Sometimes I really want to say: If you don’t cherish me properly, I’m going to turn bad. I’ll become the worst kid imaginable and cause trouble for you everywhere, so save yourself the headache and just treat me well.
When a threat starts sounding like I’m acting spoiled, I’m probably just acting spoiled.
At home, Mai Ding shook his head and sighed as he pointed accusingly at An Zi Yan, who was half-reclined on the sofa watching television. “You finally did well at the company, and then you went and gave everyone time off on your own. You could’ve taken another step toward a promotion, but instead you backed up several steps. What am I supposed to say to you? What are you even going to do on vacation? Read a book, play games, waste time for nothing. The others don’t need time off either. All they do is make fun of me. You should make them work like oxen and horses until they drop.” He looked every bit like the boss’s wife. An Zi Yan turned up the television. Mai Ding turned it back down.
“A company isn’t a school. Without rules, there can be no order. If you keep behaving like this, no boss is ever going to like you.” Just look at that, a subordinate lecturing his superior.
“If you keep behaving like this, your boss won’t like you either.”
“Be serious. We’re talking about something serious. Every once in a while, you should listen to my suggestions too. Otherwise I’ll spread the word about how idle and lazy you are at home.” His harmless threat dissolved into the air. Mai Ding deeply felt that his presence in this household was declining by the day. He was probably worth less than the television now. Just as he was about to switch it off, An Zi Yan spoke. “When I’m in a bad mood, I feel like firing people.”
“Y-you-you’re threatening me? Didn’t we agree the company is the company and home is home?”
“I’ll do whatever I want.”
“You’re completely unreasonable.” Mai Ding planted his hands on his hips. “Since we’re off, let’s go out and relax.”
“Don’t feel like moving.”
“You really should let all those women at the company who admire you see what you’re actually like. Young people need more energy. We should go outside, breathe some fresh air, clear our heads.”
“I don’t have anything I need to clear, unlike someone who got so stressed he cried for his mom and dad and scared himself unconscious.” Embarrassing things only became more humiliating when someone else said them aloud. Bai Xiao Si and her big mouth. Sure enough, her bond with her ex-husband was stronger than with the guy who had stolen him away.
“I was just too tired. Everyone feels lost and at a loss when they enter a new environment. They say it’s a stage everyone has to go through while growing up. Maybe I’ve grown up a little too. Next time, I think I’ll handle it calmly.” He repeated Bai Xiao Si’s words of comfort while conveniently taking the chance to play at being an artsy young man.
“I suddenly feel like hitting you.” An Zi Yan did more than feel like it. He had already kicked Mai Ding once. “Next time, I bet you’ll get so scared you run crying back into your mother’s arms.” Mai Ding’s artistic-young-man image was crushed underfoot. Pretending to sulk, he lay down on the sofa too. “I won’t. Fine, then. We’ll both just lie here on the sofa and see how this family falls apart. Even if you tell me to get up, I’m not getting up.”
“I’ll take you somewhere.”
Mai Ding sat up from the sofa. “Really?”
“Of course not.”
“Are you bored out of your mind?!” He flopped back onto the sofa and turned his back on An Zi Yan, swearing that no matter what An Zi Yan said next, he would ignore him. Then he heard movement behind him, followed by the sound of the door opening. “If you don’t come now, I’m leaving you behind.”
“Wait for me.” He rolled up and sprang to his feet, asking excitedly, “Where are we going? Do we need to bring anything?”
“No.”
“I should still bring something, just in case. You’re not taking me to the supermarket or something, are you?”
An Zi Yan did not answer. Mai Ding grabbed his bag, stuffed a few things inside, and ran downstairs first. “Hurry up! I’ll wait downstairs. You really have to hurry.” An Zi Yan looked at Mai Ding’s delighted face and felt exactly as he used to when Mai Ding would turn around downstairs, wave up at him, and announce that he was going to school. He had the distinct feeling that Mai Ding was his son.
The place they eventually reached was not unfamiliar to Mai Ding, but it was not exactly familiar either. He could not remember how long it had been since he last came here. It was a place that inevitably drew him back into memories: Grandpa An’s little house on the outskirts of the city, where Mai Ding had spent his first birthday after meeting An Zi Yan. The house looked older now. A thin layer of dust covered everything inside. Mai Ding lifted the piano lid and pressed one of the keys. Even the piano sounded a little strange now.
He could barely remember how long it had been since An Zi Yan had played the piano after graduation, or how long it had been since he himself had watched a fantasy movie. Mai Ding rolled up his sleeves and trouser legs. “All right, time for a proper cleaning.” He started rummaging around for anything they could use to clean the house. An album toppled from the corner of a storage cabinet, and Mai Ding opened it curiously. It was full of photos of Grandpa when he was young. “No way. Grandpa was way too handsome when he was young.”
An Zi Yan walked up behind Mai Ding and looked at the album too. Mai Ding pointed to an elegant, beautiful woman in one of the black-and-white photographs. “Is that Grandma? I think your eyes look a lot like hers.”
“Do they?”
“Mm. Your eyes are both beautiful.” Mai Ding answered with certainty. An Zi Yan lightly nudged Mai Ding’s backside with his foot while he sat on the floor. “Weren’t you going to clean?”
“Right away. Stop kicking me! Let’s take the album home. It’d be such a shame if something this precious got lost.”
“Leave it here. Grandpa wants it here.”
Mai Ding said nothing more. He nodded and carefully put the album back. Then he got up, found a rag, and ran outside to the pond for a bucket of water. The moment the curtains were drawn open, the whole house seemed to drink in the light and brighten. Mai Ding carefully wiped the dust from the furniture while the occasional sound of piano keys reached his ears. An Zi Yan was tuning the piano.
Here, it really was easy to forget so many things. It was like the little house in some fantasy storybook, shutting work, the mundane world, time, and everything else outside.