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 treeswere washed, the exquisite colors were all on display, as if the picture qualityhad switched from high definition to blue ray.

Zhuo Xiang Ming set off before the usual work day ending time, so thejourney was very smooth, there wasn’t much delays except for the red lights. At5:08, he arrived at the entrance of 38th High School twelve minutes before TongYan’s dismissal.

In this section of the new city district, the planning and greening werewell done, but the commercial center still wasn’t complete, and there were relativelyfew office buildings. Zhuo Xiang Ming had only been here once or twice, he wasn’tfamiliar 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 sharesin Tong Yan’s school, and quite a large amount, he only now found out.

TongYan 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 leftthe building. So, when Tong Yan came out wearing his schoolbag, Zhuo Xiang Mingimmediately saw him from far away.

Probably because he hadn’t paid specialattention to it at home, but dressed in his school uniform from far away, Zhuo XiangMing realized that Tong Yan was a little too thin. The uniform style was slim fit,but it still looked loose on him.

TongYan was wearing his schoolbag on his back, his two hands pulling the schoolbag’sstraps, circling around the large and small puddles on the path one by one. Seeingthis, Zhuo Xiang Ming couldn’t help but smile.

TongYan’s lips were slightly pouted, the earphone cable hanging out from hisschoolbag, listening to some song. There was no companion beside him, and therewas a neutral expression on his face, as a result, he looked like a beautifuland proud gazelle.

TongYan was really good-looking, Lin Yue Hua had said.

Amoment 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 calledZhuo 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 fastenhis seat belt.

TongYan 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 immediatelylightened, 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 ashow to best communicate and get along, there was no space in his head to obsessover 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. Myclassmates 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 thewrong classes. It was the code for Class A, but it was sent to Class C. When wewent to the administration building, there was shouting everywhere, everyone wasasking each other who got what code.”

“Everyonewas confused, and you also joined the confusion.” Zhuo Xiang Ming gave him somemilk and said.

TongYan inserted the straw and drank half of the box in one breath, then exclaimedhappily: “I wasn’t confused.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming was paying attention to thetraffic and had to deal with the GPS, so he just answered casually “Hmm”.

TongYan squinted at him, holding the straw in his mouth: “You don’t believe me?”

When Tong Yan earnestly talked about trust issueswith him last night, he very much regretted his actions, so at this time, Zhuo XiangMing was most sensitive to the word “Believe”. He hurriedly said: “Ofcourse I believe you.”

–

Theroute was getting more and more strange, after things quieted down, Tong Yan spentthe whole journey looking down and chatting with Zou Jing Yu. When they’dalmost 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 mothersaid that she invited you over last night. We’re having dinner at her home today.”

“Ah…”

TongYan tried to recall the contents of the call, in the end, he could onlyremember that Lin Yue Hua once politely invited him to come home for dinner whenhe “had the time”, then he said sure.

Thiscan 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 isthere.”

Tong Yan knew that he had a younger omegabrother, he’d met him at the wedding–

“He gave me three glasses of wine!” Tong Yan suddenly shoutedangrily, “I drank five cups, three of which belonged to him.”

ZhuoXiang Ming didn’t speak, so Tong Yan confronted him, “You say, what shouldbe done?”

Zhuo Xiang Ming, as if teasing a kitten, asked: “What should be done?”

TongYan hugged his schoolbag and sat sideways to face Zhuo Xiang Ming: “I gotdrunk because of him. When I woke up at noon the next day, my head was aching.”

Speakingof the drunk episode, Zhuo Xiang Ming recalled how he’d stickily called himbrother while in the car.

“Is that so?” Zhuo Xiang Ming said.

TongYan immediately glared at him in dissatisfaction.

“I’ll help you take revenge.” Finally, Zhuo Xiang Ming said.

TongYan was very pleased, he sat back in his seat and said without hesitation,“Brother’s the best.”

TongYan’s boot-licking habit formed by years of facing Tong Yang’s bullying madeZhuo Xiang Ming feel very happy. The degree of his delight was encroaching thejoy 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.

Beforeschool 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 immediatelycame back to life.

Really a child ah, Zhuo Xiang Ming thought, strong and fragile.

Heseemed very sensible, but in fact, he felt distress over many trifles. His happinesscame easily, and so did his distress. Everything he experienced would leave amark. Like a white sheet of paper, anyone close to it could stain it. Because itwas so simple to stain it, Zhuo Xiang Ming was extra cautious.

He was like a man who’d received a pearl, and wanted to painstakinglybuild 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!