Nightfall descended.
Half an hour later, Pei Chen returned to his neighborhood.
The community where he lived had been built many years ago and was quite old, consisting of low-rise residential buildings without elevators. The surrounding environment wasn’t very good, and it was far from the bustling city center.
After parking his bicycle, he walked to the building where he lived and remembered something. He took out his phone and paid the household’s water and electricity bills for the month.
The loading circle on the screen spun slowly, taking a long time to process.
This phone was a gift from his father when he was in the third year of middle school, bought without Pei Chen’s knowledge. It wasn’t a high-end phone, and now, years later, it had become extremely slow, making even basic web browsing difficult.
Finally logging in, he completed the payment.
Their family’s monthly water and electricity bills weren’t much, but the winters were very cold. He had always wanted to buy a space heater for his father’s room, but his father refused, saying it would be a waste of money.
As he reached the door of their apartment, Pei Chen took out his keys and opened the door.
What greeted him was a small space; the apartment was only fifty square meters, with old, worn-out decor. The white walls had long since turned gray, and the furniture was as old as could be.
After changing his shoes, Pei Chen walked inside. At that moment, a middle-aged man in a wheelchair was slowly pushing himself toward the bathroom.
The man was thin, with a weathered face and graying temples. He wore an old-fashioned gray shirt, and when he looked up and saw Pei Chen, he said, “You’re back?”
“Yeah.”
Pei Chen placed his backpack on the wooden coffee table in the living room and immediately walked over to him. “Dad, let me help you to the bathroom.”
The first thing Pei Chen always did when he got home was to help his father with his physical needs.
Pei Yongxia smiled awkwardly, his voice low as he explained, “I couldn’t resist having a few extra pieces of cake while watching TV this afternoon, and now I need to use the bathroom. I thought you wouldn’t be back so soon…”
Because it was quite difficult for him to use the bathroom alone, and sometimes he couldn’t handle it well, which would create a mess and trouble Pei Chen, Pei Yongxia usually tried to eat less when his son wasn’t home.
Seeing his father looking like a child who had made a mistake, Pei Chen felt a pang in his heart. Lowering his lashes, he replied softly, “It’s okay, Dad. I had some things to do today, so I got back late.”
In the narrow and cramped bathroom, Pei Chen pushed the wheelchair next to the toilet and leaned down to lift Pei Yongxia from the seat.
Pei Yongxia was paralyzed from the waist down, with no feeling in his lower body. He gripped Pei Chen’s shoulders tightly, gritting his teeth and trying his best to support himself. Fortunately, Pei Yongxia was very thin, so it didn’t take much effort for Pei Chen to place him on the toilet and help him remove his pants.
After a while, when Pei Yongxia was done, Pei Chen cleaned him up and then lifted him back into the wheelchair.
After Pei Yongxia became disabled, Pei Chen’s mother remarried and left the family, leaving Pei Chen and his father to depend on each other. From a young age, Pei Chen had taken on the responsibility of caring for his father. At first, he was small and not very strong, often injuring himself in the process, but by now, Pei Chen had become well-practiced in these tasks.
After helping his father with the bathroom, Pei Chen took care of the several yellow drink bottles in the corner of his father’s bedroom and tidied up the bedding. He had sweated a lot during his game today, so he took a quick shower and changed into clean clothes.
When he walked into the kitchen, Pei Yongxia had already reheated the leftover dishes from lunch in the microwave. Although he was confined to a wheelchair, he still had no major issues with using his hands and could prepare simple meals.
Pei Chen went over to help, and finally, he served two bowls of rice from the rice cooker and wheeled his father to the table for dinner.
As Pei Chen sat down, he noticed there was still a large portion of braised pig’s trotters on the table.
Braised pig’s trotters were his father’s favorite, but given their financial situation, it wasn’t something they could afford to eat regularly.
That morning, before Pei Chen left for school, he had bought some groceries and asked his father to cook something simple for lunch. However, his father had only eaten a few pieces, saving most of it for his son’s return in the evening.
Pei Chen placed the plate of pig’s trotters in front of his father. “Dad, you should eat more.”
He served a piece of meat into his father’s bowl, but Pei Yongxia waved his chopsticks, “You eat it. I had plenty at lunch.”
Pei Yongxia knew that his son usually bought things only for him, so he added, “Don’t buy this anymore. I’m getting tired of it. Save your money for yourself—buy some clothes or school supplies, okay?”
Pei Chen’s dark eyelashes fluttered slightly. “It’s fine, I have everything I need.”
Pei Yongxia put some vegetables in Pei Chen’s bowl. “Here, you eat more…”
The two of them weren’t big talkers and mostly ate in silence.
After a while, Pei Yongxia brought up something. “The government’s financial aid should come in a few days. You shouldn’t be working so much; focus on your studies.”
“Okay.”
Pei Yongxia sighed quietly. “It’s my fault that I’m a cripple and can’t do anything, making your school life so hard…”
“Dad, please don’t say that.”
Pei Chen tightened his grip on his chopsticks, his voice hoarse. “Let’s just eat.”
Pei Yongxia nodded and quietly agreed.
After they finished eating, Pei Chen helped his father back to his room to rest, then washed the dishes, cleaned the kitchen, and headed to the balcony.
The washing machine at home was somewhat broken and only worked for spin-drying. After hand-washing the clothes, he put them in the machine to spin dry before hanging them up to dry, even in winter.
Since his father was paralyzed, Pei Chen had taken care of most of the household chores on his own since childhood.
After finishing his tasks, he grabbed his backpack and returned to his bedroom.
His room was small, with just a bed, a desk, and a small wardrobe. It was even more spartan than his dorm during military training—so basic that few people could tolerate it.
He sat down at his desk and took out his phone, noticing a missed call from ten minutes ago—his homeroom teacher.
He called back, and after a few seconds, the teacher answered:
“Pei Chen.”
Pei Chen responded, and the teacher continued, “The application for this semester’s financial aid starts next week. Are you aware of this?”
Pei Chen replied quietly.
“You’ll need to prepare your father’s disability certificate, proof of your family’s financial hardship, and some other documents, just like last semester.”
“I understand.”
The teacher then asked with concern, “Is your family still facing difficulties? Are you still working part-time on the weekends?”
“I do part-time work on weekends.”
With his father unable to work, they relied on government assistance, disability subsidies, and Pei Chen’s scholarships, competition winnings, and financial aid to keep the household afloat.
The teacher sighed, feeling a mix of admiration and pity for Pei Chen, a student who was so outstanding yet burdened with such responsibilities. “Don’t overwork yourself. Balance your studies and part-time jobs carefully. I’ll expedite the financial aid process for you. As long as you keep trying, things will get better.”
Pei Chen’s throat tightened, and he replied in a hoarse voice:
“Thank you, teacher.”
After the call ended, Pei Chen put down his phone and looked around his room. His mind wandered back to what had happened in the equipment room that evening.
The image of the girl, with her beautiful and delicate face, flashed in his mind.
He couldn’t shake the memory of her bright smile as she confessed her feelings for him.
He lowered his gaze, gripping his phone tightly, feeling the pain of that memory slowly seep into his heart, a self-mocking smile tugging at his lips.
How could her judgment be so poor, to fall for someone like him?
He remembered seeing her leave the equipment room earlier, looking heartbroken. But he knew that if he hadn’t been so decisive, it might have hurt her even more in the long run.
Liang Zhiyi was a rich, radiant girl, as warm and beautiful as the sun, flawless like a piece of jade.
And him?
He came from a poor family, lived in such a modest home, and had to care for his paralyzed father. And then there was his own leg…
He was painfully aware that they were from completely different worlds.
The thought made him feel bitterly amused.
They say that a mother carries a child for ten months, and that child becomes her most precious, unconditionally loved treasure for life.
If even his mother didn’t want him, how could anyone genuinely like him?
He had no right to hope for, or to long for, things that could never truly belong to him.