Of course, I knew what a condom was, but I’d never seen one before.
My face turned bright red, and I tossed the thing away as if it were burning my hand.
Tang Shi was still laughing, saying I looked particularly stupid.
Why would Yuan Ziyi give me something like this? I felt like I’d touched something dirty and frantically wiped my hands on my pants, then kicked at Tang Shi, “Can you stop laughing already?”
Tang Shi was laughing so hard he was nearly falling over, yet he still managed to dodge my attack, “You should have seen your face just now, you… hahaha…”
He kept laughing, and I tried to kick him again, but he grabbed me by the neck and pinned me down on the bed.
“Alright, alright,” he said, still chuckling but claiming he wasn’t laughing anymore, “I won’t laugh at you.”
I glared at him, and he looked back at me. We locked eyes for barely two seconds before he burst out laughing again.
“Cheng Yueguang,” he said, pressing his head against my chest, shaking with suppressed laughter, “hahaha, I really won’t laugh at you anymore, hahaha—damn!”
While he was laughing on top of me, I pinched his arm hard.
Tang Shi jumped off me, pointing to his arm where a red mark was forming, “Did you have to?”
I ignored him, got up from the bed, grabbed a tissue to pick up the condom. After wrapping it up, I threw it in the trash. Then I reconsidered, worried my mom might check my room’s trash, so I retrieved it and ran to toss it in the bathroom bin instead.
Tang Shi stretched out on my bed, his long legs taking up half of it.
I picked up a comic book from the floor, ready to throw it at him, but Tang Shi made a truce gesture, “Stop, stop, come watch me play a game.”
Obediently, I climbed onto the bed, resting my chin on my arms as I watched him start the game.
“Tang Shi,” I said, unable to hold back as he entered the game, “my deskmate said you got into a fight.”
Tang Shi was choosing a hero for the match, responding with a nonchalant grunt. My eyes stayed on the screen as I continued, “You shouldn’t fight anymore, Aunt Tang would be really upset.”
I’ve never met a woman as gentle as Aunt Tang. In my younger, more foolish years, I even wished she were my mom. Tang Shi never listens and always makes her sad.
“Tsk,” Tang Shi clicked his tongue, annoyed by my chatter. He turned to scold me but stopped, poking my face instead, “Cheng Yueguang, how come I never noticed how chubby your face is?”
“You don’t understand,” I said, touching my face and mimicking my mom, “it’s all collagen.”
Tang Shi lingered in my room all afternoon. During that time, he made me call him ‘big brother’ several times before letting me play on his phone. I used his account to play a game, and within five minutes, my lack of skill got me scolded by teammates.
I nudged Tang Shi awake, showing him the phone, “They’re yelling at me!”
Tang Shi turned away from me on the bed, mumbling, “If they yell at you, just yell back through the mic.”
“Oh.”
I followed his advice and turned on the mic, but after thinking for a long time, I didn’t know what to say. I’m not like Tang Shi, the tyrant. In my sixteen years, the harshest thing I’ve ever said was, “If you keep this up, I’ll tell the teacher,” and that was back in elementary school.
The teammate kept scolding me: [Can you stop feeding? Are you a delivery service, just giving kills away?]
“I’m not feeding,” I muttered into the phone, frantically trying to control my hero back to the base, “I’m just not good with this hero.”
[…]
The person who scolded me sent a string of ellipses, then added: [Are you a kid? Or a girl using a voice changer?]
Huh? What voice changer? I was seriously reading the messages when I accidentally ran into the enemy again.
[How did you die again… never mind, I won’t scold you, I’ll teach you how to play.]
After the match, he added Tang Shi as a friend. I glanced at the sleeping Tang Shi and quietly accepted the request for him.
The player’s game ID was Bugs Bunny. Bugs Bunny messaged me, asking how old I was.
[Your account is VIP 8, you must have spent a lot of money.]
I replied slowly: [This is my brother’s phone.]
[Oh.]
He asked: [Do you have your own account?]
I told him I didn’t have a phone and asked him not to talk to me. I could only play for a short time, and if he kept talking, I wouldn’t have time to play.
Bugs Bunny stopped messaging, and I continued playing.
Tang Shi slept until the afternoon, and I heard a car horn in the yard, signaling my dad or mom was back.
I dropped Tang Shi’s phone and ran out in my slippers. As soon as I got outside, I saw my dad getting out of the car, opening the back door to take out a box of cherries.
He rarely came home this early. I ran over happily, “Dad!”
“Son,” my dad patted my head, “what did you do at home today?”
“A classmate came to see me.”
I walked with my dad, holding the cherries. As we walked, he loosened his tie, “Really? Did you invite them to stay for lunch?”
“I did, Auntie even made mung bean soup, and Tang Shi was here too.”
“Good boy.” My dad hung his suit jacket on the coat rack, flicked my forehead lightly, “Go get Dad a bowl of mung bean soup.”
I went to the kitchen to get a bowl of mung bean soup and looked for ice cubes in the fridge.
When I came out with the soup, Tang Shi was already downstairs, chatting with my dad on the sofa.
He had slept all afternoon, so his hair was a bit messy. His hair was short to begin with, and after sleeping, it stuck up in all directions. He ran his hand through it casually.
Seeing me with the soup, he asked me to get him a bowl too, with a request: “Add two pieces of sugar, or it won’t taste right.”
My dad laughed, saying kids shouldn’t eat too much sugar. He took the soup from me, thanked me, and downed half the bowl in one go.
The ice clinked in the bowl. My dad said, “Good boy, go get your brother another bowl.”
I went to get more soup for Tang Shi, taking the cherries to the kitchen to wash them.
I heard Tang Shi calling me fat, and my dad laughed heartily, “He’s not fat, Yueguang was only chubby when he was little, following you around like a little ball.”
I’m not fat. I spit in Tang Shi’s mung bean soup, thinking angrily, calling me fat, have some of my spit!
After spitting in it, I handed the soup to Tang Shi, “Drink up, I added sugar.”
Tang Shi took the soup, not suspecting a thing, and took a sip.
Hahaha, the little person inside me laughed maniacally, while I kept a straight face and asked, “Is it good?”
Unaware of my mischief, Tang Shi actually smiled, “It’s good.”
My dad chatted with us for a bit before heading upstairs to work. I asked him, “Dad, can you ask Mom to buy me a phone?”
My dad pinched my cheek, amused, “You’re still young, what do you need a phone for?”
“Everyone else has one,” I puffed out my cheeks, “I want one too.”
To justify it, I added, “I can use it for studying.”
In truth, I just wanted to play games.
But my dad didn’t know my little scheme, he nodded, “Alright, I’ll discuss it with your mom when she gets back.”
As I watched my dad go upstairs, Tang Shi finished his soup, crunching on the ice. He said, “Isn’t playing on mine good enough?”
Of course not, playing on his phone meant sacrificing my dignity every time, it wasn’t good at all.
I shook my head, sat next to him, and placed the plate of cherries on my lap to start eating.
Tang Shi leaned over and grabbed a handful, lounging on the sofa with his legs crossed, popping cherries into his mouth with one hand while checking his phone with the other.
I noticed he wasn’t spitting out the pits and asked in surprise, “Did you eat the pits too?”
He didn’t reply, just motioned for me to come closer.
I wasn’t going over, I guessed he wanted to trick me into holding out my hand for him to spit the pits into.
Tang Shi was like that, fierce and mischievous. Besides someone as patient as me, I couldn’t imagine who else could endure being his friend for over a decade.
That evening, when my mom came home, I was eager for the gift she promised and ran out to greet her.
To my surprise, my gift turned out to be an enrollment ticket for a Taekwondo class.
My mom, wearing high heels, walked over, bringing a whiff of perfume. She was quite pleased, with a purse on one arm and the other around my shoulders, “Son, this class is hard to get into. I had to ask a business partner to get you in. Once you learn Taekwondo, I won’t have to worry about anyone bullying you.”
The yard was lit with small orange lights, and a few moths fluttered around, bumping into the lights. Moths to a flame, moths to a flame, moths are such fools.
The Taekwondo class ticket felt heavy in my hand, but I couldn’t refuse my mom, so I accepted it with a mournful face.
“Such a good baby~” my mom said, kissing my cheek and leading me inside.
“Honey! I’m home!”
“Why so late today?” my dad called from upstairs. He had changed into comfortable home clothes and was holding a coffee cup, “You said your stomach was upset, so I had Sister Zhou make you some ginger tea.”
My mom kicked off her heels, tossed her purse aside, and kissed my dad’s cheek, “Thank you, darling~”
Now my dad had a lipstick mark on his face, just like me.
Seeing my gloomy expression, he laughed and asked what was wrong, “Why the long face, son?”
“Dad,” I showed him the enrollment ticket, putting on a pitiful look, “boohoo…”
Playing the sympathy card didn’t work. My dad, the spineless man, only ever obeyed my mom. Not only did he not sympathize with me, but he also praised her for being thoughtful.
It’s not like he’s the one attending the classes!
My poor weekend breaks! Are they all going to be spent sweating it out in Taekwondo? I don’t want that! I don’t want it at all!
Fortunately, my dad had a bit of conscience left. Taking advantage of my mom’s good mood, he suggested getting me a phone, “Kids Yueguang’s age all have phones now, he should have one too. It’s convenient for looking up information online.”
“Okay.”
My mom hummed a tune, untying her dress. After a day of being cinched by the belt, her waist was finally free. She sighed in relief, tapping my dad’s nose with her slender fingers, “Mr. Cheng, the task of getting Yueguang a phone is yours!”