Chapter 59
A few days later, Jiang Huai delivered all the things to Zhou Yue as he promised. Several workers worked together to move in boxes one by one, including the rosewood cabinet.
There was a small room in the villa where she slept when she was in a wheelchair. Even after her legs healed, she never went to the second and third floors again, because she could clearly hear the sound of water below the mountain from the first floor. Unfortunately, she could no longer hear it soon. Aunt Xu said that Jianghuai leveled the Crocodile Pond, and on the windless night on the mountain, it seemed as if nothing had happened.
The room was very small, with only a desk and a single bed. It became even more crowded when stuffed with things, in stark contrast to the other empty rooms. Aunt Xu didn't say anything about it. Zhou Yue's quirks passed by her like the wind.
But there was more than just these things that came along.
The main gate and the iron gate of the yard were open, and a stream of people were carrying things in. Aunt Xu and Zhou Yue were also busy in and out. They knew that they were all from Jiang Huai, so they didn't pay attention to each of them. So the two women standing at the door of Tiantian's room were both stunned, looking at each other, unable to say a word.
There is a "thing" lying in Tiantian's crib now, as if it was brought by the white stork in "Dumbo" and thrown into the room down the chimney. It is wrapped in soft sky blue cotton cloth and lies there. Its skin is pink under the sunlight, but its hair is a little thin, curly, and softly stuck to the scalp. Its eyes are half open, and its black but dull pupils slide slowly from side to side. It must be unable to see anything, and a faint humming sound comes from its nose.
"What the hell is this?" Zhou Yue screamed in despair. Aunt Xu glanced at her secretly, thinking, isn't this obvious? But she had never seen Zhou Yue screaming like this before, and she didn't understand what was going on. She could only stare at the little guy on the crib, feeling lost for a moment.
The most pitiful one was Tiantian. He sat on the bed, holding the railing tightly with one hand and holding the other hand in his mouth, sucking his fingers anxiously. Zhou Yue had almost helped him to stop sucking his thumb, but now her efforts failed. His thumb was sucked and gnawed painfully by him, and it turned red and peeled. While sucking his fingers, he tried to comfort himself: "Tiantian, don't cry, Tiantian, don't cry..." But his little face was already wrinkled into a red ball, and his eyes were full of tears. When he saw his mother coming, and then looked at the little thing next to him, he confirmed that he had suffered the cruelest betrayal in his life, and burst into tears.
As soon as he started crying, the little boy next to him also started crying, and the deserted villa, which was like a haunted house, suddenly became lively.
Aunt Xu was quick to pick up the little one first and coax him with "oh oh oh". Zhou Yue held Tiantian, but Tiantian cried so hard that he turned his head around and refused to look at her. She pushed her with her hands and stretched his neck backwards, making it impossible to hold him.
Zhou Yue had been busy all morning, and now sweat was pouring down her body. She wiped her forehead and said gloomily, "I'll go call him."
But they didn't answer at all.
She called Liao Jie again, and Liao Jie answered the phone with a very nice attitude. However, after saying "hello" for a long time, he said that the signal was bad there and he had to attend a parent-teacher meeting soon, so he hung up.
When the two children were tired of crying and fell asleep, Aunt Xu and Zhou Yue were too depressed to say a word. They sat facing each other in silence. Zhou Yue asked Aunt Xu to go and rest first. She herself sat slumped on the sofa, clutching her cell phone, in a daze. On her knees rested the little thing's quilt stained with feces and urine, with a piece of red satin sewn on it. The two Chinese characters "Di Di" were written in a flamboyant and freehand style, and she felt so proud of it.
So the child stayed.
Zhou Yue called him Didi, but after calling him that so many times, she couldn't tell whether it was Didi or younger brother, so she just treated him as younger brother.
Whenever Zhou Yue thought of this child later, she always remembered him vividly. He was a child who was not very popular. He was very sensitive, suspicious and tricky. He would spit out milk when he drank it, as if there were villains trying to harm him. He didn't like anything. He had a room full of toys every day, and he played happily every day. After playing, he would slowly put them away by himself and take them out to play when he wanted to. However, there was not a single toy in the room that could please his younger brother. He didn't want anything, didn't love anything, and would cry as soon as he opened his eyes.
Sometimes Zhou Yue was really frustrated and might glare at him or raise her voice a little, and he would cry. He would not want the toys placed in front of him, and Zhou Yue would return them to her brother. No, he would cry, and he would cry as soon as the toys were taken away, and his crying was so infuriating that it was infuriating.
Similarly, his health was not very good. When the weather in Shenzhen got a little cooler in November, he immediately developed a fever and diarrhea. He was sent to the hospital for a day or two, and was sent back after he recovered. He did not have any serious illness such as neonatal meningitis or sepsis. The doctor said he just caught a cold, but the floor heating in the luxurious single room arranged for him by Zhou Yue was on almost all day.
So Zhou Yue thought that his tricky personality might be due to his overly fragile body.
"The old man smokes and drinks at his age, and the child he gave birth to will suffer as well!" Zhou Yue often sat next to the bathtub gritting her teeth, and was also careful not to make too much noise, and kept smiling when her brother looked up at her, gently scooping up a handful of warm water and sprinkling it on his head.
Aunt Xu had been numb for a long time. No matter how outrageous Zhou Yue's words were, she didn't react. Her movements and eyes were slow. She had to support herself with one knee to get up from the stool, and she bent her waist when she stood up. She was too lazy to take care of her messy hair. She no longer had the agility and lightness of previous years.
But Jiang Huai had no intention of hiring another servant and let Zhou Yue take care of the child. On the one hand, he was suspicious and would never let anyone at home unless he could trust them completely. On the other hand, Zhou Yue felt that he was obsessed with the sad and difficult situation of "a mother raising a child alone".
So Zhou Yue simply let Aunt Xu go back to her hometown in Qingpu, Shanghai to recuperate for a while. After all, she was sixty years old, and it was not a good idea to continue wasting time like this. But Aunt Xu meant to wait until Jiang Huai's birthday was over.
During that period, Zhou Yue walked back and forth in the yard with her younger brother in her arms every night, trying to coax him to sleep. She was tired and anxious.
But soon, she had a turning point.
Jiang Huai's birthday was at the end of November. Aunt Xu was preparing lunch, and Zhou Yue was busy as usual, serving her brother together with Tiantian. He felt cold on the first floor, so they arranged for him to move to the second floor. The largest bedroom on the second floor had a fireplace, which was not as dry as the floor heating. His brother was not ill for the time being, and now everything he had was in line with his ancestors' wishes. With three people in the room surrounding him, he didn't cry much anymore.
But you still have to cry when you poop.
At that time, Zhou Yue was standing by the bed with her back to the window, and Tiantian was standing on the other side of the bed. They each carried a bed sheet at one end and spread it on the bed. After it was spread, Tiantian walked over and picked up his younger brother who was still in the crib, furious and crying with his face as red as pig liver. He himself was staggering when he walked, but he had become accustomed to holding his crying younger brother while being careful not to drag the blanket under his feet. He put his younger brother on the bed carefully and helped his mother change his younger brother's diaper.
Zhou Yue felt dizzy after changing her diaper. She stood up and pounded her waist. She accidentally glanced out the window and immediately became furious.
The car was parked downstairs, stealthily sticking to the edge of the driveway, mostly blocked by the ginkgo tree in front of the door. Looking down from the second floor, only the headlights could be seen.
Jiang Huai was a man of few words and actions, and today he was even more silent. Aunt Xu was busy in the kitchen. He walked silently to the dining table and sat down. He picked up a spoon and scooped a spoonful of rock sugar bird's nest porridge. Before he put it in his mouth, he heard a bang. The golden nanmu door between the second and first floors was pushed open and slammed against the wall. He shuddered, and half a spoonful of porridge fell on his camel-colored trousers.
"Tsk...ah..." He glanced at his pants, then raised his head to glance at the person who had rushed to him in a gust of wind, frowned and sighed: "I've been busy outside all morning, and I came back to eat a hot meal. What are you doing?"
"What are you doing?" Zhou Yue wiped the sweat from her forehead, dragged her brother up by his butt, and let him sit on the lumbar support. Her brother was sobbing, and his tears were sticky like a rainy day. But when he saw a strange man sitting at the dining table, he got scared and stopped crying. He frowned and turned his face away, hugging Zhou Yue's neck tightly with his back to him. His overly long eyes looked weird and difficult on a baby's face. Before turning around, he glanced at the man, and the man's face instantly became gloomy.
"What do you mean?" Zhou Yue ignored the subtle hostility between father and son and yelled at Jiang Huai while holding his brother, "You just left it to me without a word?"
Jiang Huai raised his eyebrows, crossed his legs and moved his eyes to Zhou Yue's face, his eyes innocent, "Didn't you say you like it?"
"I'm just being polite to you!" Zhou Yue glared at him, turned her back and gently stroked the child's back. She was used to it and didn't notice that she was doing it in vain, because her brother was very quiet at the moment.
Jiang Huai didn't say anything. Aunt Xu poked her head out of the kitchen and then retreated back. The room was silent for a long time. Zhou Yue turned her back to him and asked unhappily, "Where's his mother?"
"You are his mother."
"You!" Zhou Yue was stunned. Turning around, she saw him leaning back in his chair, examining his brother's face and body with an expressionless face. There was no trace of fatherly love in him. He looked cold, as if he was lost in memories. "I was like this when I was a kid too. Why is it that my mom can do it, but you can't?"
He looked at Zhou Yue, "Or maybe you don't like him."
The look was as light as mist, but it was like a bucket of cold water pouring down on his head. Zhou Yue woke up instantly, his tone relaxed a little, and he said helplessly: "The problem is that I have to take care of two people now! Big brother!"
When she relaxed, Jiang Huai also relaxed. He cleared his throat, sat up straight, picked up the spoon and drank the porridge slowly. After drinking for a while, he said lightly: "Songzhu is not in good health, so you are the one who takes care of him."
"She's not in good health, so I am fine?" Zhou Yue was so angry that she laughed. As she laughed, her nose felt sore and tears came down. She turned her back to him, hugged her brother and rocked him while crying: "Okay, I understand now. I am a stupid donkey. I thought I was so important in President Jiang's heart all these years. I pointed to the sky and shouted that I would marry me. After all this time, my wife is just an old housemaid! An old housemaid who is old and ugly! Those darlings of yours are only responsible for painless births. After that, I will do all the dirty work. I will take care of your children alone in this godforsaken place. If you give birth to ten or eight children outside, send them all back to me. I will die of exhaustion one day, as long as I don't let your little darlings suffer!"
After she finished crying, she lifted the small scarf around her brother's neck with swollen eyes and wiped away her tears. Then she looked back at Jiang Huai. He lowered his head, and the spoonful of porridge had been hanging there for a long time, but he hadn't put it into his mouth yet.
She changed her position to hold her brother, stroking his little face while crying: "When you grow up, go to your biological mother and show your filial piety, but don't forget that you still have a mother, Zhou, who walks back and forth in the yard all night to coax you to sleep. She takes care of you when you are sick without taking off her clothes. She is always thinking about you!" After saying this, she lifted her brother, who looked puzzled, up and held him in her arms, and walked to the second floor without looking back, "I just don't know if she will still be alive by then!"
When Zhou Yue got to the second floor, she saw Tiantian still standing in his brother's room. He hadn't gone out to play. He was so small in the empty bedroom, his little vest hanging on one side. He stood against the wall with his hands behind his back, looking up at her. "Mom, you're crying. Did Dad bully you again?"
"Of course not." Zhou Yue smiled and touched her son's head. She heard the sound of a bone china bowl hitting the ground downstairs. Jiang Huai's roar was still buzzing on the second floor through the heavy nanmu door on the first floor: "I've told you several times! You don't need sugar in bird's nest porridge! Do you understand?" The walls and window frames were shaking.
Zhou Yue bent down while holding her brother and gently pinched Tiantian's little face. "He will never bully me again."
Just as he finished speaking, he heard someone rushing towards him. His navy blue sweater made his face look as pale as paper, and the corners of his eyes were scarlet. But he stopped as soon as he came in. He first glanced at Tiantian, wanting to get angry, then quickly glanced at Zhou Yue, quickly avoiding her gaze, looked around and fixed his eyes on the little boy in Zhou Yue's arms, shouting angrily: "Alright! You can't hold a boy in your arms all the time. If you hold him like this, he wants Agabi!"
Agabi is the Ningbo dialect word for a rather unrefined effeminate voice. He was taken aback when he said this, and his arrogance mostly subsided. He glanced at Zhou Yue with a sullen face. Seeing her hanging her head and red and swollen eyes, he whispered to Tiantian, "Go wash your hands and eat. Can you come downstairs by yourself?"
Tiantian nodded heavily, his eyes shining, "Yes!"
"Okay, slow down."
After Tiantian left, Zhou Yue put her brother into his crib. He remained silent. The bedroom was very quiet. Jiang Huai came in and stood behind her. "What do you mean?"
Zhou Yue ignored him, picked up the blanket from the big bed and covered her brother with it. She nudged Jiang Huai with her elbow and pushed him to the side. She went around to the other end of the small bed and pulled up the quilt corners for her brother. Then she said:
"Mr. Jiang, don't worry about what I mean. It's because I didn't understand my identity. We originally agreed that you can treat me however you want. I don't care how many women he has outside. I just hope you can take care of him every day, give him food to eat, and arrange a job for him after he graduates from university so that he can start a family. I will be satisfied. Even when you suddenly sent the child here and there was no one to help, I lost control of my emotions. Please don't blame me."
After she finished speaking, she sat down on the edge of the big bed and glanced at Jiang Huai. He held the crib with both hands, staring blankly at the child lying inside. After a long while, she said, "When I was a child, I liked to play house. I would take a piece of bamboo leaf, put a ball of rice on it, and make zongzi. I would make four portions in total: Dad, Mom, me, and my sister. But there were always two portions left over. My mom was afraid that I would be sad, so she ate the other two. I thought that the family was finally together now, but I didn't expect you to be unwilling."
"I know it wasn't you who gave birth, but I'm over forty now, so I have to have a child, right? You gave birth to your brother and then died, saying you didn't want to have any more. Fine, I'll let her have the baby. When she gave birth and I brought you home, her eyes opened, and the first thing she saw was you. You are his mother. Look at what you just said? What old woman? What about other people giving birth to ten or eight children? I was already thirty-six when I met you. If I wanted to have ten or eight children, I would have done it long ago."
Zhou Yue lowered her head and remained silent for a long time. She took off the waist support and squeezed it in her hand, saying softly, "Look, you're saying such sad words again. I know you want to have a family. I want it too. Don't my parents spend all day together?"
As she spoke, she stood up and walked behind Jiang Huai, hugging him from behind. "I've brought my brother up until now, how could I not like him? I like him very much, and I like him every day. Yesterday, he told me that he would take him to Shenzhen Book City to read when he grows up. I just haven't raised such a young child myself. I feel distressed when he's sick, and I'm anxious too. I'm tired and annoyed, so I'm complaining to you a few words."
In the blink of an eye, her eyebrows changed again, and a hint of coquettish charm flashed across her face: "I also feel that you don't care about me."
He was at his wit's end, his neck stiff, not daring to look back at her. He sighed repeatedly, frowned, and said unhappily, "So what do you want?"
"I just asked you about his mother. I didn't mean to send him away. Look at you, you didn't even let me finish my sentence." She glared at him, ruffled his hair, and then smoothed it down with a smile. "I meant that I'm too tired. Aunt Xu is also old. I think she really can't take it anymore, so let her go back to Qingpu to recuperate. You can ask Songzhu to come and help me. You can't trust the people invited from outside, but you can always trust the child's biological mother."
"You are really magnanimous." Jiang Huai put his hands on the bed and smiled with drooping eyelids, "If it were your brother, would you be so cool and unrestrained?"
"If I'm the only one in your heart, don't feel guilty." Zhou Yue also laughed, "I don't mind, so why should you?"
Soon, in order to prove that Jiang Huai was "not guilty", Zhou Yue met Li Songzhu. She didn't know why she needed to see Li Songzhu so much. Maybe she was too confused. She was in the game and nothing had changed. Jiang Huai was very cunning. He said a lot of good things to her, but he just wouldn't let her go out. When she went out, he was followed by a lot of people she had never seen before. Except that Mr. Jiang was called Jiang Huai and was the chairman of Huainan Group, she knew nothing else. They couldn't see the blood on Jiang Huai's hands, and they had no answers to her questions even if they wanted to.
Later it turned out that she had indeed found the key to breaking the deadlock.
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