CH 43

The neckline was being pulled open, revealing a large area of porcelain white.

Su Huanyi’s wrist was gripped with a snap, and the soft neckline fell from his hand back to his shoulder. He looked up, “Big brother?”

Su Chi’s eyes swept across the graceful side of his neck, the bright red mole, and then down to the neckline. His fingertips trembled slightly as if suppressing his emotions. “Put it back.”

Su Huanyi obediently withdrew his hand.

As the wrist slipped away from his palm, Su Chi’s fingers subconsciously closed over it and pulled back – Su Huanyi was caught off guard and took a half step forward, nearly colliding with Su Chi!

Su Huanyi tilted his head and withdrew back, “Didn’t you tell me to put the neckline back, big brother?”

“Mmm.” The rough fingers clenched around the wrist with restrained force, then let go. “I wanted to see if you were wearing it backwards,” Su Chi said, putting his hand back in his trouser pocket.

Su Huanyi fell into self-doubt, “Am I wearing it backwards?”

Su Chi’s tone seemed to be the same as usual, “I can’t tell. You’re dressed like a leaky pocket on both front and back. ”

Su Huanyi: “….”

He changed his sweater and put his down jacket back on. The wet one was folded in a paper bag to be taken back for washing in the evening.

The sweater had a large neckline, and the front would slip down once the down jacket was made the slightest movement. Su Huanyi would grab it while leaning over the desk, typing.

Su Chi suddenly got up and went out the door.

“Where are you going, big brother?”

The door of the office closed as Su Chi said, “To get your gear.”

Su Huanyi, “?”

Five minutes later, the door opened again. Su Chi walked over with a paper bag in his hand and put it on Su Huanyi’s desk.

“What’s this?” Su Huanyi took it and buried his head to dig it out.

A navy blue scarf was lifted out. He had not yet opened the packaging, but the texture and brand name told him it was expensive.

Su Chi said, “This sweater has a big neckline, so you can wear this over it.”

Su Huanyi hasn’t worn a scarf since he bought the down jacket. “I’m sorry for the trouble.”

He calmly wrapped the scarf around his neck and once again surrounded himself into a bonsai tree as he said, “How come you haven’t worn it yet you bought it?”

“Someone gave it to me. I don’t need it. ”

Su Huanyi shrank into the scarf as he sent compliments, “Oh, am crispy while big brother is fiery.”

Su Chi: “….”

Su Chi: “Heh.”

They went to the hospital after work and found Yu Xinyan and Su Jianchen already there.

The two bought a cake on the way, and Su Chi put it on the cooking counter, “Dad, this is the cake you like. You can eat it as a snack when you’re hungry at night.”

Su Jitong strained his neck and looked up from the bed, “How come you guys…”

…Are so thoughtful! Su Huanyi puffed up his chest.

Su Jitong, “Only bought this much?”

Su Huanyi: “….”

Su Chi’s mouth opened and closed. For a moment, Su Huanyi caught a glimpse of the lingering words before they were swallowed back from the tip of his tongue.

Su Jitong quickly changed the unreasonable topic.

“I’ll be discharged next week. Su Yu says he has a project on his hands and won’t be back for Christmas this year. Your mother and I agreed to wait for him to come back before we could go south.”

Su Chi nodded.

They sat and talked for a while. When it was nine o’clock, they got up and left.

They were going down the hospital corridor when Yu Xinyan suddenly said, “Little Yi, why did you change your flower… scarf?”

“Su Huanyi guessed that she wanted to say flowerpot, “This is big brother’s.”

Yu Xinyan: “I didn’t see it on him when you went out this morning.”

“He got it just this afternoon.”

Su Jianchen frowned at that, faintly suspicious, “Big brother, you wouldn’t…”

Su Chi slightly pursed his lips, “What?”

Su Jianchen stared, “You wouldn’t go shopping together behind my back, right?”

“…..”

Su Chi had a rare moment of affection in his always sneering cold eyes.

Su Jitong was discharged from the hospital exactly one day before Christmas.

The family got together to discuss how to make the head of the family feel at home.

As it was Christmas, Yu Xinyan suggested putting up a huge Christmas tree filled with lights and presents in the courtyard.

Su Jianchen preferred a traditional welcome ceremony and invited a lion dance team to cheer things up.

Su Huanyi felt they should go for the warm and fuzzy route. So he looked for a song called “Homecoming” and prepared to play it as soon as Su Jitong got out of the car.

After the three added their taste to the welcome ceremony, they turned to Su Chi in unison, “What have you prepared?”

Su Chi calmly flipped through his magazine, “Eye masks and ear plugs.”

The three: “….”

Su Jitong eventually experienced this diverse welcome.

At the dinner table, Su Jianchen, who rarely teamed up with others, attempted to kick his big brother out of the group chat, “Dad, big brother didn’t do anything for your welcome gift.”

Su Huanyi gave him a side glance, shocked at his evilness!

An appreciative gaze fell on Su Chi before Su Huanyi had the chance to give Su Chi half of his credit.

Su Jitong, “The eldest’s gift is the best.”

The crowd: “….”

Su Chi gracefully ate his bowl of food.

.   …..

At eight o’clock the next morning, there was a knock on the Su family’s front door.

The whole family was eating breakfast at the dining table when Wu Ma went to answer the door.

She came back with a large bouquet in her hands, almost blocking her entire view, “Madam, sir, someone sent flowers to our house this early morning.”

Su Jitong put down his chopsticks and asked, “Who sent them?”

Wu Ma put the flowers aside to look for a card. Su Huanyi thought carefully, “Could it be the director of the hospital gifted them to dad to send him off?”

Su Chi: “Watch your words.”

Su Huanyi respectfully corrected, “Could it be that the hospital director sent them to dad as a send-off from the hospital?”

Everyone: “….”

Su Chi: “I said…”

“Eh?” Wu Ma interrupted the educational contest at the table with a startled cry, “It’s for young master Little Yi, ah.”

Su Huanyi was stunned, “What???”

…….

The large bouquet of flowers was placed on the coffee table in the hall. The family sat around the table, their faces as stony as if they were at a round table.

The flowers were delicate, even dripping with fresh dew. It was clear that a lot of work had gone into preparing the bouquet, given the bitterly cold weather of late December.

The characters on the small card danced with dragon-like characters;

[Merry Christmas to Little Yi. I wanted to give you the stars in the sky and the pearls in the sea, but they were too cheesy, so I just tied a bouquet of winter flowers and brought them to your arms. — Nie Chige]

Su Jitong wanted to say something but hesitated before finally speaking tentatively, “Little Yi, how do you feel after reading it?”

Su Huanyi: “He rhymed!”

The rest: “…..”

Su Jitong felt that he couldn’t grasp the point at all, so he turned to Su Chi and asked, “Eldest, you’re with Little Yi every day. When did he meet this guy? How is this… Nie Chige person. ”

Su Chi suddenly felt that his father’s language skills were fine.

Su Chi said, “He’s not good.”

Su Jitong and Yu Xinyan looked at each other and frowned worriedly; someone was coveting their family’s cabbage, and the eldest didn’t have a good opinion of this person.

Su Huanyi entered into a state of opinion and tried to smooth out the folds, “He’s not too bad. You can see that this poem is well written, which means the educational level should be quite high. ”

A sneer fell from across the table. “Is that the extent of your appreciation?”

Su Huanyi squeezed his card and dared not squeak. His big brother didn’t like Mr. Nie, so he wouldn’t argue with him.

Su Jitong saw that Su Huanyi was sprayed so much that his hair dropped. He went forward and asked, “Little Yi, don’t worry about what your big brother said. Dad is asking for your opinion. What do you think of this Nie Chige? ”

Su Huanyi waved his hand to explain, “I have no interest in him.”

He analyzed the situation objectively, “I think Mr. Nie is only interested in me on the spur of the moment. He doesn’t even talk to me, so he’s not sincere. But there’s nothing wrong with his character from the time we’ve spent together.”

The air pressure around the table fell. Su Chi crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair with his eyes half-closed.

………….

The family meeting lasted for half an hour before Su Jitong went upstairs with Yu Xinyan. It seemed that the two had something to discuss.

Only the three Su brothers were left at the table.

Su Jianchen still didn’t understand, “Why did big brother disdain the person who sent these flowers?”

He even took out his phone and went on Baidu to check if there was anything bad about sending flowers or the words in the poem.

Su Chi had a vein at the corner of his forehead. “Second brother, take them to your room and slowly check them. I want to have a word with him. ”

“Okay.” Su Jianchen then went upstairs with the flowers in his arms.

The only two people left in the hall were Su Chi and Su Huanyi.

Su Huanyi picked at the edge of the table guiltily, “Big brother, I know you don’t like Mr. Nie, but you also have to be objective in evaluating others.”

“Are you saying I’m deliberately slandering him? Should I write an apology letter and send it to him?”

Su Huanyi was silenced for a moment by the look in Su Chi’s eyes. It was over, his big brother seemed to be really angry.

There was a moment of silence in the hall.

Su Huanyi was hanging his head and thinking about how to make Su Chi’s anger dissipate when the latter’s voice rang out from the other side.

“I’m not angry at you.”

Su Huanyi raised his head. Su Chi was looking at him with complex and hidden emotions under his eyes.

Su Huanyi froze for a moment, then he said in a conciliatory voice, “I know, big brother is afraid that I will be cheated.”

Su Chi didn’t reply. He did not want to lie, yet he could not tell the truth.

It was true that he was afraid of Su Huanyi being cheated at the start, but it wasn’t the exact case anymore.

His motives had long been mixed with other emotions. He knew that there was no way out ahead, yet he still thought of having it all.

………..

In the bedroom on the third floor.

Su Jitong and his wife had already discussed the outcome.

Yu Xinyan said, “He should declare independence early so that he won’t be looked down upon. That way, people like this what’s-his-name Nie will be cautious when chasing Little Yi. I don’t want our cabbage to be grabbed casually. ”

“Yeah. I see how close they are nowadays. Little white…Little Yi even ran to the hospital every day to take care of me; the older ones saw it.”

Su Jitong said as he went out the door, “We have to talk to Su Chi about this first. He is the next head of the family and I’m worried that he will have an opinion and ruin the brotherhood between them.”

“The eldest is sensible; he shouldn’t.”

Let’s hope so.”

The bedroom door closed behind him, and Su Jitong went downstairs through the corridor.

On the ground floor, the two brothers were still sitting opposite each other in the hall, and his eldest son didn’t look to be in a good mood.

Su Jitong was suddenly a little uncertain.

He calmed down and called out, “Come here, Su Chi. Dad has something to tell you.”

The author has something to say: Su Jitong: Will you destroy the brotherhood?

Su Chi: Yes.