Ni Jiu (Intoxicated) - Chap 20

The result was as expected by Shen Tingwei. He only made this obvious choice with the idea of ​​giving it a go.
He forced a smile, came out of the room and handed the phone back to his colleague.
No matter how you feel, when the time comes, you still have to go to work.
…
Chen Ningxue: I’m leaving.
Lian Jue was surprised when he saw the message and called Chen Ningxue.
“When?”
“Now! Immediately!”
Chen Ningxue seemed to be busy packing her luggage. Her breath was unsteady on the phone, her voice raised an octave and her voice was a little sharp: “I really can’t stay for a minute! What a mess! That Yu Man is pregnant. The child can be regarded as standing upright, posing all day in the posture of the deputy princess, pretending to be!”

Lian Jue listened what she was doing and when she was done scolding. She said, ” Send me the ticket after booking the it.”
The other end of the phone had probably finished venting her anger and was quiet for a while after her words fell.
Chen Ningxue’s voice suddenly slowed down: “Brother, I feel like I have no home.”
“Don’t think about it.” After reading the email. Lian Jue put the hands-free mobile phone on the table to his ear, “In the Chen family, she is an outsider. You and Dad are the family.”
Otherwise, Lian Jue would not have to make a special trip for a birth inspection report. He thought about it, but didn’t say it.
Chen Ningxue just thought he was comforting herself. She replied, “Yes.” There is probably someone knocking on the door over there. She raised her voice and asked, “Who is it!?”
“Miss Ning Xue, sir, wants you go to his study.”
“…Understood.”
Chen Ningxue complained to Lian Jue, “I guess I have to do ideological work for myself again. Which is annoying.”
Until the end of getting off to work in the afternoon, even Lian Jue did not receive a call to send Chen Ningxue off the plane.
The R&D department called an intern to send a test report for the hospital’s equipment. It was the first time the person met the senior leaders and his speech was incoherent.
Lian Jue heard it in a fog and without raising his head, he said that he knew since he read it himself.
There should be no problem with the test report. The company’s equipment is regularly inspected and maintained by a special person in the hospital. If there is a problem, it will should’ve been discovered now. Even the tactic simply turned two pages and put it down.
If the equipment is ok, the problem is the person.
Leaning back in his chair, he looked out the window at the light golden afterglow that gradually sank into the tall building, frowning thinking about the man he saw in the hospital near dusk yesterday.
‘Was it a coincidence that we met yesterday?’
Does Shen Tingwei know that he is going to the hospital, so he made a pitiful look in advance and waited?

Lian Jue was about to be moved by his spirit of acting. He couldn’t help but wonder what kind of IQ he was in his eyes to tease him so unscrupulously again and again.
While thinking about it, the phone rang.
– Go home for dinner at night.

It was Chen Chulian.

Lian Jue’s expectations were good. Chen Chulian set up a dinner party at home relatives and friends were invited to come and gather together with obvious meaning.
It is worth having a feast when you are over half a century old and have a new son.
Chen Chulian’s face was full of spring breeze, while Chen Ningxue on the other side was calm. She didn’t like this kind of occasion at all, let alone a banquet held for such a reason. Anyone with a discerning eye would know that she was angry and no one was out of interest to talk to her.
After Lian Jue exchanged a few words with several Chen Chulian’s subordinates who were still acquainted with each other, he walked towards her when he saw that she was alone.
Unexpectedly, when Chen Ningxue saw him approaching, her first reaction was to look around to find a place to hide.
“What are you doing?” Lian Jue asked her.
“Nothing?” Chen Ningxue staggered her gaze and took a sip of champagne casually.
She didn’t want to say it, so Lian Jue naturally didn’t ask any more questions and sat down with her.
But it didn’t take long for him to understand Chen Ningxue’s abnormality today.
Not long after the banquet, Chen Chulian officially announced his wife’s happy event. After accepting the blessings from relatives and friends with joy, he said with a smile: “…But, in addition to the incident just now, there is actually one more thing I want to share with you today, an announcement.”
Chen Chulian’s voice was not too loud or too still but it was enough for the full audience to hear: “My daughter Ning Xue is no less than old. She spent a few years abroad in the past few years. Lian Jue has stabilized the business in a few years—…”
Lian Jue had an inexplicable premonition in his heart that if Chen Chulian is involved, it might make him uncomfortable, as expected.
“I just thought, I’ll book their wedding in advance next month.” Chen Chulian said, “It also saves Ningxue from worrying about running out every day. This family is still rooted and there is still some to tie down. Isn’t it rightful?”

“Congratulations, Mr. Chen. This is a double blessing.”
“It is a good thing. I’ll give you a toast.”
No one was surprised, as if things should have developed like this, except for Lian Jue.
Chen Ningxue uneasily turned her head to look at him quietly. Lian Jue stared gloomily at the meal in front of him. The blood vessels on the side of his neck swelled slightly due to the tension. When Chen Ningxue saw it clearly, she was inexplicably panicked and her hands that had tightened since she sat down unconsciously clenched even tighter.
Chen Chulian’s eyes fell on Lian Jue for a moment. He only asked, “Ningxue, what do you think?”
Chen Ningxue hurriedly retracted her gaze worried that Lian Jue would notice her gaffe. She lowered her eyes and said vaguely, “It’s fine.”
No one asked Lian Jue’s opinion. The atmosphere didn’t change just because of Lian Jue’s ugly face. Everyone invariably excluded his personal wishes from the focus of the discussion.
After a long time, Lian Jue said abruptly, “Ningxue is my sister.”
The surrounding conversation slowly quieted down. Chen Chulian frowned indistinctly, then smiled.
As if hearing a funny joke, Chen Chulian laughed to himself for a while in the eerie silence but there was unquestionable majesty in his eyes looking at Lian Jue: “Her surname is Chen, your surname is Lian. Lian Jue, you guys should be called as childhood sweetheart.”

“That’s right, Xiaojue.” The man who used to be called as uncle by Lian Jue also smiled and echoed, “You and Xiaoxue are not related by blood and have different surnames, so how can you be considered as brother and sister? You grew up in the Chen family and now you will be married to Xiaoxue. Getting married is like expanding your territory. It’s a good thing. Why stick to one title?”

Lian Jue wanted to say something, but the ‘nurture grace’ expressed in the other’s words was like a mountain. He felt breathless for a moment.
The Chen family adopted him, provide him education and gave him one of the most important industries to manage.

If it weren’t for Chen Chulian, Lian Jue would undoubtedly not be able to get to this point. He had no way to deny Chen Chulian’s kindness towards him.

The air around him evacuated little by little. He could clearly feel his breathing becoming heavy.
Therefore, even if he is eloquent in the business field, even if he has ten thousand words in his mind that can be used to refute, he just opened his mouth at this moment and finally said nothing.
After the dinner, Lian Jue left. Before walking out of Chen’s house, Chen Ningxue looked at him and hesitated.
When the car was driving across the river, Lian Jue suddenly wanted the driver to stop and stay there to feel the gust of the wind for a while but he quickly dismissed this childish thought in his mind.
When he got home, Kang Tong hadn’t slept yet and was lying on the coffee table in the living room playing with the lego toys that Lian Jue brought him when he returned from his last trip abroad.
During dinner, he heard from his aunt that Lian Jue was going to Mr. Chen’s house, so he took it for granted that Lian Jue would not come back at night. As a result, Lian Jue suddenly entered the door and he was caught in the middle of the night building a model of a lighthouse.

The parts were scattered on the ground and Kang Tong stood beside him at loss. He wanted to explain but was afraid of being blamed, so he cried out in a guilty conscience: “Dad…”
Auntie took Lian Jue’s coat and helped explaining for Kang Tong: “Tomorrow is weekend. I think he wants to play, so I let him play for a while.”
Lian Jue hummed, accepted the reason, and said casually, “Then, play.”
Probably because he didn’t control his expression and tone, he seemed too indifferent. Kang Tong was obviously more cramped than before and apologized to him in a low voice: “Dad, I’m sorry. I didn’t listen to you…”
Lian Jue saw Kang Tong’s nose that was slowly turning red. He wondered impatiently whether he was so scary. Seeing the lego parts scattered all over the floor under his feet, he thought for no reason: Is it true that Kang Tong felt alone?
So he thought of Shen Tingwei for the second time today, thinking of Shen Tingwei saying “pregnant” to him.
If there is another child…
Thinking of this, he frowned, seriously doubting that his IQ was assimilated by that person and for a moment, he was dumbfounded.

…
The trampoline park is always very busy on weekends, with customers coming nonstop from morning to night.
Shen Tingwei have a fixed area of ​​responsibility, so he could go wherever he was busy but it was not easy to go down all day.
He had just helped a colleague in the skiing area lift a few cumbersome rubber boats up. Before he could catch his breath, he heard another colleague calling him from below.
He responded with “coming”, put the water that had not been twisted back in again, walked over and asked, “What’s the matter?”
“Brother, please help me, these children have to watch the show.”
Shen Tingwei did subconsciously want to refuse. In his spare time, he watched colleagues perform extreme performances on trampolines, such as wall running and other difficult skills, not to mention that he was not very good at it, even if he could, with his current physical condition. He is not suitable for these intense sports.
The boy gently tugged at his arm with an embarrassed look on his face and whispered in his ear, “Didn’t I cut that thing a while ago? The stitches haven’t been removed yet. Didn’t you train with Brother Chen for a few days? You can just give them a random jump or two to fool them.”
Shen Tingwei hesitated in his heart but his colleagues usually treated him well and he will be really sorry that he refused to help without a valid reason.
After struggling for a long time, he nodded and said yes.
Shen Tingwei seldom came to the trampoline at ordinary times and even less after finding out that he was pregnant. At this moment, there were several eight or nine-year-old children sitting on both sides, all of them holding their faces and looking at him expectantly. He couldn’t help but feel a little nervous but he had already said the words, so he had to bite the bullet.
When he first came here, he studied with the professional teacher hired by the trampoline hall for a few days. Shen Tingwei did carefully recall the main points explained by the teacher. He took a few steps back and stood on the farthest trampoline.
He closed his eyes and heard a child next to him excitedly shouting “He’s going to fly. He’s going to fly”. He felt somewhat amused,his nervousness relaxed and he ran two steps forward as the children shouted in anticipation.
It is said that jumping on the trampoline relieves stress but Shen Tingwei did step on the soft bouncy bed until he really realized that was the case.
The heavier the foot landing, the higher the body bounces. The feeling of weightlessness as he rises and falls is more interesting than he imagined. The brief blank mind made him slowly start to forget the troubles in his recent life and even finally bounced high in the sky. At that time, he tried to do a pinch somersault in the air with the method he had learned.
The results can be imagined, the first attempt was very unsuccessful.
The moment he fell, he wondered if his performance just now was funny but the children laughed happily and he felt very happy too.
When he fell back on the bouncer, he subconsciously protected his stomach, leaned his shoulders against the bouncer to support his body and when he bounced again due to inertia, he rolled over and landed on his back but despite this, he still felt that his lower abdomen was not very obvious. Then, he felt a throbbing pain.
The elasticity of the trampoline gradually diminished. He gently pressed his lower abdomen and there was more pain.
“Shen Tingwei!” The girl at the front desk called him under the trampoline.
He was dragged from the trampoline by several children and under the blind and exaggerated praise of the children, he responded: “Why?”
“I’m not looking for you.” The girl pointed to the door, “Someone is looking for you outside, a handsome guy!”
Shen Tingwei looked over in surprise, it was… Lian Jue.
Lian Jue’s suit and leather shoes are standing right at the door. The monotonous colors on his body are mixed with the vibrant colors, which makes him look expensive and deserted. Because of the distance, he squinted slightly when he looked at him, but his eyes were lazy and inappropriate. His expression made Shen Tingwei think of being in his kitchen that day.
Shen Tingwei’s ears were hotand he felt flustered, so he subconsciously avoided his eyes.
‘How did he come, is it… because of the child? Did he believe it?’
Shen Tingwei felt unbelievable himself, stood up restlessly and walked out of the trampoline.
Halfway down the steps, Shen Tingwei’s lower abdomen felt another pain, this time the pain was stronger than before, but it wasn’t to the extent that he couldn’t walk. Perhaps the panic outweighed the pain. His face was not very good-looking and he couldn’t help standing on the guardrail for a while, holding down his lower abdomen for a full two minutes, before continuing downstairs after the spasm-like falling pain passed.
Lian Jue came a long time, witnessed him dragging the rubber boat up and down several times. He also saw his ‘wonderful’ performance on the trampoline.
Therefore, Shen Tingwei’s actions at this moment were extremely deliberate and Lian Jue decided to withdraw his previous praise for his acting skills.
Shen Tingwei’s nose was still dripping with sweat and his face was slightly red. When he walked in front of Lian Jue, he found that he seemed thinner than a month ago and the black sweater looked empty on him.
Shen Tingwei was a little unnatural standing in front of Lian Jue.
He may be very hot and he kept making small movements. First, he raised his hand to wipe off the sweat dripping from his temples and then pulled up his sleeves. Lian Jue noticed that his wrist was less than a grip then he was sure that he was indeed thinner than before.
Shen Tingwei looked at Lian Jue: “Mr. Lian, why are you?”
“Still coming out to perform while being pregnant?” Lian Jue interrupted him, using his usual sarcastic tone.

Shen Tingwei’s face stiffened.
Lian Jue obviously didn’t care about his expression: “Come with me.”
After he finished speaking and before Shen Tingwei did not respond, he turned around.
Shen Tingwei hesitated to keep up.
The dim light in the safe passage made the already cramped space even more oppressive.
Lian Jue took a cigarette and put it in his mouth, Shen Tingwei watched him start the fire, his lips moved, but he didn’t speak.
The light from the lighter reflected Lian Jue’s sharp profile lines. He narrowed his eyes and spat out a white mist. Seeing that Shen Tingwei hesitates to speak, he took it for granted and thought it meant something else.
He took out the cigarette case from his pocket and threw it to Shen Tingwei. Shen Tingwei hurriedly caught it, his movements were a bit humorous and after holding it steady, he looked at him blankly.
Lian Jue laughed suddenly, thinking that his dazed appearance was stupid.

Shen Tingwei stopped for a while before reacting: “I…I don’t smoke…”
Lian Jue didn’t care about this little oolong, took a breath and went straight to the topic: “Pregnant?”
Shen Tingwei nodded lightly: “…yes.”
Lian Jue asked again, “Mine?”
Shen Tingwei’s cheeks get hot with the teasing in his tone, his expression was a little embarrassed and he said bluntly, “I haven’t done it with anyone else.”
“Lift your clothes up.” Lian Jue said suddenly.
“…Ah?” Shen Ting was confused and looked at him blankly.
Lian Jue didn’t speak and it seemed that he didn’t plan to speak. He didn’t have much expression on his face, so he just looked at him lightly.
After dull realization of Lian Jue’s meaning, Shen Tingwei’s face became even more embarrassed and the feeling of humiliation surrounded him overwhelmingly.
He silently squeezed the cigarette case in his hand, stiff for a long time, but he complied with his words and lifted the hem of his clothes.

The fair and flat belly was exposed to the other party’s sight. Shen Tingwei closed his eyes with shame and whispered, “It’s only been over a month. I haven’t shown my pregnancy yet, so I can’t tell.”
When Lian Jue approached, there was a strong sense of oppression and at the same time, there was a strong smell of smoke.
Shen Tingwei endured the physical discomfort, opened his eyes to look at him, and in front of him was Lian Jue’s enlarged face. He was startled and tried to hide, but his arm was grabbed.
Lian Jue lowered his eyes and seemed to be smiling.
Too close to see it clearly, before Shen Tingwei could distinguish his expression, Lian Jue’s hand suddenly pressed against Shen Tingwei’s lower abdomen.
“Is it here?”
Lian Jue’s palm was very hot and although he didn’t use a lot of strength, the pain when the hand was wrapped around the back of his neck was still vivid in his mind. Shen Tingwei shook his body subconsciously, like a frightened rabbit. He hurriedly took a small step back.
This time, Lian Jue didn’t stop him and crushed the cigarette in his hand: “Pack up and follow me.”
Shen Tingwei just stretched out his clothes, raised his eyes and asked, “…Where are we going?”
“Aren’t you pregnant with my child?” Lian Jue’s smile was much more obvious this time, but his voice was cold, “Okay.”

“We’re getting married.”