Chapter 374 - If Revenge Breeds Revenge, Will There Ever Be an End to It?
Chapter 374: If Revenge Breeds Revenge, Will There Ever Be an End to It?
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Senior Du thought to herself, ‘Why did Ruan Danchen speak so casually with the general manager? She spoke as if she was talking to a child.
‘She must’ve been too used to being a mother!’
Senior Du wondered if the general manager would be unhappy because Ruan Danchen’s attitude was not proper enough.
The most shocking, jaw-dropping bit came when Qi Chenglin took the medicine without showing a hint of unhappiness at all.
Ruan Danchen saw that everyone was giving her strange looks and finally realized that her own attitude was out of place. She had been used to giving him orders and she was very casual, having gone through through that layer of intimacy.
Nevertheless, she did not explain herself further, since she had already agreed with Qi Chenglin to let everything go with the flow without the need to hide the relationship on purpose.
Even if the two women thought too much about it, they would probably not go so far as to think indecent thoughts.
Luo Yushu’s gaze shifted suggestively between Ruan Danchen and Qi Chenglin. He smiled suddenly, as if he knew the reason why Qi Chenglin caught the cold.
…
…
Back at the hotel, everyone went into their respective rooms to pack up. They would soon be heading back to the city.
Everyone, including Ruan Danchen, brought their luggage bags down to checkout of their rooms. Even the driver who sent them there waited at the lobby for Qi Chenglin to come down.
Then, Qi Chenglin came down with a luggage bag in one hand. His other hand held a fat, but still considerably handsome little boy. A young man kept up with the boy and helped to carry the boy’s bag.
When they were nearer, Senior Du noticed that the little boy resembled Qi Chenglin—he was practically a splitting image of the man if his face was rounder, less sharpened, and his body was compressed into a small ball.
“This is my son,” Qi Chenglin introduced. He missed me, so he insisted on coming.”
The rest of them looked at Qi Youxuan. Jiang Yuan had seen the boy once when he sent some files to Prestige Residence, but everyone else—including Luo Yushu—had never seen the boy before.
Senior Du could not help but feel shocked. She knew Qi Chenglin had a son, but he never once showed the boy in public before, and no outsider ever knew how he looked like.
Back at Qilin, Yao Jingfei was the only one who ever saw the boy.
Bringing Qi Youxuan over was rather surprising. A sense of pride came over those who were there, because they felt like they had finally seen the world.
“Hello Uncles, hello Aunties,” Qi Youxuan greeted politely.
Senior Du and the others felt incredibly happy and privileged. They never met the kids of rich people and were expecting a bit of arrogance. Reality shows often depicted them as spurning other people.
It was a surprise then, that Qi Youxuan was so well-behaved. Not a single whisker of haughtiness was present and he seemed very natural in his mannerisms.
“All of you would like go home directly, yes? Tell me your address, I’ll tell the driver to send you home,” Qi Chenglin said.
“No, it’s fine. It’s such a long detour and it’ll only delay you from going back to your home, General Manager.”
“There’s no delay. Since Xiao Yang drove over last night to send Youxuan here, he can send us home immediately.”
Senior Du had a sudden realization of awkwardness as she herself had misunderstood.
Jiang Yuan surmised that no one wanted to be the first one to speak, so he went first and gave his address. As Qi Chenglin’s assistant, he knew Qi Chenglin’s disposition and was roughly able to understand what Qi Chenglin was thinking.
Soon after, he gave Luo Yushu a knowing gaze, prompting Luo Yushu to state his address too.
Senior Du and Chen Siyu subsequently gave their addresses without too much worry.
Finally, it was Ruan Danchen’s turn. Everyone looked toward her, and Qi Chenglin even waggled his brows at her.
Left without a choice, Ruan Danchen bravely gave her address as Prestige Residences. She did not give the exact house number, nor did she explicitly say Prestige Residences, but gave instead the street name that Prestige Residences was located.
Due to everyone’s expertise in the same field, they knew also that Prestige Residences—the general manager’s residence—was located in the same street as well. Although the street did not just have Prestige Residences as one of its residential areas, most of the areas there were expensive, upscale properties. At that point, everyone looked at Ruan Danchen in a different light.
Almost immediately, they began wondering if Ruan Danchen was a low-profile darling daughter of some rich family. Otherwise, how could that bullish Yao Jingfei be kept in check?
Manager Zou treated her very courteously too, in contrast to how Yao Jingfei—a board member’s daughter—was snubbed so frequently.
Coupled with Ruan Danchen’s close friendship with Song Yu, Senior Du and Chen Siyu believed that they finally figured out the entire situation.
Only Jiang Yuan, Luo Yushu, and Xiao Yang knew what was really going on.
Qi Chenglin nodded calmly and said in the with the utmost composure, “So it turns out Miss Ruan is staying rather near with me. Perfect, then I’ll send you home, since it’s on the way. You can come with us.”
Ruan Danchen, “…”
‘This man, he’s really taking it slow and steady in bringing the two of us closer to each other!’
Once Qi Chenglin said that, Senior Du and Chen Siyu looked at Ruan Danchen again, but they did not know what to feel at that point.
They were both shell-shocked as they gawked at Ruan Danchen getting into Qi Chenglin’s Benz. She sat at the back seat and appeared rather at ease, without even trying to modestly decline it. Qi Youxuan then sat inside, as if he did not find it odd at all to sit beside Ruan Danchen.
Qi Chenglin then had a sour expression as he sat at the front passenger seat.
Senior Du and Chen Siyu thought to themselves, ‘How could he not be so sour-faced?
‘It was unreasonable for an employee to sit at the back and let the boss sit in the front passenger seat.’
Ruan Danchen did not usually seem to be the kind of person who lacked common sense.
Even though the Benz was already a long way off, the two women were still immersed in shock.
…
…
Ruan Danchen sat in the car, and having already decided not to hide anything, she did not bother about what the others had to say. She asked Qi Chenglin, “Have you eaten your medicine?”
“Yes. Youxuan and Xiao Yang watched me eat them.” Qi Chenglin turned around and smiled at Ruan Danchen.
Ruan Danchen then noticed Xiao Yang take a peek at her through the rear-view mirror. From his eyes, it seemed that he was smiling. Ruan Danchen then realized she may have been too controlling with Qi Chenglin, and her face heated up immediately after that.
As the car entered the city, Qi Chenglin received a call from the manor. They asked him when he was going home and said that they would wait for him to eat dinner that night.
Qi Chenglin then remembered that there was a gathering at the manor on that day. He was so preoccupied with how he wanted to naturally make their relationship public that he forgot about the gathering. He responded immediately, “We’re on our way. We’ll be there in about an hour.”
After hanging up, he told Xiao Yang to drive to the manor. That was when Ruan Danchen remembered about it. Qi Chenglin was not the only one who forgot, as it slipped her mind as well.
She counted the days and recalled suddenly that the next day was Christmas already. She could not help but sneak a glance at Qi Chenglin, wondering if he had the habit of receiving gifts.
All of a sudden, a voice filled her mind. “It’s Christmas tomorrow. You know that, right?”
Ruan Danchen was thinking and thinking, and she wondered why the voice sounded so real. She then felt her arm being swayed. “Aunt Ruan, Aunt Ruan.”
Ruan Danchen looked down and realized that the voice was Qi Youxuan’s, not hers.
She looked guiltily at Qi Chenglin. Knowing that the man was a bit slow when it came to such celebrations, she originally planned to feign ignorance. They were going to stay home anyway, so if they did not go out, they would not experience the atmosphere of the celebration. She wanted the day to just pass by, since buying gifts for him was a real headache.
However, her bid to shrug it off failed due to Qi Youxuan’s question.
“Aunt Ruan, it’s Christmas tomorrow,” Qi Youxuan reiterated. His face was red and seemingly excited for gifts.
Ruan Danchen patted the boy’s head. She smiled and said brazenly, “I remember.”
“I want the complete set of Avengers mini figurines. I like them a lot,” Qi Youxuan said embarrassedly.
Ruan Danchen was speechless.
“Mm, I remember. I wonder if Santa Claus will give you a surprise, hehehe.” Ruan Danchen let out a dry laugh.
Qi Youxuan blinked a couple of times. Ruan Danchen felt that Qi Youxuan’s gaze was as if he was looking at a retarded person.
“He didn’t believe in Santa Claus since he was three,” Qi Chenglin remarked bluntly.
Qi Chengzhi was to blame for that. Three-year-old Youxuan still believed in the existence of Santa Claus before it was Christmas. During the Christmas week, he blabbed constantly about going to the mall to take a picture with Santa Claus.
At that time, Qi Chenglin was on a business trip in Germany and was not at home. Qi Chengji, on the other hand, was in the army, so the only other person that could be subjected to Qi Youxuan’s harassment was Qi Chengzhi.
In the end, Qi Chengzhi put on a serious face and slowly explained to him that there was no Santa Claus in existence.
He even found a few Mandarin-dubbed foreign movies that he insisted Qi Youxuan to watch. All of those movies were about bad people disguising themselves as Santa Claus.
Then, he searched up some documentaries that explained the origin of Santa Claus.
Qi Youxuan was fuming at that time. He accused Qi Chengzhi of corrupting his belief, and a small part of his heart still insisted that Santa Claus was real.
Qi Chengzhi simply chuckled and stuffed Qi Youxuan into the Range Rover. He brought the boy to the mall and patiently waited in the long line to the Santa Claus photo booth.
It took a long while for Qi Youxuan’s turn to come. He instructed Qi Chengzhi to stay there and take his picture, then ran to the Santa Claus with full of excitement, climbing onto the Santa Claus’ lap.
All of a sudden however, Qi Chengzhi walked over and without a single word, stripped the Santa Claus of his hat, wig, and fake beard. A young man’s face was revealed, and he was wearing Santa Claus’ red clothes.
“See. Fake,” Qi Chengzhi said as he pointed at the fake Santa.
Qi Youxuan was speechless.
So was the young lad.
The young man was stunned silly and he simply stared at Qi Chengzhi.
He was merely a university student who took up the job to get some hourly pay. It was the first time he ever experienced such a situation.
The rest of those kids who stood in line to take pictures were also similarly stunned. Their face was plastered with the look of defeat.
No one knew who started crying first, but when one child cried, it set of a chain reaction with the rest. They all came to take pictures with Santa Claus. What did those children do to receive such punishment, for their Santa Claus to turn into an ordinary young man?
Waves after waves of children’s sobs were interspersed with consoling murmurs and reproaching from afar. It was both incredibly chaotic and very noisy.
Qi Chengzhi had a look that screamed ‘I told you so’, making Youxuan feel extremely depressed.
Amidst the disorder, security was alerted. Fortunately, the mall belonged to Wei Ziqi, which was why there were no police reports lodged against Qi Chengzhi’s public disorder.
Qi Chengzhi was the main culprit behind all that, but he seemed so unaffected by everything, as if nothing happened at all. He simply brought Youxuan to choose his Christmas present.
Qi Youxuan was incredibly hurt, so in order to console himself, he immediately chose the gift that he wanted most.
Qi Chengzhi brought him to make payment and while doing so, said, “See, your family’s the one that buy’s Christmas presents for you. It has nothing to do with Santa Claus. Don’t always heap your praise on that old man when we’re the ones who are always spending the money.”
Qi Youxuan, “…”
Although Qi Youxuan got what he wanted, it forever became a scar in his heart.
The boy was still quite angsty when he recounted the entire event. “Aunt Ruan, can you judge who’s right and wrong? I’m a young, innocent boy, and it’s so adorable that I believe in all those fairytales, but Uncle just had to tell me the cruel truth.”
“…” Ruan Danchen did in fact feel that Qi Chengzhi went overboard simply because he was too petty to let Santa get all the credit for presents that other people bought. He even spent so much of effort to make sure Youxuan knew that Santa did not exist.
After hearing Qi Youxuan’s words however, she did not know what to react. She could no longer get mad at Qi Chengzhi.
“It’s fine. When Youjin grows up, I’ll give him a life lesson too,” Qi Chenglin calmly responded from the front seat.
Qi Youxuan did not say anything, but his round face gave of a smugly content expression.
That expression of his did look incredibly deserving of a beating…
“Dad, when the time comes, bring me too,” Qi Youxuan said crisply.
“Sure,” Qi Chenglin answered bluntly.
Ruan Danchen, “…”
If revenge breed revenge, will there ever be an end to it?
…
…
Xiao Yang parked the car at the manor. Ruan Danchen thought for a moment, and before getting of the car, she told Xiao Yang, “Can you wait here for a moment? I’ll come out in a bit. I need you to bring me to buy some stuff.
Qi Youxuan’s beady pupils lit up. “Aunt Ruan, are you going to buy gifts for me?”
Ruan Danchen, “…”
The three of them entered the house, and after Ruan Danchen greeted the elders, she quickly followed Xiao Yang to get her stuff.
Both Grandmother and Grandfather Qi were puzzled as to why she left so early, but Qi Youxuan gleefully told them that she went to buy Christmas gifts for him.
Qi Youxuan’s gift was rather easily found. It was there on the sixth floor of the mall, where all children’s toys were, and was even displayed rather obviously.
Ruan Danchen bought the entire set. Xiao Yang then drove her once again, and after a while, she told him to stop at the roadside.
She got down hurriedly from the car and turned into a small road. After a while, she came out carrying a large box and was even red-faced.
Xiao Yang got down immediately and opened the boot for her. He took the box from Ruan Danchen and to his amazement, he found it quite light.
“Miss Ruan, what did you buy?” Xiao Yang asked.
“Qi Chenglin’s Christmas present,” Ruan Danchen replied hastily.
Xiao Yang did not ask any further and drove Ruan Danchen back to the manor.
…
…
When they left the manor at night to head back to Prestige Residences, Qi Chenglin was the one driving. After Xiao Yang sent Ruan Danchen to the manor, Qi Chenglin let him off work.
Qi Chenglin drove the car into the garage and switched off the engine. Once they got off, Ruan Danchen told Qi Chenglin to open the boot.
Qi Chenglin looked at the huge book that she carried and took it from her while asking, “What’s this?”
“…” Ruan Danchen began to regret her spur-of-the-moment purchase, and could only muster “Your Christmas present. You’ll know tomorrow.”
Qi Chenglin cocked a brow and looked eager. His handsome face was filled with delight. “I didn’t think you’d remember mine in addition to Youxuan.”
From his expression, Ruan Danchen was no longer able to stay calm. She could not resist smiling when she imagined him opening the gift. “I remember.”
Ruan Danchen pulled QI Chenglin’s hand and went into the elevator. “It’s something that’s very practical for you.”