He said they were family.

This year's New Year's Eve was still spent in the Shen family's mansion. Perhaps it is the tradition of the big families, every few days of annual vacation, Shen family members always love to get together for a few days in a row, during the daytime the elders either play cards and go on a trip, or gather to chat, the younger generation's pastimes are even more numerous, the Shen family mansion on the floor of the recreation room at almost all times in the state of full at any one time.

The Shen family has always been elegant, and it is only at this time of the year that Lin Jian is able to experience a hint of the cynicism of the so-called noble families and business tycoons in the way the young masters and young ladies act and move.

But no matter how relaxed and uninhibited they are during the day, the younger generation will always come in on time for dinner from the first to the fifth day of the month and sit around their elders, drinking together, mingling with each other, laughing and talking.

The Shen family, from the top to the bottom, from the young to the old, all regard Lin Jian as their own family, so even if Shen Ke is occasionally unable to be present due to business, Lin Jian will not be overly restrained, for him, the time spent with the elders of the Shen family has more or less compensated for some of the longing for affection that has been hidden in the bottom of his heart since he was a child.

On the evening of the first five days, Shen family relatives of more than a dozen people sit together as usual, before the meal Shen Ke arrived late.

Taking off his coat and handing it to the maid, Shen Ke naturally took the seat next to Lin Jian.

In fact, according to his current weight in the Shen Clan as well as the entire family, even if he were to sit on the main seat of Shen Zhangqian, no one would dare to have a single objection.

The kitchen staff brought the dishes to the table one by one, and the atmosphere was particularly relaxed for the last reunion meal of the New Year's festivities.

After the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, someone suggested that we drink a glass of reunion wine, and the waiter poured wine for each person with a wine dispenser, and even Ai Jia's glass was shallowly filled with a red wine base.

And when he reached Lin Jian, the waiter had just bent down when he heard Shen Ke, who was beside him, say, "Not for this cup."

The waiter's hand paused as he poured the wine, and Lin Jian turned his head to look at him.

Shen Ke puts down the wet wipes he's wiping his hands with, his eyes locking with the person next to him for a second, and laughs softly, "Being sick just soon enough to count some." After a pause, he added with a light smile, "And at a young age, learn something good."

Unfortunately, both the recent unexpected illness and the phrase "young age" accurately hit that unspeakable point in Lin Jian's heart, not too hard, but precisely to trigger the thunder fire.

"Long ago." Lin Jian tensed a sharp line where the side of his face met his neck, paused for two seconds, then added in a low voice with a frown, "And it's not small anymore."

Shen Ke raised an eyebrow unexpectedly, then let out an "uh-huh" and left him alone.

But with these few conversations in the first place, the waiter ultimately didn't dare to pour him a full glass like he did for the other young masters and sons of the Shen family, but instead, like Ai Jia, he only ordered a red wine base.

Lin Jian expressionless look in front of the surplus of a dark red, eyebrows and corners of the eyes are dyed with inconspicuous manic depression.

Caring or disciplined, Shen Ke has always treated him like the little boy he once was.

After the wine was poured, all of us raised our glasses together and wished Shen Zhangqian and his wife every success and Shen's family every success.

Putting down his glass of wine, Shen Zhangqian smiled and sighed to Cong Wan beside him, "After all, I'm getting old, and I'm getting more and more in love with such auspicious words."

Cong Wan also laughed, "That's not true, Little Jane is so old, we are really old."

"I've only passed the age of obedience, I'm not that old. An uncle who is a few years younger than Shen Zhangqian laughed and said, "Besides, Chairman Shen hasn't even started a family yet, so it's not too late to talk about it when you realize that you are related to each other."

Even if they are elders, even if it is a family dinner, but Shen family members for Shen Ke's name, but most of them are still "Chairman Shen", no other, Shen is not a traditional sense of the family business, the intricate connection of the kinship relationship in Shen does not exist, so although it is the relationship is not far away from the relatives, in front of Shen Ke also do not dare to be too big. In front of Shen Ke, he did not dare to be too big.

"Cousin uncle." Shen Ke rarely drank alcohol, and at this time, he still used water as a substitute for alcohol, his face could not be seen to be happy or angry, he just raised his glass slightly at him, "Worry about it."

When she put down the cup, Lin Jian felt that it had hit her sensitive nerves with a soft thud.

"Having said that, don t blame me for talking too much." The aunt of the family with this cousin uncle said to Cong Wan with a smile, "Shen ...... Xiao Ke is also twenty eight this year, sister in law, you are really not in a hurry."

Cong Wan looked at his own son from the next seat and said with a gentle smile, "He's in a hurry on his own, so why should I bother following."

Lin Jian raised his eyes slightly and happened to catch a glimpse of the smile on her lips and the ...... sporadic anticipation that flickered in her eyes.

He lowered his eyes, only to feel the mouthful of red wine from earlier suddenly steam and burn in his stomach, scalding his heart with a burning unbearable heat.

Perhaps the atmosphere at this time is just right, I did not think that Shen Zhangqian, who never said a word about Shen Ke's personal life, also said: "You do not say that you are not in a hurry, last month, the son of Mr. Zhang, the general manager of Hongtai, got married, and when you attended the wedding banquet, you did not say so with the words. " Shen Zhangqian patted the back of Cong Wan's hand and repeated with a smile, "The children of my old friends are getting married, and some of them even have grandchildren, so I don't know when this kind of good fortune will come to us. ......"

"Eh you people ......" Cong Wan quickly glanced at Shen Ke's face across the room and snapped, "Why did you give me that out, the kids are still here... ..."

"I don't blame Auntie for being anxious, now that Shen's is flourishing, it's really time for my brother to think about his personal problems ......" Cong Wan's nephew, who is less than two years younger than Shen Ke, interjected with gusto. "Eh brother, why don't I introduce you to ......"

"Yu Jie." Shen Ke lifted his eyelids to look at him, the corners of his lips clearly still carried a hint of a smile that hadn't dissipated, but his light eyes were as substantial as they were oppressive at the moment, "Eat without speaking."

Fang Yujie immediately choked, and the rest of his words rolled back into his stomach with a gurgle.

Shen Ke, though he made a light point of it, could see by anyone who was not blind that he was not inclined to go too deeply into the subject, and so someone quickly found a reason to lift the paragraph, and there was no coldness until the end of the meal.

After dinner, the juniors piled into the recreation room to take a break, and Ai Jia played checkers with one of her cousins. After losing two games in a row, she relentlessly dragged Lin Jian to the battlefield and insisted on avenging her own death, and Lin Jian could not help but agree.

On the other hand, Shen Ke was called to the study by Shen Zhangqian to chat, he sat in the wide Chinese sofa, took off the cufflinks and casually threw on the coffee table, Shen gray shirt cuffs pulled up a cut, personally for Shen Zhangqian to make a pot of work tea.

Thin pot boiling clear spring, can dry tea cloud cooked. Shen Ke handed over the teacup and whispered, "Dad, have some tea."

Shen Zhangqian took it, sipped it and said, "Good tea."

Shen Ke, however, smiled without saying a word.

After drinking a cup of tea, Shen Zhangqian dripped the cooled bottom of the tea onto his fingertips and rubbed his fingertips onto his eyelids, adding, "Tea can brighten the eyes."

Shen Ke loses his smile with his downcast eyes, holding an alabaster Jianlian between his fingers, still not answering.

"...... can also clear the mind." Shen Zhangqian Seeing this look on his face, he finally couldn't go any higher, sighed, and said, "You drink two more cups to suppress the fire."

"No, it's easy to lose sleep." Shen Ke is still smiling, "Besides, I'm not that hot."

"You say it." Shen Zhangqian shook his head in disapproval, "Scaring your cousin in public on New Year's Eve, you're also getting older and older, what's the point of getting serious with him."

Frightened Fang Yujie did not dare to stay after dinner, immediately slipped away. But this Shen Zhangqian only played a draft, saw Shen Ke lips fade down the smile, in the end did not say out.

"Just a reminder, not really a scare."

"It's not like you don't know that they're usually afraid of you, and when you take it as a mention, it's a knock in the eyes of the onlookers."

Shen Ke raised his eyebrows slightly, his tone was quite a bit helpless, "It's not that exaggerated, they don't serve in Shen's, so what are they afraid of me for."

"What do you think?" Shen Zhangqian said, "In this group of juniors, only Ai Jia dares to be more unrestrained before you. Shen Zhangqian said, "In this group of juniors, only Ai Jia dares to be a bit more unrestrained in front of you, that was when he was a child, the rest of these people, when they see you, they are even more disciplined than when they see me - you ah, look at it as an easy-going and good-tempered, but in fact, who is really close to? "

"That's beside the point of being biased." Shen Ke retorted in a slow voice, "And there are exceptions, not everyone is afraid of me, right?"

"Who?"

Shen Ke subconsciously replied, "Lin Jian."

"......" Shen Zhangqian froze for a moment, back to the obscurity to realize that it is still true, half a day apart, only to say, "That can be the same."

"It is indeed different." Shen Ke put down the teacup in his hand, stood up, lowered his eyes and lowered the cuffs he had pulled up, and said slowly, "I raised them, so naturally they are much more dear to me than others."

It's getting late, Shen Zhangqian should take a rest, Shen Ke is ready to take Lin Jian home, before leaving the door, Shen Zhangqian called out behind him, hesitated for a long time, but still said: "You don't take it too seriously, think more about your mom and me, we are old after all. "

It was unspoken, but Shen Ke knew what he meant.

Indeed, to have grandchildren, to be happy, to enjoy life, these are simple, simple wishes of all parents, and it does not make any difference whether you are the president of a conglomerate with the power of thousands of people, or a mediocre wage earner.

Shen Ke's hand rests on the door handle of the study, pausing for two seconds, but revealing it with a smile, "Really don't have that kind of leisure, but ......"

Shen Zhangqian unconsciously straightened his back from his wheelchair and said expectantly, "What?"

"Why are you in such a hurry to have a grandchild, when there's a ready-made one right in front of you?"

Shen Zhangqian: "......"

Shen Ke smiled and pulled the door open, leaving behind a sentence: "I've raised this child for almost ten years, and I dare say that all these years, you've been a grandfather for nothing."

"......"

The sound of footsteps faded away, until Cong Wan pushed the door in again, Shen Zhangqian slowly leaned back in his chair, and in the middle of the day, he cursed in a low voice with a laugh, "Bastard boy, a good grandson and then give me a biased upbringing."

The night is like water, the streets are lined with lights and colors, and the eyes are filled with a joyful warm red.

Black sedan cut through the night, Lin Jian sat in the passenger seat against the window, looking down at the cell phone screen, at first glance there are a few points of careless boredom, but Shen Ke just inadvertently glanced through this boredom under the heavy heart of the matter.

Turning a corner and stopping at a red light, Shen Ke asked casually, "You haven't said a word since you got in the car, is your dinner too salty for your throat?"

Lin Jian's fingers on his cell phone paused, and it took two seconds for the word to pop out, "No."

"Young man, don't always be so old-fashioned." Ning He in the darkness of the night amplified that touch of laziness in Shen Ke's tone of voice, "What's on your mind, tell me about it."

Lin Jian twisted his head to look out of the car window at the lights of ten thousand houses, tensing his mouth without saying anything.

Afraid to say it? No, I'm afraid he wouldn't dare to listen if I really said it.

As the light turned green and Shen Ke stepped back on the gas, she didn't seem surprised by his silence, but said, half-jokingly, half-emotionally, "You're a year older, and you're hiding your heart."

Lin Jian lowered his eyes and ignored the jibe, and just when Shen Ke thought the topic would be skipped over, the man next to him suddenly asked, "You're going to fall in love and get married, aren't you?"

The side of Shen Ke's face appeared a bit dazed in the passing light outside the window, as if he had not expected him to ask about this suddenly.

Obviously it is a question, but Lin Jian says it in a light and sure tone, as if he has already made up his mind without the need for Shen Ke to give any definite answer.

Lin Jian regretted his words as soon as they were uttered.

Should have been a little more composed ...... at least not so presumptuous, so out of place ...... So he turned his eyes out of the window in Shen Ke s silent interval of a second or two, and tensed his lips to keep quiet again.

Shen Ke was stunned for not long, and when he spoke again, there was no hint of reproach in his tone, but he said with some amusement, "What's the matter with one or two of them today, they are all worrying about me, and even you are also following them?"

"No." Lin Jian responded dryly this time, "You think I'm drunk and talking nonsense."

Upon hearing that Shen Ke burst out laughing, not a heavy laugh, some short bursts of it, "Just that shallow of a red wine bottom, you might as well say you're allergic to alcohol."

Lin Jian's fingers on his legs unconsciously curled up for a moment, and his eyes shifted as if he had accidentally skimmed over the side of Shen Ke's face, but in an instant he moved away again and landed elsewhere.

"So it will be, won't it."

"Is this a trial that won't end?" Shen Ke couldn't help but laugh, his low and deep laughter was a bit muffled, but it didn't show the slightest bit of displeasure due to Lin Jian's self-perceived transgression, instead it was mixed with a bit of Lin Jian's very familiar, inexorable indulgence: "God Lin, this isn't something that you should be worrying about."

Lin Jian fell silent, and Shen Ke didn't give him a direct yes or no answer; once again, the car fell into a subtle silence.

Like a silent, careful tugging test, or some kind of silent unspoken confrontation.

The road conditions were good at night, and in about half an hour, they arrived home. After getting out of the car, the two of them entered the door successively and went to the restroom on the first floor to wash their hands one after the other. When they came out, Lin Jian went back to the bedroom to take a bath, while Shen Ke went down the stairs to the second floor.

Halfway through the trip, there are a few noises behind him, followed by Shen Ke being called to a halt.

He turned at the turn of the stairs and looked behind him with downcast eyes as Lin Jian stood in the doorway of his bedroom, carrying his bathrobe in his hand, half leaning against the doorframe and looking up at him, half leaning against the doorframe, and then suddenly said, "If there is ever a day when that happens, you say so in advance."

Without even having to think about it, Shen Ke realized at once what he was referring to, that he had gone in a big circle, with intermittent interruptions, and that he had come back around again.

Shen Ke narrowed his eyes slightly, his eyes very lightly surveying the teenager standing with his head hanging down not far from him, and asked in a low voice, "What, for you to go through the gates?"

Lin Jian shook his head, and then hooked the corner of his lips very briefly, this smile was very inconspicuous, but inexplicably, Shen Ke actually saw a hint of self-deprecation in such fleeting traces, Lin Jian said: "Where do I need to be the gatekeeper, I... ...just preparing for it."

Shen Ke asked, "Ready for what?"

Lin Jian finally lifted his head, his gaze not hiding, not flickering, looking at him flatly, his voice clear and stern, almost without any emotion, "Move out."

Now it was Shen Ke's turn to keep quiet, and then, the small smile at the corner of the eye also faded, hidden in the depths of the lamp.

Lin Jian maintained this slightly tilted head posture, looking at him, his eyes in his warm and deep brows browse through, for no reason, the heart suddenly welled up dull sadness.

He abhorred his own so unreasonable aggressiveness, unilaterally for Shen Ke, but at the same time can not restrain the bottom of the heart of those growing crazy vine-like ideas, do not dare to let it grow savagely, only dare in these contrary to the virtue of the Xiao Si thought every time a little bit of emergence, was his own hand up and down the waist to cut off, a place of mess, only to leave him the most straightforward, but also the most embarrassing alone in the woe.

But hesitation and confusion or, despondent or terrified, are his alone, Shen Ke such a clear and bright people, and what is the reason why he was pulled into this mud and deep swamp for no reason.

He should always be warm and calm, open and honest, untainted by dust.

Lin Jian raised his eyelids in hindsight, moved his lips, and whispered almost searchingly, "Nothing else, I'm just afraid it's inconvenient and don't want to get in the way."

Much less want to invite boredom.

Again, half a moment of silence, in such a quiet relative, Shen Ke's gaze from above is like substance, obviously not cold, but for no reason oppressive, after a while, he suddenly spoke: "I do not know from when you have such ideas, take it as you have been heavy-hearted since childhood, and heard a few words that should not have been said during today's meal, and suffered a little influence. "

Lin Jian's eyes slowly looked at him.

Shen Ke condescending scrutiny, may be below the line of sight of the teenager tense too obvious, half a long time, the bottom of his eyes finally regathered a little bit of warm and soft smile, seems to be a soothing, seems to be a promise, said to him, "Don't spend all day on your own blindly figure out, you want to say anything, want to know anything, you can come directly to ask me."

Lin Jian opened his mouth without making a sound.

Shen Ke said, "You grew up with me, this is your home, no one is going to make you move out, and no one is going to make you leave."

"No matter what kind of life I lead from now on and who I will or won't be with, it doesn't change that fact, so you don't have to go anywhere."

"Have you forgotten what I told you as a child? No matter what, no one treats you as an obstacle, much less a nuisance to anyone."

Word for word, Shen Ke, closing argument--

"You're my family."

The heart was like an absorbent sponge, heavy and soft, terrified with the solidity that comes from being soothed.

There were footsteps approaching, and Lin Jian blinked as he watched Shen Ke come down the bottom of the stairs and step in front of him, lifting his hand to gently rub the top of his hair.

Lin Jian's throat felt like it was being scraped by razor blades, and he couldn't speak a single word like it was sore and swollen.

Shen Ke's palm rested in his hair for a moment and asked, "Do I make myself clear?"

It is not a question of whether you have understood, but whether you have expressed yourself clearly, as if Lin Jian could gently and painstakingly repeat these soothing words again if he still had doubts and any disturbing concerns.

And Lin Jian, with eyelids drooping, nodded softly and simply said, "Clear."

Speak and listen clearly.

Inextricably linked and enduring -

He said they were family.