Chapter 61

After putting down his phone, An Jing stopped communicating with Zhan Mu and just stared out the window.

Another year passed quickly. He took a deep breath, feeling a little guilty and helpless. He knew that this would embarrass Zhan Mu, but because of the special nature of Lu Chao's identity, he had to do this.

He felt that he was very similar to Zhan Mu, for example, the events that happened many years ago.

An Jing was from Xia Country. His mother was from An Country, and his father was from Xia Country. When he was very young, he went to the Blue Island Base with his parents. At that time, the fluorescent disease was still rampant, the miasma was pervasive, and people were in panic. So his family responded and participated in the plan to go to sea.

He was still young at that time, about eight or nine years old. It was his first time to ride in a submarine. Looking at the ocean, the blue waves, and the coral reefs, he found it breathtakingly beautiful. He was also full of novelty and curiosity about this so-called Blue Continent Undersea Base.

He asked, "Dad, are we going to a new world?"

An Xingmin shook his head gravely and replied, "I don't know. This underwater base was a complete accident. In other words, no one would have thought of this situation before the fluorescent disease appeared. Haha, I don't know if humans entering the base will degenerate into marine animals."

"Ah, sounds very confused..." An Jing muttered, but he was playing with a globe in his hand, moving his fingers to make the sphere blurry.

"Don't be afraid, this is what the future holds." An Xingmin, who was reading a book, ruffled his son's hair and replied, "I'm not sure if this decision is right, but little An Jing, Daddy will be with you."

As he spoke, a slim and graceful woman came over, wearing a dark blue windbreaker, a ball-cut high heels, and gave An Jing a kiss on the forehead. She was young and beautiful, exuding an elegant demeanor.

"Mom." An Jing called softly.

It seemed like it was born that way. Although he was just a child, he could clearly tell that his mother was beautiful. Such a decent and bright appearance made him feel proud and fortunate.

"Xingmin, are you seasick?" Tao Yunzhou sat down next to Anjing, put her arm around his shoulders and patted him gently, and spoke softly and tentatively to her husband who was reading a book.

"Don't feel dizzy. Didn't you bring seasickness medicine? Find it and take it yourself." An Xingmin glanced at her with a very arrogant attitude, and the look in his eyes when he looked at his wife was calm without any ripples.

"I just want to talk to you." Tao Yunzhou laughed and regained his composure. He seemed to be aware of his indifferent attitude and no longer expected or cared about it.

The couple sat in silence, the man reading the newspaper, the woman in a daze. An Jing was staring at the jellyfish floating outside the window, his eyes wide with curiosity about nature, and for a moment he didn't notice the subtle relationship between his parents.

The submarine was large and although crowded, fortunately there were not many people on board. They were all elites from the business, political and art circles. They had joined the plan to go to the sea in order to escape the fluorescent disease and the miasma on Earth.

"Mom, I'm going to the bathroom." An Jing got up from his seat, asked the waiter, and walked over briskly.

At this time, he still couldn't understand what the adults were saying.

"Run a school? Sure, sure. Running a school makes money, especially one with foreign capital. Hahaha, you know me, I'm a businessman, and so is my son."

"I have connections in the Central Government. I have Deng Zhengming as my father. We are all gods who have descended to earth. What did they tell me in my dreams? The Jade Emperor's Seven Fairies... Don't you understand?"

"Uh, is this still Earth?"

"Hey, where are you from? You don't even know this. To create a better social life and improve people's well-being, I'm also learning. I didn't have much education before, but I eventually took the exam to get a degree."

"Hey, you tied your wallet to your hand? What is this, the household registration book..."

"As for my money, hahahaha, I had a fight with my husband a few days ago. It was about business. What's there to be afraid of if it goes to the police? I just took the air conditioner apart at home and threw it at them. I have connections in the center. Most people in this world are bullies who only care about the strong and the weak. I can afford to offend them."

"The rules of the world are made by the rich and powerful. If you can't beat them, just join them. Deng Zhengming is no exception; he also came from a poor background. A relative balance is enough. Where does complete fairness and justice exist?"

"No, I really don't understand. What the textbooks teach..."

"That's the purpose of textbooks! They first teach you the right things, but in reality, people's hearts are all the opposite. Only those who can overcome this division and stick to their true nature are considered talented."

"You were born with a nose and eyes, but some people are born with disabilities, blind, deaf and dumb. Can these people be treated fairly? Impossible! Not everyone is strong-willed despite their disability. If you sympathize with them a few times, they will still hate you!"

"I've worked in public welfare before, with charities, but I was really powerless. I invested money, made arrangements, and in the end, very little actually went to charity. I tried my best, but I had so many people working for me, and they all had families to feed. It's easy to say a few words, and it's easy to want to do good things, but it's not easy to get it done!"

"Who can't talk? Who can't write a couple of articles?" An Jing looked at the man, who was taking a long drag on his cigar. He had white hair and a worried look on his face. He sighed, "Who can't flaunt one academic degree after another? Money! Money! Money! Ultimately, it's all about money!"

He pressed his cigar heavily on the table and fell silent, not saying another word.

-

The submarine gradually approached the base. An Jing put his face close to the window to look. In the distance, the white buildings were located in the blue ocean, with transparent dome covers on top, like dazzling scaly gems.

Almost everyone in the submarine exclaimed again.

Soon, they arrived at the base. A transparent passage was opened by the submarine, leading to the light-hardened wall of the Blue Island underwater base. They threw their luggage in first and slid down the passage. Then, one by one, they lay down and slid to their destination.

An Jing was a child, so he was among the first group. As he was nervously and curiously looking at the passage, he suddenly heard a scream from behind him: "Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"

An Jing was unable to dodge and was knocked to the ground by the girl. Looking back, he saw a girl who was about the same age as him, smiling brightly and friendly.

"I've been watching you for a long time. What's your name?" Cheng Jiacheng said with a smile.

She is so cheerful. An Jing sees her liveliness and feels envious of such people.

An Jing answered her, then heard his mother calling him, so he had to say goodbye to Cheng Jiacheng.

-

Arriving at the new home, An Jing was in a daze, looking at the housekeepers coming and going. They all lowered their heads, behaved humbly, and remained silent, showing their class distinctions vividly.

It's a pity that An Jing didn't know what this was called at that time. He was still fiddling with the globe in his hand. Suddenly, his hand slipped and the screws that fixed the sphere loosened. The sphere fell with a clang.

An Jing was about to jump off the table to pick it up, but a housekeeper picked it up first and handed it to him with a flattering smile.

"Thank you." An Jing replied in a daze.

As soon as the words fell, everyone heard the sharp sound of breaking porcelain on the second floor, followed by the roar of dissatisfaction from An's mother: "Me? I have dedicated everything to you! My youth, my career, my future!!"

"Then I'll grant your wish!" An's father slammed the table and shouted angrily, "I asked you if you still wanted to dance? It was you who said you couldn't, and it was you who willingly said you wanted to take care of An Jing. Now that he's grown up, what are you complaining about as a mother?!"

"Yes, I am a mother, but I am just a mother!" Tao Yunzhou seemed irritable and angry. The trivial matters of family life such as rice, rice, oil and salt day after day filled her emotions and accumulated her resentment and irritability.

Tao Yunzhou's eyes were red, and he choked with sobs and cried, "You are so good! You can attend social dinners, you can clink glasses, you can socialize with people, and I... I can't dance for a whole year because I'm pregnant with your child. Even if the stretch marks on my belly recover, I can't wear belly-baring clothes anymore. I can't even go back and dance with them! Do you understand? Am I some kind of chaste woman in your family?!"

"Go ahead and dance! Who's stopping you? You haven't been expelled from your drama troupe!" An Xingmin seemed impatient.

"I can't do it anymore! I just can't do it!" Tao Yunzhou roared, "I can't do it! I dare not wear that kind of skirt anymore! It's all because of you! It's all because I gave birth to your child!"

An Xingmin shouted, "You deserve it! You asked for it! This is how your life will end!"

Tao Yunzhou took a deep breath, glaring at him with red eyes for a long moment. Then, taking small, quick steps, he turned and walked down the stairs without another word. An Jing sat in a daze, somewhat bewildered, marveling at how graceful even the curve of his mother's skirt looked.

An Jing's voice trembled as he asked, "Mom, where are you going?"

Tao Yunzhou froze, turned around, touched An Jing's face, and said with a wry smile: "Be good, mom will come back. Little An Jing, do you like a mother who dances or a mother who cooks for you?"

"Cooking. Mom's cooking is really delicious." An Jing replied.

Tao Yunzhou smiled again, with a hint of bitterness and disgust in it. Finally, she looked up at the study on the second floor. An Xingmin looked down at her with a cold face, as if it had nothing to do with him.

Tao Yunzhou swallowed his grievances and turned away.

At that time, An Jing didn't know that what happened today was the last straw that broke the camel's back in the years of resentment between his parents. That night was also the first time that An Jing ate the food cooked by his father. It was not bad, but it was definitely perfunctory.

The dinner table is also filled with his father's guidance and education.

"What do you think of your mother?" An Xingmin made pork chops, fried them in a pan, squeezed black pepper sauce on them, garnished them with one or two broccoli florets, and put cherry tomatoes on them.

"Mom is fine." An Jing thought the food was very unpalatable, but considering his father's authority, he had to eat it as he enjoyed it.

An Xingmin cut a piece, took a bite, and put it in his mouth. He said, "I mean, your mother is very beautiful, very gentle, and has a top-notch figure. When looking for a woman, you have to look for this kind of woman, someone who can make a man take her out and make others feel respectable."

An Jing didn't quite understand and said "Huh?"

"You're still young, so it's normal that you don't understand. But I will teach you. I don't want you to become a love-sick person, falling in love with a woman. That's stupid, especially in a family like ours. Marriage is something you can't be careless about. There are so many beautiful women in this world, but few are empathetic. People like your mother are good at everything, but they're just never satisfied. In fact, I'm still very satisfied with her. I love you, mom."

An Xingmin seemed to be talking to himself, feeling that he was absolutely right, and passed on his outstanding life experience to An Jing.

An Jing nodded twice. To be honest, what he was thinking about was when his mother would come back, and his father's stubborn principles were still too profound for him.