Chapter 2 — Ending the Parasitic Life

My father sighed, "We are neighbors and relatives; everyone knows Fei Thanh Tai is my nephew. Even if you are angry at my mother, don't drag a child into this..."

My mother cut him off immediately. "Oh, is that giant, hulking creature still a ‘child’? Only his grandparents would spoil Fei Thanh Tai into such a state of arrested development. Turning a college entrance exam hall into a kindergarten classroom, unable to control his own bowels—it is utter filth. People we know have already called our home to complain. You better start thinking about how you are going to face your boss at work tomorrow."

While my parents argued, I kept my eyes fixed on the notifications flooding my phone. I am not exaggerating; from the moment the entrance exam concluded, the story of my cousin defecating in the examination room had gone viral. On Weibo, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu, the relevant local keywords had climbed into the top three trending topics. Many other students in that exam hall were significantly affected. One girl vomited on the spot, then burst into uncontrollable sobs, overwhelmed by the chaos. Some students even took to the internet to declare that they would absolutely never forgive my cousin.

The next day, after finishing work, my father went to the hospital out of a sense of obligation. Inside the ward, my cousin was nonchalantly playing video games, looking as robust and healthy as ever. My grandmother stood beside him, clutching a bowl of chicken soup and hovering with doting anxiety. "My dear grandson, come on, have a sip of this soup."

My cousin frowned, eyeing the thick layer of grease floating on the broth. "That looks disgusting! Take it away, I won't drink it!"

The more he insulted her, the more tender my grandmother’s expression became, as if her love would remain incomplete if she could not force-feed him. "My sweet boy, just one sip, please!" She held the spoon in one hand and the bowl in the other; her long, yellowed fingernails were submerged directly into the broth. As she leaned in closer, my cousin irritably shoved her arm away. The steaming, pungent chicken soup splashed all over the front of her clothes.

"Ah!"

"Mother!"

My cousin snapped with rage, "I told you not to get so close! Look at this, the soup still has chicken feathers in it—how do you expect me to drink that?"

My father entered the room and steadied my grandmother. "Thanh Tai, is that any way to speak to your elder?"

My cousin was not intimidated in the slightest; instead, he sneered, "Uncle Two, shouldn't you be at the company working like a pack mule? Why are you running over here?"

My father was shaking with suppressed anger. "Is this the attitude you show your elders? Where are your parents? I want to ask them exactly how they raised you!"

My cousin pursed his lips. "Go ahead and look for them! My parents are busy with important business; they aren't like you, Uncle Two, with nothing better to do than hover over other people's children every day."

Just as my father prepared to give him a lecture, my grandmother intervened. "Thanh Tai just recovered, you are not allowed to bully him!"

The damp, greasy clothes my grandmother wore emanated such a foul stench that my father involuntarily stepped back. My cousin, sitting on the hospital bed, remarked, "Uncle Two, trying to win my favor now is useless!"

My father looked at him as if he had lost his mind. "Winning your favor?"

My cousin looked smug and arrogant. "Exactly! Nothing in this world is done without a hidden motive! My mock exam scores were always high enough for the top universities in the country; even if I stumbled on the last subject, any top-tier school is at my disposal! Uncle Two, I know you well—you don't have a son, and Fei La Ky is clearly destined for nothing more than a vocational college! You act so concerned here at the hospital; isn't it because you want to rely on me in the future? If the ancestors of the Fei family are to be honored, it will be through my success!"

My father stood frozen for a moment before he finally exploded. "I would rather go to my grave than ever need anything from a delusional idiot like you! Mother, this is the grandson you have spoiled into this state! Defecating in an exam hall wasn't enough; now he’s spewing filth in front of me as well!"

Upon hearing the words "defecating," my cousin turned deathly pale. My grandmother was even more agitated than he was. "Shut your mouth! Who gave you the right to mention that! Thanh Tai… that was irritable bowel syndrome! You are just jealous and insecure! Who told you that Thanh Tai isn't as good as your own son!"

My father was kicked out of the hospital room. When he returned home, he recounted the event to my mother. She had long since lost any illusions about my grandmother. "Is it any surprise? Haven't your mother treated La Ky exactly like this for over a decade? Your brother and sister-in-law have been doing very well in the stock market lately. Now that Fei Thanh Tai is about to be admitted to a prestigious university, your mother has no use for you anymore."

My father laughed bitterly, feeling the sting of the betrayal. "‘No son,’ ‘trying to win favor,’ ‘ancestors being honored’—these aren't words a young person thinks up on their own. It must be what my brother and sister-in-law say at home constantly, and Thanh Tai has just internalized it. I used to think my brother still saw me as his younger sibling. After all, they bought a house in our neighborhood, our children went to the same school for ten years, and they would occasionally check in on us. I thought it was genuine concern, but looking back now, it was all just for comparison and showing off!"

My mother was even more frustrated. "Years ago, my sister-in-law opened a clothing store right across from my office. When my colleagues walked by to browse, she would immediately ask if they worked in the same department as me, prying about salaries, bonuses, and annual benefits. When my colleagues didn't want to talk, she would scowl and curse them as ‘poor losers’ once they left. Is that what you call ‘familial concern’? Isn't it obvious that she was afraid of us suffering, but even more terrified of us succeeding?"

My parents continued their bitter discussion, but I stopped listening. Thinking back, my uncle's family always maintained a strange form of "concern"—covertly monitoring our lives while pretending everything was normal. They would use convoluted ways to ask about our income, and their reactions would vary from hidden joy to open disdain or a disappointed "iron failing to become steel."

Everything truly shifted when my cousin and I entered elementary school. I never had much of a natural talent for academics. Despite my best efforts, my grades remained stubbornly average. My cousin, by contrast, spent his days playing games and causing trouble, yet his test scores were always at the top of the class. My parents initially hired tutors and had me drill endlessly, but after years of wasted effort, they accepted a hard truth: I was, quite simply, mediocre. My cousin was a "self-taught genius." Consequently, I was the target of endless mockery.

Feeling resentful, I gathered all my tests from the past year. Days before the entrance exam, many students had shredded their textbooks and notes, tossing them into the air like white snow—a romantic, grand farewell to their youth. I didn't join in. I wanted to sell my papers for scrap to make a few dozen yuan, a pathetic price for all those years of hard work. But my grades weren't worth anything more, were they?

Suddenly, my phone chirped. It was a new post on the school's anonymous bulletin board: 【Stop idolizing these 'academic gods,' especially the one who had a diarrhea incident in the exam hall!】

It turned out a junior student had auctioned off a set of study materials left behind by my cousin. She had paid a fortune, expecting to uncover secret methods. Instead, the stack was full of blank pages or crude doodles. Even worse, there were sheets filled with his vile, misogynistic remarks about various girls: "She's good for a one-night stand," and other vulgarities that would make a sailor blush.

The junior student demanded a refund. My cousin didn't just refuse; he arrogantly scolded her, boasting that he would score over 700 on the exam and that she should worship him. She wrote a scathing, ten-thousand-word expose with screenshots as proof: 【I want to see exactly how much this pervert scores!】

Seven hundred points? My cousin had indeed topped the mock exams before. Because my grades were so poor, my parents never used him to belittle me, but I suddenly recalled his recent exam scores:

Me: 360 points. Cousin: 720 points.
Me: 356 points. Cousin: 712 points.
Me: 345 points. Cousin: 690 points.

My scores hovered around 350, while his were always over 700! Every single time, his score was exactly double mine. That… that is just too much of a coincidence, isn't it?