To Raise a Soul 36.1

Yu Zhen followed Yin Yan out of the coffee shop. With hesitation, he asked, “Isn’t it bad to just leave like this?”

They could ignore Han Ya, but it was not very nice to ignore the host and other classmates.

If there is a misunderstanding, it would be fine to clear up the misunderstanding. Leaving like this doesn’t seem very good.

“It’s no problem.” Yin Yan pulled open the front passenger door. When Yu Zhen was seated, Yin Yan leaned down and said, “I’ll explain it to them.” With a tilt of his head, he gestured behind him. Then he straightened up and closed the door.

Yu Zhen looked in the indicated direction and saw that the host of the reunion had also come out of the coffee shop. Feeling more at ease, he quietly waited for Yin Yan to finish speaking with Fu Wenhua.

“Yin Yan, wait a minute!”

Seeing that they hadn’t left yet, Fu Wenhua ran over. Letting out a big breath, he said, “Sorry, it was my thoughtlessness that caused this. I’ll speak with Ai Rui. Don’t take things to heart. And Han Ya…”

Yin Yan raised a hand to stop him. He inclined his head towards the car behind him and then pulled Fu Wenhua aside.

When his gaze landed on Yu Zhen, Fu Wenhua tactfully stopped talking. In a position where they couldn’t be heard and their expressions couldn’t be seen, he asked in a near whisper, “What’s really going on? What’s happened with Han Ya in the few years that I’ve not seen you?”

“Not much. Just things that would be unseemly if mentioned out loud.” Yin Yan’s eyes lowered slightly. His voice was low and strained like Fu Wenhua’s moments ago. “It’s true that our relationship was quite good for a while after I returned with her to the country. But when I pursued her, she kept giving me excuses to say she wasn’t good enough for me. Then, through me, she met another man, Wu Xuan. The two had an ambiguous relationship, and she said that Wu Xuan was pursuing her and it made her feel troubled. ”

Surprised, Fu Wenhua asked, “You mean she met someone through you and got together with him?”

“That’s not quite it either. In reality, both that man and I were strung along by her. Nevermind, it’s just messy feelings. It’s irritating to talk about.” Yin Yan acted as if he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “What did Han Ya say about the situation between us? I didn’t expect this kind of reception from you guys today.”

Being deceived by the person you like, and the person was trying to have one foot in two boats … No man could tolerate this kind of thing.

Fu Wenhua frowned. He felt that he had been wronged and replied, “She said that you blamed her for the accident. After that, you became confused and married a man you had only met twice. We didn’t know that you weren’t together with her. We thought you blamed her for the accident, abandoned her, and two-timed to find someone else.”

“She actually said that… No wonder Ai Rui had that attitude with me.” Yin Yan made a helpless expression and continued, “Before the accident, I found out that she was together with Wu Xuan, so I wanted to break things off with her. But she got drunk and lied to me that she had broken up with Wu Xuan. She called me to pick her up and I did. Then she made a fuss while drunk and the accident happened.”

“That…” Fu Wenhua was speechless. After a long pause, he finally said, “How did she become like this…”

“Probably misled by money. Wu Xuan’s family has better connections than mine.” As he spoke, Yin Yan looked to the car with warmth in his eyes. “You’re all my friends so I hope you don’t misunderstand my husband. It’s true that I hadn’t met Yu Zhen more than twice before our marriage. But, you know, on the day of the accident it was he who saved me. At that time, I thought I would die. The accident happened at a remote village and his family home was nearby. On top of that, it was the day of his grandfather’s burial. In the middle of the night, though he was timid, cried a lot, and was trembling all over, he wrapped up my wounds. He called the ambulance and used a filial piety belt to tie up the wounds.”

As he spoke, he couldn’t resist smiling. He looked back at Fu Wenhua and continued, “Afterwards, I went to find him to say my thanks, but he thought I was a ghost. Wenhua, he really is a very good person. The best thing I have done in my life was to take him away and get him to sign the marriage certificates as soon as I realized that I had good feelings towards him. He hasn’t realized it yet, but I’m slowly pursuing him now.”

“At the time of the accident, I saved Han Ya, but he saved me. That was probably heaven’s will. But what was disappointing was that, after the accident, although Han Ya has said lots of fake apologies, she hasn’t once said thank you to the person who saved the both of us.”

“Her heart is too cold and lonely. I can’t warm it up for her. Wenhua, right now I only want to spend good days with Yu Zhen and stay with him while he slowly understands my intentions and truly comes to like me too. In the past, I didn’t want to bring up these feelings, and I was happy that you guys thought I was a couple with Han Ya. I was giving myself a false sense of happiness. But I can’t do that now. I have Yu Zhen. I don’t want my past immaturity to cause him to be slandered by my friends.“ 

Fu Wenhua had rarely ever heard Yin Yan talk at length about his feelings like this. He felt Yin Yan had changed and sighed. He patted Yin Yan’s arm and said as much. “You’ve changed a lot… It’s fine as long as you’re well. I’ll meet with you at another time and we can have a proper gathering then. Bring Yu Zhen as well. I’ll get to formally know him then. Send him my apologies for today. I wasn’t considerate enough.”

“It’s alright, he’s a good-natured person. He won’t take offense.” Yin Yan returned the pat on the arm and then said a simple goodbye. 

As he watched Yin Yan’s car leave, Fu Wenhua sighed again. He looked back towards the coffee shop and, with a frown, returned to it.

Yu Zhen didn’t know what Yin Yan said to Fu Wenhua and it wasn’t easy to bring up, so he awkwardly decided to trust in Yin Yan’s decisions. Just let him deal with it as he sees fit. 

They first returned to the apartment, cleaned up a little, and fed the plants. Then they returned to the villa. 

Only the housekeepers were home. Yin Le was about to start school again so he had been invited out by his friends to buy supplies for cram school. Yin Hexiang and Qiu Feiqian were both at work.

Hearing that the two had returned home, Qiu Feiqian left the office early and hurried back. She looked over Yu Zhen thoroughly but only commented that he had become thinner and needed to be fed with nourishing food.

Not long after, Yin Le and Yin Hexiang also returned. After a few days of separation, the family was finally able to sit down to have a proper meal together. 

“This year, really…” Qiu Feiqian sighed. Worried that her words would make Yu Zhen uncomfortable, she went quiet after only finishing half of her sentence. She looked at Yin Yan and said, “Xiao Yan, you can follow up on that project in a couple of days. Stay at home with Xiao Zhen first.”

Yin Yan shook his head and replied, “The construction schedule can’t afford to wait any longer. I contacted the architect before the New Year. The drafts of the new designs should be out in the next few days, so I can’t delay it.”

“You can get someone to handle it in your stead for a few days. Why don’t I call Xiping back? He’s already been working on projects abroad for a while now,” Qiu Feiqian persuaded. 

Weng Xiping was a manager for the Yin family. He wasn’t a manager of the household staff, rather he managed all of the Yin family’s personal property, real estate, family doctors, lawyers, private financial advisors, and all other non-official matters and personnel.

The end of each year was always the busiest time for him. He visited places in and out of the country, checked and arranged personnel nationwide, and dealt with settlements for the prior year’s income with legal counsels. He also communicated the plans for the upcoming year as well as handling the Yin family’s real estate and personal property. 

At the end of last year, when the Yin family had returned to B City, Weng Xiping had immediately left the country to check on the outstation assets and to connect with the lawyers.

Realizing that Qiu Feiqian was asking Yin Yan to take personal leave for his sake, Yu Zhen felt embarrassed and replied, “It’s alright, Mom. I’ve already recovered so I don’t need someone to be with me. Yin Yan has also rested for a long time.” 

After freeloading and idling away his time with nothing to do, Yu Zhen was slightly ashamed. His face was not thick enough to delay Yin Yan’s work even more. 

Still hesitant, Qiu Feiqian wanted to persuade them again but Yin Yan spoke up first. “Yu Zhen will come with me to the construction site. He has professional knowledge on flowers and plants. He studied landscape and garden planning at university, so I’m planning to leave him in charge of the center’s gardens. ”

En? W-who’s responsible for them?

Yu Zhen turned to stare at Yin Yan.

Yin Yan glanced at him and relayed a secret message.

[Neutralizing the negative energy.]

Oh yeah. I have to neutralize the negative energy at the construction site.

Yu Zhen’s eyes returned to their normal size and looked at Qiu Feiqian instead. “En… I-I’d like to help out at the construction site.” Why do I feel like I’m just freeloading on the Yin family’s resources? Hugging Yin Yan’s big thighs seems to have given me an unfair advantage.

“Help out at the construction site?” Qiu Feiqian’s focus was on this part of the sentence. She looked at Yu Zhen’s clean and elegant appearance and then thought about the environment of a construction site. Unhappy, she said, “If Yu Zhen wants to deal with the garden landscaping, he can start off as an architect’s assistant. He can gain experience from seasoned landscape designers. Being at the office is better than being at the construction site – ”

“Cough!”

Yin Hexiang suddenly gave a low cough. He gave Qiu Feiqian a pat underneath the table. He looked at Yu Zhen and said, “Go ahead. Do the job well and pay attention to safety. If there are any problems bring them up to us.”

Yu Zhen nodded quickly and earnestly promised, “I will. Thank you, Dad.”

Satisfied, Yin Hexiang nodded.

Qiu Feiqian stared at Yin Hexiang with an accusing glare. What’s the meaning of this? That’s the complete opposite tune!

“Two kids working together is just right for cultivating feelings, especially when they’re grown adults. While they’re young, they can work hard and gain discipline. That way, they’ll be able to take on bigger responsibilities in the future,” Yin Hexiang explained and gave her a meaningful look. 

Cultivate feelings?

Thinking about how Yin Yan and Yu Zhen had discussed working together, Qiu Feiqian had a change of heart and her unhappiness disappeared. She glanced at Yin Hexiang from the corner of her eye and then rewarded him with a piece of meat.

Yin Hexiang ate the meat with an outwardly serious expression, but he was filled with happiness.

Sitting in a corner, Yin Le looked at his parents and then at his brother and “sister-in-law”. He huffed before stuffing a bit of steamed meat into his mouth. He chewed with a lot of force, gnashing his teeth together. 

Humph!

When school starts, I’ll go find Bu Lian and play every day!