CHAPTER 468: CHAPTER 468: TOO MANY THINGS

After Song Yuanming figured out his emotional dilemmas, he began to plan for settling down with a modest and principled girl. After all, a happy marriage like his second brother’s was rare, and the tumultuous kind like his eldest brother’s was more common; to him, that served as a harsh lesson. He wasn’t looking for a partner exceedingly beautiful, just someone with a good temperament who would fit well into the family and household.

While provocatively gnawing on a large chicken leg, Shi Yu felt utterly heartbroken. From the start of the meal, he had been eyeing that very chicken leg, which disappeared in the blink of an eye. Holding back tears, he gritted his teeth and glared at Song Yuanming who teased, "Come on! Little uncle, let’s not show off here. We’re all men, don’t pretend I don’t know. Nowadays, girls like ’Chinese heroes’—handsome, cool, and tough. Someone slick like you definitely isn’t their type."

"You rascal, where did you pick up such nonsense about ’Chinese heroes’? You’ve been watching too many dramas! Sister-in-law, you better discipline them. Otherwise, their parents might blame you for not keeping them in check when they’re barely out of diapers and already talking about love. Do you even know what love is for?" Song Yuanming said half-annoyed, half-amused. Despite his words, he played along with Song Chen and Shi Yu, purposely throwing Shi Yu under the bus.

It was well known that nothing scared Shi Yu except Xu Xiuxiu.

"We do know, actually. I know a lot. Auntie, don’t believe what he says. Look how smart and obedient I am!" Shi Yu immediately turned to Xu Xiuxiu, putting on a cute act. Then, seeing Song Yuanming make a teasing face at him, Shi Yu felt wronged and grabbed a rib to crunch angrily.

Seeing this, Xu Xiuxiu shook her head helplessly. "Alright, just eat well. You’re too young to be interested in adult stuff. Your job is to study well and aim high, got it?" Xu Xiuxiu feigned a stern tone to scare Shi Yu.

"Auntie, we know that, but we’re like little adults, okay? And I’m telling the truth—girls in our class like boys who don’t talk much, like Cheng Guang. They flock around him, borrowing homework one day, asking him to join morning study the next, and one girl even wrote him a love letter! It cracked me up." Shi Yu defended himself, then, getting carried away, blurted out the whole truth proudly.

"Love letter?" Xu Xiuxiu instantly turned a keen eye towards her eldest son, intrigued by the notion of a love letter. "Cheng Guang, tell mom honestly, what exactly is going on?" Xu Xiuxiu wasn’t actually against the kids experiencing puppy love, remembering her own vague feelings from school days. As long as the kids were sensible, she was quite laid-back about it.

Besides, since the potentially premature crush involved Cheng Guang, Xu Xiuxiu felt even more at ease. If it had been Shi Yu, she might have had to worry about him doing something unreliable. Cheng Guang? He lived a life simpler than a monk; expecting him to have an early romance was practically a joke!

"Mom, Shi Yu is talking nonsense. Don’t believe him," Cheng Guang looked up and flashed Shi Yu a threatening glance, making Shi Yu realize he had slipped up, suddenly feeling guilty and bashful.

"Really?" Xu Xiuxiu sounded skeptical.

"Of course, it’s true," Cheng Guang nodded, casting a threatening glance at Shi Yu sitting next to him.

Shi Yu and Song Chengguang had been together for several years and were already very familiar with Song Chengguang’s look and threats. Thus, he immediately looked up and forced a laugh in agreement, "Yes, Auntie, the love letter I mentioned was just a joke. It was actually a classmate asking Chengguang for help with homework he couldn’t do." Shi Yu said with a guilty conscience, but thinking about the love letter written to Song Chengguang, he found it funny too.

After all, Comrade Song Chengguang did indeed treat that love letter as homework to grade, even deliberately checking for typos and poorly constructed sentences. When the girl saw the love letter returned to her by Song Chengguang, her face was really something to see!

Although Shi Yu and Song Chengguang kept explaining, Xu Xiuxiu could naturally sense something odd. Song Chengguang was always calm—if there weren’t really an issue, he would most likely be too lazy to explain. Considering this, Xu Xiuxiu felt as a parent, it was her duty to remind the two children who were gradually stepping into puberty.

"Chengguang, Shi Yu, I don’t mind if you are particularly close with a female classmate, but you are still young. You should also maintain proper boundaries when interacting with classmates. Of course, you are not that young anymore; you both understand a lot of things. Auntie and Mom believe you won’t overstep those boundaries or let it affect your studies, right?" Xu Xiuxiu spoke kindly, using a tone of consulting with friends and fully respecting them, hoping they would take her words to heart.

This puppy love thing is inevitable during everyone’s teenage years, but they are only in the fourth grade of elementary school now. No matter how precocious, they couldn’t possibly understand much. If the two were to date, it would probably just involve holding hands and fooling around a bit. Thus, she wouldn’t overly panic and try to stop them, but she also couldn’t just leave them totally unchecked.

Otherwise, if these two kids didn’t understand her good intentions, and thought she was especially lenient and allowed them to run wild, that wouldn’t be good.

"Mmm," Song Chengguang nodded.

"Auntie, don’t worry. I promise to keep an eye on Chengguang. We definitely won’t speak a word to the female classmates," Shi Yu, who had a more tomboyish personality and naturally disliked mingling with little girls, found it annoying when those girls always came to find Song Chengguang, preventing them from having fun. Now that Xu Xiuxiu had said this, Shi Yu felt invigorated and assured her that he would definitely watch over Song Chengguang for her.

"It’s not that you can’t talk to girls..." Xu Xiuxiu felt she and Shi Yu weren’t exactly on the same wavelength, and that Shi Yu was perhaps taking it a bit too seriously.

"Hmm?" Shi Yu looked puzzled at Xu Xiuxiu, "So you mean you can talk?"

"..." Xu Xiuxiu felt a headache coming on, but let it be!

Boys of Song Chengguang and Shi Yu’s age are quite clever and capable of expressing their thoughts and feelings normally. Yet, thoroughly understanding adults’ painstaking intentions is still quite challenging. Might as well let nature take its course! Otherwise, worrying about this day by day, she would have too many things to worry about later on. That would just exhaust her!