TYAM Chapter 98

Jiang Wang was sleeping soundly when he was shaken awake by a child. He turned on the nightlight and saw that the kid was crying, tears and snot all over his face. Just as the child was about to throw himself onto him, smearing everything everywhere, Jiang Wang reached out and lifted him up. “Wipe your face first!”  

“I won’t!” Peng Xingwang was crying so hard he started coughing. “Did you have a fight with him? Do you not want him anymore?”  

Jiang Wang pulled out two tissues and handed them over, but the child stubbornly turned his head away, snot flinging with the motion. “I won’t wipe! I want Brother Linqiu! I want Teacher Ji!”  

This kid didn’t even have this much backbone when he first thought he’d been kidnapped.  

Jiang Wang felt a headache coming on from the crying. While holding the child in his arms and helping him blow his nose, he refuted, “How could I possibly have a fight with him? Do you really think that’s possible?”  

“Then what’s going on with you two?”  

“Something happened in his family.”  

“Bullshit! I don’t believe you! You can fool Teacher Fu and the others, but not me!”  

Jiang Wang adjusted the desk lamp a bit brighter, looking at the messy-haired, tear-streaked child who was glaring at him. “You’re something, huh? Waking me up at one in the morning just to put on a magic show for you?”  

Peng Xingwang felt a bit guilty but was also determined to fight for Teacher Ji. He wavered between acting mature and insisting on his demands, but in the end, he straightened his back forcefully, though his tear-filled eyes made it clear that if Jiang Wang scolded him, he would cry again.  

Jiang Wang was at his wit’s end. He took another tissue to wipe the child’s eyes, his voice softening.  

“So tell me, what do you want to do?”  

That question… it felt like he was asking his younger self, or maybe he was asking himself right now:

“What do you want to do?”

Peng Xingwang took the tissue and blew his nose loudly. Seeing Jiang Wang still looking at him, he raised his voice. “You’re the adult! Shouldn’t you be the one deciding what to do?!”  

Jiang Wang hadn’t expected that he would have a late-night strategy meeting with himself.  

“I… I’ve been trying to figure out a way to bring Teacher Ji back safely and happily. Or maybe even smuggle him back.”  

“Have you thought of a way?”  

“There are definitely ways, but the risks are high. Grandpa Ji and Grandma Chen are old now. They can’t handle being scared. We can’t be reckless.”  

Peng Xingwang got anxious. “It’s been 49 days since we last saw Teacher Ji! What are you still thinking about? Let’s go see him first! If he’s locked up, we have to get him out!”  

Jiang Wang was silent for two seconds. “His family members are educated people, they shouldn’t be chaining him up with iron chains.”  

Peng Xingwang rolled himself up in the blanket like a little bear throwing a tantrum. “I don’t care! We’re going to get him! Tomorrow! We’re getting him tomorrow!”  

Jiang Wang glanced at the clock, surprisingly patient. “Peng Xingwang, even if we’re going to get him tomorrow, only I can go. Tomorrow is Tuesday, and you have school.”  

Peng Xingwang sat up abruptly and said the most rebellious words of his life: “Then I won’t go to school! I’ll take leave. I have to see Teacher Ji!”  

Jiang Wang stared at him for a long time, wondering if this kid was like him or not like him.  

After a bit more fuss, they eventually went to sleep. The next morning at 7:30, when it was time for school, Peng Xingwang was already dressed, backpack slung over his shoulders, stuffed full of Red Bull and books for the road.  

Jiang Wang, brushing his teeth, watched him rush around gathering random things to bring along. With toothpaste foam in his mouth, he mumbled, “You’re really skipping school to pick up Teacher Ji?”  

The kid flinched, then turned back with teary eyes, on the verge of crying again.  

“Alright, alright, alright, let’s go. I’ll call in your leave.”  

He hastily made some noodles, and while waiting for them to cook, he called Tao Yingqi.  

Tao Yingqi had already submitted her resignation and would be officially free next semester, but for now, she was still diligently finishing her last term.  

Still, when she saw the future boss calling, she had mixed feelings. “Hello, Boss Jiang,” she asked, “What’s the matter?”  

“I need to ask for leave for Xingwang. Something came up, and I have to take him out of town for two or three days.” Jiang Wang cracked an egg into the pot, thought for a moment, and added another for himself. “What do you think… should I say it’s for a fever or a family visit?”  

If any other parent asked this, they’d have been scolded already. Tao Yingqi forced a smile while glancing at the students already reading in the morning session. She coughed lightly. “Got it. I’ll file it as sick leave for now. Just come by later to sign it.”  

After hanging up, the child cautiously asked, “Is Teacher Tao mad at me?”  

Jiang Wang looked down at him. “You’re backing down now? Weren’t you tough when you woke me up in the middle of the night?”  

They didn’t bring any luggage. Just filled up the car’s gas tank and left. It took six hours to drive from Yuhan to Zhou Town.  

They could’ve taken a train, but driving gave the illusion of being in control of being able to decide their speed and get there faster.  

Peng Xingwang sat in the back seat, seatbelt fastened, clutching his backpack, staring out the window like he was heading into battle.  

Jiang Wang was driving this route for the first time, carefully following the car’s navigation.  

From the backseat, Peng Xingwang’s voice came through. “Big Brother, we shouldn’t be scared. Even if they try to kick you out, I can rush in! If that doesn’t work, I’ll cry. Grandpa Ji likes me a lot, he won’t bear to send me away!”  

Jiang Wang found it amusing. After a pause, he responded, “Alright. You do your thing. You’re my right-hand man.”  

Zhou Town.

Ji Linqiu sat in his study.  

He had noticed that when he let his mind wander, time seemed to pass quickly.  

He hadn’t expected himself to be so compliant after everything exploded. Almost as if he had no temper at all.  

This reaction had nothing to do with filial piety or emotional intelligence. It was an instinct he had never considered before.  

Everything Jiang Wang had patiently reassured him about, all the defenses he had lowered while spending time with Xingwang. At the moment his mother broke down in tears, all those defenses sprang back up.  

As if they had never disappeared.  

He didn’t mention finding a job after coming home, knowing that in a town as aging as Zhou Town, there weren’t many decent job opportunities for young people anyway.  

Since leaving Jiang Wang, he felt like his mind had dulled. Like his thoughts were sluggish, his reactions slower, his emotions no longer as rich.  

‘Why is it that as soon as I leave you, I start feeling old?’

They had left too suddenly.  

Not only did they pack up everything overnight, taking all their personal belongings, but they also left behind anything valuable, including both his and his father’s salary cards, tucked beneath a sheet of stationery.  

Ji Changxia’s family and work are both in Yuhan, so she can only take leave to come back and accompany him for a few days, and then return there. However, she was repeatedly reminded not to have any contact with “that person” and to avoid “him” at all costs.

Ji Linqiu felt very strange when he watched his mother do this.

He couldn’t help thinking, if he and his sister obeyed her, would she feel comfortable and happy?

At least Ji Guoshen was very disappointed.

This kind of loss was not because of finding out that his son was gay, but the kind of panic he had because he was suddenly pulled out of his ideal life. In Zhou Town, there weren’t many people who pursue education, so there were even fewer teachers. When he came back to the small town, he told everyone he was just taking a vacation. Everyone immediately guessed he would only be around for a few days, so they casually play chess as usual with him. 

But after Ji Guoshen went there a few times, he refused to go there again.

Sometimes the old man couldn’t help but look for the question bank he hadn’t finished compiling, or take out his mobile phone to call a few young teachers he was on good terms with, but then put it back reluctantly.

Ji Linqiu knew that his father didn’t like money, fame, or status. He just like the joy of teaching, and it was his hobby. 

Many of Zhou Town’s youngsters had gone out of town to pursue higher education. Who can he teach? 

Chen Danhong was the one with the most emotional turmoil.  

That night, she cried terribly, as if she had just found out her son had contracted syphilis, like the sky had collapsed, the world had been destroyed. Even after returning home, she remained sorrowful, mumbling a few words before falling silent, wiping away her tears as she tidied up the melon vines and bean trellises, sighing as she fed the chickens and swept the yard. But a person couldn’t cry every day.  

It wasn’t long before she started zoning out, sometimes completely lost in thought.  

When a reporter on CCTV News spoke a few words in English, she couldn’t help but lean in to listen. Understanding one or two words, she would smile, only to quickly wipe it away, as if she shouldn’t have smiled at all.  

The dishwater was freezing cold. When Ji Linqiu passed by and offered to help, she pushed him away.  

“A scholar’s hands shouldn’t be frozen,” she murmured while turning on the faucet herself. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she fell into a daze again.  

At times like this, Ji Linqiu would observe her carefully. Her face held a dreamy yet repressed expression, as if two sides of her were locked in a silent battle. He suddenly realized — he was just like his mother.  

When a person is lost in thought, time passes both slowly and quickly, as if their awareness has blurred along with their sense of time.  

There were never many books in their old home. Every book was an old, thick, lead-printed edition, covered in dust, with even tiny yellow spiders crawling between the words.  

Ji Linqiu flipped through these ancient books, thinking about Jiang Wang for a while every day. His longing for him should have been suffocating, oppressive, and painful. But somehow, it wasn’t quite like that.  

When he thought of him, it was like searching for a lighthouse in the vast ocean. Remembering a single moment was like catching a faint glimmer of direction from that lighthouse.  

Sometimes, he became obsessed. Whenever he heard a noise and turned around, he always half-expected Jiang Wang or even Xingxing to appear out of nowhere. And he always worried—  

He had been away from him for so long, for so far. What if that bastard really turned into seafoam like the Little Mermaid and simply vanished with a “poof”? What if he went back to Yuhan one day and couldn’t find him anymore?  

Ji Linqiu vaguely sensed that he needed to plan a trip back, at least to see Jiang Wang, to confirm that he was still there — or at the very least, to collect some seafoam from his bathtub.  

He devised a few escape plans, but strangely, his parents didn’t seem to be stopping him. Instead, they seemed more like lost souls, waiting for him to give them an explanation, or to tell them what they were supposed to do next.  

So which plan should he choose? Or should he just slip away first?

As Ji Linqiu was struggling with his choice, he was met with a little head peeking out from the fence. Peng Xingwang’s bright, shining eyes were full of an almost dazzling happiness.  

“Brother Linqiu!”  

Then, the child was abruptly pulled back by the man behind him, his mouth covered.