CH 21

During the evening rush hour, when people hastened to come off from work, the road condition was bumper-to-bumper congested, making the person sitting in a particular taxi feel short-winded, dizzy, and nauseous. 

The pregnancy reaction absent on the day impetuously surged in the evening because of the taxi’s stale odor and the stop-and-go motion of the traffic. 

“Do you want to vomit?” Upon seeing his state, the uncle driver hurriedly stuffed a plastic bag toward An Wuyang.

“Thank you.” An Wuyang opened the bag and hovered it under his chin just in case. In fact, it was merely a feat of nausea, and he spat nothing out. 

“We’re almost there.” As soon as the red light went off, the uncle driver straightaway maneuvered the car out of the exhausting traffic. 

It took fifteen minutes to arrive at the entrance of Jiang Nanhui. 

An Wuyang got out of the car with a pale face. He stood on the curb of the road, his movements sluggish as he looked up and around in an attempt to search for Fatty’s figure. 

Huo Yunchuan gazed at him from the car. Soon, the person under scrutiny was approached by a group of two men and three women, and all together, walked in like a group of peers shoulder to shoulder. 

Because it was summer vacation, finding a good place to eat could be tricky as many people also spent time there. 

Fatty had been leading everyone in haste while An Wuyang was at the tail, attentively protecting himself and occasionally speaking a few words to the male schoolmate beside him. 

Huo Yunchuan followed them further enough not to lose sight of them. He wore sunglasses over his face, and his actions made him feel like a perverted stalker.

Respecting the other party’s right to personal freedom was a rudimentary thing. However… forgive him he found it difficult to do so.

“Really uncomfortable?” After finding a place to sit and eat, Little Fatty finally saw his Yang-ge looking so inert and vigorless. 

“Go order, hungry ah.” An Wuyang flipped through the food catalog, his eyes flitting past various fried food to find something that suited him. “Little Fatty, let me have a steamed egg.”

Apart from that, there was nothing else for him to eat. 

“Okay.” Little Fatty added a few more words of concern to his buddy before greeting the girls two hundred times as much enthusiasm, “This meal is my treat, so everyone, do order whatever you want. After dinner, let’s go to see movies!”

Girl A: “But there aren’t many good movies recently. How about playing pool instead?”

The other boy also concurred: “Oh, pleasant choice. I enjoy playing billiards.” His attention then turned to An Wuyang.  “You don’t know how to play, right? Learn from the girls, then.”

Girl B straightaway winked at him: “I play really well. How about I teach you?”

An Wuyang lifted his lips in a pout suddenly. This mannerism of his usually occurred whenever he could not think of any appropriate response. The cringeworthy thing was that others always thought he was playing handsome. 

“I think you can play too,” he said with a smile. 

Graced with rosy red lips and a set of white teeth, coupled with her intellectual temperament, this girl could smoothly warm the heart and delight the eyes. Despite that, Little Fatty had already apprised her that his buddy disliked hanging out with girls and was extremely tough to chase.

“I’m not very good at pool either. Which among you will teach me to fight?” Little Fatty’s expecting gaze swept around the three girls but merely received a bunch of awkward smiles. 

“I’ll teach you instead.” His pals could not stand it any longer. In the end, Little Fatty died again on this date. 

Meanwhile, since An Wuyang had already eaten earlier, he only consumed half of the small bowl of his food before placing his chopsticks down on it. 

As the girls’ interests favored tall, thin, and fair-skinned boys, yet those exact types of boys shun the idea of picking up girls, their date eventually progressed into a day where girls talk about girls and boys talk about boys’ stuff.

They still went to play billiards but did not go to the drinking arrangement. 

Little Fatty called a Didi car to send them off safely, abandoning the idea of finding a beautiful girlfriend.

“Wuyang….” Sitting on the chair right at the entrance of the food stall, Little Fatty sighed, “Will there be someone who will like me as me? Even if I don’t have money.”

Only the two of them were left there. An Wuyang stretched his limbs, feeling comfortable in his seemingly paralyzed position. “You’re rich now, and people don’t like you either.”

“It’s so heart-wrenching….” Little Fatty clutched his chest. 

His family was within the upper-middle class. If he could reduce the meat, he would certainly look good.

But, someone’s attractiveness or likeableness is not based on one’s looks.

“Actually, someone who looks good may not necessarily like you.” An Wuyang added, “Your parents and grandparents treat you well, your academic performance is also not bad, and your life prospects are bright enough to blind me. It is nothing to be sad about.” 

He patted Little Fatty on the shoulder. “I like you very much.”

This being was pure as the driven snow and easy to get along with.

Little Fatty was so moved that he threw himself into An Wuyang’s arms. “You truly are an angel.”

“Go away!” The person who sincerely said he liked him just now lifted his foot and kicked him in a blink of an eye. 

“It’s a bit late.” An Wuyang straightened his clothes and fished out his mobile phone to call Didi car. “Go home. If you want to lose weight, then properly do so. Either way, I’m afraid you won’t have a girlfriend even if you lose weight.”

Little Fatty: “Didn’t you just say it’s unnecessary for someone good-looking to like me?”

An Wuyang clicked on the screen while laughing but did not reply. In truth, he felt very envious of Little Fatty — an only child with a wonderful family. 

“Are you referring to yourself?” Little Fatty got up from the chair and approached him. “Don’t worry. I like you very much too.”

An Wuyang dodged and said, “Thank you, but I’m not gay.”

“Tsk tsk. Okay, time to go home.” He was not gay, either. It was simply the love between buddies. 

The Didi car Little Fatty called arrived relatively fast, and after a while, his luck fostered as he got in the car and slipped away first.

Even like this, Little Fatty was capable and kind. Though, getting a girl, for the time being, is not palpable because of his fatness. 

“…” An Wuyang sighed. He stood up and waited for the car on the side of the road. In an empty stare, he looked at the pavement. Although he knew he wanted to protect himself, he deliberately ignored specific facts. 

The youngster stood alone on the side of the endless stream of vehicles waiting for the car, looking miserable like an abandoned breastfed puppy. 

Unable to control himself, Huo Yunchuan stepped forward. 

A pair of leather shoes entered An Wuyang’s line of sight. Then, his gaze trailed up along the leather shoes, to which he saw a pair of long legs, a narrow waist, broad shoulders, and finally, a handsome face that seemed to dominate the entire universe. “Uh… Huo…”

Young Master Huo frowned and fixed him with a stare. “It’s so late. What are you doing here?”

After seeing him, An Wuyang put away his bitter face, replacing it with a grin, and said, “Came out to meet a friend.” He then asked with a guilty conscience. “What about you? What a coincidence.”

The environment here seemed not suitable for this big company president.

“I’ll drive you back.” Huo Yunchuan restrained himself and said nothing other than that.

An Wuyang protested, “I called a car….”

The man cut him off. His pitch-black eyes made people feel uneasy. “Do you think it is safe to take a taxi or to sit in my car?”

The deterrent aura was too scary to refuse.

“Let’s go then,” An Wuyang said decisively within a second. He took out his mobile phone to cancel his car ride.”

It’s not that he felt cowardly. He realized going headstrong against Huo Yunchuan would only bring more harm than good.

Whether this resolution was for his own good or the sake of their future child, they ought to get along well with each other.

“…” An Wuyang gazed at the bright-colored scenery outside the car’s window while lightly caressing his stomach with his fingertips, feeling that he was about to grow up. 

“I felt nauseous during a car ride earlier,” he blurted. 

“Pregnancy reaction.” Huo Yunchuan was stunned for a moment, then mentioned a science-based fact, “It will disappear in April or May.” With an askance look, he stared at the mirror and asked, “What did you talk about with your friend?”

An Wuyang: “Just girls. He wants to have a girlfriend, but he has bad luck finding one since he’s a little chubby.”

“What about you?” The whole time he listened to the young man, Mister Huo’s slender hands rubbed the steering wheel’s leather back and forth with his fingers. He did not even realize he was doing this. 

“I’m the opposite of him. I don’t want to fall in love at all.” An Wuyang spread his palms on his stomach and looked up at the man in front of him. “You don’t have to worry about my personal life being rowdy. I will cooperate with your affairs.”

Once he voiced his sentiments, he resigned from his seat, signifying his resolve to end the conversation.

“Don’t lie to me in the future,” Huo Yunchuan warned after a long time, which made An Wuyang’s face flush. 

“Okay,” agreed with An Wuyang before getting out of the car. 

The sense of distance in his body’s behaviors was painfully apparent to the naked eye. As a tsundere president, like President Huo, he itched to reach out casually and touch the young man’s head. 

“See you tomorrow. Be careful on the road,” bid An Wuyang. Before the receiver could step out of the car and he could walk him upstairs, An Wuyang turned around and entered the entrance of the community. 

Huo Yunchuan lingered downstairs for a while, puffing a cigarette, his mood in utter chaos. 

— Mr. Huo, I just got home. Go back and rest early. PS: It’s tough for you today.

This message became an unexpectedly effective consoling panacea. His heart felt at ease after reading it. Mister Huo drove home after discarding more than half of the cigarettes.

Once An Wuyang entered their flat, he discovered his older sister, An Wuyu, had returned and was sitting in the living room with their parents and younger brother opening up stuff. 

“I’m back.” He walked in and bent down to take off his shoes at the entrance. “Dad, mom, sister, and Lil bro.”

“Come, come here. Your sister brought you a gift.” Although the whole family gathered over, the center of their focus was still on An Wuyu and the things she brought back. 

“Brother’s gift — I’ll look for it….” Delicate makeup adorned An Wuyu’s face, exquisitely matching her long black hair and dress. She looked fashionable and beautiful even when she picked up a square box. “This one. I finally managed to get a star player to sign it. Cool, right!”

An Wuyang accepted the ball with great astonishment — a basketball signed by a star with big strokes. “Thank you, sister. Jordan or Kobe?”

His older sister rolled her eyes. “Would I give you Jordan’s or Kobe’s signed basketball? It’s more cost-effective to sell it instead.”

Their parents and youngest brother laughed.

“Basketball is such a practical sport,” An Cheng said. “As Wuyang goes to university, you can play basketball to toughen your health.” 

As a child who could not play basketball, An Wuyang received the basketball before going further inside the house with a blank face. 

“This child,” Ding Wei snorted, “He’s still angry after hearing the few words I said to him that day.”

An Cheng said, “No, I’ve already spoken to him. I supposed it’s the part-time job.”

An Wuyu tidied up her things. “What? Eldest Younger Brother is still working part-time? He might well put his energy for that for reading.”

“Older Brother doesn’t enjoy reading books.” An Wuji hugged the book his sister bought, loving it so much that he could not bear to part from it as he got up and said, “I’m going to my room.” ‘To eat snacks with Gege.’

The An couple gazed at each other, eyes reflecting each other’s helplessness. 

They did not mention the part-time job to their eldest daughter for fear that it would affect her studies.

Amongst the three children, the second child spent the least money. He could also fund his daily necessities, alleviating a substantial part of their financial burden. 

Initially, this was a good thing for them. However, deep within their hearts, sometimes, the parents cannot help but criticize the second child for not being motivated to improve and having no plans for the future. 

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The author has something to say:

The thing about parents is when they dislike you, they sincerely dislike you. But later, when you have everything, you suddenly become their pride. So tell me, how should the implicated part adjust their mentality?