“S-sorry.” Lin Duole wasn’t angry at having his blanket pulled off. He apologized in a good-natured tone, saying, “I won’t read anymore. Go to sleep.”
Lu Chengyu always felt that this kid from the mountains had an insatiable hunger for knowledge, as if he wanted to study every single day, night, and second of his life.
This weekend, Lu Tingyu happened to be at home. Seeing Lin Duole and Lu Chengyu both in the living room watching a basketball game, he said, “Luole, Uncle signed you up for a weekend tutoring class with a foreign teacher—four sessions a week. We can take advantage of the break to get your phonetic symbols and grammar up to speed.”
“No need, Uncle. I can catch up slowly on my own through self-study.” Lin Duole didn’t want Uncle Lu to waste money on him, so he spoke up to decline.
“The money’s already paid, and the center won’t refund it.” Clearly expecting the child to say this, Lu Tingyu smiled and waved his hand. “Besides, it didn’t cost much. Luole, just go with peace of mind and study hard.”
After saying that, he instructed Lu Chengyu, “And Chengyu, when Dad isn’t home, you’re responsible for dropping off and picking up your younger brother for his tutoring classes. If there’s anything he doesn’t understand, teach him patiently. Stop constantly thinking about running off outside to go wild at internet cafes with your classmates.”
“Why do I have to take him?” Lu Chengyu frowned, his excitement for the basketball game nearly buried by his father’s assignment. “Can’t Mom take him?”
“You know your mother goes out shopping and traveling with her friends every weekend.” Lu Tingyu patted his son’s hair and continued, “Besides, your mom works hard five days a week, so the two of us shouldn’t trouble her.”
“Uncle Lu, don’t trouble Chengyu-ge. I can take the bus by myself.” Lin Duole constantly felt like he was too much of a burden on Uncle Lu’s family. On top of that, Lu Chengyu clearly didn’t want to drive him to tutoring.
Before Lu Tingyu could say anything, Lu Chengyu glanced sideways at Lin Duole, agreed with a cold face, and said, “Got it. I will, Dad.”
From then on, every weekend, Lu Chengyu took Lin Duole to the foreign teacher’s tutoring center in the suburbs beyond the 5th Ring Road. The foreign teacher was a Canadian man with a very rugged appearance, chest hair spilling from his collar, and strong body odor.
Lin Duole was very shy when he first arrived. Unlike the other students who read the text out loud, his voice was always so quiet he could barely hear it himself.
The heavily bearded foreign teacher was named Abraham. He walked over to Lin Duole and asked him, “How do you say 蘋果 in English?”
Lin Duole replied very softly, “apple.”
The foreign teacher looked at him and commanded with a sharp gaze, “Speak louder, please.”
He ran his words together too fast, and Lin Duole didn’t understand.
“Speak louder, please,” the foreign teacher repeated fiercely.
Frightened and overly nervous from that aggressive face, Lin Duole still didn’t understand. Thinking he had answered incorrectly, he hesitantly tried another word, his tone growing even more cautious: “pineapple?”
Foreign teacher: “…”
Lin Duole: “banana?”
“I say speak louder, please,” the foreign teacher emphasized helplessly.
Lin Duole: “strawberry?”
Out of moves, the foreign teacher could only look at him and explain, “Kid, I’m telling you to speak up.”
“Oh.” Only then did Lin Duole understand. With a red face, he spoke a bit louder: “Apple!”
“Yes, read it out loud with this intonation.” The foreign teacher nodded and gave him a thumbs-up.
Lin Duole stood up straight and replied loudly, “Yes, sir!”
After attending the class for two weeks, Lin Duole clearly opened up a lot. He no longer felt shy facing other foreign teachers, and everyday conversational English came to him with ease.
Lu Chengyu took note of his changes. Several times when passing by the balcony, he heard Lin Duole standing there reading English in the morning. His voice was clear and his pronunciation standard; the original reading style tainted with a rural accent had completely vanished by now.
When Lu Tingyu passed by, he met his son’s eyes, smiling with a face full of gratification as he said, “Luole works very hard and is making fast progress. Bringing him to study in the city was the right choice.”
Lu Chengyu didn’t say anything. Thinking of the conditions in that mountain village, he simply nodded and said, “He has the drive; he won’t do poorly at anything.”
“That may be true, but a child like Luole needs a good platform and a stage where he can fully unleash his abilities.” Lu Tingyu patted his son’s head and said slowly, “You too—you should cherish the conditions you have now instead of squandering them recklessly.”
“Got it.” Lu Chengyu subtly picked up on his father’s gentle admonition.
Time slowly drifted by, and Lin Duole gradually grew accustomed to living in the city. Curious about everything in the city, he felt time was pressing; aside from attending school, he spent his weekends at tutoring, and at home, he studied day and night as if learning were an endless pursuit.
Another two months passed. At the dinner table, Lu Tingyu mentioned he was going on a three-week business trip to Hangzhou next week. Song Qian was a talented Latin dance coach who occasionally performed abroad, and this time she was being sent on an official assignment to Canada.
With both adults away, Lu Tingyu had no choice but to call Lu Chengyu’s grandfather over to take care of the kids for a few days.
Lin Duole didn’t understand what the adults were doing on business trips, but he knew that once they left, it would just be him and Lu Chengyu at home—and that was terrible. He didn’t want to be left alone with Lu Chengyu.
Grandpa arrived on the day the adults left. It was Lin Duole’s first time meeting an elderly man with gray hair who was yet so agile and sprightly.
“You must be Wanqiu’s child?” Grandpa gestured, welcoming Lin Duole over.
Lin Duole stepped closer, nodded, and called out warmly, “Hello, Grandpa.”
“Good boy, look how big you’ve grown.” Grandpa patted his head, then looked at his own grandson. “Grandpa will take care of the two of you next. Tell Grandpa whatever you want to eat, and I’ll cook it for you.”
That night, the old man asked what they wanted for breakfast. Lu Chengyu answered offhandedly without thinking, “Whatever you like. I’ll eat whatever you make.”
left with no choice, the old man turned and deliberately asked Lin Duole, “Luole, what do you want to eat? Steamed buns? Dumplings? Mantou? Or fried dough sticks?”
Seeing how seriously Grandpa asked, Lin Duole felt that saying “whatever” would be too insensitive to the old man’s sincerity. After carefully considering the choices, he said, “Dumplings, please. Grandpa, I’d like to eat dumplings.”
“Ah, Grandpa knows! Then the three of us will have dumplings tomorrow.” Grandpa grabbed his wallet and announced he was going out to buy dumpling wrappers.
Lin Duole quickly held him back and said nervously, “Grandpa, that’s too much trouble for you. How about we just buy some ready-made?”
The old man patted his hand and chuckled, saying, “Dumplings bought outside are either frozen or pre-made—not fresh. Tomorrow, Grandpa will personally make you thin-skinned, heavily-stuffed dumplings to eat!”
Hearing this, Lin Duole felt even more guilty. What had he done to deserve an elderly person going to such lengths to make a batch of dumplings for him?
Yet the old man, over seventy years old, was already striding out the door like he was flying, leaving behind a shut door and two kids staring at each other.
With a cold face, Lu Chengyu approached him, backing him against the door, and said, “You sure know how to find work for my granddad.”
“I didn’t mean to.” Lin Duole wiped a cold sweat from his forehead. Looking at the aggressively close Lu Chengyu, he explained, “Grandpa asked us what we wanted to eat. If we both said ‘whatever’, it would be too dismissive of him. Anyone who cooks hates hearing ‘whatever’ the most.”
Lu Chengyu realized the point, nodded, and said teasingly, “Heh, so you know a lot, huh?”
The voice-activated light in the hallway flickered dimly. The two fell silent for a moment, neither backing down. To be exact, with Lin Duole’s back against the door and Lu Chengyu right in front of him, there was nowhere to retreat.
“I really didn’t mean to boss Grandpa around,” Lin Duole said after a few seconds of silence, explaining again when he saw the other boy blocking him without moving.
“Got it.” Lu Chengyu used the dim light to observe the expression on Lin Duole’s face. He saw his brow slightly furrowed—clearly an angry look, yet his tone was full of pleading.
Lin Duole still frowned after hearing his response, not understanding why he wouldn’t let him go. Looking up at him, he found Lu Chengyu’s gaze unusually deep.
He hesitated for several seconds before turning his head away and asking, “Then why are you still blocking me?”
“I’m looking at you.” Lu Chengyu blurted out out of nowhere, leaning in a bit closer until their breaths mingled. He added, “To see if you’re really scared of me.”
Lin Duole was instantly stumped by the question. Speaking of fear, none of the adults in the house had ever made him feel a trace of dread, yet in front of Lu Chengyu, he always overthought things and couldn’t feel entirely composed.
He pushed against Lu Chengyu’s chest, broke free from his restraint, and took two steps away, saying, “We’re both young men. What do I have to be scared of you for?”
“Oh,” Lu Chengyu replied airily, ignoring him after that.
A moment later, Grandpa returned with a big smile.
Lin Duole was amazed by the old man’s robust physical strength. Unlike his own grandfather back home, who was so advanced in age that he needed a cane to walk and had blackened fingernails from high-altitude labor, this old man had a straight spine and steady movements behind a neat head of graying hair.
Lin Duole felt a surge of sorrow. He thought of his own grandfather and grandmother far away in the mountain village—what were they doing right now? Did they ever miss him on ordinary days like this?
“Grandpa used to be a soldier when he was young.” Lu Chengyu noticed everything Lin Duole was doing. Seeing him staring at his grandfather’s back as if confused, or perhaps reminiscing through an object, he spoke up.
The moment Lu Chengyu spoke, Lin Duole’s sad emotions evaporated. Looking up at the old man busy in the kitchen, he admitted truthfully, “No wonder he’s so fit.”
“Not just that—let me tell you.” Lu Chengyu hooked his finger, gesturing for Lin Duole to come closer, and whispered in his ear, “Last year, when Grandpa was seventy-two, he went to the square to teach the old ladies Tai Chi to promote tradition. In the end, no matter how he taught them, those old ladies couldn’t learn it, so he abandoned the dark side for the light and ended up joining the old ladies in square dancing instead! Hahaha!”