Chapter 13 Chapter 13 Why are you crying again?
During meals, Wenyu likes to share interesting things that happened in her school with adults, such as which classmate was scolded and cried by the teacher, or which classmate secretly brought snacks to give to classmates. She said she wanted to bring some too. Her mother listened with a smile, and her father told her not to talk while eating.
In third grade, Wenyu showed a talent for drawing. Her homeroom teacher suggested her parents nurture her talent, so her mother enrolled her in a sketching class, and she began drawing with pencils. She loved drawing, and on Saturday afternoons, instead of doing homework, she would chat with her classmates and learn to draw. In junior high, she stopped drawing; her grades declined, and her father said drawing was pointless.
She got into a good high school and a prestigious university with excellent grades. She suddenly became obsessed with modeling clay, which took shape and life in her hands. During her winter and summer vacations, she would bring her beloved clay to the study to create, taking up her father's computer time. He criticized her for playing with children's toys all day and not pursuing a boyfriend.
"What is the good time?" Wen Yu asked.
"You're twenty now, young and beautiful. This is the best time for a woman!" Dad said firmly. "Are you planning to wait until you're thirty to find a man? Who would be interested in you when you're old and ugly?"
…
Wen Yu thinks that liking something is useless.
Her childhood desire to share, her childhood joys, her adult artistic fantasies were all useless.
She loved the basketball forwards sweating profusely on the court, the student president flipping through Feynman's Lectures on Physics in the library, the windbreaker glasses and a cup of iced American coffee in the cafe every day, and the uniform newspapers she often encountered at the subway station...
They are too young, do not live locally, come from poor families, and have no one to rely on...
Her parents rejected, opposed, and controlled.
My mother said, "Just liking him is useless. He's not good enough, and you'll suffer if you follow him... He's too good. Is he just playing around with you? You're wasting your youth."
Mom said, "Wen Yu is very good. Mom and Dad picked it for you personally. It can't be wrong. Mom and Dad are doing this for your own good."
…
Wen Yu's circumstances were neither too bad nor too good; he was an ordinary child from an ordinary family. His parents were simple and honest, and their relationship was straightforward. Like any small-town self-made man, he rose from the countryside to become a Fortune 500 company through his own merit.
Her mother advised her, "Wen Yu is right for you. He's steady and practical, and doesn't look like the type of man who would mess around. You'll be very happy if you marry him. Even if he does mess around in the future and something happens, Mom and Dad can handle it, given his family background."
Wen Yu's parents paid for a three-bedroom apartment in the city center, putting it in her name. After their engagement, Wen Yu and Wen Yu moved in. It was on the 22nd floor, with a great view. From the floor-to-ceiling windows, one could see distant mountains, towering clouds, and towering peaks. Housing prices were high there.
Wen Yu has another plan to buy a house, but his parents can provide little help for him, so he needs to work hard and keep getting promoted.
Wen Yu was away on business both Saturday and the weekend. Wen Yu returned to the villa, where her mother prepared breakfast, lunch, and dinner. While caring for her attentively, her mother also scolded her for her carelessness at work.
"It's just work. Why did you work so hard? Now you're crippled! What happened to Wen Yu? He didn't even stay with you when you were injured, and chose this time to go on a business trip..."
Wen Yu was lying comfortably on the sofa. A TV series was playing in the living room, and her mother brought her some cut fruit.
"It's all because I had to wait on you that I couldn't go clothes shopping with my friends this afternoon!"
Wen Yu got up from the sofa: "Are you going to buy clothes?"
"Yeah, we made an appointment on Friday to go shopping together on Sunday afternoon, but you turned up!"
"Go ahead, don't worry about me."
Wenyu loved her mother's group of friends; they were all so lively. When she was with them, she had endless topics to talk about. Seeing her mother like this, Wenyu felt like she was back at the dinner table as a child, little Wenyu chattering away while her mother listened with a smile.
It was just that their roles had been reversed. Now it was the mother and friends' turn to chatter non-stop, while Wen Yu watched, listened and laughed.
Her childhood wish was that her mother would always be happy.
Wen Yu smiled as she saw her mother out. Before she left, her mother repeatedly reminded her not to order takeout for dinner. She had always been a sensible and obedient child, especially one whose words were spoken by her mother. The house was fully stocked with pots and pans, and the refrigerator was well stocked with food, but Wen Yu was too lazy to cook since she was eating alone. It was still early, so she strolled out the door, ready to find a nearby restaurant for dinner.
There were two villa complexes here, side by side, facing a wide road with many busy shops across the street. Wen Yu walked along this busy street, searching.
Aunt Lin recorded a WeChat video and sent it to her. They and their mother often shopped at a familiar store, often buying five, six, seven, or eight items at a time. The owner favored them as big customers, and whenever they came, the service was always enthusiastic. As soon as they put on one dress, the next skirt was picked out and handed to them. One top wasn't enough; they had to pair it with a pair of pants. Sometimes the owner would also sell them high heels and sneakers, and if they liked them, they'd take them home.
In the video, the mother was spinning in front of a full-length mirror, her floral dress fluttering like a butterfly. The boss wasn't in the shot, but his attentive voice was recorded: "Beautiful! It's tailor-made just for you! Won't your husband be smitten when you wear it?"
The two aunts echoed.
A few seconds later, her mother sent a WeChat voice message, her voice overflowing with happiness and joy: "Xiaoyu, have you seen the message Aunt Lin just sent you? Does Mom look good in it?" Wenyu replied: "Yes." Aunt Lin also sent her a voice message: "Your mom is so conceited! She said she wants to buy a few more."
While Wen Yu was reviewing the food for the three delighted female advisors, he found a snack bar and walked in. The place was empty, but cool and clean. A large fan overhead was spinning, blowing the aroma of meat from the kitchen over to him.
Wen Yu ordered two meat dishes and one vegetable dish, which she might not be able to finish, but she didn't want to treat herself badly when it came to food.
WeChat on her phone rang. She first glanced at the time on the screen. It was four fifty. "Mom, are they still buying?"
Accident.
Yan Qianqian had sent her a photo. It was blurry, so Wen Yu clicked on it and enlarged it. In it was a disheveled young woman munching on braised pork. Despite the tireless whirring of the large ceiling fan, she was sweating profusely as she devoured the meal with relish.
Wen Yu: “…”
The half-eaten piece of braised pork fell into the bowl with a plop, and then she looked up suddenly.
A Maybach was parked outside the store, the driver's window fully open. Wen Yu first caught sight of Pan Xianchen's nose and chin, then of Yan Qianqian, who had stretched out most of her body from the passenger seat. Yan Qianqian had that same look of surprise on her face again, waving at Wen Yu with a smile that curved her eyes.
Across a moderately wide sidewalk, Yan Qianqian shouted from the car, "We are so destined!"
……really.
Passersby on the street were attracted by the enthusiastic voices and watched them curiously.
The scene reappeared.
Wen Yu put down her chopsticks, turned around and said to the boss, "Don't put it away, I'm going to go out for a while and come back to eat later." She limped to the car and greeted them.
Yan Qianqian excitedly peppered her with questions. "What a coincidence! Why are you here too? What are you doing here?" Wen Yu bent down to accommodate their sitting height in the car, revealing Pan Xianchen's full face.
Pan Xianchen looked at her, seemingly unable to get a word in between the two women's questions and answers. He silently stared at the grains of rice clinging to Wen Yu's lips, as if they shimmered brightly next to her greasy mouth.
Having bumped into her twice in this area, Pan Xianchen interrupted Yan Qianqian's chatter: "Do you live here?" He gestured with his eyes to the villa complex across the street, and Wen Yu nodded.
Yan Qianqian became even more excited: "Ah! Really? I live here too! Then can I come and play with you?"
Pan Xianchen asked Yan Qianqian, "Are you familiar with her?"
Yan Qianqian replied: "Not very familiar."
"Then how can you have the nerve to bother others?"
"Won't we become familiar with each other while playing?" Yan Qianqian frowned, very dissatisfied with Pan Xianchen's interfering.
She looked at Wen Yu and put on a smiling face again: "We have something to do later, and he wants to take me home first. You go eat first! We're leaving first, bye!"
The car window closed, Wen Yu stood up and watched them go away.
After dinner, Wen Yu went back home. The lights were on in the living room, but no one was there, and it was very quiet.
"Mom?" Wen Yu put down her crutches and, holding onto the wall, walked up the stairs. The door to her mother's master bedroom was ajar. Wen Yu pushed it open and saw her mother, hunched over, sitting on the edge of the bed. The bed was scattered with the new dresses and pants her mother had bought that afternoon. One piece of clothing lay on the floor. Wen Yu recognized it as the floral dress from the video Aunt Lin had filmed for her.
Torn.
Now it looks like a colorful rag, in tatters and without any image.
Wen Yu hurried over. Her mother's face was covered in tears. She thought back to her early elementary school days, when her mother was away on a business trip. One night, she got up to go to the bathroom and, half asleep, pushed the wrong door. Daddy's room was dark, lit only by the white light from the television, which illuminated her father's face and the face of another stranger lying on the bed.
Later, when her parents quarreled, they never did so in front of her, but little Wenyu was no longer fooled. The rustling sounds coming from behind her parents' tightly closed door were them blaming each other, pushing and shoving, and scolding each other. Little Wenyu hid under the quilt, pressing down her sensitive ears with a thick pillow, trying not to listen or think, but her heart was pounding and tears were streaming.
When Wenyu started high school, her father told her he was divorcing her mother. Later, her mother hysterically cried and told her she would never divorce. She was stuck between her parents, like a piece of mud being crushed. Her mother's desperate, heartbroken face overlapped with the one she saw before her. Without questioning her, Wenyu burst into tears.
Why? How?
It was clearly in the afternoon when my mother was smiling like a flower.
After washing her face, her mother fell asleep exhausted. Wen Yu sat in her bedroom, thinking back to the painful past. At around nine o'clock, her phone lit up, becoming the only light in her dark bedroom.
Yan Qianqian sent a WeChat message asking where her home was, saying she had a lot of chocolates she had brought back from abroad and wanted to give them to her now. Wen Yu struggled to say no, but Yan Qianqian seemed to have no idea why she was being rejected and kept asking.
Wen Yu wiped her face clean and walked out of the house. Yan Qianqian said she would be there in five minutes.
The stars in the distance were bright, the moon was crescent-shaped, the chirping of insects and the gentle breeze outlined this beautiful night. Wen Yu had no intention of paying attention to these things. She went out in a daze, wearing a pair of loose shorts and a thin suspender top, like she had just crawled out of the quilt.
She waited quietly. Soon, she heard footsteps approaching from a distance. She looked up and saw a face that was equally astonished.
"Why is it you?"
"Why are you crying again?"
They said at the same time.
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