Main Story Part 5

At that time I didn’t know, in this private school, standing near the window of the principal’s office, the principal was holding onto a phone looking at me and Ye CanSheng. Like two ghosts we float out of the school in the midst of everyone’s clamours of comments, and he then says something through the phone.

“Yes, everything is pretty calm here. He’s already decided to break up with his girlfriend. It’s just that there’s an extra XiaoZi by Fang YunSheng’s side.”

“Yes yes, I’ve already inquired about it. It looks like it’s because that person is a bit mentally ill, so he’s probably staying back to undergo mental health counselling.”

“Last time he even hit a female teacher for no good reason in the canteen. He’s definitely not mentally sound.”

“Okay, okay. I definitely won’t make things difficult for him. Rest assured, Chairman.”

After ending the call, the principal sits down on a swivel chair by his side, and thinks: ‘this Chairman really does care about that “son” who came halfway through ah……’

And on the other end of the phone call in faraway Kowloon, Hong Kong, a man around 37 to 38 in a bathrobe, dries the water beads on his head and smiles as he glances at the bill on the table. The bill has detailed recordings of every expenditure from a bank account in City Liu……

Such as what items were bought and when money was withdrawn, as well as how that card was used for a Nokia phone and one of the newest iPhone models…..

The man slowly and leisurely sits on the sofa. His looks totally don’t resemble someone who’s almost forty. He’s brimming with shrewdness everywhere. Not a single bit of vicissitude can be seen on a face still with defined outlines and very much resembles someone in a high position with total control over everything. Which is true, in Kowloon, he can be said to be quite a big shot in the business circles.

He leans back on the sofa and slightly rubs his eyes and brows.

“Yo[1], so our big boss ShangFan who has everything in control, also has times when he’s got a headache over something.”

Out of the extravagant, ancient-replica styled room walks out a woman wearing a long, dark purple dress, full of seductiveness and flaming red lips.She slowly walks towards the man sitting on the sofa, a hand with red nail polish gently rests on the man’s shoulder. She gently taps her fingertips against his shoulder before slowly turning to face the man’s chest.

ShangFan frowns and slightly leans to one side, dodging the woman’s hand.

He picks up the bill on the table, casually flips through it, and says blankly to the woman who’s currently seducing him, “You know I’m not interested in woman.”

“Ai ya ya[2], homosexuals and so on are so…..”

The man’s sharp eyebrows slightly flinches, and he looks at the woman, “At least it’s better than a woman who would sell her son off for money.”

“Che ~” The woman gently strokes the nails done by a top class nail technician over one hour’s time and says, “He’s not even my own son by blood.”

“I don’t care about that. After I get his guardianship, you must move out of here.”

The woman’s face is instantly in shock. She had wanted to settle into a random room in this manor, “Why so cruel?”

The man turns his head to face the woman on the sofa, eyes slightly squinting, “Because I’m gay.”

The woman feels scornful, “What’s so good about that stinking brat anyways?”

The man chuckles, his eyes losing a bit of hostility and gaining a bit of tenderness, “The roots between me and him run much deeper than you think.”

“You two know each other from before?” The woman’s gaze finally leaves her ten fingers.

“How can that be possible. I fell for him at first sight, and yet here’s you, a beautiful woman. Why do you still carry a dragging oil bottle[3]?” (T/N: child from the preceding marriage)

The woman slightly combs her hair to the back and says, “I only adopted him because the rich man I hooked onto before couldn’t have kids.”

“Oh. So where is that rich prodigal now ne?”

The woman faintly sighs, “He abandoned me and Fang YunSheng to inherit family property and marry a rich wife.”

“No wonder, YunSheng’s already this big, yet the mom’s still so young.” The man flips the paper in his hand forwards.

“Who wishes to adopt a dragging oil bottle that even needs his mom’s help to take a shit.”

“That’s why I hate women.”

“If this sentence reaches the ears of others, I don’t know how many women’s hearts will be broken.”

The man laughs, “That has nothing to do with me.”

“Whatever, I’m leaving. You can take care of the guardianship business yourself. I’m fine as long as the money reaches my bank account. That XiaoZi is all yours in the future.” The woman winked at the man on the sofa and left in her high heels.

The man on the sofa glanced at the woman who disappeared at the door entrance and threw the paper in his hand onto the table. He leans his body backwards against the sofa, exclaiming, “Everyone says like mother like son. So why does YunSheng look so much like you, to the point where I could instantly recognize him? Don’t you think this is fate ah? Fu LaoShi[4].”

ShangFan moves his line of sight to the photos on the left side of the LCD TV. There’s a single photo displayed there. It was taken at the university graduation. The photo didn’t turn yellow from passing of time. It’s evident that the owner of this photo cherishes it very much.

T/N

[1] 呦 This sound (romaji: you), pronounced yo, is usually said when someone is in surprise, however in many cases, like this one, it is said in a mocking manner too.

[2]哎呀呀 Once again another common phrase used in Chinese (romaji: Ai ya ya), is said to show surprise. Usually it would also have the meaning of praise however not in this case.

[3] 拖油瓶 This directly translates to ‘dragging oil bottle’, and means a child from a preceding marriage. This word has negative connotation to it.

Extra Background Information:

拖油瓶 (Romaji: Tuo You Ping) is actually the modern term, this term was actually originally called 拖有病 (Romaji: Tuo You Bing). Back in Ancient China, when a widow remarried, usually the new husband’s financial situation isn’t very good. Back then, natural and manmade disasters happened frequently, if anything happened to the child that the widow brought along with her, the relatives of the ex-husband would blame the new family. In order to avoid such disputes, when the new husband marries the widow, he will ask someone to write a written pledge saying that the widow’s child was already sick at the time, if anything happens to the child in the future or they get sick, it all has nothing to do with him. And thus, people will label the children from a preceding marriage 拖有病 (Direct translation: What has been dragged here is already sick).

However, since the two terms sound very similar, with only the last character being different, people nowadays say 拖油瓶 (dragging oil bottle).

[4] 老师 LaoShi. This is the word for teacher and just like sensei in japanese, people call teachers using this term by adding the term at the end of the person’s last name.