Good Luck in the Year of the Pig

It was very late and only a few people were entering or leaving the subway station in front of the community. Lu Ying and Qin Zhuopu stepped into the station, neither of them speaking for a while.

“You should go back, I don’t feel comfortable leaving the kid alone at home. It’s easy for me to take the subway to the airport.” Qin Zhuopu offered to say goodbye. It was enough that Lu Ying came to see him off, not to mention that his mouth was still full of Lu Ying’s taste… Even though he didn’t want to leave, he was incredibly happy and satisfied.

“En…” Lu Ying responded in a low voice, taking out a card from his pocket and handing it to Qin Zhuopu: “This is the subway card I charged for you. There are two hundred yuan in it, which is enough for you to take many subway trips. You can take it and use it.” It was ten yuan for a trip from here to the airport, and twenty yuan for a round trip. Two hundred yuan was enough for ten round trips. After all, Qin Zhuopu was very busy and had no free time to run to him every day. Lu Ying pondered, it should be enough for one year, right?

”……” Qin Zhuopu lowered his head and quickly concealed the trembling smile on his face, taking the festive red recharge card. The fat golden pig on it looked naive and was grinning, strangely similar to Lu Zaizai.

“Isn’t it very similar to our Zaizai?” Lu Ying asked with a smile, “As soon as I saw this card, I thought that little pig looked a lot like him, so I bought it immediately. Look, I have two more of the same series, both I and Zaizai have them.” He spread out the cards and leaned close to Qin Zhuopu; the two of them admired three recharge cards of the same red colour head to head. The posture of the pig on each card was different, but it was undeniable that they all were very cute.

The smile on Qin Zhuopu’s face never faded, and he couldn’t help rubbing Lu Ying’s hair as he said: “You are also like a cute little pig. In my heart, you are the cutest.”

“Who is cute? I’ll be thirty soon on my ID card.” Lu Ying blushed and retorted, “The girls in the shop say I’m a good-looking guy, not cute, okay? You’re the only person in the world who compliments me on my cuteness, what’s wrong with your eyes?” Seven years ago, Qin Zhuopu was complimenting like this, and now he was still doing the same thing; he hadn’t improved at all. It’s too corny ┓( ` )┏.

“In the whole world, it’s enough that I’m the only one who knows you’re cute.” Qin Zhuopu murmured in a low voice, forcing Lu Ying into a corner: “I don’t want to leave.”

Lu Ying clearly felt the strong eruption of testosterone, immediately pushed at Qin Zhuopu’s chest and cursed through the clenched teeth: “You, you be careful! Don’t look that it is a corner, the subway station is full of surveillance. You’re shameless but I’m not shameless!” He pushed Qin Zhuopu out of the way, quickly put something in his hand and hastily instructed, “This is the little blessing bag I made, you have to take it with you when you go out. Don’t lose it, okay?”

Qin Zhuopu was not the kind of person to behave wildly outside; even though he couldn’t control himself for a moment, reason prevailed eventually. Now that he was pushed away by Lu Ying and heard his instructions, Qin Zhuopu subconsciously nodded.

Lu Ying waved his hand and left, reassured, “Then go slowly, bye.”

“Bye.” Qin Zhuopu reluctantly said goodbye to Lu Ying’s distant back. Looking down at the little red pig’s head blessing bag in his hand, he couldn’t help but press it to his lips and kiss it. Then he turned and swiped his brand new recharge card to go home.

In the cramped rental apartment, Lu Zaizai was already asleep.

After Lu Ying freshened up, he carefully got under the quilt, swiped his mobile phone, looked at the huge extra deposit in his internet bank card and counted it three times in a row, one zero, two zeroes, three zeroes…

Not long after, Lu Ying buried his head under the blanket and snickered. He couldn’t control it, couldn’t stop laughing!

What could he do? He was helpless!

It was a red envelope of 660,000 yuan!

It was worth several years of his hard-earned savings.

You want him to hold back his laughter?

It’s too embarrassing…(*^▽^*)

Qin Zhuopu’s grandma was really a good person.

Sure enough, Grandpa Lu was right, there were still good people in this world!

Mrs. Qin’s mom was so different from Mrs. Qin.

Tsk tsk, so generous without even meeting them. And after reading Qin Zhuopu’s chat with his grandma, Lu Ying could really feel her kindness and affection for Zaizai.

Lu Ying couldn’t help but sigh; ginger gets spicier as it gets older (the older, the wiser).

The old lady only saw the photos of Zaizai and noticed that he and Qin Zhuopu were father and son, yet Mrs. Qin… didn’t believe even when others said so. In turn, she scolded him for fooling people and even tried to hit her own son.

If she weren’t Qin Zhuopu’s mother, he would have blown a mouthful of bad luck at her and let her have it!

Fortunately, not everyone is blind like her!

Lu Ying was in a very excited mood all night, holding up his mobile phone to watch the hot topics in the news, watching for a while and then going to deposit money for a while, the smile in the corners of his mouth never subsiding. After more than three hours of tossing and turning, a message popped up.

Qin Zhuopu: I’ve just arrived at Guanlan City Airport. Grandpa sent a car to pick me up. Are you asleep?

Perfect Dad: Ready to sleep. Go home and have a good rest. I’m sleepy, good night.

Qin Zhuopu: Good night [kiss]

Perfect Dad: kiss you.jpg

Qin Zhuopu: ^_^ I’m going to lose sleep tonight

Perfect Dad: You’re getting older, be careful not to get bald.

Qin Zhuopu: ……

Perfect Dad: (*^▽^*) Don’t be afraid, I’ll help you grow it if you go bald.

Qin Zhuopu: Hurry up and go to sleep.

Don’t say these things! If you’re stressed, you can’t sleep. If you can’t sleep, you’ll lose your hair, and feel even more stressed. If you do go bald, will you look good standing next to your young and beautiful lover? What if you meet some nasty person who says: is this your son? 

I don’t want to lose face!

Qin Zhuopu didn’t like old men who were looking for young girls at their old age. When they stood together, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say they were father and daughter, or even grandfather and granddaughter. Such couples were not just an eyesore, they also looked lewd. He didn’t want to look like that!

Qin Zhuopu shook his head helplessly, put away his phone and got into the car. The driver closed the door for him, returned to the driver’s seat and was about to start the car when he saw Mr. Qin in the back seat touch his hair and ask, “Xiao Wu, do you think my hairline is okay?”

Xiao Wu, the driver, was stunned, looked at Mr. Qin carefully and replied seriously, “Mr. Qin’s hairline is perfectly fine. It’s very enviable. Your hair is thick, and Elder Qin’s hair is also particularly thick at his age. Even I envy you. Your family has good genes. My grandfather and father were both bald, and now my wife always laughs at me for looking like her elder brother. It also has a lot to do with work and rest. You can’t stay up late at night, have to have less stimulation, less coffee or something.”

Qin Zhuopu got a satisfactory answer and nodded, “Well, let’s go back.” No matter how busy you are, you still can’t be lazy with your fitness. In the past, there was no place for using physical strength, but in the future… he needed to be well prepared! His youthful-looking little lover was not somebody to be easy to deal with.

At night, Qin Zhuopu had insomnia.

Lu Ying got up early in the morning and saw the eye-catching mobile phone message, thick with dissatisfaction almost overflowing from the screen.

After eating your fried pig kidneys, I couldn’t sleep all night from excessive fire. Boarding the plane, talk to you later.

Lu Ying snapped back: “You like to eat this stuff, I was meaning well.” They used to live together, and he knew Qin Zhuopu liked to eat it.

On the other side of the ocean, Qin Zhuopu saw the message very late and was heartbroken and relieved. Before he met Lu Ying, he didn’t eat pig kidneys! After they met, he was tired and happy.(1)

Qin Zhuopu: Thank you for remembering my taste. Next time we meet, I hope you’ve moved to a bigger apartment. At least with enough place for me to stay.

In the bakery, Lu Ying secretly replied hiding from his colleagues, “I’m looking for it. Work well!”

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After a long period of rain, Caifeng City had officially entered the warm spring and Lu Ying put Zaizai’s registration for primary school on the top of his list.

Grabbing people in charge without hesitation, Lu Ying inquired about the enrollment situation of nearby primary schools. Qixia Town was just that big and had only a handful of primary schools. Their ranking was basically indistinguishable from each other. Lu Ying had selected two primary schools, both closest to home and convenient to get from work. In the end, after comparing many aspects, he chose Primary School 12 that was closer to the bakery.

The ‘discounted school fee’ for this primary school was 20,000 more than for the other one because it was close to a certain company and most of the parents were working there. The student base also was supposed to be better, except that the school was very new and had only been open for three years. The other cheaper one was basically for local residents. To be honest, the residents of the small town had a very average education. Those who had gone to university were the best of the best, and their percentage was exceptionally small.

Lu Ying was already very biassed towards Primary School 12. In the past, he would have struggled with the extra 20,000 yuan, but now he could forget about it. There was more than enough money in Zaizai’s red envelopes.

Besides, although Primary School 12 was farther from where they lived, it was only a ten-minute walk from the bakery, so it would be easier to pick up the child from work than from kindergarten. Why not then?

Lu Ying was busy with his work and learning while preparing all the information needed for the primary school and repeatedly approaching the school person in charge for advice.

“I’ve finally relaxed a little and feel more grounded.” After receiving the call from the school person in charge, Lu Ying was relieved to learn that the answer to his problem was not a big deal.

Yang Sigu laughed at him, “You’re so anxious when your child is only in primary school. What are you going to do when he gets into middle school and high school later?”

“Brother Yang, you don’t know how I feel, being a parent nowadays is so stressful. Let alone me worrying about it every day, the parents in the kindergarten who were university students and have a household registration and a corresponding school are still busy running around for their children’s sake. Everyone wants to choose a better school. After choosing a primary school, you can’t just change schools like with kindergarten. Six years of studying in one place, the impact is too great.” Lu Ying talked about the problem of children’s schooling in a serious way.

Yang Sigu listened thoughtfully and couldn’t help but repeat the same old words: “I’ve said it several times, you don’t have to worry about the household registration. I’ll help you transfer Zaizai to me, and then let him go directly to the private primary school in our community. That primary school has good facilities of all kinds, and the feedback from parents is good. On the contrary, the public primary schools in town have an average reputation.”

Lu Ying didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry, “Brother Yang, please give me a break, your private primary school is too expensive!” The annual tuition fee was 200,000 yuan, but this was only the tuition fee, not including the everyday expenses and the school’s various annual activities.

Summer camps for the children of rich families, winter camps, and then organised trips abroad! Go out to breathe some fresh air and experience life. Even at school, there were a variety of colourful interests and hobbies. Piano, painting and so on were almost compulsory courses. Although these were included in the tuition fee, don’t you want to  practise when you go home? Then can you buy musical instruments and painting tools? Will you hire a private tutor? There was also the most important thing. After graduating from a private primary school, you had to go to a private middle school. After finishing middle school, you will go to a private high school… and then go abroad!

Are you kidding me? He never thought about Zaizai going to study and live abroad, and travelling abroad too. He only wanted Zaizai to receive a regular education in their homeland, then work hard to get into high school and take the entrance exams to the university. If Zaizai had the ability to study abroad at that time, he would definitely support it. 

Qin Zhuopu’s circumstances were so good that he hadn’t gone through the university entrance exams in China before choosing to go abroad.

Lu Ying felt that by that time his son would already be an adult and could make his own decision whether to go abroad or not. But now, what he was choosing for his child was compulsory education.

“Don’t you want to rent an apartment? I have a small two-bedroom apartment for you to live in. It will be convenient for you to go to work and even more convenient for the child to go to primary school. Why are you still stuck in that shabby community? Apart from the cheap rent, there’s no quality of life at all.” Yang Sigu suggested.

Lu Ying was very moved when he heard that, “You have an apartment for rent, Brother Yang?”

Yang Sigu nodded: “Yes, it’s on the sixth floor of a small high-rise building, just eleven floors in total. There are two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a terrace, and the environment is also good. I rented it to a university teacher before, but now that teacher has moved out. It’s a good place for you to live.”

“Really? That’s great! Brother Yang must leave it to me! I can’t live there for nothing, the rent will be as much as I should pay.” Lu Ying was very happy to agree. Zaizai had always envied the beautiful environment of Brother Yang’s community. The playground was big and plentiful, there was a swimming pool, and the pedestrian and car traffic was separate and clean. Who wouldn’t like that? The bakery was located at the south entrance with a lot of traffic while there was also a row of shops at the north entrance, not as crowded but very beautiful. There were trees, flowers and plants, and the bricks and tiles were decorated in a very English style. All kinds of training classes, gyms and beauty clubs were also gathered there.

Every time Lu Ying passed by there, he would take a special look at the training classes.

Yang Sigu was surprised. He thought it would be difficult to convince the frugal Lu Ying and didn’t expect Lu Ying to say yes right off the bat. He couldn’t help but laugh, “Are you getting rich?”

Lu Ying smiled, a little silly, “Sort of.”

“Okay, then you can come and take a look. If you’re not happy with it, you can say so, and if you think it’s okay, you can go and live there anytime.” Yang Sigu was also quick and immediately went to the lounge and took out a small booklet from his bag, flipped through it, tore out a sheet and handed it to Lu Ying: “This is the password for the apartment, change it when you move in.”

“En! I’ll pick up Zaizai after work and go to see it!”

Lu Ying looked at the apartment that day and couldn’t wait to start moving. It took them three days to move everything to their new home, and then on his day off he and Zaizai cleaned up the rental apartment they were leaving. They even washed the kitchen hood as best as they could. The apartment was clean and fresh, except for the walls that couldn’t be scraped white.

Only then did the father and son hand back the keys for the vacated apartment.

Liu Dichuan took the keys and laughed, “If every tenant was like you, landlords would have saved  themselves a lot of trouble.”

“It should be so, after all, we’ve lived here for so long. I’m already embarrassed for leaving early. It’s good that Auntie Tong doesn’t blame me.”

“How could she blame you? If it weren’t for your kindness, she wouldn’t be able to go to Dr. Hu’s clinic. Now her daughter is much better. Let’s go, I’ll take you to the new place.”

“En, thank you, Brother Liu.”

On the way to the new home, Liu Dichuan said, “I recently took a fancy to a very cost-effective apartment. I want to buy it and live there myself. But the purchase of real estate under my name has been restricted and I’m not qualified to register for the lottery(2). Lu Ying, do you have any plans to buy a house in the next two years?”

Lu Ying shook his head, “No, I don’t plan to buy. I might consider it when Zaizai is in middle school.”

“So, I’d like to borrow your housing status to buy it, is that okay? I’ll buy it first, sell the other place later, and then you’ll transfer it to me. You’re in need of housing, you’re qualified and there’s a discount for the first housing purchase. When it’s done, Brother will send you a big red envelope.”

“No problem.” Lu Ying agreed immediately; there was absolute trust between them, “I’m lucky this year, I even won two thousand with a lottery ticket a few days ago. I can help you with the lottery too!”

“Yes, yes, yes! I almost forgot, right, maybe when you do the lottery, you’ll be able to grab a good floor that I like.”

“En en, tell me what information you need to buy it and I’ll get it ready for you later.”

“Thanks.”

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At the door of their new home, Lu Zaizai immediately stretched out his finger happily, pressed the buttons and the door opened with a swish. Lu Zaizai jumped in with a smile, quickly took off his shoes and socks and then ran around barefoot: “Wow, wow, the new home is so beautiful, the carpet is so soft! Dad, I won’t wear shoes at home in the future! Dad, look at the flowers on the balcony, they are all blooming, so pretty!”

Lu Ying let out a sigh and entered the apartment barefoot, just like his son. There were comfortable wooden floors and a beige carpet in the living room. The kitchen also had a waterproof carpet, so the two of them were happy to finally liberate their feet. The apartment had a small balcony and a terrace, which was convenient for drying clothes. You could also raise flowers on the terrace. The former tenants took good care about the apartment and left several large pots of beautiful succulents and Chinese roses on the balcony, simply a bargain for Lu Ying and his son. 

The kitchen was small, but all kinds of utensils were nice and useful. Lu Ying hummed a pleasant tune while he cooked dinner. After eating and drinking, he took his son to the north entrance for a hobby class.

Today was also the first day that Lu Zaizai attended hobby classes. Lu Ying let him choose two subjects by himself. One was his favourite Lego, and the other… actually was street dance. He thought his son would choose painting or English or something quiet. He didn’t expect Zaizai to just pass by the door of the dance studio and see a group of kids dancing in a cool way; his eyes lit up and then he signed up for street dance.

Lu Ying didn’t interfere with his son’s choice; he was not short of money now anyway (*^▽^*)

As long as it was healthy and his son liked it, it was good.

Today his son was going to have his first Lego class.

“Lego class is 380 and street dance is 180. Since you have chosen them yourself, learn well, you cannot give up halfway, understand? Especially street dance, you have chosen it, you have to take it seriously.” Lu Ying admonished his son. Lego had always been his son’s favourite but street dance was a whim, and Lu Ying didn’t know if Zaizai could stick to it.

“Don’t worry, Dad, I’ll listen to the class teacher.” Lu Zaizai nodded vigorously and suddenly threw his arms around Lu Ying’s neck: “Dad has worked hard!”

“…you.” Lu Ying rubbed his forehead against Zaizai’s: “Go in, Dad is waiting for you outside.”

After Lu Zaizai went into the classroom, Lu Ying wandered around the lobby of the Lego training centre, took a few pictures with his mobile phone, then walked up to the glass window at the entrance of his son’s classroom to glance inside. The class was small, with only a few children there. Lu Ying looked for several minutes, saw that the teacher had a very friendly smile and interacted very well, and his son was also very active. He felt more at ease and took a few more pictures. He was satisfied.

After that, Lu Ying, like other parents, waited in the lobby. An hour and a half was a long time.

Lu Ying played with his mobile phone, bored, picking out a few photos of his son in class and posting them to his Moments. He rarely posted, and Zaizai’s godfather Ji Xiaofeng gave him a like within a second. After that he noticed Qin Zhuopu.

Lu Ying immediately frowned and singled him out for a greeting, “You’re up?”

Qin Zhuopu replied, “No, I’m in the country now.”

“When did you come back?”

“Today at noon. The negotiations on the project with the other side were completed. It was quite tough this time, there were too many competitors, so it was a bit of luck. There’s still a lot of additional work on the company side, so I can’t come to visit you guys in the near future, sorry.”

Lu Ying breathed a sigh of relief: “It’s good that the work is going well, you get busy.” Qin Zhuopu briefly told him about the difficulties he had encountered during his business trip. Lu Ying was quite anxious, but he couldn’t help. He could only pray that his little blessing bag would add a little luck to Qin Zhuopu.

“I saw a picture of Zaizai, he’s taking a hobby class?”

“Yes, it’s always been his favourite. I couldn’t afford to enrol him in it before, a class was too expensive. Now… ahem, thanks to your grandma’s red envelope, thank you.” Lu Ying said sincerely.

In the office, Qin Zhuopu closed his eyes and sighed.

After a long time, he said, “No need to say thank, you’re too polite.”

“…oh.” Lu Ying pursed his lips.

“I’ve brought many gifts for you and Zaizai, would you like me to send them to you in advance or wait for me to give them to you in person?”

Lu Ying thought for a moment and said, “Is there anything delicious?”

“Yes.”

“Send the delicious food first. Anything else is up to you.”

“…heh, he says he’s not a pig, just thinking about food.” Qin Zhuopu teased.

Lu Ying was righteous: “I am a pig, so what! You complimented me on my cuteness, didn’t you!”

“Yes, yes, yes, from now on I’ll call you Little Piggy Lu.”

“Brother Ji keeps calling me that.”

“…people have families, you have to be careful to keep your distance.” Qin Zhuopu’s tone was tense.

“He’s Zaizai’s godfather, huh.”

Qin Zhuopu complained, “Yeah, he’s a godfather, and I’m just an uncle.”

“……” Lu Ying sighed, “I can smell this vinegar through the phone.”

“You know full well how much I want Zaizai to call me dad!”

It was not that easy to get a child to change his way of addressing and Qin Zhuopu had to work harder for it. But as long as Lu Zaizai was willing to acknowledge him, he was willing to do anything.

Qin Zhuopu’s determination was practically palpable. Lu Ying walked all the way outside, looking up at the clear night sky, full of stars shining brightly.

He seemed to see the man in front of his eyes, jealous and anxious. However, the missing time couldn’t be made up in an instant, especially when it came to children. If you don’t see them for a few days, they will grow up in the blink of an eye, and then in the blink of an eye, the rebellious period will be there.

In the child’s short childhood, there was no such person.

For Lu Zaizai, there was only one father.

Uncle was very good, but Uncle was Uncle.

Even though he was concerned for Qin Zhuopu, there was no alternative.

Lu Ying took a deep breath and stared at the stars, blinking, “You want to be a dad that badly?”

“Of course.”

Lu Ying muttered in a low voice, “Why don’t I call you dad?”

“……!!!”

Qin Zhuopu snapped his computer shut and yelled at his phone in a low, repressed voice, “You wait for me!”

Simply outrageous!

You need to be taught a lesson! Deserve a beating! Deserve…!

***

Mini-theatre:

Going for an evening walk.

Neighbour: Hello Mr. Qin, I heard your son is already very big?

Mr. Qin: Yes, he is already a young man.

Lu Ying runs over.

Neighbour: This is your son, isn’t it? Gosh, he’s grown so well! He’s so tall!

Mr. Qin: ……

Lu Ying: Dad, come on, let’s go ride a horse~

Mr. Qin: (￣TT￣)

Pig kidneys are said to have a positive effect in promoting sexual desire and increasing vitality for men  So, before meeting Lu Ying, Qin Zhuopu didn’t need to eat pig kidneys. After… hehe, he was tired and happy Since demand for real estate in China in many places is much bigger than supply, the people who want to buy an apartment need to meet specific conditions and sometimes even win a lottery to be able to do so.