thanks to VitaB there is an extra ko-fi chapter today 💕 I really appreciate it (づ๑•ᴗ•๑)づ♡
“Be good, don’t talk, and smile when you see people, okay?”
Xu Ze was pulled along by his grandmother in a completely unfamiliar residential area. Xu Ze glanced back, he had been frisked twice before entering here. The guard’s stern expression left him trembling with fear.
“Do you hear me?” Ye Yunhua asked again after Xu Ze didn’t respond.
Xu Ze nodded without even making an “mn” sound.
Since Ye Yunhua had told him not to speak, he wouldn’t make a sound from now on.
Once they arrived in front of the villa’s garden, the housekeeper came to open the gate. Ye Yunhua led Xu Ze inside. They walked through the garden and entered the living room, where a 7-8-year-old alpha was sitting on the sofa watching cartoons. Xu Ze thought he resembled the chubby kid downstairs from his grandmother’s place.
Xu Ze remembered his grandmother’s words and smiled at Little Chubby, only to receive a grimace in response.
Xu Ze went into the kitchen with Ye Yunhua. The kitchen was even larger than the living room in Xu Ze’s house. Xu Ze stood quietly on the side and watched his grandmother work until the hostess came down to the kitchen and Ye Yunhua brought Xu Ze to greet her.
“This is your grandson? He looks really pretty.” The hostess handed Xu Ze a piece of candied fruit, “How boring for a child to stay in the kitchen, go play in the backyard.”
Xu Ze looked at Ye Yunhua. After getting his grandmother’s approval, he took the candied fruit and smiled nicely at the hostess.
Ye Yunhua opened the back door of the kitchen and reminded Xu Ze not to run around before going back to work. The living room’s floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the backyard. Little Chubby stood at the window, holding a toy gun and making shooting gestures at Xu Ze. Xu Ze looked at him for a while and then walked in the other direction. The backyard gate was slightly ajar, and the road outside was quiet and clean. Xu Ze fell into a daydream.
Suddenly, there was pain in the back of his head. Xu Ze turned around and realized that Little Chubby had sneaked up behind him at some point and hit him on the head with a rubber toy bullet.
“Hand over what’s in your hand!”
Xu Ze looked at the candied fruit in his hand and handed it to him. Little Chubby snatched it and stuffed it into his mouth, revealing a mouth full of rotting teeth—it was a snack he had been forbidden to eat for a long time due to his dental problems.
After Little Chubby finished eating, he turned against Xu Ze and raised the toy gun at him once again. He mimicked lines from TV and asked him, “Who are you!”
Xu Ze said nothing.
“Are you mute?!”
Xu Ze still didn’t speak.
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.
“Mute! Get down on the ground with your hands up! I’m going to arrest you!”
Lf qgbyjyis vlvc’a fnfc xcbk ktja “jggfra” wfjca. We If rabbv wbalbcifrr. Qtfc Olaaif Jteyys jcuglis abbx jcbatfg rafq abkjgv tlw, We If bqfcfv atf ujaf jcv kjixfv bea bo atf sjgv.
Olaaif Jteyys aegcfv ab ibbx ja atf ilnlcu gbbw, tfrlajalcu ktfatfg ab mtjrf joafg tlw jr tf vlvc’a vjgf gec jgbecv.
While he was hesitating, Xu Ze simply walked away.
Xu Ze walked straight ahead because turning around would make it difficult to find his way back. As he passed three houses, the gloomy sky suddenly brightened, and the sun came out. Xu Ze saw a swing set in the backyard of the fourth house. A small alpha was sitting on it, staring ahead blankly.
Xu Ze walked over slowly. He felt that the alpha looked like a doll in a shop window, in any case, not like a living being at all—maybe it really was a doll that had been placed here to bask in the sun.
As their eyes met, the alpha’s eyes shifted.
A girl’s clear voice came from inside the house, “Lu Heyang, do you want some milk?”
“No, I don’t,” the alpha turned around to respond.
Seven-year-old Xu Ze had limited knowledge, so he automatically converted the alpha’s name into the collection of animal names he had just learned: Lu for sika deer, He for red-crowned crane, and Yang for sheep.
Lu Heyang looked at Xu Ze again. Xu Ze remembered his grandmother’s reminder to smile when meeting people, so he smiled at Lu Heyang.
After smiling, Xu Ze felt that Lu Heyang was examining him, but he didn’t mind because he was also examining Lu Heyang.
Lu Heyang concluded his observation and got down from the swing to walk over to the fence. He took a candy out of his pocket and handed it to Xu Ze with his hand through the black railing.
It was the kind of candy that Xu Ze loved to eat, but he hadn’t had it in a long time. After his father died, everything in his home changed. Xu Ze lost much of his original happiness due to ignorance and confusion, compelling him to accept a drastically different life.
“Don’t you want to eat it?” Lu Heyang asked him as he saw Xu Ze holding the candy without moving.
Xu Ze shook his head, unwrapped the candy, and put it in his mouth.
“Is it tasty?”
Xu Ze nodded.
“Really? But this candy has gone bad.”
Xu Ze’s eyes widened, even though he didn’t taste anything bad.
Lu Heyang laughed, a sly and happy laugh, and said, “Fooled you, it’s not bad.”
Xu Ze didn’t know if the candy was bad, but he thought this “Lu Heyang” seemed bad.
The candy rolled around in his mouth, puffing up his cheek. Lu Heyang looked at him, and he looked at Lu Heyang. Clouds drifted over their heads, and the wind rustled the leaves.
As Xu Ze finished eating the candy, someone called for Lu Heyang to come inside. Lu Heyang replied, and the gloomy expression he had earlier when he was sitting on the swing reappeared. Then he asked Xu Ze, “Do you live here?”
Xu Ze shook his head, so Lu Heyang asked, “Will you come back tomorrow?”
Xu Ze shook his head again, so Lu Heyang asked, “What about the day after tomorrow?”
Once more, Xu Ze shook his head, and Lu Heyang asked, “Will you come someday?”
This time, Xu Ze nodded.
“Goodbye.” Lu Heyang waved his hand and said like a promise, “See you again.”
After Lu Heyang left, Xu Ze stood outside the fence for a while longer before heading back the way he came. Little Chubby had returned to the living room, and Grandma was still busy. Xu Ze squatted down by the small flower bed outside and continued to daydream.
A few days later, Grandma took Xu Ze back to the lady’s house. Xu Ze went into the backyard on his own. In just a few minutes, Little Chubby ran out with a water gun. He stood in front of Xu Ze with his legs apart and pointed the gun at him, “Mute! Freeze!”
Xu Ze glanced at him but walked toward the gate.
Little Chubby stomped a few steps to stop him and asked loudly, “Mute, why don’t you play with me!”
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He pointed the water gun at Xu Ze and pulled the trigger. Xu Ze stood still without dodging and the water splashed onto his face, soaking his hair as well. It was winter so he shivered as he silently looked at Little Chubby.
Little Chubby was stunned for a few seconds and felt a little guilty. He yelled “You deserved it” before quickly running back to the living room. After wiping the water off his face, Xu Ze opened the gate and walked out.
1, 2, 3… 4.
Counting to the fourth house, Xu Ze stopped where he had stood last time. The swing set was empty, and there was no one in the yard. Xu Ze lowered his head and was about to leave when he suddenly heard a “Hi!” He tilted his face up and saw Lu Heyang smiling on the small balcony on the second floor.
Lu Heyang came down to the backyard. As he approached, he noticed that Xu Ze’s hair was wet. He asked, “Are you cold?”
“…” Xu Ze shook his head.
Lu Heyang thought about it, then ran back to get some paper towels, and reached out to wipe Xu Ze’s hair.
Xu Ze stood still obediently. Lu Heyang ruffled his hair, causing it to stick up in fluffy clumps in the sun. Lu Heyang proceeded to wipe his face gently, poking Xu Ze’s cheek a few times in the process.
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you company until the sun dries you out,” Lu Heyang said.
He put his hands in his coat pockets, then clenched his fists and held them out in front of Xu Ze, “Guess which hand has the candy.”
Xu Ze was familiar with this game because his father used to play with him like this. His dad would deliberately move the hand holding the candy to give him a signal. Once Xu Ze guessed correctly, he would pick him up and lift him high.
Now, no one would hold him and lift him anymore. But Xu Ze felt it was wonderful that he met someone who would play this game with him.
Lu Heyang noticed Xu Ze’s delay in responding, so he moved his right hand. Xu Ze looked at him and pointed at his right hand.
“You guessed it,” Lu Heyang opened his hand with two candies in his palm. He said, “For you.”
Xu Ze reached out to take them, but Lu Heyang pulled his hand back, causing Xu Ze to grasp nothing but air. Xu Ze thought that Lu Heyang had changed his mind about giving him the candies. Thus, he foolishly lifted his head, only to find Lu Heyang tilting his head, his dark eyes fixed on him as he asked, “Why are you crying?”
Even though Xu Ze obviously wasn’t, he shook his head to indicate that he wasn’t crying.
“Then smile,” Lu Heyang said.
Xu Ze rubbed his eyes and smiled at Lu Heyang—it was still the same proper and well-behaved smile. Lu Heyang smiled back at him, then took out all the sweets from his pocket and shoved them at Xu Ze.
“I have to go.” Lu Heyang saw that Xu Ze’s hair had dried a little and said, “Goodbye.”
He waved his hand, “See you again.”
Xu Ze nodded while holding the sweets. When Lu Heyang left, he put the candies in his pocket and returned to the backyard. As soon as he entered, Little Chubby jumped out to block him, “FREEZE!”
When he saw the candy wrappers sticking out of Xu Ze’s bulging pockets, his eyes instantly lit up, “Hand over the candy!”
Xu Ze covered his pockets and stepped aside. Little Chubby greedily seized him to steal the candies, but Xu Ze abruptly lowered his head and bit his hand. Little Chubby let go and took a step back in fear—he hadn’t expected this little mute would suddenly become so fierce, he clearly looked like he couldn’t resist. Little Chubby assumed that he would be an easy target for bullying due to being thin and small.
“Just wait!” Little Chubby shouted with empty threats.
However, his threat was ineffective as Xu Ze just looked at him silently.
Author’s note:
Teasing his wife is engraved in his DNA.
For some reason, I want to clarify that Little Chubby is not He Wei. And this childhood flashback won’t continue long, it will end in the next chapter (t/n the author estimated wrong as the flashback doesn’t end in the next chapter but the one after that).
AHHHHHH CUTIES 😭😭😭 xu ze is so so so so so sweet i love him so much…why all the burdens of the world must fall on him 🙁 lu heyang that rascal lmaooo teasing your future partner like that…tsk tsk
thank you for your work!!! 🧡
So cute 💕
Can’t wait for the next chapter
Damn I almost cried reading these two chapters….
Thank you for the chapter ☺️
When Lu Heyang did the same thing as Xu Ze’s dad, I honestly started tearing up (´°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀)