CH 7

Sorry for the late update, guys QAQ. Enjoy~

An Wuyang sat in the car to calm down his rage. Heavily breathing and grittily closing his eyes, he looked down and felt the not-so-thick stack of money in his hand. He also presumed that the job of accompanying someone to drink wine was not for him. 

Even if it wasn’t for Huo Yunchuan tricks tonight, this job might not last long. Who knew if there wouldn’t be a man who’d that wouldn’t step out into Wuyang’s boundaries and did the same thing as he’d gone through. 

Thus, when he met Huo Yunchuan, he couldn’t tell whether it was a good or a bad thing.

In any case, there wouldn’t be another episode of reuniting in the future. Hence, An Wuyang shook these thoughts out of his head and didn’t think about him again. 

It was already half-past ten when he arrived at the doorstep of their house. Most of the house rooms had already had their lights off, and his parents indeed were sound asleep during this late night. Wuyang caught sight of the only room illuminated by a lamp which was the hallway. And, without doubt, it wasn’t explicitly left on for An Wuyang. 

The siblings didn’t have personal built-in bathrooms in their rooms, so a tiny lamp was always left on in the living room to make it easier for them to navigate the toilet during the wee hours without tripping and bumping on furniture. 

An Wuyang walked tiredly into his room and found that his little brother was already asleep. He promptly placed his hand carefully on the upper bunk and climbed up his bed in slow motion.

“…” Although he slept through the whole morning earlier, he still felt worn. 

With the peaceful vibe of the night, his breathing filled in the silence occupying the room. And in less than five minutes, he had already dozed off to a dreamless sleep. 

The following day was a weekend. Ding Wei got up early and made breakfast for the whole family. 

At precisely eight o’clock, she called everyone down for breakfast. 

“I have something to say,” Ding Wei said while holding toast slices and buttering jam on them. “Your da jie¹ is going to study in the United States during the summer vacation. What do you want her to bring back?”

An Wuji immediately raised his hand, as he did in class. “Mom, I want my da jie to bring me a set of books.”

Ding Wei looked at him and inquired, “What book?”

An Wuji also stared at his mother’s eyes. “I already told her.”

An Cheng, who listened as he ate, turned his attention to his side, and lovingly tousled his youngest son’s head. Recalling back to his years in school, he remembered that he had almost failed to pass the exam² during his college entrance examination that’d create his future, and luckily he didn’t. Then, turning his gaze at his sluggish second child, and asked, “Wuyang, what about you?”

Finding everyone’s eyes were on him, An Wuyang let out a yawn. “Nah.”

Ding Wei frowned at his action and said, “Did you come back late last night?”

“No.” An Wuyang looked down at his plate and swiveled the fork he’s holding, and flipped his fried egg. He replied, “It’s about eleven o’clock.” 

An Cheng raised his head and commented, “Wuyang, how about changing jobs?”

Even if he said something such as that, he really didn’t care about his son going back and forth all by himself in the evening. 

“Okay.” An Wuyang took a sip of milk in his glass, feeling dog-tired. “I’m going to find a part-time job today.”

“Hm, that’s the best.” An Cheng flashed a satisfied smile. 

“How about work at Juewei Duck Neck?” An Wuji joined the conversation and gave his gege³ an idea in a serious tone. 

Dumbfounded and speechless, An Wuyang flatly took a bite of the fried egg, and refused, “I’d rather go to Sha Xian Snacks for part-time work than sell those plain-flavored duck necks.”

The reason for this apparent dislike was because every time they go to the restaurant, customers would always ask to weigh five yuan more, then ten yuan more, and even twenty yuan worth of necks naturally, before asking, “Is it okay to add more?”

This kind of corporate culture was indeed low and could reach the earth’s core. 

Faced with this situation, An Wuyang always pulled out ten yuan and assured the clerk, who looked at him in disbelief. “I have so much money on me. It doesn’t matter if I charge ten yuan less, right?”

Juewei clerk: “…”

Seeing their colored expression every time was worth it. 

“Not today.” Ding Wei pondered about it and said, “It’s rare that you don’t have to attend school on weekends. We should go visit the suburbs to see Grandma⁴.” 

Ding Wei’s parents were born natives and dwelled on the outskirts of the city. 

While An Cheng’s family was situated in another province. After marrying Ding Wei, their family registered their household here in the city. They didn’t go back to their hometowns twice a year. 

His parents didn’t want to follow or live in their eldest son’s household and stayed in their original house in the province. Anyway, it’s too much of a hassle to get together twice a year, so they kept it at one as maximum. 

An Cheng’s father and mother had always told people that he would marry and live with his bride’s family, and he would become someone else’s family when he got betrothed. 

In contrast to their thoughts, Ding Wei put on a bright expression and enthusiastically talked about it with his parents once she heard about it. Hence, no one dared whisper behind closed doors this matter ever again. 

Regarding social and work abilities, it couldn’t be sure if Ding Wei was pressured and at the end of the stick against An Cheng. It was a great pity that she was a woman working at a company and had to shoulder the household management simultaneously. Moreover, as a married woman, she was expected to bear and raise their children when her husband was out to work naturally. Hence, her attention and importance to the company were limited. 

She and An Cheng were colleagues for more than ten years in a foreign company. After ten years of devoting a portion of their lives to support their family, An Cheng was promoted to deputy minister due to his notable hard work, while Ding Wei remained an ordinary employee.

An Wuyang’s maternal grandparents⁵ didn’t live in the suburbs at first. Back in the day, when their ages were the same as Wuyang, they also lived in the city to work. 

But An Wuyang wasn’t fond of visiting there. He felt the hate that his wai po and wai gong were more inclined to care about his academic grades than him as an individual and his feelings. 

More than that, his younger brother was also there with him, sitting on the couch as their grandparents asked about their grades or, more so, interrogating them. And at the end of it all, Wuji was praised for being excellent and intelligent, while Wuyang received criticisms for being lazy, stupid, and ignorant—like the total opposite of his brother. 

Worse, his parents also let him be judged by his grandma and grandpa so much and just stood in the background, uncaring—which was also an annoying thing for him. 

“Brother.” After exchanging pleasantries with the two elderly people, An Wuyang said that he’d like to go out for a walk. After he’s a few steps away from the door, An Wuji bolted out of the house and chased him. Wuji raised his small serious face and said, “I want to play with you too.”

Wuyang lazily glanced at him. He lifted his hands and squeezed the face of his seven-year-old younger brother. “I’ll take you to play, just don’t forget me when you get rich in the future ah.”

Perplexed, Wuji said, “If I get rich and don’t share it with you, won’t you take me to play?”

“…” An Wuyang was astonished and speechless. He felt everyone in the family was bullying him. “Little white-eyed wolf, let’s go ba.”

“What are we going to do?”

“Pick out some bird’s eggs.”

Of course, this wasn’t true at all. They just searched for a sturdy tree to climb, which housed a bird’s nest and took several pictures of the baby eggs with their phones, and withdrew without touching the bird’s nest or the eggs. 

Scrolling through the freshly taken photos in his phone, An Wuji declared, “I’ll send one to jie jie.” 

An Wuyu was still in school, her phone buzzed during noontime and she saw a photograph of bird’s eggs on a nest. She replied sarcastically, “It’s your brother’s good work indeed.”

Puzzled An Wuji: “What’s wrong?”

An Wuyu: “If you do this, and also alarm the mother bird, this nest of eggs will be abandoned.”

An Wuji: “The mother bird flew away before we went up.”

An Wuyu: “I really don’t understand the hobbies of you boys. Anyways, it harms others without benefiting yourselves⁶ so it’s better to do less.” 

“Pick out some bird’s eggs.”

After attentively reading his sister’s replies all the way through again, An Wuji suddenly deciphered why his brother and sister didn’t give attention to each other. It was because their three views⁷ didn’t conform and weren’t suitable to each other. 

The elder brother deemed that the elder sister was an extreme time-waster and loved to bicker with everyone. And his elder sister saw his elder brother as someone who didn’t stand out among the masses and was low-standard. 

However, An Wuji liked to be with his gege’s side as he’s most comfortable with him. As for his erudite jie jie, he also liked discussing things inclined in studying and knowledge with her. 

Simply put, the older brother was closer to life, and the older sister was brimming with ideas. 

After their short visit, they returned to the city at the end of the weekend. When they arrived, it was still too early. An Wuyang asked his parents to drop him down on the road. “I’ll be looking for a part-time job and will be home at six o’clock.”

An Wuji was ready to move and was about to follow him, but he was held back by his mother’s finger. “What do you want to do ah? Go home and study.”

“Bye bye.” Wuyang saw his pitiful younger brother watching on the car window, looking like an abandoned puppy. He waved his hand at him with a smile. 

**

During this two-day weekend, Huo Yunchuan wasn’t at the best of his life. He got a call from his parents notifying him he had to urgently go home to discuss important matters. 

“Let’s take advantage of this good weekend to sit down and talk about your affairs.” Father Huo Xiao summoned everyone and led them to the study room to sit and talk through. 

Yunchuan’s mother, Zhang Ruoqi, was also present with his paternal aunt, Huo Ling, and grandfather Huo Jingzhong. 

“…” Traveling his eyes around his family members, Yunchuan sighed deeply and took a seat opposite to those relatives. 

When his guests were all set, Huo Xiao began. “We’ve gathered here today, not to rebuke anyone nor complain. We are here to settle a problem.”

Everyone nodded, gesturing their understanding. 

Huo Yunchuan said, “Do you think that it’s a problem if you don’t get married at the age of 30?”

Huo Xiao snapped his head in his son’s direction and remarked, “If there’s a problem, only you know. Whether you’re willing to tell this problem to us, only you can decide.”

The father and son stared down at each other in silence, unwavering to back down. 

Huo Yunchuan had enough. “Okay, then I’ll just say it… I don’t like women.”

The study room immediately turned into a silent room, and no other sounds could be heard aside from electronics and nature. His relatives also had indescribable faces, which were all different from each of them. It seemed as if they couldn’t accept the revelation he just dropped. 

“Is this true?” Huo Xiao asked after he jolted out of his stupor. 

“It’s true.” Huo Yunchuan also reciprocated his father’s stern gaze directly, with an unperturbed attitude, “I should’ve told you earlier so that you could prepare.” 

Zhang Ruoqi butted in, “What prepare? Take your sperm to surrogate a child?” Her hands were on both sides of her forehead, massaging it, as she displayed a distressed expression. “I have long thought that you might not like women.”

‘But I didn’t expect it to be true.’

Yuchuan was the sole heir of the entire Huo family and their only child. 

“Is there any other way besides surrogacy?” Aunt Huo Ling said, “Yunchuan, granted that it’s just for the family, you can marry then have a child with a woman, and file a divorce. This way is also possible.”

“Nonsense.” Huo Jingzhong interrupted his daughter’s suggestion and knocked his crutches on the floor with such force. “If you’re just going to marry for the sake of having a child, then I’d rather see Yunchuan be a bachelor for the rest of my life.”

“Dad!” the ladies in the room protested loudly at the same time. “How could you say that?”

“Okay.” Huo Xiao rapped on the table in front of them, signaling to everyone to calm down. “The old man is right. I, too, disapprove of Yunchuan doing this. Firstly, it’s a major disrespect for the woman, and secondly, for Yunchuan’s honor too.”

Huo Jingzhong said, “These past few years have been the peak of Yunchuan’s career. I heard that you recently acquired a financial company. Are you planning to expand the negotiable security of the business or continue the former company’s original business content?”

As the topic deviated from the initial matter to business affairs, Huo Yunchuan raised his head. “Integrate resources and develop new content depending on the situation. Therefore, the original company employees may suffer layoffs.”

Recently, apart from worrying because of family pressure, Huo Yunchuan was also worrying about this matter.

“If you have the outstanding ability, then you can transfer them to other companies,” Huo Jingzhou said. 

“Old man.” Zhang Ruoqi couldn’t stand these two talking willingly about business matters. “I’m discussing housework, not work. You can discuss these things later.”

Huo Jingzhong: “Sorry, cough cough. I’ve gone too far from the topic. Let’s continue, ba.”

Huo Xiao: “Yunchuan, the boundary between family obligations and work responsibilities is extremely vague to speak of. Let’s not mention it for the time being.  What we’re going to speak about now entirely revolves around birth, transitioning to old age, getting sick, and dying. In case we all pass away suddenly in the future, then you’ll be left at home with no one to accompany you. And perhaps, there will never be a Huo family again as it will end with you. Have you ever considered how we might feel before all of this?” 

Huo Yunchuan: “Then do surrogate pregnancy.”

“As I’ve said, I don’t support surrogacy if it’s not the last resort.” Huo Xiao looked at him in the eye. A touch of hesitation was evident in his orbs. “Yunchuan, I’ll give you two more years of freedom. How about you think about it carefully during that period?”

Aghast, Zhang Ruoqi couldn’t believe her husband. “You…”

Ignoring her reaction, Huo Xiao waved his hands and said, “Take it easy, ah.”

Everyone’s eyes were focused on Huo Yunchuan as if calculating his next move. 

“…” Huo Yunchuan clenched his fists tightly enough that his knuckles were turning white, as he felt very tangled inside. 

Every time he looked at his parents, who were more than half a hundred years old, to his grandfather who had limited mobility, and at his relatives who always cared about him and were willing to put any effort into his affairs, Yunchuan would also feel awful about himself whenever he solely focused on his mental and physical concerns. 

Seriously speaking, he wasn’t entirely positive if he indeed was GAY. However, he knew, without doubt, that his reason for not engaging in the thought of finding a partner for the past years had nothing to do with gender. 

Perhaps within those two years, he might really find a woman he wouldn’t hate… who knows. 

Yunchuan lazily closed his domineering eyes as if he’s sleepy and nodded. “Okay.”

Satisfied with his answer, Huo Xiao continued. “The additional condition is that you have to actively cooperate with people who we’re all fond of having you as a dating partner, and whether you like it or not, it requires you to actually contact them, rather than resist before everything happens.”

Huo Yunchuan gritted his teeth. “…good.”

The author has something to say:

Tsundere Chuanchuan: It hurts to be rejected, hu 

[1] 大姐 dà jiě means big sister or  elder sister

[2] 高考 gāo kaŏ means college entrance exam

[3] 哥哥 gē ge means older brother

[4] 外婆 wài pó means mother’s mother or maternal grandmother

[5] 外公 wài gōng means mother’s father; maternal grandfather

[6] 损人不利己 sŭn rén bù lì jĭ means  to harm others without benefiting oneself (idiom)

[7] 三观 Sān guān refers to views on the world, life, and values