Chapter 44
When he said the word “want”, Yu Li felt that his confusion from the whole afternoon seemed to disappear.
He was in a relaxed mood, and that night he and Yan Shiting looked through a lot of materials together, and finally decided on the school and major he would apply for.
It wasn’t until he fell asleep that Yu Li didn’t pay attention to what Yan Shiting said about the other matters.
Until two days later, when he woke up, he saw an extra desk in the living room, forming an L-shape with Yan Shiting’s large office desk, and there were many postgraduate exam review materials and practice questions on the bookshelves behind the desk.
In addition, Jiang Miao had also added his friend and sent him a few documents.
【Mr. Yu, these are the profiles of some teachers that Yan Zong has already screened for you. Take your time to select them. If you are not satisfied, I will find a few more for you.】
Yu Li opened one of the files and looked at it.
At the beginning was a resume, followed by the teacher’s teaching experience.
Yu Li exited the file and replied to Jiang Miao: 【Who are these teachers?】
Jiang Miao: 【Online teachers who will give you one-on-one lessons, ready at any time. Just contact them when you need a class.】
【If Mr. Yu feels awkward, I can take care of contacting them for you :- D】
Yu Li: 【This, won’t it be too much trouble for you?】
After all, Jiang Miao was Yan Shiting’s assistant and was already very busy.
Jiang Miao: 【Don’t worry, Mr. Yu, Yan Zong will give me extra pay.】
Yu Li: !
His fingers paused, but he still typed a reply: 【Then thank you.】
【You’re welcome~】
From Jiang Miao’s two lively symbols, Yu Li could see his delight.
Without bothering others, he finally put down the feeling of awkwardness in his heart.
In the past, when Yan Shiting went to the company during the day, Yu Li could only sleep or read books.
Now with something to do every day, his life gradually became more fulfilling.
His best time of the day was in the mornings, when he would take two online classes, and then after his midday nap, he would do some more exercises before Yan Shiting came back.
In the evenings after dinner, he would curl up in the rocking chair and read books, while Yan Shiting would handle work, occasionally feeding him snacks and fruits.
One morning, Yu Li received a message, an invitation from Yan Sui to attend his brother’s birthday banquet.
Three years ago, Yan Sui had invited him once before.
That was the only time in these past few years that Yu Li had “celebrated Yan Shiting’s birthday”.
Afterwards, because of Yan Shiting’s “warning”, Yu Li never went again.
Now, after living with Yan Shiting for a while, Yu Li also gradually understood that what he thought was a warning was actually just Yan Shiting’s objective statement.
It was just that Yan Shiting’s expression was cold, and he was Yan Sui’s own brother, so Yu Li felt those words were not very pleasant and rather discouraging.
【Come on, come on? I see your relationship with my brother is pretty good, come and have some fun!】
Coming back to his senses, Yu Li looked at the message on the phone screen and was silent for a moment.
His relationship with Yan Shiting is more than just “pretty good”.
Yu Li thought about it, but still refused: 【I won’t attend the banquet.】
He had seen Yan Shiting’s identity information on the marriage certificate, and knew that the day of the banquet was not Yan Shiting’s birthday, but the day before his birthday.
Yan Sui was a bit disappointed: 【Really not coming? This banquet is planned by me and Uncle He, for sure nothing like the incident at the last party will happen.】
He thought Yu Li was psychologically scarred by the incident at the party, so he didn’t want to attend.
Yu Li: 【It has nothing to do with the party incident, I just don’t like crowded and noisy places.】
Yan Sui: 【Okay, okay, I understand. I’ll pack up some desserts for you after the banquet.】
Yu Li replied with a “mm” emoticon.
He didn’t attend the banquet, but it didn’t mean he didn’t want to celebrate Yan Shiting’s birthday.
–
This year’s birthday for Yan Shiting was the first time Yu Li celebrated it with him since they were together.
This date held an extraordinary meaning for Yu Li.
Yu Li had specially prepared a birthday gift for him over the past few days.
On the night of December 20th, Yu Li took a car and arrived at the Yan family’s manor after 10 o’clock.
The banquet at the manor had just ended, and there were still traces of confetti on the red carpet.
Uncle He was helping clean up, and when he saw Yu Li, his eyes lit up: “Young Master Yu, you’re here.”
He glanced towards the northeast side of the courtyard, “The young master has already drunk too much and gone to sleep, the master is in the plum grove.”
Plum grove?
Yu Li was slightly taken aback.
The first time he “celebrated Yan Shiting’s birthday” was on the night of Yan Shiting’s birthday banquet. After witnessing how unattainable Yan Sui’s family was, he felt choked up and wandered to the plum grove, coincidentally encountering Yan Shiting there.
Unexpectedly, after the banquet today, Yan Shiting had still gone to that plum grove.
Did that plum grove hold some special meaning?
Yu Li put aside his thoughts, thanked Uncle He, and quickly headed towards the plum grove.
There were many plants in the Yan family courtyard, with the most being plum blossoms, occupying a third of the courtyard and forming a small plum grove.
This month, the plum blossoms had already bloomed.
The yellow flowers hung on the branches, and as soon as he walked in, he could smell the dense fragrance.
After going around two plum trees, Yu Li saw Yan Shiting’s figure.
Though it was cold today, Yan Shiting had taken off his coat, rolled up his shirt sleeves, and was holding a pruning shear, trimming the branches of a plum tree.
When Yu Li approached, Yan Shiting heard the footsteps and turned his head, his gaze softening for a moment.
“Does this season also require pruning the branches?” Yu Li bent down and picked up a branch.
The branch also had some yellow plum blossoms, smelling very fragrant.
“To shape the form.” Yan Shiting replied in a low voice.
“These branches are thinner and interwoven with the branches of the surrounding plum trees, it will look messy.”
Yu Li uttered an “oh”.
Yan Shiting handed the pruning shear to him and asked, “Want to try?”
Yu Li was indeed a bit interested, so he nodded.
Yan Shiting led him to another plum tree, standing beside him, and guided him with his hand on where to prune.
Yu Li followed his instructions, and soon figured out the rhythm.
After cutting off a branch according to his own idea, he turned his head and asked, “Is this right?”
Yan Shiting’s gaze was deep, constantly watching him, and he gently nodded in response.
“Very right.”
Being stared at by his gaze, Yu Li felt a little shy.
But getting Yan Shiting’s affirmation also gave him some confidence, and he continued to prune the next branch.
There weren’t many places that needed to be pruned on one tree, and when Yu Li put down his hand, Yan Shiting took the pruning shear and said, “These plum trees were all planted by my parents.”
Yu Li was slightly taken aback.
So this is the reason why Yan Shiting would come here?
He turned to look at the plum grove and said, “You take good care of them.”
Seeing the pruned branches on the ground, Yu Li squatted down and one by one picked up the branches, saying, “Brother, let’s take these pruned branches back and put them in the vase in your room.”
He remembered that Yan Shiting’s bedroom had a magnificent vase decoration, but it had never had any flowers in it.
Yan Shiting carelessly placed the pruning shear at the base of a plum tree and walked over to help him pick them up: “As you wish.”
They had only pruned two plum trees, so the branches on the ground were not many.
It took them a minute to pick them all up, just enough to fill one hand.
After standing up, Yu Li yawned and swayed a little.
Yan Shiting quickly steadied him and asked in a deep voice, “Sleepy?”
“Go back to the room and sleep.”
During this period, Yu Li’s schedule had been relatively stable, and now was the time he usually slept.
Yu Li regained his composure after a while, and with a bite of his lip, said, “Can’t sleep, it’s past midnight, it’s your birthday.”
He remembered something, his earlobes blushing, his gaze flitting, “I prepared a birthday gift for you.”
“It may not be very good, don’t be picky.”
How could Yan Shiting be picky.
He nodded slightly, leading Yu Li back to the villa and up to the third floor to their room.
Yu Li found the vase and placed the plum branches in it, adjusting the shape.
After doing this, he took a deep breath and, holding Yan Shiting’s hand, walked to the desk and took out a USB drive from his coat pocket.
“This is the gift I’m giving you.”
The USB drive contained a small program he had written.
Yan Shiting opened it himself, and after a blue underwater opening animation, soothing music played, and a blue and white little fish appeared in the water.
The little fish swam towards the surface, looking at a swan drinking water on the shore, and blew out a bubble.
When the bubble was clicked, it would burst, and a date would then appear.
“The date we got married.” Yu Li introduced.
The little fish then blew out two more bubbles, and Yan Shiting clicked them open, which were their respective birthdays.
Yan Shiting knew that.
The little fish finally blew out two more bubbles, and when Yan Shiting clicked them open, two sentences appeared: 【Even though the little fish and the swan live in different worlds, there are always moments when they intersect.】
【Happy birthday, brother.】
After that, the little fish didn’t blow any more bubbles, but just quietly stayed in the water, occasionally swimming a bit.
“I set up two accounts, you can click on the little fish to leave a message.”
Yu Li clicked on the little fish and casually typed in “AAA”, then logged into another account.
This time the opening animation was different, showing a lonely swan flying across the sky, finally resting by the lake and meeting the blue and white little fish.
Immediately after, the swan plucked a leaf from a nearby maple tree and dropped it into the water, and the moment it touched the surface, the maple leaf disappeared and “AAA” appeared.
After the demonstration, Yu Li nervously clasped his hands.
He was poor, unable to give a material gift, so he could only make this little program, a secret base just for him and Yan Shiting.
Yan Shiting looked at the page of the small program.
After a moment, his gaze fell on the nervous Yu Li.
No wonder he had been sneaking around these past few days, it turned out he was preparing this birthday gift for him.
Yan Shiting could also understand the meaning behind Yu Li making this little program for him.
—He couldn’t express his emotions well, so he used a small program to leave messages.
Sometimes, using words can have a little less psychological barrier than direct speech, and can express it more smoothly.
Yan Shiting’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
He gently hugged Yu Li, sighing, “Thank you, Xiao Li, I really like it.”
Yu Li was taken aback.
The intimate “Xiao Li”, with the unique seriousness in Yan Shiting’s call of his name, made his heart flutter more than any words.
He hugged Yan Shiting back and softly said, “I have to thank you too.”
The bedroom lights were bright, in the soothing light music of the small program, they shared a kiss infused with the fragrance of plum blossoms.
Their lips and tongues intertwined tenderly, deeper and gentler than before, and more emotional, as if wanting to entrust all their love to their beloved.
The silhouettes swaying in the light moved from the side of the desk to the edge of the big bed.
In this bedroom, on this bed, Yan Shiting suddenly thought of the night they confirmed their relationship.
His breathing heavy, he lovingly kissed Yu Li’s forehead.
The only despicable thing he had done in his life was to use the child as an excuse to make Yu Li agree to marry him.
He had originally planned to just leave it at that, to be able to get married, to have someone by his side, was already a blessing.
But Yu Li had actively come to his side, with love, with the ability to love that he yearned for.
The joy welling up inside him was about to overflow, and Yan Shiting kept kissing Yu Li’s face, his lips, his ears, his chin.
Yu Li’s heart was pounding like thunder, tilting his head to respond, but he found that Yan Shiting’s kisses stopped at his chin and didn’t continue.
Yu Li opened his puzzled eyes, his vision blurred by mist, and looked at Yan Shiting, “Brother?”
Yan Shiting, unusually, avoided his gaze, his warm hand moving down to Yu Li’s slightly protruding abdomen, “It might hurt it.”
Yu Li blushed.
He bit his lip, hugging Yan Shiting’s neck, throwing caution to the wind, “It’s okay, as long as it doesn’t go all the way in…”
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