Shameless Gangster

Chapter 5A

Trouble Never comes Singly

Translator: Sae | Proofreader: Julieta2478

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Since the city was closed to the water, there was still warmth from the daytime that lingered into the first half of the night which made it very comfortable. But once midnight passed, the atmosphere routinely became cool. Jiang Xiao Ning only had jeans and a short-sleeved summer school uniform on and was trembling uncontrollably beneath the park pavilion.

The bitter coldness that actively attacked his body, left an uncomfortable sensation. He shifted a bit further into the pavilion, hugged his knees and hid his face between his legs.[1]

The red and swollen palm print on his cheek had already become numb in the cold wind. At first, he didn't feel anything, but now that it chafed severely on the rough cloth of the jeans, it burned and was extremely painful.

Jiang Xiao Ning hissed and sucked in the cold air. He lifted his face and thought of his father's ruthless slap that nearly broke his tooth.

When his recent examination score dropped his rank by three spots, his father had scolded him without much care.

Since his mother passed away, his father had become a workaholic. At home, he only prepared and corrected piles and piles of examination papers. Even though there was another person living under the same roof as him, he never cared about him. And on the rare occasion that he did talk to Jiang Xiao Ning, aside from asking him about his exam scores, he always criticized him for not making efforts.

Jiang Xiao Ning had long been used to that kind of treatment. This time, he had also endured it. Once his father was done scolding him, he would just go and do his own thing. But, he ended up hearing that name yet again.

"My former student, Han Jia, his score in physics had always been perfect. He never slacked, and even studied on the bus. Who doesn't like to relax? If he can do it then why can't you? Han Jia, he-"

"Aren't you sick of saying that?!" Jiang Xiao Ning shouted angrily, "All you say all day long is Han Jia, Han Jia. I am your son, not him!"

The father seemed to be confused by his sudden burst of anger. He was not good at dealing with this kind of situation, so he merely frowned at his son.

After holding back for several days, his resentment erupted all of a sudden. "Don't mention the name Han Jia in front of me anymore. That name annoys me! Anyone named Han Jia is nothing spec..."

Something suddenly plundered his remaining thought and he couldn't help but stop his own mouth. As he stared at his father, his brows gradually tightened before he stood up abruptly and ran into his father's room.

There was a glass pressed over his father's work desk[2] and underneath that glass were graduation photos of his previous students in chronological order. Jiang Xiao Ning's eyes scanned over it before he found the one with Han Jia's name on it.

"Which one is Han Jia?" Jiang Xiao Ning took that photo out and held it up in front of his father who had chased after him. His hand was trembling as he pinched that photo.

How could he have forgotten? His father had shown it to him in the past while wearing a very proud expression. Since he was still very small at that time, he only remembered that his father's favorite student was very thin and had dark eyes. Afterward, because he hated that his father always compared him to that Han Jia, he no longer looked at those photos...but, how could he have forgotten?

"That's him." The father pointed to that familiar yet strange face as he chattered away. "When he was your age, he had already won some regionals awards. But what about you? You must only know how to be lazy and waste your youth and talent..."