Chapter 10
The Indian summer still hadn’t ended yet, after many hot days, it finally rained that afternoon.
As soon as the day cleared up, and the buildings and the roadside trees were washed, the exquisite colors were all on display, as if the picture quality had switched from high definition to blue ray.
Zhuo Xiang Ming set off before the usual work day ending time, so the journey was very smooth, there wasn’t much delays except for the red lights. At 5:08, he arrived at the entrance of 38th High School twelve minutes before Tong Yan’s dismissal.
In this section of the new city district, the planning and greening were well done, but the commercial center still wasn’t complete, and there were relatively few office buildings. Zhuo Xiang Ming had only been here once or twice, he wasn’t familiar with it.
The night before, Lin Yue Hua called and asked about Tong Yan’s condition, saying that it looked like he’d been crying, whether or not he was wronged, etc. After the two chatted, Lin Yue Hua casually mentioned that the Zhuo family had shares in Tong Yan’s school, and quite a large amount, he only now found out.
Tong Yan was in a boarding international high school. Except for special circumstances, the students were usually in the dining hall at this time, and very few people left the building. So, when Tong Yan came out wearing his schoolbag, Zhuo Xiang Ming immediately saw him from far away.
Probably because he hadn’t paid special attention to it at home, but dressed in his school uniform from far away, Zhuo Xiang Ming realized that Tong Yan was a little too thin. The uniform style was slim fit, but it still looked loose on him.
Tong Yan was wearing his schoolbag on his back, his two hands pulling the schoolbag’s straps, circling around the large and small puddles on the path one by one. Seeing this, Zhuo Xiang Ming couldn’t help but smile.
Tong Yan’s lips were slightly pouted, the earphone cable hanging out from his schoolbag, listening to some song. There was no companion beside him, and there was a neutral expression on his face, as a result, he looked like a beautiful and proud gazelle.
Tong Yan was really good-looking, Lin Yue Hua had said.
A moment later, Tong Yan found Zhuo Xiang Ming’s car. At first, he was still aloof, but his patience didn’t last long, and he sped up.
“Brother!” He bent over and called Zhuo Xiang Ming through the half-open window before getting in.
“Your first day of school, how was it?” When Tong Yan sat down, Zhuo Xiang Ming leaned over and casually helped him fasten his seat belt.
Tong Yan gathered up his headphone cord and frowned as he wound it in a tight knot, saying, “Very good, extremely good.”
Zhuo Xiang Ming smiled: “That good?”
The almost smile on his face never disappeared. Today’s work wasn’t relaxing, but he’d felt much better when it was time to pick up Tong Yan. His mood immediately lightened, and the stress brought on by the tedious official affairs soon disappeared. With this child lodging in his home, he had many things to think about, such as how to best communicate and get along, there was no space in his head to obsess over work.
“This time the first, second and third years all started school together. The school was originally in chaos, but later, they sent out the wrong books. My classmates and teachers simply couldn’t take care of me.” Tong Yan explained, “It turns out that when the textbook was coded, the system gave it to the wrong classes. It was the code for Class A, but it was sent to Class C. When we went to the administration building, there was shouting everywhere, everyone was asking each other who got what code.”
“Everyone was confused, and you also joined the confusion.” Zhuo Xiang Ming gave him some milk and said.
Tong Yan inserted the straw and drank half of the box in one breath, then exclaimed happily: “I wasn’t confused.”
Zhuo Xiang Ming was paying attention to the traffic and had to deal with the GPS, so he just answered casually “Hmm”.
Tong Yan squinted at him, holding the straw in his mouth: “You don’t believe me?”
When Tong Yan earnestly talked about trust issues with him last night, he very much regretted his actions, so at this time, Zhuo Xiang Ming was most sensitive to the word “Believe”. He hurriedly said: “Of course I believe you.”
–
The route was getting more and more strange, after things quieted down, Tong Yan spent the whole journey looking down and chatting with Zou Jing Yu. When they’d almost arrived, he finally remembered to ask: “We’re not going home?”
“Later.” Zhuo Xiang Ming said, “But we have to visit my family first.”
He glanced at Tong Yan’s confused expression and said: “My mother said that she invited you over last night. We’re having dinner at her home today.”
“Ah …”
Tong Yan tried to recall the contents of the call, in the end, he could only remember that Lin Yue Hua once politely invited him to come home for dinner when he “had the time”, then he said sure.
This can only be explained by the generation gap, Tong Yan thought silently.
“Who else is home?” Tong Yan asked.
Zhuo Xiang Ming: “My mother, my father, I don’t know if my brother is there.”
Tong Yan knew that he had a younger omega brother, he’d met him at the wedding–
“He gave me three glasses of wine!” Tong Yan suddenly shouted angrily, “I drank five cups, three of which belonged to him.”
Zhuo Xiang Ming didn’t speak, so Tong Yan confronted him, “You say, what should be done?”
Zhuo Xiang Ming, as if teasing a kitten, asked: “What should be done?”
Tong Yan hugged his schoolbag and sat sideways to face Zhuo Xiang Ming: “I got drunk because of him. When I woke up at noon the next day, my head was aching.”
Speaking of the drunk episode, Zhuo Xiang Ming recalled how he’d stickily called him brother while in the car.
“Is that so?” Zhuo Xiang Ming said.
Tong Yan immediately glared at him in dissatisfaction.
“I’ll help you take revenge.” Finally, Zhuo Xiang Ming said.
Tong Yan was very pleased, he sat back in his seat and said without hesitation, “Brother’s the best.”
Tong Yan’s boot-licking habit formed by years of facing Tong Yang’s bullying made Zhuo Xiang Ming feel very happy. The degree of his delight was encroaching the joy when finishing up the year-end settlement.
Afterwards, they once again chatted about what happened in school today.
Zhuo Xiang Ming could feel Tong Yan’s excitement.
Before school started, the boy’s emotions had fluctuated, he was probably still uncertain. Today, he finally went to school and realized that it wasn’t a big deal, so he immediately came back to life.
Really a child ah, Zhuo Xiang Ming thought, strong and fragile.
He seemed very sensible, but in fact, he felt distress over many trifles. His happiness came easily, and so did his distress. Everything he experienced would leave a mark. Like a white sheet of paper, anyone close to it could stain it. Because it was so simple to stain it, Zhuo Xiang Ming was extra cautious.
He was like a man who’d received a pearl, and wanted to painstakingly build a treasure box to protect it.
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T/N:
year-end settlement – something to do with stocks, idk.
ZXM’s sweet, TongTong’s cute, and I love short chapters!
My heart warmed at the last sentence 🙂
Hmm the workaholic is happily turning his focus elsewhere.
Thanks for the great translation ♥️
I don’t know what makes me so happy. Is it because this novel is freakin’ great? Or is it because we get to read TWO chapters today? OMG. What a treat! Thank you, Kez! God bless your kind and strong heart.
Thank you very much for the double update! It’s really sweet how attentive and considerate ZXM is – an ideal husband <3