Ni Jiu (Intoxicated) - Chap 7

Kang Tong ran from the school gate and pulled the co-pilot away to find that the driver was driving. Lian Jue was in the back row and nodded at him. He stuck out his tongue, yelled for Uncle Liu, and then closed the car door sullenly and climbed to the back seat, holding his schoolbag and sitting next to Lian Jue.
“Dad, shall we go to the big house for dinner now?”
“Um.”
Kang Tong nodded with his cheeks bulging, and then he said no more.
When the car turned into the big yard Kang Tong became nervous. He twisted the hem of his clothes with both hands and glanced out of the window with his eyes lifted.
The car drove slowly through the garden and parked in the parking space outside the villa.
Before getting out of the car, Lian Jue noticed the collar that Kang Tong turned up when he took off the child safety belt and raised his hand to help him smooth it. Before Kang Tong turned his face, he had already retracted his hand and got out of the car.
Kang Tong whispered in the back: “Thank you Dad.”
Kang Tong followed Lian Jue and walked through a long corridor. He originally looked around secretly with his eyes sideways. His eyes were undoubtedly facing the cleaning servant. The other party smiled at him, so he retracted his eyes timidly and did not dare to look around.
Lian Jue continued to walk but then he suddenly stopped. Kang Tong lowered his head and followed behind without paying attention. His forehead hit Lian Jue’s back. He was about to apologize but his arm was caught by Lian Jue.
“Dad.” Lian Jue addressed to the man in front of them then he took Kang Tong’s thin arm to lead him in front of the old man
“It’s Mr. Chen.” Lian Jue whispered.
The man sitting on the sofa had dark hair but there were deep wrinkles in the corners of his eyes and his expression was a bit stern when he looked up. Kang Tong was a little frightened so he took a step back and stood up straight after being pushed against his back by Lian Jue.
“Hello, Mr. Chen.”
Kang Tong said hello obediently but thought in his heart: Why not Mr. Lien?
Chen Chu twisted a cup of tea, took a sip and said to Kang Tong, “Child, come here.”
Lian Jue pressed his shoulder comfortably and gently pushed on his back.
“Be generous.” Lian Jue’s low voice sounded above his head, although gentle, it is also with warning.
Kang Tong had to bite the bullet and walk over.
Chen Chulian was not as scary as he thought. He was unexpectedly kind to him. He grabbed a handful of pistachios from the plate on the tea table and put them in his hands. Lian Jue took him again and sat down on the sofa next to him.
“What’s your name?” Chen Chulian asked gently.
He was about to answer “Lian Kangtong”, but Lian Jue came over and answered.
“It’s Kang Tong.”
Chen Chulian didn’t talk to him but he ended up looking at Lian Jue. Kang Tong slightly concealed his psychological loss and said to Chen Chulian again: “Hello, sir, my name is Kang Tong.”
Chen Chulian just laughed: “Boy, you should be generous. Although you are still young don’t hide behind adults.”
Kang Tong nodded: “Thank you. Mr. Chen. I understand.”
Chen Chu Lian smiled and patted Kang Tong’s hand. Then he chatted with Lian Jue afterwards.
The content of their small talk was all about medical terms which Kang Tong could not understand. He lowered his head and silently listened to the adults. But things became boring, Kang Tong glanced at the pistachio that Mr. Chen had just given him and stretched his hands together.

Because there was no pocket, Kang Tong had to put a lot of pistachios on top of his closed thighs and slowly peeled the shells.
After peeling few pistachios, Kang Tong inadvertently saw Chen Chulian looking at him. He was stunned, raised his head and handed him the freshly peeled pistachios: “Sir, would you like to eat it?”
Chen Chulian shook his head and smiled softly: “The child is sensible.”
Kang Tong was a bit embarrassed that he end up blushing and lowering his head. Chen Chulian retracted his eyes, looked at Lian Jue lightly and sighed:
“It’s sensible… but it’s better to have biological child, it’s a pity.”
The pistachio that had just been peeled off by Kang Tong’s hand fell to the ground making Chen Chulian frowned slightly.
Lian Jue’s expression remained unchanged. He smiled slightly, did not speak, quietly gathered Kang Tong’s shoulders and then invited a servant to clean up the pistachios that had fallen on the ground. Although the action was simple, Kang Tong’s inner anxiety seemed to have been soothed. He blinked and tried to resist the sorrow of crying.

No one spoke for a while. The silence was a little abnormal.
“Ning Xue will return to China the day after tomorrow, did she tell you?” Chen Chulian said suddenly.
Lian Jue paused and said, “Yeah. I will pick her up the day after tomorrow.”
Chen Chulian finally showed a little smile into his face and shook his head: “Since, you have already discussed it together then she will trouble you. I don’t have to worry about it.”
Lian Jue nodded: “You are serious, it’s not troublesome.”
After that they stayed at Chen Chulian for dinner. Few people have seated, a beautiful aunt came downstairs, stroked Chen Chulian’s shoulder and sat down next to him.
“Xiao Jue is here?” The woman greeted Lian Jue first, her eyes curled up when she saw Kang Tong and she smiled softly, “Tong Tong? Are you called Tong Tong?”
Kang Tong didn’t know what to call her, so he nodded and then looked at Lian Jue seemingly asking for help.
“Mrs. Chen.” Lian Jue said.
“Mrs. Chen is good.” Kang Tong quickly learned.
The woman glared at Lian Jue displeasedly: “What is this wife? A stranger? Tongtong, call me Auntie.”
Kang Tong hesitated for a while, before he could speak, Chen Chulian frowned and murmured, “You are the chaotic religion and the generation is chaotic.”
“What generation?” The woman casually lifted the curly hair scattered on her ears tucking it behind her ears and looked at Kang Tong with a smile, “Tongtong can call us anything that he wants. Just ignore them.”
From an early age, he was keenly aware that the relationship between this family does not seem to be simple. Kang Tong didn’t dare to speak anymore and nodded politely but didn’t dare to lift his head anymore, so he could only continue to eat without knowing anything.
When at home, in order to take care of him, the aunt made Chinese food most of the time. But Chen Chulian’s dinner is not the same. They all cook Western-style meals. Just the wine glasses are arranged in a row. Three sets of tableware are arranged from the inside to the outside. The brilliant lights are shrouded on the snowy white table.
Kang Tong didn’t know how to use a knife and fork and the sound of a metal knife slashing on a porcelain plate when cutting steak was a bit harsh.
Chen Chu took a sip of his wine, ignored the sound, turned his head and asked Lian Jue: “How old is the child?”
“Ten year’s old.” Lian Jue said.

Kang Tong silently added in his heart and learn that he has not yet passed his tenth birthday.
Chen Chu even put down the wine glass, his tone remained unchanged but the eyes that he swept over brought a parents’ unique dissatisfaction: “How can you not even eat a meal when you are this old?”
Kang Tong was startled, the knife and fork in his hand fell on the table and there was an abrupt noise.
There was a sudden silence around the dining table.
Kang Tong lowered his head helplessly and noticed that the muscles on Lian Jue’s arm were tightened. He became more panicked. Both hands immediately dropped from the dining table and he sniffed gently.
It was the woman next to Chen Chulian who couldn’t stand it anymore: “Eat the way you eat. You don’t have to scare the child.”
Even Jue’s voice was colder than before: “I’ve been busy recently and didn’t spare time to teach him. Let’s eat.”
Kang Tong didn’t dare to touch the knife and fork again. He twisted the tassels hanging down from the edge of the tablecloth tightly with both hands under the table, worried that he would shame Lian Jue again, tears warningly pour in his eyes but he did not dare to drop it.
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He sniffed quietly, trying to hold back the tears and handed a napkin next to him.
He said with an urn, “Dad, I didn’t cry.”
Lian Jue didn’t speak, put the tissue on his lap and retracted his hand. Kang Tong blinked and took the tissue. Pressed it on his eyes while no one was paying attention. Before raising his head he saw Lian Jue put something in front of him.
“Eat.” Lian Jue took the napkin he had used and threw it into the trash can next to him.
Kang Tong looked at the steak cut in front of him and raised his head to say thank you. Lian Jue had already turned his head and continued to talk to Chen Chulian.
After dinner, Lian Jue and Chen Chulian went to the study room upstairs to talk about work while the stay-at-home child sat on the sofa in the living room and watched TV.
The TV was tuned to the news station which is broadcasting national events. He watched it for a while and found it boring but he dared not to tune in to the children’s channel, let alone running around, so he had to shrink his feet and bite his tongue into daze. Suddenly his feet were itchy. Kang Tong looked down and saw that it was a small white Pomeranian biting in the slippers on his feet.
He rarely touched a puppy before. At this time, he saw Hiromi is like a snow dumpling. He liked to touch it tightly but was a little scared. No one paid attention to him, so he took the opportunity to poked the puppy’s head with a finger cautiously. As a result, the puppy raised his head and barked at him fiercely. He was taken aback and quickly withdrew his hand.
A smiling female voice sounded nearby: “Oh, don’t be afraid. It just pretends to be fierce and doesn’t bite.”
Kang Tong turned his head: “Mrs. Chen.”
“I said don’t call me Mrs. Chen, it sounds very old.” The woman smiled helplessly, sat down beside him and took the puppy into her arms. Seeing that he that the child was a little scared she turned the dog over with his butt facing Kang Tong.
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“Do I look old?”
Kang Tong shook his head. He hesitated, and decided to tell the truth: “…You are like a sister.”
These words made the woman happy. She opened her eyes, smiled and squeezed Kang Tong’s face: “What a good boy!”
In fact, Kang Tong has no concept of a woman’s age. He only thinks that she is young and speaks very softly. At this time, she smiled happily. Kang Tong realized that she slowly put down her guard, so he boldly asked, “Do you have any children?”
Only women with children can be called aunts. The aunt at home had taught him.
The woman touched the puppy’s head: “Chen Chulian hopes that I won’t. Doesn’t he count the quality of his own sperm?”
Seeing the child’s face at a loss, she noticed that she had said something wrong, hurriedly smiled and said, “It’s okay. Do you like puppies?”
Kang Tong nodded, looked at the puppy in her arms, wanted to touch it and asked hesitantly: “Does it bite?”
The woman took his hand and placed it on the puppy’s back: “It’s very docile and won’t bite you.” After thinking about it, she said, “But the puppy outside can’t just touch it, maybe it will bite.”
The fluff on the puppy’s back was very soft. He couldn’t help feeling it for a while. The woman smiled and said, “If you want to play with the puppy in the future the driver can send you over. Your father is so busy anyway.”
Kang Tong quickly withdrew his hand and shook his head gently.
The woman was taken aback, reacted, and sighed: “Are you afraid of Chen Chulian? Oh, it doesn’t matter, he has a bad temper and a stinky face all day long, just like your dad, in fact, he is not bad. Besides, he is not always here. You may not be able to see him, don’t be afraid.”
Kang Tongxin thought, it’s not the same at all.
Although Lian Jue is always stern, but he is not fierce at all… and very gentle.
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The conversation downstairs went smoothly, but it was different upstairs. When Lian Jue came down, Kang Tong had fallen asleep leaning on the sofa covered with a pink houndstooth blanket.
Without asking him, Lian Jue picked up the child from the sofa. He politely bid farewell to the servants of the Chen family and then asked the driver to drive back to his residence.
Wanjia lights outside the window, as the car moved forward half of his face was submerged in the shadows.
The child slept very heavily and never woke up until he was home. Lian Jue had to carry Kang Tong all the way into the bedroom and put him on the bed.
Auntie followed, took a look at Kang Tong and asked in a low voice, “Is he asleep?”
“Yeah.” Lian Jue helped the child take off his shoes.
The aunt came over: “I have boiled honeysuckle water downstairs, sir. Go down and drink some for your hangoverm. I will take care of him.”
In fact, he didn’t drink much wine at night however Lian Jue was really tired.
It was too exhausting to get along with Chen Chulian and he still couldn’t adapt to it after so many years. But then again this day’s things are not over yet.
Just after drinking two sips of honeysuckle water. The assistant who was in charge of investigating the mysterious man sent a test report. He didn’t want to read the various values ​​and even the tricks so he ask the assistant to explain it but he couldn’t make it clear in a few words.
Lian Jue called him back: “What’s the matter?”
“There is no major problem in the test report however he has few hormones that have exceeded the standard and they are all written in the report.” The assistant heard that Lian Jue was drunk and his voice was tired, so he said seriously, “Mr. Lian, You can see the specific ones tomorrow. The specific reasons for the hormone abnormalities are still unclear.”
Lian Jue pressed the bridge of his nose: “Could it be caused by drug use?”
“The preliminary examination did not show any traces of substance abuse. On the one hand, there is no drug content in the blood test. On the other hand, the drugs on the black market will only reduce the hormones in the human body. However, it cannot be ruled out whether he has abused other drugs. Causing this exceedance.”
“Drug, what is that?”
“We can’t make a conclusion for the time being. Mr. Lian needs specific analysis and laboratory tests. In fact, it is best to ask the parties directly… Besides, are you sure that Mr. Shen had a lot of alcohol consumption last night?”
“What’s wrong?”
“…No, Mr. Lian, the blood test report showed that the alcohol content in his blood was 0. Mr. Shen… he should have never drunk alcohol.”