HLnovel Chapter 513 "Infecting the World" - Male Mother (124)
Chapter 513 "Infecting the World" - Male Mother (124)
It's as if the presence of just two people can instantly fill the room, giving one a feeling of happiness and peace from the bottom of their heart.
Liao Tingyuan was in the bathroom when he heard the little girl say something quite loudly, but he couldn't quite make it out: "What's wrong?"
Then there was no more sound of people talking outside.
But then they heard Lu Liruan heading to the kitchen to get something. Liao Tingyuan knew she was alright, so he didn't rush to ask any further questions.
When he came out of the bathroom while drying his hair.
The little girl was already very diligent, setting out all the tableware and waiting for the takeout to arrive. She was humming some random tune, and it was unclear what she was singing.
"Ruan Ruan, what did you just say? I didn't hear you clearly."
Liao Tingyuan took the last two bowls from her and placed them on the table.
“I said, Teacher Liao, it’s so good to see you back. I’ve missed you so much!” Lu Liruan said with a smile, looking into Liao Tingyuan’s eyes.
Liao Tingyuan paused.
Lu Liruan repeated, "You're finally back! I was so bored all by myself! I missed you so much..."
"Mmm." Liao Tingyuan's wet hair obscured his eyes. He lowered his head slightly and answered Lu Liruan's words in a steady and gentle voice: "I miss you too."
Lu Liruan was feeling a wave of happiness wash over her. Hearing Liao Tingyuan's words, she immediately pressed him for an answer: "Did you really miss me? Or is it because I said I missed you that you said you missed me?"
"No."
Liao Tingyuan took the towel off his head and held it in his hand. He took a deep breath before speaking, which was rare for him: "When I was there, I kept thinking about when I could go home. Ruan Ruan is still waiting for me to come back home."
Lu Liruan did indeed mention it in the messages she sent every day.
Lu Liruan would always send a message like, "I'll be waiting for you to come home~" followed by a cute emoji. She never missed a single day.
Lu Liruan suddenly found herself speechless. The overwhelming feeling of happiness she had been trying to express earlier seemed to have transformed into warm steam enveloping her.
what happened?
In the message, Liao Tingyuan replied, "Okay, I'll go back as soon as possible."
But there's not even a fraction of the heart-pounding feeling of someone standing right in front of you right now, saying something to you.
When Teacher Liao spoke these words, there was a firm and tender feeling in them, which suddenly filled Lu Liruan's heart, which had felt empty these past few days, and made her believe:
No matter what happens, Teacher Liao will always come back to me...
Because he made a promise, because that's the kind of person you can trust and rely on.
A person's ability to rely on another person is never based on verbal promises, but rather on the accumulation of trust and support over time, nurtured little by little, until the words spoken become incredibly moving.
It's not about what you say, but what you do.
But Lu Liruan felt that Liao's words to her were definitely the result of careful consideration, not just a casual joke.
Lu Liruan has always liked Liao Tingyuan, a fact she can never deny, from the very beginning, drawn to his handsome and refined appearance and his decisive and steady way of doing things.
The gentle words of comfort were like those of an elder or a friend, a meticulous yet never stressful concern—it seemed only Teacher Liao could do that.
Only someone like him can make me let my guard down.
Although we've only known each other for less than a year, she occupies a very important place in my life, outside of my work.
Lu Liruan used to think she would never rely on others again, because it seemed there was no one in the world she could trust to rely on. But after meeting Teacher Liao, Lu Liruan found that she hadn't even thought about these issues before, and naturally, she became different.
There's no need to think; Teacher Liao is just that kind of unique and admirable person.
"Well, actually..."
Under Lu Liruan's gaze, Liao Tingyuan suddenly spoke with some urgency.
But after saying only a few words, there was a knock on the door.
"Hello! Thank you for your help." Lu Liruan opened the door, took the delivery bag from the delivery guy, and sighed inwardly: Why did it have to come so badly...?
But she also felt a little relieved. Lu Liruan didn't know what she would say to Liao Tingyuan, but she felt that the inexplicable feeling in her heart was piling up.
Lu Liruan ordered grilled fish today, and it was delivered in a very large bag, which included an alcohol stove, a stand, and other items. It was quite heavy.
Lu Liruan placed the bag on the table, and while opening it, asked, "Teacher Liao, what were you going to say just now?" Lu Liruan didn't dare to look directly at Liao Tingyuan, afraid that he would notice how red her face was.
Lu Liruan felt that this was a problem with her; it seemed that her skin's stratum corneum was relatively thin, so any slight change in temperature or mood would show on her face, and emotional fluctuations would also show on her face, making it impossible to hide anything.
"Ah, I was thinking, if you want to do that experiment with Zhao Linchuan, I'm fine with it."
On the way back, Lu Liruan mentioned that she had stopped Zhao Linchuan, but at the same time, she also showed great interest in the experiment, since it was her idea.
"Oh...no, be careful he finds out where we live and then comes over to freeload!" Lu Liruan mumbled, trying to hide her growing disappointment.
Zhao Linchuan does indeed have a history of going to other people's houses for meals. He doesn't treat himself like an outsider at all. An Tang has complained about this several times. He doesn't know when he will show up at An Tang's door when he feels bored.
Although the gifts she brought were numerous and unusual, An Tang found it extremely difficult to cope with her lively younger brother both at get off work and after work.
Lu Liruan did indeed suspect that Zhao Linchuan would come to her home...
Liao Tingyuan nodded, indicating that he was fine with Lu Liruan doing whatever she wanted.
Actually, what he wanted to say just now... I don't know what it was, but it was probably that he wanted to impulsively tell the girl that she could stop treating him like an elder.
But as the words swirled in his mind, he felt it would be too awkward to say them aloud. Liao Tingyuan had never made such a request to anyone before, nor had he ever experienced such a situation. He had the thought in his mind but didn't know how to express it, and this feeling made Liao Tingyuan feel uncomfortable.
It seems that he and the little girl are very close, but he doesn't know how the little girl feels. He feels that there is still a great distance between them.
It turns out that Liao Tingyuan never cared about the psychological distance between himself and others. Even if people said he was cold and didn't care about anything, Liao Tingyuan didn't refute it.
Because he genuinely didn't take it to heart, and didn't feel it was a criticism of himself, nor did he feel he needed to change or build closer relationships with others.
But precisely because he had no prior experience, Liao Tingyuan now finds it very difficult.
The atmosphere that allowed them to talk about unusual things was over, and when the two sat down to eat together, Lu Liruan started talking about what had happened at work in the past few days.
When Lu Liruan heard Lao Cheng say he wanted to touch up the graffiti at the entrance, she wondered if it was just her imagination, but Teacher Liao straightened up.
Lu Liruan: ? ?
Teacher Liao seems to care a lot.
"Teacher Liao, you seem to have a lot of opinions about Lao Cheng's work."
Liao Tingyuan sighed softly.
Lu Liruan rarely heard him sigh so directly and obviously.
"So, what exactly happened?" Lu Liruan's curiosity was piqued.
Liao Tingyuan put down his chopsticks and took a sip of water: "We hadn't been working here for very long back then. I told you, right? Our original office wasn't here."
Lu Liruan nodded. She might have said that, but let's not worry about the details now.
"And then?" Lu Liruan asked, sipping her apple juice and waiting for Liao Tingyuan to continue. Anything that could make Teacher Liao look embarrassed was usually not an ordinary matter.
After all, given Mr. Liao's personality, ordinary things wouldn't make him sigh.
"When we first moved here, everything was already renovated and the air had been deflating. But because it was a last-minute decision, the house was a mess inside and out, so we had to tidy it up properly, like moving all the big shelves in the living room out."
"Hmm." Lu Liruan could imagine that cleaning up such a large villa would not be easy.
"We divided the work at the time. An Tang was in charge of the inside of the house, and I was in charge of the outside. We organized the people who came to clean up," Liao Tingyuan said unhurriedly.
“Lao Cheng was cleaning up the outside with me. One day when I was about to leave work, Lao Cheng said he would wait a while before leaving. Then he told me that he was going to clean up the exterior walls again and do some decorations. He said I could leave work on time and go home first.”
Lu Liruan had already figured out that Liao Tingyuan would definitely leave work on time. He had always been very insistent on this, and now he would leave work right on time, taking her with him.
“I wasn’t very familiar with him at the time.”
"Ah."
Lu Liruan thought to herself, "Now that several years have passed, you still don't seem to know him at all, but that's okay. It feels like he doesn't know anyone except Gao Shiyi."
“It’s okay, Sister Tang doesn’t seem to know him very well…” Lu Liruan didn’t know if her words were a way of comforting Teacher Liao.
Liao Tingyuan paused for a moment, then tugged at the corner of his mouth: "And then I really went home. At that time, I didn't live here yet." His voice remained calm.
But Lu Liruan felt that he was already talking nonsense to waste time.
“It’s okay… I didn’t live here back then either,” Lu Liruan replied half-heartedly.
“The next morning, before I even got to work, An Tang called me and asked me what I had done the day before. She sounded really angry.”
Lu Liruan felt like laughing at this point.
Especially the way Teacher Liao told the story—it was very calm, but Lu Liruan inexplicably sensed a sense of helplessness and despair that had spanned several years. This kind of emotion, which was basically impossible for Teacher Liao to have, made Lu Liruan want to laugh.
Teacher Liao isn't really good at storytelling, but that's the point.
"I asked her what was wrong, and she told me to come and see for myself. When I got to the entrance of my workplace, the security guards from the villa area had already arrived." Liao Tingyuan glanced at Lu Liruan's upturned lips.
"Why? Why did the security guards come?" Lu Liruan had never heard Liao Tingyuan talk about these things before, probably because she didn't know Lao Cheng, so he just glossed over them.
"The security guards in the villa area thought they had neglected their duties last night and allowed some suspicious people who were deliberately causing damage to enter the villa area and do these things on the walls," Liao Tingyuan sighed again.
Lu Liruan covered her mouth and chuckled, unable to hold back her laughter.
"The color had only been applied overnight, and even the security guards in the villa area were amazed. They could sense the presence of... people within it, and even more so..."
Lu Liruan thought to herself, if Zhao Linchuan saw that painting, wouldn't he have to pull out his computer on the spot to meet the deadline?
"The boss originally said... that we've moved to a new office, the environment is pretty good, and everyone can have a fresh start and work hard."
Lu Liruan couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing.
Amidst Lu Liruan's loud laughter, Liao Tingyuan finally sighed, "Several colleagues insisted on finishing cleaning up the villa, then they took leave, and then the rules and regulations here ended up..."
It became like this: whoever wanted to come could come, and whoever didn't want to come could come when there was a task. Even during that period, the boss didn't want to work here.
Lu Liruan thought to herself, "So, the root of the problem lies here."
Teacher Liao probably felt that this was due to her own negligence in supervising the situation.
"Teacher Liao... No matter how much you guard against it, it's hard to guard against a traitor within your own ranks. Don't take it too seriously." Lu Liruan could only manage to say this at the end before turning away and smiling again.
"That's not how you use that phrase."
Amidst Lu Liruan's laughter, Liao Tingyuan whispered a correction, but Lu Liruan couldn't hear him at all.
"It's alright, Teacher Liao, don't worry. Sister Shiyi has already assured us that she will absolutely not let such a tragedy happen again! You asked Lao Cheng back then..."
Lu Liruan wanted to ask if Teacher Liao had asked whether Lao Cheng had intentionally used that nonchalant tone to coax Liao Tingyuan away, and then deliberately committed the crime here all night, and whether it was premeditated.
But then I felt there was no need to ask.
Given Lao Cheng's habit of sitting still all day without moving an inch, Bao must have planned this all along!
They've been using all their cunning to scheme against Teacher Liao...
Teacher Liao, who rarely suffers losses, finally learned a lesson from someone.
But judging from Teacher Liao's reaction, what was just drawn must indeed be...very stunning.
After dinner, Lu Liruan decided that tonight's entertainment would be watching a movie. She had bought a projector screen last time but hadn't used it yet, so today was a good day to try it out.
As a result, perhaps because she was too excited in the afternoon, Lu Liruan couldn't keep her eyes open halfway through the book, but she still wanted to finish reading it, since it was her suggestion.
"Go to sleep if you want to." Liao Tingyuan patted her hair.
"I don't have much time left, I'll finish reading..." Lu Liruan tried to open her eyes wider.
I felt like I lost consciousness the next second.
Another feeling... came when I heard a loud, resonant beat of the movie's ending theme.
Lu Liruan was about to open her eyes... when she suddenly realized something was wrong.
I feel like I'm... lying on Teacher Liao's lap?