editor: Storm
Austin raised his eyebrows slightly. His blue-green eyes glancing back and forth between the two of them, carefully observing their micro-expressions. He thought for a moment before saying, “I see. It seems I’m still not very good at learning, this is the first time I’ve heard that phrase. Beating is a sign of affection, cursing is a sign of love, right? I’ve been taught.”
An Qi stared at Qiao Yichen’s hand on Lin Dongyang’s waist, shocked and dumbfounded. Lin Dongyang secretly jabbed Qiao Yichen with his elbow to warn him not to take it so seriously, but Qiao Yichen not only didn’t understand, but also held him even more tightly. Lin Dongyang couldn’t help poking him with his elbow to remind him again.
In An Qi’s eyes this scene was authentic flirting! But in Austin’s eyes, the scene suddenly changed. He had seen all kinds of gazes, lust, infatuation, hatred, despair. At the moment, Lin Dongyang’s gaze at Qiao Yichen did not hold the kind of love that romantic partners have, and even his tightly pursed mouth held a little warning.
A wise man knew when to advance and when to retreat. Austin didn’t point it out, because no matter what the relationship between the two people was, the final result had nothing to do with his rejection. Austin wasn’t angry, and even his possessiveness became more obvious. He said to Qiao Yichen, “I want to give you a gift before I leave.”
Qiao Yichen looked at Austin warily. He didn’t think Austin would give him anything good. Sure enough, Austin went on to say, “Tomorrow, your father will tell you in person, so I won’t bother, bye bye.” Then, he gave a special farewell to Lin Dongyang, “See you when I see you.”
Austin left, coming and going in a hurry, as if he was just passing-by.
Without waiting for Lin Dongyang to remind him, Qiao Yichen took the initiative to let go of his waist and then walked into the dormitory building No.5 without saying a word. He didn’t explain anything to the two people who were still in a dumbfounded state.
An Qi ran after Qiao Yichen into the dormitory building, while Lin Dongyang shook his dizzy head and turned around to walk in the opposite direction.
Back at the dormitory, An Qi was confused. “I still don’t understand…”
Qiao Yichen: “You don’t need to understand.”
An Qi looked Qiao Yichen up and down. His mind flashed back to the posture of the two of them hugging just now, and sighed. “Why do I feel that your relationship with the senior is more complex than it seems?”
“I just don’t like Austin,” Qiao Yichen’s face was expressionless as he explained.
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.
An Qi scratched his chin with his forefinger and said, “Really? I don’t like him either, but I didn’t put my arm around senior’s waist.”
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At 8pm in the evening, a car drove into Rongjing Bay and stopped in front of a villa. The lights inside the villa were bright but the door was closed. Qiao Yichen didn’t bring a key. He wanted to come back and ask his father what was going on, and then go back to school. He didn’t plan to stay at home for even one night.
A middle-aged woman with slightly gray hair opened the door. After seeing Qiao Yichen standing at the door, her wrinkles gradually crept up to the ends of her eyes. She was pleasantly surprised and said, “Chenchen is back so late. Are you hungry? Auntie will make you some food.”
Auntie Chen had been in the Qiao family for ten years and had been fully devoted to them. She had a failed marriage when she was young, and her children had been taken away by her heartless ex-husband’s family. After that, she has never wanted to get married again. Mr. and Mrs Qiao were busy with work all day, sometimes staying at the company to rest at night. They even stayed at the company longer than they did at home. Auntie Chen watched both Qiao Yichen and Qiao Weiwei grow up, putting her heart and soul into their upbringing.
Qiao Yichen was in a slightly better mood when he saw Auntie Chen, and smiled. “Don’t bother, I’m not hungry. I’ll go up first.”
“Okay.”
Qiao Yichen went to the door of a bedroom on the second floor. This was his parents’ bedroom. He reached out to knock then waited for a response from the person inside.
Qiao Yongfeng opened the door, and then he turned around to go back to his desk. Qiao Yichen’s mother wasn’t inside the bedroom. Qiao Yichen thought: She may be staying at the company again.
Children are usually their parents’ intimate little cotton-padded jackets, but the father and son in this room were unusually silent. The silence washed away the warmth blood ties should have. The seriousness of Chairman Qiao’s unsmiling expression was like a different person compared to his relaxed expression from the party.
Qiao Yichen waited for a while. Seeing that his father was just looking at his work computer, he asked, “What did you call me back for?”
Qiao Yongfeng’s hands didn’t stop typing and his eyes didn’t leave the screen. He just ordered, “When Austin returns home tomorrow, you go and see him off at the airport.”
“I’m not going,” Qiao Yichen refused without even thinking. He wasn’t asked to go pick him up, why did he now need to go and see him off. It must be because Austin said something to his father, that was why he was standing here now.
As if he hadn’t heard him, Qiao Yongfeng continued to say, “The flight is at 9:10 in the morning.”
“I said I’m not going. If that’s what you called me back for, then I’m going back to school.”
After saying that, Qiao Yichen started to walk out of the bedroom and was prepared to go back to school. However, Qiao Yongfeng shouted in a stern voice, “Stop!”
Qiao Yichen stopped in the doorway with his back facing Qiao Yongfeng, unyielding, with resentful determination.
“I’m still in charge of this house now! If I tell you to go, you have to go!”
Qiao Yichen slowly turned around and looked straight at Qiao Yongfeng with sharp eyes, but instead of stopping, Qiao Yongfeng kept criticising, “You have no ambition at all! Look at yourself, look at how much better than you Austin is!”
Qiao Yongfeng turned the computer screen roughly to face Qiao Yichen, on it was the cooperation document of the two businesses. Qiao Yichen’s blade-like momentum instantly dissipated without a trace. He smiled bitterly. “Am I living as your shadow to do what you want? Do you have any shred of an idea of what a father should be? What have you ever given Weiwei? And what have you ever given me?”
Qiao Yongfeng slammed his fist on the work desk, “What you eat is mine, what you spend is mine, and where you live is also mine!”
“From the beginning to the end, you haven’t known what we’ve needed. Work occupies all your thoughts. I used to think you were working hard, but now I think you are just despicable. If I could, I wouldn’t choose to have the last name ‘Qiao’.”
“Pa!” Qiao Yongfeng slapped Qiao Yichen’s face. The slap was mixed with anger and exhausted all his strength. He trembled angrily, pointed at Qiao Yichen and scolded. “B*stard!”
The fishy and salty taste of iron filled Qiao Yichen’s mouth. Instead of spitting it out, he swallowed the blood straight into his stomach. He unbuttoned his shirt in silence, and the hideous old scar between his waist and abdomen caught Qiao Yongfeng’s sight without warning. Qiao Yichen laughed at himself. “It has been 14 years. In these 14 years, have you ever cared about its existence?”
The question caught Qiao Yongfeng off guard. Qiao Yichen blinked his eyes hard. When he opened them again they were already calm. He turned and headed out of the room, saying on his way out, “I will go tomorrow.”
Is this a compromise? Right, Qiao Yichen thought to himself. In fact, he wasn’t arguing with his father about whether to send Austin off at the airport or not. It was just that his heart, which had been suppressed for too long, seemed to have reached a bottleneck. Any more and his heart would burst.
Qiao Weiwei was lying in the doorway of her room. She poked her head out of the doorway after hearing the heated argument, and when she saw Qiao Yichen come out of the room she immediately ran over to him and shouted, “Ge!”
Qiao Yichen paused in his steps, but didn’t look at Qiao Weiwei. He just left a single sentence, “Go back to sleep.” Then, without looking back, he left the villa, opened the door of his parked car outside, and got in. He directly stepped on the accelerator until he reached nearly one hundred and fifty, and sped through the night without a second thought.
The car stopped in front of a mini-supermarket. Qiao Yichen put on the spare jacket that he had been keeping on the back seat. The weather in this season changed from time to time, so he put a spare coat in the car for emergencies. He put on his coat and hat covering most of his face.
At this time, many supermarkets were closed, and only this privately operated mini-supermarket was still diligently lit, expecting customers. A middle-aged man sat at the counter and was concentrating on watching the small TV at the moment.
The mini-supermarket wasn’t big. After looking around, Qiao Yichen had nothing to buy, so he went to the counter and asked the owner for a pack of cigarettes and a cheap lighter. Qiao Yichen didn’t smoke and couldn’t smoke at all. He was always strict with himself, he didn’t smoke or drink. He exercised his self-discipline three to four times a week. He had a good living habit, but tonight, he took the initiative to break it.
He returned to his apartment building and rummaged through the storage compartment of the car for his keys, which he had left untouched after he threw them in randomly.
He opened the door to his apartment and didn’t turn on any of the lights in the room. He sat on the sofa in the dark and lit a cigarette, watching the light flicker quietly. After staying still for a long time, he took a tentative puff. Sure enough, he coughed fiercely and his throat was itchy. After the coughing stopped, Qiao Yichen thought: he had tried a cigarette before, but he hadn’t felt so uncomfortable. Is it because this one is cheap?
The first-timer wasn’t used to smoke lingering in his mouth and nose, but the choking smell filled the whole empty room. It was lingering everywhere, and Qiao Yichen seemed to understand why some people like smoking.
One after another, he grew somewhat more proficient. Time passed by, second by second, and in the darkness there was only that flickering spark and steady breathing.
He thought about how Lin Dongyang had asked Austin for a cigarette during the day, as if he was very skilled, but he didn’t have the smell of smoke on him that accumulated from smoking. He tasted the smoke and suddenly wanted to ask Lin Dongyang a question, so he sent a message: [What does smoke taste like?]
At this time, Lin Dongyang had already washed up and lay comfortably under his blanket. Before turning off the light, he also didn’t forget to flip through the English material he borrowed today. Lin Dongyang didn’t expect to receive a message from Qiao Yichen at this time.
[There’s no taste, there’s just a choking smell. Why do you ask?]
Then he received a photo. It was Qiao Yichen’s selfie, but Lin Dongyang’s heart sank when he saw it.
Ah poor guy… I want to slap his dad real bad now
Ahhh… QY is so pitiful my heart breaking for him😭
What an awful father. Thanks for the chapter ❤️
Awe poor baby 🙁 Lin Dongyang you better get your man!
Thanks for the chapter ☺️
Thanks for the chapter ♥️♥️
That jerk dad I hate him 🤬🤬. Thanks for the chapter ❤️❤️
Thank you for the chapter ❤️