Strawberry Pop Pop Pop chapter 10
Han Yang was once again eating fried chicken, and this time, he was with Gu Nuan.
Gu Yuanchen led them into a brightly decorated and clean restaurant, which was different from the fried chicken joint Han Yang had imagined. A waiter in a white shirt kindly hung up Han Yang’s dirty coat and poured him a glass of lemonade.
The comfortable ambiance and soft cushions made Han Yang feel light and relaxed.
Beside him, Gu Nuan pointed at a picture on the menu and said, “Father, I want this!”
“It’s spicy. Aren’t you afraid of spicy food?” Gu Yuanchen ordered the “Kids’ Meal” for both of them and ordered himself a plate of pasta.
Gu Nuan pouted, “I’m in elementary school now, not a kid. Why did you order a kids’ meal for me?”
“You’re only in the first grade,” Gu Yuanchen corrected him.
Gu Nuan pointed to Han Yang and asked, “What about him, big brother? He’s in the fifth grade.”
“If you don’t want to be treated like a kid, you won’t get a gift next Children’s Day,” Gu Yuanchen said.
“Father, it seems like I’ve turned into a child again!”
Han Yang had little experience with this kind of banter. He nervously clenched his hands together, watching the harmonious father and son duo. Gu Nuan noticed this and cleverly placed a strawberry candy in Han Yang’s hand.
Han Yang hesitated.
Taking advantage of this, Gu Nuan scooted closer to Han Yang, his warm hand gently touching the sores on Han Yang’s hand. “Big brother, does it still hurt?”
Han Yang felt a tingling sensation, and the sores were itching and swollen. He hid his hand behind his back. “It doesn’t hurt.”
He hoped Gu Nuan wouldn’t get too close; it made him feel strange.
Suddenly, a sweet strawberry scent filled the air.
Han Yang saw Gu Yuanchen, who rarely frowned, suddenly turn serious. “Gu Nuan, didn’t we agree not to eat candy before meals? Hand them over, I’ll confiscate them.”
“But we’re having fried chicken today, not a meal,” Gu Nuan retreated when his full name was called by his father. He quietly took out five candies from his pocket and placed them all in Han Yang’s hand, saying softly, “These are for you, big brother.”
Han Yang accepted the candies. Even though they were sweeter, he found Gu Nuan’s faint strawberry scent the most comforting.
“Thank you,” he put the candies in his pocket, just like a squirrel hoarding its food.
Soon, two kids’ meals and a plate of pasta were served.
Han Yang smelled the food and gradually relaxed. He was starving, and when he grabbed a piece, he ate quickly. Eating was one aspect where he wasn’t slow. He always felt like if he ate too slowly, someone might take his food away, and this unease magnified in such small details.
Gu Nuan, having seen how Han Yang ate noodles before, was somewhat used to it.
He considerately pushed his fries towards Han Yang. “Big brother, eat slowly. You can have mine too.”
Gu Yuanchen knew that Gu Nuan didn’t like fries, but he suddenly teased, “Why don’t you give him your fried chicken too?”
Unexpectedly, Gu Nuan reluctantly pushed his own fried chicken towards Han Yang. Gu Yuanchen stifled a laugh, secretly pleased, and wished he could capture this moment on his phone.
However, Han Yang didn’t want to take it without reservation. He shook his head, blushing behind his ears, and said, “No, thank you.” Then, he glanced at Gu Yuanchen, who had only ordered pasta.
Han Yang felt embarrassed, cautiously pushing the untouched chicken leg from his plate to the center of the table.
“Uncle, aren’t you eating?” Han Yang asked in a low voice.
Gu Yuanchen smiled and replied, “You go ahead. I don’t like these dishes.” He then asked, “Is your sweater knitted by Mrs. Zhang?”
Han Yang realized that Mrs. Zhang was grandma Zhang, and he replied honestly, “Yes.” He didn’t have many clothes, only one or two winter garments.
“I used to receive sweaters she knitted too.”
“Granny Zhang is very kind…”
The two of them exchanged a few words, and Gu Nuan, nibbling on his chicken leg, had a big question mark hovering over his head. His confusion stemmed from not having received a knitted sweater from Granny Zhang.
Fortunately, Gu Nuan wasn’t a stingy person. Seeing Han Yang willing to talk, he was happier than anyone else and even finished his cola in one go. If Gu Yuanchen hadn’t stopped him, he would have wanted a second one, making his little belly rounder.
When they left the restaurant, Gu Yuanchen asked the waiter to pack a cake for Han Yang.
In terms of receiving food from others, Han Yang rarely refused. He politely thanked Gu Yuanchen, saying, “Thank you.”
Today was probably the day he had said “thank you” the most.
Before leaving the mall, Gu Nuan said he needed to use the restroom. Since he was an omega, Gu Yuanchen couldn’t accompany him, so he waited with Han Yang for him outside the restroom.
Han Yang held the cake in his hand and looked at it several times.
“It’s a strawberry cake. Xiao Nuan insisted on getting this for you because he said you like it,” Gu Yuanchen said. He handed another bag to Han Yang and continued, ‘Xiao Nuan also picked out this coat for you from the store across. It should keep you warm.”
Han Yang didn’t take it right away; he hesitated. “Uncle, you and Gu Nuan… have already given me so much.”
He couldn’t bring himself to take more.
“This coat is a gift from Xiao Nuan’s hard work.”
“…”
“He’s getting a reward from his dad, so he’ll study harder.” Gu Yuanchen reassured Han Yang, patting his slender shoulder. He was surprised to find that the eleven-year-old boy was so thin. After a moment of silence, Gu Yuanchen added, “The winters in City C are long, and Xiao Nuan is worried that you might get cold.”
Han Yang shook his head. “If he got first place, he should choose the gift he wants.”
But before he could finish speaking, Gu Nuan ran over from behind, grabbing Han Yang’s hand without drying his own hands. He almost scared Han Yang.
Shouting, Gu Nuan said, “This is what I wanted to choose! My dad always teaches me that you should give to receive and giving gifts is the sweetest thing. Besides, when you make friends, you should also receive gifts!” He had a clever plan in mind. He gave Han Yang a new backpack earlier in the day, and now he gave him new clothes and this cake.
He justified it, saying, “It’s almost New Year’s, and these are my New Year’s gifts to my big brother!”
Gu Nuan was always enthusiastic when he spoke, noisy and annoying at times, but Han Yang didn’t dislike it.
Listening to these words and facing this unfamiliar care and kindness, Han Yang slowly blushed. He found Gu Nuan strange, but at the same time, he was intensely moved.
Despite his usual cold demeanor, Gu Nuan kept sticking to him. Not only did he give him candy and talk to him, but he also helped him when he was cold and hungry, gave him a new coat and backpack, and that scarf with the faint strawberry scent.
Holding this “New Year’s gift” in his heart, Han Yang suddenly had a groundbreaking idea: he wanted to give Gu Nuan a New Year’s gift too.
However, he didn’t have a single penny to his name. Besides a tattered backpack, Han Yang had nothing.
He clutched the backpack tightly, wearing the new clothes that made him feel warm and dizzy. For the first time, Han Yang genuinely wished he could leave this prison and go to a world where he could lead a normal life.
He lowered his head like usual and said, “I’m sorry, I don’t have anything to give you.”
He felt ashamed.
“You’ve given me a lot. If there’s anything you need you need me to do…” Han Yang hesitated for a moment, then said, “I’ll do it. Is there anything I can do?”
Just like at school, if a classmate gave him half of their sandwich, he would help them complete their homework. It was an unequal exchange, a survival rule.
But Gu Nuan was different; there were no rules or exchanges in his life.
He only said, “Can you smile at me, big brother?”
“I want to see you smile. I’ve never seen you smile before.” Gu Nuan’s eyes sparkled with stars, making Han Yang’s heart tremble.
Han Yang thought, how could someone want to see his smile?
It was strange, really strange.
Gu Nuan was truly strange.
Han Yang wanted to decline like he usually did, but when he saw Gu Nuan eagerly waiting, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
He could only say, “I’ll practice, and next time, I’ll smile for you, okay?”
It was like a cool peppermint breeze on a winter day, something that hadn’t emanated from Han Yang in a long time. At that moment, he forgot to suppress the pheromones on his body. He was like a child, genuinely happy, so happy that he didn’t even realize it himself.
After dropping Han Yang off at the entrance of the residential area, Gu Yuanchen went home with Gu Nuan.
On the way, Gu Nuan propped up his chin with one hand, looking like he had something on his mind.
“What’s wrong, Xiao Nuan?”
“I overheard your conversation with Dad the day before yesterday.”
“You pretended to be asleep?”
Gu Nuan furrowed his brows, trying to imitate an adult’s expression as he said in a stern tone, “I wasn’t pretending to sleep! I just happened to wake up. I heard you talking about wanting to sponsor big brother’s education… and also, that, that…”
Gu Nuan looked sad. “I heard Dad say that Han Yang brother was a lot like him when he was a child. Did, did Dad go through the same things when he was a child? Did he get beaten and go hungry too? Did he wear inadequate clothes in the winter?”
“…”
Those were long-buried memories, and Gu Yuanchen hadn’t shared those past experiences with the young Gu Nuan. He simply said, “That was a long time ago, and the bad people who used to bully your Dad are no longer around. Xiao Nuan, there are many things in your Dad’s past that he doesn’t want to remember, so let’s not bring them up again, okay?”
Gu Nuan immediately nodded. He didn’t want to hurt his dad’s heart.
“But Father, are you really going to sponsor big brother’s education?”
Gu Yuanchen had originally intended to do so…
But just today, he witnessed Han Yang’s stepfather’s brutality, and yesterday, he and Ji Mu received an investigation report about Han Yang. It seemed that Han Yang’s background was too complicated, and no one was willing to take him in.
In this situation, Han Yang didn’t lack money. His mother, Li Li, worked hard, but her income was more than enough to cover Han Yang’s education expenses.
Various circumstances indicated that Han Yang didn’t need money; But he needed a legal process to escape from this home, an opportunity to grow up normally.
Otherwise, given the way things were going, Han Yang’s mental state would eventually deteriorate.
Thinking about this, Gu Yuanchen sighed. This matter seemed a bit tricky now. Seeing his son anxiously waiting for an answer, he couldn’t bear to let him down. During a red light pause, he reached out and ruffled Gu Nuan’s hair. “Don’t worry, your Dad and I will take care of this matter.”
The Gu family had never been short of money, and over the years, they had been involved in charitable activities, sponsoring the education of children from impoverished mountainous areas. However, there were many people in the world with difficult backgrounds, and it wasn’t possible for the Gu family to help everyone.
But they were willing to step in to help Han Yang for two reasons. Firstly, it was the first time Gu Nuan had expressed a desire to help someone else. Secondly, Han Yang’s childhood was eerily similar to Ji Mu’s