On Friday, when Zhong Qi returned home from school, only his father, Zhong Jiacheng, was at home. The man took off his suit jacket and threw it aside, sitting on the sofa and smoking, filling the room with smoke.

Zhong Jiacheng saw him and said, “You’re back.”

Zhong Qi glanced at his father’s slightly disheveled collar and the ashtray full of cigarette butts in front of him, and nodded in response. He put his backpack on the sofa and went to the kitchen to get some cold water to drink.

When he returned to the living room, Zhong Jiacheng finished his last cigarette and extinguished it in the ashtray. After straightening his collar, he took his suit jacket and put it back on. “Your mom isn’t home, let’s go out to eat, just the two of us.”

Regardless of whether they were at home or not, they wouldn’t cook. Neither of the couple was good at cooking, nor did they want to spend time learning. Lunch was each person’s own affair, with Zhong Qi eating at school and the couple eating separately at restaurants or a cafeteria. Dinner was even more casual, Zhong Jiacheng was always attending banquets, and when Qin Man was at home, she would order takeout from a restaurant. When she wasn’t, she would order delivery for Zhong Qi.

As a result, Zhong Qi was tired of restaurant food and preferred the cheap rice bowls from the school cafeteria.

“I don’t want to go.” Zhong Qi said.

“We’ll just order some home-cooked dishes at a nearby restaurant,” Zhong Jiacheng said. “Come on, we haven’t talked for a long time.”

Zhong Qi’s expression softened at these words.

In the end, father and son went out together.

Perhaps the man was in a bad mood. After ordering a few dishes in the restaurant, he also called for a few bottles of beer. Before the dishes arrived, he poured himself a glass and started drinking.

Zhong Jiacheng asked Zhong Qi, “Do you want some?”

“I don’t drink.”

Zhong Jiacheng showed a bored expression. “You don’t even want to accompany your dad for a drink.”

“I have to go back and do homework.”

“Oh, homework. What does it matter? I’m not like your mom, always nagging you to do homework.”

Zhong Qi picked up his rice bowl and ate his food without responding to his dad.

Zhong Jiacheng ate and drank, and soon two bottles of beer were empty. The man’s face showed a hint of drunkenness, and he began to talk more.

“I had a fight with your mom today. Guess why your mom got angry with me?” Zhong Jiacheng smiled. “I happened to pass by her office building when I went out today and ran into her colleague. She… she saw it and went home, feeling that the tie I wore was too cheap, and she felt embarrassed in front of others.

“He is the younger brother of the director of a state-owned enterprise, wearing a tie worth over five thousand yuan, and who am I supposed to compare to? I wear a tie worth over two thousand yuan, who am I worse than? And I bought this tie myself, not your mom, did you know that?”

Zhong Qi’s expression was cold. “Is this useful to tell me?”

“I just can’t stand your mom’s attitude, making two thousand yuan a month and dreaming of making eight million yuan every day. Who can stand her? Son, I know you can’t stand her either, heh.”

Zhong Qi thought he shouldn’t have come out to eat this meal. It’s never possible for his dad to talk about normal topics. Between them, either there’s nothing to say, or Zhong Qi listens to his dad complaining and pouring out his grievances. In the end, it’s just annoying. He didn’t know why, since it’s so uncomfortable, they had to maintain the appearance of a harmonious family for so many years.

Zhong Jiacheng drank half a bottle of wine again. Zhong Qi didn’t want to deal with a drunkard later, so he pushed the wine bottle aside. “Stop drinking.”

“Hey, son, I’m not drunk.” Zhong Jiacheng wasn’t drunk indeed. He took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and smoked.

“I’m tired.” The man flicked off the ash from his cigarette. “Working hard all day, just to come home to be glared at. So I don’t want to go home. Son, don’t blame me.”

“Can you stop?” Zhong Qi’s voice was low and cold, with a hint of anger.

Zhong Jiacheng ignored it and continued, “Actually, you must have noticed it too. Your mom and I have come to this point now. There’s just no fate, you know? There’s really no fate, neither of us can stand each other. Yet in the end, isn’t it because of my money and effort that your dad is now a company boss, and our family lives so well?”

Zhong Qi put down his chopsticks, pushed the bowl away, and looked coldly at his dad.

“With my situation—not to mention being the best, who wouldn’t stick to me? For so many years, I’ve been running so many businesses, right? How many young and beautiful women are there compared to your mom? Any normal man knows who to choose.”

There was a moment of shock in Zhong Qi’s expression. When he digested this sentence, disbelief, anger, disgust, and a hint of doubt rushed into his heart like a towering wave.

“What do you mean?” Zhong Qi’s voice was low and cold, with a hint of suppressed anger.

Zhong Jiacheng had drunk a bellyful of wine, picked up his chopsticks, took a few bites of food, and smiled again when he heard this. “Zhong Qi, don’t think about getting angry now. Dad is telling you the truth from the bottom of his heart. All men in the world are the same. When they meet a beautiful woman, they all have such thoughts. So, if you want to be a good man, it’s best to find a good woman to tie you down. In short, if your mom wasn’t so difficult to deal with, I wouldn’t have… outside…”

The harsh sound of the table legs dragging across the floor erupted, and the wine bottle rolled to the ground with a clatter.

Zhong Qi kicked the table away, ignoring the eyes of the entire restaurant as he walked out without looking back. The wine spilled on the table, leaving stains on Zhong Jiacheng’s pants.

…

“Brother Lin, Old Li is calling you to the office to pick up the biology homework!”

Lin Shiyu got up and left the classroom. When he arrived at the door of the Physics, Chemistry, and Biology office, he felt inexplicably nervous for a moment, but then walked in calmly.

Li Zhong was sitting behind the desk, grading papers. He looked up at Lin Shiyu, nodded towards a stack of papers beside him, and said, “Take these papers and distribute them.”

Lin Shiyu went over to pick up the papers. Just as he was about to turn around and leave, Li Zhong called out to him.

Li Zhong put down his pen and sighed.

“I was too harsh with my words earlier, don’t take it to heart,” Li Zhong said. “I just hope you can focus on your studies and not think about other trivial matters.”

Lin Shiyu stood uncomfortably holding the papers, not knowing how to respond, so he just nodded.

“Are you still mad at me?”

“No.”

Li Zhong looked serious. “I was too hasty and said the wrong thing. Old Li apologizes to you, okay?”

Lin Shiyu stuttered this time. “No, no need, I’m really not angry.”

“Okay, then focus on your studies.” Li Zhong turned back to pick up his pen and continued grading papers. He said, “Come to my office for extra lessons every Wednesday. I won’t believe I can’t help you catch up. You can go now.”

After returning to the classroom with the papers, Lin Shiyu gave some to the group leader and took a stack for himself. While distributing the papers, Mao Silu suddenly appeared and took away half of the papers in his hand. “Shiyu, did Old Li say anything to you?”

“No,” Lin Shiyu replied, then thought for a moment and added, “He said he was too harsh with his words earlier and asked me not to take it to heart.”

Mao Silu smiled. “I knew it, our Lao Li is so good—”

Mao Silu happily bumped into Lin Shiyu. Whenever he expressed joy or intimacy, he liked to bump into people, a habit that came from who knows where. Lin Shiyu was unprepared and stumbled from his forceful bump, almost falling onto the nearby desk.

With a loud bang, the textbooks on the desk were knocked askew, and a pen rolled down and fell to the ground.

Mao Silu quickly supported Lin Shiyu, and they both looked up to see Zhong Qi looking at them, leaning against the back of his chair, playing with his phone.

There was no expression on his face, his gaze was dark and distant, emitting an aura of aloofness.

Lin Shiyu was momentarily stunned. Zhong Qi was always cold and uncommunicative, keeping his distance from everyone. However, this time when Lin Shiyu looked into his eyes, he felt a strange sense of unfamiliarity.

Mao Silu hurriedly straightened Zhong Qi’s desk. “Sorry, Zhong Qi…”

“Pick it up.”

Both of them were stunned, and Ruan Zhikai also looked over, wearing a puzzled expression.

Zhong Qi continued to look at Lin Shiyu calmly. “The pen.”

Lin Shiyu was puzzled. He thought they must have accidentally bumped into Zhong Qi’s desk and made him unhappy. Lin Shiyu didn’t think too much about it for the moment and immediately picked up the pen.

Lin Shiyu looked at the tip of the pen, which showed signs of cracking. He placed the pen on Zhong Qi’s desk. “It seems to be broken.”

“Is that so?” Zhong Qi picked up the pen on the desk and glanced at it casually. “Then just throw it away.”

As he finished speaking, he raised his hand, and the pen drew an arc in the air, landing in the trash can next to the corridor.

Both Mao Silu and Ruan Zhikai showed dumbfounded expressions at the same time.

Lin Shiyu, even though slow to react, realized immediately. Feeling provoked by Zhong Qi’s behavior, he was about to get angry when Mao Silu beside him hurriedly half-hugged him and said, “Let’s just hand out the papers, Shiyu. It’s almost time for class. Let’s go.”

Until Lin Shiyu was dragged away by Mao Silu, Zhong Qi didn’t look at him again.

With a loud bang, the railing on the edge of the playground was kicked and shook. Lin Shiyu, frustrated and angry, said, “What does he mean by that?!”

Mao Silu and Ruan Zhikai were sitting on the flower bed nearby after finishing lunch in the cafeteria and didn’t immediately return to the classroom. Instead, they sat under the shade of a tree by the edge of the playground and continued to eat snacks. Gao Jie went home for a big meal at noon, so Zhong Qi didn’t join them.

Ruan Zhikai said, “Zhong Qi seems to be in a bad mood today, completely ignoring everyone.”

Mao Silu sat on the edge of the flower bed, holding a box of chocolate milk in his hand, and asked, “What’s going on?”

“Who knows, I asked him, but he didn’t say anything.”

Lin Shiyu said impatiently, “It’s not like I did anything to make him angry.”

Ruan Zhikai shrugged. “Are you sure?”

“Huh?!”

“Alright, alright.” Mao Silu pacified him. “Shiyu, don’t be angry with him. After all, Zhong Qi rarely gets upset. I think, if he’s in a bad mood, it’s probably because he’s really encountered something terrible.”

Ruan Zhikai sat cross-legged on the edge of the flower bed and shrugged. “You’re always making excuses for people.”

“That’s because Zhong Qi, although not very enthusiastic, rarely gets angry. Unlike you, who gets angry easily.”

“What? Then why don’t you say anything about this railing-kicking guy?”

Hearing Mao Silu’s words, Lin Shiyu, who was kicking the railing, stood still for a moment and thought it made sense.

Maybe he really encountered something that made him upset?

Lin Shiyu knew he was someone who couldn’t control his emotions once he got angry, and at the most serious times, he could smash everything around him. Compared to himself, Zhong Qi was actually quite restrained.

Lin Shiyu frowned and thought for a long time. Although he felt annoyed when he remembered Zhong Qi’s indifferent gaze towards him, his anger gradually subsided, and his mood calmed down.

Forget it, it’s just a pen, what’s there to argue about.

 

 

Edited by: Jaisland

Proofreader: 

 

Support translation: