Halfway through the class, there was a half-hour break. Tao Ling and Wen Qingying went to the top floor of the Cultural Hall. Standing next to the windows in the corridor, the two of them had their first conversation of the day.
There were two types of sign language training classes in the Cultural Hall. The one Tao Ling attended was for healthy people, most of whom came because someone at home had disabilities. There were two teachers in the class. One was a healthy person, and the other was Wen Qingying, who cooperated with the teaching as a deaf-mute.
All the way up to this morning, Tao Ling had made up his mind to learn sign language, and he didn’t think there was anything wrong with it. But after suddenly seeing Wen Qingying, his mentality suddenly turned strange.
When he was following along with the lesson, he felt reluctant to look at Wen Qingying, as if his selfishness had been caught. He felt a little ashamed, so his hand gestures weren’t that good either.
He withdrew his mind from the class just now, then took out his phone and asked, “Have you always been working here?”
Wen Qingying nodded, replying, “Yes, sir. I take turns with other colleagues, separated into the morning and afternoon classes. I also learned from here previously.”
Tao Ling looked at him for a long time, smiled, shook his head self-deprecatingly, and asked, “It’s voluntary?”
“It is,” Wen Qingying replied.
Seeing that Tao Ling didn’t respond, he continued to text with his head down. “Sir, I didn’t tell you before because I didn’t know how to say it. I never saw you on Saturdays before. I actually wanted to stay with you on weekends, but I’ve been helping here for a long time. Sometimes when I go to the class next door, there are still many children who come over. They’re all used to having me.”
During this time, Tao Ling didn’t look at his phone but only looked at Wen Qingying and unconsciously showed an infatuated expression.
After sending the message, Wen Qingfying raised his eyes and clearly saw his expression. He was stunned.
Tao Ling took a step forward, touched his face, and said, “Wen Qingying, you’re so good.” After saying that, he raised his head and kissed him on the corner of his mouth.
Wen Qingying pursed his lips, then tightly pressed their palms together before leaning over to kiss Tao Ling on the forehead.
The Cultural Hall was in the center of the city. It wasn’t far from his house, so they walked home together after class. Tao Ling kept replaying the scenes from the classroom in his head.
This first lesson wasn’t difficult, but after a while, some parts of his memory became blurry.
He heard the teacher say that for healthy people, the hardest thing about learning sign language was word order. The expression of deaf-mute people had its own characteristics. Written language was linear, but sign language was not.
Thinking about it, Tao Ling began to regret not doing homework in advance. It was like his hardware specifications weren’t up to requirements, so it’d be better for him to buy a sign language dictionary first. This felt like the first time he started learning English as a child.
While he was thinking silently, Wen Qingying’s message came: “Sir, you don’t need to keep thinking about it. When Zhang Sanfeng taught Zhang Wuji, he taught him to forget. Forgetting is a success.”1this is from a famous wuxia novel “The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber” by Jin Yong. The protagonist is Zhang Wuji, and his father was the apprentice of Zhan Sanfeng, a highly respected leader of some school. Part of the Condor Heroes trilogy
Tao Ling smiled, then gave him a sideways glance, typing, “My last name’s Tao, not Zhang. I don’t have a sword either.”
After sending that, he typed again, “Teacher, can you teach me when we get home?”
Wen Qingying saw the message and laughed until he couldn’t open his eyes. After a while, he forced himself to be serious and nodded seriously.
When they reached the street corner, a black car stopped next to them.
Tao Ling saw the license plate clearly at a glance and thought to himself that those people were here again. Then he saw the car window lower and Bai Guan’s cold and handsome face appear in front of him.
They both nodded, then Bai Guan immediately made a feature of invitation to Wen Qingying.
Wen Qingying turned to look at Tao Ling. Bai Guan coughed lightly and said for him, “Hello, Teacher Tao. My uncle Wen asked me to pick Qingying up and go home to have dinner together tonight.”
Before Tao Ling opened his mouth, Wen Qingying gestured to refuse. Bai Guan expected his reaction. His face was calm, and he simply gestured something. Wen Qingying froze immediately.
He looked at Tao Ling again, and Tao Ling instantly understood his meaning. He raised his hand and squeezed his shoulder soothingly, signaling him to go without worry.
Wen Qingying frowned slightly before gently stroking Tao Ling’s back and getting into the car.
Tao Ling took two steps backwards and waved as he watched the car drive away.
After the car completely disappeared from sight, Tao Ling walked to the traffic light, and Wen Qingying’s message came. “Sir, Bai Guan ge said my uncle is here, so I have to go.”
Tao Ling immediately replied, “Just go; you don’t need to worry. I’ll wait for you to come back.”
It was impossible for him to go home alone without feeling lost. Just as he reached downstairs, he received a message from a courier, and Tao Ling went to pick up the package.
The box was a little heavy. Tao Ling immediately knew it was books.
After going upstairs and reaching his apartment, he took a closer look. The sender was a seller on a second-hand book site. He sent a message to Kou Huai, “Shixiong, are you sending me books again?”
Tao Ling was a little surprised when he opened the box. It was exactly the set of classics he was looking for. Because it was out of print, he had been to the used book market several times but had never been able to buy it.
Kou Huai replied, “Yeah, I thought you could use it.”
The moment he saw the message, Tao Ling felt that something was wrong. The books weren’t only hard to find but also expensive. Although Kou Huai often bought him some books, his money was managed by his partner, and she definitely wouldn’t let him use it in this way.
He straightened up and said, “Give me Xia Chaoyang’s address.”
Kou Huai: “… shidi.”
Tao Ling: “That’s not going to work on me. Give me his address. Otherwise, I’ll directly send it to his university.”
After a pause, Kou Huai replied, “He resigned. Not even I know where he is now.”
Tao Ling was startled. “Resigned?”
After a long time, Kou Huai finally explained, “He didn’t let me tell you this previously, but since the situation is already like this, you won’t believe me if I don’t tell you. Didn’t I say that he wanted to divorce? His wife made a big fuss about not wanting to divorce, so he threw out a contract and said that he would leave this marriage with no property, no car, absolutely nothing. Then he just resigned and left. Even until now, no one knows where he went.”
“I don’t understand why he would do this either. It’s so difficult to climb up to become an associate professor at S University, but as soon as he said that he would leave, he really just left.”
“It’s not just me who doesn’t know. His wife actually came and asked me several times. Their dean also asked me, and even the leader of our college asked me. How am I supposed to know? No matter who asks, I still won’t know the answer.”
“I only knew about it after he resigned.”
After a long silence, Tao Ling said, “I can send it to you?”
Kou Huai: “Why? If you really don’t want it, then can’t you just leave it somewhere? You psychological mysophobe.”
Putting down the phone, Tao Ling took a deep breath and then threw the books along with the box into the storage room.
The Yun family moved to Wu City just three years ago, but the house was bought before that. It was a villa bought by Yun Nan’s grandfather. It was quite old. Not only was it grand, but it also carried a sense of heaviness soaked in time.
But no matter how grand it was, it was just a house.
Wen Qingying didn’t like this place. Although his room was here, he had only lived here for a few days in these three years.
As soon as he entered the corridor, the people inside had heard the sound and all turned to look at him.
From a distance, Wen Qingying nodded to his stepfather Yun He, then grabbed Yun Nan, who had jumped over, and his eyes swept over Yun Xin.
She wore headphones as she half laid on the single-person sofa and held a magazine in her hand, ignoring everyone else.
That perfectly suited Wen Qingying’s wishes.
There was another person sitting on the big sofa in the living room, following Yun Nan’s footsteps. The person hurriedly stood up and said excitedly, “Hey, my nephew! My nephew’s so big now! So tall!”
This was Wen Qingying’s mother, Wen Qiu’s, sole younger brother. This younger brother was born late, only ten years older than Wen Qingying, called Wen Tongwei.
Wen Qingying actually had no impression of this uncle. The only memory was when he was in high school, Wen Tongwei came to the door because he lost money in business. His mother gave him money, and his stepfather also gave him money.
After growing up, Wen Qingying realized that his uncle’s family was actually supported by his mother. That was also when he came back to ask for more money, but Yun He must have been annoyed and gave a large sum of money at once, and the uncle never showed up again.
Even when Wen Qiu was buried, no one from his mother’s family came to see her off.
When he first saw Wen Tongwei, his familiar features reminded him of Wen Qiu, and memories from long ago suddenly resurfaced in his mind.
Wen Tongwei ran over, pulled Wen Qingying with concern, looked him up and down, and turned to ask Yun Nan, “Nannan, is your brother really unable to speak or hear? How could a person become like this?”
Yun Nan nodded and whispered, “It’s been more than three years. Uncle, you shouldn’t talk about it in front of my ge; he can read lips a little.”
Wen Tongwei shook his head regretfully, and Wen Qingying just looked at him politely, with no surprise or annoyance on his face.
Yun Nan pulled Wen Qingying: “Uncle, don’t ask about it for now. We’re going to rest.”
Yun He coughed lightly and interrupted this awkward “family reunion”: “Xiao Guan, see if the food is ready.”
Soon, the food was served. The five people each had their own thoughts. Wen Qingying lowered his head to eat his own meal and didn’t care whether they were talking or not. They won’t talk to him anyway.
No need to waste energy.
Wen Tongwei kept asking Yun He about the company. Yun He obviously had nothing to say to him, but his upbringing made him listen patiently. Wen Tongwei didn’t seem to notice and kept sighing, “It must be nice to be brother-in-law, he doesn’t worry about anything.”
“That’s not true,” Yun He replied, “No need to joke; I have a lot of things to do every day.”
Wen Tongwei said, “tsk.” “But it’s hard to resist the constant flow of money. No matter how tired we are, it’s still better than us, a million times better.”
Yun Nan was kind-hearted. She knew that Yun He didn’t like her uncle very much and that her uncle’s words and deeds were impolite, but her uncle is her uncle after all, so she had to keep looking for topics and trying not to interrupt Wen Tongwei abruptly.
Unfortunately, Wen Tongwei didn’t understand what she meant at all. After sighing about the company, he began to sigh about the luxury of the villa.
Hearing this, Yun Xin threw down her chopsticks impatiently, stood up, and said, “I’m full,” and turned and left.
Bai Guan looked at her from behind, and seeing that Yun He didn’t say anything; he didn’t chase after her.
Yun Nan was caught in the middle, and it was difficult to play peacemaker, so she said, “Uncle, my sister is just like this; don’t mind it.”
Wen Tongwei smiled and sighed, “About the young lady, I can understand. I understand.”
Bai Guan frowned and then looked at Yun He again. Yun He looked calm, raised his hand to use chopsticks to pick up some food for Wen Qingying, and said to Yun Nan, “Eat quickly, the food is getting cold; don’t just talk.”
Wen Qingying always seemed to be a person who stayed out of the matter until Yun He picked up for him a chopstick full of food. Only then did he raise his head and nod to thank him.
Then Wen Tongwei finally talked about today’s “serious business.” He rubbed his hands and said, “Brother-in-law, I lost my job recently…”
Before he finished speaking, Yun He said, “I have an opening for managing the warehouse here. I wonder if you’d dislike it.”
Wen Tongwei was obviously dissatisfied and couldn’t help curling his lips. Bai Guan interrupted, “Uncle Yun, I haven’t said happy birthday to you yet. Xiao Guan toasts Uncle Yun.”
Yun He smiled.
Wen Tongwei was stunned for a moment, and somehow he pulled out a little sense of shame: “Brother-in-law, you see, I didn’t know it was your birthday, and I didn’t bring anything when I came.”
“It doesn’t matter; we’re all family here; let’s eat.” Yun He said lightly.
After dinner, Yun He went straight back to the study, and Bai Guan disappeared, saying that he had something to deal with outside. Yun Nan allowed Wen Tongwei to stay and asked Wen Qingying if he could stay at home for one night.
Wen Qingying wanted to refuse, but she kept holding his arm and acted coquettishly for a while, and Wen Qingying softened and agreed.
The brother and sister stayed in the living room with Wen Tongwei. Wen Qingying was okay, but Yun Nan could listen and talk, so she wasn’t able to avoid answering inexplicable questions all night.
No matter how good her temper was, she got annoyed in the end, so she said she wanted to go to bed before ten o’clock and called the auntie at home to take Wen Tongwei to the guest room.
Yun Xin wasn’t at home the day before, so Yun Nan sneaked out because she had no classes and stayed at Wen Qingying’s place at night. The brother and sister had already communicated a lot, so there was nothing more to say, and they went back to their rooms.
Wen Qingying went upstairs, took a shower, came out, and was changing into pajamas when the bedroom door was suddenly pushed open.
TL: I’m alive ;; Leaving off on that cliffhanger for so long was really eating away at me so here I am, translating BL at 3am right before finals.
Anyways, I’m not sure when I can go back to updating on a regular schedule, but I’m hoping to be able to catch back up a bit during winter break. No promises though. Thank you all again for your patience :’)
There’s a lot of names this chapter:
Yun He (Yun2 He4) – the He stands for crane. He’s got a really pretty name “cloud crane”
Wen Qiu (Wen2 Qiu1) – the Qiu is for autumn
Wen Tongwei (Wen2 Tong2 Wei1) – Wen “power together” or Wen “similar power”. Even his name is annoying
