Chapter 27 "Brother."
Su Xia looked in the direction she pointed, and sure enough, she saw a figure in white clothes in the corner of the second floor.
This KFC near the old campus of Jiangnan University is quite grand, with large floor-to-ceiling windows on both floors. Because of its good environment and plenty of seats, many office workers and students like to study here.
The table where Xu Jiqing was sitting had the best lighting.
In the sunshine at around four o'clock, the boy sat sideways with his eyes slightly lowered, writing and drawing for the little boy next to him.
Because of the sun, the zipper on the front was unzipped, revealing a line of collarbone from the neckline of the black T-shirt, and a distinct Adam's apple on the cold white neck.
Everything looks good, but why are you still wearing school uniforms during holidays?
Su Xia was halfway through complaining in her heart, but she swallowed the rest of her words.
How can you possibly like wearing school uniform all the time? I guess there's nothing else you can change into.
"Who is that little boy your brother is teaching?"
Su Xia just asked casually without holding out much hope.
Xu Jiaojiao replied, "My brother is the teacher's child."
“…Amazing.”
Su Xia was truly moved.
It's only been a few days since she transferred here, and she's still trying to remember the names of the students in her class, while Xu Jiqing has already found several ways to make money.
Thinking about his wealth ten years later, I used to think it was just a windfall, but now I realize that not a single zero is free.
Xu Jiaojiao was also happy that her brother was praised.
She swung her feet, put down the milk cup in her hand, and looked at Su Xia shyly for a while.
"Sister, my name is Xu Jiaojiao."
Xu Jiaojiao's big eyes were bright and she leaned very close, full of anticipation.
Su Xia finally realized that she hadn't introduced herself yet, so she extended her hand quite seriously. "Hello, Jiaojiao. My name is Su Xia, the Xia of summer."
That year, smartwatches were not yet popular among children, and Xu Jiaojiao did not have a mobile phone.
After shaking hands, they became good friends.
Su Xia's hands were fragrant and soft. Last time, she stood up for her brother and acted like a hero.
Xu Jiaojiao naturally wanted to be close to her.
At first she answered whatever Su Xia asked, but later, seeing that she was listening attentively, Xu Jiaojiao relaxed and talked like pouring beans.
Sometimes she says her brother is stricter than her mother, not allowing her to drink iced Coke or eat spicy wings.
Then she said that her brother had promised to buy her a children's meal with toys, but she had to read and do her homework carefully first, otherwise he would not buy it for her.
This time the toys are Disney princess night lights, each one is beautiful, and her favorite is Snow White.
The girls in her elementary school class complained that her voice was too soft and they couldn't hear clearly, so they asked others to repeat themselves over and over again and were unwilling to play with her.
My brother is a boy, so many things are not convenient for me to say.
Xu Jiaojiao was so excited to make a new friend that her whole body was shaking and there was a little sweat on the tip of her nose.
Su Xia never liked studying since she was little. She could spend an entire class playing with mud in the hole of her desk, and she also had a lively chat with the little girl in the first grade.
He did not forget to check his safety awareness during the process. “You’ve told me everything now. What if I’m a bad guy?”
Xu Jiaojiao tilted her head and listened for a while, then took a bite of the corn cob and said, "But you're not a bad person."
"What if there are bad guys who want to take you away?"
Xu Jiaojiao didn't even think twice and said, "Then I'll call you brother."
In her little world, she still doesn't understand much about right and wrong, good and evil.
But she knew that once she shouted out these two words, no one could bully her.
My brother is not afraid of darkness or thunder, nor is he afraid of hardship or pain. He has a way to deal with anything and can handle anything.
For Xu Jiaojiao, the words she would cry out when she was in the most pain, and the name that came out of her mouth first when she wanted to ask for help, was not "Mom".
But "brother".
It was the first time that Su Xia heard so much about what Xu Jiqing was like as a brother at the age of seventeen, and she couldn't describe the feeling in her heart.
A sour and soft cloud choked me there with a complicated feeling.
The little girl talked for a while about how Xu Jiqing found a seat for her when they were crowded in the subway at noon. After a while, she suddenly fell silent.
Su Xia was still not satisfied and urged her to continue, "Why don't you say anything?"
Xu Jiaojiao looked listless.
His eyes flickered, as if he had made a great decision before he said, "Sister Xia Xia, I'm out of energy."
Her voice was even softer than before. She observed Su Xia's expression for a while, mustered up her courage, and lifted up one side of her hair to show her.
Xu Jiaojiao had thick hair and was sweating a little behind her ears. Her hearing aid, which was obviously a few sizes too large, was tied with a flesh-colored rubber band and hung on the edge of her earlobe, with a red light flashing.
Su Xia was slightly stunned.
The little girl's performance was so natural that she only then remembered that Xu Jiaojiao was deaf.
In her previous life, when she was in high school, she had little contact with Xu Jiqing, let alone his sister.
Later, he married Xu Jiqing, and Xu Jiaojiao happened to be studying at a special university abroad. They only had a few meals together during the Chinese New Year.
In her memory, her sister-in-law grew up to be well-behaved and pretty, but her personality was much more introverted than it is now.
She doesn't like to talk and is more used to gesturing with her hands. When she sees her, she just smiles shyly.
Even though Xu Jiqing invited the world's top experts to perform surgery on her, her language ability deteriorated severely because she missed the optimal age for cochlear implantation. When she occasionally spoke, she seemed clumsy, like a seven or eight-year-old child.
The last time Su Xia saw her, and the only time she showed her emotions, was at Xu Jiqing's funeral.
Lin Yuezhen was in poor health and was still recuperating, and no one dared to tell her. Xu Jiaojiao took a day-long flight to rush back, and without saying a word, she stayed with Su Xia in the mourning hall all night.
Su Xia was in a trance at that time. She didn't remember how she was rescued, nor did she remember what Xu Jiqing looked like when he last saw her.
The white lamp is always on and the three incense sticks are burning continuously.
There were clusters of lilies in black frames on the table. The man in the portrait was handsome and indifferent, just like before. She knelt there in a daze for a long time and fell asleep unconsciously.
The night was a little chilly in late autumn, and no one covered her with a blanket anymore.
Su Xia was so cold that she got up and tried to put on her clothes, but the portrait that was originally in its place was gone.
On the side of Xu Jiqing's coffin, Xu Jiaojiao curled up with thin shoulder blades, like a desperate little beast, hugging the black and white photo and crying with her whole body trembling.
With millions of cochlear implants thrown aside, the girl couldn't hear her footsteps.
Just whispering something over and over again.
She leaned in closer to listen.
Xu Jiaojiao was calling, "Brother".
-
Su Xia was in a trance for a while this time.
Xu Jiaojiao put down the little hand that was lifting her hair, sat upright with her hands folded, and glanced at her expression nervously.
When she was in kindergarten in Ontario, her hearing aid was snatched away by a bad kid, who then threw the handkerchief and played with it. The teacher intervened several times but it was of no use.
It was her brother who skipped two classes to pick her up from school and brought the things back.
Xu Jiqing did not fight with the child. He just bent down and whispered a few words in the ear of the little fat boy, and touched his ear lightly, and the other party was scared and started crying.
After she went to Jiangcheng to attend elementary school, her brother told her that the hearing aid was her little secret and she could not show it to any of the kids at school, no matter how good they were with each other.
Xu Jiaojiao had always kept it in mind, but because she liked the sister in front of her so much and was too excited at once, she almost forgot about it.
Xu Jiaojiao scratched her hands, her chest pounding.
She was afraid that Su Xia would be like other children, who would laugh at her and stop playing with her when they knew she had poor hearing.
But the other party neither left nor spoke again.
Xu Jiaojiao raised her head and saw that Su Xia's beautiful eyes were red, as if the pain was in her own body.
I never thought she would react like this.
Xu Jiaojiao opened her mouth in panic, and all her anxiety and fear disappeared. She pursed her lips, stretched out her little hand, and pinched the back of Su Xia's hand.
"It's okay, sister. I forgot to charge it yesterday. Just charge it and I'll be able to hear it after it's charged."
She couldn't hear now, and didn't dare to speak loudly. She comforted him clumsily, "My brother said that after the competition next year, he will be rich. He will take me to Beijing by train to see the best doctor. By then, I will be completely healed."
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