Chapter 191 There is no reason for bad kids to be scared

Although she learned on the phone that Zhu Zhiwei would bring someone with her, she did not elaborate on who that person was. Zhu Yingning was completely confused, but still obediently rushed to the airport to pick her and this mysterious person up at the agreed time.

Spring is in full swing in Province G in March, and colorful unknown flowers are blooming in the airport flower beds.

The plane that Zhu Zhiwei and her companions were on arrived on time at 11 o'clock. When the phone in his trouser pocket vibrated, Zhu Yingning looked up and happened to accurately identify Zhu Zhiwei and the person behind her in the surging crowd.

To be precise, it's the girl behind.

He carried a black backpack and wore a loose black short-sleeved shirt and shorts, despite the lingering spring chill. His exposed calves and arms were lean and firm, and his hair was shaved into a rounded, spiky top. His cheeks were childish, but he was tall, more than half a head taller than Zhu Zhiwei. His eyebrows were thick, dark, and his drooping single eyelids made him look listless, his face expressionless.

The amazing thing is that without any introduction, Zhu Yingning guessed her identity the moment he saw her.

It's not because she looks like Gu Dachun or Zhu Zhiwei herself, but because of the awkward atmosphere between her and Zhu Zhiwei. The two of them stood together, one dressed elegantly, the other

"Ningning!"

Seeing her, Zhu Zhiwei's tired and troubled eyes brightened a little.

Zhu Yingning saw that she seemed to want to hold the girl's hand and walk towards her across the sidewalk, but the moment her hand reached out, the girl quickly hid her hanging right hand in her trouser pocket.

Zhu Zhiwei missed the opportunity and could only sullenly tell someone, "Follow me." Then he took the lead and walked towards Zhu Yingning.

After the three of them stood face to face, Zhu Zhiwei pointed at the girl beside her and introduced her to Zhu Yingning dryly: "She is Chu Jiating."

Chu Jiating didn't even move her eyebrows.

Zhu Yingning had plenty of experience in dealing with troublemakers, so she wasn't angry. Instead, she curled her lips into a friendly smile and greeted them, "Hello, Jiating." Without waiting for a response, she turned around and led them towards the taxi queue.

The queueing process was very silent. Chu Jiating didn't say a word. Zhu Zhiwei probably felt it was inappropriate to discuss matters related to her in front of the child, so she also remained silent.

The empty taxi pulled up to the front of the line. Zhu Yingning walked over with the two of them, opened the backseat door, and invited them in. Chu Jiating ignored them, opened the passenger door, and squeezed herself in, revealing from beginning to end that she was too lazy to sit with Zhu Zhiwei.

In the car, Zhu Yingning racked her brains to think of some words to try to ease the atmosphere, but it was of no use. No matter whether she asked "Jia Ting, how old are you and what grade are you in" or "How long does it take to fly here", she just tilted her head to look out the window. Later, perhaps because she was annoyed by her noise, she even took out a pair of headphones from her pocket and put them on.

After arriving at the village, Zhu Yingning first led them into her dormitory and asked them if they had eaten.

Zhu Zhiwei said she ate too much in the morning and wasn't hungry yet, implying she had no appetite. Chu Jiating didn't say she was hungry, nor did she say she wasn't hungry.

Wen Wenxu, who was cooking in the kitchen, wiped the backs of his hands and palms on his apron repeatedly. As he walked out, he looked at Zhu Zhiwei and Chu Jiating and asked curiously, "Captain, who are these two...?"

"He's my relative. He came here to see me."

"Oh, have they eaten yet? Do you want to stay here and eat with us? I'll cook two more dishes."

"No need, she can just eat my portion." Zhu Yingning pointed at Chu Jiating and said to her, "Jiating, please sit at the dining table. Your brother will prepare the meal and serve it up, and you can eat now. A sister will come out later to eat with you."

The word "brother" made Wen Wenxu feel very happy. He was an only child with no brothers or sisters at home. He had always longed for the feeling of being the big brother. Now that he saw a little kid who could call him brother, he was instantly excited and said hospitably, "Yes, yes, just sit here and wait. The food will be ready soon."

Chu Jiating still didn't say anything, but she walked over and sat down.

Zhu Yingning went back into her room and explained the situation to Chen Fei.

After she finished explaining, she walked out of the house with Zhu Zhiwei, went to a farther alley, and asked her why she came here this time.

Zhu Zhiwei rubbed his brows and explained the whole story.

Since Chu Jiating was adopted by the Beijing couple, Zhu Zhiwei has essentially lost contact with her. Even the child's name was chosen by the couple, and she had no involvement in any decisions related to the child. Although she has the couple's contact information, she only visits their home every Chinese New Year to send some clothes and supplies for the child.

Many years passed like this, and just when she thought this pattern would continue until she died of old age, the couple called her a few days ago and said that they could no longer support Chu Jiating and asked her to come and take Chu Jiating back home.

What do you mean by "can't support it anymore"? Zhu Zhiwei was confused.

When asked, the couple seemed to have found an outlet to vent their frustrations, saying that the child was born with bad genes and was an ungrateful person who could never be tamed. They said that they had raised her for so many years, but not only was Chu Jiating ungrateful, she even wanted to harm her own younger brothers and sisters.

"Brother and sister?" Zhu Zhiwei repeated the other person's words dully like a tape recorder. When she came to her senses, she remembered that the couple had been infertile for many years and now must have realized that this was their dream come true. So she said, "Congratulations... So you have a son and a daughter now?"

"A son and a daughter? If we keep this little brat, it's hard to say whether we'll have both!"

From them, Zhu Zhiwei learned that six years after adopting Chu Jiating, the couple finally had their own child, a girl named Chu Qionghua.

Ever since Chu Qionghua was born, Chu Jiating has been at odds with her. The two sisters would quarrel at best and fight at worst. According to the couple, it was Chu Jiating who took the initiative to bully her sister.

They originally wanted to give Chu Jiating a chance to reform, but they didn't expect that after a few years, Chu Jiating had not grown at all. She started to cause trouble at school, became rebellious and tired of studying, talked back to teachers, beat up classmates, and didn't do homework... She also bullied Chu Qionghua more and more at home.

"My wife finally got pregnant last fall, but as her belly grew bigger, this troublemaker's eyes became more and more strange. I don't know how to explain it to you, but they were so sinister... like a murderer! Not like a child at all! She's already ugly, and she squinted at people like that. I wanted to dig her eyes out."

"A few days ago, if our Qionghua hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known this troublemaker had such vicious thoughts. She told Qionghua that sooner or later she would push Mom down the stairs so that Mom wouldn't be able to give birth to a brother. Do you think that's human language?!"

"Take this child away quickly! My wife is going to give birth in a few months and can't handle the slightest bit of stress. She almost had a miscarriage two days ago after hearing Qionghua's complaints. Take this child away quickly!"

When Zhu Zhiwei went to the couple's house to pick up Chu Jiating, she was still daydreaming. She asked the couple if they couldn't send Chu Jiating to a boarding school. They said that Chu Jiating was extremely averse to studying and had tried boarding school before, but she made a big fuss at school and even instigated her classmates to skip classes. The teachers were all afraid of her.

In short, when Zhu Zhiwei received Chu Jiating, she was in this state. After a few days, she did not communicate with her at all and could not even say "um" or "oh", which made Zhu Zhiwei suspect that the child was a mute.

"I have a very important exhibition in Shenzhen in a couple of days. I've already registered and paid, and if I don't go now, it'll be too late to set up the exhibition. I originally wanted to take her south with me, but she seemed very reluctant. I bought her a ticket, but the next morning I woke up and looked at my phone. Hey, she had stolen my phone and canceled her own flight ticket. I think she really hates me. She doesn't hate anyone else, she just hates me."

"Ningning, I really have no other choice, so I thought of sending her to your place for a few days. You're the only friend I trust. I've found that she's not so resistant as long as she's not with me. Don't worry, after the exhibition is over, I'll definitely come and pick her up. She'll only be bothering you for three or four days at most. Actually, I should be convincing her now, but... I really don't have the time, and she's extremely resistant to my contact."

As Zhu Zhiwei spoke, she took out a piece of emerald green glass jade from her bag and stuffed it into her hand.

Zhu Yingning was shocked and quickly pulled her hand back, saying angrily, "What are you doing? We are not strangers. Why would I need something like this to help you take care of a child?"

Zhu Zhiwei sighed again: "It's mainly because this child is so hard to take care of. This is compensation for your mental damages."

The term "mental damage compensation" made Zhu Yingning both angry and amused: "Alright, mental damage compensation? My mind is not that fragile."

It was obvious that Zhu Zhiwei was in a hurry to attend the exhibition setup, and her eyes kept glancing at the time on her phone. Zhu Yingning asked her if she had bought a plane ticket, and she said, "The flight is at 1:30 pm."

"Then hurry over now. I won't send you off. It takes about an hour to get to the airport by taxi. You'll still make it in time."

Zhu Zhiwei agreed, but still worriedly explained Chu Jiating's basic information to Zhu Yingning: "She's eleven years old this year... or maybe twelve. I don't know how her family counts time, but she's actually eleven and in sixth grade. I stuffed her textbooks in her schoolbag and asked her to bring them along. If you're interested, tutor her. If not, just ignore her. Give her a meal and I'll pick her up when I'm done. By the way, I've observed her these past few days and found that she doesn't wear a vest. I remember that when she was just starting to develop, it hurt when she was touched. Elementary school boys are so impulsive, so she still needs a vest to protect her from bumps and injuries from classmates. If you have some free time..."

"I know, I know, I know everything." Zhu Yingning pushed Zhu Zhiwei towards the village entrance, feeling both amused and helpless.

Arriving at the village entrance, Zhu Zhiwei lowered her head and used her phone to call a taxi. When a driver accepted the order, she looked up with red eyes: "...I feel so panicked and unreal right now, Ningning."

Zhu Yingning held her hand.

She pulled the corners of her mouth and forced a smile. "I told you before that I would retire at the age of 35, but now, it seems that I have to re-plan my life. I don't know if this decision is right or wrong. In fact, I haven't decided whether to support her. I look at her and feel so awkward and unfamiliar... I don't seem to have any maternal love for her. But regardless of her,... Did I just tell you that the couple never mentioned transferring Chu Jiating's household registration to me? I feel that they still want to be her guardians, so that Jiating can provide for them in their old age. Actually, who would want to raise a child who is not related to them for eleven years and get nothing?"

Zhu Yingning patted the back of her hand, listened to her incoherent speech, and then said gently, "Don't worry, Sister Weiwei, just focus on your work these few days. It won't be too late to think about these problems after you're done."

Her voice was gentle and had a calming power. Zhu Zhiwei felt that his hot and cold palms slowly returned to normal body temperature under her comfort, and his heavy respiratory tract also became smoother.

When the online-hailing car arrived at the village entrance, Zhu Yingning sent her to the car and told her that she could contact him by phone if she had any questions. She stood there and watched the online-hailing car go away before turning around and walking back.

Before she had taken a few steps, her cell phone rang. She took it out and saw that it was Zhu Zhiwei who transferred 5,000 yuan to her.

“…”

She was extremely helpless, knowing that if she didn't accept the money, Zhu Zhiwei would probably be tormented by her conscience, so she had no choice but to click to accept it, thinking that if she couldn't use up the money, she could buy it as a gift for Chu Jiating before she left.

On the way back to the house, Zhu Yingning pondered what she should do next. It wouldn't be a good idea to let Jiating stay in their dorm; it was already small. Having Jiting sleep on the sofa wouldn't be right, nor would squeezing into the upper bunk with her. Having Wen Wenxu sleep on the sofa and giving up his room also didn't seem right. The most important thing was that Chu Jiating was already there. If she asked to have Chu Jiating stay in their dorm for a few days, Wen Wenxu and Shen Fei, concerned for their child's reputation, would definitely agree, but it was hard to say whether they would object.

She felt that if the team was to be maintained in the long term, a situation where team members were afraid to speak up was a must.

So the best way was for her to temporarily rent an empty house in the village. Since the vacancy rate of houses here was high, it was easy to rent a house - then she would move out and live with Chu Jiating for a few days.

Well, very good.

Zhu Yingning was thinking about the house, so she returned to her dormitory and opened the door. She saw that Chu Jiating was not at the dining table. Only Wen Wenxu and Shen Fei were sitting there.

"Huh? Didn't she eat?" she asked curiously.

Wen Wenxu shook his head: "After she finished eating, she took the bowl to the sink to rinse it. My God, it feels like this child has been hungry for several days. You have no idea how fast she eats."

Zhu Yingning was stunned.

A child who will take the initiative to wash the dishes after eating.

...Is this kind of child really that bad?

As early as when she heard Zhu Zhiwei retell the couple's story, she felt that one-sided accounts were necessarily subjective. The specific situation depended on her actual interactions with Chu Jiating. She would not trust anyone's words about someone, only her own real experiences with them.

With an optimistic attitude, Zhu Yingning asked again: "Do you know where she is now?"

"She went to the bathroom and was gone for a long time."

She walked to the bathroom door and found that it was not closed tightly, with a small gap open. So she raised her hand and knocked on the door and asked, "Jia Ting, are you in there? Is it convenient for you now? Can I come in?"

No one answered from inside.

Not only did no one respond, she also faintly smelled a burning smell.

A bad premonition suddenly arose in his heart. He was afraid that something might happen to Chu Jiating in there, so Zhu Yingning no longer cared about privacy. He said "I'm coming in" and quickly pushed open the bathroom door and rushed in.

Chu Jiating was sitting on the toilet lid with her pants neatly on, with two earphones still in her ears. She seemed to hear the sound of the door opening, turned her head, and stared at her in disbelief.

Zhu Yingning also stared at her in disbelief—

A half-burned cigarette in his hand.

And the corners of his mouth that were puffing out smoke.

Including the bathroom that was filled with smoke and pungent smell of cigarettes.

“…”

OK, fine, that's okay.

She took two deep breaths and comforted herself - she had seen Xu Sirui smoking when she was thirteen years old. Now at the age of twenty-two, there was no reason to be scared when she saw a girl younger than her smoking.