Walking out of the bedroom, he found that his dad was busily moving between the living room and kitchen, serving dishes. Meanwhile, his mom was sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed, searching for a TV program she wanted to watch using the remote. Although his dad was being bossed around by his mom and his face was expressionless, his steps were almost floating. Lin Jin guessed his dad was probably in a pretty good mood.
Since the original dining room was once again transformed into mom’s room, there was now no dining table in the house. The meals were just placed on the coffee table, with the only two small stools they had beside it. Their mother and father sat on two separate sofas, holding their bowls and picking food to eat.
This meal was rather sumptuous. Although it seemed that Lin Jin’s mother hadn't cooked in a while, her culinary skills were still much better his. Even if the dishes weren't perfect in color, and aroma, the taste was at least much better than what Lin Jin could make.
By the time they got home, it was already past six in the evening, so his mom didn't cook too much. One bowl of vegetables plus three bowls of meat dishes, and the main was simply a porridge. Except for their father, Lin Jin and the other two had bowls that were only palm sized, while dad’s bowl could almost be called a basin.
"Chengchang" Mom ate a few bites before turning her head towards dad. "How much money do you still owe?"
Upon hearing Mom mention this, the emotionless face of dad suddenly revealed a tangled expression. Furrowing his brows, he thought carefully before ambiguously stating, "Around a hundred something thousand..."
"What do you mean by a hundred something thousand?" Mom was unsatisfied with dad's answer and raised her tone. Her entire demeanor instantly displayed the authoritative presence she had when she was a boss. She sternly asked, "A hundred thousand? One hundred and ten thousand is also 'around a hundred something thousand' as is one hundred and ninety thousand."
Dad was suppressed by mom's aura. The man who had seemed quite authoritative in Lin Jin's eyes meekly said, "One hundred and seventy thousand."
Of course, in Lin Jin's eyes, his father had long ceased to be authoritative. After all, he had witnessed his dad doing solo hand exercises... um, although it was an accident and Lin Jin could understand his dad, he still felt that dad's authority was completely gone.
"One hundred and seventy thousand? That much?!"
Mom was startled. Although she had been doing quite well in Guangdong these past few years, the opening of a second store and the rise of online shopping had caused her brick and mortar clothing store's business to plummet. If she had known earlier that online shopping would boom like this, she wouldn't have bothered opening another branch.
Now, Mom had only around a hundred thousand in liquid assets. With two stores, the newly opened store was profitable but would take a few years to earn back its initial investment. The original store had also been impacted by e-commerce and wasn't doing so hot. After deducting the costs of rent, staff, utilities, and so on, her net profit per month was only a few tens of thousands.
"If I go back into business... I should be able to earn back that hundred thousand or so in a few years" Dad hesitantly said. "Opening a breakfast shop should be quite profitable now, although it would be tiring."
"You've lost millions, and only now you talk about being tired?" Mom angrily tapped her chopsticks on the coffee table. "Did you bring me back just to help you repay your debts? Let me tell you! Don't even think about it!"
"I know, I know." Dad lowered his head and didn't dare to eat.
Given the serious atmosphere, Lin Jin and Lin Chen looked at each other and tacitly agreed not to say anything. They quickly finished their meals, before hurriedly placing their bowls in the kitchen sink and then rushed into the bedroom.
Once inside the bedroom, Lin Jin could still faintly hear mom outside, continuously nagging at dad. He sat down on the bed, a little helpless. He wasn't sure whether Mom had accepted Dad again or what, but the scene of mom scolding dad just now seemed rather heartwarming in its own way.
After all, if they didn't have a good relationship, why would one bother about how much debt the other owed or anything like that?
"Brother, it seems like Mom is still... " Lin Chen pondered for a while before finally finding an appropriate expression, "their relationship is still pretty good?"
"Maybe."
Lin Jin rolled his eyes. Perhaps they seemed good on the surface, but who knows? Maybe mom was just looking for a way to belittle dad, to make him question his life before taking him to Guangdong as well.
After all, a woman's heart is as deep as the ocean, who knew what his mother was thinking.
"You don't have wifi here?" Lin Chen sat crosslegged on the floor, fiddling with the iPhone that Lin Jin had gifted him. He looked up, somewhat troubled, and asked Lin Jin, "Does the house not even have internet?"
"That’s right." Lin Jin sat on a single bed that was now just a wooden frame. He retorted, "Considering dad used to spend all day gambling and selling the furniture, what can the house have?"
"If I hadn’t given the money I made from my part time job to dad to buy furniture,how would we have a coffee table, sofa and big TV at home now?"
"I'm so poor now that I can barely afford to buy food."
Speaking of which, after buying a phone for his younger brother and letting mom know about it, she compensated Lin Jin with five thousand yuan. Otherwise, where would he get the money to buy furniture and still have a leftover of two or three thousand?
Lin Jin sighed. As a child who has been poor and is afraid of being poor again, although he usually spent money quite freely, he also kept a tight budget. He wouldn't spend a cent that he didn't need to. But because of the recent expenses for the Chinese New Year groceries and other things, he had only a little over two thousand yuan left in his bank account now.
"Brother, how have you been surviving without wifi all this time?" Lin Chen was getting somewhat displeased. Since arriving here, almost everything had gone wrong for him. His brother saw his tent, he had to sleep at night suppressing strange thoughts alongside his beautiful brother, and now there wasn't even an internet connection. He didn't know what to do at night.
"Reading novels" Lin Jin replied nonchalantly. He had long been accustomed to uneventful nights. Glancing at the dim sky outside the window, he thought for a moment before suggesting, "How about we go out and have some fun?"
"Do what?"
"Internet café, of course." Lin Jin shrugged, implying that apart from internet cafes, there probably wasn't much else to do in this city.
He wasn't a fan of KTV or bars, and visiting scenic spots late at night wasn't really an option. If they didn't go to an internet café, the most they could do was to eat something at a late night food street.
"Internet café?" Lin Chen hesitated, "I've never been to one."
"As my younger brother, you haven't even been to an internet café? Shameful." Lin Jin teased, then got up from the bed to sit cross-legged on the floor, facing Lin Chen. "Well then, you can read novels, or take a shower and go to sleep?"
"I think I'll just take a shower and sleep." Lin Chen stretched and stood up, walking toward the door. Just as his hand touched the doorknob, he heard his mom still scolding his dad in the living room. He instantly withdrew, tucking in his neck timidly, "I think I won't shower tonight, it's winter anyway, so I'm not sweating."
"Huh?" Lin Jin looked startled upon hearing this.
"What's wrong?"
Lin Chen turned his head and saw Lin Jin hurriedly pulling his half-removed jacket back on. Beneath the thin long-sleeved shirt, he could faintly make out a slight protrusion on Lin Jin's chest. Due to the material of the shirt, under the light, the slight bump on the clothing had two glaring reflections.
Does my brother have breasts?
Walking out of the bedroom, he found that his dad was busily moving between the living room and kitchen, serving dishes. Meanwhile, his mom was sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed, searching for a TV program she wanted to watch using the remote. Although his dad was being bossed around by his mom and his face was expressionless, his steps were almost floating. Lin Jin guessed his dad was probably in a pretty good mood.
Since the original dining room was once again transformed into mom’s room, there was now no dining table in the house. The meals were just placed on the coffee table, with the only two small stools they had beside it. Their mother and father sat on two separate sofas, holding their bowls and picking food to eat.
This meal was rather sumptuous. Although it seemed that Lin Jin’s mother hadn't cooked in a while, her culinary skills were still much better his. Even if the dishes weren't perfect in color, and aroma, the taste was at least much better than what Lin Jin could make.
By the time they got home, it was already past six in the evening, so his mom didn't cook too much. One bowl of vegetables plus three bowls of meat dishes, and the main was simply a porridge. Except for their father, Lin Jin and the other two had bowls that were only palm sized, while dad’s bowl could almost be called a basin.
"Chengchang" Mom ate a few bites before turning her head towards dad. "How much money do you still owe?"
Upon hearing Mom mention this, the emotionless face of dad suddenly revealed a tangled expression. Furrowing his brows, he thought carefully before ambiguously stating, "Around a hundred something thousand..."
"What do you mean by a hundred something thousand?" Mom was unsatisfied with dad's answer and raised her tone. Her entire demeanor instantly displayed the authoritative presence she had when she was a boss. She sternly asked, "A hundred thousand? One hundred and ten thousand is also 'around a hundred something thousand' as is one hundred and ninety thousand."
Dad was suppressed by mom's aura. The man who had seemed quite authoritative in Lin Jin's eyes meekly said, "One hundred and seventy thousand."
Of course, in Lin Jin's eyes, his father had long ceased to be authoritative. After all, he had witnessed his dad doing solo hand exercises... um, although it was an accident and Lin Jin could understand his dad, he still felt that dad's authority was completely gone.
"One hundred and seventy thousand? That much?!"
Mom was startled. Although she had been doing quite well in Guangdong these past few years, the opening of a second store and the rise of online shopping had caused her brick and mortar clothing store's business to plummet. If she had known earlier that online shopping would boom like this, she wouldn't have bothered opening another branch.
Now, Mom had only around a hundred thousand in liquid assets. With two stores, the newly opened store was profitable but would take a few years to earn back its initial investment. The original store had also been impacted by e-commerce and wasn't doing so hot. After deducting the costs of rent, staff, utilities, and so on, her net profit per month was only a few tens of thousands.
"If I go back into business... I should be able to earn back that hundred thousand or so in a few years" Dad hesitantly said. "Opening a breakfast shop should be quite profitable now, although it would be tiring."
"You've lost millions, and only now you talk about being tired?" Mom angrily tapped her chopsticks on the coffee table. "Did you bring me back just to help you repay your debts? Let me tell you! Don't even think about it!"
"I know, I know." Dad lowered his head and didn't dare to eat.
Given the serious atmosphere, Lin Jin and Lin Chen looked at each other and tacitly agreed not to say anything. They quickly finished their meals, before hurriedly placing their bowls in the kitchen sink and then rushed into the bedroom.
Once inside the bedroom, Lin Jin could still faintly hear mom outside, continuously nagging at dad. He sat down on the bed, a little helpless. He wasn't sure whether Mom had accepted Dad again or what, but the scene of mom scolding dad just now seemed rather heartwarming in its own way.
After all, if they didn't have a good relationship, why would one bother about how much debt the other owed or anything like that?
"Brother, it seems like Mom is still... " Lin Chen pondered for a while before finally finding an appropriate expression, "their relationship is still pretty good?"
"Maybe."
Lin Jin rolled his eyes. Perhaps they seemed good on the surface, but who knows? Maybe mom was just looking for a way to belittle dad, to make him question his life before taking him to Guangdong as well.
After all, a woman's heart is as deep as the ocean, who knew what his mother was thinking.
"You don't have wifi here?" Lin Chen sat crosslegged on the floor, fiddling with the iPhone that Lin Jin had gifted him. He looked up, somewhat troubled, and asked Lin Jin, "Does the house not even have internet?"
"That’s right." Lin Jin sat on a single bed that was now just a wooden frame. He retorted, "Considering dad used to spend all day gambling and selling the furniture, what can the house have?"
"If I hadn’t given the money I made from my part time job to dad to buy furniture,how would we have a coffee table, sofa and big TV at home now?"
"I'm so poor now that I can barely afford to buy food."
Speaking of which, after buying a phone for his younger brother and letting mom know about it, she compensated Lin Jin with five thousand yuan. Otherwise, where would he get the money to buy furniture and still have a leftover of two or three thousand?
Lin Jin sighed. As a child who has been poor and is afraid of being poor again, although he usually spent money quite freely, he also kept a tight budget. He wouldn't spend a cent that he didn't need to. But because of the recent expenses for the Chinese New Year groceries and other things, he had only a little over two thousand yuan left in his bank account now.
"Brother, how have you been surviving without wifi all this time?" Lin Chen was getting somewhat displeased. Since arriving here, almost everything had gone wrong for him. His brother saw his tent, he had to sleep at night suppressing strange thoughts alongside his beautiful brother, and now there wasn't even an internet connection. He didn't know what to do at night.
"Reading novels" Lin Jin replied nonchalantly. He had long been accustomed to uneventful nights. Glancing at the dim sky outside the window, he thought for a moment before suggesting, "How about we go out and have some fun?"
"Do what?"
"Internet café, of course." Lin Jin shrugged, implying that apart from internet cafes, there probably wasn't much else to do in this city.
He wasn't a fan of KTV or bars, and visiting scenic spots late at night wasn't really an option. If they didn't go to an internet café, the most they could do was to eat something at a late night food street.
"Internet café?" Lin Chen hesitated, "I've never been to one."
"As my younger brother, you haven't even been to an internet café? Shameful." Lin Jin teased, then got up from the bed to sit cross-legged on the floor, facing Lin Chen. "Well then, you can read novels, or take a shower and go to sleep?"
"I think I'll just take a shower and sleep." Lin Chen stretched and stood up, walking toward the door. Just as his hand touched the doorknob, he heard his mom still scolding his dad in the living room. He instantly withdrew, tucking in his neck timidly, "I think I won't shower tonight, it's winter anyway, so I'm not sweating."
"Huh?" Lin Jin looked startled upon hearing this.
"What's wrong?"
Lin Chen turned his head and saw Lin Jin hurriedly pulling his half-removed jacket back on. Beneath the thin long-sleeved shirt, he could faintly make out a slight protrusion on Lin Jin's chest. Due to the material of the shirt, under the light, the slight bump on the clothing had two glaring reflections.
Does my brother have breasts?
