Chapter 21: Peaceful Birth, Peaceful Death I (1/2)

Preface.

Dad has pa.s.sed.

I received this news through an international mail.

The address written on it was my school's.

It was written by my mom; she had an imposing handwriting.

The content was actually very simple. Dad's pa.s.sing time.

No other details mentioned.

Oh, but she did take the chance to blame me for not having my mobile switched on.

I took my phone out. No missed messages or calls.

I suddenly remembered the phone that I had been using in China. It's been kept in a drawer at home ever since I moved here.

I wasn't interested in staying in touch with my family and the reason was simple.

If you had a father worth tens of billions of dollars…

If your father's photos were all over magazine covers, the Internet, television, and everywhere within the country...

But you're just a worthless son of his.

Of course, by worthless, I meant that I'm just not outstanding enough.

I would never surpa.s.s a tenth of what my father has achieved no matter how many distinctions and certificates I get.

There had been a lot of news about children of entrepreneurs and officials committing fraud.

In order to prevent such negative coverage, my father has thrown me into the other half of the world.

Into this exclusive university, with a name unheard of in China, to further my studies.

Until today.

He's pa.s.sed…

I did not apply for a leave of absence. Neither did I skip cla.s.ses.

Instead, I finished up my day in school earnestly.

I was the only Chinese over here.

When my best friend, also my desk-mate, asked about the content of that mail, I paused before smiling bitterly. I lied and told him that it was a love letter.

His eyes lit up. He took the 'love letter' and looked it over for a long time.

I did not s.n.a.t.c.h it back since I knew that he would not be able to understand a word in it anyway.

When I had first arrived at this school, he had asked me how to write the Chinese character for dragon.

I wrote it down for him but he insisted on double-checking it on his phone.

He pointed at the screen, at a traditional Chinese word on a game character's t-s.h.i.+rt, and said that that was the correct 'dragon'.

I didn't know how to explain.

He continued inspecting the letter for a while before he put it back in the envelope and returned it to me.

He asked, dully, about the girl's appearance and why there wasn't a photo of herself in the envelope.

I could only smile and explain that Chinese girls were usually more conservative and introverted.

”I think you people are more romantic than us French.”

Again, I could only smile.

After school, I returned to my condominium apartment.

I have no idea when Dad had gotten it.

Houses in the city, no matter their locations, were extremely expensive.

A condominium was even more costly.

I haven't taken the China mobile phone out of the drawer ever since I locked it up upon arriving here.

It has been two years.

The phone that had been trendy at that point was now considered an antique.

I switched it on with an uneasy heart.

One second...

Two seconds...

Five seconds...

Ten seconds...

The battery had probably run out of charge.

I looked at its port. An old model.

I rummaged through the drawers and finally spotted the charger.

Plugging it in, I waited anxiously.

Three minutes later, I turned it on urgently.

After a brief silence, I started worrying that perhaps the call charge had run out as well.

A few of mom's messages came in.

Mom's strange too. Did she really think that I'd be able to use the China number when I'm overseas?

Then again, they did not have my foreign number.

And I haven't been home for two years.

I gave mom a call.

”Luqiao, is that you?” mom asked.

”Yeah. Is dad gone?” I asked faintly.

Silence. Followed by spasmodic sobs.

”Heart attack from over-exhaustion,” she managed.