QTIMP -Chapter 148 Character Persona – Love Brained (Part 19)

“Hurry, hurry—put it on the coffee table. Don’t keep holding it in your hands. This is an old-root Green Peony, right? Tsk tsk tsk, the quality is really excellent. The key point is that it’s already budding now—at least a month earlier than usual! Oh come on, I told you to put it on the coffee table—why are you still holding it?”

Just as Zhou Chengyu was about to say something, Zhou Chenyu, who had just finished his task, came out. “Grandpa, what is it that needs to be put on the coffee table?”

Without even lifting his head, the old man replied, “Your second brother brought back a pot of Green Peony. Come take a look—it’s already budding. You can tell at a glance it’s of excellent quality.”

Zhou Chengyu noticed the curiosity in Zhou Chenyu’s eyes and tightened his grip on the flowerpot. “Someone else gave it to me.”

“Who gave it to you? Their taste isn’t any worse than this old man’s,” the old man said, still circling around and admiring it.

“Grandpa, no matter who gave it to me, it wasn’t given to you.”

Zhou Chengyu carried the flowerpot straight back to his room and placed it on the windowsill.

Holding the jar of folded stars in his hand, he turned and set it under the bedside lamp. Sunlight streamed in through the window, hitting the glass jar and refracting into a beautiful halo of light.

As if mesmerized, he didn’t know how long he stood there staring, until he heard someone knocking on the door, calling him out for dinner.

He snapped back to his senses, looking at the jar and the swaying flower on the windowsill, and suddenly came back to reality.

This…

“Second Brother, come downstairs and eat!”

Hearing the voice, he hurriedly straightened his clothes, then slightly opened the door and squeezed himself out through the gap.

Zhou Chenyu found it strange, but seeing his second brother’s serious expression, he only scratched his head and repeated, “Second Brother, Grandpa asked me to call you down for dinner.”

“Let’s go.”

The door was immediately pulled shut behind him, leaving Zhou Chenyu unable to catch even a glimpse of the room inside.

Watching his second brother walk ahead, he didn’t think much of it and followed toward the dining room.

During dinner, the old man brought up the Green Peony again. “Second boy, you don’t usually take care of flowers. Keeping that pot in your room will just ruin it. Give it to me—I’ll put it in the greenhouse and make sure it blooms properly.”

“A Green Peony? Who brought it? Was it you, second son?”

As soon as Father Zhou heard about it, he became interested. A university professor, he wasn’t particularly busy and liked tending to flowers and plants in his spare time.

“Yes, Uncle—it’s a Green Peony, already budding. From the looks of it, the quality is top-notch.”

The moment Zhou Chenyu finished speaking, he felt a chill at the back of his neck. Turning his head, he met his second brother’s dark, warning gaze—and immediately swallowed the rest of his words.

He let out an awkward chuckle and quickly lowered his head to eat.

Father Zhou could tell from his son’s reaction that he was unwilling to part with it.

He glanced at the old man, who was drinking soup, then turned to look at his wife, who was busy moving Zhou Chenyu’s favorite dishes closer to him.

Clicking his tongue, he said nothing more and continued eating.

But inside, it felt like weeds were growing wildly—he couldn’t stop thinking about that flower.

Only after Zhou Chenyu relaxed did he look at the situation and secretly laugh, completely unaware that he had just missed out on that gift.

As for those few text messages, Zhou Chengyu naturally wouldn’t be so careless.

After finishing dinner and returning to his room, he sent a message to the number he had noted down.

“Everyone at home really liked that pot of green peony. As for the jar of stars, I haven’t given it to Fifth yet. I’m thinking of waiting until he completes the task Grandpa assigned him, then giving it to him as a reward. That way, he’ll be even happier. I wasn’t sure what you thought, so I sent a message to ask.”

When Si Qiu first saw a message from an unfamiliar number, she was a bit puzzled.

But after reading the content, she immediately understood who it was.

Still, she was somewhat surprised that this person had her number and would personally send her a message to explain things.

Based on her few interactions with him, this message almost made her feel flattered. She even carefully thought it over—was there another hidden meaning behind it?

For example, she could roughly guess the relationship between the two brothers. Maybe this message was actually a subtle warning—Zhou Chenyu was busy with his studies, so she shouldn’t disturb him.

Si Qiu had never thought of herself as lacking emotional intelligence, but she still disliked dealing with people who spoke in such roundabout ways.

After much consideration, she replied:

“It’s okay. It’s good that you’re keeping it for him, Second Brother Zhou. I know Brother Chenyu is busy with his studies—don’t worry, I’ll try not to disturb him in the future.”

Zhou Chengyu had originally intended to respond along those lines, but suddenly he recalled the moment earlier when Zhou Chenyu had visibly let out a sigh of relief.

So the message he typed changed to: “You don’t need to be so polite. I have no intention of stopping you from keeping in touch. On the contrary, I hope you contact him more often. That way, he won’t develop any rebellious tendencies from excessive academic pressure.”

When Si Qiu read the message, she let out a surprised “Huh?”

Muttering softly to herself, she said, “Ah! So I guessed wrong? Looks like Second Brother Zhou is still young after all—more like an open-minded parent.”

Since she had gained the approval of a “parent figure,” Si Qiu no longer held herself back. At this moment, she couldn’t help but lament how limited communication methods still were.

During the last month of summer vacation, when he was busy, she focused on her own matters. The two of them mostly kept in touch through text messages or QQ.

Occasionally, when Zhou Chenyu had time off, Si Qiu would drag him out to go shopping, play games, or go roller skating. Sometimes they would also hang out with friends.

However, because of the relationship between their families, neither of them wanted to make their romance public for the time being, so they rarely attended gatherings together.

Of course, those who were perceptive already understood what was going on. But as long as the two of them didn’t admit it, no one dared to speculate too much.

It wasn’t until the day before school started that Zhou Chenyu was finally “released.” Si Qiu could clearly feel that he had become much more composed, and even his way of handling things had grown more tactful.

Once again, she couldn’t help but marvel at the education and influence of a big family.

When school was about to start, Song Qian had originally planned to come see her off. But a major serial murder case suddenly arose, leaving her with no time off—she couldn’t even avoid working overtime.

Song Qian and the Song family kept calling to apologize. Si Qiu wasn’t someone starved for affection, so she understood the demands of their work.

Instead, it was the adults who felt she had been greatly wronged. Her aunt, who had a good relationship with Song Qian, directly contacted an old classmate.

It was said that the classmate’s husband worked at Q University, and they wanted him to look after Si Qiu. Unable to refuse, she agreed to reassure them.

She planned to bring some gifts and pay a visit to this vice principal after settling in.

So Si Yanan and Si Anqi accompanied Si Qiu to register for school. Since both families were still in the dark, the two of them didn’t end up arriving together for enrollment.

Meanwhile, in contrast to this grand send-off, Zhou Chenyu had originally planned to report in on his own. But for some reason, his second brother insisted on driving him there if he wasn’t too busy.

Although Zhou Chenyu thought it would be better to go by himself, he ultimately didn’t dare to object.