TYAM Chapter 97

Uh… I’m Indonesian, living in Indonesia. It’s currently in shit bc govt decides to fck us citizen all over :))))))))))

anyway

Updates are going to be slow. Ain’t no way I’m going to let them get away with this. Give us some prayers and attention in social media, please~

Jiang Wang woke up very late.  

Yesterday, he had a slight buzz from drinking, and combined with the exhaustion from business trips, he slept deeply, vaguely feeling like he had some dreams, but his consciousness remained muddled, as if he was half-awake, half-asleep.  

Sometime after dawn, his phone started vibrating intermittently. Long vibrations meant a call, short ones signaled messages, like tiny grains of sand left uncleaned on a Simmons mattress.  

The disturbance was small but enough to make sleeping difficult.  

By the time he fully woke up, it was already 2 PM. 

His body felt sluggish from sleep, and his shoulders and back ached slightly. When he picked up his phone, there were over twenty missed calls and more than thirty messages.  

Just as he was looking at them, his secretary called again.  

“Boss? You’re finally awake?!” The secretary was frantic. “My God, I thought something had happened to you! I knocked on your door several times at noon, but you weren’t answering—”  

“I was catching up on sleep.” Jiang Wang’s voice was hoarse. “What happened?”  

Whenever he asked this question, he usually already had some guesses in mind, along with corresponding solutions.  

Maybe there was trouble at the bookstore, maybe a teacher went on strike and refused to teach, maybe a student got into a fight during class, or perhaps there was an issue with the bookstore or the real estate company.  

“—Teacher Ji and his whole family are missing!! We were about to call the police! Can you get in touch with them?”  

Jiang Wang hadn’t fully shaken off his drowsiness yet, so when he abruptly opened his eyes, a dull pain throbbed at the back of his head. “What do you mean, missing?”  

“This morning at 8:30 AM, a parent had an appointment with Teacher Ji for a meeting. They even arrived fifteen minutes early, but by 9 AM, Teacher Ji still hadn’t shown up,” the secretary said in a rush. “We figured something must have come up and told the parent that the teacher had a fever to avoid any unpleasantness. We even gave them a voucher. But then a colleague from upstairs came to me, saying that Old Mr. Ji hadn’t come in either.”  

“He always arrives at 7:30 AM, drinks tea, reads the newspaper, then either attends lesson prep meetings or chats with everyone. The folks upstairs are all used to it. But today, no one could find him!”  

“We tried calling their house phone, the landline, and at first, their mobile phones would ring, but no one answered. Later, the phones were completely turned off.” The secretary’s voice grew more anxious. “I even went to knock on their door. From the courtyard, I could see the curtains were all drawn, and I couldn’t see anything inside. No one answered when I knocked. Do you think something bad could have happened to them?!”  

Jiang Wang had a vague suspicion. His throat felt dry and sore. He pushed himself up, catching a whiff of alcohol on his collar.  

“I’ll go check. Handle the other matters for me.”  

“Okay, okay! Do you need me to come with you?”  

“No need for now.” Jiang Wang paused for a few seconds before adding, “Reassure everyone at the school first. Just tell them he has a fever. We’ll talk more later.”  

He was dressed lightly, grabbing a jacket and slipping on his shoes barefoot. He rummaged for the spare key Ji Linqiu had left in the pen holder and hurried to the Ji household.  

Just as the secretary had said, the courtyard gate was tightly shut, and the curtains inside were fully drawn, showing no signs of movement or light.  

Jiang Wang stepped forward. His toes felt cold, and both his throat and the back of his head throbbed. He mechanically knocked on the door.  

“Auntie? It’s me, Jiang Wang.”  

Then, without waiting for a response, he took out the key and turned the doorknob.  

The living room was already empty.  

More precisely, it was in disarray. The statues and vases remained untouched, but anything that carried traces of Ji Linqiu’s daily life was almost entirely gone.  

The coat he used to hang by the door, the soft felt hat he occasionally wore, the stack of reference books on the high bar counter, the pens that were always scattered across the coffee table – everything had been taken away.  

The trash bin was full of discarded items, some even containing handwritten notes.  

Jiang Wang crouched down, rummaging through the trash for the first time in ages.  

One by one, these were all things Linqiu cherished—now discarded here.  

He stared down at them, as if looking at the scars they shared.  

Caught off guard, he felt like he had been stabbed several times. It hurt, yet at the same time, it felt absurd.  

Utterly absurd.  

Going further inside, the wardrobes in the bedrooms were all open, and they had been almost completely emptied.  

If they were moving, it looked like they had hastily packed overnight, loaded everything into a truck at dawn, and left.  

Only a single letter was left on the coffee table.  

The handwriting was firm and strong—it was from Ji Guoshen.  

**

Mr. Jiang,

The situation arose suddenly, and I sincerely apologize for leaving without saying goodbye.  

I had sensed something for a while, but I always felt that making such assumptions about you all would be inappropriate and disgraceful… But in the end, Danhong spelled everything out.  

I cannot describe the current state of my family.  

We have long received your kindness in many ways. If not for you arranging things that night, I might have already drawn my last breath in the hospital. I wouldn’t have lived to see today.  

Now, as per his mother’s wishes, our whole family is leaving Yuhan and cutting all ties. I believe this decision was made out of fear and panic, and it is not a rational one.  

I hope this choice has not hurt you.  

The mountains are high and the road is long—may we both let go and find peace.  

Linqiu’s father, Ji Guoshen

**

Jiang Wang set down the letter and sat in a daze on the sofa.  

He could hear his own breathing, rising and falling, echoing clearly in the silent and empty living room.  

This living room had always been so lively.

Every time he came over, he could hear the news channel playing on the TV, Aunt Chen’s cooking sounds, and sometimes, the rhythmic chopping of dumpling fillings, like a chaotic symphony like a sudden downpour. Occasionally, the background was filled with Ji Changxia’s laughter and chatter.  

His little Xingxing would always run around with a paper airplane. Linqiu sometimes sat beside him reading a book, and other times, he would make tea with his father. Sitting among them, Jiang Wang felt peaceful and content, as if he had gained a new family.  

The sudden ringing of his phone interrupted his thoughts.  

“Boss? Boss, are you at Teacher Ji’s house? What’s the situation now?”  

Jiang Wang thought for a few seconds before explaining, “Linqiu’s family… had some issues. They went back to their hometown early this morning and won’t be back for now.”  

“Ah! I see!” The secretary immediately responded with concern. “I’ll help arrange his leave. Do you know when they’ll be back in Yuhan?”  

Jiang Wang put the call on speaker and folded the vague, ambiguous letter into a paper airplane. “Just put in a request for half a month for now.”  

The paper airplane wobbled through the air, drawing a jagged arc before landing in the trash can.  

Jiang Wang had no choice but to face the abrupt absence of Ji Linqiu from his life.  

In truth, he wished time could be paused, giving him a moment to catch his breath amidst his busy life and complicated family matters. Then, with one more press of the pause button, everything could fast-forward to a perfect resolution.  

He loved him. He also understood him.  

Separation was a reasonable way to ease the shock.  

Finding out, all of a sudden, that your son was gay—that he and his best friend were actually lovers, that they had probably kissed and even had intimate moments that were impossible to imagine—  

All of this crashing down in one instant… It was a miracle that the two elderly parents hadn’t suffered a stroke on the spot. The fact that they had managed to pack overnight and leave rather than being rushed to the hospital was, in a way, something to be grateful for.  

But then what?  

How long would it take for them to calm down enough to sit down and talk about this properly, rather than treating it like a landmine that would explode the moment it was touched, leaving no room for conversation?  

Jiang Wang often thought about this before going to sleep.  

If only people could communicate telepathically. Even Morse code, like in a spy movie, would do.  

He wondered what Ji Linqiu was feeling when he left. Was he panicked, calm, in control, or completely devastated?  

He imagined other things too, like how, while he was picking up Peng Xingwang from school, Linqiu might be hanging clothes to dry in the countryside or sitting in a study reading.  

Or worse, that Linqiu had already been taken by his family to some expected exile location, like Taiwan or Hong Kong, the kind of place where tragic stories always seemed to unfold. And then, maybe, they wouldn’t see each other again until they both had white hair. By then, even if sparks could still fly between them, a long-awaited reunion in bed would probably be a bit difficult.  

Jiang Wang felt like he was stuck in sorrow — half-immersed, yet forcing himself not to sink in too deep. It was an uncomfortable in-between, like wearing clothes that were the wrong size, making every movement feel awkward.  

On the first day after the Ji family disappeared, he told Peng Xingwang, “Your brother Ji had some family issues and needs to go back for two months.”  

That very night, the child crawled into bed with him, insisting on sleeping together. Before dozing off, he whispered, “Why does it feel so empty at home now that Brother Linqiu is gone? The house suddenly feels too big.”  

“Big Brother, all of Brother Linqiu’s gardenias have bloomed. Do you want to take a picture and send it to him? Maybe we can visit him this weekend?”  

“Big Brother, you seem sad too. I’ll hug you. You should have a good dream tonight.”  

Jiang Wang found the child’s chatter a little annoying, but holding him was like hugging a warm little puppy, and soon enough, he fell asleep.  

In his dream, Ji Linqiu knocked on the door, smiling helplessly.  

“I already ran away, and you still haven’t come to get me? Isn’t it obvious where I am, dummy? No sense of tacit understanding at all.”  

“Forget it, forget it. I’ll just come back myself.”  

Jiang Wang woke up with a start. He instinctively reached for the car keys on his bedside table. Outside, the sky was still dark.  

Peng Xingwang was startled awake as well, afraid he was late for school, only to see the time. It’s Saturday, 5:30 AM.  

“Big Brother!!”  

Then came the second day, the third, the tenth, the twentieth.  

Jiang Wang waited patiently.  

He wouldn’t recklessly rush back, nor would he try to forcefully take Linqiu away. He knew that he would likely only get one chance to face Ji’s parents, and he couldn’t afford to act impulsively.  

What he didn’t expect was how empty life would feel after someone suddenly left.  

It was like biting into a richly layered, sauce-filled double cheeseburger, only to find out that it had turned into a piece of paper, jarring enough to make his teeth and gums hurt.  

At work, no one dared to bring up the topic around Jiang Wang.  

Maybe they had noticed something. Maybe they hadn’t.  

A few clueless people speculated that Ji Linqiu had been poached by another big company, but they were quickly shut down and didn’t dare bring it up again.  

Jiang Wang still held meetings, went to work, and occasionally cracked sunflower seeds and chatted with colleagues.  

But no one mentioned the person who had disappeared.  

It was as if everyone understood that it was a forbidden topic.  

Peng Xingwang seemed to understand and not understand at the same time.  

The child remained obedient, waking up early for school every day, even making his way home on his own without Jiang Wang needing to pick him up.  

But one night, he burrowed into Jiang Wang’s arms to sleep. Halfway through the night, he suddenly started crying, his shoulders shaking like a lost little puppy.  

“Big Brother—” He shook the half-asleep Jiang Wang and sobbed, his breath hitching. “When is Brother Linqiu coming home?”