Brotherly Disrespect

Xie Wenyu opened his mouth wide and said in disbelief: “…you are my Ge¹?”

Xie Wenkai bypassed him and entered the house with the suitcase. When passing by, Xie Wenyu heard his brother say a word: “Fool.”

Well, this is his Ge.

Xie Wenyu followed into the room, sat at the dining table, and kept his eyes on Xie Wenkai. To be honest, Xie Wenyu was greatly shocked. He haven’t seen him for half a year and his brother is like a different person. He is tall and strong, and his expression and temperament have changed a lot. Xie Wenyu looked at his brother’s bulging biceps for a few more seconds, and his eyes showed a hint of envy.

“Mom, you can also send me to military training.” Xie Wenyu looked away and said to Mother Xie.

Mother Xie: “Send you to military training, I guess you will call mom on the first day and cry and say you are going home.”

Xie Wenyu pursed his lips. Thinking of the hard training and environment, he quickly dismissed the idea.

When eating dinner, Mother Xie picked up a lot of meat for the eldest son. She felt that the food in the camp must be bad, so she put the largest steak and lamb leg on Xie Wenkai’s plate.

Xie Wenyu hadn’t committed a crime for half a year. With his hand, he reached out to grab the meat on his brother’s plate. Mother Xie knocked off his hand with a chopstick and said angrily: “There are so many here, what are you doing with your Ge’s meat?”

Xie Wenyu: “His meat looks better.”

Mother Xie: “The meat from the same cow and fried in the same pot are all the same!”

Xie Wenyu: “Then his is bigger!”

Mother Xie: “If you don’t bully your Ge for a day, your skin will itch, right?”

Xie Wenyu said innocently: “How can this be called bullying my Gege? In ancient times, there was Kong Rong who gave away bigger pears² and now there is Wenyu who is giving away cows. The bigger piece is for my Ge, and the smaller piece is for me.”

It sounded very aggrieved. Xie Wenkai twitched the corner of his mouth, raised his hand, and put his plate directly in front of Xie Wenyu.

The porcelain plate collided with the table, making a slight crisp sound. Xie Wenyu looked at his brother: “Give it to me?”

Xie Wenkai let out an “en”, his face was expressionless, no emotion could be seen.

Xie Wenyu looked surprised, feeling that his brother had really changed a lot. He didn’t get angry or cry. Xie Wenyu is a person who shines when given a little sunshine, and floods when given a little flood. He hasn’t gotten along with his brother for half a year, but his brother is still the one who tolerates him in everything. This made Xie Wenyu very proud. After that, he did a lot of things like pushing his nose on his face³.

For example, Xie Wenkai was going to junior high school, and their parents bought him a new schoolbag. Xie Wenyu yelled that he liked it so much and that he wanted it too, so Xie Wenkai gave him the new schoolbag.

For example, on Christmas day, the family wants to buy cakes to celebrate, Xie Wenkai wants to eat chocolate-flavored cakes, and Xie Wenyu wants to eat chestnut-flavored cakes. Xie Wenkai looked at him, didn’t respond, just nodded, and said to his mother, “Then chestnut-flavored.”

Another example is during New Year’s Day, when Mother Xie prepared New Year’s gifts for her two sons respectively. The eldest son is a set of foreign limited edition Lego, and the younger son is a customized model sports car. Mother Xie put a lot of thought into bringing gifts home according to the preferences of her two sons. She never imagined that a gift would cause a bloodbath.

Xie Wenyu liked cars since he was a child, especially cool sports cars. He was very surprised by the gift from his mother. But after seeing his brother’s gift, Xie Wenyu felt that his own gift was not that good (in the eyes of young master Xie, the food in other people’s bowls is always more delicious).

Xie Wenyu’s skin was itchy again. He couldn’t help but walk into his brother’s room, wanting to grab his brother’s Lego to play.

This time, Xie Wenkai didn’t give in, as if he couldn’t bear it anymore. He put the Lego on the top shelf of the bookcase. With Xie Wenyu’s height, he definitely couldn’t get it.

Undeterred, Xie Wenyu stepped on his feet and jumped a few times. But he realized that it was simply out of reach, so he got angry and accused his brother: “You are so stingy!”

Xie Wenkai: “Get out.”

Xie Wenyu went out angrily.

But he would be damned if he could be obedient. In the middle of the night, while Xie Wenkai was asleep, Xie Wenyu sneaked into his brother’s room again. He moved the chair in front of the desk to the cabinet, then stepped on the chair to successfully get the Lego he coveted placed on the top shelf of the bookcase.

After getting the Lego, Xie Wenyu moved the chair back to its original position, making a little noise inevitably.

“Xie Wenyu…?”

Xie Wenkai’s voice suddenly sounded in the quiet room.

The next second, the bedside wall lamp was turned on, and in the bright orange light, Xie Wenkai clearly saw Xie Wenyu standing in front of his desk, holding his beloved Lego toy in his hand.

At that moment, the temperature around Xie Wenkai dropped sharply, and his eyes looked like knives quenched with sparks. He got out of bed and walked towards Xie Wenyu. It was the first time Xie Wenyu saw his brother showing such an expression that was close to anger, and he panicked. He hid the Lego behind his back, and at the same time opened his watery eyes, blinking and blinking at his brother.

Unmoved, Xie Wenkai stretched out a hand: “Give it back to me.”

Xie Wenyu said in a low voice: “I’ll just take a look, can’t I just take a look?”

The communication was fruitless. Xie Wenkai clasped Xie Wenyu’s shoulders, turned him around, cut his hands behind his back, and snatched the Lego from him neatly.

Xie Wenyu was bewildered by his smooth movements. In his ten-year-old mind, it seemed that this kind of situation would only happen when the police caught bad guys in TV dramas.

Thinking of this, Xie Wenyu was not willing to be caught by him without a fight. He struggled hard twice, but failed to break free.

Since Xie Wenkai came back from military training, his strength has become very strong. Xie Wenyu knew that he couldn’t fight his brother; he was not his brother’s opponent. His two round eyes rolled around, and suddenly, he stepped back hard on his brother.

Xie Wenkai grunted and let go of him. Xie Wenyu swished out like a nimble fish, not forgetting to take his brother’s Lego toys before going out.

Now Xie Wenkai was really angry. He strode forward and grabbed Xie Wenyu’s arm, and without a word, threw Xie Wenyu to the ground with an over-the-shoulder fall.

There was a dead silence in the room.

Xie Wenyu was completely stunned. He didn’t expect his brother to do this. The moment his back touched the ground, he felt a tingling sensation from his tailbone to his shoulders—he couldn’t tell whether it was pain or fright.

When he was in a daze, Xie Wenkai bent down, took the Lego back from his hand again, patted the dust on it, and put the Lego back on the bookcase.

In fact, Xie Wenkai was sensible. It was winter, and there was a layer of soft carpet on the ground, so it wouldn’t hurt very much to fall on it. After placing the Lego, Xie Wenkai turned his head, stared at the dull-faced person lying on the ground, and said, “Have you had enough trouble?”

Xie Wenyu’s pupils trembled.

This strength, this skill, this aura, is he still the person who would cry when he was bullied?

“Get out when you’ve had enough trouble.” Xie Wenkai issued an order to evict the guests.

Xie Wenyu was also shocked by the disparity in strength between him and his brother and his brother’s strong aura. As for what his brother was saying, he didn’t listen carefully at all, but nodded subconsciously, and then walked out of the room using his hands and feet (the child was overly frightened).

After that night, Xie Wenyu developed a habit. Every day after school, he would go to the playground to run two laps and then go home. There was no other reason. Xie Wenyu was worried that he would be beaten up by his brother one day in the future.

Due to the increase in the amount of exercise, Xie Wenyu’s appetite also increased, and his size grew rapidly, growing to 1.65 meters in two years.

For a twelve-year-old boy, 1.65 meters is already very tall.

But he is still a head behind Xie Wenkai. Every time he talks to his brother, Xie Wenyu always has to raise his head slightly. This makes Xie Wenyu very upset. It’s as if he will always be behind his brother in terms of momentum, and he will not be able to catch up no matter how hard he chases.

He has been secretly competing with his elder brother, but Xie Wenkai has become much more mature and stable. In his eyes, his younger brother Xie Wenyu’s words and deeds are extremely childish, and he doesn’t bother to care about them.

And Xie Wenkai discovered a phenomenon. As long as he doesn’t care about it, Xie Wenyu will stop soon, and once he cares about it, or once he gives some reaction, Xie Wenyu will make progress.

But the ruler is still conservative. Xie Wenyu is almost a thousand meters away.

So now, Xie Wenkai tried his best to ignore Xie Wenyu’s various lowly behaviors. As long as he ignored Xie Wenyu, Xie Wenyu would automatically stop his flag and drums.

Xie Wenyu naturally noticed that his brother was not as easy to get angry and cry as before. He finds it very strange, and attributed the reason to the half-year military training. He asked his brother seriously: “Are you going to be a special soldier?”

It’s understandable not to cry, after all, he has grown up, but why is it so rare for him to even smile now?

Xie Wenkai replied: “If you don’t bother me, I will laugh.”

As soon as these words came out, Xie Wenyu gritted his teeth and threw himself on his brother’s bed like a missile, messing up all the tofu cubes his brother had just folded.

Xie Wenkai’s forehead twitched: “Are you sick?”

“You’re the only one who is sick!” Xie Wenyu had the guts to be mean, but didn’t have the guts to suffer the consequences. After speaking, he fled his brother’s room at the fastest speed in his life.

¹(哥哥) gege or (哥) ge – older brother

²(孔融让梨) Kong Rong Gave Away Bigger Pears – Chinese Idiom Story, it tells the story of Kong Rong giving away the bigger pears to his elder brothers and younger brothers, leaving himself with the smallest one. It is commonly used to educate children.

³(蹬鼻子上臉) – (not very sure about its literal translation (・–・;)ゞ) Chinese idiom, it means to be insatiable, to push one’s luck