CH 7

Shang Yunrou was very surprised, “You know my brother? Although I knew you were a teacher at Qingwan University, my brother is from the finance department. The school is so big, I thought you wouldn’t know him.”

She was really Shang Muxiao’s sister… 

This incredible coincidence just left me speechless. Yes, the school was so big, why would I have something to do with Shang Muxiao? I myself would like to know.

I looked at Shang Yunrou’s delicate and refined facial features, and once again sighed at the magic of genes.

She didn’t really look like Shang Lu, her profile and eyebrows didn’t look the same, but she was somewhat similar to Shang Muxiao. Thinking about it, it was because Shang Muxiao resembled both his father and his mother, while Shang Yunrou only resembled her mother.

In this way, the mother of the sister and brother was also an earth-shattering beauty. 

“I teach philosophy at university, and your brother came to take my elective,” I said.

Shang Yunrou understood.

“So that’s how it is. How is Muxiao doing at university? I’m ten years apart from him. When we were young, our mother…was not in good health, and my father was busy with work. I always took care of my younger brother more, and unconsciously spoiled him a little too much.” Obviously, the elder sister also knew how bad-tempered Shang Muxiao was, and when she talked about this younger brother, she looked worried, “He often does things out of proportion now, which gives me a lot of headaches.”

Thinking of what Shang Muxiao said when he participated in the mutual aid group before, I thought that in her headache list, there should also be a younger brother who cannot accept her boyfriend.

“I don’t have much contact with him. If you want to know his performance in school, I can ask the professor of finance for you.”

Shang Yunrou hurriedly waved her hand and said, “No, no, I just asked casually, you don’t have to take it seriously.”

I glanced at Yang Haiyang, who was grinning a little but not smiling. Ever since Shang Muxiao was mentioned, he has always had this expression, sitting on the side without interrupting. From what I know about him, if it wasn’t for Shang Yunrou’s presence, he would probably have spit out his bitterness with me and severely criticized the nasty son of a bitch Shang Muxiao.

I didn’t mention the psychological support group. First, I didn’t want Shang Yunrou to think that I had any psychological problems as soon as we met. Second, today’s protagonists were Shang Yunrou and Yang Haiyang after all. It wasn’t quite suitable to keep mentioning someone else.  

The waiters served the dishes one after another. They no longer discussed Shang Muxiao at the table, but instead started to talk about some light and interesting topics.

Apart from their similar appearance, Shang Yunrou and her younger brother had completely different personalities. Born from the same parents, I didn’t know how there was such a big difference.

Speaking of her acquaintance with Yang Haiyang, Shang Yunrou was simply sparkling with wit. Her humor was proportionate, there was a charm in her gentleness, and her circumstances were even more enchanting.

“I was driving home that day, and suddenly I saw a child crying on the side of the road. I stopped and asked him why he was crying. He said he couldn’t find his mother. At this time, Haiyang and Lingling happened to pass by and immediately knew what kind of situation it was. They took the little boy to the police station with me to report the case.” Shang Yunrou said as she looked at her boyfriend beside her, her eyes full of tenderness, “Sometimes it’s really a matter of visual affinity. When I first saw Lingling, I thought how cute this child was.” 

I was a little surprised that the object of Shang Yunrou’s love at first sight was not Yang Haiyang, but his daughter Yang Youling.

However, although that little girl was only five years old, because of her sweet mouth and her very sensible and well-behaved personality, I have never seen an adult who didn’t like her. She was the only girl I had met who would be the most likely to take over the world through her beauty.

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P rajgfv ja tlw mbivis, “Cr j ojatfg, sbe tjnf ab yf wbgf qjalfca klat tfg. Dfrlvfr, rtf lr rb ubbv, ktja mbeiv rtf vb ab vfrfgnf sbeg yfjalcu jcv rmbivlcu?”  

Shang Yunrou raised the water glass to me, and finally felt a sense of camaraderie. 

“Couldn’t agree more. Lingling is so good, how could Lingling make a mistake? It must be Dad who is wrong.” 

I raised my glass to meet her, and instantly the two of us determined our position and formed a “Lingling Alliance” to jointly resist Yang Haiyang’s hegemony over our Lingling. 

“So, you started dating because of Lingling?” As soon as I reminded her, Shang Yunrou remembered that she was only halfway through what she just said, and continued: “No, it’s because my heel broke.”  

The three sent the little boy to the police station, and after confirming that the parents were on their way, they planned to leave. Unfortunately, Shang Yunrou’s high heels got stuck in a manhole cover and it broke when she walked out of the police station.

“Actually, it wasn’t a particularly high heel. It’d be easier if the whole thing was broken, but only half of it was broken, and the other half was connected to the sole of the shoe. It was both difficult to separate or fix. It was a little embarrassing.”

And at this extremely embarrassing time, Yang Haiyang noticed the abnormality and came over. He first asked Shang Yunrou if she was injured, and then squatted down to check her shoes. While repairing the high-heeled shoes, he also gave Shang Yunrou his big slippers for a while, while he stood barefoot on the pebbled ground.

Yang Haiyang had always been warm-hearted. This was indeed what he would do. Except during hisdivorce, I didn’t see a time when he was depressed. If I was an extreme pessimist, then Yang Haiyang was my opposite, synonymous with optimism and positivity. 

“At that moment, I thought he was so handsome, but because Lingling called him dad, I thought he wasn’t single, and I thought… Sure enough, all the good men are married.”

Yang Haiyang repaired her shoes—breaking both heels. In return, she drove the father and daughter home.

As they chatted along the way, she learned that Yang Haiyang was a single father. She decisively asked him for his contact information when he got out of the car.

I was wondering how Yang Haiyang would suddenly change his mind about being single. It turned out that this was still a drama of a woman chasing a man. 

“No one can refuse her.” Yang Haiyang sighed, “I thought about resisting, but it didn’t work at all.”

Could this be the magic power flowing in the bones of the Shang family? The most primitive, the ability to drive desire. As long as they beckon, even if they know they shouldn’t, there would still be a large number of people who would rush forward without hesitation.

After the meal, Shang Yunrou drove me home with Yang Haiyang.

When getting out of the car, Yang Haiyang asked his girlfriend to wait in the car, and got down from the car and pushed me to the elevator. 

“Shang Muxiao, don’t have too much contact with him. He is different from his sister, he is a lunatic.”

I thought he was coming over to say something, but it turned out to be to remind me to stay away from Shang Muxiao.

“He’s just a child and he scares you?”

“No, he’s really a lunatic!” Yang Haiyang glanced carefully at Shang Yunrou’s direction, obviously it couldn’t have traveled that far, so he lowered his voice and said, “Do you know what kind of bird xiao is?” 

“An owl?”

“It’s an owl, but it was also called a ‘mother-eating bird’ in ancient times, which means a bird that eats its mother. I don’t know the details, but as soon as Shang Muxiao was born, his mother suffered from postpartum depression. It’s said that originially, she was also a very promising female painter, but she was completely unable to create because of depression, and because she was unable to create, she was even more depressed, so she suffered for five years before finally committing suicide.”

I was stunned. I didn’t expect such a secret.

At the beginning, Yu Xixi said that Shang Lu’s wife died of illness. I thought it was a sudden illness like cancer, but it was depression. 

“Who gave him his name?” I asked.

“His mom.” Yang Haiyang said, “The relationship between the siblings and their father is quite distant, but it’s better with Yunrou, they still communicate. The boy Shang Muxiao and his father are basically enemies. They would have big and small brawls every couple of days. It seems that Dad Shang also felt that his wife’s death was all the fault of his younger son, and he said things like ‘If only you were not born’ in front of him.” At the end, his expression became a bit complicated. “It can only be said that parents are really largely responsible for the development of bad characters.”

“No wonder he is so reliant on his sister.” Shang Yunrou may not only be his sister to him, but also his father and mother, his whole family.

“Right?” Yang Haiyang’s face just showed some pity when he heard these words. It was fleeting and soon turned into one full of disgust, “He is as protective of Yunrou as an old hen for a chick.  He said that if I pester Yunrou again, he would just break my leg. It’s not like I haven’t fought before. Who is afraid of who huh? Who knows whose leg will be broken by then.” 

This was true. Yang Haiyang was a well-known fighting king in junior high school. He often clashed with gangsters outside the school and came to class with blue and purple on his face. He was the number one problem student in the eyes of the teacher.

With a “ding” sound, the elevator arrived.

I controlled the wheelchair to enter the elevator, turned around and told him: “They are siblings after all, don’t make it difficult for Miss Shang, and don’t have a head-on conflict with Shang Muxiao.”

Yang Haiyang scratched his nose and mumbled vaguely, not knowing if he heard it. 

On Sunday’s psychological support group activity day, there was no sign of Shang Muxiao at the scene. He came reluctantly the first time. It seemed that he would only participate in response to his sister. If he didn’t come this time, it was unlikely he would be here in the future either.

“How’s the week going?”

I looked away from the calm amber tea soup and looked at Sister Liao who was asking.

“Fine,” I said. “My car is finally fixed.” 

After two weeks of repairs, it was now almost like new. I didn’t know how much I missed it until I sat on it again.

In the following week, Shang Muxiao disappeared. He didn’t show up for electives or show up unannounced in my office again.

Not even a month had passed, just a week, and he was already tired of betting with me. At first, I thought so.

As a result, on Friday, in another elective class, just as suddenly he’d disappeared, he suddenly appeared again. The position was changed to the last row, with a black mask on his face. He was slouched on the table throughout the class. The two students with him, sitting in the front row, would look back at him from time to time, but he didn’t respond. 

The bell rang for the end of class, and everyone left the classroom one after another. I packed up the lecture notes on the stage, and when I looked up, I found Shang Muxiao standing in front of me.

He stood there, just looking at me and not speaking.

“Then, let’s go first.” One of Shang Muxiao’s two classmates, the more delicate-looking boy nodded at me, glanced at Shang Muxiao who was unresponsive, and then met another yellow-haired boy who was waiting at the door. The boys left together.

Because of their relationship with Shang Muxiao, I also paid special attention to Yu Xixi when she was doing the roll call last time. I knew that the more delicate boy was Yin Nuo, and the one with yellow hair was called Zhou Yanyi. Like Shang Muxiao, they were all finance students. 

“Why are you looking at them?” Shang Muxiao’s voice was muffled through his mask, looking a little resentful and dangerous, “I’m standing in front of you. You don’t look at me, but look at them?”

I retracted my gaze, tidied the lecture notes, and saw Yu Xixi staring  in horror from a distance. She silently pointed at Shang Muxiao, as if uncertain as to what the situation was.

I shook my head slightly at her and motioned for her to leave first. Yu Xixi was even more shocked. Although she was hesitant to say anything and didn’t know what I was doing, she still walked out of the classroom quickly.

Only Shang Muxiao and I were left. I could finally calm down and coax this child. 

“You’re wearing a mask, what do you think?” I found a bruise on the corner of his eye that wasn’t covered by the mask, I frowned and asked, “What’s wrong with your face?”

He reached out and tore off the mask, and I noticed that his knuckles were also bruised.

“I was beaten.” He was extremely aggrieved, and he leaned in front of me to let me take a closer look, “Look, the corners of my mouth are cut.”

He took my hand and pulled it up to touch his wound. 

“Who hit you?”

For some reason, I had a bad hunch.

“My sister’s boyfriend.”

My fingers touched the corners of his eyes. I trembled, he hissed, with his eyes instantly sharpening. When he met my gaze, it quickly softened again. 

That guy Yang Haiyang didn’t take my words to heart at all. Okay fine, you beat him, but you even hit his face.