Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Lingering around the horizon, the sun could be devoured by darkness at any time.

  Down a straight street, a small figure was running fast, whose shadow had been elongated by the setting sun.

  Yi Le had forgotten why he went to the pet shop in the first place, he just kept running with only one idea in his head—making it home before his parents started fighting. He must prevent his parents from separating!

  Bang!

  It was getting dark. He was short-sighted and running too fast. Yi Le accidentally stepped on an empty package bag, slipped, and fell on the ground. Luckily, he was wearing thick clothes for the winter, and although he felt pain, he wasn’t injured. If his parents were there, he would cry aloud, seeking their attention, and asking them to grant his wishes when his parents consoled him. But today, he just bit his lip, stood up silently, dusted off his clothes, and kept limping towards his home.

  The pet shop was not far away from his home. After crossing the intersection and taking a shortcut through the alley, it would take over ten minutes to get home. By running, it would only take him less.

  He ran into the resident district and saw the new car, a joint venture brand, that his family had recently bought was parked in front of the building—just as expected, mom and dad had already gotten home. A pair of seniors that were taking a walk frowned disdainfully towards Yi Le — everyone knew that this kid was a brat, and even dogs detested him.

  Yi Le breathlessly climbed to the fifth floor where his home was. He pulled out the key to open the door. Exhausted and nervous, his failed to put it in the keyhole twice in a row. The door was opened finally with his third attempt.

  There was no time to pull the key from the door. He threw his backpack on the ground and rushed inside.

  His home was terrifyingly quiet.

  “I’m… I’m home!” he said loudly, worrying whether he was too late.

  “You’re back? Go wash your hands, it will be a while before dinner is ready.” His mother Gu Le stretched her head from the kitchen, wearing an apron.

  “Where is Dad?” Yi Le looked around the living room and didn’t see his dad, Tian Yi.

  Gu Le looked at the study room and pouted unpleasantly, “He went straight into the study room when he got home, leaving me with all the chores. Why? We all have to go to work, and I make as much as money as he does. Why am I the only one responsible for the chores? You think I don’t want to sit down and watch TV when I get home too…”


  She said this angrily and loudly, so that Tian Yi could hear her dissatisfaction.

  Yi Le waved his arms anxiously, “Mom! Mom! Stop it! Dad works very hard…”


  “No, I’m not stopping today!” Gu Le became increasingly angry. She threw away her apron and put her hands on her hips, “He works hard? What about me? Is that what he’s been telling you all the time? That your mom’s work is super easy?”


  “No, it’s not like that…” Yi Le was so nervous that he was sweating. He regretted that he didn’t ask for more information from that black and white kitten, because now he didn’t even know how to proceed.

  Just then, the door of the study room was pulled open. Tian Yi, who had heard the vague commotion, stepped outside. With a dismayed look, he said in a sullen manner, “What did you say?”


  “I said—” Gu Le was aggravated. She stared at him and was on the brink of losing her temper.

  Yi Le closed his eyes, summoned the courage and shouted, “I have something to tell you!”


  His sudden shouting startled his parents so much that even their anger had disappeared. His parents looked at each other, baffled, trying to find answers from each other’s eyes.

  After shouting, the anxiety and depression that Yi Le had suffered was vented out. With every breath he took, he grew more courageous.

  Now he believed in the black and white kitten’s words completely—it had been right, his parents did get into a fight. If he dawdled on his way home as usual, it would have been too late for him to stop the fight from deteriorating.

  “Yi Le, what do you want to say?” Tian Yi calmed down a bit and said in a normal tone.

  Gu Le didn’t speak, but was looking at her son in concern.

  There was no backing out now. Yi Le knew that if he said he was just joking around, his parents would get furious and would escalate their quarreling. Perhaps just like the black and white kitten had said, they would address some long-existing problems, like the education of their son.

  He lowered his head, walked over to his father, pulled his father by his sleeves, led him over to sit down on the couch, and then went to pull his mother over to sit in front of his father.

  “Wait a minute.” Yi Le went into the kitchen, grabbed some tea leaves from the can and put them into the tea cup used by his father, added boiled water, brought the cup into the living room, and put it on the table in front of his father.

  “Dad, thanks for your hard work.” He stood up straight, and then bowed to his father.

  Tian Yi was indeed in a bad mood today. He thought he was the perfect candidate for the department manager position, but in the end, he didn’t get it. He was so furious that he went back home and locked himself into the study room to write his resignation letter. And then he heard Gu Le’s incessant complaining in the living room—he couldn’t stand it anymore!

  He went out from the study room to argue with her. He must find a way out for all the grievances and anger he suffered today, and quarrelling with his wife was obviously the easiest solution.

  However, Yi Le’s performance had vacated his messy thoughts. Just like the hardest and coldest ice cubes melt by the sun, Tian Yi was warmed up by his son.

  This was the first time his son had prepared tea for him, and the first time his son had greeted him properly when he came home. There was only one thought left inside his heart—his son had grown up! In comparison, whether or not he could get a promotion seemed less important. Even if he couldn’t make it this time, he could fight for the next chance.

  On the other hand, though Gu Le was glad to see her son’s change, she was hurt that her son thought his father worked harder than she did. Had her sacrifice to this family been completely ignored?

  Yi Le went before her and bowed, “Mom, I’m sorry.”


  “Sorry… What are you sorry for? Another mischievous behavior? Has your teacher asked us to visit the school office again?” Gu Le became impatient. She offered a gift card of 500 RMB to his teacher for the Mid-Autumn Festival, but it had been returned, and now this brat was causing trouble again?

  Tian Yi, who was enjoying this happiness, was discontented by her attitude, so he said in a low voice, “Why are you so impatient? Let the kid finish his words first.”


  Gu Le stared at him and suppressed her quick temper.

  Tian Yi pulled Yi Le to his side, made him sit down, and said softly, “Yi Le, don’t be afraid, just say what you want to say.”


  Encouraged by his father, Yi Le became braver. He shook his head, “Teacher didn’t ask you to the school office. But I really need to tell you some things, things you don’t know.”


  “Tell us, mom and dad are listening, we will not interrupt you.” Tian Yi put his hand on Yi Le’s shoulder.

  Yi Le kept his head very low and vented out all the naughty behaviors he had done. He got so emotional that his words were a little bit incoherent, but they were comprehensible in general. He confessed to a lot of things, including the pranks he played and got away with, how he bullied his schoolmates and how others could do nothing about him…


  And the last thing was what happened that evening. He confessed his feelings at that time. He thought his mom didn’t care enough about him, so he planned to run across the road to hide himself as punishment to his mother. When she couldn’t find him and became desperate, he would appear from behind the barbecue stand. If she was worried about him, she would listen to anything he said afterwards—that was his original plan, but he was stopped by the owner of a pet shop when he tried to cross the road. But he improvised another idea anyways — by vilifying that man as a bad guy, he won his mom’s attention likewise.

  Hearing this, Tian Yi and Gu Le frowned. They were very busy working parents, but they had always assumed that they had spent enough time in educating Yi Le. Sometimes when their colleagues complained about their own naughty children, Tian Yi and Gu Le were shocked by their mischiefs — how would they have thought that their own child was the worst brat of all! Especially the last thing confessed by their son, that was so dangerous!

  “I told you that you must walk on the sidewalk and wait for the green light to cross the road! Never run across the road! Why didn’t you listen to me!” yelled Gu Le nervously.

  Tian Yi stopped her, “Let’s come back to this later.”


  He turned to Yi Le, “Yi Le, is this true? Which day exactly?”


  Shocked by too many things at once, Gu Le was suffering from a headache. She rubbed her forehead with her fingers and said, “I told you about this before. Do you just ignore everything I say?”


  Tian Yi was not in the mood to argue about these details with her. He asked Yi Le again, “Think about it, which day was this?”


  “The day when mom’s cell phone screen broke. She bought a new cell phone the next day and then you mentioned buying a car,” answered Yi Le in a low voice.

  Tian Yi remembered this. What Gu Le told him was that a strange man had stopped Yi Le on the street, she thought their son would encounter danger walking to school alone and insisted on buying a car. Tian Yi thought she was right, and though their family was not very rich, he agreed to buy a car. Who would have thought that this was not the truth? If that man hadn’t stopped Yi Le in time, then judging from Yi Le’s recklessness, the results would have been unimaginable…


  “I don’t know what to say…” he sighed to Gu Le. “You accused a guy without evidence. You will deter kind people from doing good deeds.”


  Gu Le knew she was wrong, but she answered defensively, “If you were there, would you really trust a stranger?”


  “At least I wouldn’t blame people without evidence…” Tian Yi shook his head and said decidedly, “Let bygones be bygones. But now, we have to mend his mistakes. To all the schoolmates bullied by Yi Le, all three of us must go to their homes to apologize in person. As for the pet shop owner… Let’s go there together one weekend.”


  Gu Le bit her lip tightly. Although she would be embarrassed facing the pet shop owner again, she didn’t put forward her objection.

  Yi Le observed their expressions and asked tentatively, “Are you… are you going to scold me?”


  “We won’t scold you. Problems can’t be solved simply by scolding. We should shoulder responsibilities together.” Tian Yi held Yi Le’s hands and said earnestly, “Yi Le, you’ve recognized your mistakes and you are willing to change, which means you’re still a good boy. Mom and Dad are really happy and will correct the mistakes with you. If anything occurs, you can always confide in us like today, okay?”


  “Okay!” Tears were falling from Yi Le’s eyes.

  Gu Le went over to embrace her husband and her son.