TSIBAMS Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Ye Xing finished showering and lay on the bed for a while.

Should he go to school or go eat?

Usually, he had lunch at school, and for dinner, Zhou Tian would either enthusiastically invite him downstairs to eat, or he would decisively refuse and cook instant noodles at home. Today was the first time he was troubled by what to eat.

Cutting class was clearly not something he was good at.

He got up and rummaged through the kitchen for a while, and confirmed that there were no more instant noodles at home.

Alright, he would go out to eat something and then go to school. That was the decision.

He grabbed his keys and phone and went to the door to change his shoes. Suddenly, he saw something familiar in the entryway. Wasn’t that the Buddhist beads he always wore!

He had left them at his old home when he moved, and he didn’t expect Fang Rong to bring them over.

It wasn’t anything expensive. Fang Rong had gotten them for him from a temple when he was little. The beads weren’t big, and the long string wrapped around his wrist twice perfectly. He seemed to have gotten used to its smell after wearing it for so long. His hand had felt empty and uncomfortable during this time without it.

Ye Xing was a bit surprised and happy. After putting it back on, complex emotions began to brew and surge up again.

Stop it!

He locked the door and walked away, humming a song, seemingly suppressing the restless emotions that had been stirring up these past few days.

He suppressed his emotions until he reached the entrance of the teppanyaki fried rice restaurant.

Great, all his efforts had been in vain!

The couple who had talked to the head of the grade in the morning were talking to Shuai Xiaoyun at the entrance of the restaurant. However, their conversation didn’t seem very pleasant, shrouded in a tense atmosphere, as if the air around them wasn’t flowing.

The man was holding car keys, and Ye Xing glanced at the black car parked next to him.

Hmm, the car was nice, the kind his family couldn’t afford. It stood out among the tricycles and electric scooters on the street, and everyone who passed it consciously kept a social distance, afraid of getting their clothes dirty and being forced to drink the northwest wind for a month.

He wondered what drama was unfolding now. Ye Xing sized up the middle-aged man—

He really did look the part!

Especially his eyes, which were practically shouting to everyone, “I am Qi Guang’s father!”

The family was like a persistent haunting.

And Shuai Xiaoyun stood opposite them, neither humble nor arrogant, expressionless.

He angrily slipped into a corner of the restaurant and sat down. As he passed them, he even heard the man say to Shuai Xiaoyun, “You’re not doing him any good by doing this!”

It was past lunchtime now, and there were very few people in the restaurant. It was rare to be so quiet. Everyone was diligently eating their meals and playing on their phones, and no one cared about what was happening at the entrance.

Ye Xing wasn’t a fan of gossip, but he still couldn’t help but prick up his ears.

But it turned out that there was no need to make such an effort because Shuai Xiaoyun’s voice was louder than usual, and her words were laced with impatience. Not only could the restaurant hear her, but even the kitchen could probably hear her.

“I said, I don’t know you, and I don’t know what you’re talking about. How many times do I have to say it… I have to go to school now, I really don’t have time to chat with you. Do you see any senior high school students who are willing to just stand here and chat with people… My dad’s not here either, it’s no use looking for him… If you don’t leave, I’ll have to call the police. See if the police care about harassing a senior high student.”

Maybe it was because Shuai Xiaoyun was too outstanding, Ye Xing always felt that she was different from the people here. Apart from the native local atmosphere, the other difference was probably because she received more attention than others growing up, and she had a natural air of being neither humble nor arrogant. Even when her tone was gentle, she seemed like the kind of girl who was very opinionated and wouldn’t be easily swayed by others.

In short, Ye Xing wouldn’t find anything she did strange.

Ye Xing turned his head and saw Shuai Xiaoyun getting on Qi Guang’s motorcycle, ready to leave.

And this morning, the motorcycle was still downstairs at Qi Guang’s house.

So, Shuai Xiaoyun wasn’t at school at this time because she had also gone looking for Qi Guang.

Then, why was she so rude to Qi Guang’s parents?

Ha, running away from home, that was all. Was there some deep-seated hatred? Was she acting in a movie?

Ye Xing placed his order and took out his phone to reply to messages.

It was a private message from the publishing house recommended by San Mu. He first clicked into their homepage to do some research and confirmed that it was a legitimate publishing house before reading the message they sent.

The official language and tone made his head spin. After carefully chewing over the words one by one, Ye Xing extracted a few key pieces of information.

[They admire me very much.]

Sorry, that doesn’t seem to be very useful information.

[This person currently has a book about to be published, and its style and artwork are similar to yours, so they’d like you to draw the cover and interior illustrations.]

No problem, as long as they pay, everything is negotiable.

[Because this is our first collaboration, we can’t sign a contract yet, and we will pay you based on the number of illustrations you provide.]

…

…

…

Ye Xing didn’t have much experience in society, so he couldn’t determine whether this was advantageous information for him.

[Due to uncertainties, the payment will be made after the book is published.]

…

…

…

Ye Xing was a bit hesitant. He also researched the payment for the interior and cover illustrations. Although it wasn’t enough to make him impulsively agree immediately, for a high school student with no income and no experience in illustration—it was indeed hard to refuse.

If only there was someone he could discuss this with.

He opened his phone contacts, and out of the few names, he quickly found Fang Rong’s number.

Forget it, he knew that she would definitely sternly reject him from taking on work to earn money at this time. After all, in her eyes, the college entrance exam was more important than anything else; otherwise, she wouldn’t have tried so hard to hide the major changes happening at home.

It was funny, Ye Xing himself didn’t even know why he was so nervous about his terrible grades.

He had planned to go abroad after graduating high school, so he hadn’t actually considered what to do if he didn’t get into university.

Annoying.

Ye Xing suddenly felt like he couldn’t breathe. He had avoided thinking about these things during his free time for days, but they still attacked him defenselessly.

He tried to inhale and exhale, taking a deep breath, and then slowly breathing it out. After adjusting for a while, he managed to slightly suppress the suffocating feeling.

When the food was served, the waiter actually sat down right across from him. Ye Xing looked up.

It was Shuai Xiaoyun.

“I came back after I saw them leave,” Shuai Xiaoyun said. Looking at Ye Xing’s surprised expression, she added, “I saw you when you came in.”

“Oh.” Ye Xing didn’t know what to say, so he moved the food in front of him and started eating.

Shuai Xiaoyun looked at him. “Zhou Tian said you were looking for Qi Guang.”

“Yeah, the teacher asked me to.” Ye Xing said as he ate. He was not happy to mention anything about Qi Guang at the moment.

Shuai Xiaoyun sensed Ye Xing’s refusal and noticed his slightly swollen cheek and the irregular, not-too-obvious bruises on his arm. She asked, “Did you guys fight again?”

Ye Xing put down the spoon in his hand.

Damn it! Why did she have to mention that?

Shuai Xiaoyun continued, “I can’t get in touch with him, and he’s not at home either.”

“I know.” Ye Xing’s tone was still cold.

Shuai Xiaoyun didn’t know what to say for a moment, and Ye Xing picked up his spoon and continued eating.

She still didn’t seem to be leaving and took out her phone and started poking at it.

After about ten minutes, Shuai Xiaoyun asked, “Then do you know where he is now?”

“I don’t know, but he’s still alive.” After saying that, Ye Xing got up and grabbed a can of cola from the refrigerator. He angrily cracked it open and started chugging it down.

“What kind of deep-seated hatred is this? Weren’t you two on good terms?” Shuai Xiaoyun frowned.

On good terms? It seemed she had misunderstood things quite a bit.

Ye Xing looked at her, his face still expressionless. “Why don’t you say that he has some deep-seated hatred with his family? Is he a runaway young master? What a family of actors!”

Shuai Xiaoyun crossed her arms and also looked at him. “I’m quite curious about how he told you about his family.”

“‘My family only has me left,’ those are his exact words. What? Does it differ from your version?” Ye Xing deliberately emphasized his tone when repeating Qi Guang’s words, his eyes filled with mockery.

Shuai Xiaoyun smiled and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her right index finger. “Hmm, not much difference.”

“He said his dad died, what do you think about that?” Ye Xing raised his chin.

“He does hate his dad quite a bit,” Shuai Xiaoyun said.

“And yet, the whole family came looking for their son from a thousand miles away.” Ye Xing suddenly thought that his current harsh attitude was quite girly. He coughed uncomfortably twice and picked up his spoon to continue eating.

“That person wasn’t his mom,” Shuai Xiaoyun explained.

“Oh, there are a lot of single-parent families in this world, divorce is normal! He just had to pick a ‘my family is ruined’ script to seek comfort in this shitty place. He was acting like his dad killed his mom…” As he said this, the expression on Ye Xing’s face began to freeze. He raised his head and looked at her. “…Wait, no way that actually…”

“Don’t talk nonsense,” Shuai Xiaoyun quickly stopped him.

Ye Xing let out a sigh of relief. “I just suddenly remembered there was a rumor like that. I was just mentioning it casually, I don’t really believe it. Otherwise, with how strict the law is, how could his dad be standing here?”

“I think Qi Guang will tell you in the future,” Shuai Xiaoyun said.

Ye Xing shoveled a few mouthfuls of rice into his mouth and said, “There won’t be a future. I don’t want to listen to him making up lies either.”

Ye Xing calmed himself down, a sense of shame and embarrassment surged up, even a hint of grievance.

Why do people decide to trust another person?

Why would he tell another person about his embarrassing family secrets without any reservation?

Was it seeking comfort? Creating resonance?

Or was it because Qi Guang seemed more miserable than himself, so there was less of a burden to be honest with him?

Ye Xing didn’t know.

If that was the case, was he currently angry because Qi Guang had lied to him, or was he angry that Qi Guang’s real family situation made his own cheap trust seem laughable?

Anyway, the truly miserable one was only him! Was he not just an idiot!

He pulled a paper napkin from the table and wiped his mouth. Then he picked up the cola and drank it all in one gulp.

“Check, please.”

“It’s on me,” Shuai Xiaoyun took out her phone. “Let’s add each other on WeChat.”

“Okay,” Ye Xing scanned her phone. He typed a few things into the chatbox and sent her a red envelope. “Check it.”

When Qi Guang woke up, it was already late, and he had a sense of lost time. He propped himself up from the sofa, rubbed his eyes, and saw that no one seemed to be home. Xu Ge had probably gone to the shop.

He reached into his pocket to grab his phone and make a call, but he realized after patting around for a long time that he didn’t have his phone with him.

Why was he so down the moment he woke up?

He shook his head, finally confirming that his down feeling wasn’t a dream. It was something that had already happened and that he was going to have to face.

The thought made him feel like he was going to collapse.

Without the sun, the temperature dropped rapidly. He casually put on a hoodie on the sofa that wasn’t a perfect fit. It was a bit small.

Even though Xu Ge was bigger than him, it seemed that he also liked tight-fitting clothes. What a show-off.

There weren’t too many people on the streets. Everyone was still eating dinner at this time. Even in the business district, it wasn’t that lively. Qi Guang quickly reached the entrance of 1984.

He reached out to push the door open when he heard a voice behind him that was a nightmare to him—

“So, you’re working here?”