Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Bad Taste
New Year's Day is over, and everyone has returned to their lives before the holiday in an orderly manner. Even Tang Ningyue got up early and had breakfast with Zhou Su.
Zhou Su made breakfast. She loves cooking and loves everything related to family. It’s a pity that everyone has regrets.
Before the age of fifteen, every habit Tang Ningyue developed was taught to her by Zhou Su. Even after she had a little brother, she still did not lack any love. Zhou Su was a better mother than Xu Lin.
Even after not seeing each other for ten years, she would still touch the top of her head affectionately and gently ask her - try this dish and see if it suits your taste.
"Look at this picture. At that time, you were about to go to elementary school, and Jinglang was crying behind you, saying that he wanted to go to school with his sister, and no matter how hard you tried to pull him away, he wouldn't stop."
At the dinner table, Zhou Su held a thick photo album and recalled page by page with Tang Ningyue. Zhou Su could tell the story of every photo.
"And this one." She pointed to the one at the top.
Tang Ningyue was playing games with a group of children and was sitting in the middle. Li Jinglang was sitting on the sand behind them, pouting and looking at them unhappily. No matter how Zhou Su persuaded him, he refused to go home.
"I remember this!" Tang Ningyue smiled. "After we got back that day, he ignored me for a long time and said he never wanted me to hug him again."
Tang Ningyue was deeply impressed. When Li Jinglang was a child, he was very resistant to contact with others. He had to be coaxed for a long time before he would get close to her. She was the only exception. The two of them were good friends for a while, but after this incident, he ignored her and had a very weird temper.
"When was this photo taken?" Tang Ningyue looked at the photo on the last page of the album. She had no impression of it. In the photo, she was still wearing the school uniform of Beining Middle School. It was also the year she left Beining for Vancouver.
"It was taken during an event at your school." Zhou Su stroked the photo, his eyes darkening. "You were leaving at the time, and you had a lot of homework, so you didn't have time to take pictures. So I went to your school and asked for this photo back."
Zhou Su looked at the photo and felt sad. Li Jinglang had thrown this photo away many times. At that time, Tang Ningyue had just left, and Zhou Su lied to him that she would be back soon, but he waited for a month, two months, a year, two years... until he also went to Beining Middle School, he still didn't wait for her to come back.
The year after Tang Ningyue left, he fell seriously ill. He was in a daze every day, half asleep and half awake, and begged Zhou Su to see Tang Ningyue. He was just a teenager at the time.
Zhou Su tried to contact Xu Lin, but at that time Xu Lin only wanted Tang Ningyue to cut off contact with her. She refused to let them communicate with various excuses and wanted to completely cut off contact with everyone in the country.
It was not until Tang Ningyue was able to move out of the house that she had the chance to contact Zhou Su. However, by then, Li Jinglang no longer wanted to answer the phone. Zhou Su said that his temperament had become even more eccentric than when he was a child. Tang Ningyue was silent for a long time and did not give any explanation.
"You were all children at the time, and no one could make decisions for you." Zhou Su sighed, "Things between adults have nothing to do with you."
"He is completely cut off from being intimate with me now..." Tang Ningyue shook her head and agreed with Zhou Su while stirring the porridge in the bowl. She was not as regretful as Zhou Su, but she should say this at this moment. It was a subconscious impulse in her mind.
"No." Zhou Su patted her hands, his eyes firm and gentle. She repeated, "He won't."
-
Tang Ningyue sent Li Jinglang back to school in the morning. He didn't want to eat breakfast. Tang Ningyue prepared sandwiches and yogurt for him, but he didn't want them.
Tang Ningyue couldn't stand his temper as a young master and scolded him all the way.
"You're well off now, and you can act tyrannically. You have no idea how miserable your family was before you were born. Forget about that. We didn't even have milk and fruit every day."
She talked one thing after another, and Li Jinglang sat quietly listening to her, staring at the front in a daze. In the end, he forced the breakfast into his mouth after she coaxed and tricked him.
Tang Ningyue felt that she had been good enough to him. If this happened in Canada, with her own brother Tang Zhaoming, she would have taught him a lesson long ago.
After the car stopped, he was forced to take the breakfast away under her gaze. Only then did Tang Ningyue smile at him with satisfaction.
Li Jinglang's expression remained unchanged. He picked up his backpack, slung one shoulder strap over it, and turned to leave.
"Come back." Tang Ningyue called him again from behind. Her gentle voice was like a soft knife in the biting wind. It had average effect but was very intimidating.
Li Jinglang paused, but turned around. The wind blowing through the dead leaves slid through the loose hair on his forehead, covering half of his eye.
In winter, everything around is gray, the sky shrouded by smog and passers-by are in a hurry, everything is so dull, only the person in front of him is like a vibrant flower blooming in spring, Li Jinglang inexplicably feels a little dazzling.
"Why don't you say goodbye to your sister?"
She supported her chin with the back of her hand, her bright eyes fixed on him, and her voice, like honey syrup, seemed to be teasing him.
Half a meter away, she sat in the car filled with warm air, waiting for his answer with great interest. Her cunning look was really inconsistent with her gentle and intellectual outfit today.
He tilted his head. The crowds from all around were gathering towards the school gate. From time to time, someone turned back to look at the excitement on their side. Obviously, Tang Ningyue did not give him a chance to refuse.
Although she was sitting in the car at a distance from him, Li Jinglang felt that invisible footsteps were closing in on him.
"...Goodbye." He squeezed out the two words from between his teeth, as if he had put in a lot of effort.
This was not the end. Tang Ningyue did not change her posture at all and continued to ask for the respect of an elder from him.
"Where's 'sister'? Why don't you call me?" she asked again, pretending to be disgusted by his rudeness.
There was a strong wind in Beining in the morning. Li Jinglang's collar was blown up and then down. His black flannel jacket stuck to his thin back, and the shape of his spine was almost picked out by the wind.
Her eyes were burning, as if she was looking at a ferry fish that was pressed on a chopping board and was struggling powerlessly.
"..." He remained in a stalemate and refused to speak.
Tang Ningyue stared at him, as if trying to dig out all his emotions.
Li Jinglang has changed a lot. In the past ten years, no trace of his childhood can be seen on his face, neither in appearance nor in expression. Now he looks like he has been cut by a knife, and he will be scratched wherever he touches.
"Is it so difficult to call me sister? When we were little, you chased me and called me sister every day..."
He glanced at her, clenched the thermal bag in his hand but felt that he could not use any strength. Finally, he whispered: "I have to go to class."
Regardless of Tang Ningyue's reaction, he had already started walking towards the school as if escaping. With his back to her, he strode all the way to the flower bed. When she could no longer see him, Li Jinglang stopped again.
The wind had died down considerably, blowing the conservation samples on the flower beds. The colorful flowers were crowded together, which was out of tune with the gray winter scenery.
For some unknown reason, he looked towards the school gate again.
She hadn't left yet, her hand leaning on the car window while talking on the phone. Tang Ningyue was smiling like a flower, and the color on her lips became brighter. She supported the steering wheel with her palms, laughing and scolding with the person on the other end of the phone.
It seems that she lives a good life.
Li Jinglang squeezed the thermal bag in his hand, his fingertips turned white and his face looked very bad. He suddenly remembered that he heard Zhou Su ask Tang Ningyue to remind him to take medicine in the morning.
He forgot, and she forgot too.
Even though she was back, she seemed further away from him than when she was in Vancouver.
"Brother Lang! Why don't you go in?" Lu Yi appeared out of nowhere, one hand on Li Jinglang's shoulder, and followed his gaze outside. Tang Ningyue hadn't left yet, and asked curiously, "Hey~ Who is this?"
Lu Yi wanted to see clearly, so he stretched his neck forward carefully, wishing he could pry open his eye sockets with his hands. Li Jinglang impatiently broke away from his hands and walked inside.
"Hey, hey~ Hey, Brother Lang, Brother Lang! Is this your sister?" Lu Yi followed him again, and the two of them approached each other like brothers, thinking that they should talk about everything with each other, but Li Jinglang obviously didn't buy it.
"no."
Lu Yi's eyes widened, and he said in an exaggerated tone, "Is that your girlfriend?"
"..." Li Jinglang didn't say anything else and walked faster.
"Is it? Is it?" Lu Yi chased after him relentlessly.
"Shut up."
Li Jinglang threw the bag on his shoulder back, and Lu Yi took the bag and stepped back, putting some distance between them. His eyes then slid to the thermal bag in his hand, and he leaned on the handrail of the stairs and called him.
"A loving breakfast!" he exclaimed. "Is it a loving breakfast?"
"Li Jinglang!"
"roll."
“.....”
-
Although Li Jinglang had a dormitory at school, he seldom lived there because he often went to the hospital for checkups. Zhou Su was busy with work, so he always asked Xu Qing to help take him there.
Like Tang Ningyue, Xu Qing is also one of his mother's favorite children. He doesn't know much about the stories between their elders. In short, among this group of children, the one who worries her the most is Li Jinglang.
After going to college, Xu Qing's help was no longer needed. Li Jinglang usually drove to the hospital for follow-up examinations by himself, just to go through the formalities, to reassure Zhou Su.
Now his car has been requisitioned by Tang Ningyue, who is quite happy about picking him up and dropping him off.
Before the evening class was over, Tang Ningyue had already driven to the school gate to wait for him.
When Li Jinglang came down from upstairs, Tang Ningyue was chatting with a few boys. He knew those boys. They happened to be classmates from the same department who had skipped the same ideological and political class that night and had finally come back from fooling around.
He stopped in the shadow and looked at Tang Ningyue leaning against the car door surrounded by three or four boys, who were chatting animatedly.
Tang Ningyue leaned lazily against the car door, wandering around in the topics between several people with ease, causing several boys to scramble to talk more in front of her and show themselves. Her not-so-enthusiastic look was the most attractive. She threw out some prizes and watched their competition as a performance.
Bad taste.
Li Jinglang stared at them expressionlessly, standing beside them as cold as a stone sculpture.
Parking for long periods of time was not allowed at the gate, and the group only dispersed when the security guard urged her to leave.
She finally put away her smile and finally saw him.
"Jinglang!" She shook the chestnut milk tea in her hand, "Come here quickly!"
The air conditioner was on in the car, and there was a blanket and cushion prepared by Tang Ningyue on the passenger seat, and in his hand was a cup of hot milk tea that she had handed to him.
And her concern: "Why are you unhappy?"
"..." He took a sip of hot milk tea, the warmth reaching his heart, and replied slowly, "Are you happy?"
"I'm happy." She nodded and fastened her seat belt.
"....." He sealed the milk tea and put it back.
"Of course I'm happy to see you." Tang Ningyue started the car and said to herself, "I went through a lot of trouble to get back to Beining, why wouldn't I be happy?"
Li Jinglang curled his fingers and rubbed them across the plush blanket, feeling the warm air inside the car. He tilted his head toward the window and stared blankly at the street scene outside.
The heater in the car had been on for a while. The quiet space and the burst of warmth made people drowsy, but Li Jinglang kept his eyes open and remained silent for several intersections.
"What were you talking about with them just now?" The car passed two more blocks. He looked in the rearview mirror, glanced at her, and quickly straightened his eyes.
Sometimes he felt that he was really useless. She was not a ghost with any magical powers. She had been haunting him for several years. He was almost forgetting her, but when he hated her the most, she suddenly appeared. None of the revenge methods he had prepared could be used.
But I am like a dog-skin ointment possessed by an evil spirit, still wanting to stick to her like I did when we were kids. Maybe I need to slap myself a few more times before I can wake up and see what kind of person she really is.
But he has lost his mind before, and no one can guarantee that he will not do it again.
"Who?" Tang Ningyue didn't react for a moment. "Those classmates from your school?"
"Yeah." It was a rare response from him.
"Just... they look pretty handsome."
Tang Ningyue also worked in an entertainment company abroad before. Now she is back with a keen sense of responsibility and is eager to dig up a few more money trees and move them back to the company.
"With some tidying up, he should be pretty good, but he's too honest and his spirituality is average, so it's going to be difficult to cultivate him."
"Are you working at Xu Qingye's company?" He didn't know when he touched the cup of milk tea again.
Tang Ningyue snorted and laughed, wondering if he would also follow Zhou Su in calling her by her full name.
"What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing." She shook her head, showing her understanding for a child of his age. "The company is not his own."
He nodded and stared at the colorful lights rolling past the window. New Year's Day had just passed, and the festive atmosphere in the city had not yet dissipated.
Almost home, at the last traffic light, Li Jinglang took the last sip of chestnut milk tea, still looking ahead.
"Don't look for people at the school gate next time." He paused, avoiding her gaze, and added, "It's not a good influence."
Tang Ningyue raised an eyebrow and replied, "Okay."
"As you say."
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