Mr. Su's Love Investigation Report
Chapter 281 - 271 Brother

Chapter 281: Chapter 271 Brother

The two brothers sat in silence for a while before starting the conversation. Just then, Xin Wan knocked and came in again, this time bringing some food and reminding Su Rongcheng, "Have something to eat first before you drink."

Despite her words, Su Rongcheng had no appetite to eat. He picked up his glass without saying a word, clinked it against Su Ronggui’s glass, and downed his drink in one go.

It wasn’t red wine or champagne. He had specifically asked Xin Wan to bring Erguotou, and the fiery drink burned its way down his stomach.

On the surface, he showed no sign of discomfort. He refilled his glass and slowly caressed the neck of the bottle with his slender fingers. "Do you remember the first time we secretly drank liquor? It was Erguotou. I was in senior high, and you were in junior high. We didn’t know our limits, just trying to act like heroes; our speech was slurred, yet we kept up our bravado, refusing to back down. We drank four jin as if it were water. You passed out completely, and I barely managed to carry you into a hotel and then collapsed on the same bed with you. We slept for two days; you missed two days of classes, and I, well, I missed my monthly exams. Your mom hit you over the head, and I stood in front of you, thinking I was a real hero, shielding you from her. I even shouted that it was I who made you drink, and she should get over me to hit you!"

As he said this, he took another sip of his drink and continued, "Later on, my dad made good on my so-called heroics by stringing me up and giving me a good beating with his belt. You, a six-foot tall guy, cried a river next to him, begging and kneeling for him not to hit me. That was the only time you ever cried in front of my dad and the only time you ever begged him. Now that I think about it, I only remember how damn painful the belt was, but not what prompted us to drink in the first place."

"It was to celebrate your eighteenth birthday," Su Ronggui remembered. "You said you were an adult and needed a rite of passage."

"Really?" Su Rongcheng thought for a moment. "It was."

After their mother’s death, no one celebrated his birthdays anymore. His father was a busy and careless man, uninterested in such trivial matters. In the house, only Su Rongxing and Su Rongyu celebrated birthdays. Su Ronggui never celebrated his.

"You also said you wanted to find a girl to drink with and lose your virginity, but you didn’t, for fear you’d be beaten by dad," Su Ronggui added.

"Did I? I don’t remember saying that!" He truly had no recollection at all!

"Su Rongcheng." Su Ronggui held his glass. He was a very disciplined person; he rarely touched alcohol unless Su Rongcheng tempted him. "I’m sorry. I’m sorry to you and the Su family."

He raised his glass to Su Rongcheng with both hands and followed his lead by downing it in one go.

"What’s to be sorry about?"

After drinking, Su Ronggui’s eyes started to glaze over and he became more talkative. "Honestly, I have no right to say anything. I too enjoyed the honor and material comforts from the Su family for so many years, yet I ended up opposing and abandoning it. My mother wasn’t entirely wrong with some of her words. As for the Su family, I feel I have failed them. The entanglements between people are never clear with just one sentence nor divided with a line. It’s precisely the complexity of fate that’s so profound. With the tides of change, who can stay untouched?"

Su Rongcheng refilled his drink, "So, are you here to apologize? Or are you here to apologize on behalf of Tu Hengsha? You two are pretty much the same."

"No, apologies are meaningless." He drank again, and Su Rongcheng refilled his glass each time.

"Indeed, they are meaningless!" Su Rongcheng refilled his own glass. "Because you don’t really believe you did anything wrong, or rather, you don’t think Tu Hengsha did anything wrong."

"Yes, I just..."

"You just feel guilty because you grew up on the Su family’s dime, and you can’t get over that."

Su Ronggui fell silent and went to raise his glass again.

"Su Ronggui, let me ask you one more time. What are you doing here today?" Su Rongcheng pressed his hand down on the glass.

"I..."

"You’re here to apologize?"

"No..." Of course, he wasn’t here to apologize. What good would it do now to apologize? Just like Su Rongcheng said, he had a burden to bear. Given that right now was Su Rongcheng’s hardest time, should he press him to accept his apology just to ease his own burden? That would be dishonorable.

"Tell me! Why are you really here?" Su Rongcheng’s tone was becoming aggressive.

He took a deep breath, "I came to see you."

For a brief moment, the air was frozen. After a silence, Su Rongcheng removed his hand from the glass, took a drink himself, and, looking at him with a gaze that was hazy with emotion from the alcohol, said nothing.

"To see the family too," he added.

Su Rongcheng put down his glass, turning it with his fingers, "Saying you missed me would make me feel better."

"..." Su Ronggui looked at him, his face flushed from the alcohol. The initially pale face he saw when he first came in was now tinged pink. His heart swirled with alcohol-induced emotion, and he replied directly, "Yes, I missed you."

Su Rongcheng looked up. Their eyes met, and they both raised their glasses. Just like that, everything was left unsaid.

They drank a lot, and when the alcohol ran out, they had Xin Wan send more.

Su Rongcheng patted his shoulder, "If it weren’t you guys, it would be somebody else. What’s destined to come will come. I never blamed you. Instead, I envy you, how you can hold onto your beliefs and leave when you want. No matter what, you have your responsibilities, and I have mine..."

In the end, they left with their arms around each other’s shoulders. In such a state, there was no way Su Ronggui could drive back, so he stayed the night at the Su family house. Su Rongcheng insisted on taking him to his room. After getting him onto the bed, he fell onto the bed next to Su Ronggui, murmuring half-consciously, "I have a monthly exam tomorrow, remember to wake me up..."

Shang Qingmei had been watching the movements in the study the whole time and ended up with two completely inebriated men.

While these two didn’t stir after getting drunk, Shang Qingmei couldn’t sleep all night, waiting downstairs early the next day.

Su Ronggui felt a splitting headache as he came downstairs and saw Shang Qingmei’s figure sitting upright on the sofa.

Before he had time to react, Shang Qingmei heard his movements, turned, and called to him, "Come and sit."

He knew what she was going to say. He had his own answers, but he still sat across from her.

"Ronggui, what did you and your brother talk about yesterday?" Shang Qingmei asked.

"Drank too much, can’t really remember..." He spoke the truth. They had indeed drunk too much. He only remembered that they reminisced a bit at the beginning, then Su Rongcheng said he didn’t blame him. Everything else was forgotten.

Shang Qingmei sighed, "Your brother is not in an easy position now, bearing the weight of the entire sky alone. From what I saw of you two yesterday, he still treats you as he always has. Ronggui, a person should still have some conscience. I don’t want to blame you for what’s already happened, but now the family company is in a mess, your brother is holding it together all by himself, so as long as you’ve returned home, help him out more."

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