Chapter 44
As soon as the snow stopped, it slowly melted away. It was so cold that people got goosebumps all over their bodies when they took a breath. Shi Changle was so restless that he kept clamoring to go out and play.
"Brother, let's go to the amusement park. There's a new one on Zhongxing Avenue. I heard the haunted house there is really scary."
Shi Changan was working on a problem. He marked the solution he had deduced on the draft paper and said, "Please read the annotations here yourself."
"Why don't you just write it for me?" Shi Changle curled his lips nonchalantly. "Our handwriting looks similar anyway, so no one can tell the difference."
Shi Changan opened a new draft paper and continued to do the questions.
"I'm going to find Daddy!" Shi Changle ran out in a hurry, and the door slammed shut, bringing up a gust of cold wind.
Shi Chang'an frowned slightly, and pressed the tip of the ballpoint pen hard on the draft paper, leaving a black dot that looked out of place on the neat row of formulas.
After a few seconds, or maybe even a dozen, the legs of the chair scraped across the wooden floor, and the door opened again and closed.
Lu Shenxing was annoyed by the original owner Shi Ze's eldest sister Shi Yiwei. She called him every day these days and said that her son had transferred to another school and she wanted to move in.
Liu Daliang is a scoundrel. It's already troublesome enough to have two children in his family. If there is one more, life will be impossible.
"Sister, I'll rent an apartment here for you." Lu Shenxing said, "It's convenient to live near the school."
Shi Yiwei sighed from the other end, "Aze, your house is so big, why did you spend the extra money to rent it for us separately?" She seemed to be getting a manicure at some shop. "Not only will the three children have company together, but Daliang can also help Changan and Changle with their homework."
The corner of Lu Shenxing's mouth twitched. Who could tutor Liu Daliang with his confusing grades?
"Daddy, don't let cousin Daliang come over. I don't like him."
Shi Changle next to him was unhappy. His cousin always wanted his dad to buy him gifts. Dad was his, so why should he do that?
Lu Shenxing stood up and walked to the window. "Sister, it's settled. I'll get it done for you as soon as possible."
Who would want to live under someone else's roof and have to look at other people's faces? Shi Yiwei was just waiting for him to take the initiative.
"What are you doing lying there?"
Shi Changle stopped shuffling the documents and chuckled, "My brother wants to go to the amusement park today, and he asked me to talk to Dad."
Why didn't he come himself? Lu Shenxing frowned. There were two knocks on the door, and Shi Changan, who was standing there, looked over.
Shi Changle, who was behind him, stretched his neck and winked at Shi Changan.
Lu Shenxing looked at his watch and said, "If you want to go to the amusement park, hurry up. Daddy has to go out of town this afternoon."
"Daddy, you are so nice!" Shi Changle cheered and ran to the room to change clothes.
Lu Shenxing glanced at the black-haired boy twice strangely. Didn't he want to go to the amusement park? Why did he look so listless?
Shi Changan pursed his lips. Daddy would agree to whatever Changle wanted. It had always been like this and had never changed.
During the winter vacation, there are still a lot of people in the amusement park, especially the newly opened one. Most of them go there for the discounted prices and novelty.
Shi Changle was happily digging into the ice cream. After taking a bite, his teeth chattered with the cold and his whole body shivered from inside out. That feeling could only be experienced when it was freezing cold.
Shi Changan has a bad stomach and never eats ice cream, so he bought a cup of hot plain milk tea.
"Brother, let's switch!" Shi Changle handed over the remaining ice cream, "I want to drink your milk tea."
"Your brother can't eat cold food." Lu Shenxing pulled out a twenty-dollar bill from his wallet. "Changle, go buy yourself a drink over there."
"No, Daddy, I want to drink my brother's." Shi Changle pulled Lu Shenxing's sleeve and shook it left and right.
Lu Shenxing's face darkened. "Shi Changle, if you make trouble again, I'll have the driver take you back."
"Daddy..." Shi Changle's face turned pale, his mouth was pouting, tears welled up in his eyes, and he looked so pitiful, as if Lu Shenxing had done something to him.
Everyone who passed by cast a look at him, glancing at Lu Shenxing. He took a deep breath and forced a smile, "Come on, Daddy will take you to buy some drinks."
Shi Changan froze in place, his thoughts still lingering on the phrase "can't eat cold things." When did Dad notice this? Someone called his name, and he looked up. Across the bustling crowd, he saw a tall man looking at him with anxious and worried eyes.
"There are so many people here, hold on to Daddy's hand and don't get distracted." Lu Shenxing pulled Shi Changan.
"Okay." Shi Chang'an did as he was told and took a sip of milk tea. The warmth from the hand held by the big hand spread all the way, and he felt very warm.
Shi Changle bit his lower lip and snorted.
When buying milk tea, Shi Changle was eyeing the chocolate flavor, but he insisted on choosing the same original flavor as Shi Changan. In the end, he threw it away after taking a sip and said he didn't like it.
Lu Shenxing resisted the urge to curse. Why buy it if he didn't like it? Was he being serious or was it just a show of brotherly love? Or was he just looking for trouble? He increasingly felt that Shi Changle wasn't naive at all. Despite his young age, he was very thoughtful.
People who go to the amusement park to choose the haunted house are all looking for excitement and heart-pounding fun. Lu Shenxing led the two children in. It was pitch black inside, and the wind was blowing, blowing into the collars. It was very cold and eerie.
Shi Changle's timid voice rang out in the darkness, "Daddy, I'm scared."
Lu Shenxing kept walking, "Then get out."
"No!" Shi Changle moved restlessly, "I want to play."
"Chang'an?" Lu Shenxing noticed that there was something wrong with the child on his right.
Shi Changan didn't say anything and stood closer to Lu Shenxing, which made Lu Shenxing nervous.
"ah--"
"What are you yelling about?" Lu Shenxing's forehead was bulging with veins.
"Just now, a hand touched my foot!" Shi Changle's eyes widened. "Daddy, brother, there really is a ghost!"
Shi Changle kept screaming "Ahhh" all the way, not because of fear, but purely because of excitement. On the other side, Shi Changan, who was really scared, remained silent, and Lu Shenxing's hand was hurt by his grip.
Something was entangled in his legs, and Lu Shenxing raised his foot and kicked hard.
The female ghost lying on the ground with disheveled hair screamed in pain and grabbed her injured hand with a look of "Fuck it!" on her face.
"The ghost was kicked away by Daddy." Lu Shenxing comforted the little boy Shi Changan, who had not uttered a single word since he came in.
Shi Chang'an frowned and followed closely.
After playing in the haunted house, Shi Changle wanted to ride the roller coaster and insisted that Shi Changan accompany him.
After getting off the roller coaster, Shi Changan's face was pale and his lips were pale. He squatted on the ground and vomited.
"Brother, are you okay?" Shi Changle said guiltily, "I'm sorry I forgot you're afraid of roller coasters."
Shi Changan spoke, and he asked with a hint of meaning, "Changle, are you happy?"
"Yeah!" Shi Changle smiled brightly, "I'm happy. I have Daddy to accompany me, and I have my brother too. Of course I'm happy."
Shi Changan didn't say anything more and found a place to sit down and rest.
In the convenience store, Lu Shenxing was holding a few bottles of water and tissues, looking speechlessly at the little boy lying on the ground crying in front of him, and the girl with her signature ponytail next to the little boy.
Picking up his brother, Zhou Rui kept apologizing.
Looking down at the oden soup on his coat, Lu Shenxing decided to carefully read the plot every time before going out to avoid all chances of meeting Zhou Rui.
"Sir, I'm so sorry. My brother didn't walk steadily and got your clothes dirty." Zhou Rui's heart was pounding. The coat looked so expensive.
"It's okay." Lu Shenxing went to the cashier to pay.
Zhou Rui hugged her brother, feeling bad, "Why don't you tell me how much the clothes cost? I have some..."
A sharp look swept over her and she immediately shut her mouth, thinking what a weirdo.
The winter vacation is over, but the temperature is still very low. Those who are going to work or school are feeling indescribable pain and confusion.
Huang Kuo, who had overslept, threw his bicycle aside, ran to the classroom and sat on a chair. He pulled books out of his bag and shouted, "Quick, Chang'an, lend me your homework."
His hand suddenly stopped, and he turned his head and said affirmatively, "You are not Chang'an, you are Changle!"
The black-haired boy frowned slightly, handed over the homework book, and said lightly, "Huang Kuo, what did you say? Are you still asleep?"
Huang Kuo pressed down the homework book and said impatiently, "Come on, stop pretending. You are you, and Chang'an is Chang'an. Even if you imitate him, you are not him."
The calmness on the black-haired boy's face suddenly broke, as if a lake had turned into boiling water. He said coldly, "Huang Kuo, you really disgust me."
Huang Kuoze sneered twice in response. He stared at the back of the chestnut-haired boy in the first row. "Chang'an, did you get kicked in the head by a donkey? Are you trying to play identity swap?"
"Why can you recognize him?" Shi Changle scratched the black hair that disgusted him irritably. He didn't understand what the difference was between him and his brother. They had played this game several times during the winter vacation, and even their dad had been fooled by them and hadn't noticed it once.
Huang Kuo sneered, baring his teeth, "I don't want to tell you."
Shi Changle pulled the exercise book from under his arm.
"Who cares!" Huang Kuo pushed the table hard, stood up and went to find Shi Changan, "Why are you playing the identity swap game with him?" He didn't like Changle at all, who acted like others should live for him.
Shi Changan touched his dyed chestnut hair and said, "I lost the rock-paper-scissors game again."
"..." Huang Kuo whispered, "Chang'an, dye your hair back. I really don't like the way it looks. I want to beat you up."
Shi Changan picked up the textbook and covered his face with it. "This way you won't be able to see it."
Huang Kuo cursed "Fuck!", not knowing who he was angry with. He lay on the table and stared at Shi Chang'an in front of him, not hearing a single word of the whole class.
He didn't do his winter vacation homework, so his teacher directly invited him to the office to talk about life. When he came back, he had a sour face and snorted heavily when he passed by Shi Changan, indicating that he was still depressed.
Shi Changle ate the chocolate slowly and said, "My brother copied his homework from me." The words between the lines revealed the meaning of "you are begging me."
"Who's farting?" Huang Kuo picked his ears.
Shi Changle laughed in his heart. He really didn't know what his brother was thinking. He became friends with the son of a labor camp inmate. His father did the same and even invited him to dinner at home. It was so incomprehensible.
The classmates in the class were all puzzled. Didn't Huang Kuo and Shi Changan have a very close relationship? Why did they look so disgusted with each other today, as if they wanted to build a wall between the desks?
Shi Changle shifted his gaze from the blackboard to the back of the chestnut-haired boy. He had been working hard to catch up and surpass others since he was young, and all he got were rewards and applause. He was always his father's pride.
In this class, everyone was surrounding him, all their attention was on him, except Huang Kuo. Shi Changle was picking at his fingers, with a light flickering in his eyes.
On the rooftop of the teaching building, Shi Changle leaned over the railing, facing the wind and said, "Brother, you and Huang Kuo have such a good relationship. Daddy couldn't recognize us, but he knew us at a glance."
Shi Chang'an half-closed his eyes, his chestnut hair tangled in the wind. He heard an envious voice beside him, "I don't have a friend like that."
"Brother, I really don't like black." Shi Changle tilted his head and smiled, "Why don't you just not dye it back and match my color."
Shi Changan glanced at him sideways, then looked back at the sky in the distance. "It's you who likes maroon, not me."
Perhaps it was because the person who had always followed his lead had suddenly changed. Shi Changle was stunned. "Yes."
"After school I'm going to dye my hair back to chestnut. You should come with me. We won't play this game anymore. It's boring, brother. Don't you agree?"
He thought that if he exchanged again, he could get the same attention from his dad as last time, but in fact he didn't.
Shi Changan raised his chin slightly, "Yeah."
"Hey, tell me about Huang Kuo, brother. I heard his father was in prison..." Shi Changle hugged Shi Changan's neck from behind and asked with interest, "What's going on? Tell me."
From then on, whenever Shi Changan spoke to Huang Kuo, Shi Changle would interrupt.
The atmosphere in the class was weird. Shi Changle, who always looked down on Huang Kuo because of his poor family background, actually approached him with a smile, while his deskmate Shi Changan held a comic book as soon as the get out of class was over, and no one knew what he was thinking about.
"Are you fucking done yet?" Huang Kuo was so annoyed that pimples appeared on his forehead. Is this guy crazy? Why is he clinging to him all the time? He has no time to play with Chang'an.
"It's not over yet." Shi Changle kicked the stone. "Why don't you be my friend? I'll help you. You'll definitely be in the top ten. Then you'll be proud and your parents will be happy too."
"I don't need you!" Huang Kuo threw the basketball away, rolled up his vest and wiped the sweat off his face, then ran away in annoyance. Shi Changle smiled and followed him.
"Would you like me to buy you some water?"
"It's so annoying!" Huang Kuo cursed loudly. How could Chang'an have such a twin brother? Seeing that the other person had the same face as Chang'an, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Shi Changan on the teaching building took in the scene on the playground. He pursed his lips and turned away. You have enough, why don’t you let go of my only friend?
Changle, haven’t you learned to be content yet?
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