HTCYH Ch 46

Chapter 46: Family “Harbor”

Tu Si looked at the mathematics test paper in his hand showing a score of 146, listening to the notification sound “Ding! Excellent grades! Teacher favorability +10%, current favorability: 64%.” Tu Si neatly organized the test paper and placed it into the app’s spatial backpack.

After receiving Jiang Tukui’s inheritance, Tu Si’s points became unprecedentedly abundant. Every night, Jiang Tukui would generously teach Tu Si how to use points cost-effectively to farm teacher favorability, and would meticulously instruct Tu Si on various game strategies and taboos that Wuming had never mentioned. The more Tu Si listened, the more silent he became, discovering that he had been frantically dancing on all sorts of taboos all along. Without Wuming’s presence, Tu Si might truly have been a bomb that could trigger team annihilation at any moment.

But as days passed one by one, drawing closer to the short holiday, Jiang Tukui became increasingly restless and irritable. Tu Si sensed Jiang Tukui’s unease, and upon inquiry learned that this holiday was an insurmountable hurdle for Jiang Tukui. He had reloaded and replayed countless times, and no matter what he did, his parents would send him to Class 4. Therefore, he was anxious and afraid. He could not provide Tu Si with better experience, and once entering Class 4, leaving again would be impossible, and clearing the game would be even more difficult.

In truth, Tu Si had long planned to enter Class 4. Perhaps due to Wuming’s guidance, Tu Si’s concept of the game was to find the candidate “god,” kill him, and end the game. He had come to slay gods and had never considered clearing the game properly. However, Tu Si had never mentioned his plan to Jiang Tukui. Jiang Tukui’s protective and sacrificial consciousness was too strong. Facing Tu Si, he embodied the image of a selflessly devoted elder who desperately hoped Tu Si could safely leave the game without touching those dangers. Therefore, Tu Si did not wish to go against Jiang Tukui’s good intentions.

The more obedient and well-behaved Tu Si was, the more Jiang Tukui felt sorry for him. Consequently, Tu Si’s team leader Wuming would be scolded bloody by Jiang Tukui every day. Several times, when Tu Si heard Jiang Tukui using that creaking, grating voice to curse Wuming in unclear mumbles, he wanted to heal Jiang Tukui’s throat. Due to his throat condition, many of Jiang Tukui’s words came out unclear, and combined with his rapid speech, Tu Si could not make out much of what he said. He knew the cursing was quite vulgar, but it was awkward to ask someone to repeat themselves, thus missing many exquisite national curses that could have been used to describe Wuming in the future.

Beautiful campus life would always come to an end. No matter how unwilling Jiang Tukui was for the holiday to arrive, time would not stop for him. Tu Si watched him like a worried old father, constantly admonishing Tu Si not to be stubborn, not to resist, to lower his presence when returning home, to transform himself into air, to avoid being perceived by his parents as much as possible, and continuously praying that Tu Si could safely get through the holiday without discovering on the first day of the new term that he had walked into a Class 4 classroom.

Tu Si nodded obediently, but mentally calculated how to return this body to Jiang Tukui. Tu Si was an extreme face-control enthusiast who liked Jiang Tukui very much, but the current broken Jiang Tukui was an eyesore, causing Tu Si’s favorability toward him to never exceed 70%. Tu Si hoped that in the considerable time ahead, he could communicate and cooperate with a human-looking Jiang Tukui to clear the game together and eliminate the boss. With Jiang Tukui’s current appearance, Tu Si was very afraid that he might accidentally mistake him for a monster and kill him.

“Ring ring ring!” The dismissal bell rang, and the classmates were rarely happy, cheerfully packing their bags and rushing out of the classroom like a swarm, full of anticipation for the short holiday. Only Tu Si dawdled with the powerless feeling of having to work overtime. After packing his things and leaving the school gates, the students had basically all gone.

The setting sun’s afterglow scattered over the white teaching building, and the yellowing small square brick pieces reflected light that seemed both yellow and red. That touch of red at the horizon would cause dizziness if looked at for too long. The classroom lights gradually extinguished, giving a dreamlike, hazy feeling that reminded Tu Si of a term he had seen while scrolling through videos in reality: “Chinese Liminal Space.”

In the depths of every student’s memory, there were always some familiar scenes. They seemed to have stood countless times before identical teaching buildings watching the sunset after school, and this sunset was always the same—dreamlike, beautiful yet oppressive, tinged with a uniquely Chinese horror aesthetic.

Tu Si could not comprehend that feeling at the time, but now he experienced it profoundly. It was the defiance of vibrant young people trapped in this bland old building, the powerlessness of struggling until ultimately being forced to accept resignation, the yearning for future freedom, hope and fearlessness, the unyielding vitality and despairing death energy—contradictory fusion forming the colorful dark clouds above the school.

Withdrawing his gaze, Tu Si found the address Jiang Tukui had given him and navigated home.

Arriving at the front door, he took out his keys. Upon entering, he saw Jiang Tukui’s mother cooking and almost blurted out “Auntie.” Tu Si immediately held his tongue and stood somewhat awkwardly at the entrance.

Asking Tu Si to call someone “Mom” was somewhat difficult for him. Tu Si, born of heaven and earth, believed no one was qualified to have him call them mother. So Tu Si hugged his schoolbag and squirmed to beside the shoe cabinet, watching Jiang Tukui’s mother’s busy figure until she finished stir-frying and turned around, when he deliberately bumped the shoe cabinet, making a noise to attract her attention.

Jiang Tukui’s mother was indeed attracted by the sound and looked over. Seeing Tu Si standing at the entrance, her brows immediately furrowed as she said, “What are you standing there for? Are you mute, or are your legs broken?”

Only after seeing Jiang Tukui’s mother notice him did Tu Si say, “I’m home.”

Jiang Tukui’s mother: “Dawdling around all day. Look, the food is getting cold. XXX got home already, just you! Where did you go fooling around again to come home only now? I’m like a servant, begging you father and son to eat! Go call your father out to eat.”

“Ah! Oh!” Tu Si went to Jiang Tukui’s bedroom to put down his schoolbag, came to the study, knocked on the door and said quietly, “Time to eat.”

Just after finishing speaking, he was pushed aside. Jiang Tukui’s mother glanced at Tu Si and scolded, “Are you a mosquito? All you do is buzz! How did I give birth to such a useless thing! Can’t you call louder? Who can hear you like that!” After speaking, she pushed the door open and shouted, “Time to eat, time to eat! Can’t you hear? Are you deaf?”

Subsequently, the sound of a mouse being smashed came from the room, accompanied by Jiang Tukui’s father’s angry cursing: “I’m busy! I’m busy! Can’t you understand human speech! Eat first! I don’t have time right now!”

“Busy, busy, busy! You’re the only one with so much to do! Eat or don’t! I don’t care!” Jiang Tukui’s mother said while walking out of the study, slamming the door shut with a bang. Seeing the bewildered Tu Si by the door, she frowned and shouted again, “You don’t want to eat either? If you’re not eating, get lost!”

“Eat, eat, eat! I’ll eat.” Only a fool wouldn’t eat when there was food. Human taste and smell were among Tu Si’s few gaming benefits and shouldn’t be wasted.

So Tu Si ran to the dining table and, seeing there was no rice, went to the kitchen, took two bowls, scooped two bowls of rice, and brought out two pairs of chopsticks. Walking out of the kitchen, he faced Jiang Tukui’s mother coming toward him. She glanced at the two bowls of rice in Tu Si’s hands, frowned and said, “Are you feeding pigs? So much rice, who can finish it all! What use are you every day!”

Tu Si was again subjected to a torrent of lecturing and said helplessly, “If there’s too much rice, give the extra to me. I’m a bit hungry today.”

“Hmph!” Jiang Tukui’s mother took the bowl and set it down heavily on the dining table.

Tu Si quickly placed his bowl next to Jiang Tukui’s mother’s bowl and said, “Give me the rice you can’t finish.”

Jiang Tukui’s mother symbolically transferred two chopsticks’ worth of rice into Tu Si’s bowl with her chopsticks, then lowered her head and began eating.

Tu Si couldn’t help but mentally complain: Wow, truly just one mouthful of rice could kill someone.

Sitting across from Jiang Tukui’s mother, Tu Si began eating quietly. But obviously, when people are unhappy, they need to find someone to vent on. Tu Si had just eaten half a bowl of rice when he was scolded again.

Jiang Tukui’s mother violently slammed her bowl and scolded, “How did I teach you! How can a person be so selfish! Eat, eat, eat! Look at the dishes in this bowl—you ate them all by yourself. Are you going to let your father eat or not!”

“Ah!” After being scolded, Tu Si was first stunned, then looked at the dishes on the table. The tomato and eggs that he had ladled several large spoonfuls of to mix with rice were already at the bottom of the dish, and two-thirds of the stir-fried meat was also gone. Instantly feeling somewhat embarrassed, he quickly said, “I’m sorry, I was too hungry.”

Jiang Tukui’s mother’s words, which she was about to use to continue educating him, were thus stuck in her throat. Scolding wasn’t right, not scolding wasn’t right either. Finally, discovering that Tu Si really wasn’t touching the dishes anymore and was just eating rice mixed with seaweed soup after ladling a spoonful of seaweed soup, she became annoyed again. She snatched Tu Si’s rice bowl and dumped all the stir-fried meat into his bowl, saying, “Eat, eat, eat! Acting like I’m abusing you! How many times have I told you! Don’t use soup to mix with rice! It’s bad for your stomach! You just know how to oppose me!”

Tu Si looked at his rice bowl, which had oil stains around the edges due to Jiang Tukui’s mother’s violent operation, plus the seaweed in the bowl—black, white, and red—the appearance looked rather terrible. But Tu Si didn’t mind. He pulled out a tissue, wiped the oil stains on the bowl’s edge, and also wiped the oil on the table. Taking the rice bowl, he said thanks and continued eating rice. Jiang Tukui’s mother really couldn’t find fault anymore and could only continue eating, just making her bowl and chopsticks clatter loudly.

Actually, from the moment Tu Si entered the house, the notification sound began beeping incessantly, with -1%, -2% responses continuous. Until the meal ended and Tu Si returned to the bedroom to begin preparing for study, the parents’ favorability finally stopped at 31% and remained motionless.