Chapter 2: Family
"Hm! If I let her know you're coming this weekend, she'll be excited and cook a lot."
With a drooling expression, Dong Xu said.
After saying that, Dong Xu looked at Ning Qi as though he suddenly remembered something and asked.
"Hm! Ning, Whenever I ask about your family, you always say too little about them or change the topic quickly. Today, I want you to tell me more about them, Hmph!"
Dong Xu harrumphed, as he felt that Ning Qi's family was kind of strange.
Ning Qi looked at Dong Xu deeply, as he truly did not bring up much about his family to this brother who has been taking care of him for the past 3 to 4 years.
It's just that his family is not mysterious or something, as Dong Xu thought. Instead, he always avoided it, as his family situation is kind of hard to explain.
'Ha! I also need to release this frustration in my chest... it's better if I share it with Brother Dong.' Ning Qi thought to himself.
"It's not as mysterious as you think, brother Dong. As you already know, my village is Xingping, an ancient town, and my parents, Ning Cheng and Bai Lu are both farmers. I also have a younger sister, Ning Jing, who is 21 years old and in her final year of studies at the Guilin University of Technology."
As he said this, he stopped a bit and looked at Dong Xu, because Dong Xu already knew all of this.
Dong Xu had not seen any of his family members in over three years, even though Ning Qi was working in Guilin.
Even his sister, who is staying in the same city, never comes to meet with her brother, and Ning Qi is the one that visits her every month.
And he only goes home once every four months, and his parents have never come to see him here.
"I know a-- " Dong Xu was about to say he already knew about this. He wanted to ask, as he wanted to learn more about the situation in his family. But Ning Qi interrupted him as he continued his talk.
"I know you know all of this! But apart from my little sister Jing, I also have a second sister, Ning Xu, who is 25 years old this year, and a younger brother, Ning Shen, who is 23 this year."
Ning Qi said this and fell silent as he thought of his young sister and brother's faces.
"Huh? Why have you never mentioned this to me, your sister-in-law, or even Little Su?!"
Dong Xu asked with an amazed expression on his face. He never thought Ning had another sister or brother other than Ning Jing.
" Hm! It's not, and I don't want to mention it... W-Wait, what the *** are you talking about? Nothing is going on between Su Xiao and me. You are the one that started rumors about this, and now almost all the people in the store think we are dating, damn it! But I genuinely don't have any ideas about her. She is a good friend to me, that's all."
Ning Qi shouted, as he really couldn't take this shameless brother who was ruining his image in the store.
"Hihihi! I'm merely aiding you. You are already 27 and still single. From what I see and the experience I have gained over the years, I can say 100% that Su Xiao is keenly interested in you, though."
Dong Xu stated this unequivocally.
"You don't want to know about my family anymore? Then we can wrap this up and go home. We still need to go to work tomorrow."
Ning Qi attempted to change the subject.
He also knows what Dong Xu said is true, and Ning Qi, in addition, fosters a favorable impression of her, but he has something that's binding him down on this matter.
That's the reason he consistently avoids this kind of conversation, either with Dong Xu or with Su Xiao.
"Nooo!! Continue, continue... I won't bother you any longer."
Dong Xu screamed, as he still wanted to drink more.
"Even though both of them are my brother and sister, I have only met them once in the past 18 years. Apart from that, all I have about them are some vague memories from my childhood. When we were young, some monks came to take them away, saying they had perfect bodies made for martial arts or some bullshit."
As he remembered their faces, Ning Qi had a depressed expression on his face. They looked at him as though they were looking at a stranger.
"What the hell? How can they abduct children like that? How did your parents even allow them to go like that? What about the police and the law? Are we still living in the same world?"
Dong Xu said this with irritation, as he thought that the situation described by Ning Qi was absurd.
"They didn't force my parents or my siblings. When they came to invite my siblings, the mayors of Nanning Prefecture and Guilin City both came with them. Both the prefecture-level leaders are very respectful to them and have even explained that this is a blessing to their children or whatever nonsense I can't remember now. But they did ultimately convince my parents."
Ning Qi sighed as he remembered his mother, who seemed to be constantly worried about her children, who had left at such a young age.
"What in the world is going on here? What can they succeed at by becoming monks? So, you only contacted your siblings once? Can't they come back whenever they want to meet you?"
Dong Xu doesn't seem convinced by what's going on, even if they joined some monastery or whatever. They should be capable of visiting their parents once in a while, right?
"Hmph! It's an agreement they had with my parents... They can't come back home unless there is a critically relevant situation. But my parents can visit them once a year for 2 days at their place. But it's purely for father and mother... Not for Jing and me, though."
Ning Qi explained and hurriedly held Dong Xu, who was about to throw the table upside down.
"Continue.."
Dong Xu, as a civilized man, doesn't know what to say anymore. But he felt extremely absurd and, at the same time, a bit novel about this situation.
He has to let out a long breath before calming himself and telling Ning Qi to continue.
Ning Qi looked at Dong Xu, who had sobered up a bit, and also thought that he had said a bit too much.
He was about to explain a bit of his dark secret but decided not to, as he didn't know how Dong Xu would react to this.
"That's all there is to it, brother Dong! I have one more thing to tell you... But we can do it next time when we are sitting down for a drink. Now! I'm going to pay the bill and will go home, as it's getting late. Let's meet tomorrow in the office then, ok? "
Ning Qi said this as he stowed his bag in the back.
"Alright, Alright... I will drink this one last shot and go home, too."
Dong Xu responded, not even looking at Ning Qi.
"Boss!! It's closing time, right? Please drop him at his house, as usual. Thanks."
Ning Qi informed the boss, as though this routine is completely normal for them.
"It's alright, little Ning! I am closing the shop soon too. I will drop him off on my way."
"I've got you on this," the boss said with a smug expression.
Ning Qi paid the bill and said goodbye to Dong Xu, who was drinking his last shot too and went away.
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