The moment Jiang Ling walked through the door, he locked eyes with a youth who had just hopped over the perimeter wall. Both of them froze.
Bai Zhao brushed the dust off his hands and grinned. “Yo, why are you back so early today?”
“Aren’t you early too?” Jiang Ling raised an eyebrow. “You have a front gate, yet you insist on scaling walls.”
Bai Zhao chuckled. “I am used to it.” He pointed at the wall behind him. “This way is faster. Anyway, why are you carrying a plushie?”
Bai Zhao’s gaze immediately landed on the Stitch doll in Jiang Ling’s arms. “Is it not a bit too childish? Let me play with it.”
Jiang Ling tucked his hand into his pocket, clamped the plushie under his arm, and brushed past the other boy with a light huff. “You think it is childish, yet you want to play with it? You are dreaming.”
Bai Zhao rolled his eyes and curled his lip. “Fine! What is so special about a ragdoll anyway? Tomorrow I will ask my girlfriend to buy me one.”
“Is that Ah Ling back?” Old Man Bai’s voice echoed from not far away.
Jiang Ling replied with a sweet smile, “Yes, Grandpa! Bai Zhao just said he is going to let his girlfriend”
The rest of the sentence vanished. Bai Zhao scrambled over, frantic. He reached out to cover Jiang Ling’s mouth, but Jiang Ling caught his hand instantly.
“What do you think you are doing?” Jiang Ling lifted his gaze and let go of the hand, standing in a relaxed, lazy posture. “Speak properly. Do not get handsy.”
Bai Zhao’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Brother, is it me being handsy or you? You were the one who grabbed me first!” He lowered his voice, losing some of his momentum. “I just teased you a bit. Is it worth snitching to Grandpa?”
“Ah Ling, what were you trying to say? Grandpa did not hear clearly.” Due to the distance and his age, Old Man Bai had not caught the words. “You mentioned Xiao Zhao? What about him?”
Bai Zhao shouted loudly, “Nothing, Grandpa! I am fine! Everything is fine!”
Jiang Ling glanced at the red-faced Bai Zhao. He curled his lips into a smirk and patted the boy’s shoulder. “Next time, remember to call me Big Brother, my dear little brother. I am heading in.”
The Gift
Jiang Ling walked away without looking back, leaving a fuming Bai Zhao behind. “Calling you brother? Dream on! You should be calling me brother!”
Jiang Ling ignored him and composed his emotions. By the time he reached Old Man Bai, his expression had shifted into one of a well-behaved grandson. “Grandpa, I am back. Here, this is a gift for you.”
Old Man Bai looked at the plushie stuffed into his arms, his smile never wavering. He reached out and patted his grandson’s head; the soft hair felt almost like the plushie’s fur. “Ah Ling is such a good boy. Even when you are out having fun, you are thinking of your Grandpa.”
He tried to hand the toy back. “Grandpa does not play with these, but thank you for the thought.”
“Then tell me what you like, Grandpa? Next time I go out, I will bring you a proper gift.”
The old man was so charmed by Jiang Ling’s sweet talk that his smile reached his ears. “No need, no need. Just having you show this filial piety makes me happy enough.”
Bai Zhao, arriving a step late, looked like he was suffering from chronic constipation at the sight of this harmony, but knowing he could not win a fight with Jiang Ling, he kept his mouth shut.
Brotherly Bonds
After dinner, Jiang Ling was heading to his room when a small attachment suddenly clung to his leg. Bai Mo hugged his leg, looking up with a tiny face. “Brother!”
Jiang Ling smiled and rubbed the child’s fluffy hair. “Did you finish your dinner?” Bai Mo was a picky eater who was usually the last one to leave the table.
“I finished!” Bai Mo said, sounding a bit guilty. His eyes darted around before settling shyly on the Stitch plushie.
Seeing the longing in the child’s eyes, Jiang Ling shook the doll. “Want it?”
Bai Mo nodded eagerly.
“Go finish every last grain of rice in your bowl, and I will give it to you.”
Bai Mo thought about it for a few seconds before whispering, “Brother, wait for me.” He took one last longing look at the toy and bolted back to the dining room. Three minutes later, he ran back with his cheeks puffed out like a squirrel.
“Brother, I ate it all!” Bai Mo managed to say through a mouthful of rice.
Jiang Ling nodded and handed the plushie over. “Here you go.”
“Thank you, Brother!” Bai Mo cheered.
Bai Zhao, leaning against the doorway, raised an eyebrow. “You were so stingy when I asked to play with it earlier. I thought it was super important to you, but you gave it away just like that?”
“Whether it is important or not is none of your business,” Jiang Ling said flatly, turning to leave. When he was a child, a toy like that would have made him the happiest person alive. But he was grown now. His greed could no longer be satisfied by a mere doll.
The Academic Struggle
A few days later, the tutors hired by Old Man Bai arrived. Once Jiang Ling realized he was not going back to H Province anytime soon, he called his crew at the shop.
“Ah Ling, do not worry,” Chen Jin said over the phone. “We will take care of the shop. We will wait for you to come back and make us bigger and stronger.”
“I will be back,” Jiang Ling promised. “Message me if anything happens.”
“Do not worry about us. Just focus on your rehabilitation, I mean, your studies! Get into a good university and show us what the world looks like.”
“You guys are annoying. I am hanging up.” Jiang Ling hung up, feigning irritation. Those guys were getting bold, actually teasing him.
Soon, his phone vibrated with a bank notification. A message followed. “Ah Ling, I sent you the last two months’ wages. Study hard. If you run out of money, just tell us. Do not let yourself suffer.”
Jiang Ling looked at the amount. It was significantly more than what his actual wages should have been. His heart felt a sudden, sharp ache of warmth and sadness. He had met Chen Jin and the others during his darkest times. To others, they were just street punks, but to him, they were brothers.
He blinked back the moisture in his eyes, transferred the excess money back, and typed a stoic reply. “Got it. Even if I starve to death, it will not be your turn to feed me. If you want to take care of me, wait for your next life.”
Back in H City, Chen Jin’s crew crowded around the phone. “What did Ah Ling say? Is he moved to tears?” When they saw the reply, they went silent. Finally, someone muttered, “As expected of Ah Ling, his tongue is still laced with poison.”
A Deadly Discovery
Because the brothers’ academic foundation was so poor, one tutor was not enough. They added another for one-on-one sessions. Often, the study room echoed with Bai Zhao’s wails of despair, though they were quickly suppressed by Jiang Ling’s heavy-handed discipline. Old Man Bai, seeing the studious atmosphere, dragged the young Bai Mo in as well. It became a hierarchy: the eldest managed the middle, and the middle managed the youngest.
Huo Junnian was busy, so Jiang Ling did not disturb him often, only sending occasional messages to share his daily life. One afternoon, before Huo Junnian finished work, his phone buzzed several times. He knew exactly who it was.
Jiang Ling had sent photos of a bright blue sky, likely taken from the Bai family garden.
“Uncle, the weather is great today. Does that cloud not look like a little yellow duck? I wonder if you can see it from where you are.”
“Bai Zhao made the new tutor cry today. He is so dumb; he needs a math problem explained five or six times. Unlike me, I am smart. I get it on the first try.”
“Uncle, you must have been a top student when you were my age, right? Can I ask you for help if I get stuck on a problem?”
Huo Junnian felt a wave of warmth. Through these messages, he could almost see the vivid, spirited youth. He typed back. “I am afraid my answer will disappoint you. My grades were not actually that good at your age.”
When Huo Junnian was eighteen, his family faced a massive crisis. He could not focus on studies and only got into an average university, which he ended up not attending to take over the family business.
“Because of that, I have always admired students who get into prestigious universities. I hope Ah Ling can work hard this year, get a great score, and get into a top tier school. You can help me fulfill that regret.”
Jiang Ling stared at the message and froze. He bolted upright from his chair.
Bai Zhao, who was busy memorizing text, jumped. “What the hell are you doing? Let a man study in peace!”
Jiang Ling did not even look at him. His brow was furrowed as he turned to the young tutor organizing materials next to him.
How am I supposed to do this? Huo Junnian does not just like obedient boys, he likes top students!
This is deadly.
The young tutor was startled by Jiang Ling’s intense expression. Among the three brothers, Bai Zhao was the loudest, but he had quickly realized that the youth in front of him was the one you truly should not provoke.
The tutor forced a professional smile. “Student Jiang, do you have a question for me?”
Jiang Ling nodded solemnly. He looked at the teacher, who was a graduate of a prestigious university with six years of experience.
“Teacher Xu,” Jiang Ling asked, “Based on what you have seen so far, do you think I can get into Tsinghua or Peking University next year?”