The Rental Shop Owner

It still felt like a dream when we got back home—the brat was a home owner. Although we were both home owners, my house was in the countryside while his was in the city. It wasn’t the same!

 

“Ge, I think the rental shop would make a lot more money if it was in Shanghai,” he said as he rode me. When did he learn to speak so indirectly? I laughed.

 

I actually considered long before him to pawn the shop and sell the house—move to Shanghai.

 

That place was bigger, therefore safer.

 

We were scared that one day the beans would spill and mom and pops wouldn’t take it well. Once we were all the way out there, the chances of coming out would be a lot smaller.

 

The first thing my ma asked about when we went back was the origins of the house. This we already thought of ahead of time.

 

“Binbin saved a federal official, right? He wanted to thank Binbin so he gave him a house.” Fortunately, the elderly are easy to fool. “But, mom, you can’t spread this around. The chief wants to keep it a secret.”

 

“I know, I got it. Wow, Binbin! This is what they call what goes around comes around!”

 

My pa was about to launch into his usual speech about being kind without the expectation of a reward when I interrupted. “The chief wants us to have it. If we don’t take it, he might think we think it’s not enough! This way, the chief can feel relieved. I think it’s a good thing.”

 

“Yeah, Binbin, don’t pay attention to that old bag of bones. You risked your life for this house! I don’t see why you shouldn’t take it!” My mom was being biased again.

 

Then, I brought up the idea of going to Shanghai.

 

Ma and pa were more excited than I was.

 

“I wanted you to go for a long time. The big city will have lots of nice girls. You have such high expectations, never could find one you liked. Going to Shanghai will be good for you.”

 

Binbin snickered secretly beside me. I pinched him at the waist.

 

“It’s a good idea. Men must have high aims. You should go out and experience the world. Plus you can always come back here if you don’t like it there!”

 

After we came back to our den, I asked Binbin, “What are you going to do after we get there? What am I going to do?”

 

“Me? I’ll look for a job. And you? You look for girls–ah! Ouch! Damn you, Qian Jiying, pinching me again. Just you wait. Just you wait…”

 

Just I wait, what? Worst comes to worst, I let you fuck me. I giggled as I ran outside.

 

After that, it was smooth sailing.

 

There was nothing to be afraid of.

 

As long as we were together.

 

Therefore, I went to Shanghai to find my old classmates. The brat came with me a couple of times, too, to see if he could find a job. But he was a high-roller now, completely financially-independent. He had at least two hundred and fifty bucks a month from renting out the apartment at Century Park.

 

I went to City N to stock up for the last time the day before National Day and for the first time in a million years, the Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway was jammed. I should have gotten home at seven pm but I only got past Zhenjiang at nine. Coincidentally, Lin Dongfu was getting engaged on National Day so he was having a fiesta. A fiesta was none other than dinner, karaoke and then hitting the bathhouse. The brat joined in on the fun, too. He was their leader after all, so he had to show up and show off, so as to say.

 

However, emergencies just had to happen at a time like this. My ma called me, crying and howling, telling me that my pa fainted.

 

“Why’re you calling me? Call 112 emergency service!”

 

“I did. It’s been over ten minutes and they still haven’t come yet. What do I do? Wahhhh. You can’t leave me, you old bag of bones!” She started wailing!

 

My god. I called Binbin. The call went through but no one picked up. Was he in the bathhouse already?

 

Dad! I was shaking. I was afraid. I mean, you can’t be alive and not fear anything. After that, no one picked up when I called back. No one picked up when I called Binbin, either. By the time I got back at ten thirty, Binbin called, telling me to go to No. 2 Hospital.

 

My pa had diabetes for more than ten years and recently, he began eating off-limit foods, the result being fainting from high blood sugar. Thankfully, there were no complications. He was out of critical condition after getting some insulin.

 

The point is that after this incident, my mom began to think of Binbin as her real son.

 

According to Lin Dongfu, the little brat went out of the baths in a towel and heard his phone ringing. How strange, right? He didn’t hear it when I called but he did when my mom called.

 

Not even bothering with clothes, he dashed out with only the bathhouse’s slippers and a bath robe. Luckily, my parent’s house wasn’t far. He threw my dad onto his back once he got there and left like the wind. The house was an old, non-licensed building and the alleyways were complex like a maze. No wonder the ambulance couldn’t find it despite it being no more than one kilometer from the main road. He couldn’t hail a taxi either when he got to the road, so the brat just hauled my dad to the hospital.

 

And I’d have you know, my dad was ninety kilos, exactly, on the dot. If it were me, I would have outright collapsed.

 

My mom had already gone soft in the knees at home. By the time she made it to the hospital, my old man was already in the emergency room. They said if he got there any later, there would have been more complications.

 

The brat told me that my mom grabbed his hands and kept saying: Aunty’s sorry. Aunty’s really sorry. My dear, I’m so sorry.

 

The brat thought my mom was still in shock. Why are you sorry, Aunty? He asked.

 

I knew why.

 

My mom really thought of him as her son after that.

 

Then, the next day, she wanted Binbin to be her godson and call her mom. After my pa left the hospital, we even had a banquet in his honour and my mom announced in front of seventy-eighty people of the Qian family, “From now on, Ding Hongmei’s son, Shen Bin, will be one of us. I will be his mother, my old man here will be his father and Jiying will be his brother.”

 

By then, familial love seemed to overpower our love.

 

I wondered if the little brat would listen to my ma if she didn’t let him be with me

 

I asked him when we went home. He just wouldn’t answer me. Only after a long time did he burst out laughing.

 

“C’mon, Qian Jiying. Are you jealous of your mom here? Or are you jealous of me?”

 

Probably both. I was feeling like an outsider already.

 

“But, I don’t want you to feel guilty.”

 

“That’s why I’m extra good to them! I can’t leave your side. Without you, I’m nothing.”

 

Maybe I was thinking into it too much, but hearing him say that he can’t leave me, I felt warm and reassured inside.

 

I can’t leave his side either.

 

Let’s just keep the elderly happy for now.

 

Every gay person has to face this obstacle. We didn’t even have Shen Bin’s side to worry about. We were fortunate enough.