“At that time, even though she was just a little kid, she already had a certain aura about her. Now that she’s grown up, she’s truly not just beautiful—she’s extraordinary.”
There was a wave of emotion in Su Uncle’s voice as he spoke, as if someone had flipped open a box of old stories.
After sipping a little water, he began to recall tales from Chen Ye’s childhood.
This piqued Su Yao’s curiosity.
She wasn’t much interested when her uncle talked about her own childhood, but as soon as he mentioned her mother, Su Yao perked up, sat down, and listened attentively to the middle-aged man recounting memories from his younger days.
He said that Su Yao’s mother, Chen Ye, was the type of woman who played the big sister role.
She was bold and cheerful, always optimistic, and had a mind of her own.
Women like that were rare in those days. It made her stand out—some people admired her, while others looked down on her.
Su Uncle admitted he didn’t much like his older sister, but only because she used to boss him around all the time, always telling him what he could and couldn’t do. It annoyed him to no end.
He and Su Yao’s father, Su Yuan, met at school.
They weren’t classmates—one was a senior, the other a junior. Su Uncle was the younger by two years, but only one year behind in school.
Su Yuan had repeated a year because his first go at the college entrance exam hadn’t gone well.
Since Su Uncle and Su Yuan came from neighboring hometowns, separated by only three or five miles, they often traveled the same road.
Gradually, they became acquainted. The more they talked, the closer they became, and before long, they were friends.
At first, Su Uncle thought Su Yuan, who had repeated a year, would be a dull bookworm. Su Uncle considered himself a bit of a slacker back then—if his older sister hadn’t kept pushing him, he wouldn’t have cared for school at all. He disliked those bookworms, especially the kind in his class who acted superior just because they scored a hundred points higher.
At this, Su Uncle joked, “A hundred points higher is truly being a cut above.” Su Yao could tell he was poking fun at himself.
After saying this, Su Uncle took another sip of water.
Su Yao promptly refilled his glass.
He thanked her and continued.
He hadn’t expected Su Yuan to be someone who yearned for new experiences. During holidays, Su Yuan would go online and talk to him about various games. He even happily shared interesting stories from his gaming adventures. Their interests matched, and Su Yuan was down-to-earth and easy to get along with—it was almost inevitable they became friends.
Back then, Su Uncle assumed Su Yuan had repeated a year because he couldn’t get a passing grade on the college entrance exam. But one day, he learned that Su Yuan had actually missed the cutoff for his dream school by only a few points. And that school was Province Key University.
For Su Uncle, even getting into a second-tier university would be worth celebrating with several tables’ worth of food. At that moment, he felt the gap between himself and Su Yuan. Still, their friendship didn’t end because of it. They remained close, but Su Uncle gained a new respect for him.
As for how Su Father and Su Mother met—it happened when the two had planned to hang out together. But Chen Ye caught Su Uncle at the Game Arcade. The Chen Family was poor back then. Forget weekly allowances—Su Uncle barely got any pocket money even monthly, and it was never enough to spend at the Game Arcade. This time, he went to ask his mother for money. His mother went to ask her daughter, Chen Ye, to spare some for her younger brother.
With money in hand, he didn’t think much and ran out. Su Yuan gathered several friends, and together they went to the Game Arcade in the small town. They started playing, spent half the money, and then Chen Ye arrived.
When she found him, she scolded him for always running to the Game Arcade as soon as he got money, not focusing on his studies. Everyone was watching, so Su Uncle was especially annoyed. Even if he was in the wrong, he stood up and argued back with Chen Ye. The argument escalated into a fight.
“At the time, I didn’t know that money was from your mother. Your grandma gave it directly to me—she didn’t say where it came from. Your mother worked so hard to earn that money…”
Su Yao looked at the middle-aged man in front of her, who, after all these years, was still muttering self-reproach and trying to find excuses for himself. She said nothing, just silently refilled his glass again.
Su Uncle took a deep breath and went on.
After the fight started, Su Yuan—who was essentially the leader of their little group—came over to break it up. Chen Ye, perhaps angry and resentful, picked something up nearby and hurled it. She aimed to miss, but somehow, it ended up hitting Su Yuan on the head, drawing blood.
Seeing the blood, they all knew something was wrong. Everyone was shocked. Su Uncle panicked and didn’t know what to do. He could only stand there, staring, looking at his sister’s pale face, realizing this time they were in real trouble.
His own sister had done something big. The sister who always bullied and bossed him around—should he have been happy to see her in trouble?
Su Uncle couldn’t remember how he felt then—his mind was blank.
Later, the Store Owner took Su Yuan to the hospital. Before that, Chen Ye did some simple first aid.
She didn’t apologize or say anything, but her face and eyes were full of guilt. After that, life went on as usual. Su Yuan’s family didn’t make trouble over it. Even so, Su Uncle felt Chen Ye changed after that—she became withdrawn, stopped meddling in his business, and seldom came home, as if she was avoiding something.
Su Uncle wondered if it was his fault, but he couldn’t figure it out. Out of pride, he didn’t have the courage to apologize to Su Yuan either. It should have been his responsibility. Later, when Su Yuan was about to take the college entrance exam, he found Su Uncle and suggested they go out for a walk.
They did. They found a food stall; Su Yuan paid, and Su Uncle ate a lot.
They chatted about trivial things and even talked a little about the future. Su Uncle had no grand plans—just taking one day at a time was as far as he looked. Su Yuan, on the other hand, said he wanted to go to a big city and make something of himself. It was a place with bigger skies and broader seas, so much bigger than this backwater.
Big city, struggling for a future—that wasn’t something Su Uncle could really talk about. In the end, it became Su Yuan’s solo performance. Among all the top students Su Uncle had met, few ever spoke so vividly about the future rather than harping on scores. It was hard for Su Uncle to imagine how this man could think so far ahead—he even had names for his future children planned.
Maybe this is just the difference between people?