Translator: LiLi041
Editor: Aji
Chapter 44: Parents’ True Thoughts
Chi Song, who had followed the whole process of Brother Harry’s public display of affection, was even happier than he would be if he was the one receiving the proposal. If Song Zhihuai hadn’t stopped him, he would likely have gone onto Brother Harry’s Weibo and clicked ‘like.’
Zhou Yaming was as responsible as expected, and didn’t forget to call Song Zhihuai and remind him even though it was the middle of the night, “I saw what’s happening on Weibo. Hold Chi Song back, and tell him not to post on Weibo or like the post. We’ll come back to this tomorrow.”
In this matter, Chi Song wasn’t just a passerby here to watch the show.
He and Brother Harry were good friends. Not long ago, he had even thrown some fujoshi bait with him in a play.
The spectating crowd was stunned stupid by the huge barrage of information. When they returned to their senses, they immediately wanted to get a hold of Chi Song to ask him the following three questions:
What about Chi Song?
Did Chi Song know about Brother Harry’s sexual orientation?
Chi Song and Brother Harry were such close friends. Was Chi Song also gay?
Chi Song was currently in the growth phase of his career. With the current society, if he didn’t want to leave the entertainment circle, it was best for him to not get involved with things like homosexuality.
No matter how tolerant people online were of homosexuality, in the real world, there were still an enormous number of people who felt that letting homosexuals be famous figures was an indication of public moral decay.
This was a cruel statement, but it was the unavoidable reality.
Zhou Yaming sighed, “Don’t just look at how lively it is right now. Harry will probably have to leave the circle.”
Song Zhihuai was hiding in the bathroom to take this call. He was silent for a moment, before saying, “Retiring while he’s middle-aged, and already has his own house and car, is already pretty good. But don’t tell this to Chi Song, he’s very happy for the two of them right now.”
Zhou Yaming smiled, “Chi Song isn’t ignorant of reality. You don’t have to protect him like he’s a child.”
Song Zhihuai said, “The two of us will probably never have children. That means that Chi Song is the youngest in our family. If I don’t protect him, then who should I protect?”
Zhou Yaming was truly worthy of being called experienced. Even after being stuffed with an earful of PDA during New Year for no reason, she didn’t even bat an eye as she said, “Take good care of him. The next two days, I’ll be too far away to help with anything. When he comes back, I’ll tell him how he should answer the questions about his relationship with Harry.”
After Song Zhihuai hung up, he left the bathroom, only to be startled by a figure shrouded in the dark. “…Aunt Chi?”
Mother Chi’s expression carried a bit of subtlety with it, “You haven’t gone to sleep yet?”
Song Zhihuai answered, “No, and you…”
Mother Chi said, “I always get up at night to use the bathroom.”
Song Zhihuai immediately stood to the side to let her pass.
Mother Chi walked forward two steps, before turning her head and asking, “Who were you calling just now?”
Song Zhihuai replied smartly, “My colleagues.”
Mother Chi made an “oh” sound and didn’t say anything more. Then, she shut the door, leaving Song Zhihuai outside the bathroom.
Mother Chi sat on the toilet, without lifting up the cover.
Her ears were filled with Song Zhihuai’s voice saying, “…Chi Song is the youngest in our family. If I don’t protect him, then who should I protect?”
She covered her face, and sobbed silently.
When Song Zhihuai returned to the bedroom, Chi Song excitedly got up from the bed, supporting himself on his knees. He told Song Zhihuai, “Zhihuai Zhihuai, I gave Zhirong a red packet with 521 yuan, to wish them a happy marriage!”
…His whole face seemed to say, “I’m holding myself back from praising myself, but aren’t I amazing?” His little expression seemed to be asking for rewards. To Song Zhihuai, it was extremely cute.
Song Zhihuai sat down on the edge of the bed, and lightly pressed a kiss to Chi Song’s hair whorl. “Very good.”
Chi Song also kissed back. “Zhihuai, when we announce our relationship to the public in the future, I also want to propose to you like this.”
Song Zhihuai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “I should be the one to propose though.”
Chi Song didn’t give in. “You confessed to me first, so I should be the one to propose to you.”
After he said this, Chi Song was caught off guard and pressed down by Chief Song.
Chi Song knew that he wouldn’t do anything to him in this house, so he felt rest assured as he boldly continued, “I want to be like Brother Harry, putting all the parts of my bride price together.”
Song Zhihuai good-naturedly didn’t correct him. “What would I want a bride price for?”
Chi Song said, “We can spend it together. We’ll travel around the world, go see shows in Milan, the scenery in Northern Europe, the snow in Russia, and then we’ll have a house by the sea. When we’re tired of traveling, we’ll go back home, and in front of the fireplace, I’ll act out Hamlet for you.”
Song Zhihuai asked, “Why “Hamlet”?”
Chi Song puffed out his chest in pride. “When I was an undergraduate student in England, I would be scolded by the teacher no matter what I acted. The only time the teacher praised me was when I acted out Hamlet… I acted out Hamlet very well.”
As he said that, he turned around. Under the faint warm light of the small night light, his eyes looked at Song Zhihuai scorchingly, and he said very solemnly, word by word, “When that time comes, there will be only you in the audience. I will be acting for only you to watch.”
Song Zhihuai said gently, “Then, I’ll really have made a profit.”
Chi Song thought that he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep, but as he laid in Song Zhihuai’s embrace, he unconsciously fell asleep.
The next day, he woke up even earlier than Song Zhihuai.
He snuggled in Song Zhihuai’s arms for a while as he woke up fully. Then, he picked up his phone and signed into his newly registered side account, scrolling through Weibo for a time with slitted eyes.
Someone on the internet had already summarized the ‘coming out of the closet’ event last night, and hailed it as the ‘great New Year’s drama.’
Chi Song had wisened up after yesterday’s mistakes, and no longer read those heart-wrenching comments.
He put down his phone and quietly slipped out of the room, planning to wake Song Zhihuai up after he washed up and finished breakfast.
Who knew that as soon as he stepped out of the room, he would discover Chi Yang kneeling outside the door with a bitter expression.
When he saw Chi Song, Chi Yang looked like he had just seen his savior. “Brother, you finally got up. Mom’s crying in her room.”
Chi Song was startled. “What happened to Mom?”
Chi Yang replied, despondent, “…It’s my fault for letting my hands wander. I got up early to use my phone and read up on last night’s events, and Mom asked me what I was reading, so I handed the phone to her. I don’t know what she saw, but as soon as she saw it, she started to cry…”
Chi Song felt anxious, so he quickly walked to his parents’ room. As soon as he pushed open the door, he saw Father Chi sitting by Mother Chi. Meimei was holding the child as she continuously consoled her, “Mom, don’t think too much into it…”
As soon as she saw Chi Song, Meimei took the initiative to make way for him, and even stopped Chi Yang, who was just about to enter, from coming in, “Out, let’s go out.”
Chi Yang was a little puzzled at first, but after he met his wife’s eyes, he understood. Before leaving, he carefully closed the door for the elderly couple.
Now, Chi Song was completely sure that the reason why his mother was sad was because she saw something related to him.
He quickly went through last night’s events in his mind.
…He didn’t have anything going on last night, though.
Could there have been some new news that popped up early this morning? Something related to him?
Just as Chi Song was guessing himself into a state of anxiety, Mother Chi waved him over, “Little Song, come here.”
With the utterly fearless mentality of someone who would brave any dangers without hesitation, Chi Song took a deep breath and sat down beside the bed.
A pair of warm hands wrapped around his shoulders, caressed him, and patted him a few times.
Mother Chi wiped at the corners of her eyes, and said, “…I saw what happened with that Henry.”
Mother Chi hadn’t ever been able to say Brother Harry’s name right, even when he was a child. She was always calling Brother Harry ‘Henry.’ Chi Song had also corrected her many times before, but it never worked, so he just gave up trying and followed his mother’s pronunciation, calling Brother Harry ‘Henry’ in front of his parents.
Mother Chi looked at Chi Song with tears in her eyes and said, “That’s a good kid. He’s even come over to our house to play before, but I saw that there’s so many people cursing him right now.”
Chi Song bit his lip, trying to carefully word his next sentence in order to comfort Mother Chi. “Mom, homosexuality isn’t accepted by everyone.”
Mother Chi patted Chi Song on the shoulder, her voice sounding like she was about to start sobbing at any moment. “…I feel uncomfortable whenever I see it… I think, if these words were cursing my son, I wouldn’t be able to take it…”
Chi Song was completely shaken.
Mother Chi gnashed her teeth. “What reason do they have to curse you guys? My son’s the best son in the whole world. Just because he likes men, he deserves to get cursed like this behind his back? What’s wrong with being gay? Can homosexuals not be good kids?”
Chi Song’s eyes heated up, and he whispered, “…Mom.”
Mother Chi pulled Chi Song into her embrace, her tears streaming down. “Mom’s been researching these issues the past few days, and the more I research, the more uncomfortable I feel… Little Song, how hard it must’ve been on you, how difficult…”
Chi Song clenched his teeth and forced himself to not cry. “It’s nothing, Mom, it’ll pass with endurance.”
Mother Chi rubbed Chi Song’s hair, and said, “Mom’s made up her mind. No matter how difficult this road is, Mom will walk it with you.”
Father Chi had stayed silent up until now, but when he heard her say this, he weakly added from the side, “…And me, too.”
Chi Song laughed out loud, and his tears also started to flow out freely.
Leaning into Mother Chi’s embrace, he cried like a child.
Chi Yang and Meimei went to make breakfast.
Half an hour later, Song Zhihuai woke up. After a quick shower, he went to help Chi Yang serve breakfast, asking Meimei as he did so, “Where’s Chi Song?”
Meimei looked like she was in a pretty good mood. “Brother’s talking with Mom and Dad right now. Let’s wait until they come out to eat.”
Song Zhihuai was very puzzled.
They finished placing food on the table. Following the practice of not being allowed to eat before the elders did, Song Zhihuai, Meimei, and Chi Yang waited for another dozen or so minutes before Chi Song and the two elderly came out from the room together.
Song Zhihuai noticed that Chi Song’s eyes looked red, like he had been crying. He looked like a little white rabbit.
His heart suddenly shook violently. Had he been scolded?
Mother Chi also looked like she had just cried, but her aura was as strong and imposing as usual.
She stuffed the phone in Chi Yang’s hands and said, “I couldn’t have been more angry just now. I told a person who was cursing Henry to comment on other people’s business less, and he actually dared to curse me. Here’s the phone, curse him for me.”
Chi Yang said very innocently, “I don’t know how to curse people, though.”
Mother Chi grumbled, “What was the use of me giving birth to you then?”
Chi Yang, who had just been given an earful, looked up at Chi Song.
Mother Chi sensed his intentions. “Don’t look at your brother. He doesn’t know how to curse others at all.”
Song Zhihuai used his eyes to ask Chi Song whether anything was wrong. Chi Song shook his head. There was even a look of joy in his slightly red and swollen eyes that Song Zhihuai couldn’t understand.
All of these amorous glances naturally fell into Mother Chi’s eyes.
Her eyebrows furrowed, and she turned to Song Zhihuai. “Zhihuai, do you know how to curse people?”
This was the first time that his name had been called so intimately. Song Zhihuai trembled once, but he answered, “…I can try?”
Mother Chi finally showed him a satisfied smile. “Eat, eat. After you finish breakfast, I’ll leave it to you.”
Although he didn’t know what happened exactly, Song Zhihuai instinctively realized that it was a good thing.
Everyone took their seats. Song Zhihuai sat down directly across from Chi Song.
After a while, Song Zhihuai felt, from across the table, Chi Song’s foot lightly covering his instep as he massaged his toes with his own, with a little playfulness.
Those soft toes were quickly captured and brought to justice. Song Zhihuai turned from passive to active, and immediately started to tickle Chi Song’s warm foot.
Cupping their rice bowls, they smiled at each other through the steaming heat of their food.
Translator’s Note: Aww, Mother Chi… I’m so happy for you ❤
LiLi's Translations 
Thank you for updating!!!!
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Thanks for the chapters!
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