Chapter 18: Sneaking into the Home Turf
The surroundings were noisy. Diners chatted and laughed, and from time to time a few children would gather together on the floor to play with little toy cars.
Those were the special gifts that came with the children’s meal sets. Tiny little things, not even half the size of an adult’s palm. Press the switch, and they would slowly speed across the floor.
Even though the speed limit on the road outside was set at sixty, these little cars still raced across the ground at the blistering pace of one meter per half day. The restaurant interior was their camouflage, and in this lawless land, they puttered along leisurely with soft little buzzing sounds.
Huo Xiao had never been to this kind of fast-food restaurant before. The smell of fried food filled the air. He never ate this kind of thing, and sitting there, his expression looked terrible, as if he might get up and leave at any second.
An Yi took the food off the tray and placed one portion in front of Huo Xiao.
“Eat.”
Huo Xiao turned his head aside, his face full of rejection. Who would eat this kind of thing? It was all fried, with no nutritional value whatsoever.
“I’m not eating.”
Little Frog calmly unwrapped the burger in his own hands and took a bite. “There are benefits to eating this.”
Huo Xiao did not understand. What possible benefit could this kind of high-calorie food have?
“What benefits?”
He simply did not believe the other man could come up with anything convincing.
With his cheeks puffed out, An Yi began making Huo Xiao do reading comprehension. “Look at the people around us eating. What do you see on them?”
Huo Xiao let his gaze sweep over the surroundings. Weren’t they all just eating normally? What was there to see?
Huo Xiao played dumb. “I don’t see anything.”
An Yi said, “Then you’re still too young.”
Being looked down on like that, Huo Xiao felt a little indignant. His self-esteem was strong, and what he could not stand most was being underestimated.
“Then you tell me. What do they have from eating fried food?”
An Yi replied, “Happiness.”
Huo Xiao: …
What was happier than eating one junk-food meal?
Only eating two.
He turned to look, and sure enough, everyone did seem to be in pretty good spirits, sitting there eating and drinking with their companions, chatting and laughing.
Looking at Huo Xiao’s tense expression, An Yi could not understand that whole “must be outstanding” mindset of big families. Earlier, when he had seen Huo Xiao standing by the roadside holding a test paper that was only one point shy of full marks, yet wearing a worried expression, he had been stunned. A paper that was almost perfect had actually made a seventeen-year-old boy wear an expression of shame. Not regret over losing a point, but shame toward himself, as though a nearly perfect test paper were somehow disgraceful.
So An Yi came to one conclusion: the Huo family was no simple household. The whole family was made up of obsessive overachievers.
And he suddenly understood why he always felt that this entire family carried some kind of invisible adults-only gene.
Under that much pressure, it was very easy for people to turn perverse.
Like Huo Beixing before he became stupid. 🙂
Relaxing a little once in a while was a good thing. After all, the other party was still underage. If he did not loosen up now, then later he would have no chance to relax at all, because he would be forced to keep grinding himself to death in the Huo family.
An Yi picked up a fried chicken drumstick and held it out. “Want one?”
His eyes were clear, like a squirrel sharing food.
No need to be polite.jpg
Huo Xiao’s face was full of resistance. “No. Even if I died, even if I jumped down from here, I still wouldn’t—mmph…”
An Yi found him too noisy and directly stuffed the drumstick into his mouth.
“Tasty?”
Huo Xiao: …
Tasty.
Huo Xiao took the fried chicken drumstick down in disbelief.
There was actually something in this world that tasted this good.
After that, things got completely out of control.
Seeing how happily the other party was eating, An Yi gave a simple, silly smile. “Tasty?”
Although Huo Xiao’s mouth was stubborn, he still nodded in acknowledgment.
An Yi said, “If you do just as well next time, I’ll bring you here to eat again.”
Huo Xiao’s chewing paused. He looked up at An Yi across from him.
“Why?”
An Yi replied, “What do you mean, why? You did well, so this is your reward from an elder.”
He had always felt this kind of encouragement was necessary. Back at the school in the mountain ravines, every time he got good grades, not only was he happy, the teachers were happy for him too. Even though resources in the mountains were scarce and there were no real rewards, the teachers’ praise, their encouraging words, and his own joy were what drove him to want to keep doing well the next time.
If working hard and achieving good results became something taken for granted, to the point where a person could not even feel joy from it themselves, then the road ahead would undoubtedly be a very painful one.
If a person could not even feel happy for their own accomplishments, An Yi could not imagine what sort of mindset that was, nor what could keep them moving forward.
A complicated feeling rose in Huo Xiao’s heart. These things being done well had always simply been what should happen. What reward was there to talk about?
From childhood, the education he had received was that he must work hard to become excellent and capable of standing on his own. These so-called good grades and honors were things he had to have. The Huo family was never short on those things. Since they were results he was supposed to achieve, naturally no one praised or rewarded them.
For example, even if he had won first prize today, his father would not congratulate him. He would only tell him to keep it up and not fall behind.
And it was not just his father who thought that way. Huo Xiao himself thought so too.
If other people could do something, then so could he. If he could not, then it meant his abilities were lacking and he was inferior. Yet once he did manage it, he would feel it was only natural. There would be no emotion in his heart, and he had never once celebrated for himself.
This was the first time anyone had rewarded him like this.
Looking at the person across from him holding a burger in one hand and his test paper in the other, smiling as he commented on how nice his handwriting was, Huo Xiao, for some reason, felt a little embarrassed.
An Yi did not hold back in praising him. “Are these really math problems? Why do there seem to be so many English letters?”
“You know all of these? That’s amazing.”
“Your handwriting is really good. So impressive.”
Huo Xiao’s handwriting was indeed very good, his strokes strong and forceful, bold and flowing like dragons and phoenixes in flight.
Being praised like that, Huo Xiao felt his face grow a little warm. From childhood until now, this was the first time anyone had praised him this much.
The other person’s eyes were sparkling brightly, as though he had achieved some number-one-under-heaven level of good grades.
And yet what was on the paper was actually his failed Olympiad math score.
At the tail end of adolescence, Huo Xiao’s build was already on par with a normal grown man. Years of discipline and careful nutritional control had brought him to about one meter eighty-eight tall, half a head taller than An Yi.
Only his face still retained a trace of youthful immaturity.
Faced with An Yi’s praise, the tall boy’s ears turned red, his face a little hot. After a long while, he only managed to say, “Actually, it’s nothing much.”
An Yi said, “You’re very outstanding.”
That was what An Yi truly felt from the bottom of his heart. Huo Xiao was excellent.
At seventeen or eighteen, he had never seen anyone his own age work as hard as Huo Xiao did.
At that moment, someone happened to pass by, and An Yi raised up the paper for the stranger to see. “My cousin got nearly full marks on his exam.”
The passerby, an older guy who clearly liked chatting, looked at the test paper, stepped forward, and gave Huo Xiao a slap on the back. “Whoa, this is Olympiad math, right? Such a high score. Nice one, kid.”
Huo Xiao stuffed the rest of the burger into his mouth and let out a muffled “Mm.” Looking at An Yi’s smiling face as he showed him off to others, the corners of Huo Xiao’s lips also lifted slightly.
Before, when he had heard that Huo Beixing was going to marry a man, Huo Xiao had been strongly opposed. He had thought the other party was only after profit, shameless, and not a good person.
But now, looking at An Yi’s bright, toothy smile, Huo Xiao’s eyes fell on that smile. Seen this way, he did not actually seem all that annoying.
Huo Xiao ate neatly, but very quickly. By the time he had finished his entire meal, An Yi had only just finished one burger.
Looking at the burning look in the other man’s eyes—
Little Frog alert.jpg
With food still stuffed in his mouth, An Yi protectively said, “These are mine.”
Not giving.
Huo Xiao’s expression stiffened a little. He sounded as though he were about to snatch food from someone. “I never said I wanted yours.”
An Yi: 🙂
You’d better not.
Three minutes later…
Huo Xiao said, “Give me a drumstick.”
An Yi pouted. “Didn’t you say you weren’t going to ask me for one?”
Huo Xiao replied, “I’m borrowing it.”
An Yi: …
Once it goes into your stomach, how are you planning to return it? What are you going to use to pay back what you owe me?!
But as the elder, An Yi still painfully decided to part with one drumstick and lend it to Huo Xiao. Yet just as the two of them were engaged in this warm act of loving assistance, the glass window beside them was suddenly covered by a shadow.
At that moment, sunlight no longer fell on the two of them. An Yi’s movement of handing over the drumstick froze, and he and Huo Xiao turned together to look outside.
There stood Huo Beixing outside the window, carrying a large sports bag on his back, his handsome face dark, looking down at the two of them from above.
An Yi: …
Huo Xiao: …
One minute later, Huo Beixing sat beside An Yi with his arms crossed. The foolish air he usually wore had now been replaced by a cold expression, his eyes fixed directly on the drumstick in Huo Xiao’s hand.
You’d better give me an explanation.
Though even if you explain, I might not listen.
Holding the drumstick, Huo Xiao was caught between sitting and eating, neither one feeling right.
After swim class, Huo Beixing had originally planned to go home and watch Runaway Bride, Where Do You Think You’re Going Too with his wife, while also eating their shared marital property for lunch.
But after class, when the driver picked him up and they stopped at a red light, Huo Beixing got bored waiting and craned his neck to look outside. With one glance, he spotted An Yi and Huo Xiao sitting inside the fast-food restaurant.
Huo Beixing: !
Their shared marital property was being split with someone else!
Furious, Huo Beixing made the driver pull over, then walked over with his sports bag on his back and stood outside the two of them, saying hi through the glass window.
Yesterday his wife had clearly said that when sharing food, he would only share it with him! Not with anyone else!
Had all of that been a lie?!
Looking at the drumstick in Huo Xiao’s hand, Huo Beixing was very unhappy.
He sat there without speaking, as if unless the two of them gave him an explanation today, nobody was leaving.
An Yi was the first to break the silence. “You’re out of class?”
Huo Beixing turned to look at An Yi, anger mixed with grievance in his eyes.
My drumstick, you really gave it to someone else? My drumstick, you gave it to someone else to eat?!
And you still want to keep splitting marital property with me in the future? No chance!
An Yi picked up the test paper and began explaining. “I saw Cousin got a good score, so I treated him to a meal. We just happened to run into each other, and you hadn’t finished class yet, so it’s not like I deliberately left you out.”
As he spoke, he gently shook Huo Beixing’s arm.
Looking at the snow-white hand resting on his arm, Huo Beixing turned his head toward him. “Really?”
“Of course. Did you forget what I told you yesterday?”
Huo Beixing answered, “When sharing food, only share with me.”
An Yi: …
Little Frog hurried to soothe him and whispered softly into his ear, “I like you the most.”
Hearing that, Huo Beixing’s mood immediately improved somewhat. Clearly, those words were extremely effective on him.
Seeing the shift in his mood, An Yi hurriedly tried to turn the tide. “And besides, look at what I brought him to eat.”
Huo Beixing looked at the fried chicken and burgers on the tray. “Fried food.”
An Yi said, “Exactly. No nutrition at all, not healthy in the slightest, and super high in calories.”
Huo Xiao, still holding the drumstick: …
An Yi threw out another question. “If it’s unhealthy food, would you eat it?”
That kind of thing would definitely upset his stomach, and then he would end up in the hospital seeing a doctor. Huo Beixing shook his head. “I wouldn’t eat it.”
An Yi said, “So I’m not eating it either. I gave my share to him.”
Huo Beixing looked up at Huo Xiao. “Then you eat it.”
Huo Xiao: …
Why thank you so very much.
Only after Huo Xiao had finished eating did the three of them finally leave the fast-food restaurant.
Huo Beixing and An Yi walked side by side, while Huo Xiao lagged half a step behind. Huo Beixing also knew he was older than Huo Xiao and therefore the elder brother, so he told Huo Xiao to get in the car with them, intending to drop him home.
The car drove smoothly and soon stopped beside the apartment complex where Huo Xiao lived.
Huo Xiao got out and said goodbye to the two of them.
An Yi stuck his head out from the car window. “You’re almost at the college entrance exam, right?”
Huo Xiao paused. “There are about ten months left.”
An Yi said, “I hope you get into your dream university.”
His words were sincere, and his tone carried limitless longing.
Huo Xiao pressed his lips together. “Can I ask why you didn’t go to university before?”
Even getting into a junior college would have looked better than only having a high school education. What did a high school diploma amount to?
“That?” An Yi brushed it off simply. “Because my family didn’t have money back then.”
That was only one small part of the reason.
“Good luck on your exams!”
An Yi pulled his head back in and sat down properly in the car again.
After the car had driven far away, Huo Xiao still stood frozen on the spot in a daze.
That night, Huo Xiao lay in bed tossing and turning, unable to sleep. His mind was full of An Yi’s words: because there had been no money at home back then, he had not been able to go to university.
He could not help recalling how he had previously mocked and sneered at him in the Huo household, standing on the high ground of morality and making fun of him for having only a high school education.
It was not that An Yi did not want to go to university.
It was because he had had no money.
Money was something Huo Xiao had never even considered, because he had never lacked it. To him, money was merely numbers.
But An Yi had grown up in the mountains. Huo Xiao had never thought there might be a factor like that.
And he had mocked him for it.
He bit into his blanket.
Huo Xiao, you really deserve to die.
—
That night, An Yi had just come out of the bathroom when he saw Huo Beixing sitting on the bed, apparently thinking about something. The moment he saw An Yi come out, he stood up, grabbed his arm, and pulled him over.
Caught off guard, An Yi toppled straight into him, and Huo Beixing reached out and scooped him back up.
At that moment, their posture was extremely strange. Huo Beixing’s hand was under An Yi’s arm, lifting him straight up like a rigid strip until they were face to face.
An Yi felt like a piece of kelp swaying in the wind.
Huo Beixing looked serious. “Wife.”
An Yi tilted his head. “Mm-hm?”
A look of longing shone in Huo Beixing’s peach-blossom eyes. “I need a pet name.”
An Yi: ?
A pet name?
What shocking plotline had Runaway Bride, Where Do You Think You’re Going Too produced this time?
Huo Beixing looked at An Yi expectantly. He had watched tonight’s episode, and in it, the heroine gave the beloved hero a special pet name.
If other people had one, then he absolutely had to have one too!
An Yi did not refuse and simply followed along. “Then what kind of pet name do you want?”
The moment Huo Beixing heard that, he became a little bashful and shyly said, “Anything is fine.”
An Yi thought about it. In TV dramas, couples always called each other things like “baby.”
An Yi said, “Then let’s call you Huo Dabao.”
