CH 91.1

Break Apart (1)

The sun shone through a gap in the large curtains of the floor-to-ceiling windows, slowly moving and lighting up the pillows.

Qin Yuan knitted his brows and half-opened his eyes with mild pain. The European-style metal chandeliers hung from the ceiling above his head and the walls were covered in light plain wallpaper. Everything was familiar and modern.

He stared blankly at the dark patterned wallpaper on the wall. It took him a long time to wake up from his confused mood, barely being able to distinguish between what was dream and what was reality.

The room was pleasantly air-conditioned and he was only covered with a thin silk quilt at night. He moved slightly to lift the quilt and got up, but suddenly his body froze.

He looked down quietly and his face suddenly flushed red.

It was wet and smelled very faintly of something unique.

It was normal when he got up in the morning, but it had never been as bad as it was now. He could feel an unusual, strange sensation at the slightest touch.

He closed his eyes irritably and re-covered himself with the quilt… His mind was filled with a specific person, smiling lazily at him in school at one moment, then the playful look on his face in the dream, all dressed in brocade and holding a long sword.

Then, it was the look of a stranger in last night’s dream. When his mouth was open, those peach blossom eyes were watery, looking up from below with a hidden and unspoken emotion.

It wasn’t long before his tense body shuddered, gradually relaxing under the covers.

He slowly rolled to one side, found his clean underwear on the bedside table, rolled out of bed, and approached the bathroom.

A heavy splash of water poured from the thermostatic shower, washing over his naked body, and sliding down the well-shaped spine of his back.

He rinsed in silence for a long time with his eyes closed. He saw himself in the nearby bathroom mirror when he opened them by chance.

His skin was flushed and his eyes were slightly bloodshot. Water dripped continuously down his wet hair as soon as he looked down. He stared blankly in the mirror at the little red birthmark on his chest that he had carried with him since birth.

The warm water hit there as if it were trying to burn the flesh, bringing a faint tinge of pain and the color seemed even more crimson than usual.

He sighed lightly and leaned back against the tiles behind him, his back cold and his chest on fire.

It was like being in the dream world, with the cold, rocky, wet ground beneath him and the youth’s hot breath on his chest…

When he got out of the bathroom, he realized that it was already past nine in the morning.

He had rarely gotten up this late usually. It was all because he had slept so restlessly last night that he was dazed, staying half asleep and struggling mentally until close to dawn when he finally drifted off to sleep for a while.

When he came downstairs, everyone in the family had already eaten breakfast. Wei Qinglian was teasing the newborn baby in the living room and hurriedly shouted toward the kitchen when she saw him coming down. “Hurry up, help Xiao-Yuan to heat his breakfast.”

As the Lunar New Year approached, Qin Zhufeng had more business appointments and went out early in the morning, leaving only Wei Qinglian and the children home alone.

The maids in the kitchen hurried to comply and quickly brought up the warm breakfast: a plate of Chinese-style three fresh steamed dumplings, lean meat mushroom dumplings, a bowl of eight treasures porridge, and another plate of Western-style ham sandwiches with fried eggs, with a glass of imported low-fat milk beside them.

Wei Qinglian walked over with the baby in her arms and sat opposite him, smiling gently. “I don’t know if your taste has changed or not, so I made some of these dishes. You can tell me what you like to eat. I will remember it and tell them to make it next time.”

Qin Yuan looked at the carefree look on his stepmother’s face and felt a slight regret in his heart.

This stepmother was not highly educated, but she had a good temper. After marrying his father, she had been a dedicated housewife at home. She was being exceptionally gentle and obedient to Qin Zhufeng and taking good care of him, her stepson, impeccably.

“Aunty Wei, thank you for the trouble.” He nodded politely, his voice becoming more amiable. “I will have whatever the family is having for breakfast in the future. You don’t need to make me a separate breakfast.”

Wei Qinglian smiled sweetly. “It’s no problem at all. It’s more important if you eat well.”

As Qin Yuan picked up the food, he gently gazed at the baby in her arms. “Xiao-Xin’s eyes are so pretty, like her mom’s.”

A delicate baby would always make people’s hearts soft and it was the perfect time to be chubby and adorable at a few months old. Although he didn’t like Wei Qinglian much, he still loved this newborn baby sister from the bottom of his heart.