Pokémon: What should I do? My father-in-law always wants to tear me apart

The podium was crowded and bustling. In a far corner, Zhuge An stood there alone, his figure hidden in the interweaving of light and shadow.

He put his hands in his pockets, his eyes like a hawk, fixed firmly on the dazzling trophy in Lin Yi's hand on the stage, his mouth slightly turned down, and he muttered:

"Humph, according to Aesop's fable, if you can't eat the grapes, then they must be sour. I think this trophy must be sour too."

The tone was drawn out, and anyone could hear the sourness in it.

After he finished speaking, Zhuge An seemed to have just come back to his senses. He raised his hand and scratched his head, his brows furrowed, and a hint of doubt appeared on his face.

He first stood on tiptoe, stretched his neck, and slowly turned his head around like a rattle, his eyes moving back and forth between the gaps in the crowd.

"Strange!"

Zhuge An muttered quietly, his expression of confusion becoming more and more intense.

"Ye Feng clearly swore to me that Li Ye had gone to the bathroom. It's been a long time, why is there still no sign of him? Could it be that he fell into a trap?"

He smacked his lips, crossed his arms, tapped the ground impatiently with his toes, and stood on tiptoe from time to time to look around, muttering to himself, his confusion almost written all over his face.

At the same time, in a dark corner of the huge Bird's Nest stadium, Li Ye stood alone, like a lonely figure forgotten by the world.

He held the phone tightly in one hand, the dim light from the screen illuminating his slightly haggard face, and with the other hand he restlessly stroked his iconic yellow hair, his knuckles slightly whitening from the force, and his lips kept opening and closing, as if he was eagerly telling something extremely important.

The voice on the other end of the phone was filled with impatience, like sharp ice chips, piercing straight at me:

"You want me to lend you money? Are you short of money?"

The tone was raised high, full of doubt and disdain.

Li Ye pursed his cracked lips, and did not directly explain the reason for borrowing money. Instead, he slightly raised his head, with a stubborn look in his eyes, and repeatedly assured the other party:

"I will definitely pay you back later, don't worry!"

There was a stubbornness typical of young people in his words, trying to convince the person on the other end of the phone.

"Pay back the money?"

The other party seemed to have heard a huge joke, sneered, and replied in a sarcastic tone,

"What are you going to use to pay me back?" Then, his tone became more and more sharp.

"You seem to be ninth in this competition, right? Although you didn't make it to the top eight and won't get a high bonus, for a student like you, that little bonus is enough. Tell me the truth, what do you want this money for?"

Li Ye seemed to be strangled by someone, and his words were stuck in his throat. A suffocating silence spread.

After a long while, he lowered his eyes and whispered silently:

"Orphanage..." The voice was so soft that it almost disappeared into the air.

"what?"

The other party didn't hear clearly and asked loudly.

Li Ye clenched his phone tightly and repeated with the volume raised:

"There is an orphanage in the suburbs, but the environment there is too bad... The walls are peeling, the facilities are old, and the children live a hard life. I want them to move to the city center and change to a better environment."

When he said this, a light flickered in his eyes, full of expectation.

"What the hell are you talking about!"

The other party interrupted him rudely and refuted him angrily.

"My money is not for charity!"

There was no room for maneuver in the words.

Li Ye still did not give up, took a step forward and said anxiously:

"I will definitely pay you back later. You just need to lend me the money first, and I will pay it back as soon as possible. I will never make it difficult for you!"

"You want to help them so much, why? Are you missing your dead sister?"

The other party's words were like a poisoned blade, accurately hitting Li Ye's pain point.

In an instant, Li Ye's body shook, the hand holding the phone trembled violently, and the blood disappeared from his face.

The next second, he grabbed his hair with both hands out of control, veins popped out on his neck, and he raised his head and yelled at the phone:

"Huang! Fuck you!"

The other party's voice remained steady, even with a hint of amusement:

"If your mother had obeyed me, she and your sister wouldn't have died."

"Shut up!"

Li Ye's eyes widened, and his eyeballs seemed to fall out of their sockets. There were even a few bright red bloodshot veins in the corners of his eyes due to excessive force.

He clenched his teeth, his lips trembled slightly, and he squeezed out the two words with difficulty from between his teeth.

"I shouldn't have had any hope in you, you scumbag!"

These words were almost shouted out, filled with endless anger and despair.

Li Ye's body also began to tremble violently with the excitement. Every time he spoke a word, it seemed as if he had to use up all his strength, so much so that his throat began to ache slightly.

However, the response from the other end of the phone made him even more angry.

"Is it really okay to call me a scumbag? I am your father...even though your mother didn't agree to it at the beginning."

These words were like a sharp dagger that pierced Li Ye's heart, making him feel dizzy in an instant.

Li Ye couldn't bear it any longer. He stretched out his hand and pressed the hang-up button fiercely.

Only a busy tone of "beep beep beep" was heard, as if it was the end of this unbearable conversation.

After hanging up the phone, Li Ye's face was still full of anger and his chest heaving violently.

At this moment, veins on his forehead bulged and beads of sweat the size of beans kept rolling down his cheeks, some of which mixed with tears and blurred his vision.

"Fuck fuck fuck!"

He seemed to be completely consumed by anger, and he kicked twice with all his might, as if venting his anger at the corner of the wall.

"Boom!"

At this moment, the two Poké Balls on his waist sensed the trainer's surging emotions and opened automatically.

Charizard flew out first, its orange-red scales gleaming in the dim light, its broad wings slightly folded, its eyes full of worry.

Immediately afterwards, the giant hornet buzzed its wings, shook its sharp tail stinger, and looked at Li Ye with the same concern.

Seeing this, Li Ye calmed down his expression, took a deep breath, and tried to calm his emotions with his chest heaving violently.

He slowly raised his head and smiled apologetically at the two Pokémon. He tried to raise the corners of his mouth, but his voice was still trembling:

"Phew! Sorry for scaring you guys."

Charizard and Beedrill looked at Li Ye, their eyes full of heartache. Charizard took a step forward and rubbed Li Ye's arm gently with its head, making a low and soft purring sound from its throat, as if to comfort him.

The giant hornet slowly flew around Li Ye, and the breeze from its flapping wings brushed his cheeks, as if helping him dispel the anger and gloom in his heart.

Li Ye raised his hand and touched Charizard's head, then nodded slightly to Beedrill, suppressed the surging emotions in his heart, and whispered to himself:

"Forget it. It's impossible to rely on him. We have to find another way."

"..."

The noise at the award ceremony seemed to be blocked out by an invisible barrier. Li Ye was immersed in his own turbulent emotional vortex and did not notice that Zhuge An was standing quietly in a hidden corner not far from him.

Zhuge An was sitting lazily, holding a bunch of purple grapes with water droplets on them in one hand. The grapes were plump and round, and their color was attractive even in the dim light.

He leaned against the wall, raising his hand from time to time to put grapes into his mouth, chewing with his cheeks bulging, the juice splashing out and staining the corners of his mouth purple.

Seeing Li Ye walking away in a hurry and his figure disappearing around the corner, Zhuge An stood up, swallowed the last few grapes whole, and slowly raised his head as if thinking about something, with a slight frown between his brows and a curious look in his eyes.

"I didn't know this guy could make such an expression. Normally, he always looks calm and unconcerned. This is the first time I've seen him so angry."

Zhuge secretly smacked his lips, his doubts becoming more intense.

"Who is he talking to on the phone? He is so angry that he looks like he wants to eat someone. Could it be that he has offended some ruthless person?"

"puff!"

Zhuge An spat out the grape seeds in his mouth, threw the grape skins accurately into the trash can beside him, clapped his hands, and muttered to himself:

"These grapes are so sour, just like the bitterness that Li Ye expressed during that phone call."

Having said that, there wasn't much disgust in his eyes, instead he seemed to be intrigued.

Then, he crossed his arms over his chest, tilted his head and carefully recalled the scenes of Li Ye losing control just now, and an idea flashed in his mind:

"So Li Ye participated in the Little Phoenix King Cup for the orphanage. Tsk, I underestimated him."

Thinking of this, Zhuge An subconsciously touched his pocket, the corners of his mouth drooped, and he muttered:

"But the little money I have in my pocket is barely enough to fill my stomach. I can't help much."

His eyes wandered, he stared at the ground in thought for a moment, and suddenly his eyes lit up.

Zhuge An held the remaining half bunch of grapes in one hand, and with the other hand he skillfully took out his cell phone from his pocket. He swiped the screen quickly with his slender fingers and dialed the number.

As soon as the phone was connected, he immediately raised his voice and deliberately prolonged the tone:

"Hello? Dad, it's me! Your dear son!"

After a pause, he put on a flattering smile, as if the person on the other side could see it.

"I want to tell you something. Lend me some money. Don't be nervous. I, your son, am going to do something good this time. I will definitely not use the money for fooling around."

At this point, he straightened his back, his voice became louder, and there was an unquestionable certainty in his voice.

"Just give me the money without worry. When the job is done, I guarantee you will be proud of it!"