UNCLTRD chapter 4

Early in the morning, Yang Shao received a message from Qian, saying he would be at the company in the afternoon, and asked him to submit some materials. When paying money, the customer is the king, coming to the office to handle the procedures, but when it comes to compensation, the customer is like a servant, running around for everything.

However, as long as there is hope for compensation, Yang Shao didn’t mind these things. He dropped off Yang Tao at school first. “Same as usual this afternoon. If I don’t come, you can go home early.”

Yang Tao nodded repeatedly, signaling that he understood. He was also worried that his dad would pick him up and prevent him from showing his gun model to the uncle he met yesterday.

Although Yang Shao had emphasized safety repeatedly since Yang Tao was little, he couldn’t help but nag. “No running off with strangers. Don’t eat things given by strangers. If you’re in danger, be specific when calling for help..”

“—like an uncle with glasses or an aunt in red clothes. Always look for the police if something happens.”

Yang Tao sat up straight, eyes shining with pride, eagerly waiting for his father’s praise.

Yang Shao repeated these words endlessly. Yang Tao could recite them fluently, but Yang Shao didn’t find it reassuring—he just felt sorry for his child.

He gently pressed his hand on Yang Tao’s head and silently sighed, “Let’s go.”

On the way to the kindergarten, Yang Tao reminded him again, “Daddy, don’t forget the supermarket discounts today.”

Their family wasn’t wealthy. Even before Yang Shao’s accident, their life was tight. They had to time their trips to the supermarket when there were discounts for everyday necessities and food. Yang Tao had seen this since he was little and feared missing the sales—worried they would have to survive on nothing but air for a week.

“I’ll go to the supermarket when I come back this afternoon.”

Yang Tao was finally at ease. After waiting all day, he couldn’t wait for school to end. He ran excitedly to the spot from yesterday.

The uncle didn’t disappoint him and was already sitting on the bench waiting for him.

“Uncle!”

Chen Qiusu had gone to the hospital as usual. On his way back, he purposely got off the car near the commercial district. He wanted to avoid the blind date his grandmother arranged for him and was also afraid the child from yesterday would come looking for him.

Sure enough, promises to children cannot be broken, because they take them seriously.

Before Chen Qiusu could even stand up, the child clumsily climbed onto the bench. His face was flushed from the wind, breathing heavily, with his eyes and nose reddened.

“Uncle, I was worried you wouldn’t come today,” the child said, opening his backpack and pulling out a new paper gun. “Look.”

Chen Qiusu took the paper gun. This “pistol” even had a rubber band, which allowed it to “shoot” when pulled back.

“It can shoot bullets.” Although the “bullets” didn’t have enough force to harm anyone, his father was still concerned about potential accidents while the child played, so Yang Tao wasn’t allowed to bring it to kindergarten.

Chen Qiusu listened attentively as Yang Tao explained, showing no signs of impatience. When Yang Tao reached a particularly detailed part, he asked, “Can I take this apart to take a look?”

Yang Tao generously allowed him to, and the more questions Chen Qiusu asked, the more excited Yang Tao became.

“Uncle, my name is Yang Tao. What’s your last name?”

Yang Tao was talkative and would actively start conversations. Once they knew each other’s names, they weren’t strangers anymore.

Chen Qiusu repeated the name “Yang Tao” in his mind. “Yang Tao? Which Tao?”

“Tao as in ceramics,” Yang Tao explained his name proudly. “My dad said when he was registering my birth, he saw someone eating a ‘yang tao’ (starfruit), and since ‘tao’ for peach sounded too delicate, he gave me this name.”

Chen Qiusu smiled. “My last name is Chen, Chen Qiusu. Qiu as in autumn, Su as in serious.”

Yang Tao didn’t recognize the characters and couldn’t write them, but he understood their meaning. He tilted his head. “Uncle, you’re not serious at all.”

“Really?”

Chen Qiusu lowered his eyes and thought. This was the first time he had heard such a comment, as his subordinates were usually quite afraid of him.

“Uncle, will you come tomorrow?”

Chen Qiusu glanced over and saw a couple walking with their child. He felt something was off until he realized that Yang Tao, being so young, wasn’t being picked up by his parents after school and was always hanging around outside.

“Aren’t you in a hurry to go home after school?”

Yang Tao pouted, losing the excitement he had before. His shoulders slumped. “There’s no one at home. I’m always by myself.”

If only this uncle could come every day after school, he could spend time with him first, and it wouldn’t feel so long waiting for his dad to come home.

“Your parents don’t worry about you going home alone?”

Yang Tao’s chubby fingers fiddled with the edge of the bench. “My dad is too busy. As long as I get home before he does, he won’t know.”

When Yang Tao mentioned his dad, his whole demeanor drooped. He wanted his dad to pick him up and spend more time with him, but his dad had to work. He couldn’t show too much dependence on his dad, or his dad would worry about him.

Chen Qiusu didn’t know what Yang Tao was thinking. Seeing him look so dejected, he mistakenly thought Yang Tao was sad because he was afraid of his dad and imagined Yang Tao’s father as an irresponsible, harsh man who would scold or beat him.

“Tomorrow… I’ll come.”

“Really!” Yang Tao looked at Chen Qiusu with joy, his eyes bright. “Then are we friends?”

Yang Tao’s clear expression and enthusiasm were contagious, and Chen Qiusu nodded at him.

Yang Tao looked around, spotting a convenience store at the end of the pedestrian street. He stuffed everything into his bag, jumped off the bench, and pulled Chen Qiusu toward the convenience store.

If you’re going to make friends, you have to be generous, so Yang Tao wanted to buy his new friend a drink.

Chen Qiusu couldn’t refuse and followed his pace. As soon as they entered the convenience store, Yang Tao pulled him toward the drink shelves.

“Uncle, pick whatever you want, I’ll pay.” Yang Tao picked out some yogurt and said mysteriously, “And today is member day, so members get a 20% discount. My yogurt is only four yuan.”

Simple discounts and basic addition and subtraction were no challenge for Yang Tao. He loved going to the store with his dad on weekends, helping to attract customers, and even finding change for him. He was especially good with numbers, particularly money.

Chen Qiusu smiled helplessly, picking up a bottle of mineral water from the shelf. “You know all this?”

Not only did Yang Tao know about discounts, but he also knew about points, and casually recited his dad’s phone number.

The cashier recognized him. “Yang Tao, who’s this with you?”

“My friend,” Yang Tao said, and the cashier looked at Chen Qiusu, who smiled awkwardly.

Unfortunately, Chen Qiusu didn’t let Yang Tao pay. “I’ll pay this time, but next time, you pay.”

….

After leaving the insurance company, Yang Shao received a notification from the convenience store’s mini-program. He opened it and saw that someone had used his membership points.

But Yang Shao didn’t care about such small matters. He took the subway to the commercial street to buy some things at the regular supermarket. When he left, he checked his pockets and found that his cigarettes were gone. He bought two packs at the convenience store on the way.

The store staff had a strong impression of this father-son pair because Yang Tao, so young, could even help his dad with the math. Usually, when it came time to pay, he could already calculate the discounted price.

“Mr. Yang, your son came by after school too, with an adult who he said was his friend.”

No wonder there were points; But who was this friend?

“What friend?”

The cashier laughed, “I’m not sure. It was my first time seeing him. They bought a bottle of yogurt and mineral water and left.”

Yang Shao thanked the cashier and quickly headed home. Yang Tao was obedient, but very clever—too clever sometimes, and he had many thoughts that he kept from his dad. Yang Shao wasn’t worried about other things, but he was concerned that his son might be deceived.

“Yang Tao!”

As soon as he heard his dad’s voice, Yang Tao ran out of the room. “Daddy, you’re back!”

Yang Shao didn’t want to be too serious and scare him. “I just received a message about the points from the convenience store. Did you buy something?”

Yang Tao hadn’t expected his dad to find out so quickly.

“And who is the person you were with? Didn’t you promise me not to talk to strangers?”

Yang Tao almost said something but swallowed it back. He could tell from his dad’s reaction that if he said he had made a new uncle friend, his dad definitely wouldn’t let him spend time with Chen Qiusu.

“Um…” Yang Tao’s mind raced. “That uncle bought mineral water, and I helped him get the discount with my membership card. He let me use the points.”

Yang Shao stared at Yang Tao for a while, unable to find any flaws on that little innocent face. He felt helpless. “Stop worrying about points. They’re just a stranger. Why are you concerned? You’ve been calling me later and later. Do you know that? Tomorrow, I’ll pick you up from school and take you to get a haircut. Your hair is getting too long.”

Yang Tao puffed his cheeks and didn’t say anything. Of course, he was happy that his dad would pick him up, but what about Chen Qiusu tomorrow? He couldn’t even notify him. Next time, when he met Chen Qiusu, they would have to exchange phone numbers.

“Daddy, do you have the money yet?” Yang Tao wondered if his dad had finished dealing with the insurance matters and would have time tomorrow.

There were things Yang Tao didn’t understand, but he still had to give his dad a heads-up.

“Son, your grandpa hurt his back. If we can’t pay the mortgage and your grandpa needs money, we might not be able to live here anymore.”

Yang Tao blinked but didn’t throw a tantrum about his dad’s change of plans. After a while, he comforted Yang Shao, “Are we going back to grandpa’s old house? We can find another house here, maybe one that’s cheaper.”

Selling the house and going back to his hometown was just a temporary fix—it was a way to patch things up, but it didn’t really solve anything. Everything would have to start over, but it might be easier than staying here.