Chapter 22

Tong Yan’s school sports meet generallylasted five days, from Saturday to Wednesday, then Thursday and Friday were themid-term exams.

The first day was the opening ceremony, and the individual track andfield competitions. The second day was for various ball games. The third day wasarchery, fencing and swimming. The fourth day’s highlight was the cheerleadingcompetition, and weightlifting in the afternoon. All team events were scheduledfor the last day, before the closing ceremony.

Except for the individual track and field competitions on the 1stday, which took place in an open-air field, the events of the remaining fourdays took place in the gymnasium. In there, the pheromone complexity andconcentration were relatively best controlled, so Tong Yan would join thesports competition on Sunday.

On Saturday morning, before finishing breakfast, Zhuo Xiang Ming had to goout. Tong Yan saw him off, and Zhuo Xiang Ming said while tying his neck tie,“Stay by yourself for a while. I scheduled some soup to be made for youaround 10 o’clock, remember to drink some. When I come back, let’s go to my mother’sfor lunch.”

TongYan nodded: “I’ll just study a bit.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming asked: “Do you have homework this week?”

“No.” Tong Yan said, “It’s five days for the sports competition,and the next two days for exams. There’s no time to collect homework, and notime for the students to do it, so the teachers just told us to review.”

“Good.”Zhuo Xiang Ming also thought this way was best, “Then, review seriously.”

TongYan suddenly asked: “If I do well on my exams, can I get a reward?”

Thiswas really unexpected, Zhuo Xiang Ming smiled at him: “Is there something youwant?”

TongYan had no idea, and could only say: “It’s too insincere to ask me that directly.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming nodded good-naturedly: “That’s true.”

He rubbed Tong Yan’s head: “There’s a prize, I’ll give it to you afterthe exam.”

Whenhe opened the door to leave, Tong Yan again chased after him: “How high isconsidered a good score?”

Zhuo Xiang Ming: “Higher than 603.”

Thisscore wasn’t too high for Tong Yan, but it also wasn’t low, after a year ofabsence from school, he couldn’t take the exams lightly.

TongYan was filled with fighting spirit: “Deal.”

He agreed, but Zhuo Xiang Ming didn’t continue walking out. He had alreadytaken one step down the stairs, but he moved back, turning around to hold TongYan’s hand: “I’ll be back at 12. I’ll keep you company the rest of theafternoon.”

Hesaid this, as if he saw that Tong Yan was reluctant to part, and was tryingto drag out his leaving.

TongYan hurriedly pulled his hand away, and hid it behind his back: “Go on, I’mgoing back in.”

AfterZhuo Xiang Ming left, Tong Yan returned to the dining room and continued eatingbreakfast. Midway, he glanced at Zhuo Xiang Ming’s plate on the opposite sideof the table, the fried eggs were sliced, the bread and milk were untouched,and so was the porridge.

He sent a message to Zhuo Xiang Ming: Brother, remember to have yoursecretary order breakfast for you (> ▽ <)

Zhuo Xiang Ming replied: Okay, thanks Tong Tong

–

XuanGui was checking the indoor temperature, seeing that Tong Yan had finishedbreakfast, it happily rushed forward to ask: “Did you enjoybreakfast?”

TongYan: “It was very good.”

XuanGui: “You’re also not leaving this weekend, great! Let’s continue watchingSailor Moon!”

TongYan rejected: “Can’t, I need to study.”

XuanGui sighed: “Is it because of Sir’s reward?”

TongYan: “Yeah.”

XuanGui: “I hope you don’t look forward to it too much.”

TongYan: “Why?”

XuanGui: “Mr. Zhuo Jia Shuo twice flew into a terrible rage because of Sir’sgraduation gifts, once in middle school, and the other in college. I think, Sirmust be sending gifts that have some infuriating defects.”

” …” Tong Yan asked, “What did he give Zhuo Jia Shuo?”

XuanGui: “It’s been too long.”

Inany case, Tong Yan still resolutely went upstairs, throwing himself into theembrace of knowledge.

XuanGui gave up resistance and followed him up.

The first round of review was already halfway done. For this examinationperiod, Tong Yan planned to mainly review his notes, then he would do two setsof science and math practice tests before the exam.

XuanGui had completed a lot of chores in the early morning, while Tong Yan read hisnotes, he squatted on the charging station.

Itwas after 9 o’clock, Tong Yan planned to take a short break. Xuan Gui quickly ranup to him: “Can we watch Sailor Moon?”

TongYan: “Nope.”

XuanGui: “Why not?! You’re obviously resting now!”

TongYan: “…… Haven’t thought of a reason yet.”

“???” The robot was very shocked, “Don’ttell me, was our friendship fake?”

TongYan was ruthless: “Can a robot talk about friendship?”

XuanGui dropped to the ground, rolling from side to side, wanting to imitate ahuman being’s temper tantrum, but in fact, it just looked like an extra-largegoose egg: “You’ve changed!!!”

TongYan: “Only if you tell me what brother gave to Zhuo Jia Shuo.”

” …”

“Okay.” Xuan Gui said, “When he graduated from middle school, Sir giftedhim his own high school notes, handwritten on paper. Then, at Zhuo Jia Shuo’scollege graduation party, Sir gifted him an island, located approximately at latitudenorth 4.2 °, longitude east 73.5 °.”

XuanGui’s sound volume lowered to a whisper pitch: “The notebook was torn in half, andthe island ownership document suffered the same fate.”

TongYan suddenly didn’t know what to say.

He knew that Xuan Gui was a robot, so its memory could never be faulty,but he’d ignored another important point: a robot couldn’t exaggerate.

If Xuan Gui said that Zhuo Jia Shuo “flew into a terrible rage”,then Zhuo Jia Shuo had gotten really angry at Zhuo Xiang Ming.

He realized that there were no jokes behind this story.

But, why was his younger brother so unhappy with the gifts?

Thinkingcarefully, from the start, Tong Yan could not quite understand the way Zhuo XiangMing interacted with his family, but he never got a chance to bring up thistopic.

ZhuoXiang Ming and Zhuo Jia Shuo were only a year apart, but Zhuo Jia Shuo seemed tohave always lived at home, but Zhuo Xiang Ming left home early, and also rarelyever goes back.

Lin Yue Hua’s attitude towards Zhuo Xiang Ming was also quite hard topin down. It was more polite than intimate.

Tong Yan sometimes sensed that the reason Lin YueHua called him, invited him to her home, and was so kind to him, was in fact,to some extent, because she wanted to use him to get closer to Zhuo Xiang Ming.

But he never thought over it, why would a mother need to use an outsiderto more naturally express her concern for her own son?

Neither she nor Zhuo Xiang Ming were the type to be shy about expressingtheir feelings. Why were they so awkward when they met each other?

Tong Yan promised Zhuo Xiang Ming that he would study properly, but he failed to do so. When Zhuo Xiang Ming returned home, Tong Yan was still thinking about Zhuo Jia Shuo and Zhuo Xiang Ming’s terrible contradiction.

Zhuo Xiang Ming was always on time, he walked in at eleven fifty.

Zhuo Xiang Ming didn’t shut off the car. When Tong Yan changed hisclothes, the two immediately left.

WhenLin Yue Hua called last night, she learned that Tong Yan wouldn’t be returningto the Tong family this weekend, and immediately invited him for lunch, highly enthusiastic.Zhuo Xiang Ming was free in the afternoon, and, thinking that Tong Yan shouldn’tstudy all day, he agreed.

TongYan wasn’t the type to conceal things, after getting into the car, he couldn’thelp but ask about it.

“Why are you asking about this?” After hearing his questions,Zhuo Xiang Ming said, “It happened so long ago.”

TongYan: “I just happened to hear about it … why was he angry at you? Justbecause he wasn’t satisfied with his gift?”

Zhuo Xiang Ming: “Yes, and no.”

“What do you mean?” Tong Yan said again, “I’m just …just asking casually, if you don’t want to talk about it, I’m sorry.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming: “There’s nothing unspeakable.”

“When I was born, my parents were in the middle of a messy divorce,so my mother sent me to live with my grandparents. A few months later, shebecame pregnant. When she gave birth to Zhuo Jia Shuo, no one mentioned thedivorce again.”

He smiled at Tong Yan, “There must’ve been too much celebration, so everyonejust forgot about the other son at someone else’s house.”

TongYan didn’t find it funny, frowning: “… So, you were with yourgrandparents from the start?”

Zhuo Xiang Ming: “Yes.”

“You grew up in your grandparents’ house?”

Zhuo Xiang Ming: “Until the end of elementary school. After my grandmotherpassed away, my grandfather struggled to take care of me by himself, so I wasenrolled in boarding school.”

TongYan found it unimaginable, but he held back his expression of surprise, afraidof hurting Zhuo Xiang Ming: “Boarding middle school … only high schoolis somewhat permissible for us now, middle school is definitely out of thequestion.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming smiled again: “This is a story from the past. Weprobably only met during the New Year celebrations. My grandfather was gettingolder, he couldn’t handle too much excitement, and I also didn’t want him to greetthe New Year by himself. So, even during the New Year celebrations, I might seeone or two faces, but we were basically strangers.”

“WhenZhuo Jia Shuo graduated from middle school, they held a party to celebrate, andinvited me.” Zhuo Xiang Ming said, “I thought about buying something forhim, but, one, the pocket money grandfather gave me was limited at that time. ZhuoJia Shuo didn’t need cheap things, but if it was too expensive, I wouldn’t beable to afford it by myself.”

“And two, I truly felt that raisingyour rank during your first year of high-school was more important. You know, comparedto middle-school, there’s a very big difference in the way you’re taught andthe number of things you have to learn … Anyway, in the end, I decided to gifthim my notes.”

TongYan: “Xuan Gui said, it was all handwritten.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming nodded: “Yes.”

“Why did he tear it?” Tong Yan suddenly asked, his voicerising, his hands bunching into fists on his thighs, “Even if you dislikeit, why tear it up?”

Zhuo Xiang Ming had left right after his conference, he was still dressedformally. He loosened his tie slightly, and gave Tong Yan an appeasing look:“He was still a kid back then, they’re not always sensible. He thought thathis big brother wasn’t willing to spend money on him, and probably hated him.”

TongYan shook his head: “I understand that, but if Tong Yang gave me hisnotes, I would never tear them.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming: “You guys grew up together, you’re different from us.We could only start contradictions, but there was no time to resolve them.”

TongYan asked in a low voice: “What about the small island? Was that not expensiveenough, why didn’t he like it?”

Zhuo Xiang Ming switched to steering one handed, the other hand holding TongYan’s small fist: “Like I said, our relationship has never been close, andwe only met a few times before that. He was now an adult, he was starting to gainthe patience needed for “handwritten notes” gifts, but he had no opportunitiesto understand the older brother who wrote them.”

“He probably thought that I’d remembered what happened between us, andwas mocking him on purpose.”

TongYan wanted to ask, then why didn’t you explain it?

WhenZhuo Xiang Ming spoke of these matters, there were many “perhaps”,“maybes” and “probablys”. If it was like this, if there wasa misunderstanding between them, why not resolve it?

Then he realized, at that time, how old was Zhuo Xiang Ming? Zhuo XiangMing, a high-school freshman, at most he was fourteen years old, four yearsyounger than Tong Yan was now.

After school, he returned to a home thatshould’ve been familiar, but in fact, it was very strange, in order to attendhis younger brother’s graduation party. Around him were his parents, relativesand his younger brother’s classmates. And in front of everyone, his giftednotes were personally torn apart by his brother. Fourteen-year-old Zhuo XiangMing, what did he feel at that moment?

He was probably not as tall as the current Tong Yan. Not wanting to participatein the party anymore, he left, leaving behind a broken notebook. He had to goback to school, or, if it was the weekend, he could return to the home of hisgrandfather. What was he thinking at that time?

Thesekinds of circumstances sounded ridiculous, but in fact, they were the reasonfor his permanent distance from his family. How did Zhuo Xiang Ming, who spentmost of his time away at boarding school, comfort himself?

How many times in his youth had he tossed and turned in bed, doubtingand blaming himself? “From deciding that the other person was excessive, tosuspecting that you’re the one who was excessive”, how many times did he gothrough this “complicated and painful” process alone? Longing for theother person to raise the topic, giving it a special meaning, how many timeshad those hopes been dashed, before Zhuo Xiang Ming obtained his current adult philosophy?

TongYan realized, he wasn’t the only one, everyone grew up for the first time, includingZhuo Xiang Ming.

Zhuo Xiang Ming hoped that he would suffer as little as possible,perhaps because he himself had experienced too much suffering in his youth. Howmuch did an indifferent mood affect people? Over the past two decades, how didhe reconcile with himself to later become the current gentle, meticulous, and calm,celibate Zhuo Xiang Ming?

========================================

T/N:

as if he saw that Tong Yan was…-就是看出了童宴对他强行没话找话后面的不舍, unsure oftranslation

invited- Justwanted to point out how absurd it is that the older brother gets ‘invited’ tohis younger brother’s party.

Ever wanted to just reach in and strangle afictional character?