Lovely Allergen

Chapter 27: A Soft Flame

Yue Zhishi stood behind Song Yu, unable to say a single word.

He'd always gone with the family to see their relatives during Lunar New Year and other festivals. Everyone had always warmly and enthusiastically asked about how his studies were going or how his life was — he'd never once heard such sharp and harsh words. They came out so fiercely, and Yue Zhishi wasn't used to them at all.

Yue Zhishi realised, after such a long while, everyone had only been pretending to be gentle and kind towards him. In their hearts, he was only a parasite.

He'd been protected too well, to the point he really did consider himself as Song Yu's real younger brother. He had completely forgotten his true reality of being sent to live under someone else's roof.

"What outsiders?" Their aunt's face was flushed with colour. "Your cousin was only thinking of you. You child, you're just like your father, always liking to sacrifice yourself for others, to raise someone else's child. Do you think all your money was blown over by some wind?"

Song Yu calmly responded, "All our money came from Uncle Yue. He gave his entire life savings to my dad in a gamble."

He looked towards his aunt, eyes sharp. "Maybe I'm too young and don't remember anything, but I just wanted to ask. Back when my father was just starting his business and didn't have enough cash flow, did uncle help him at all?"

She immediately had nothing to say, and her expression started to look a bit ugly. She finally forced out, "Back... back then we weren't too well off either."

"Sure." Song Yu nodded his head as if he was an inquisitor who had just gotten the answer he'd wanted.

"Since you never helped, then it has nothing to do with you."

"You!" His aunt stood up in anger, her new daughter-in-law patting her back to help calm her down. Song Yu's cousin looked at Song Yu in dissatisfaction. "Cousin, only we are a family. Acting like this is too harmful towards family members..."

Song Yu abruptly laughed. It looked like she didn't expect that reaction at all and couldn't finish the words she wanted to say. When Yue Zhishi looked at Song Yu, his face was even icier than before.

"The word 'family' sounds so cheap coming out of your mouths."

This was the first time Yue Zhishi has ever seen such a harsh, scathing part of Song Yu's personality. Song Yu held his wrist and led him out of there.

This was completely out of Yue Zhishi's expectations. He'd thought Song Yu would walk ahead by himself like he usually did, with Yue Zhishi following behind him.

Maybe it was because Song Yu guessed he couldn't move — he had no way of removing himself from such an unbearable situation.

They didn't speak the entire way back to Grandpa's hospital room. Yue Zhishi didn't really want to talk. The unwashed apple sat heavily in his hand, and when Song Yu entered the room, he gave his grandpa his premeditated excuse, saying the outside bathroom was also under repair with no way to get in.

Grandpa was fully absorbed in his manga. He'd never wanted to eat some fruit anyway, so he wasn't the slightest bit suspicious about Song Yu's words. His reading glasses perched on his nose, and he waved Yue Zhishi over to his side. "Quickly come, read with me. This bit is really interesting."

Yue Zhishi nodded and went to sit on the side of the hospital bed. He eventually ended up lying down next to Grandpa while they read the manga together. If this was any other usual day, he would've happily, enthusiastically introduced every single character and their abilities to Grandpa. But he wasn't able to find any interest in the manga at all, and it was like squeezing out toothpaste talking to him — only one sentence for every question asked.