Chapter 19 (1/2)

Translator: Polarbearadise & Kaylarala

Editor: FirstPersonNarrator

Less than twenty minutes later the car arrived at the downstairs of Xiao Yi's house, the two brothers carried one man's big suitcase as they ran as fast as flying to the sixth floor, this neighborhood was newly built, the vicinity was very clean and the occupancy rate was very low, Luzhou glanced at their house as he got off and said: “Your house is not bad. ”

“It was bought a few years ago.” Xiao Yi said, “The plan was that after I graduated,

it would be my marriage house, now my parents and my brother live here, it's under my brother's name.”

(T/N: Marriage house = the house that newly-wed couple bought after they got married)

Luzhou nodded, Xiao Yi said: “Brother Zhou, stay at my house tonight, everything has been cleaned up, we'll change to a hotel tomorrow … …”

“No,” Lu Zhou said, “We'll go back on the third day of the lunar month.”

Xiao Yi breathed a sigh of relief, though Luzhou acted tyrannically at home, fortunately, when leaving the house he wasn't difficult to serve. As they entered the house Xiao ba and Xiao ma were enthusiastic to death, they ran out to welcome them, the first thing into the Xiao family was Luzhou's LV bag, although Xiao ba didn't come into contact with luxury goods, he also knew that this thing seemed a bit expensive.

(T/N: Xiao ba and Xiao ma = Xiao Yi's father and mother)

”Aiya – finally, we waited for you -” Xiao ba and Xiao ma thought they could see their daughter-in-law, then Luzhou appeared, the two of them were at once dumbfounded, their daughter-in-law was actually a man.

Xiao ba: “……”

Xiao ma: “……”

“This is brother Zhou.” Xiao Yi said: “Brother Zhou, this is my dad and mom.”

“h.e.l.lo uncle, h.e.l.lo auntie.” Luzhou with a head full of black lines shook hands with Xiao ba and Xiao ma, Xiao ba was the first one to regain his composure, he laughed: “Quick quick, please sit, you must be tired coming all the way here.”

It was perfectly safe after they arrived at home, Xiao Yi thought to himself 'No matter how bad Luzhou's temper is, when coming to my house he will calm down in several days, but is it possible that you want to scold me in front of my father and mother ah!'

Sure enough, Luzhou hadn't scolded him, on the contrary, as a guest at Xiao Yi's house he was still very polite.

Xiao ba was an elementary school guidance director who was soon to be retired, Xiao Ma used to do manual work in a knitwear factory in Jingshan but she quitted early, every day she would often talk about the matter of marriage to her two sons, although the elders couldn't meet the daughter-in-law and were a little disappointed, but they immediately adjusted themselves and still treated Luzhou very cordially.

On one side Xiao Yi was moving Luzhou's things into the room while on the other he was introducing Luzhou as his new boss, he told them that he had been taking care of him, Xiao ba repeatedly thanked Luzhou and said that his son was not sensible, aiya he should worry more about his son.

“Just call me Xiao Lu.” Luzhou laughed.

(T/N: Xiao = little)

“Get something to eat,” said Xiao ma, “I thought you guys were coming back in the afternoon…… it's the chunyun period the road are like a Shangdu wall, come come come, Xiao Lu, eat something first to fill your stomach and I'll go heat the soup.”

(T/N: Chunyun period = The Spring Festival travel season, a period in China when people returned home during Chinese New Year, there will be extremely high traffic and crowded with people)

Xiao ma turned on the pressure cooker to heat up the soup, Luzhou said to Xiao Yi: “You are busy, you don't have to care about me, yes, thanks auntie.”

Xiao Yi finally finished arranging everything for Luzhou, after the brief liveliness the family returned to normal, Xiao ba asked: ”How is Duma? Last time, he called home and asked for your contact information.”

Xiao Yi recalled, it should be a year ago, when they wanted to hold a student reunion, Duma had called him, he said: “He is now taking over his father’s company as he does private short-term lending, and always driving a Lexus.”

Xiao ba made a slightly criticizing look at Xiao Yi, Xiao Yi just laughed mischievously and sat down at the table, Luzhou was drinking soup, Xiao Yi said: “Mom! Is there any soup left?”

Xiao ma also scooped up a bowl of soup for him, Xiao Yi scooped up many lotus roots for Luzhou, he said: “Brother Zhou, you should try these winter lotus roots, you won't be able to eat it in the whole nation.”

“I know.” Luzhou said: “I used to often eat it when I lived in Wuhan, I rarely eat it after I moved to Beijing.”

Only the lotus roots in Hubei that were boiled in pork ribs soup would have a unique color and fragrance, the lotus roots could be pulled out into threads, Xiao Yi ravenously drank the taste of home, feeling that nothing was more comfortable than this.

After eating supper Xiao Yi went to turn on the water heater, then he went to get Luzhou's clothes, he was hurrying back and forth, Luzhou said: “I'll do it myself.”

“It doesn't matter.” Xiao Yi said, “Tonight we'll sleep in this room.”

Xiao Yi’s house was a two-bedroom but it was more than ninety square foot, very s.p.a.cious, he knew the habit of Luzhou so he had told his parents in advance to clean up the room and move out all the unnecessary things, the computer was moved to the corner of the living room for his brother to go online, the quilts were all replaced by new ones, there was no heating in central China, when winter came, it would be wet and cold so they had to turn on a heater to warm themselves.

Because they hadn't lived in this brand new house for long, the windows were very clean, the outside was slowly turning into a nightscape, the bed was very large, the furniture was also very new, and the living conditions would not be too different from the hotels. Xiao Yi put down a gla.s.s of water on the bedside cabinets, he connected all the electronic products with the house's Wi-Fi, only then would he go take a bath.

Luzhou stood in front of the french window and looked out at the balcony, the lights were bright, hearing the cuckoos from the balcony, Luzhou was startled, he discovered that they had two chickens that they raised outside.

”A student's parents sent them.” Xiao Yi came in after taking a bath and said, ”It's a little cold, let's move them to the kitchen and eat them in celebration of the New Year.” Xiao Yi moved the two chickens' cage into the kitchen.

”How much is this house per square?” Luzhou asked.

”It was bought several years ago.” Xiao Yi wiped his hair while saying,”It was only 3,000 yuan, now it rose up to more than 5,000 yuan.”

Luzhou: ”Not bad, the atmosphere is also very good.”

Xiao Yi made his bed on the floor, and said, ”The per-capita wage is also low, my brother works in logistics at the supermarket, more than 2,000 yuan a month, yet he's still searching for a job through a trusted relation.”

Luzhou said, ”You have a home to return to, why don't you come back?”

”Yeah.” Xiao Yi said, ”I can't stay in the county if I come back, I majored in the music department, how can I find any work when coming back here? Or I'll have to go to Wuhan to buy a house that costs 10,000 yuan per square foot, which I can't afford.”

(T/N: Wuhan = Subprovincial city and capital of Hubei province)

”You can play the erhu?!” Luzhou seemed to have discovered a new world, he picked up Xiao Yi's erhu that was hidden at the bottom of the bookshelf.

(T/N: Erhu = 2 strings bowed musical instrument)

”I learned it when I was a child.” Xiao Yi said, ”I even partic.i.p.ated in a ranked examination, I played it from third grade in elementary school all the way to my second year in junior high, I played it for several years and this became my motivation to learn music, shall I play a song for you?”

Xiao Yi opened the erhu case, it had been so long since he last played it, Luzhou looked at him suspiciously, he didn't seem to believe that he could really play it, Xiao Yi tuned it and wiped the strings for half a day, Luzhou said, ”Forget it, forget it, put it away, there is dust everywhere.”

Xiao Yi pressed the strings and thought for a moment, then he played the song Two Springs On the Moon, Luzhou said, ”Be merciful and stop, it's New Year, don't play this kind of song.”

Xiao Yi smiled in embarra.s.sment as he put away the erhu, he said: ”The erhu was handed down from my grandfather, this is a family heirloom, my dad didn't learn to play it, therefore I went to school to learn it, though I couldn't develop it into a profession.”

Luzhou said, ”What about that one? Take it down so I can take a look?”

Luzhou referred to the picture frame on the bookshelf, Xiao Yi immediately became fl.u.s.tered and wanted to put the picture frame away, Luzhou's complexion changed so Xiao Yi had to obediently take it out and to show it to him.

It was a picture of Xiao Yi and a very popular draft singer, both standing close together as they smiled and held up a V sign.

(T/N:選秀歌手 = draft singer = People in talent show/contest. Through the contest/show, the players from no one knows to be known, they began to gradually have fans, began to enter the entertainment industry, began to embark on their own dream music road)

Luzhou was surprised and said, ”You know him?”

Xiao Yi said, ”We were in the same batch……”

Luzhou looked up and down at Xiao Yi as he was feeling something he couldn't identify, Xiao Yi honestly confessed and said, ”At that time we partic.i.p.ated in the pre-selection for the best male student compet.i.tion, we took this photo then.”

”You didn't make it to the nationals?” Luzhou said.

”I needed five hundred thousand yuan for sponsors.h.i.+p fees.” Xiao Yi said, ”I couldn't fish it out, so I was immediately eliminated from the the regional selections.”

Luzhou scoffed and said, ”President Du always wanted to sign a contract with him, this child was popular for a few years, then he offended the company manager and now he's climbing further and further down.”

Xiao Yi made an interjection sound and put the picture frame back facing it against the wall. Luzhou looked at Xiao Yi's appearance and got angry, he lectured, ”What are you doing with the picture? Jealous?”

Xiao Yi: ”……”

Without any better option Xiao Yi turned the photo over, Luzhou said again, ”Not willing to accept defeat, you're a loser.”

”I'm a loser.” Xiao Yi said helplessly.

Luzhou looked curiously at Xiao Yi's photo on the bookshelf, it was a photo of Xiao Yi with a guitar standing in the center of a stage, the colorful stage lights illuminated him and he looked high spirited, just like any star on stage.

Below there were all sort of pictures where he posed with popular stars from the time when he still worked at Sina.

”When I was a child my mother lived in Wuhan for twelve years.” Luzhou said, ”I attended elementary school in Hankou.”

”Uhm.” Xiao Yi said.

Luzhou said, ”You come up here and sleep.”

Xiao Yi hurriedly said, ”No, no, I'll sleep on the floor.”

Luzhou said: ”It's fine, the bed is big, let's sleep together, the floor is too cold and it won't be good if your parents see you sleeping on the floor, you may be a loser but you're also your parents' treasure, right?”

Xiao Yi:”……..”

Xiao Yi then had to climb up and lie down, he folded the quilt into two layers, Luzhou conveniently flipped over Xiao Qiang's game magazine while he said: ”My mother made me take the entrance exam for a sports college as sports colleges would give subsidies, but your brother Zhou didn't want to and wanted to act instead.”

“Acting majors are expensive, you know.” Lu Zhou said to Xiao Yi: “At that time one year cost more than forty thousand yuan and it was one hundred and sixty thousand for four years, that wasn't a small amount of money. My father was a hoodlum and my mother wouldn't allow me to go, I was determined to become an actor so I took on jobs, a part-time job as a model, running around doing miscellaneous work in the studios, cutting film, lying on the ground to push a camera, you know.”

Luzhou: ”……”

”I'll talk, I'll talk, I'll talk……” Xiao Yi wailed in anguish like a horse and turned around to hug Luzhou, Luzhou's face turned red at once, he acted in confusion and tried to push Xiao Yi away, as he kicked him aside, he also said: ”If I didn't persevere in those years, how could there be the me right now?”