Chapter 62
An Jing knew clearly that his father was the pillar of the family. His job seemed more respectable than many others. For example, he never had to clean the house himself, and sometimes even had someone to deliver daily necessities. The housekeepers affectionately called him "Young Master."
An Jing was used to this, and since he didn't have many friends after moving to Lanzhou, he thought other people's families were like this too.
An Xingmin went to work, and currently seems to be writing articles in a newspaper. As he has not yet found a primary school, he had no choice but to leave the community and stroll around to familiarize himself with the environment.
An Jing also admitted that Blue Continent was better than anything he had experienced on Earth. Above his head was a magnificent ocean, with a transparent dome inverted in a bowl shape. The buildings inside were almost all painted white, and the asphalt roads were wide and maglev cars were running on them, creating such a beautiful and high-tech environment.
He used his touchscreen watch to scan a code, connecting to a minivan-like electric self-service vehicle. He then took a seat and surveyed the surroundings. Perhaps because they had arrived early, much of the infrastructure was still in place, and the atmosphere was minimal, making the area seem deserted.
"Hey! I meet you again." An Jing heard a little girl shouting, turned around, and saw it was the girl he met yesterday.
"You live in this neighborhood too?" The little girl, wearing tiny leather shoes and short socks, dressed like a little princess, asked provocatively, "Wow, what a coincidence! What do your parents do for a living?"
An Jing admitted that she was beautiful, but he also thought she was domineering. He couldn't say he hated her, but he definitely didn't like her.
"Yes, do you want to be friends with me? Why are you asking this?" An Jing said blankly.
"You?" Cheng Jiacheng laughed twice, his expression rich. He took his hand and examined his electronic watch. He clicked his tongue twice and said, "Oh, this is Kodak's latest children's watch."
She looked at An Jing's clothes again: a white button-down shirt, black shorts, and beach sandals. Cheng Jiacheng laughed and said, "This is an underwater base. There's no way there's a beach. You're wearing those sandals. How lame!"
An Jing's expression also turned ugly. He pursed his lips, pressed the forward button of the self-service car with his fingertips, and slowly distanced himself from her, not wanting to pay attention to the impolite bad kid.
"Hey! Hey! Hey!?" Cheng Jiacheng expressed his dissatisfaction, but An Jing had already driven away in his minivan.
An Jing continued walking forward until he passed by a luxuriously decorated gift shop. In his eyes, the shop seemed to be emitting golden light. He jumped in and was deeply attracted by a graceful statue of a saint.
That kind of depiction, that kind of craftsmanship, sculpted the texture between skin and gauze so vividly that it was clearly just white, yet it was so alluring. An Jing even sensed a hint of his mother's grace in her.
He looked at the price list and saw that it was even worth tens of thousands of dollars, which he couldn't afford at the moment.
But he really liked it and was about to call his mother when the shop owner, a white-haired grandmother with glasses, came by and said kindly, "Hey, kid, do you like this? You can come in and hold it in your hands and look at it, as long as you don't break it."
An Jing shyly shook her head and said, "My mom said that if you don't intend to buy something, you can't touch other people's things."
"What a good child." The old lady nodded and turned back to knitting.
An Jing called Tao Yunzhou several times, but no one answered. He was a little anxious because the old lady kept looking at him from time to time, which made him feel embarrassed. In addition, he really wanted to buy this beautiful sculpture. The complicated emotions mixed together made him dare not cry.
Children are like this. After many years, An Jing almost forgot what the sculpture looked like, but he still remembered the anxious and anxious mood he felt that day. That feeling left a deep impression on him.
Finally, An Jing seemed to have made up his mind and called his father. The call went through in seconds, and a familiar yet cold voice came: "What's the matter?"
"Um, Dad, I want to buy a toy." An Jing treated him with the same care as his mother and said, "It'll cost 16,800."
"What kind of toy costs this much? Take a picture and show it to me. I taught you that when buying something, you should measure whether it is worth the price from the perspective of value preservation." An Xingmin replied.
An Jing: "It's a very beautiful sculpture."
"I asked you to take a picture and send it to me! Why do you always stutter when you speak? Are you afraid of me?" An Xingmin seemed impatient. At the same time, the noise of his work could be heard from the other side.
"Okay." An Jing hung up the phone, operated his watch, and wanted to take a photo and send it over, but because of the glass, it was always a little blurry. He was embarrassed to go in and take a close-up photo, so he wandered outside the store and picked out a clearer one to send over.
After a long time, An Xingmin didn't reply at all.
-
An Jing returned home in a state of despair. Before he even entered, he noticed a strange car parked outside the door—not his father's. He was startled, with a bad feeling in his heart. Even his hands seemed to tremble and apprehensive as he pushed the door open.
At the entrance, An Jing froze. She heard her mother's soft sobs. She said, "I don't know. Don't ask. I don't know how he and I ended up like this... I tried my best. I tried very hard to be a good wife and mother, but I realized I've really lost a lot: my figure, my career, my friends..."
"Are you regretting your previous choice?" It was a strange man's voice, which sounded gentle and had a completely different understanding from An Xingmin.
"Maybe. Thank you for helping me. I have a lot of messy things. Thank you. Anyway, I have decided to divorce. Oh, I don't know. After all, we have moved to Blue Island, and the laws here are still in their infancy. I mean, I plan to separate from him first."
An Jing finally heard the cruel thoughts that he had vaguely guessed. He wanted to cry, perhaps not because of sadness, but because of helplessness. He didn't know how to win back his beloved parents.
"Your parents aren't coming to Blue Island, so where are you going to live?"
Tao Yunzhou wiped away her tears. Even though she was old, she was still in her prime. She smiled bitterly, but before she could say anything, the man took over and said, "Yunzhou, come live with me. We've known each other for a long time, and you know that the Blue Continent submarine base is under the new government and new order. How can a woman like you survive here alone?"
"I, I can't. I still have An Jing." Tao Yunzhou seemed to be in a dilemma. "I can still dance. I can start again...I." Thinking of this, she burst into tears again. "I can only dance."
An Jing understood. He wanted to go over and say something to help his father save their broken marriage, but when he stepped over, he saw Tao Yunzhou rushing over and hugging the strange man, crying like a pear blossom in the rain, looking haggard and beautiful.
"Okay, I understand what you mean." An Jing couldn't see the man's face clearly, but he felt that he was as tall as his father and must be about the same height as his father.
Tao Yunzhou opened his eyes and met An Jing's cold gaze, which was exactly the same as his father's. He said, "Is this the new father you found for me, Mom?"
"An Jing..." Tao Yunzhou wanted to say something, but An Jing rushed into his room, threw himself on his bed, remained silent, and cried silently.
"Anjing, little Anjing, mom loves you." Tao Yunzhou knocked on the door gently, with her usual motherly voice.
"Will you come with Mom? Uncle Lin is a very nice person, really. Mom knows this isn't a good thing to do, but I just want to dance on the stage again."
An Jing jumped up, locked the door, and kicked it hard, making a loud bang! Then, he lay back on the bed, buried his head in the quilt, and cried silently. At this moment, the image of her in An Jing's mind was shattered.
"Just like his father, cold-blooded." Tao Yunzhou whispered.
He was sad for a long time and even fell into a deep sleep.
At night, An Xingmin returned home with a happy face, a briefcase tucked under one arm and a sculpture of a loving mother that he bought for An Jing in the other. When he got home, he subtly discovered that something was missing, perhaps his wife's food, or perhaps her presence.
"An Jing, where are you?" An Xingmin muttered to himself as he took off his shoes. He said with a smile, "The floor is so clean. Did your mom just feel like cleaning it tonight? Yunzhou, why don't you turn on the lights?"
An Jing woke up and lay paralyzed in bed motionless because he was completely at a loss and didn't know how to continue living after losing his mother.
After a while, An Xingmin's angry voice came from outside: "Where's your mother? Her clothes are gone... Oh, the furniture is still there, but your mother's own things are gone? Hahaha, no way, am I right? She ran away."
"No..." An Xingmin rushed around the house, sometimes going upstairs, sometimes going downstairs, and then finally accepted the reality. He slammed something to the ground and roared, "I should have known you were a slut!"
An Jing finally came out slowly at this time. Looking at the broken white fragment on the ground, he recognized it as the loving mother sculpture that he had sent a photo of in the morning and wanted to buy.
The broken head faced him, like a mother crying.
An Jing couldn't help but burst into tears again, and his father, as if his soul had been drained, floated down and said, "Let's eat first. You've been tired all day. An Jing, you go do it."
"What to eat? I can't cook." An Jing said hoarsely: "I can only cook instant noodles."
"What's the point of giving birth to you?!" An Xingmin cursed angrily, rushed to open the refrigerator, but found that there was the last dinner that Tao Yunzhou prepared for them.
It was a simple egg fried rice, two bowls. Then there were some washed vegetables and fruits, neatly arranged and well organized.
When An Xingmin saw this, he felt a surge of bitterness in his heart. He pursed his lips, took out the fried rice, brought it to the kitchen and subconsciously looked for a microwave, but found there was none. What did Tao Yunzhou usually use to warm up the cold dishes and rice?
An Xingmin didn't know, and Tao Yunzhou wouldn't tell him.
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