Translated by Eve
Your Mother’s Younger Brother
Sheng Renxing sat on a chair, deep in thought for a long while. Ultimately, he decided to just take a shower first.
The bathroom was quite clean. The only downside was that the shower head was old so the water spurted in all directions.
Well, you get what you pay for.
After he finished his shower, he leaned against the headboard of his bed and made a call. He wanted to have his clothes washed.
The other side: “What? Sorry, we don’t have a laundry service.”
Sheng Renxing’s legs were propped up on the bed. As expected. He wasn’t affected in the least. Mentally, he heard a ‘cha-ching’ sound in his head as he won a bet with himself.
The other party said, “But we do have a laundry room on the first floor. You can do your laundry there.”
Sheng Renxing turned to look at the pile of clothes on the ground and then looked at the bath robe on his body.
“……”
After negotiating, the other party agreed to wash his clothes for him for the small fee of one hundred yuan. The other party also enthusiastically offered to deliver the clothes to his door in the exact condition they came in once they were dry.
As expected, the power of money.
Sheng Renxing hung up and then flipped over. He started to scroll through his Wechat.
Big Head Qiu had already sent him a series of messages.
Meanwhile, the last thing Sheng Renxing had sent was the picture of the noodles stall and his message that said “I’m eating with someone.”
Beneath that was a bombardment of texts.
In an incredulous tone, Qiu Huaixin texted:
[Is this…a road-side stall???]
[A place like this….]
[Were you that affected by the thing with Uncle Sheng?! What about your constant, unreasonable mysophobia?!]
After expressing his shock, he focused on the more important aspect:
[Wait—who are you eating with?! Who’s deserving of such great honour?!]
[Last time I personally baked a cake for you, you accepted it. But behind my back, you gave it to Sheng Anquan because you thought it was dirty! What’s with that?!]
[Back then, I thought that it was just your mysophobia acting up. Turns out you just didn’t think I was worthy?!]
[I toiled over that cake for three hours! Three hours!!!]
[……]
After reading this string of messages, Sheng Renxing’s speechlessly scrolled through the rest of them quickly.
[It was nice there. The noodles were good.]
He then paused while typing and smirked.
[Did you think I didn’t see how, not only did you not wear gloves while spreading the buttercream, you also licked it after you finished coating it?]
[It was already extremely considerate of me to give it away behind your back, instead of to your face.]
After sending these texts, he received a call from the other person. Sheng Renxing coldly declined.
This didn’t prevent the other’s anger from coming through, however.
Big Head Qiu：[Don’t change the subject! Tell me, who treated you? Did you get with a random man outside? We’ve only been apart for one day! Just like that, you’ve already found a new flame?!]
X：[.]
Big Head Qiu：[Don’t you try to skip over this with a period! Who is this random man? I’ll go easier on you if you tell the truth! If not, I’ll sell your little wifey! ]
X：[Your message has been delivered but the other party refuses to accept it.]
Big Head Qiu：[？？？]
Sheng Renxing exited the chatroom and stared at the screen as he tapped against the side of his phone with his index finger.
He pursed his lips and then opened up the ‘add contacts’ page.
He entered the phone number Xing Ye gave him.
He then pressed ‘search.’
[User not found]
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.
“?” Sheng Renxing was stunned.
Lf aglfv jujlc.
[User not found]
Was this a fake number?
Lf atfc gfpfmafv atlr atbeuta.
Maybe he doesn’t have Wechat?
He thought about it for a bit and then composed a text：[Thanks for the umbrella. The noodles today were delicious.]
He stared at his screen for a while before adding：[When should I return your umbrella?]
Coafg jvvlcu atja rfcafcmf, Vtfcu Efczlcu vlvc’a lwwfvljafis rfcv atf afza. Lf oeggbkfv tlr ygbkr jr tf rmgealclhfv bnfg atf wfrrjuf obg j ibcu alwf.
Pa ralii vlvc’a rbecv gluta. Pa rbecvfv abb milcus jcv ulgis.
Lf vfifafv atf afza.
[When do you want the umbrella back?]
Now this sounded perfect. It matched Sheng ge’s aura.
He pressed down on the ‘send’ button.
The message was successfully delivered.
Sheng Renxing flipped over on the bed and placed his phone by his pillow. He didn’t exit the messaging app. As he clicked on the contact name ‘Xing Ye’, for some baffling reason, the words ‘wild man’ Qiu Huaixin had said came to mind.
It sounded pretty accurate.
.
Xing Ye had just washed his clothes and taken a shower. He was currently airing his clothes outside his window.
After hanging everything up, he didn’t immediately shut the window. He rested his hands on the railing outside and leaned against the windowsill.
The mud on his uniform jacket had been difficult to get out. He had used his hands to rub it out twice.
The chilly night brreeze brought with it a misty rain. His clothes billowed in the wind, rustling in the air.
He would probably have to wash his clothes again after they dried.
But if he didn’t wash it now, his mother would interrogate him about the filth.
Xing Ye reached into his pockets and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.
His house was near the alleyway they had fought in.
To be more precise, it was further inside.
This alley was filled with illegal buildings. The path was so cramped only one person could walk through it at a time.
The windows of buildings on opposite sides could touch each other when opened. Sunlight could not reach this place.
At night, there were no streetlights.
Even if they were installed here, they wouldn’t last long. No one wanted them here.
At present, it was dusky, not a flicker of light to be seen. It was so dark it felt like one was trapped in outer space.
But what the eye couldn’t see, the ear could hear. It sounded very lively outside. There were all sorts of sounds—there were people trying to rope in customers, and people fighting. There were laughs, jeers and angry curses all around.
The alley came to life within the darkness.
In comparison, the silence of his home was abnormal.
Nevertheless, this abnormal silence was typical of his home.
Xing Ye leaned against the wall of the second floor and slowly exhaled a mouthful of smoke.
His gaze followed the smoke as it floated through the air. Even as the particles of smoke disappeared from his sight, he continued to stare blankly into space.
Until his phone sounded.
Xing Ye’s eyelashes trembled slightly and he came back to himself. His next reaction was to frown.
This was a habitual reaction to receiving texts now.
He grabbed his phone and took a look at the screen.
There was an unexpected number on it.
[When do you want the umbrella back?]
Xing Ye stared at it for a while. Originally, he had planned on sending back [Keep it].
But his phone rang again.
A familiar, new number sent him a text: [The other party has agreed. You set the time.]
The light in this room wasn’t on. The phone’s screen emitted a pale blue light, casting a ghastly glow on Xing Ye’s face.
His expression chilled slightly and he slowly typed his response.
[The day after tomorrow, nine pm, the west bend.]
He got a reply very quickly: [ok.]
The sound of a key turning in the lock echoed through the room.
Xing Ye startled. He threw the cigarette butt out the window before shutting it.
Click.
The light turned on.
Xing Ye squinted his eyes, blinded by the sudden light.
A shriek ripped through the air a second later.
“My gosh, you scared me to death.” A woman in a skirt walked in. She patted the droplets of rain off of herself and grumbled at him: “Why don’t you turn on the lights at home? I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest.”
Her voice was high-pitched and delicate. As she spoke in this soft tone, her grumbling sounded more like she was trying to act coquettish than like she was actually angry.
Xing Ye, however, frowned at this. “Why are you back?”
The woman rolled her eyes. “What’s with your attitude?!”
She threw her purse onto the sofa and came over to shove him away. A whiff of perfume wafted over from her. “I came to get my clothes.”
“You’re such a blockhead. Don’t you know how to help me bring in the clothes during a storm like this?”
After she failed to move him, she shoved him again. “Move over. Did you smoke while I was away? It stinks!”
Xing Ye stared at her silently and then shifted to the side.
After the woman brought in the clothes he had just set out to dry, he said, “Those are clothes I washed just now.”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier?!” The woman scolded him, irritated, the clothes still in her arms. Immediately, her gaze turned wary. “Why did you wash your clothes in the middle of the night?”
She then turned to size him up.
Xing Ye remained calm. “It was too hot today. I sweated a lot.”
The woman examined him for a long time before deciding to let it go. With a ‘tsk’, she said, “So particular despite being so poor.”
She then hung up the clothes once more. Afterwards, she scratched her head. “Wait, I swear I did laundry. I remember it clearly! Where’s my leather dress?”
Xing Ye cut her off: “That was the day before yesterday.”
“……”
The woman rolled her eyes again. “Yeah, yeah, you’ve got a good memory.”
She shut the windows and then turned to sling her purse over her shoulder.
Xing Ye stared at her back. “Are you going out again?”
The woman turned to look at her son who was leaning against the wall.
She smiled and then walked over to ruffle his hair.
Xing Ye tilted his head to the side, dodging her touch with a frown.
The woman didn’t give up, however.
After mussing up his hair, she grabbed a hundred dollar bill from her purse. “Don’t act like a spoiled child. I’m going to play mahjong at your Auntie Fang’s place.”
Xing Ye didn’t move. He continued to look down at her, his gaze cold.
The woman ignored him and stuck the bill into his pocket. “I’ll be going now.”
She fixed her clothes as she made her way to the door. “What a terrible day. Oh, don’t you have a bigger umbrella? The black one. Let me use it.”
Xing Ye: “….”
“I lent it to a classmate.”
“Oh?” The woman looked at him, surprised. She narrowed her eyes. “A female classmate?”
“No.” Xing Ye said, “Sun Wen.”
The woman lost all interest at once. She snorted. Upon reaching the door, she said, “Don’t smoke so much. Did you hear me?”
Xing Ye folded his arms as he stared at her. He pretended to not hear that.
The woman picked up a small object and threw it at him. “Don’t pretend to be deaf. Hurry up and go to bed. Don’t you have to go to school tomorrow? I’ll beat you to death with the broom if the school calls me again.”
Bang. The door slammed shut behind her.
Xing Ye caught the item and glanced at it. It was a fucking tube of lipstick.
He was quiet for a while before sighing softly. He then threw it into a trash bin.
He then picked up his phone and deleted the message he was about to send to Sheng Renxing.
He then typed a new message.
[Up to you.]
.
Sheng Renxing didn’t sleep very well last night. He felt like there was a mosquito buzzing in his ear the whole night. Unfortunately, it always disappeared whenever he turned on the lights. He had been so annoyed he had nearly tried to kill somebody.
It wasn’t until the sun broke through the horizon that he had fallen into a muddled sleep.
However, after closing his eyes for what felt like a second, he was startled awake by his phone.
He had switched it to vibrate. Its non-stop vibrations reminded him of mosquitoes.
Sheng Renxing reached for the bedside table with his eyes still shut. Without looking at the screen, he declined the call.
A second later—
Bzz—bzz—
With a murderous expression on his face, he pulled his phone over. He wanted to see who this idiot was.
It was an unfamiliar number.
After opening one eye, he was met with blinding light, forcing him to shut his eyes again.
Sheng Renxing rolled onto his side, accepted the call and then brought the phone to his ear. He waited for the other person to speak.
“Hello?”
It was a man’s voice. “Is this Sheng Renxing?”
“Who are you?”
“Oh, are you still sleeping?” The other person acted very familiar with him. “It’s already noon. Let’s have a meal together.”
“Who are you?” Sheng Renxing asked again, brows furrowing as he forced himself to remain calm.
“Hm?” The other party seemed surprised. He then muttered to himself, “Did he not save my number?”
Another man’s voice suddenly came from the other side.
The newcomer laughed. “Now isn’t this awkward? You’ve been talking about him all day but he has no idea who you are.”
“Shut up,” The first man cursed. He then coughed and spoke into the phone. “How about I introduce myself, then?”
“My name’s Wei Huan. I’m your mother’s younger brother. I guess I’m your uncle.”
The first thought in Sheng Renxing’s half-awake mind was: Fuck you. What kind of rubbish relative was this?
After thinking over the other’s words, he suddenly jolted awake.
He sat up with widened eyes. “...Uncle?”
The other person reacted quickly. “You remember?”
He then spoke to the person next to him quietly, “I told you he wouldn’t forget me!”
Sheng Renxing had just woken up and his brain hadn’t turned on yet. He gave a dazed ‘mn’.
This was his mother’s younger brother who had lived in Xuancheng all this time.
They had met when he had been young. But his uncle and father seemed to have had a fight, which caused the other to cease contact.
Sheng Renxing had wondered about whether he should reach out to his uncle upon deciding to come to Xuancheng. In the end, the other had made the decision for him.
He blinked a few times and then ruffled his hair. “Sorry, I was still half-asleep.”
“No worries. I was just joking.” The man laughed, not taking it to heart.
“Do you have any time? Let’s eat together.”
Eve: A little look into their respective families~ What a difference, huh. Our babies come from such different backgrounds. Gonna be interesting to see how they deal with the differences eventually~ (I actually don’t know because the novel is still ongoing hahaha)
AHHHH there seems to be a new daddy material!!!
Thanks for the chapter<3
I feel bad for Xing Ye.
Did I miss the reason for Shen Renxing running away or has it not been mentioned?
Thanks for the chapter! <3
It hasn’t been mentioned yet!
Shen Renxing is too relaxed for a boy Who Just got there. Shouldn’t he investigate the school or something?
Thanks for the chapter!
Thank you so much for the chapter! <3
Thia story is really interesting! I have high hopes for it ☺️
I can already tell what kind of garbage Xingxing’s dad is…
Ty for the chapter!!💜💜💜
I..I thought it was a scam phone call!! Have you ever had that scam phone call when you don’t know the other person, but they say you must’ve not saved their number? (`A´)