CH 23.1

Chapter 23.1 - About Chinese New Year 2 Part 1

The border collie dog raised by Old Yang was called ‘Er Dan1’.

This name didn’t sound pleasant to Yang Han but she thought it was really cute.

Yang Han put on a collar on Er Dan and led him downstairs to play with Lu Yue Ming.

Having not seen Yang Han in a long while, Er Dan was feeling a lot more excited. It broke free from the leash when they were heading downstairs, picked up the leash on its own, went on ahead first and was waiting for Yang Han while wagging its tail.

Yang Han happily patted Er Dan and took the leash from its mouth.

As soon as she looked up, she saw a figure not far away from them. A man in a beige coloured trench coat was surrounded by a group of chattering and noisy shorties. And that man had naturally became the head of these children.

Yang Han: “……”

She wanted to turn away and walked down a different path, but Er Dan was very stubborn, pulling her towards that group of children and ran ahead. Yang Han was thus walked by a border collie to standing in front of Han Shi Yu.

Han Shi Yu watched as the border collie whizzed past him and squeezed into the group of children, enjoying their welcomes and hugs.

Each child held several sparklers in hand. Yang Han glanced at Han Shi Yu, who smiled at her, as if he was holding a handful of candy canes and asked, “Wanna play?”

Yang Han knew that these must be what he bought for the children as ‘atonement’.

Yang Han took one.

""

Han Shi Yu: “Take some more.”

Yang Han then took the remaining handful and in exchange, placed her one candy cane back into Han Shi Yu’s hand.

Han Shi Yu: “…You sure don’t hold back.”

Yang Han watched Er Dan play happily among the group of children, thinking it was unlikely that she can drag him away anymore. So, she turned to Han Shi Yu and said, “Watch over him. I’ll go find and play with Xiao Lu.”

Han Shi Yu: “Oh.”

Yang Han wasn’t too assured. After walking a few steps away, she instructed again, “You have to watch over him.”

Han Shi Yu didn’t know to laugh or cry. “He’s just a dog. Where could he even run off too.”

“Legend has it that border collies are dogs with the highest IQ.” Yang Han said seriously, “It should be smarter than you.”

Yang Han hurriedly slipped away before Han Shi Yu could give her a whack on her head.

Zhou Yi had a pet dog at home.

During one New Year’s Eve, due to some special reasons, he left it under Han Shi Yu’s care.

It was a very pure bred Siberian husky.

When it was first brought to Han Lang’s house, he often looked down at the little corgi with condescending eyes. That little corgi was given the name ‘Ga Ga’ by Han Shi Yu, who later on gave birth to Gu Gu.

Ga Ga barked angrily at that big dog.

The husky couldn’t stay still in the house and the corgi did not welcome it either.

Yang Mo sat in the living room where the dogs were restless. He called Old Yang on a whim and said, “Dad, I’m bringing a dog back for New Year’s.”

This side of his resembled closely after Old Yang. They both really liked small animals. So, Old Yang readily agreed and even looked forward to seeing this husky more than his own son.

At that time, Yang Mo was 26 years old and had been back in China for two years while Ji Xun had only just been developed.

He wasn’t that young anymore and had reached the age where he start considering marriage, but there were no signs of it yet. Old Yang might not have said anything, but he was still feeling very anxious over it.

Graduated from Shou Cheng University, working abroad, returning home to start a business – all of these were the things that Old Yang used to brag in front of his friends and relatives. Yang Mo had always been his utmost pride. But at the same time, Old Yang was a contradicting person. His son was really amazing, yet in front of him, Old Yang acted like he was nothing more than a rebellious son.

Many people came to his doorsteps, urging him to arrange some blind dates for Yang Mo. Old Yang went from being unwavering at the start to slowly being swayed. And then, he asked Yang Mo in a subtle way on the phone, whether there was a girl he liked.

From afar, Yang Mo glanced at Han Shi Yu, who was currently making a mess in Han Lang’s kitchen. Pretending not to pick up on it, Yang Mo did not answer to that vague question and only said, “If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”

From meeting Han Shi Yu to dating him, there weren’t really any rugged twists or turns and it hadn’t been that long either. Before this, Yang Mo didn’t think there was anything wrong with his sexual orientation. But when Han Shi Yu confessed to him, he didn’t expect he would just blurt out a yes right off the bat.

Everything went too smoothly, as if it was all destined and arranged by fate. So much so that Yang Mo thought this ridiculous relationship would only be a flash in the pan, a momentary feverish, rebellious deviation of a young man.

Yet, this momentary hot-headedness was a rebellion that lasted for six years.

Hang Lang knew and accepted the two of them much earlier on. But Old Yang never knew and never met Han Shi Yu.

Han Shi Yu carried a fruit platter out and placed it in front of Yang Mo. The husky came over and tried to steal one, but Han Shi Yu gently pushed its head away.

He sat down opposite of Yang Mo. His fingers were crossed, his thumbs fumbling over each other. After a while of silence, he finally called out, “Mo.”

Yang Mo: “Mhm.”

Han Shi Yu said, “This year’s New Year’s, I’ll go home with you.”

Yang Mo’s fingers froze on top of the keyboard. He looked up at Han Shi Yu.

When they got home, Old Yang opened the door for them.

He said, “Welcome back.”

Old Yang looked over Yang Mo’s shoulder expectantly, yet he only saw an unfamiliar face.

He and Han Shi Yu stared at each other.

Old Yang continued to look at him with a frown, then turn towards Yang Mo. “Didn’t you say you were bringing home a dog?”

Yang Mo: “……”

Yang Mo turned back, looked at Han Shi Yu but there was no sign of the husky. He asked, “Where’s the dog.”

“Still lying in the car. I’ll buy a sausage later to tempt it out of there.” Han Shi Yu coughed lightly to ease the awkwardness before flashing a smile, “Hello, uncle.”

“Oh, hello. Come in first and sit down.” Old Yang walked in, cleaned up the clutter on the sofa before turning towards Yang Mo, “Who’s that young man?”

Yang Mo said, “A colleague.”

Old Yang measured Han Shi Yu with his gaze.

This young man looked decent and in the eyes of the elders, he could be considered as talented. He smiled at Han Shi Yu, intended to go boil a pot of hot water to make tea next. While he worked on it, he said to Yang Mo, “Look at you. Bringing back a colleague on New Year’s. Don’t they have to celebrate their New Year’s too?”

He turned his head and asked Han Shi Yu in a concerned tone, “Won’t your family miss you if you don’t go home?”

Han Shi Yu smiled, “I’m really close to Yang Mo. His relatives are my relatives too, so it’s the same either ways.”

Old Yang chuckled a few times.

Yang Mo secretly glanced at Han Shi Yu. Han Shi Yu went outside to get the husky so the house fell back into silence with only the pair of father and son left.

Old Yang muttered, “It’s rare to see you with such a close friend.”

Yang Mo: “Mhmm…”

“I’ve actually been meaning to ask you.”

Yang Han: “Yeah?”

There were all kinds of fitness equipment in the community square. Lu Yue Ming leaned on the bar.

His eyelashes were really long. If snow fell from the sky, it would probably land on them. He looked at the sparkler in Yang Han’s hands before he tore his gaze away and looked around blankly.

Then he continued, “How did Uncle Yang and Uncle Han managed to come out.”

Yang Han tilted her head to look at him, “Xiao Lu, you really can’t stop yourself from mentioning my dad every three sentences.”

Lu Yue Ming laughed a little with his head hung low.

Yang Han handed him a sparkler. He took it as Yang Han lit it up for him.

The lights slowly pulsed in his hand.

Yang Han was squatting down as she looked over at Han Shi Yu not far away. He was sitting on the marble edge of the flower bed, talking on the phone while throwing the ball at the border collie.

Yang Han thought to herself, maybe there were still things he had to settle in the company. After all, Ji Xun mainly focused on audio-visual entertainment, so during the holidays, especially the Spring Festival, the traffic would be really high.

Earlier on, in order to coax the children, Han Shi Yu went to a nearby mall and bought a basket of toy balls, which had now become a plaything for Er Dan. And so, Er Dan would offer the ball to him as Han Shi Yu throw it out even without looking after he took it.

Yang Han thought about it for a while before saying, “I was curious once and asked my grandpa how my dad came out to him.” She continued, “I feel like confessing to your family about this, isn’t an easy matter at all.”

Lu Yue Ming, “Yeah.”

Yang Han was still staring at Han Shi Yu, who was busy a distance away. “My grandpa said, it was Han Shi Yu who spoke up first.”

She said, “It’s actually quite funny now that we’re talking about it. Grandpa said, one year which was also during Chinese New Year, my dad brought Old Han back home. He didn’t mind it at first, thinking Old Han was only a normal friend of my dad. He said…”

Yang Han mimicked Old Yang’s tone— “This young man, knows how to accompany this old man to play chess and make tea, as well as saying nice things to me. He has a good insight in everything he does, much better than that rebellious son, Yang Mo who locks himself in his room the second he gets home. I was quite fond of him then, so I told him, ‘It would be great if you were my son’.”

Seeing how hard Yang Han worked on restoring an old man’s voice, Lu Yue Ming laughed out loud.

Yang Han laughed as well before she continued, “Grandpa was only joking around, but he didn’t know that at that time, my dad and Old Han had been together for many years already.”

“That Chinese New Year, grandpa had intended to introduce my dad on blind dates as they visited others.”