Passion Raga Novel (Completed) - Chapter 38

“I had a bit of a run-in with my youngest uncle.”

“Youngest uncle? Uncle Xinlu?”

“How did that happen?” Fei asked back, his eyes sparkling with amusement as he smiled. Xiao Qun opened her mouth, about to speak, then stopped for a moment. She seemed bothered by the thought of explaining.

“It just… happened. Anyway, people will be gossiping about it forever, so you’ll hear about it then.”

She waved her hand, cutting her story short. Fei, seemingly even more curious, continuously stuffed food into his mouth and looked around.

“Oh, there’s Uncle. Oh. We made eye contact.”

Fei, his mouth full of food, grinned and waved. Ling Xinlu, who had been looking their way, seemed to frown slightly, but then turned his head, barely nodding, almost ignoring them.

Fei lowered his hand without a hint of awkwardness and shrugged.

“Uncle seems to be in a bad mood too. That’s unusual. He’s the kind of person who wouldn’t even care about Quing Min.”

“He’s showing he’s in a bad mood like that just because he fought with Quing Min?” Fei kept craning his neck, then, having finished all the food in his hand, he ran back to the table and grabbed another handful of various items.

Meanwhile, Yuri glanced over and made eye contact with Ling Xinlu, who had been looking their way. When Yuri simply met his gaze without any reaction, Ling Xinlu turned his cold stare away and resumed talking with the person next to him as if nothing had happened.

“How are you, Uncle Yuri? Have you been well?”

Yuri turned his head to Fei, who was chewing a dry cookie like a glutton, and replied, “Yes.”

“How about you? You said you started learning the business, is it manageable?”

As soon as Yuri spoke, Fei’s face contorted into a grimace, and his hand holding the cookie drooped as if he’d lost his appetite.

“Ah—I’m dying, Uncle. Please tell my father to stop. He’s trying to cram what others learn in ten years into one month, telling me to learn this and master that, it’s draining me. I’m really going to die at this rate.”

“He didn’t even give me proper time to eat today, just pushed me all day, so I couldn’t eat anything comfortably,” he grumbled, sweeping more cookies into his mouth.

Yuri chuckled, thinking that Ling Tang-yun must be pushing his only son quite hard, driven by ambition.

“At your age, you won’t die no matter how hard you try. It’s only when you’re my age that it starts to get dangerous.”

“I might not die from trying hard, but there was a guy in my school who studied so hard he went crazy…”

“Do you know how many kilograms I’ve lost in just a month or two?” Fei grumbled, then pretended to cry and suddenly hugged Yuri and Xiao Qun at once.

“Kyaah! My blouse! Where are you wiping your greasy hands!”

Xiao Qun immediately straightened her face, punched Fei’s cheek, and wriggled out of his embrace. She then ran off somewhere, frantically calling, “Mirror, mirror!” Fei, who had hugged them for comfort only to be punched by his sister, blinked his eyes, looking pitifully at Yuri.

“Un-cle…”

“Do you want to wipe them on my suit?”

Yuri took out a handkerchief from his pocket and neatly wrapped it around Fei’s hand. Fei mumbled, “Thank you, but somehow I feel a little sad,” as he rubbed his hand on the handkerchief. Yuri said generously, “You can return it without washing it,” and chuckled softly. His mood lightened a bit.

Seeing the siblings, who felt truly like his own niece and nephew because he had known them since they were young, always made him feel good. No matter how much time passed, they were less tainted by the years than he was, and he found them endearing. These were the things he had long envied Ling Tang-yun for.

…However, even with his lightened mood, it didn’t improve beyond a certain point. It was because of the stinging gaze on his cheek from earlier. Ling Xinlu seemed to be thoroughly upset. The gaze that had occasionally glanced over while he casually talked with others had, at some point, become persistent and overtly piercing his face. When Yuri turned his head in that direction, nine times out of ten, their eyes met.

The more he quietly mulled it over, the more his anger seemed to flare, and the gaze grew increasingly sharp.

“By the way, I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but since earlier…”

Fei, not being a fool, seemed to have noticed the gaze. He subtly turned his back, shielding Yuri from Ling Xinlu’s view, and gave a wry smile.

“It looks like my youngest uncle is glaring. Did I do something wrong, or did something happen between you and Uncle Yuri?”

“If you don’t suspect yourself, then it must have been a problem with me.”

“Really? Oh, that’s a relief—no, it’s not. If the atmosphere is awkward while living together, that’s worse, isn’t it? Even though our youngest uncle isn’t a bad person by nature, he can be a bit difficult when he’s upset. Are you okay, Uncle Yuri?”

“Of course.”

He had managed to get along with Ling Xinlu even when he was much more fiercely cold and desolate. Now, no matter how much he complained or got upset, it was nothing compared to then. So, he was fine.

Yuri shook his head, saying he was okay.

Fei, who seemed to have imagined something on his own, looked down at Yuri with pity. His thoughts clearly written on his face, he looked down at Yuri with a regretful expression, then let out a long sigh. He then vigorously wiped his hands with the handkerchief and placed them on Yuri’s head.

“Cheer up. You know I like my youngest uncle, but I’m still on your side, right, Uncle Yuri?”

Fei spoke quite seriously, rubbing Yuri’s head roughly, in a way that was hard to tell if he was messing it up or caressing it. And as soon as Yuri heard those words, he let out a low laugh.

“Xiao Qun and you truly are siblings.”

He laughed for a long time as he said that.

“Xiao Qun? Why Xiao Qun?” Fei asked, bewildered, yet still stroking Yuri’s head. This one-man-army of a brother blinked his gentle eyes in confusion. Finding it endearing, Yuri stroked the hand that was stroking his head.

It was then.

“Let’s go back. I’m tired.”

A cold voice came from behind Fei.

Fei paused, lowered his stroking hand, and turned around, clearing the obstructed view. Ling Xinlu was standing there, having approached without them noticing, looking their way.

“Oh, youngest uncle. Are you leaving already? Aww, I just got here.”

Fei greeted him warmly, but Ling Xinlu’s gaze, as he glanced at him, was cold.

“Xiao Qun seems to be here too, so you two play.”

“Aww, it’s not the same as seeing the dog we see every day and the uncles we see occasionally.”

Even as he said that, Fei had no intention of truly holding back someone who was tired. He neatly folded the greasy handkerchief and offered it to Yuri. Ling Xinlu, who had been staring coldly at Yuri as he nodded and put the handkerchief back in his pocket, suddenly gestured at the two of them with his chin and blurted out.

“You two seem closer than people who see each other every day, even though you see each other occasionally.”

“Huh?” Fei replied, bewildered, and blinked as he followed his chin gesture to Yuri. Then he brightened and laughed, “Ah-ha!”

“Well, when I was in Europe all summer, I stayed at Uncle Yuri’s house and saw his face every day, so it’s natural to be familiar with him now, even if we see each other occasionally.”

Ling Xinlu, who had been watching them expressionlessly, snorted softly as if something bothered him, and his lips twisted upwards.

“To go on a trip and not even spend it with your lover, but with an old man, you must have been lonely.”

“Ahahaha, no way. Uncle Yuri is so good to me. He was better than a lover.”

Fei waved his hand, showering Yuri with compliments, but Ling Xinlu did not soften his expression towards Yuri, as if to say, ‘So he was such a good person.’ No, rather, his jaw, which had been tightly shut and expressionless, seemed to clench even tighter as if something was even more twisted.

The next moment, “Really?” Ling Xinlu asked back, and finally, an expression returned to his face. He narrowed his eyes and smiled.

“He was good to you? He got angry at me.”

Ling Xinlu, smiling as if it was unfair, darted his gaze at Yuri, but his eyes were not smiling. His dark pupils were twisted and flickering. Yuri looked at him with a feeling of being wrongly accused, guessing why he was upset. He hadn’t calmed down from the moment he had turned away in anger earlier.

Fei glanced at Yuri, who remained silent without making excuses, and scratched his head awkwardly, chuckling.

“Aww… maybe my youngest uncle did something wrong? Uncle Yuri rarely gets angry. I did a lot of things that can’t be told to others while I was staying at Uncle Yuri’s house, but I never saw him get angry.”

Yuri didn’t even have time to feel grateful to Fei for helping him. Ling Xinlu looked at Fei with his unsmiling smile. But during the brief silence, even that smile slowly faded, and soon his face was devoid of expression.

“You two really seem to know each other well. But tell me, Fei, did you perhaps get a job as Mr. Yuri Gable’s spokesperson recently without my knowing?”

Ling Xinlu whispered to Fei, his face expressionless and without a hint of a smile, yet his voice was surprisingly soft. Fei’s smile briefly disappeared as he realized the sarcasm in the words. Fei seemed to hesitate, wondering whether to answer, then glanced at Yuri, perhaps worried that Yuri might be in an awkward position if he said anything.