Chapter 16 Shield
On the way home, Su Nian and her mother walked side by side.
The street lights stretched their shadows very long, sometimes overlapping and sometimes separating, just like the relationship between them as mother and daughter, close yet with a hint of indescribable distance.
Su Nian's mind was churning with thoughts about what he wanted to confess to his mother, but when the words came to his lips, he suddenly took a detour and said something like "Mom, look how tender the new leaves on that tree are."
While working in the store during the day, she had already made up her mind to use her friend as a pretext to test the waters and see how her mother would react.
She even practiced several times facing the cheongsam hanging on the hanger, "A friend of mine...", "A good classmate..."
It's like testing the surface of a frozen lake. You first test it with your toes and make sure it's safe before taking a full step.
After taking a shower, Su Nian stood in front of her mother's door. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door gently.
"What's wrong? Do you have something to say to your mother?" Ms. Su Hong put down the clothing magazine in her hand and looked at her daughter who was standing at the door with an abnormal look.
"Well, Mom, I want to ask you something." Su Nian walked in and sat on the edge of the bed, her fingers unconsciously twisted together. "I have a very good classmate who accidentally... got pregnant. She didn't dare tell her family, so she asked me to help her make a decision."
"Ah? Is it Fei'er?" Ms. Su Hong's voice suddenly rose eight octaves, her eyes widened, as if she had heard something incredible.
Su Nian rolled her eyes in her heart and thought, why is Fei'er my best classmate?
Ms. Su Hong - Don’t deny it, who else is your good friend and classmate besides Fei’er?
Su Nian—No, what kind of train of thought is this? Mom, your focus has strayed to grandma's house! Shouldn't the focus be on making a decision? Why bother about who that person is!
But Su Nian thought again, maybe her mother was using this method to cushion the shock, just like when she sees a cockroach, she would first scream "This thing has wings" instead of thinking about how to kill it.
She stole a glance at her mother's face and found that her mouth was pursed into a straight line, and her fingertips were tapping lightly on her knees, as if she was thinking about something important.
At this moment, the eight hundred thoughts of the mother and daughter were clattering in the air.
"Well, just treat it as gossip," Su Nian went along with it, his mind calculating.
If we say that she is a close relative, the mother's reaction would probably be more realistic.
Su Nian silently mourned for her friend for three seconds. "Mom, please don't ask her. This is embarrassing."
Su Nian said sorry to his friend in his heart, Fei'er, the world is in urgent need of help, you can't blame me, now I can only sacrifice you.
Friendship is like this sometimes. It can be used as a shield when needed.
Ms. Su Hong put down her phone and patted the bed beside her, motioning her daughter to sit closer. Under the light, the fine lines around her eyes looked especially gentle, like traces of time.
"Niannian," she gently held her daughter's cool hand, "tell Fei'er that the child isn't her sole responsibility. You must make a careful decision."
"She's still in college and doesn't dare tell her family about this situation...?" Su Nian asked, her heart beating so fast that it seemed like it was about to burst out of her chest.
She stared at her mother's face, afraid to miss any subtle change in expression.
"No parent wants their child to be hurt," Ms. Su Hong's voice suddenly dropped to a whisper, as if she were talking to herself. "But they're even more afraid of their child bearing it all alone. First, let her tell her parents: Isn't the meaning of family to be each other's strongest safe haven when storms come?"
Su Nian suddenly noticed tears in her mother's eyes, which looked like two small diamonds under the lamp.
At this moment she understood that some love does not need words, just like the sunlight does not need to announce its existence, but it can make all things grow.
"Okay, I'll tell her tomorrow."
Su Nian slipped back to her room, closed the door gently, leaned her back against the door panel, and let out a long breath.
Her mother's reaction was much gentler than she had expected, which relaxed her tense nerves a little, like a stretched rubber band suddenly losing its tension.
The next second, her cell phone rang.
Lin Fei'er's message was like a little bombshell: Nian Nian, Aunt Su just suddenly sent me a WeChat message, asking if I was adapting to my internship at the Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic, telling me not to work too hard, and saying she wanted to make me some chicken soup to nourish me???
Su Nian's eyes widened, fingers typing rapidly: What??? How could she——
Su Nian's heartbeat almost stopped, his fingers hovered above the screen, and his fingertips trembled slightly.
"bite--"
Another piece of news came.
Lin Fei'er sent a screenshot of a voice-to-text message from Ms. Su Hong: "Fei'er, Auntie knows you're having a hard time during your internship. Come over for dinner this weekend. I'll make you some chicken soup to nourish you." Young people, don't work too hard. Your health is most important...
She stared at the second message sent by Lin Feier. Su Nian felt her throat tighten and her temples throbbed.
She bit her lower lip and typed a reply quickly: I may have... borrowed your name a little...
As soon as the message was sent, the phone started ringing off the hook.
"Su! Nian!" Lin Fei'er's voice was low, but the gnashing of teeth could be clearly heard. "You'd better give me an explanation!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Su Nian covered the phone's microphone, her voice very low, "I just... wanted to test my mother's attitude... It's like stepping on a landmine, I have to find a mine clearer first..."
"So I'm the mine clearer?!" Lin Fei'er gasped, "Wait... you're not saying... I'm the one who's pregnant, are you?"
The two ends of the phone suddenly became so quiet that they could hear each other's heartbeats, and Su Nian's tears fell to the floor.
She squatted down, her back pressed against the door panel, and slowly slid down to sit on the ground. "I dare not say..." she choked, "I'm afraid to see my mother's disappointed and sad eyes..."
Lin Fei'er sighed from the other end of the line, her voice as soft as cotton candy: "Silly Nian Nian... Aunt Su just spoke to me with such tenderness that it could melt an iceberg. In my opinion, nine out of ten times... she may have guessed it."
"Guessed it?" Su Nian repeated these three words, his voice faint.
"Think about it," Lin Fei'er said with a hint of cunning in her voice, "What mother would suddenly make chicken soup for her daughter's classmate? And specifically emphasize 'health is the most important'? It's obviously a backstabbing."
She paused, her tone suddenly becoming serious. "Niannian, your mother just said, 'It's inevitable for young people to make mistakes, but the worst thing is to hide them.' It sounded like she was talking to me, but why do I feel like... she's talking to you more?"
Su Nian looked up suddenly, just in time to hear light footsteps outside the door. She hurriedly hung up the phone and threw it on the bed.
The phone thudded against the pillow, the screen still lit, the last message from Lin Feier clearly visible: "Don't be afraid, she's your mother, not a monster.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
