Addicted: Book One - The Inquietude of Youth (1-44)

Chapter 5 - Don't Mention Their Family

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"Wake up, don't go back to sleep. Go buy the medicines for your grandmother."

Bai Luo Yin rubbed his eyes drowsily and saw that the sky outside was still dark.

"You don't need to take a waiting number to buy the medicines. Since we have the medical prescription, you can directly queue up."

Hearing that, Bai Luo Yin merely groaned and turned over.

"Hurry up and go, so you can come back early. Your grandmother is worried."

Bai Luo Yin lingered for a bit before he eventually got out of the bed unwillingly. Every morning for the past ten years, the breakfast had always been the same, which was deep-fried breadsticks and soft bean curd. Every day, Bai Han Qi would be the first one to go to the breakfast stall to buy breakfast. Sometimes, when the woman who owned that stall had yet to arrive, he would wait there until she did. Gradually, the two became acquainted with each other and every time Bai Han Qi went to the stall, she would immediately pack the breakfast and hand it over to him.

"I'm already full." Bai Luo Yin put his spoon down.

Bai Han Qi stared at his son, "You always leave a bite behind."

Bai Luo Yin had a bad habit. Regardless of what he ate, he always left a mouthful behind. Even if he was not full, a bit of food was always left behind; that habit had started when Bai Luo Yin was still a child. When he was a wee lad, because his family did not have enough to eat, Bai Han Qi always set aside what food he could for Bai Luo Yin. As a result, Bai Luo Yin loved his dad dearly yet felt sorry for him all the same. And thus, he left his dad a mouthful each time from his own portion.

Even though they could eat their full now, this bad habit of his had stuck around.

Today was Friday and the doctors were unavailable on the weekends. Therefore, the queue at the hospital was tremendously long. Considering that this was a top-level hospital, it was completely packed with people as if it was a free examination day. The crowd squeezing together was looked exactly like a throng of people at the Beijing subway during rush hour.

"Hey bro, you stepped on my foot."

"Impossible, our feet aren't even touching the ground."

"..."

In the queue, Bai Luo Yin was standing behind a beautiful girl; the person behind unexpectedly shoved into him, causing Bai Luo Yin to bump into the girl in front of him, repeatedly. Bai Luo Yin didn't know whether he should feel happy or annoyed. If he bumped into her one more time, he was afraid she might get pregnant!

"Hey, handsome guy."

"I'm talking to you!"

Bai Luo Yin's thoughts were still on the beautiful girl in front of him until someone behind him tapped his shoulder. He turned around for a look only to realize that two more girls had somehow appeared, both similar in looks and fashionably dressed, looking as though they wanted to cut in line.

"Hey, handsome. I'll give you two options, either you let me stand in front of you or, give me your phone number."

"136XXXXXXXX"

The two girls walked away while giggling happily.

As if she had waited long enough, the girl in front finally summoned her courage and turned back to look at Bai Luo Yin when she heard him speak. "Was that really your phone number?"

"I don't even have a cellphone."

"..."

After waiting until midday, Bai Luo Yin finally went home carrying a bag of medicines that cost 1057 yuan and 3.2 mao, a month's worth of spending. Originally, his family was not that poor; the main reason was that there were two elderlies in his family. While his grandmother relied on medications to sustain her condition his grandfather, on the other hand, needed an intravenous drip every once in a while. It was to prevent his cerebral thrombosis from recurring.

Bai Han Qi had two older brothers; the eldest was a doctor who taught at a well-known university in Beijing as a professor with a monthly income that exceeded ten thousand yuan, combined with countless other projects. However, his biggest hobby was to masquerade as a poor person. The second eldest brother was a businessman who lived extravagantly, but every time his aging parents needed to visit the doctor, the money in his pockets seem to magically disappear!

"Auntie."

Bai Luo Yin politely greeted the neighbor in front of him.

"You're back already? What's there to eat at home today?"

"I don't know."

Just as he finished speaking, Bai Luo Yin suddenly heard the sound of a car honking behind him. He turned around for a look only to be met with the sight of a luxurious and imposing military vehicle. Taking a second look at the owner of the vehicle, it was a young, beautiful lady.

Bai Luo Yin quickened his pace.

"Xiao Yin!"

In order to catch up to Bai Luo Yin, Jiang Yuan had no other option but to run wildly in her long skirt lifted up a bit. Had Gu Hai been there to see that sight, he would have thought of dragging her before the public to humiliate her.

"What are you avoiding your mother for?"

Bai Luo Yin remained silent.

"I came here because I need to talk to you. Get in the car."

Bai Luo Yin did not budge an inch as he upheld a cold and indifferent expression.

"If you don't answer me, I will enter the courtyard of your house."

Bai Luo Yin vaguely heard the sound of his grandmother's voice in the courtyard and the medicines in the plastic bag he was holding were to treat her heart condition. Bai Luo Yin struggled for a while before compromised.

"The graduation rate of the high school you're currently attending is low and the teaching environment is also subpar. I've already contacted a private high school, so you can go to study there for two years. After the college entrance examination, I can arrange for you to study abroad."

Bai Luo Yin only said four words, "I am not going."

Jiang Yuan had foreseen that kind of outcome, but she refused to give up.

"You can hate me and even question what kind of mother I am, but you cannot wrong yourself like this. What can you achieve by studying in that worn-down high school? You are the same age as the son of my new husband. He is also attending that private high school that I have arranged for you. There are boundless prospects in the future. What differences are there between the both of you?"

New husband – Bai Luo Yin felt sick hearing those two words.

"Don't tell me that you want to follow in your father's footsteps and be a good-for-nothing man his entire life, who's still riding a bicycle to work in his forties?"

Bai Luo Yin calmly swallowed his saliva, and at last, uttered a complete sentence.

"A person's conducts and accomplishments are not judged merely by the wealth an individual possesses, rather how much wealth they managed to help others with. I would like to ask you, Mrs. Jiang Yuan. You drive luxurious cars and carry designer bags, but how many people have you supported?"

Those words were like knives, practically stabbed Jiang Yuan's in the stomach.

She stared blankly at Bai Luo Yin for a long time before she started to talk with trembling lips.

"I know that I did not fulfill my duties as a mother properly, so now, I want to make it up to you. Since you are only seventeen years old and I am young still, why can't you give me another chance?"

"I'll give you a chance. Don't come looking for me anymore."

Bai Luo Yin sat up, got out of the car and walked straight towards the door.

"Xiao Yin!"

Jiang Yuan got up and cried out.

Bai Luo Yin clenched his fist tightly and looked back at Jiang Yuan.

"And next time, don't ever mention that family in front of me again. I'm sick of it."