Childhood Affection - Chapter 17 - Misdeeds Without a Name

Nie Weishan sat down next to Yin Qianyang, the medical kit spread open on the coffee table. Yin Qianyang’s face was a patchwork of red and blue, both wrists wrapped in gauze, and a faint scent of blood and medicine lingered around him.

“I really messed up today…” Yin Qianyang said with a vacant look, his mouth twitching and stirring his features, as blood slowly trickled from his nose again.

“Stop talking.” Nie Weishan immediately grabbed a tissue to wipe Yin Qianyang’s face clean and gently plugged his nose. Nie Yingyu stood still, wanting to show concern but afraid to make things worse, he cautiously asked, “Sis, how did your arm get hurt? Is everything else okay?”

Yin Qianjie dabbed some medicine on her forearm and responded, “It’s just a scrape on my arm, nothing serious.”

Yin Qianyang hung his head, “Sis got hurt while hugging me. It’s all because I acted impulsively and overestimated myself.” Nie Weishan raised his hand as if to pat Yin Qianyang on the head to comfort him but hesitated, afraid to touch the wounds. “You didn’t mean for it to happen. Just make sure it doesn’t happen again, and don’t be too hard on yourself.”

Yin Qianjie also tried to soothe him, “It’s mainly because you wore the team uniform. Doesn’t the track and field team have a beef with the football team? Just bad luck today, running into them.”

“It was the Sports School football team? How many of them?” Nie Weishan gently removed the tissue from Yin Qianyang’s nose to check if the bleeding had stopped.

Yin Qianyang recounted the incident intermittently. During this, Bai Meixian and Yin Xiangdong sat at the dining table, pondering whether to confront the leaders of the Sports School. Nie Yingyu remarked, “We didn’t approach them at the time, and now they’d deny everything anyway. Plus, with the football team having matches, the school certainly won’t punish them now.”

Nie Weishan glanced at Nie Yingyu and agreed, “Let’s just consider it a harsh lesson. What’s most important is that you recover.”

Bai Meixian sighed, “My foolish son, will he ever make it past eighteen without trouble? I’m starting to doubt it.”

“Mom, don’t lose hope,” Yin Qianyang said weakly yet with an optimistic tone, “All great fighters are forged through hardship. To learn how to fight, you must first learn to take a beating. Gu Long¹ wrote: ‘No one has ever seen his sword, because everyone who has seen his sword has died.’ Someday no one will have seen my spike shoes because everyone who has seen them will have died too.”

Nie Weishan held back from commenting, but Nie Yingyu couldn’t, saying, “Qianyang, whether or not you become a great fighter doesn’t matter, but can you please not drag Qianjie-Jie into this?”

Yin Qianyang felt particularly guilty, whispering, “I really realize my mistake now, but I couldn’t control myself when they harassed my sister.”

“It’s okay, they were in the wrong for blocking the way,” Yin Qianjie reassured him as she wiped the corner of his eye, “Just try not to be so impulsive next time. It’s not that hard to back down.”

Nie Weishan didn’t leave that evening. Yin Qianyang was in no condition to care for himself, so he needed to be looked after. Bai Meixian stayed with Yin Qianjie for the night, while Yin Xiangdong was preparing a bath. Nie Weishan approached and said, “Uncle Yin, let me help him. You’ve worked all day, you should rest early.”

Yin Qianyang felt a bit embarrassed to have his father care for him and called out, “Dad, don’t worry about me, I can wash myself.”

After a few reminders, Yin Xiangdong left, and Yin Qianyang moved to the bathroom, shivering, “It’s too cold for a bath now, and I can’t get my hands wet. Maybe I shouldn’t bathe.”

Nie Weishan approached and undid his drawstring, “Your body is covered in footprints and your hair is full of dirt. Don’t you want to bathe? After the bath, change into clean clothes, lie down, and rest at home tomorrow.”

Stripped of his clothes, Yin Qianyang then covered his privates and walked towards the bathtub, muttering, “I was lying on the ground, terrified they’d step on my privates and balls. Physical pain is nothing, but those two spots are a man’s worst pain.”

The hot water enveloped his body, leaving only his head and hands exposed. Nie Weishan, having removed his own shirt, sat behind Yin Qianyang and instructed, “Close your eyes, let’s wash your hair first.”

“Ouch!” Yin Qianyang couldn’t help but cry out when his head was supported, then he started to whimper, “They hit the back of my head with a football, over and over again.”

Nie Weishan’s fingers gently massaged his scalp, feeling a surge of anger, “There’s a bump there. Those bastards really went too far.”

With his eyes closed, Yin Qianyang said, “I missed the track and field team dinner because of the beating I took in my uniform. Qin Zhan and the others owe me a meal. You can’t imagine what it was like, being trampled on.”

After rinsing off the foam, Nie Weishan wrapped Yin Qianyang’s head in a towel and, once seated upright, he noticed the bruises on his back, some even grazed. Touching them, his heart ached too, and fearing Yin Qianyang might feel pain, he distractedly asked, “What were you thinking about at that moment?”

Hugging his knees and bowing his head, Yin Qianyang answered, “I was thinking, if only Bingbing were here.”

“…” As Nie Weishan’s heartache faded, he suddenly changed the subject, “The Chinese papers were handed out, the teacher said your composition was off-topic, you need to rewrite it.”

“Damn! When it rains, it pours!” The pain from his mouth made Yin Qianyang whine. After bathing and dressing, he crawled into bed, finding every position painful.

Nie Weishan turned off the lights and got into bed, positioning Yin Qianyang in front of him, “Sleep on your side, your head is still swollen.”

With his hands curled at his chest, Yin Qianyang leaned close to Nie Weishan, his feelings of injustice and frustration bubbling to the surface, he softly cried out, “It hurts so bad, it’s killing me.”

Nie Weishan wrapped his arms around him through the blanket, “Did you also scrape your eye? I’ll blow on it.”

After blowing for a couple of seconds, Yin Qianyang said, “Blow on my nose bridge too.”

After the nose bridge, “My forehead is bleeding, blow on that too.”

After the forehead, Yin Qianyang hesitated, then mumbled, “My, my lips, do you think they need blowing on? If not, never mind…”

The cool breath brushed his lips, accompanied by a soft chuckle. Their noses nearly touching, Yin Qianyang’s hands, initially curled up, climbed to Nie Weishan’s shoulders, feeling so comfortable he was dizzy. Suddenly, a firm grip held him down lower back and upper buttocks.

Nie Weishan pressed slightly, asking, “Does this hurt?”

Yin Qianyang blushed and replied, “It doesn’t hurt, why?”

“That’s good, it’s your tailbone. If it were injured, you’d really suffer.” Nie Weishan withdrew his hand, then tucked the blanket around Yin Qianyang, “Sleep now, try to take revenge in your dreams, wipe out the football team.”

In the middle of the night, Yin Qianyang abruptly woke up, not having dreamed of revenge, but instead that he had gone off-topic in his composition again.

The next day, Bai Meixian requested leave for Yin Qianyang, and Nie Weishan gave some instructions before heading to school. With one less student, the classroom felt incomplete, and Nie Weishan couldn’t help but glance at the empty corner. He pulled out his phone to message Qin Zhan, “Does your school’s football team have activities this afternoon?”

Qin Zhan replied, “You wanna watch the match? Not today, they’re training in the gym this afternoon.”

A while later, Qin Zhan sent another message, “Qianyang took leave today, what happened to him?”

Nie Weishan responded, “He was beaten by the football team.” After sending the message, he put away his phone and continued to focus on the class, taking diligent notes. After the afternoon sessions ended, he went to Mr. Liu’s office, saying, “Mr. Liu, my dad is coming home today, I need to leave early.”

Mr. Liu, aware of their family situation, agreed without further questions. Nie Weishan packed his bag and headed to the cafeteria, grabbing two triangle meat pies before leaving.

He hadn’t even taken off his backpack at home when he heard a noise at the gate; it was Nie Yingyu, who exclaimed with surprise, “Bro! How come you’re back early too?”

Nie Weishan leaned against the doorframe, asking, “I’m going to find the football team, what are you doing here?”

“I’m coming too,” Nie Yingyu entered the house, “If they dare to hit Qianyang and even Qianjie, I can’t stand it.”

Nie Weishan kicked him in the back, “It’s wrong to hit anyone, hurry up and change clothes, let’s stop by the shop first.”

The brothers, in perfect sync, changed out of their school uniforms to avoid being recognized. In sports pants and black hoodies, they rode their e-bikes to the antique market.

Nie Weishan, carrying draft paper from a previous exam, teased Elder Nie, “Grandpa, I’m dropping off these sample drawings, I’ll come over on the weekend to work on them, I’ll leave them in the workshop, don’t lose them.”

They rummaged through the workshop for a few tools. Nie Yingyu lamented, “It’s not satisfying without a steel pipe.”

“Stop being picky, let’s go,” Nie Weishan handed him a long wrench, “Try this, it’s pretty satisfying too.”

They headed straight to the street where the incident occurred, then entered a restaurant. Each ordered two baked flatbreads and a bowl of hot and sour noodles, warming up as they ate. Half an hour later, as it began to get dark and the restaurant crowded, they paid and stood chatting by the curb, watching the passing crowd.

Within about seven or eight minutes, several members of the football team appeared at the opposite street corner, probably hot from training, all holding their jackets and wearing their jerseys. Nie Weishan and Nie Yingyu stuffed their hands in their pockets, crossed the street, and placed their phones on a trash can lid.

As the group approached, Nie Weishan blocked their path, “Why aren’t you using the bike lane today? Did your manners suddenly improve?”

Nie Yingyu added, “Afraid of getting hit by a tricycle, huh?”

The football team stopped, the leader challenging, “Who are you guys? Come here, let’s talk.”

Thinking they were pushovers like Yin Qianyang.

“Why do we have to come over there to talk…” Nie Weishan’s voice weakened, pretending to be scared, dragging his feet towards them. Just two steps away, he suddenly pulled out the wrench, “I fucking came over to talk, just afraid you bastards wouldn’t survive to hear it!”

In half a second, screams startled a tree full of sparrows. The wrench, gripped at one end, swung fiercely at the heads of their opponents, not enough to cause serious injury, but sufficient to overpower them.

One collapsed, and the rest quickly surrounded them. Nie Weishan kicked out at two, while Nie Yingyu joined him back to back. The solid metal wrench, like a toy in their hands, struck with ease.

After knocking several down, they switched to fists. Nie Weishan, thinking of Yin Qianyang’s bruised face and the warm blood from his nose, felt too angry to curse. His fists clenched tight, he swung out, his knuckles smeared with the blood of several men.

Nie Yingyu felt similarly, just the thought of Yin Qianjie’s scraped arm made him want to break their ribs. Soon, jackets littered the ground and the group lay sprawled along the sidewalk.

Nie Weishan wiped the blood on a tree, counting out loud, “Numbers two and three, your moms can patch you up; nine, eleven, and sixteen need to go to the hospital; four and seven should rest for a month, and number five, you better stay in the hospital.”

Nie Yingyu pocketed his phone, summarizing, “None of you need to play in the upcoming matches, give the reserves a chance, that’s good.”

The brothers crossed the street, mounted their e-bikes, and Nie Yingyu, clutching Nie Weishan’s waist, said, “Bro, bro, bro, ride slower, it’s too cold.”

Nie Weishan slowed down, pondering, “We beat them up, and soon the Sports School’s track and field team will know, then Qianyang will know, and if he knows, the whole alley will know. Uncle Yin and Aunt Yin better not suspect us.”

Nie Yingyu was genuinely scared, “My dad can’t find out! If he does, he’ll definitely beat me!”

As they strategized, the phone rang. Nie Weishan answered, hearing Qin Zhan on the other end, “Shan-Ge… you and Yu-Ge are fucking savage…”

Qin Zhan had told his teammates about Yin Qianyang’s beating, and the track and field team had planned to retaliate. Nie Weishan and Nie Yingyu had acted while they were across the street in a bubble tea shop, witnessing the entire affair.

Relieved, Nie Weishan said, “Do me a favor, if Qianyang asks who did it, say it was your track and field team, definitely don’t mention me and Yingyu.”

After hanging up, the brothers sighed in relief, as long as Uncle Yin and Aunt Yin didn’t find out, all would be well. They returned home pretending nothing had happened. Nie Weishan washed his hands and then went next door.

He stopped at the bedroom door, asking, “How do you feel after resting all day?”

Yin Qianyang, leaning against the headboard, said, “Much better, what are you holding?”

Nie Weishan replied, “There’s not much else I can do, so I brought you two meat pies.”

Yin Qianyang grinned, “That’s perfect, I love meat pies!”

Nie Weishan, seeing Yin Qianyang’s smile, smiled too.

Footnote:

1. Gu Long(古龙):Gu Long was a renowned Chinese wuxia (martial arts fiction) novelist, famous for his unique storytelling style and philosophical undertones.