69. Bad Kid

A colleague is getting married, and almost everyone in the company is attending. The bride is young and beautiful, and the groom is wealthy, so the wedding is extremely grand. Wenhua is riding in a stretched Lincoln for the first time in her life today. She touched the leather seat under her butt, wondering when she can get a ride in a non-stretched Lincoln?

Wen Hua recalled that the first wedding she attended was that of her sister Wen He. She was still a high school student at that time. When the bride left the house, her mother cried loudly. Her cousin said that it was the rule and that a daughter had to cry when she got married. But it was true that her father wiped away his tears quietly when the wedding car drove away.

I wonder if her father’s eyes would secretly turn red if she got married?

No way. A few years ago, when things weren't so tense with her family, when she mentioned getting married, her parents said it would be enough to just invite relatives for a meal, no need to invite colleagues and friends for a big celebration. They were all just one child, and it wouldn't be worthwhile to give the favor away.

Wen Hua turned her head to look at the Taoist priest with a bun on his head beside her, and when she thought of his words "It's not bad to piss off your ancestors", she suddenly felt the same way.

The wine at the wedding banquet was very good, and a bottle was given as a gift. Wen Hua was going to wait for Lin Zhengze to drink together, but before he showed up, she drank first.

The drunk Wen Hua talked more than usual, chattering with Lin Zhengze all over the place.

I don't remember anything after that. I woke up at noon the next day, my head still groggy. I was wondering if I should take a nap. The phone rang. It was Mom.

After hanging up the phone, Wenhua felt like she might still be asleep. Was that caring and thoughtful mother her biological mother? It was strange. She asked her if she had a headache or felt uncomfortable, and told her that drinking something would make her feel better. Wenhua responded dazedly the whole time, her brain stopped working, and she always felt something was wrong.

What was wrong? The tone was wrong. Wen Hua knew it all too well. Over the years, whenever they spoke on the phone, it was as if there was a live camera in front of them. They pretended to be very close and serious. After hanging up the phone, they were more relaxed than celebrities who had announced their plans.

But today is different. Those emotions that make her incomprehensible should be called deliberate flattery and active submission.

Just as she was worrying about it, Linlin came in. Seeing that she had woken up, she sat down over with a smile and asked her if she was okay and if she was hungry.

"What did I do last night?"

"Hmm..." Linlin looked at her cautiously for a few times, hesitant on whether to say it or not, and finally just threw down a sentence "You can check WeChat yourself."

The pinned dialog box was Wen He. There was a three-minute voice call interspersed among several messages. Wen Hua's head buzzed, and she didn't want to know the content of the call. The message she sent was a response to Wen He's previous questioning.

It's just the questions that have been in my mind for all these years.

Did Wenhua ever feel resentful or angry about her parents' estrangement? She did, in her youth, but after hearing so much talk from her grandparents and aunts about how difficult it was for her parents to earn money for her milk powder, she stopped doing that. She practiced for years, and eventually, her own theory of gratitude comforted her more than the nagging relatives' theories of gratitude.

Ever since she could remember, she had been accustomed to the role of her parents, who were only seen occasionally, and were relatives who were to be called mom and dad. When interacting with them, she had to be sensible and polite, and there should be no physical contact.

She recalled the panic she felt every time her parents came to visit when she was a child, and what it felt like to break the usual pattern of life. She knew it before she finished learning Pinyin.

She knew that a short time together would confuse you. She saw the little girl's regret for not being able to show her parents to her classmates during the winter or summer vacation. Then she saw them leave, and she saw her younger self quietly shedding tears because she felt uncomfortable, and she wanted to cry when she felt uncomfortable.

You get used to it after doing it many times. Breaking the habit is not pleasant, and establishing the habit is a bloody process. This process ultimately portrays Wen Hua as a cold-blooded person who is always complained about.

So she didn't understand. She didn't understand every time Wen He scolded her. She always thought that not disturbing each other was a tacit understanding between her and her family. She didn't expect that she was wrong. She was wrong and she couldn't change and didn't want to change. Now she didn't want to endure it anymore.

But Wen's mother took a step forward to show goodwill.

Wen Hua let memories of the past and present alternately battle in her mind. Was she happy? Not at all. She felt annoyed. Her drunken outbursts would only cause her family to panic briefly and try to please her. When someone who had always been obedient and silent suddenly vented, the effect would always last for a while, but the power of habit was too strong. She knew how much distance the past 30 years had blocked between them, and she knew how important a sense of security and comfort were to interpersonal relationships.

No one wants to change, and no one can bear to have their inherent life pattern broken, so her childhood complaints have now turned into understanding and acceptance. She accepts her image of being blamed, and also accepts the expectations others have placed on her that are destined to be unattainable.

It's a simple thing, isn't it? This is what Wen He often said. Family love relies on emotional communication and frequent contact. You don't care about your family and you blame them for not contacting you?

Yes, it’s so simple, even primary school students understand it. You give me an apple and I give you a pear.

But sorry, I never got an apple, so I'll hold on to the pear in my hand.

Xiao Ma always stood up for herself and would sometimes send her a WeChat message saying, "I just saw your sister at the mall. What do you think about me rushing up to her and fighting her now?"

I am so bad, Wenhua laughed at herself, there is no one worse than her. She felt that she should replace Linlin to apply for the Film Academy, and she said that she wanted to be a bad child. Wenhua, no one is worse than the child in your heart.

The bad boy blindly tolerated the accusations, the bad boy held on to the answers tightly, the bad boy acted in ways that the girls hated, and after getting drunk, the bad boy calmly responded to Wen He's accusation of "You have no conscience" for the ten thousandth time:

[Yeah, I just have no conscience]

I haven't received a caring call from my family in decades. I thought that was just how family members get along.

「What? So it isn’t? But no one ever told me that.」

I don't know if my mother-in-law is good or not. Besides, she might not be my mother-in-law. But I still have to show some care for my elders. Isn't it a good idea to reciprocate?

[Why do you have to get so angry and say you won't contact me anymore? Family ties can be severed with just one sentence, and there won't be so many unresolved cases in the world. If you don't want to contact me, just don't send me a WeChat message. Why make it so difficult for yourself?]

The bad kid did something even worse last night. She hugged Lin Zhengze and cried pitifully, saying that the telephone was the most hateful invention of the 21st century and that she never wanted to use a mobile phone again. Since she didn't want to use it anymore, the bad kid opened the window and threw the phone away.

Lin Zhengze just came in with a glass of water in his hand. When he saw her stand up, he smiled and gave her a hug.

"Husband~"

"Um"

"Did I throw your phone away?"

"yes"

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