Chapter 45: Blue Peacock

Xia Cun knew that Jiang Song didn't look like his father, but more like his mother. Although she didn't find a photo of his mother online, she was sure of this because she had met his mother, Ms. Haruka Tanaka, a long time ago.

It was a Saturday, not long after she bought the camera.

She was carrying her camera home. Just as she walked downstairs, a woman in a suit came out of the stairwell. She looked to be in her thirties, like a white-collar worker on TV.

She had never seen this lady before and guessed that she was just here to visit a friend. She then skillfully analyzed which neighbor's friend this lady might be. While thinking, she went upstairs and opened the door.

Xia Lan was washing cups at the kitchen island. Seeing her, she asked her what she had followed today. This question was very similar to asking a paparazzi if he had followed any big scandals, but she was indeed similar to a paparazzi.

She answered Xia Lan that she saw Jiang Song leave the apartment, go to the subway station alone, and then study the route very carefully. Then she followed him all the way to the Wildlife Park Station in the suburbs.

In order to take more photos of Jiang Song, she used her remaining balance to buy a ticket to the zoo and followed him into the park.

There is a wild animal area in the park, which requires a bus tour. If Jiang Song takes the VIP sightseeing bus, she can no longer follow him closely, but he seems to be experiencing life today, taking the subway and the unified sightseeing bus. In the end, she got on the same bus with him.

Then she discovered that classmate Jiang Song seemed to be being taken for a tour. Someone on the bus was talking to him, but he was very smart. He smiled and told others in Japanese that he didn't understand Chinese. She sat quietly in the corner and observed.

She hadn't been to the zoo for a long time, so after entering the zoo, she had to take pictures of not only Jiang Song but also the animals. Fortunately, Jiang Song was quite attentive, so she had time to take care of both tasks.

She followed Jiang Song not too far away and found that he didn't seem to like the animal show and the animal interaction area. He didn't even get close to look at them when he passed by. He seemed to like giant pandas and koalas. He looked at them for a long time when he passed by... Until she passed by the bird area, she lost Jiang Song.

The reason was that she found a blue peacock chick, strolling leisurely by the pond, looking very young. Its feathers were still a gray-brown down, without the luster of an adult blue peacock. Only the down on its chest glowed a little emerald blue in the sunlight.

The peacock also noticed her, tilted its neck towards her camera, and then moved closer to her. Xia Chuang put down the camera and looked at the little peacock. Suddenly, it shook its feathers, and its tail feathers suddenly rose up.

It looks like it is spreading its tail feathers, but because it has not yet grown its gorgeous long tail feathers, it looks more like a sparse feather fan, and the tips of the feathers tremble when the wind blows.

“…”

I feel so stupid.

Except for Xia Cun, no one noticed the little peacock spreading its feathers, because at the same time, an adult blue peacock spread its gorgeous blue feathers on the lawn nearby, attracting a crowd of people to watch and take pictures. Xia Cun saw that the little peacock was all alone, so he had to take a few pictures of it, and only then did the little peacock put away its pitiful tail.

When she looked for Jiang Song again, she found that she had lost him.

After hearing this, Xia Lan smiled and said, "It turns out that Jiang Song's status is not even as high as that of a little peacock."

Xia Cun didn't respond, but put down his bag, washed his hands and went to the refrigerator to find something to eat, but the refrigerator was empty.

Seeing her suddenly become depressed, Xia Lan asked her, "What's wrong? Did you miss lunch?"

"Because the rest of my pocket money was used to buy tickets."

"Hey, how pitiful." Xia Lan teased with a sly smile on her face, "You're spending a fortune on Jiang Song."

So Xia Lan began to regret the fact that their family had no relatives, which resulted in Xia Cun receiving no New Year's money every year except for Han Fu's red envelope. So he didn't have his own little treasury for all these years. Some time ago, he even used his future pocket money to "borrow" to buy a camera. How pitiful.

While Xia Lan was talking, Xia Cun had already found a bucket of instant noodles, filled it with hot water, and sat on the carpet beside the coffee table, waiting for it to soak. She had become immune to Xia Lan's constant teasing of her like a child, but at this moment, Xia Lan suddenly approached and pressed her head. She looked up at her, her expression a little dazed.

Xia Lan then sat on the other side of the coffee table, holding her chin with one hand and looking at her.

Although she still looked lazy, Xia Cun found that she was different from before. She seemed more serious and serious. She blinked and asked her, "Do you have anything to say?"

"Xia Zuncheng, we just had a guest at home. She's the secretary of a woman named Haruka Tanaka. I think you should know who she is, right?"

Xia Cun's back stiffened and he looked at Xia Lan.

Xia Lan continued, "She seems to have known about you following Jiang Song for a long time, but she didn't take it seriously at first. But recently you bought a camera, and she seems to be a little concerned. What should I do?"

Xia Lan had anticipated this situation and had been prepared for it. After all, a young master like Jiang Song wouldn't leave home without a bodyguard or two. Only a fool like Xia Zuncheng would consider himself an agent or detective. However, this might just be the perfect time for the bubble to burst.

Seeing the child was unusually nervous, Xia Lan asked, "What are you most afraid of?"

Xia Cun frowned, thought for a moment and said, "Will Jiang Song know about this too?"

"Ms. Qiu said that Ms. Tanaka didn't tell him."

Miss Qiu is Ms. Tanaka's secretary in China.

After hearing this, Xia Cun's fur returned to normal and he asked, "So what did she say?"

"She hopes you will stop following and secretly photographing Jiang Song."

Of course, the other party also hoped that as a guardian, she should communicate with the child promptly. After all, when Miss Qiu came to see her, she pretended to be surprised and unaware of the matter. Well, Xia Zuncheng was a minor after all, but if she allowed this to happen, she would easily be arrested as a pervert.

Xia Cun didn't say anything.

Xia Lan thought she looked a bit like a stubborn dog that had put a stone in its mouth and refused to open its mouth even when its owner told it to. But she was a very patient owner, so she could wait forever. Finally, she waited until the girl spat out the stone and asked her, "What if I don't?"

He didn't say "no" directly, which was quite polite.

"If they continue to follow me, they might call the police, or get angry and have the school expel me, which would make me lose my job. It's so scary and cruel."

“But you don’t have a job.”

"Freelancing is also a job. If you put it that way, the streets are full of unemployed people these days."

Xia Cun lowered his head, but...

She quickly raised her head and asked, "Can you give me Miss Qiu's phone number?"

Xia Lan couldn't help but be surprised, perhaps because she didn't expect Xia Cun to be so persistent in this matter. She stared at the girl for a while and said, "You are so brave, Xia Cun."

It was so brave that she was completely overwhelmed, but it was just adorable.

She handed her the business card that Secretary Qiu had left when he came to visit her. Xia Cun contacted the other party in front of her. The other party seemed very surprised and said that he would give her an answer later. The final result was that Ms. Tanaka was willing to fly to H City to meet her.

Secretary Qiu arranged for them to meet at a Japanese restaurant. On the day they agreed to meet, Xia Lan asked her, "Are you sure you don't want your parents to come with you?"

"don't want."

Xia Lan shrugged and went back to her room to continue sleeping.

…

Including today, Xia Cun and Ms. Tanaka have met four times in total. The first two times were at that Japanese restaurant, and the second time was shortly after the start of summer vacation.

As Shinji Mizuno's employer, this trial plan was of course carried out with Ms. Tanaka's consent, or perhaps it could be said that it was planned jointly by the two of them.

It was also during that meeting that Xia Cun added "Yao" as a friend on the list.

Ms. Tanaka said, "Haruka is my name, Tanaka Haruka."

Tanaka Haruka. Haruka Tanaka.

Like her name, she seemed distant and aloof, but she was not as cold as Xia Cun had imagined. On the contrary, she seemed unexpectedly enthusiastic.

At that time, she said to the girl: "I don't use WeChat often in Tokyo, so I may not reply in time, but as long as I see it, I will reply you immediately."

As for the third meeting, it was on Jiang Song’s birthday. She came to Jiang Song’s bedroom, but before she could say much, something interrupted her.

And now, Xia Cun met her for the fourth time.

They sat in the flower arrangement room, where large floor-to-ceiling windows let in light. On the black lacquered table, the newly delivered flowers were placed in low vases. The scent of sandalwood drifted softly, faintly overlapping with the fresh fragrance of the flowers.

Tanaka Haruka sat side by side with Xia Cun, not face to face. Before her stood a heavy, stoneware vase. The focal point was a fresh, lilac hydrangea, fluffy and drooping. Next to the main branch, clematis vines stretched out, tilting slightly to the center, adorned with silver grass and calamus leaves. The lines intertwined and flowed without clutter. The climax of the composition was a tall, bright white lily, leaning slightly forward.

The whole work progresses from low to high, as if depicting the process of gradually emerging from a certain melancholy and low point and walking out of the shadows, like rebuilding from the broken pieces. However, since the visual center is still the drooping hydrangea, the work still carries an lingering sense of melancholy.

After making her final adjustments, she turned to look at the girl next to her, only to find that she had also finished her work. She then said, "I seem to have kept you waiting. I always get so carried away with my work." She observed the girl's work again and pointed out bluntly, "Xiao Xia, you should be the exact opposite, right?"

"...How do you know?"

"Your work says this about its owner."

Xia Cun looked at his work and asked her, "Is this bad?"

"It's not bad, it's very interesting and cute."

The girl chose a glass jar as a flower vase for her work. It is almost difficult to distinguish the main flowers from the auxiliary flowers in the whole work, because each kind of flower is equally eye-catching in this work, as if a person can do countless things at the same time.

In addition to bluebells, baby's breath, eucalyptus leaves and unruly wild daisies, there is also a blue peacock feather. The whole work gives people the feeling of acting entirely on intuition and inspiration, but there is also a strange sense of rhythm, as if chaos is logical.

"Why would you insert a bird feather?"

Xia Cun inserted it last, because she couldn't wait any longer. Her eyes were drifting, and she saw such a decoration in the flower basket at the end of the long table, so she went to pick it out. But why?

Xia Cun told her about the day when Miss Qiu came to her house and she took the picture of the little peacock spreading its feathers when she was following Jiang Song. It was because she had just thought of this that she took the peacock feather when she saw it.

Ms. Tanaka seemed to have made up her mind about the stalking and calmly accepted her explanation. Then she picked up the tea beside her, took a sip, and said, "Xiao Xia, can you tell me what happened between you and Xiao Song? He's been very upset and lost these past few days, but you know, we can't get anything out of him."

He would not tell everyone what was on his mind, but instead he would tell the girl in front of him everything honestly.

In fact, she had wanted to ask her two days ago, but then she thought maybe she could wait a little longer, because Mizuno told her that if Xiaosong acted willfully after knowing the news of his resignation, he would ask Xiaoxia to help, so she thought it would not be too late to ask her in person when she saw her.

She knew that Jiang Song would find it difficult to accept. After all, from the age of 12 to 17, Mizuno was almost the most important teacher in his entire adolescence.

She also knew that Mizuno had wanted to resign a long time ago. He had mentioned this in his third year, but for some reason he changed his mind at that time and continued to do so for another two years. Until this year when he suddenly proposed to make such a farcical plan, she knew that this time it was really over.

Time flies so fast, five years have passed and her child has grown up so fast.

But it's a pity that she still doesn't know what kind of person he is.

So, when the girl said "Because I want to know what kind of person Jiang Song is" when they first met, she was strangely touched——

If possible, I would also like to track my child. I don’t know what kind of person he is.

But it was his heart she wanted to track.

Haruka Tanaka knew that her child would always keep his heart closed, and the one who kept this heart closed was her, the mother.

What kind of person can make him brave enough to open his heart?

After a summer, she and Mizuno seemed to know the answer.

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The author has something to say: Actually, they are two very happy children [burst into tears]

We are both being loved well, but before this summer, we were both a little skeptical about love [burst into tears] No, I don’t get it.