibility for any of that in real life? Are you crazy?”
When Cheng Xi heard her brother’s words, she felt like she had a good idea of what he was planning. This fellow wasn’t actually going to admit to the fact that he had used a female character to tease Lu Chenming. Instead, he was probably going to try to persuade Lu Chenming to think more clearly using his identity as Cheng Yang.
After mulling over Cheng Yang’s strategy for a little bit, Cheng Xi felt that it might have a chance of working. After all, even though Cheng Yang had been a terrible student, he had deep insight into how people thought. It was so much so that it made Cheng Xi a little jealous. When they were small, both siblings helped out at their parents’ diner, and no one, from a five-year-old kid to an eighty-something old grandmother, had ever disliked him at all. Her brother had a big mouth, and was able to make others laugh and feel at home from the very beginning. Even Lu Chenming seemed to have bought into his act.
If Cheng Yang could merely hide his guilt and convince Lu Chenming of the truth, it would likely work.
Since Cheng Yang wasn’t just messing around this time, Cheng Xi felt relieved. Even though she would still have to bear the crime of seducing Lu Chenming, as long as it was a result of her brother’s actions and there was peace afterwards, she didn’t mind.
When Cheng Xi returned home that night and told Lu Chenzhou about Cheng Yang’s plans, she also asked him, “What do you think the probability of my brother succeeding is?”
Lu Chenzhou replied with three terse words. “Well, we’ll see.”
He had replied to her lazily, as if he couldn’t care any less about it.
But Cheng Xi wouldn’t let the topic go that easily. She insisted that he talk about Lu Chenming some more, even requesting, “Please help me check up on Chenming. And if you’ve got nothing better to do, you should chat with him a bit.”
Lu Chenzhou frowned in annoyance. “Why do you care so much about this?” From his perspective, this wasn’t a big deal at all.
Cheng Xi staunchly replied, “He’s your brother. If we don’t deal with this problem thoroughly, it’ll affect the relationship between us.” Cheng Xi knew that Lu Chenzhou didn’t care too much about Lu Chenming’s situation because Lu Chenzhou’s stance was that since the person who had played around with Lu Chenming wasn’t Cheng Xi, then if Lu Chenming couldn’t wrap his head around the truth, then it was his own stupidity to blame. As a result, Cheng Xi had to bluntly say, “If his thoughts don’t change, I’ll start to feel guilty, and in order to absolve that guilt, then even if it meant going bankrupt and destitute, I’ll definitely break up with you.”
Despite what Cheng Xi said, and despite her attempt to be reasonable with him, and even despite her threat to break up, it was the word “guilty” that finally convinced Lu Chenzhou.
“Alright.”
And after that, he would always take some time to check on his brother once in a while.
Of course, Cheng Xi didn’t know that Lu Chenzhou’s method of giving attention to his family members was also very strange. In this instance, he called Lu Chenming and merely asked, “Are you free?”
After Lu Chenming said that he was, Lu Chenzhou sent someone to pick him up and drive him over to his place. There, the two brothers sat there and stared at each other for a few minutes. After Lu Chenming inevitably became uncomfortable and started sweating nervously, Lu Chenzhou finally asked, “Do you still want her?”
Lu Chenming nodded shyly. Even though he was afraid of Lu Chenzhou, he was also very clear on what he had to say in front of his brother.
The truth. Nothing more, and nothing less.
Lu Chenzhou didn’t get mad. He just cooly replied, “Oh,” and then didn’t speak another word.
With that, he sent Lu Chenming back, leaving him very confused.
That night, Lu Chenzhou told Cheng Xi, “It didn’t work.”
How could Cheng Xi have extrapolated what had happened from those few words? So, all she said in reply was, “It’s fine. As long as his feelings haven’t intensified, that’s good enough. Just let my brother try talking to him a little more.” And then she instructed, “Keep checking up on him too.”
And so, whenever Lu Chenzhou wasn’t too busy, he’d call someone to bring Lu Chenming over and sit down with him for a few minutes. It would always last until Lu Chenming……wanted to die. However, he was stubborn enough to never relent in front of Lu Chenzhou.
At the same time, after Cheng Yang and Lu Chenming “got to know each other,” they started to become “close friends” in real life even though the former thought that the latter stayed at home too much and went out too little. In fact, Cheng Yang even said, “Given what you do in real life, how many females have you actually met? It’s because you’ve seen too little of the real world that you grew so attached to an online relationship, you know?”
So, whenever Cheng Yang had the time, he would drag Lu Chenming out to a nightclub. Of course, they started with something mild, like just inviting a few drinking buddies along and having fun. Lu Chenming was soft, delicate, and liked to blush, so all the girls treated him like a younger brother, and they particularly enjoyed teasing him. Every time this happened, Lu Chenming would hide behind Cheng Yang, and Cheng Yang would pretend to scold everyone. “Hey, that’s my brother! You’re not allowed to tease him like that!” In Lu Chenming’s eyes, his “sweetheart’s” brother was a larger-than-life personality.
And perhaps because Cheng Yang’s personality gave him more courage, or perhaps it was because he’d grown used to Lu Chenzhou’s aura after meeting him so often over these past days, but one day, right when Lu Chenzhou was about to send him away, he asked, “Brother, do you really like her?”
Lu Chenzhou nodded without a trace of hesitation. “Yes.”
“Do you like her to the point where she’s the only person in the world for you, where she’s the only person you’d ever be willing to marry?”
Lu Chenzhou seriously considered his question for a little, and then calmly responded, “I don’t know. But I know that I’ve never loved anybody else as much as her before.”
Honestly, this really wasn’t a deep confession or anything for Lu Chenzhou; these were just his heartfelt thoughts. For this fellow who loathed troublesome affairs, finding a girlfriend was troublesome enough that he greatly desired to tightly bind Cheng Xi to himself. Otherwise, he’d have to start over from the beginning, make a new plan, pick out more presents, and look at trashy books and ridiculous “action flicks;” the energy that he’d have to spend to find a new girlfriend was just too much, ok?!
But Lu Chenming was really shocked by his brother’s words—as Lu Chenzhou’s brother, even if they weren’t very close, he was still very familiar with what kind of person Lu Chenzhou was. For someone who didn’t even care about his family that much to care so much about Cheng Xi was…… incredible. Lu Chenming felt his heart ache, ache with tremendous pain.
Lu Chenming looked at his brother in a daze. “Brother, what does liking someone feel like?” He clutched at his chest and wanted to ask him if it really felt like what the books described: where your heart raced, your soul felt like it was departing, and for her to fill your heart and eyes. However, his heart was aching too much for him to say anything.
“It feels terrible.”
“???”
Lu Chenming looked at his brother with a stupid expression.
And then, he heard his brother, who seemed to never partake in worldly affairs, say, “It feels terrible. Whenever I see her, I really want to have sex with her. However, I still have to restrain myself.”
Lu Chenming was speechless.
Lu Chenzhou asked him with a severe expression, “Do you want to have sex with her whenever you see her?”
Lu Chenming’s face caught on fire with a “Ping!” He blushed a deep red, and quickly responded by shaking his head and waving his hands in refusal.
“Oh, so you don’t really love her then.” He looked at the silly little brother sitting in front of him and aloofly lectured, “If you still insist on saying that you love her even if you feel this way, then wouldn’t that just be silly?”
Lu Chenming: ! ! ! ( ⊙ o ⊙ ) ! ! !