When Chu Shici was five years old, a new neighbor moved in across from his house.
It was two young men with a little boy.
The boy is the same age as him, and his birthday is a few months earlier than his. According to his parents, the boy’s name is Shen Lianzhe.
Chu Shici thought the newly moved Gege* was very good-looking. He ran to play with Shen Lianzhe every day, chasing him and calling him Gege.
*(gege is a close and affectionate way of calling older brother)
Shen Lianzhe seems difficult to get along with and doesn’t like to talk. Other children in the community didn’t like him and said he was weird.
But Chu Shici liked playing with him.
Every time he hugged Shen Lianzhe, the gege’s originally fair face would instantly turn red.
In order to watch him change color, Chu Shici often took advantage of his unpreparedness and secretly rushed to hug him.
He thinks the gege is a chameleon.
————
It has been less than half a year since Shen Lianzhe and his two adoptive fathers moved into their new home.
He made a friend in this old neighborhood.
The boy was a few months younger than him, his name was Chu Shici, and he lived across from him.
Chu Shici would run to his door every morning and bang on the door: “Gege! Gege, I’m here to play with you!”
When Shen Lianzhe made friends for the first time, he was a little overwhelmed.
Chu Shici is cute, lively and active, and can always come up with many interesting little games. When Shen Lianzhe was wronged, Chu Shici would help him out.
This new friend he made is good everywhere, but sometimes Shen Lianzhe can’t understand what he is doing.
For example, lurking in a corner and waiting for him to come over. Then he pounced directly on him, staring expectantly at his face.
Or suddenly ask him if he can climb trees and walls, or if he can change into other colors.
Shen Lianzhe was at a loss.
When Chu Shici came to pinch his face again, he couldn’t help but ask, “What are you doing?”
He is only five years old, and no matter how he speaks like an adult, his voice still sounds childish.
The two adoptive fathers were laughing beside him, pointing at him and talking quietly.
Shen Lianzhe vaguely heard his adoptive fathers whispering to each other.
“Fuck, was Captain Zhe so cute when he was a child? Wifey, do you think that when the world ends and Captain Zhe regains his memory, will he hit us?”
The other adoptive father took out a pack of cigarettes from his suit pocket, took one out and held it in his mouth.
“The two of them chose to come to this world for vacation on their own, saying they wanted to make up for Ah Ci’s childhood regrets.”
“But Captain Zhe didn’t say we could be his fathers.”
“I spent so much money to create this small world for him, what else can he be dissatisfied with?”
“But I remember Captain Zhe was the one who paid for it.”
The man in the suit didn’t reply.
He touched Shen Lianzhe’s head and showed a strange smile, “Be good and call me daddy.”
Shen Lianzhe: ?
He hesitated for a few seconds and whispered, “Mr. Yi.”*
*(易 yi4 sounds like 一 yi1 which is 1 to represent his system number.)
The man in the suit clicked his tongue and went out to smoke.
When the other adoptive father also left, there were only two children left in the room.
Shen Lianzhe turned to look at his didi* next to him and asked him in a cold tone, “Why do you always stare at my face.”
*(didi is an affectionate way of calling little brother)
Chu Shici looked at him enviously, “Your face can change colors, I want that too.”
“What colors?”
“Just touch it and it’ll suddenly turn red.”
Seeing that the gege still didn’t understand, Chu Shici grabbed him and ran into the bathroom. The two people huddled on the bench and looked at the bathroom mirror.
Chu Shici motioned him to stare at the mirror, then suddenly turned around and kissed him.
Shen Lianzhe rarely had close contact with others. He tensed up nervously and almost fell off the bench.
The good friend’s excited shout came into his ears, “Gege, look! Your face is turning red!”
Shen Lianzhe looked in the direction he pointed.
When he saw himself in the mirror, his cheeks turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye, and eventually his entire face was completely red.
Chu Shici held his chin up and looked at him with bright eyes, “You can turn red, but I can’t. Gege, do you have super powers, like Spider-Man? Are you Apple Man?”
Before Shen Lianzhe could figure out what was going on, several muffled laughs suddenly came from behind him.
He turned around and saw that the bathroom door was open a crack, and two adoptive fathers were huddling at the crack of the door to peek in, holding cameras in their hands to take pictures.
After the two men finished taking pictures, they started saying strange things again.
“When this world ends and these two people regain their memories, do you think they will find a crack in the ground and crawl into it.”
“Captain Zhe probably will, he has a thin face.”
“Hey, hey, Apple Man. I recorded it all and will keep it as a souvenir for them then! Having said that, I can understand why Captain Zhe and Ah Ci shrunk their bodies. After all, they want to experience their childhood, but why do they still ask for their memories to be temporarily sealed?”
The man in the suit was strangely silent for a moment.
After a long while, he explained in a low voice: “They are in the honeymoon period. They can’t control their restlessness and can easily misfire.”
“It doesn’t matter, they are a couple anyway.”
“Captain Zhe is adamant. Ah Ci encountered pedophilia when he was a child, and he has a psychological shadow. There are also age requirements in this regard.”
The smoke drifted into the bathroom along the wind. Seeing this, the man in the suit put out the cigarette in his hand.
“There are memories of being in love, and they are worried that after they shrink, they can’t help but use a child’s body to do intimate things, such as kissing, touching, etc. So he asked me to seal their memories and let them develop their feelings as an adult.”
The two people said something else after that, but Shen Lianzhe didn’t hear it clearly.
After the two adoptive fathers left, Chu Shici grabbed Shen Lianzhe and whispered in his ear: “Gege, your adoptive father is so strange.”
Shen Lianzhe agreed, “They always say something I don’t understand.”
“Do you think they are aliens? In the movies I saw, aliens like to wear black suits.”
“…No, you are thinking too much.”
————
Under the control of their two adoptive fathers, Shen Lianzhe and Chu Shici were in the same class in kindergarten and primary school.
Chu Shici is very smart, and his grades are very good and he studies and plays at the same time. He has a lot of clever ideas, a cheerful personality, and can play with anyone. All his classmates like him.
Compared with him, Shen Lianzhe, who was taciturn and expressionless, became an anomaly in the class.
Seemingly realizing that he was lonely, Chu Shi resigned and took Shen Lianzhe with him wherever he went. He introduced him to other friends, patted his chest and said he would protect him.
The fifth grade of elementary school, they were required to write a composition titled “My Good Friend”
Shen Lianzhe wrote about Chu Shici’s daily life with him.
While Chu Shici wrote about him and the pet cat next door.
Realizing that his status was not better than that of a cat, Shen Lianzhe cried for a long time on the way home, Chu Shici couldn’t even coax him.
In order to make the gege who grew up together with him happy, he wrote an essay overnight to praise their friendship.
With red eyes, Shen Lianzhe folded the composition and stuffed it into the small box he used to store treasures.
His two adoptive fathers watched the whole process, laughing wildly beside him.
Shen Lianzhe ignored them.
He carefully locked the box and stored it away.
In Shen Lianzhe’s impression, his friend was always cheerful and optimistic, with a bright smile on his face.
Until one day, Chu Shici suddenly cried in class.
When Shen Lianzhe asked, he found out that his mother was seriously ill and had been hospitalized a few days ago.
Chu Shici is just an ordinary family and cannot bear such great financial pressure. His father is borrowing money from everywhere. He is afraid that if he cannot borrow enough money, his mother will die of illness.
After returning home, Shen Lianzhe smashed the money pig and gave him all his money.
“Thirty-five thousand.”
“Gege, you are so rich.”
“It’s the New Year’s money and pocket money that Mr. Yi gave me. I can earn some more by doing housework for him.”
Chu Shici followed the example of an adult and wrote an IOU by hand.
Shen Lianzhe didn’t want it.
He hugged his friend and comforted him seriously: “It’s okay, it will get better. If it’s not enough, I’ll ask Mr. Yi tonight.”
“Mr. Yi? Is he rich?”
“Well, I know that he has several companies.”
Chu Shici:…
Only then did he realize that his little friend who was always crying was secretly a rich second generation.
————
The death of his mother was probably the biggest turning point in Chu Shici’s life.
In order to change this plot, the two systems who pretended to be humans paid for his mother’s treatment.
In the end, they succeeded in bringing the woman back from the border of life and death by relying on their money making skills, but she still needed to be hospitalized for a long time for observation.
Owing so much money to their neighbor, the man got up early and worked hard to make money.
The family suffered a huge change. His mother was hospitalized and his father left early and came home late. Chu Shici grown up overnight.
But when he was about to learn how to live alone, his neighbor across the door took him into his home and let him stay temporarily.
Chu Shici had finished elementary school, and when he was twelve or thirteen years old, he also understood some things.
He felt that since his family was the one who owed money, he was embarrassed to eat and drink at his neighbors’ houses, so he insisted on living back home so as not to cause trouble to them.
Originally, he heard that he could bring his friend over to live with him. Shen Lianzhe was so excited that he stayed up all night.
Then, his dream was shattered. The more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt. He hid behind his adoptive father and wiped his tears.
After being pushed twice by his adoptive fathers, Shen Lianzhe ran out and hugged Chu Shici, sobbing softly in his ear, “But I want to live with you. I’ve even prepared your bed and desk. Aren’t we good friends?”
He cried, and so did Chu Shici.
After coaxing the young Captain Zhe and young Ah Ci into the bedroom, the two systems disguised as fathers leaned against the door and suppressed their laughter.
After laughing enough, the system asked the boss in a low voice: [The money Ah Ci’s family owes, do you still want it?]
The boss held a cigarette and said, [It depends on the situation and his father’s performance.]
[I think his dad seems pretty good and works hard.]
[I don’t know, we’ll see.]
After the two of them finished speaking, they heard strange noises coming from inside the room.
The system opened the door a crack and squinted to look inside.
In the bedroom, two children were preparing to be sworn brothers.
Maybe they wanted to imitate the oath of the peach garden*. When they made their sworn vows, there was a teddy bear beside them to make up the number. That was their third brother.
*(
The Oath of the Peach Garden is a fictional event in the 14th century Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong. Source: Reddit)
The system silently raised the camera to record the embarrassing moment between the host and the fierce 1.
After the vows, Chu Shici followed the titles on TV and called Shen Lianzhe Zhe-ge.
But Shen Lianzhe refused to call him second brother and insisted on calling him Ah Ci.
Chu Shici suspected that Zhe-ge likes to watch Hong Kong movies recently.
————
After temporarily staying at Zhe-ge’s house, Chu Shici lived a very comfortable life.
The two adoptive fathers seemed to like him very much. They always spent a lot of money and bought him a lot of delicious food, as if they were afraid that he would be hungry.
One time, Chu Shici passed by the master bedroom and saw his usually carefree adoptive father crying, while Mr. Yi, who liked to smoke, was coaxing him.
Chu Shici didn’t want to eavesdrop, but their voices were really loud.
“When I was working with Ah Ci in Punishment World, he told me that he couldn’t get enough to eat in junior high school, so he always dug through the garbage and was so hungry that he was all skin and bones. Damn it, it made me feel so fucking bad.”
The man in the suit hummed: “It’s okay, he won’t be hungry now.”
“But now that he eats so well, he probably won’t like eating fried noodles as much as before.”
Chu Shici blinked blankly.
At night, he climbed into Zhe-ge’s bed, huddled with him, and told Zhe-ge the conversations he overheard.
At the end, he sighed, “I don’t know who the Ah Ci they are talking about is. It’s so pitiful to be so hungry.”
Chu Shici didn’t know why, but when he said this, he felt inexplicably panicked.
Shen Lianzhe’s expression wasn’t very good either.
He hugged Chu Shici, patted his back and swore: “Ah Ci, I won’t let you starve.”
Chu Shici nodded and silently shrank into Zhe-ge’s arms.
He felt that he was really happy, much happier than that person with the same name.
————
Chu Shici went to school during the day and took his lunch box to the hospital to take care of his mother after school. Wait until Mr. Yi gets off work in the evening to drive to pick him and Shen Lianzhe home.
His biological father leaves early and comes home late. He has not seen him for a long time.
In the first few months, his father would go to the hospital to see his mother, buy some gifts and send them to neighbors and talk to Chu Shici.
But during this period, the man rarely came to see Chu Shici.
He doesn’t know what his father is doing, he only knows that he is making money outside.
One Friday, school ended early, and Chu Shici and Shen Lianzhe went home at noon.
On the way home, they saw his father holding the hand of another woman. The two of them were talking and laughing as they walked into another community.
Chu Shici pulled Shen Lianzhe to follow them, but saw his father kissing the other woman at the corner. Kissing wasn’t enough, they started to touch each other.
He realized that his father seemed to have cheated on his mother.
Chu Shici was very angry and rushed over to explain to the woman: “This is my dad. He has a wife. You should leave quickly and don’t be with him.”
The woman took out a hundred dollars from her pocket and touched his head: “Be good. From now on I am your mother, call me mom.”
Chu Shici put the money away, pointed at her nose and cursed, “Idiot.”
After scolding the woman, he punched and kicked the man again, “You scum! Do you not have anyfucking shame in betraying my mother!”
This shout embarrassed the man.
He grabbed Chu Shici and wanted to slap him twice.
When Shen Lianzhe saw this, he swung at him with his school bag.
The three of them started fighting. Chu Shici had never fought before and was so angry that he cried. Shen Lianzhe lowered his head and looked for bricks on the ground.
The adoptive fathers came quickly, took the two children into the car and sent them home, while they stayed here to deal with them.
When Chu Shici was put into the car, he was still struggling about and scolding: “You two trash! My mother is still lying in the hospital, yet you are doing this to her!”
The fiercer he scolded, the harder he cried.
Shen Lianzhe wiped away Chu Shici’s tears and held him in his arms to comfort him.
Ah Ci’s father cheated on him and was not a good man. I will never become a man like him in the future.
He will be loyal to his lover and will not look for a new love just because the other person has fallen into a trough.
————
After a man cheated on his wife, the boss completely lost his temper.
Originally, it didn’t want the man to pay back all the money because of Chu Shici’s sake. Now, not only does it have to pay back the money, it also asks for interest.
Chu Shici never returned home and always stayed at Zhe-ge’s house.
His father is unreliable and may run away with another woman one day. He has to make money to support his mother.
Chu Shici asked Mr. Yi if there was any job that someone of his age could do.
Mr. Yi said that wherever he goes, he will be considered a child laborer, but not at home.
Chu Shici earned a small amount of money from his two adoptive fathers by doing housework.
Zhe-ge also taught him several ways to make money, such as doing homework for his classmates and helping others copy.
They jointly bought a piggy bank and deposited all their money into it.
Chu Shici touched the piggy bank and looked at the money inside, and suddenly felt that Zhe-ge’s family was really good to him.
Recently, the two adoptive fathers seem to have something on their mind, and they are strictly prohibited from going out at night or going to the park.
The adoptive father, who had a more outgoing personality, also asked that Chu Shici follow Shen Lianzhe closely when going to and from school, and not to run around alone.
Chu Shici didn’t understand what he meant, but he still nodded in agreement.
One day after school, Shen Lianzhe stayed in the class on duty, while Chu Shi left the school to buy ice cream at a small shop outside the school.
On his way back to school, he was blocked by two men.
They gathered around him and asked him if he wanted to play pool together.
Thinking of what his adoptive father had said, Chu Shici shook his head. He turned around and wanted to run away, but someone grabbed him.
The two people pulled him and walked into the alley. Chu Shici threw the ice cream at their faces and rushed to go back to school to find Zhe-ge.
Shen Lianzhe, who was supposed to be cleaning up the class, ran out at some point.
He held a mobile phone in one hand and a broom in the other. When he saw Chu Shici being chased by someone, he went over with a broom to chase them away.
The two men seemed to be doing something shady. They looked at the security guard at the door, then at the two students hiding behind the school gate, and finally ran away with their necks shrunk.
Shen Lianzhe took pictures of their faces and complained about them to their adoptive father.
Putting down his phone, Shen Lianzhe turned around, only to see Chu Shici standing there with a blank look on his face.
He asked worriedly: “Are you feeling uncomfortable?”
Chu Shici shook his head, rushed over and hugged him, “No, I just felt so relieved suddenly, as if something annoying had disappeared from my life!”
Shen Lianzhe couldn’t help but smile slightly.
He didn’t know why, but at this moment, he felt inexplicably very happy too.
It was as if he was not too late in the end, successfully protected a very important person and made up for the regrets in his heart.
___
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