Chapter 12 A Boy Encounters a Torrential Summer Rain
The rain outside kept falling; it was the same night two months ago.
When Shen Qingli returned to this family, she did not get along well with her husband and mother at first.
Her habits were extremely different from Shen's mother's. Shen's mother was a clean freak at home and couldn't stand even a single hair or water droplet on the floor.
Shen Qingli used to live with her grandparents, who couldn't adapt to her obsessive-compulsive disorder and germaphobia. So, at first, she felt uncomfortable in this house, but she is still trying to adapt in order to put her grandparents at ease.
The real outburst came on a rainy night when 1,000 yuan went missing from the cabinet where Shen's father kept his money. This had nothing to do with her, but although the couple didn't explicitly say they suspected Shen Qingli, their words were almost entirely implying that she was the one in question.
Shen Qingli felt very uncomfortable with what they said at the time. She thought they must have misunderstood her. However, she had just returned home and still had unrealistic expectations of her parents.
Although she always awkwardly said she didn't need her parents, seeing her classmates and friends, whose parents all seemed to treat them very well, she naturally felt that her parents should treat her the same way her classmates' parents did, and that she should love her parents just like other children.
So she never thought, nor did she want to think, that she would be wrongly accused by her parents just a few days after returning to their home.
That night, her father knocked on her bedroom door, came in, and put on a painstakingly earnest expression, advising her: "Xiaoli, if you need money, just tell your mom and dad, and they'll give you any, but you can't..."
Sensing the hidden meaning in his words, Shen Qingli's already furrowed brows immediately fell. With a cold expression, she interrupted him for the first time without any politeness, saying, "Dad, do you mean I stole the money you lost?"
Her questioning voice rang out, and Mr. Shen's expression immediately darkened. He gave an awkward laugh and argued, "Xiao Li, Dad didn't mean that. Dad just wanted to say that if you really accidentally took the money from the cabinet, you should return it. Dad and Mom won't blame you."
Accidentally? She looked at her father in disbelief, feeling both chilled and alienated for the first time. Who would believe his words of "accidentally"? In any case, he was just implying that she had stolen money.
Thinking of this, the emotions she had been suppressing finally erupted. Shen Qingli suddenly stood up, her voice uncontrollably becoming shrill. She tried her best to defend herself, saying, "I didn't take your money! Why don't you report the loss to the police instead of suspecting me here?"
The feeling of being wronged was unbearable, and being slandered by her own parents made her feel even more aggrieved and sad. Thinking of this, she bit her lip hard, but her nose involuntarily stung, and tears welled up in her eyes uncontrollably. She choked out, her voice growing louder and louder: "What evidence do you have? Why are you convicting me without even knowing the facts?"
She practically screamed out the last sentence in a hoarse voice.
Mr. Shen was shocked that his usually docile daughter would suddenly rebel against him. His face darkened. Ms. Shen, who was outside, heard the commotion and rushed over. However, without even asking what had happened, she accused Shen Qingli, "Qingli! How could you talk to your father like that!"
Shen's mother came in, trying to ease the tension between the father and daughter. She grabbed Shen Qingli's arm and urged her, "Qingli, quickly apologize to your father."
"Why should I apologize?" She frowned, finding it absurd. "You were the ones who wronged me, so why is it my fault now?"
"If you didn't take this money, who else could it be? There are only four people in this family. I don't know how your grandparents raised you, to produce a child who steals money from their own home." Seeing her attitude, Shen's father felt his authority at home was being challenged, and his words became particularly harsh: "We shouldn't have agreed to your grandfather's request in the first place, and we shouldn't have brought you back!"
"Why are you talking about my grandparents!" She couldn't stand anyone saying anything bad about her grandparents, especially since the couple in front of her had abandoned her to her grandparents' care and were now criticizing their parenting. They were the least qualified to say such things.
"Either apologize today and give me the money, or you get out of here right now. You're not welcome in this house!" Seeing that she still refused to back down, her father spoke angrily, and his words became increasingly indiscriminate.
Even now, he still believes he stole money from the family. Shen Qingli realized this and gave a chilling self-deprecating laugh. She glanced at the couple, her voice trembling with grievance, "Fine, let's leave. I never wanted to stay here anyway!"
After saying that, she pushed aside her mother's hand and ran quickly out the door.
Soon after, Shen's father's furious voice rang out from behind: "Let her go! If she has the guts, she shouldn't come back!"
Hearing this, she opened the door even harder and ran out of the house. It was pouring rain outside, but she didn't hesitate for a second and rushed straight into the downpour.
By the time Chen's mother came out to chase after her, it was too late. She looked at the person who had run far away and disappeared from sight, and a look of panic appeared on her face.
Hearing Shen Qingyun's footsteps running out behind him, he realized that she had been taking a shower upstairs and hadn't heard anything that happened downstairs. She only heard that Shen Qingli had run away, so she hurriedly ran downstairs.
Seeing that it was pitch black outside and the heavy rain showed no sign of stopping, she grabbed her mother and accused her, "Mom! How could you wrong my sister like this!"
...
Later, Shen Qingyun told me that they had searched for her for a long time with umbrellas, but to no avail.
The lost money was found in another inconspicuous corner of the house the day after she left.
-
Raindrops the size of soybeans pounded hard on her body, causing her pain.
Following her memory, Shen Qingli ran to a bus stop. She sat alone on a wooden bench at the station, looking down at her soaked clothes. Water was still dripping from her hair, blurring her vision.
A cold wind blew in, and she couldn't help but shiver. Looking at her disheveled appearance, she tried hard to hold back her tears.
When people are wronged, they want to go home the most. Fortunately, her luck wasn't too bad today. She still had a few dollars in her pocket. A last bus home was coming towards her. Under the driver's surprised gaze, she dragged her wet clothes onto the bus and found a seat at the very back by the window. She pressed her head heavily against the window, feeling a slight pain in her forehead, but she didn't care. She watched as the bus drove towards her grandparents' house.
After a long while, Shen Qingli lowered her eyes, turned her head away, and a tear quietly rolled down her cheek and fell silently to the ground.
Later, Xia Qing asked her why she was always crying secretly. She said she didn't know, but she knew she had no right to cry because she knew tears were never useful.
-
At 10:30 p.m., after several transfers, Shen Qingli finally returned to her familiar place.
She stood at the station, exhausted. The rain outside had finally subsided, but she felt very cold. Her wet and dry clothes clung uncomfortably to her skin.
Shen Qingli walked towards home. There were hardly any people in the alleys along the way, but halfway there, she suddenly remembered the words her grandparents had earnestly told her not long ago.
They told her to get along well with her parents, not to throw tantrums, to be tolerant of everything, and not to make them angry.
Thinking of this, she paused in her steps, suddenly unsure of what to do. She was afraid that if she went back, her grandparents would only advise her not to be stubborn and then send her back to that house. She was also afraid that they would blame her for "running away from home."
But she doesn't want to go back at all now, afraid of being sent back again, and afraid of facing her parents again.
A sense of helplessness welled up inside her; she suddenly felt as if she had nowhere to go.
But as if things weren't going to go wrong, just as she stood there wondering what to do, it started raining again.
Seeing this, she looked up helplessly at the pitch-black sky. Even the moon was nowhere to be seen tonight, and the faint streetlights were of no use.
The cold rain hitting her face grew heavier and heavier, so she had to hurry to find another place to take shelter.
Running on the rugged stone path, she slipped and fell forward uncontrollably. At the last second, she managed to brace herself with her hands, preventing herself from falling to the ground in a completely embarrassing manner.
However, her palms and exposed knees were still scratched by the pebbles and mud on the ground, and the pain was aggravated by the sound of rain.
She forced herself to stand up, looked around in confusion, and finally managed to find temporary shelter at the entrance of a small shop.
Shen Qingli seemed to have completely lost the strength to struggle anymore. She squatted down, feeling that today was truly the unluckiest day of her life.
As she watched the raindrops continuously pelting the ground, they quickly formed a small river in front of her.
The wind outside blew and the rain splashed mercilessly on her body. The tension she had been holding in all day finally collapsed. She lowered her head, buried her face in her crossed arms, and sobbed softly.
She didn't know how much time had passed when she heard approaching footsteps amidst the noisy rain. Hearing the sound, she slowly raised her head. With her eyes swollen like walnuts, Shen Qingli saw the boy in front of her standing in the rain, holding a black umbrella. Their eyes met, and it was clear that he was also startled when he saw her.
In the drizzling rain, Xia Qing stared at her in astonishment. After a long while, as if just finding his voice, he hesitantly said, "You..."
Upon seeing him, Shen Qingli momentarily forgot to cry. She had just been thinking that she had already had such a bad day, what could possibly make her even more unlucky?
Before she could even think about it, something even more unlucky happened to her; of all times, she had to run into Xia Qing at this moment.
She bit her lip, then buried her head back in her arms, praying that the other person hadn't recognized her.
"Shen Qingli? What are you doing here?"
Very well, prayers have failed.
Xia Qing called her name, and looking at her series of actions, asked even more confusedly, "Didn't your grandma say you went back to the city with your parents? What's wrong with you now?"
Her clothes were wet and stained, and she looked pitiful squatting there all by herself.
But Shen Qingli had no time to explain to him. She remained in the same position as before, her voice muffled as she said, "Yes, I just went back to the city, so just pretend you didn't see me."
Xia Qing: "?"
After a long time, she still didn't hear a reply. When she looked up again in confusion, there was no one in front of her.
He really did leave.
A note from the author:
----------------------
Encountering a Teenager in a Rainstorm TvT
From this point on, Lin Xiaqing will be temporarily referred to as Xiaqing.
I'm temporarily resuming daily updates. I'll update again tomorrow and the day after. TvT
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