Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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The Luo family’s ancestor worship process was complicated and lengthy.
Even though the sun could be seen setting outside the floor-to-ceiling window, hanging precariously on the horizon, there was still no news of the end of the ancestor worship.
Gu Nian stayed tense for two or three hours, but in the end, she couldn’t resist Lord Zhou[1]’s invitation before the sun went down. Somewhere, she relaxed her vigilance and fell into the big black bed in Luo Xiu’s room, sleeping soundly and sweetly.
A knock on the door led to the awakening of her consciousness.
With the sound of “Tuk Tuk”, Gu Nian suddenly woke up. It was hard for her to remember clearly that she was still in the Luo family for a second. When she was about to get out of bed, Gu Nian saw the scene in front of her clearly.
After removing the black quilt on the bed, she saw the undulating shadows like mountains being illuminated softly by the floor lamp. Then, she saw a beauty sitting on the chair by the window, wearing thin-framed glasses with a gold chain hanging down, leaning on the chair, turning the pages of a book with his hands, in which he seemed to have reached the halfway point.
Apparently, he also heard the knock on the door. So, Luo Xiu’s initially emotionless face became visibly tense. Then he closed his book and stood up, heading for the door.
Just as he turned around, he met a pair of eyes staring at him from behind the quilt.
Luo Xiu paused unexpectedly, and for a moment he gently lowered his eyes: “When did you wake up?”
“…just woke up.”
Gu Nian didn’t have the nerve to pretend to be asleep anymore. She climbed up holding the thin quilt that Luo Xiu had obviously pulled over her body. Her cheeks were slightly red from rubbing around in her sleep, and her mid-length hair was hanging loosely and playfully on her cheeks.
Luo Xiu took her slippers from the end of the bed and placed them at the girl’s feet. Gu Nian asked sheepishly, “Did I sleep for a long time?”
“It’s okay. Are you hungry?”
Gu Nian felt it and said, “It seems a bit.”
“That….”
Before Luo Xiu could say anything, there was a knock on the door again. This time, a servant carefully whispered from outside: “Young Master?”
Luo Xiu said to Gu Nian, “I’ll go over there first.”
“Uh-huh.”
The door opened.
A faint voice came from outside the door: “Young Master, the Old Master asked me to invite you and Miss Gu to dine downstairs.”
“…”
Gu Nian walked around the bedroom and went to the outer room of the suite. The door was already half closed. Luo Xiu happened to turn around and saw her stop. “Do you want to go downstairs?”
Gu Nian didn’t react and said “Ah” blankly.
“You will meet my grandpa if you have dinner downstairs. If you don’t want to meet him, then I will ask them to bring dinner up.”
Gu Nian hurriedly shook her head: “That would be so rude.”
Luo Xiu said calmly: “I told you before coming here, you don’t need to worry so much.”
“No, no,” Gu Nian said with a serious face, “If I really do this, you will be the one who is secretly discussed and talked about behind your back.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, it’s just like you found a girlfriend who doesn’t know etiquette at all?”
“…”
Luo Xiu raised his eyes, and a thin light flickered on his lenses. Then he straightened his thin lips under the bridge of his nose and said with a gentle smile: “They dare.”
Gu Nian: “……”
Gu Nian stepped forward and approached Luo Xiu with a strange expression: “Do you feel…”
“What?” Luo Xiu lowered his eyes softly.
Gu Nian: “That you are less and less able to hide your true nature in front of me?”
Luo Xiu paused for a moment and then asked, “I can hide it from you if you want.”
Gu Nian shook her head without thinking: “Then forget it.”
Luo Xiu’s eyes flickered: “Don’t you hate it?”
Gu Nian: “What do I hate?”
“That I’m not like the one you liked before,” Luo Xiu paused, repeating her words as he recalled, “‘Gentle and kind angel’, Luo Xiu?”
“…”
Gu Nian thought for two seconds and shook her head: “It’s you I like, not the words I put in front of you.”
Luo Xiu was startled by this answer.
After Gu Nian finished speaking, she naturally took Luo Xiu’s hand and pulled him to turn around and walk out, “I’ll like you no matter what you look like. There’s no need to hide. – Let’s go down and say hello to your grandpa?”
After a long moment of silence, Luo Xiu sighed and smiled.
“Good.”
Luo’s main house dining room.
When Luo Xiu and Gu Nian entered the dining room, someone happened to pass by the long table as well- Luo Zhan was pulling the back chair with one hand, and with the other hand he carefully gave the girl in front of him a cane and helped her sit down.
Hearing the noise, Luo Zhan waited until Tang Ran sat down before looking up.
“Didn’t you say whoever comes down is a dog?” Luo Zhan’s eyes were slightly mocking.
“…”
Luo Xiu calmly led Gu Nian inside and stopped when he was opposite Luo Zhan and Tang Ran.
Rejecting the servant who came forward, Luo Xiu pulled the chair for Gu Nian, and then looked back slowly: “That’s what you said yourself. And is your standing here now an illusion?”
Luo Zhan: “The old man tricked Ranran into secretly coming down. How can I let her stay here alone?”
Luo Xiu nodded carelessly: “So it’s not me who broke the contract first, but you.”
Luo Zhan responded with indifferent eyes.
Between the two brothers, one stood behind Gu Nian, and the other stood beside Tang Ran with their hands on the back of their chairs. Their eyes were locked in a fierce exchange, and the scene was very “friendly”.
Sitting there was really awkward.
Gu Nian looked at the pretty and young girl opposite her with an awkward smile for a few seconds. Finally, she couldn’t help it anymore. She turned back and whispered: “Luo Xiu, is she…?”
Luo Xiu’s eyes moved, and his attention dropped.
Looking at Gu Nian, Luo Xiu’s sharp eyes faded into gentleness, “This is Tang Ran, Luo Zhan’s…”
Gu Nian waited for “girlfriend”.
But didn’t wait.
“Master.”
Luo Xiu concluded slightly.
Gu Nian: “…”
Gu Nian: “?”
Did she run into some weird play scene?
Or was it that this rumored young master of the Luo family had some weird hobbies?
Gu Nian couldn’t help but turn back and look blankly at the two people standing and sitting opposite. The snow-white complexion of the girl sitting across from her had been dyed red by fear in these few seconds. She nervously clutched her knife and fork and said nothing.
As for the one next to her…
As expected, he was of the same lineage as Luo Xiu. As if he didn’t hear Luo Xiu’s introduction, the young man’s eyes were lazy and unruly, with an expression of “Yes, she is, what can you do to me.”
Being able to raise two unique and opposite brothers like Luo Xiu and Luo Zhan, and still keep the family prosperous…
Gu Nian immediately felt sincere admiration for the Luo family.
At this moment, the girl opposite who was holding back her face that had turned red finally spoke: “Hello, I am Tang Ran.”
“Ah, hello,” Gu Nian came back to her senses and showed a kind smile to the girl, “I’m Gu Nian.”
Tang Ran hesitated for a moment and said softly: “My eyes have just had surgery not long ago, and I still can’t see clearly… If there is anything I don’t do well, please don’t mind.”
Gu Nian suddenly realized: As soon as they looked at each other, she felt that the eyes of the girl opposite her felt a little different from ordinary people. It turned out to be because of eye surgery.
After coming back to her senses, Gu Nian smiled: “No worries. And your eyes are very beautiful. I hope you recover soon.”
Opposite her, Tang Ran paused for two seconds, lowered her head with a slight blush, and said in a softer voice: “Thank you…”
“…”
Gu Nian was stunned for a moment.
Oh my god, was this being shy? Did such a cute, beautiful, soft, well-behaved and a little pitiful baby actually exist?
Gu Nian was just about to communicate with Tang Ran again when she heard the double doors opposite the long table in the dining room being opened from the outside, and an old man carrying a cane walked in from the door.
Behind him was Lin Yi, the Butler who had gone to pick up Gu Nian and Luo Xiu.
Gu Nian regained consciousness and stood up——
Obviously, this old man could not be anyone else. He must be Mr. Luo Jingyuan, the current head of the Luo family.
Gu Nian had heard Lin Nantian tell her about Mr. Luo’s great achievements in his youth. Although she was fully prepared mentally, she still felt intimidated when she saw the old man’s eyes that were full of vicissitudes of life but not at all cloudy.
Fortunately, the old man’s eyes didn’t linger too long on her, and he quickly moved on with his pace.
“Grandpa Luo.”
The girl opposite said hello softly.
The two brothers of the Luo family didn’t react at all, but Gu Nian hesitated: it was her first time meeting Mr. Luo, and it would be too rude not to greet him, but when greeting him, what to call him was a big problem.
Gu Nian was struggling when she heard Mr. Luo stop next to the main seat and make a sound as his cane hit the ground. Then he turned around and his eyes fell on her.
“Miss Gu?”
Gu Nian immediately pulled back the thought of running away: “Hello, I am Gu Nian.”
“Well, I heard Luo Xiu mention you, you don’t have to be embarrassed, just call me the same as Xiao Ran.”
“Okay, Luo,” Gu Nian paused, “Hello, Grandpa Luo.”
“…”
Standing beside her, Luo Xiu lowered his eyes and smiled lightly.
Gu Nian noticed it and secretly glanced over.
Luo Xiu’s body was half in front of her. He probably felt Gu Nian’s gaze, but he didn’t turn around, instead he gently raised his hand to hers and tapped her palm comfortingly.
In a serious situation where the elders were still there, Gu Nian’s face felt hot because of her guilty conscience, and she immediately withdrew her hand seriously.
At this moment, Mr. Luo had already said: “There is no need to stand on ceremony, please sit down.”
“…”
Everybody seated themselves on the long table, the corridor door connecting the dining room and the kitchen was opened, and dinner was served in order.
The dinner was calm at first. It was not much different from an ordinary family dinner except that it was too rich. It was not as turbulent and weird as Gu Nian had imagined it would be.
Mr. Luo and Butler Lin Yi seemed to be talking about some official business. He occasionally chatted with Luo Xiu and Luo Zhan and seemed to only care about the daily life of his two grandchildren.
Just when Gu Nian thought that maybe today would pass peacefully, and the dinner was also coming to an end, before the last dessert was served, Mr. Luo, who was sitting at the head of the table, suddenly spoke.
“Your father will be over fifty next year.”
These words were obviously directed towards Luo Xiu and Luo Zhan. The two brothers had a tacit understanding, and they probably sensed some subtext, so they stopped their actions in unison and raised their eyes to look at the host.
The old man seemed to say it casually: “As you get older, the process of ancestor worship seems to be too long for you, and a person can’t handle it. It was when I was over fifty that I handed over the position of chief officiant to your father.”
“…”
The dining room became silent, and even the sound of the knife and fork slightly hitting the plate was gone.
Gu Nian didn’t quite understand the meaning of these words, but just by looking at Luo Xiu and Luo Zhan’s eyes, she could guess that these words were definitely not common complaints from an elder to his junior about being tired.
Sure enough, the old man slowly wiped his hands with the soft cloth handed over by Butler Lin, put it aside, and then calmly raised his eyes: “In the ancestor worship that starts next year, it will be your generation’s turn to be the chief officiant. You two brothers discuss it, and tell me who will come?”
“——”
As the last sentence fell, an invisible string seemed to suddenly be tightened in the dining room.
After that, when the sound of each character falls, there was a trembling sound of “Clink”.
Gu Nian didn’t dare to express herself.
The silence lasted about five seconds.
A cold and lazy sneer sounded from across the long table: “I knew there could be no good dinner.”
“…”
Mr. Luo, who was in charge, had a dark face and looked like he wanted to get angry, but he was probably worried about Gu Nian and Tang Ran, so he endured it.
Luo Jingyuan touched the head of the cane and asked with a straight face: “You mean you are going to be the officiant?”
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[1] God of sleep.
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