Chapter 28 - Threat
“You must be wondering why I took you to see the performance show.” Li Zhao filled his cup with boiling water while pouring a fruit for Yan Ting. “You are too stuffy. I want to take you to a place with a lot of fun. There is a saying that if a person wants to see all the prosperity of the world, take him to a carousel. I think that makes sense.”
“Are you bored staying with me?” The fruit drink wasn’t freshly squeezed and a large bottle could be bought for a few yuan. It had an obvious stock scent.
“How can I be bored? You don’t know how cute you are and how interesting it is to be with you.” Seeing that Yan Ting seemed to misunderstand his meaning, Li Zhao hastened to explain. “I am the one taking you out of the house. I’m afraid that I’m the bad uncle abducting the handsome man.”
“You are younger than me.”
“It doesn’t really matter.” Li Zhao waved his hand and drank half a cup of the fruit drink in one breath. “The meaning is the same. Maybe it is because I helped you at that time. Seeing you obediently go with me, I somehow have a sense of responsibility for you.”
Responsibility?
Strange, the two people weren’t related. Why assume responsibility of another person?
“It is fate. You don’t have parents and I don’t have any parents either. God made us friends.” LI Zhao held up his cup. “Come, toast to our beautiful friendship.”
Yan Ting quietly looked at the cup in Li Zhao’s hand and touched it with his cup.
“Ah.” Li Zhao looked at Yan Ting with a smile. “Why are you so cute?”
Yan Ting continued to be silent. In his memories, no one had ever called him ‘cute.’
After lunch, Li Zhao took Yan Ting to a flower and bird market. He almost got kicked out by the boss because he teased a parrot to talk. In the evening, they went to see a light show. The light show hadn’t yet begun but the scene was already filled with spectators. There were many people in the back platform area and it was bustling.
“Ting Ting, put this on.” Li Zhao placed glowing rabbit ears on top of Yan Ting and wore one on himself. “Tonight, we are the most beautiful ones here.”
The moment the light show began, the entire scene was full of excited screams. The lights changed and the scene was as lively as the New Year. Once the lights changed into a meteor, many people started making loud confessions or vows.
“Zhang Xiaoting, I love you!”
“Mom and Dad, I wish you a long life.”
“I wish for the prosperity and strength of the motherland!”
Li Zhao mixed in with the screaming and clapping crowd, finally simply shouting, “I wish for Ting Ting to have good health and a long life!”
In this noisy world, Yan Ting clearly heard this sentence.
“I wish Ting Ting a happy heart and a wonderful body!”
The meteor lights flashed on the wall like a meteor shadow, bringing infinite dreams and beauty to people. Li Zhao grabbed Yan Ting’s arms and whispered in his ears, “Ting Ting, you should also make a wish. Don’t waste this good opportunity.”
Then he let go of Yan Ting’s arms and twisted to the rhythm of the music, dancing a dance that no one could understand.
Yan Ting looked at the bouncing Li Zhao before looking up at the lights, eyes as deep as the night. He had never made a wish or prayed to fate.
By the end of the light show, Li Zhao’s voice was hoarse from shouting. He took the mineral water Yan Ting handed him and drank half of it. His entire body leaned against Yan Ting and he said, “My body seems hollowed out. I’m tired.”
Many couples watching the light show passed by them. Some flower sellers took the opportunity to wait by the side of the road and sell them flowers.
“Go, go.” Li Zhao saw these flower sellers and his waist suddenly wasn’t sore anymore. His legs didn’t hurt as he pulled Yan Ting to run.
After running out of the range of the flower sellers, Li Zhao gasped. “These flowers are expensive and not fresh. If we are targeted, they will chase us to sell the flowers.”
Yan Ting saw Li Zhao sweating from the run and took out a handkerchief from his jacket pocket, handing it over.
“Ting Ting, you’re the only one of my friends who would carry a handkerchief with you.” Li Zhao wiped away the sweat on his forehead. “Staring from kindergarten, were you the teacher’s favourite?”
“I’ve never been to kindergarten.”
Li Zhao put his handkerchief into his pocket. “What a coincidence. I also haven’t been there. It seems we are really doomed to be good brothers.”
Li Zhao’s living conditions were very hard when growing up. Parents with good conditions would send children to preschool. He didn’t have this treatment. It was only when he was six years old that he followed the big children of the village to go to first grade of elementary school.
Sometimes when he went to a county fair, he especially admired the colourful slide at the kindergarten and the other playing equipment. It was a pity that his ‘parents’ didn’t like him to go there. Even if they went to the city, he wasn’t left alone for long.
It wasn’t until he was 10 years old that the teacher found him badly bruised and even had a broken arm. The teacher went to the police. Then Li Zhao found that he wasn’t his parents’ child. They said they picked him up from the trash can.
“If we hadn’t picked him up, he would’ve starved to death.” In the face of the police, his adoptive father was righteous. “So what if I beat him? I am just beating my son. Even if I kill him, he owes me.”
It wasn’t until he heard that he was going to jail that he cried that he didn’t read and didn’t understand the law. “All the cats and dogs I own can fight. I saved his life. How can I be breaking the law if I hit him?”
Li Zhao felt very lucky. The teacher saved him and the police officers saved him. So many others helped him. He stayed in a welfare home where he could eat, have clothing and be warm every day without being beaten. It was a wonderful life.
“That was my lucky year.” Li Zhao recalled this and came to a conclusion. “I had good luck when I was 10 years old. At 20 years old, good luck came again…”
“Don’t be superstitious.”
Li Zhao wanted to say that this wasn’t superstition only to see an old person sitting in the corner with a store. His white hair was flying in the cold wind. Perhaps it was due to the cold but his body was huddled up. Li Zhao pulled Yan Ting closer and found a plastic sheet in front of the old man. There was some knitwear placed on it.
“Grandma, how much is this?” Li Zhao picked up a knitted sunflower and asked the old person with wrinkles.
“One for ten, three for 20.” The old woman waved her hand and took out a plastic bag from her coat pocket. Her turbid eyes stared at Li Zhao. “Young man, do you want to buy it?”
“I’ll be a few.” Li Zhao picked up a few pockets with flowers weaved on the wire and handed 100 yuan to the old woman. “Grandma, it’s late. You should go home early.”
“Yes, thank you, thank you.” The old woman happily used the plastic bag to pack all the knitted items that Li Zhao bought. She also gave Li Zhao a knitted wallet. “Young man, you are kind-hearted. Good intentions will have good rewards.”
“I’m just buying the lovely things you knitted.” Li Zhao didn’t consider the wrinkled bag to ugly to carry in his hand. He put the bag on his wrist and put his hand in his pocket.
“Grandma, bye.”
They walked down the sidewalk and got into the waiting card. Li Zhao gave Yan Ting a yellow rose knitted on a wire. “Ting Ting, this is for you.”
The quality of the wool wasn’t very good and it was somewhat hard to handle.
“Do you know what a yellow rose means?” Li Zhao picked out a dinosaur from the plastic bag and handed it to Yan Ting. “This is for you as well.”
Yan Ting slowly shook his head.
“The purest friendship in the world.” LI Zhao put his hand on Yan Ting’s shoulder. “Isn’t it very suitable for us?”
Yan Ting looked at the yellow rose and put it in his coat pocket. “Yes.”
“I have an early flight tomorrow so I won’t come to see you.” Li Zhao yawned. “Next time I come back, it will probably be the Spring Festival. You must remember to wait for me to come back to buy New Year’s goods together.”
“Okay.” Yan Ting touched the yellow rose in his pocket. Today was the seventh day of the beginning of the month and there were 23 days until the Spring Festival.
The car stopped at Li Zhao’s door. He walked out of the car and bent toward Yan Ting. “Ting Ting, good night.”
“Good night.” Yan Ting watched Li Zhao enter the gate before bowing his head, taking the yellow rose out of his pocket.
Once he got home, he put the knitted yellow rose into a vase in the room. The moonlight shone through the window screen and sprinkled on the yellow rose, dyeing it with a gentle silver light. He woke up in the morning and saw a message from Li Zhao.
[Good Luck is Visible： Good morning. I’m boarding (*^▽^*)]
Yan Ting stared at the smiley face for a long time before getting up to open the curtains. Outside, the sky was gradually starting to light up.
“Zhao Zhao, I just received news from the crew. The crew invited Zhao Junnan to play the role of the enemy prince and he has agreed. He will enter the crew today.” Da Ke greeted Li Zhao after he got off the plane at the airport. “You will act the most against the enemy prince role. Remember to leave him alone.”
“Mr Zhao?” Li Zhao was somewhat surprised. “Why would he come to our crew?”
“Who knows what Zhao Junnan is thinking? He took the initiative to contact Director Yang and said he would play this role out of friendship.” Da Ke frowned. “He has been hyping himself as a hardworking person since he became popular with Heroic Ruler. Maybe he is coming to hint to you that you shouldn’t reveal that you acted as his stand-in.”
Li Zhao didn’t speak. He felt that Zhao Junnan didn’t need to care about such things. Whether it was a stand-in or himself, it was what he loved. There was no need to repeat the past. However, a man who became popular after difficulties wasn’t able to bear this accidental occurrence.
“Why didn’t you stop it when the crew gave me a stand-in.” Zhao Junna sat in his RV, his face very ugly. “Even if there is a stand-in, they shouldn’t be good-looking. Now Li Zhao is relying on the online drama to be popular. What if he steps on me to jump up?”
“I don’t care what you think, I must not let Li Zhao continue to be popular.” Zhao Junnan vented his anger and took a deep breath. “In this circle, only the people who aren’t popular are no threat.”
He absolutely wouldn’t allow Li Zhao to step on his shoulder and climb to a higher position than him.
The author has something to say:
Zhao Zhao: My family’s Ting Ting is the world’s best baby.
Others: emmmm, your eyes are blind.