As soon as Qin Zui got in the car, he spotted the two shopping bags in the back seat.
“What did you buy?” he asked Jiang Chu.
“Take a look.” Jiang Chu focused on the rearview mirror as he pulled the car out of Back Door Street.
Qin Zui grabbed a bag and pulled out the down jacket inside. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Jiang Chu. “For me? A Christmas present?”
“If you think so, then it is.” Jiang Chu turned his head to look him over. “Does it fit?”
“It fits.” Qin Zui felt the material for a second before stuffing it back in. “Everything you buy fits.”
Jiang Chu smiled.
Then he grabbed the other bag. When he saw it was the same style, Qin Zui was momentarily confused, thinking Jiang Chu had made a mistake. “These two are the same.”
“I thought it looked good on me too when I tried it on, so I got another one. But now I’m thinking I might have lost out.” Jiang Chu said. “Should I at least have gotten a different color?”
“No need,” Qin Zui said.
Jiang Chu hummed in question.
“It’s fine.” Qin Zui stuffed the jacket back into the back seat. “Leave it.”
Jiang Chu said he was originally going to get another short, dark green camouflage one, but Da Ben had snatched it. And he’d snatched the 3XL one, making him look like he was going to war in the Arctic. The sight had completely put Jiang Chu off.
Qin Zui didn’t care about the style. He laughed along with Jiang Chu for a bit. Then, thinking about how the upcoming meal with Qin Shuman was bound to be awkward, he fished out a piece of chocolate from the bag Lu Yao had given Jiang Chu and tossed it into his mouth.
“Hey,” Jiang Chu noticed. “That’s my Christmas present. Don’t steal it.”
Qin Zui looked at him, then grabbed the entire bag of candy and stuffed it into his own backpack.
He also confiscated the big apple Gao Xia had thrown to Jiang Chu.
“What’s your problem?” Jiang Chu said. “I saw you already have a bag in your backpack.”
“Yeah, they’re all mine now.” Qin Zui zipped his backpack shut, not leaving a single piece for Jiang Chu.
“All from Lu Yao?” Jiang Chu asked.
Qin Zui pulled a pack of gum from his own pocket and tossed it into Jiang Chu’s center console. “This one’s mine. Eat up.”
Jiang Chu laughed out loud at the complete lack of festive spirit in the pack of gum. “Is this my Christmas present from you?”
He just blurted it out. Jiang Chu was never one for ceremony on any holiday, something Da Ben used to always rag on him about.
If he wanted to give something to someone, he just did it. It didn’t matter if it was a holiday or a birthday or anything else.
The only two holidays he’d actively celebrated this year were Qin Zui’s birthday and, barely counting, today. And he didn’t do it just for the sake of the holiday. He’d planned a little for Qin Zui’s birthday, but today was purely coincidental.
“What do you want?” Qin Zui asked immediately.
“I don’t need anything.” That was the truth. Jiang Chu wasn’t expecting a gift.
They passed a mall. Qin Zui saw the IMAX sign on the building and thought for a moment. “I’ll take you to a movie.”
“Sure,” Jiang Chu nodded.
“Let’s go today,” Qin Zui said.
“Today?” Jiang Chu checked the time. “Do we have time? It’s already 6:30.”
“Dinner with her won’t take long.” Qin Zui didn’t treat the meal with Qin Shuman as a big deal at all. He pulled out his phone and started looking for tickets.
And dinner with Qin Shuman really didn’t take long.
As soon as they entered Jiang Liantian’s house, Jiang Chu felt that familiar “welcoming an outsider” ritual from the couple and sighed internally.
“Little Chu, have you caught a cold?” Qin Shuman asked, hearing his stuffy nose.
“Yeah, a little,” Jiang Chu replied, helping Jiang Liantian serve the soup in the kitchen.
“Got a cold?” Jiang Liantian glanced at Jiang Chu. “There’s Ganmaoling at home. Grab a pack on your way out.”
“Can’t you buy Ganmaoling anywhere?” Jiang Chu smiled, nodding towards Qin Zui in the dining room who was setting out chopsticks and bowls.
Jiang Liantian gave him an “I’ve got this” look, carried a dish out, and asked, “Qin Zui, is your ankle all better?”
“Mm, it’s fine.” Qin Zui answered in a flat tone.
Jiang Liantian told them young people should take care of their joints too. Jiang Chu went along with a few “mm-hmms” and “yeahs,” as if it were father and son who had dislocated something. Qin Shuman and Qin Zui barely said a word.
After all the food was on the table, Jiang Liantian nudged Qin Shuman’s arm. Qin Shuman went to the fridge and brought out a cake.
Jiang Chu’s eyebrow twitched. He exchanged a glance with Jiang Liantian.
“Let’s join in the fun and celebrate this foreign holiday too.” Jiang Liantian smiled, took the cake, and placed it in the center of the table, facing Qin Zui. “Last time was for Qin Zui’s birthday. That cake didn’t turn out right, and your mother has felt bad about it ever since. So, let’s make up for it today.”
“Right?” He nudged Qin Shuman’s arm again.
“Open it,” Qin Shuman said, not adding much. She probably couldn’t think of anything else to say. She just smiled and gestured for Qin Zui to open the cake.
Their attempt at making amends was too forced, and half a year too late.
But having the intention was better than not.
“Open it up. I’m waiting to eat.” Jiang Chu nudged Qin Zui’s leg with his knee under the table.
Qin Zui didn’t say anything. He got up and opened the cake.
As the box was lifted, even though he knew it was unlikely, Jiang Chu still felt a moment of nervousness, half expecting to see “Qin Zui (Drunk)” again.
Thankfully, Qin Shuman had been cautious this time. The cake only had a single line: “Merry Christmas.”
Compared to the two previous times, this meal was probably the least eventful one the four of them had ever shared.
Jiang Liantian asked about their recent plans. What were they doing for New Year’s? What about Spring Festival?
Spring Festival was always a bit of a thing every year.
Before Jiang Liantian divorced Jiang Chu’s mom, the New Year was just going through the motions. Sitting down for a quiet meal was enough.
After the divorce, Jiang Chu would just go to both families every year, having a “New Year’s Eve dinner” at each, then spend the rest of the time in his own little home, slowly killing time until work started again in spring.
This year, he had Qin Zui at home. It was a comforting thought. At least it shouldn’t be too boring.
With that thought, he reached out and put a big chicken drumstick on Qin Zui’s plate.
“Little Chu, come on, Auntie would like to make a toast.” Just as Jiang Chu was pulling his chopsticks back, Qin Shuman picked up her wine glass and raised it towards him. “Thank you, really. And sorry for the trouble.”
Jiang Chu hadn’t had anything to drink today. There was only a bowl of soup in front of him. Qin Zui pushed his own cup over.
“Not at all. You’re being too polite.” Jiang Chu clinked his glass with hers.
“It’s not politeness. It’s really…” Qin Shuman paused, shifting her gaze to Qin Zui. “I’ve been thinking lately. I think it’s like this, Qin Zui. You’re not a kid anymore.”
Qin Zui and Jiang Chu both paused, looking up at her.
“When you first came in the summer, I was mainly worried you didn’t know anyone. Your Uncle Jiang and I are always busy. Your Brother Jiang Chu is closer to your age, easier for you to talk to… ” Qin Shuman paused again, as if organizing her thoughts.
“I feel that, after all, Jiang Chu has his own life. Having you living with him, looking after you all this time, it must be inconvenient for him in many ways.” Qin Shuman exchanged a look with Jiang Liantian. “You should be used to things here by now. If you can live on your own, and you want to, how about I find you an apartment after the New Year? What do you think?”
“He doesn’t have to live alone, either.” Jiang Liantian saw that Qin Zui hadn’t said anything, just staring at Qin Shuman, so he added. “It’s still easier with Jiang Chu looking after you. Your mother was thinking, you young people nowadays, you value freedom more, right? You like having your own space, prefer being with people your own age.” He glanced at Jiang Chu again. “Actually, I think boarding at school is a good idea. You can hang out with friends and classmates. And on breaks and holidays, if you want, you can still go hang out at Jiang Chu’s place.”
Qin Shuman nodded, her eyes asking Qin Zui, “What do you think?”
Jiang Chu had wanted to interrupt right from the start of Qin Shuman’s speech, to say “There’s no need.”
But Qin Shuman quickly introduced a key point. She asked Qin Zui, “If he also wanted to be alone.”
That premise left him speechless.
Even though Qin Shuman and Jiang Liantian’s presumptuousness annoyed him, it was also true—what if Qin Zui wanted to live on his own?
His friend Du Miaomiao, the same age as Qin Zui, was already thinking about getting into college just to get away from his uncle. He’d even tried running away from home a few times.
No one spoke at the table for a moment. All three of them stared at Qin Zui, waiting for his answer.
Qin Zui didn’t say a word. His face was expressionless. Jiang Chu could clearly feel his mood plummeting, dragging down the atmosphere in the room. He was staring back at Qin Shuman with a rigid look.
Qin Shuman looked a little embarrassed. She glanced at Jiang Liantian again.
Jiang Chu watched the side of Qin Zui’s unblinking face. He was about to say something when Qin Zui suddenly turned to look at him. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse with barely contained emotion. “You want me to go too?”
He said “too.”
The feeling Jiang Chu had when he saw Qin Zui had cooked that meal for him came flooding back.
Seeing the barely suppressed turmoil in Qin Zui’s eyes made his heart ache. He quickly reached over and rubbed Qin Zui’s back. “I don’t. I think things are fine the way they are right now. If anything, you take care of me more than I take care of you. They were just asking your opinion. Whatever you decide, Brother will support you.”
“Yeah, we don’t mean anything bad, Qin Zui,” Jiang Liantian quickly added. “We just want you to be more comfortable. Everything we do is for you.”
Even Jiang Chu felt a surge of irritation hearing that. If they were really thinking about Qin Zui, they wouldn’t have pawned him off in the first place.
Qin Shuman tried to say something more, but Qin Zui just put his chopsticks down, pushed his chair back, and stood up.
“Let’s go home,” he said to Jiang Chu. “I’m done.”
“Alright.” Jiang Chu stood up immediately, fished the car keys out of his pocket, and handed them to Qin Zui. He squeezed his arm. “Wait for me in the car. I’ll be down in a minute.”
Qin Zui hummed in acknowledgment. He didn’t say goodbye to Qin Shuman, just grabbed his coat and walked out.
The moment he was gone, Qin Shuman put her glass down, brushed her hair back, and turned her face away. Her eyes were a little red.
“Dad,” Jiang Chu said, nodding towards Jiang Liantian, signaling for a private word.
Jiang Liantian squeezed Qin Shuman’s shoulder, pointed towards the study, and told Jiang Chu to go in first.
Jiang Chu waited in the study for two minutes, found a good pack of cigarettes in Jiang Liantian’s drawer, opened it, and lit one.
Jiang Liantian came in and turned on the air purifier, pointing at the pack of cigarettes. “Take the whole pack.”
“What were you two thinking?” Jiang Chu asked, leaning against the desk.
“What do you mean, what were we thinking?” Jiang Liantian looked at him, baffled. “We were thinking of you.”
“Did I say I wanted Qin Zui to move out?” Jiang Chu shifted the cigarette to the other corner of his mouth, pointing a finger at himself. “Did I say he was a bother?”
“You were against it from the start,” Jiang Liantian lit one too, sitting back into his chair like a general, one hand resting on the armrest. “I said at the time, we’d just keep him for one semester. If you got tired of it, he could go to boarding school or whatever. It would be easy to bring up.”
That was the initial conversation he’d had with Jiang Liantian. At the time, it hadn’t seemed like a big deal. But now, all Jiang Chu could see was the look in Qin Zui’s eyes from a moment ago. He squinted, annoyed, and blew out a stream of smoke.
“I know you two are getting along well now. I didn’t say he had to go to boarding school right away. We were just asking. If he wanted to live on his own, we could set it up.” Jiang Liantian couldn’t quite understand why Jiang Chu was so worked up. “He can’t just stay with you forever. His mom lives here too. Even if he goes away for school or something later, during breaks or after he graduates, he’ll have to come back. If he comes back, he’ll go straight to your place? You don’t have any worries now, but what about when you get married and have kids?”
Jiang Liantian rambled on. At the start of all this, Jiang Chu would have agreed with everything he said. But not now.
He cared too much about Qin Zui.
“Where did that come from? Babies?” He stubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray on the desk. “Having a kid doesn’t mean I can’t live my own comfortable life.”
“Jiang Chu.” Jiang Liantian sensed the jab was aimed at Qin Shuman and frowned at him. “You don’t know the whole story. Don’t go making careless comments.”
Jiang Chu didn’t tell Jiang Liantian that he already knew about the Qin family’s situation from Qin Zui. And even if he did, he didn’t want to comment.
From an outsider’s perspective, he really had nothing to say. But if he was always just an outsider, it would be fine. The problem was, he was now unavoidably looking at everything from Qin Zui’s point of view. It was hard to calmly understand or accept Qin Shuman’s way of handling things.
“Just leave it to me,” Jiang Chu said finally. He didn’t say much else, just ground the cigarette butt down again. He pocketed the pack of cigarettes and stood up straight from the desk.
“If he has any ideas, he’ll tell me. If you really want to think about what’s best for him, then stop making decisions for him.” Jiang Chu pulled open the door, finishing his piece in a measured tone, directed at Qin Shuman who was still staring blankly in the dining room.
