CH 43.1

The night wind was howling when Shi Yunnan walked up to the rooftop.

The hotel deliberately reinforced high fences around the rooftop; the outermost door was locked to prevent dangerous accidents.

Shi Yunnan looked around, locked his eyes behind a water tank surrounded by concrete, and walked over with the things in his hand in a hurry.

As he got closer, he naturally saw the person behind the water tank—

Yuan Rui leaned against the concrete wall, curled himself into a small ball with his hands tightly wrapped around his legs, and buried his head in his knees, sobbing faintly.

At this moment, all of his usual arrogance had disappeared.

Shi Yunnan calmed down a little and let out a sigh of relief, “How old are you? Still hiding here to cry secretly?”

“…..”

Yuan Rui, who was sitting on the ground, stiffened his shoulders and raised his eyes slowly.

There was only a faint old-fashioned light on the rooftop, just above the tank where they were. The light was dim but enough for them to see each other’s presence.

Seeing Shi Yunnan, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, Yuan Rui tried to gather his self-esteem, “Why are you here? And, how did you know I was here?“

Shi Yunnan put down the dozen cold beers he brought, and raised his eyebrows, “The front desk in the hotel lobby said that they hadn’t seen you come down, and the other floors are mostly guest rooms or banquet halls. I thought about it. You should only run up.“

And his guess was right.

Shi Yunnan took out a can of cold beer, crouched down and handed it over, “Here.”

Yuan Rui hesitated for a moment, and then felt that his face was already lost today. There’s nothing to struggle with.

So he took Shi Yunnan’s cold beer and opened it, saying, “What the hell? How can this be enough?“

Shi Yunnan heard his awkward, distasteful tone and snorted at him with a smile, “Then don’t drink it, just apply it to your swollen face. It’s ugly.”

“…..”

Yuan Rui was slapped hard by Yuan Puguang. The right half of his face was still red and swollen, and coupled with the obvious crying red eyes and nose, he looked somewhat wretched and cute at the same time.

Then again, it was all thanks to his decent face; otherwise, he would have looked quite distasteful.

Yuan Rui didn’t answer, he just pressed the cold beer to his face.

Because he pressed too hard, he subconsciously “hissed” and then glanced at Shi Yunnan with some embarrassment.

Shi Yunnan didn’t hide his smile at all. He took out a bottle of white wine from his trench coat pocket and handed it over, “Take it, the one with the highest degree. I’m not responsible if you’re drunk.“

Yuan Rui lowered his eyes and stared at the liquor that was stuffed into his palm. He suddenly felt a touch of subtle emotion—being helped.

Was Shi Yunnan this considerate?

He could even guess that he wanted to drink some strong liquor right now.

“Don’t look at me with such pitiful eyes; I have a husband,” Shi Yunnan said as he sat down opposite him.

“…Shi Yunnan, you!”

Yuan Rui was speechless. He had to apply cold beer to his face with one hand while biting and twisting the cap of the liquor bottle, “Stop being narcissistic, I don’t like you.”

In an instant, the strong and rich alcohol smell penetrated into Yuan Rui’s nose, causing him to cough for a while.

Shi Yunnan casually picked up the beer on the ground and took the initiative to clink it with him before tilting his head back and drinking it.

Yuan Rui secretly stared at his actions. The corners of his mouth bent unconsciously, but he quickly held back as if aware of something.

In the past, when he had disputes with Yuan Puguang, he would either go to a nightclub to drink alone, or hide himself.

Yuan Rui felt that he hated being disturbed at such a time, but facing Shi Yunnan, who suddenly appeared in front of him, he had a rare misconception—

It would be nice if the other party was his friend.

Shi Yunnan drank silently without speaking, while Yuan Rui depressingly chugged down the booze.

The night wind blew away the drunkenness a little bit.

Due to the emotions weighing on his mind, Yuan Rui drank quite a bit. Within half an hour, he asked sullenly, “Shi Yunnan, don’t you want to know what just happened in the box?”

“You were sitting next door. Did you hear it?”

Shi Yunnan shook the beer in his hand and replied calmly, “I didn’t hear much.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t ask you what happened today. When you calm down and no serious accident happens, I will ignore your “death and life” as an alcoholic.“

These words were cold enough, as if treating Yuan Rui as an irrelevant stranger.

But it was considerate enough, at least for Yuan Rui at this moment. There was no questioning or ridicule. He was just there to accompany him and leave him some face.

Yuan Rui’s heart was moved, “Why? Because I helped you at the jade shop that time?“

Shi Yunnan didn’t deny it, “I said I don’t like to owe favors.”

Yuan Rui sneered, “I wasn’t helping you that time. I was just passing by and couldn’t stand it.“

Shi Yunnan didn’t answer, and was silent for a long time, but Yuan Rui was unable to control his rash temper.

He put down the can of beer that was applied to his face, patted his painful but cold cheek, and said sullenly, “My dad has such a temper. In fact, he doesn’t usually hit me in front of outsiders.“

“…..”

When Shi Yunnan heard this remark, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

He thought that Yuan Rui’s reaction to what had happened in the box would be full of resentment and complaint against Yuan Pugaung. Unexpectedly, the first sentence that the other party uttered was to explain his father’s action.

“Can you see how old my dad is? He’s younger than the parents of my same-age friends.“

Yuan Rui didn’t look at Shi Yunnan. He only poured out what was in his heart, like he was talking to himself.

“The Yuan family has been engaged in jade carving for five or six generations. I heard that the jade carvings of our ancestors were used as palace tributes.“

In that era, when the education level was not high, there was a belief in the art profession: strict teachers made excellent apprentices.

It was common for masters to beat, scold, discipline, and even punish their apprentices.

Those who were talented and could endure, finally got the master’s skill, inherited the mantle and continued to work. Those who have no talent and can’t withstand it naturally have to change their careers and find another way of life.

“At my father’s age, when he was young, he learned jade carving from my grandfather and was taught through beating and scolding. My mother said that the more he learned, the more he got into it. He spent his life doing jade carving, unable to tolerate other crafts.“

The Yuan family rules were based on jade carving expertise and not being duplicitous.

“He only had me when he was almost fifty years old. He hurt me, but he also put all his hopes on me.“

“I heard my mother mention that…”

Then, Yuan Rui took a sip of wine and coughed twice before continuing—

When he was drawing lots for his first birthday, he grabbed a piece of jade carved by Yuan Puguang himself, so he was praised by the guests, saying that “the son inherits the father’s business” and that he “was born for this.”

Thinking about that time now, the burden was already there for Yuan Rui to shoulder.

Yuan Rui recalled that when he was six or seven years old, when other children were still playing around and didn’t even understand the word “art,” he had already picked up the carving knife and sat straight in front of the desk all day long.

“At that time, I had little strength. The carving knife and jade were heavy. I could grind out blisters and bloodstains on my fingers just to carve a simple flat word. I cried and threw away that jade piece. As a result, my dad whipped my palms with a wicker stick.“

Because the painful memory was too deep, Yuan Rui still vaguely remembered that heart-breaking day.

Shi Yunnan frowned slightly.

Whipped with wicker? This was yet another overly pedantic and regressive rule left behind by the older generation.

In comparison, when he was six or seven years old, at least he was still in his mother’s tender embrace, and the so-called “father,” Shi Sheng, also looked a little like a father.

“My mother often tells me that I’m my father’s son, and his requirements for me are naturally higher and stricter… Lu Zhao’an was adopted. Although my father also raised him as his own son, he couldn’t really beat or scold him.“

“I believe this!” Yuan Rui nodded heavily and added, with a shimmer in his eyes, “But Lu Zhao’an has always been good at anything. He will never be beaten or scolded by my dad.“

“In some professions, it depends on talent!” Yuan Rui’s bitterness and grievance became heavier along with the drunkenness.

“Lu Zhao’an can tell at a glance what jade texture is suitable for engraving, but I can’t. When I finally develop this vision, all his jade carving works can already be sold in shops.“

Compared with experience, he wasn’t as good as Lu Zhao’an.

Compared with talent, he wasn’t as good as Lu Zhao’an.

Living under the same roof, and being taught by the same person, day by day and year by year, he was always unable to compete.

“I know my dad has begun to feel disappointed in me. He was depressed that I, as a son, couldn’t ‘inherit the father’s business’, so every time he praised Lu Zhao’an, he would belittle me in passing.“

“Whenever he scolds me, he always says, ‘Look at your brother! How can I, Yuan Puguang, have such an incompetent son as you?!‘ “

“…..”

Shi Yunnan still didn’t respond, but remained silent as a listener.

However, he knew that teenagers have their own temperaments. If they lived under another person’s shadow for a long time, problems would arise in the long run.

“I also know,” Yuan Rui admitted, his voice trembling with emotion. “I’ll never be able to beat Lu Zhao’an. He’s the moon in the sky, and I’m the mud on the ground.“

“In the eyes of my dad and those jade carvers, and even in Lu Zhao’an’s heart, I will always be the incompetent one.“

Not competent enough, let alone standing side by side.

Yuan Rui began to become rebellious. He messed around all day and no longer followed the rules, but he was just trying to show off his ridiculous self-esteem and face in front of others.

“I want them to know that even if I don’t engage in jade carving, I can still have my own life!“

Yuan Rui laughed at himself and admitted to himself without waiting for Shi Yunnan to speak, “Yes, this idea is naive, but I can only think of such resistance.”

Then what he got in exchange was Yuan Puguang’s quarrels and beatings.

“The more you do this, the more it shows that you care about the Yuan family.” Shi Yunnan hit the nail on the head.

The genuine unconcern was what he (Syn) did to the Shi family, walking away without any attachment.

For the first time, Yuan Rui met Shi Yunnan’s gaze and did not embarrassedly deny it, “Yes, because my surname is Yuan! No matter how incapable I am, I don’t want to watch our family go downhill!“

“Do you think I only care about the Yuan family’s little assets like they said?” Yuan Rui shook his head, “Wrong.”

Yuan Rui knew that Lu Zhao’an was more capable of managing the Yuan family than he himself. He didn’t mind that it was the other party who was taking care of the Yuan family now.

However, the self-esteem that was stepped on from childhood to adulthood and the inferiority complex that intensified in his heart day and night didn’t allow Yuan Rui to say anything nice to Lu Zhao’an, who surrendered.

“On the day of the warehouse incident, Keyue came to me and said that he wanted to invest in the Yuan family’s newly added jade design. In the future, we will calculate the profit according to the shares.“

When Shi Yunnan heard this, a trace of irony flashed across his eyes—

Sure enough, some of the trajectories of fate would still overlap, but Xie Keyue still thought of profiting from the Yuan family at this juncture.

“I didn’t agree at first.” Yuan Rui said.

On one hand, he knew that Lu Zhao’an was fully responsible for this matter and didn’t want to find another “investor” to check and balance the other party’s future decisions.

On the other hand, it was because Yuan’s jade carving was going downhill and the newly opened jade design was currently unsure if it would be profitable.

In other words, when Lu Zhao’an consulted Yuan Puguang at the beginning, they felt that they had to grit their teeth and do business at a loss until the market opened up.

Yuan Rui didn’t want to pit his friends.

“I’m actually confused about what’s going on with you, Keyue, and the Shi family. But for me, Keyue is indeed the only friend who has ever acknowledged me since I was a kid.“

Asian parents in nutshell: I beat you because I love you : )