CHAPTER 19:

“Us civilians are mere taxpayers, every time we buy things, we just-“

Bai Hanqi raised his volume, then unexpectedly saw Bai Luoyin rounding the corner. He quickly finished his conversation. “Eh, these kinds of talks are futile anyway. The government’s policy won’t side with us civilians. I’m going back home to eat dinner. You guys can just continue talking without me.”

Bai Hanqi then walked to Bai Luoyin’s side. “Son, going home already? Are you tired today? Here, let me help you with your bag.

Bai Luoyin smiled a rare smile.

“No, I’m not tired. Did you cook something?”

“I did. I’m just waiting for you to come home so we can eat together.”

Bai Luoyin put his bag inside his room, then went straight to the kitchen. He smelled the food as soon as he opened the curtain.

“Today’s food, you weren’t the one who cooked it, right?”

Bai Hanqi smiled shyly. “I didn’t do it. Your Aunt Zou cooked for us.”

“Aunt Zou?” Bai Luoyin wondered. “Which Aunt Zou?”

“That… Xiao Zhou who owns that breakfast stall, your Aunt Zou. Every day you eat the tofu that she makes, you still don’t know that her last name is Zhou?”

“Ohhh…” Bai Luoyin suddenly changed his tone.

“Every day you always eat her food for breakfast, and now you want to eat it for dinner too. Why don’t you just marry her? Then we could save money on breakfast too.”

“What nonsense!” Bai Hanqi hit Bai Luoyin’s head with chopsticks. “She still has a husband.”

“It’s been so many years, yet he hasn’t come home once. Whether he is around or not, what’s the difference?”

“He does big business overseas; they can’t possibly work together at that small breakfast stall, can they?”

Bai Luoyin laughed, “He does big business, yet he still allows his wife to work hard like that.”

“Okay, okay.” Bai Hanqi gave Bai Luoyin a meaningful look. “Your grandmother is coming, quick eat your food.”

Today, Bai Luoyin’s grandmother wore a blue gown, and a collar with a neck hole. When Bai Luoyin glanced at her collar, he suddenly remembered something, and he laughed out loud.

When Grandmother Bai saw Bai Luoyin laughing, she narrowed her eyes. “Ah~ Today my big turtle[1] is really happy~”

Bai Hanqi pointed with chopsticks, “Mom, he is your grandson. Grandson. Not a turtle.”

“Ah… right. My bastard.”[2]

Bai Luoyin was left speechless.

At his side, Grandfather Bai laughed until he choked on his own food. Bai Luoyin quickly took some tissue to clean up the mess in front of his grandfather, and helped him put on a bib, before starting to eat again.

They were eating happily when suddenly Bai Hanqi’s phone rang. After answering the call, Bai Hanqi handed the phone to Bai Luoyin.

“Someone is asking for you, it’s a girl.”

Bai Luoyin took the phone, puzzled, then left the kitchen. He had no idea who would call him on his father’s phone.

As Bai Luoyin went outside the house, Grandma Bai craned her neck, taking a stealthy peek at Bai Luoyin.

“Girlfriend?” she quietly asked Bai Hanqi.

“What girlfriend? How old is he to have a girlfriend now?” Bai Hanqi put a piece of fish in Grandma Bai’s plate, “Eat this.”

“Well… Before I die, I have to see my grandson get married.”

Bai Hanqi casually replied, “You’re still alive for the time being anyway.”

“Why would you say something like that?” Grandmother Bai hit the back of Bai Hanqi’s hand. Bai Hanqi just laughed.

“…”

“Hello?”

Bai Luoyin could hear the sound of heavy sobbing from the other side of the line. He didn’t even need to ask; he already knew who it was. He had a hunch that he should hang up immediately.

“Don’t hang up.”

The other person seemed to reading Bai Luoyin’s mind. She stopped crying and started to speak in a firm tone, “If you hang up, I will come back to find you. I’m not joking.”

Bai Luoyin calmed down a little and asked softly, “What’s the matter?”

“Why do you never read the emails I’ve sent to you? I’ve sent you messages, yet you never replied to me. I’m here overseas by myself, I don’t know anyone else. This is the time when you are supposed to stand by and support me. How can you be so heartless to me?”

“How do you know that I never read your messages?”

“I know, I just know it…” She started to cry again.

Bai Luoyin gripped the phone. “Then you should also know that I’m a very decisive person. Break up is break up.”

The other person went silent for a moment before speaking, “Read the emails I’ve sent to you, read every single one. If you don’t do it, then I will call your father’s phone every day until he’s tired.”

“No, Shi Hui…” Bai Luoyin was angry. “Why have I never realized how unreasonable you are?”

“You drove me to become like this!”

Bai Luoyin wanted to say something, but she had already hung up the phone.

“Son? Son? Bring that bottle of beer inside.”

Bai Luoyin slipped the phone inside his pocket and took two bottles of beer into the house. His mood was gloomy. The taste of the food, which had been previously delicious, tasted unappetizing for Bai Luoyin. In order to prevent his grandparents from seeing it, Bai Luoyin forced himself to eat the food.

Before he went to sleep, Bai Luoyin turned on his computer and opened his mailbox. When he saw that he had 28 unread messages, he simply moved his mouse and scrolled over to his inbox.

In order to put an end to this and have peace of mind, Bai Luoyin opened the last email.

“I knew you’d ignore the other emails and read this one. So in order to prevent you from being lazy, I’ve decided to write the content of the message in the sixth mail.

Bai Luoyin opened the sixth mail.

“I’m hurt. You really only opened the last mail. But what I wanted to say isn’t here either. If you want, you can open the tenth mail.”

Bai Luoyin patiently opened the tenth mail, but the content was similar to the previous one, the purpose of which was to make Bai Luoyin open the mail before this one.

It went on and on, until he only had two unread mails left. Bai Luoyin had gone through so many emails, yet he hadn’t seen anything important.

Not in the mood to play games anymore, he immediately opened one of the two mails left.

“Ahh… No more patience? I wanted you to open the other mail, but you opened this one instead. There is nothing here.”

Bai Luoyin then opened the last mail.

“If you’ve read all those emails that I’ve sent you, this means you really don’t care about me, right? We…. Is it really over between us?”

The sadness and irritation in his heart disappeared in that moment. Instead, he felt helpless and empty. Bai Luoyin looked deep within his heart and let his mind dwell on their social differences. The growing pressure slowly ate at his mind like a plague. Shi Hui was the daughter of a politician. She bought expensive dresses and ate meals that cost enough money to feed his family for two months. He used to disregard things like that… until Jiang Yuan reappeared again in his life, thoroughly exposing his father’s poor living conditions.

Bai Luoyin loved his father so much. Although his dad could be at times silly and unreliable, Bai Luoyin never despised him, and he also never tolerated people who despised his father. However, he absolutely didn’t want to be the second Bai Hanqi; there comes a day where he will stand up there, looking down at everyone else.

Those people who regarded them like little ants, he would draw out their bones, expose their rotten flesh to the world and let them receive the cruelest brand of disgrace.

[1] Here, Bai Luoyin’s grandmother said the wrong word. She wanted to say 孙子 (shun zi: grandson) but she said 龟子 (gui zi: turtle) instead.

[2] After Bai Luoyin’s father corrected her, she still mistakenly said 龟孙子 (gui shun zi: bastard), hence the title of this CH.

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