Chapter 32
Jiang Zhong was woken up the next morning by a rapid knocking on the door.
He had stayed up late talking with Xi Qin the night before, and recently, since he had been out with Xi Qin and no one had been there to wake him up, he had gotten used to sleeping in. Now, if no one called him in the morning, he could sleep until eleven o’clock.
Jiang Zhong groggily got out of bed and went to open the door.
“Brother Jiang Zhong,” Bai Yuelang said urgently, “You need to come out and take a look, they’re arguing. My mom sent me back to my room so I couldn’t listen. Please go help my brother.”
Jiang Zhong immediately woke up. After quickly reassuring Bai Yuelang, he hurried to the living room.
He wasn’t sure what had happened before, but when he arrived, he saw his uncle-in-law yelling at Bai Xuyang, his face flushed with anger.
“You’ve been corrupted by what you’ve learned outside, doing such embarrassing things. How am I supposed to explain this to your mom and the neighbors? Should I tell them you’re not normal, that you’ve learned how to deal with men?”
“What’s so wrong about us?” Bai Xuyang replied angrily, his voice trembling. “Have you even tried to understand? You just care about your own face. I’m not like before, letting you show off and make me seem abnormal.”
“Say that again!” Bai Xuyang’s uncle-in-law raised his hand as if to strike.
Jiang Zhong quickly ran up and grabbed his uncle-in-law’s raised hand.
“What are you doing?” His aunt immediately rushed over to stop her husband, her voice filled with tears. “Are you going to hit him again? Haven’t you regretted the last time when you kicked him?”
After his aunt stopped him, Jiang Zhong turned and pulled Bai Xuyang to a nearby single sofa, making him sit down.
“Listen to what he’s saying!” Bai Xuyang’s uncle-in-law shouted.
“Alright, let’s all sit down and talk this through,” Zheng Yinqiu looked around, “It’s not worth hurting family harmony over this.”
“Mm-mm,” Jiang Zhong quickly nodded, following up, “It’s still early, let’s keep the noise down. We don’t want to disturb the neighbors.”
“It’s still early? You should check the time,” Zheng Yinqiu gave Jiang Zhong a fake look. “Everyone else is up, and you’re still asleep. Aren’t you embarrassed?”
“Heh-heh,” Jiang Zhong scratched his head awkwardly.
“Ah, he’s just a kid,” his aunt turned to Jiang Zhong and said, “Did my husband wake you up? His voice is just too loud.”
“No, no,” Jiang Zhong waved his hands. “I was already awake.”
The atmosphere in the living room relaxed a bit because of this small interaction.
After a while, Zheng Yinqiu turned to Bai Xuyang and said, “You’re usually such a careful and well-behaved person. You let your temper get the best of you, and now look at what you’ve said. Your parents must be so hurt by your words.”
“But Uncle-in-law is wrong too,” Jiang Zhong murmured softly, “What’s this about normal and abnormal? Many countries allow same-sex marriage now. Men loving men, women loving women, it’s all normal. The only difference from men and women falling in love is that they share the same gender.”
Zheng Yinqiu completely ignored Jiang Zhong and continued speaking to Bai Xuyang, “People from our generation don’t understand these things as much, and that’s exactly why your parents are afraid you might get deceived or hurt in an area they don’t understand. It’s not all about face.”
“But if they don’t understand, they should try to understand first before making conclusions,” Jiang Zhong added. “You can’t just accept what fits within your own knowledge and deny everything else.”
Zheng Yinqiu turned and stared directly at Jiang Zhong.
“…Fine,” Jiang Zhong said, feeling a bit guilty, “This time, both Xuyang-ge and Uncle-in-law were wrong, so let’s just cancel each other out.”
Zheng Yinqiu: “…”
Bai Xuyang couldn’t help but laugh a little.
The three elders also relaxed at his “fair words” and stopped looking so serious.
“You talk too much,” Zheng Yinqiu pretended to scold, “Your brother barely said a few words, and you’ve already said everything for him. Don’t cause trouble here. Go buy me a bottle of eye drops, my eyes are dry.”
“I’m not causing trouble!” Jiang Zhong moaned, “Don’t you have eye drops?”
“I forgot to bring them.”
“Let Yueyue go buy them,” Jiang Zhong still wanted to stay and listen, “I haven’t even washed my face yet.”
“Yueyue is doing homework in her room. You’re the one with nothing to do,” Zheng Yinqiu urged, “Go quickly.”
Doing homework? When he came down, Bai Yuelang had secretly followed him, and now he was probably crouched by the wall eavesdropping.
Reluctantly, Jiang Zhong put on his coat and went out to the pharmacy outside the community to buy Zheng Yinqiu’s usual brand of eye drops.
Jiang Zhong knew that Zheng Yinqiu wanted to hear Bai Xuyang’s own thoughts, which was why she had come up with an excuse to send him away, as he always interrupted.
But it was true that Zheng Yinqiu’s eyes often got dry, her job required her to face the computer for long periods, so she always kept eye drops on hand. Jiang Zhong didn’t want his mom to suffer from dry eyes for too long.
On his way back, Jiang Zhong saw a man in a black down jacket sitting on a bench facing the building entrance.
Jiang Zhong couldn’t help but glance at him a couple of times because the man had been sitting there since he came down earlier, and as soon as he saw Jiang Zhong, he immediately looked at him before lowering his head in disappointment.
This time, too, when the man noticed someone walking toward him, he quickly turned his head, and realizing it wasn’t the person he was waiting for, immediately looked away.
Jiang Zhong felt a little puzzled. The man seemed to be waiting for someone, but he didn’t seem to be waiting for a specific person.
Because whether they were coming out or going into the building, the man would look up, almost as if he were… looking for someone who lived inside.
Jiang Zhong paused, withdrew his hand from the glass door he was about to push open, and slowly turned to walk toward the bench.
He Xie sensed someone was approaching and looked up.
“Excuse me, sir,” Jiang Zhong thought for a moment and said politely, “Do you know someone named Bai Xuyang?”
He Xie: “!!!”
“I do,” He Xie said eagerly, “May I ask who you are?”
“I’m his younger brother,” Jiang Zhong didn’t expect him to guess correctly and smiled. “Are you here to see him?”
“I… I just wanted to come see him,” He Xie frowned, “Is he doing okay recently?”
“Well,” Jiang Zhong tilted his head, deliberately making Bai Xuyang sound miserable, “Not really. He hasn’t been eating well, hasn’t been sleeping well, and this morning, he almost got beaten.”
He Xie’s expression showed even more concern: “How could this happen? He told me last night that everything was fine.”
“Why don’t you go upstairs and see for yourself?” Jiang Zhong gestured toward the front door. “I can take you up.”
“But,” He Xie hesitated, “Xiao Bai doesn’t want me to look for him.”
Jiang Zhong: “…”
That was definitely his cousin’s style.
“Then I’ll get him to come down and see you,” Jiang Zhong was sure Bai Xuyang would come down, “Don’t leave, wait here.”
Jiang Zhong rushed upstairs, pressing the doorbell with such force it seemed like he had come to start an argument.
After his aunt opened the door, he didn’t bother with pleasantries and walked straight to Bai Xuyang.
“That guy is here,” Jiang Zhong whispered, “He’s been waiting downstairs for a while. Do you want to go down and see him? It’s really cold outside…”
Before Jiang Zhong finished speaking, Bai Xuyang had already rushed out of the house. His speed was much faster than when Jiang Zhong had come upstairs.
Jiang Zhong: “…”
With this level of urgency, you still won’t let anyone look for you?
Hah, men.
“Who’s here?” Zheng Yinqiu asked, her voice muffled.
“Uh,” Jiang Zhong thought this couldn’t be kept a secret anymore, so he just said directly, “Seems like it’s my brother’s boyfriend.”
“He actually dared to come?!” When Uncle-in-law heard the word “boyfriend,” he became so angry he looked around, probably searching for something like a stick, “Let me break his legs!”
“Calm down, Uncle-in-law,” Jiang Zhong quickly stepped forward to stop him, “Beating someone is illegal. If you hit my cousin, that counts as domestic violence.”
Uncle-in-law was still gasping with anger, but eventually, after being persuaded by Jiang Zhong, Zheng Yinqiu, and Aunt, he slowly calmed down.
“Jiang Zhong, go downstairs,” Zheng Yinqiu said, “Tell your brother to bring that kid upstairs, let’s settle this all at once today.”
Jiang Zhong hesitated: “If my brother brings him up, Uncle-in-law won’t get violent, right?”
“He won’t,” Aunt said, her voice full of helplessness, “Your Uncle-in-law just talks tough. After the kick he gave your brother last time, he regretted it for days and couldn’t sleep well. He just couldn’t bring himself to apologize to your brother. Just listen to your mom, have your brother bring the guy up, and we’ll talk things through properly.”
So, Jiang Zhong first gave the eye drops to Zheng Yinqiu, then took the elevator downstairs again.
Bai Xuyang and He Xie stood face to face in the cold wind.
He Xie’s black down jacket was now on Bai Xuyang’s body. At this moment, he was only wearing a sweater, one hand held by Bai Xuyang, and the other gently wiping something off Bai Xuyang’s face.
Passersby occasionally glanced at them in curiosity.
Jiang Zhong felt a bit heartbroken and slowly walked up: “Brother.”
Upon hearing the voice, Bai Xuyang immediately turned his head away from him, hastily wiping his tears with his hand.
Jiang Zhong pretended not to see anything and softly said, “Mom wants you to come upstairs.”
Perhaps seeing He Xie had triggered something in Bai Xuyang, he didn’t say much and immediately led He Xie upstairs.
“Uncle, Aunt,” He Xie immediately bowed deeply when he saw the three elders, “Sorry to disturb you.”
Jiang Zhong’s uncle-in-law gave a heavy “hmph”: “Is it you who’ve led my son astray?”
“No,” Bai Xuyang’s attitude was much firmer now than when it had been just him, “It’s me who…”
He Xie tugged at Bai Xuyang’s arm and bowed again: “Sorry for making you worry, Uncle and Aunt.”
“Don’t stand,” Zheng Yinqiu said with an unreadable expression, “Sit down and talk.”
Jiang Zhong silently sat next to Zheng Yinqiu. It was not his turn to speak now, and he just hoped his mom wouldn’t send him away.
“I heard,” Zheng Yinqiu said slowly, “You two have been together for quite a while.”
“More than three years,” He Xie replied.
“If it weren’t for being seen by Xuyang’s mom, how much longer were you planning to keep this a secret?”
He Xie paused for a moment, and Bai Xuyang answered first: “It was me who wanted to keep it a secret. He Xie has wanted me to tell you all for a long time.”
“Since that’s the case,” Zheng Yinqiu looked directly at He Xie, “Then your parents must already know about your relationship?”
“Yes,” He Xie nodded, “They were surprised at first, but later, they agreed.”
Jiang Zhong thought to himself that behind those few words, there might have been a difficult process.
“Don’t think that just because you say this, we’ll accept this like your parents did,” Jiang Zhong’s uncle-in-law snapped, “I will never agree to my son dating a man!”
Bai Xuyang sneered: “This is exactly why I wanted to keep it from you.”
Everyone in the room looked at Bai Xuyang, and Jiang Zhong thought to himself that it seemed his cousin really didn’t want to wait any longer for Aunt and Uncle to come around on their own.
“I used to think about telling you all myself,” Bai Xuyang said, “But every time I gave the slightest hint, you immediately reacted with extreme disgust. No matter how I organized my words, you wouldn’t calm down to listen to me.”
“Then say it now,” Zheng Yinqiu’s voice softened, “Your Aunt will listen to you.”
“My dad always says I got corrupted in college, that I was led astray by others,” Bai Xuyang lowered his head, “But did you ever think, would I only understand these things in college? I’m not stupid, I’ve known for a long time.”
Jiang Zhong silently nodded, as he had already figured it out for himself long ago.
Back in middle school, many students in his class started secretly having early crushes.
A group of boys often gathered together and inevitably discussed topics about the opposite sex, but he felt indifferent to it. Later, he gradually realized he didn’t like girls at all.
“When I first realized it, I was confused, and I even doubted if something was wrong with me,” Bai Xuyang continued, “But I didn’t have anyone to ask. You all only cared about my exam scores, my ranking, and how much better I was compared to the neighbor’s kids, or your colleagues’ kids.”
Sighing inwardly, Jiang Zhong thought, though no one asked him either, Zheng Yinqiu and the others didn’t have high expectations of his academic performance. As long as he performed better than the class average, that was enough.
“You all secretly felt happy because I didn’t get along well with the female classmates, thinking I was ‘well-behaved’ and wouldn’t fall in love too early,” Bai Xuyang said, “Now that you know the reason, you’re quick to judge me as ‘abnormal,’ saying that people like us won’t have a good outcome.”
“But what kind of outcome would you consider good in your eyes?”
“I’ve gone to a good university, found a good job, and now I just want to date someone I like, but you won’t allow it.”
“I know you’re doing this for my own good, but can you put some thought into what I truly want? I’m not a child anymore. I don’t want to make you angry, but once I’ve made up my mind, I won’t change it just like that.”
After Bai Xuyang finished speaking, the living room fell silent.
Then, Aunt couldn’t help but tilt her head and sob softly, with Zheng Yinqiu gently patting her back to comfort her.
Uncle-in-law also lowered his head, deep in thought.
In the end, Jiang Zhong didn’t know what Aunt and Uncle-in-law truly thought of what Bai Xuyang had said.
All he knew was that Aunt and Zheng Yinqiu spoke for a long time in the room, while Uncle-in-law smoked half a pack of cigarettes in the living room.
Bai Xuyang took He Xie out and didn’t come back for a long time.
Bai Yuelang, who had been eavesdropping on the whole conversation from the corner of the wall, stayed in his room for the entire afternoon before coming out.
Jiang Zhong couldn’t help but feel a bit sentimental. Bai Xuyang’s room was taken over by someone, with the door locked, and he was preparing to video call Xi Qin.
【Jiang Zhong: What are you doing?】
【Xi Qin: Streaming.】
【Jiang Zhong: I miss you.】
【Jiang Zhong: I want to see you.】
In less than ten seconds, Xi Qin’s video call came through.
Jiang Zhong first scratched his hair in front of the phone screen and cleared his throat before accepting the call.
On the video, Xi Qin slightly turned his face, probably setting his phone beside his computer.
“Did I interrupt your work?” Jiang Zhong asked in a playful tone.
“No,” Xi Qin smiled, taking a few glances at Jiang Zhong while the game was safe, “You’ve improved my work efficiency.”
“Really?” Jiang Zhong felt a sweet sensation in his heart. “Then you’ll definitely win this round.”
“I think so too,” Xi Qin said while steadily controlling the game character, “After all, I have a buff boost.”
Jiang Zhong muttered a quiet “Damn,” Xi Qin could always make him weak in the knees, no matter where or when.
Then Jiang Zhong thought of another question: “Did you turn on the mic for the stream?”
Xi Qin glanced at the microphone that wasn’t captured by the phone’s camera and said without missing a beat, “No.”
“That’s good,” Jiang Zhong said, “We can talk freely then.”
On the XX live-stream platform, in the room number of xixixi.
【It’s really not my corrupt eyes seeing people as gay…】
【We can’t hear anything, please talk more clearly.】
【I didn’t think much when I first made the call, but when Xi Shen said ‘no,’ I was like… emmm…】
【I’m wearing headphones in the dorm, just in case.】
【I’m wearing headphones at home too.】
【I’m already wearing headphones on the subway, but I still worry about being heard by people around me.】