Fei Bai’s heart tightened suddenly. He didn’t expect his mother to notice the scarf’s brand. After a brief cough, he said, “It’s fake.”
His mother glanced at him and then hung the scarf up.
Fei Bai spent an ordinary New Year’s Eve with his father, mother, and grandmother. They made dumplings, he ate his mother’s cooking, and he talked about his school life. Everyone tacitly avoided mentioning his sexual orientation, as if he had never had a boyfriend.
Following the old tradition, his grandmother went to the street corner in the evening to burn paper offerings for his grandfather. When Fei Bai went out with her, his mother said behind them, “Feifei, stay home for a few more days.”
Fei Bai paused momentarily and said, Okay, feeling his grandmother squeeze his hand.
Carrying a bag of paper offerings, Fei Bai walked with his grandmother to the street corner and watched as she lit each item. The firelight illuminated the wrinkles on her face.
Noticing her dazed expression, Fei Bai feared she might cry, so he quickly asked a question to distract her.
“You’ve burned paper money, a TV, and a computer for Grandpa. Why not burn a phone for him? It would be so inconvenient without one, right?”
His grandmother snapped back to reality and glared at him. “Do you want your grandfather to call you?”
Fei Bai shivered. “N-no, I’d rather not.”
After returning home, he kept staring at his phone. As it approached midnight, he grabbed a bag of trash and ran downstairs, leaving behind only the words, “I’m going to throw out the trash before the New Year.”
Actually, what he wanted to do before the New Year wasn’t to throw out the trash but to wish Luo Yusen a Happy New Year.
Fei Bai dialed a video call with Luo Yusen, and the other party quickly answered. The familiar handsome face appeared on the screen, and Fei Bai softly called out, “Shixiong.”
The background behind Luo Yusen was an unfamiliar place to Fei Bai, which he guessed was Yan Yan’s home. Therefore, he didn’t dare to speak too intimately and just said properly, ” Happy New Year, Shixiong.”
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.
Luo Yusen responded with a hum, “You too.”
“Ds atf kjs, Vtlzlbcu, ws wbw jrxfv wf ab rajs tbwf obg j ofk wbgf vjsr,” Mfl Djl gfqbgafv ragjlutaobgkjgvis. “Ccv P jugffv.”
“Yxjs,” Oeb Terfc rjlv.
Ktfc Mfl Djl tjv cbatlcu wbgf ab rjs, yea tf ralii vlvc’a kjca ab tjcu eq atf qtbcf. Lf delfais ibbxfv ja Oeb Terfc bc atf rmgffc ecali atf batfg qjgas jrxfv tlw kts tf tjvc’a ubcf yjmx sfa.
“Shixiong, do you find me annoying?” Fei Bai asked, feeling a bit aggrieved.
“No,” Luo Yusen laughed. “I see you’re outside, and I worry you might be cold.”
“Yes, I am really cold. I want Shixiong to hug me,” Fei Bai whined.
Luo Yusen raised an eyebrow. “If you keep this up, Shixiong will come to pick you up right now.”
Fei Bai immediately straightened up. “No, no, there’s no need. Suddenly, I’m not cold anymore.”
He was also afraid that staying out too long would make his parents suspicious. After chatting with Luo Yusen for a couple more minutes, he went back upstairs.
Even though rushing out at midnight to throw out the trash was unusual enough to raise eyebrows, his parents showed tolerance. When he got back, they just kindly urged him to go to bed.
After washing up, Fei Bai lay down on his small bed, which he hadn’t done in a long time. He stared at the ceiling for a while, feeling like he had never left, despite knowing it had been years since he last slept there.
He wasn’t really sleepy. His mind was occupied with how to tell his parents about Luo Yusen. He knew he had to say it eventually, but he needed to think carefully about the right moment.
The next day, Fei Bai’s mother wanted to take him to the mall to buy clothes. Fei Bai could tell that his mother wanted to make it up to him, so he agreed to go. As he was putting on his coat and heading out, his mother casually asked, “Aren’t you going to wear a scarf?”
Fei Bai paused and said, “Sure, I can wear one.”
So his mother took the scarf from the coat rack and wrapped it around his neck.
Fei Bai felt inexplicably nervous as she did this, fearing his mother might notice something. He silently took a few deep breaths to calm himself.
Just as he was inhaling, his mother tightened the scarf into a knot, making him widen his eyes in surprise.
His mother looked at him and said, “Feifei, why did your eyes get bigger just from wearing a scarf?”
“Yeah, if you pull any tighter, my tongue might stick out too,” Fei Bai said weakly.
His mother didn’t say anything more at that moment. However, after they returned from the mall, as she was unlocking the door, she casually asked, “Fei Fei, this scarf isn’t yours, is it?”
Fei Bai’s mind went blank for a moment. He pretended to be calm as he walked into the house. While bending down to untie his shoelaces, he innocently replied, “Huh?”
“You’re not the type of kid to buy fakes. Doesn’t Mom know that?” his mother said slowly.
Fei Bai bit his lip. He initially intended to brush it off, but then he thought, why tell another lie when the truth will come out eventually? So, he gathered his courage and said directly, “Mom, this scarf belongs to my current boyfriend.”
He saw his mother’s expression freeze for a moment.
“Current boyfriend?” His mother caught on to his choice of words keenly. “Not Xu Geyang? You’re seeing someone new again?”
Fei Bai stiffly said yes.
His mother stood there looking at him for a long time, then sighed. “You’ve disappointed me.”
His father, who had been following behind them, turned livid upon hearing this. He took a large stride forward and raised his hand to hit Fei Bai, but his grandmother grabbed him from the side. “What are you doing?”
“I’m disciplining my child!” his father shouted angrily.
“Then let me discipline you first!” His grandmother’s presence was just as formidable. “Who gave you the right to hit someone?”
Seeing the situation, Fei Bai feared their relationship would deteriorate again, so he quickly said, “Can you please listen to me first?”
Then he rapidly recounted the advice Luo Yusen had given him to his parents and briefly introduced Luo Yusen to them.
Obviously, his parents did not buy into the identity of a top CEO. In their eyes, as long as their son’s partner was a man, it was unreliable. The better the man’s conditions, the more unreliable he was, as such a person could abandon their son at any time for someone new.
More importantly, no matter how good a man’s conditions were, he couldn’t have children with Fei Bai. Without children, there would be no one to take care of them in old age, and Fei Bai would ultimately face a desolate old age.
Fei Bai finally couldn’t take it anymore and blurted out, “What if I die tomorrow? If I die tomorrow, then you won’t have to worry about whether someone will take care of me in the future, right?”
The room instantly fell silent, followed by his father’s slap landing on Fei Bai’s face. “How dare you speak such nonsense!”
Fei Bai didn’t know how he walked out of the house. His grandmother wanted to accompany him, but he refused. With half of his face numb and aching, he stepped into the icy world of the first day of the Lunar New Year.
He stood there in a daze for a while, watching parents happily collect icicles hanging from the eaves with their children. Suddenly, his nose tingled, and his eyes turned red.
At this moment, the only person he could think of was Luo Yusen.
Fei Bai called Luo Yusen, and when the call connected, he couldn’t think of what to say. With a choked voice, he could only call out, “Shixiong.”
Hah!! As expected!! Fei mom and dad, you lot dissappointed me!
Yes- As expected..
Disappointed +1 ☹ I thought they’ll understand just as Luo Yusen said…
His parents are very unreasonable… I didn’t expect anything from them, but I’m only feel sad for FB who was hurt again
Thank You for the new chapter (๑ơ ₃ ơ)♥
What horrible parents. I know Feifei will be sad but I hope he doesn’t forgive his parents They were useless for years in his life and they still think they have some right to him
In my country, children do not accept this from their parents, I am unhappy with these situations
Poor baby, your parents don’t deserve you hun 😭😭 I hope grandma will take fei bai back to his shixiong afterwards. It’s so hurtful to be in fei bai’s position rn 😭
Of course after all those years he spent outside, nothing change at home. His parents are still stubborn 😔. They have right to be worried he’ll be alone without children on his old age but they have no right to force those ideals on him. They’re aware about his orientation they can’t make him get married to have children to take care of him one day. That’s sad they still can’t be happy for his choices 😞