Chapter 04
Happy New Year
Zhao Gongzi: “I already told you that wasn’t why! Are you out of your mind?!”
I asked, “Then what was the reason?”
Zhao Gongzi roared, “You said you wouldn’t engage in an illicit union without a matchmaker! Fuck!”
In reality, I had only been turning him down tactfully back then, and had no idea he would misunderstand to such an absurd extent.
“What are you two talking about?”
Standing at the door was Zhao Gongzi’s young maternal uncle. The young uncle was three years older than Zhao Gongzi, worked as a doctor, and was exceptionally elegant and handsome.
Zhao Gongzi glared at me like a hawk guarding its prey, yet spoke directly to his uncle. “Yixin is throwing a tantrum and demanding to get married again. Heās completely sensible-less.”
I have no idea who “sensible” is, but I do know that Zhao Long is utterly shameless.
I offered a polite smile. “The doctor said you hit your head and need plenty of rest. Iāll keep Young Uncle company.”
Young Uncle smiled slightly. “No need. I just came back to see my brother-in-law about something. I heard Xiao Long was home so I dropped by to check on him. Glad to see he’s fine.”
Both Young Uncle and the Old Gentleman came and went like the wind, perfectly dashing.
If Zhao Gongzi could ever possess even a fraction of such graceful demeanor, I could finally rest my old soul in comfort.
Though I’m more afraid I’ll die with my eyes wide open in despair.
In fact, it will almost certainly be dying with my eyes wide open.
Deeply worried about Zhao Gongziās future, I couldn’t help but sigh.
True to form, Zhao Gongzi entirely misread my expression and said, “I’m fine, alright? I’ll be good as new after lying around for half a month.”
Half a month won’t save him.
I remained fraught with anxiety.
Zhao Gongzi snapped, “Are you quite finished? I said I’m fine. Can you please stop looking like Iām about to drop dead at any second?”
Refusing to stoop to his level, I turned on the radio to listen to some comic crosstalk.
Half an hour later, Zhao Gongzi roared at me, “Iām in this state and you can actually laugh! Did you hire people to ambush me?!”
Why would I ever need to ambush him? Smothering him with a pillow in the middle of the night would be far more direct.
Zhao Gongzi scolded me for another half hour, concluding with his closing argument: “You are not allowed to go downstairs until Young Uncle leaves!”
I asked, “What about meals?”
Zhao Gongzi roared again, “Eat, eat, eat, all you do is eat every single day! You eat so much and you still want more! I was almost crushed to pieces by you!”
Just then, Young Uncle passed by the open door and asked, “What was crushed to pieces?”
I said, “Xiao Long said that when he was dodging gunfire, he accidentally crushed a street vendor’s stall to pieces, so he’s going to compensate them later.”
Young Uncle: “Oh.”
Today, I also found Zhao Gongzi very loathsome.
Today is New Year’s Eve. Fourth Master Zhao is hosting an annual gala at the main mansion, inviting many of the city’s prominent figures and dignitaries. Practically high society in its entirety is present.
Because of this, I overheard Zhao Gongzi’s Fifth Sister and Third Brother joking around. “If I were a member of the revolutionary party, I would take advantage of today to detonate a bomb here.”
Third Brother replied thoughtfully, “You make a very good point.”
Perhaps I misunderstood something.
I certainly hope I misunderstood.
Third Brother used to be a student leader at school and had been arrested by the police three times. He finally stopped standing at the frontline of the protest marches, waving flags and shouting slogans to overthrow warlords, bureaucrats, and gangstersāmostly because Fourth Master Zhao had broken his legs, leaving him confined to a wheelchair to this day.
But he once told me that broken legs didn’t matter. As long as one’s thoughts remained active, one’s hot blood kept flowing, and one’s soul wasn’t imprisoned within a decaying, backward, selfish, and cowardly walking corpse.
I was more than happy to listen to him speak about such things, but Fourth Master Zhao had happened to pass by the door and overheard it too. He called me out, shut the door, and broke Third Brother’s head open again.
As I was worrying about this, I saw Fourth Master Zhao step out from around the corner. He stopped right behind Fifth Sister and Third Brother, listening quietly for a short while.
It seemed my worries were entirely redundant.
Since it was the grand New Year, Fourth Master Zhao would presumably refrain from beating his cubs.
To be completely honest, over the past few years, I have grown less and less invested in the Lunar New Year. When I was a child, my family was poor, and it was only during the New Year that I could wear new clothes and eat good meat; hence, I always looked forward to it. Now that I am surrounded by fine clothes and rich food every day, I feel the New Year is nothing specialājust a few days off where I don’t have to go to work.
I mused on this while taking a bath. Fourth Master Zhao was very strict about New Year traditions; one absolutely had to bathe and change into new clothes before noon on New Year’s Eve.
My mind drifted back to my childhood, when I had just arrived at the Zhao household. During our very first New Year together, Zhao Gongzi cornered me in the restroom and demanded to know how many red envelopes I had received.
Because he had consistently shown immense malice toward me prior to that moment, I decided that a wise man knows when to submit, and a gentleman views money as mere dirt. Without a second word, I immediately handed all my red envelopes over to him.
He probably hadn’t expected me to be such an easy target to rob. His face actually turned red as he roared at me, “Do you think I’m short on your measly bit of cash?! Go ask around and find out what kind of figure I am, alright?!”
Yet, it was precisely because I had heard he was the tyrant of the Zhao family that I had surrendered my money so swiftly.
Naturally, I didn’t say this out loud and simply waited in silence.
Zhao Gongzi shoved the red envelopes back into my hands and continued to bark, “Keep them safe!”
I had no idea what he was trying to achieve, so I hesitantly stuffed the envelopes back into my trousers pocket.
Zhao Gongzi then thrust a crumpled red envelope into my hands and said fiercely, “This is from me.”
For a fleeting moment, I was a little touched.
He hesitated before asking, “Can’t you say something?”
Moved, I replied, “May the young master enjoy a lifetime of peace for his goodness.”
He roared at me, “Not that phrase!”
I tried, “Wishing the young master prosperity and wealth.”
He kept roaring, “Are you out of your mind?!”
Isn’t that what everyone says after receiving a red envelope? I asked, “What am I supposed to say?”
Zhao Gongzi said, “Can’t you just ask me why I’m giving you a red envelope?”
Touched, I reasoned, “Because you were worried I would feel disappointed if I received too few red envelopes. Thank you, this is already plenty.”
Zhao Gongzi looked utterly baffled. “Are you sick? I’m giving you money because you have to do something for me in a moment. I just smashed Second Brother’s paperweight. Go tell him that you smashed it. He definitely won’t give you any trouble.”
I immediately returned the crumpled red envelope to him, shaking my head violently. Wishing prosperity was perfectly fine, but sacrificing my body to repay a debt was absolutely out of the question.
Zhao Gongzi threatened me viciously, “Once you take my money, you have to do my biddings, otherwise I’ll chop your hands off!”
