Fan Jialuo held Xu Yiyang’s hand and walked to the shore of the dark green lake. A cool summer night breeze blew along the surface of the lake, carrying over a strong fishy scent and the sharp scent of aquatic plants. The suitcase had been stolen by someone, but the speedboat with a hole in it was still lying on the shore, and no one had come to repair it.
Fan Jialuo squatted down, touched the child’s hair, and sighed. “Goodbye.”
Yes, goodbye. Once Xu Yiyang’s obsession was fulfilled, his soul would automatically leave his body. This was because he had climbed out of hell not only due to Fan Jialuo’s help, but also due to his own powerful consciousness. With tears in his eyes, Xu Yiyang looked at his big brother with reluctance. His lips moved slightly, but he couldn’t say anything. He was too stupid to express himself, which was why his mother had abandoned him. Thinking of this, he lowered his head in frustration, letting teardrops fall one by one.
However, Fan Jialuo seemed to understand what he was trying to say, and reached out his arms to hug him tightly.
His body wasn’t warm. It was even colder than Xu Yiyang’s dead body, but his embrace was warmer than his mother’s. It truly contained heartfelt love and comfort, and he was also the first and only person in the world who took the initiative to hug Xu Yiyang without being begged or threatened.
Xu Yiyang was more reluctant to part with his big brother than his mother, but he was unable to express it in words. He hugged his big brother’s neck tightly, almost choking the other for a long time before he wiped his face roughly and headed towards the back of the mountain.
Fan Jialuo did not say anything further. The child was free to choose where he wanted to sleep in peace. He simply watched silently as the child walked away, and even after he could no longer see his figure or hear the sound of his footsteps, he continued to stand there for a long time.
It was not until the night’s fog wet his clothing that Fan Jialuo turned around and slowly walked towards Building 1. The noise, cries, and pleas for help were still the same as before, but something seemed to be missing. Indeed, there were fewer occupants on the 14th and 17th floors, so the resentment that permeated the air seemed to be much lighter.
Fan Jialuo drew a bath, sank into the water, and slowly fell asleep. The next day, he woke up at seven in the morning instead of sleeping in like usual. In the past, he only opened his eyes every three or five days to sense the outside world, but now he was no longer alone. He had a frog, and although he didn’t need to eat or drink, his frog needed to.
He changed the cloudy water and used his energy field to filter out the dirty air, before throwing fish food into the tank one piece at a time. However, his frog just sat sluggishly in the rock cave, unwilling to eat. If it wasn’t for its throat moving up and down and its little feet twitching occasionally, Fan Jialuo would have thought it was dead.
“Why won’t you eat? Could your intestines have shriveled after not eating for over a hundred years?” He half-squatted in front of the fish tank, his handsome face shrouded in faint confusion.
At this moment, the doorbell rang. He pulled open the door to take a look, only to see that the visitor was actually Xu Yiyang, who had left last night. His soul had not left his body, and was now even more firmly attached. It seemed that he had an obsession even stronger than his desire to hug his mother that he had not yet resolved.
“Why are you back?” Fan Jialuo squatted down and looked at him.
Xu Yiyang clasped his small hands and hesitated for a while before uttering a few words with difficulty, “Wanted to, follow, brother, brother, one, together.” Last night, he had hidden behind the mountain and practiced that sentence for a long, long time. It wasn’t that he couldn’t let go of the mortal world, but that he couldn’t let go of his big brother, who was the only warmth and light in his life.
“Those who are dead cannot linger on earth.” Fan Jialuo shook his head and sighed.
However, Xu Yiyang ran past him to the fish tank and pulled out a small glass bottle from his trouser pocket. After shaking it a few times to agitate the contents, he lifted up the fish tank’s cover and quickly poured the contents inside. After doing all this, he turned around and pleaded, “Don’t, drive, me! I, help, you, raise!” He pointed first to himself and then to the frog, pleading cautiously.
In order to stay, he acted so humble that he even placed himself below a frog.
It was only after walking over to the fish tank that Fan Jialuo realized Xu Yiyang had tossed a few flying insects inside. The insects flapped their wings and swept above the water, eventually landing on the rocks. At this moment, the frog, which had been sluggish for several days, instantly turned its big eyes and stared at one of the slow-crawling insects. Suddenly, it stretched out its long, sticky tongue and rolled the insect up, before swallowing it with a croak. Its stomach began to squirm, as if it had finally been satisfied, and it cried out loudly, “Croak!”
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.
Mjc Aljieb kjr raeccfv ys atlr “ugbecvygfjxlcu” cblrf jcv ibbxfv olgra ja atf ogbu, jcv atfc ja atf mtliv yfrlvf tlw.
We Tlsjcu’r fsfr megnfv jcv tf rwlifv rweuis.
Mjc Aljieb geyyfv tlr tfjv bnfg jcv bnfg, tlr nblmf oeii bo pbs jcv meglbrlas jr tf jrxfv, “Lbk vlv sbe vb atja?”
Xu Yiyang opened his mouth, but he was unable to explain the overly complicated principle, so he could only point to his big brother’s phone in frustration.
Fan Jialuo immediately handed him the phone, and he wrote in the memo: [The frog can only see moving things, the fish food you threw won’t move, it can’t see it, and so it doesn’t know what to eat when it’s hungry.]
It suddenly dawned on Fan Jialuo, and he immediately placed reading and learning biology on his agenda. There were lots of book lists and reading notes in his memo: biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, mathematics…… There were so many things in this world that he needed to relearn.
Xu Yiyang glanced at him nervously, then moved to his side with small steps, gazing at him silently with a pleading expression.
Fan Jialuo set down his phone and sighed. “Okay, you can stay.” He looked the child in the eyes and said deliberately, “It’s not because I want you to raise frogs, but because I want you to stay. You are not insignificant, nor are you anyone’s accessory. You are you, an independent individual, and your existence is very important.”
Xu Yiyang cried after hearing his words, little bean-sized teardrops falling down. After so many days of waiting, his body could no longer support him and the purple corpse spots had spread from his neck to the side of his face, giving him a terrifying appearance.
However, Fan Jialuo didn’t care. He stroked his cheek and said seriously, “Actually, I still owe you an apology. I’m sorry for making you appear so ugly in front of your mother. That might have been the reason why she was unwilling to hug you.”
Xu Yiyang quickly waved his hand to express that he didn’t care. His big brother was a stranger, yet he was willing to hug him despite his ugly appearance. Why couldn’t his mother? Ugliness was not a reason, it just meant she didn’t love him.
Fan Jialuo looked at him silently for a while. His apologetic expression suddenly turned sly and his tone changed abruptly as he added, “Actually, I did it on purpose. I always wanted to vent for you.” He chuckled as if he had remembered something funny.
Xu Yiyang also remembered the embarrassing appearance of his father wetting his pants and his mother covering her head as she screamed in the dark, and he laughed too.
The large and small figures looked at each other and grinned in unison. The corners of their eyes and their brows contained exactly the same immaturity, and even the morning light seemed to be tinged with a mischievous aura.
“Then let’s take care of each other in the future.” Fan Jialuo stretched out his palm and Xu Yiyang immediately placed his small hand on it. The two equally cold bodies seemed to generate some heat due to their close proximity.
At the same time, Fan Jialuo slowly sucked away the remaining aura of death from the child’s body, allowing him to return to the white and tender appearance from before he died.
The two of them did not eat or drink, and just hugged their knees and sat quietly on the balcony as they watched the frog eat and drink. At twelve o’clock, Fan Jialuo remembered that Xu Yiyang was still missing a bathtub and a bed, so he got ready to take him shopping, but just as they walked to the gate of the community, a phone call came in. “Mr. Fan, this is Liao Fang. Is Yangyang with you?”
“He is.” Fan Jialuo looked down at the child.
“Then can you bring him to the police station?” Liao Fang’s tone was very heavy. “His mother just killed his father.”
Fan Jialuo’s attitude remained flat as he replied, “Okay, I know. I’ll bring him there right away.”
After hanging up the phone, he squatted down and said frankly, “Your father and mother may never come back.”
However, Xu Yiyang just waved his hand without any change in his expression. Strictly speaking, those two people could no longer be considered his parents, because the blood and body they gave him had been sunk into the icy lake by their own hands. Since he was dead, he would forget about them from now on.
Fan Jialuo patted his head and said, “Let’s go. I heard that I can’t keep you by my side without going through legal procedures.”
Hearing this, Xu Yiyang actively tugged at his big brother’s sleeve, urging him to move quickly.
Half an hour later, Liao Fang brought the two people who had just arrived to a detention room, and they peered through a small window. “She’s inside, but her mental state is very bad. We’ve notified a psychologist to perform a psychiatric evaluation, but she should be crazy. After we rescued her from the rooftop last night, she was clamoring to report her husband for murder. We thought it was a big case, so we detained both of them, but we didn’t expect her to report that her husband had killed Yangyang.”
Liao Fang glanced at the innocent Xu Yiyang and sighed. “Her husband was furious and said that he wanted to send her to a mental hospital and divorce her. The two started fighting in the police station, and they kept going from midnight until this morning. Later, she finally recovered her composure and said that she made such a fuss after being stimulated, and she wanted to go home and rest. We saw that she was indeed really tired and she had not committed any crime, so we released her, but we didn’t expect that she would turn around and buy a fruit knife, and kill her husband at his company……”
Realizing that the child was around, Liao Fang did not dare to speak in her normal tone, and instead whispered quietly in Fan Jialuo’s ear, “The knife pierced his heart and he died on the spot. The corpse is in the morgue in the basement, but no one has come to claim it yet. Both of their parents are gone, and of the relatives and friends we called, no one was willing to come and deal with this matter. They found it troublesome.”
Although Liao Fang’s heart had turned cold, she could understand their choice. One of the parents had died and the other had gone crazy. They’d left behind a child, and they’d have to participate in a murder lawsuit in the future. Who dared to take care of this kind of nonsense? It was a thankless task.
It would be fine if Chen Hui was also dead. In that case, the couple would leave behind a lot of inheritance for Xu Yiyang, the largest of which was the apartment in Moon Bay Garden District. Whoever adopted Xu Yiyang would profit from it. However, Chen Hui was still alive. If she was really ruled to be insane, the court would not be able to sentence her to death, so she would still own half of the property and the apartment, and no one could take it away. Moreover, if the mother was a crazy murderer, could the child be normal? Who would dare to adopt such a child?
With these considerations, the Chen and Xu family members all found various reasons to refuse to come to the police station to identify the corpse. It was under these absurd circumstances that Liao Fang asked Fan Jialuo to bring Xu Yiyang over. Children always had the right to know what happened to their parents.
Inside the detention room, Chen Hui was clapping her hands and laughing. She exclaimed, “Yangyang, mom’s baby, mom has avenged you! Are you happy! Will you forgive mom? Let mom love you one more time. Mom will definitely behave well, and I will never take my anger out on you again. Yangyang, mom has avenged you!” Her clothes were covered with dried blood and her hair was disheveled, causing her to appear crazed.
Fan Jialuo only glanced at her before moving his gaze down and asking, “Want to see her?”
Xu Yiyang nodded.
Fan Jialuo then picked him up and let him look in through the small window.
The child gazed expressionlessly at the crazy woman. His beating heart had long since been pierced by her, and now he was dead, so how could he feel anything? He placed his little hand against the glass window and touched it gently, as if he was stroking the woman’s bloodstained face through the space, and then silently looked away.
Fan Jialuo placed him down and rubbed his head.
Liao Fang turned to the side and wiped her tears quietly, and then said, “Mr. Fan, you can leave the child to us. We will find a home for him.”
“If I want to adopt him, what procedures do I need to go through?” Fan Jialuo spoke calmly but firmly.
“Eh? What do you mean?” Liao Fang was confused.
“I want to adopt him, is that okay?” Fan Jialuo repeated patiently.
“You, didn’t you say you couldn’t save him?” Liao Fang still couldn’t forget that fateful train ride.
Fan Jialuo persistently asked, “Can I adopt him?”
Xu Yiyang began to get nervous and stretched out his small hand, hugging his big brother’s leg tightly.
Liao Fang nodded hurriedly and said, “It should be okay. The child’s father is gone, and if the mother is diagnosed as mentally ill and is unable to assume guardianship, then you can adopt him through legal channels. I will help you contact a lawyer, and he can help you with the relevant procedures. I’ll go call him now. Mr. Fan, I knew you were a good person. On that train ride, those words were all excuses. You might sound harsh, but you’re actually soft-hearted.”
Liao Fang moved to make the phone call, but was stopped by a hand that blocked her path. “No need, I’ll help him with all the relevant procedures. Where is the suspect? I’ll take a look at her first.”
Fan Jialuo turned around and nodded politely, but just as he opened his mouth, he was stopped by the other’s words, “Don’t say ‘Long time no see, Dr. Song,’ to me.”
Fan Jialuo was immediately left amused by the other party.
Song Rui glanced at Xu Yiyang, but was not surprised at his suddenly normal appearance. He just took out a stack of forms and said in a businesslike manner, “I’m here to help Ms. Chen Hui with her psychiatric evaluation, can I see her now?”
“Oh, yes, she’s right here, I’ll open the door for you. Dr. Song, be careful, she’s very aggressive. I’ll go in with you.” Liao Fang quickly took out the key.
Song Rui pushed open the door, but suddenly stopped and turned around to say, “You guys wait for me here, and I’ll come out later to help explain the relevant legal procedures to you since I have a law license. However, the adoption process is very difficult and you’ll need to go through a lot of vetting. You will need to be patient.”
“Okay, we understand, thank you Dr. Song.” Fan Jialuo pressed down on Xu Yiyang’s head and they thanked him together. Afterwards, since he didn’t know what else to say, he added an indecipherable sentence, “It ate a few flying insects today and croaked.”
Song Rui, who had already entered the detention room, paused for a bit, but it was only when the door had completely closed that he realized that the other man was telling him about the frog’s daily life. He was saying that it had finally eaten and croaked, that he had not failed this little life and instead brought it back to life. The short sentence sounded similar to a child asking their parents for praise, and although the other wasn’t actually asking for recognition, for some reason, Song Rui couldn’t help but laugh softly.
From the depths of the abyss, he seemed to see the twinkling stars again.
Aww I’m so glad the baby can stay with his gege
Thanks for the chapter!
Also, about Fan Jialuo’s “childishness”… It may seem a little out of place, but childish curiosity is actually very healthy. It signifies that you’re still fascinated with the world, understand that you don’t understand but have a strong desire to do so, and at the same time it contains a kind of warm, mellow love yet cold and hard indifference towards the world and life.
And Fan Jiaoluo sharing that the froggie is eating and croaking, that little expression of pride, it might stem from the feeling of “see? I can keep it alive!”. And he shared it with Song Rui because Dr Song gave the frog, because Song Rui believed in him and understands him a little more than others.
Fan Jialuo treasures those feelings of closeness and love.
Thank you for the chapter.
No tho he always acted like a mature person but from the beginning every single peron and the author too described him as having childish eyes and she kept saying that he’s much more younger than he appears to be
Despite all the crazy shirt, this gotta be one of the cutest chapter ( ꒦ິヮ꒦ິ) THEY ARE SO CUTE TOGETHER I ACTUALLY GOT REALLY SAD WHEN U THOUGHT THE KID WAS GONNA LEAVE. ALSO PEEP FJL’S CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
So many typos In my previous comment lol