Chapter 21 Chen Shang

The two-week trip to Nanchuan finally came to an end, and Nanhua High School achieved a high ranking this time.

The three students participating in the competition can go to a nearby shopping mall for some fun, but they must bring their mobile phones with them to ensure they can be contacted at any time.

Lu Lu, a female academic roommate, dragged Lin Qingxu to a famous online cultural and creative store in Nanchuan to check in.

As a well-known check-in destination, Nanchuan is also a well-known first-tier city with a particularly large flow of people in its shopping malls.

As for the cultural and creative store that Lu Lu mentioned, it was naturally crowded with people.

Lin Qingxu stood at the door waiting for Lulu.

There are always many children in the shopping mall, some older and some younger, most of whom are at a naughty age.

Lin Qingxu was typing a reply to Ruan Yanyan's message and was not paying much attention to his surroundings when he was bumped into by a little boy who was running towards him.

Lin Qingxu took a few steps back due to inertia, and the little boy was not in a better situation either. He fell on his butt and sat on the ground in a daze, not knowing what was going on for a while.

Lin Qingxu stepped forward to pull him up, but when the little boy raised his face, he was stunned for a moment.

She had seen a face that looked somewhat like her in Lin Haidong's circle of friends before.

The little boy seemed to react and suddenly shouted "Dad" very loudly. He rubbed his sore butt by himself, easily broke free from Lin Qingxu's hand, and ran behind her.

It was as if time stood still at that moment.

She seemed to hear someone calling her name.

Lin Qingxu looked in the direction the little boy was running and seemed to really see Lin Haidong's back.

The other person didn't look at her, but walked back holding the little boy's hand, with a slim woman next to him.

Someone patted her on the back and called her name.

Lin Qingxu woke up as if from a dream.

She turned around and was handed an ice cream cone.

"Do you want strawberry or chocolate?" Lu Lu shook the thing in his hand.

When Lin Qingxu turned around and looked at that place again, the three people who had traveled with him had disappeared.

*

"From the question, we can see..." Wang Hong spoke while drawing the coordinate axis on the blackboard.

It was the last period of evening self-study, and the students in the audience were almost all daydreaming and eager to go home.

Wang Hong didn't want to find someone to make an example of, but he had no choice but to focus on analyzing and explaining this question, as it was an original question from the college entrance examination.

He glanced around the stage and frowned. He had good eyesight and could clearly see the contents on the papers of the students in the first few rows.

"Lin Qingxu."

What's wrong with her today? She's been off the mark since the class started. She's been feeling groggy since returning from Nanchuan, and she's been feeling lethargic for the past few days. Today, she barely even started acting.

We are now at the penultimate question, but the test paper is still on the first page.

Kan Zhao quietly touched Lin Qingxu's wrist with his elbow.

"Lin Qingxu." Wang Hong repeated it for the second time.

Lin Qingxu suddenly woke up from his dream and hurriedly stood up. He realized that he had been distracted in class and had been called out in public.

For the first time in more than ten years, her face flushed and her head lowered a little.

Kan Zhao lowered his voice: "Question 19, solution steps."

Lin Qingxu read out his own answer: "From the question, we know that OF = OM = c = 2. Let P(x, y). Then the equation of the circle with F(2, 0) as the center and PF as the radius is..."

*

The people in the classroom were mostly gone.

Kan Zhao took Lin Qingxu's schoolbag as usual.

He raised an eyebrow. The bag was very light and didn't contain any books.

Something is wrong.

Although she had finished her homework, Lin Qingxu always had one or two Chinese textbooks or vocabulary books in her bag.

The night was dark and the clouds obscured the moonlight.

Lin Qingxu was silent along the way, as if he had a lot on his mind.

Back home.

Lin Qingxu searched his pockets as usual, but found nothing.

She suddenly looked up and said gloomily, "Kan Zhao, I seem to have forgotten my keys at school."

At this time, Gao Luo was on a business trip in a city dozens of kilometers away and there was no one at home.

Kan Zhao looked at her deeply.

He first went back to his own home across the street, and easily climbed from his bedroom to Lin Qingxu's.

Their bedrooms are all connected to the balcony, with a glass sliding door that is never locked.

It took less than two minutes to complete.

Kan Zhao walked through the living room of Lin Qingxu's house and opened the door.

The two went to Lin Qingxu's bedroom.

Kan Zhao just lay down on Lin Qingxu's white gaming chair and didn't want to go back.

"I want some juice."

“Peach flavor.”

Lin Qingxu went to get it for him.

The peach juice just came out of the refrigerator and was steaming cold.

Kan Zhao unscrewed the bottle cap and saw that Lin Qingxu still looked listless and a little withered.

The cold bottle was close to her face.

Lin Qingxu suddenly woke up as if from a dream.

Kan Zhao's dark eyes looked at her intently.

Lin Qingxu's eyelashes are long and thick, and they tremble a little. She blinks slowly, leaving shadows on her fair face.

I feel a little aggrieved, a little relieved, and many complex emotions intertwined.

Lin Qingxu always told him whatever was on his mind. He had been holding it in for so long these past few days that he finally couldn't help it.

"He came to see me again today."

"I don't know what to do..."

"Even my mom said that, after all, he's my dad."

Gao Yao had a failed marriage.

"but……"

She looked a little fragile now, so Kan Zhao chose to hug her.

The lit phone screen shows the chat interface that has not been exited.

20.12

Lin Haidong/Dad: Dad was on a business trip recently and saw the teddy bear that Qingxu loved as a child. He bought one for Qingxu and Lele. Qingxu should receive it in the next few days.

After still not receiving any response——

20:45

Lin Haidong/Dad: Is your mother okay?

Kan Zhao had no good feelings towards this fickle man.

He asked Lin Qingxu: "Do you want to go back to him?"

Lin Qingxu shook his head and nodded, looking a little helpless.

Kan Zhao simply took the phone and replied:

——You married the mistress but you still think about your ex-wife. Your character of having your cake and eating it too has not changed at all.

*

Seven-year-old Lin Qingxu thought that she would hate Kan Zhao forever.

Just like she once believed that she, her father, and her mother, the three of them would always be happy.

But what is eternal in this world?

Even though Gao Luo finally got over this failed marriage after a few years, she was still worried that Lin Qingxu would become mentally distorted due to the broken family and lack of fatherly love.

She began to soften her stance and was willing to let Lin Haidong get closer to her daughter, and even tried to persuade Lin Qingxu not to hate her father because of this.

But after all, Lin Qingxu was too young when he experienced the breakdown of his parents' relationship. It was like an old wound that would occasionally hurt.

In Lin Qingxu's memory, his parents, who had always been in love, suddenly started quarreling.

With the dull thud of the TV hitting the ground and the crisp sound of the wedding photo frame falling from the wall, it seemed as if a home was about to be shattered.

"Will you follow dad or mom in the future?"

Every child whose parents are divorced will face this choice, and Xiaolin Qingxu did not hesitate much -

"I want my mom."

When she was little, she actually liked her father more.

Every family probably has the good cop and the bad cop roles, and Lin Qingxu also plays the role of a strict mother and a kind father.

Her mother was rather strict, always controlling her intake of ice cream, cola, and snacks, and always pressuring her to call that annoying Kan Zhao "brother".

They say children should be polite.

She is obviously very polite. She greets people sweetly and helps old ladies cross the street.

It’s just that Kan Zhao was too much and bullied her every day.

But her father is different. He always brings her delicious food when he goes on business trips, meets all her needs, and buys her many dolls and teddy bears.

But then everything changed.

The loving parents gradually became speechless.

Young Lin Qingxu felt the low pressure in the family, and seemed to vaguely understand that this family was about to fall apart at any time.

Dad was on business trips more and more frequently, and Mom was also very busy, so she entrusted her to the care of Aunt Fang, our neighbor.

Aunt Fang comforted her and said, "It's okay, there was just a misunderstanding between them."

It's a misunderstanding.

Lin Qingxu knew that the misunderstanding could be explained.

But the feelings lost in quarrels will never be restored.

Families are built on love.

But if one day love no longer exists, even if the misunderstanding between parents is resolved, they will still get divorced.

But Lin Qingxu didn't say anything.

He just nodded sensibly so as not to let Kan's mother and the others worry about him.

Sometimes I would hide under the covers and cry secretly.

Just vent a little.

She won’t cry for too long, otherwise her eyes will get swollen and those who care about her will worry.

But reality is always crueler than fairy tales, and there are not so many misunderstandings in life.

The truth of the matter is that Lin Haidong had a child outside.

In the year when she was most unhappy, her father named her half-brother "Le Le".

When he was at an age when he didn’t quite understand what “cheating” meant, Lin Qingxu defined it as “betrayal”.

The quarrel that broke out in the middle of the night finally tore apart the hypocritical peace of the past few days.

The children's light on the bedside table suddenly broke, and the whole room was dark.

The thick, inky night turned into a dormant beast, devouring all the joy. Sadness, hesitation, and panic grew wildly in the silence.

Lin Qingxu hid under the quilt, covering her ears as if trying to hide a bell, tears falling uncontrollably.

There was some noise from the other side of the glass sliding door.

Someone is knocking.

I thought it was an auditory hallucination, maybe because she needed someone to accompany her so much right now.

Lin Qingxu lives on the ninth floor.

The only access to her room from the outside was the balcony of Kan Zhao's bedroom next door.

The distance between the two balconies is not far, but it is difficult for children of this age to cross.

"Lin Xiaoxiao, open the door quickly." The voice was hurried and breathless.

Lin Qingxu looked at the floor-to-ceiling glass door uncertainly.

Even though it seemed impossible, she jumped out of bed.

Maybe I moved too quickly and accidentally bumped into the corner of the bed. I endured the pain and stumbled open the curtains.

She could see the people outside clearly by the moonlight.

She asked uncertainly, "Kan Zhao?"

"Of course it's me."

Through the transparent glass, she whispered, "What are you doing here?"

A clear and firm voice came from outside the door:

"Of course I'm here to keep you company."

Lin Qingxu opened his eyes wide and asked, "How did you get here?"

"Nonsense, how else can I get here?" The little bully Kan Zhao ran out of patience and said angrily, "Idiot, open the door quickly, it's so cold outside."

The temperature in Yicheng was low during the day and night. Kan Zhao was only wearing a short-sleeved pajamas and his nose was a little red from the cold.

"Oh..." Lin Qingxu unlocked the door.

Kan Zhao swaggered into the house, awkwardly hiding the back of his hand that had been accidentally rubbed raw behind his back.

"Why is it so dark in there? Where's the light?"

"It seems to be broken."

Kan Zhao glanced at Lin Qingxu in the moonlight, his gaze fixed on her unnaturally slightly curled feet. She had been walking so fast that she had forgotten to put on shoes.

Kan Zhao frowned on his childish face and pulled Lin Qingxu back to sit on the bed.

He took out a few wet wipes from the bedside table, squatted down and half-knelt to wipe the dust off her feet.

While working, he kept muttering: "Dirty kid."

Lin Qingxu lowered her head and did not refute, her eyes a little red. She asked: "Kan Zhao, I heard from other children that my parents are getting divorced. Is that true?"

I don’t know which bastard told Lin Qingxu that, Kan Zhao thought.

If he knew about this, he would definitely beat them up.

But since Lin Qingxu knew about it, he didn't want to tell her any white lies. After all, this was bound to happen sooner or later. He muttered, "Yeah, that's what my mother said."

Lin Qingxu's nose felt a little sore, and she felt like crying, but she tried hard not to let the tears fall. "Dad did something wrong... will he change?"

"I don't know. This is a mistake of principle and cannot be easily forgiven."

“What is a mistake of principle?”

"have no idea."

"How come you don't know anything..."

Being looked down upon, Kan Zhao scolded her, "Go to bed quickly."

"oh……"

After throwing the dirty wipes into the trash can, Kan Zhao took out a few more to wipe his hands. After everything was done, he didn't feel wronged and lay down on the other side of Lin Qingxu's bed. Like a little adult, he covered Lin Qingxu with the quilt, and of course, he covered himself with it as well.

He forcibly regained his ground and replied to Lin Qingxu's previous question: "Because there is a third party."

Although Kan Zhao didn't understand what the third party meant, just because his mother said it, he chose an answer that he understood: "Because they are married."

“Is marriage a mistake of principle?”

"About the same." Add another question mark. In fact, Kan Zhao didn't understand it either, so he pretended to be profound.

There was a constant quarrel outside the house.

Lin Qingxu looked at him, "Kan Zhao, I'm a little scared."

"Can you sing for me? My mother used to sing to me every night."

"No." Kan Zhaoyi said righteously.

"Oh, okay..." From the sound of it, she was about to cry again.

Okay, okay.

Kan Zhao tried to coax her reluctantly, and picked a nursery rhyme that he learned in music class and sang it softly.

It's a bit hard to hear. Lin Qingxu thought about it and decided not to tell Kan Zhao.

Kan Zhao sang himself into a tizzy. He yawned, feeling a bit sleepy, tears welling up in his eyes.

He heard Lin Qingxu ask him: "So does marriage mean we have to separate?"

"Sometimes not." His parents didn't.

"Then will we break up?" Lin Qingxu found that she suddenly didn't hate Kan Zhao as much.

"Of course not, we are good friends." Kan Zhao was very confident.

"Do good friends always stay together?"

Kan Zhao was so sleepy that he was confused. “Hmmmmmm.”

The young voice was humming a song she was familiar with.

Even if some parts are out of tune.

It seemed to drown out the quarrel outside.

Kan Zhao’s arms felt warm.

The pat on her back was very light.

Lin Qingxu felt sleepy.

At an age when he didn't understand love, Lin Qingxu remembered——

It turns out that friendship lasts longer than love.