The world is like a prison, my body is holy

Chapter 49: Atmosphere (asking for monthly ticket)
A solitary lamp cannot illuminate the empty lobby of the Qinghe Gang.

Huang Xingde sat in the hall with his clothes draped over him. In the dim light beside him, he was concentrating on flipping through a yellowed ancient book. As he flipped through the book, he accidentally revealed the word "University" on the cover.

"uncle."

Light footsteps were heard from outside the door, and a neatly dressed, capable man walked into the hall, holding a bowl of hot tea. "A letter came in saying that Brother Hu has returned to the Astronomical Observatory."

He placed the tea bowl next to Huang Xingde with both hands. Without Huang Xingde's instructions, he took the lamp hairpin on the table and gently moved the wick in the oil lamp. The dim flame jumped and became slightly brighter.

Huang Xingde hummed softly, his eyes still focused on the ancient book in his hand, without even glancing at the capable man.

The familiar way of getting along is just like every ordinary morning and sunset...

It was not until Huang Xingde picked up the tea bowl at hand that the capable man lowered his eyes slightly.

"Tell me, should we drink this cup of tea or not?"

The tea bowl stopped when it was about to reach his mouth. Huang Xingde spoke lightly, raised his eyes and looked at the capable man opposite him with an expressionless face.

The capable man lowered his eyes, his pupils trembling, but his face showed no sign of strangeness as he stretched out his hands to take the tea bowl from Huang Xingde's hand: "Is this tea not to your taste? I'll go and get you another bowl."

Just as his hands were about to touch the tea bowl, Huang Xingde casually placed the tea bowl on the table.

"beep."

The tea bowl landed on the table with a slight muffled sound, but the capable man's whole body shook violently.

"Ajie."

Huang Xingde slowly flipped through the ancient books and said softly, "How many years have you followed me?"

The capable man lowered his head and replied softly with a trembling voice, "Sir, it's been almost fourteen years..."

"It's fifteen years, seven months and twenty-four days. Six days short of fifteen years and eight months."

Huang Xingde stretched out his hand and pointed to a height that was the same as his sitting position: "I still remember that when your mother brought you here, you were only this tall. When you saw me, you didn't even dare to call me..."

The capable man seemed to have thought of something, beads of sweat visible on his face. He replied timidly, "It's been almost sixteen years already? You have a really good memory."

Huang Xingde sighed softly and said softly, "We know that you haven't been getting along well with Erhu these past few years. You've been secretly trying to trip him up and antagonize him. Most of the worst beatings he's received were caused by you."

The capable man's face turned pale, and he said in panic: "Master, I..."

Huang Xingde shook his head and interrupted his defense: "I know that you have been blaming me all these years, thinking that I am unfair and that I am not treating you equally. Your father is also out working. Why can Erhu do whatever he wants in the city under my name, while you can only serve me tea and water... Is that right?"

The capable man's cheeks puffed up, and after his eyes flickered a few times, he suddenly laughed, grinning through his teeth: "So you knew everything? I thought you were old and your eyes were blurry and you couldn't see anything clearly!"

Huang Xingde nodded calmly: "I remember telling you this before, and I'll tell you again today... Erhu's father could have left but didn't, giving us the chance to live. Naturally, we have to live with him. Your father was incompetent and incompetent. He is gone, and we should take care of his aftermath, but this matter cannot be blamed on us."

In fact, for a long time, he couldn't understand why Wang Qiang, that reckless man, pushed him back then. Obviously, Wang Qiang had a wife and children, and a lot of worries, while he was a whole person, and it would be better for him to die...

It was not until later, when he watched Wang Erhu grow up day by day, that he understood that the rude man back then just felt that he would not even have any descendants, and if he was gone, the incense of their Huang family would be cut off.

He didn't quite understand the brain circuits of these foolish people inherited from their ancestors. How did they develop...

It's obvious that everyone else has descendants and therefore has concerns, but that guy, having descendants, has no concerns at all.

The guy was relieved. He closed his eyes, kicked his legs, and went to sleep peacefully.

He was left as a young man from a good family who had never even been married, and had to spend half his life playing the role of both father and mother.

Where can he seek justice?
He said it seriously, but the capable man just sneered: "It's not your father who died, so of course you can talk without any pain in your back!"

Huang Xingde wasn't angry. After all, he didn't need to get angry with a dying man. He said calmly, "Do you know what the biggest difference between you and Erhu is in my eyes?"

The capable man stiffened his neck and sneered with gritted teeth.

Huang Xingde said calmly, "Erhu's dissatisfaction with me is all over his face and his mouth. If he's mad at me, he won't hide it, even if it means causing trouble for me. All he remembers is how good I was to him. If I ever get sick or have a disaster, he'll run away faster than anyone else."

"Don't look down on him just because he's clueless. He knows exactly who treats him well and who doesn't... Do you really think he's unaware of all the trouble you've put on him and the smears you've put on him over the years? Do you think that's possible?"

The capable man was stunned, as if he felt that the old man was lying to him.

Huang Xingde smiled faintly and said, "The reason he didn't bother you is simply because you're also a fatherless child, and he also feels that we're treating you unfairly... If it were someone else, the grass on their grave would have withered and grown for several seasons."

The capable man just sneered, stiffened his neck and said, "I don't believe it!"

Huang Xingde didn't care whether he believed it or not, and continued to talk to himself, "And you, on the other hand, keep praising me for all my kindness, but in your heart you refuse to remember a single one. On the contrary, you didn't let me forget any of the times when I accidentally ignored you, and you remember every single one of them better than anyone else... Your heart is filled with trivial matters, and you can't see the kindness others have shown you, nor the opportunities I have given you."

"If you hadn't brought this cup of tea in tonight, for your father's sake, and because you've been serving us tea and water for so many years, I would have turned a blind eye and spared your life."

"But you insisted on going down this path to the end, committing such a heinous act of betraying your master and ancestors. Even if I could forgive you, the gang rules wouldn't forgive you."

The capable man was already sweating profusely, and his legs were shaking as if he was not wearing thermal underwear in the cold winter.

But upon hearing this, he still managed a forced sneer and said, "Kill me if you want, slice me up if you want. Anyway, I have someone to keep me company on the road to the underworld. That's enough for me!"

"Are you talking about the people you sent to kill Erhu?"

Huang Xingde sighed heavily and shook his head. "Why don't you imitate Erhu? Why do you have to imitate his stupidity? And you only learned the basics. You can't see the important things at all... I can grind my teeth with you here, so why don't I have any arrangements with him? Is your head filled with shit?"

The capable man's pupils shrank slightly, but he just sneered.

Huang Xingde closed his eyes listlessly and reached out to sweep the table.

With a ding sound, a hairpin more than a palm long fell at the feet of the capable man: "Be respectable for yourself. We will keep those bad things you did for you and will not spread them out to disgrace your ancestors."

The capable man, his face bulging with veins, slowly bent down, picked up the hairpin at his feet and grasped it in his hand. The rapid and heavy heartbeat echoed in the quiet hall...

Suddenly, he took a sudden lunge forward, his face distorted and ferocious as he used a double-peaked punch to hit Huang Xingde's temples with both fists. The hairpin between his fingers flashed in the dim light.

"Click it."

A crisp sound of bones crackling was heard, and Huang Xingde withdrew his white big hand with a gloomy face. The capable man with piercing peaks who had taken a bow step forward was already frozen in front of him, his eyes bulging and pupils dilated.

Huang Xingde looked at his horrified face and said to himself with a sense of loss: "I am getting old after all..."

(End of this chapter)