Surrounded by the Billionaire's Deep Doting-Chapter 397 - 359: Eric
"The person who got accepted is your wife. Is it appropriate for me to just send a courier and be done with it?"
Eric glanced at Yin Shixiu, remarking sarcastically.
"I wouldn’t mind if you sent a courier."
"You..."
Seeing his response, Eric was somewhat frustrated. If it weren’t for Su Xiaomeng’s impressive performance during the interview, Eric would have completely refused.
"You really should learn from your wife. It’s much more pleasant chatting with her."
Yin Shixiu remained silent, picked up the cup in front of him, and took a sip of water.
Watching this, Eric couldn’t help but comment, "You’ve really changed. You used to not want to share a bathroom with anyone, and now you’re drinking from a cup that someone else has used so comfortably."
Yin Shixiu put the cup down, glanced at the coffee in front of Eric, and asked, "Did she make it?"
Eric shrugged, "Am I, as a guest in your home, supposed to make my own coffee?"
"Not really."
Yin Shixiu leaned back, looked at Eric, and smiled, "She’s not particularly good at making coffee. The coffee machine at home is rarely used; I think the last time she used it was half a year ago..."
"So what?"
Eric sensed that Yin Shixiu hadn’t finished speaking.
"The coffee machine..."
Yin Shixiu pursed his lips, cleared his throat, and only uttered one word, "Dirty."
Eric felt his stomach churn, looking at the coffee in front of him with a complex expression.
Yin Shixiu acted as if nothing happened, noticing a notification from the University of Bath by the TV. He went over, picked it up, and opened it...
"Her performance during the interview was quite impressive. Jane was full of praise for her English skills. Among all the Chinese students who came for the interview that day, your wife was outstanding."
Yin Shixiu looked at the notification and chuckled softly.
The warm light in the room, combined with the gentle expression on his face, made Eric momentarily dazed.
It was a tenderness he had never seen from him during their many years of schooling together.
Eric knew that Yin Shixiu didn’t like foreign girls, though despite this, he had foreign girlfriends during his years abroad.
Moreover, he could write a thick book about his romantic escapades.
Not to mention, back when they were nineteen, there was a Chinese female student who transferred to their school, also from Beijing.
The moment Eric saw her, he was smitten.
She was not only beautiful with an excellent figure, but her temperament was top-notch, and she had a particularly pleasant voice.
Anyone who interacted with her had nothing negative to say.
Yet, just when Eric was halfway through pursuing her and was about to succeed, Yin Shixiu stepped in and took her away.
It even caused a fallout between him and Eric over the girl.
But even with such a girl, Eric never saw Yin Shixiu show this kind of expression.
"You haven’t seen how determined she was once she decided to apply for the Modern Language College at Bath..."
"When I met her, she was just a very simple college student, always thinking about passing time, joining clubs, loving dancing, and enjoying parties..."
Eric chuckled, "I thought she was a top student."
"She wasn’t, back then."
Yin Shixiu sat back in his chair, interlocking his fingers, "She always said she wasn’t smart and that she was lazy. Others thought she was quite ordinary, and in the eyes of both her peers and teachers, she was probably seen as the most ordinary of students..."
"But look at her, small in stature, yet the power she’s capable of unleashing is impressive."
Eric laughed, "Is that why you like her?"
Yin Shixiu looked at Eric, "She’s different from Chu Jiao. Chu Jiao couldn’t compare to even a single finger of hers."
"Haha... Now you’re criticizing Chu Jiao? Why did you pursue her back then?"
Though Eric held a bit of a grudge over this matter, he didn’t want to delve back into old issues.
He didn’t expect Yin Shixiu to bring it up himself.
"Wasn’t I young back then?"
"You idiot!"
Eric’s temper flared, his blue eyes glaring at Yin Shixiu, frustrated!
"Chu Jiao was a natural crowd favorite and had a strong pursuit of perfection. Pursuing such a girl... wasn’t it a huge achievement?"
"You’re still talking!"
"Eric, didn’t you eventually end up with her too? So why did you break up?"
At this, Eric sighed, "I really liked her, but she... had too grand a vision. One of me was far from enough. No matter how beautiful or perfect she was, she couldn’t accompany me till the end. When it wore me out, we split."
"That’s the biggest difference between Meng Meng and her..."
"Every single moment spent with her, I’m filled with a sense of security..."
Eric pursed his lips, smiled lightly, his eyes filled with envy, "Back then, a few of us even talked about the kind of girl we’d want to marry in the future. I remember both our ideas were remarkably alike..."
Reflecting on the past, it was evident in the expressions of both men that nostalgia was inescapable, "You held on to a rather traditional Chinese perspective, and they laughed at me for having the same thoughts as you, a Brit. Haha, do you remember?"
Yin Shixiu nodded, smiling faintly, "I remember."
Eric shrugged, smiling wryly, "But now you’ve found someone, and I’m still a single dog eating dog food every day..."
Yin Shixiu looked up at him, the awkwardness between them slowly fading away, and suddenly, both of them laughed.
"Arthur, be honest, when you saw me, you were pretty uneasy, right?"
"Cough cough... no."
"Tsk, don’t I know you? The day you saw me at Beijing University, be honest, were you worried I’d cause Su Xiaomeng to fail?"
Yin Shixiu raised his cup, took another sip of water, and said with a deadpan face, "No."
Eric really wanted to fight Yin Shixiu, that would be more satisfying!
"Forget it, I won’t argue with you. Actually, I came here today, not just to deliver the offer..."
"Hmm."
"Mainly, I wanted to chat more with Su Xiaomeng, let her see through you, you hypocrite."
"In her eyes, I’m a deity."
Yin Shixiu raised an eyebrow, not sure where that confidence came from.
Eric almost vomited...
He shook his head and said, "A deity? I don’t know about being a deity, but I’m really curious why you’re such a failed husband. When I called you a jerk, she actually totally agreed!"
Yin Shixiu’s eyebrows twitched, thinking that’s impossible.
"Oh, I also told her she’s a lot like Chu Jiao."
"She’s a lot like Chu Jiao? In what way?"
"I know they’re not, I just wanted to see her reaction..."
Yin Shixiu took a deep breath, looking at Eric, "I knew it, you’re such a petty guy! How many years have you been holding onto such a little thing?"
Eric shrugged, "I just think that messing up a perfectly good marriage gives me a great sense of achievement, what do you think about that?"
"I have no opinion, hurry up and leave, you’re not welcome here."
"I’m not leaving, Xiao Meng said she was going to cook for me, it’s been a long time since I had Chinese food."
"Are you leaving or not?"
Eric shook his head, a single raised eyebrow giving him an expression of "I’m not leaving, what can you do about it."
"Hey, could you ask Xiao Meng to introduce me to a girlfriend too? Doesn’t she have lots of classmates? Pick one as cute and pretty as her..."
Yin Shixiu glared at him, said nothing, and went straight into the bedroom, leaving him alone in the living room.
"Arthur, is this how you treat your guests?"
After going into the bedroom, Yin Shixiu couldn’t help but chuckle.
After taking a shower and changing clothes, when Yin Shixiu came out of the bathroom again, he heard the sounds of Shuangshuang and Huanghuang squealing. When he looked at the bed, the kids weren’t there, so he rushed out of the bedroom barefoot!
In the living room, the two kids were sitting on Eric’s shoulders, incredibly excited!
Eric, on inspection, was even taller than Yin Shixiu by a couple of centimeters, almost hitting a height of 1.9 meters, a thirty-something man.
He was doing things just as futile as that young brat Shan Minglang.
"What are you doing!"
Yin Shixiu called out in a deep voice.
Eric turned to see Yin Shixiu coming over with a dark face, and reached out to take one of the little ones off his shoulder.
"Are you afraid I’d drop these two little ones?"
"Arthur, what do you mean by not talking? If I can’t even hold two kids right, then I must be really useless, right?"
"If you drop them, you couldn’t afford to pay for it; put them down."
"Meng Meng, your husband is bullying me again!"
Eric raised his voice and shouted towards the kitchen.
Yin Shixiu was a bit stunned, not expecting Su Xiaomeng to have come back so soon.
Xiao Meng, wearing an apron, poked her head out of the kitchen, holding a spatula in hand, and pointed at Yin Shixiu, "Yin Shixiu, stop bullying Eric!"
Yin Shixiu’s eyebrows twitched slightly, could not understand how Su Xiaomeng and Eric had gotten so close?
Eric smugly nestled into the couch with Shuangshuang, the little girl in his arms.
Shuangshuang looked at Eric, thought he looked handsome, and kept staring at his blue eyes, then turned her gaze to Yin Shixiu, blinking and asking in a childish, unclear voice, "Why, why are the eyes different?"
Before Yin Shixiu could open his mouth, Eric said, "Whose eyes are prettier?"
Shuangshuang stretched out her hand, pointing at Yin Shixiu, "Dad!"
"Shuangshuang, kids should tell the truth."
Eric coaxed.
Yin Shixiu thought, the little girl was obviously telling the truth.
Who knew Shuangshuang would sneak a glance at Yin Shixiu, her little eyes wavering for quite a while, then, feeling very embarrassed, she hid her face and burrowed into Eric’s arms.
Yin Shixiu raised an eyebrow, growing more hostile towards Eric.
Eric flashed an impudent grin at Yin Shixiu, making it feel like they were back in their school days, competing over trivial matters.
