Chapter 100: Little Star (1/2)

Ji Yuanjie received compensation for his family and it eased most of the difficulties. Ji Yuanjie’s father’s second operation was also very successful. Xiaoji and his mother have been in the hospital waiting for him to wake up. The doctor said that there is great hope that he would be able to walk again, so they remain optimistic.

Mom Ji gritted her teeth for months and insisted on being a strong person in front of her child, but now she shed tears for the first time after she heard these words. Xiaoji held her, supported her and sat on the bench beside him, let his Mom lean on his shoulder and cried happily.

After venting the pain in her heart, Mother Ji quickly recovered. She was a very neat person. After paying for the medical expenses, there was still money left. After setting aside money for her son to go to school, she found a small shop to rent, and her family moved in, eating and living here. Although their conditions were difficult, she would be able to take care of her husband while doing a small business to make money to support her family, and Xiaojican can also go to school.

Ji Yuanjie began to prepare himself for his studies, and Tang Jinyu introduced him to the work of Su Zhai restaurant.

There were two shifts at Su Zhai restaurant in the morning and evening, and it would be over after five in the morning. Mother Ji feels sorry for him and wanted to prevent him from going. She does the morning job by herself, and the small shop is busy in the evening, while also taking care of her husband. Xiaoji still continued to do the evening shift by himself, and the mother and son duo divided their share of work. In addition to that, Su Zhai restaurant is not far away from their small shop, so it wasn’t a tiring walk. With the extra money from his part-time job, their family's condition improved a bit, but compared to the previous months, it’s unknown how much better.

Mother Ji knew what the children had done and was very grateful to them. On the day the store opened, she specially asked Xiao Ji to invite these children over for a meal.

Although it was just a table full of home-cooked dishes, everyone had a very happy meal. Mother Ji ate all the two pots of rice. She was happy to see how much the children ate.

The bell in the small shop rang lightly. Mother Ji hurried in and saw her husband in the cubicle inside and asked: ”What's the matter? Where does it hurt?”

Ji Yuanjie's father was lying on the hospital bed, his face was much thinner, but he seemed to be in good spirits. He pointed outside and smiled and said, ”Bring the children some drinks, and let them have a good time.”

Mother Ji also smiled and said to him: ”Yes, I specially put a box beside the table. As a result, Xiao Ji's classmates came to see it and thought it was an empty box. They carried it directly to me. I opened it and gave it to them, but they refused to drink it. You don’t know, but Xingxing and a few other girls also squeezed their own juice, saying that their family had distributed a lot of watermelons and they couldn’t finish eating…” She poured a glass of warm water for her husband and put it on the bedside table, and signed,”They are all good children.”

Ji Yuanjie’s father also nodded, and looked outside. The bead curtain blocked some of his view. He barely saw his son who shuttled back and forth at the dining table to help his friends serve meals, with a smile on his face, and his eyes were no longer dark, but full of hope.

Mother Ji fed him water and said with a smile: ”Then I can rest assured that you will get better.”

Ji Yuanjie's father drank water, and he thought these words in his heart. He thought it would be all right.

After dinner, everyone also helped to distribute flyers to the small shop. This was printed by Han Yixing, and the number was not large. A couple of people quickly sent all of them. The little girl looked happier than Xiaoji, jumping around and didn't want to leave after jumping to distribute the flyers.

A car stopped by the side of the road and honked.

She glanced at it and ran and shouted: ”Xiaoyu, your brother is here to pick you up!”

Tang Jinyu was helping Xiaoji clean up, and Ji Yuanjie glanced up when he heard this, and urged him with a smile: ”Go ahead, don't let Xia Ye wait, or else be careful if he comes here to arrest people.”

This has happened before. Ji Yuanjie and Tang Jinyu have been classmates since kindergarten, and it wasn’t not uncommon to see such a scene.

When the kindergarteners were waiting in line for the parents to pick him up after school, Tang Jinyu’s family was always the first one. Sometimes it was Tang Hongjun, sometimes it was Xia Ye, and even Teacher Xia took first place. When they graduated from kindergarten, his family was also among the best. When Tang Jinyu stood on the wrong team, he almost went to other people’s home, and Xia Ye did not hesitate to stand up and take his brother back to his home.

Xia Ye was tall, and when he returned to his seat with the child's back collar across the crowd, the audience laughed.

It was much better in elementary school, and they usually waited outside the school gate. On weekends, the teacher assigns a lot of homework, and there are many books that need to be brought back, and Tang Jinyu's family would go to his classroom to pick him up and help their child carry his school bag along the way.

Ji Yuanjie has seen it countless times. Every weekend, he can see Tang Jinyu and his brother standing outside the classroom, wearing a mask. Whenever he saw him, he nodded faintly, and raised his hand to take Tang Jinyu's school bag. His movements were particularly smooth.

But this time Xia Ye was not going to just pick up one person. He also picked up Han Yixing back along the way. The two of them lived in the same community. So when he came, Han Yichen repeatedly urged that he must take his sister back home safely.

The little girl walked on over a little reluctantly, but she waved her hand to say goodbye to everyone and went to Xia Ye's car.

The black car stopped on the side of the road and didn't drive right away. After a while, Tang Jinyu got down from the back of the car, and went to the co-pilot's place, and the car drove away.

Guo Xiaohu kept watching the door, wiping with a rag in his hand, but Xiaoji had to call him twice before he reacted, and said in a daze, ”What's the matter?”

Ji Yuanjie pointed to his hand and said, ”This is a rag for wiping the table.”

Guo Xiaohu looked down, and then realized that he didn't know when he took the rag and wiped the door frame, and quickly put it away, a little embarrassed: ”I was just thinking about something, and didn't pay attention.”

Xiaoji said: ”It's okay, the door frame doesn't need to be wiped, everyone already left, you should go back soon, don't worry your family.”

Guo Xiaohu looked up and looked around. As expected, he was by himself. A classmate called him to go with him. Guo Xiaohu shook his head and said, ”You go first, I'll go back in a while.”

His home was close to here, and he was not in a hurry to go back, sitting there and chatting with Xiaoji for a while.

There were lights outside the small shop. Xiaoji set up a small table from home and placed it there, sitting and chatting with Guo Xiaohu. At the beginning, he was still chatting about studying. Later, they didn't know who started talking about their childhood, and both of them fell silent.

There was a glass of iced watermelon juice in front of Guo Xiaohu. The girls brought a lot today. He took a sip, but he felt sour in his mouth. Later, he felt that it was not a matter of taste, but that his heart was sour. He sighed: ”Xiaoji, have you ever liked anyone?”

Ji Yuanjie didn't say a word, his eyes fell on Guo Xiaohu's glass of watermelon juice, avoiding his sight and asked, ”What about you?”

Guo Xiaohu said: ”I don't know if I like him. I paid special attention to him before. When I was a kid, I just thought he was very good-looking, but he later helped me a lot. When he was there, I felt very relieved and felt that I would be just fine.” He turned the cup, ”It was probably last year. I think It’s more than just paying attention, I care about him especially.”

”It's the kind that I help but care.”

”I saw him standing there, his hair being messed up by the wind, I wanted to reach out and fix it for him, and wanted to get closer to him.”

”When he smiles, I am very happy. When he is not smiling, I want to make him happy. I miss him when I see him, and when I don't see him, I want to…”

Ji Yuanjie whispered: ”You must have seen her today, so you were so happy, right?”

(T/n- Xiaoji thinks Guo Xiaohu is talking about a girl. I think it has to do with how both ‘he/her’ have (tā) in their pronunciation.)

”Yes.” Guo Xiaohu's mouth moved, he wanted to laugh, but his eyes were a little sad, ”but I can't tell him.”

”Why?”

”He was having a good time, and I didn’t want to disturb him.”

Guo Xiaohu drank all the watermelon juice in the cup, twisted and loosened his brows, and finally sighed.

He felt a little greedy.

His liking is destined to die in nothing, and he cannot and does not want to break their current intimacy.

Ji Yuanjie glanced at him, struggling for a while, and still said: ”Don't you want to try? What if the other party likes you too? Such a good person, it would be a shame if you don't fight for it.”

”Besides, I also transferred to another school, and I wouldn’t be able to see him, living so far away…Yeah, forget me, what about you?” Guo Xiaohu shrugged, ”You should have someone you like, when do you plan to confess?”

Ji Yuanjie was silent for a moment, and said, ”I am just like you.”

”What?”

”I am very happy to see her every day.”

The two little brothers sighed, and both had an unspeakable name in their hearts. Guo Xiaohu took Xiaoji as a tree hole and didn't dare to mention the boy he liked, but just talked about his thoughts. Xiaoji thinks too much, enduring bitterness and recommending the best girl in the world to him.

Guo Xiaohu said that he used to admire that person, and it went from admiration to liking. Xiaoji felt the same way, he also liked stars since he was a child. He was moved by the passion and justice in her. The two boys were not the same person, but in their hearts the person that they liked was the best and most beautiful person.

Guo Xiaohu finally understood his taste a little bit, and looked at him puzzledly: ”Why do you always mention stars to me?”

Xiaoji lowered his head and said, ”Don't you think she is particularly good?”

Xiaoji’s feelings were already an open little secret among the boys. It was estimated that everybody except for Xiaoji and Han Yixing themselves, everyone else has silently tied them into a pair. Guo Xiaohu felt even more so in his heart. This was the brother's object, so when Xiaoji asked him, he nodded and said, ”She’s pretty good.”

Xiaoji said with difficulty: ”Then you can be bolder. She is really a very good girl. It doesn't matter if you transfer to another school. You can write to her, but don't write too much, which will affect her study…”

Guo Xiaohu's eyes widened, and he immediately waved his hand and said, ”What am I doing writing to her? I don't like her!”

Xiaoji looked up and looked at him at a loss, ”Don't you like stars?”

Guo Xiaohu shook his head into a rattle, and refused simply, ”I don't like her, I don't like her at all, you can keep her for yourself.”

Ji Yuanjie’s face turned beet red, and he couldn’t say anything for a while.

Guo Xiaohu was happy, and said to him with emotion: ”I don't like stars, but I am just like you.”

”Huh?”

”I looked at someone, but he won’t look at me.” Guo Xiaohu scratched his chin. He said such implicit words for the first time, but he insisted on this point, and didn't want to cause any trouble to the person he liked. ”Speaking of which, I am more miserable than you. I don’t dare to confess ever in my life, but this is fine. He has a good life and I am happy.”