Chapter 18: Tell her

　　Li Yun said to Jasper Lee, "I will give you some time to think about it, but my patience is limited. By the time Pascal Lee finishes elementary school, you must come back with me.

Jasper Lee knew very well that Li Yun's leniency was due to his greed for money. Such a gambler, if pushed too far, might do something even more terrible.

Jasper Lee could only agree.

It was January.

　　He was going back to Wuhan for the New Year and told Li Run to go back wherever he was going. Li Run said he wasn't going anywhere.

"What if you take your brother and run away?"

He gave a knowing, lecherous smile.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'll just stay here and watch over you, no, watch over you, until June next year, and I'll personally take you to the United States."

　　Jasper Lee looked at him coldly and said, "Whatever.

Jasper Lee went on with his busy life.

In February, during the Chinese New Year holiday, he returned to Wuhan.

Li Yun followed him, but avoided Cherry Adams.

　　"That bitch, she's as paranoid as they come. I called her the other day and said I was a relative of yours, and she immediately blocked me..." Li Yun stubbed out his cigarette at the base of the wall and said, "Tell me, does she have a problem with her brain? Or is she bipolar?"

　　Jasper Lee ignored him and stood at the end of the alley, looking at Cherry Adams and Pascal Lee who were not far away, buying breakfast.

"Hey..." Li Yun felt he was very boring, "You're not really treating her like family, are you?"

"She's here," Jasper Lee said, "go away."

　　Li Yun made a face, put his hands in his pockets and walked away.

Cherry Adams carried three cups of hot soy milk, and Pascal Lee carried two large portions of pork-filled dumplings. They walked ahead and Jasper Lee followed, taking the food from his brother's hands. Cherry Adams asked him where he had been and if he had bought the dumplings at Yellow Crane Tower. Jasper Lee said he had.

　　"Well, I'm taking the third level of the Chinese language course, and there are student exams today, and the examiners all want to get cigarettes." Cherry Adams warmed her hands with the hot soy milk and handed Jasper Lee a cup. "When we get home, we'll have dinner and I'll help your brother with his homework and go over the questions he got wrong."

Jasper Lee nodded and said he understood.

Cherry Adams patted him on the back.

"You've been making some money from the classes lately, haven't you?"

　　"Yes, I made a few thousand dollars after paying the tuition."

Jasper Lee asked again, "Would you like me to give it to you?"

"Why would I want it? You can keep it and spend it.

Jasper Lee said okay, but Cherry Adams was still staring at him, her expression as if she had something to say. What is it? Jasper Lee asked, suddenly uncomfortable.

"Your..." She rubbed her nose.

"A relative of the Lee family came to see me."

　　Jasper Lee even stopped breathing:

"...Which relative?"

"I don't know, he keeps calling me," Cherry Adams snorted, "I just blocked him."

Jasper Lee breathed a sigh of relief. Cherry Adams asked if he had called him and he shook his head. Then she said, "After your brother finishes elementary school, I have something to tell you.

Jasper Lee's heart lifted again: "What is it?"

　　"Well, it is something," Cherry Adams said indistinctly, biting into a cigarette without lighting it.

When they got home, the three of them finished breakfast. Staring at Pascal Lee as he took out his homework book, Cherry Adams drove off.

　　First she went to the driving school to pick up the candidates, then to the testing center. Along the way, Cherry Adams kept reminding them: "I have taught you all this before. There are three routes in three directions, and you have to brake early. If you're going left, it's a big turn; if you're going right, it's a small turn. You must turn on the lights before you start, and then start the car. When you start, you have to step on the gas, shift into second gear, and hit the brakes. What do you hit?"

"The left turn signal," the students replied in unison.

"Yes, you will be penalized if you don't use the turn signal."

　　Cherry Adams had to stand guard in the cold wind while the students entered the testing room. Coach Gao walked over to her.

Cherry Adams offered him a cigarette.

"No thanks," Coach Gao said, pointing at his throat, "the weather has been dry lately, and I've been shouting a lot, so my voice is gone.

"Don't get angry so easily. I hear the students cursing you every day."

"Cursing me? I should curse them! Coach Gao added, "This is the last time I'll be taking the exam this year.

　　"It's really hard," Cherry Adams sighed.

"You have earned a lot this year," Coach Gao praised her, "Why are you so young and already so money-oriented? It was hard for you to get into college, and you don't study hard or have a boyfriend. You spend all day in driving school. I think you'll make at least tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses this year.

Cherry Adams' eyebrows arched up. Coach Gao asked again,

　　"As a student, what do you need so much money for?"

Cherry Adams just smiled and put the cigarette back to her ear. A student was brought out by the examiner, and she went up to hand over the cigarette.

"This is from our Honglong."

She winked at the security officer, and the other person took the cigarette and put it in the car, smiling at her.

　　A year later, Jasper Lee quickly returned to Xiangyang to attend classes, while Pascal Lee prepared for the junior high school independent entrance exam and enrolled in an elite training class. Cherry Adams, on the other hand, was busy moving bricks. She had spent the previous semester cramming for exams, barely passing each subject. She didn't even look at her grades.

Compared to her grades, she was more interested in looking at the savings in her bank account.

Studying made her worry, while earning money made her happy.

　　Meanwhile, Li Yun had a new train.

Once, Jasper Lee went to give a lesson to his students, and as soon as he came out of the study, he saw his cousin. He was chatting with a student's parent, and they were having a great time.

Jasper Lee asked, "Why are you here?"

"I came to see how you teach," Li Yun said, patting him on the shoulder, "Our Jasper, he's been accepted into graduate school for his senior year, and he just likes to earn some pocket money."

　　The parents said that Mr. Lee was an excellent teacher and that their child had improved a lot in the last semester thanks to him. Lee Yun drank his tea and looked at his nephew unflinchingly.

Jasper Lee's face was somber.

The two of them walked out of the dormitory.

"What do you really want?" Jasper Lee asked.

"When are you going to tell Cherry Adams?"

Lee Yun was also very direct.

"Tell her what?"

"That I am going back to the United States."

　　Jasper Lee was silent for a moment, then said, "As soon as possible.

"As soon as possible? It's almost June, you don't mean..." Jasper Lee suddenly changed his expression, "Do you think I'm going to go upstairs and expose you right now?"

Jasper Lee said he would go and confess to Cherry Adams this weekend.

"Don't push me too far."

Jasper Lee glared at him before leaving.

So Jasper Lee suddenly returned.

　　"Brother, why did you come back?"

Jasper Lee was about to leave for a training session.

"I've been so tired lately, so I'm taking a break and coming back to rest." Jasper Lee walked in sideways.

"That's great!" Pascal Lee beamed, "You must tell me quickly so we can go out to dinner tonight!"

Jasper Lee was looking for Cherry Adams, but the reason for this search was definitely something Pascal Lee must not know.

　　Jasper Lee asked, "Where is she now?"

"At the driving school, do you want to go find her? Now?"

"Just asking," Jasper Lee watched Pascal Lee leave the house and waited a while before opening his school bag.

Inside were wads of red bills. He had wired the money, but was afraid that Cherry Adams would not accept it, so he had exchanged it for cash.

He counted the amount again and then carried the book bag. He boarded the bus on the street and sat by the window with the bag in his arms.

　　How was he going to tell Cherry Adams? Would she find it annoying? Jasper Lee wondered, they weren't related by blood, how much did she care for them?

If he were bold enough to ask her...

No. Jasper Lee couldn't bring himself to do it.

Jasper Lee arrived at Honglong Driving School.

　　He saw Cherry Adams from a distance.

It was already very hot at the end of May, and the sun was strong. She was wearing white short-sleeved shorts, and the sun exposed her skin.

She parked the instructor's car sideways, busy on her cell phone, and a moment later she laughed, "I crossed the line.

When she laughed, Cherry Adams was neither rude nor aloof, and her dimples looked like a speck of dust caught in a halo of light.

　　Jasper Lee unconsciously straightened up as if she were scrutinizing him, even though she wasn't even looking at him. At this point, he discovered that the intimidation of an older generation did not need to be awakened by blood ties. She was older than him, and he obeyed her. The effectiveness of this kind of kinship was born, and he no longer dared to cheat.

Tell her.

Ask for her help.

My sister will find a way.

　　Jasper Lee stepped forward to speak, but Cherry Adams was still on the phone. He heard his name.

"Jasper Lee, right."

Cherry Adams responded irritably to whatever was said on the other end, then added perfunctorily, "So what are we going to do? It's not the first time. Just do what you said."

"Feel bad?" Cherry Adams scoffed.

"He's not even a real brother."

　　Jasper Lee went from shock to panic to relief.

There was no light in his eyes.

Once again, he had been abandoned.

It wasn't really a big deal.

Was it?

He turned and left, and when he got to the doorman, he was still unloading his schoolbag full of money. "For Cherry Adams."

He finished talking to the doorman and left in silence.

　　Cherry Adams had waited a long time for this call from her friend. The friend confirmed the student's name.

"Jasper Lee, right."

"You really want to find a school for him, transferring school records in the third year is such a hassle," her friend continued, "transferring to a public school means changing the household registration and replacing the files, and I don't know if the private school he was previously enrolled in will make things difficult... Anyway, it's very expensive!"

　　"So what should we do?" Cherry Adams was unimpressed. Pascal Lee's student registration had been handled just fine, and "This isn't the first time I've asked you to do this.

"Okay, okay, I'll help you with it. It's just that the students are about to go on vacation, so there must be an admissions office willing to accept them. Just so we're clear, the money..."

"Just do it like you said! Money is not important, it's the child's future that matters."

　　"That's what you say, but you'll be sorry when you have to pay a hundred thousand yuan for the transfer fees. You really don't care about money."

"Care? Money is made to be spent, isn't it?"

Cherry Adams was blinded by the sun and raised her hand to shade her eyes.

"Aren't you afraid he won't pay you back in the future?"

"Repay me for what? He can go wherever he wants in the future," Cherry Adams said indifferently, "he's not even a real brother anyway."

　　"You just say that!" her friend teased her, "You almost emptied the family coffers for those two brothers!"

"Fuck you! Don't jinx me! Cherry Adams scolded, "It's unlucky! I'm still making money here!"

She hung up and continued to instruct the trainee to practice backing into the parking space: "Is your rearview mirror for decoration?

At this point, the trainee realized he was looking in the rearview mirror.

"That's the wrong way! Hey, it's on the left! The left!"

　　"..."

After a busy day, Chef Xie finally finished work in the evening. She didn't work the night shift, and as usual, she went to the guard to punch in and call it a day, but the old man stopped her.

"Someone gave you something."

It was a satchel with a blue and white gradient pattern.

Cherry Adams recognized the style.

She had bought it for Jasper Lee.

　　Cherry Adams opened it and found it full of red bills. She was so shocked she couldn't speak. The doorman was also shocked: "Oh, is that little boy so rich?"

"You and him..." The old man immediately had a series of melodramatic scenarios in his head, "Are you boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"No, you've got it wrong, he's my younger brother," Cherry Adams realized that something was wrong, "He..."

Damn it.

　　Cherry Adams drove home.

She flung open the door.

"Jasper Lee!" She didn't even have time to take off her shoes before she was running around the living room. "Get out here!"

She threw her book bag full of money on the sofa.

"What's with all the money?! Huh?!"

There was no answer.

Cherry Adams stormed angrily into the bedroom.

　　"Jasper Lee! What the fuck..."

Her words suddenly caught in her throat.

It was as if she had stuffed a ball of damp cotton down there.

Jasper Lee sat upright on the edge of the bed, quiet and sad.

He looked at her, his hands moving freely.

Blood ran down his wrist.

It fell to the floor.

Pat, pat.