Lovely Allergen

Chapter 38: Starting School Gift

His aunt sighed again. "That's true. For children like Xiao Yu, they all have an escape route if they end up regretting choosing a field they liked or not. You can always take up your dad's company if you're really not happy. Your dad's working so hard just for you, after all. And to use a phrase that's super popular with you young people — you having your dad already means you've won at life. You actually don't need to work that hard."

Her face may have been covered by a large smile, but her eyes were filled with sarcasm. Song Yu was too lazy to reply and indifferently continued drinking his soup, entirely ignoring every single thing said by the people around the table.

But Song Jin, who had always had a gentle personality, said with a stern face, "Sister-in-law."

Seeing Song Jin without any traces of humour, she slightly panicked. She wasn't able to say anything before Song Jin continued speaking.

"I'm not working so hard just for him to have already won at the starting line of life. It's so my son can have the right to make his own choices."

Song Yu's hand also paused.

"What I can give him is the confidence to continue being himself."

Yue Zhishi was suddenly very touched. He'd attended many of these dinners since he was a child. He didn't understand when he was younger, thinking everyone got along in beautiful harmony, but after visiting grandpa last time, he now understood their aunt and uncle's family wasn't what he'd imagined. And yet every time they gathered together, no one tore apart the exterior layer of peace.

Especially Uncle Song — Yue Zhishi had never seen him get angry. He had always been the person to ease the tension in the room while carrying a smile on his face.

But this time, he very seriously stood up in front of Song Yu and defended him, safeguarding his choices.

Yue Zhishi was very happy for Song Yu, and slightly envious.

Having gotten into trouble, their aunt very naturally changed the topic since her own younger son might not even be able to get into an undergraduate course. She would only lose her own face if she continued to argue about study fields. The dinner may have been awkward, but the wonder of Chinese family dinners lay in the fact that no matter how many struggles or dramatic arguments may have occurred in the past, the entire family will always come together — whether in true joy or not.

In the last few days of the summer holiday, Yue Zhishi went with Song Yu to the library. They would buy a cup of milk tea and a cup of lemonade as they travelled there on their bikes and be able to stay there the entire day.

The library truly didn't contain a girl like he'd fantasied. The only person who sat across from Song Yu, watching him quietly read and study, was Yue Zhishi himself.

The person he'd seen as his benchmark since he was a child moved forward towards his own goals step by step, becoming an increasingly more outstanding adult.

Peiya's high school department was about to start school, so Yue Zhishi no longer followed Song Yu to the library. He closed himself off in his room for an entire week. Song Yu thought he was trying to play and watch anime as much as he could before starting school again — after all, he was about to start high school and even needed to attend military training. In those few days, Song Yu never could have imagined that Yue Zhishi didn't actually lock himself in his room to play.

The start of high school was earlier than the day new students needed to report to university. The day before Yue Zhishi started school, he sent a message to Song Yu, who was in the library.

[Yue Zhishi: I want to eat barbecue skewers. Let's go get some for dinner, since Aunt Rong and Uncle Song aren't coming home tonight.]

Naturally, Song Yu agreed.