Chapter 30. The Argument: That's the other side of his soul. ...
In the living room on the first floor of "Du", Grandma sat on the sofa with Siyi, Xiachan, Huangmao, and others, and could vaguely hear sounds coming from upstairs.
"If your Uncle Sun hadn't let it slip, and I hadn't called the Tianhewan property management, I wouldn't have known that you hadn't been in Tianhewan for the past six months at all, but had been living here the whole time! Where is this? Why are you living here? And why did you contact your Uncle Sun to reach the Tongcheng Court twice? And why did you go to a bar to sing?"
"Sunken Boat Ferry, Sunken Boat Ferry, you've really got some nerve! Suddenly nobody's watching you and you've gone wild, huh?!"
"Didn't you bring me here?" Chen Zhoudu's voice rang out. "You've ignored me for six months, and you don't care how I've lived during this time!"
Suddenly, there was a loud crashing sound, as if something large had been overturned inside the house, which startled Grandma and the others, making their hearts tremble.
Amidst the commotion, a woman's voice, barely audible, offered words of advice. After a moment, the man's voice rang out again.
"And who did you transfer your savings to? 120,000! I found it strange when I received the transfer receipt. You also asked me to borrow 200,000 before, is that related to this? What are the prices like in this town? How can you spend 120,000 in half a year! Is this how you squander money?!"
"You locked up my card?" Shen Zhoudu's tone was tinged with surprise and anger.
"Otherwise what? I disagreed when your grandfather wanted to give you this card! What can a young child do with so much money in his hands? If I hadn't kept an eye on your card, who knows what outrageous things you would have done!"
"That's money my mom gave me!"
Another round of shouting and arguing ensued, and even the woman's attempts to calm things down couldn't stop them. She kept saying, "Alright, alright, calm down... Can't we talk things out?"
...
The blond-haired man frowned deeply. Ever since he saw the man in the Mercedes-Benz in Qixian, he had felt uneasy. Staring at the ceiling, he said, "Who is this guy? He should tear the house down again!"
He got up and was about to go upstairs when he said, "I'll go take a look!"
"Come back." Xia Chan called out to him in a flat tone, picked up the kettle to pour water, and said calmly, "That's the CEO of Asia Ocean Tianhe Bay."
"..."
"He's also his father."
Huang Mao choked up, and Siyi and her grandmother were also stunned.
After a long pause, Grandma asked incredulously, "Chanchan...you knew all along?"
"Hmm." Xia Chan's pupils reflected the faint light of an incandescent bulb, her expression unreadable.
After spending almost half a year with their friend, Huang Mao and Si Yi were suddenly told that he was a genuine young master from a wealthy family. They were both a little taken aback and didn't know what to say, so they simply sat down again to listen to what was going on.
A moment later, heavy footsteps echoed down the stairs on the west side of the living room, and Shen Jinghai came downstairs, buttoning up his suit jacket.
He was a very upright middle-aged man, tall and thin. Although he was getting on in years, his physique and features still showed signs of his youthful handsomeness. However, the anger on his face had not subsided, giving him an aura of severity and intimidation.
He saw Grandma Xia get up, paused, and seemed to want to say something but couldn't bring himself to do so. In the end, he just nodded slightly to her and strode out the door.
A beautiful woman with long, curly hair followed closely behind, apologizing, "I'm so sorry, I accidentally broke the table upstairs, and a lamp too... How much is it? We'll pay for it. We're so sorry to bother you so late..."
"No need, no need," Grandma waved her hand. "Xiao Du... oh no! Zhou Du, we all like Zhou Du very much here, and we've long considered him one of our own. He's helped us a lot these past few days. It's just a table, it's nothing..."
Shen Zhoudu stepped down after them, his expression grim, his face dark and gloomy, his lips tightly pressed together, and a faint handprint still visible on his left cheek.
He had never shown such an expression before, and Huang Mao and Si Yi were both at a loss for what to do.
Xia Chan stared at the finger marks on his face, her eyes darkening slightly.
Shen Jinghai walked out of the courtyard, opened the car door, then turned back, staring at Shen Zhoudu and said in a deep voice, "Come back with me."
Chen Zhoudu merely glanced at him coldly before stubbornly turning away, completely ignoring him.
Shen Jinghai's chest seemed to swell with pride as he turned to look at the woman. "Go!" he said, his voice growing even colder.
The woman looked at the sunken ferry hesitantly, "But the ferry..."
"Let him die outside!" he shouted abruptly, his cold tone sending a chill down Siyi's spine.
The woman sighed and silently patted Chen Zhoudu's shoulder before getting into the car and leaving with Chen Jinghai.
It was almost 1 a.m. when Chenzhoudu sat alone on the rooftop.
The entire Shanfeng Lane was shrouded in darkness, and the distant mountains and sky seemed as if the world had sunk into a vast ocean.
After all this commotion, Grandma was somewhat confused about how to settle things at Chenzhou Ferry.
Xia Chan comforted her grandmother, telling her not to worry and that she was there for her. She then urged Si Yi and Huang Mao to go back to sleep. Xia Chan then took two cans of almond milk, warmed them with boiling water, and went up to the roof.
"Now, it's your turn to become withdrawn?"
The winter wind at night was so strong that it made every hair on a person's body shiver. Xia Chan pulled her down jacket tighter and sat down next to him, handing him the almond milk with a smile.
Chen Zhoudu's eyelashes trembled, and she turned her head to look at her blankly. When she met her gaze, she quickly lowered her head again, took the almond milk that she was offered, but did not drink it. She held it stiffly in her hand, and her voice was hoarse, "I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?" Xia Chan hugged the almond milk into her clothes, her eyes crinkling with a smile. "You're the one who got hit."
He paused slightly and couldn't help but give a wry smile. Hearing her say that, he felt no longer afraid to face her. After a moment, he turned to look at her directly, showing no fear of revealing the finger marks on his face, and said with a calm smile, "This time, you've seen my disheveled state."
"Hmm!" Xia Chan nodded and joked, looking at the red mark. "Too bad, I can't slap myself like you did to make up for it!"
His lips curved into a deeper smile, and he became more relaxed. The atmosphere eased, and even the winter wind seemed to soften.
Xia Chan breathed out white puffs of air, rubbed her hands together, and casually started a conversation, "Your mother is quite pretty."
“That’s not my mother,” Shen Zhoudu said.
Xia Chan was surprised.
“My mother passed away two years ago. She is my stepmother,” Shen Zhoudu said. “She is only eight years older than me.”
"..." Xia Chan was speechless for a moment, unsure of what to say. After a while, she sighed, "I was abrupt..."
The sunken boatman habitually curved the corners of his lips.
"So... what do you usually call her?" she asked with a hint of curiosity, a slight smile playing on her lips as she looked at him. "Auntie? That seems a bit strange... Sister? That seems okay too..."
“I don’t usually call her that.” Shen Zhoudu didn’t feel offended at all and answered truthfully, “If necessary, I will only call her ‘you’ (formal).
Xia Chan said "Oh~" and breathed out a puff of white air before nodding. "Your father is quite youthful and energetic."
Whether it was sarcasm or genuine admiration, Chen Zhoudu couldn't help but laugh. The boy's smile remained bright and gentle.
"Did they come to take you back today?" After a moment, Xia Chan looked at him again, the smile in her eyes fading slightly. "Why such a big reaction?"
“Perhaps.” Chen Zhoudu sighed, his breath dissipating into the air with the white mist. “It’s also possible… that he felt he had finally caught me wrong and came here to teach me a lesson. Anyway, he’s always wanted to prove that he’s right and I’m wrong, and he’s always wanted me to bow down to him.”
"You and your dad have such a bad relationship?"
“It’s not terrible, but it’s not good either.” Shen Zhoudu smiled and met her eyes. “When my mother was alive, she could mediate between us, but after she passed away… that last outlet for reconciliation between him and me disappeared. Gradually… that’s how it is.”
Xia Chan rested her arm on her knee, propped her chin on her hand, and looked into his eyes in silence.
Shen Zhoudu rarely mentioned his life to her, and she always felt that his life was very far away from her. Now it seems that it really is very far away.
It felt like another world she had seen in a TV series, and she didn't know how to reconcile the image of him from that world with the boy in front of her.
The Shenzhoudu she knew... was humble, polite, and outstanding... sincere to friends, patient and gentle to elders, calm and composed when facing difficulties, and willing to help friends in need.
She would also wholeheartedly admit that he was the kind of man she had ever met, the kind she thought could never exist in the world, and the most outstanding and perfect person.
And what is he like in the other world?
He can also lose his temper, get angry, feel disappointed and embarrassed; there are also people and things he can't handle that make him lose control.
That's like the other side of his soul, combined to form the real, most authentic, and most three-dimensional version of him.
“Chenzhoudu… would you really make a mistake?” Xia Chan looked at him quietly, momentarily dazed, almost murmuring, “You said your father sent you here because you made a mistake, but someone like you… would you really make a mistake? You really… are you even real?”
Chen Zhoudu paused for a moment, then smiled gently as usual and asked her, "You want to know?"
She simply chuckled and nodded lightly.
"Perhaps it was a mistake, at least for him, a huge mistake." He also let out a light breath and looked up at the sky. In the deep winter night, there were no stars, only a lonely moon emitting a faint light. He stared at that light and said calmly, "Because I reported him."
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