Chapter 10

At night, the moon was already high in the sky, and the cold moonlight was scattered on the earth. The house without a person seemed even more quiet and cold, making people feel cold to the bone.

Amemiya Leisheng took a bath and walked slowly from the bathroom to the room in a yukata. He washed his hair and his long hair was scattered behind his back. Even after being blown with a hair dryer, it was still a little wet and shone under the light, adding a bit of silver color to his gray hair.

He walked to the pond not far from the room. The koi in it were still swimming slowly, looking particularly leisurely. Amamiya Leisei remembered that he had said some time ago that he wanted to feed the fish, but because the head of the Tsushima family gave him a fish tank in the room, he never fed the fish in the pond.

Thinking that the person who would feed these fish would have to be replaced in the future, Amamiya sighed and turned his gaze to the boy sitting by the pool.

It was still a little cold at night. Tsushima Shuji was wearing a thin yukata. His hair was dripping with water without even being wiped. The collar of his yukata was soaked by water. Just looking at him was enough to give people goose bumps. Not to mention that the boy didn't even have shoes on. His wooden clogs were placed aside, and he was walking barefoot on the stones beside the pool.

"Shuji-kun, be careful not to catch a cold, or you'll get sick." Amamiya Raisei walked over, put the towel in his hand on the boy's head, and reached out to wipe his hair. "Aren't you cold?"

Tsushima Shuji shook his head slightly, and it was unclear whether he was saying that he wasn't cold or that he felt fine.

Amamiya Reizo looked down at the boy's hair whorls, sighed, wiped the water off his hair resignedly, and then sat down next to him.

"It's late, time to go to bed."

It was already nine o'clock in the evening when they finished all the things. They had a meal and took a shower. Now it was already past ten o'clock. Under normal circumstances, Tsushima Shuji would have been in the room getting ready for bed. Of course, Amamiya Keisei was no exception. They were all people who went to bed early and got up early and had a healthy schedule.

Tsushima Shuji responded in a low voice: "I can't sleep, and I don't want to sleep."

"Okay, so how long are you going to sit here?"

"……have no idea."

Amemiya Ruisheng smiled helplessly, reached out and patted Tsushima Shuji's head, then pinched his face.

The ten-year-old boy still has baby fat, and his face looks round and fleshy, and it feels good to pinch it. Amamiya Ruisei didn't use too much force, but just pinched it lightly with his fingertips, more like a soothing caress.

The young man tilted his head just enough to see the boy's profile. The boy's eyes were slightly narrowed and his eye sockets were a little red. He couldn't help but move his hand around his eyes and gently massage the area around his eyes with his thumb.

Tsushima Shuji did not avoid it, but just lowered his eyes uncomfortably.

"What are you thinking about?" Amamiya Leisheng couldn't help but soften his tone, as if he was coaxing a child.

Anyone who sees the boy crying silently in his arms will feel heartbroken.

It seems that the young master of a noble family like the Tsushima family does not even have the qualifications to cry. He has been under strict requirements since birth, and his occasional rebellious heart was quickly suppressed by the heavy rules. Even if he lost his cherished family members, he just shed tears silently and buried his face in other people's arms, so that no one could see or notice him. After crying, he raised his head and he was the young master of the family again.

His fingers were gripping the fabric of his clothes tightly, his fingertips turning white from exerting force, but he still managed to stifle his voice in his throat. He bit his lips so hard that the skin was broken. The tears that kept flowing from his eyes blurred the blood on his chest, and even stained the boy's face with red.

Amamiya Reizo recalled in a daze and let out a long sigh.

Tsushima Shuji replied quietly, "I'm not thinking about anything."

He just sat there with an empty mind, relaxing himself without thinking about anything. But now when he saw Amamiya Reisheng and remembered his own gaffe not long ago, the boy felt rarely embarrassed and did not meet Amamiya Reisheng's gaze.

Amamiya Ruisei tapped Tsushima Shuji's face, then withdrew his hand and said, "Then go and rest."

The boy muttered, "I don't want to go if I'm not sleepy."

He turned his head to look at Amamiya Leisheng and asked carefully, "What are your parents like?"

"My parents?"

Amamiya Reisei was stunned for a moment, lost in memory: "Hmm... it's just a very ordinary one."

"It's probably like this: sometimes they quarrel, and sometimes they are so sweet that it hurts the eyes. They are busy running around for life."

Amamiya Reizo laughed, "But I don't remember much about them. They died when I was ten years old. Come to think of it, that's the same age as Shuji-kun is now."

Tsushima Shuji opened his mouth and said, "…I'm sorry, sir."

"It's okay. It's been a long time." At his current age of "35", it must have been 25 years ago to Tsushima Shuji. "Now that I think about it, it seems like a long time ago."

"My family is not wealthy, so I can't give you any advice." The young man pursed his lips, "They probably just hope that I can study hard. Every day after get off work, they would bring textbooks to urge me. Occasionally, they would take me out to play, but sometimes I would be lectured if I asked for toys."

"When I was little, I didn't understand anything. I was just angry about why they didn't buy me toys, why they always came home so late, and why they had to watch me study after they came back. They would even rush over to chase me away when I was watching TV."

Amamiya Leisheng chuckled, his smile a little sad: "When I was ten years old, I fell ill. My parents went around collecting money and took me everywhere to find a doctor who could treat me. Later, we had a car accident on the way."

"At that time, I was still confused and didn't understand what death was. When I was in the hospital, I wondered every day why my parents didn't come to see me."

There were only cold instruments and gray walls in the ward, and outside the ward were noisy cries and painful sobs. He sat alone on the bed, waiting for the daily physical examination and the nurses and doctors to come and diagnose him.

The drips, pills, and endless pain tortured him. He wanted to find someone to confide his suffering to, and he missed his parents' warm embrace when he was sick. But as the days passed, they were still not by his side.

Where did they go? Did they not get off work yet? Did they not want him anymore?

It is often mentioned in TV dramas that some parents abandon their sick children because they feel that their children are a burden to them and bring great trouble to their lives.

"After I spent more time in the hospital, I gradually realized that my parents had died."

In the intensive care unit, there would be someone covered with a white sheet almost every few days. They might have been in a car accident, in an accident, or had incurable cancer, or a variety of things that could take a person's life.

The little boy lay on the side of the bed, watching the patient's family members crying outside and the doctor pushing the bed with a dead body sleeping on it.

What is that? he asked the nurse.

Someone has died, he heard the answer.

He remembered that his parents were lying on the hospital bed like this before, their faces were pale and bloodless, and they were covered with a white cloth. They were slowly pushed away and left his sight.

It turned out that his parents didn't abandon him, they just died.

However, due to health reasons, he was unable to attend his parents' funeral. He only realized this fact now and realized that no one would nag him anymore.

He seemed to have grown up overnight. He no longer clamored to do this or that. He took medicine and went for checkups every day and accepted treatment obediently. Then one day after he felt better, he ran out of the hospital and went alone to the cemetery of his parents that he had inquired about.

The boy had no money, so he had to walk on the road in his hospital gown. It was drizzling that day and the weather was bitterly cold. The coldness seemed to penetrate his skin and deep into his bones.

He walked while asking for directions, facing the surprised looks of passers-by, and walked very slowly. Finally, he could not resist the pain in his body and collapsed on the side of the road. A kind-hearted person called an ambulance and sent him back to the hospital.

That time he left the hospital but was unable to reach his parents.

"Of course, someone took me to the cemetery later and I met my parents."

Amamiya Reizo's eyes were far-reaching: "The photo on the tombstone was when they looked their best, but I don't remember it at all. What I remember most is that they looked at me with sad and tired faces."

That's too bad.

He had so few good memories, and was filled with painful past events, which made him feel that time was passing exceptionally long, so long that he almost thought he was dead.

But he is still lingering on in this world, living a hard and difficult life.

“That’s what happened,” Amamiya Raisei said. “It’s different from Shuji-kun’s situation, so just treat it as a story.”

The head of the Tsushima family is Tsushima Shuji's father, but he doesn't look like his father. Hisako is not his mother, but she is better than his mother. It is not known which one is more sad - but there is no need to compare the sadness.

Tsushima Shuji pursed his lips and said slowly: "...Sir, I am very happy that you can tell me about your story."

He tilted his head and gave Amamiya Leisheng a soft smile: "If you want someone to confide in, I think you can talk to me, although I... may not be very qualified."

[Progress: 10%]

Amamiya Reishi looked stunned and said, "Okay... I understand. Thank you, Shuji-kun."

Tsushima Shuji carefully looked at Amamiya Reizo's face, his eyes falling on his left eye. He asked in a low voice, "Sir, was this eye injured in the car accident?"

The boy reached out and lifted his hair from his eyes.

The inorganic artificial eye reflects light, and the man-made object has no vivid emotions. It just reflects the figure in front of it, like a clear mirror.

The boy imitated what Amemiya Reizo had done just now and gently massaged the area around his eyes.

"Will it hurt, sir?"