TLSMLMMM Chapter 34

The old master returned home safely, and everyone finally let out a long breath of relief. Chu Junlie had taken off his coat on the way and draped it over the old master, and the car’s heater was on as well. Even so, after getting home, the old master’s hands and feet were still icy cold.

Doctor Ren examined him immediately and gave him medicine. The eldest sister-in-law brought over warm water and, while secretly wiping away her tears, soaked the old master’s feet.

The eldest brother fetched a thin quilt and wrapped the old master up until he nearly looked like a zongzi. The second brother took out the premium wild ginseng he had bought and showed it to their father.

“Dad, I consulted Doctor Ren,” the second brother said softly, lowering his voice. “Wild ginseng can replenish vital energy, regulate blood pressure, and even help a bit with neurasthenia. When the time comes, try a little maybe it’ll make you feel more comfortable.”

Surrounded by his children and with the medicine taking effect, the old master grew drowsy.

“Let Dad rest first.” Si Yunyi had been holding the old master’s hand the whole time, his tone gentle. “You should all go home and sleep. I’ll stay the night.”

The eldest sister-in-law dried the water from the old master’s feet and carefully tucked them into the quilt. Feeling that his body had finally warmed up, she couldn’t help but shed more tears.

After settling the old master flat in bed, the siblings tiptoed out of the bedroom. Si Yunyi walked them to the villa entrance. The eldest sister-in-law, usually talkative, kept her head down the whole time and didn’t say a word.

“Everyone worked hard today.”

Having recovered the old master, Si Yunyi’s tone was noticeably gentler. His gaze shifted to Si Yuntian, his voice restrained.

“Big brother.”

“Hm.” Being called out, the eldest brother subconsciously took a step back, his hand touching the spot where he’d been struck earlier, it still ached a little.

“Dad has always been especially tolerant with you,” Si Yunyi said steadily, slowing his speech. “He never intended to train you into some kind of elite. He only wanted you to live happily. Right now, Dad can’t control his emotions, and when he scolds you, it isn’t truly his intention.”

The eldest brother lowered his head, his nose stinging.

“Second brother, everyone knows you were mischievous as a child and loved to play even as you grew up. But I know that when it comes to family matters, you’ll always put them first.” Si Yunyi looked at him, trust in his eyes. “Isn’t that right?”

The second brother nodded firmly.

Si Yunyi then turned to the eldest sister-in-law, who had been wiping away tears with her head lowered, and handed her a tissue.

Seeing the tissue in front of her, the eldest sister-in-law finally broke down and cried out loud.

“Eldest sister-in-law, what happened today was a collective failure on our part. It’s not easy for you, raising two children. Qi Zai is also at the age where he needs his mother most. You’ve already done your best by coming to care for Father with such dedication.”

Si Yunyi glanced at the eldest brother, signaling to him. The eldest brother quickly understood, stepped forward, and held his sobbing wife, patting her back to comfort her.

“We were all too narrow-minded before,” the eldest sister-in-law said through tears as she looked at Si Yunyi. “Yunyi, little uncle, us being around the old master all the time wasn’t because we wanted to fight over the inheritance. We just wanted to leave something for the children, some money so they could live freely and without worry. The old master dotes on you the most. He even singled us out before, telling us we weren’t allowed to question the distribution of his will. I couldn’t help panicking, afraid he wouldn’t leave us anything at all.”

Si Yunyi was silent for a moment, then raised his eyes to the siblings. “Tomorrow we can hold an online meeting to discuss taking turns caring for Dad.”

The eldest sister-in-law choked back a few sobs and looked at Si Yunyi cautiously. “Yunyi, little uncle do you really mean that?”

“I do,” Si Yunyi replied calmly. “Dad will see the effort you’re all putting in.”

The eldest sister-in-law couldn’t help but smile a little. Si Yunyi stood where he was, watching his siblings get into their cars and leave. The surroundings returned to silence.

Lowering his gaze, Si Yunyi pondered quietly in the night wind.

In his dream, he had heard news that something had gone wrong with the Si family. While rushing back in a panic, he’d been in a car accident. Si Yunyi clearly knew that at that time, he should not have left a will.

The dream depicted very little of the Si family’s eventual downfall, but seeing today’s scene, Si Yunyi faintly sensed that in the dream, he had inherited most of the old master’s estate and had no family of his own. As the heirs, his brothers and sisters would very likely have fought bitterly over his inheritance.

Part of the destruction of the Si family would have come from the Chu family’s influence but the other part, no doubt, from internal strife within the Si family itself.

Seen this way, his siblings were no longer suitable to be the future decision-makers of the Si family.

“Mr. Si?” Chu Junlie stood beside Si Yunyi, using his body to block the cold wind. He was wearing only a sweater, his ears red from the cold.

Hearing Chu Junlie’s voice, Si Yunyi came back to his senses and walked toward the villa. Chu Junlie hurriedly followed.

It wasn’t that Si Yunyi had never considered whether time could be used to cultivate Chu Junlie but no one could guarantee what Chu Junlie would be like once he recovered his memories. Moreover, Old Master Chu would never allow a small family like the Si family to stand in the way of Chu Junlie inheriting the Chu family.

Overall, the risk is actually even greater.

Now there are only a few nephews and nieces left.

Those children, having grown up under the protection of the entire Si family and steeped in a life of comfort, are completely unable to shoulder heavy responsibilities. Unless they are pushed to the brink, they might only then grow a little.

Returning to the bedroom next to the old master’s, Si Yunyi sat at the desk, propping his forehead with one hand. He felt that the Si family’s eventual disappearance in the book was entirely reasonable.

Studying medicine couldn’t save them.

Perhaps he had chosen the wrong professional path from the very beginning.

“Mr. Si, are you tired?”

Si Yunyi raised his eyes and saw Chu Junlie leaning against the edge of the desk, tilting his head as he looked at him, his eyes dark and bright.

“I’ll keep watch for you. You rest for a while, okay?”

Si Yunyi turned his head and saw that the bed in the room had already been made. Liefeng was lying on the floor beside the bed, looking extremely sleepy.

“You still have work tomorrow.” Si Yunyi glanced at the time. “Go get some rest.”

Chu Junlie looked at the man in front of him, pulled over a chair, and sat diagonally opposite Si Yunyi, using his actions to show his determination.

If Mr. Si wasn’t going to sleep, neither would he.

After a moment of silence, Si Yunyi gestured toward the door between the two bedrooms.

“Dad has already taken his medicine and will probably sleep quite deeply. You can check on him every two hours, but be sure to keep your movements quiet.”

Hearing this, Chu Junlie checked the time and immediately nodded.

Si Yunyi stood up from the desk and walked to the bed. Just as he unfastened the buttons of his coat, he saw Chu Junlie come to his side, looking at him intently.

“Is… something the matter?” Si Yunyi slowed his movements.

“You—you must be very tired today.” Back indoors, Chu Junlie’s ears were still tinged red. “I’ll help you hang up your coat.”

Si Yunyi paused for two seconds, silently took off his coat, and it was immediately taken by Chu Junlie.

Chu Junlie hung the coat on a hanger, his palm moving from top to bottom as he gently and carefully smoothed it, as if brushing away fine dust, meticulously straightening it out.

Si Yunyi took off his glasses and placed them on the bedside table, then lay down to sleep in his shirt. Chu Junlie turned off the bedroom lights, leaving only a small desk lamp that cast a dim, unobtrusive glow.

The moonlight seemed especially bright tonight. After checking on the soundly sleeping old master at the appointed time, Chu Junlie returned and saw the moonlight lightly illuminating the bedside like a thin veil draped over the lightly sleeping figure.

As if bewitched, Chu Junlie quietly walked to the bedside, crouched down, and looked at the sleeping man before him.

Mr. Si’s eyelashes were long, his brows neither too dark nor too light, possessing a perfectly balanced beauty like a single, delicate stroke in an ancient painting, finishing the form flawlessly.

His nose bridge was straight and refined, his lip color pale. Though lacking any vivid or flamboyant hue, they were irresistibly kissable, something one might want to lightly bite or linger over, making one’s heart itch unbearably.

Chu Junlie unconsciously moistened his lips, his Adam’s apple bobbing, yet he didn’t dare commit even the slightest disrespect.

A faint sound came from behind. Chu Junlie immediately turned his head and saw that Liefeng had woken up at some point and was lying on the floor, looking up at him.

Liefeng blinked, trying to pretend he hadn’t seen anything, then lowered his head onto his front paws and closed his eyes. After a while, he cautiously opened one eye—only to find Chu Junlie still looking at him.

Feeling a bit awkward, Liefeng turned his head away and stopped looking over.

Chu Junlie felt his face grow warm for some reason. He carefully turned back, took one last lingering look at Mr. Si on the bed, then, blushing, quietly tiptoed away.

Early the next morning, after waking up, Si Yunyi finalized the schedule with his siblings for taking turns to care for the old master. Seeing that the old master was in fairly good spirits and had eaten breakfast, he drove Chu Junlie to the entrance of the shopping mall.

Having not slept all night, Chu Junlie didn’t know why he felt unusually energetic. Even wiping tables, he worked with extra vigor. Every time he thought of what he had seen the night before, his chest couldn’t help but boil over.

Business at the restaurant was especially good today. It was Chu Junlie’s turn to take out the kitchen waste with a senior employee. The old man was already waiting at the usual spot. When he saw Chu Junlie pushing the cart over, he even raised his hand to wave.

The senior employee instinctively became alert upon seeing the old man, but noticed that he stayed where he was, making no move to come over or snatch leftovers as before.

Chu Junlie waved back at the old man. Seeing this, the senior employee couldn’t help but feel surprised.

“We’ve told this old guy so many times and he never listens. How did you manage it?”

Chu Junlie looked at the garbage truck approaching from afar and smiled at the senior employee. “My partner told me to take better care of him.”

Hearing this, the senior employee turned his head and only then noticed that what the old man was wearing was completely different from before. He had padded pants on his legs and a black down jacket on his body. Sitting on the ground, he had deliberately lifted the hem of the jacket to keep it clean, and there was even a layer of foam board under him.

Looking at the old man in front of him, the senior employee was speechless for a long moment.

After dumping the kitchen waste into the garbage truck, the two pushed the cart into the freight elevator. Chu Junlie was watching the numbers rise on the elevator display when he suddenly heard a voice beside him say, “You’re a good person.”

Chu Junlie turned his head and saw the senior employee’s somewhat complicated expression.

“It’s mainly my partner,” Chu Junlie said with a smile. “If it weren’t for my partner’s support, I might not even be able to feed myself. I’d be busy working all day just to get by where would I find the time to care about others?”

After hearing this, the senior employee couldn’t help but sigh again. “Your partner is really great.”

Chu Junlie chuckled twice, then suddenly realized something and turned to look at the senior employee.

“Don’t you dare set your sights on my partner!”

The senior employee turned away and rolled his eyes.

After finishing the follow-up work, Chu Junlie got off work and walked to the usual spot, seeing the old man’s face full of smiles.

“Come on, Grandpa today we’re eating something good!”

“Eating what kind of good food?” the old man asked, stunned.

“My partner heard about you and gave me a lot of extra pocket money!” Chu Junlie couldn’t hide the pride in his eyes. “Today I’m taking you out to eat at a proper restaurant!”

Before the old man could even react, Chu Junlie had already pushed over his tricycle, awkwardly copying the motion of pedaling as he called out, “Come on, Grandpa—hop on!”

The old man scratched his head, a little embarrassed, but still picked up the piece of plastic foam he’d been sitting on and got onto the tricycle. The young man had long legs and the seat was a bit low; the old man watched as Chu Junlie stood up to pedal, pushing the tricycle along until they reached a stir-fry restaurant.

This restaurant had great food and plenty of customers. Chu Junlie generously ordered several large dishes, along with staples and soup. Seeing this, the old man grew a bit uneasy.

“That’s so much we won’t be able to finish it all.”

“I’m not eating. My partner saved food for me,” Chu Junlie said cheerfully. “These are all for you, Grandpa. If you can’t finish, we can pack it up to take away.”

“Look at you, that’s too much money spent,” the old man said, a little embarrassed.

“My partner gave me quite a lot of money,” Chu Junlie said, lowering his head to discuss it with him. “I was thinking of renting you a small place. It’s been getting colder these days you can’t keep sleeping in the tricycle.”

“How could that be possible!” The old man waved his hands repeatedly, but he couldn’t resist Chu Junlie’s insistence. As soon as they finished eating that day, Chu Junlie took him to find a small single-story house.

Eight hundred a month, with water and electricity. There wasn’t much furniture inside, but at least there was a bed, and the landlord didn’t mind what kind of person was renting.

The landlord required a minimum six-month lease, but the good thing was there was no deposit. Chu Junlie straightforwardly transferred 4,800 and let the old man move in.

The old man sat on the bed at a loss, looking at the young man negotiating with the landlord at the doorway. He touched the bed beneath his hands, never having imagined that one day he could still have a place to live.

No more being chased away in the middle of the night, now there was a roof to keep out the wind and rain, with water and electricity.

After settling the old man in, Chu Junlie went back that very evening to boast to Si Yunyi. After bragging, he looked at Si Yunyi expectantly, clearly waiting for a pat on the head.

Seeing Chu Junlie repeatedly lowering and lifting his head in such an obvious hint, Si Yunyi placed a hand on top of his hair and gently patted him.

“Mr. Si, I’m planning to buy some daily necessities tomorrow and bring them to Grandpa,” Chu Junlie said, enjoying the touch on his head, his eyes slightly narrowed. The meaning in his words couldn’t have been clearer.

Wasn’t I especially amazing?

Please pat me some more!!!

“Mm.” Si Yunyi’s fingers continued to stroke gently. He noticed that at some point, a bit of dust had gotten onto the tip of Chu Junlie’s ear. His fingers slid down naturally, the pads lightly brushing away that speck.

As if a sensitive spot had been touched, Chu Junlie’s waist and abdomen tensed almost instantly. He lifted his head and stared blankly at the person in front of him.