Chapter 226: Chapter 209: Have You Ever Loved Him? (2)
"...Is this little boy from the Ren Family?"
He asked casually.
"That’s right, Ren Yixuan was handsome when he was young, unlike Meng Meng, she was quite round when she was little."
Yin Shixiu was flipping through the photo album... the pages were filled with pictures of Su Xiaomeng and Ren Yixuan...
Although Su Chengji was often scatter-brained, he clearly felt the storm clouds gathering over Yin Shixiu’s head.
"They were just kids. Xiao Meng used to cry a lot when she was little, but as long as she was with Yixuan, she would calm down, so her mother often left her at the Yixuan’s house."
Dad explained, while Su Xiaomeng felt her heart sway.
"Kids their age were all only children, very lonely on their own."
"Exactly."
Yin Shixiu’s tone was still natural, which made Su Chengji sigh in relief.
Su Xiaomeng wasn’t sure why she felt so anxious. These were just childhood photos...
Yin Shixiu shouldn’t be jealous over something like this, right?
While thinking this, she also felt that it would actually be good if he was jealous. It could show how much he really cared about her.
After flipping through the thick album, Yin Shixiu handed it back to Su Chengji, smiling faintly, "If Shuangshuang turns out just like Xiao Meng did as a child, I might really have a headache."
"Haha!"
Su Chengji laughed heartily, holding the album as he left the room. He brought the album probably just to hear Yin Shixiu say something like that.
Mission accomplished, retreat.
Su Xiaomeng glanced at Yin Shixiu, "What’s the headache for? Wasn’t I just fine?"
Yin Shixiu walked over to her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and rested his forehead on hers, "Why were you so chubby as a kid?"
"That’s called baby fat, baby fat!"
Su Xiaomeng hurriedly retorted.
Yin Shixiu gave her a light kiss on the lips, his eyebrows lowering as he suddenly asked, "Did you ever love him..."
Su Xiaomeng’s heart skipped a beat, then she quickly pulled his cheek, raising her eyebrows with a playful smile, "Come on, jealous?"
As if this could ease a bit of the uneasiness in her heart.
"Answer me."
Yin Shixiu’s voice was very soft, yet there was an assertiveness that left her no room to evade.
"Uh... you want the truth?"
Su Xiaomeng rolled her eyes, then asked.
Yin Shixiu nodded, unsure why he was being so awkward...
Clearly, it’s all in the past, clearly, this girl now belongs entirely to him.
He believed this so firmly, yet when he opened that heavy photo album, he wavered.
That thick album contained not just moments, but nineteen years strung together by all those moments.
From infancy to adulthood, from naive and ignorant to youthful and half-mature... her changes were dramatic, but the one constant was... the boy standing next to her.
Jealousy roared like a tiger or dragon, engulfing him.
As soon as he asked the question, he regretted it, wishing he could swallow his tongue, yet stubbornly waiting for her answer.
How foolish a question is this?
If she nodded and said she did love him, what would he do? Even though he came after Ren Yixuan, he somehow won her over. What else could he want?
If she shook her head and said she never loved him, it’s the answer he wanted... but Yin Shixiu, would you believe it?
If you were willing to believe, then why ask such a foolish question?
Su Xiaomeng held onto his neck, looking directly into his eyes...
"I don’t know."
This answer left Yin Shixiu a bit stunned.
"If you ask me if I love you, I think... uh... heaven and earth can bear witness."
At this point, Su Xiaomeng was still teasing with a playful tone.
Yin Shixiu didn’t know whether to feel relaxed or frustrated by her words.
"But if you ask about Ren Yixuan... and you want the truth, uh... Uncle, I don’t want to lie to you, I truly don’t know."
"At least before I realized I loved you, I thought the feelings I had for him were probably akin to, approximately... love, right?"
"Otherwise... why don’t you analyze it for me?"
"Analyze what?"
"Uh... back when Ren Yixuan asked me to be his girlfriend, I was really excited. Does that mean it was love?"
"Bullshit, that was just you being immature!"
Yin Shixiu grumpily nibbled on her nose, her ambiguous answer akin to a cat’s paw scratching his heart little by little.
"So young, do you even know what love is? Huh?"
His low voice carried overwhelming dominance.
"If I ask you again in the future, or if someone else asks you this question, you have only one answer, which is you never loved him! Got it?"
Su Xiaomeng was tickled by him, bursting into laughter and then nodding.
Yin Shixiu’s expression softened too, stupid as it might be at the moment, calmness returned and he found himself quite amusing.
Seeing her proud eyes, with their rippling charm, was truly irresistible.
His heart stirred, and he leaned in to kiss her rosy lips...
Just as he kissed her, Shuangshuang lifted her little hand and slapped Yin Shixiu on the butt!
Yin Shixiu furrowed his brow, turned around, and faced Shuangshuang’s continuously grinning face, as if she was waiting for him to turn.
Su Xiaomeng stifled her laughter, giggling inwardly.
Seeing that Yin Shixiu didn’t speak, Shuangshuang raised her hand and slapped his butt with a "pia."
Yin Shixiu turned around and hugged the little one into his arms, "Girl, what are you up to?"
Then Shuangshuang began her unrestrained, devilish laughter.
Yin Shixiu and Su Xiaomeng exchanged a glance, feeling helpless.
By dinner time, the two of them left the bedroom together.
Shuangshuang slept, and Prince Huang then woke up.
The little one sat fixed in a high chair, occasionally sipping soup handed over by Dad, tasting the fruit and then the little pastries.
Perhaps the dishes weren’t to his liking; he leaned back, clutching his bottle, watching the four adults eat like a little king.
On New Year’s Eve morning, Su Chengji and Yin Shixiu got up early to stick couplets by the door.
Su Xiaomeng joined Mom in the kitchen to make dumplings and cook glutinous rice balls.
After the two kids woke up, they changed into new clothes.
The new clothes were prepared by Yin Shaohui and Zhou Mengqin.
They were two handmade Tang suits tailored for Huang Huang and Shuangshuang, one red and one yellow, embroidered with dragon and phoenix, symbolizing auspiciousness.
After taking photos, Su Xiaomeng sent them to Yin Meng, who then showed them to Yin Shaohui and Zhou Mengqin.
Busy with the New Year’s Eve dinner, the mother and daughter worked from morning till night.
Yin Shixiu and Su Chengji, the two big men, were responsible for looking after the kids, cleaning up, and playing chess.
A big table full of dishes was set, truly no worse than those at a restaurant.
With fewer people in the house, each dish wasn’t large; the family didn’t like eating leftovers, so Su Ma controlled the portions well, avoiding overeating or wasting food.
Because it was New Year, Su Chengji pulled Yin Shixiu to drink a few more glasses.
One of Su Xiaomeng and Su Ma’s yearly pleasures was using the camera to capture Su Chengji’s drunken embarrassment and showing it to him later.
Yin Shixiu could hold his liquor, but after knocking Dad out, he was also not clear-headed.
Su Xiaomeng raised the camera, capturing a few close-ups of Yin Shixiu’s drunken face.
"Mom, take a look... Aren’t Shixiu’s eyes particularly beautiful?"
Su Ma really leaned over for a close look. She truly couldn’t see any difference compared to others’ eyes.
"Right?"
Su Xiaomeng insisted on an answer; Su Ma chuckled, "Yes."
And so she continued happily photographing close-ups of the handsome uncle.
Yin Shixiu wasn’t too muddled; noticing her waving the camera around, he squinted his eyes and snatched it over, pulling Su Xiaomeng into his arms too.
Su Xiaomeng blushed, oh... Mom was watching.
She wanted to push him away, but Yin Shixiu held her tighter, his gaze blurry yet somewhat sly and cunning.
His dark brown pupils seemed dyed as black as ink, yet within them danced small, small sparks of fire.
He hugged Su Xiaomeng, adjusting the camera lens to face them.
Su Xiaomeng saw his lips approaching her earlobe, half-squinted eyes, enjoying a gentle nuzzle.
Su Ma sensibly got up, walked over to nudged Su Chengji, who was drunkenly out of sorts, not planning to move.
Su Xiaomeng wished she could sink into the earth.
She firmly pinched Yin Shixiu, but unexpectedly, he bit her neck.
Su Ma pretended not to see and gave a fierce pinch to Su Chengji, who remained unresponsive.
She leaned in to whisper something in his ear, and he immediately revived, saying, "No way!"
Su Ma chuckled and then took her husband’s hand, "Alright, let’s go to bed."
And so someone followed Su Ma upstairs to the bedroom like a child.
Su Xiaomeng wanted to grab her mom and ask what she had said to Dad.
"Focus..."
Yin Shixiu held the camera in one hand...
"Focus on what?"
Su Xiaomeng was almost in tears, especially looking at herself captured by the camera at that moment.
Yin Shixiu planted a kiss on her cheek, his eagle-like eyes shedding cleverness, revealing a domineering and sly charm.
His husky voice tugged at her heart, "I should have shown you this self long ago... Aren’t you especially beautiful?"
Su Xiaomeng replied coldly, "I don’t see beauty; I only see a perverted uncle..."
"Perverted? If that’s perverted, then what the uncle wants to do next... what is that?"
Su Xiaomeng was at a loss... What nonsense was this guy thinking again?
"Shixiu, are you drunk or not?"
She began to speculate.
"Guess..."
"Guess your big head ghost!"
"Don’t forget, we still have to call Mom and Dad... and also Grandpa..."
"Let’s talk about it tomorrow..."
At some point, the camera fell onto the carpet, its screen showing only some table legs and the distant sofa...