I See Roses

I See Roses – Chapter 27

When Yu Niannian’s words fell, Cheng Yu didn’t react at all.

His limited brain capacity didn’t allow him to process situations beyond his comprehension. He was bewildered for a while, and it was only after much difficulty that he managed to utter two words, “What… is it?”

Yu Niannian looked around and noticed the strange silence. She hesitated and said, “Did I say something wrong?”

“What did you just say? Say it again,” Cheng Yu swallowed his saliva, “Who… is… getting engaged?”

“Um, Sister Ming and Mr. Liang,” Cheng Yu’s reaction was so unexpected that Yu Niannian almost thought if the news was fake. But after a second thought, how could her aunt be mistaken, “We met in Shanghai.”

Among the people present, it was unlikely that there was another person with the surname Liang.

Ke Lijie lowered his head and rubbed his nose, while Yu Chuan vaguely sensed the truth from the attitudes of the people around him. He remained silent, digesting the information silently in his heart.

Finally, the two of them looked at Cheng Yu in unison.

Cheng Yu suddenly burst into laughter, “Ha! Ha! Ha!”

“I must have misheard. No, no, this wine is a bit too much, I can’t drink anymore,” he shook his head while supporting the table, stumbling towards the sofa, unwilling to accept it, “How could they get engaged?”

Ke Lijie wanted to help him, but his hand hesitated halfway and withdrew.

He inexplicably felt a bit guilty, as though he was also an accomplice in this.

Like a salted fish, Cheng Yu slumped on the sofa, his mind blank for a moment, almost unable to recall what had happened before.

After sobering up a bit, he suddenly sat up straight, “I remember now!”

Looking at Cheng Yu’s series reactions, Ming Si was worried that admitting the truth might shock him to the point of fainting. Subconsciously, she glanced at Liang Xian.

Liang Xian motioned for her to keep calm.

“Niannian, are you trying to tease me? Huh,” Cheng Yu raised one leg and shook it, raising his eyebrows triumphantly, “It’s fine to tease others with this kind of talk, but teasing us, haha, everyone knows they’ve been arguing since they were kids. Engaged? How is that possible?”

“Right, Ke Lijie? Yu Chuan?” He finished speaking and looked around for confirmation.

Ke Lijie and Yu Chuan glanced at each other, speechless and choked.

The atmosphere was eerily quiet.

Cheng Yu looked at Liang Xian for help. This time, his tone was hesitantly seeking approval, “Brother… Brother Xian?”

Liang Xian leaned against the back of the sofa and nodded nonchalantly, “It’s true.”

“You see! I said it…” Cheng Yu hadn’t finished what he was about to say when he suddenly paused, his words getting stuck in his throat. He stared blankly for a moment, widened his eyes, and with an unbelieving tone, asked, “Is it true… true… true?”

Liang Xian replied with a simple En, confirming again, “We are indeed getting engaged.”

Crack—

This was the sound of Cheng Yu’s worldview shattering.

“No, you two, you two… for real?” Finally, after a bit of struggle, Cheng Yu managed to find his tongue. He looked at them, very confused, and said, “What’s going on? How can you suddenly get engaged!!”

Cheng Yu was genuinely baffled.

He tried to recall scenes of the two of them together, but couldn’t find a single detail to grasp.

He tried to recall scenes of the two of them together, but he couldn’t even find a single detail to dwell on. In his impression, whenever Ming Si and Liang Xian were together, she was always haughty and picky, while he was carefree and casual. Even after all these years, they still had an attitude of not giving in to each other.

Cheng Yu had always been troubled by their terrible relationship.

So much so that now, even if someone came and told him, Bad news, aliens are invading the Earth!, it would feel more real than the news of Ming Si and Liang Xian getting engaged.

He opened his mouth to say something, but in the end, he closed it in despair.

He hadn’t excelled in language classes, so he didn’t know how to express his current feelings.

“We…” Liang Xian paused for a moment and gave a somewhat official explanation, “It’s a business alliance.”

Cheng Yu’s mind went blank, and he mechanically repeated, “A business alliance?”

“Yes, yes, yes, I can vouch for it!” Ke Lijie raised his hand beside them, “It’s really just a business alliance, no romantic feelings involved. They don’t want that either!”

He originally wanted to help placate Cheng Yu, but he didn’t expect Cheng Yu to turn and look at him, his gaze almost terrifying, “You knew already?”

Ke Lijie: “…”

Uh-oh, he said the wrong thing.

“You all knew, and you kept it from me!” Cheng Yu finally snapped out of his confusion, stood up all of a sudden, and his emotions turned into anger, “Yu Chuan!”

Yu Chuan raised his hand, “I didn’t know.”

“I don’t believe you!”

“He really didn’t know. I also found out accidentally,” Ke Lijie hurriedly approached and pressed Cheng Yu back down, “I actually wanted to tell you, but I just couldn’t find the right time…”

Cheng Yu refused to communicate, even turning his head away.

He was just one step away from writing I’m angry and can’t be consoled from head to toe.

Ming Si cleared her throat and tentatively reached out to pat his shoulder, “Yu Yu…”

Cheng Yu struggled and shrugged her off, turning himself into a bongo drum, “Don’t call me Yu Yu! I don’t have dads like you guys!”

Ming Si: “…”

It’s still the same old play.

Ke Lijie, watching from the side, grew increasingly anxious.

Liang Xian and Ming Si were both high nobles; how could they be good at coaxing people? And Cheng Yu was so stubborn that he would get stuck in a dead-end for half a day.

If they let the three of them resolve it themselves, they might end up in a deadlock until tomorrow.

There was no choice; at critical moments, he had to intervene.

“Cheng Yu, think carefully, they haven’t really done anything wrong, have they?” Ke Lijie cleared his throat and reached out to put a hand on Cheng Yu’s shoulder, “Put yourself in their shoes, would you immediately tell your buddies if you were marrying your lifelong rival?”

Cheng Yu paused for a moment and turned to look at him.

Ke Lijie continued, “Of course you wouldn’t, right? Besides, the most unfortunate ones in this situation are actually Ming Si and Liang Xian.”

“Two people who can’t stand each other will have to live under the same roof in the future. Let’s put aside the minor clashes for now,” he paused for a moment in his impassioned speech, giving Cheng Yu time to think, “The scariest thing is, if one of them gets upset, they might end up giving each other a green hat!”

Ming Si: “…”

Liang Xian: “…”

Both of them almost had a feeling of even though there’s nothing wrong, something still feels odd.

Cheng Yu showed a thoughtful expression, his attitude softening.

Ke Lijie continued to play his part enthusiastically, with the eloquence of a first-class salesman, successfully making Cheng Yu nod frequently. Finally, he pointed a finger and said with emphasis, “If you don’t believe me, ask them!”

Cheng Yu immediately turned to look at them.

At this moment, for the sake of peace and quiet, they had no choice but to cooperate with the performance.

“He’s right, I really don’t want to marry Liang Xian,” following Ke Lijie’s lead, Ming Si delivered her lines very professionally. When she noticed Liang Xian’s lack of reaction, she nudged him lightly with her elbow and whispered, “Say something.”

Liang Xian lazily leaned against the back of the chair, lifted his eyelids slightly at her words, and said, “I also didn’t want to marry Ming Si.”

Their act was very unconvincing.

“Nobody wants this to happen,” Ke Lijie summed up, satisfied with his performance, “But the rice has been cooked, and we can only accept it willingly.”

Ming Si: “…”

What does the rice has been cooked mean?

Why does it sound like something unspeakable happened between her and Liang Xian?

Cheng Yu held the bag that Ming Si had bought for him, looking suspicious, “Are you really not teaming up to fool me? Do you swear?”

“We’re not fooling you, I swear,” Ming Mei’s patience was almost depleted. She reluctantly raised one hand, “Alright?”

“What about Brother Xian?” Cheng Yu insisted.

Liang Xian casually raised his hand, “I swear on my conscience.”

The large private room was still lively, with someone singing not far away. The rotating lights happened to shine on the corners of Liang Xian’s eyes and eyebrows.

One could tell it wasn’t sincere.

Ming Si suddenly found it a bit amusing.

From childhood to adulthood, they were always pressed into reconciliation by Cheng Yu. Now that they had indeed reconciled, they were being pressed to admit their relationship was still bad.

Ke Lijie also said that their relationship would remain the same in the future and would not affect the friendship among the five of them.

Upon careful consideration, Cheng Yu realized the truth, and his emotions quickly recovered. In just a few minutes, he was back to his lively self and started organizing everyone to play games.

Yun Niannian breathed a sigh of relief. Judging from Cheng Yu’s reaction earlier, she was afraid she had caused trouble.

She happily sat down with her boyfriend and didn’t dare to bring up the topic of Ming Si and Liang Xian again. She casually shared a few interesting stories, and then they all started playing a dice game together.

It was a common drinking game called Big Liar’s Dice. Each person could only see the points in their own dice cup but had to guess the total points of everyone’s cups. Winning relied not only on experience but also on courage.

Unfortunately, Ming Si was quite unlucky; several times she drew the lots and ended up facing Liang Xian.

Her skill in this game wasn’t bad, but somehow, Liang Xian seemed to always have the upper hand. After just a few rounds, she had already drunk who-knows-how-many glasses of alcohol.

It was her turn to face him again.

Liang Xian didn’t rush to start; he leaned his elbow on the table, looking at her with a teasing glint in his eyes, “Should I let you win?”

Who was he looking down on?

Ming Si said disdainfully, “No!”

Liang Xian chuckled lightly.

It’s unclear whether he really let her win or just slipped up, but this round ended with Ming Si’s victory.

Now it was her turn to feel proud.

Leaning on the sofa, Ming Si lightly tapped the black dice cup with her index finger and curled up her lips, “Want to try again?”

Liang Xian didn’t answer right away; he was drinking, and the glass in his hand refracted a transparent halo.

From her angle, she could clearly see his Adam’s apple gently moving, giving off a faintly sensual vibe.

Feeling awkward about this thought, Ming Si suddenly averted her gaze, coughing slightly. Then she casually took a drink that a waiter brought over to cover up her embarrassment.

The sweet and sour citrus flavor unexpectedly tasted good.

She didn’t look at him anymore.

She slowly finished the drink.

“Ming Si!” Ke Lijie suddenly yelled.

Ming Si was startled, “What’s wrong?”

“This… this is the drink I ordered,” Ke Lijie looked at the empty glass, regretfully holding his head, and then asked, “Are you feeling unwell?”

“You drugged it?” Ming Si glanced at him.

Ke Lijie: “…”

What a terrible thing to say.

“No, this drink has a particularly high alcohol concentration,” Ke Lijie explained, “Last time I had a glass, I f**king lost my memory the next day.”

Liang Xian looked at the glass, “Blackout drink?”

“Yes,” Ke Lijie admitted.

In fact, this drink also had a not-so-pure nickname, Virginity-Losing Drink. But it all referred to the high alcohol content.

Ming Si also glanced at the glass in her hand.

Among the five of them, Ke Lijie had a relatively good alcohol tolerance, yet he had collapsed after just one drink of this? Then, wouldn’t she be even worse?

But now that she had already drunk it, it was too late for regrets; showing regret now would be too uncool.

“Who asked you not to explain clearly?” Ming Si put down the glass, rested her cheek on her hand indifferently, and said, “But I think it’s not bad.”

This drink had strong after-effects!

Ke Lijie silently said in his heart.

Sure enough, after a few minutes, Ming Si slumped on the table. Not even Cheng Yu’s hoarse rendition of Love Until Death could wake her up.

Liang Xian leaned over and patted her shoulder, “Ming Si?”

No response.

“Let’s take her home,” Liang Xian said, standing up.

As soon as he spoke, Cheng Yu and the others were actually about to step forward to help her, but the next second, they seemed to realize something and quickly stepped back, almost simultaneously.

Their movements were so synchronized that they even made a soft swoosh sound.

Liang Xian: “…”

Author’s Note: Cheng Yu / Ke Lijie / Yu Chuan: Your own wife, you should handle it yourselves.