PPS Chapter 117

Chapter 117: Sister

Gu Yusen was dejected.

Nothing is more upsetting than believing the person you like likes you, only to discover in just a week that they only see you as a brother.

The matter of which family Chu Zhaoyi would ultimately go to was further delayed.

The Gu family intended to keep Chu Zhaoyi and Gu Yusen apart. Although bringing Chu Zhaoyi to the Gu residence directly and making them brothers would certainly prevent any further romantic relationships due to gossip.

But Madam Gu knew her own son; he was disobedient, coupled with Chu Zhaoyi, who didn’t care about worldly opinions.

They were capable of anything.

It was better to keep them apart.

Therefore, the Gu family still hoped that Chu Zhaoyi could return to the Xie family.

The Xie family, needless to say, felt the same.

Gu Yusen definitely didn’t want to be a brother.

Chu Zhaoyi thought Gu Yusen didn’t like him anymore and was sulking, in a bad mood.

Gu Yusen coaxed him for a long time before he cheered up, and even then, only barely, after Gu Yusen picked several roses from the small garden downstairs.

The rose garden that Gu Yusen had planted at twelve years old was finally presented to Chu Zhaoyi at twenty.

There was a banquet in the evening.

It was a relatively formal banquet that Gu Yusen had to attend, but Chu Zhaoyi didn’t have to.

Gu Yusen told him to rest in the bedroom.

Zhang Anru explained the situation clearly to Xie Tingyun and the others. Xie Tingyun breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing his wife being called “Mom” while he hadn’t even had a proper conversation with his son, he was, for once, a little anxious.

But the good news was that at least Chu Zhaoyi didn’t reject them anymore.

After hearing this, Xie Yuyin secretly took a bowl of fruit and knocked on Chu Zhaoyi’s bedroom door.

Gu Yusen had to make a proper appearance in the evening, so he went to tidy himself up a bit and left first.

Chu Zhaoyi was curled up in bed, drawing on his iPad. Hearing the noise at the door, he looked up, thinking it was Gu Yusen returning.

Unexpectedly, it was Xie Yuyin.

“Ah Yi, would you like some fruit?” Xie Yuyin was a little nervous. She had been sending Chu Zhaoyi cookies for a week, so logically, she should have a better relationship with him.

But she didn’t.

The number of words they had exchanged depended on the number of times they met.

Chu Zhaoyi didn’t want to eat. He had a poor appetite and didn’t like to eat, not even fruit.

But looking at Xie Yuyin’s eager expression, he hesitated for a moment and still accepted.

“Eat.”

Hearing this, Xie Yuyin’s eyes lit up, and she placed the fruit plate on the table.

Chu Zhaoyi thought Xie Yuyin would leave as usual after putting the things down, but she didn’t.

Xie Yuyin was taller than most boys. Perhaps due to exercise, her figure looked quite robust.

With her long black hair, she always had a coldness that kept people at a distance when she didn’t have much expression.

Actually, it was just because she wasn’t good at communicating with people.

Chu Zhaoyi was very sensitive to emotions and could sense Xie Yuyin’s hesitation and nervousness.

He thought about it. It must be his change in attitude toward Zhang Anru that had given Xie Yuyin some ideas.

Chu Zhaoyi didn’t actually dislike Xie Yuyin. Since he had already acknowledged Zhang Anru’s role as his mother, he naturally wouldn’t reject Xie Yuyin, his sister.

Even when she didn’t know he was her biological brother, she never helped Xie Haoran bully him.

The most she had ever done was instinctively protect Xie Haoran behind her after seeing him get slapped.

He had thought about it a bit at that time.

He really liked other people’s unconditional bias towards him.

He also wanted to be protected so firmly behind someone.

But Xie Yuyin was a girl, so shouldn’t she be the one being protected?

He didn’t reject Xie Yuyin.

Chu Zhaoyi pondered for two minutes. He didn’t seem to have any experience in protecting others.

That seemed good too.

Having figured it out, he put on his shoes and got out of bed.

Although this was Gu Yusen’s room, he had lived here for some time and had also put a lot of his own things here.

He pulled a large box from under the desk.

He rummaged through it.

Xie Yuyin instinctively helped him push the box, as the young man’s body was particularly thin and weak. She was a little worried that Chu Zhaoyi couldn’t push it.

Chu Zhaoyi ignored Xie Yuyin’s small actions and took out a large stack of paintings from the box.

He remembered that there were several paintings here that he thought were quite good.

He had prepared a gift for Madam Gu when he came today.

Although he hadn’t brought one for Zhang Anru, he had still taken two of Professor Qin’s paintings, one to give to Madam Gu, and the other he had brought here.

He hadn’t cared at first, but now he cared a bit. He also wanted to give a gift to his mother.

Chu Zhaoyi found those few paintings that he thought were decent, along with Professor Qin’s painting, and handed them to Xie Yuyin.

Professor Qin’s painting was decorated and packaged, with a specially prepared packaging box.

On the other hand, his own paintings were just thin sheets of paper.

He had never really cared about his own paintings. If Gu Yusen hadn’t stopped him, he would have burned all these paintings.

But Gu Yusen said he liked them.

Chu Zhaoyi liked the way his things were cherished by others.

So he let Gu Yusen have his way.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to keep so many paintings.

“This is…?” Xie Yuyin didn’t expect Chu Zhaoyi to give her anything, and her face was a bit blank.

“This is Professor Qin’s painting. I heard it’s worth a lot of money.”

“These are my paintings. I think Mom will like them.”

Li Yurong had placed several of Xie Haoran’s paintings in her bedroom. They were very ugly, but she would always wipe the frames every day.

She looked like she cherished them very much.

But Xie Haoran’s works were clearly very clumsy.

His own paintings were so beautiful, Ms. Zhang Anru would definitely like them!

Chu Zhaoyi affirmed this in his heart.

“Ah Yi’s paintings? I’ve only seen his works from the competition.” Xie Yuyin didn’t look at Professor Qin’s painting, which was worth more in her hand.

Instead, she gently placed it on the ground, carefully looking at the other two thin sheets of paper.

The first one was a landscape painting. Xie Yuyin, who studied science, couldn’t quite describe the beauty of this painting well. She was just a little shocked when she first saw it.

The seemingly simple lines outlined the vast mountains, allowing the viewer to feel refreshed and happy, as if they were in nature.

“We’ve only seen your works from the competition. Your works were posted on Weibo, and we specifically downloaded them, printed them, and hung them at home.”

“It’s just that the official added a watermark, which can’t be removed.”

“This is the first time I’ve really seen your work.”

“Ah Yi is amazing.”

Xie Yuyin’s praise was from the bottom of her heart, and her words weren’t just made up to keep Chu Zhaoyi.

In the past week, they had been desperately searching for traces of Chu Zhaoyi’s life, wanting to make up for the eighteen years of blank space.

But the information they got was very little.

The works on the Huiying Liuguang official website had watermarks that couldn’t be removed to protect the rights of the creators.

Moreover, the pictures they downloaded were somewhat blurry.

But they still printed them out and hung them at home.

She didn’t expect that she could now have Chu Zhaoyi’s own paintings.

Just as he said, Mom would definitely like them.

Chu Zhaoyi was stunned by what Xie Yuyin said. He didn’t expect the Xie family would do such a thing.

Several clumsy works with watermarks hung in their luxurious old house.

People would laugh their teeth out if they heard about it.

Visiting guests might even mock them when they saw it.

But they would proudly introduce it to others as their child’s work.

If Chu Zhaoyi chose not to forgive them, these paintings might be the only things related to Chu Zhaoyi that they could get.

Chu Zhaoyi didn’t know why, but his eyes felt a little sore. Seeing Xie Yuyin carefully handling his paintings, she seemed to feel it wasn’t appropriate and specially asked someone to send over a large bag to put the paintings in solemnly.

“Thank you, Ah Yi. Mom will like them very much.” After packing up, Xie Yuyin said this seriously with a straight face.

Chu Zhaoyi looked at the face that was a little similar to his and curled the corners of his mouth.

His gaze, filled with tenderness, fell on Xie Yuyin.

“Will Sister like them too?”