Chapter 13
Although Yu Sui had always been curious about Shi Luo's family situation, he had never asked Shi Luo about it directly.
At the time, anyone with eyes could see that Shi Luo's family relationships were extremely complicated. Yu Sui wasn't skilled at helping people untangle emotional knots, and he didn't want to pry into others' private affairs, so he simply left it unspoken—that is, until one day when Yu Sui drove Shi Luo over ten kilometers to find a wonton shop, and finally couldn't hold back the question: "Ke Hao already had quite a generous allowance back in middle school. How is it that you..."
How is it that you could be in such a worse situation that even now you don't feel secure if you skip breakfast?
"Captain, among all your relatives, is there... an extreme relative? Or a relatively extreme one?"
Yu Sui hesitated, then nodded.
Shi Luo said: "My father is that extreme relative in everyone's eyes in my family."
"Never studied anything useful since childhood, acted recklessly as an adult, had messy romantic relationships, got married on impulse, was irresponsible after marriage, held a position my grandfather arranged for him but did nothing but embezzle money..." Shi Luo sneered. "He's got every vice in the book—that's him."
Yu Sui frowned slightly.
In his youth, Yu Sui would occasionally visit Ke Hao's house, and after leaving home, even more frequently—almost monthly to eat and hang out.
At the time, Ke Hao lived with his parents in a three-person household. Their home wasn't very large, but it clearly looked like a very refined, well-to-do family.
Ke Hao's father was cultured and gentle, Ke Hao's mother was gentle and elegant, gracious to everyone. After learning Yu Sui's profession, she expressed understanding and often urged Yu Sui to communicate more with his parents, to strive to resolve their conflicts—family was family after all.
That year, the Ke Hao household gave the young Yu Sui much comfort. So when he learned that Ke Hao also had an uncle and a younger cousin, Yu Sui instinctively assumed that with the same bloodline, even if they couldn't compare to the Ke Hao family, they probably weren't far off.
That was not the case.
Shi Luo liked strong flavors, and eating wonton required lots of seasoning. He had practically emptied half a bottle of vinegar into one bowl of wonton. While continuing to add vinegar, he asked: "Do you think my dad is much more down-and-out compared to my uncle?"
Yu Sui said nothing.
Shi Luo himself was nonchalant: "There's nothing that can't be said. He really doesn't have money—just one person. Tell me, if you were my grandfather, would you trust him with an important position? Would you trust him with a large sum of money?"
Yu Sui smiled without speaking.
"Maybe he was given a lot, but he's too good at squandering it. He's always investing in things I think are ridiculous, and when the losses get too big, my grandfather has to bail him out. After bailing him out too many times, my uncle and aunt won't say anything on the surface, but in their hearts..." Shi Luo gave a self-deprecating smile. "I'm embarrassed for him, but he doesn't feel it. He keeps asking my grandfather for money. My grandfather also thinks this can't go on—he feels too guilty toward my uncle. So five years ago, after my dad lost almost half a company, my grandfather stopped giving him money altogether."
Shi Luo quickly ate half a bowl of wonton. "Still, he gets some dividends every month. As long as he老老实实地 just takes the money and spends it like a闲人, nothing would happen. But he wasn't willing to accept that. He always wanted to do something big to make my grandfather acknowledge him and hand the family business back to him. As you can guess, my grandfather became more and more disappointed in him, even reducing his dividend share."
Something flickered in Yu Sui's eyes. His lips moved, but he still didn't speak.
Shi Luo took a sip of soup and raised an eyebrow. "So now, the only thing my dad has going for him is me. Although my grandfather doesn't like me either, I'm still his grandson, and my grades are so good. He has to consider that more. Then... my grandfather is already eighty this year. You understand, right?"
Yu Sui silently looked at Shi Luo. "So you dropped out of school?"
"Yeah." Shi Luo said coldly. "I can't help my dad fight for inheritance shares. Even if I could get something in the future, he certainly wouldn't give it to me. Let alone the fact that I don't want it in the first place."
Shi Luo cradled the large wonton bowl and raised his eyebrows. "So it's better to break the jar early and break it completely. Let my grandfather abandon both my father and me together. It would be best if he didn't leave us a single cent. I can already support myself. As for him..."
"He won't starve, he'll just have to live out his miserable second half dependent on my uncle's charity, under my aunt's contemptuous glare."
Shi Luo imagined that scene and was so delighted he slapped his thigh. "If that could really happen, I'd be so happy!"
Yu Sui held an unlit cigarette between his teeth, smiling as he watched Shi Luo.
If it were someone else, they would definitely either anxiously or painstakingly try to persuade Shi Luo not to ruin his future for a moment of satisfaction. Prospects are your own, after all. How could there be such a deep grudge between father and son?
But the person facing Shi Luo was Yu Sui.
What Yu Sui said at that time was: "Your choice, your freedom."
Your future is your own, your father is your own, the pain and torment you suffered since childhood is your own.
Yu Sui didn't want to interfere. He hadn't eaten the same bitter suffering as Shi Luo, so he didn't want to forgive anything on Shi Luo's behalf.
However, Yu Sui truly didn't like Shi Luo's self-destructive revenge and attacks. He warned Shi Luo at the time: something like this must not happen again.
Yu Sui had just helped himself gain face in front of his own father, and Shi Luo was obedient to Yu Sui, quickly nodding and promising faithfully.
He had promised faithfully, but two years later, Shi Luo again desperately gave up an entire season's signing fee to himself, in exchange for sending Yu Sui ten cups of lemon tea.
That's just who Shi Luo was at his core.
Shi Luo didn't regret it at that moment. The only regret was that this time the move wasn't executed as cleanly, nor did it have the satisfying and lingering feeling of back then.
Two years later, sitting in this renovated breakfast shop again, looking at the same large bowl of wonton, Shi Luo sniffled slightly. It wasn't that he'd become a weakling in less than two years, nor that his mind had become dull and his plans inadequate. It was just that the helper from back then was now standing on the opposite side.
That day, Ke Chunjie had just walked out of the training room. The moment before, Shi Luo had been acting all tough, but the next second he anxiously placed the keycaps carefully on the table, asking Yu Sui—the only witness—to vouch for him that he had only played with them, absolutely had not broken them, nor caused any wear to those keycaps.
Yu Sui's game was in the second half at that moment, holding back laughter until his stomach hurt. He hummed: "I'll vouch for you."
"Four thousand each, four thousand each..." Shi Luo looked around in bewilderment, increasingly not understanding local prices. He gazed respectfully at the ordinary-looking delivery bag on the table, not daring to underestimate it. He stared at it for a long time, gradually drawn to the words on the delivery bag, and slowly said, "Captain, although... but, this ridiculously expensive private restaurant shouldn't have those special food containers with dry ice and whatnot? Why... why are they using Red Armor delivery boxes and bags?"
Yu Sui took a cigarette and lit it, eyes still on the screen. "Because that is Red Armor crayfish delivery."
Shi Luo was speechless. "But you just said..."
"I made it up, so what?" Yu Sui's face remained unchanged. "That private restaurant we talked about does frequently deliver to our base, it's just that last night we happened to order crayfish. This secret place isn't something I fabricated out of nothing, so what?"
Yu Sui's logic seemed quite solid, but Shi Luo couldn't help but suspiciously look at the keycaps on the table again. "So these little things..."
Yu Sui said: "Those are really four thousand each. Don't believe me? Pick one up and look for yourself. There should be engraved text inside the keycaps, all with specific serial numbers."
Shi Luo absolutely didn't want to touch something worth over ten thousand yuan, quickly shaking his head. "No need, no need. I believe you."
Yu Sui's eyes sparkled with amusement. He took another puff of his cigarette and continued his game.
At that time, Yu Sui rarely spoke truly, and he especially liked to tease Shi Luo. Yet Shi Luo was still at an age where young people believed everything, too straightforward to distinguish jokes from serious words. No matter how absurd the statement, if Yu Sui said it, Shi Luo believed it completely.
Yu Sui, though also young at that time, was already a veteran-level figure in the scene, plus the top medical support, the strongest shield in the division—so many honors. Being fooled by Yu Sui was far too easy. So after some time, Shi Luo joined NSN, then IAC, and after being repeatedly beaten by reality, after formally receiving salaries from two clubs, did he finally learn that salary should be transferred by the club's finance department to his own card after tax deduction—not transferred by the team captain via Alipay directly.
Only then did Shi Luo realize that the salary he received during those two months at FS had gone entirely through Yu Sui's private accounts.
The former FS executives still didn't know that their club had a substitute player drawing such an enormous annual salary for doing nothing.
Those two months of high monthly salary were merely Yu Sui helping Shi Luo maintain face in front of Ke Chunjie.
When the belated realization came, Shi Luo once wanted to confront Yu Sui, who had long since gone to Europe, to return those hundreds of thousands of yuan to Yu Sui—of course, it was only a thought.
The two of them had already completely broken off, having told each other they would never contact each other again.
At that time, Shi Luo, looking at Yu Sui's transfer records, felt so suffocated from the distress that he suddenly understood why Yu Sui, after hurting so many people in that situation, could still have so many die-hard followers.
Some people can treat you well on one side while doing the most decisive things on the other, then let you hate them bitterly in the years that follow yet never quite let them go.
There was a period when Shi Luo hated Yu Sui to the point of madness. He wanted to tell everyone, absolutely don't be enchanted by this person, don't let him be good to you, otherwise later you'll be so deeply hurt you won't be able to climb out and regret it forever. But later, Shi Luo gradually discovered that it seemed only he himself was the one who couldn't climb out of the hurt in his memories.
Shi Luo's eyes were reddened by the wonton steam. He with difficulty finished all the wontons, lifted the large bowl, and bowed his head to drink the wonton broth dry, not leaving a drop.
Shi Luo grabbed a napkin and wiped the corner of his mouth, lowered his head to scan the QR code to pay, turned and walked out of the breakfast shop, returning to the IAC base.
Just seven in the morning, the base was silent. Shi Luo dragged his feet toward the stairs. Passing the first-floor reception room, the door opened.
Shi Luo glanced sideways—it was Zhao Feng.
Zhao Feng looked Shi Luo up and down. Shi Luo's eyes, ears, and neck were all red, but his lips were slightly pale, his eyes faintly bruised. His whole state was terrible. Zhao Feng clicked his tongue. "You, you..."
"Got drunk. Have the substitute take afternoon training. I'll catch some sleep." Shi Luo's voice was hoarse. "Don't wake me unless it's necessary."
Zhao Feng quickly nodded.
Shi Luo turned and walked upstairs. Zhao Feng hesitated, then called out, "Evil."
Shi Luo frowned. "Anything else?"
Zhao Feng swallowed. "I really don't dare disturb you, but this thing... it can't be hidden anyway, so..."
Shi Luo's head was splitting, annoyed. "Can you just finish what you're saying in one breath?"
Zhao Feng said: "Tonight, Whisper is coming over. Do you... want me to call you?"
Shi Luo froze in place.