Chapter 45

Translated by Low Blood Sugar Rara

“What?” Zhou Du was taken aback, “How could it be!” He quickly denied, “Xia Yao and I, we are in a pure and clean loving relationship.”

Wang Hao sighed, he spoke to Zhou Du with a soulless face, “Somehow I felt like I just got fucked.”

Zhou Du: “…” Zhou Du felt like he was the one being drunk tonight instead of Wang Hao.

“What do you mean by somehow?” Zhou Du glanced at him, “Isn’t this something you should have known yourself already?”

Wang Hao didn’t say back a thing, he remained gloomy.

“Seriously, just what happened to you ah?”

It wasn’t until later that Wang Hao started opening his mouth slowly, “It was that day’s morning where I woke up finding myself staying at Zhang Yang’s house.”

Zhou Du recalled, “Oh, didn’t you get pissed drunk that day? I was afraid your father would beat you after you got home, so I let Zhang Yang carry you to his instead. Rest assured, I have told your mom.”

“So it was your fault.” Wang Hao sullened, “That morning I found myself being fucked by that bastard!”

Zhou Du stared at him with disbelief, “Are you insane ah?”

“The two of us were ass-naked hugging each other. That morning Zhang Yang told me he couldn’t control himself. That means only one thing! I was fucked by him, what else could have happened?!” Wang Hao spilled the beans without taking a break to breathe, “Had he not been my bro, fuck no, ex-bro, I would have fucking beat him to death! From now on, we are through!”

Zhou Du was stunned.

“Maybe you are overthinking it? Maybe it was just too hot so you took off your clothes. Zhang Yang is not the type to top you out of nowhere ah.”

“Who said that! That guy!” Wang Hao threw a fierce glare at Zhou Du, “That brat told me he has been in love with me for a long time! Would you take off Xia Yao’s clothes just to sleep together purely!?”

Zhou Du felt that Wang Hao’s words made sense.

“Then what are you planning to do?”

“I want to cut ties with him completely.”

Zhou Du saw him fuming, he suddenly asked, “So you didn’t come to school because your ass was hurting?”

“What?” Wang Hao’s face with a puzzled face, “Why should my ass hurt?”

Zhou Du slightly coughed, his ear went a bit red, “Oh, I did some research on the internet when I had free time, it said the receiving side’s ass will be in a very uncomfortable state. Wasn’t this the reason you stopped coming to class those few days?”

“It was not!” Wang Hao startled, “I didn’t come to school because I don’t want to see Zhang Yang. I will be going to the US anyway, nothing will change whether I go to school or not. My ass was not even a slightest bit in pain!”

Zhou Du thought, he frowned, “So Zhang Yang was the one being fucked by you?”

“I…No way! I was so drunk I know nothing.”

“So I was right, the drunken you fucked Zhang Yang.” Zhou Du drew a conclusion to the matter.

Wang Hao was shocked, his mouth was wide open yet no words came out. He pondered for a bit, Zhang Yang’s expression was deathly pale that morning, which meant, I fucked him?

“See? He got topped by you, but since he didn’t want you to feel guilty, he had to confess. Yet you want to break ties with him.”  Zhou Du shook his head, “I pity Zhang Yang.”

“Fuck!” Wang Hao blushed, he hastily explained, “Even, even if I topped him, it’s still his fault. Didn’t he know how to resist? I can’t beat him.”

“Didn’t you just say it, Zhang Yang likes you, so even if he could beat you, he won’t.”

Wang Hao was nearly convinced. “No, it can’t be.” He still couldn’t believe it, “I’m going home to think this over.”

Wang Hao left Zhou Du’s room with confusion etched onto his face.

After he had left, Zhou Du finally managed to react. What did Wang Hao just say? Zhang Yang likes him? How could he not know?

*

Xia Yao’s phone was buzzing inside his pocket nonstop, but his mind didn’t pay attention to it.

Inside the room, a woman was sitting straight on the bench with a cup of water on the table. She picked up the cup, gave it a few blows, and then took a sip. She looked as if she was drinking an expensive coffee inside a high-class cafe, not plain hot water.

She gracefully put down the cup onto the table as she gave a smile toward Xia Yao.

“Have the exams finished? How do you feel?”

Xia Yao pursed his lip, it wasn’t just doubt showing in his eyes, there was a bit hostility. He always felt that this woman wasn’t like what his mom had told him, she was a friend of his mom who lived in other area.

“Not bad.” Xia Yao slowly replied with only two words.

“Oh?” The woman raised her eyebrows, “Is there any university you want to go to?”

This time, Xia Yao didn’t even bother to spill even a word, he directly stood up and said to his mom, “Mom, I’m tired, I’m going to my room.”

“Go ahead.” Mother Xia looked at her son with a complicated face.

Xia Yao responded with a single,  “En,” then went to his room without paying a single look to that woman.

“You should go.” Mother Xia whispered to the woman, “I don’t want to see you any longer.”

The woman showed an anxious expression. Her eyes swept across the shabby house, “This place, I remember it was him who helped you guys settle down here.”

Mother Xia went pale.

“So many years have passed. It seems like it was our fault being inconsiderate. Think carefully what I have said before, after all, to go with his father or to go with his mother, I think you understand the difference the best.”

Even though Xia Yao was in his room, he could hear their conversation clearly.

Father, it has been a while since he last heard that word.

He leaned to the side with one hand as pillow, his face showed no expression.

After the woman had left, mother Xia remained idle for awhile. Not until the room was completely submerged in darkness did she finally stand up and turned on the light.

“Yao Yao.” Mother Xia’s voice sounded hoarse, “Are you hungry? I will go prepare the meal now.”

Xia Yao opened the door, the light inside his room was also not on. Under the darkness, mother Xia couldn’t see her son’s face clearly.

When Xia Yao stepped under the light, mother Xia realized Xia Yao was carrying a smile on his face.

“I’m hungry, Mom. I will help you wash the vegetables, tonight I want to eat braised pork.”

Mother Xia had a sour feeling inside her nose. She looked at her son’s back but with a different feeling.

Her son was an outstanding boy, living with that woman seemed… But she didn’t want that, she was unwilling, because, why? Based on what did they think they could steal her son away just because that woman couldn’t have a son?

After dinner, this was the first time mother Xia didn’t return to her room alone.

Xia Yao rarely stepped in his mother’s room. In fact, the two rooms had the same layout, a small space with a single bed and a table, so small that nothing else could fit in. Clothes and other things were packed in cardboard boxes and stuffed under the bed.

Fortunately both of them didn’t have that many clothes.

Xia Yao sat on the bed next to his mother. Mother Xia rummaged through the cardboard box under the bed and took out an old yellowed photo.

She put the photo in Xia Yao’s hand and said, “This was taken when I was young.”

It was a black and white photo. Mother Xia was very young in the picture, with the braided twintails hairstyle that was in trend at the time. She was smiling shyly at the camera.

Standing next to her was a man taller than her by one head. Even though the picture was very blurry, Xia Yao could still see the man was very beautiful and white, he could see a familiar shadow in his appearance.

The man inside the picture had one of his hands behind his back while the other hand was vaguely placed on mother Xia’s shoulder.

“Is this guy my, father?” Xia Yao paused because he wasn’t really used to say the word.

Mother Xia nodded.

“So, is he dead or did he abandon us?” Xia Yao voice was indifferent.

Mother Xia looked at him in surprise, she continued slowly, “He, we didn’t get married.”

Mother Xia got pregnant before marriage, while his father, Zhao WenHua, was only a college student at that time.

“My family didn’t know we were lovers. After he passed the uni exam, he went to the city. I had thought he would never come back again, but I didn’t expect he would return the next winter vacation.”

“He said he wanted to marry me,” She laughed bitterly, “Maybe he really wanted to marry me at that time.”

“I took him to visit my brother. I lost my parents when I was young, so I grew up with my brother.” Mother Xia paused, then continued, “My brother didn’t object our marriage, but he said, after we got married, he should take me to city with him. At that time, he assured my brother that he would take me with him as soon as he graduated. He left right after the new year. I only found out that I was pregnant with you when he left nearly three months later.

“My brother asked someone to send a letter to him, asking him to come back to marry me, but there was no reply. I said to my brother that I would go to the city to find him. Even if he didn’t want me, I needed at least an answer. An acquaintance brought me to the city. When I found his school, he was not happy with my arrival.”

When mother Xia said this, she couldn’t help looking away. She remained silent for a while before continued, “I asked him whether he still wanted to marry me, and he said yes, but since he was busy with his graduation, he didn’t have time to reply. He helped me find a small inn and let me stay there. I wrote to my brother saying that I have found him, and he agreed to marry me. However, I stayed in that hotel for nearly three months and he didn’t say a word about marrying me.

“My stomach got bigger and bigger day after day. If I returned to the village, everyone would definitely know. I begged him to come back with me, but the next day he brought a woman with him. That was the woman sitting outside earlier. He said she was his fiancee.” Mother Xia chuckled, but it carried a trace of irony, “His son was inside my belly, yet he said he had a fiancee.

“What can I do? That woman said as long as I’m willing to, the child could be born. But, that child will have no connection with Zhao WenHua, and I, am nothing but a distant relative from the same village who seeked his help because I had an unwanted pregnancy. Retribution, it’s all retribution.” Her eyes showed a trace of hatred, “Now that woman can’t give birth to a child, but she wants you to accept Zhao WenHua. Yao Yao, how can your mom let you go to him? I don’t want you to, base on what, after all those years, except the fact he gave us a house to live in, when has he ever asked a question about you? Based on what, did he think he could just take my son away to his liking?”

“Mom.” Xia Yao suddenly pulled his mother’s hand to his chest, “Mom, rest assured, I will stay with you, I won’t go anywhere but here.”

“Yao Yao, am I a selfish person? You will have to deal with a lot of hardship if you choose to live with me. That man married a lady from a rich family, he is a successful man right now and he wants to take you home as a young master of a rich family.”

“Mom, it doesn’t matter whether he has money or not, no matter who he is, I only have you. You swallowed the bitter pills and raised me up this well. In the future, when I become successful, we will have a better life. Even if I fail, I won’t let you starve to death. We have undergone so many hardships, I believe we will be better and happier in the future.”

Hearing her son say that, mother Xia couldn’t help herself but lay on her son’s thin shoulder.

Behind her tears, was it sadness, or was it relief and happiness?