Chapter 160 Family Reunion

Chen Guo, in the spirit of stocking up for the New Year, remained as unrestrained as ever. Traditional, trendy, decorative, edible, useful, useless—if she liked it, she wouldn't haggle. She'd pay right away, point at Ye Xiu, and the beaming New Year's goods vendors, saying "Happy New Year" and "Wishing you prosperity," would stuff the large and small bags into Ye Xiu's hands.

Chen Guo, with her hands behind her back, walked ahead with an air of importance, imagining Ye Xiu panting and puffing behind her, confident that this New Year would be fulfilling.

"This, this, and this, how much are they, boss?" Chen Guo, determined to make it even more fulfilling, arrived at another stall. Without even seeing clearly what they were selling, she pointed at a few that looked pleasing and asked. As she asked, she turned her head back to look at the person behind her with a triumphant expression.

But… nothing! Ye Xiu, who should have been following behind, had disappeared. Just when she was paying and taking the goods, Chen Guo clearly remembered that Ye Xiu was following behind.

Tomorrow was New Year's Eve. There weren't too many people buying New Year's goods at the last minute, but it couldn't be said that there were very few either. Chen Guo tried to stand on tiptoe, but she really couldn't find any trace of Ye Xiu. She had no choice but to ignore the things she had just asked the price of and return the way she had come to look for him.

As a result, she hadn't taken a few steps before she was so angry that she choked. Ye Xiu was right next to the stall where they had just bought New Year's goods. She didn't know where he had borrowed a small stool from, but he was sitting on it leisurely smoking a cigarette. The newly purchased items were piled on the side by him. He looked like he was running a small stall.

Ye Xiu had good eyesight and quickly saw Chen Guo, waving to her enthusiastically.

Chen Guo rushed over with a dark face, but she didn't know what to say. Looking at the pile on the ground, Chen Guo realized that there really were a lot of things. It would be inhumane to tell him not to rest.

"Isn't this enough?" Ye Xiu said this with great modesty. These things were more than enough for five Spring Festivals. Just the couplets alone, Chen Guo liked this one and that one. In the end, she bought a total of seven. Ye Xiu calculated that the main door of Happy Internet Cafe, the bathroom door, the doors of the suite where he, Chen Guo, and Tang Rou lived, and then the doors of the two bedrooms inside, his small storage room door, plus the bathroom door, would be just right if they all had one. He just didn't know if that was how Chen Guo had calculated it...

"Can't carry it anymore?" Chen Guo asked.

"Of course." Ye Xiu wasn't Tang Rou and readily admitted it, never trying to tough it out.

"Alright, let's go back then!" Chen Guo said, bending down to pick up some things.

"We should have left earlier." Ye Xiu sighed, picked up the rest, and ended the shopping trip, heading home.

By the time they returned to Happy Internet Cafe, the two of them were sweating in the middle of winter. Chen Guo rushed inside and found the nearest seat to sit down and catch her breath. When she turned around again, Ye Xiu had also thrown down his things, but the person was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is he?" Chen Guo was wondering when she heard a sound behind her. When she turned around, she saw someone entering the Internet Cafe. The sunlight outside flickered, and Chen Guo hadn't seen the person clearly. She assumed it was a customer and quickly stood up to greet them. But when she stood up straight, she was stunned when she saw clearly and blurted out, "What are you doing?"

The person who came in was Ye Xiu, but he was wearing a suit and leather shoes, with a woolen coat draped over his curved arm. He was so elegant that it was a little dazzling. When he heard Chen Guo speak, he was also stunned, but he quickly wore a polite smile, "Excuse me, is Ye Xiu here, or rather, is it Ye Qiu?"

Chen Guo was surprised.

When she saw Ye Xiu appear in this kind of getup, her first instinct was that she had mistaken him for someone else. But when this person spoke, Chen Guo suddenly realized that she really had mistaken him for someone else.

Without a doubt, this person looked extremely similar to Ye Xiu, almost exactly the same. However, his expression and temperament were very different, and more importantly, his hairstyle and body type were also somewhat different.

Chen Guo could believe that Ye Xiu quietly slipped out to change his clothes to scare her, but there was no way he could have gotten a haircut and body sculpting in such a short time.

"You are…" Chen Guo felt that there was probably no need to ask this question. What other possibility could there be for two people who looked almost exactly the same?

"I'm his younger brother," the person introduced himself.

"Twins?" Chen Guo asked.

"Yes. May I ask who you are?"

"Oh, I'm the owner of this Internet Cafe. Ye Xiu is indeed here," Chen Guo said. "He was just here a moment ago. Now… Ye Xiu!!" Chen Guo shouted loudly.

"Bathroom!!" came the equally loud reply.

"Um, he's over there…" Chen Guo pointed in the direction of the Internet Cafe's bathroom.

"I'll wait for him," the person nodded.

"Sit wherever you like," Chen Guo also nodded.

The person just took a few steps, then casually asked, "So, he's using the name Ye Xiu here?"

"Yes!" Chen Guo said, going to the beverage cabinet, opening the door and showing it to the person. "What do you want to drink?"

"Fanta, apple flavor, thank you."

Chen Guo took down a bottle of Fanta, threw it over directly, and casually grabbed a bottle for herself. While unscrewing it, she asked, "What's your name?"

The person on the other side was startled by Chen Guo's action of throwing the drink over. He managed to catch it and was still savoring the moment when he heard Chen Guo's question. He quickly came back to his senses and replied, "My name is Ye Qiu."

"Oh?" Chen Guo was stunned. "You're Ye Qiu?"

"I always have been…"

"Then he borrowed your name?" Chen Guo asked.

"Yes, and my ID as well."

Chen Guo was a little dazed, and the conversation was temporarily interrupted. She heard the faint sound of flushing from the bathroom. Then came the sound of the door opening and closing. Ye Xiu shuffled over, and when he saw Ye Qiu standing a few steps away from the door, he immediately said, "Huh?"

"He's looking for you," Chen Guo said.

"Obviously," Ye Xiu nodded.

With these two people appearing together, Chen Guo could distinguish them even more clearly. Indeed, these two could be said to have been carved from the same mold in terms of their facial features, but there was nothing else similar about them.

One was dressed meticulously, while the other was wearing the same jacket he had been wearing repeatedly for the past two months. Chen Guo hadn't noticed whether it had been washed or not because of their different schedules.

One's appearance was meticulously groomed, while the other, having only gone out to buy some New Year's goods, already looked travel-worn.

Looking at the posture of the person standing there, one was as straight as a javelin, and even the curve of his arm seemed very deliberate. The other one… Chen Guo couldn't bear to look. It seemed like this guy hadn't put his pants on properly when he came out. He was walking while bending down and patting the creases of his pants.

"Why are you here?" Chen Guo saw Ye Xiu walking over in such a sloppy manner, greeting his completely different younger brother.

"I'm here to take you home for the New Year."

"Who said I'm going back?" Ye Xiu asked.

"What else would you do if you didn't go back?"

"I have to work overtime!" Ye Xiu said.

Chen Guo immediately noticed another extremely different thing about the two: their tone of voice.

Ye Xiu's tone was most annoying because of that matter-of-fact, righteous tone. Although Chen Guo admitted that most of the time, what he said was indeed correct, and that was how it should be, that tone still made people want to step on him. On the other hand, his younger brother was very particular about the way he spoke, and had a sense of propriety. He was polite, reserved, and there was nothing uncomfortable about him. No matter who it was, they wouldn't have any unpleasant feelings chatting with such a person.

"Have you been introduced? This is my boss." Ye Xiu introduced Chen Guo to Ye Qiu, "She's the one who arranged for me to work overtime."

"Is that so?" Ye Qiu looked at Chen Guo with a puzzled expression.

"He volunteered, and I approved," Chen Guo decisively didn't take the blame.

Ye Qiu's gaze immediately returned to Ye Xiu.

Ye Xiu showed a helpless expression, "I'm not going home, it's the same every year, why do you keep asking?"

"It's different this year. Didn't you retire? What are you still doing wandering around outside?" Ye Qiu said.

Chen Guo's mind stirred, and she suddenly remembered the guess she and Tang Rou had made that night. Was Ye Xiu's retirement really caused by pressure from his family behind the scenes? Sure enough, as soon as he retired, his family immediately wanted to get him back.

"Retirement doesn't mean anything, you laymen don't understand," Ye Xiu said.

"Even if you make a comeback after retiring... it'll take a year, right?" Ye Qiu said.

"Oh, you even know that?"

"You'll be free for this whole year anyway, right? Why not go home and rest," Ye Qiu said.

"I can rest just as well anywhere," Ye Xiu said.

"Actually, Dad's health hasn't been good lately…"

"That's an old excuse…"

"Alright! Actually, it's Mom…"

"Stop making things up!"

"Xiao Dian died!"

"It's about time, it lived long enough!" Ye Xiu said indifferently.

Chen Guo couldn't bear to listen anymore, but she felt that she still had to figure it out. "Who's Xiao Dian?"

"A dog," Ye Xiu said.

"..." Chen Guo suddenly realized that brothers were brothers after all, and twins were twins after all. These two seemed to have some consistency in their bones in certain areas. Specifically, further observation was needed. Chen Guo thought, took two steps back, sat down on the seat behind her, took two sips of her drink, and entered a serious mode of watching the show.

"Should I record this?" Chen Guo touched the phone in her pocket, even thinking about it.

"You should really go back," Ye Qiu continued to persuade.

"Heh…" Ye Xiu smiled. "I'll go back, so you can run out, right?"

Ye Qiu, who had been maintaining his elegant posture with every curve of his arm, seemed to have really been shaken inside. Chen Guo saw him suddenly take a step and cross in front of Ye Xiu, reaching out and grabbing Ye Xiu's collar.

Chen Guo was startled and stood up straight, then heard Ye Qiu angrily say, "You bastard brother! You stole the luggage I had carefully prepared and ran away back then. You're really too much!"