Chapter 32: The Sycamore Tree at Dusk
The next day, Xia Cun started copying homework early in the morning. It was a book of summer homework that Ren Yi had kindly lent her yesterday.
The location is still on the sofa.
Xia Lan remembered that Xia Cun hadn't had this habit as a child; it seemed she'd only developed it after her sister's death. But she'd told him several times, and when he refused to correct his behavior, she'd given up. Now thinking about it, was she really too permissive in her upbringing?
How long ago was it? It should have been almost five years ago when she and He Shiyan decided to break up.
It was their fourth year of dating, but they were also experiencing their second year of a long-distance relationship, or rather, an international one, as He Shiyan was studying in the United States after graduation. He Shiyan flew back and forth whenever he could, though it wasn't a romantic moment; his frequent visits to China were due to many important matters. Xia Lan, at that moment, had a vague sense of realization. After detailing how He Shiyan and she were incompatible, she broke up.
One of the inappropriate things was that He Shiyan always thought that her discipline of Xia Cun was too lenient and indulgent, which was not conducive to the child's growth, and she hated him saying that.
Ah, it’s so difficult!
Why is raising children so difficult?
Xia Lan wailed silently, slumping down on the lazy sofa. Xia Cun turned to look at her and asked with concern, "What's wrong with you?"
Xia Lan then put on a distressed expression: "Xia Zun Cun, how can you make progress if you study like this?"
Xia Cun tilted his head and said seriously, "You said before that vacations are about having fun."
Xia Lan has always believed in creating unforgettable memories during one's golden years, so she played whenever she wanted and copied whenever she wanted. But now she says, "The past is the past."
"Is it different now?"
"A little bit. I recently talked to an expert, and it seems like my approach to educating you is indeed a little off..."
“You said before that today’s experts are very abstract.”
“…”
How many words did she say before? How come this child remembers them so clearly?
"This expert is different. He has real-world experience, not just theoretical knowledge."
Xia Cun put down his pen when he heard this, turned around completely, and looked at her from the edge of the sofa: "Are you talking about Mr. Mizuno?"
"..." was discovered. Xia Lan cleared her throat, "Now you believe it's an expert, right?"
Xia Cun seemed to think for a moment, then asked her from another angle: "Why did you listen to him? You used to be very angry when others said that."
"How can I be angry?"
Xia Lan's rebuttal was powerless, and then Xia Cun stared at her without blinking.
After years of training, Xia Lan had long been immune to her appearance, but no matter how immune she was or how indifferent she was, the final result was compromise, because she was facing a very stubborn child.
She didn't try to fool around and had to answer her question directly, "Because Mizuno always seems very reliable and trustworthy, don't you think?"
Xia Cun certainly felt the same way, but she did not express her agreement. She just remained silent with no expression on her face.
During the long silence, Xia Lan seemed to have realized something. Her expression suddenly became serious. While combing Holmes's hair, she said, "Stop imagining nonsense."
Xia Cun blinked, as if he understood something, then turned around and copied his homework again.
She recalled again what He Shiyan said to her on the yacht, and thought that maybe she really was obvious.
She hated every boyfriend Xia Lan dated, except her first love, but that was only because she was still very young at the time and Xia Qing was still taking care of them both, so she was not afraid that Xia Lan would be taken away by someone else.
What would Xiaolan do if she got married and had children of her own like other people?
Although it seems that Xiao Lan will not do so at the moment, because a year ago, Xiao Lan proposed to break up with Li Sui because Li Sui's parents urged her to get married.
"But have you found anything that interests you?"
Xia Lan's sudden question interrupted her thoughts and her relentless work on her exercise book. Xia Cun was surprised and shook her head.
"Why don't we learn Japanese in the future? What do you think?" Xia Lan suggested. Seeing that Xia Cun was still confused, she couldn't help but say, "You'll be in your third year of high school when school starts. It's time to think about this. You seem very interested in Japanese now."
Xia Lan would occasionally become pragmatic. In fact, like her sister Xia Qing, she was also good at studying, but her sister was more rational and she was more emotional, so she used her hobbies to establish her goals and chose the design major, even though her sister agreed reluctantly at the time.
"But that's because of classmate Jiang Song." Xia Cun answered her.
I became interested in Japanese because I was very interested in Jiang Song.
"So what's wrong? Or is it that your interest in Jiang Song can't last long? Is that what you mean?"
ちがうよ.
ぜんぜんちがうよ.
Xia Cun wanted to deny it like this. These were the two sentences he said to her when she decided to leave the yacht with Jiang Song that day.
But it would seem strange for her to speak Japanese to Xia Lan, so she denied it in Chinese: "No."
This kid...
Xia Lan muttered secretly, and then teased half-seriously: "Well, the beautiful boy who can make Xia Zuncheng persist in liking him is indeed extraordinary. I really want to meet him in person, otherwise you can invite him to your house to play."
The proposal was so sudden that Xia Cun couldn't help but frown, just like when Ren Yi mentioned Jiang Song in the park yesterday.
"Why, you don't want to invite him, or you're afraid he won't agree to it?"
No way.
But Xia Cun remained silent until Xia Lan finished combing Holmes's hair and he ran to lie down beside Xia Cun's legs again. Then she buried her head and whispered, "Xiao Lan, I have a very strange feeling."
"What does it feel like?"
"I always feel like after I go home, Jiang Song suddenly disappears."
I couldn't feel his presence when I walked outside the luxurious residential area, I couldn't feel his presence when I looked through his photos, and I couldn't feel his presence even when I received his messages. It was as if he suddenly became a virtual character, a symbol, as if he and the water in the swimming pool remained in the past.
When she mentioned Jiang Song to others, was she referring to the boy in her memory, or the boy who was currently in another place?
"Is he really a fantasy?" she asked Xia Lan.
Xia Lan held her chin and casually pushed the frame of her glasses with one finger. The lenses had not been cleaned for several days, and the dust floating on them made her vision blurry when the sunlight shone on them.
In this hazy state, she seemed to finally realize that the child in front of her had grown into a confused teenager, but she still couldn't distinguish between reality and fantasy.
Xia Lan didn't answer her until there was a knock on the door. She stood up to open it. When she passed by Xia Cun, she reached out and rubbed the top of her head, saying, "If you can't tell the difference, just feel it more. There's still time."
She went to open the door and found a gift box delivered to her door. She glanced at the girl who was still in a daze in the living room, signed for it herself, and then took the scissors on the entrance on her own initiative. She was about to violently open the box when she paused.
"It's actually quite real. Xia's existence is quite significant."
She said this as she brought the gift box wrapped in colorful polka-dot paper to the coffee table.
Xia Cun came back to his senses, blinked at the gift box, and then pulled a card from the box. There was only a short line of handwritten words on the top of the card, which read "To 存在ちゃん".
She wanted to know why Jiang Song knew her home address, but this seemed like a simple question because the rich people in movies and TV dramas all have connections.
Jiang Song is still very dreamy, she thought, as she carefully opened the gift box. The first thing she saw was a black tail sticking up. She blinked, then leaned forward to cover the gift box as Xia Lan and Holmes peeked in.
Xia Lan couldn't help but raise an eyebrow: "Wow, so stingy, Xia Zunxing?"
"No."
"Then why don't you let us see it?"
“…” She didn’t look at me without noticing.
Xia Cun also couldn't withstand Xia Lan's gaze, and finally took out the heavy figurine and put it on the table.
Xia Lan took a closer look and said, "Wow, isn't this Qiqi?"
Kiki, the cat, stars in the manga by Blue Glasses, the first work of the same name. A two-dimensional black cat, now a meticulously crafted figurine, the size of a kitten, with realistic fur detail and hand-painted, frozen in a pose where it buries its face in a puddle, its tail and butt pouting. The base is so detailed that even the moon's reflection and the fuzzy Pegasus appear faintly in the water.
Why is it Qiqi?
She seemed to have not recommended the comics to Jiang Song yet, but he actually sent Qiqi to his home.
She petted the lifelike cat that looked like it came out of a comic book, then turned to look at Xia Lan: "Will you be angry?"
"What are you angry about?"
"Because Jiang Song has no copyright awareness."
Xia Lan was startled, then laughed so hard that she leaned back on the sofa. After a long moment of laughter, she said, "Why are you so principled, Xia Zunxing?"
"Because you hate this kind of thing."
She answered seriously.
"You're so cute, Xia Cun." Xia Lan never hesitated to praise Xia Cun with such words, and then she said cheerfully, "But don't worry, I remember someone signed a non-commercial licensing agreement with the copyright holder some time ago. Now that I think about it, it's very likely your classmate Jiang Song."
Xia Cun felt strange when she heard her refer to Jiang Song as hers.
Xia Lan continued, "It seems that he is a very polite child."
Xia Cun did not agree because she received a message at this time. She opened her phone and saw that it was Jiang Song.
Hayate: 「かわいいでしょ?」
Very cute, right?
Very cute.
She answered in the affirmative and then asked him, "Why did you give me this?"
Hayate: "It seems like you."
Xia Cun didn't reply to him for a long time.
Hayate: "It's time to go try on dresses again, see u :( "
He seems really busy.
Xia Cun turned off his cell phone, leaned over the coffee table to watch Sanvichi, scratching its paws with his fingers from time to time.
Why did Jiang Song find that Qiqi was very similar to her?
Perhaps because of her sudden silence, Xia Lan stopped talking. The two were in the same space, but did not interfere with each other.
…
Xia Cun stayed at home all day. For dinner, Xia Lan cooked pasta herself. Perhaps thanks to Xia Lan's cooking skills, Xia Cun didn't seem to be picky about food. She didn't even have obvious likes or dislikes for food, unlike Jiang Song.
After dinner, for some reason, Xia Lan decided to go out for a walk with Xia Cun. However, when she was walking down the stairs, she realized that she had forgotten to bring her cell phone, so she asked Xia Cun to go home and get it for her. Xia Cun searched for a long time before finding the silent cell phone behind the sofa cushion, and then went downstairs.
However, when she walked out of the stairwell, her steps and breathing seemed to come to a sudden stop.
Under the sycamore tree at dusk, golden dust was floating, and Xia Lan, Holmes and a beautiful boy were squatting together.
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