ASSHKHME Chapter 114

Chapter 114: Mutual Understanding

Like other international students, language was the first major problem Chen Zhuo encountered.

Chen Zhuo’s English scores were excellent, and he had a large vocabulary, but because he lacked a spoken language environment in China, he found it a bit difficult to understand the professor’s lectures filled with strings of professional terms.

Some professors even had accents and occasionally used slang, making it even more difficult, and he couldn’t understand them at all.

Therefore, he would set aside an hour each day to practice spoken English with local students. He learned English, and they learned Chinese, helping each other and making progress together.

In addition, all the textbooks were in English, and Chen Zhuo didn’t recognize every word. He needed to put in the effort to preview before class, mark the unfamiliar words, and listen to them repeatedly using translation software until he could hear and read them.

Due to the thirteen-hour time difference, Chen Zhuo and Xie Yu’s rest times were basically staggered.

The time when Xie Yu woke up in the morning and was busy was exactly when Chen Zhuo finished his day of studying and could rest. And the time when Xie Yu rested was when Chen Zhuo had his early morning classes.

Long-distance relationships were really not easy. The two could only squeeze out time to connect and share their lives without each other.

But to a certain extent, it also gave both parties space to focus on studying, working hard, and improving themselves without distractions.

However, across such a long distance, there were always unavoidable situations.

Xie Yu ultimately broke his promise to visit Chen Zhuo in New York after a month.

He had classes every day, and the two days on the weekend weren’t even enough for the round trip. He couldn’t squeeze out the time to go at all.

Although Chen Zhuo was a little disappointed, he also expressed understanding.

They were adults now, and adults always had many unavoidable situations and were tied down by many things. This was the price of growing up.

Two months after Chen Zhuo went abroad, Xie Yu celebrated his twentieth birthday.

The gift Chen Zhuo sent him crossed the Pacific Ocean and arrived at his side as soon as possible.

It was a photo album, like a diary, that captured Chen Zhuo’s daily sights and experiences.

There was the towering Empire State Building, the glittering Hudson River, the bustling Times Square, the sunset on campus, and the blackboard in the lecture hall filled with knowledge…

He used the camera to show Xie Yu the world he saw, as if Xie Yu was walking with him on every street.

Xie Yu loved this gift very much, placing it on his bedside table and flipping through it every night before going to bed.

And with Chen Zhuo not at school, Xie Yu wasn’t in the mood to live on campus either.

He simply applied for off-campus study and began a life on a three-point line between school, company, and home.

On weekdays, when Xie Yu didn’t have a full load of classes, he basically stayed at the company, working himself to exhaustion, so he didn’t have time to think about Chen Zhuo.

He didn’t rest on weekends either, following the company’s business department to run projects. There were many things that couldn’t be learned just by listening; you had to be on-site to understand.

Xie Liangjun had recently heard many company executives praising Xie Yu. As a father, he was both proud and concerned, so he directly summoned Xie Yu home for dinner on Sunday to cultivate his relationship with his sister and to get some rest.

Cheng Tangyu’s health had mostly recovered under careful care.

In order for her to recuperate well, her family didn’t let her insist on breastfeeding.

Xie Youning had two nannies taking care of her, sleeping with the nannies at night. During the day, after Cheng Tangyu had enough sleep, she would start playing with her mother.

Initially, under the influence of hormones, Cheng Tangyu always felt that it was pitiful for such a small baby to not have breast milk or her mother to sleep with, but under Xie Yu’s effective persuasion, she slowly came to her senses.

At the time, Xie Yu said, “Mom, her brain hasn’t even been activated yet. She won’t remember anything. It won’t be too late to strongly exude maternal love when she’s four or five years old. Children are easy to fool.”

Cheng Tangyu felt that he was right. After all, Xie Yu, this little rascal, was her own child, raised by her, and he was useless, able to infuriate his own mother to death.

Today, Xie Yu came home for dinner, and the chef was busy in the kitchen, making all his favorite dishes.

Xie Liangjun massaged Cheng Tangyu’s legs and said with relief, “Wife, do you know? Our son is very motivated now. He hasn’t neglected his studies, won a scholarship, and has also started to pay attention to the company. He even secured an investment project with good prospects some time ago. The group plans to give him a bonus of thirty thousand yuan.”

Cheng Tangyu ate fruit, surprised, “Really? Is twenty years old a threshold? Once you cross it, you really grow up?”

Xie Liangjun smiled mysteriously, “I’m afraid it’s not because of age, but because Chen Zhuo went abroad. The two haven’t seen each other every day, and each has their own brand-new lives. Wife, just watch, my decision to let Chen Zhuo go abroad immediately was so wise and correct. As time goes by, the lives of these two will gradually become parallel lines. Just wait, they will break up sooner or later.”

Cheng Tangyu “tsk tsk” sighed, “Husband, you are so insidious.”

Xie Liangjun said triumphantly, “I call this ‘deception in war’. His father has lived more than twenty years longer than him, isn’t that for nothing? Watch, without spending a single soldier, I haven’t hurt our father-son relationship, and I’ve also improved my son’s motivation. Hey! You could say it’s killing two birds with one stone!”

There was movement at the door, and Xie Yu just happened to enter, puzzled, “What are you talking about? What killing two birds with one stone? Where’s my sister?”

Xie Liangjun coughed twice, changing the subject, “Come, Little Yu, I heard from your Uncle Huang that you’ve been performing very well recently. The group plans to give you a bonus of thirty thousand yuan based on the profit of that project. How is it, are you happy?”

Xie Yu’s eyes lit up, “Really? The bonus is for me?”

Cheng Tangyu said happily, “You’re this happy over thirty thousand yuan? I usually give you hundreds of thousands of yuan in pocket money, and I don’t see you having any reaction.”

Xie Yu first went to the bathroom to wash his hands, smiling, “Can this be the same? That’s what Mom and Dad give me, this thirty thousand is what I earned myself!”

Xie Liangjun reminded, “Don’t be too proud, keep up the good work.”

“I know, I know,” Xie Yu looked around, his eyes on the children’s room on the second floor, “Where’s my sister? Asleep again?”

Cheng Tangyu chewed on a strawberry and said, “She doesn’t go to work or school, so isn’t she just sleeping? Kids grow faster when they sleep more.”

Xie Yu lifted his foot and walked upstairs, “Okay, I’ll take a look. I haven’t seen her in a long time, I miss her.”

Xie Youning was sleeping soundly in her little bed.

Children change every day. She had grown a lot again, her little face chubby like Crayon Shin-chan.

Xie Yu looked at her gently, took out his phone, took a photo, and sent it to Chen Zhuo.

[Our Ningning is even cuter now. Oh yeah, I’m going to have a bonus of thirty thousand yuan! Baby, this is what I earned myself! I’ll buy you something again, you’re not allowed to refuse.]

It was dawn on Chen Zhuo’s side, and he was still sleeping, so he didn’t reply immediately.

That’s how they got along.

Even if the other person couldn’t reply right away, they still shared things immediately.

The person who wakes up and receives a message from their loved one will start a very happy day.

Everything was developing in a good direction until Chen Zhuo attended an on-campus international student party…

In a foreign country, the feeling of gathering together to speak Chinese was very good. Chen Zhuo drank a little wine and, feeling dizzy, returned to the dormitory and fell asleep.

Xie Yu only received the message that he was attending the party but didn’t receive a message that it was over.

He sent messages that weren’t replied to, and calls that weren’t answered. Xie Yu was furious.