Living Next To The Male God

It was mid-October, winter was slowly approaching and the weather was turning cold. After watching Tang Jinyu lying by the window for two days, his parents took him to the provincial capital.

Tang Hongjun’s father is nearly 60 years old and is a professor at a well-known university in the provincial capital. He specializes in mathematics and has just been promoted as the Head of Department. The old professor went to the hospital early in the morning and waited for their arrival. The old man was dressed in a neat Chinese tunic suit, making him look lean and strong.

Even though he was holding a cane in his hand, it didn't make him appear frail at all. Instead, it made him more intimidating.

After seeing their car, the old man walked a few steps to greet them. When he saw his grandchild through the car window, a smile appeared on his face "Xiaoyu! How is my grandson?"

Chen Suling got out of the car with her baby in her arms and said "Dad, why did you come so early? The weather is so cold, be careful of catching a cold."

Professor Tang stretched out his hand to pick up his grandson and said with a smile "It's not a problem, let me see, Xiaoyu seems to have grown a little bit taller."

Tang Hongjun was holding a bag in his hand with a pink cartoon water bottle hanging in his arms. He saw his father's face, with a smile "Dad, I am telling you, Xiaoyu has grown taller recently and also gained some weight!"

The old man was so happy when he heard this and kept nodding while holding onto his grandchild in his arms "Didn't the child have a fever some time ago?"

Tang Hongjun "Yes, he had a fever for several days, Suling took some days off from her company and took care of him day and night. Strangely, Xiaoyu's condition improved after his fever subsided. On that day, he was able to stand up and take his first step, which surprised us!"

The old man nodded, his gaze fell on his little grandson and he said with some relief "In short, he's fine now."

After seeing his grandfather leaning on his cane,Tang Jinyu didn't dare to move when he was being held by him.After all, his small body is still a bit heavy and he was afraid that the old man would fall if he moved too much.

He froze in the arms of the old man but elder Tang was still boasting, saying that he was pure and beautiful and obedient.

Tang Hongjun quickly picked up the child "Dad, let's go for the checkup first. Xiaoyu is doing much better and we also brought his results from his last examination that we got from two days ago."

This time Professor Tang didn't stop him, he nodded and said "Let's show it to the doctor and get another check-up. The testing equipment at the provincial hospital should be the best one"

"Yes, Suling and I think so as well."

The family whispered all the way into the hospital.

After the routine examination, the doctors of the provincial hospital also had the same conclusion and agreed that this was a medical miracle.

Tang Jinyu had just gotten his blood drawn and was a little dizzy. He sat there as Chen Suling pressed his arm and asked him in a low voice "Does the baby want to drink water?"

Tang Jinyu shook his head and buried his little head in her arms.

All he heard was Mr. Tang and the doctors speaking with words that he didn’t understand. But looking at the smiles on those people’s faces, he was sure that the results of this examination was very good.

He rubbed his eyes as he became a little sleepy. He was driven for several hours, from the break of dawn. This caused burden to his little body

Chen Suling chuckled lightly and rubbed the bunch of hair that was curled up. The soft hair was just as good as her child.

The kid in her arms yawned, rubbing his head against his mother and wanted to sleep next to her. Chen Suling held the child in her arms, patted him twice, and coaxed "If you are sleepy, go to sleep, we will go home soon."

Tang Jinyu tried to fight off his sleepiness but after a few moments,his eyes closed and he fell asleep.

When he woke up again, he was at his grandpa's house.

Professor Tang’s wife passed away early and he lived here alone.

The house he lives in is owned by the school. It is a small two-story building near a Park in the city center. The environment is quiet and very good.

Professor Tang is an optimistic person and has always had a good relationship with his students.

Since he had a little grandson, he had become kinder. After all, he is now a grandfather and his heart is more concerned about his little grandson who lives far away.

When he first found out that his little grandson was not in good health, he didn't find it troublesome to form countless contacts with others, to seek the right doctor for his little grandson's treatment.

He also paid for a lot of supplements for his son and daughter-in-law, but there has been no progress with his grandson for the past years.

Now that his little grandson is finally getting better, Professor Tang is also very happy. He asked the nanny at home to cook a large table full of food, opened a bottle of red wine and had a lively meal together with the family.

Tang Jinyu woke up confused. He dreamt of an old man who felt very familiar to him, but now he can't remember it that well anymore.

Professor Tang bent over then smiled and called his name. He called him ‘Xiaoyu’ several times in a soft voice. Tang Jinyu raised his head in a daze and looked at the person in front of him, who slowly overlapped with the person in his dreams.

His eyes gradually became clear when he looked at the old man in front of him.

Professor Tang coaxed him with a smile, not showing any signs of impatience in his voice "Xiaoyu can tell grandpa, what he wants to eat. There are not many rules in our house. So it's okay to eat sweets before dinner…"

Tang Hongjun pushed his glasses to the bridge of his nose, glanced at his wife and whispered "Dad, you know that eating sweets before dinner is not good, right?"

The old man is now eager to have a good relationship with the little grandson whom he hasn't seen for a long time, so he took out all the sugar-coated truffles and refuted him "Why not? it's just one piece of sweet before dinner, they will eventually end up into the stomach either way!"

Although he said that, he still glanced at his daughter-in-law and saw Chen Suling eating with a smile without saying anything.

This made him bolder again. He took the small truffles and handed them to his grandchild and said cheerfully "Come on, Grandpa will give it to you, Xiaoyu remember that I am your grandpa, grandpa—"

The child sitting on the children’s chair in front of the dining table didn't look at the small truffles but was looking at the old man. His clear eyes suddenly curved into a smile: "Ya!"

The people sitting at the table froze for a moment, Tang Hongjun was the first one to come out of his surprise and shouted "Xiaoyu can talk, Dad, Xiaoyu can call out!"

Professor Tang's hands shook a little with excitement and he coaxed the child to call out again.

After practicing a few times, his pronunciation gradually became better. It seemed that he was suddenly enlightened.

Although he could only shout one or two simple sentences, it was the first time since he was five years old that he made such a clear call.

The whole family was very happy. Professor Tang asked people to go upstairs to get a small tape recorder. He seriously recorded the voice of his little grandson saying ‘grandfather’ and listened to it.The old man could not help but take off his glasses and wiped his eyes several times and said "Good, good, good, Xiaoyu can speak, just as the doctor said, he will slowly recover."

Tang Hongjun had already cried when his son called out. At this moment, his nose was red and he nodded in agreement with his father. He wiped away his tears with a smile.

Professor Tang sat there and thought for a moment then said "Although, the doctor didn't mention if Xiaoyu should listen to music or anything but I think it would be a great idea for him to learn how to play an instrument to help him with his finger flexibility and improve his memory."

Tang Hongjun nodded, not only is he willing to buy musical instruments even if his son wanted the stars, he would climb a ladder to pick them off for his son.

The Tang family's father and son discussed for a while and went out after dinner.

Chen Suling stayed with her child and was still in a good mood even after Tang Jinyu went to sleep.

She walked with her child on her arms to the first floor and showed him some paintings hanging on the wall.

Father Tang has a good aesthetic and his collection of paintings are all hand-painted by famous artists but in the most conspicuous part of the living room corridor, there is a handwritten ’Kindergarten Admission Mark’.

Chen Suling hugged the child and said with a smile "Xiaoyu, do you remember this?"

Tang Jinyu tilted his head, he didn't remember, he seemed to have forgotten a lot of things after sleeping.

Chen Suling didn't expect him to remember and habitually went on and said "This is the admission notice issued to you by grandpa. Everyone else goes to kindergarten, our baby did not go but you also have a ‘Mark'! You see, below it has your signature."

Tang Jinyu looked at his handwritten mark that was beautifully framed, with a circle drawn at the bottom, which was regarded as the child's signature.

Seeing his serious look, Chen Suling suddenly felt distressed, she kissed her baby’s fleshy cheek and smiled "You have to eat a lot more in the future. When you are all grown up, you'll be able to go to where grandpa teaches and let him help you graduate and earn a medical degree, okay?"

Tang Jinyu's expression was a little confused. He didn't know what his mother was talking about. But subconsciously, he thought that his grandfather was even more amazing when he heard the fact that his grandfather was a Professor!

Tang Jinyu blinked. Hey, wait a minute. What does she mean by becoming a doctor?

Chen Suling looked at the child in her arms who was beginning to frown slowly. His expression made him look like a little adult, which made her laugh a bit.

She reached out and smoothed out his scrunched eyebrows.

She placed her forehead together with his and said "It's okay if you don't want to learn anything. Xiaoyu can do anything he wants. Mother will make a lot of money and will support you for a lifetime."

Not long after, the father and son of the Tang family returned.

They brought back a piano.

Chen Suling was startled "Dad, why did you suddenly buy a piano?"

Professor Tang said with joy "For my grandson to start practicing!"

Tang Hongjun made plans ahead of time: "Let's try it out first. No, wait let me buy a harmonica tomorrow. Starting with the piano right away is not a good idea, besides I know how to play a bit of the harmonica and I can teach Xiaoyu after I get off from work!"

Professor Tang: "Yes, Xiaoyu can change it if he doesn't like it. We can just buy another instrument! One that is new and beautiful for my grandson!"

Chen Suling listened to each of their responses dumbfoundedly.

It almost sounded like they were planning on beginning a band at home.

After staying in the provincial capital for one night, Tang Hongjun and his wife returned home with their son and a brand new piano the next day.

No one in their apartment has seen such a large musical instrument, especially an expensive piano, this naturally brought a lot of people's attention.

After the piano was put away, some people came over to watch in excitement.

They saw Tang Hongjun holding his silly son on the brand-new piano stool, letting his child press any keys at random.

For a moment, everyone's expressions were a little strange.

Although people didn't say anything out loud, they felt very upset in their hearts.

Why is Tang Hongjun's stupid son worthy of learning to play the piano? When, he only took a few steps and only learned to ‘talk’ when he wanted something!

Some people felt uneasy. They were greedy for their piano that seemed to worth tens of thousands of yuan and they were also jealous that a little fool can be so well taken care of.

The Tang family has an old man who is a well-known professor with his son being a Senior Director.

Along, with Chen Suling who manages her own company that makes her a lot of money and who is still in perfect shape!

Why are they spending so much money on a fool?

Someone whispered: "If they had an ordinary child to spend money on, who knows how much successful they would become in the future."

Another woman lowered her voice and asked "It's good to play an instrument at such a young age but why did they have to bring a piano to their house? Why not send it to the Children's Daycare?"

"Hey, you just lived here for two years and don't know that the Tang family refuses to send their child to any daycare or even outside."

“The child used to have a nanny when he was young…hot-tempered…" The last sentence became much quieter to hear.

Tang Jinyu is also very nervous now. This was the first time he had ever touched a piano and he didn't know how to play it. He pressed his little finger on a single key to make a sound. Then he looked up to see his father's reaction.

Tang Hongjun misunderstood his look and immediately applauded "Son, you can play so well, just play however you like!"

Tang Jinyu was confused.

How did he play well? He just pressed one key.

Even after Chen Suling finished cleaning up the living room, she didn't seem to be in a good mood until later in the evening.

She tossed and turned as she couldn't sleep. She listened to her son snoring slightly beside the bed, she sat up and pushed her husband angrily "Let's move."

Tang Hongjun was startled "Move?"

Chen Suling nodded "Yes, move. We used to save money to treat Xiaoyu, but now Xiaoyu is doing much better and there is no need to save so much money anymore. Half of the money that we saved up is enough to buy a bigger house. There are new buildings in the city center. I saw that there were also villas that were far apart from one another. We can also move in with your dad when he retires in a few years.”

Tang Hongjun: “But, why do you want to move suddenly?

Chen Suling gritted her teeth and said in a low voice “Those people were gossiping today. Although I was unable to hear everything, I still heard some of them! Mrs. Li who lives on the third floor has a little grandson who has scored in the last place for the past two years in his exams. She has no qualifications to say anything bad about my son!

Tang Hongjun smiled.

Chen Suling was annoyed by this. She pinched him then raised her chin and said "Let's just move."

Tang Hongjun paused for a moment and said "No, I think it's pretty good here."

This time it was Chen Suling's turn to pause. She frowned and said "Hongjun, what's the matter with you? What's so good about staying here? If we weren't saving money for Xiaoyu’s treatment, we would have moved away by now."

Tang Hongjun placed his arm behind his head, looked at the ceiling, and said "When I went out with my father yesterday, we not only bought a piano but also found someone to do divination."

Chen Suling: "What is it?"

Tang Hongjun lowered his voice and said to his wife earnestly "Dad took me to meet someone, to help me get advice about Xiaoyu's condition.”

“He introduced me to an old professor in the philosophy department at the school and he was known to give out good readings of people's lives. He said that as long as we live here for a few more years, Xiaoyu's condition will start to improve. So it's best to stay in this house having Feng Shui¹ to see if he gets any better.”

Chen Suling was a bit skeptical "I thought dad believed more in science than in superstition."

"I believe it too." Tang Hongjun said with a smile, "But as long as there is hope that my son will get better, I am willing to believe in anything."

Chen Suling didn't believe in superstition, she only wished to give her son the best of everything. But this sentence just happened to hit her soft spot and she nodded "Then we will listen to our dad and stay here! I'll clean up later and let Jinyu live here more comfortably."

1. Feng Shui means having good energy in your home in order to insure good blessing/luck and good health.