Chu Yi was a bit excited, he had been quite excited all night.

He could sense that he was very excited, which meant he was truly excited.

He sat in the passenger seat, constantly humming songs softly.

"Are those two your new friends?" Dad asked.

"Mm, Yan Hang," Chu Yi nodded slightly, "These clothes, and shoes, were all given, given to me by him."

"His name is Yan Hang?" Dad glanced at him, "Is that man his father?"

"Yes," Chu Yi smiled, "We just went to the music, music festival together, to have fun."

"When did you meet?" Dad asked again.

"Last, month." Chu Yi turned his head and glanced at his dad. Dad had a few too many questions today. Usually he rarely asked about these things. The whole family didn't have the habit of keeping tabs on his various activities.

"I see," Dad drove to the bottom of the building and found a spot to stop, "Do you know his family situation?"

"What's, what's wrong?" Chu Yi frowned.

"I feel his father," Dad said, "is a bit strange. You should... interact with them less."

Chu Yi was stunned for a moment. Before he could ask more, Dad had already pulled out the car key and got out of the car.

"How is he, strange?" Chu Yi jumped out of the car and asked.

"I'm just not at ease," Dad said, "to be safe."

"Oh." Chu Yi responded and didn't inquire further.

When they got home, Grandma and Grandpa were already asleep. Mom had just finished showering and was sitting on the sofa watching TV. As soon as she saw Dad, she frowned, "Does your company's fleet give you overtime pay for working overtime? You said you'd be gone for an hour, but it's been several hours."

"I had to pick up the person after all, the flight was delayed by an hour." Dad said.

"Why did they ask you to go? Aren't you off today? Is there only one driver in your company?" Mom was very annoyed, "You're just a wimp, doing whatever they tell you to do, you don't even know how to refuse!"

"Old Ding suddenly said something came up and couldn't make it, so Boss Luo called me, what could I do." Dad sighed and went into the bathroom, closing the door.

"Old Ding has been at odds with you for so long! Does your Boss Luo not know? Having you work overtime to cover for Old Ding," Mom persisted, "Isn't this deliberately trying to make things difficult for you?"

Dad didn't respond from inside the bathroom.

"What are you standing there for! Lost your mind after going crazy all night?" Mom turned her head.

Chu Yi quickly lowered his head, walked to the desk and sat down, turning on the desk lamp.

"You have the nerve to go out and fool around when you haven't even finished your homework!" Mom glared at him.

Chu Yi silently took out his notebook and lay on the desk, trying to bury his face as low as possible.

He breathed a sigh of relief only after Mom went back to the bedroom. He looked at today's homework.

There was quite a lot of homework, he might have to write until after 1 AM, but Chu Yi didn't care. Compared to going out to have fun tonight, it was no problem even if he had to do homework until tomorrow morning.

But after writing a few words, he stopped again. Mom scolding him wouldn't affect his happy mood from the whole evening, but Dad's attitude just now made him a bit depressed.

Mom said Dad was a coward, which wasn't entirely an insult. Dad was timid and cautious in everything. When encountering any issues, he would usually try to avoid them as much as possible... He was the epitome of being cowardly and afraid of trouble.

Ah.

Perhaps his own ability to endure came from Dad's genes.

Dad was also quite suspicious. Although he wouldn't regard all goodwill from others as insults like Mom and Grandma did, Dad always felt that given their family's situation, anyone who actively approached them might be trying to dig a hole for them to jump into.

Just from meeting Uncle Yan once, he had already made such a judgment about him. Chu Yi felt quite stifled.

In Chu Yi's view, even someone like Li Zihao couldn't be considered a particularly bad person. He merely followed the crowd. Only people like Liang Bing needed to be avoided.

Right, and that Old Ding.

Dad's colleague, whom Chu Yi had met once without even speaking, yet inexplicably feared. His eyes were especially fierce.

To say Dad was at odds with him wasn't accurate. In fact, it was only Dad who felt Old Ding disliked him and was hard to deal with. Old Ding had never even looked Dad in the eye. Not long ago, he had even hit Dad over whether the car had been refueled or not.

And with Dad's personality, he would still force an awkward smile when meeting him again.

In that sense, he was still stronger than Dad. Although he would endure people he disliked, he wouldn't force himself to ingratiate with them.

All sorts of thoughts swirled in Chu Yi's mind, from Dad, to the music festival, to Yan Hang.

Yan Hang was a very special person.

Not only because Yan Hang was his first real friend in the true sense since he was young.

Great at English, very handsome, sometimes very cool, and very domineering. Fought very well, cooked delicious food, and had very nice-looking ankles...

And very gentle.

Even knowing what kind of person Grandma was, knowing what his family situation was like, knowing he was someone who would endure anything without principles, Yan Hang still respected him very much.

Yes, it was respect.

Chu Yi lay on the table. Yan Hang respected him.

What a great person.

"Want a late-night snack?" Yan Hang asked Dad as he entered.

"I'm stuffed from drinking tea," Dad yawned, "I can't eat anymore. If you're hungry and want to make a snack, I'll eat a bit with you."

"...I'm not hungry." Yan Hang said.

"Then let's not eat. You still have work tomorrow, go to bed early." Dad went into the room.

Yan Hang stood in the living room for a few seconds, then also returned to his own room. He took a change of clothes, planning to take a shower. His mind was a bit chaotic, he needed to clear his head with a shower before sorting things out.

Or maybe not sort it out at all.

Just like tidying up a room, you can just toss things haphazardly into a box and put the lid on. As for what's inside the box, that can wait until the day the lid is opened by chance.

When he walked to the living room with his clothes, Dad also came out of the room with a change of clothes.

He looked at Dad, and Dad looked at him.

A second later, they both rushed towards the bathroom at the same time.

Yan Hang was faster than Dad, but his methods weren't as ruthless as Dad's.

More precisely, as shameless.

Just as his hand touched the bathroom door handle, Dad grabbed the waistband of his pants from behind.

He pulled down both the outer pants and underwear from behind.

"Hey! Old Yan, aren't you being too disrespectful for an elder!" Yan Hang felt like his butt was about to be exposed.

"You're the old one!" Dad continued pulling from behind.

Yan Hang had no choice but to brace himself against the doorframe with one hand while tugging at his pants with the other. "But you're my dad!"

"Only when fighting over the bathroom do you remember I'm your dad!" Dad let go.

But before Yan Hang could lift his leg to go in, his dad had already grabbed him around the waist and pinched the wrist that was holding the door.

Yan Hang gasped as a numbness spread through his wrist, making him let go.

In just those two seconds, his dad had already tossed him aside, gone in, and closed the door.

"How dare you!" Yan Hang pounded on the door.

"Did you learn your lesson?" Dad chuckled from inside.

"You have the nerve to teach people a move like pulling down pants?" Yan Hang rotated his wrist as he sat down by the bathroom door, the numbness still not completely gone.

In fact, every time he tried this move he couldn't quite get it right, always pinching the wrong spot.

Several times, he ended up hurting the other person before they let go.

He figured he could never compare to an old hand like his dad when it came to this kind of thing.

An old hand.

Right?

Probably.

An orphan who doesn't even know where he's from, while others are enjoying carefree, comfortable lives, he was figuring out how to survive.

Over the years, for his dad to allow him to live freely without any external harm, Yan Hang could more or less sense what kind of person he was and what skills he had.

Good at reading people, and good at disguising himself.

The change in expression on Chu Yi's dad's face today, Yan Hang noticed it with a casual glance, so there's no way his dad didn't see it.

His dad avoided this detail and only said it was their first meeting, which wasn't particularly in line with his habits. Usually he would take the opportunity to analyze the meaning behind that expression.

So his dad might not have been telling the truth.

But based on the experience Yan Hang had accumulated following him all these years, it was also possible they really hadn't met before.

Chu Yi's dad was the kind of person you might not even notice standing right in front of you. Even if you exchanged a few words, you'd forget what he looked like the next day.

Yan Hang lit a cigarette and held it between his lips.

There were many things he was unwilling to dwell on, trying hard to be like a foxtail weed his dad had planted in a pot, well-protected, taken around to see the sights every day, with the only worry being that the person carrying the pot might suddenly disappear one day.

But he still couldn't help pondering. As the days went by, this worry was no longer something he could just set aside.

After spacing out for a long time, he tossed the long-extinguished cigarette butt into the trash can.

His dad might really have never met Chu Yi's dad, but he must have appeared somewhere Chu Yi's dad could see him before, and done something that would allow Chu Yi's dad to immediately recognize him upon seeing him again and have a change in expression.

His dad opened the bathroom door and paused when he saw him. "Are you waiting in line?"

"Just feeling a bit miffed about not snagging the first shower," Yan Hang said.

"Go shower then. If you're miffed, shower a bit longer." His dad laughed and ruffled his hair, tossing his changed clothes into the hamper beside him before returning to the living room.

When Yan Hang came out from his shower, his dad was sitting on the couch with his eyes closed, not sure if he was asleep or just resting his eyes.

"Chu Yi said he's coming over tomorrow, don't let him show up to an empty house," Yan Hang said.

"Don't worry," his dad smiled with his eyes still closed. "I said I'm not going out these days."

Yan Hang went back to his room and put in his earbuds as he lay down on the bed.

There was a message on his phone. He picked it up and glanced at it. It was from Chu Yi.

A photo.

It was of the red round stone his dad had picked out today, already drilled with a hole.

-You're working overtime, huh

Chu Yi immediately sent over another photo, still of the red stone, now strung with a red cord. But the cord wasn't a single strand through the hole, but two strands forming an X, knotted on either side of the stone.

-Drilled two holes?

-Yeah, crisscrossed holes. This way two cords can be strung through and it won't easily fall off. I'll drill a hole in the black one tomorrow too and add another cord.

-Okay

Yan Hang looked at the black stone on his ankle and sighed.

Chu Yi's state made him feel a bit off. He always felt this kid's personality of going all out for someone who treated him a bit well would get him hurt in the future.

But... someone who grew up like Chu Yi probably already had a heart of steel, right?

"Worrying too much." Yan Hang closed his eyes, arm under his head.

Being able to fall asleep was a good thing, but having constant dreams after falling asleep was depressing.

Especially since he never dreamed of anything good.

He was running after his dad and a woman in the darkness, cold and afraid.

He tried hard to run faster, to get closer to his dad, wanting to see his dad's face clearly, to see the woman's face clearly, but he was always a few steps behind.

A figure appeared ahead.

He couldn't make out the face.

But he was certain it was Chu Yi's dad.

A raised hand.

A knife.

Blood everywhere.

When Yan Hang forcefully opened his eyes, he could still hear his rapid breathing, his pounding heartbeat still not calmed.

He lay in bed staring blankly for a while before slowly coming back to his senses.

It was already light out.

At least he slept for a few hours, he patted his own head in consolation.

After lazing in bed a bit longer, he got dressed and walked out of the room.

He got a fright as soon as he entered the living room. Someone was sitting cross-legged on the windowsill.

Although he knew without thinking that it was his dad, this posture that seemed like an immortal about to cast a spell was a bit too novel.

"I discovered the air is a bit better by the living room window in the morning," his dad said. "There must be someone selling fried dough sticks outside my room's window. They start frying at 4 AM every day, filling the air with the smell of oil."

"Want to switch rooms with me?" Yan Hang walked over to his side and glanced out the window. "I'm surprised no one has stopped to watch your special morning exercise posture..."

Before he could finish, someone did stop.

"Who says no one has," his dad pointed at Chu Yi who suddenly appeared from the side, happily running. "See, he's about to stop."

Chu Yi looked to be in a good mood, his steps quite light and bouncy.

However, as soon as he turned around, he saw his father sitting cross-legged on the windowsill, obviously caught off guard, and froze in place.

"Stopped in his tracks." Dad snapped his fingers and extended his hand in front of Yan Hang.

Yan Hang pinched a peanut from a nearby bag and placed it in his father's hand.

"Don't be stingy." Dad still had his hand outstretched.

Yan Hang clicked his tongue, took out fifty yuan from his pocket, and exchanged it for the peanut.

"Little Chu Yi!" Dad satisfactorily put away the money and called out to Chu Yi, "What are you doing standing there?"

"Uncle," Chu Yi walked over and stood in front of the windowsill, "What are you doing? You look like a hung painting."

Yan Hang found it amusing.

"Even... with... a... frame." Chu Yi added slowly, drawing out his words.

"I'll smack you," Dad laughed and jumped down from the windowsill, "Have you had breakfast? Come in and eat with us?"

"I ate," Chu Yi said, then glanced at Yan Hang, "But I'm still not full."

"Want a sandwich?" Yan Hang asked.

"Yes." Chu Yi nodded.

Sandwiches were simple. Yan Hang opened the fridge, quickly going over the ingredients in his mind - cucumber, eggs, luncheon meat, cheese, and a bag of whole wheat bread. That would do.

He took the things and went into the kitchen. Just as he habitually arranged the ingredients neatly on the countertop, Chu Yi followed him in.

"This is simple, no need for an assistant." Yan Hang said.

"Mm," Chu Yi squatted down and tugged at the small stone on his ankle, "I'll take it to drill a hole."

"Oh." Yan Hang responded.

Chu Yi took out a small pair of scissors from his pocket, cut the tightly knotted red string, and removed the stone.

Yan Hang suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable.