Chapter 217: Stickiness Causes My Child to Have Poor Academic Performance

Money? Is it a transfer from work?

She was puzzled for a few seconds, and had a bad feeling in her heart. This negative premonition overcame her respect for his privacy. Zhu Yingning glanced at the bathroom and saw that it was misty inside. Xu Sirui didn't show any sign of coming out, so she picked up his phone - she knew his lock screen password. Xu Sirui was always insistent in this regard. He used the same lock screen password for every phone he had from childhood to adulthood. Of course, it was also possible that he was too lazy to think of a new password.

Anyway, she unlocked his phone, clicked on the text message, and was stunned when she saw the past chat history.

This strange number sends him messages almost every month, from last summer to now, and every message has a very strong purpose: "money".

WeChat is now widely used by everyone. If it is a work relationship with a fixed monthly transfer, everyone will generally add WeChat, or at least add a note with the mobile phone number. But Xu Sirui did nothing, which made her even more suspicious.

Calling it harassment doesn't make sense. Most people would block someone they're harassed by a stranger every month, let alone Xu Sirui. He's so afraid of trouble, there's no way he'd keep the harassing number around. The fact that he kept it proves he paid the other party when they asked for it.

Zhu Yingning was holding the phone and was in a dilemma. After a few breaths, he stood up, walked to the balcony outside, closed the sliding door, and dialed the number back with his phone, pressing the record button in advance.

The phone rang a few times before it was picked up by the other party. Before she could say anything, she heard a familiar yet unfamiliar child's voice from the other side: "Brother, I have a headache."

Familiar because she had heard this voice before.

It feels strange because the last time I heard this sound was many years ago.

She felt as if struck by lightning, frozen in place with her phone in hand. Her free hand grasped the balcony railing. After a long pause, she finally dug out the name from her memory and spoke with difficulty, "...Xu Siyang?"

The person on the other end probably didn't expect her to answer the phone. The pitiful tone in her voice disappeared, replaced by shock: "Who are you?!"

Before she could answer, she heard Xu Siyang's voice getting farther away and quieter, saying to the person next to him, "Mom—it wasn't my brother who answered the phone."

There was a rustling sound on the other end of the phone. After a moment, a woman's voice came over: "Hello? Who is this?"

Zhu Yingning took a deep breath to calm herself down, her fingers gripping the railing tightly as she asked, "Are you Xu Siyang's mother?" After a pause, she added, "You don't remember me, but I remember you. I took care of the lost Xu Siyang at Gangdi."

The other end fell silent instantly.

"You called Xu Sirui to ask for money?" Although it was a question, she used a certain tone. "Why...how dare you? How much do you ask him for every month?"

There was still no response from the other end.

"If you don't tell me, I can ask Xu Sirui. His cell phone is with me. Do you think he would hide it from me?" Her voice gradually tightened and her tone became cold.

The woman then sneered softly, and under her urging, she spoke. Her voice was still as thin as before, but without the gentleness of a willow in the wind. It was like a tightened wire. "You ask me how dare I? I want to ask how dare you, how dare you? You put Xu Zhengkang in jail, paid the money, and he went to jail. What about me? What about me and my Yangyang?! You fucking ruined the lives of us, mother and son, and you ask me how dare I ask him for money? This is what Xu Sirui owes us. He is responsible for us."

She was dumbfounded on the other end of the line, speechless at the man's shamelessness. She felt a surge of anger rising from the soles of her feet, burning her hair to the point of exploding. Afraid of disturbing Xu Sirui, who was showering inside, and the neighbors, she lowered her voice and said with restraint, "Being with Xu Zhengkang was your own choice. Xu Zhengkang's imprisonment is his own fault. Adults should be responsible for their choices. It's not us who ruined you, it's you and Xu Zhengkang. Xu Sirui has no obligation to support you. If you dare to call or text him to harass him again, I will call the police."

The woman remained unmoved. "Call the police? Fine, then call the police and see if Xu Sirui has any obligation to support us. Don't think I don't know that he pushed Yangyang down the stairs. Yangyang still has a scar on his head and his grades aren't great. You hurt my child, and you dare not take responsibility for the rest of his life?!"

Zhu Yingning was so shocked by the words "poor academic performance" that her anger subsided a little. She let out a dry "ha", feeling both angry and amused, and said speechlessly: "You should use evidence when speaking. Since you said that Xu Sirui was responsible, then you should get an injury assessment to see the extent of Xu Siyang's disability and whether this disability was caused by Xu Sirui. If he is really disabled, and there is sufficient evidence to prove that Xu Sirui caused the disability, you don't need to ask him for compensation. I will give you any amount of compensation and I will be responsible for Xu Siyang on behalf of Xu Sirui. But if you can't produce any evidence and still dare to continue calling to harass Xu Sirui——"

She lowered her voice, "This is extortion. I won't be polite with you. We'll see you in court. In addition, I will find out how much money Xu Zhengkang gave you during his marriage to Aunt Zhou. Aunt Zhou has every right to recover this joint property. She didn't bother with you because she didn't care about Xu Zhengkang's mess at that time. But if you continue to use this excuse to hurt Xu Sirui, I will definitely not let you get away with this debt so easily. I will use legal means to recover all the money you extorted from Xu Sirui and the money you occupied from their joint property."

The woman on the other end was stunned by what she said and didn't say a word for a while.

"This..." Zhu Yingning thought about the title. Because she didn't know the other person's name, she chose a neutral title out of courtesy. "Madam, please respect yourself. Also, don't let Xu Siyang call Xu Sirui brother."

She gripped the railing tightly, "You're not worthy of calling him that. It's disgusting."

After saying that, he hung up the phone angrily.

As the night wind blew, the hot anger on her cheeks dissipated a little. She took a breath, and it felt like a ball of cotton was blocking her throat. It didn't hurt, but it was suffocating and uncomfortable.

This feeling of disgust, as if swallowing a fly, took a long time to subside, and was followed by anger towards Xu Sirui.

She couldn't understand how he could remind her that he was worried about Zhu Jixiang asking her for money, yet at the same time give them money like a clueless ATM. Did his money just come from the wind?! He even gave to someone who had hurt him? Why did he still make money if he was so kind? He should just donate it all to charity!

After feeling disappointed with her, she remembered Xu Siyang's opening word "headache", and she felt as if she knew why Xu Sirui did this.

He didn't really want to give, he was just stuck.

Just like when Liu Guifang trapped her in the mountains when she was about to go back for the New Year - she had legs to break free and a mouth to say no, but those sticky, dark, and unspeakable emotions and feelings trapped her.

To Xu Sirui, Xu Siyang is this kind of stickiness.

He can gradually mature to the point where he can independently deal with the collapse of Xu Zhengkang's father image and regard him as the complete opposite, because Xu Zhengkang always appears in a fierce and confrontational image, and Xu Sirui happens to be such a person who is soft-hearted and cannot stand being tough. The more ruthless Xu Zhengkang is, the more disappointment Xu Sirui accumulates and the more ruthless he becomes to him.

But Xu Siyang is "soft", a poisonous thorn wrapped in guilt and panic. They are a mother and son who have had a relationship with Xu Zhengkang like him and Zhou Tianlan. Seeing them, one can't help but think of the most difficult days for him and Zhou Tianlan.

This "softness" was not enough to awaken his aggressiveness, but instead evolved into the awakening of post-traumatic stress disorder.

He could deal with the hardness that came from his father, but he couldn't resolve this damp stickiness.

She could almost imagine how Xu Sirui felt every time Xu Siyang called and said he had a headache, feeling so nauseous that he wanted to vomit but unable to ignore him.

The more empathy you have, the less likely you are to get angry at him for doing something stupid.

Zhu Yingning sighed deeply, and all her annoyance turned into heartache. She glanced at her phone, recorded the call history and its recording, packaged it and sent it to her WeChat, then deleted the records and put the phone back in its place.

After doing all this, Xu Sirui finally finished his shower and came out. He squatted down beside her, wiped her hair and asked her, "Are you still writing? You're writing so slowly today."

"Yeah, I was distracted and playing with my phone just now." She answered as if nothing had happened.

Xu Sirui raised his eyebrows and smiled, "You're still distracted by playing with your phone. How bizarre."

"I'm a human being too, and everyone gets distracted." Zhu Yingning continued to concentrate on organizing the unfinished documents.

He stood up and walked towards the kitchen, and a voice came from the kitchen: "I'll make you some midnight snack, what do you want to eat?"

"Pumpkin tart?" she suggested casually.

"Okay." Xu Sirui smiled.