My mind went blank and my body went limp. I swallowed and was able to respond: “Mom, he’s asleep. Wait… wait until he gets better, then we’ll go downstairs to eat.”
After the footsteps disappeared, I punched him hard on the chin and rushed into the bathroom in the room.
This madman actually…
My lips were bitten until they bled. I took off my pants, took a quick shower, and went out. I saw Tunshe Nalin holding my childhood clothes and touching and sniffing them. The painting on the wall had disappeared.
When he raised his eyes and saw my naked and wet body, his eyes darkened again.
Fearing that he would go crazy again after failing to relieve his s*xual desire, I took out a towel from the closet to dry myself, snatched the clothes from his hand, and put them on. These were my clothes when I was seventeen, a short-sleeved T-shirt and jeans with suspenders. Compared with my current style of dressing, they looked very childish, and the size was also a bit small.
I had just fastened my straps when he pulled me to sit on his lap.
He glanced me up and down, his adam apple rolling and his eyes frighteningly dark.
I was so scared that my whole body stiffened, not daring to move at all. I knew that my appearance had only made him even more infuriated.
“Tun, Tunshe Nalin…” This was at my parents’ house. I was really afraid that he couldn’t control himself, so I begged in a low voice, “Wait until we are on the way back. We can do it in the car. There are condoms in the car. Alright?”
“Ranran, if I were still alive, I would probably die on your body.”
This is true.
With the way he does it, any normal man would be almost dead by now.
But he is not like that. He can mess with me day and night. As the saying goes, there is no field that is plowed to death, only cows that are worked to death. But it is completely the opposite for him and me.
I wanted to cry, but I didn’t dare to say anything more: “Go downstairs to eat, my parents are waiting.”
After we went out of the door, my shoulders felt heavy, his arm came up to me, and his head fell on my shoulder. He no longer looked as fierce as he did in the room, as if he could swallow me in one bite. He now looked like an eggplant hit by frost.
“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell again?” I became nervous again and patted his cheek.
“Help me down.”
“If you feel uncomfortable, you can stay upstairs.” I whispered.
Seeing that he shook his head and seemed determined to have a meal with my parents, I had to help him walk down the stairs.
“Aiya, Ranran, what’s wrong with your foreign wife? I’d better call a doctor to check him out.” My adoptive mother stood up when she saw me and Tunshe Nalin coming down.
“No need, he just has a little, uh, anemia.” I made up an excuse, helped Tunshe Nalin sit down, and sat down next to him.
“Is his hand injured?”
When I heard my adoptive father’s voice, I looked up and saw that his eyes were fixed on Tunshe Nalin’s bandaged hand, and his expression seemed a little strange.
I nodded: “He fell down before.”
“Doesn’t that mean he can’t drink? Ai, what a pity! I even took out the old wine from home.” My adoptive father glanced at the ceramic wine pot on the table, unplugged the pot, and took a deep sniff. “However, this is medicinal wine. If the skin doesn’t break, it can help promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis.”
“It’s fine.”
I didn’t expect that Tunshe Nalin would respond. I was stunned and looked at him. Did he really want to drink with my dad?
“That’s great.” My adoptive father’s eyebrows relaxed, and he waved to the Filipino maid beside him to pour the wine. The yellow wine poured into the cup, exuding a strong smell of medicinal herbs. Isn’t this realgar wine?
According to legend, realgar wine can drive away evil spirits and demons. Even Bai Suzhen turned into her original form after drinking it. Can Tunshe Nalin drink it? Seeing him raise the cup, I subconsciously reached out to stop him, but he drank it all in one gulp without hesitation. I couldn’t help but exclaim, “Hey!”
My thigh was covered by a cold palm and squeezed, as if telling me to rest assured.
I suddenly felt an indescribably strange feeling in my heart.
Is Tunshe Nalin trying to please my dad on purpose? In order to please me?
I thought so, but I felt that his intention was more than that.
“I can see that our Xiao Ran really likes you. My son doesn’t care about people, yet he gets so nervous when he sees you drink a sip of wine. I, as a mother, am envious.”
Hearing my adoptive mother say this, I couldn’t help but feel my ears getting hot. I didn’t dare to look at Tunshe Nalin’s face. I only felt the hand on my thigh tighten, holding my knee, and gently stroking it with his fingertips.
“In the future, I will treat him well.” Tunshe Nalin said in a deep voice, coughed twice, seemed to have some discomfort in his throat, and unbuttoned a button. I then noticed that the blood vessels in his neck were slightly bulging, which seems to be the state that a person’s neck would be in when exerting great effort or having difficulty breathing.
“Tunshe Nalin, if you can’t drink, then don’t drink.”
Seeing him raise the cup again, I immediately pressed the back of his hand.
“Tunshe Nalin, this name is very special. Where are you from?”
I was worried that he would say Tianzhu again and shock our parents, so I quickly said, “He is a Chinese-Indian hybrid who lives in Thailand. We met there.”
“Did you get married there?” My adoptive father raised his voice slightly.
I had no choice but to nod.
“Ranran and I came here to get the household registration booklet.” Tunshe Nalin said in a deep voice, “Trouble both of you to hand over Ranran to me formally.”
“You little brat, you didn’t even tell me and your mother about such a big thing as getting married.” My adoptive father glanced at me and then looked at Tunshe Nalin. “If you want to get married with to Xiao Ran, you will have to marry into our Qin family. Our only son and his wife must remain in our Qin family’s genealogy.”
My adoptive father stood up tremblingly and seemed to be a little flustered: “Come, come to our ancestral hall to worship.”
I was stunned: “Dad?”
There is indeed a Qin clan ancestral hall in the backyard of my villa. The old Bincheng people are particularly concerned about things like clan inheritance, but I have been very resistant to it since I was a child. When they first brought me back, I couldn’t remember anything, but I always wanted to run away. I didn’t want to be their son, so I was always punished by them to kneel in the ancestral hall. When I was tired and hungry, they would give me good food and drink to coax me, using both soft and hard tactics until I finally accepted this fact. Therefore, the ancestral hall can be said to be a shadow of my childhood.
Now they actually want to take Tunshe Nalin there and want him to kneel down to the ancestors of the Qin family too?
How could they afford it?
Tunshe Nalin is hundreds of years old!
Seeing him put his arm around my shoulder and stand up shakily and really want to follow my adoptive parents to the ancestral hall, I held him down: “What are you doing? I don’t want you to be included in the Qin family’s genealogy. This is too weird.”
“Since this is your parents’ wish, and I want to marry you, I naturally have to respect them.” Tunshe Nalin stood up and put his arm on my shoulder, as if he was being supported by me, but in fact he was holding me, stood up, and followed my adoptive parents and the servants in the house through the living room and out the back door.
“What on earth are you thinking…” The strange feeling in my heart became stronger, and I was confused and murmured, remembering that every time he went near other statues, the statues were either cracked or beheaded. If he really knelt down in front of the Qin family’s tablet, wouldn’t the entire ancestral hall collapse?
If that’s the case…
Suddenly I realized that I was actually a little bit expectant, and I quickly suppressed the little devil in my heart.
How can I expect this?
Although I was bought, to be fair, has the Qin family ever treated me badly over the years? Didn’t my adoptive parents raise me in luxury? Qin Ran, you are so mean.
While I was daydreaming, the small ancestral hall was already before my eyes.
Pushing open the old, heavy, carved wooden door, it was just as eerie inside as when I was a child. The walls were filled with tablets standing quietly, like countless ghost faces looking down at the visitors.
“Doesn’t Xiao Ran always dislike this place? You don’t have to go in now. He can just go in and pay his respects.” My adoptive mother stood at the door, held my hand, and smiled slightly.
Does he really want to worship? I frowned and looked at Tunshe Nalin, but he let go of my shoulder. I looked at him in astonishment as he stepped over the threshold of the ancestral hall and stood in front of the tablets of the Qin family’s ancestors that filled the wall.
He reached out and took three incense sticks. Tunshe Nalin had his back to me. I was afraid that he would really kneel down the next moment, but I saw him flip his hand and insert the incense in his hand directly into the incense burner!
I couldn’t help but widen my eyes.
—Incense sticks inserted upside down?
What is he doing?
