Chapter 27
Huo Junyan peered left and right, looking for a suitable parking space. Hearing this, he glanced at her and raised an eyebrow.
That's like saying: This is nothing.
The images in Chu Ci's mind resembled an old-fashioned black-and-white television from the last century, perhaps related to amnesia, or perhaps due to the passage of time, with the memory pixels themselves decomposing into snowflakes.
The SUV, the lowered car window, the magnified hand in the view—it's all about grabbing her. These blurry images basically match the scene he described.
“There might be a memory in my mind that doesn’t belong to me,” Chu Ci pursed her lips. “That’s what the doctor said.”
Huo Junyan parked the car, turned off the engine, and glanced at the gate of the residential area a dozen meters ahead. "So you have this memory in your mind?"
"It's very blurry, but it's very different from what you described," Chu Ci unbuckled her seatbelt. "We're here! I'm starving." She opened the door and jumped out of the car.
He got out of the car and opened the trunk. Several wooden boxes of different sizes came into view, with embossed patterns on them, giving them a somewhat antique look.
"What's this?"
Out of curiosity, Chu Ci casually opened one of the wooden boxes, inside which was a pair of jade bracelets. She immediately looked at Huo Junyan.
"The betrothal gifts. I only brought these few items because of the short time. I'll make up for the rest when we get back."
He opened a rosewood box about a foot long, wide, and high, inside which was a silver-gilt tortoise figurine. "This is for supplying the stars."
There has always been a tradition of a newborn child stepping on a golden tortoise, which symbolizes health, longevity, wealth, and prosperity.
Chu Ci was somewhat stunned and didn't know how to react for a moment.
She said that getting married is a beautiful dream when you're in love, but how long can this dream last?
Will we continue to wallow in despair, or will we wake up rationally and leave that void in our hearts forever?
Chu Ci knew she wasn't the kind of person who would willingly marry a suitable person.
She discovered early on that she had emotional fastidiousness.
It's true that Zhou Yubai deceived and used her, but it's also true that he shielded her from Yao Shengjie's scissors with his body. She has also witnessed his care over the past five years. However, she knows very well that even if there is nothing between Zhou Yubai and Lin Muchen, she will not be moved.
As for Huo Junyan, a fleeting glance at the airport left an indelible mark on his mind, even without any prior memories.
“Junyan, you don’t need to do all this. I just, I just wanted to find an answer to the grievance that no relatives had searched for her for the past five years. I understand your pressure... Never mind, let’s finish today’s business first.”
“Chu Ci,” he suddenly called to her seriously, “neither you nor I are people who would compromise on matters of the heart. Leave all the problems to me.”
Five years have passed, and he has long since seen through his own heart; there is no need to deceive himself.
She looked up and said, "Okay."
People passing by slowed down to observe them, their gaze lingering more on Chu Ci's face.
Just then, an aunt recognized her. "You're Chu Ci? You haven't been back for years. Your mom said you blocked her. You have such a bad temper! Oh dear, there's no such thing as a mother and daughter holding a grudge overnight. You are Chu Ci."
She stopped talking under Chu Ci's cold gaze, pursed her lips, and left.
Two more women walked into the residential area while watching her, and stood at the entrance for a while, whispering to each other.
Before long, a crowd gathered at the entrance of the residential area, taking photos with their phones as if they were watching a big star.
Chu Ci wondered if she had been a top star in the area since childhood, debuted in the center position, and now, after ten years of obscurity, made a comeback, suddenly appearing on the trending searches and dominating the headlines?
Suddenly, she saw Liu Fengqin and instantly understood.
Xu Yunhua broke his five-year rule of not contacting his daughter, which shows Liu Fengqin's influence.
It turns out that she's the top star in the area, while she's just a newcomer.
Chu Ci's lips curled up, her eyes gleaming with anticipation. Suddenly, she saw a young woman running out of the residential area. The older women focused their attention on her again, but the woman looked in Chu Ci's direction and hurried over.
"You must be the second sister."
The woman felt uncomfortable being stared at by a passing aunt. She smoothed her hair and waited until the aunt had walked away before continuing, "You called Mom and said you'd arrive at 12:30, but it's already 1:00, so we're going home now."
This must be her brother's wife.
"My name is Fang Xiyue, and I just got married to Chu Hao last year."
"Hello." Chu Ci nodded in greeting, then looked towards the entrance of the residential area. She didn't see her parents or younger brother, but she did see her older sister, Chu Ning.
Fang Xiyue observed Chu Ci, "My eldest sister heard that you were bringing my second brother-in-law home, so she specially rushed back from the mountain city."
Chu Ci calmly called out, "Sister."
Chu Ning seemed to want to say something, but in the end he just nodded.
“Just the two of you? There’s a lot of stuff,” Chu Ci said, opening the back door. “Why don’t we make a few more trips?”
Fang Xiyue accepted the gift box without saying a word. "When Mom and Dad heard you were coming back, they started working on it this morning. The dishes they prepared at noon were already cold, so they're getting everything ready again now. Chu Hao is helping out."
After listening to Chu Ci, he shrugged indifferently.
It's perfectly reasonable to go back before 12:30 if we don't wait for them.
Huo Junyan had absolutely no idea about this.
Having grown up in a complicated family, I've witnessed the coldness and warmth of human relationships.
He had a classmate from a similar background who had been paralyzed from the waist down for six or seven years. His biological father was the cause of his paralysis, claiming that he didn't want him to have children and wanted to leave the assets to the child he had with his mistress. The reason he didn't kill him was because he was the designated heir of the entire family, and if he died, the assets would be reset.
Huo Junyan paid close attention to Chu Ci's emotions, appearing calm and composed, but in reality, he was clearly at a loss.
"If you don't want to go, then forget it."
Chu Ci looked up and saw his eyes. Suddenly, she felt quite indifferent. Perhaps she had already let go many years ago. It's just that she had lost her memory. Family and the place where she grew up naturally occupy a dominant position in her emotional genes.
“It’s alright, we should meet eventually. We didn’t say goodbye properly last time,” Chu Ci winked playfully. “Besides, I haven’t taken care of my business yet.”
Fang Xiyue seemed to be deep in thought. She hadn't known that Chu Hao had an older sister before. After hearing about the case these past few days, she concluded that this second sister was not someone to be trifled with.
She pretended not to understand.
Chu Ning looked terrified. "What are you going to do? What do you mean by a proper farewell? Don't tell me you're up to something again."
"I'm getting married, so of course I have to say goodbye to my parents," Chu Ci said with a smile.
Huo Junyan gestured to the vehicle behind him.
Six men in formal attire got out of the van that had been following them, each carrying one or two gift boxes, and walked into the residential area in an orderly fashion.
Chu Ning also hurriedly brought a gift box.
They believe that important guests must be welcomed, and when welcoming them, one should rush to accept the guests' gifts.
The uncles, aunts, grandpas, and grandmas who were chatting animatedly stood in a row watching them go in, and then a new round of lively conversation ensued.
Chu Ning and Fang Xiyue exchanged a glance, and Chu Ning gestured for them to proceed. "Please."
This is an old, renovated residential area with only six floors. It has a lively, everyday feel. The main gate is an old iron gate, half-open, and the open space has now been given up again.
When Liu Fengqin caught a glimpse of Chu Ci's gaze, she immediately looked away and subconsciously shrank behind the person next to her.
"Hey, you're so young, don't be so vicious,"
Chu Ci and his companions had already entered the gate when a sharp sound suddenly came from behind them. The sound was like water dripping into a pot of hot oil, and the gate instantly boiled over.
Several middle-aged women were outraged:
"That's so vicious! Falsely accusing an elder of stealing! Oh my, if that were my daughter, I would have beaten her to death long ago."
"Chu Ci, you only dare to extort money from Aunt Liu because you think she's honest and kind. You're so young, yet you ask for 100,000 yuan right off the bat. Hmm, tsk tsk tsk..."
"You can tell what a person will be like at three years old. I could tell this girl was wicked even when she was little."
Chu Ci suddenly turned around, and her voice abruptly stopped.
When Huo Junyan first heard the harsh insults, he wanted to turn around and argue, but she held his hand tightly and calmed him down with her eyes. He wasn't good at this kind of petty sparring.
Just as Chu Ci was about to step forward, Chu Ning immediately stopped her, and Chu Ci looked at her with a very cold gaze.
He then stared at the group of middle-aged women who were leading the group.
He suddenly smiled and said, "I'm sorry, I grew up in the countryside and only moved to the county town when I was in the fourth grade of elementary school. I was nine years old then. This community was under construction, and I think I was in the sixth grade when I moved in. So the uncle who just said 'you can tell what a person will be like at three' is spreading rumors. He has never seen me at three years old."
Someone couldn't help but burst out laughing.
The dark-skinned man glared angrily, his eyes wide, about to unleash a torrent of abuse, when he saw the person who had given him the gift emerge from the apartment building. He gritted his teeth and glared resentfully at Chu Ci.
Chu Ci ignored him completely and turned to Liu Fengqin, "Aunt Liu, I have the police's case filing notice and the verdict here. You worked as a nanny in my house, but you deliberately injured my son. You were only ordered to pay 21,000 yuan in medical expenses. Look, uncles and aunts, this is the verdict, and there's also a video."
She showed the video on her phone to everyone on the spot and casually handed a copy of the verdict to one of the older women.
"There's a case number on it. If you don't believe me, you can check it online; you can find it anywhere."
She doesn't argue with older women; it's hard for her to win an argument with them.
Let's change our approach. Whether they believe her or not doesn't matter; just make them doubt Liu Fengqin.
Chu Ci sighed, “I pay Aunt Liu 8,000 yuan a month, but she still abuses my son. I was so scared that I called the police. I didn’t expect her to turn the tables on me. The judgment clearly states 21,000 yuan, but you say 100,000 yuan. If you say that, I will definitely call the police. This is extortion. Even if it’s false accusation, I will still be held legally responsible.”
The crowd whispered among themselves, passing around the judgment documents, and their gazes toward Liu Fengqin were clearly filled with disdain.
Liu Fengqin's face flushed red with embarrassment. She was about to sneak away when she was stopped by another older woman whom she had "used." "Didn't you say she asked you for 100,000 yuan?"
Chu Ci continued, "I also lost a jade bracelet worth 70,000 yuan. It was fine before I went on my business trip, but it disappeared when I came back. During this time, Aunt Liu and her relatives stayed at my house. They left the day I returned. I reasonably suspect that they took the bracelet."
An older woman recognized the middle-aged woman and the boy in the video of Chu Ci entering and leaving the room. "Isn't this your sister-in-law and your grand-nephew? Oh dear, you took someone's bracelet. No wonder they called the police."
Liu Fengqin was both shocked and furious. After being blacklisted by the housekeeping company, she could no longer find work and had to go home. She was certain that she would never see Chen Que again.
That's why she lied to the men in her family, making herself sound terrible and portraying the family as tyrants.
Her husband is an alcoholic who beats her when he's drunk. If she hadn't made herself sound pitiful, she would have been beaten even more severely.
Later, Liu Fengqin ran into Chen Que on the bus and was startled. But then she heard that Chen Que's name was Chu Ci. After making some inquiries, she learned that Chu Ci's parents rarely mentioned their daughter to outsiders. When asked, they would say, "It's like she was never born." They hadn't been in contact for many years. She also heard that Chu Ci had hit her uncle, causing a huge uproar. She heard that because of this incident, her parents sent her back to the countryside and she had to take a break from school for a few months. However, because of her excellent grades, the school called her back, and she became the top student in the city that year and was admitted to Peking University.
After finding out the truth, Liu Fengqin immediately cried to Xu Yunhua in his social circle. She was testing the waters at first, since what parent wouldn't protect their child, no matter how bad the child was? But Xu Yunhua didn't say a word of protection after hearing her story.
She became even bolder, and when she got the chance, she even gave her "best friend" Chen Que's (that is, Chu Ci's) phone number, hoping that Xu Yunhua would call her. She was certain that they would start arguing, and Chu Ci wouldn't bother to explain.
This is the conclusion Liu Fengqin reached after working at the Chu Ci Academy for more than a year.
Working at Chu Ci's house was easy. At first, I was a little intimidated by her cold demeanor, but later I found that she was also cold to that President Zhou and not enthusiastic towards Miss Lin, so I felt relieved. Later, she broke the appliances, smashed the dishes, and forgot to hang up the washed clothes. Chu Ci only gave her a cold look and never said a word.
Liu Fengqin got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and saw Chu Ci sitting in the living room several times, staring blankly out the dark window.
In short, it gives people the feeling of "a faint sense of death" that is popular online, which is a very apt description.
She never expected Chu Ci to come back, or to say so much with such a somber expression.
"Chu Ci" (Songs of Chu)
A middle-aged woman's voice came from not far behind, interrupting the crowd's discussion.
Chu Ci turned around, and a middle-aged woman with short hair walked out of the apartment building. She was tall and had a beautiful face, and it was clear that she must have been very beautiful when she was young. However, her eyebrows were deep and she exuded an air of authority.
"Mom," she said softly, her voice hoarse.
Xu Yunhua hesitated for several steps as he walked over, looking her over, then glancing at Huo Junyan standing beside him, and smiled gently, "Hello."
"Hello, Auntie." Huo Junyan nodded.
“I told you last time it wasn’t him,” Liu Fengqin suddenly jumped out, grabbed Xu Yunhua, and pointed at Huo Junyan, “Your daughter’s husband isn’t him.”
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