Passion Raga Novel (Completed) - Chapter 59

Ling Tangyun, who was past fifty, typically frowned when talking about his youngest brother, who was only about half his age. It seemed to be a habit.

He paused, flicked the cigarette ash, and continued casually.

“That kid will climb out of any bottomless pit you throw him into in no time. Moreover, where he’s going isn’t even the bottom. It’s just that dealing with goods with complicated distribution processes and risks is a headache, but what he’s going to learn is clearly something that ‘brains’ should do. …In other words, he’ll see more dirty and sordid things than other fields, but sooner or later, that’s one of the things he was destined to learn anyway.”

Having said that much, Ling Tangyun took exactly one more drag from his cigarette. The conversation paused for a moment. He exhaled a puff of smoke, then stubbed out the still-long cigarette, indirectly signaling that he had no more to say on the matter.

Ling Tangyun tilted his head slightly and looked at Yuri. His slender eyes, observing Yuri, were calmly smiling.

“You seem very worried about Xinlu. As his elder brother, it’s quite reassuring. Thank you for looking after our youngest so well.”

“…No, it’s nothing. It’s something I ought to do.”

Yuri shook his head. But Ling Tangyun chuckled softly and waved his hand.

“No, if you’re saying that to me, aren’t you genuinely worried about Xinlu? You, who knows better than anyone what can and cannot be said, and to whom, are saying this to me.”

Ling Tangyun’s voice was as usual. Flexible and smooth, like a generous uncle.

But now, he was clearly telling Yuri.

That what Yuri had just said had crossed a line he shouldn’t have. He wasn’t going to take any immediate action against Yuri for it. The words would be buried as if nothing had happened.

But Yuri had crossed a line, and Ling Tangyun had given a warning about it. To not step any further.

“Well… regardless, my thanks for taking good care of Xinlu are sincere. And I honestly never thought you had such a forward personality, so it was quite interesting to see an unexpected side of you.”

Ling Tangyun said, smiling broadly. The warning concluded there, and he resumed the face of a close friend.

In that case, Yuri, too, had to return to his usual friendly demeanor.

“I didn’t even realize I would say such a thing myself. …I just wish Ling Xinlu lives a fulfilling life.”

“Oh my. I, too, am living a fulfilling life, believe it or not.”

Ling Tangyun gave a wry laugh and patted his stomach. His belly, fleshy like that of a typical uncle his age, jiggled.

Yes, such a life would be good too.

Yuri thought, looking at Ling Tangyun.

Ling Tangyun, though cold, selfish, and even malicious to outsiders, was a person who lived without looking back or hurting himself. Yuri thought that wasn’t bad either.

Next to Yuri, Ling Tangyun said, “Oh, I’ve lingered too long. I should get going now,” and turned to leave. He paused just as he was about to turn completely. And he stared blankly over Yuri’s shoulder.

“Why are you standing there like a totem pole? If you came, you should have said something. And what in the world are you wearing?!”

Yuri turned his head towards where Ling Tangyun was staring with wide eyes. Fei, dressed bizarrely in a thick padded jacket over his swimsuit, was standing there, shivering, as if he’d been there for a while.

His usually cheerful and playful face held an innocent concern, and he blinked his eyes.

“No, it sounded like you were having a serious conversation. I didn’t want to get involved and get my head bitten off for nothing. Are you done talking now?”

“Isn’t my dad secretly petty?”

Fei’s muttered words, accompanied by a subtle eye-smile, came about when he had bobbed through the pool three times, head peeking out of the water like a frog, flapping his limbs.

Fei was dismayed to learn that breaststroke was a swimming style that could hardly ever look cool, but even though it would be hard to impress the young lady he liked, he still had to learn it since he was going to compete. So, glumly, he listened to Yuri’s instructions with rapt attention.

It didn’t take long for Fei, who already had good basic athletic skills, to manage to go back and forth across the pool in a breaststroke-like posture.

Fei quickly grasped the knack, and as if he’d forgotten his despair about how such a ridiculous pose could win a lady’s heart, he soon splashed playfully back and forth in the pool with that very humorous posture.

And so, after three trips across the pool, by which time he was familiar enough with breaststroke not to need any more advice from Yuri, Fei, who had been pondering and swaying in the water, suddenly blurted out, My dad is secretly petty.

Yuri, who had just finished swimming a lap and came out of the water, looked at Fei. Fei smiled a bitter, awkward smile.

“He’s the kind of person who remembers what’s said, even if it’s said with a smile. And even though he criticizes himself, he doesn’t like others criticizing him. Our family members often grumble among themselves about family matters, but he gets very upset if it comes from an outsider’s mouth. Uncle Yuri, you knew that, so why did you do it?”

Fei spoke with an expression that was more sympathetic than reproachful, and it seemed he had heard a good deal of the conversation between Yuri and Ling Tangyun.

It couldn’t be called eavesdropping. They hadn’t been discussing anything secret, and besides, Fei was supposed to come there anyway.

Fei, who had stood in the shade, unable to find the right moment to step in, listening to their conversation, sighed and stood up in the water. Then, he readily leaped onto the ladder on the pool wall and sat down.

“Youngest Uncle will be fine. Don’t worry about the tough work; he’s someone who will learn and master it well on his own. …And though I’ve only heard rumors that that side of the business is a bit dirtier, he’s implicitly seen dirty things since he was young anyway.”

Growing up as a young master in a family with so many tangled connections, how could he not have seen dirty things? Fei said with a laugh. Yuri watched him silently, then nodded.

“Yes. I spoke out of turn.”

“Oh, come on… It was something that was better left unsaid for both of you. People don’t like hearing about their own perceived flaws from others. But it wasn’t so much ‘out of turn’ as anything.”

Well, everyone’s just turning a blind eye anyway, Fei said playfully with a smile.

Yuri looked at this affectionate nephew, who was trying to comfort him in his own way, and shook his head.

“No, I was indeed out of line. The truth is, it wasn’t my place to bring it up. It wasn’t something to say to your father, and there was no reason for me, an outsider, to speak about Ling Xinlu, who isn’t even here. I was wrong.”

It’s understandable that Mr. Ling Tangyun was displeased, Yuri murmured, sighing quietly. Then Fei frowned, feigning exasperation, and said, “Hey, why are you like this?”

He got off the ladder and swam over to Yuri, lightly patting his arm as if to comfort him.

“You said it because you were worried about Youngest Uncle, didn’t you? Even though I understood that, so why wouldn’t my dad?”

“That’s not what I mean. I meant that I prematurely interfered in a matter that Ling Xinlu should decide by his own will. He would hate having no choice more than he dislikes work.”

Yuri clicked his tongue bitterly.

Ling Xinlu didn’t show it much, but he also disliked his mother interfering with the work reserved for him, whether by opposing it or making requests. He was never pleased when others—even his own mother—tried to meddle in his affairs and control him.

Yet, here he was, trying to help him with clumsy worries, even speaking about his family’s affairs, which he shouldn’t interfere with.

This truly felt like a ‘failure’ after a very long time.

“Well… what’s done is done. I’d better formally apologize to your father later. —Thanks for comforting me, Fei.”

In any case, this conversation has now concluded. Things would proceed as decided, and Yuri would only strive to do his best under that decision.

Yuri sighed lightly, shook his head, and nodded at Fei. Then, he suddenly met the eyes of Fei, who had been silently watching him for a while.

“You’re welcome. What are you thanking me for, between us?” Fei said, bowing exaggeratedly, then burst into a light laugh.

“But really, Uncle Yuri, you truly are an ideal employee.”

“What?”

Yuri blinked, tilting his head at Fei’s sudden remark. Fei leaned back and lay on the surface of the water. Floating, he looked at the moon above him and mumbled with a chuckle.

“One of the things my father often told me when I was little was, ‘It would be good to have someone like Yuri working under you.’ My father always coveted Uncle. He said it’s rare to find someone so trustworthy that you can assign work and then forget about it. But he also lamented that there wasn’t much work in our family’s business where Uncle Yuri’s abilities could be effectively utilized.”

Yuri watched Fei silently.

He knew that Ling Tangyun’s occasional passing offers, like ‘If things get tough, come work for me,’ weren’t empty words. If Ling Tangyun had ever seriously pursued a contract, Yuri might have considered it.

However, as Fei said, Yuri’s greatest strength lay in gathering big and small clues to draw valid conclusions, and that ability wasn’t particularly useful in their business. So, they had remained just acquaintances all this time.

“But having grown up hearing my father say things like that, I also unconsciously started to think the same way. That it’s good to have someone like Uncle Yuri close by. …It sounds very calculating when I say it like this, but it’s not entirely like that.”

You know I like you, Uncle, right? Fei asked, smiling brightly, and Yuri chuckled in response.

“Now that I’m older and have learned a bit, I can see it. Whether or not someone can be placed under me and their abilities most effectively utilized. That’s a very important issue for a superior. …So, it’s a bit ambiguous for me too… but I still think so. I’d like to work with Uncle Yuri.”

“Thank you. But there are plenty of people who are better at work than I am. Among your father’s subordinates, you probably couldn’t even count the number of people with abilities similar to mine.”