Chapter 24 P - A Shallow Fate
Back in his cold, empty home, Chu Beiling boiled water, ate instant noodles and snacks to fill his stomach, and then sat down at his easel to start painting.
Young Master Chu didn't finish drawing until 2 a.m. until he yawned, washed up, and climbed into bed.
When Chu Beiling woke up again, he groggily reached for his phone and saw that it was already 1 p.m. the next day. He had slept for eleven hours.
Young Master Chu sprang up from the bed with a somersault.
After finishing her work and completing the assignments given by her teachers, Chu Beiling, with a piece of whole wheat toast in her mouth, set up her still life and sat back down at her easel to start painting again.
Just as I started writing, the deep, melodious sound of a cello drifted up from upstairs. Every Friday and Saturday evening from six to nine o'clock was Xing Yu's fixed practice time.
In the past, Chu Beiling would paint to the accompaniment of his zither music at this time, and when his zither playing ended, the young master's painting practice would also be almost over.
Chu Beiling hadn't heard anything when he went home for the past two weekends. When he suddenly heard the piano music in the afternoon, his first thought was, "Why is he practicing at this time?"
The next second, he was stunned.
Immediately realizing what was happening, she picked up her phone, intending to ask Xing Yu if her hand was better.
Only then did Young Master Chu belatedly realize that Xing Yu had not yet accepted his friend request, neither on WeChat nor QQ.
Chu Beiling: "..."
He immediately put down his paintbrush, rushed out of his house, and strode to Xing Yu's door on the top floor, raising his hand to knock.
After knocking twice, the melodious and deep piano music stopped in the room, and the door was opened a moment later.
The afternoon sunlight streamed through the gaps in the blinds, crumbling as it spread from the outside into the room. Xing Yu stood against the light, his figure outlined with a soft golden edge.
He must have painted before practicing the piano, because there were still specks of paint on his body.
Sunlight, a cello, wooden floors, and an artistic young man at the center of the scene—it's an ordinary setting, but Xing Yu's presence transforms it into an irresistible oil painting that compels one to linger.
Chu Beiling rubbed his hand, which was hanging by his side, because his hand was itching again.
Xing Yu asked, "Is something the matter?"
Chu Beiling asked bluntly, "Xing Yu, when did you accept my contact information?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Young Master Chu felt that asking him so directly was making him lose face, so he tried to save face by asking, "Is your hand better?"
Chu Beiling looked down and saw that the plaster cast on his hand had been removed.
Well, it's better not to say anything, the more you talk, the more awkward it gets.
Xing Yu took out his phone from his pocket and re-downloaded the two social media apps. As soon as the download was successful, friend requests from both apps popped up simultaneously, and he accepted them one by one.
I glanced at the two chat windows with my parents pinned to the top of my phone, then quickly exited the social media app.
Xing Yu responded to Chu Beiling's earlier words: "It doesn't matter much."
It wasn't a big deal to begin with; a seven or eight-year-old child's injury couldn't be that serious.
Hearing that his hand was alright, Chu Beiling finally felt relieved.
After confirming, Young Master Chu said, "I'm leaving now. Call me if you need anything."
Xing Yu called out to him and asked him how he was going to have dinner.
"Instant noodles and toast." Convenient and simple, toast can be used for drawing and can also be used as an eraser. After erasing the drawing, it can still be eaten. There is no food more perfect than this.
"That's it!" Xing Yu has now realized that Chu Beiling never eats properly; he's always just going through the motions, as if he's playing around.
"Otherwise what?" Chu Beiling was still thinking about the sweet and sour pork ribs that his neighbor had made last time, but he had to be able to eat them. For him, eating was just a means to survive. If there was a medicine in the world that could fill him up instantly, he would be very happy to take it.
Xing Yu thought for a moment and asked, "Shall we eat together at Grandma Chen's house?"
Chu Beiling's eyes lit up: "Is that alright? Won't it be too much trouble for her?"
"No, just tell her in advance," Xing Yu said. "She likes lively atmospheres."
Chu Beiling was still a little worried that it might cause trouble for others: "Then remember to say something nice for me."
Xing Yu raised his eyebrows and looked at him again: "No need, Grandma Chen likes you very much, and you are also very likable."
A large moving truck passed by downstairs in the residential area, making a deafening "boom" that startled birds into flight and caused donkeys to bray. Chu Beiling's heart skipped a beat, caught off guard.
At 4:30 p.m., the sun gradually set, and dappled sunlight filtered through the gaps in the glossy staircase, scattering across the gray-white walls and forming a staggered grid pattern.
Amidst the interplay of light and shadow, the entire stairwell is draped in a hazy and nostalgic veil.
The sound of people coming and going could be heard from time to time in the stairwell. Some neighbors who cooked early were already preparing dinner, and the air was gradually filled with the aroma of food.
After finishing her painting, Chu Beiling arrived at Xing Yu's house on the top floor, intending to ask him to go to Grandma Chen's house together.
He was only vaguely familiar with Grandma Chen, and Young Master Chu was too embarrassed to knock on Grandma Chen's door directly, so he went to find Xing Yu first and went to Grandma Chen's house across the street together.
After knocking on the door for a while, Xing Yu didn't answer, so Chu Beiling sent him a message: "I'm at your door."
Xing Yu hadn't replied to the message yet when Grandma Chen from across the hall opened the door and warmly invited Chu Beiling in, smiling especially kindly: "Xing Yu went to buy groceries. Come in first, don't wait for him. He'll probably be gone for a while."
Chu Beiling raised an eyebrow, surprised that Xing Yu had this skill.
As soon as he sat down on the sofa, Grandma Chen stuffed a bunch of snacks into his arms: "Eat something to fill your stomach first, dinner is still a while away."
Chu Beiling was both amused and exasperated, thinking that with so many snacks consumed, he probably wouldn't have much of an appetite for dinner.
Just then, Xing Yu's message came in: "I'm out buying groceries. Go to Grandma Chen's house first, I'll be right back."
[I'm already sitting at Grandma Chen's house.] After sending the message, Chu Beiling also sent a picture of herself with a bunch of snacks in her arms: [Grandma Chen is feeding me, letting me have a little something to eat.]
Xing Yu took the vegetables from the vendor, then looked down and sent a message to Chu Beiling, the snack organizer: "Eat less, we need to eat dinner later."
Chu Beiling does love snacks, but he's stubborn and will never admit that he loves snacks more than meals.
He blurted out: "I have two stomachs, one normal stomach and one snack stomach, and they don't conflict with each other."
Xing Yu raised an eyebrow and chimed in, "Yes, yes, one is 2ml, the other is 2L, they really don't conflict."
"Okay, that's enough." Chu Beiling stopped him in time. He was concerned about his image and didn't want Xing Yu to continue undermining his reputation.
"What are you laughing at?" Grandma Chen came over with a fruit platter. "I didn't know what you liked to eat, so I prepared a little bit of everything. If there's anything you like, you can tell me and I'll prepare it for you next time."
He smiled?
He was arguing with Xing Yu in a very serious manner.
Perhaps because the old lady had a kind face and looked pleasing to everyone, he thought the other person was smiling. After summarizing, Young Master Chu thanked Grandma Chen and picked out the most convenient fruits, jujubes and blueberries, from among the fruits and stuffed them into his mouth.
He categorized anything that required peeling as troublesome and rejected it entirely.
After Grandma Chen put down the fruit for him, she sat down beside him, put on her reading glasses, and started knitting. She didn't ask him about everyday things like other elderly people do.
Chu Beiling wasn't really comfortable being in the same space with other people, especially when it was just the two of them, and she wasn't very familiar with that person.
If he just sits there without anything to talk about, he'll feel restless and uncomfortable.
To ease the awkwardness, young Master Chu casually started a conversation, asking, "Grandma Chen, why was it Xing Yu who went to buy groceries?"
The answer is obvious. At Grandma Chen's age, she walks with a limp, and the old-style apartment building doesn't have an elevator, so it's really inconvenient for her to go up and down the stairs.
He was just making conversation.
But to my surprise, Grandma Chen said, "Xiao Yu has been a sensible child since he was little. He not only helps me buy groceries but also cooks. However, it is his parents' fault. They didn't care about him before, and after the divorce, neither of them wanted him. Otherwise, a sixteen or seventeen-year-old child wouldn't need to know these things."
Chu Beiling's heart skipped a beat for no reason. It was common knowledge in Zhalongkou that Xing Yu's parents didn't want him, and it was an occasional topic of conversation among the neighbors. It wasn't exactly a secret.
When Li Shuying moved him to Zhalongkou, Xing Yu's parents had already divorced.
Although they were classmates in the art studio, and Xing Yu always kept to himself and knew nothing about each other's affairs, this private matter was only mentioned by the neighbors in casual conversation after they moved to Zhalongkou.
"That kid from the Xing family is so pitiful. His parents divorced and neither of them wants him. It's such a tragedy." and so on.
Young Master Chu never expected that a casual conversation would lead to such a heavy topic.
His throat was dry, and his Adam's apple bobbed: "Xing Yu's parents didn't care about him before their divorce?"
"Yes~" Grandma Chen seemed to recall some distant and profound topic, and stopped knitting.
She sighed helplessly and angrily: "When Xiaoyu was a child, his parents only cared about their own work. Neither of them was willing to compromise and make time to take care of him. They also blamed each other for not taking care of Xiaoyu. They would not see each other for ten days or half a month. When they met, they would quarrel. When they quarreled, they would kick him out of the house. At that time, he would curl up on the stairs and stare longingly at the door."
Their parents were arguing so loudly that the whole building could hear them, and Xiao Yu just stared at their front door, tears streaming down his face.
At this point, Grandma Chen raised her hand to wipe away her tears: "Sometimes we would only let him go home after we finished arguing. Once, we simply forgot about him. He and his wife were busy with their own work and careers and didn't come home for half a year. He was thrown out and didn't have his keys, so he couldn't get into the house. That's why I let him come and stay at my house."
He was so young, he couldn't even reach the stove. Every morning, he'd stand in front of it with a stool, making breakfast for both of us. Once, I got up in the middle of the night and saw the bathroom light was on; he was washing my clothes. I told him not to do it, but he wouldn't listen, saying it was okay to do these things alone at home. I felt so bad for him.
"Later, they often invited Xiaoyu to stay or eat at my house. Although I'm an old woman and not very useful, at least I can take care of him. Then their parents got divorced. As a result, both of them wanted the other to take him away because they were too busy to take care of him. They had another fight over this. All the neighbors in Zhanongkou knew about this. They had their own fight and didn't care about the child's feelings or face at all."
Xiao Yu was in school at the time. When he came home, his parents were gone. He used to have hope, knowing that his parents would at least come back. Now, even that hope is gone, and he's constantly being gossiped about. What kind of parents are so irresponsible?!
“Now they all have their own families, let alone Xiaoyu,” Grandma Chen said, getting angrier as she spoke. “If his parents had always been like this, then it would be fine, but they aren’t.”
Chu Beiling not only has a strong ability to perceive and capture emotions, but also an even stronger ability to empathize. Just hearing Grandma Chen say that made him feel extremely uncomfortable, and his voice choked up: "What do you mean, 'not'?"
Speaking of this, Grandma Chen felt as if she were being stabbed with a knife: "They all have other children now. I heard that they spoil their current children terribly. Take Xiao Yu, for example. His half-brother hit him with a stainless steel pipe and fractured his bone. His father is the same. He even speaks up for his younger son, only caring about favoring his younger son and not caring about his older son at all."
Half a month ago, when Chu Beiling saw Xing Yu leaving with Xing Xiaoshu, it was because Grandpa Xing had made a request to see Xing Yu one last time, and Xing Xiaoshu had no choice but to come and take Xing Yu away.
After his grandfather passed away, Xing Yu sat in front of his grandfather's coffin in a daze. His seven-year-old half-brother, who was from the same father but different mother, got a stainless steel water pipe from somewhere and smashed it on Xing Yu's forehead without saying a word.
Xing Yu was too upset at that time to react and reach for the water pipe. He instinctively raised his hand to block it out of self-preservation. Fortunately, he did, otherwise, with the force of his brother's smash and the five or six centimeter thick stainless steel water pipe, it would be unknown whether Xing Yu would have survived.
Grandma Chen's eyes were filled with sadness: "When Xiao Yu's younger siblings were seven or eight years old, they would snuggle in their parents' arms and act spoiled. But Xiao Yu not only had to take care of himself, but also had to take care of this old woman. He is such a sensible person, but no one is willing to stay by his side for too long. No one wants to stay by his side."
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