The Taming of the Ruffian Hero

Chen Yuanxi and Zhang Dong set off for Beijing.

“Won’t you really go to Yangzi County to see Zhao Yuan?” asked Zhang Dong.

Chen Yuanxi shook his head and said, “I just hope he will live a smooth and steady life.”

“And you?”

“You’re still here, aren’t you?” Chen Yuanxi said with a smile.

Zhang Dong was frightened to step back.

“The world is so big. Let’s find a place and conceal our identities to spend our whole lives together,” Chen Yuanxi said again with a smile.

“Wenxi, you can tell such a joke to anyone, except for me, because I will take it seriously,” said Zhang Dong.

“Who knows? Maybe I’m serious.” Chen Yuanxi grinned.

Zhang Dong frowned and said nothing.

Seeing that, Chen Yuanxi shrugged and said, “Come on, I won’t tease you. Let’s go!”

Outside the Fourth Ring Road in Beijing, Chen Yuanxi and Zhang Dong rented a house with two rooms and a hall.

A month later, Chen Tianjiao asked to see Chen Yuanxi again.

This was a prosperous and lonely city, but also a noisy city.

Chen Yuanxi wandered around the First Ring Road and every day went to Tian An Men. He did nothing else but enjoy the sunny day in November. He wandered around the Outer Ring Road, went to the Badaling Great Wall from time to time, and silently watched the wall winding to the end of the sky. Sometimes he would sit on the overpass beside the Yonghe Temple for a long time until the setting sun turned from yellow to red. He wanted to go back, but did not know where to go. He knew he was lost.

He was lost, so he went with the flow of people. Everywhere he went, he would stop to taste the food and observe the person there. He was like a tourist in the time, and the people in front of him were passers-by. He sat in a place and coldly looked at the life.

Chen Yuanxi heard a story during his last visit to Chen Tianjiao.

A story about his biological mother Huang Xiya, Chen Tianjiao, Lin Ziwei and Deng Yifei.

“If I had known that she was pregnant and couldn’t wait, I wouldn’t have embarrassed her… I would have married her right away, even if I wouldn’t get a better promotion. Maybe I would have lived happily with you. It shouldn’t have happened. My favorite woman… As for Lin Ziwei, although he was a cleanhanded official and was good to the people, didn’t he make any mistake in this matter? As long as he only did one thing wrong in his life, he was wrong all his life.”

“I killed your adoptive father, which is the most right thing I did but also the worst thing. He was really good to your mother and you and has done everything I can’t. I’ve committed too many crimes in my life. The only relief is that I didn’t let you do anything against the law. Let’s take it as a compensation for your mother and you. When you see your mother in the future, I hope you will be fair to me, and at least restore the truth of this matter to her, and let her not hate me for a lifetime.” After finishing, Chen Tianjiao stood up tremblingly, which meant that this was the last second Chen Yuanxi saw him.

Chen Tianjiao finally turned around and looked at Chen Yuanxi, saying, “My son, I’m really worried about how you’re going on alone. We’re all gone, and your mother can’t be found. You’re really alone in the world. Live a good life. No matter whom you’ll live with, Zhao Yuan or somebody else, just live a good life. I’m, I’m sorry for you. Besides, Wanxin is not bad in nature. If possible, I hope you… forget it. Take care of yourselves.”

Chen Yuanxi kept silent all the time. It was not until Chen Tianjiao disappeared behind the glass door that he called dad.

One day three months later, Chen Yuanxi was crying in the hotel. The wine in the window had been completely drunk by him, and the cigarette boxes were all over the floor.

At four o’clock in the morning, Chen Yuanxi could not fall asleep. Zhang Dong and he lit a cigarette again, silently looking at the busy traffic downstairs.

Chen Yuanxi seemed to hear the gunshot of somewhere clearly.

The cigarette had been wet by tears and could not be lit.

Zhang Dong could not help cuddling Chen Yuanxi in his arms and said, “Yuanxi, just cry, okay?”

How could he cry?

Soon, it was early in the morning.

Chen Yuanxi went to Zhongshan Park and then to the Imperial Ancestral Temple, wandering to the afternoon without eating or drinking. After receiving a call, he went to the barber shop. He asked the barber to make an energetic hairstyle for him so as to hide his tiredness caused by sleeplessness all night, then he came to a funeral parlor in full swing.

Chen Wanxin stood there with red and swollen eyes. It was unknown who she was looking at. Zheng Kai was nervous. He held Gu Xi in one hand and stared at Chen Wanxin while looking around.

It was not until Chen Yuanxi approached that Chen Wanxin’s eyes began to glow with hatred.

“How dare you come to take the urn? Are you not afraid of Luo Yang killing you?” Chen Wanxin asked coldly.

“I have bodyguards, and so do you.” Chen Yuanxi’s face remained unchanged.

“Are you here to laugh at me?” Chen Wanxin scrutinized Chen Yuanxi, her only half brother. Seeing that he was complacent and in ruddy health, Chen Wanxin could not help being sad, and heavily slapped Chen Yuanxi.

Chen Yuanxi did not fight back. He stroked the urn for a while and said, “If I don’t know anything between dad and my mom in the past, I will fight back. Let’s end the war of the previous generation, sister.”

When Chen Wanxin heard this, she cried and snapped, “Is it useful for you to call him dad? Since you came back to the Chen Family, I can’t tell whether your smile and anger are sincere. I dare not be your sister!”

“Fallen leaves return to the roots. I found a cemetery in Yangzi County for father. Here is the address. Take it.”

“I don’t need it!” said Chen Wanxin,

“You need it, so do I. Your current food and clothing are provided by Zheng Kai, and you still owe the country money,” Chen Yuanxi said in a loud voice.

“No!” Chen Wanxin pushed him away.

“The cemetery is in Tianfu Village, the little mountain village where father was born. It is far away from the county and no one can find it. There are some of your close cousins there,” said Chen Yuanxi.

Hearing that, Chen Wanxin slightly changed her looks. Looking at the note in Chen Yuanxi’s hand, she, holding the urn, slowly took it and pretended to walk easily. But at the corner, she suddenly squatted down and burst into tears while holding the urn.

Gu Xi could not help squatting down to cry with Chen Wanxin. He did not know the complicated story among others. He only knew that Chen Wanxin had saved him and Zheng Kai at the beginning. He also knew that Zheng Kai had been very good to him and Chen Wanxin had been gentle to him no matter how she was angry with Zheng Kai.

Gu Xi looked at Chen Yuanxi’s back again, rushed up and hold him from behind, saying, “Yuanxi, I hope you will live a good life! I found a job as a cook in the business street where used to be Jifu University. I can support myself. I know you always care about me. I know it…”

Chen Yuanxi did not look back. He gently stroked Gu Xi’s hands and said, “If you are not happy, tell me, okay? Does the wound still hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt. Yuanxi, I’m very happy, very happy,” said Gu Xi.

“That’s good.”

“Gu Xi, will you be happy? Will you really be happy when the man you love most always looks at a woman? Sorry, I can’t do more.”

When Chen Yuanxi left, Zhang Dong saw two lines of tears dripping from his eyes.