“Hello? Gege, I’m at school.”
“Yeah, just got out of class for lunch. I’m heading to the cafeteria.”
Jiang Que held the phone, adjusting his slightly overgrown bangs due to recent neglect. Perhaps because he hadn’t hit his growth spurt yet, after four years, he had skipped a few grades and was now in high school. He was still short and pretty, reminiscent of his appearance in fifth or sixth grade, but his beautiful face had evolved, revealing delicate and sharp features.
Being young, skipping grades, short yet beautiful, and being chauffeured to and from school without much interaction with classmates made Jiang Que one of the most typical “soft target” at school.
Jiang Que playfully poked the person who had collapsed in fear in front of him with his transparent tentacles, leaving the person petrified on the ground. There were scattered baseball bats on the ground.
Shen Tazhi’s voice came from the phone, “Alright, go have lunch. It’s been two weeks since you started high school, how do you feel?”
“Great!” Jiang Que’s voice was cheerful. “My classmates are nice, teachers are great. Gege, let me tell you, yesterday a middle school classmate asked me out. She gave me a love letter, but I followed your advice and politely declined.”
There was a pause in Shen Tazhi’s breathing on the other end of the phone. “A love letter…?”
“Yeah.”
Jiang Que casually pushed the terrified classmate aside and started walking towards the cafeteria, making sure Shen Tazhi didn’t get suspicious due to the absence of the usual cafeteria noise.
“It was around 5 p.m. yesterday, which would be 5 a.m. for you, too late to tell you then,” Jiang Que chattered on like he always did, recounting his school encounters.
Although he enjoyed being cute, he never liked complaining to Shen Tazhi about school troubles. From childhood, when Shen Tazhi acknowledged him as his little brother, to now in middle school dealing with unpleasant people, he always kept it to himself.
He could handle it, so there was no need to bother Shen Tazhi with complaints. He talked about the usual topics with Shen Tazhi – how much the teachers liked him, what games he played with friends, and what he planned to eat with Aunt Qingxue in the evening.
But…
Listening to Shen Tazhi’s somewhat perfunctory responses on the phone, Jiang Que thought to himself: They’ve talked about the same topics too many times, and lately, Shen Tazhi seemed to be brushing him off.
No, they had discussed these topics for years, and Shen Tazhi had never brushed him off before. Was it because graduation was approaching, and Shen Tazhi was starting to consider marriage, appearing distracted when talking to him?
Jiang Que couldn’t figure it out, nor did he want to. The thought of it made him unhappy.
He had been working hard to catch up with Shen Tazhi. Even though he found the knowledge at the human school simple and boring, he still studied diligently, striving to advance in his education. Even Qi Qiu and Qi Qing were surprised by his progress.
But how could a ten-year gap be bridged overnight? He had finally made it to high school, but Shen Tazhi was already 22, at an age where marriage could be considered.
Glancing at the time on his phone, he realized it was almost one o’clock.
He spoke into the phone, “Gege, I’m going to eat now. You should sleep early and not stay up late again.”
Shen Tazhi responded softly and hung up.
Jiang Que stood at the cafeteria entrance, then turned and walked away. The cafeteria food was either too hard or too soft, the dishes were oily and salty, things he hadn’t gotten used to over the years. But since Shen Tazhi wasn’t there, it would be too much trouble to come back and forth for lunch. Jiang Que also didn’t like eating alone.
Since he didn’t eat human food, it didn’t matter. He could just skip lunch and eat when he got home in the evening.
Jiang Que bought a bottle of soda from the convenience store, heading back to the dormitory to rest for the afternoon, glancing at the date on the way.
May 7th.
Shen Tazhi would be graduating and returning home in half a month, but from what he gathered, Shen Tazhi seemed to want to pursue a master’s degree. After all, Uncle Zhao and Aunt Qingxue were still young, and Shen Tazhi, as a freshly graduated college student, wasn’t really needed to take on major responsibilities at home.
Shen Tazhi would definitely come back for the summer, but it was uncertain if he would stay in the capital after that.
Why couldn’t he go to school with Shen Tazhi? Jiang Que grumpily took a sip of soda before returning to his dorm room to nap.
Meanwhile, in an apartment in the United States…
Shen Tazhi stared at the hung-up phone, feeling lost. It was almost 1 a.m., and he had a class at 9 a.m. the next day. It would take at least an hour to commute from here to school, but he couldn’t fall asleep.
This wasn’t the first time Jiang Que had received a love letter. Among the crowd of normal human boys who were still wet behind the ears and enthusiastic about playing superhero, Jiang Que, being neat, pretty, good at academics, and conflict-averse, had been the sought-after little husband in the kids’ games since kindergarten.
Of course, Jiang Que never participated in such childish games, but that didn’t stop him from being popular, especially as he grew older, the popularity only increased.
Shen Tazhi had always been the one to scare everyone away with his cold demeanor during his student days. After a serious illness, he had even taken a leave of absence from school, so he had never experienced such exaggerated adulation before.
…You’re really popular, Que Que.
He couldn’t help but sigh, unsure of his own feelings.
He was just Jiang Que’s brother. When Jiang Que was a child, he was everything to him, but after seeing more of the world, it was clear that he wasn’t as important to Jiang Que anymore.
Shen Tazhi fiddled with the contacts on his phone, unable to resist the urge to call again. He wanted to hear Jiang Que’s chattering, listen to him complaining like a spoiled child about the school food and pestering him to come back and keep him company.
But those moments were becoming rarer. Jiang Que rarely initiated phone calls, and every time Shen Tazhi called, Jiang Que would pick up only to find a reason to hang up shortly after:
“Gege, it’s late where you are, you should go to bed early.”
“Gege, it’s almost noon where you are, go eat first.”
“I’m going out to chat with my classmates. Gege, I’ll hang up first, don’t you still have a paper to write?”
…
The reasons for hanging up were all considerate. Anyone else would have been moved by the growth and thoughtfulness of their younger brother. But Shen Tazhi felt that he would rather have Jiang Que trouble him a bit more, insisting he shouldn’t sleep or hang up.
“You’ve really grown up.”
Shen Tazhi murmured softly.
In the end, he didn’t dial the number but switched to the WeChat page and messaged Jiang Que:
【Shen Tazhi: You can contact me when I’m resting, it’s okay. If you don’t want to call, you can message me.】
Jiang Que responded quickly:
【Jiang Que: [Picture of a cute cat head.jpg】
【Jiang Que: No, there will still be notification sounds for messages. You should rest well. I can wait to talk to you later.】
【Jiang Que: Gege, go to sleep soon. I’m taking a nap too.】
Polite, thoughtful, and with a tone that carried a hint of being cute, but he wasn’t really being cute to him.
This is not something that just started now. Ever since he went abroad, Shen Tazhi had vaguely sensed this, but with time, such behavior became more evident.
Shen Tazhi responded with an “alright”, reassured his parents, and then put down his phone to prepare to sleep.
Forget it, he thought. When he returns home, he can spend an entire summer with Jiang Que. After all, Jiang Que lives next door, maybe they can go back to their previous way of getting along?
Though their reasons were different, both of them were looking forward to the arrival of summer.
On May 27th, Jiang Que and Shen Qingxue went together to the airport to pick up Shen Tazhi.
Originally, according to the plan, Shen Qingxue wanted to fly to the United States with Zhao Ruxin to surprise Shen Tazhi. But because Jiang Que couldn’t pass the public transportation security check, this plan had to be abandoned.
The car’s radio was playing the news as usual. Jiang Que sat in the back seat, holding the flowers he had bought for Shen Tazhi with his pocket money, and asked, “Uncle Zhao isn’t coming today?”
“No, he’s not coming,” Shen Qingxue smiled. “Since he’s not flying over, he didn’t come specially. He wants to show off his improved cooking skills to Zhizhi, so he’s cooking at home.”
Just then, a voice came over the car radio: “We interrupt this broadcast to bring you breaking news. Eastern Airlines Flight MU5735, en route to Guangzhou, has unfortunately crashed in the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the loss of all 132 lives on board. Following the accident, maritime rescue teams swiftly arrived at the scene for search and rescue efforts, but were unable to save any lives. Currently, the cause of the accident is…”
MU5735… wasn’t that the flight number Shen Qingxue and Zhao Ruxin had originally planned to book?
Jiang Que wasn’t entirely sure, but Shen Qingxue, who was driving, suddenly turned pale. “That’s the flight we were supposed to be on.”
“Is it really that flight?” Jiang Que was surprised.
Shen Qingxue turned on the hazard lights, slowed down, and pulled over to the side, frowning as she searched for news on her phone.
Within a few seconds, Zhao Ruxin’s call came in. Shen Qingxue connected it to the car’s Bluetooth hands-free system: “Xiaoxue, did you see the news?”
Anxious, Zhao Ruxin’s voice came through the phone, and Shen Qingxue responded, “I saw it. That’s the flight we were originally booked on.”
Her hands were trembling with fear, “Crashed into the Pacific… It’s been so many years since we’ve had such a major aviation accident. If it weren’t for Xiao Que…”
She couldn’t continue, as she couldn’t bear to imagine the consequences if Jiang Que hadn’t been there.
There was no way she and Zhao Ruxin could have survived the air crash, and Shen Tazhi had just graduated from college. He might have been wondering why his parents weren’t replying to messages until the moment he landed and checked his phone, only to find out that his parents had perished in the Pacific.
The Shen family isn’t in a rush to let Shen Tazhi take over because Zhao Ruxin is still young and capable. But once he unexpectedly passes away, those Shen family members who had their eyes on the Shen family assets will emerge one after another.
The old master of the Shen family had passed away long ago. If Shen Tazhi loses his parents, there would be hardly anyone left on his father’s side except for some distant relatives. His mother’s relatives had never treated him as family…
Alone and helpless, that’s all it is.
“Thank goodness… Thank goodness…” Shen Qingxue patted her chest and looked at Jiang Que.
“Que Que, this time you truly saved us,” she said.
Eight years ago, Shen Tazhi was saved by Qi Qing, and now, eight years later, they were saved by Jiang Que. Shen Qingxue couldn’t help but believe that this was all fate.
Jiang Que was taken aback by the sudden turn of events and instinctively pushed back, “No, it’s because you took care of me and didn’t want to leave me alone here.”
Otherwise, if Shen Qingxue and Zhao Ruxin were determined to go pick up Shen Tazhi, he wouldn’t have been able to stop them.
Shen Qingxue shook her head, recalling what He Yun had said to her back then, sighing, “It’s fate.”
She finally calmed down, resumed driving to the airport, while Jiang Que was still watching the news about the crashed flight.
Although Jiang Que didn’t understand what Shen Qingxue meant by fate, he knew how disastrous it would have been for Shen Tazhi if Shen Qingxue and Zhao Ruxin had boarded that plane. Even though he wasn’t in any danger, he still felt a sense of dread.
Shen Tazhi had come very close to being dragged into the abyss by an accident.
It was terrifying. Although he really wanted Shen Tazhi to stay with him, Jiang Que didn’t want Shen Tazhi to have to return to China because of such an accident.
He felt that the way he and Shen Tazhi had been getting along in these few years was quite good. Shen Tazhi was studying hard abroad, while he was trying to catch up with Shen Tazhi’s footsteps, maintaining regular contact and gradually getting closer in their respective fields.
The only downside was the infrequency of their meetings, but he could endure that. As long as his gege wasn’t actively looking for a wife, everything was fine.
“Xiao Que, have you… ever thought about what the future holds for you and Zhizhi?”
Perhaps due to this accident, Shen Qingxue, who had initially refrained from getting involved in the relationship between the two children and had wanted to let things develop naturally, couldn’t help but ask now.
Jiang Que looked up in confusion and then naturally spoke about the future he had envisioned countless times:
“When gege graduates and returns to the country, I’ll still be continuing my studies. But I’ll try to graduate as quickly as I can to go help gege,” Jiang Que said.
“And then?” Shen Qingxue asked.
“And then…” Jiang Que furrowed his brow, slowly voicing the part he disliked the most, “And then gege will find a partner and get married, so I’ll…”
Jiang Que paused. He didn’t know what he should do at that time because everything he had done so far was simply to be closer to Shen Tazhi.
He was just a thirteen-year-old child who couldn’t even fathom that far ahead. After some thought, Jiang Que said, “At that time, I probably won’t work for gege anymore. I’ll do something else.”
No matter how indifferent he tried to be, thinking about his gege, who had always doted on him, doting on someone else made Jiang Que feel he didn’t have the capacity to handle it and preferred not to see it.
Shen Qingxue fell silent for a moment before saying, “At that time, you can come to Auntie, and Auntie will help you arrange a job.” And aditionally, Auntie will also help you give that heartless Shen Tazhi a good beating.
She realized that Jiang Que was still a child, completely oblivious and still treating Shen Tazhi like a brother.
Thinking of Shen Tazhi staying up until midnight every day just to call Jiang Que after school, Shen Qingxue couldn’t help but feel a bit sour.
These two kids had been sticking together for so long that she was worried they might not realize when their companionship and affection for each other would begin to change over the years.
Jiang Que responded with a simple acknowledgement, not noticing anything amiss.
Shen Qingxue had always been very kind to him, almost treating him like another son during Shen Tazhi’s time abroad. So suggesting to help him find a job wasn’t too out of line. But he didn’t need Aunt Qingxue to worry about him; he was quite capable.
As Jiang Que thought about this, he looked out at the passing vehicles and instinctively hid his transparent tentacles. His tentacles were like cat tails, frozen in size from his elementary school days, so as long as he wasn’t wearing tight clothing, he could hide them.
But what about the future?
If his tentacles grew large and thick, he might find it challenging to integrate into human society, let alone find a job.
Sigh… having long tentacles was so troublesome.
The little tentacle behind him, feeling inexplicably attacked: “?”
They angrily poked at their main body that was rejecting them.
If he found them troublesome now, he should have the guts to come back and say such things when they grow up!!
Inside the airport.
Shen Qingxue and Jiang Que were supposed to arrive twenty minutes early, but due to the interruption of the news on the way, they barely made it to the airport on time.
Carrying a bouquet of flowers, Jiang Que followed Shen Qingxue and rushed to the arrival gate. He immediately spotted Shen Tazhi walking out with the crowd.
It had been almost half a year since they last met, and Shen Tazhi’s appearance hadn’t changed much. He still had that aloof and unapproachable demeanor, looking difficult to get along with at first glance.
Tall in stature and wearing a thin windbreaker, Shen Tazhi stood out in the crowd, resembling an unknown tall model.
“Zhizhi! Over here!” Shen Qingxue waved her hand.
Shen Tazhi also spotted them, nodded at Shen Qingxue, and walked towards them.
“Mom, I’m back,” Shen Tazhi said happily, hugging Shen Qingxue and then bending down to smile at Jiang Que, who had been nervously biting his lip.
“Que Que, why so serious? Don’t you welcome me?” Shen Tazhi joked.
Seeing Shen Tazhi about to lift him up as before, Jiang Que swiftly stuffed the bouquet of flowers into his arms, deftly preventing the action. “I do welcome you, gege. I missed you so much.”
Taking Shen Tazhi’s free hand and meeting his surprised expression, Jiang Que flashed a very obedient and innocent smile.
He was already in high school. Even though there was still a significant age gap, he felt embarrassed being carried around by Shen Tazhi like before!
He didn’t want that. He wanted Shen Tazhi to realize that he had also grown up.
Shen Tazhi withdrew his gaze, feeling a surge of complex emotions for a moment, a hint of bitterness creeping in.
In the past, Jiang Que would have definitely gotten upset and retorted with a “I don’t miss you,” before reaching out for a hug. But now, things were different. He had truly grown up. No more getting upset or asking for hugs.
So, the period of childish dependence was really that short, huh?
Shen Tazhi suddenly regretted going abroad when Jiang Que was so young.
Shen Qingxue watched the two, one big and one small, laughing, and immediately realized that Shen Tazhi genuinely had no clue about what was going on.
Oh well, they are still kids after all. Shen Qingxue shook her head in resignation.
Jiang Que, unaware of the complex emotions of the other two, was just happy to have finally reunited with his gege. He held Shen Tazhi’s hand and couldn’t help but chatter away:
“Gege, I took the day off today to come pick you up. The head teacher at school is really nice. When she heard I was here to pick you up, she quickly approved my leave…”
He wasn’t really talkative by nature. Otherwise, back when he was in Qishan, he wouldn’t have sneaked into the library to read novels to pass the time. With so many senior brothers and sisters around, he could have chatted with any of them for a whole year without repeating a topic.
He just liked to talk about trivial things in front of Shen Tazhi.
Children’s thoughts are very simple. If Shen Tazhi didn’t talk to him, he would have to talk to someone else. He wanted to capture more of Shen Tazhi’s attention, so he talked a bit more.
Shen Tazhi smiled lightly in response. The group got back into the car and headed home.
Dinner was prepared by Zhao Ruxin. The family sat together, and Shen Qingxue and Zhao Ruxin tactfully didn’t mention the near miss of boarding the doomed flight in front of Shen Tazhi. The dinner was cheerful and harmonious.
After finishing dinner, Jiang Que spent a long time talking to his gege, reluctant to sleep. Shen Tazhi chuckled, thinking that Jiang Que was still like a child. He lifted Jiang Que and placed him gently on his bed.
At home, Jiang Que never hid his tentacles. His soft, gray-black little tentacles also fell asleep with his main body.
Shen Tazhi hadn’t seen Jiang Que’s small tentacles in a long time and curiously poked at them. The tentacles impatiently moved away, avoiding his fingers.
The tentacles flipped over and continued sleeping. Shen Tazhi could now see the back of the tentacles. The originally smooth backs with white rings had now grown numerous small suckers, looking bumpy. The suckers were slowly opening and closing, as if they were breathing.
Jiang Que’s tentacles weren’t thick, and the suckers were small and delicate, but Shen Tazhi felt a tingling sensation on his scalp. He reached out and flipped the tentacles back.
“*Knock, knock*.“
At that moment, the door was knocked on. Shen Tazhi opened it to find Shen Qingxue standing outside.
“Zhizhi, are you feeling tired? If not, would you like to come to the study room? Dad and Mom have something to discuss with you.”
Shen Tazhi glanced at the time; it was only a little past nine. He replied, “Sure, I’ll be right down.”
This wasn’t the first time his parents had called him to the study room. From childhood to adulthood, whenever there was a major life decision to be made, the whole family would gather in the study for a serious discussion. It had become a tradition in their family.
This time, they probably wanted to ask him whether he planned to continue studying for a master’s in the US or return to intern at the company in China, right?
Thinking this, Shen Tazhi followed Shen Qingxue to the study.
At this point, Zhao Ruxin had arrived, bringing a teapot and a plate of snacks.
As Shen Tazhi sat attentively, waiting for his parents to speak, Shen Qingxue began the conversation.
She asked, “Zhizhi, how do you see Jiang Que?”
“I think I should probably pursue a master’s degree… Huh?”
What kind of question was this??
