The Silent World And Him - Chapter 04

Bathed in the light of the snowy day, today is another day without evening self-study. Qin Yu, with his long legs, was the first to leave the classroom, heading straight for the east stairs. Yesterday, his first day at the new school, he took the wrong gate, walked halfway to the north gate, only to realize his apartment wasn’t across the street, so he had to backtrack through the campus to the east gate. Today he didn’t make that mistake, probably being the first one from the class to rush out of school.

« Qin Yu! » Suddenly, someone called from behind. Lu Baisheng quickly caught up, checking his watch, saying, « You’re at the gate just three minutes after class ended; we don’t usually see you so eager during class. »

« I’m just in a hurry to go home and study English. »

« Cut it out! » Qin Yu shrugged, implying, « If you don’t believe me, what can I do? » Lu Baisheng couldn’t stand his attitude, but being at school, he restrained himself from kicking him. He asked, « Is your mom at home? »

Qin Yu casually replied, « No, she rarely comes back before ten. » His mother and father run a law firm together. Despite divorcing, they continue to cooperate; they are both prioritizing their interests, especially compatible in that aspect. After nearly twenty years of hard work, Shuo Yu Law Firm is now one of the most powerful firms in the industry, and his name was chosen by his parents from the firm’s name. The headquarters of Shuo Yu Law Firm is in Beijing, with fifteen branches nationwide. His mother originally managed the Shanghai branch, but due to some events, she now manages the branch in Su City. Su City is not far from Shanghai, and his mother also oversees projects there.

« How are you going to have dinner? Did you hire a housekeeper? » Lu Baisheng asked with concern.

Qin Yu replied, « No, I don’t like having strangers at home. » He nodded toward the alley across the street, « There are plenty of snack shops there; I won’t starve. » Lu Baisheng lives alone and has learned to cook since coming to Su City a year and a half ago. He said to Qin Yu, « Let’s go, eat at my place. »

Qin Yu looked at him as if to say, « Am I crazy to go to the homeroom teacher’s house after school? » Lu Baisheng assured him, « Don’t worry, we’ll just eat, no talk about studying. » Like he’d believe that. Lu Baisheng, helpless, finally decided, « Let’s eat out then, so I don’t have to cook. » Qin Yu reluctantly agreed, shifting his focus back, asking, « Can you still cook? »

Lu Baisheng grunted in affirmation. « That’s rare. » Lu Baisheng changed the subject, « Uncle He called me at noon, talked about your study situation; I guess he heard from your mom that I’m your homeroom teacher. » Uncle He, in Lu Baisheng’s words, is his biological father, He Junshuo. He takes his mother’s surname Qin, and after his parents’ divorce, he grew up at his grandma’s. Outsiders who are unaware think that his mother, backed by the Qin family’s background, bullied his father during the divorce, obtained custody, and changed his surname to Qin. However, that’s not the case. There was no custody battle; they were too busy making money to waste time on a child, so they claimed to be co-parenting. From the age of four to his current sixteen, he was taken care of by his grandparents, with his grandfather and grandmother abroad, spending his summer vacations there. The time and energy his parents spent on him over the years were less than what they gave to a major client. When asked about his aspirations in elementary school, he didn’t hesitate to answer, to become the richest person, so he could buy all of his parents’ working time to spend with him.

« Mr. Lu, can we talk about something happy? » As they spoke, they crossed the street. Lu Baisheng countered, « What happy thing do you want to talk about? » Qin Yu said, « Like playing games… » Before he could finish, Lu Baisheng interrupted, « You’re dead set on playing games. »

Qin Yu chuckled, really thinking he wanted to play games with him. As they walked into the alley, a few students on bikes caught up from behind, from Class 9, including both boys and girls.

« Mr. Lu, » they greeted Lu Baisheng one by one. Lu Baisheng is witty in class, and he has a good relationship with his students outside of class. One of the girls spoke up, « Mr. Lu, we’re going to buy oden later; would you and the new student like to join us? » Inviting Lu Baisheng is just a cover; the main purpose is to invite Qin Yu and get to know him better. They rode slowly, deliberately slowing down to wait for Lu Baisheng and Qin Yu. Lu Baisheng turned to Qin Yu and asked, « Do you want to eat oden? »

In ordinary times, Qin doesn’t like eating these things, but today is an exception. He doesn’t want to eat with Lu Baisheng, fearing they might engage in various philosophical discussions during the meal. When things don’t go smoothly, silence is golden. If he packs a portion of oden, he can part ways with Lu Baisheng in the shortest time possible. « Sure, I love eating this, » Qin said with a double meaning.

Lu Baisheng went to the small roadside shop selling oden with a few students. He wouldn’t let the students treat him, so he gave the boss two hundred yuan and let them choose for themselves. « Choose what you like. If it’s not enough, I’ll pay more. » « It’s more than enough, we can’t finish it all. We’re all on a diet. »

Pu Chen saw a few familiar faces gathered together from a distance, including her familiar teacher, Lu, and Qin. However, she never fit in with such lively scenes. The oden shop was on the right side of the road, and she walked along the left side without anyone noticing her. A few meters ahead was their family’s auto repair shop, where her dad was busy. Pu Chen, as usual, cleaned the whiteboard at the door, refilled her dad’s thermos with hot water, and planned to go home to do her homework. Just as she reached the door, someone approached her.

« Teacher Lu. » She smiled and mouthed the words. Lu Baisheng handed her a packaged portion of oden and said, « I just treated those kids to some food and packed some for you too. I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I got a bit of everything. » « Thank you, Teacher Lu, » Pu Chen mouthed silently as usual. Lu Baisheng’s visits to Pu Chen’s house were like home visits. She was grateful for his concern for her and his respect for her father.

Pu Chen took the bag of packaged oden home, leaving the two of them to chat in the shop. Pu Wanli saw his daughter’s head teacher approaching and quickly put down what he was doing to make tea. He had bought new tea leaves specially to entertain Lu Baisheng. Lu Baisheng often visited, so whether it was Pu Chen or Pu Wanli, even the neighbors were used to it. They said Pu Chen was lucky to have such a responsible teacher.

When Pu Chen was in fourth grade, the family was in a car accident. She was in the car at the time, her mother passed away, her father was seriously injured, and she herself was also seriously injured. Later, Pu Chen’s vocal cords suffered irreversible damage, and since then, she has been unable to speak. After successive blows, Pu Chen was basically in a self-imposed isolation for several years. Except for her dad and aunt, she didn’t communicate with anyone.

In the past six months, Pu Chen’s personality has become much more cheerful, with smiles on her face. Although she still finds studying difficult, she has made significant progress and is willing to learn actively. Much of the credit goes to Lu Baisheng. Pu Wanli couldn’t express his gratitude to Lu Baisheng. Every time Lu Baisheng came over, he could only make a cup of tea to show his appreciation.

Lu Baisheng sat by the door, and Pu Wanli put the hot tea on the low table, gesturing for Pu Chen to continue. He could communicate in simple sign language, which he had learned from Pu Wanli over the past six months. With New Year’s Day approaching, after discussing Pu Chen’s midterm exam situation, Lu Baisheng asked about Pu Chen’s plans for the New Year’s holiday.

Pu Wanli: [There shouldn’t be any plans. She doesn’t like crowds.] Lu Baisheng had no intention of returning to Beijing. He didn’t want to go back to the Lu family either. He planned to make up an excuse to his family, saying he was discussing projects abroad and didn’t have time to rush back. He told Pu Wanli: [I’ll be in Sucheng during the holiday. If Pu Chen has nothing to do, she can video call me for extra lessons.] Lu Baisheng often tutored Pu Chen, not only in English but also in math and science, which were his strong subjects.

Pu Wanli didn’t want to bother him during the holidays. Since Lu Baisheng couldn’t understand complex sign language, he wrote on the whiteboard: [Rest well during the holiday. Wenxin might come back. She was good at studying when she was in school. If there’s anything Chenchen doesn’t know, she can ask her. Don’t always trouble you.] Lu Baisheng kept looking at the two words ‘Wenxin’ on the whiteboard, lost in thought.

Pu Wanli reviewed the whiteboard again and found something wrong. He drew a line below ‘Wenxin’ and explained: [Wenxin is Chenchen’s aunt.]

Certainly, here’s the translated paragraph with space between paragraphs:

Lubai Sheng came to his senses and nodded. It wasn’t until the sky outside darkened that Lubai Sheng got up to say goodbye. The alley was bustling with congested traffic and crowds.

Puchan opened a window on the balcony, leaned on the windowsill, eating oden, and gazed at the lively street market below. When she was young, she loved standing here and looking out, but she was too short and had to stand on a stool.

Every night, she stood at the window waiting for her mother to come home from work. She always spotted her mother among the crowd and shouted loudly, « Mom! » Her mom looked up at her from below, her voice always so gentle: « Guess what delicious food Mom bought for Chenbao today? » She said, « Candy! » Her mom said, « No, Mom bought oden for Chenbao. »

After finishing a cup of oden, Puchan came to her senses, wiped away her tears, closed the window, and started doing her homework. Today’s homework wasn’t much; she finished it all before ten o’clock. Dad hasn’t come back yet. Today is even colder than yesterday, nine degrees below zero. Such cold weather was rare in Sucheng.

Puchan put on a thick coat and went to the shop to pick up Dad after work. Pumanli was moving the whiteboard into the house, planning to close the shop and go home, when he saw his daughter appear in front of him. He asked her how she came downstairs on such a cold day. Puchan said it wasn’t cold and helped Dad pack all the bike repair tools into the house. Dad closed the rolling shutter and locked the door. She stood at the door and inadvertently glanced at the barbecue restaurant diagonally opposite. It was a coincidence; she saw Qin Yucheng’s tall figure waiting for his barbecue takeaway. It seemed that one serving of oden wasn’t enough for him, so he came out to find more food. She didn’t know if he had finished his homework.

Pumanli patted his daughter’s shoulder and asked if she wanted barbecue. Puchan shook her head and said she just wanted to smell it; it’s too late to eat barbecue and get fat. She walked home arm in arm with her father. Under the streetlight, their shadows were closely intertwined.

Puchan looked ahead and said to the air, « The head teacher’s office is on the third floor, the second room. » But there was no sound, only a puff of white mist. The mist quickly dissipated into the endless night. If only she could speak, it would be so good, even if she could only say a few words.