“–Th-Then I’ll wait for Brother…”
Su Tang loved practicing problems.
He had liked studying since he was little, and whenever his thirst for knowledge was satisfied, he could always experience a genuine sense of pleasure.
When practicing problems, the correct answers plastered all over the test paper were among the few sense of achievements in his life that were completely controlled by himself.
Since Brother had also started liking to practice problems, he didn’t plan on playing games anymore either.
——He was going to practice together with Brother!
Thus, the entirety of Su Tang’s fourth grade was spent almost entirely side-by-side with his brother practicing problems.
To Su Tang, practicing problems was as natural as eating and drinking; it was a daily routine where he enjoyed the fun of studying. But to Li Xingchuan, it was practically like sitting in meditation and chanting scriptures—monotonous and agonizing.
Fortunately, Li Xingchuan had a quick mind and was smart enough. His foreign language and science scores were pretty good, and the only subjects he needed to make up for were the humanities.
Yet he lacked patience. The humanities relied on rote memorization, which he hated the most.
Sometimes while practicing problems, he would suddenly erupt without warning, crumpling the test paper he couldn’t answer into a wrinkled ball and tossing it fiercely into the trash can in the corner.
After the unprovoked anger subsided, he would silently walk over, fish the paper ball out of the trash can, sheepishly smooth it out, press it flat, and bite on his pen as he continued to recall the memories.
Just like that, through massive amounts of practice and enhanced memorization, Li Xingchuan forcibly dragged his originally dragging-behind-the-legs humanities scores up to the passing line in mock exam after mock exam.
Adding all subjects together, he finally managed to brush past the admission line of the city’s key No. 1 High School without a hitch.
Guests coming to the Li household to offer congratulations came in an endless stream, all praising the Li family for producing a “Kylin son.”
——Only after turning around and leaving, they inevitably whispered in private: With these scores, it was probably bought by paying someone to take the exam in his place.
In front of people, Li Shengilan remained utterly unruffled.
When the night was at its deepest, however, he walked alone up to the restricted attic.
On the wall furthest inside the attic, it was covered with old photos fitted in picture frames.
Without walking closer, Li Shengilan stood in the shadows of the doorway, looking from afar.
The moonlight filtering through the door was too cold to make out the details of the photos, merely outlining a quiet silhouette.
Facing that silhouette, he whispered something with a breath so soft it was almost inaudible.
The voice was very faint.
He stood there for a long time. Until the day was about to dawn, he took one deep, lingering look at that blurry silhouette.
Turning around, locking the door, going downstairs.
On his face was that impeccable, unflappable calmness of daytime.
The next day, as if he hadn’t quite had his fill of flattery, Li Shengilan assigned Li Xingchuan an extra agreement task: asking his son to accompany him to a banquet—he was planning to host a college entrance celebration banquet and needed Li Xingchuan to cooperate.
Naturally, Li Xingchuan was happy to oblige, as he could earn another sum before school started.
Only that night, Su Tang clung to him tightly like an insecure little animal once again, lifting his watery, pretty eyes to look over. The unease in those eyes was clear—the impending separation had triggered his anxiety.
Li Xingchuan immediately made a promise to him—
“I’ll just go ahead to wait for you, we aren’t separating.”
“I won’t board at school, I’ll still pick you up and bring you home every day.”
“As for morning classes, I’ll wake up half an hour early to drop you off first.”
Gently sniffing, Su Tang shook his head: “I don’t want Brother to work this hard.”
“——I-I will learn not to rely on Brother so much.”
Hearing this, Li Xingchuan felt like the sky was falling.
He practically wanted to swear an oath: “Don’t go learning bad things.”
With tears welling up, Su Tang’s eyes shining wetly, he asked in a soft, sweet voice: “Then… how is it considered learning well?”
With a deadpan expression, Li Xingchuan replied: “Just like before is very good.”
“Little kids are supposed to rely on brothers.”
“Going to school, eating, sleeping… none of it can do without Brother.”
“Only people without a brother need to be ‘independent’; you have a brother, you are not allowed to learn that stuff.”
Nodding obediently, Su Tang burrowed his entire body into his brother’s warm embrace, his voice muffled yet glowing with a sense of reassuring joy: “I know, Brother~”
What Li Xingchuan said, he also did.
For two full years, he went to school and returned home, shuttling back and forth between the two campuses, unfazed by wind or rain.
Until—
Su Tang graduated from elementary school and, with zero suspense and the most dazzling results in Qinghe’s school history, was admitted into the city’s key No. 1 High School.
August.
One morning during summer vacation, Su Tang woke up from bed and instinctively felt around beside him.
Soon, his hand brushed against something soft, and half-opening his watery eyes in a hazy sleep, he instinctively and dependably curled inward, burying his cheek into it.
Clutching the soft object in his arms, his consciousness sank into warm clouds, floating fuzzily for quite a while.
Until the bird chirps outside the window gradually grew clear, his long eyelashes fluttered slightly, and he gradually made out what he was hugging in his arms.
It wasn’t Brother’s arm, nor was it Brother’s back.
Instead, it was a—
Pillow belonging to Brother, carefully placed right beside him.
Su Tang’s pretty brows furrowed slightly, carrying the sleepiness of just waking up and a subconscious grievance.
At a glance, this was clearly Brother’s “masterpiece”!
——The guy had climbed out the window early in the morning and stuffed a pillow into the blanket to coax him!
Ever since starting the seventh grade, Brother had begun growing increasingly hyperactive.
Before the sky had even brightened, he couldn’t stay lying down anymore, getting up even earlier than the chickens Grandpa raised. After slipping out quietly, he would stuff a pillow like this… either climbing out the window to scamper outside to climb trees and rob bird nests, or sneaking back to the Li family villa’s gym to punch the sandbag.
Once, a weeding worker at the Li family screamed in sheer terror upon running into a “ghost” early in the morning; when people rushed over at the sound, they only saw Li Xingchuan somehow having climbed up the extremely high glazed color glass window on the side of the villa, hanging by two sturdy arms from the delicate hollowed-out flower rack… bouncing up and down to practice pull-ups.
And now—
With age growing, Brother’s interests had also become increasingly widespread, and… more “orthodox.” For example: combat, horseback riding, shooting, and playing basketball.
Of course, stuffing the pillow had also become much more practiced.
Who told Su Tang to fall for it every single time, sleeping every day hugging that pillow with a look of complete satisfaction, practically “never missing a single hit.”
Putting the pillow back in place, Su Tang expertly groped toward the bedside table and picked up his own phone.
The screen lit up, and two messages quietly rested there.
Brother: Team training, tournament in a few days. Call me when you wake up.
Tapping open the picture, it was a dynamic candid shot from the morning basketball court.
The lens carried a slight shaking sensation from running, and hitting one straight in the face was the steaming heat of the morning court. Several figures wearing identical training uniforms were fiercely fighting for position under the basket, their muscle lines tensing into smooth curves in the morning light.
Right in the center of the frame, Li Xingchuan turned slightly sideways, facing the lens directly.
Li Xingchuan looked a bit taller than those teenagers, sweat sliding down his sharp jawline, dampening a few strands of black hair across his forehead.
The teenager’s posture was tall and straight, his wide shoulders and back propping up the thin training vest, and his exuberant vitality was practically bursting through the screen.
A relaxed smile from post-exercise hung at the corner of his lips, yet his gaze was like ice-quenched obsidian—bright and focused. Carrying that unretrained sharpness exclusive to him.
As well as a more primitive, ready-to-erupt aggressiveness.
Just by locking eyes with this photo, Su Tang couldn’t help looking away.
——He had told Brother many times!
This kind of gaze would scare him, so whenever Brother looked down at him normally, he would rein it in, even deliberately lowering his voice when talking to him.
——Yet when Brother was exercising, that overbearing aggressiveness still easily escaped control.
Putting down his phone, Su Tang rubbed his eyes, which looked exceptionally soft and moist due to lingering sleepiness, and then stretched out his arms like a little cat for a small, lazy stretch.
Su Tang got his first phone in the year he started the fifth grade.
It was a gift from Li Xingchuan, back then the popular Pineapple 16.
And now, what he held in his hand was already a Pineapple 17.
——Of course, it was still a gift from Brother.
Without the slightest hesitation, Su Tang dialed Li Xingchuan’s number.
Meanwhile, at an improvised basketball court behind an abandoned nursing home, several figures were sweating under the summer glare.
Li Xingchuan dribbled past a defender, getting double-teamed by two opponents.
His gaze turned sharp; with a quick pivot and a fake move toward the left, the moment he tricked the opposing forward into shifting his center of gravity, his wrist snapped hard to the right, sending the basketball tracing a low, flat arc through a gap in the crowd.
Just as an opposing defender’s hand was about to block his view, he leaped like a leopard—
“Swish!”
Hollow through the net, a three-pointer.
The crude basketball rim vibrated slightly under the sunlight, and cheers mixed with heavy breathing and whistles erupted from the sideline.
Roughly pulling up his soaked hem to wipe the sweat from his face, Li Xingchuan heard someone shouting at the top of their lungs from the sideline: “Brother Li! Brother Li! Phone—!”
Hearing this, he gestured toward the court, didn’t stop his stride, and turned to sprint rapidly toward the steps on the sideline.
A boy held Li Xingchuan’s phone with both hands, handing it over like it was some kind of treasure.
The moment Li Xingchuan took the phone, his originally cold and sharp brows and eyes softened visibly to the naked eye.
Even the natural, somewhat aloof tone he usually used when talking to them noticeably took on a trace of gentle warmth: “Awoke?… Did you eat breakfast?… Grandpa made the dishes you like… Yes, on the first floor dining table, turn off the warming mat before eating… Yeah, yeah, don’t come over, the sun outside is poisonous… I’ll play one more game and then head back… I’ll definitely accompany you, I’ll definitely be back for lunch… When have I ever lied to you?”
While Li Xingchuan was on the phone, several pairs of eyes nearby were peeking at him with gossip.
Hugging their heads together, they lowered their voices to whisper:
“Is it ‘Tangtang’ again?”
“The remark is literally ‘Tangtang’, can’t be wrong.”
“Good lord, is this puppy love… every time he plays ball he has to specially dispatch someone to guard his phone.”
They exchanged knowing looks:
“Did Brother Li really get into puppy love?”
“What puppy love, we don’t even know if it’s male or female!”
“It’s definitely a girl! You guys don’t know how spoiled the person on the other end of the phone is… I’ve guarded the phone for Brother Li a few times, and to sum it up—that person sleeps a lot, only waking up when the sun is high in the sky. And they’re super precious too; a few times it sounded like they wanted to come over, but Brother Li wouldn’t let them no matter what, with all sorts of excuses: too hot afraid of sunburn, too cold afraid of freezing, and when it finally happened to be a nice day that wasn’t too cold or hot, without wind or rain, hey, guess what?”
Everyone widened their eyes: “What?”
The person twisted his brow, his expression looking as if he were recounting an extremely absurd thing: “—Afraid of being stuffy.”
“Hiss……”
A collective intake of breath immediately sounded all around.
——No way? Their Brother Li, such a rough and wild guy… could do something like this?
Just as everyone was looking at each other in dismay, a boy nicknamed “Clever Ghost” crossed his arms and sneered: “Stop guessing blindly. There’s only one reasonable explanation for this—”
“What explanation?”
With absolute confidence, the boy enunciated word by word: “This ‘Tangtang’ is Li Xingchuan’s elderly, mobility-impaired, and frail—grand-mother. There’s no law stating an old person can’t be called ‘Tangtang’. Otherwise, what young person could be this spoiled?”
Everyone suddenly understood, feeling it made complete sense:
“Oh—!”
“Makes sense!”
“I really couldn’t tell, Brother Li is actually this filial… As expected of our ‘Brother’. Looks like I’ll have to treat my old man better from now on…”
“Exactly, exactly, even Brother Li can be a filial son, I’m going to treat my dad better too…”
It was Su Tang who hung up the phone first.
In the past, Li Xingchuan was rough around the edges and failed to notice such details.
But one time, Su Tang was sleeping groggily and instinctively dialed his phone, chatting with him in a mumble before Li Xingchuan hung up casually, thinking he was getting up.
——Yet the “beep beep” hang-up tone on the phone somehow triggered Su Tang’s stress response; not fully awake, he dazedly thought he had been abandoned.
When Li Xingchuan finished playing ball and dialed back, no one answered.
Unable to wait for his family’s car to circle around from the parking lot, he casually flagged down a passing motorcycle taxi.
——That was the first time in his life he rode such a “convertible flying car,” urging the driver to drive two wheels like they had eight legs.
The driver was unusually excited, thinking he had met a kindred spirit, and repeatedly recited his phone number upon arrival, urging, “Next time you want to experience a ‘flying taxi,’ look for me again!”
Finding it a hassle, Li Xingchuan didn’t even bother going around the main gate, directly using his hands and feet to climb through the window into Su Tang’s room.
At a single glance, he saw Su Tang curled up into a tiny ball against the foot of the bed, sitting on the rug, crying with his shoulders heaving and barely able to catch his breath…
Ever since then, Li Xingchuan never let Su Tang hear a hang-up tone again.
——He even began proactively paying attention to and figuring out ways to block out more minor details in life that might bring insecurity to Su Tang.
Su Tang tucked his phone into his pajama pocket.
Slowly washed his face and brushed his teeth.
Yet he didn’t change clothes, still wearing that soft pair of pajamas.
Actually, he knew Brother would have matched today’s outfit for him the night before, placing it on the bench at the end of the bed. Brother was clumsy when doing delicate work, folding clothes roughly, but not to the extent of dropping them on the floor.
He saw it.
He just… didn’t want to bother.
For so many years, the clothes he wore outside every day were dressed on him by Brother’s own hands.
When holidays came, Brother woke up too early and couldn’t dress him in time, so he would naturally wear his pajamas and wait for Brother to return, then obediently stretch out his arms for Brother to change him.
Sometimes he would space out, remembering that he wasn’t this lazy when he was little.
Yet somewhere along the road of growth, he had caught some strange disease—the older he grew, the more he resembled a little good-for-nothing.
Su Tang was sitting in front of the dining table, taking tiny sips of hot milk when Grandpa Su did a complete reversal, returning early before the off-work hour.
Clutching an old straw hat used for shading in his arms, holding the tool kit usually used for gardening in his hand, and stained with bits of grass clippings, he looked somewhat hurried.
Stepping forward quickly, Su Tang reached out to catch Grandpa’s straw hat and tool box, hanging them up for Grandpa while asking: “Did Grandpa forget something? I’ll help Grandpa get it~”
Glancing at Su Tang, Grandpa Su said: “Grandpa’s coming to get the electric scooter.”
Su Tang’s eyes lit up instantly: “Where are you going! Can I go?”
Pausing for a second, he added: “Brother will be back soon too, can Brother go together?”
Pulling open the wall cabinet by the door: “I’m going out for a trip. I can’t cook lunch for you today, go eat at Xingchuan’s place.”
Su Tang was about to enter the seventh grade. Though shorter than his peers, he had shot up quite a bit compared to when he was little. Yet he still wore a naive expression, his eyes forever watery like a confused little deer.
Blinking his big eyes at Grandpa right now: “No need to go to his place. Today I’m going to show off my skills myself~”
Grandpa Su smiled, but there wasn’t much smile in his eyes as he said: “Let’s see if your brother allows it.”
Su Tang could cook since he was young, and could stir-fry a few simple home-style dishes.
The taste was actually very ordinary, but Li Xingchuan loved eating it for some reason.
Su Tang himself enjoyed cooking too.
Even Grandpa Su felt it was no big deal for Su Tang to cook occasionally, yet Li Xingchuan rarely let Su Tang get his hands dirty.
No matter how much his own mouth craved it, he wouldn’t make Su Tang do it.
Only when Su Tang occasionally took a fancy and insisted on cooking would Li Xingchuan give tacit permission, and then he would definitely lean against the kitchen doorway staring at him.
And he absolutely never let Su Tang touch a knife. Washing vegetables, cutting vegetables, and such jobs were all shouldered by himself, only allowing Su Tang to stand in front of the stove, responsible for wielding the spatula and dropping ingredients into the pot to stir-fry.
——And he himself had to stick right behind like an unshakeable big tail, following closely without leaving an inch to stare.
Li Xingchuan caught on fast, learning after watching a few times. He would even get an itch in his hands, constantly “snatching” the spatula from Su Tang’s grip, gently pushing Su Tang aside, rolling up his own sleeves, picking up the wok on the stove with one hand, and tossing the wok while stir-frying with self-taught skill.
Then raising an eyebrow to ask a dumbfounded Su Tang:
“Handsome?”
Therefore, things like this—suddenly preparing meals ahead of time so that Li Xingchuan could eat the moment he got home…
If Su Tang did it, he would definitely get scolded by Li Xingchuan.
Tilting his head to think, Su Tang nodded obediently at Grandpa: “Then I’ll call and ask Brother.”
Walking toward the door, Grandpa Su responded with a smile: “Mm, go ask. Grandpa is leaving first, I’ll be back tonight.”
Walking out the door, Grandpa Su paused his steps, turned back, and gently patted Su Tang’s soft hair with his rough, warm hand before turning to pull the door shut.
After Grandpa Su left, Su Tang hurriedly called Li Xingchuan.
Hearing Brother say “not allowed,” Su Tang pouted his little lips.
Actually, if he were refused by Grandpa, Su Tang would treat as if nothing happened.
But with Brother… if he got refused, Su Tang would want to find ways to bother Brother.
He wouldn’t be like this in the past; starting from goodness knows when, he gradually grew to enjoy pulling harmless little spoiled stunts in front of Brother.
Striking the exact right balance:
Sensing Brother would yield, he’d feel safe to make a small fuss; sensing Brother was getting angry, he’d immediately turn obedient. Reading the room, letting go and pulling back with ease.
——Yet Brother never got angry, always coaxing him, which made him grow increasingly… spoiled by favor, continuously breeding greedy pushes for an inch after gaining a foot.
Pouting, he sent Li Xingchuan a message he deemed utterly full of “spoiled temper”—
[Love Eating Chocolate]: [Little Cat Hmph.jpg]
It was a ragdoll cat with slightly furrowed brows, turning its face away in a “hmph” pose, its sulky look vivid and lifelike.
Until seeing Li Xingchuan reply in a second with a “pat-head” emoji,
Followed by a thirty-second voice message—asking Su Tang if his tone of voice just now was too heavy? He didn’t mean it.
He even compromised by saying he could wait for him to come home to cook together, and also said he would show Su Tang a high-frequency wok-tossing performance to make amends.
Only then did the corners of Su Tang’s lips curl upward, accidentally revealing his obedient true nature, and lowering his eyelashes, he sent a message—
“Th-Then I’ll wait for Brother oh!”
After sending it, he put down his phone with complete satisfaction.
As for Grandpa Su’s side, however, his mood seemed less than stellar.
Riding the electric scooter, he looked heavily preoccupied.
An hour and a half later, the scooter stopped at the entrance of an alley in the old city district.
Pulling out his phone, he dialed a call: “I’ve arrived, where are you?”
Waiting in place for ten-odd minutes, a staggering and hurried set of footsteps came running from around the corner.
A reeking alcoholic swayed right up in front of him, not uttering a word, directly reaching out to rummage through the storage basket in front of the scooter while shouting in a rough voice: “Where’s the money? Exactly ten thousand, right?”
Watching coldly, Grandpa Su let the man yank out an envelope, pull out the old-fashioned banknotes inside one by one, and repeat the count with wide eyes.
“Ten thousand, not a single cent short,” Grandpa Su said in a very flat tone. “Take it, don’t contact me ever again.”
“Besides, you haven’t even come to see Tangtang in several years anyway.”
——Ever since Tangtang started elementary school, this guy was too lazy to even bring Tangtang’s mother back during the New Year to put on an act.
Perhaps in the earlier years, when Tangtang was still small, this pair of parents still retained a shred of pity for the child.
Pitying him for having no parents’ love, they would reluctantly put on a show at the end of every year to fulfill the child’s pitiful wish.
Yet this play-like “familial affection” would eventually reach a day when it couldn’t be acted out anymore.
In reality, Tangtang himself rarely brought it up anymore, gradually stopping holding any expectations of “Mom and Dad coming back to see him.”
Growing a bit older, he probably slowly forgot and let it go.
Over the years, Tangtang’s health improved quite a bit, and Grandpa Su also switched to a better job, gaining some spare time while constantly learning himself.
He began to understand how to truly care for a child’s inner world.
He resolved to take this opportunity to thoroughly purge this irresponsible pair of parents out of Tangtang’s world.
Yet right at this juncture—
At the beginning of this month, because Tangtang placed first overall in Qinghe Elementary School, topping both Chinese and mathematics scoreboards, he was interviewed in front of the small western-style building.
Tangtang’s biological father in a the biological sense—Grandpa Su’s son—like a fly smelling blood, suddenly clung on and started making endless phone calls—
“Dad, when did you strike it rich?”
“You’re even living in a small western building?!”
“Tangtang really lives up to being my son, even becoming a little top scorer… I have to go back and see him!”
Grandpa Su deposited the “debt money” on time every month.
Having no dirt on him, he naturally wasn’t afraid of him.
He ignored every single phone call.
Refusing to give up, the man started sending photos and pressing further—
“Moved where?”
“Not in that old house in the former servant area anymore?”
“Which location is the small western building? I can’t find it, Dad, send a location. Haven’t seen my son in years, missed him badly, I’ll bring his mom along to see him.”
Sternly refusing, Grandpa Su only said the owed money would be paid until the agreed term expired.
Hoping they wouldn’t come disturb the grandfather-grandson duo’s life anymore.
Never expected this fellow to have zero shame left.
Two hours ago, he drunkenly sent a threat—
“Damn it, are you even a biological dad? Turning your back on your family once you have money, right? Want to sever ties with me? Fine! First bring your old man ten thousand in cash! I’ll clear ties with you right away!”