10 – PastAfter that, Ren Zhouyuan brought An-An to the new Creation Lab twice to register. Even if it wasn"t him who accompanied An-An to Vichy before, he could see that An-An still preferred the teaching atmosphere at Vichy. It was only because it was Baba who brought him here and the content of the lesson was similar, did An-An finally show a bit of interest.
The ma.n.u.scripts Ren Zhouyuan chose before were already completed. After handing them over to Fan Wenfeng, he quickly got the author"s remuneration fee. This, in turn, filled up the cost for An-An"s registration to cla.s.s.
Fan Wenfeng was aware that he went to other laboratories, but didn"t go to Vichy"s laboratory. He really didn"t understand what he was doing and couldn"t help but sigh every time he called. If he was asked to bring An-An to cla.s.s before, then he could understand. But now, he really couldn"t figure out what Ren Zhouyuan was thinking. He felt that ever since Ren Zhouyuan came back, his each and every move became confusing, making people unable to discern him. But in the end, he couldn"t tell what the difference was.
Fan Wenfeng made an appointment to eat out with the father-son duo today, just when An-An had to attend his lab cla.s.s. Fan Wenfeng drove to pick them up soon afterwards, and went to a restaurant to dine.
An-An walked out carrying a mini-drone. The plane in his hand was significantly more sophisticated than what he had made with his 3d-pen before, and it was also equipped with a remote control. However, An-An wasn"t as excited as when Fan Wenfeng took him to Vichy, looking quite downcast .
Fan Wenfeng and Ren Zhouyuan looked at each other. The latter guessed what he meant from the expression in his eyes. Helplessly shrugging, he opened up the back door of the vehicle and sat next to An-An in the car.
Ren Zhouyuan asked along the way, and An-An answered one by one. Fan Wenfeng guessed what they had been taught today from their conversation.
He looked at the father and son pair through the rear mirror and saw Ren Zhouyuan constantly coaxing An-An to talk more. He helplessly sighed.
At the restaurant, Fan Wenfeng quickly ordered a good meal. When the waitress went down, he asked: "Why did you bring An-An to go to cla.s.s there? That place is further than Vichy, and if you let An-An go to Vichy, you might even get employee benefits. And even if you don"t use those employee discounts, Vichy"s course fee isn"t that high. I think the teachers there are very good. They are still the industry"s first."
Ren Zhouyuan looked at him, then glanced at An-An, saying: "I checked it online. An-An"s current cla.s.s also doesn"t lack qualified teachers."
An-An looked up at Ren Zhouyuan. When he heard his words, he lowered his head and silently played with his little plane.
Ren Zhouyuan and Fan Wenfeng both saw his actions. The former pretended that he didn"t see it, but Fan Wenfeng frowned. "Have you ever asked An-An? How do you know which one he likes?"
After hearing what he said, An-An abruptly jerked his head up. He wrinkled his eyebrows and glared at Fan Wenfeng. "I like Baba helping me choose!"
Ren Zhouyuan listened to what he said, not letting it show on his face, but he sighed in his heart. Nowhere did he not know An-An preferred Vichy, however he had no choice. Now that they were exposed enough, he did not dare take any risks.
"Well," Fan Wenfeng softly said: "Shu-shu1 knows that you like what Baba picked for you." He looked at Ren Zhouyuan then looked back at An-An. "But could An-An tell Shu-shu if he liked the lab that I took him to before?"
An-An lifted his face and said nothing. Neither Fan Wenfeng nor Ren Zhouyuan spoke and just watched him. Ren Zhouyuan was also curious on the possible problems he could pick out. Perhaps this way, he could "prescribe the right medicine2," so that later, he could use this as an excuse to make An-An fall in love with the new laboratory.
An-An thought for a long time, then finally whispered: "The teachers are foreigners."
Ren Zhouyuan: "……."
"What?" Fan Wenfeng was far from An-An, so he didn"t hear clearly. But upon seeing Ren Zhouyuan"s expression, he was curious.
An-An pouted and didn"t speak. He glanced at Ren Zhouyuan, then looked back at Fan Wenfeng. This time, his voice was loud enough to be a shout: "The teachers are foreigners!"
"Ah?" Fan Wenfeng was struck dumb.
Ren Zhouyuan held his forehead, the expression on his face somewhat brilliant. Just in time, the dishes were served. He picked a few dishes and put them into An-An"s bowl to eat. Then, he explained the matter to Fan Wenfeng.
During the period Ren Zhouyuan was carrying An-An, he practically just stayed at home without stepping a single foot outside until he gave birth. He also almost spent all of his savings from before. When An-An was a year old, the remaining money wasn"t enough to support two people, not to mention An-An was still so small. Even if Ren Zhouyuan was hungry, he couldn"t bear for the child to be hungry.
At that time, he had sent dozens of resumes everyday. But since An-An was still too young, he had no money to hire a nanny3, and no company was willing to let him bring a child to work, he couldn"t find a job for a long time.
Just then, he found a job related to archeology. Strictly speaking, he wasn"t actually an archeologist. However, what the archeological team had to study was precisely ancient Chinese texts, plus the whole team was going to start soon. Most of them were only willing to stay in the college and wait for the results then write papers. Thus, the team had been slow in gathering people. So even though Ren Zhouyuan had a kid, no one in the team said anything, only making him work hard so as not to hold up everyone.
By chance4, Ren Zhouyuan joined the archeology team. After working for two years, An-An slowly grew up from a small dumpling. He could walk and call out to his Baba.
When An-An was still small, his facial features still weren"t developed and couldn"t be distinguished yet. His reddish-brown hair was just treated as a consequence of malnutrition. People also said that the baby"s high nose and big eyes were especially adorable. However, as An-An grew bigger, the people in the team could see that it wasn"t malnutrition at all. He was just a pretty-looking mixed-race.
These were old-fashioned people who spent more than half of their lives rushing about, researching on China"s ancient culture5. They harbored a long-term pride in Chinese culture, and at the same time, an inexplicable disdain for foreign culture.
Ren Zhouyuan had initially joined the team with an "oil bottle6," so in the team’s eyes, he had sown seeds of dissatisfaction. Just because they were in dire need of employment, they reluctantly recruited him.
Everybody saw Ren Zhouyuan as someone who raised a child alone at such a young age, going everywhere. However, they heard nothing about the child"s mother, so since long ago, they had a bad impression on that man7.
Now that they found out that this baby really had no mother, and that he was birthed from a foreign woman, the group of old-fashioned people felt that Ren Zhouyuan was a frivolous young man. Reading books could already make other people"s belly big, and also make them go abroad! As a result, this matter became like a thorn8 to the archaeological team. Slowly, Ren Zhouyuan noticed that everyone was no longer friendly to their pair of father and son.
Even though An-An was still young at that time, they couldn"t see that he was particularly sensitive. At just two years old, he was already very protective of his food, so how could he tolerate other people talking badly about his Baba. The people in the archaeological team thought that An-An was merely a milk-drinking baby, so they recklessly slandered Ren Zhouyuan in front of him, and also looked at him with eyes of undisguised contempt9. It made An-An subconsciously want to avoid those old men.
Because Ren Zhouyuan was young, he was often sent to do some physical labor. An-An would have liked to follow his Baba, but archeological work wasn"t easy. Even if he was unwilling, Ren Zhouyuan had no choice but to leave An-An with those overly conservative men.
As such, the voices of those defaming Ren Zhouyuan behind his back became louder and louder. In front of Ren Zhouyuan, they could still maintain false civility. But when he turned his back, those people straightforwardly splattered saliva on his face even though they were in the presence of his son. It even sounded as if they were there when Ren Zhouyuan impregnated the woman. As long as the child had no mother.
An-An was smarter than other children of his age. When he was less than a year old, he could already call his Baba. Now that he was nearly three years old, he could already understand the words of those adults. However, he only pursed his little mouth, listening to the many curses hurled at his father. He felt wronged, tears always threatening to spill from his eyes. But he silently held them in, not letting them fall. Whenever Ren Zhouyuan came back, he would stick to him all the time and couldn"t be torn off.
Ren Zhouyuan originally thought that the child just missed him. However, something unexpected happened in the middle of his a.s.signment, so he had to come back early. When he hadn"t entered the door yet, he heard those old men chatting quite loudly. He could already perceive their laughing voices from a few meters away. As such, he walked to the front of the room"s door in order to understand them more clearly. And what they were talking about, it was exactly himself.
Ren Zhouyuan had to look after a child on his own, so he had long expected that people would slander him behind his back. However, what he didn"t expect was that this group of self-proclaimed scholars would actually use this kind of tone. He sighed, intending to make a bit of noise so that the people inside would stop. But he didn"t antic.i.p.ate that when he turned around, he would see An-An crouching in a corner of the room with his hands over his ears, both eyes red and mouth pursed in silence. Seeing his little lips tremble, Ren Zhouyuan"s heart thrashed violently, feeling a surge of anger rush out at once.
He didn"t care if the old men inside had some prestige in the industry. With a bang, he kicked open the door open loudly and walked in two-steps to pick up An-An in the corner. His face was extremely dark.
He was so furious that he couldn"t say a single word. Even his chest was unsteadily heaving. He exhausted his whole body"s strength just now, so his pent up fury decreased a little. He glared at the stunned old men looking at him and turned around holding An-An, then left.
He quietly took An-An back to his room. On the way, An-An didn"t say a word, simply resting on his shoulder. However, the dampness on his shoulder was like a burning pain that stung Ren Zhouyuan"s heart. He held An-An tighter, sincerely regretting.
That night, he had to coax An-An for a long time before he was willing to open his mouth to talk.
An-An persistently endured for a long time just so his Baba wouldn’t know what those people said about him. Although An-An was young, he already knew how distressed Ren Zhouyuan was. However, Ren Zhouyuan was now already aware of the malicious things those people said about him. He coaxed a few words. An-An cried and weeped for a day, telling Ren Zhouyuan what they said in great detail.
When Ren Zhouyuan heard what he said, he frowned. He left An-An to those people for them to take care of him. But not only did they neglect him, they also talked about such terrible things in front of such a small child. When he thought back to the image of An-An crying in the corner, Ren Zhouyuan felt so angry that he wanted to beat those old men into a pulp.
An-An hugged Ren Zhouyuan, sobbing softly in his arms. "Those uncles said that An-An isn"t Baba"s son, saying that An-An is a wild child10 from a foreigner. Baba, what is a wild child?"
Ren Zhouyuan clenched his hands tight enough for the muscles to bulge. It took a great deal of effort for him to explain the matter as gently as possible. He pat An-An"s back. "An-An is not a wild child. An-An is Baba"s child, Baba"s well-behaved and clever child!"
When he spoke, he was trembling a little. But in any case, he still managed to suppress it. An-An"s tiny hand clutched Ren Zhouyuan"s clothes. His tone was cautious as he said: "So, is An-An born from Baba?" He looked up at Ren Zhouyuan, then lowered his head once more in disappointment. "An-An and Baba don"t look anything alike…."
Ren Zhouyuan gaped, the hand holding An-An tightening. He lifted An-An"s head to make him look at him and said: "Baba is Chinese, so An-An is also Chinese. You see, An-An"s eyes, aren"t they black like Baba"s? Foreigners have blue-green eyes, so how can An-An have such beautiful black eyes? An-An is Baba"s child. Those black eyes are the best proof!"
It was such a statement that An-An deeply imprinted it into his mind. When he grew up, he finally understood what those old men meant. As his biracial features slowly grew more and more distinct, and his face became more and more like Leonid"s, there were more and more people who said he was a "foreigner"s child."
Since then, "foreigner" became a bad word to An-An. In his mind, it was equivalent to saying he wasn"t Ren Zhouyuan"s son.
Therefore, when he heard him say that Vichy"s teachers were all foreigners, a feeling of long-lost powerlessness welled up in him.
Corensi: Can you guys imagine that pitiful scene where poor An-An was crouching alone in the corner, trying to hold back tears as he listens on to those old men backstabbing his Baba? Ahhh, my heart is breaking
I’m off to go beat up that archeology team, who’s with me? *hands out pitchforks* Those who mess with my babies get heavenly retribution. RAAHHH!!!
Notes:
1 – 叔叔 – shū shu. Meaning uncle or…Father"s younger brother. Younger brother? Who are you kidding Fan Wenfeng XD. Anyways, I used pinyin since he"s talking to An-An here. Back
2 – 对症下药 (duì zhèng xià yào), an idiom meaning: (lit.) to prescribe the right medicine for an illness (idiom); (fig.) to study a problem to find the right way to solve it; to take appropriate steps. Back
3 – actually, it was 月嫂 (yuè sǎo), a woman hired to take care of a newborn child and its mother in the month after childbirth. Back
4 – actually, it was 误打误撞 (wù dǎ wù zhuàng), meaning: accidentally; to act before thinking. But how does one join an archeology team by accident? Back
5 – orig. text: 这些大半辈子在外奔波的老古板，还是些研究中国古文化的老古板. Back
6 – 拖油瓶 (tuō yóu píng), a derogatory term. The gist of it is "to bring one’s children into a second marriage; children by a previous marriage." . Back
7 – big thanks to kuoksan and suncust from NUF on this. Back
8 – Well, this line had some censorship. orig. text: 于是这件事在考古队中就像砸下了一颗□□. I"m no native of China, so I am painfully unaware of the slang and curses there (and I"m also too shy to ask in the danmei discord server *cries*). So I just subst.i.tuted it for something that seems fit. Back
9 – once again, there is a censored part here. oreig. -text: 看安安的眼神还带着□□裸的鄙视. Back
10 – orig. text: 野孩子 (yě hái zǐ) – feral child. Back