Chapter 498: The Bizarre World of Adults
(The previous chapter has been revised.)
Return to the hotel.

At this time, the night had already fallen deep into the zenith. Zero sat down in front of the bay window early and watched the dazzling light show on the streets of Chicago.

Colorful lamp posts shoot up into the sky from all directions of Chicago, like scattered rainbows waving and colliding in the night sky to create a dreamlike scene. The combination of various colored lights in the sky simply forms a fairy-tale-like wonderful world.

Ling particularly likes this kind of ethereal, dreamy and extremely unreal scenery. It was also for this reason that one time later, she stubbornly and desperately pushed away Zhuo's obstruction and ran to Ilulissat with him. They wore thick winter clothes together, and a slightly cute pullover that only exposed their eyes. Each of them had a pair of headphones playing Kimura Yumi's "Itsmo Hodaka" in the headphones.

On that night surrounded by ice and snow and chilly wind, Ling, who had traveled halfway around the world, just hugged her knees tightly, curled up like a fur ball and hid in his arms, saying that she just wanted to see a grand and gorgeous aurora...

Zhuo turned on the night light beside the bed and turned off the main light in the room. The surroundings became dim. At the same time, the scenery outside the window became more dazzling. She was so immersed in it that she didn't even notice Zhuo's little action.

Wait until Zhuo walked step by step behind her and hugged her gently.

Ling then responded by gently twisting his hair to rub Zhuo's neck, but his eyes were still looking out the window reluctantly.

"what are you thinking about?"

"Nothing. I haven't really seen anything like this in a long time. I feel like I've really become a different person."

After hearing this, Zhuo reached out and turned her face to face him. "What the hell is this old man's tone?"

Zero lowered his eyes, with a faint smile in his blue eyes, and shook his head slightly.

"Even if you can't tell, I've lived for almost thirty years."

Zhuo retracted his arm, slowly slid it down from her shoulder, passed through her smooth collarbone, bypassed her belt, and smoothly reached into her collar, then directly...

Ling was so shocked that he seemed to be startled and subconsciously wanted to stand up.

Zhuo stepped back, causing her to lose balance and lean back briefly, and then their eyes met.

"My wife is the youngest and most beautiful in the world. No arguments against that."

Ling lay on him with his head tilted back, gave him a reproachful look but did not stop his intrusion. He just stretched out his palms and rubbed Zhuo's cheeks. His expression was extremely gentle, and the stars in his eyes kept twinkling, reflecting the colorful lights outside the window and changing the scenery. At this moment, any words seemed redundant.

...

...

The Chicago outing was less than satisfactory, but fortunately the thick pizza portion was good.

First, we went to Navy Pier.

Although it was the world's largest pier and played an important role during World War I and World War II, Zhuo went there for the entertainment. The Navy Pier has everything from large amusement parks, parks, shops to restaurants, attractions, and a variety of Michigan water entertainment projects. However, Zhuo didn't have a chance to try the main destination - the world's first Ferris wheel because there were too many people queuing.

Zhuo also went to the University of Chicago.

Although I am not interested in going to college itself, the atmosphere on campus is still something I look forward to.

Chicago Riverwalk, Lincoln Park…

To get back to the topic, within the limited time of one day, Zhuo managed to appreciate some of the attractions in Chicago, and then took the first flight back to Neon the next day.

……

"what happened?"

Although Ren's voice was almost drowned out by the classical music in the store, for some reason, it sounded particularly clear to Zhuo's ears. Zhuo felt his face naturally become serious.

Ren was a little different from his usual cheerful self who livened up the atmosphere, so Zhuo roughly sensed that he might be unhappy in his life recently, but still pretended to respond to him the same way as in high school.

"Nothing."

"Nothing, what's going on over there...ah - Zhuo."

"You think too much."

"I haven't said anything yet."

"It's noisy."

"But I haven't said it yet."

Zhuo crunched the ice into the cup, looking away and trying to refuse in the gentlest tone possible, without bringing in any unnecessary personal emotions.

Excessive explanation will only make people laugh and become more demanding, so Zhuo has to keep a certain distance and always respond with a calm attitude.

Zhuo shook the glass of cantaloupe soda to hide his interest, and the conspicuous green color rippled in the transparent cup. The friction of the ice cubes and the crisp sound of the carbonic acid bubbles bursting seemed to slightly ease Zhuo's desire to cover the eyes opposite him that were obviously trying to "trick him" with a malicious smile.

Seeing the soda shaking to a height almost approaching the edge of the cup, Zhuo thought it might spill out, so he slowly brought the cup to his mouth and took a sip to reduce the volume.

The refreshing and sweet drink made him squint his eyes slightly when it went down his throat. He then glared at Ren who was quietly handling the matter on the other side.
"Hey! What are you looking at? I told you that you're overthinking!"

"Oh~~oh~~what a cute girl~~"

"whispering sound!"

The object of concern was keenly captured by Ren, and this was not the first time that this happened between the two. Zhuo, who had long been accustomed to this, just protested disdainfully and let Ren turn his head again to observe the girl at the cashier counter who was dealing with customers with a cheerful smile.

She had black hair tied into two ponytails on each side. She was wearing a pink dress and a white sleeveless top with a fir hood. She had a black necklace around her neck that looked like a ring.

"Zhuo... your family situation, and the discord between you and Romanov... I should say that I don't know much about your family's inner situation, but I think it's better for you to be together. It wouldn't be appropriate if it weren't for the two of you... I always feel that it has to be Romanov, so I hope you can go on smoothly. And I can't imagine you two being separated."

Ren probably said something that made him feel embarrassed, because his face looked a little hot. So he picked up the glass and put it against his face, not knowing whether the coolness of the drink could dispel the heat.

However, he also felt that at least these words had to be said first. After they were clearly expressed, the man who originally had an awkward expression suddenly revealed a mischievous and shy smile.

"What's wrong?" "Nothing, I just feel shy."

"Did I say there was a contradiction?"

"Wahaha, no. Because I presumptuously guessed that Zhuo might cheat on me."

Regarding Ren's abrupt words just now, Zhuo didn't say much, but acted very relaxed from beginning to end, and complained as usual. This reaction also made Ren feel relieved.

Seeing his good friend leaning back in his chair with nothing to say, Zhuo shook the cup in his hand, making the ice cubes make a crackling sound, and at the same time raised his head to glance in the direction of the cashier counter.

If I remember correctly, the name on the badge hanging on the girl's collar should be "Amano Haruna".

"...I roughly know what you want to say, and I also know the girl's address and age."

Zhuo listened to the crisp sound coming from the cashier counter from a distance, shaking the cup quietly. After a moment, Zhuo, who had been silent, said this.

“Is that something I can listen to?”

"That's what I want to say."

"That's it."

Ren then said, "Then I won't say much." Seeing how he accepted it, Zhuo couldn't help but shrugged.

"If I'm not mistaken, she probably didn't meet the age requirement for admission to Kendeji. She must have lied about her age. There must be some family reasons involved."

"Oh, that's how it is."

Ren was reluctant to continue this topic, but he did not interrupt Zhuo nor did he look back at the girl.

"Yes, she is about sixteen years old or younger. Anyway, she is still a high school student. In any case, she has nothing to do with me in a good or bad sense."

"……so?"

"Because there are always some incredible things happening around me, but now it is still unexpected for me to develop like this."

Zhuo recalled that he seemed to have encountered a similar situation before, but he didn't take it seriously because he couldn't really confirm it and was afraid of trouble. Now that he has confirmed the facts, he still tells Ren with a smiling tone and gives him a look that says "Do you understand what I mean?"

"We've all seen it before, right? The phrase 'the plot is based on reality' often appears in movies, but I didn't expect it to be so realistic."

"...I've always felt that you are actually an alien.

Ren added a sentence that he felt as a normal human being: "Compared to you, my thinking ability as an Earthling is inevitably inferior. Please allow me to express my apologies for carrying the expectations of Earthlings. Also, I didn't understand a word of the alien language you just said. Can you explain it to me?"

"..."

Zhuo was silent for a moment, then reached out his hand, picked up a French fry from the tray and stuffed it into his mouth. He chewed and spoke in a listless tone.

"Did you catch Yurina?"

"This……"

"I'm not denying your "rhythm" completely. You did teach me a good lesson in "rhythm". Aren't we all in the same university? It won't happen that I will be introduced as "Yurina's boyfriend" in a while, and it will have nothing to do with you."

Zhuo really hasn't seen Yurina recently, and Ren didn't bring up the topic of Yurina today. In Zhuo's opinion, Ren cares about Yurina and is trying hard.

"Even so, I still realize that I am on the path of pursuing my dreams in life. This is the choice I made. If she meets someone she likes in the process... I will get along well with her in the future. After we went to college, the opportunities to meet each other became much less, and even if we went out together, we always felt that something was missing because you were not there. Yamamoto also said, "It's all because that person got married! Otherwise, the three of us could continue to be single!" This kind of thing.

"... Yurina, are you ready to give others a chance now...?"

That being said, Zhuo had indeed never received any message from Yurina via his mobile phone messages, so the most he could think of was "after all, they became more distant after graduation." But when he thought about it carefully, it was really strange that such a nagging person hadn't sent any message for such a long time.

"Yes. After a series of twists and turns, more than half of the boys in the school were killed. This is the second most exaggerated thing I have seen since the day your wife transferred to the school. Although she has temporarily refused to date, she will not want to get together with others before she makes up her mind, but I don't know when she will change her mind, which makes me nervous. Well, back to the topic, because Yurina directly answered a person "currently single" at that time, then who can pursue her, and the result will of course affect me, the "childhood sweetheart." "

Ren said this in a very distressed tone, but Lian Zhuo could have predicted this kind of thing.

Even Zero had to admit that this beautiful girl, who was being stared at by all grades the moment she entered school, suddenly announced that she was single. And she also had a childhood sweetheart, so naturally she would go to that childhood sweetheart to find out about the situation.

"Her family was always strict, and it's gotten even worse since she went to college. Maybe she's been oppressed for too long, and now Yamamoto seems to be trying to break free from her family's control. I'm not saying this, but before this holiday, I saw her dye her hair."

“…It’s simply unimaginable.”

"It's completely different from high school."

Although Yurina always looks playful, Zhuo knows that she is very serious by nature.

Judging from her appearance alone, Yurina is exactly the standard image of a pure and good girl in comics, with a cute face covered with flesh, black hair that just reaches her shoulders, a disguised tranquility, and a plump figure that is in stark contrast to her appearance.

It turned out that her words and actions at school were all deliberately done by her.

Zhuo also knew that she was very good and could accomplish most things if she worked hard. However, in the eyes of others, Yurina was just a rich girl who was good at studying, good at sports, in good shape, optimistic, and willing to interact with others. She also needed this status quo and had no intention of changing it during high school.

"Alas, maybe it's because the Yamamoto we know has entered his rebellious period. I'm sure Uncle Yamamoto, who has no other children, is also panicking."

"...If even you say so, the direct lineage is facing a crisis of survival."

"That's right. Plus... when I gave up going home and chose to stay at school this time, my uncle called me, and then there seemed to be no news after that... I guess my uncle will contact you soon."

From the perspective of Uncle Yamamoto, his daughter, who had always been well-behaved, suddenly became a "hot girl" and seemed to be planning to continue to go astray. This kind of thing probably left Uncle Yamamoto with an impression that was almost psychologically traumatic.

Although I can't fully understand his feelings, I can understand why Uncle Yamamoto couldn't accept it.

(End of this chapter)