Don’t Covet the Beautiful System!! - Chap 138 END
Lin Qingyan was a somewhat special child.
His parents gradually discovered this when he was one or two years old.
Most toddlers were cute, with chubby faces, hands and feet. They ambiguously called out ‘Mom and Dad,’ and would lie on the bed, sleeping like a small cake. Sometimes they cried loudly and other times they giggled.
Lin Qingyan would do the same but most of the time, he quietly stared at everything around him. There was a bright light shining in his clear eyes.
“He seems to be studying the world.”
Father Lin took off his glasses, crouched down by the edge of the bed and looked at his son for a long time until Lin Qingyan suddenly turned over and turned his back to his father. This caused Father Lin to exclaim in surprise.
“Did I disturb his thinking?”
Mother Lin dragged her husband back in a dumbfounded manner. “He is so young. How can he be thinking? It is because you were too close to him. You have such a big head and face that you scared him.”
“If he was scared then he would cry.” Father Lin, who did scientific research, was very rigorous. “We made eye contact just now and he was carefully observing my face. He should be tired of seeing me and felt bored, so he turned around.
Regarding her husband’s strange conjecture, Mother Lin smiled helplessly. “O-Okay.”
As a result, when Mother Lin played the children’s enlightenment cartoon that all children liked for Lin Qingyan, he didn’t smile at the colorful patterns on the screen or dance with the small animals in the cartoon.
At first, he just watched calmly. Then after a few episodes, it started to loop the first episode automatically and actually yawned.
Mother Lin felt incredible. “Does he remember the episode he watched?”
“Definitely.” Father Lin insisted. “He likes to study new things.”
As the days went by, Lin Qingyan’s special features became more and more obvious.
He spoke very early and when adults taught him how to read and write, he learned very quickly. He was extremely sensitive to various numbers that could be seen everywhere in his life and had an excellent memory. Everyone who met him would praise him from the bottom of their hearts for being really smart.
Everyone said that this was a genius child and would perhaps be a big scientist in the future.
Father Lin and Mother Lin didn’t care much about the second half of the sentence. They were more concerned about whether their son’s outstanding intelligence level would come at the cost of other functional defects, which were the symptom of a disease such as Asperger’s syndrome.
Fortunately, after an examination, the doctor said that everything was normal.
When he grew up, Lin Qingyan didn’t behave differently when dealing with people and didn’t show the symptoms of isolation that his parents were most worried about. His self-care ability and sports ability were also excellent.
It was just that he was much quieter and more introverted than the generally noisy children of the same age. It wasn’t out of shyness or introversion. To be precise, it was a calmness that rarely appeared in children.
He watched the world around him with mature and sharp eyes. This made the adults who always teased him with toys seem childish.
Father Lin had a special camera to record the child’s growth. Every year on Lin Qingyan’s birthday, he would take a group photo of the three of them. This would be a precious memory when he grew up.
The birthday photos in the early years still had fancy scenes. After Lin Qingyan’s language expression ability became more complete, the couple didn’t do it.
“Qingyan, do you think this is silly?”
On his fourth birthday, Mother Lin looked at the table full of house toys.
Father Lin and Lin Qingyan comforted her at almost the same time. “It isn’t stupid.”
Mother Lin remembered her husband’s foresight and unwillingly shook the newly bought car model at him. “Is this also boring?”
“A bit.” Lin Qingyan, who often sat in the workplace and watched his father fiddle with precision instruments, found it difficult to arouse curiosity about this type of children’s toy. “It is too simple.”
On his fifth birthday, Father Lin proposed that Lin Qingyan chose some of his recent favorite things and put them in the set of the photo as a souvenir.
Then Lin Qingyan walked around the house and didn’t find anything he thought was worth choosing.
He was intelligent and curious about all types of new things, but he rarely got steady and lasting pleasure from it.
It was because they were all so ordinary. After staring at it for a while, the novelty faded and it wasn’t enough to make it an obsessive interest.
If he had to choose, he liked the black camera that was the same age as him in his father’s hand the most.
Father Lin saw the direction of his gaze and didn’t react for a while. “You want to hold this? Then how will we take a photo?”
Mother Lin said, “The pixels are too low if we take it with a mobile phone. How about I go to the neighbor’s house to borrow a camera?”
Lin Qingyan said, “We can take the photo in the mirror. This composition has more of a sense of story. I have seen it in the photo book.”
Father Lin and Mother Lin looked at each other and both saw strong surprise in the other’s eyes.
Lin Qingyan, a little adult, stood in the center of his parents with a calm expression. Mother Lin on the left was sitting cross-legged on the ground and holding her cheeks. She was seemingly thinking about how she wasn’t as smart as her son. On the right, Father Lin held a camera and took this photo with a sense of story while facing the floor-standing mirror.
The couple started to worry about a problem.
Could it be that Lin Qingyan, who was so smart at such a young age, wasn’t happy enough?
They hoped that their son would be a happy, courageous person who chased the things he liked. He didn’t need to be rich and prominent, as long as he felt happy.
They didn’t expect him to be so smart that he couldn’t raise any interest in the ordinary things around him or his naive classmates in kindergarten. His appearance was always indifferent.
They were afraid he wouldn’t be happy enough.
The precocious Lin Qingyan understood the worries of his parents and took the initiative to comfort them, saying that he was very happy.
He also really felt that he should be happy.
He had a warm family and a good pair of parents who supported him in developing all his interests. There were no shortcomings in life and it could be called complete.
The only problem was that the world wasn’t that attractive.
This was until one day, he heard a faint cry.
One weekend morning, the family got up early to go to the newly opened amusement park on the outskirts of the city.
They came out of the community, walked through a secluded street and went to the bus station to wait for the bus. It was because Lin Qingyan liked to take the bus that went all the way.
It was still early and there weren’t many pedestrians on the street. The street was quiet. The couple carrying bags were discussing what rides to play later while Lin Qingyan occasionally talked.
In a gap between chats, a hint of doubt appeared in his expression.
The child was short with low vision and hearing. Even so, Lin Qingyan heard the strange sound first.
It was a bit like a cat meowing. It floated in the breeze and happened intermittently.
Father Lin noticed his expression and heard it. Then he looked to the left and right. “Is there a stray cat?”
“It isn’t quite like a cat.” Mother Lin frowned and pondered on it. “It is like a child’s cry.”
Lin Qingyan was a bit curious. He listened quietly with bated breath, looking for the source of the sound.
The faint voice, like a candle flame flickering in the wind, grew closer and closer to him as he searched.
In the gap between the wall and the stone statue, a small piece of swaddling cloth was exposed, blocked by the reflection of the stone lion statue and the tree. It wasn’t very conspicuous and was easy to ignore.
But Lin Qingyan saw it.
He approached the small shadow. Behind him, Father Lin and Mother Lin glanced at the door sign hanging by the wall. Suddenly, they realized something and their faces were shocked.
Inside the thick swaddling was a crying baby.
Next to it was an orphanage.
The clever Lin Qingyan immediately understood the logical relationship behind this. This was an abandoned baby who was left at the door of the orphanage.
Before he had time to continue thinking, he heard the crying become smaller and smaller.
Lin Qingyan was rarely a bit flustered. He approached quickly and crouched down in a hurry, wanting to see what happened to this baby.
The little baby’s face was flushed from crying. The corners of his eyes were wet with tears, as if he was tired from crying. He gasped tiredly and struggled to open his eyes.
What came into view was a little boy who stopped beside him, handsome face full of bewilderment.
They both stared blankly at each other, as if the pause button had been pressed on time.
A few seconds later, the baby blinked and smiled like him, like every happy child nestled in the arms of his parents. He showed an innocent and bright smile to the world.
At this smile, the world in Lin Qingyan’s eyes flowed again and noisy voices gradually sounded around him.
His mother hurried to his side and looked worriedly at the abandoned baby. His father knocked on the closed door of the orphanage and also called the police.
The morning ended in chaos. After two hours, they boarded the bus to the suburbs.
The police made a record. The abandoned baby was first sent to the hospital for an examination, so as to not delay treatment. It was because many abandoned babies were born with serious diseases. If there were no big problems, he would be temporarily raised by the orphanage until his parents were found.
On this day, in the amusement park filled with children’s laughter, the two couples nervously observed their son’s reaction.
If it was an ordinary child, he would surely be asking in a confused manner about why there was a small baby lying there.
Lin Qingyan wouldn’t ask. He knew this knowledge and knew what an abandoned baby was.
They were worried about how their son would be affected and tried to coax him to play at the amusement park, afraid that he wouldn’t be happy.
Lin Qingyan actually looked the same as usual. Most of the time, he was very calm. He occasionally smiled and he didn’t resist the rides his parents chose.
It was just that when he saw the many smiling children moving around, he would enter a momentary trance as he thought of the early morning when the sky was light blue.
The young Lin Qingyan couldn’t forget that moment.
A child lying alone in a corner should cry. Crying was a common choice.
But the strange little baby smiled at him.
Why?
This was something that the clever Lin Qingyan couldn’t solve with the existing knowledge in his mind.
It was a riddle-like smile.
He played and thought about it for a day. After leaving this world full of laughter, he finally couldn’t help asking his parents. “Why was he there?”
Father Lin and Mother Lin were surprised that he would ask this question.
What surprised them even more was the next sentence.
Lin Qingyan turned to look out the car window where the scenery was passing by. His tone was full of confusion. “How could his parents be willing?”
He smiled so brightly and cutely.
The couple was stunned before sighing. “Yes, how could they be willing…?”
The next weekend, Lin Qingyan and his parents came to the orphanage again. This time, it was a special trip.
The dean specially came to thank them and also briefly introduced the situation of the abandoned baby.
After the examination, it was found that he didn’t have common congenital diseases and was in good health. The progress of the investigation of the abandoned baby through surveillance wasn’t satisfactory. If nothing else happened, the baby would remain in the orphanage until he was adopted.
The adults were talking while Lin Qingyan stared at the scenery not far away in a daze.
There was a big tree in the orphanage that was full of purple flowers. The aunt in the yard held the abandoned baby in one hand and carefully held a bottle in the other.
The aunt beckoned to Lin Qingyan and softly instructed the baby who didn’t yet have a name. “Look, this is the brother who found you. When you grow up, you have to say thank you.”
Of course, the little baby didn’t understand what she was saying. The aunt removed the bottle and he was a bit dissatisfied. He wrinkled his face but without the cover of the bottle, he saw Lin Qingyan standing in front of him. The baby soon smiled and his eyes curved.
The aunt couldn’t help saying, “He likes you very much.”
In the large expanse of bright and soft purple clouds, Lin Qingyan saw the baby reaching out hands toward him, as if asking for an affectionate hug.
Lin Qingyan instinctively stretched out his hand in response. Through the air, he found that the other person’s hand was so small that it could be completely wrapped in his palm.
The aunt asked, “Do you want to hug him?”
Lin Qingyan was about to nod before he flinched a bit. “I’m afraid I won’t hold him well.”
The skinny baby looked like a fragile ceramic doll.
“Don’t be afraid. I’ll be right next to you to protect him. You don’t need to exert too much effort.” The aunt smiled and touched the face of the baby in her arms. “Do you want your brother to hug you?”
He babbled and smiled at his brother, as if he wanted it.
Brother.
This word suddenly entered Lin Qingyan’s heart clearly.
The dusk of spring was a brilliant purple.
Mother Lin on the side saw this scene and her son’s particularly vivid expression. Then she gently touched her husband.
At the end of the day, Lin Qingyan didn’t hold the baby.
But after returning home, the three of them had a very serious family meeting together.
Father Lin and Mother Lin asked for their son’s thoughts and listed all the pros and cons of this matter to him. Then they asked his opinion again.
Lin Qingyan’s answer was always the same.
A few months later, the family walked into the increasingly familiar orphanage with similar expectations.
All the formalities were completed and they came to officially pick up the new family member.
Under the careful care of the aunt in the orphanage, the baby had become fatter and was no longer so thin. He had a fair and round face and when he blinked, his slender eyes flickered as if gently sweeping over people’s hearts.
Mother Lin clearly remembered the appearance of her son wanting to hold him that day but not daring to. She asked with a smile, “Do you want to try and hold Tong Tong?”
Lin Qingyan took a deep breath and solemnly took his brother from the aunt’s arm, as if receiving a more precious gift.
The soft baby fell into his arms and smiled so hard that his teeth couldn’t be seen. He waved his little hand across the ends of Lin Qingyan’s hair, creating a slightly hot wind.
Lin Qingyan had never felt that the world in his arms was so heavy.
He looked seriously at his younger brother called Tong Tong in his arms. “I will be your older brother in the future.”
His younger brother still didn’t understand and hummed a few times in a baby voice. Then he suddenly came up and kissed his older brother, who was like a little adult.
After stealing a kiss on the cheek of his brother, the little child smiled even more happily while the adults around them laughed. Only the older brother hit by the sneak attack was stupidly stunned.
This was the first time Lin Qingtong really saw the world.
His older brother, who found him in the big world, also carried him out of the orphanage.
The flowers and trees in the yard were out of season and the flowers were gone. Only the leaves of the trees remained.
Then after Lin Qingyan returned home that day, he immediately found the name of that purple flower.
As a result, the child abandoned by his biological parents had his own name.
“Lin Qingtong.” Lin Qingyan chatted with his younger brother in the cradle. “Do you like this name?”
His younger brother turned over, giggling and reaching for his fingers.
The baby’s tender palm was soft, like a ball of warm cotton.
Lin Qingyan’s left fingers were caught and played with by his younger brother. He had to write two lines of words on a brand-new notebook with his right hand alone, using his chin to occasionally adjust the notebook that accidentally shifted.
[Situation: Ask my younger brother if he likes the name.]
[Answer: Giggled and reached out.]
Lin Qingyan was still curious about why Lin Qingtong, who was tired from crying back in the past, smiled at him.
He wanted to find patterns in his brother’s daily behavior so he prepared a thick notebook for this.
Father Lin and Mother Lin supported everything their oldest son wanted to do.
He was full of curiosity about many seemingly novel things.
Only this time, the two of them couldn’t help smiling when they saw Lin Qingyan chasing after their youngest son every day with a notebook and a pen in a serious manner, recording his every move.
He was exploring one of the most naive mysteries.
Lin Qingyan thought he would gradually find this matter boring and then put it behind him. But he didn’t expect that he would write in this diary for a long, long time.
He recorded every laugh and cry of Lin Qingtong, the former more times than the latter.
Compared with ordinary babies and toddlers, Lin Qingtong was very obedient. He seldom cried and often smiled. His beautiful big eyes were full of pure joy, letting the gorgeous world flow in front of his eyes.
Lin Qingyan also recorded the first time his brother spoke.
This was the fifth month since his younger brother came to the Lin family. He was a white and fat little baby and his appearance was like white jade. His white arms were like fat lotus roots. He was so cute that people couldn’t help pinching his flesh. Then they sighed, ‘He is so soft and cute.’
One day, Lin Qingyan sat next to his brother as usual, writing in the observation diary. He made a small splint for himself so that he could write with one hand steadily.
When his brother lowered his head to write, Lin Qingtong suddenly made a vague sound when he was sitting on the small bed and playing with his fingers.
The movement of Lin Qingyan’s hand stopped and he looked up in surprise, thinking that he had misheard.
Lin Qingtong pinched his brother’s fingers with a curious look, like all adults who pinched his arm. Then he narrowed his eyes and smiled. “Ruan (soft)…”
His pronunciation wasn’t very clear but Lin Qingyan was sure that he was imitating the movements of the adults and the words that the adults had said.
Lin Qingyan tried to teach him. “Soft?”
After a few times, his brother’s pronunciation became clearer. It wasn’t very standard but he happily grabbed his brother’s fingers and kept muttering, “Ruan, Ruan Ruan—”
Lin Qingyan immediately called his parents.
The surprised Father Lin and Mother Lin took turns to extend their fingers to their younger son but he just smiled and didn’t speak. He only called out ‘Ruan Ruan’ when he grabbed his brother’s fingers.
Mother Lin immediately went to find hand cream. “Is it that our skin is too rough?”
But when they put Lin Qingtong’s little hand on his own delicate arm, he still didn’t speak.
He seemed to only say this word to his brother.
Maybe it was because his brother always let him torment him.
After getting tired of playing, the little child held his fingers and fell asleep. He muttered before falling asleep. “Ruan…”
Lin Qingyan, who had special treatment, put down his book and pen. He concentrated on taking care of his sleeping brother and carefully covered him with a small blanket.
The first word that his younger brother learned wasn’t ‘Dad’, ‘Mom’, ‘Brother’, or the ‘Tong Tong’ that everyone called him.
It was a special and exclusive word.
His heart was filled with exuberant joy.
At this moment, Lin Qingyan no longer looked like a quiet little adult.
Suddenly, he regretted that he couldn’t write a few nursery rhymes because he was never interested in them.
His younger brother liked all types of lively sounds.
He liked to listen to children’s songs.
Three or four years after Lin Qingyan had left behind the children’s enlightenment cartoon, he took the initiative to watch it with his younger brother.
Mother Lin once thought she was hallucinating.
She quickly laid out cushions on the carpet and turned on the cartoon.
The two brothers, one tall and one short, sat on the comfortable cushion. Lin Qingtong would hum excitedly along with the lively voices in the cartoon and clap his hands. Lin Qingyan watched very seriously from the side, writing down the lyrics and melody after watching it once.
He could teach his younger brother children’s songs and teach him more words.
For this reason, it was necessary to watch the enlightenment cartoons.
Moreover, his younger brother liked to watch it.
Father Lin, who came back from grocery shopping, saw this scene and marveled. He whispered to his wife, “It is the first time I have seen Ruan Ruan so happy.”
“Yes.” Mother Lin, who was brainwashed by the cartoon, also hummed a children’s song. “Our Tong Tong is very talented in music.”
Due to the ‘Ruan Ruan’ words, which were becoming more and more proficient, the over five years old Lin Qingyan had a new nickname that was very inconsistent with his temperament.
He occasionally protested when his parents called him that but his heart seemed to soften when his younger brother called him that.
This ordinary world gradually became brighter.
Tong Tong’s birthday was coming. According to the custom, Father Lin was ready to take the annual, commemorative group photo for him.
Lin Qingtong was born in the spring and Lin Qingyan was born in the autumn. When it was his brother’s first birthday, Lin Qingyan was six and a half years old and he was a stable first grader in elementary school.
In the pile of plush dolls provided by Mother Lin, Lin Qingtong crawled around before finally grabbing one in each hand. He returned with a full load and happily gave one to his brother.
Lin Qingyan looked at the doll stuffed into his arms and was silent for a while. Then he asked with a subtle expression, “Can I not wear this?”
Lin Qingtong didn’t understand. He just blinked and called out softly, “Ruan Ruan—”
So on his brother’s birthday, Lin Qingyan cooperatively put on a blue and white dinosaur costume.
Lin Qingtong, who was sitting next to him, was dressed up as a white, fat and cute mushroom.
It was because his younger brother grabbed two dolls. One was a mushroom and the other was a dinosaur.
Their parents were dressed relatively normally. They wore aprons and boots and held watering cans and shovels. They looked like two gardeners.
At the very least, they were human.
The family of four stood together and the photo had more of a sense of story than the photo on his birthday last year.
Father Lin set the photo countdown. He put the camera away and ran back to pose.
Three, two, one, click.
The little mushroom staggered and launched a surprise attack, jumping into the arms of his dinosaur brother.
The camera froze everyone’s vivid expressions.
Tong Tong could walk now.
He was a little mushroom who wrestled with his teeth and claws.
He didn’t cry when he fell down. He would just grab his brother’s hand with a smile and try to stand up again.
After this birthday, Father Lin’s black camera changed owners.
Lin Qingyan asked his father for the camera in order to record his younger brother’s growth.
Talking for the first time, walking for the first time, growing white baby teeth…
Photographs appear on every page of his notebook along with text.
Tong Tong was also a smart child and gradually said more things.
“Mom.” He pointed to his gums. “Teeth.”
“Dad.” He poked his dad’s chin. “Beard.”
“Brother.” He opened his small arms toward his brother. “Hug.”
When his brother picked up Lin Qingtong, Lin Qingtong would laugh in his brother’s ear and call out with satisfaction. “Ruan Ruan!”
Lin Qingyan thought that this was the most coquettish child he had ever seen.
Fortunately, his brother came to his home.
His appearance brought new colors to everything familiar around him.
Lin Qingyan, who grew up every day, finally found that he actually wasn’t happy enough in the past.
It turned out that this type of small and vigorous joy that filled every corner of his body was his favorite happiness.
His world really started turning from this smile.
This was even though he still hadn’t found the answer about why his younger brother smiled at him during their first meeting.
Not only was Tong Tong the most coquettish child he had ever seen, he was also the cutest and most mysterious.
He could concentrate on watching the small flowers swaying in the wind in the potted plant on the balcony for a long time without being in a daze. When Lin Qingyan asked him what he was doing, he would simply say, “It is so beautiful.”
“Where is it beautiful?”
“The flowers, leaves, earth, sun…” He pronounced every noun he had only recently learned, his voice brisk. “They are all beautiful.”
So the elementary school student Lin Qingyan also moved a small stool, sitting next to him and watching together. He accompanied him to wait for every slight tremor of the petals in the breeze.
Lin Qingtong seemed to be able to give brilliant meaning to all ordinary little things.
This type of meaning could infect everyone around him.
On the way home from school, Lin Qingyan saw strange flowers on the roadside flower beds and would take the initiative to take photos with a camera, taking them home to show his little brother.
This was something he wouldn’t have done before.
His younger brother looked excitedly at the appearance of the flowers he brought and said, “I want to be a flower pot.”
When the camera caught the butterflies flying in the flowers, he would say with bright eyes, “I want to be a butterfly.”
When Lin Qingtong grew up a bit more, Lin Qingtong started to ask him, “Why?”
“It is because you can fly very high when you become a bird.” Tong Tong was wearing cute overalls and a little yellow hat. He was about to go to kindergarten. “You can be the first to check if the sky wants to cry.”
At this time, it was raining endlessly outside the window.
The eight year old Lin Qingyan reached a consensus with his parents.
His younger brother was a sensitive, clear-minded genius with a rich imagination and a natural love of everything.
Then God almost deprived him of the right to embrace the world.
When Lin Qingtong was two years old, his family found that he had an unexplained cough and fever. They took him to the hospital for a detailed examination, only to discover a congenital disease that wasn’t detected during the physical examination in the past.
It was a rare genetic immune disease that wasn’t routinely screened for.
Thankfully, his condition wasn’t severe and belonged to a milder subtype that could receive intervention and be improved with treatment.
For this reason, Lin Qingyan once hoped that he could become a doctor in the future.
He couldn’t imagine his younger brother, who sat on the balcony and watched the flowers bloom all afternoon, would have to stay in a sterile ward all day and not go out.
After recording the 100 appearances that his brother wanted to become and the reason why, Lin Qingyan felt that the profession of a doctor might not be suitable enough.
He knew that other adults took these words as fairy tales and thought that when children grew up, they would no longer think so nonsense. No one would take these fantasies seriously.
This was called ‘growth.’
But Lin Qingyan liked his brother’s shining eyes when he said these words.
If his younger brother was abandoned in a place where few people passed by, if his immunodeficiency disease was the most severe type, if there was no family to adopt him…
These ‘ifs’ that occasionally came to mind made Lin Qingyan frown.
He was unfortunate but also fortunate. In a world full of fate, cause and effect, ups and downs and powerlessness.
Why could people only live in this definite world and not create more worlds of their own?
In his own world, one could become a flower, a bird or a completely different person.
They could have a freer, more wonderful destiny.
Lin Qingyan, who had been clever since he was a child, suddenly discovered what he really wanted to do.
At the request of his oldest son, Father Lin brought him many science books that were beyond the reach of elementary school students.
He asked his son, “Why do you suddenly want to see this?”
Lin Qingyan answered him word for word, “I’m looking for possibilities.”
His younger brother in the living room called out to him and he walked out quickly.
Father Lin, who remained in place, didn’t understand.
He discussed it with his wife, who was also confused, and they simply came out to watch TV together.
The two brothers sat together. Lin Qingtong looked enviously at the people flying in the fantasy TV series. “I also want to stand on the sword and fly around.”
“It will happen.” Lin Qingyan took notes. “Maybe in the future, maybe in another world.”
The couple on the side looked at each other and the same thought appeared in their hearts.
Perhaps their oldest son really would become a scientist.
Then what about their younger son?
It was easy to buy Lin Qingyan scientific books that expanded his horizons and absorbed knowledge.
But buying satisfactory books for Lin Qingtong was a difficult thing.
His head was full of weird and cute whimsy. He had his own set of standards for seeing the world. He didn’t hesitate to smile at everyone who met him, but the best smile was reserved for people and things he liked.
He liked his parents, Brother Ruan Ruan, wonderful metaphors blurted out by kindergarten classmates, sincere and beautiful children’s picture books and listening to everything he had never heard before.
Therefore, his parents often had a headache about what type of children’s books to buy for him.
As always, he was a naive mystery.
In the face of ordinary and bleak things, Lin Qingyan looked away while Lin Qingtong would ramble on about the strange thoughts that came to him.
From this point of view, the brothers were quite similar.
So in addition to starting to explore physics, the universe and the brain, the increasingly mature Lin Qingyan also had a ‘childish’ hobby. He flipped through a variety of fairy tales written for children and chose stories that his younger brother might like.
Nine year old Lin Qingyan skipped the sixth year of elementary school and was preparing for the middle school exam.
With his intelligence, the elementary school knowledge was too simple. Originally, he had no clear goals and was too lazy to skip years. He just wanted to spend every day as an ordinary child.
But now that he found out what he was really interested in, time was running out.
He wanted to grow up early and get into a college that taught him great knowledge.
He wanted to go early to find the endless possibilities that lurked in a definite world.
This distant dream made Lin Qingyan’s world gradually brighten.
What was even more brilliant were the real days truly sent.
It was joyful to read difficult knowledge in books and discover more mysteries that weren’t known before.
His younger brother walked into his room with a small fruit plate, trying to tiptoe to place it on the desk. He whispered, “Brother, eat fruit,” and Lin Qingyan was very happy.
Under the warm yellow light, he sat on the edge of the bed and read bedtime stories to his brother who was obediently staying in bed, which was also very happy.
The four year old Lin Qingtong was a child in kindergarten and everyone in the class liked him.
His teacher once called home with a smile, saying that some children were crying and quarreling in order to compete to be with Tong Tong at the same time. Then he handed them a jelly one by one, whispering for them not to argue and the children really didn’t argue.
His younger brother was so popular among his classmates. Lin Qingyan was happy but not too happy.
In short, his younger brother didn’t say what child he particularly liked and also liked to stick to Lin Qingyan the most.
Lin Qingyan thought so.
The child’s soft hair was smudged against the pillow. He hugged the cat doll with blue eyes, staring intently at his older brother who was holding a picture book. He couldn’t help smiling with curved eyes from time to time.
He liked today’s bedtime story very much. It was also the most satisfying fairy tale book that Lin Qingyan found during this time.
This was a story about the stars and the moon.
The gravitational force of the moon made two lonely stars meet in the universe. One was golden and the other was silver.
The gold star was lively while the silver star was quiet.
They reflected each other’s planet in fresh colors and both loved each other deeply.
But they had different trajectories and couldn’t be with each other forever. They could only meet briefly.
Lin Qingtong looked intently at the warm and childish pictures in the picture book. He liked these two stars next to each other. Hearing this, he couldn’t help asking, “Then what did they do?”
“So the moon appeared again,” Lin Qingyan said. “It saw these two uniquely colored stars and lingered on the side for a long time. Then it took the initiative to give them three small wishes.”
“The first wish was accidentally used on the body of the moon, so a white rose grew on the surface of the moon.”
“The stars don’t regret it because the white rose was so beautiful.”
Lin Qingtong was fascinated by this. He sat up straight, blinked at the blooming rose in the picture book and his eyes showed surprise. “I like this wish.”
“I like it too.” Lin Qingyan rubbed his somewhat messy hair and continued, “There are two wishes left. The stars decided to leave one for each of them.”
“The moon’s ability was limited and couldn’t completely change their orbits. At most, it could keep them together but not forever.”
“The golden star made the second wish first.” Lin Qingyan asked his younger brother, “What do you think it wished for?”
Lin Qingtong thought for a while and replied seriously, “I think it should really want to thank the moon, because it was the moon that allowed it to meet the silver star.”
Lin Qingyan listened to his brother’s words and looked at the picture book in his hand. He couldn’t help thinking again, ‘The book I chose is very good. It is indeed a story that my younger brother will like.’
“The second wish is still related to the moon. The golden star hoped to briefly intersect with the moon’s orbit, like people meeting and greeting on the street. It is because the moon used to be far away from them.”
“The moon agreed. The moment when their orbits staggered, the brightest light was emitted from the golden planet. It floated in the universe for so long and it was the first time it entered the orbit of such a large planet. It felt satisfied and happy and thanked the moon.”
Lin Qingtong’s beautiful eyes were also full of similar happiness. He asked his brother, “What did the moon say?”
“The moon didn’t speak. The white roses planted in its soil swayed gently under the river of stars and snow-white tides surged on the more distant blue planet.”
“Tides.” Lin Qingtong repeated this strange and beautiful term. “What are tides?”
“A natural phenomenon that occurred in the sea, caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun…”
Hearing about the sea, Lin Qingtong immediately understood. “It is the tears of the moon.”
“There is no sun in the universe and no second moon.”
Lin Qingtong couldn’t help looking up at the window on the side. “The moon was also lonely, so it cried quietly.”
The curtains were closed, revealing only a little bit of night through the gap.
Lin Qingyan’s voice was lighter as he read the story. “The stars also think so.”
“The silver star made a third wish. It wanted to give the moon a lamp.”
On the brightly colored page, next to the white and cold moon, there was a round orange-yellow star that glowed with a dazzling warm light.
Lin Qingtong recognized it at a glance and said joyfully, “It is an orange lamp!”
After eating the sweet and sour pulp, put a wick on the yellow-orange peel and it became a bright lamp.”
“The teacher taught us to do it last week.” Lin Qingtong was very happy. “I’m going to make another one and put it in Brother’s room.”
He murmured, “The orange lamp I made was very beautiful. It is in the classroom.”
Lin Qingtong thought of the small warm yellow light, the moon, the orange lamp and the two stars in the universe. The light in his eyes flashed and he grabbed the corner of Lin QIngyan’s clothes with expectation, opening his arms.
“Brother, I want to see the stars.”
Lin Qingyan put down the picture book and gently hugged him.
He had memorized the end of this fairy tale and could tell it to his brother under the stars.
There were guard rails and soft cushions on the windowsill. He opened the curtains and let Lin QIngtong sit on the cushions.
The night view outside the glass window was beautiful.
The Milky Way passed by here, sprinkling the sky full of stars.
The moonlight was clear and light gold and silver stars dotted the endless sky. They also twinkled in the windows flickering with the lights of ten thousand homes.
Lin Qingtong raised his head, drawing an orange lamp around the lonely moon in his heart. He said, “The stars must be very happy, even if they will separate.”
Lin Qingyan stood beside him and said softly, “They won’t separate.”
The stars put all the wishes on the moon.
It was because they found that wishes were omnipotent and there were always shortcomings when making wishes for each other.
They decided to make a wish to themselves.
“They speak, they think and they are stars with souls. Like humans, they are the most unique beings.”
The teenager’s voice was soft and firm.
“So the stars were no longer obsessed with whose orbit they wanted to enter. But they separated off a small fragment of their soul and threw them into the cosmic void, allowing them to roam freely and search for thousands of possibilities.”
“The seed of the souls fell on Earth and turned into flowers and butterflies. When they sank into the ocean, they turned into accompanying coral and seaweeds. When they entered the world, they became young people meeting on the street corner.”
They were bathed under the Milky Way, the meeting point of the planets. The illusionary future was floating in the wind, a crystal clear light diffused and each tiny pillar of light was a possible life.
This was Lin Qingtong’s favorite fresh world and he would remember it for a long time.
So Lin Qingyan decided that he wanted to become a powerful scientist.
He wouldn’t change the world. He would just change each other’s definite lives that were confined to the existing world.
The fairy tale ushered in a beautiful ending. Lin Qingtong’s eyes were brighter than the stars. He habitually grabbed his brother’s fingers and whispered, “It is so good.”
In normal times, he would say enviously that he wanted to be the person or animal in the fairy tale, but today he didn’t say so.
He didn’t say that he wanted to be a star. He just let the back of his little hand sink into his older brother’s palm. The familiar warmth carried a cloud-like soft sleepiness.
He was already a golden star that had met a silver star.
Lin Qingtong closed his eyes sleepily. His eyelashes trembled like butterfly wings and he was about to fall asleep. His brother behind him picked him up in time and wrapped him in a warm, small blanket.
Before turning off the lights and leaving the room, the star gently kissed the other star’s cheek.
“Good night.”
-End of the Full Text-
Author’s Note:
It is all over. Thank you for reading up to here.
During the period of writing the extras, I dreamed of Ji Tong one night. When I woke up, I forgot the specific plot. I just remembered that he was cute and had his own life, as if he was really living happily in a certain world.
So I was very happy that day and at this moment as well. I have spent five months with them in the story and with you outside the story. This is a unique and precious memory. I have a lot to say, but I feel that what I want to say is already in the story.
So I still want to wish you all to be happy children and brave adults forever.
Nice to meet you and I hope to see you on the next trip (*^▽^*)
TL: I feel like the author has said everything I wanted to say. Thank you for joining me on this journey with Ji Tong and Pei Qingyuan!
