In summer, the sun shone brightly. Summer cicadas chirped and sang loudly outside the window.
A gust of hot air blew through a small yellow-white apartment[1] which caused the wind chimes that hang on the glass doors of the second-floor balcony to jingle.
When you peeked into the room from the balcony, the overall layout of the room can be seen.
The walls were light blue with walnut-colored plank tiles. There was a large round bed of nearly 1.8 meters in the center of the room with light blue bed curtains hung around it. Next to it was a simple and cannot be missed elegant European-style vanity table.
The bottles and jars on the vanity table were neatly placed, which showed how meticulous and steady the owner of the room was…
It would’ve been surprising if—
—If it weren’t for the several popular romance novels placed messily on the desktop and a mountain of dolls piled up on the big round bed, it was almost believable.
At this time, Yu Nian, the owner of this room, was enjoying a fat otaku[2] life on the first floor.
In the first floor living room.
Yu Nian sat cross-legged on the sofa, her long elegant hair casually spread out. She held a bag of XX-brand potato chips that has been opened by her hand. She twirled a piece into her mouth and bit out a ‘crunch’ sound as she stared intently at the TV station’s summer hit dog blood romance drama, “The President And His Little Pampered Wife.”
As she watched, she didn’t forget to comment a few words from time to time. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. How can this woman be this stupid ah, she’s so moved being given an umbrella like this? Isn’t that going a bit far?”
The middle-aged man beside her was sitting upright and had a newspaper in his hand with a scholarly aura.
When he heard this, the man raised his face from the newspaper. He shot a glance at Yu Nian, then dropped his gaze back to the newspaper and ignored her.
Yu Nian tilted her head. She had a delicate fair and clear palm face and her obsidian-like, jet-black, perceptive eyes blinked. Her right arm hatefully hit her old man and asked smilingly, “Hey, old man, have you ever given it to my mom before?”
When he heard his daughter’s question, the middle-aged man who had just been completely indifferent suddenly became interested.
Yu Ruiping put down the newspaper, coughed, and said quite proudly with his head held high, “More than that ah, I even delivered lunch boxes.”
When Yu Nian heard this, her brows furrowed and she couldn’t help but ridicule, “Like that thing you made this morning? If it wasn’t true love, who can eat it ah.”
Shredded dried pork salad scattered all over, it was quite disgusting to look at.
Yu Ruiping glared at his daughter first, then as if he remembered something, his gaze turned gentle and loving, “You have no taste, your mother loves to eat.”
Yu Nian shrugged, too lazy to expose her old man’s shortcomings, and treated it as if to give her mother face.
Yu Nian was a third year university student this year. She stayed at home during the summer vacation. Yu Ruiping, a people’s teacher at a certain University of Science and Engineering, also stayed at home.
The father and daughter had entirely different personalities. Yu Ruiping is scholarly and stable while Yu Nian is quirky. The only thing that was inherited was their staying at home which was quite in place.
As a result, every summer and winter vacation, even if the two of them didn’t go out for ten days and a half months, they were happy.
Yu Nian’s biological mother, Zhao Yuyan, died of a family hereditary heart disease when she was 10 years old.
However, in the Yu Family, regarding the word mother or even the name Zhao Yuyan, there was no need to be afraid of sadness and taboo from a person from long ago.
Just after her mother passed away, Yu Ruiping told Yu Nian, who already started to form memories, “Although your mom is gone, as long as we remembered her and talked about her, she’ll be with us. Everyone can forget her but not us.”
Yu Nian knew that her parents had been very loving since she was little. At first, she didn’t dare mention her mother to Yu Ruiping, for fear of hurting his heart.
Later, Yu Ruiping must’ve found Yu Nian’s little thoughts. He was gratified and at the same time, he took the initiative to start mentioning her in front of Yu Nian.
Yu Ruiping mentioned her more often and Yu Nian felt indifferent. He often talked about her mother. Even if there were any thoughts of a young girl, he would secretly tell them to the mother in another world at night.
Yu Nian didn’t know why Yu Ruiping insisted on being with Zhao Yuyan even though he knew that Zhao Yuyan had familial heart disease until she grew up and began to understand men and women.
Moreover, from her junior high school to college, Yu Ruiping didn’t even think about having a second marriage.
For this reason, every time Yu Nian sulked at Yu Ruiping, she would always give him a ladder the next day.[3]
A grown man in his 30s held his ten-year-old little daughter, and acted both as a father and a mother.
Particularly when Yu Nian was 12 or 13 years old in puberty, Yu Nian grew up. She looked like Zhao Yuyan and looked quick-witted and smart.
Yu Ruiping was afraid that she would be deceived when she falls in love at school. He even specifically bought a bunch of books in private on how parents can peacefully accompany their children through puberty and pondered over the sentences for a period of time.
However, Yu Nian’s puberty hasn’t changed so significantly. In her entire junior high school stage, apart from chasing her long-legged oppas and plastering various beautiful male posters all over the wall, there wasn’t even a better relationship with the opposite sex. On the contrary, there were a lot of same-sex friends.
This made the very knowledgeable and profound Yu Ruiping widely involved and depressed. He even previously took an indirect approach to Yu Nian’s sexual orientation.
After all, Yu Ruiping had a crush on girls during his puberty.
Later, he found that his daughter who didn’t know who to follow, just loved to play and was late to understand things.
Yu Ruiping remembered the time when he didn’t have class and wandered to the entrance of Yu Nian’s junior high school to pick her up and take her home.
Yu Ruiping hadn’t told Yu Nian. He stood quietly beside the big pillar at the school entrance and watched his daughter and a young male student pass by in front of him.
In the hot summer, the young male student thoughtfully wanted to hold an umbrella for her. Yu Ruiping heard his daughter from afar spat out how her mother was in low spirits.
If she wasn’t his daughter, Yu Ruiping really couldn’t wait to ridicule her on the spot.
Yu Nian interrupted and turned her head to continue watching her TV show.
It just so happen that the domineering president on the TV was kissing his little pampered wife.
Yu Nian didn’t feel embarrassed at all and sighed bluntly, “This kissing skill ah.”
Upon seeing this, Yu Ruiping at her side hurriedly coughed and said with a serious expression, “I said, Student Yu Nian, you’ve been at home for more than a month during the summer vacation. When do you plan to go out and see the world?”
“Comrade Old Yu, that makes the two of us.” Yu Nian tilted her head and glanced at Yu Ruiping. She shook her little head in retaliation, not understanding why her old man mentioned this.
Yu Ruiping: “No, I’m not like you, I’ve been out.”
Yu Nian: “Going out to buy groceries doesn’t count!”
Yu Ruiping: “Of course, it doesn’t count. I went out to give practical guidance to students. Your school should also have it, right? Innovation and entrepreneurship competition.”
Yu Nian c*cked her head and thought for a few seconds, “Oh, come to think of it, you went out and no one cooked so I ordered a pizza.”
Yu Ruiping cheerfully said, “Student Yu Nian, it’s 1:0, so go out in the afternoon for me. You’re not allowed to come back before seven o’clock in the evening.”
Yu Nian curled her lips and didn’t refute.
This was her agreement with the old man.
Because both parties stayed at home, they can’t always stay at home. In order to monitor each other, the party who has gone out has the right to ask the other party when to go out, and the other party can’t refute.
Yu Nian looked at Yu Ruiping with a triumphant look. She originally wanted to say soft words but gave up.
She, Yu Nian, is at least a person with a backbone.
Thus, Student Yu Nian, who has a backbone, slipped off the sofa and walked to Yu Ruiping’s side in quick small steps. She skillfully pressed Yu Ruiping’s shoulders with both hands and said flatteringly, “Dad, Father, Mr. Yu Ruiping, it’s so hot outside, I would definitely get a tan. How about another day? Change it to a cloudy day.”
Yu Ruiping snorted lightly, “It’s not like I still don’t know you, another day is the same as no. You’ll keep delaying it until the beginning of the school year. Student Yu Nian, a noble person’s agreement, you can’t renege.”
Yu Ruiping was determined not to let water out this time.[4] Mainly because Yu Nian’s stay at home was too long this time. As she watched this kind of love every day, she should go out for a stroll and a change of mind.
Seeing Yu Ruiping’s firm attitude, Yu Nian angrily hammered Yu Ruiping’s shoulders and said, “Go out, go out. I’m even thinking of going out to meet a handsome guy.”
However, Yu Nian, who returned to the sofa, picked up her potato chips and ate them with a “crack, crack” sound.
She silently sighed in her heart: Ah! I’m about to lose the happiness of a fat otaku for half a day!
Author’s Note:
Be more respectful first!
[1] Apartment house or a building with a Western-style design.
[2] Someone who is an anime-/manga-obsessed homebody
[3] She meant to walk under the ladder which is a superstition that brings you bad luck.
[4] To throw a game.