Next morning, both Quan and Wuying are now sitting in the dining room to eat their breakfast that has been prepared by the housemaid namely Hui. It’s still early in the morning but Quan looks already busy with himself. His right hand is for digging his food while the other one is for checking and replying through his phone. On the other hand, the person who is sitting across from him is doing something familiar but her phone is used for watching some random entertaining videos. After done with his work, Quan can finally put down his phone and focus on his breakfast and his sister. “Wuying.” Quan calls her to break the silence in the room and takes Wuying’s attention. “Hm?” Wuying only responds with a hum without bothering herself to look at him. Before proceeding to ask a question that he has been wondering for, Quan stops for a moment. Thinking that this topic may make her upset, he doesn’t want that to happen. On the other hand, he still needs to ask this since Wuying is already at that age, to be more precise almost passing that phase. She even mentioned her age yesterday so it should be fine, right? “Are you in a relationship with someone now?” Quan manages to gather enough courage to ask that question. Wuying is already in the phase where she needs to be in a serious relationship that leads into marriage. This is one of the problems that keep Quan’s mind busy with. “Mhm.” Without a second thought, Wuying replies immediately even though her eyes are still on her phone. What an unexpected yet pleasing answer from his sister that can lift up the pressure on Quan’s chest in an instant. “Thank goddess…” Quan says and loudly lets out a sigh of relief. “Who is it? What’s his name? What does he look like?” Asking with that bright face as he can’t hide his excitement, knowing that his beloved little sister is going to marry someone and start her own family. Of course, Wuying doesn’t expect such a reaction which makes her look at him weirdly. “Wow… Wow… Wow… chill, Gege. What makes you like that?” Wuying replies as she tries to swallow her food first. “Well… you know that I’ve been thinking about the time you’re going to get married!” Quan exclaims his happiness with that ear to ear smile. Meanwhile Wuying can’t return the expression as bright as his. It’s actually quite the opposite since she looks at her brother weirdly from top to bottom. “Ahaha…” Is the only thing she manages to let out which is laughing nervously along with avoiding eye contact with her brother. Obviously by getting that reaction from Wuying, Quan raises one of his eyebrows. Finally, his sense tells him something is off about the way she reacts to it. “You didn’t… lie to me, right?” Quan asks hesitantly and it makes Wuying to look at him immediately with widened eyes. “Why would you accuse me like that, Ko? You don’t trust me anymore?” Instead of giving an answer, Wuying attacks back first with sharp eyes. Totally looks like she is offended by what Quan just said to her. “Noo! Of course, it’s not like that, Wuying! I’m just–” Quan replies immediately with a panicked voice and shakes his head. Seems like knowing this is going to happen, Wuying takes this chance to turn the table. “Ugghh! Whatever! You’re such a boomer.” Wuying says and rolls her eyes in annoyance as she stands up from her seat, heading to leave the room. “Wuying, I’m–” When Quan tries to stop her, Wuying is already opening the door and slams it right after. These are the things that Quan always tries to avoid, to make his little sister get mad at him, especially this early in the morning. “Hah…” Quan closes his eyes tightly while letting out that heavy sigh, “I shouldn’t have done that…” Another pressure of guilt hits him. On the other side of the room, in the house’s backyard where Wuying is standing right now, she completely looks terrified and panicked. The feeling of uneasiness gets into her nerves as she walks around, circling the room, thinking about something other than what her brother asked her before. A marriage. “Stupid Wuying! Stupid Wuying! Ah, shit! Now how are you going to cover that?!” Her mouth can’t stop mumbling to curse herself because in fact, she is not in a relationship with anyone. She keeps walking around like that and bites her right thumb, trying to figure out a solution for this problem. After a while, she finally decides to accept that offer she just got from her friends some time ago. Thus, she starts searching for a particular contact on her phone and presses the calling option. Not long after that, the call gets responded to. “Shut up! It’s not like I want to, okay?!” Not bothering to give a warm reply, Wuying just goes in furiously for whatever the other person said to her. “I’ll kill you if you dare do anything to me!” Again, she shouts with quite a loud and threatening voice but Quan can’t hear it since he is busy preparing himself for work. Not long after hearing any response from the other party, she hangs up the phone and messes her hair frustratedly. Everything seems to be coming together at the same time to attack Wuying and she is just not ready for it. Back to Quan who is still waiting for his driver to come pick him up, suddenly his phone rings, meaning that someone is calling him. It’s from his older brother, the oldest on the family’s tree, Chang Bèi. Whenever Quan gets this sign, no matter what time it is, he knows exactly what his brother is going to ask about. With that being said, Quan sighs heavily and shakes his head lightly before answering it. “Yes?” Quan greets lazily. “Hey there, little brother! I know you’re busy so I’ll make it quick. Can I borrow some money again? I promise, you will get it back by tomorrow!” Chang replies playfully. His left hand is holding the phone while the other one is used to his cigarette. As expected, the only reason why Chang calls him must be about borrowing money. Nothing else. However, Quan can’t decline it because sooner or later Chang will keep asking and begging for it until he gets the money. “How much do you need?” Quan asks, which automatically makes Chang’s grin grow wider. “Five thousand Yuan!” He answers immediately with excitement. Well, it’s not the first time he gets such a big number from him though, it’s still frustrating. “Please wait. I will transfer it once I get to the nearest ATM.” Quan accepts reluctantly with both of his eyes closed tightly. “Okay! Bye!” Just like what mentioned before, once Chang gets that affirmation, there is nothing else he is going to talk about with Quan. “Hah…” Quan sighs heavily and messages his forehead due to his frustration. It’s still early in the morning but things just can’t get right for him. Not long after that phone got hung up, his driver finally arrives then he gets into it right away. Meanwhile the person from the other side, after hanging up the phone, his face has that ear to ear smile. “What makes you smile like that on such a beautiful morning?” Asks from a woman who is approaching him with two cups of coffee in her hands, his wife namely Kaili. Hearing that, Chang only chuckles and puts out his cigarette. “Morning, honey.” Replying to her greeting and when he takes the cup away from her, they share a quick peck on the lips. “You know what it is about.” Chang continues and brings his wife closer for a cuddle. And yes, without Chang spelling out the reason behind his smile, Kaili already knows what it is based on her husband's cocky smile. “Well… mind telling me what we are going to use it for?” Kaili asks with a smirk and playfully circles her finger on Chang’s chest. Getting that temptation, Chang’s smile grows even wider as he turns his face to look at his wife. “Anything you want, babe~” Chang answers and gets his face closer to her ears, giving small kisses and nuzzling to her neck, which makes Kaili giggles and hugs him tightly.
Just as usual, Niu is busy taking care of the shop but today seems to be busier than the other days because tomorrow she is going to deliver some of her items to other retailers. Her shop somehow always gets improved by the time as it has lots of partnership from different brands and connections for retailers. It might count as a good thing for Niu, Quan never knew or noticed about the shop development. Therefore, even though in such a tight and tiring schedule, Niu still enjoys every second of it. Suddenly while in the middle of writing down her order’s list, Niu’s phone rings and she quickly answers it without looking at the contact’s name. Thinking that it most likely comes from one of her retailers. “Hello? This is Niu speaking.” Niu speaks and holds the phone with her shoulder. However, what welcomes her is somewhat a voice that is very dear in her ears. “Hello, Mom!” the youngest angel, Jieru. Just by hearing her voice, it makes all of her tiredness disappear in a second as Niu’s face is brightening. “Hey there little sunshine! You guys okay? Have you eaten yet? Please eat a lot and drink plenty!” Niu replies with her eyes checking the time from the clock on the wall. She also can’t hide her excitement whenever getting a call from them. “We are doing great here, Mom! And don’t worry, we just finished eating lunch!” Jieru replies happily with that wide grin on her face. Based on the way her voice tone is, Niu can notice that something good has happened to them. “Hm~? What is it? Why is my sweet little pie so happy today?” Niu asks and stops her activities for a moment. After all this is such a precious moment where she can spend all of her attention on her beloved ones. “Hehehe~ Jieru just won a painting competition at school!” Same goes for Jieru, she also can’t hide her excitement as well. Hearing that, Niu’s smile goes even wider, the widest until it can’t go any further. “That’s great, sweetheart! I know you can do that!” Niu says and claps her hand as loud as she can in order to let the other party hear it. “Hehehe~ Thank you, Mom.” Jieru replies and glances over at her brother who looks sulking beside her with his hands crossing on his chest. “Oh! Mom, sorry, almost forgot. Please tell Heng that I’m okay. He has been upset ever since the awarding ceremony… he even almost got into a fight with one of them…” Then she hands the phone to Heng as he takes it still with that annoyed face. “Hi, Mom…” Heng answers lazily then a heavy sigh can be heard. “Hi, Love. What happened to you? Are you okay? Aren’t today supposed to be a happy day to celebrate with your sister?” Niu asks worriedly. “Yes, Mom… I know that but…” Another sigh can be heard as he scratches the back of his neck, looking like he is trying to control all of his emotion. In that age, his emotions can be so absurd and dominant with anger. Of course, Niu knows that so she tries to convince him slowly and carefully. “What is it, Dear? You know you can tell me anything, right? I won’t be mad or anything to you.” Niu persuades her son and thankfully it always works. Such dutiful children toward their parents. “I heard others are mocking Jieru behind her back. Some of them said that Jieru was not supposed to win that competition, Jieru’s painting is not good enough to be the winner, and the last one…” Heng starts off as his face also looks gloomy by the memory of remembering what those people said. Niu doesn’t say anything back right away, instead she just waits patiently until Heng continues it. “They said that Jieru paid in order to win this competition…” From that last sentence, it feels like Niu’s heart just got hit by a truck. Again, no matter wherever she goes, why does that one thing always come up. Money. “Oh… Dear… You know you shouldn’t do that, right? It only traps you in a cage that is full of negativity.” The feeling of empathy in Niu's chest hits as she speaks softly through the phone. Even though there is a slight uncomfortable feeling on hers, she needs to stay focused on calming down Heng. “I know, Mom… But how can I stand it! Standing and watching there as if I didn’t hear any of them!” Heng whines frustratedly as he accidentally slams the table in front of him which startled Jieru. However, Jieru is not scared about the way he behaves though. She knows exactly how protective her brothers are. “Heng honey… I won’t say that I understand how you feel but I know the feeling of frustration because your loved one got hurt…” Niu replies as softly as possible in order to let her voice reach Heng’s heart. “But you must know that it only gives you nothing other than negativity, right? And it actually can put your sister into danger. Let’s say you can land a punch on their face, the one that is really, really, hard that you are satisfied with and can feel that your fist is bleeding. However, is that really the right thing to do? Will they ever stop mocking after that? What if they are getting more aggressive attacking your sister?” Continuation from Niu, only makes Heng lower his head and irritation slowly gets erased away. “What if they are actually stronger? What if they fight back and you probably can get hurt badly. After that those people use this as an advantage to attack your sister since you are not in the right condition to protect her anymore. Please avoid things that might make a devil chain with others, Heng. Because once you get in there, it will keep hunting you no matter how hard you try to run away or break it.” Niu stops right there because it should be enough to remind her son. At first she doesn’t want to sound like scolding him, her emotions probably are the one who controls her to do so. No matter how long she has been in that position and how good she bottled up all of her emotions, it must be hard to keep it all together, right? Niu is just an ordinary human anyway. “Yes, Mom. I understand” Thankfully, it doesn’t make Heng feel down but it actually successfully empowers him for not doing so. Hearing how firm Heng answers her, it makes Niu feel much more relieved. “You are a strong man, Heng. Not many people out there can hold their emotions, especially their anger. And you know how grateful I am to know and have you, right?” Niu says with full of love which makes Heng form a soft smile on his face. How magical it looks like, all of their emotions suddenly get swept away just like that. “Thanks, Mom.” Heng says and chuckles at the end of it. Right after that, someone comes back to their table, none other than the eldest among them, Shoi-ming. Heng hands the phone to Shoi-ming right away, knowing that this is his turn to talk with their mother. “Hi, Mom. How are you?” Shoi-ming says once he puts the phone on his right ear then takes a sip of water. “Just the usual. Checking and preparing all of the orders for tomorrow. How about you, smart guy? How’s your university? All good?” Niu replies casually and flips some of the papers just to simply check them. “Is my mom doubting my intelligence, right now?” He replies jokingly with a cocky smile on his face which makes Niu giggles by hearing her son is full of confidence. “Mom, actually we planned to visit you this weekend since the three of us are free. What do you think? Will you be busy during those days?” Shoi-ming asks and glances at two of his siblings. All of them look excited while waiting for their mother’s answer. “Hmm…” Niu responds and takes her calendar to check all of her schedule and planning for the week. God’s fortune, this week seems to be just the usual and there are no special events or others. “Well… Mom is going to be busy taking care of three children this weekend, huh?” She continues jokingly again and by hearing that all of the children shout their excitement synchronously. “Yeeyy!! Can’t wait to get back home!” Jieru and Heng say as they jump around hand in hand happily. Not wanting the celebration to disturb his time with his mother, Shoi-ming immediately stands up from his seat and walks away. “Sorry about that, Mom.” Shoi-ming apologies first once he is already far enough from the other two. “No need to be sorry, Shoi-ming. You guys are my pill of happiness after all~” Niu replies happily as her wide smile is gluing tightly on her face. “Mom,” Shoi-ming calls her once again but this time his voice tone is completely changed, not the casual one. “How is it?” Just from this simple question with three words, Niu knows exactly what her son meant. Niu sighs lightly first and takes a deep breath before answering that. Not because everything goes downward though, it’s because she knows about her first step on this new path she chose. “I’m completely fine, Shoi-ming. No need to worry that much.” She answers honestly and leans her body forward on the counter. Even though Niu already tries her best to comfort him, Shoi-ming still can’t get away from the uneasiness in his heart. At the same time, he also can’t ask more for it because his mother is just as persistent as him. With that being said, Shoi-ming just accepts it with a heavy heart. “Alright, Mom. There is something that I want to show you once we all meet together.” Shoi-ming says only to leave Niu confused but curious at the same time. “Can’t wait for your surprise, my big baby.” Niu replies with a spoiling voice as it makes the tip of Shoi-ming’s lips raise too. “Okay, Mom. I think that’s it for today. See you in two days.” And that’s the wrap of their small chit chat through phone call. Just from a small interaction between them, it leaves such an indescribable pleasure for the four of them. Someone once said, sometimes a distance doesn’t ruin or destroy a relationship, instead it turns the bond into something that is unbreakable. As the time goes by, thinking of one and another and keeping wanting to be as close as possible even though physically impossible, is something that not many people can bear to do. Thus, makes the awaiting two days pass in just a blink of an eye and now Shoi-ming, Heng, and Jieru are on their way back to their hometown, Ziyang, where her mother is. “Alright. I’ll buy some snacks for us. Stay still while I’m gone, okay?” Shoi-ming warns before leaving them as they answer it with a nod. Even though it only takes two minutes to reach the nearest convenience store, Shoi-ming rushes to buy their needs because he doesn’t want to leave Heng and Jieru alone for too long. When he gets out from the store, he accidentally bumps into someone quite hard. “Ah! Sorry!” Shoi-ming immediately bows down and apologizes to the person in front of him. Instead of saying anything back to Shoi-ming, that person seems to be more focused on his phone call. “Really? Well, we can eat that later for dinner, Jagiya~” He says and just gently pats Shoi-ming’s head which makes Shoi-ming look up to face that person. That person shows his warm smile before walking past Shoi-ming to enter the convenience store. This supposed to be just a simple incident of bumping into a stranger but something is off based on how Shoi-ming stares at that person’s back from outside. It’s only just a glance that doesn’t even last for three seconds but Shoi-ming is one hundred percent sure of what he is seeing, especially toward his phone’s screen. Shoi-ming has been learning some of foreign languages so he knows what’s the meaning of his last word. Jagiya is a korean language that means to call their partner in a romantic relationship. Therefore, hearing that word come out from him toward a certain someone sounds to be completely wrong. He is not in the right position to say that because he is not the husband of Quan’s third sibling, Liao Bèi.
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