HNYWEF -Chapter 18 Bear Cub

The courtyard was deathly quiet.

Cheng Yaojin stood at the doorway, staring at the hanging curtain.

The people inside the house remained where they were. No one moved.

Zhou Yi stood in the middle of the courtyard with his head lowered, clutching the corner of his clothes tightly.

After a long while, Cheng Yaojin turned around.

He walked back to the middle of the courtyard and crouched down in front of Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi looked up at him.

Cheng Yaojin opened his mouth as if to say something, then swallowed the words back down.

He scratched his head.

Then scratched it again.

Finally, he spoke.

“Kid, don’t be scared.”

Zhou Yi looked at him silently.

Cheng Yaojin pointed toward the house.

“All those uncles in there are your father’s friends.”

Zhou Yi glanced toward the room before quickly withdrawing his gaze.

“Back in Wagang Stronghold,” Cheng Yaojin said, “we drank together with your father, fought battles together, bragged together. We were brothers who’d gone through life and death together.”

Zhou Yi blinked.

Looking at him, Cheng Yaojin suddenly smiled.

“When you were little, everyone called you Bear Cub.”

Zhou Yi froze for a moment.

“Your father was Bear Blindman, so you were Bear Cub,” Cheng Yaojin said. “The entire Wagang Stronghold called you that.”

The corner of Zhou Yi’s mouth twitched slightly, but he said nothing.

He lowered his head again and stared at the tips of his shoes.

After waiting a while, Cheng Yaojin asked,

“What’s your name?”

Zhou Yi looked up.

“Zhou Yi.”

Cheng Yaojin nodded.

“Zhou Yi. Good name.”

He paused, then asked again,

“Where’s your mother?”

Zhou Yi looked at him and answered,

“Father told me Mother died during the wars.”

“When Father saw all you uncles today… he probably started thinking about Mother again…”

Cheng Yaojin’s heart sank.

He looked at the child before him.

That face.

It looked like her.

Too much like her.

This child knew nothing.

He thought his mother had died in the chaos of war.

He didn’t know how his mother had really died.

Didn’t know why his father had become like this.

Didn’t know why the people in the courtyard were standing there, too afraid to move.

All he knew was what his father had told him—

Mother died during the wars.

Cheng Yaojin suddenly stood up.

He turned and looked at the people inside the house.

They were looking at him too.

Cheng Yaojin opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

But no words came out.

He simply stood there, staring at the curtain.

The curtain did not move.

The thought that had just surfaced in his heart vanished immediately.

He had still wanted to start with the child.

Still wanted the boy to warm that completely frozen heart of his father’s.

But now he understood.

It was useless.

Bear Blindman even lied to his own son.

The child knew nothing.

Standing in the courtyard, Cheng Yaojin suddenly had no idea what he was supposed to do anymore.

So he simply stood there.

The people inside stood there too.

Zhou Yi stood beside him, tilting his head up to look at him.

“Uncle Cheng?”

Cheng Yaojin lowered his head and looked at him.

Zhou Yi asked, “What’s wrong with my father?”

Cheng Yaojin opened his mouth.

But no words came out.

He stood in the courtyard, staring at the curtain.

For a very long time.

Then he turned around and waved at the people inside the house.

“Unload the cart.”

Just two words.

No one spoke.

Those old brothers walked out one after another and headed toward the horse cart by the gate.

The cart was piled with all the belongings Zhou Xiong had saved up over the years—several bundles, a pot, two quilts, and a scattering of odds and ends.

Silently, they carried the things down from the cart.

One man carried a bundle inside and stopped in the main hall, looking around, unsure where to put it.

He placed the bundle on the table.

Another man followed in, took a look, then moved the bundle beside the cabinet.

No one discussed it.

No one spoke.

They simply carried things in silence and set them down in silence, placing them where they thought Zhou Xiong himself would have put them.

Cheng Yaojin remained standing in the courtyard without moving.

He watched those men come and go.

Watched the bundles being carried inside.

Watched the curtain remain perfectly still the entire time.

Zhou Yi stood beside him, also staring at the curtain.

For a very long time.