Chapter 65 The Blind Man
Dinner was hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Ho Kiu-sang.
They ordered six dishes in one go, each containing meat. The dishes were laid out in a dazzling array. Luo Hong said, "If you keep being so polite, we shouldn't associate with each other anymore."
He Qiaosheng gestured with his hands, roughly meaning that if they couldn't finish the food, they could pack it up and take it home to eat, so as not to waste it.
Luo Hong: "Now that you have a family, you should be more frugal."
As he spoke, He Qiaosheng's gestures became increasingly frantic, accompanied by a barely suppressed laugh: "You yourself are not frugal with your money, yet you have the nerve to criticize me."
Since they were guests, Chen Jiao nudged her husband twice with her elbows to signal him.
However, Luo Hong didn't care, saying, "I'm the only one who's full, so my whole family isn't hungry."
The two of them, one using words and the other using actions, actually got along quite well.
Although Luo Yan couldn't quite understand the sign language, she could guess a bit from her brother's replies. She moved her head slightly from side to side as she served food to Dongdong.
Chen Jiao felt quite embarrassed that her son insisted on staying by the other person's side: "Yanzi, you eat by yourself, don't worry about him."
Luo Yan smiled good-naturedly: "It's okay, I also love playing with kids."
Children are better able to distinguish between kindness and disrespect, which is why her son, having only met her once, still brings it up from time to time.
Chen Jiao: "He asks me every few days when I'm coming over to visit."
Dongdong added, "And Uncle Grasshopper."
Grasshopper? Kids have short memories, yet he still remembered that Zhou Weifang had given him a grasshopper made of straw last time.
Luo Yan didn't correct her; instead, she found it quite amusing: "How about I take you to visit him next time?"
Although Dongdong is young, he knows that adults often mean "next time" as a way of being perfunctory, so he pouted and said, "Let's go today."
Chen Jiao patted her son's hand as a warning: "Behave yourself."
It's nothing serious. Luo Yan said, "It's alright, sister-in-law. I was going to go see him later anyway. You guys are going to clean the new house, so we'll take it back to him later."
Before Chen Jiao could refuse, Luo Hong said, "Is your wife worried?"
Chen Jiao said helplessly, "Of course I'm at ease, I'm just afraid of causing you trouble."
Luo Hong: "What's the trouble? Qiao Sheng and I are best buddies."
He Qiaosheng nodded in agreement, and after finishing their meal, everyone went their separate ways.
The Luo siblings took Dongdong to the car dealership, chatting along the way.
Luo Hong: "It was a huge mistake for all three parties to ask you to give lectures."
They keep a close watch on us, leaving no room for us to slack off.
Luo Yan: "I was worried that he wouldn't understand and wouldn't be able to keep up in the refresher course."
The inability to learn something is the most discouraging thing for a person's learning motivation; if you fall behind even once, you will quickly fall behind.
Luo Hongteng gave a thumbs up: "The education sector has lost a bright pearl by losing you."
He was riding his bicycle, and with this movement he lost his balance. Dongdong, sitting on the back seat, clung tightly to Uncle Luo's waist, screaming in fright.
Luo Hong: "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, Uncle won't let you fall."
Upon hearing this, Dongdong became even more frightened, to the point that Luo Hong almost threw up his dinner.
Upon reaching the car dealership, he let out a long sigh of relief: "Get out."
Dongdong couldn't jump down by himself, so Luo Yan stopped her bicycle, picked him up, and used her shoulder to push open the curtain. She opened her mouth but didn't know how to address Zhou Weifang.
Should I call him Third Brother? She can't say it right now.
Using his full name and surname? That seems a bit odd.
The apprentices had all gone home, leaving only Zhou Weifang, who had just returned from wandering around the alley.
Hearing the noise, he thought it was a guest. He turned around and saw it was her. His gaze was fixed on her, and he quickly came to his senses: "Have you finished eating?"
Luo Yan omitted the part about addressing her, and said vaguely, "Well, there's still time. Let's see if there are any questions you don't know."
He added, "Do you remember Dongdong? He wants to play with you."
Dongdong, not at all shy, opened his arms and said, "Uncle Grasshopper."
Who? Zhou Weifang was stunned for a moment before realizing that he was being called, and said, "I remember."
He brushed the dust off his clothes: "Uncle is dirty, I'll hug you later."
Dongdong was eagerly struggling, but Luo Hong grabbed him and said, "Play with me for a while, the adults have important business to attend to."
After saying that, he took him outside and made him run two laps.
Luo Yan, her hands now empty, casually crossed her arms and asked, "Do you have any questions?"
Zhou Weifang thought to herself that she must have come to the store for only this matter, and chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Yes, I'm here to wash my hands."
His smile was so faint today, as if he only raised the corners of his mouth when he had no other choice.
Luo Yan thought that perhaps she had something on her mind, so she decided to speak in a gentler tone later.
She was very patient in her lectures, breaking down each word and phrase in detail, letting them go in Zhou Weifang's left ear and out his right.
He tried several times to hear what was being said, but to no avail. He sighed and said, "Luo Yan, I'm sorry, I'm not feeling well today."
No wonder, Luo Yan said: "I knew something was wrong with you. Where do you feel unwell? Do you want to see a doctor?"
Zhou Weifang looked directly at her, as if looking through her into the distance, and said, "No need, it will be fine soon."
Even if he has no manners, he still knows the meaning of "first come, first served." Besides, he never even managed to squeeze into the queue; he was just putting on a one-man show.
Luo Yan glanced back subconsciously, but didn't see anything unusual. She said, "Even when something's wrong, you all say it's nothing. You have the same problem as my brother. Don't take your youth for granted. In the future..."
She realized she sounded too preachy, so she held back what she was about to say, and somehow she was a little cautious.
At this moment, Zhou Weifang felt that it made perfect sense that she didn't like him, after all, he hadn't been very gentle with her when they were children.
He said, "Some things are truly too late to regret."
Huh? Luo Yan thought he was agreeing with the second half of her sentence and said, "That's right, so now we need to take better care of ourselves."
She looked around and said, "I feel cold sitting by the stove in your shop. It's obviously not warm or windproof. You live in the attic, so you must have caught a cold."
Zhou Weifang only heard her say that she felt cold, so he pulled down the coat hanging on the wall, held it in his hand, and then felt it was inappropriate: "I'll prepare a small blanket for you later."
Luo Yan waved her hand: "No need, no need, you can cover yourself. It's still chilly in early spring, how many blankets do you have at night?"
Zhou Weifang: "One item."
“I knew it,” Luo Yan was about to say something when she suddenly guessed that perhaps Zhou’s parents hadn’t prepared much for him. After all, it wasn’t easy to get a thick new quilt these days. She lowered her voice and said, “I’ll get you a new one tomorrow. Anyway, my brother isn’t getting married yet, so he won’t need it for now.”
She even raised her finger to shush, giving a knowing look.
Zhou Weifang: "What will happen when he gets married?"
Luo Yan said in a serious tone, "I told my mom that he stole it."
Judging from the siblings' reputation, Zhou Weifang said, "It looks like he's going to get a beating."
Luo Yan: "Definitely not. If he gets married, my mom will treat him like royalty."
Zhou Weifang: "Okay, I'll be your witness then."
Even though she knew it was a joke, Luo Yan still smiled and obliged, "Weren't you two so close you were practically inseparable?"
Zhou Weifang: "I now respect teachers more."
His heart sank suddenly, and he asked, "Was that boy today your classmate?"
"Huh?" Luo Yan said, "I thought you didn't see him."
Zhou Weifang: "I saw it, but I was afraid you'd be too shy to ask you directly."
A little embarrassed to say it, Luo Yan's ears turned red, and she hummed in agreement: "We're good friends."
In 1980, it was said that a man and a woman were good friends, and their relationship was self-evident.
Zhou Weifang pinched his palm, feeling increasingly listless, but still wanted to get to the bottom of it: "What do you think is good about him?"
Luo Yan looked slightly puzzled: "Why do you ask that?"
Yes, I shouldn't have asked that question.
Zhou Weifang: "Curious."
Really? Luo Yan touched the braid hanging down her chest: "I can't say either."
She thought it was really strange to discuss Zhou Xiuhe with him, so she changed the subject: "Are you not feeling well? Go upstairs and lie down for a while? Let my brother watch the shop."
Without allowing any refusal, she loudly called her brother in.
Luo Hong looked exhausted and disheveled after spending just a short time with the child. He asked, "Are you done talking?"
Luo Yan pointed: "He's not feeling well."
Luo Hong turned to his childhood friend: "You haven't been acting right this afternoon, do you want to go to the hospital?"
Some lies are hard to stop once they're started, and Zhou Weifang is really having a headache now. He said, "It's okay, I just need to rest for a bit."
Luo Yan felt that men liked to show off in front of women, and since she didn't think she was familiar enough with Zhou Weifang yet, she simply said, "Dongdong, Auntie will take you to buy some candy."
She then winked at her brother.
Luo Hong understood, and after his sister left, he said, "If you're not sick, then something's wrong. Tell me."
Zhou Weifang made up an excuse: "You know me, I get a headache as soon as I start reading."
"Bullshit," Luo Hong said. "It's been so long since I've seen you make this mistake. You're so eager to learn."
He went on to speculate the worst, even revealing whether Zhou Weifang owed money to others.
Zhou Weifang: "No, why are you always talking about committing crimes?"
Luo Hong: "Look at yourself in the mirror now, I really can't say a single nice thing to you."
Zhou Weifang had no choice but to admit, "There is something wrong."
Luo Hong slammed his hand on the table: "Stop dawdling! Even if the sky falls, we still have our brothers."
The more this was the case, the less Zhou Weifang could tell him, so he made up a story: "They are my parents, let's not talk about it."
The Zhou family parents are a complicated family, with a lot to say about them. They aren't bad people, but it's hard to find anything good about them either.
Luo Hong outwardly believed it without question, but inwardly he still had doubts.
Zhou Weifang just pretended to be fobbed off and fiddled with the books on the square table.
Luo Yan peeked through the gap in the curtain and saw the two of them looking at each other in silence. She wondered whether she should go in.
While she hesitated, Dongdong called out and skipped inside.
Zhou Weifang took some snacks from the top of the cabinet and said, "It's too late, just eat a little bit, and take the rest home to eat tomorrow."
Dongdong sat on Uncle Grasshopper's lap as if he knew him well, eating cookies until his face and mouth were covered in crumbs.
Luo Yan showed concern for the "patient" and reached out her hand: "Dongdong, come here, Auntie will hug you."
Zhou Weifang: "It's alright, let him sit here."
Luo Yan didn't look at him, but instead gave her brother a look.
Luo Hong was also eating cookies and said, "It's really nothing."
Alright, Luo Yan stopped worrying. She dampened a corner of her handkerchief with water, bent down, and wiped the cookie crumbs off the child's face, her eyes darting around to see if she had missed anything.
She was looking at Dongdong, and Zhou Weifang was looking at her.
Luo Hong didn't realize it was a love triangle at first, but after taking another look, he realized something was wrong.
All those strange, trivial details finally came together at this moment, condensing into one sentence: Damn, I was blind all along.
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The author's note: My brother used to be "truly blind," but from now on he will be "pretending to be blind."
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