Chapter 40: Famous Ancestry

Zhang Lei asked lightly, “Yan, who were those people? They didn’t seem like normal street gangsters.”

“I don’t know.” YouYan wrinkled her nose.

Xiao Er suddenly stood up, laughing coldly, and said, “Xiao San, I can’t comment on your drawing because I’m not professional and I don’t understand; I also have no need to know who you are, but I’ll risk my life for you.”

YouYan’s face paled and Zhang Lei said coldly, “Xiao Er, if you’re high, get the fuck back to bed.”

“Xiao Er.” YouYan said in a low voice, “I’m really not clear on what happened tonight. And I’m not anyone, regarding the drawings, I learned to draw from my mother.”

“Yan, your mother——”

Zhang Lei and Xiao Er looked at each other, and eventually, Zhang Lei asked.

“My mother’s name is Chi Zheng.”

Xiao Er looked lost, turning towards Zhang Lei.

Even though he had experienced much, Zhang Lei paused for a moment before responding, “No wonder, you are Chi Zheng’s daughter.”

Xiao Er questioned, “Boss, is this Chi Zheng very famous? I’ve never heard of her.”

“There’s a lot of stuff you don’t know.” Zhang Lei laughed.

Glancing at YouYan, Zhang Lei continued in a low voice, “Chi Zheng was an artist of a famous family, gaining her fame when she was still a teenager. At that time, her popularity peaked and she was named the genius artist. If she hadn’t suddenly disappeared in the peak of her fame, her achievements would have been unimaginable.

YouYan looked out the window, staring into the distance, “After my mother married my father, she left with him to his town. When they settled, she had to take care of the family and rarely ever drew again.”

“Xiao San, you’re like an apprentice from a famous artist, why aren’t you making a career in art? Why are you some stupid waitress?” Xiao Er shouted.

YouYan curled the corners of her lips up, and Zhang Lei felt like a knife had sliced up his heart, overwhelming him with the pain. The smile was as pale as her face.

“After mother passed away, my father was depressed. He often locked himself up inside my mother’s art studio, staring at my mother’s drawings. Later, I hid my mother’s drawings, and I never drew again.” YouYan lowered her head and replied in a soft voice.

Zhang Lei glared at Xiao Er.

Xiao Er shrugged his shoulders and raised his hands in innocence.

“Yan, the Big Brother Chi you were talking about——” Zhang Lei’s heart shook as he asked. When the words came out, he suddenly realized he was invading too deep into her privacy. Why was he becoming like Xiao Er? He laughed bitterly inside.

“Big Brother Chi is my brother.” YouYan bit her lips.

Only a brother? Zhang Lei suddenly felt a wave of relief.

“His last name is Chi and yours is Lu, why the heck is he your brother?” Xiao Er twitched his mouth.

“Big Brother Chi was my aunt’s son. My grandpa didn’t have any sons, so my uncle decided to have him take his mother’s surname.” YouYan’s voice was bitter, “Boss, thank you for the help tonight, I want to go home now.”

She seemed to have answered some of the questions, but that just led to more questions. She said that Big Brother Chi died, and yet you just had to mention him. She didn’t want to talk about it, but she also didn’t want to put off your questions, so she said she wanted to go home. Zhang Lei, even though this is for the sake of understanding her better and finding out who the group of people were tonight, don’t you think this is too cruel?

“Since Yan doesn’t know who they are, I’ll take care of this.” Zhang Lei said comfortingly, “Stay for the night.”

“Agreed!” Xiao Er laughed.

“ I can’t! I’ve been bothering the two of you. I’ll just go home.”

Zhang Lei narrowed his eyes and said, “Fine by me, we’ll just have to sleep over at your house. After what happened today—sorry, but it’s not okay for us to leave you alone.”

Huh? YouYan’s eyes opened wide.

After some futile effort, it ended up with her sleeping in the boss’ house.

Boss casually said, “Yan, sleep in my room.”