CH 70

Early morning the next day, Shang Jin received a phone call from his home.

Shang Qingping said disgruntledly, “Do you still know to go home?”

This voice was so loud that even Ye Zhou, who was reading to the side, put down his book and cast him a worried glance.

Shang Jin stood up. Calculating the time, he hadn’t gone home for nearly three months. “If you want me to come back, I have to bring him with me.”

“Didn’t I tell you to give me time to adapt?”

“Did you give me time to adapt when you found Auntie?”

In a sentence, he blocked Shang Qingping and left him completely speechless.

After a while, the phone changed hands and Qin Fei said softly, “Shang Jin, your dad has accepted it. He called you today because he wanted you to bring Ye Zhou over. He’s mature enough to know that he hadn’t handled it well before, but he also can’t put down his face. Just take it as giving him a way out and come eat dinner tonight.”

“That’s fine.”

Shang Jin turned around and looking at Ye Zhou’s trusting eyes, he suddenly felt a sense of guilt. He coughed and said, “Tonight…”

Ye Zhou curiously said, “What’s wrong?”

Shang Jin rapidly said, “Let’s go have a meal at my house today.”

“Ah??” Ye Zhou said incredulously, “I just met your mother yesterday, and you’re asking me to meet your father today?”

“You need to meet them sooner or later. I think the sooner the better.” Shang Jin sat beside Ye Zhou and held Ye Zhou’s hand in his palm. “It’s not like we’d separate after a long time. Since delaying can’t solve the problem, it’s better to let them accept it earlier and get accustomed to us being together a bit earlier.”

Ye Zhou thought it sounded quite reasonable, but: “It’s too sudden…”

“It’s okay. You still have a day to prepare. They said that we should come over for dinner.”

Saying it like that, Ye Zhou also wouldn’t go so far as to decline. He thought about going to the mall in the afternoon to buy a gift, but in the end, he was overruled by Shang Jin.

“You’re still a student. Even if you bought it, they also wouldn’t accept it. Don’t waste your money.” Shang Jin pulled him to the fruit shop and said, “It’s enough to buy two pounds of apples.”

In the evening, Ye Zhou really carried two pounds of apple to the community.

“Little Ye, long time no see!”

“Little Ye, do you have time over the Eleventh holiday? Could you help tutor Little Hao for two days? His grades can’t go up again.”

“Brother Ye, come play ball!”

“Brother Ye Zhou, come visit my house?”

Shang Jin watched Ye Zhou smile and greet his neighbors along the way, his mouth never staying idle.

Finally in Shang Jin’s building, Ye Zhou rubbed his cheeks already numb from smiling and said, “The people in your community are really enthusiastic.”

Where was it the enthusiasm of others? Everyone was just enthusiastic about him. Shang Jin helplessly looked at Ye Zhou and said, “Let’s go up quickly.”

When they really arrived at Shang Jin’s door, Ye Zhou unconsciously became nervous. He stood behind Shang Jin and straightened out his clothes. When Shang Jin opened the door, all eyes in the living room focused on them.

“Big brother! Brother Zhou Zhou!” Shang Youyou was the first one to jump out. Pulling a person in each hand, she brought them to the living room.

Ye Zhou looked at the two people on the sofa and called, “Uncle, Auntie, I’m sorry to bother you.”

Shang Qingping looked at the newspaper and didn’t even lift his eyelids.

Shang Jin coughed and Shang Qingping reluctantly grunted.

“Little Ye, come sit on the sofa.” Qin Fei stood up and said, “Are you hungry? We’ll be eating soon.”

“Brother Zhou Zhou, I’ll take you to see my little brother.” Shang Youyou took Ye Zhou’s hand and led him to the crib. Little Ji wasn’t asleep, but was looking around with open eyes. “Every time, he grabs my hand and holds tight.”

Ye Zhou touched Shang Youyou’s head and said, “That’s because he likes you.”

Shang Youyou said awkwardly, “So I also like him a little bit.”

Obviously she liked him a lot, but she was still pretending to be so-so. It made Ye Zhou couldn’t help but pinch Shang Youyou’s little face and said, “Our little princess is really kind.”

Shang Youyou beamed and hugged Ye Zhou’s hand. “Brother Zhou Zhou, I’ll show you my toys.”

Shang Jin exchanged two words of greeting with his dad, walked behind Shang Youyou and picked her up. “We can play later. Let’s eat first.”

Shang Youyou embraced Shang Jin’s neck and said to Ye Zhou, “Then after dinner, I’ll take Brother Zhou Zhou to see my toys.”

At the table, Shang Qingping still had a rigid appearance. Ye Zhou sat next to Shang Jin and was somewhat cautious. Shang Jin kicked Shang Qingping under the table before Shang Qingping said in embarrassment, “Little Ye, eat more.”

Ye Zhou was quite flattered.

There were several flavorful dishes on the table, which should be specially prepared for him.

The meal went quite smoothly. At least with yesterday’s experience, Ye Zhou had originally prepared for a hard battle today. Although Shang Jin’s dad wasn’t very friendly to him on the surface, but it was much more comfortable than with Shang Jin’s mother.

After dinner, Qing Fei took Shang Youyou away while the Shang father and son and Ye Zhou sat on the sofa.

With the financial news on the television, they actually chatted very happily.

During the advertisement, Shang Qingping said, “Shang Jin, you should go wash the dishes.”

“Not going.” There were three people in the living room. If he left, that would leave only Ye Zhou and Shang Qingping.

Shang Qingping said in displeasure, “I tell you to go, just go.”

Ye Zhou pushed Shang Jin and said, “Just go.”

Shang Jin stood up and looked at Shang Qingping.

Shang Qingping said angrily, “Can it be that I’d eat him?”

Watching Shang Jin enter the kitchen, Ye Zhou took a sip of water and waited for the follow up from Shang Qingping.

Shang Qingping finally straightened his back and took on the posture of an elder. “You’re now in your third year. What are you planning to do afterwards?”

“Both he and I are preparing to sit for the graduate exam.”

Shang Qingping lightly tapped his fingers on his knee and said, “That is, you have a long way to go in school.” Words finished, he started rummaging in a small box on the coffee table.

Previously, there was Liang Jingmin who couldn’t part with money, so Ye Zhou thought that Shang Jin’s father might also be worried about money. He said in a hurry, “However, Shang Jin and I will take on part-time jobs. For graduate students, our goal is to get a recommendation, so we’d no longer have to spend the money at home.”

Shang Qingping, who was about to bring out the house key, looked down in embarrassment. Did he seem so short on money that he can’t even provide for his son’s graduate degree?

He put the key on the table and said, “This apartment was originally bought for Shang Jin. You have to go to school for a long time and you can’t always rent an apartment. Shang Jin, that kid is tough. I don’t make money for him to spend, and he still says that he doesn’t want a cent of mine. If you’re going to school, then just study well. Why do you have to hold a money-making heart?”

“Uncle, we can understand that you as a father want his children to have a carefree life, but what we get is not the same as what others give.”Ye Zhou returned the key and said, “Uncle, please have more confidence in the youth. An apartment this size and in this district, believe us: we can earn it before we are thirty.”

Shang Qingping was startled. A City’s housing prices remained high and many people couldn’t afford an apartment in a lifetime, not to mention a nearly 200 square meters apartment in the downtown district. However, whether it was Shang Jin or Ye Zhou, they’d never wavered in front of money.

The word ‘money’ had caused his life to undergo tremendous changes. He thought that people living in such families should know more about the importance of money.

He didn’t think that his son wouldn’t cherish it, and even more miraculously, he’d also found someone like him.

This time, Shang Qingping sincerely accepted Ye Zhou because having someone who understood Shang Jin accompany him in this life was far more important than the gaze of outsiders.

“Since you’re not accepting the apartment, then the car should be fine.” Shang Qingping took out the car key. “You two are living outside and having a car is more convenient.”

Ye Zhou said solemnly, “It’s alright. We have a car.”

The veins on Shang Qingping’s forehead violently pulsed. “Don’t tell me it’s that gaudy pedicab.”

Ye Zhou was speechless, muttering in his heart that one mustn’t discriminate. A pedicab was a car too. You can’t kick it out of the ranks because it had one less wheel.

Shang Qingping said with a stiff face, “Tell you to take it, just take it.”

Shang Jin came over and plucked the key that Shang Qingping was trying to force on Ye Zhou. “Why are you still forcing it on him?” Then he threw the key on the coffee table.

“Youー”

Ye Zhou rushed to smooth things out and said, “We rented a place close to school and it’s not worth it to drive a car. We’d arrive before the car even warms up.”

Shang Qingping dropped it after this, but still insisted on giving them the car key. “There’d be a time when it’s useful.”

This time, Shang Jin didn’t decline and voluntarily put the key in his pocket.

On the way home, Ye Zhou pulled Shang Jin’s hand. Looking at the round moon in the sky, he said, “Really good.”

Shang Jin pinched Ye Zhou’s fingers and puzzled, “Huh?”

“I thought that it was the beginning of hell when I was caught taking a sneak shot last year.” Until now, Ye Zhou could still recall that desperate state of mind. “I never thought that hell and heaven were only separated by an idea. One way, it’s hell. Another way, it’s heaven.”

Recalling the past, Shang Jin couldn’t help but laugh. Originally, he’d just been bored and planned to tease Ye Zhou a bit. He didn’t expect that this teasing would pull him in.

In the quiet street, the two people walked hand-in-hand, their shadows drawing longer and longer by the moonlight.