CH 5

Chapter 5 – Appreciation Period

Dating?

A cauldron fell from the sky, rendering Yue Zhishi dumbfounded, “No….” He frowned. He was still obediently holding one end of the earphone in his hand. He muttered to himself in a small voice, “I’m not dating.”

And he even rightfully declined.

He turned his head back to look at Song Yu in front of him and retorted more loudly, “I’m not dating!”

Song Yu remained silent. Yue Zishi could only ponder over it on his own. When he recalled the matter outside the infirmary, he finally came to an understanding, “Were you standing outside all that time? You’re mistaken. I was returning a gift back to her.”

Omitting the information about the other party’s identity, Yue Zhishi reported the entire situation to Song Yu like a kindergarten child obediently reporting everything that had happened at school each day, speaking vividly for fear of missing details.

One reported the entire way while the other silently listened. They turned into a winding alley from the spacious road and approached their destination under a row of sycamore trees.

“I didn’t accept, and I bought her a drink because I was afraid that she was upset after rejecting her. Also, the drink I bought her was a coke. I also bought Jiang Yufan a coke, but I gave….”

Reaching this point, he suddenly stopped. Somehow, he felt more and more wronged the more he explained himself. He thought of the confession wall incident the girls in his class were discussing this morning.

“Weren’t you also confessed to? And it was on the Peiya confession wall. I’ll also tell on you.” They were clearly words of threat, but it didn’t have that effect at all, and his voice even unconsciously grew smaller when he said it. After a pause, Yue Zhishi added heatedly, “The girls in our class were talking about it this morning. The whole school probably already knows about it.”

Please read this from kk translates

The bicycle suddenly stopped. Yue Zhishi immediately found himself pressed against Song Yu’s back, unable to continue voicing his complaints.

“The whole school knows more than just that confession.”

Song Yu finally spoke. He then ordered Yue Zhishi off the bike.

Of course, Yue Zhishi knew what he was talking about, “I didn’t do it deliberately. I was too uncomfortable at the time and accidentally said it….” He followed behind him like a little chick, “What can we do now? Everyone heard it. There’s probably not a single person who doesn’t know about it now.”

Song Yu didn’t provide him with a plan. He locked the bike and went in.

Seeing that his brother was still not happy after all that explaining, it seemed that the reason for his bad mood wasn’t because of this.

The bike was parked in front of an old blue-grey house. A tall magnolia tree was planted in front of the courtyard and the courtyard itself was well-kept. The house was of a European-style building and very simple decorated. There was a large stone about the height of a person standing at the door with the two words engraved, “Yanghe Qizhe.”

This was a Song Yu’s mother’s hobby — Running a private restaurant.

Song Yu swept open the door curtain and Yue Zhishi followed him in. There were already guests who had come in with prior appointments. Grandpa Zhang, a retired university professor who had been a frequent visitor since the opening of the shop, laughed and joked when he saw them coming in, “Xiao Rong, your big handsome boy and little handsome boy are back.”

Lin Rong came out from the kitchen when she heard this. She placed down a small plate of honey coated peaches on the table and glanced at Yue Zhishi and Song Yu with a smile.

Yue Zhishi was a very likeable person. Before Lin Rong could speak, he cutely called out to Grandpa Zhang. Song Yu nodded slightly as a greeting.

“Le Le is taller again but still a little less than your brother.”

Lin Rong took off the schoolbag from Yue Zhishi’s shoulder, “They’re three years apart anyway and Le Le is still young and not in good health. It’s already a good height.”

Yue Zhishi emphasised a number that not many people care about, “I’m already one metre seventy-six.”

Song Yu, the tallest in the store, didn’t participate in the discussion of their heights and alone proceeded into the innermost private room. That was a lounge specially prepared by Lin Rong for the two brothers.

Lin Rong took out a very delicately packaged meal and handed it to Professor Zhang with both hands, “Eat it while it’s hot when you get back.”

“Thank you.” Professor Zhang was very happy, “My dear loves this the most and is craving it. I’m bringing it back now.”

“Goodbye Grandpa Zhang.” Yue Zhishi took the initiative to walk him out.

When the shop first opened, both Le Le and Song Yu were still in elementary school. Ling Rong who was only doing this as a hobby only opened the shop on Mondays and Fridays. There were no menus, and everything was done at her own discretion. Customers came one after another and word of mouth continued to spread. Later, Lin Rong changed those business hours and she now did this four days a week which was also convenient for the allergic Yue Zhishi to come and have lunch.

Lunch was as usual very plentiful. The white porcelain plate was filled with gold and crispy fried lotus roots one of which was picked up immediately by Yue Zhishi when it was served. As soon as he bit into it, the outside was crispy while the inside was sweet. Compared to ordinary fried vegetables that are rolled in flour, the lotus root paste that had been kneaded and boiled had a similar consistency to meat and was very delicious.

“Lotus root balls are the best type of meatballs in the world.” Before Yue Zhishi was done eating them, he had already picked up a braised chicken feet and stuffed it into his mouth. The red sauce was thick, and the chicken feet was so tender, just a light suck pulled the flesh off.

Many people have praised Yue Zhishi for his enthusiastic eating style and there were even some who had suggested that he do an eating broadcast because just watching him eat made them also have a good appetite.

Lin Rong came in carrying rock sugar lotus root noodles, “Was the opening ceremony fun?” She had her hand placed on Song Yu’s shoulder, but her eyes were directed at Yue Zhishi, “How was Song Yu’s speech today? Did he forget his lines?”

Yue Zhishi who was originally stuffing his mouth like a little hamster suddenly paused with his cheeks still bulging.

“Ah, did he really forget his lines?”

“No.” Song Yu ignored Yue Zhishi’s sneaky winks and stirred the noodle soup, “It’s just that something happened.”

Yue Zhishi suddenly found that the chicken feet in his mouth no longer tasted fragrant.

No way. Didn’t he promise not to say it?

“What happened?” Lin Rong was curious.

Song Yu lightly glanced at Yue Zhishi, “It’s him.”

“Le Le? What happened to Le Le?”

Yue Zhishi panicked. His eyes flitted frantically between Song Yu and Ling Rong and he decided that it was best for him to come clean himself, “I didn’t…….”

“He didn’t wear a name badge and was caught.” Song Yu took a sip and when he looked up, he was met with a surprised Yue Zhishi, “Was almost late.”

It wasn’t what he had expected.

“Name badge?” Lin Rong exclaimed in a small voice, “Ah, it’s me. I took them off together when I washed the clothes and accidentally placed them both in your gege’s room. Sorry, sorry.”

After saying this, she looked at Yue Zhishi apologetically and she then caught a glimpse of the name badge on his chest, “Huh? Why do you have it on?”

Yue Zhishi explained with a guilty conscience, “Gege gave it to me.”

A waiter called outside, and Lin Rong hurried out. Yue Zhishi let out a sigh of relief and looked at Song Yu who helped cover up for him.

“I was the one who made you mess up your speech, sorry. I won’t eat the wrong thing again.”

The lotus root noodles had been strained through ice water, making Song Yu feel a lot more refreshed after finishing half the bowl and the anger inside him also subsided somewhat but when he heard this apology that missed the point, his expression became cold again.

Did he think that he was mad because of the speech?

But Yue Zhishi’s expression was pitiful so he suppressed his irritation and asked, “Where is your medicine?”

Facing the sudden question, Yue Zhishi was startled. He explained in a small voice, “The previous one ran out and I brought a new bottle today. I couldn’t open it in time before we had to leave for the ceremony, so I left it in the classroom.” After that, he added, “I didn’t expect that I would get sick…..”

Song Yu asked directly, “Then have you ever thought about what it would have been like if I wasn’t there today?”

This question stunned Yue Zhishi.

If Song Yu wasn’t there today, he would definitely be in a very dangerous situation. It was a very bad allergic reaction.

He didn’t speak. Song Yu coldly continued, “I can’t always be by your side.”

“Why?” Yue Zhishi looked up at him with a frown.

The dangerous consequences of having an allergic reaction didn’t scare him as much as that line of Song Yu’s. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like without Song Yu by his side.

“I will take medicine every day in the future. I promise this won’t happen again.” Yue Zhishi lowered his eyes, “I really won’t let it happen.”

Song Yu didn’t say that to make Yue Zhishi apologise. Thinking of the events today, he couldn’t restrain his emotions.

But after a moment of silence, he didn’t continue the topic, “Eat.” He picked up another bowl of lotus root noodles and one by one transferred the goji berries in there into another bowl.

Having grown up together for the past eleven years, Yue Zhishi could understand Song Yu’s tone. It meant that the topic was over. Feeling relieved, he hummed happily and passed over a lot of hot and sour lotus root strips into Song Yu’s bowl, “Eat this.”

That was Song Yu’s favourite dish since he was a child. It didn’t require any complicated seasoning process, but that crispy taste far surpasses the taste of any of the other vegetables. The lotus root strip was very thin, only about the thickness of a finger. It was cut diagonally into sections and then stir-fried together with dried peppers and boiled with vinegar. With all the pores filled with the soup, it was both crispy and flavoursome. This kind of vegetable could only be served in summer and would no longer be available after September as it was difficult to keep fresh during long distance transportation and hence is not available in many cities.

“It would be great if you could eat lotus roots all the time.”

Hearing this, Song Yu pushed that bowl of lotus root noodles over to Yue Zhishi. His tone didn’t carry much emotion, “After seeing it every day, you won’t find it delicious anymore.”

It only felt more precious because you can only enjoy it for a short amount of time.

After seeing it every day, there was less novelty and anticipation.

“No way.”

He didn’t expect Yue Zhishi to refute. There was slight surprise in his eyes.

Please read this from kk translates

Yue Zhishi spoke with a child’s determination, “I am happy to eat something I like every day. What’s the point of eating something that I don’t like in order to change things up? It’s best to have something I like every day.”

Song Yu’s actions stopped, “You won’t get sick of it?”

Yue Zhishi hesitated for a moment and didn’t answer immediately. Song Yu didn’t wait for the answer and quietly continued to eat.

“If it is my favourite, I won’t get sick of it.” He spoke each word with great emphasis, as if it was an answer he had come to after thinking it over for a long time.

Song Yu’s eyes trembled slightly. While he was caught off guard by Yue Zhishi, he was given a lotus root ball by Yue Zhishi. He furrowed his brows and looked at him strangely.

“I’ll give you my favourite lotus root ball.” Yue Zhishi looked up at him the same way he did when he first came to this house.

At that time, Yue Zhishi stuck to Song Yu every day. He didn’t understand anything, and he also didn’t know how to speak Chinese, but he would try to express it with his actions. Before Song Yu went to bed every night, he would find some strange little toys placed it next to his pillow and sometimes they would be under his pillow.

Every time, Song Yu would take these little toys away but they would always show up next to his pillow the next day.

Later, Song Yu who had just come out from the shower happened to catch the “culprit”. He saw Yue Zhishi standing on his tiptoes and stretching out his fleshy arms to place a small train and astronaut toy next to his pillow.

Yue Zhishi who couldn’t explain himself clearly and could only babble using simple Chinese vocabulary intermingled with English. It took Song Yu a long time to understand that he had wanted to give him his favourite toy to accompany him while he slept.

At that time, he refused, “I don’t want your toys. I’m not a child.”

Yue Zhishi cried at the time but when night came, he once again brought a toy over and said a bunch of strange English babble to Song Yu. He was basically saying that the toy was really good and that it was his favourite toy.

In the end, Song Yu conceded. He just picked up the small train and gave the astronaut toy back, “One is enough.”

Song Yu laid in bed that night, playing with the little train absentmindedly when he accidentally pressed something and the lights on the train lit up and started to rumble nonstop. He didn’t know how to stop it. In the end, it caused him to have a very long dream in which the little dumpling kept on crying and held onto him tightly as he did that. It was simply the worst nightmare.

After so many years, nothing had changed.

After eating, the two left the table and took out two tatami mats that were rolled up in the corner of the room and laid them out for them to nap on.

“Is third year difficult? I heard you used up all your pencil refills in just three days.” Yue Zhishi laid down on his pillow and looked over at Song Yu.

Song Yu took out a copy of “National Geographic” from the shelf and began to look through it, “I only just started third year.”

That was true and he was also very smart so it shouldn’t be hard for him. Yue Zhishi gazed up at the ceiling. He didn’t want to go to high school. There were already too many papers to finish now so he felt that he might die when he enters high school.

Rather than asthma or allergies making him die, it was a bit shameful to die because of exam papers.

Seeing that Yue Zhishi was still gazing up at the ceiling, Song Yu placed down the magazine and ordered him, “Sleep.”

Yue Zhishi let out an ‘oh’ and closed his eyes.

Seeing that he had finally settled down, Song Yu threw a summer blanket over and also raised the air conditioner by two degrees before he similarly laid down.

When Yue Zhishi had his eyes closed, he appeared very docile. Those large eyes of his seemed to be the container for all his vitality so once they were closed, he appeared weaker and paler. This made Song Yu uncontrollably think of his asthmatic episode his morning.

Feelings are all archived, and it can be recalled in an instant.

Rapid development would be the words many adults would use to describe children, especially if they hadn’t seen them for a long time. Suddenly seeing them again, they are surprised by how much the child had grown. Yue Zhishi had clearly grown up by his side and they were together almost every day, but Song Yu still felt this way.

Seeing Yue Zhishi lying there quietly like this, Song Yu couldn’t help but recall the first time he was hospitalised because of allergies. At that time, he was also a quiet, little one.

That was the first time the six-year-old Song Yu realised what danger meant.

“Song Yu gege.” Yue Zhishi suddenly opened his eyes and turned over, catching Song Yu off-guard with his face at a very close proximity.

“What was my first allergic reaction like? Do you remember?”