A Fragile Bond Forged in the Fires of Betrayal Chapter 2

The next morning, before Liam Tang opened his eyes, he felt something stuffed into his mouth. He had gone to bed without eating the night before, and his stomach was empty at this time. He thought it was his mother Grace Tang who came to feed him, so he closed his eyes and took a bite. It was so sour that his little face wrinkled.

Liam Tang's tears immediately burst out, and he pursed his lips as if to spit out the sour grapes. Ethan Yang, the instigator of the prank, watched his expression from the side and laughed with great joy.

Alexander Yang put on his suit and tie, and before leaving, he glanced at the two children's bedroom with concern. The two brothers were crying loudly, and the other was laughing. The scene was very annoying. He was in a hurry to go to work and had no time to be a mediator. He hastily scolded Ethan Yang: "Ethan Yang, don't bully your brother. Hurry up and take him to wash his face and have breakfast!"

Ethan Yang rolled over and laughed: "I, I couldn't wake him up just now... so I stuffed a sour grape into his mouth, hahaha, and he immediately felt sour hahaha..."

Liam Tang didn't know what he had done wrong to be sent here by Grace Tang to be punished. He washed his face alone in depression, ate a few mouthfuls of breakfast, and then immersed himself in the grief of being abandoned, refusing to say a word to Ethan Yang.

Ethan Yang's attempts to coax her with toys didn't work, so he turned around and went to the study to play in a huff.

The day of fear and worry finally came to an end. At night, Liam Tang huddled in his quilt, praying that he would see Grace Tang the next morning. He closed his eyes and urged himself to fall asleep quickly, but before he fell asleep, he suddenly felt the urge to urinate.

The room was dark and silent. He was a little scared, but he didn't want to wake up Ethan Yang who was standing beside him. So he mustered up the courage to get out of bed and headed towards the bathroom in the dark.

When he reached the bathroom door, he stretched out his hand to turn on the light, but even when he stood on tiptoe and stretched out his arms, he still couldn't reach the switch. He had no choice but to continue walking in the dark, shivering and peeing.

After he finished peeing, he walked out of the bathroom feeling relieved, but he didn't expect that a dark shadow suddenly jumped out from behind the door and shouted "Ah" at him.

Liam Tang was so frightened that he forgot to run away. He stood there in a daze, and let out a loud cry, which shook the earth.

Ethan Yang was laughing so hard that he fell down.

Liam Tang cried so hard that a storm was about to come. Alexander Yang was awakened from his sleep by the sound of his crying. He got out of bed and walked out of the room. He turned on the light and saw the same scene as in the morning: one was crying and the other was laughing.

Alexander Yang walked over and scolded Ethan Yang, but Ethan Yang was not afraid. While getting scolded, he secretly made faces at Liam Tang.

After Alexander Yang scolded Ethan Yang, he sent them back to bed, barely calmed Liam Tang down, turned off the lights and went back to his room. As soon as he left, Ethan Yang got up, looked at Liam Tang in the dark, and said in a low voice: "Ghosts will come into this room at night..."

Liam Tang shrank his neck, choked up and whispered: "You are lying."

"Really?" Ethan Yang said mysteriously, making it seem like it was real. "It came in through that window. I couldn't see its shadow. It was so big. I didn't even need to open the window to get in. There was no sound either..."

"I'm not afraid." Liam Tang shrank into the quilt in fear.

Ethan Yang's trick worked, and he patted him through the quilt like a little adult, and consoled him: "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, he and I have become good friends... He's just snoring, he won't scare you..." Before he could finish a few words of consolement, he fell asleep.

Liam Tang was so scared that he fell asleep half the night before he fell asleep. Before he fell asleep, he thought vaguely that this place was too scary, and this little brother was too scary. He had to find a way to escape. Grace Tang didn't want him anymore, so he wanted to run out and find Grace Tang by himself.

The next day, after lunch, he lay on the bed with his eyes closed, pretending to sleep. When Alexander Yang finally went to work, Ethan Yang had not yet woken up from his nap, so he tiptoed out of bed, walked to the door, unlocked it, and sneaked out.

He went downstairs, fearing that someone would chase him, and without even having time to figure out the direction, he ran like crazy, and only stopped after running for a long time, and began to walk along the roadside. As he walked, he breathlessly recalled the route he had taken the day before, but he ended up getting lost.

Ethan Yang woke up from his nap and was fully rested. He wanted to scare Liam Tang again, but he searched the whole house, even under the bed, but still couldn't find him. He lay on the floor, his head moved, and he had a bad premonition in his heart - Oh no, the little crybaby ran away!

Ethan Yang is an absolute naughty kid, but he already has a sense of responsibility at a young age. Since his father has entrusted his younger brother to him and asked him to take good care of him, he cannot lose his younger brother.

He quickly got up from the floor, ran downstairs in a hurry, looked around, ran to the grandmothers who were enjoying the cool air in the corner of the building, and gestured to ask them if they had seen a white, small, little boy as tall as his chin running out.

"Yes, there is one," one of the grandmothers pointed him in the direction, "running towards that direction, oh, running very fast, two legs are like clockwork..."

Without waiting for grandma to finish speaking, Ethan Yang said "Thank you grandma" and quickly ran away in that direction like the wind.

Liam Tang kept walking, walking and walking. He felt like he had walked into a big maze and could not get out no matter how he walked. It seemed like he was going around in circles. He could neither find Grace Tang nor remember the way back.

He was walking so hard that he was panting and sweating, but every time he walked for a while, he would return to the entrance of a shopping mall, where two huge Transformers stood, staring at him.

Watching the adults coming and going on the street, Liam Tang recalled the stories of child trafficking that Grace Tang had told him before, and he cried anxiously as he walked. He held back his tears, not letting himself cry, and quietly encouraged himself: I will definitely find my mother, I will definitely find my mother...

He walked until dark and his legs felt like they were no longer his own. Watching the sky getting darker and darker, Liam Tang sat on the side of the road in despair. He finally started to sob and kept wiping his tears with his little hands.

A kind passerby stopped to ask him if he was lost, but he kept shaking his head and refused to say anything. Grace Tang told him that if he couldn't find his mother, he should not talk to strangers, but just wait where he was, and his mother would come back to find him.

But where is my mother? The more Liam Tang thought about it, the sadder he became. He couldn't help but think about his future life, which might be just begging for food on the roadside, becoming a dirty little beggar...

Ethan Yang ran until he was sweating and almost ran all over the city center of T City, but he still couldn't find his new brother. When it was dark, he remembered the story of child trafficking his mother had told him, and he was so anxious that he almost cried.

If his brother really got lost, it must be his fault, Ethan Yang thought to himself, it was him who scared him away, what should he do...

He ran around anxiously, trying to call Liam Tang's name, but he couldn't remember the three words, so he could only shout "brother" over and over again.

Little Liam Tang was tired and hungry, sitting on the roadside in despair, thinking that he would never see Grace Tang again. He was silently shedding tears when he suddenly heard voices from afar, "Brother---Brother---"

Although he hadn't completely memorized Ethan Yang's voice, he suddenly remembered the bad brother who had been scaring him these past two days. At this moment, he completely forgot about the bad things Ethan Yang had done to him, and stood up, crying and shouting: "I'm here --- I'm here --- Brother ---"

Ethan Yang had run out of energy, but when he heard Liam Tang's voice, he became energetic again. He ran to Liam Tang and said in surprise and joy: "I finally found you!"

Liam Tang cried loudly, feeling extremely wronged. His hands were dirty, and he smeared himself into a little cat.

Ethan Yang lowered his head and wiped his tears with guilt: "Don't cry, don't cry, I'm sorry, brother..."

Liam Tang didn't say anything and cried breathlessly.

Ethan Yang held his hand and led him home. Liam Tang cried all the way.

After returning home, Ethan Yang was afraid that he would complain to Alexander Yang at night, so he comforted him like a little adult and wiped his face with a snow-white towel. But Liam Tang still cried and couldn't stop crying.

Ethan Yang said at a loss: "Don't cry, we are already home, why are you crying?"

Liam Tang hiccuped and said, "I'm hungry. I've been walking all afternoon. I'm so hungry."

"Then I'll cook for you, don't cry." Ethan Yang said.

Ethan Yang was only 6 years old, and he only knew how to fry eggs, using the small frying pan his mother bought for him. He fried all the remaining 5 eggs in the refrigerator, and put one fried egg on a small plate, some of which were not yet cooked, and some were burnt, and pushed them all in front of Liam Tang.

Seeing the food, Liam Tang finally stopped crying, wiped his tears, sniffed his nose, and started eating the eggs Ethan Yang had fried for him. But after eating three and a half eggs, he started crying again.

Ethan Yang was so confused that he asked, "Why are you crying again?"

Liam Tang cried and said, "It's too much. I can't eat it anymore."

Ethan Yang glared at him: "If you can't eat it, then don't eat it!"

Liam Tang cried and said, "It would be a waste of food if we don't eat it."

Ethan Yang grabbed the small porcelain plate in front of Liam Tang and said, "Then I'll eat it. I'm also starving to death." After that, he ate the remaining one and a half eggs in two or three bites.

He devoured the food in a flash, eating so fast that Jun He was stunned. He forgot to cry for a moment and smiled with tears in his eyes, saying, "You eat so fast."

Ethan Yang blinked his big, sincere eyes, looked at Jun He and said, "I found you and brought you home. I also cooked for you and helped you eat the leftovers you couldn't finish. Is that okay with me?"

Jun He thought about it seriously and said, "It was good just now."

Ethan Yang got anxious and slammed the table and yelled: "Just now, okay?"

Liam Tang was frightened by his shout, and said with an averted look: "It's not good if you keep scaring me."

Ethan Yang waved her hand and said, "I won't scare you anymore."

Liam Tang looked at him timidly, obviously not believing him. His two eyeballs were like two round black agates, reflecting Ethan Yang clearly.

"Really?" Ethan Yang hesitated. "Well, then don't tell my dad that I lost you this afternoon..."

Liam Tang looked at him and bargained in a childish voice: "If you don't scare me in the future, I won't tell you."

"I will never scare you again!" Ethan Yang vowed, pinching Liam Tang's face and asking, "What's your name? I was looking for you just now, and I wanted to call your name, but I couldn't remember it."

Liam Tang said it honestly, Ethan Yang repeated it several times and said: "Why is it so hard to remember? Forget it, I'll just call you brother."

After this happened, Liam Tang started to stick to Ethan Yang. He was unfamiliar with Runcheng, and the psychological trauma of getting lost made him stick to Ethan Yang.

Although they were only one year apart in age, Ethan Yang looked much older than Jun He. Tang Jun He grew up later than other children of the same age, was shy and didn't like to talk. Ethan Yang, however, was a leader among the children, and at a young age, he established his authority among the children in the surrounding area. He was also taller than his peers, with long and straight legs, and he could run away in a flash.

In the first few times when Liam Tang went out to play with him, he would always rush to look for his brother after a while. Later, he knew that Ethan Yang would come back to find him after running for a while, so he stood there obediently waiting for Ethan Yang.

Liam Tang had soft hair and a white, chubby face. Ethan Yang would always touch him with his dirty hands. After a day of playing, his face was clean, but Liam Tang became a dirty child.

After being scolded by Alexander Yang several times, Ethan Yang would wipe Liam Tang's face with a towel every time he took him home.

In Ethan Yang's eyes, Liam Tang is not his good friend, nor his younger brother, but his little toy.

Half a month passed, and Liam Tang was still wary of Alexander Yang and refused to call him dad. However, he was very clingy to Ethan Yang, calling him brother all the time.

On the day Liam Tang was sent away, Ethan Yang stood downstairs to see him off. He watched him being carried into the car by Alexander Yang, and said goodbye to him sensibly, "Brother."

"Okay, go home," Alexander Yang said to Ethan Yang before getting in the car, "Close the door yourself. I'll take my brother back to his own home first and will be back later."

"Oh." Ethan Yang was dejected and reluctant to leave, but suddenly he seemed to be in high spirits as if he remembered something. His eyes lit up and he said, "Dad, wait a minute. I'll go back and get something!"

Alexander Yang got into the car and fastened his seat belt. Before Ethan Yang came out, he started the car and slowly drove away from the gate of the community as it was getting dark.

Liam Tang turned his head and looked back. He was still waiting for Ethan Yang, who would definitely come out. But he didn't dare to ask Alexander Yang to stop the car. To him, Alexander Yang was still a stranger.

After the car drove two hundred meters, Liam Tang saw Ethan Yang running out from the gate of the community and running towards them.

"Brother!" Liam Tang shouted.

Alexander Yang, who was driving, was stunned for a moment. His youngest son had never spoken so loudly in front of him. He tilted his head and asked, "What's wrong, Jun He?"

"Brother is chasing us," Liam Tang knelt down in the back seat of the car, excitedly patted the rear window, turned around and shouted to Alexander Yang, "Uncle, please stop the car!"

The word "uncle" made Alexander Yang feel mixed emotions. He stepped on the brakes, stopped the car, opened the door and got out, and shouted to Ethan Yang from a distance: "Slow down, slow down, don't fall down."

Ethan Yang caught up with him, panting heavily, holding a Transformer in one hand, and said breathlessly: "Give this to your brother, let him take it home to play with..."

Liam Tang sat in the car, trying to open the door, but after fiddling with it for a long time he failed and was sweating with anxiety.

Alexander Yang came over to help him open the car door. Ethan Yang came over, his face flushed from running, and stuffed two Transformers into Jun He's arms, saying generously, "Don't you like playing with these? I'll give them to you."

Liam Tang was holding two domineering Transformers, wanting them but not daring to take them, and half-heartedly refused, "My mom said that I can't just take other people's things..."

Ethan Yang was full of pride: "Your brother said, if he gives it to you, just take it!"

Just like that, Liam Tang, holding two priceless Transformers, returned from the bustling city center with tall buildings to the desolate suburbs with demolitions everywhere, and returned to his mother Grace Tang.

After Liam Tang was sent home, he always asked Grace Tang over and over again when he could see his brother again and when he could invite his brother to his home to play.

In the beginning, Grace Tang would answer him a few times symbolically, but as he was asked more and more times, he became a little emotional. Every time he heard this question, he would ignore him and sometimes even wipe away his tears secretly.

In Liam Tang's innocent description, Alexander Yang's home was a magnificent palace, and Ethan Yang was the pampered little prince in the palace. The two Transformers that Ethan Yang gave to Liam Tang were quietly placed on the TV cabinet with peeling paint, looking down on the other old and dilapidated furnishings in the house without any disguise.

Grace Tang worked as a clothes watcher at a clothing stall in a shopping mall. She had passed by the children's section of the mall countless times. The toys there were shockingly expensive. Every time, she would walk past in a hurry with her brows lowered, not daring to stay for even a second.

The two Transformers that Liam Tang brought back were taller and more exquisite than those in the mall, and undoubtedly more expensive, but Alexander Yang's son gave away two of them at once, which made Grace Tang feel more and more depressed and miserable.

Grace Tang was pregnant at the time, and hurriedly found a place to live in an old building area in a neighboring city of Runcheng. There was nothing good about this place except that the rent was cheap. There were densely packed, dusty, low-rise buildings everywhere. It was dry and cold in the winter and damp in the summer. There was only a rare moment at noon every day when you could see the bright sunshine outside.

But in the past two years, with the introduction of a policy from above, this dilapidated old city has been transformed into the territory of Runcheng, and housing prices have risen faster than a rocket, and rents have naturally risen as well. This has forced Grace Tang to live frugally, and even when buying a box of toilet paper, he has to stand in front of the supermarket shelf and hesitate for a long time to compare.

Grace Tang was not without opportunities to "get out of poverty". When Alexander Yang found this place, the first thing he asked was, "Why are you living here? Is this a place for people to live? Come on, I'll find you a place to live so you don't have to suffer here anymore."

At that time, Grace Tang glanced at him with great dignity and said, "Go back to where you came from. Who wants your two stinky money?" Just like that, Alexander Yang swallowed the rest of his words back into his stomach.

One night, Grace Tang made sweet and sour pork ribs for Liam Tang. Liam Tang licked his fingers while eating and said, "Mom, let's ask Brother Ethan Yang to come and try it next time."

When Grace Tang heard this, a feeling of sadness rose up her throat. She put down her chopsticks, grabbed Liam Tang's arm and asked him, "Tell mom, is your brother's family big?"

Liam Tang used his two white lotus-like arms to gesture: "It's really big."

Grace Tang asked again: "Does the clothes my brother is wearing look good?"

Liam Tang nodded seriously: "It's good-looking, and my brother is also good-looking."

Grace Tang suddenly started to cry. She turned her head and wiped her tears, saying, "Those should all be yours. Do you understand?"

Liam Tang naturally didn't understand, but he looked at Grace Tang confusedly and nodded timidly.

After that incident, Liam Tang never mentioned Ethan Yang in front of Grace Tang again. He knew that his mother would cry whenever he mentioned his brother, and he couldn't let her be sad.

However, although he didn't mention it, he still thought of Ethan Yang often.

Because of Grace Tang, other children in the alley were hinted not to play with Liam Tang. Liam Tang didn't have many friends, and no one was nice to him except Grace Tang. The little kindness Ethan Yang showed him became the only bright spot in his childhood, making the rest of the days dull.