Chapter 362 Take It Easy
Ever since her mother had passed away and she had been separated from her brother, Qin Ran felt that the Qin family was no longer a family to her. She admitted that her father loved her deeply from the bottom of his heart. However, his expression of love was different from that of other fathers. Since her father had been focusing on his career in the past years, whenever she returned to the siheyuan previously, she felt the atmosphere in the Qin family was very desolate. Consequently, she hated going home more and more, and ended up moving out to live by herself.
It was also because of the situation of her family that Qin Ran preferred to stay with her grandmother and her uncle’s family. There was a period when she felt particularly lonely. In the half year that she had been living in her grandparents’ home, her uncle managed to find time to go home for dinner every week, unless he was too busy. Her aunt also came home once a month. So did the other relatives. Consequently, Qin Ran felt she was at home when she lived in her grandfather’s house.
Originally, she had thought that once Qin Sheng came back, the Qin family would become a home. However, it did not occur to her that the relationship between Qin Sheng and Qin Changan would end up like this. Qin Sheng had been deprived of the warmth of his family since he was a child. Qin Ran was afraid that he would be disheartened. Fortunately, thanks to her grandmother and her uncle, Qin Sheng could sense the warmth of the big family. For example, at this moment, he felt good.
Zhu Weiguo and Qin Sheng were drinking and chatting with each other contentedly. Fortunately, today was the weekend. Otherwise, Zhu Weiguo definitely would not have been able to drink. Qin Ran and Nangong were in charge of pouring the wine and serving the food, next to them. Though Nangong was reluctant to serve Qin Sheng, she had no choice.
All the people around the table were talking about the funny things that Qin Sheng did when he was a kid, intending to help Qin Sheng recall his memories. However, it was a long time ago and Qin Sheng was relatively small at that time. Consequently, Qin Sheng could not recollect much. At least, he did think of Zhu Weiguo, who was his uncle. That was because sugar-coated haws on a stick had been his favorite food since his childhood, and his mother had forbidden them to eat sweets. Only his uncle had dared to buy them sugar-coated haws on a stick, secretly.
After lunch, Qin Sheng and Qin Ran walked Zhu Weiguo out of the villa. Instead of drinking a lot, they only drank a bottle of liquor, which was nothing at all, based on their drinking capabilities.
Zhu Weiguo said happily, which was rare, “Good boy, your drinking capability is quite good. As your uncle, I can’t accompany you anymore. However, when all the family members of the Zhu family gather together after a while, I will order your peers to accompany you to have a good drink.” During this period, the army had been strictly implementing the prohibition of alcohol. As one in a high position, of course, he should set a good example. However, since it was the weekend today, and he had come across such a piece of good news, he had to have a few drinks.
Qin Ran muttered as she said, “Uncle, are you indicating that you will ask the Eldest Cousin to avenge you?”
Zhu Weiguo laughed happily as he replied, “What are you talking about? Am I that calculative? OK, let’s cut the conversation here. You should all go back. Remember to call me if there is any issue. ”
When he finished speaking, Zhu Weiguo waved at the crowd and walked quickly into the car. After he lowered the window, he waved at the crowd again. It was not until the two cars disappeared from view that the crowd stopped waving.
Qin Ran couldn’t help sighing as she said, “Uncle is the pillar of our grand family.”
Qin Sheng did not say anything. Back when he had seen Zhu Weiguo at the beginning without knowing he was his uncle, he had sensed that Zhu Weiguo must be a tycoon, who had a high position. That was because Zhu Weiguo had such a forbidding bearing. It was the first time that Qin Sheng had encountered a man with such a powerful bearing , one who made him feel breathless. Even Qin Chang’an had not made him feel that way.
At this moment, after seeing the two cars with military license plates, Qin Sheng was even more certain of his guess. He had a relatively good understanding of domestic political rules, especially those license plates of the military, which had quite a few knacks behind the scene. The license plates of his uncle’s cars should be owned by the ones with the highest ranks in the military, so it was not difficult for him to guess the identity of his uncle.
After they returned to the living room again, Qin Ran made another pot of tea and said to Qin Sheng, “Our grandmother has three children. Uncle is my eldest, our mother is the second one, and Small Aunt is in Shanghai. Ever since their childhood, uncle has doted on his two sisters, namely, our mother and Small Aunt. Consequently, after they grew up, he extended his love for his sisters to us. Small Aunt was married to a man from the south and did not come to Beijing often. Consequently, the uncle was very close to our mother. When we were little, whatever our requirements were, he tried his best to fulfil it.”
Qin Sheng nodded and said, “Sister, I can sense uncle’s feelings for us.”
Qin Ran said sincerely, “Well, as long as you know it, it will be fine. After you reblend into the big family, you will know how many people have been waiting for you to come back, and how many people are loving you silently.”
What had happened in the past few days made Qin Sheng feel another different kind of warmth, which he had lacked for more than 20 years. Naturally, he figured out a lot of things.
As a result, Qin Sheng said somewhat bitterly, “Sister, I know them all.”
Qin Ran stopped talking about such sad topics and did not want to exert any pressure on Qin Sheng. She asked casually, “Are you used to living here? How are you feeling these days? ”
Qin Sheng joked deliberately as he replied, “It’s good to live here, whether it’s the environment or the air. However, there’s a tigress around me, who makes me feel a little nervous.”
When Nangong heard Qin Sheng’s words, she was on fire. However, Qin Ran was seated next to her. She dared not beat Qin Sheng up in the presence of his blood kin sister. She had no choice, but to point at Qin Shengqi as she said, “You …”
It was rare to see someone getting the better of Nangong. Qin Ran did not know whether she should laugh or cry as she said, “What happened between you two in the past two days?”
Qin Sheng replied happily, “Nothing at all. We were just joking and jesting,” The lunch today made him feel better.
Qin Ran covered her mouth and smiled as she said, “It seems you are getting along with each other well.”
Nan Gong felt indignant as she said, “Who wants to be connected to him?”
Qin Ran quickly mediated between them as she said, “Okay, okay. We are family members from the same family. We need to take care of each other. Qin Sheng, you are older than Ye Zi. As an elder brother, you should give in to your sister. Don’t bully Ye Zi.”
“Yezi? Oh.” It was the first time that Qin Sheng had heard of Nangong’s name. He thought, “Could it be that she was named Nan Gong Ye? Well, in that case, it is quite a good name.” He said half-playfully, “Then, you should call me brother first.”
“Believe it or not, I will beat you up.” Nangong became angrier.
Qin Sheng intended to keep teasing Nangong. However, he was stopped by Qin Ran. She laughed and said, “Okay, stop teasing. Qin Sheng, I want to talk to you about some official business.”
Qin Sheng’s cynical look was back, and he looked at Qin Ran seriously as he said, “Sister, go on.”
Qin Ran asked tentatively, “Now that you have returned to Beijing, do you have any specific plans? For example, what do you want to do? ” Of course, Qin Changan hoped that Qin Sheng would join the company and start to inherit his business, step by step. However, Qin Ran wanted to know Qin Sheng’s thoughts.
Qin Sheng did not evade the topic again. Instead, he said earnestly, “Sister, I was planning to tell you, I plan to meditate for a few months and think about where my life should go. I will make up my mind after I figure out many things. By taking advantage of this period, I will learn something to enrich myself conveniently. Consequently, I want to live in Haidian after going home within a couple of days. Universities are abundant in Haidian, right? In that case, I can go back to the campus.”
Since Qin Sheng had said so, Qin Ran did not want to put Qin Sheng in a difficult position. In her opinion, she also thought that some things should not be done hastily. Even if Qin Sheng were asked to take over the family business, he might not agree.
Consequently, Qin Ran said, “OK, I will heed your wishes. You don’t need to worry about these things, I will make arrangements for you, after going home.”
Qin Sheng nodded silently as he replied, “Okay.”
Qin Sheng made this decision after much deliberation. Ever since he had graduated from college, he had never studied systematically. He had been living with his past gains all the time, except for the constant habit of reading. Some things made him feel powerless, which was especially true in Hangzhou. At that time, if the group of people, including Sister An, had not helped him, he would not have been able to shoulder the responsibility.
As a result, during this time, he was not in a hurry to do anything at all. Firstly, since so many things had happened, he must take time to digest and accept them. Secondly, he had not sorted out the contradiction and relationship with Qin Chang’an yet. And thirdly, he had to figure out the background of the Qin and Zhu families so that he could fit himself in.
Therefore, he could take advantage of this period to learn something. Since all the best universities in China were located in Beijing, of course, he had to utilize this chance and timing.
After they finished talking about these things, Qin Ran joked as she said, “Should I stay with you here?”
Qin Sheng found it funny as he replied, “Sister, I’m not a three-year-old child and I won’t do anything that is out of bounds. You don’t have to stay with me, since you must have a lot of things to take care of.”
“All right. In that case, I’ll go back home a while later. During this period, a lot of work has been delayed. I will ask Nangong to accompany you here.” Qin Ran’s thoughts were the same as those of Qin Sheng.
Nangong whispered a few words, saying “I am not here to accompany you, but to watch you.”
Qin Ran and Qin Sheng continued talking for a while. After that, Qin Ran drove back to the downtown area. Zhu Weiguo had sent a driver to pick her up that day. Consequently, her car had been parked in the residential quarter for the past two days.
After it snowed on and off for a few consecutive days, the snowy weather finally came to an end. It seemed that it had been snowing in the mountain area for the past two days. During this period, the weather in the urban area was cloudy instead.
In the past two days, Qin Sheng and Nangong did not have any contradictions at all. They were busy attending to their chores and did not disturb each other. Qin Sheng read books, jogged, and exercised every day. Nangong stayed in the living room to keep track of the dramas. She only followed Qin Sheng out every time he went outside.
As the saying goes, it’s not cold when it snows, but when the snow melts, the air is frigid. Consequently, the weather in the mountain was very cold during the next few days. Qin Sheng did not plan to stay at Yanqi Lake anymore. He had called his sister the night before, saying that he would return to the downtown area tomorrow morning.
Qin Ran was supposed to come over to pick up Qin Sheng. However, Qin Sheng has refused her offer. In the end, Qin Ran had no choice, but to send Qin Sheng her location and ask Nangong to send Qin Sheng over. Aunt Zhao stayed in the villa to pack up their things, and she would ask someone to send the stuff to Qin Sheng later on.
Regarding Qin Sheng’s issue, Qin Ran had called Qin Chang’an after that day. After all, she could not act on her own and had to take her father’s feelings into consideration. That was the reason why she had called to discuss it with him.
Qin Chang’an had no problems with Qin Sheng’s choice. Whatever Qin Sheng wanted to do, he was free to do it. He could give Qin Sheng ample time. Since he had been persistent for so many years, he did not mind if it took a few more months.
Everyone else felt that Qin Chang’an had abundant wealth and powerful connections, who looked glorious and forbidding. As for Qin Chang’an himself, he felt that sometimes he was a nobody, only a poor loner.
Therefore, speaking to those who understood him, Gongsun was the only one who did.
As for how others thought of him, Qin Chang’an did not care about it at all. He only cared about his children. However, he did not want to explain anything at all. It was because they would understand how difficult it was for his father, who was still young.