When the two people who came to celebrate entered the house together with Father Tong, the first thing that greeted them was the heavy somber atmosphere inside.
Heaving a long sigh, Tong Qiu understood that he was shouldering a heavy responsibility. Not only was he to coax the sulking old man happy, he also had to introduce the “daughter-in-law” who not only wasn’t capable of carrying a baby, but also had been beaten black and blue.
As a matter of fact, Grandpa Tong was an open-minded person, or else he wouldn’t want to meet with Huo Zhixing like this. But today was just an unfortunate twist of fate, he had been provoked and got into a bad mood, brooding about and not giving anyone who met with him some face.
As soon as they passed by the door, Tong Qiu loudly called out: “Mr. Tong Wangyuan! Your beloved baby is here!”
This was Huo Zhixing’s first time visiting the ancestral home with Tong Qiu. Before, every time they met, Tong-laoshi and his parents always acted respectably and dignified. Of course, it’s very likely they had merely pretended to act so in front of Huo Zhixing. Now, all pretenses had been shed off. What’s more, in front of his grandfather, Tong Qiu acted like a spoiled little child – even his tone had been a pitch higher! Once he had entered the premises he had turned into a little sweetheart, even calling himself a “beloved baby.”
Huo Zhixing stood behind the other desperately trying to hold in the laughter threatening to spill out of his lips.
“What darling baby, I don’t care much about you today!” Grandfather Tong had been stewing in anger inside his room. When he heard his grandson’s voice, he went out to the living room with the help of his walking cane. As soon as he came out, he naturally saw Huo Zhixing standing next to Tong Qiu.
“Happy Birthday, Mr. Tong Wangyuan!” Tong Qiu changed out of his shoes and ran to give his grandfather a warm hug, then he turned back to Hou Zhixing and called him over.
Huo Zhixing was tall with a straight waist, and stood there looking decent.
“Mr. Tong, this is my officer Huo, okay?” Tong Qiu took Huo Zhixing’s arm and introduced him to his grandfather, “He is 1.87 meters tall, weighs 160 pounds, has no fat and is all muscles. He is 33 years old and works for the people as a glorious policeman. He was originally very handsome, but he hurt himself carelessly while getting rid of an evil a while ago. Still, the heroic spirit between his eyebrows remains visible. Is Mr. Tong satisfied with your granddaughter-in-law?”
As if he was spitting out beans, Tong Qiu babbled a lot of beautiful praises, making Huo Zhixing who heard it embarrassed.
Officer Huo, who had been wounded on the face, took off his mask and greeted his grandfather respectfully.
This was the first time Grandpa Tong saw the man, and he didn’t know whether he should be called a granddaughter-in-law or something else. After further observation, he seemed like a decent young man. In fact, in the whole family, Tong Qiu was the only one who inherited his penchant for uniforms. When he heard that Huo Zhixing was a policeman, his favorability for him had soared to 100 points even before meeting him.
Granpa Tong took a close look at the child in front of him. He looked good, but his face still looked a bit green, like he just had had a fight with someone – like it was some unsightly birthmark. Grandpa Tong waved his hand, “Hurry and sit, both of you are so tall, when this old man looks up it makes me dizzy!”
Tong Qiu smiled and helped his grandfather to sit down.
Huo Zhixing handed over the gifts they prepared and apologized, “Grandpa, because of an accident last year, neither Xiao Qiu nor I could come over. Please don’t be angry with us.”
“No, no, it’s all Tong Qiu’s fault, that naughty brat. He had to worry you by spraining his ankle.” As he spoke, Grandpa Tong put on his glasses as his sight had been a bit hazy. He carefully looked at Huo Zhixing again from head to toe. After having his fill, he turned back to Tong Qiu. “Okay, you two indeed look alike like a married couple.”
Tong Qiu laughed, “I haven’t seen you for a long time, and in that time old Mr. Tong has learned to broaden his horizons and and talk nonsense. One of us is 1.87 meters tall while the other is 1.81 meters, one wheat colored skin while the other has a porcelain white complexion. There is no resemblance at all, please don’t joke with us.”
Grandpa Tong refused to accept the correction and asked Huo Zhixing, “Boy, what is your name?”
“Huo Zhixing.” Huo Zhixing said with a smile, “Huo from Huo Yuanjia, Zhi and Xing a combination of knowledge and action.”
“Yes right, knowing and doing, good name. Now tell me Xiao Huo, do you think you both look alike?”
Huo Zhixing smiled and turned his gaze to Tong Qiu. Tong Qiu raised his eyebrows at him: “Don’t you think so?”
“Granpa said it was like that.” Huo Zhixing boasted without shame, “Anyway, married couples would look more and more alike sooner or later.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Tong Qiu was stunned by the words, and felt his ears starting to turn hot. He just found out that Huo Zhixing, who owned such a glib tongue, was not an honest man at all!
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“P kjrc’a obbilcu beg ugjcvqj.” Leb Itlzlcu gfqilfv ybivis, “Qtja P rjlv kjr yjrfv bc rmlfcmf. Ufbqif tjnf rjlv atja mbeqifr ktb ilnfv abufatfg klii ugbk ab ibbx wbgf jcv wbgf rlwlijg. Zjsyf ktfc kf ugbk bivfg, ktfc kf ibbx ja fjmt batfg la’ii yf ilxf ibbxlcu lc ogbca bo j wlggbg.”
“Who’s a couple with you!” Tong Qiu exclaimed, feeling a little disoriented, grasping the arm of his grandfather a bit tightly.
Huo Zhixing merely smiled and didn’t take his words to heart. Instead, he turned to Grandpa Tong and asked: “Grandpa, Xiao Qiu refuses to accept us. Shouldn’t you give me justice?”
Grandpa Tong’s mood turned for the better because of these two children. He laughed and handed Tong Qiu over to Huo Zhixing before he stood and headed over to the balcony: “I have nothing to do with your affairs. The two of you are flirting in front of me, but this old man saw nothing!”
Huo Zhixing and Tong Qiu were left on the sofa. He put his arms around Tong Qiu’s waist and said with a smile, “Did you hear what he said?”
“Ah? What?”
“Grandpa said,” Huo Zhixing leaned in closer to Tong Qiu’s ear and squeezed the other’s waist when he spoke, “We are a young couple.”
Tong Qiu glared at him from the corner of his eye and pushed him away with a smile, sarcastically saying: “Well, aren’t you amazing!”
Tong Qiu found out that Huo Zhixing was very popular with the elders. With just a few words from him, he has already coaxed the old man to be happy when it had been the first time they met. All his previous complaints had disappeared.
Huo Zhixing had gone to the kitchen to wash his hands and made preparations to cook. Tong Qiu followed him, rolled up his sleeves and tied the apron for him. Leaning on his cane, Grandpa Tong looked over the young couple with a smile on his face, and told Huo Zhixing not to put coriander on the dishes.
“Xiao Qiu doesn’t eat coriander.” Huo Zhixing replied, “Don’t worry Grandpa, I remember everything.”
Tong Qiu has to admit that Huo Zhixing was very attentive. He usually had a lot of things to do, and yet he remembers everything Tong Qiu had spoken before.
He laughed at his grandfather. “Zhixing has a good memory!”
Grandpa Tong sneered and glared at Tong Qiu: “Must be reassuring for you!”
It wasn’t that Tong Qiu hadn’t thought of it that way, but when his grandfather spoke it out loud, it made him a little embarrassed.
He turned back to face Huo Zhixing, who had begun to wash the vegetables.
On Grandpa Tong’s dinner birthday celebration, the whole family was complete in attendance. It was as lively as new year’s day, with all sort of topics being chatted about that didn’t interest Tong Qiu and Hou Zhixing much.
When dinner ended it was already dark, but not yet late enough. The relatives had no plans to leave immediately yet and Tong Qiu didn’t want to chat with them, so he took Huo Zhixing out for a walk.
Back on the train during the time they had just arrived, Tong Qiu promised that he would take Officer Huo to the park to recreate a childhood memory. But at this time, the park was already closed. Instead, they strolled at the Peony garden opposite of the community compound. From January to the end of May and the beginning of June, every year the whole garden would be filled with blooming peonies. This time, they came early and the flower buds had yet to open.
After a leisurely walk, they sat down on one of the benches when fatigue caught up to them. A little stray kitten started walking back and forth in front of them, seemingly torn, before finally laying down at Tong Qiu’s feet.
Tong Qiu squatted down with a smile and started to tease the kitten. Huo Zhxing casually took a photo of the interaction.
“This cat is quite fat.” Tong Qiu petted the cat’s head, scratched its chin and asked Huo Zhixing, “Do you like cats?”
“I’m fine with them. I think you resemble a kitten.” Or the kind of little wildcat that can’t see what’s ahead and run out to hook up.
“Ah?” It’s the first time someone told Tong Qiu he is like a cat. All the students in his class have said he is a big lion disguised as a Hello Kitty. He normally looks pleasant, but turns really frightening when his ire is invoked. Of course, Tong-laoshi doesn’t get angry that easily, but who wouldn’t when you have many naughty children?
But then again, Hello Kitty is a cat, even though she’s a fake.
“How adorable.” Huo Zhixing also crouched down, carefully took the cat in his hold and jokingly compared it with Tong Qiu, “Are you his brother? You look really alike.”
Tong Qiu glared at him angrily: “Scram! I am human and this is a cat, just which part do we look alike! Before, you said we look similar to each other. Does that mean you are like a cat too?”
“I’m a lion and you’re a cat. We seem to be a match.” Huo Zhixing was a Leo.
Tong Qiu couldn’t hold back his laughter, and silently thought just how unscrupulous the man was.
“When I was a child, we used to have two cats in the family.” Tong Qiu said, “I was only three or four years old then. Petting them hadn’t been enough for me. I would ride the cats and pulled on their whiskers. Later, the cat became anxious, and scratched me after getting away from my hold.”
Tong Qiu suddenly leaned over, pointed at his right cheek and said, “I can still see the scar on my face. Look, can you also see it?”
They were very close. When Tong Qiu moved closer, the tip of Huo Zhixing’s nose was almost touching the tip of his nose.
Obviously they weren’t sticking to each other, and they were in the noisy outdoors, but Tong Qiu always felt that his heartbeat could be heard by the other man – it would involuntarily pick up speed when he and Huo Zhixing got too close.
“Ouch!” a woman’s voice suddenly exclaimed, snapping the two out of stupor.
Huo Zhixing and Tong Qiu turned to where the sound came from and found a lady holding on to a child. They seemed to be in the middle of a walk. The lady picked up the child and covered his eyes, saying, “Don’t look, Don’t look, kiss.”
The woman runs away carrying the child in her arms. Tong Qiu and Huo Zhixing found it hard to hold back and leaned back on the benches and doubled over in laughter.
“There seemed to be a huge misunderstanding.” Tong Qiu was still holding the kitten in his arms, face turned red with laughter.
“We’ve been misunderstood. Should we really kiss each other? Otherwise, isn’t it not a great lost?” Huo Zhixing leaned close to Tong Qiu and watched him slowly put away his smile and swallow his saliva nervously.
Tong Qui’s conflicting emotions was accurately seen through by the person in front of him. He remembered the last time he was drunk and the kiss they had had been incredibly intense.
Tong Qiu missed the feeling of that kiss that could ignite a whole person. He really wanted to try it again.
He didn’t know when the kitten in his arms ran away. Tong Qiu and Huo Zhixing kept the same posture for a long time.
Huo Zhixing asked: “Tong-laoshi, is it okay now?”
It was the same again.
The night before Huo Jiao got married, the two of them laid together and were “excited” to be burned by the heat, and they just “carried the gun into battle.” As a result, Huo Zhixing suddenly developed a particular style that was so gentlemanly it made people want to revolt. Since then, the police officer would always ask, “Is it okay now?”
At that time, Tong Qiu was entangled, contradicted, and at a loss that he missed the opportunity, which he regretted afterwards.
It may sound unconventional, but Tong Qiu didn’t want to be a rational man any longer.
He hoped that Officer Huo would stop being such a gentleman anymore. That he would kiss and do whatever he wanted regardless of permissions. How could Tong Qiu answer such a question?
If he said “Yes”, it would show that the dignified people’s teachers were very unreserved.
If he answered “No”, Tong Qiu would want to kill himself by biting his off tongue.
Couldn’t you just do it directly?
What’s more, if the relationship between them would stay the same as it had been before, whenever Huo Zhixing asked, Tong Qiu would endure it.
But the both of them have already done something amazing and he wondered if Huo Zhixing’s brain hadn’t acclimatized?
Tong Qiu smiled: “Huo Zhixing, are all police officers this polite?”
“What?” Huo Zhixing replied back with a smile.
Tong Qiu wanted to ask him if the other police officers would salute their partners before going to bed and kissing.
“What are you asking for?” Tong Qiu grabs the lapels of Huo Zhixing’s shirt and pulls him closer to himself. “If you want to kiss, kiss directly and don’t hesitate!”
The author has something to say:
Two people came out to say: if you want to be cool, you have to be shameless.
Nell’s Corner:
So so so sorry for the delay! I know I promised to have this up by last Sunday or Monday, but something came up that made me unable to work on this. On that note, a little clarification for those people who aren’t on discord: the reason why I was gone for weeks was because I unfortunately managed to catch the attention of that pesky bug currently wreaking havoc around the world. Not to worry though I’m back safe and sound and regular weekly updates would resume.
Also, this is only partially edited. Ill edit it properly tomorrow as it’s already very late here in my part of the world.
Thank you so much for patiently waiting and hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Ahhhhh We definitely understand I hope you a good recovery and have very good health to follow! Please stay healthy and safe!
When would this two get back together seriously? hahaha
Thanks for the chapter<3
Thanks for your hard work! I’m glad that you are feeling better now!
They are still cute and Grandpa is adorable too! 😂
I am VERY HAPPY that you are feeling better!
I enjoy this story a lot but I am not the kind of person to be fussy about a late update. You are doing this as a hobby, life and other priorities should come in the order that they need to and we readers should be understanding about it.
Thanks for the update.. Please stay safe and healthy.. ❤️❤️
The grandpa said: ” “知行记性好着呢！” (zhīxíng jìxìng hǎo zhe ní – Zhixing has a good memory) Considering the meaning of the name (Knowing and Doing) is a play on the words memory, knowing and doing.
So that’s what it meant! Thanks so much!
The comparison between TQ and Hello kitty it’s one my favorite things 😂😂
Thank You for the chapter ♡(˃͈ દ ˂͈ ༶ )