Extra 2: He’s his lover

Translator: Abo Dammen

For a very long time, the torment from his family of origin was the source of Chi Zhao’s pain. The physical violence in his childhood, and the psychological torment as he grew up, Chi Zhao lived with his biological parents for over ten years. After he escaped, the physical scars quickly faded with the passage of time. However, the wounds hidden in his psyche were only fully healed after he met Fu Nan’an.

Chi Zhao knew he had grown up, knew he could now stand on his own. He was no longer adrift nor afraid. He could candidly speak about his past and directly face his former misfortunes. Moreover, he knew there was someone who would always stand by his side.

The winter of this year arrived a bit earlier than usual. The fierce north wind brought cold waves and frost, and also brought two uninvited guests to Chi Zhao’s office. Some time ago, the second-generation artificial retina, spearheaded by Chi Zhao’s research, was approved domestically. More and more patients with fundus diseases were able to regain their sight. This was truly something that could be sincerely called a miracle. Local media produced a special feature interview on Chi Zhao. Within a couple of days, two people, looking to be in their fifties or sixties, rushed to the ophthalmology hospital holding the media report, saying they were looking for Chi Zhao, claiming to be his parents.

When Chi Zhao heard from the department nurse that someone was looking for him, he had just gotten off surgery. The two claimed to be his parents, so Chi Zhao naturally assumed it was the other pair of elders from his family. Walking back to his office, his face was adorned with a smile. After all these years, Chi Zhao had long since started calling Fu Nan’an’s parents “Dad” and “Mom”. In his heart, the only parents he acknowledged were those two. He was even thinking why the elders hadn’t informed him in advance of their visit, never imagining that the visitors would be his biological parents whom he hadn’t seen for over a decade.

“May I ask who you two are…?” Chi Zhao retracted the smile from his face, even failing to recognize who the visitors were for a moment. The faces that were once most familiar and most feared had become blurred with the passage of time. If not for the woman with braids who rushed forward without a word, hugging him and crying, Chi Zhao would never have connected the two before him to his biological parents. For no other reason than they truly hadn’t seen each other for too long.

“My son, my son! Don’t you remember me? It’s Mom! Mom has finally found you!”

The woman’s cries were heart-wrenching; she smeared snot and tears all over Chi Zhao’s white coat. But in fact, when Chi Zhao was young, she rarely referred to herself as “Mom”. She held onto Chi Zhao, refusing to let go, repeatedly expressing her feelings, while Chi Zhao just stood there stiffly.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to move or speak, but he simply didn’t know how to react.

The woman cried hoarsely, expressing her emotions, saying how much she missed Chi Zhao, that she thought of him day and night. As she spoke, the man beside her also wiped his tears with reddened eyes, as if they truly loved Chi Zhao so much. But the reality was not so. Leaving aside the past abuse, if they had truly been intent on finding him all these years, they could have easily done so long ago. Chi Zhao was already over ten years old when he ran away, and the orphanage always kept his blood samples. It would have been easy for them to find Chi Zhao, so why wait until the day he achieved fame and success to hypocritically come to claim kinship?

In the first few years after escaping, Chi Zhao would dream of them every night. He would dream of the “father” hitting him with a thorny broom, dream of the “mother” poking him with a red-hot firewood stick. Chi Zhao was unwilling to call them “parents”. After escaping to the orphanage, for a long time he didn’t dare see people, didn’t dare speak to strangers. Once he could attend school, Chi Zhao studied desperately. What he feared most was never hardship or scolding; he was only afraid of returning to that sunless little village, back to the side of these two people who terrified him.

Now, the people he least wanted to see had appeared before him again. Although Chi Zhao was no longer as fearful as in his childhood, he also couldn’t deeply and affectionately utter those two forms of address. The couple’s attitude was somewhat exaggerated, giving a feeling of acting in a cheesy stage play. Their loud cries attracted patients nearby. Chi Zhao struggled free, pulled a few tissues from the desk, and handed them to the woman who was still holding him and crying.

“Ahem, well, don’t cry,” After so long without seeing them, it was somewhat awkward after all. Chi Zhao patted the woman’s shoulder, ultimately not using that form of address. “This is a hospital. Let’s go out to talk about whatever matter this is.”

“Why go out to talk?” The woman, taken aback by Chi Zhao’s attitude, immediately responded, “You don’t want to see us?”

Chi Zhao couldn’t answer that, could only look at them quietly, without speaking.

The office door was half-open. Several colleagues stood near Chi Zhao, confused. Behind them, a few curious patients were peeking in. The woman chattered on, pulling at Chi Zhao. The young nurse who had been scared stiff by the earlier scene was the first to react, advising, “Uncle, Auntie, please calm down. This is the patient ward area, you can’t make loud noises, or you’ll disturb other patients.”

“Yes, right, exactly,” the other colleagues also chimed in one after another. “This is a hospital. If you have personal matters, handle them privately. Don’t affect other patients.”

Chi Zhao hadn’t talked much about his parents, but after working together for several years, everyone more or less knew he grew up in an orphanage. So now, suddenly having these so-called biological parents show up looking for him, besides being confused, no one in the entire department really believed it.

Chi Zhao took the two out of the inpatient building. By the time he returned, an hour had passed. The patients watching the spectacle had dispersed. The young nurse from earlier approached Chi Zhao and asked, “Dr. Chi, were those really your parents?”

Chi Zhao gave an “Mhm”. “Yes. Haven’t seen them for many years.”

“No contact at all?” the nurse asked. “Then why did they come suddenly?”

Chi Zhao wasn’t willing to discuss this topic much, just smiled slightly and quickly moved the conversation past it.

There really wasn’t much to talk about. Coming to find Chi Zhao at this time, one could easily guess their motives weren’t pure. During the first couple of meetings, they both very affectionately held Chi Zhao’s hand saying they just wanted to see him. But it didn’t take long for their true purpose to be exposed.

Sitting in a bright restaurant, the woman piled on a smile and began. “Son, it wasn’t easy for your dad and mom to raise you. You’ve become successful now, shouldn’t you think about us too?”

Chi Zhao asked, “How so?”

“Not to mention other things, you should at least buy us an apartment, right? And your dad’s health hasn’t been good lately, so you should give us some living expenses, right? And also…” The two had clearly planned this for a long time; as soon as Chi Zhao asked, they started chattering incessantly. After Chi Zhao, they had two more children, but neither lived to adulthood. So, after seeing Chi Zhao in the media, they naturally got the idea: demanding an apartment, a car, and alimony, all added up, was absolutely not something a normal child could bear.

“What do you take me for?” Chi Zhao’s eyelids lowered slightly then opened, directly interrupting her. “Am I your ATM?”

After all these years, Chi Zhao actually didn’t mind the past matters too much anymore. No matter what, these two were the ones who gave him life. Chi Zhao hadn’t considered not providing for them at all, but the couple clearly regarded Chi Zhao as a tool they could bleed dry.

“This I cannot accept,” Chi Zhao took a deep breath and said. “I have my own life to live. I can’t give all the money I earn to you for your enjoyment.”

“How can this be called enjoyment?” The woman’s tone became somewhat anxious. “You’re not even willing to give this little bit of money? Without us, where would you be?”

“It’s not that I’m unwilling,” Chi Zhao said. “What I should provide for you, I absolutely will not shortchange. This is my obligation. But I have no obligation to give you money without limits.”

The conversation ended on a sour note, followed by prolonged pestering. As the saying goes, ‘Those with nothing to lose fear nothing.’ The two went to make trouble at Chi Zhao’s company, then went to make trouble at Chi Zhao’s home. It wasn’t anything major, but it was utterly vexing.

“Otherwise, just buy them an apartment and be done with it. Settle them somewhere far away. It’s not like you really can’t afford it.”

“If they want living expenses, just give it to them. Although it’s a bit of a lion’s demand, isn’t it better to avoid trouble than to invite it?”

“Try discussing it with them properly again. If it really doesn’t work, just grit your teeth and bear it.”

Many people advised Chi Zhao like this, saying that no matter what, the two were still his parents, telling him not to stoop to their level, to just endure it and it would pass. But did they treat Chi Zhao as a son when he regarded them as parents? Chi Zhao didn’t want to compromise like this.

“Professor, I don’t want to endure it.” Back at home, nestled in Fu Nan’an’s arms, Chi Zhao’s voice was exceptionally weary. “I don’t want to be bled dry by them endlessly.”

The day-after-day harassment had left Chi Zhao looking somewhat haggard. In the cozy bedroom, on the soft bed, Fu Nan’an’s hand rested on Chi Zhao’s back.

“Then don’t endure it.” Fu Nan’an’s tone was very gentle, yet his palm conveyed strength. He said, “Don’t hold it in.”

Chi Zhao indeed did not hold back.

When the two went to the hospital again to find Chi Zhao, he directly called the police. They demanded that Chi Zhao pay alimony, so Chi Zhao hired a lawyer to resolve the matter through legal means.

This was not an easy task. For ordinary people, judicial procedures are rigorous and cumbersome. Although the lawyer helped Chi Zhao a lot, there were still processes that required Chi Zhao’s personal involvement. Such matters often rely heavily on negotiation within the legal system. No one had a better solution, and the two were determined to make trouble, raising all sorts of incessant demands.

Once, then again.

Chi Zhao never thought of giving up, but he felt exceptionally exhausted. Every time he met with them, Chi Zhao was forced to recall those past unhappiness, to remember the sunless years and the feeling of suffocation from which he couldn’t escape. Chi Zhao had prepared himself for a protracted battle when, one day, he suddenly received a call from his lawyer, saying that the two had softened their stance, directly waived the alimony, and left as if scurrying away.

Chi Zhao was dumbfounded, asking incredulously, “How is that possible? You’re not lying to me, are you?”

The lawyer laughed and replied, “It’s true, I’m not lying to you.”

Chi Zhao asked again, “How did you persuade them? How did their attitude change so suddenly?”

“This… well,” the lawyer paused, seeming to have something to say, but in the end, he didn’t say anything, just smiled and said, “You don’t need to worry about this. In short, you can be at ease from now on.”

This change was indeed baffling, but it genuinely let Chi Zhao breathe a sigh of relief. The lawyer told him not to worry, so Chi Zhao really didn’t want to delve deeper; he had long been unable to withstand the prolonged harassment.

Chi Zhao profusely thanked the lawyer and considered the matter closed. After returning home, he quite happily told Fu Nan’an about it. Fu Nan’an’s expression was also very gentle, saying, “That’s good.”

It wasn’t until much later, during a conversation, that Chi Zhao found out that Fu Nan’an had actually exerted effort behind the scenes. It was Fu Nan’an who negotiated with the two on Chi Zhao’s behalf time and again. Together with Chi Zhao’s lawyer, he used a combination of incentives and pressure, finally making those two leech-like people relent.

“Professor, how are you this good?” Lying in bed at night, Chi Zhao clung affectionately to Fu Nan’an’s waist. “Why did you never tell me?”

He asked Fu Nan’an, “Was talking with those two very annoying? How on earth did you persuade them?”

“It was alright.” Fu Nan’an smiled, glossing over all the difficulties with understatement.

Neither of them were the type to complain about hardships. Back when Chi Zhao’s parents first came to find him, Chi Zhao hadn’t complained to Fu Nan’an. Later, Fu Nan’an never mentioned these things he silently did for Chi Zhao.

He just smiled and said, “I didn’t find it particularly difficult.”

Chi Zhao gazed steadily at him without speaking, then quietly kissed him.

One could easily imagine that persuading Chi Zhao’s biological parents was no easy task. ‘Those with nothing to lose fear nothing.’ Since Chi Zhao’s parents had sought him out, they must have been prepared to be utterly shameless. But Fu Nan’an still managed to persuade them. It was actually a case of using both kindness and severity, after all, they truly were in the wrong regarding Chi Zhao. If it really came to a legal dispute, they wouldn’t have a stronger case.

Fu Nan’an didn’t explain in detail how much effort he had to exert. But this was just like him, using his own way to carefully protect Chi Zhao.

“Don’t think about this matter anymore. Don’t worry about it.” Fu Nan’an gently kissed Chi Zhao’s eyes, his hand covering them, helping them close.

In the many years that followed, they encountered many more matters, both big and small. Fu Nan’an was always the one who encouraged Chi Zhao and also sheltered him from the wind and rain. Some people didn’t understand their relationship and asked Fu Nan’an, either openly or covertly, “Just who are you? What right do you have to meddle in these matters?”

“I’m nobody special,” Fu Nan’an would just smile faintly and say, “I’m just Chi Zhao’s lover.”