Chapter 30: Glass Boundary
Holmes is a very new puppy, still very curious about the world, sniffing around as he walks along the road.
The world is also very curious about it, and from time to time people squat down to touch its head or take pictures of it.
When Xia Cun walked to the outside of the Hanfu Fruit Shop with the dog, Han Fu was sitting at a small table inside the shop eating dinner. It was a simple dinner of one meat, one vegetable and one soup, served in a stainless steel lunch box. It was obviously a meal brought from home.
Unlike Xia Lan, who embraced all things fancy and extravagant, Han Fu was a firm believer in pragmatism. She saw no need for fancy tableware when stainless steel basins were practical, no need for designer clothes when basic clothes lasted longer. She was also straightforward in her conversation, never harboring any unnecessary romantic fantasies. Of course, at 41, she was significantly older than Xia Lan.
Han Fu's pragmatism is also reflected in her education of her children. She never fantasizes about Ren Yi getting into a top 10 prestigious university. She only hopes that she can get into a key university in H City or nearby and have a stable job in the future. She always teaches Ren Yi to be down-to-earth and not to harbor illusions.
She's tough, down-to-earth, and, of course, possesses a fierce aura, as evoked by the name "Hard Woman Fruit Shop." Xia Lan describes her as the punk queen of the streets, even the way she shakes out the fruit bags for customers resembles a knife swing.
Therefore, for someone like Han Fu, the most unprincipled and risky thing she has ever done is to let Ren Yi be friends with Xia Cun - this goes against her educational philosophy, because Xia Cun himself has a fantasy quality, like a fantasy virus that may contaminate Ren Yi at any time.
But she still insisted that Ren Yi be Xia Cun's friend, not for anything else, just because Xia Cun was Xia Qing's daughter.
Twelve years ago, if it weren't for Xia Qing's help, she would not have successfully defended her husband's rights in his work-related death, would not have received that large amount of compensation, and would not have opened this fruit shop to raise her daughter.
She was just a woman from the countryside with no education, while Xia Qing was a city dweller, an intellectual, and knowledgeable about law. From the beginning of the rights protection case, Xia Qing had been helping her, helping her defend her rights, helping her find a new place to live and a store, and helping her transfer her daughter to another school...
Xia Qing is a wise, rational, considerate and gentle woman. Han Fu thinks that he is completely different from her. The only similarities between them are age and gender, and they both have a daughter of the same age.
Perhaps this is also a kind of fate, Han Fu thought.
Xia Qing wasn't married, but she had a daughter who shared her last name. Han Fu, however, believed her daughter to be completely different from her. At the time, she thought, "People are truly strange. Three people, yet so different." She thought again of her own daughter, Ren Yi, who had been able to speak and curse since she was a child. She seemed quite like her, at least more like her than this mother-daughter pair.
Han Fu didn't think too much about it. She just hoped that Ren Yi could play with Xia Cun more often, because Xia Qing was always worried that Xia Cun was too withdrawn and would be bullied. She was always worried that Xia Cun would disappear under her nose if she wasn't careful...
Xia Qing always felt that her daughter was more like her sister than herself. However, even Xia Lan was not as fickle as Xia Cun when she was a child. Instead, she was very good at focusing and was very worry-free.
Therefore, Han Fu has been asking Ren Yi to "take care of" and "protect" her since she was a child, as if she was born to be Xia Cun's bodyguard. After Xia Qing died in a car accident, Han Fu's requirements for her became more and more strict. Han Fu was not pragmatic when it came to the relationship between the two girls.
When she saw the girl walking the dog, she put down her half-eaten bowl and asked, "Xiao Cun, when did you come back? Xiao Yi didn't even tell me."
"I came back temporarily this afternoon because of the typhoon." Xia Cun said as he tightly pulled Holmes towards the fruit basket.
Han Fu understood and asked her, "Are you here to see Xiaoyi? No, she's out today. Didn't she tell you?"
Xia Cun's back was tenser than Holmes's leash. After a moment's thought, he said half-truthfully, "I didn't tell her I was coming back. I wanted to give her a surprise." He paused, "Then I'll come back tomorrow."
Han Fu was used to her comings and goings, and she didn't say anything polite like asking the girl to eat some fruit, but she still frowned as she stared at her back. She picked up her phone and was about to call Ren Yi when the girl, who had just left, came back into the store and told her not to tell Ren Yi about it yet, saying she wanted to surprise her tomorrow. Han Fu had no choice but to agree, and the girl said goodbye and left again.
Xia Cun was walking on the road and felt a little hungry.
Just now, when she left the fruit shop, she thought that Han Fu might call to question Ren Yi, so she went back into the shop and made up another lie. She had no surprise for Ren Yi, and she had no idea what to say to her.
She could talk to Xia Lan as if nothing had happened, because she knew that Xiao Lan would act the same way, but Ren Yi would not pretend that nothing had happened.
During the summer vacation of her second year in junior high school, Ren Yi was unable to join the extracurricular band because of that incident and did not come to see her for a week. Later, she went to the fruit shop to find Ren Yi, but she even ignored her in front of Aunt Han Fu.
In a sense, Ren Yi is a stubborn person. She has a clear distinction between love and hate and a strong personality, although you will find that she is a bit talkative after getting to know her.
It seems like I haven't talked to her for a long time.
As she pondered, Holmes finally stopped under a tree and took a bowel movement.
It stinks. What a disgusting kid.
Xia Cun picked up the dog poop with a serious face, then carried the bag all the way until he was almost home, where he found the wet garbage bin and threw it in. Then he pretended to finish his meal and go home.
The next morning, Xia Cun woke up to the sound of Holmes scratching the door. She didn't understand why it didn't scratch Xia Lan's door but came to her, but she still went to the living room to pour some dog food into the dog bowl for it. As a result, it just sniffed it, then walked to the door and wagged its tail at it.
“…”
A few minutes later, Xia Cun took the dog and the poop bag out again.
She thought, she somewhat understood why Duo Meng had entrusted Holmes to Xia Lan's care. She simply wanted to use a high-energy dog to make her less lazy.
Having not eaten anything last night, Xia Cun bought a serving of shengjian when passing by a shengjian shop, and then for some unknown reason turned in the opposite direction of yesterday.
H City is a place where the old and the new coexist. Old alleys and old public housing are often separated from upscale residential areas and CBD office buildings by just a few streets or corners. You pass an alleyway lined with erratic electric bike parking, then a wooden door lined with rattan chairs, and then you'll see glass-walled buildings, elegant cafes, and stylish pet dogs dressed like celebrities...
When Xia Cun went to school, he would walk through such alleys and glass borders, walking into a new neighborhood as if he was walking into the new century.
Their residence is not far from the school, and there is a luxury real estate nearby that is specially developed for wealthy people. It is announced that if their children study in this school, they might as well buy a suite here and live there for a short period of time.
Xia Lan had once told her that such a community would have a clubhouse, gym, spa, tennis courts, children's play area, pet park, and other supporting facilities. As for how she knew this, Xia Lan replied that they had discussed it. The property was He Shiyan's work.
When she was in love with He Shiyan, she called him "He Shiyan", which sounded exactly the same as his real name.
From Xia Lan's perspective, her past with He Shiyan was like an experiment in her life, an experiment in class, charm, and freedom. In the end, she gave up on the experiment, or ended it early, because she had already reached its conclusion.
As for what the conclusion was, Xia Lan may not have told Xia Cun because Xia Cun could not retrieve any memory of this conclusion.
She ate her shengjian and walked a long way until she arrived at the opposite side of this upscale residence, where Holmes finally defecated.
Ordinary people can never afford a luxury house like this even if they work hard all their lives, but it is used by rich people as dormitories for their children. Jiang Song has such a dormitory.
He seemed to live alone, sometimes even on weekends. Sometimes he would walk out of the gate and get into the car and leave, but more often he would walk.
He seemed to like walking. After following him for a while, Xia Cun discovered that he spent a lot of time walking around the city, as if he was always looking for something. That's why she saw him and apples all over the ground outside such an unremarkable fruit shop.
But he won't live here anymore, he will go back to Japan at the end of the holiday because his mother is there.
Her leg was bumped, and she looked down at the well-behaved puppy and its poop before squatting down. Holmes turned his head and growled in a certain direction, but Xia Cun was busy picking up the poop and didn't pay any attention.
On the way back, Holmes looked visibly weaker, probably because he was tired, so Xia Cun carried him home in her arms. She thought that she should not take him too far next time.
When they got home, Xia Lan was lying on the carpet looking for something. Xia Cun asked her from behind, and Xia Lan replied, "Holmes is gone."
“…”
Holmes, who had been put down, went to the dog bowl to eat his breakfast.
Xia Cun gave the breakfast he bought on the way back to Xia Lan and went back to his room to wear shells.
Perhaps influenced by Xia Lan, Xia Cun has loved crafts since childhood. The awards she won in craft classes are probably the most numerous on her wall of honor. In the corner of her room, a shelf of handicrafts, layered and stacked, resembles a miniature model from a 3D animated film. While stringing shells, she listens to a Japanese class through headphones, occasionally repeating a few sentences.
This was the scene Xia Lan saw when she pushed the door open. Xia Cun hadn't noticed her, seemingly in a state of flow. She immediately swallowed what she was about to say and silently closed the door. Then, she paused outside the door.
Is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder a disease?
When Xia Lan first came across ADHD, she thought it was a disease. Later, after reading some literature and consulting several doctors, she came across another theory: ADHD is a "Disorder" rather than a "Disease." It is not a pathological defect, but more like a neurodevelopmental difference, just a kind of neurodiversity.
Of course, this is only theoretical. In reality, most people don't advocate for this kind of "de-pathologization," believing that ADHD patients don't receive the attention and tolerance they deserve in society, and that de-pathologization will only worsen their quality of life.
But Xia Lan chose not to consider it a disease. She didn't ask Xia Cun to take medication for "correction." After all, her disorder wasn't severe enough to interfere with her life. Her studies might have been affected, but who said she had to conform to the rules of study? She could have her own way of learning.
Xia Lan would look at Xia Cun's lack of focus from another perspective: she was also good at doing multiple things at the same time, and once she found something she was interested in, she would immerse herself in the flow. Just like just now, she was stringing shells and muttering strange words.
Xia Lan has always viewed her laissez-faire attitude as an experiment, a liberal educational experiment. However, when the teacher scolded her for being "irresponsible," Sister Fu claimed she was "immature and unrealistic," or He Shiyan commented on her "too permissive parenting style," Xia Lan would have some self-doubt.
Was this good or bad for Xia Cun? Should she give her medicine? To give her peace, to keep her focused, to make her meet standards?
No. Xia Lan doesn't want it.
She still felt that this was just another way of existence, a unique way of existence that belonged to Xia.
If she is a wild fruit tree, then let her remain a wild fruit tree forever.
As for the accompanying problems, she recently met an education expert who graduated from the Faculty of Education at the University of Tokyo, and she might be able to consult him for further advice.
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Author's Note: 100,000 words! The plot is starting to fall into place (/ _ ; )
I really love to write some comparisons and contrasts (thinking)
Are these opposites clearly defined or blurred? Is there a chaotic transition, like one season into another? (Thinking endlessly)
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