Ji Xu squinted, seeing Cheng Yue’s aggrieved expression and knowing exactly what he was thinking.
“I’m not staying at your place,” Cheng Yue said decisively after thinking it over, dragging his suitcase towards the elevator.
“You just pity me! You’re only doing this for your own peace of mind and to show off! I’m going back to the U.S.! I’d rather wash dishes than stay with you!”
“Where are you pitiable?” Ji Xu frowned, grabbing Cheng Yue’s wrist to stop him.
“I’m the one who’s pitiable, okay?”
Cheng Yue, catching his breath, said nothing, but his steps did stop.
“Listen up. I’m not repeating this,” Ji Xu stepped closer, forcing Cheng Yue to look up by pinching his chin.
“You’re not pitiable at all. I didn’t take you in because you’re pitiable. There are so many stray cats and dogs out there; why don’t I take them in too? Raising you is my responsibility, not just to make myself feel better. The rules I set are only to ensure you grow up in a healthy environment, not to show off to you, this little brat.”
Cheng Yue had to tilt his head up for a long time, and his neck was sore. Swallowing with difficulty, he said, “I… I got it. Can you please put my head down now?”
Ji Xu, seeing Cheng Yue’s reddened eyes, started to understand the kid’s feelings. Cheng Yue seemed insecure, sensitive, and defensive. Ji Xu, who hadn’t had much experience with children, didn’t know how to handle it.
He looked around at the apartment and said with difficulty, “Treat this place like your own home. Do whatever you want. Just don’t overthink it.”
Cheng Yue’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
Ji Xu felt a pang of regret but, seeing Cheng Yue’s hopeful look, he reluctantly nodded.
“Alright!” Cheng Yue smiled and pushed his suitcase into the room. He turned his head slightly toward Ji Xu and waved, saying, “Goodbye!”
Ji Xu watched him and, for some reason, found himself smiling as well.
Cheng Yue’s smile made Ji Xu feel like he had just adopted a puppy.
“If you’re hungry, don’t order takeout. There’s food in the fridge,” Ji Xu advised one last time. When Cheng Yue nodded, he turned and went downstairs.
After Ji Xu entered the elevator, Cheng Yue closed the door and looked around the impeccably clean living room. He carefully took off his shoes, found a pair of slippers from the shoe rack, and put them on. He then dragged his suitcase forward.
When he saw a black mark on the white tiles as he dragged the suitcase, he stopped immediately, not daring to move further.
Scratching his head, Cheng Yue frowned and carefully bent down to pick up the suitcase. The suitcase was too heavy and too big, making it hard for him to see the path ahead. He could only move slowly towards the room Ji Xu had pointed out.
After making eight trips, Cheng Yue finally managed to move all four suitcases into the inner room. He used a tissue to clean up the black mark at the entrance.
Sweat covered his forehead. Just as he was about to lie down on the sofa, he remembered Ji Xu’s rule about not sitting on the sofa without changing pants. He sighed and resigned himself to changing into a pair of sports pants before lying down on the sofa to rest.
As he lay on the sofa, staring at the ceiling, he took out his phone and messaged a few friends back in the U.S.
[What are you doing?]
The replies came quickly.
Some asked when he would be back, saying they were waiting for him.
Others asked him to bring back some Chinese souvenirs, like pretty girls.
One person even asked to borrow money…
Looking at the varied responses, Cheng Yue took some time to reply to a few of them about his situation.
Finally, he put his phone face down on the sofa and waited.
He thought to himself that he wasn’t as stupid as he seemed sometimes. His mother had said he was just a bit carefree, not holding grudges or keeping things inside.
So… well… his friends just saw him as…
Ten minutes later, with his phone still face down and silent, his stomach growled a few times.
Cheng Yue sighed, deleted the contacts he no longer wanted, and then looked at the latest contact, which was Ji Xu.
He tapped on the screen and sent Ji Xu a message, similar to the ones he had sent his friends.
The same words, the same tone, the same English language.
[My family went bankrupt, all the money’s gone, my parents are gone too. What do you think I should do now?]
Ji Xu received the coffee from the waiter, thanked him, and pushed it gently toward Mu Jia on the other side of the table. “Don’t go out unless necessary. It’s not safe.”
“Thank you.” Mu Jia held the warm coffee cup with both hands, her long hair hiding half her face.
The visible half looked a bit haggard but still beautiful.
“Don’t be so polite.”
Ji Xu noticed her dark circles and expressed his concern, “You don’t want to end up with problems before you even start.”
“I’m fine.” Mu Jia rubbed her eyes and sighed, “I just haven’t slept well. When those little girls and boys hold onto my legs and ask me to take them out, I can’t sleep at all. You don’t know how bright their eyes are when they look at me. I gave them hope, and I absolutely can’t let them down.”
Ji Xu smiled gently at her, “They won’t be disappointed. There must be many people like you.”
“Yes,” Mu Jia smiled back, “Just like you. I really didn’t expect the coldest person in our class to help me like this. You don’t know how hard it was for me to gather the courage to message you when I had nowhere else to turn.”
Just as Ji Xu was about to respond, his phone vibrated. He apologized to Mu Jia and checked the message.
It was from Cheng Yue.
In English.
Ji Xu read the message and replied with a few Chinese characters.
Cheng Yue, having sent the message, was about to get up and find something to eat in the fridge when his phone suddenly rang.
He almost instantly sat back down on the sofa and picked up his phone.
Ji Xu had replied with fifteen* characters.
*T/N: It was indeed 15 characters in the original language
[You should organize your room first]
Cheng Yue read Ji Xu’s “your room” and felt a lump in his throat.
When Ji Xu returned home, he had mentally prepared for a messy house and had spent ten minutes on the road comforting himself.
When Ji Xu opened the door, he found that the room looked exactly the same as when he had left.
The only difference was that a large dog was curled up on the sofa, sleeping peacefully with a pillow clutched in its arms, looking very well-behaved.
In that moment, Ji Xu thought that having a child might not be so troublesome after all. When he looked back on this scene in the future, he would feel that this brat with a bad mouth and a soft heart had slowly wormed his way into his heart.
Cheng Yue woke up when he heard the door open. Blinking, he saw Ji Xu approaching and hurriedly scrambled off the sofa, pressing down his messy hair.
“Have you eaten?” Ji Xu set his bag on the table and sat down next to Cheng Yue.
Cheng Yue quickly nodded and said, “Yes, I had bread and two bananas.”
“Still hungry?” Ji Xu asked while pulling out some documents from his bag and starting to review them.
“No, I’m not hungry,” Cheng Yue replied, though he felt a bit hungry. He thought it would be inappropriate to eat too much at Ji Xu’s place. It was already considerate of Ji Xu to take him in, and he shouldn’t eat too much…
Seeing that Cheng Yue wasn’t hungry, Ji Xu focused on the documents in his hand.
The spacious living room fell into a quiet hush.
Cheng Yue tugged at his wrinkled T-shirt and glanced at the clock on the wall.
It was already past nine.
Clearing his throat lightly, Cheng Yue reached for an apple on the coffee table, holding it in his hand as he tried to mask his awkwardness brought on by the silence.
He felt he needed to find something to talk about.
After thinking for five minutes, the room was still filled with only the sound of Ji Xu flipping through documents.
Finally, Cheng Yue thought of something, lifted his chin, and asked quietly, “Shall we take a shower? Do you want to go first or should I go first…”
As soon as he asked, Cheng Yue regretted it. What a silly topic of conversation.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that he had seen this kind of dialogue in a movie, where the male and female leads asked this question before getting busy.
Ji Xu, absorbed in his documents, didn’t catch Cheng Yue’s exact words but vaguely heard something about washing.
When he saw Cheng Yue holding an apple, he thought Cheng Yue was asking how to wash fruit, and said, “Just wash it however you like, and wash one for me too.”
Cheng Yue: “!”
Cheng Yue’s eyes widened in shock, and he raised his arm to point at Ji Xu, his hand trembling slightly. “Per…vert…”
Ji Xu: “???”
Translator’s note:
Well… you miiiiiight not be wrong about that, Cheng Yue 😏
