07Fairness
The journey home, which used to be within a blink of an eye while chatting, seemed even longer today, and the cicadas and crickets were particularly noisy.
Yang Xiao held Mao Qiu's arm, and the two of them walked in silence. Yang Xiao even felt that Mao Qiu's breathing seemed to have become much softer, and Yang Xiao felt that she was holding a dandelion that could be blown away by the evening breeze at any moment.
Fortunately, when he pushed the door open, he did not see Zhou Daye on the stone table, otherwise Mao Qiu with his red and swollen eyes would be even more embarrassed, or at a loss.
"Don't worry, Uncle Zhou should not have finished playing chess yet. Let's go to my room first." Yang Xiao pointed upstairs, signaling Mao Qiu to go upstairs and wait for her. She turned around and went to the yard to get the towel that was drying in the sun, put it on her elbow, and took the basin on the basin rack by the door to go into the inner room to pour hot water.
Li Maoqiu stood at the stairs, watching her approach with a blue washbasin. His eyes couldn't help but well up, and his throat felt like it was being pricked by a long-rusted, dull needle. Yang Xiao saw her gazing at him from a distance, so she approached and softly called out, "Maoqiu." Then they went upstairs together.
Yang Xiao wet the towel, wrung it dry, and handed it to Mao Qiu, asking her to wipe the tears from her face.
The moment the warm towel covered his face, Li Maoqiu started crying again. Tears fell out of the towel like threads, landing in the washbasin and on the ground at his feet.
Yang Xiao could no longer pretend to be an adult and reliable. She turned around and cried silently.
"Xiaoxiao, you...did you know that Cai Xiaopang has a sister?" Mao Qiu spoke with tears in his voice.
Yang Xiao didn't answer. She was afraid that if she answered yes or no, her voice would tremble and sound like tears. She couldn't cry. She wanted to solve this problem with Mao Qiu. She wanted to be Mao Qiu's support.
"You... probably don't know about this. When his sister was in the second grade... the same thing happened. Aunt Cai took her... to find that guy who ran a supermarket in the next town, and they got married the next month." Mao Qiu actually laughed as he spoke. It was a smile that Yang Xiao had never seen before. It was not a happy smile, not a cheerful one. It seemed like a smile of helplessness and regret after being so sad that it couldn't be expressed with tears.
"Tell me, I won't be like this too..." Before Yang Xiao finished listening, she suddenly turned around and looked at her, using her eyes to stop her from saying the next words.
"No, so what."
“I haven’t heard about Sister Cai Xiaopang, but there’s no definite outcome to this matter, right?”
"Even if the worst-case scenario plays out, why should you bear the consequences? Shouldn't that man be the one who should be ashamed, despised, and scorned? Why should you be the one to bear the blame for something like this, ruining your life, and becoming a negative example for all the girls in town, used to discipline them and teach them to respect themselves? This isn't fair, Mao Qiu."
Yang Xiao's hands couldn't stop shaking, her chest heaving with grief and anger. Even she didn't know why, when the emotions took over, she let out her inner cries so bluntly. "Xiaoxiao. He's Xu Xiajiao's brother. He's not my boyfriend. He promised to give me extra chemistry lessons, and he said he didn't want anything from me. He told me to go to his house every Saturday afternoon." Li Maoqiu's voice couldn't help but tremble at the mention of him, terrified.
"Doesn't her family sell star anise? I told him I could give him pig's feet and stew our own star anise as tuition, but he said he didn't want anything and that I could repay him by doing well in the exam. I really believed him." Li Maoqiu was shaking so much that he couldn't stand up straight on the bed. He fell back on Yang Xiao's bed, and his tears fell onto the sheets, forming a ball.
"The first few times I went there, he would accidentally touch my hand or leg, but he would always apologize and say it was careless, so I didn't take it seriously. The last time I went there, his house was so quiet that I could hear thunder. I said I didn't bring an umbrella with me next time I came to class, and I'd catch a cold if I got wet. He said not to worry and told me to go to his room to find an umbrella, saying it was in his closet. As soon as I walked in, he came in, locked the door, and pulled me onto the bed. I felt so dizzy, and I yelled for him to get up, but he covered my mouth..."
"Okay, Maoqiu." Yang Xiao couldn't bear it anymore. She put one arm around her and stroked her back like coaxing a child, while the other hand tightly grasped a corner of the bed sheet, as if this could stop her soft sobs.
Tired of crying, Li Maoqiu fell asleep with even breathing sounds.
Seeing that Mao Qiu was soundly asleep, Yang Xiao gently pulled away her hand which had been pressing on Mao Qiu for a long time and was slightly numb. She then took off her shoes and socks, brought a quilt to cover her, and tiptoed out of the room and went downstairs.
She had a piggy bank in the main room. Although it was called a piggy bank, it was actually just a tin box whose paint had long since peeled off.
It contained the money she earned from selling the Huangge orchid strings and the pocket money she had been saving. The strings were not worth much, but she had made a little over two hundred yuan. Adding that to her spare change, she had at least five or six hundred yuan, which was enough for the bus ticket to the city. As for the money for the hospital check-up, she would borrow some from Uncle Zhou first and would definitely pay him back later, but Mao Qiu really couldn't wait any longer.
She had just walked out the door to look for Zhou Dashe when she saw him waving to his chess friends at the door. She trotted over, barely catching her breath when she spoke: "Uncle Zhou, could you lend me five hundred yuan? I want to go to the city with Maoqiu." Zhou Dashe was a little pleased after hearing this, chuckling twice before stepping over to get the money.
Yang Xiao stood in the yard, the wind rustling the leaves of the yellow jasmine. It was obviously a cool evening breeze that should make people feel comfortable and relaxed, but she felt a little uncomfortable in her heart. A white lie is still a lie after all, isn't it?
Seeing her staring blankly in the yard, Zhou Daye walked up to her, stuffed eight hundred yuan into her hand, and stammered as he asked her to take the earliest bus with Mao Qiu to the city to have fun the next morning. Yang Xiao's throat felt more and more sore, and she shook her head and said that she wanted to go tonight, but she couldn't say anything else for fear that tears would fall as soon as she opened her mouth.
Seeing that she was frowning and not saying anything, Zhou Daye asked worriedly, "You...you guys go to the city...I'm afraid there are no cars now...Let's go...tomorrow. I'm worried about you at night..." Before Zhou Daye could finish his words, Yang Xiao grabbed the money and hugged him, shaking her head, tears rolling down Zhou Daye's shoulders.
"Uncle Zhou, Mao Qiu and I have to go tonight. We can't put it off any longer. Don't worry, it's okay. Besides, I still remember Zhou Qi's phone number. If anything happens, I can just call him from a public phone." Yang Xiao's voice grew muffled as she lay buried in Zhou Daye's arms. Zhou Daye's heart grew even more panicked upon hearing this tone, but he didn't press the issue. He patted Yang Xiao's head with his rough hand and told her to wait while he asked the town's grocer if they were going to the city tonight to pick up some goods and see if he could take them along.
Yang Xiao nodded and said okay, and she went up to call Mao Qiu.
Zhou Daye turned around and walked into the night. He didn't come to his senses until Yang Xiao could no longer see him. Then he came to his senses, ran upstairs to wake up Li Maoqiu, and said he would take her to the city for a check-up.
Li Maoqiu burst into tears again after hearing this. His words were intermittent and unclear. He just kept repeating, "Xiao Xiao Xiao Xiao." Yang Xiao responded while taking out her schoolbag, putting the money neatly in the bag's inner compartment, and stuffing daily necessities such as a water bottle and an umbrella into the bag. After fastening the chain, she turned around and took the sobbing Li Maoqiu downstairs.
They didn't wait at the door for a while before they saw Zhou Daye coming back and waving at them.
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