Contractual Marriage: We’re Meant to Be Together

41. I Don’t Think I Can Do It

Translator: Alanese Fantasy

Yan Chuyang looked at the empty living room and asked, “Isn’t Wei Qing coming back for lunch today?”

Nanny Wang shook her head. “Probably not. Mr. Wei is very busy, and he rarely comes home for lunch.”

Yan Chuyang nodded and said with his drawing board on his shoulder, “Please call me when the meal is ready. Now I am going upstairs.”

Nanny Wang nodded in agreement.

Half an hour later, Nanny Wang put all the dishes on the table and then called Yan Chuyang.

“Mr. Yan, please come down to have lunch.”

There was no movement upstairs.

“Mr. Yan?” Nanny Wang called Yan Chuyang to have lunch again.

After a moment of silence, a shout came from upstairs, “I see. Please put the meal on the table. I’ll go downstairs later.”

Nanny Wang was stunned. She shook her head and took out some trays from the cabinet to cover the steaming dishes. Then she shouted upstairs, “Mr. Yan, please come down as soon as possible. The dishes might turn cold in a while.”

“I see.” Yan Chuyang said anxiously, “You can get off work. I will have lunch in a while.”

Nanny Wang glanced at the dishes on the table, shook her head and murmured, “Young people nowadays don’t regard having meals as an important thing.”

The door was suddenly opened when she was muttering.

Nanny Wang turned her head and found that it was Wei Qing. She calmed down quickly, and said with a little surprise, “Mr. Wei, you got off work so early today?”

Wei Qing would never come back at noon before.

Wei Qing said yes, untied his tie and threw it on the sofa casually. He looked at the food on the dining table covered with trays and frowned, “Yan Chuyang hasn’t come downstairs to have lunch?”

Nanny Wang nodded embarrassedly and said, “I called Mr. Yan several times, but he didn’t go downstairs.”

Wei Qing’s expression changed and asked, “Did this happen a few days ago?”

“Eh…” Nanny Wang pursed her lips and said honestly, “It has also happened. A few days ago,  Mr. Yan sat on the sofa and drew on the drawing board as soon as he went home. He would not start eating until the dishes are cold. “”

Wei Qing’s face was gloomy, and he said displeasedly, ” Call me directly if he doesn’t eat on time going forward.”

Nanny Wang nodded repeatedly.

Wei Qing lowered his head, straightened out his cuffs and said, “You have worked hard all morning. Now you can get off work.”

“Alright,” Nanny Wang took off her apron and turned to leave.

Wei Qing went upstairs.

“Bang bang bang.” He knocked on the door.

Yan Chuyang shouted helplessly, “Nanny Wang, I told you I would go downstairs if I wanted to have lunch.”

“Open the door,” a calm male voice was heard.

The familiar voice startled Yan Chuyang and he quickly stood up from the chair to open the door.

Wei Qing stood at the door with a gloomy face.

Yan Chuyang stared at Wei Qing with confusion, “Nanny Wang told me that you don’t come back at noon.”

Wei Qing frowned, pushed Yan Chuyang away and walked in. He was stunned just as he lowered his head and looked down at the ground.

Many large and small paper balls were thrown on the ground. The trash can beside the drawing board had already been overflowed. And scraped paper and painting oils were thrown all over the place.

“Uh…” Yan Chuyang came back to his senses, quickly bent down to pick up the trash on the ground and said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it, I’ll clean it up with a broom in a while.”

Wei Qing sighed and pulled Yan Chuyang by his collar. Looking at the colorful paint on Yan Chuyang’s fair hands, he asked seriously, “How long have you been painting?”

“Not long,” Yan Chuyang said in a low voice as he drooped his head, rubbed the stains on his hands and said, “It has been only two hours since I started drawing at eleven.”

“Stop rubbing,” Wei Qing frowned and pulled his hand away. He took out the wet wipes from his pocket, gently and meticulously wiped the stains between Yan Chuyang’s fingers, “Even if the competition is about to come, you can’t push yourself so hard. Your eyes can’t bear to paint for two hours without stopping. ”

Yan Chuyang sighed, “If I don’t work hard, I feel guilty as soon as I stop.”

“Why?”

“I am afraid that I can’t pass the final trial, can’t go to Japan, then can’t visit the Ghibli comics studio.”

“Nonsense!” Wei Qing glanced at the boy displeasedly, “Have you forgotten who you are now? You are my brother! A wise goose never lays a tame egg. I am a real badass. It is impossible for you to lose.”

Yan Chuyang lowered his head unhappily and whispered in his heart, “Whoever wants to be your brother. I have no kinship with you.”

“Alright,” Wei Qing released his hand and said softly, “Now go downstairs, wash your hands and have lunch.”

“No need,” Yan Chuyang sighed, then walked to the drawing board and sat down. “I have to draw a while longer. I will go downstairs to have lunch after finishing this one.”

“Yan Chuyang?” Wei Qing leaned close to him with a sullen expression, “Why don’t you understand what I am talking about now?”

“Shut up!” Yan Chuyang stomped his feet, “I am really nervous now. There are only two months left for the competition in June. I have no time!”

Wei Qing clicked his tongue unhappily, “Two months. Such a long period of time, why are you nervous?”

Yan Chuyang’s face turned pale. He gripped the brush and sighed, “I don’t think I can do it.”

Looking at Yan Chuyang’s dispirited side face, Wei Qing felt uncomfortable.

“Why not?”

Yan Chuyang lowered his head and unconsciously rubbed the carpet. “I participated in this kind of competition before, but I lost it.”

“Huh,” Wei Qing sneered, “isn’t it normal to lose once? It doesn’t mean that you will lose every competition after that?”

Yan Chuyang shook his head. “I really can’t do it. It seems that I will let others down every time.”

“Nonsense!”

“It is true,” Yan Chuyang raised his head and looked seriously at the Wei Qing.

“When I was ten years old, my mother was going to remarry. I cried and requested her not to leave me behind. I promised that I would make money for her after I grow up. I would participate in the drawing competition of the junior class. I would give her all the money I won. My mother agreed, and asked me to paint hard. She said that if I won the competition, she would not leave. But finally… I lost the competition.”