Hu Jun was furious, and the consequences would be severe.
Yu Shulin left the school maintaining an expression of grievance and sadness, then quickly resumed a blank, expressionless look once outside the school gate and began sorting out the connections.
Hu Jun's wife was from the high school next door. His wife's younger brother worked in the Education Bureau, and Yu Xiu was also in the Education Bureau. Hu Jun's father-in-law held a minor official position there...
Excellent, perfect.
Based on his understanding of Yu Xiu, the matter of guardianship definitely wasn't over. There would absolutely be more trouble later. His own social circle was narrow; if Yu Xiu wanted to manipulate him, he would inevitably start with his teachers and classmates. Now that he had already given the teacher a heads-up, it shouldn't be so easy for Yu Xiu to try anything else.
The education circle was a bit strange. It was hard for information to spread from inside out, but once gossip emerged within the circle, it would rapidly spread throughout it in just a few days. Yu Xiu was now making his living within the Education Bureau. The trap had been set... He wanted to see how Yu Xiu, with the reputation of scheming against his nephew's inheritance, planned to climb the ladder!
When he returned home in the evening, a neighbor told him that someone claiming to be his uncle had come looking for him.
Yu Shulin felt disgusted. To him, that Yu Xiu was like a stinking sewer ditch that polluted wherever he went. He had finally broken free from him and really didn't want to have any further involvement—it would be best if he didn't even have to smell the stench on him! Now that guy had come knocking, it was practically affecting his quality of life.
Around seven or eight in the evening, the home phone rang. Thinking it might be Liang Zhou calling, he went over to answer it.
"Hello, Shulin? It's me, your uncle. I think there's some misunderstanding between us. Your uncle loves you so much, how could I possibly be..."
Yu Shulin was so nauseated by the words "loves you" that he slammed the phone down directly.
One minute later, the ringing began persistently. Unable to bear it any longer, he unplugged the phone line.
Why was this Yu Xiu so hauntingly persistent? So annoying!
After calming down for a moment in the living room, he turned and ran into his room to start packing his things—given Yu Xiu's nature, if he couldn't reach him by phone, he would definitely come to the door to corner him! It was better for him to avoid it.
As he walked to the flower bed near the residential complex gate, he indeed saw Yu Xiu's car driving over. He hid in the flower bed, waiting for the car to pass, his face dark as water. Truly haunting. He could almost guess what that guy wanted to say to him, nothing more than "Your uncle cares for you the most, others who approach you have ulterior motives, hurry and come to your uncle's embrace" and similar talk.
...Just thinking about it was disgusting.
He took a deep breath, steadying his emotions.
Perhaps it was the influence of his physical age, or perhaps his mindset had changed after experiencing rebirth and the guardianship battle. In any case, his emotions now were particularly prone to irritability and extremism—especially when facing Yu Xiu!
It was utterly terrible. He hated himself like this.
The last bit of summer heat was carried away by the night breeze. After wandering the streets for a few rounds, his emotions finally settled completely. Standing at a street corner, watching the coming and going crowds, his mind gradually emptied.
The years living behind high walls had made him especially eager to blend into the crowd. Being able to wander the streets so leisurely and relaxed like this made him feel very happy... It was so good. Life truly was still full of hope.
Darkness hadn't arrived yet; light was right at hand.
He wandered like this until midnight, finally satisfied, and found an ordinary hotel, thinking he could manage for one night.
The hotel front desk girl was very gentle. Seeing him come alone, she even specially showed extra concern. When it came time to show his ID and pay the deposit, he froze there. In recent years, the high school entrance exam had been reformed, requiring an ID card for registration. So, before the exam, the school had uniformly arranged temporary ID cards for the students. But the deposit...
Although legally he possessed many, many tens of thousands, in reality, he was a complete pauper. The money was with the lawyer, in the bankbook, in the bank... In short, not in his bag.
"What's wrong? Didn't bring your ID?" Seeing him rummage in his bag for a long time without pulling anything out, the front desk lady asked hesitantly.
"This, um, sorry, I probably can't stay after all. Sorry to trouble you." He smiled apologetically, silently zipped up his backpack, and turned to leave.
"Hey, wait." The front desk girl looked at his slender figure, feeling somewhat reluctant. She grabbed a handful of candies from a drawer, walked out a few steps, and stuffed them into his hand. Pursing her lips, she said gently, "Running away from home will worry your parents. Hurry back, okay?"
The candies in his hand were wrapped exquisitely, colorful, making one's mood lift just by looking at them. He closed his hand around them, looked up, and gave the front desk girl, who was watching him with concern, a grateful smile: "Thank you. Um, I'll go back now... The candies are very pretty."
A fifteen-year-old youth was at an age where gender was ambiguous. Yu Shulin's appearance inherited his mother's gentle and soft demeanor. His faint smile unconsciously carried a somewhat gentle flavor. The front desk girl's face flushed slightly. She turned her head to avoid his gaze, gave him a little push, and said, "Hurry back. It'll be hard to catch a taxi if it gets too late." Then she clattered back, stood behind the counter, and gave him a shy smile.
Yu Shulin nodded to her, holding the handful of candies, and stepped out of the hotel entrance with light steps, unable to suppress a smile.
In this world, there really were more good people.
Although getting candies from a pretty girl was very happy, after realizing he couldn't find his way home, Yu Shulin's face completely fell.
His memory of what W City looked like had long since blurred. When he came out, he had wandered around following his own whims. Now, looking around, he actually couldn't find the direction home... To make matters worse, he had no money in his bag, so he couldn't even take a taxi home.
Dragging his feet, he walked to a bus stop and looked up at the sign, trying to find a familiar landmark on it. Pedestrians were becoming fewer, and those who passed by occasionally did so in a hurry.
Everyone had a direction home, only he... Was he really that out of touch with society after all?
A cheerful light music interrupted his thoughts. The phone in his backpack was vibrating slightly. He was dazed for a moment, then reached into his backpack to pull out the phone. Staring at the flashing characters "Liang Zhou" on the screen, he was momentarily lost in thought.
Ah, it was his nominal older brother.
Older brother. A strange and unfamiliar form of address.
His movement to answer the phone was somewhat clumsy. He put the phone to his ear and softly said, "Hello?"... How did ordinary brothers normally interact with each other? No, he and Liang Zhou couldn't be considered "ordinary" brothers. Illegitimate child and all... so frustrating...
It was still that same low and pleasant voice, but the pace was faster than usual: "Where are you? Why can't I get through to your home phone?"
"I unplugged the phone line..." He looked at the increasingly empty road, frowning in thought—how should one speak to sound more natural? What was normal communication between brothers like?
"Why did you unplug the phone line?"
"That foul drain kept bothering me. I found it noisy, so I unplugged it." How should I show my goodwill? Call him 'brother' on my own initiative? No, that feels too embarrassing.
"...Foul drain?"
"..."
Wait, did I just say something weird?
