Chapter 2: A Friend’s Shelter

Chapter 2: Chapter 2: A Friend’s Shelter

Chapter 2: A Friend’s Shelter

In the first year after my mother went to America, she often called me. We were basically in contact every day. She was very concerned about how I was doing here, and asked about my well-being.

But later, I heard that she had started her own company and begun her own career there. She became busier every day, and our phone calls gradually became less frequent, but we still talked about once a week.

Starting in the second half of the second year, my mother’s phone calls suddenly became very rare. A month would go by without a single call. She said her company had moved to New York, that work was very busy, she had many social engagements, and that there was a time difference between us, so the calls had decreased. She told me not to blame her.

But the longest time was a full four months when my mother didn’t call me even once. I worked up the courage to call her, but all I got was a busy signal or the call wouldn’t connect at all. This made me even more depressed, my mind filled with the feeling of being abandoned by my gentle mother.

After that, lacking the gentle care of a woman, my psychology slowly began to change. My originally cheerful personality suddenly became introverted. I started to become unwilling to talk to others, and my academic performance plummeted. I performed poorly in the high school entrance exam and failed to get into the best No. 1 High School, ending up at No. 2 High School instead.

My father was naturally thoroughly disappointed in me as well. At home, he wouldn’t even look at me properly. He was often away from home for long periods and would occasionally hit and scold me. Our father-son relationship hit rock bottom.

As a child, my feelings for my mother were just a son’s love for his mother. But after starting middle school, my body began to develop, and I also started to learn about the affairs between men and women. Having gone through the trauma of my parents’ divorce and the rumors of my mother’s "affair," I began to re-examine my childhood memories of her. Imagining my beautiful mother’s every move and smile, my love and longing for her slowly began to change.

I would often look at the photo of us together on my desk. It was a picture we took in a park. In the photo, my mother was wearing a relatively conservative, form-fitting long dress, hugging me and smiling happily. Her long, jet-black hair hung straight over her shoulders. Her bright, intelligent eyes were full of happiness and contentment. Reflected in the sunlight, her fair, delicate skin looked crystal clear. Her exquisite, beautiful face was full of a mature woman’s charm and grace. A heart-shaped necklace adorned her snow-white neck. The dress’s neckline was high, and below her gracefully curved neck, her full, ripe breasts strained against the top, as if about to burst through the seams. Below her slender waist, the dress hugged her full hips. Although you couldn’t see her back in the photo, I knew the dress was stretched tightly over her round, perky buttocks.

Looking at this photo, I sometimes even felt a faint heat in my lower body, but immediately after, I was overwhelmed with a sense of guilt. How could I have such blasphemous thoughts about my sacred mother?

After divorcing my mother, my dad’s mental state deteriorated further, and his business grew worse and worse. My grandmother was so angered by the situation that she fell ill and passed away. Under these multiple blows, my father lost all motivation to run his business properly. He gradually accumulated a mountain of debt, and in the end, loan companies and the bank seized all his assets. All that was left was the small, dilapidated house where he and I had lived, and we still had many debts to pay off.

My father also became addicted to alcohol due to his business failure, and the conflict between us grew increasingly intense. Finally, on this day, I couldn’t bear it any longer. I returned home and had a fierce argument with him, which led to the scene at the beginning.

Outside, it was another gloomy, rainy day. I could only rush out, letting the rain mix with my tears. Fortunately, the rain wasn’t too heavy—it was just a light drizzle—but the cold drops on my face were unpleasant, making my mood even worse.

Where was I going to live now? I couldn’t seriously live under a bridge or on the side of the road, could I? Wouldn’t I become a little beggar? I, who had always been pampered and lived a life of comfort, was in a dilemma.

Suddenly, I thought of a place to go. A good buddy of mine, named Yao Liang. He was my childhood friend from elementary school to junior high school, a true brother. We went to the same private elementary school together. He is the youngest son of the Yao family, one of the four great families of Jingzhou City.

His family is in real estate and has a vast fortune. I had been to his house to play many times. Maybe he would be able to take me in without alarming his family.

So, I dialed his number, and he answered quickly:

"Hey! Young Master Zhou, what brings you calling with such elegance?" Yao Liang’s sarcastic voice came from the other end of the line.

"Cut the crap. What Young Master Zhou? I really need your help with something."

"Alright, what is it? Want to rank up together? I feel like I’m in good form today. I’ll be online in a bit."

"No, it’s not that. I have nowhere to live right now. Do you have a place where I can stay for a few days?" There was no need to be secretive with him, so I just came straight to the point.

"No way! You ran away from home?"

"Something like that! Stop being so nagging! Can you help me or not!" I roared impatiently.

"OK, OK, Young Master Zhou, don’t get angry. No problem. Does this mean our glorious days of duo-queueing are about to begin? I’ll send you the address right away!" Yao Liang said readily.

Soon, he sent me the address on WeChat. It was a high-end residential community not too far from here. I immediately rented a bicycle and rode over.

From a distance, I saw him standing by the side of the road waiting for me. This guy was a true friend.

"A-Cheng, if you left home like this, isn’t your dad going to beat you?"

As I rode to the side of the road, he came over and put his arm affectionately around my shoulder. Yao Liang is tall, about 180 cm, with a sunny and handsome face, always wearing a carefree smile. He had always been very popular with women.

"Don’t mention him!" I pushed Yao Liang away, returned the bicycle, and then walked into the residential area with him. As we walked, I complained about my alcoholic father, venting my dissatisfaction.

Yao Liang knew about the previous changes in my family. I had a vague feeling that his family’s business had competed with ours, and that his family might have even played a part in my father’s downfall. Because of this, Yao Liang had always felt a sense of guilt towards me. He was a popular figure at school, getting along well with both guys and girls, and his grades were excellent. He was also very protective of me. We had grown up together, so the bond between us was very deep.

I watched Yao Liang’s carefree appearance as he joked and laughed with me. He was dressed in designer clothes, looking like an elite. As the only son of the Yao family, it didn’t look like it would be too difficult for him to take over his father’s business one day.

This was a gated community, requiring a key card and facial recognition to enter. After Yao Liang scanned his card and was recognized, we entered. The interior of the community was also lavishly decorated. His apartment was on the 23rd floor of one of the buildings.

After we went inside, I saw it was a large flat, probably over 300 square meters. It was spotless, and it was obvious that someone came to clean it regularly.

"Alright, this is our secret base. My dad just bought it a while ago, and they basically never come here. You can live here with peace of mind, for as long as you want. A housekeeper comes to clean on Wednesdays and Sundays, so you don’t have to worry about cleaning during the week."

Yao Liang said, then went to open the refrigerator, which was full of cold drinks.

I took the Coke he handed me and took a big gulp. The cold Coke burned my throat. "Judging by this, you’ve used this place before, haven’t you!" I said teasingly.

"Haha, can’t fool you. But not recently. I’ve already broken things off with her."

Yao Liang laughed heartily when I hit the nail on the head. This guy always had a constant stream of girlfriends since middle school. I guessed this was his hookup spot. I wondered how many women he had already slept with here.

"You! You still haven’t learned your lesson after your old man caught you last time. I even heard it was a teacher from No. 2 School, over forty years old. You go for that kind too?" I said.

"So what if he caught me? It’s not like I care what he thinks anyway. He has dozens or hundreds of women outside. Even my mom can’t do anything about him. When the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be too. I’m just following in my father’s footsteps, right?"

Yao Liang said with a laugh. Although his family was wealthy, his parents were busy with work so they probably don’t care much about him. Besides his weakness for women, he managed to maintain a certain level of self-discipline and good grades, not becoming a spoiled heir. I already admired him a lot for that. He was now studying at the city’s No. 3 High School, while I went to No. 2 High School, so we were no longer classmates in high school.

"And don’t get me started, that teacher was incredibly hot. I told you, right? I have a thing for mature women. I met that auntie by chance on a bus once. She was dressed so provocatively, I couldn’t help myself."

Yao Liang got excited talking about women and started rambling on. I drank my Coke and listened to him start bragging. He was different from me, a virgin. Because of his affluent family, his generous spending, and no one at home to restrain him, his views on relationships had been very open since he was young. By now, I didn’t even know how many women he had slept with. He was very experienced.

Listening to him, I felt a strange mix of envy and unease. The secret base offered me a roof, yet the weight of relying on someone else’s charity already pressed on my chest. Thoughts of my mother still lingered at the edges of every quiet moment, refusing to leave me alone.