Chapter 13

The children’s private, fanciful notions, when brought before adults, left Xie Xi’s father utterly torn between laughter and tears at his own foolish son’s antics. The name-changing affair that had stirred up days of fuss ultimately came to nothing.

With the new semester, Chen Annan advanced to the senior kindergarten class, and Lu Qingyuan reached fourth grade. After the two little ones finished their classes at school, Lu Wenyuan picked them up and brought them home, one after the other.

That year, summer left without a sound. The ginkgo leaves shed half their green in the crisp, cold wind, unfurling vast swaths of soft, tender gold. And beneath that canopy of gold that blotted out the sun, they welcomed a Nanjing autumn.

At the end of October, the kindergarten held a parent-child activity. Lu Wenyuan needed to take Chen Annan to the event, so picking up Lu Qingyuan would be two hours later than usual. As luck would have it, the elementary school wasn’t far—only two streets away. Lu Qingyuan simply told his dad he’d go home first and not to wait.

After finishing his homework, Lu Qingyuan lay on the sofa and watched cartoons for a while. Just as he was getting absorbed, a sudden “Bang! Bang!” pounding came from the door.

Lu Wenyuan had a key; if he forgot it, he’d call ahead to explain. This time, he hadn’t. Suspicious, Lu Qingyuan walked to the door and peered through the peephole—

Outside, a “Little Hopping Vampire” dressed in simple Qing Dynasty clothing, complete with a feathered-tip official’s hat, was thump-thumping on the door.

“Brother, open up, it’s me, Uncle.” A muffled voice came through the door.

Lu Qingyuan: “…”

The door opened, and the bizarrely-costumed little vampire whooshed inside, baring fangs and brandishing claws at Lu Qingyuan with a menacing “Rawr!”

Too bad this little ghost wasn’t the least bit scary. Those pretty, watery big eyes were like washed black grapes, round and glistening, fluttering along with his long lashes.

“…” Lu Qingyuan looked at him without emotion.

Chen Annan thought Brother had been scared silly. He stretched out his arms, rolled his eyes back, and made an even scarier face: “Rawr—” while reaching out to grab him.

Lu Qingyuan, expressionless, took two steps back. “…So scary.”

Chen Annan burst out laughing joyfully and ran to catch Lu Qingyuan. Lu Qingyuan deliberately dodged him. Chen Annan lunged forward, and Lu Qingyuan dodged in the other direction. One kept “Rawr”-ing, the other kept saying, “So scary.”

The two kids chased each other around the living room. Lu Qingyuan didn’t dare run too fast, afraid Chen Annan wouldn’t be able to stop his momentum and fall.

Running in circles, Chen Annan finally grabbed Brother’s clothes, lunged forward, wrapped his arms around Lu Qingyuan’s waist, and shouted with a gleeful grin: “Gotcha, gotcha!”

Lu Qingyuan was tackled onto the sofa. Chen Annan sprawled on top of him, immersed in his own little world, lowering his voice with great enthusiasm: “I’m gonna eat you up!”

Pinned down, Lu Qingyuan choked out two muffled laughs. He thought Chen Annan was just playing, but unexpectedly, the next moment, the little vampire actually took off his cumbersome hat and, with an “Ah-woo,” bit down on his cheek.

“Bite” was just for show, really. The little baby teeth weren’t sharp at all, pressed tightly against Lu Qingyuan’s skin, mixing with drool, grinding with a ticklish, tingling sensation.

Lu Qingyuan’s eyes instantly flew wide open. Caught completely off guard, he cried out in shock: “Chen Annan! You got your drool all over my face!”

Chen Annan laughed, covered his mouth, scrambled off Brother, and fled swiftly.

Lu Qingyuan jumped down to chase him.

A child’s happiness comes simply and purely. By the time Lu Wenyuan got home, as soon as he pushed the door open, he saw Lu Qingyuan pinning the little one down and tickling him. Chen Annan had collapsed on the sofa, giggling uncontrollably from the tickling: “I won’t do it again, I won’t!”

That streak of golden evening sunlight crisscrossed and stretched between them, intimate and heartwarming, immersing one in its tenderness.

Lu Wenyuan crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe, watching this scene for a long time. For a moment, he couldn’t quite name the feeling in his heart. He simply thought how wonderful it would be if they could stay like this forever, never growing up.

This feeling was light and hazy, like debris floating in his heart. Lu Wenyuan crooked his finger and knocked on the doorframe, scattering the warmth. He asked with a smile, “There’s an event on the street tonight. You two wanna go?”

The two kids were taken out after dinner. In recent years, foreign holidays had been promoted, and both sides of the street were decorated by shops with Halloween ornaments. Rows of pumpkin lanterns held small lit candles, their neon glow seeming to stretch to the horizon, dotting the night with unusual bustle.

Chen Annan, dressed as the little vampire, strutted back and forth on the street with an air of self-importance. Lu Qingyuan followed behind him, watching him join a group of kids in strange costumes.

Lu Qingyuan didn’t want to join them. Lu Wenyuan nudged him several times, signaling him to go play, but Lu Qingyuan just sat alone on a swing, watching the group, not joining in.

Among the group were ghosts, witches, pumpkin people, and skeleton monsters. The children clustered together, comparing who was scarier.

Chen Annan went “ah-woo, ah-woo,” “biting” them. When scaring people, he’d open his round, big eyes wide, bared fangs, brandished claws, and stuck out his tongue—so terrifying. A little girl next to him was scared into shrieking loudly, and Chen Annan promptly fell onto her, utterly delighted.

Lu Qingyuan frowned, watching him hug another kid’s arm and say, “Gotcha!”, and then a moment later hug someone else saying, “So scary!” Finally, he watched him return with a pocket bulging full of candy, softly saying “Bye-bye” to the group of kids.

Lu Wenyuan waited until the kids had their fill of fun before leading them back home.

When they got home, Chen Annan sat on a chair, swinging his little legs as he divided the candy.

One for Brother, one for me;

One for Uncle, one for me;

One for Brother, one for me…

Lu Qingyuan’s mood was low. Chen Annan pushed the divided candy in front of him. From beginning to end, Lu Qingyuan hadn’t said a word, just sat coldly on the sofa.

Chen Annan had had a very happy time playing today. He shifted his bottom to sit next to Brother, but Lu Qingyuan suddenly moved a little away.

Such a tiny gesture might have gone completely unnoticed by anyone else, but Chen Annan was sensitive. Now, shut out without understanding why, innocent grievance surfaced in his eyes.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked.

Lu Wenyuan was heating milk for them. Hearing this, he also looked over and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Lu Qingyuan didn’t speak, didn’t even raise his eyes. The small toys on the floor creaked chaotically under his foot. That little thought sprouting in his heart was like a cork floating in water, bobbing up one moment, sinking the next—he couldn’t make sense of it.

Seeing the mood clearly off, Lu Wenyuan put down the cup and said meaningfully, “Cub, this isn’t okay.”

Lu Qingyuan didn’t respond.

Lu Wenyuan said, “Everyone has their own will to make friends. Doesn’t our Xiaoyuan have good friends he plays with at school too? If Dad told you not to play with them, would you just stop?”

He had seen everything clearly today. Kid stuff was nothing more than one playing well with someone else, making the other party unhappy, but too embarrassed to admit it. So he deliberately spoke wittily. Chen Annan didn’t understand, but Lu Qingyuan finally looked at his dad, his gaze slightly surprised.

Lu Qingyuan didn’t really mean it that way, either. It was seeing Chen Annan make affectionate gestures towards other kids that made him uncomfortable. For adults, this would be called jealousy, but children don’t know how to express it.

Lu Qingyuan couldn’t even quite distinguish the concept of possessiveness.

He just instinctively, uncontrollably, felt annoyed. First, annoyed that Chen Annan had stolen his father; now, annoyed that others were too intimate with Chen Annan. In this regard, he was always uncontrollably selfish, feeling extreme disgust for anyone trying to take away what was his.

Lu Qingyuan remained silent. As the father, he thought he could read his son’s mind and earnestly advised: “If we won’t even give someone the freedom to make friends, then we’re just bandits, aren’t we? As the older brother, talk nicely if you have something to say. Don’t just sulk at the drop of a hat.”

Seeing Lu Qingyuan ignoring him, Lu Wenyuan walked over, palmed the back of his head, and ruffled it twice. “Hey! You little stingy bun.”

Chen Annan found this amusing and imitated Uncle’s tone, collapsing onto Lu Qingyuan, snorting with laughter: “Hey! You little meat bun.”

He hadn’t quite learned the phrase right. Lu Qingyuan turned his face away, seemingly trying to hide a smile, but couldn’t help it. He raised a hand and flicked Chen Annan’s head lightly, a small curve lifting the corner of his mouth: “Hey, you playboy radish.”