Chapter 43 One and Five Good Things
The black Maybach passed through the city like a silent flowing shadow, carrying Xia Cun to the prince's castle again.
Mr. Mizuno didn't come to pick her up like last time because he was busy with some work. Xia Cun looked out the window, and the secret story that Mr. Mizuno had told her flashed through her mind.
That night, Mr. Mizuno's opening remarks were: "Xiao Xia, remember when I told you to 'Run forward'?"
She nodded. Once, when she asked him why he was jogging outdoors in the morning, he said that only running outdoors could truly be considered moving forward. Another time, when Mr. Mizuno was negotiating with her about whether to leave Jiang Song behind, he told her that work was hard, so to avoid the hardship, she could start moving forward early.
Mr. Mizuno continued, "This may sound... hard-working, but 'running forward' is indeed what I have always done."
In Japanese, "彈家" (hardworking person) refers to someone who works very hard. While this expression is less common in Chinese, it at least has the same meaning. Perhaps Mizuno couldn't think of a corresponding Chinese word for this, so he used "彈家" (hardworking person).
Shinji Mizuno is a hard worker himself. He has been burdened with his father's huge gambling debts since he was a child and has depended on his mother for everything. His mother told him to run forward and keep running to where he wants to go, so Mizuno has been implementing this creed since he was a child.
He ran away from the fishing port and enrolled in the town's junior high school, studying during the day and working at a convenience store at night. His holidays were reversed, moving goods at the dock warehouse during the day and studying at night. Later, he ran away from town and, with excellent grades, entered a key high school in the prefecture. Then, he ran away from the county and enrolled in the University of Tokyo. Finally, by the time he graduated, he had paid off his father's gambling debts.
He rented his first apartment in Tokyo and brought his mother over from the fishing port. For over a decade, his mother worked multiple jobs to pay off her debts, looking far more haggard and gaunt than her peers. Mizuno immediately took her to the hospital for a checkup, and fortunately, the findings revealed only minor problems, which reassured him.
At that time, Mizuno thought it might be a good idea to stay in Tokyo, so he became a teacher according to his mother's wishes and worked diligently.
But not long after, he discovered something, something that was almost shocking to him. It was that thing that once again aroused his desire to run forward, because he found that his mother had stopped, stopped in the shadow of the past ten years or even decades.
Without his knowledge, his mother would buy excessive amounts of food, rice balls, biscuits, bread, roast chicken, ice cream... and then sit there almost listlessly, mechanically putting the food into her mouth, as if it were a bottomless pit that could never be filled.
After living frugally for so long, her mother developed an almost pathological obsession with food after arriving in Tokyo. Mizuno caught her doing this when she returned home early one day. Why, she no longer had to fear debt collectors or hunger, but why, why did she still linger in this shadow?
When he saw his mother eating, Mizuno recalled the days when he was in junior high school. On his first day in town, he passed by a pizza shop and stopped in front of a pizza poster.
He wanted pizza. He wanted it badly. He was so engrossed in it when a few boys his age passed by, scoffed, and then strode into the shop. Later, Mizuno arrived at the home of his relatives, and discovered that one of the boys his age was actually their child.
Mizuno never exposes his weaknesses in front of others, but a fact was accidentally exposed on the first day he came here. Sure enough, the children of his relatives seemed to be keen on mocking him with pizza. Sometimes they would buy pizza and hamburgers, and then eat them in front of him provocatively, and even pretend to share them with him, but he never paid any attention.
Once he fell ill with a fever and did not go to school. After school, the boy persuaded his classmates to come to his room to buy pizza and hamburgers.
He smelled the pizza in a half-asleep state and mumbled incoherently. Then they handed the pizza to his mouth. He took a bite. Everyone in the room laughed. Then someone suggested stuffing all the pizza into his mouth... He woke up from his coma, and under the helpless gaze of the camera, he was forced by everyone to eat the whole pizza he had been longing for.
Dizzy and nauseous, he hated pizza.
The sight of his mother eating behind a folding screen reminded him of this incident, and Mizuno decided at that moment that he would keep running forward. He didn't want to stop. His life wasn't just about paying off his debts. He had many things to do. He wanted to heal his mother, and he wanted to travel around the world...
So later, he ran into the Tanaka family and worked as a personal assistant for the troublesome young master mentioned by an older classmate.
The Tanaka family's salary was generous enough, perhaps thanks to this notorious young devil. In short, according to his plan, he only needed to stay in this position for three years to save enough money for his plan.
But three years is enough time for many changes. After the third year, he worked for another year. After the fourth year, he decided to work for another year. He was determined to make this his last year because the work was too tiring. He was already rich enough and didn't want to waste so much energy on it. Next, he wanted to run out of Tokyo, go to more places and do more things he had never done before...
He became Jiang Song's assistant on the first day he turned 12, so he decided to resign on the first day he turned 17, but he slightly adjusted his plan in this matter.
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Jiang Song must be very shocked now, because Wallace will definitely be at a loss if he loses Gromit.
While Xia Cun was thinking, the car door was opened from the outside.
Shinji Mizuno looked calm as usual. He nodded at her and said to her seriously, "Thank you for agreeing to come."
Xia Cun tilted his head towards him and said sternly, "You're welcome, because I just wanted to meet Jiang Song."
Mizuno led her inside, but stopped at the second floor and said to her, "You go up, I won't go."
The girl looked at him, nodded and went upstairs.
On the way to Jiang Song's bedroom, there is a small terrace. Xia Cun walked straight past it and then went back in a moment.
Hot air blew in from the archway of the terrace. On it, a woman sat at a round wrought-iron table. Her black hair was still combed into a bright, sleek style, revealing the line of her slender neck. A half-burned cigarette curled between her fingers, its smoke wisping into the daylight. With a flick of her finger, the ash silently fell into the glass on the table. Then, she lifted the cigarette to her lips again, her movements graceful and calm, yet tinged with a hint of melancholy and suppressed anxiety. It was then that she realized something and turned to look to the right.
In the dimly lit corridor of the old building, a girl stood quietly looking at her, her eyes bright and curious.
Through the hazy smoke, they looked at each other for a few breaths.
The woman's originally indifferent expression gradually regained some of her charm. She did not ask the girl to go to the terrace, but said calmly: "Hello again, Xiao Xia."
The girl replied, "I'm here to look for Jiang Song."
"I know." Ms. Tanaka paused and said, "He still has a fever and is sleeping in his room. You can go."
Xia Cun didn't move, but walked towards her. Seeing this, the woman extinguished the cigarette between her fingers and dropped it into the glass. The girl finally walked under the archway of the terrace and asked her, "Are you okay?"
Why did the figure just now look so lonely and sad?
Ms. Tanaka smiled at her and said, "I'm fine." Then she looked at the girl and said, "After you finish watching Xiao Song, come to me and tell me what you didn't say before."
"Um."
Xia Cun nodded without hesitation, looked at the beautiful face again, then left the terrace and went to Jiang Song's room.
Jiang Song was so fragile. He just fell ill for no apparent reason after being left in the park by her, and he stayed at home. Of course, he didn't tell her any of this. He hadn't spoken to her at all in the past few days.
As expected, he was a man with many shortcomings: fragile, timid, evasive, and dishonest, which was just enough for her to dislike him.
Thinking of this, she opened Jiang Song's door without knocking.
At first glance, she saw her pony placed in the center of the room, and under its feet were densely packed little yellow ducks. It looked like the floor of the room had turned into an ocean, and both the ducks and the pony were on the sea.
Xia Cun walked into the room and found that Jiang Song was not in the room. Instead of looking for Jiang Song, she approached her pony. Jiang Song had placed a little yellow duck on the pony's head and two on its back, making it look like it was a mule.
He also treated her pony in an unforgivable way.
However, it cannot be said that it is her pony now, it can only be said that it was her former pony.
Xia Cun touched the pony's ears, and it took her a while to remember that she came to visit Jiang Song instead of the horse. Then she left the room and went to the aquarium.
Even during the day, the room was blocked from all light, leaving only the jellyfish wall emitting a faint blue glow. The door opened and closed, clearly letting traces of light seep into the darkness, so Xia Cun heard Jiang Song's voice say, "Evil demon しないで."
This time Xia Cun really didn't understand, but from his sullen tone, she could guess that he didn't want anyone to disturb her. She stopped and thought for a moment, then opened the door from the inside and closed it, pretending to leave. Then she effortlessly lowered her presence and walked lightly around the partition.
Beneath the blue water curtain, a black silhouette framed the young boy like a picture. He sat cross-legged, facing the jellyfish, his head against the glass, looking deeply sad. But unlike Ms. Tanaka's inexpressible sorrow, his sadness was tinged with a rich childishness.
He still heard the rustling sound behind him, turned around and repeated his previous words: "Evil Demon..." The rest of the words were swallowed back into his stomach. He became uneasy and stammered, "Existence-chan..."
Xia Cun walked up to him and also sat cross-legged under the jellyfish wall. The boy's rapid breathing was amplified in the quiet room. After a long time, he said to the silent girl: "Gome Nune. I'm sorry."
Including the time at the island swimming pool, this was the second time she heard Jiang Song apologize sincerely.
Xia Cun turned around and came towards her with a hug. The boy had turned around, knelt down, and leaned over to hug her, burying his head in the crook of her neck and wrapping his arms around her.
She felt her body trembling, but it seemed as if it was Jiang Song who was trembling. His breath was hot and his hair tickled her neck. Her current posture was so awkward... All the strange and subtle feelings were magnified. She froze for a while, and slowly changed her posture in the boy's embrace, at least sitting face to face with him.
He still had his head buried in the crook of her neck, his warmth surging.
"Why are you sorry?" she asked.
"Because you must be really mad at me, right?"
Xia Cun found that he always liked to ask her questions like "Is it right?" and "Is it good?" She said, "I don't."
She wasn't angry, she just felt a little dizzy, as if her words had become bubbles, carrying her to the clouds. Her words must be less dense than air, and perhaps Jiang Song's were the same.
"You must have, because I didn't answer you and haven't come to see you, you must be angry." Jiang Song stubbornly talked nonsense.
"So you knew it." Xia Cun said this, and then he found that his tone was a bit like Xiao Lan.
Jiang Song didn't say anything, but he seemed to be still trembling. It seemed like a long time had passed. His breathing was not as heavy as before, but light as if it didn't exist. Then, he whispered in her ear: "Hello. Good."
As if that wasn’t enough, he continued, “大好きだよ.”
Me too. I like you. I like you so much.
The boy's feelings, along with the symptoms of a burning brain fever, were conveyed to the girl.
Two hearts throbbed, flickering in their breaths. Under the aquamarine light, it was as if two flames flickered gently on the seabed, burning fiercely.
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The author has something to say: Prince’s virtue +1 [hug]
Blue hug is good ^ ^
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