Since Jian Sui Ying sprained his ankle, he did not feel like going to work and ended up staying home to rest for two days.
The day before the college entrance examination, he received a call from Jian Sui Lin while he was sitting askew on the sofa watching a movie.
Jian Sui Ying glanced at the caller ID and immediately muted the call, not in the mood to answer.
But Jian Sui Lin did not give up and continued calling him.
Feeling annoyed by then, Jian Sui Ying picked up and lazily asked, "What is it?"
"Ge, I heard from Li Yu that you injured your foot."
"En, it"s sprained."
"You… are you a bit better now? How are you eating, huh?"
"I haven"t starved myself to death."
"Is there anyone taking care of you?"
"I only sprained my foot, it"s not like half of my body is paralyzed. I don"t need anyone to take care of me," Jian Sui Ying firmly said, feeling somewhat impatient since he missed some scenes in the movie. "I"m hanging up."
"But, Ge!"
"What?"
"Did you apply any medication on it yet? Have you ma.s.saged it? If you don"t treat it properly, it will take at least two weeks to heal."
"How could it be that troublesome… it will be fine in a couple of days."
"How about I bring some medicine over to you? There is always someone getting injured in our basketball team, so I know how to treat it."
Jian Sui Ying rarely took any days off from work, therefore, staying home to rest alone for him felt extremely comfortable. That was the main reason why he didn"t want to see anyone and immediately refused."You don"t have to. You have the college entrance examination tomorrow, stop wasting time foolishly."
"For the past few days, the teacher has been saying there is no need to review. It"s also boring to stay at home all day, let me go see you."
"I said I don"t need it, so I don"t need it."
"Ge…"
"Aren"t you being annoying? I"m most bothered about this part of you—always so talkative and overly sensitive."
Hearing that, Jian Sui Lin immediately swallowed back down the words he wanted to say.
Jian Sui Ying carelessly said, "Do well on the examination tomorrow, don"t make the Jian family"s name lose face." After saying that, he hung up and began to eat his snacks while watching the movie.
In fact, Jian Sui Ying"s foot had more or less healed. He had even thought, it"s just a sprained ankle, what"s the big deal? At this point, he just wanted to take advantage of the situation and rest a bit. He was in a rather good mood at first, but Jian Sui Lin"s call put him in a considerably bad mood. That kid Li Yu injured his foot… he should be a bit more sympathetic and personally send him a greeting or something, but having Jian Sui Lin give him a call instead, what does that mean? Come on, it would be strange if he didn"t get angry.
Soon, the image of Li Yu"s flushed ears and dodging eyes couldn"t help but to emerge in his mind. Jian Sui Ying thought that that appearance of his was certainly not enough, he wanted to see it again.
He paused the movie, causing the surrounding to quiet down—that kind of empty feeling was even more obvious now.
He suddenly felt that the room was really insufferable; there was no character about it at all.
With that, he grabbed his phone and dialed Jian Sui Lin"s number.
The call was answered immediately, "Ge?"
"Yeah."
"Ge, you… you want me to go over?"
"No, I want to eat spicy crayfish."
"Then should I order some and bring it to you?"
"I don"t want to eat at home. Can you come here and take me to Gui Jie?"[1]
"Okay, I"ll go right now."
"Oh, bring Li Yu."
"Ah… bring Li Yu?"
"Bring him, ah."
Jian Sui Lin went quiet for a moment and then asked hesitantly, "Why?"
Jian Sui Ying was stumped with that question for a moment before he boldly and confidently replied, "There"s no harm in getting along with the grandson of Lao Li"s family. Good thing the two of you have a pretty good relationship. I also wanted to discuss some things with his older brother later, perhaps he will give me a piece of the land to the northwest of Beijing."
"Oh, I"m not familiar with his older brother. I"ve only met him a few times."
"I"m also not too familiar with him either, but now is a good chance to get familiar with him. Alright, call Li Yu out to eat together."
"Okay…"
Just as Jian Sui Ying ended the call, his phone rang again. He glanced down and saw that it was Jian Sui Lin again.
"What else is there?"
"Sui Ying." The sound of his father"s voice transmitted from the other side.
"Dad?"
"Hey, Sui Lin is going over to you?"
"Yes."
"I told him to bring some things with him. He can stay over there with you tonight."
Hearing that, Jian Sui Ying was not happy at all. "What does he need to stay here for?"
"The area of the city where you live at is close to where he is taking the examination. Since all the students are taking that examination tomorrow, the traffic jam will definitely be serious. What"s going to happen if he arrives there late?"
"Didn"t he tell you that my foot was sprained? I can"t drive."
"I know that but taking a taxi from your place is faster than from here."
"Dad, there"s no s.p.a.ce here for him to stay at."
His old man clicked his tongue, "f.u.c.k, how big of a deal is it for your little brother to stay with you for a night?"
Jian Sui Ying rolled his eyes.
In seconds, his father sincerely said, "Sui Ying ah, you"re both all grown up now. No matter what, he is you brother. When we are all dead, you two will only have each other to rely on. Do you understand?"
Since his father had always wanted the two brothers to have a peaceful relationship from the very beginning, he often looked for ways to let them hang out together. In reality, those things were all useless. On the contrary, Jian Sui Ying wanted to ask his father whether he understood things or not. Since his father didn"t care about him, and let that woman get involved with his family and forced his mother to become like that, there was no way for him and Jian Sui Lin to be like the average brothers. It was impossible in this lifetime.
In all honesty, it was already generous of him to speak with Jian Sui Lin calmly without bursting or lashing out.
Jian Sui Ying lazily said, "Fine, fine, fine, he can stay if that makes both of you happy."
His father let out a satisfying "okay", but just as he was about to hang up, Jian Sui Ying said, "Oh."
"What"s wrong?"
"Dad, tell Xiao Lin Zi to bring Lao Li"s grandson with him. Since my place is big, they can both stay here, and I"ll see them off tomorrow."
"He can even stay there, huh?"
"Just ask. Both his father and older brother have a lot of power. Perhaps, if something comes up, it"ll be useful. But in any case, there"s no harm in having a good relationship with them."
"Alright. I"ll have Sui Lin ask him."
When the call ended, Jian Sui Ying was looking forward to the possibility of Li Yu staying over for the night—otherwise, it would be meaningless.
Jian Sui Ying waited at home for more than hour. It wasn"t until his eyes slowly droop that the doorbell finally sounded.
Sure enough, Jian Sui Ying brought Li Yu with him. That instantaneously made Jian Sui Ying happy.
As soon as Jian Sui Lin walked in, he worriedly looked at Jian Sui Ying. "Ge, how"s your foot? My Ge, let me take a look."
"There"s no need, it"s fine. What use is there for you to look? You"re not a doctor, you know."
"Let me take a look. I brought some oil with me. Let me give you a ma.s.sage."
"No, no, come, just come in and sit down." The last couple of courteous words were entirely directed at Li Yu.
Li Yu respectfully greeted him, "Jian Ge, how is your foot?"
"Nothing serious."
Jian Sui Lin helped him sit down and insisted on looking at his foot.
At first, Jian Sui Ying was reluctant. However, thinking that revealing his swollen ankle, that looked like a steamed bun, could possibly provoke a sense of guilt from Li Yu, there was no loss in letting Jian Sui Ying look at it. With that in mind, he generously places his foot on the sofa.
When Jian Sui Lin looked up his pants and saw his foot, he frowned. "Ge, did you go to the hospital?"
"I didn"t. What"s the point of going, it will be fine in a couple of days."
"That"s no good. If it"s not treated properly, you won"t be able to drive for a long time." As he said that, he took out a small bottle of oil, "I"ll ma.s.sage it for you. It will hurt a bit, but just endure it."
Before Jian Sui Ying had a chance to say anything, Jian Sui Lin had already unscrewed the cap and poured some oil on his foot. Whatever he wanted to say remained in his throat for the time being.
Jian Sui Lin carefully placed his foot on his lap and began ma.s.saging gently, adding a bit more strength here and there, all the while holding his ankle.
Li Yu sat to the side and looked on. His body felt somewhat rigid, and no matter which way he sat, he felt uncomfortable. He didn"t understand why Jian Sui Lin was being so good to a brother like that—even to the point of pleasing him.
He always knew how Jian Sui Ying treated Jian Sui Lin. Whatever grievances that happened between the older generations had nothing to do with Jian Sui Lin—he was not at fault. However, Jian Sui Ying had stubbornly vented all his anger on Jian Sui Lin since they were young. Even before, he had always been prejudiced against Jian Sui Ying. What made him even more angry was that no matter how Jian Sui Ying treated him, Jian Sui Lin always said, "Honestly, my Ge is pretty good to me," then talk highly of him again.
Every time he saw Jian Sui Ying arrogantly order Jian Sui Lin around, Li Yu would immediately think for Jian Sui Lin, "your brother is not worth it."
But Jian Sui Ying didn"t feel like that at all.
In his opinion, no matter how he bullied him, it was normal for Jian Sui Lin to please him. He was the eldest son of the Jian family, the one who made the money and handled all the business affairs—many people in the family depended solely on his hard work while his father lived freely like a prince. Now that his grandfather was older, his father was the head of the household, and the second one who could say anything was him. G.o.d forbid that one day something happened to his father, he would have the final say in the Jian family. Don"t even mention Jian Sui Lin"s mother background, no one in the Jian family cared much about her. When the time comes, and that mother and son wanted to live a good life, they would have to at least look at Jian Sui Ying"s face. Jian Sui Lin was not stupid, if he didn"t please him, who should he please?
Therefore, the last time Li Yu said that Jian Sui Lin adored him, Jian Sui Ying thought that it was ridiculous. Jian Sui Lin must have certainly wished that a person like him, Jian Sui Ying, existed in this world.
The strength in Jian Sui Lin"s hand became stronger until Jian Sui Ying painfully scolded him, "Ouch, ouch, it hurts. Aren"t your little hands being a bit rough, huh?"
"If it doesn"t hurt, it"s not effective. This method will improve blood circulation."
"Okay, okay, okay, that"s enough. It"s too d.a.m.n painful. That"s enough, don"t ma.s.sage it anymore."
"Ge, just endure it. This way, it will get better quickly."
"f.u.c.k, I want it to slowly get better, okay? Stop ma.s.saging it!"
Jian Sui Ying stubbornly pulled his foot back.
But Jian Sui Lin simply held onto his foot, and practically coaxed him. "Ge, just endure it a bit longer, okay?"
"It"s not okay." Jian Sui Ying kicked him in the stomach. He actually didn"t use any strength, and only used that opportunity to pull his food back.
Li Yu couldn"t look on anymore. He immediately stood up with a darkened face and said, "Sui Lin is only doing it for your own good, what do you think you"re doing?"
Once those words dropped, the two people before him were stunned.
Those two brothers" method of getting along was the so-called, "one willing to hit and the other willing to endure"—they were already used to it by now.
Jian Sui Lin felt a bit embarra.s.sed, "Li Yu…"
Realizing that he had lost control and forgotten his manners, Li Yu frowned and sat back down.
Jian Sui Ying also frowned, not knowing what he was mad about. He thought about it carefully, was it because I kicked Xiao Lin Zi?He curled his lips[2] and honestly thought that it was not a problem. I didn"t expect this kid, Li Yu, to be quite loyal.
Soon after that, Jian Sui Yin grabbed a towelette and wiped his brother"s foot clean. "Ge, didn"t you want to eat spicy crayfish. Let"s go."
"Did you get your driver"s license yet?"
"Yes, a while ago."
"En, not bad. What car do you want to drive to school?"
"Ge, you can decide."
"Okay, we"ll see how you do on the examination. If you do well, gewill get a good car for you."
"Thank you, Ge."
Translator"s Note:
[1] Gui Jie (簋街) or "Ghost Street" is a popular street in Beijing with more than 100 restaurants offering a plethora of cuisines from different parts of China, spanning two subway stations of Dongzhimen and Beixinqiao.
What does the food have anything to do with ghosts? During the Qing Dynasty, the gate at Dongzhimen was used for transportation of corpses to the outskirts of Beijing for burial. Naturally, Dongzhimen became a hub for mortuary businesses. With the coffins, blurred and dim lighting and shadows from the oil lamps back then, the eerie street was dubbed as "Ghost Street". Later on, when the street no longer served its specific use, other types of businesses commenced in the area though none seemed to have well other than the food business, which thrived especially well at night. The street name was changed to "Gui Jie (簋街)", where "gui (簋)" still bears the same p.r.o.nunciation as "ghost (鬼)" though the character for "gui (簋)" is completely different, meaning food container.
[2] Curl one"s lips – he looked something along these lines.