.5 – What would he do if he didn’t properly control his own momentum and frightened him?

translator: xiin

editors: alamerysl & BlueBug

After being dispirited for the entire day, in the evening when class was over, Xue Ling wrapped his arms around Yan Qingjun’s waist and would not let the fish go. "Junjun, will you accompany me home? I’m in such a terrible mood that I might even jump off the building tonight without you!"

Yan Qingjun looked down at him helplessly. “Don’t talk about yourself like that.”

“Seriously.” Xue Ling leaned close to him. “You really don’t think my heart and soul looks very fragile right now?”

“No, I think you look like you’re brimming with energy, and could even go swim for another kilometre." The suspension chairs slowly made their way out, and Xue Ling muttered under his breath as he followed behind Yan Qingjun.

“Just come. It’ll be good even if you just come over for dinner. I’ve been telling my mother that I want to introduce my best friend to her.”

Yan Qingjun’s movements stalled for a moment. During this period, he had already inquired about what had happened to the Duke’s family, and he was also sure that he was the lost youngest son of the Duke’s Palace. After all, his forehead and eyes were so similar to the Duchess’. But, the more it was like this, the more fearful he was. He could treat Yan Qiwen so calmly and normally because this person was Yan Qiwen. If it was anyone else, Yan Qingjun felt that he would probably be jealous to the point of madness.

So many years of recuperation allowed him to hide his thoughts and feelings so that they would not show clearly, but he was still depressed for a while. If he had not been accompanied by Yan Qiwen during that time, perhaps his thoughts would have headed straight towards some misunderstandings.

But even so, he did not have the courage to take the initiative and show up in front of the Duchess on his own. He felt anxious about returning home, and was always afraid that when he finally met the Duchess, she would not like him.

So he found reasons everywhere to refuse Yan Qiwen many times, and he still did not intend to agree this time.

Xue Ling was still continuing on from behind him, "Junjun, on the basis that there’s nobody I like anymore, and I’m depressed and not in a good mood, you should just come to my home as a guest. I really need comfort. I’m afraid that I’ll hear news about Lou Cen when I go home today... second brother is a military officer. His favorite thing to do when we’re eating is to talk about military affairs."

Yan Qingjun’s movements stalled again, and he controlled his merfolk chair to turn around and look at Xue Ling. The other fish had already fallen quite a ways behind, and he had his head lowered, his entire person looking very downcast and unhappy. He sighed rather helplessly. Although it seemed that Yan Qiwen was still able to joke, he was afraid that it was a forced type of humor. For such an optimistic and cheerful person to become like this because of a breeder, it meant he had very strong feelings for the other party.

This was his friend, and it was his friend’s home that he was being invited to. Yan Qingjun had long regarded Yan Qiwen as a younger brother who was younger than him by several months. What was wrong with agreeing to go home with his younger brother?

“All right.” After a long time, he finally relented and agreed.

Xue Ling’s face lit up with happiness. He rushed forward and pulled Yan Qingjun along as they headed straight for the entrance, his floating chair whizzing about and frightening the merfolk nearby.

“My elder brother is coming to pick me up after work today. Let me introduce my eldest brother to you.”

“Okay.” Yan Qingjun nodded helplessly.

Yan Chuhuan, the eldest son of the Yan family, was His Royal Highness’ assistant. In the future, he would become a person on the level of a prime minister. He was very busy every day, but no matter how busy he got, he would still take time to bring his little brother to school and pick him up after school. Because Xue Ling had said that he wanted to bring a fellow student home with him to have dinner, Yan Chuhuan went ahead and sat in the front row, leaving the back row for the two merfolk.

“Elder brother.” His younger brother was no long as dispirited and dejected as he had been in the morning. After school, he always seemed full of good spirits. Yan Chuhuan reached out a hand and rubbed his head.

“Did you make trouble for the teacher today?” It was as though his younger brother had grown up after breaking off his engagement with Lou Cen. Although he was still naïve and somewhat ignorant, he had learned to accept different views, and he was much more enjoyable to be with than before. Originally, Yan Chuhuan already cared for him, but now he doted on him even more.

“No”. Xue Ling pushed Yan Qingjun to the front and happily said, "Elder brother, this is the Junjun that I’ve been telling you about. Isn’t he super beautiful with a super temperament? Junjun, this is my eldest brother, Yan Chuhuan.”

Yan Qingjun went rigid, and stiffly greeted Yan Chuhuan. “Hello, elder brother Yan.”

Yan Chuhuan’s eyes widened slightly, and his gaze was deep and dark. He stared at Yan Qingjun for a long time before finally opening his mouth to say, “Hello. Thank you for taking care of Wenwen at school."

Yan Qingjun waved his hand. He knew that on the surface, becoming friends with Yan Qiwen and finally getting invited back to his home looked like he was using him, which could easily be misunderstood by others. But he really did not have that intention, and he really liked Yan Qiwen as a younger brother. from and knew that he and Yan Zhiwen had made good friends and went back to his home. It seemed to make use of his meaning, which could easily be misunderstood by others. But he really didn’t mean it, and he really liked Yan Qiwen, the younger brother. “I really like Qiwen." Yan Qingjun calmly looked at Yan Chuhuan. "Truly."

Yan Chuhuan scrutinized him seriously for a long time before lowering his gaze. He smiled and opened the door for them as he said, "Okay. Get in the car. Let’s go home and have dinner.”

Xue Ling excitedly climbed into the car, revealing a helpless expression where neither of them could see. In fact, he was really tired from pretending to be silly and sweet every day...

Hopefully something would happen soon so that he could burst out, show his powers, and grow up...

The Duke’s family had a big castle in the suburbs, but they only had two interconnected villas in the city. This was because there were three breeders and two mermaids in the family, and the Duchess had the habit of preparing double of everything for Yan Qiwen, with the intention that the second set would be for her youngest son. So, one villa was not enough, and the Duke was fortunate enough to buy two villas, and connected them together.

Due to the Duchess’ influence, the entire family was required to eat together for dinner. Sometimes, visitors would join. It may be the Duke’s friends, or the Duchess’ friends, and even the Prince had joined them for dinner before. But, it was Yan Qiwen’s first time inviting a friend back home, so the Duchess felt very happy and ordered the kitchen to cook more. Although young merfolk might not eat much, it was still better to prepare more dishes.

The Duke and Yan Zhaiyan arrived home first, changed into house clothes and gathered together in the living room to await the arrival of everyone else. This was a Yan family custom that came about because the Duchess really needed to feel the warmth and support of her family. They always had a lively dinner so that the Duchess would not feel too sentimental.

Yan Qingjun only began to panic after they got out of the car. He pulled on Xue Ling’s hand and asked, “Wenwen, do I need to bring any gifts since I’m visiting for the first time?”

Xue Ling patted his hand and said, “There’s no need for a gift. You are the best gift." His laugh was particularly sincere. Yan Qingjun did not realize the irony of this sentence, but his mood eased up a lot regardless.

Yan Chuhuan stood behind them, considering whether or not their mother would become too excited and faint, and whether he should go ahead and call the doctor first. When he heard Xue Ling’s words, he looked up at his younger brother in some surprise. But what he saw was his innocent smile, and the doubts in his heart disappeared at once. They seldom discussed their past history with their young brother, not wanting him to think that he was a substitute for anyone.

Although he also liked that his blood related younger brother was returning home, if the price that had to be paid was Qiwen’s unhappiness and heartbreak, then it would be better for it not to happen.

This was very unfair to his blood related younger brother that had been away from home for so many years, but for him and his second brother, the little merchild they watched grow up was actually more precious.

Yan Chuhuan sighed somewhat helplessly. He could not figure out what would happen later, and for the first time, he found that he could do nothing but resign himself to fate. They certainly would not give up Yan Qiwen just because they had found the real youngest master of the Duke’s Palace, but Yan Qiwen’s heart would probably be hurt again.

Each and every one of them knew exactly how deep their mother’s obsession with her little son was.

The Yan family was more lively than ever tonight. The scene of blood relatives who had been separated for many years finally reuniting was very touching. Xue Ling looked at the Duchess and Yan Qingjun who were crying and hugging each other tightly, pressed his lips together, and quietly looked down, standing to one side. He had his head lowered, and nobody could see the expression on his face.

Yan Chuhuan stood beside him trying to comfort him a bit, but as soon as his hand touched his shoulder, Yan Qiwen raised his head.

“Eldest brother, I’m going to go out for a walk.” He opened his mouth to say.

Yan Chuhuan stared at him and found that his eyes were slightly reddened. He sighed helplessly and said, "Go ahead. Just walk around near the entrance – don’t go far.”

Xue Ling nodded, turned around and left in his merfolk chair. Now that there was nobody around, he naturally would not need to continue to pretend that he was sad that his mother had been stolen away by his friend. He had used that as an excuse to come out because the system had reminded him that Lou Cen was outside their home.

It also made it easier for him to go back with a smile as though wanting to be happy for the two people inside later on. Although he had not felt much during the whole process, this was role-playing, and Xue Ling would still try to follow the original personality settings as much as possible.

Besides, Lou Cen ran out before even finishing dinner. His mind had been blown by his mother’s news, and his brain was basically blank. He had never been in love before, and he had been full of confidence about not going to see the other party based on the fact that they were engaged. Now that he had suddenly discovered that there were no bridges linking them together, and that it was very possible that he would not be able to get close to the other party because of the broken engagement, Lou Cen could not sit still.

He went straight to the Duke family’s residence, but when he got to the entrance, he didn’t know what he should say to get in, so after he got out of the car, he stood foolishly at the door for a while, staring at the house that had lights on inside. For a moment, Lou Cen’s face was full of confusion.

This was the first time his heart had moved, the first time he had felt such determination to obtain such a person. Clearly, everything had been good a moment ago, but in the next second, he had nothing...

This kind of feeling was too terrible. It was so awful that he wanted to get into a fight with someone.

He was still standing there stunned when the door to the villa suddenly opened.

Lou Cen’s eyes were unconsciously glued to the door as a merfolk chair slowly came out and the door slammed shut after it. The little merman emerged with his cheek propped up against his hand, his expression gloomy.

Lou Cen’s gaze fell on him, and then he could no longer move his eyes away. He had no idea when the other person had already arrived in front of him.

The door to the grand entrance opened, the little merman raised his gaze to look him in the eye, controlled his merfolk chair to go around him, and then directly left.

There was a small park in the community. Xue Ling planned to stay there for a while.

As for the one at the door, he would follow him even if he left him there. He didn’t need to say anything to him at all.

Thinking about it, it was only today that Madame Lou had informed him that the engagement between the two of them had been cancelled, and it was only today that he finally came over in a panic. Xue Ling was rather sulky that he had not accounted for Madame Lou’s actions, and directly placed the blame of him losing the bet with the system on the man’s shoulders.

As a tsundere, there was nothing wrong with him getting angry about such things.

As a repressed, bottled-up person, Lou Cen’s hot eyes followed Xue Ling’s figure the entire way until he reached the other side of the wall.

The sound of the door closing woke him up completely. He had not thought that he would be able to meet the other person like this. Lou Cen was feeling ecstatic as he followed Xue Ling.

“It’s not safe for a fish like you to go out alone at night.” He caught up with him, but he was stifled for a long time and could not say anything. It was not until Xue Ling entered the park that Lou Cen finally let out this sentence.

Xue Ling was not happy that he had become a ’fish’. Although it was true that he was a fish, he was very reluctant to be one. So, when he faced Lou Cen, the expression on his face was not good at all. "This is the territory for aristocrats, and nothing will happen to me. Rather, what is Lieutenant General Lou doing here in the middle of the night?" He paused, and unhappily added another sentence, "I heard from my second brother that you’ve just been promoted to General. Congratulations."

Lou Cen was figuratively blocked by his words and did not know what to say. The little merman’s cheeks were bulging slightly, and it seemed that he was thoroughly angry. He was clearly in a rage, and the words that he spoke were clearly bitter and harsh, but when they came to Lou Cen’s ears, and in Lou Cen’s eyes, the scene was incomparably cute.

How nice. He could see him again after half a month’s wait.

This made Lou Cen want to kill off the earlier version of himself who had been insisting on refusing to see the little merman. It was only that his character made it difficult for others to like him, but he was so cute, and Lou Cen had actually planned to distance himself away from him from because of some inexplicable reasons. He had even previously wasted so much time and so many opportunities to be close to him. The him from half a month ago absolutely had to have had a problem with his brain!

Clearly, he had wanted to place that person within his own embrace as soon as possible when he woke up.

“Wenwen.” He opened his mouth and called out to him. “I came to talk to you.”

“Our engagement has already been dissolved.” Xue Ling frowned at him and said discontentedly, “So don’t call me in such an intimate manner. General Lou and I have already cleared things between us. Could it be that you are dissatisfied with merely breaking off our engagement and want to make sure I cannot get married?"

“How could I keep you from getting married?” For the first time, Lou Cen became rather frustrated that he was not eloquent. He used to think that as long as he had enough power, he could use strength to crush a person, and the other party would naturally not oppose him and could only follow what he said. But when he was faced with his little merman, he didn’t even have to think about it to know that such a method was not feasible.

He was so small. What would he do if he didn’t properly control his own momentum and frightened him?

Xue Ling: Ha-ha.