Chapter 60: Take Out Your Hand

Chapter 60: Hand It Over

The day the Xu family's bankruptcy was exposed, Old Master Xu suffered a cerebral infarction and was rushed to the emergency room. He was kept alive in the ICU with medication and an oxygen tank, finally passing away on the day the verdict was announced.

Old Master Xu had lived a full life, but when he departed, all his close relatives were in prison. As his only free grandson, Xu Zhou had to rush to his side, no matter what.

When the call came, it was still early. Xu Zhou didn't let Xu Xingli go out, only urging him to go to bed early.

Just a few days after the Xu family's lawsuit concluded, Xu Xingli was due for his final competition, with results expected on the same day. This meant that if all went well, Xu Xingli would soon be able to go abroad.

Xu Zhou likely considered this, which was why he had planned to give Xu Xingli a gift that day.

However, instead of receiving a gift, Xu Xingli heard of a death, and his spirits plummeted. Yet, he didn't run around wildly as Xu Zhou had feared; he simply played the piano in the music room for the better part of the night. Fortunately, there were no neighbors, or it would have either scared people to death or led to endless complaints.

The next morning, Aunt Chen found him in the music room, curled up unconscious on the sofa. It gave her such a fright that she nearly pulled out her phone to call the police.

"You slept here all night, Xingxing? You didn't even cover yourself with a blanket, and you left the air conditioning on. Sweetie, are you feeling unwell?" Aunt Chen saw his haggard face, picked up the remote to turn off the air conditioning, and barraged him with questions.

Xu Xingli hadn't slept enough, and his head felt muddled. He shook his head, stood up, and headed downstairs.

"Where are you going? Why don't you eat something and take some medicine first?" Aunt Chen asked, chasing after him.

Xu Xingli wanted to say he was fine, but then he noticed his voice was hoarse, and swallowing felt like a knife scraping his throat.

But he was too sleepy. He went downstairs, drank a glass of hot water, and then shuffled back to his bedroom in his slippers, still half-asleep.

It wasn't until evening, when the crimson sunset pierced through the sheer curtains and shone on the foot of his bed, that Xu Xingli woke up again.

The knife-like pain in his throat wasn't as noticeable anymore. He stretched on the bed and then rolled over to get out of bed. But it wasn't until he saw Aunt Chen feeding Sterre that he realized Xu Zhou hadn't been back all day.

His temper flared instantly.

He was a little angry.

Aunt Chen urged him to eat dinner, so Xu Xingli sat alone facing the four dishes and one soup on the table.

As he ate, he suddenly put down his chopsticks, stood up, and was about to get a new set of bowls and chopsticks to serve Aunt Chen, hoping to feel less lonely, when he unexpectedly found a bento box on the island counter.

Xu Xingli looked at it for a while, then poked his head out and asked, "Aunt Chen, whose bento box is that on the island counter?"

Aunt Chen looked over and replied, "It's for Xiao Zhou! He's too busy, and eating takeout all the time isn't healthy."

Xu Xingli's eyes lit up: "Then when are you going to send it?"

Aunt Chen thought for a moment and said, "I'll go after you finish eating."

Xu Xingli curved his lips: "I'll go deliver it! No need to trouble you, Aunt Chen! I'll finish eating very quickly!"

Aunt Chen "Ah"d, but seeing his excited look, she didn't dampen his spirits.

Ten minutes later, Xu Xingli was in the car that Xu Zhou had arranged to take them specially to the hospital.

The car stopped at the hospital entrance. As soon as he got out, Xu Xingli saw Xu Zhou walking towards him from a distance.

Perhaps it was due to the dim streetlights, but Xu Zhou's eyes had a bluish-gray tint, making him look somewhat tired, yet his tone hadn't changed much: "What made you want to come?"

Xu Xingli handed him the bento box and casually made up an excuse: "Just to see. After all, I had some connection with Old Master Xu, so I felt I should come and see, even if he might not have wanted to see me."

Xu Zhou helplessly rubbed his hair and asked, "You really want to see him?"

Xu Xingli nodded: "Since I'm already here, I might as well see him."

So Xu Zhou took him inside.

Old Master Xu hadn't been sent for cremation yet. The two stopped outside the morgue.

"Do you want to go further inside?" Xu Zhou's face was extremely pale, but his tone was gentle.

Xu Xingli was startled by his expression and immediately stopped, shaking his head frantically: "No. What's wrong?"

Xu Zhou forced a smile at him and shook his head: "Nothing. Just a bit of a stress reaction."

Xu Xingli was confused: "A stress reaction?"

Xu Zhou briefly explained: "It's from the previous life; nothing serious."

The previous life...

In the previous life, the only one who died was Xu Xingli.

Xu Xingli's eyes widened.

Finally, they went to the restaurant, but Xu Zhou clearly had no appetite and didn't eat much.

Xu Xingli wanted to say something to comfort him, to say that he himself only hurt for a few seconds, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.

In the end, he could only find good points about Old Master Xu. After much thought, he blurted out, changing the subject: "At least Old Master Xu died with dignity."

Xu Zhou's hand, holding the chopsticks, paused.

Oh no.

Xu Xingli immediately became alert.

"Uh... I didn't mean that. I mean, compared to me, he's more dignified. I'm also dignified, but I just look a little..."

"Enough," Xu Zhou interrupted him coldly, "Don't say another word."

Then he extended his hand and commanded, "Hand it over."

Xu Xingli shrank his neck: "What are you going to do?"

Xu Zhou was expressionless, enunciating each word, his tone hardening: "Hand it over."

Xu Xingli knew he had made a mistake and reluctantly extended his hand. When Xu Zhou grabbed it, he didn't forget to mumble, "Be gentle, there are a lot of people here, it's embarrassing."

But the expected pain didn't come. He was pulled up by Xu Zhou, walked out of the restaurant, onto the street, and stopped under a plane tree.

Then his hand was guided to touch something.

While he was still in shock and hadn't fully recovered, Xu Zhou spoke again: "Say 'Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey' with me."

Xu Xingli's eyes widened, looking at him incredulously.

"Say it." Xu Zhou's tone was unchallengeable.

Xu Xingli, like a primary school student, uttered blankly: "Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey."

Xu Zhou let go of him and turned to leave: "If you say something like that again, I'll really make you experience what it's like to be beaten in public."

Xu Xingli stared blankly at his brother's dashing back, then retracted his hand and held it close to his eyes, staring intently.

His palm was stained with some fallen bark and dust, but in his mind, he was replaying Xu Zhou's handsome face saying "Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey."

Unbelievable. Duan Yi would surely laugh for a year if he knew.

Xu Xingli belatedly curved his lips.

When did his brother become so adorable?

Coming back to his senses, Xu Xingli curved his eyebrows and eyes, chasing after Xu Zhou. Even though he knew the man was angry, he still smiled and teased, "Xu Zhou, say it again! I want to hear it."

Xu Zhou couldn't be bothered with him and just kept walking forward.

Later, Xu Zhou didn't let him stay at the hospital, nor did he stay himself. Instead, they returned to the Xu family home together.

But Xu Zhou only napped for a while. As soon as dawn broke, he left again. Today was the day of Old Master Xu's cremation.

When Xu Xingli woke up, his throat hurt even more. He got up and started looking for medicine to take. Just as he was starting to feel a little better, his ears began to ache from practicing the piano too intensely recently. He found his hearing aid, put it on, and was about to practice the piano when his phone rang again.

Lin Xie called.

As soon as Xu Xingli answered, he heard her anxiously say, "Xingli, the hospital just called me and said Uncle Zhou fainted. I can't get out of bed, please go and see him quickly."

Half an hour after the call, Xu Xingli arrived at the hospital.

Uncle Zhou was already conscious and lying in bed on an IV drip. When he saw Xu Xingli enter the room, he paused for a moment, then quickly sat up, frantically patting himself down, and finally pulled out a card.

It was the savings Xu Xingli had given him.

"Oh, no (I don't want it), take it away!" Uncle Zhou anxiously stuffed the card into Xu Xingli's arms, muttering continuously.

Fearing that Xu Xingli wouldn't want it, Uncle Zhou desperately gestured in sign language—I have money, I have money.

Xu Xingli had heard Xu Zhou talk about Uncle Zhou's situation.

Uncle Zhou's hearing was fine twenty years ago. He and Xu Xingli's birth mother were both small employees at a well-known local company. Their finances weren't wealthy, but they had some savings.

However, after giving birth to Xu Xingli, Zhou's mother's health deteriorated significantly, and she quit her job. The family relied solely on Uncle Zhou's income.

Two years later, Uncle Zhou's ears started to develop problems, and he suddenly couldn't hear. A check-up revealed it was a hereditary family disease that could be cured, but at a huge cost.

To make matters worse, the global economy was in recession that year, and companies were laying off employees. The young Uncle Zhou became one of the first to lose his job.

It was then that Uncle Zhou almost completely collapsed, drinking heavily every day, his mind unclear, and suffering from some mental issues.

Later, to avoid burdening his wife and son, he voluntarily proposed divorce, leaving the house to his wife and his son with his mother.

Uncle Zhou left with nothing. For the first few years, his mind was still clear enough to do odd jobs, but gradually he became more and more muddled. His language system deteriorated, and he couldn't even learn sign language, only able to mimic.

Because she had to earn money to support the family, Zhou's mother was busy with work all day, neglecting the children at home. Xu Yu started hanging out with older boys outside and went astray. He still had some conscience; when he needed money, he didn't ask his mother but extorted and threatened his father, whom he barely remembered.

Later, Zhou's mother became seriously ill and needed blood. Xu Yu only found out he wasn't her biological son when he received the test results.

It was then that Fu Ge found Xu Yu, and the two reached an agreement.

Xu Xingli had paused when he heard this part, but quickly realized it wasn't without a trace.

He had already suspected something about Fu Ge and Xu Yu.

What kind of cooperation the two reached was unknown to others. All that was known was that Zhou's mother ultimately couldn't be saved despite treatment, and Uncle Zhou's household registration was canceled.

Xu Zhou said that Xu Yu might have arranged all these things to cover up his previous actions.

Xu Xingli cursed Xu Yu in his heart again and reached out to return the card to Uncle Zhou.

But Uncle Zhou reacted strongly, desperately refusing, and almost pulled out the needle in his hand.

Xu Xingli couldn't argue with him, but he felt truly uneasy, so he gestured and asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Seeing this, Uncle Zhou also stopped his movements. He looked at Xu Xingli for a while, then reached out and found the hearing aid hidden under his pillow.

He handed it to Xu Xingli, moving both hands—broken, fix it, you and I, no more trouble.

Xu Xingli understood his meaning—

Fix this hearing aid, and there would be no more entanglement between them; they would both be well.

Uncle Zhou only wanted this hearing aid.

Xu Xingli handed the hearing aid to the staff at the usual repair shop, feeling inexplicably sad.

However, before he could sink into deep emotion, he was brought back to reality by the staff's call.

"This is the latest model of hearing aid from abroad. It's not available in China yet, so we can't repair it for now."

Xu Xingli "Ah"d and took back the returned hearing aid with both hands.

The hearing aid in his palm was the same model as his own, both bought by Xu Zhou.

It seemed he could only ask Xu Zhou.

But Xu Zhou had been so busy lately.

Xu Xingli frowned, suddenly remembering that Dr. Gao, who had treated him before, seemed to have gone abroad. He was about to send a message to ask when the staff recommended another hearing aid to him.

"It takes a long time to send it abroad for repair. Our model is similar to it and also has a positioning function, which can be used for emergencies."

Xu Xingli's typing hand paused.

"Our positioning relies on the latest technology, with precise location, and we believe you will be satisfied."

Xu Xingli suddenly looked up, staring intently at the box in the staff's hand.

"You... what did you just say?"

The staff noticed his abnormality, paused, but still smiled at him and repeated, "Our positioning function..."

"Positioning function?" Xu Xingli suddenly interrupted, his breathing a little heavy.

The staff nodded, somewhat hesitantly: "...Yes, do you have any questions?"

The young man in front of the counter widened his eyes, his breathing quickened slightly, and then he unexpectedly raised his hand and took off the hearing aid from his ear.

He spread the hearing aid in his palm and asked quickly, "Can this also be located?"

The staff picked it up and looked at it. Seeing his flustered expression, she pondered for a moment before nodding: "Yes."

As soon as she finished speaking, Xu Xingli had already clutched the hearing aid and disappeared out the door.