Chapter 68 Snowy Night

"But people in Jiangcheng love to queue. They like to go wherever there are a lot of people. Even good wine needs to be hidden in a remote alley. My mother used to have to hire people to act as agents when she opened a shop."

"I don't mean anything else," Su Xia continued, her tone very soft, as if she was acting coquettishly, "If you don't like it, I won't do this again in the future."

She said "later".

He didn't speak for a while.

The girl's even breathing paused for a moment, and then she asked, "Xu Jiqing, are you angry with me?"

Xu Jiqing lowered his eyes and his thin lips were slightly parted.

The words he wanted to say went through his throat for a few rounds, but he finally swallowed them down and said, "No."

-

The TV signal at home is unstable. One second it’s showing special effects from a song and dance show, and the next second the screen is full of colored lines.

Children charge and discharge quickly. Xu Jiaojiao had no TV to watch, so she lay in front of the window and watched the fireworks for a while. She felt sleepy early and went to bed.

It snowed heavily on New Year's Eve, with snowflakes falling down steadily.

"You and Jiaojiao go to sleep first. The weather forecast says it will snow until tomorrow morning. I'll go downstairs and push the car back, otherwise the fuel tank will freeze." Lin Yuezhen hurriedly put on her clothes and went downstairs.

She hasn't been back for a long time.

Xu Jiqing looked at the wall clock, waited until half past twelve, picked up his keys and cell phone and went downstairs.

The corridor was dark and silent. The cart had already been pushed in, and there was a layer of melted snow on the plastic sheet.

Pushing open the door to the corridor, the sky and the earth were in darkness. There were two footprints on the thin layer of snow, extending all the way to the night.

Under the street light at the end of the footprints, Lin Yuezhen's thin body was wrapped in a cotton coat, with messy hair, and was hugged by a middle-aged man.

She seemed to be crying. She was caught off guard and saw Xu Jiqing standing there. She obviously shrank back, took a few steps back from the man's arms, and stood far away.

The man had his back to him.

His head and body were covered with fallen snow, and the windbreaker he wore was solemn and inappropriate. He slowly turned around, revealing a face that had been taken off his face, and a pair of eyes that were 70% similar to his.

Seeing Xu Jiqing, he smiled naturally, "It's so tall now."

The heavy snow fell silently, and a few scattered fireworks exploded in the distant night sky, like the classic background of a family reunion in a TV drama.

No one spoke.

Xu Wenyao was not surprised either.

He picked up the shoulder bag on the ground and moved closer to Lin Yuezhen. Like when he was young, he grabbed the woman's trembling hand and put it in his pocket. "Don't get me wrong. It has nothing to do with your mother. I came here on my own."

Xu Jiqing's eyes were dark as he looked at him without saying a word.

The smile on Xu Wenyao's face finally faded away, bit by bit.

Lin Yuezhen lowered her head and stood in the middle, as if she didn't dare to look at anyone again. She sniffed, "Ah Qing... Dad didn't lie to you. I just got off the cart and saw him standing there alone. I don't know how long he's been standing there."

"He had just arrived and had no warm clothes and no place to stay."

Xu Wenyao continued, "Jiaojiao, go to sleep now. It's really tight for you three to live here. I'll just stay for one night and leave tomorrow after finding a place to stay. Don't bother her."

"No need to make any noise."

Xu Jiqing raised his eyes, "She can't sleep when you are here."

Lin Yuezhen's tears were still there, as if she was feeling guilty, but she didn't know to whom. "Today is New Year's Eve, I can't be outside..."

"If you don't have a place to live, go to the relief station. If they don't accept you, go to the bridge."

Xu Jiqing interrupted her, his tone cold and without a trace of the calmness he had just shown.

"If you still have a trace of conscience towards Xu Jiaojiao, you would rather die on the street than come back during the New Year."

Having not seen him for two years, the man was completely surprised to hear him say that.

It was almost one in the morning, and the noise here attracted the attention of the dogs on the first floor, who began to bark in alarm.

Lin Yuezhen was shy and afraid of being seen by the neighbors in the new community, so she took Xu Wenyao's hand and walked forward two steps, looking at Xu Jiqing apologetically.

"If you don't want to go back, then don't go back. Go up and check on Jiaojiao first. I'll... help Dad settle down and be back soon."

As the weather forecast predicted, heavy snow fell all night.

Lin Yuezhen did not come back until dawn.

New Year's Day, the first day of the new year.

It was almost lunchtime when Xu Wenyao and Lin Yuezhen came upstairs, carrying bags and bags of things. They had New Year's gifts, a dress-up doll for Xu Jiaojiao, and even dim sum from who knows where, filling the table with a dazzling display.

Xu Jiaojiao was so frightened that no matter how Xu Wenyao squatted down to show goodwill, she was unwilling to move closer. She held Xu Jiqing's hand tightly and hid behind him.

At the other end of the dinner table, it seemed as if everything had returned to childhood.

At that time, Xu Wenyao still had a job. He was the only college graduate in the family and an accountant that everyone in the factory envied. He earned a lot of money and was good-looking. He and Lin Yuezhen were a perfect match, and they were so in love that everyone envied them.

Aunt Zhang, whom I met once in the tube building, also came with her husband. They were as happy as if they were attending a wedding banquet. She was busy helping Lin Yuezhen prepare a large table of dishes, including chicken and fish. It was more like a real New Year's Eve dinner than the one last night.

She was a woman who knew how to liven up the atmosphere. At the dinner table, she would chat with everyone, all talking about the Xu brothers and sisters' childhood.

Xu Wenyao rested his arms casually on the back of the chair, smiling contentedly, and occasionally agreeing with a few words, as if he had never left this home.

There was a little duck water cup in front of Xu Jiaojiao, but she didn't drink a single sip of the orange juice in it.

Aunt Zhang acted as if she hadn't noticed. She unscrewed the bottle cap and poured some more liquid in. "I heard Jiqing signed an agreement with No. 1 Middle School and will focus on the competition next year. Who will look after Jiaojiao?"

"The night market is so chaotic, I can't always bring a child with me to the stall. Besides, someone has to pick him up after school, right?"

Xu Jiaojiao pursed her lips, her voice trembling a little, "I can take the bus by myself."

Aunt Zhang cried out, "Ouch!" and pinched the little girl's pale face. "How can a seven-year-old be left home alone? Jiaojiao can't take the bus from the attached primary school to the south city to find her mother. It would take an hour, not to mention the chaos in the world these days. Who can guarantee who she'll meet on the way?"

She glanced across the table and saw that Lin Yuezhen's face was obviously not looking good, so she added fuel to the fire, "We just moved here too. Brother Xu told our Lao Liu yesterday that after going through so much, he realized that nothing is better than taking good care of his wife and children. He said that he would work hard in Lao Liu's shop from now on."

"We've been neighbors for so many years, and we're one family. Brother Xu can go this afternoon if he has nothing to do. After picking up Jiaojiao and taking her home, he can go to Nancheng to help you after Jiqing finishes school."

"There was a disturbance at the night market before, right? You can rest assured if there's a man watching over the stall."

Xu Jiqing didn't move his chopsticks and watched all this with sarcasm.

When Xu Wenyao started to swear, he couldn't help but turned his head and laughed.