Chapter 22 Chapter 22 Awakening from a dream.
"Sister Susu!"
"Did you hear me?"
Tao Qingqing's anxious voice came from the receiver, finally pulling Su Tu back to his thoughts: "Oh..."
"I heard it."
Tao Qingqing didn't quite believe it: "What's wrong with you? You've been acting weird since the past two days. It's like you can't hear me when I talk to you. Is there something wrong with your body? Do you want to go to the hospital?"
“…”
Su Tu came back to his senses, held his forehead and sat up from the sofa, forcing himself to clear his mind of dreams and said, "I'm fine, I just woke up a little confused."
"I'll look at the document in a moment."
The voice call is disconnected.
After a few seconds, I started to empty my mind again...
She actually didn't know what was wrong with her. Why did she suddenly go to someone else's house, fall asleep for no apparent reason, and then plan to throw herself into his arms for no apparent reason?
Tracing back to the source, I found that things seemed to have become strange since a long time ago.
He was just her client, but he would often invite her to dinner, send her home, give her medicine when she had a cold, give her candy when she needed comfort, go on vacation together, spend most of the day in the swimming pool together, and even agree to teach her for a long time in the future.
What's even more bizarre is that during the time these things were happening, she didn't even notice anything wrong, as if everything was just happening naturally and naturally.
But it shouldn't be like this.
Their relationship is actually a simple design order, which means that all intersections should be lost after the design drawings are produced.
After that, he will move in with the person he likes, and she will continue to work on her designs.
Now, because she has been unable to come up with a plan, things have become so complicated and expanded.
She had already realized that something was wrong and had come up with the best solution, which was to come up with a plan as soon as possible and avoid contact with him as much as possible during this period.
This idea has just taken shape.
The phone vibrated as if resisting something.
Shi Shu: [Come over at 3 o'clock today?]
Su Tu was stunned, and the scene of himself fleeing in panic after waking up from a dream that day flashed through his mind again.
I thought he wouldn't ask me out again...
She took a deep breath and thought that she should make things clear and finish the swimming lesson.
But it is really hard to say such words, and I can't even do it without offending the other person.
After thinking calmly, I decided to escape temporarily.
Let’s get away from this first.
Just as I was thinking about what kind of reason to ask for leave, my phone rang again.
The caller ID showed Su Housheng.
Su Tu's pupils relaxed: "..."
All the tangled expressions suddenly became empty, and then he just watched helplessly as the phone was automatically hung up.
But Su Housheng seemed unusually persistent today, and not long after, he called again.
When the phone rang for the third time, Su Tu answered it.
"Tu Tu?"
The gentle, middle-aged male voice was a little concerned: "What are you doing? Why don't you answer the phone?"
Su Tu frowned and looked very quiet: "Jingyin, I didn't hear it."
"I thought something had happened."
Su Housheng seemed relieved and asked, "Are you busy lately?"
Su Tu said in a cold voice: "It's okay."
Su Housheng added his rebuke: "Then why don't you come home? Daddy isn't looking for you, and you don't know how to look for him?"
“…”
In the past, when she heard such words, she would immediately break free from the loss of being forgotten by her parents, and believe that there must be a small place for her in their hearts.
Then they quickly changed into their most well-behaved and lovable clothes, packed up the high-scoring test papers that had just been handed out, folded them neatly, and put them neatly into their schoolbags along with the small gifts prepared for them.
Before going out, he would rush to the kitchen, like a good student going out to receive an award, and say to his grandmother with a little bit of pride and joy: "Dad let me go."
This situation lasted for many years.
But she didn't know when it started, but she suddenly understood a truth.
Those things that she pursued hard but still couldn't get never belonged to her.
"Too busy," she said, contradicting herself.
"Are you so busy that you don't even go home?" Su Housheng asked.
Su Tu didn't say anything else.
Realizing that the atmosphere was not right, Su Housheng also understood what she was trying to say and quickly softened his tone: "No matter how busy you are, you have to find time to come back."
"It just so happens that today is a holiday, and Xinxin's training has ended. Your aunt has cooked a delicious meal. You two sisters haven't seen each other for a few months. Come back and have a meal together."
When the call was hung up, the message displayed on the phone interface was still the one I didn't know how to respond to.
Now I have found a ready-made excuse.
She smiled bitterly and typed: [Sorry, I have something urgent to do today, so I can't go over]
-
"Look at how thin you are now. You're still trying to lose weight."
"You're almost malnourished, you know that? Do you think this looks good? Your sister will come over soon, and we'll see if she scolds you."
Su Xin had just been home for the day after the holiday, and he had been fed no less than five meals, not counting the various fruit supplements that filled the living room. He casually made an excuse that he was on a diet and couldn't eat much, but was then detained there and scolded for no less than half an hour.
It wasn't until I heard this that I couldn't help but curl my lips: "She has long since stopped caring about me."
Su Tu rang the doorbell with a basket of fruit, and saw this scene when he walked from the garden to the living room of the villa with Su Housheng.
Zheng Liqing stopped talking, smiled and stood up to greet the people: "Tu Tu is here."
Su Tu called out "Auntie" and then handed over the fruit basket.
Zheng Liqing said politely: "Since you are here, what else do you want to bring?"
Su Tu just said: "It should be."
Before the doorbell rang, Su Xin stretched his head to look outside from time to time, but now Su Housheng had brought someone into the house, and the other party seemed to have not noticed at all and sat down on the sofa.
He tutted his words and said in a tone of reproach: "Why don't you call for help?"
Upon hearing this, Su Xin turned his head away even more angrily. It was hard to tell whether he really didn't want to bother with it or was waiting for someone to invite him.
"This child."
Zheng Liqing defended her: "You talk about your sister every day. Whenever you call, you ask if she's home. You just got home yesterday and you're already pestering Lao Su to call you back. How come you're embarrassed now that you've met someone?"
"Don't talk nonsense!"
Su Xin couldn't hold back her expression, and finally turned back to stare at Su Tu, as if she was afraid that she wouldn't believe it and said, "I didn't!"
"Um."
Su Tu smiled, and the burden was relieved: "That's good."
"you--"
Su Xin opened her eyes wide in disbelief, put down the pillow and stood up, but was speechless for a long time.
"Alright, alright."
Su Housheng patted Su Tu on the back, and with some pretentious soothing tone, he said, "Don't stand here, let's go eat."
…
Since entering the restaurant, Zheng Liqing has been constantly adding more food to Su Xin's plate, muttering from time to time that the school food is not good and the training is hard, and that she needs to eat more so that she can catch up with the third year of high school in the next semester.
It was not known whether Su Xin listened carefully or not, but he was indeed eating one bite after another.
Seeing this, Su Housheng also extended his chopsticks to add a piece of meat to Su Tu: "Have you been working overtime a lot recently?"
Su Tu paused: "Not bad."
As if he could tell she was lying, his tone immediately took on a hint of blame: "Are you lucky you're this thin? You're almost getting dark circles under your eyes."
“…”
Su Tu raised his eyes and could see the genuine concern on his face.
But I will no longer be moved by it.
Because she can now see that this kind of care and courtesy to the elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled, and helping the homeless and beggars are essentially the same.
There is no need to lie or take responsibility.
Su Housheng could feel the scrutiny in her eyes, and he acted even calmer: "Just work to the best of your ability. Why do you have to work so hard all the time?"
"What's the point of working overtime? Will it make your boss value you more or pay you more?"
Su Tu was not surprised and smiled knowingly: "Yeah."
Su Housheng didn't notice anything unusual, still immersed in the aura of his father's care. "If things really don't go well, we can just quit. It's such a big market, are you still worried about not being able to find a job?"
Su Tu tilted his head, a little curious: "If I quit, can you support me?"
"Why not?"
Su Housheng spoke righteously, as if it should be this way: "If you really quit, then come back. There are so many empty rooms at home, aren't they enough for you to live in?"
Hearing this, Zheng Liqing agreed, not knowing whether she was willing or not: "Yes, just treat it as your own home."
Su Tu nodded with satisfaction.
There was no rebuttal to these two contradictory statements.
Su Xin finally couldn't bear it anymore: "Mom and Dad! You don't know anything, can you please stop embarrassing yourself?"
"Sister, you should have quit your job a long time ago and started your own business!"
After these words came out, Su Tu was stunned for a moment.
He looked at her with some surprise.
Su Housheng was unable to recover from his previous state for a moment, and his expression became even more stunned: "W-what?"
"Resign? Why have I never heard you say that?"
Su Xin was speechless: "It's on her WeChat Moments! If you clicked on it, you'd see that the logos of the two companies are different!"
Su Housheng: “…”
Su Tu smiled and offered an excuse, saying, "You don't usually check your Moments, do you?"
"Ah...yes."
Su Housheng also forced a smile and quickly walked down the stairs: "I'm already this old, how can I understand all that."
After thinking for a moment, he continued, "You too, haven't contacted your family for such a long time, and you can't answer my calls. Are you busy with your company's affairs?"
Su Tu said "hmm" indifferently.
"No wonder you're so thin. You have a lot of work to do at the company, right?"
"good."
"How's business?"
"Not bad."
"ah……"
He paused for a moment, as if he couldn't find the words to say, and then turned to urge: "Eat some vegetables, eat some vegetables, look at how thin you two sisters have become."
He then added abalone for each of them: "Eat more, isn't this your favorite?"
Su Xin felt suffocated: "She doesn't like to eat!"
Su Housheng was stunned for a moment, but fearing that if he hesitated too long, it would seem that he didn't understand his daughter at all, he immediately retorted firmly, "Why don't you like it anymore?"
"Every time she comes back, doesn't she say your mom makes this dish the best?"
"That's because I don't like to eat!"
Su Xin was more irritated than ever before and said, "Because you guys always make me eat this and that! I can't eat it all, so she has to eat everything I don't like!"
She had never thought there was anything wrong with it before, because it was a secret between them, and it could only go smoothly if her parents didn't know about it.
I used to think that Su Tu's sudden estrangement was unreasonable, but only now did I suddenly realize that from Su Tu's perspective, there seemed to be nothing worth reminiscing about in this family, including her, his sister.
The scene was abruptly still for a moment before Su Housheng uncomfortably took out the abalone and said, "Is that so?"
"Why don't you tell me if you don't like it? Daddy won't force you."
"Then take a look at this table of food. Take whatever you want."
Su Tu didn't say anything.
Just thinking about my past self, how I spent so many years trying so hard to fit into this family, it seems really a bit pitiful.
It seems like today's embarrassment has been overdrawn.
After that, the couple didn't say anything else to pretend to understand or care about her except asking her to eat more vegetables.
It was not until after dinner that Su Housheng suddenly seemed to remember and asked, "Tu Tu, do you have anything to do this afternoon?"
Su Tu had no intention of staying long, so he just asked conservatively, "What's wrong?"
"Oh, that's it."
Su Housheng said casually, "Didn't your Uncle Liu just buy an apartment right here? He mentioned it to me when we met a few days ago, and asked you to stop by and help out next time you come back."
"It doesn't take much effort. You just need to give them a rough idea of how to decorate it."
Su Tu was silent for a while, then heaved a sigh of relief: "You agree?"
Su Housheng smiled and said lightly, "What's there to agree to? It's just a matter of socializing. It's not a big deal."
"Just draw a few of the drawings you usually draw for others."
Afraid she wouldn't agree, he added, "You're going it alone now, so I'm introducing you to some business. Let's build up our reputation first, so we can get repeat customers later, right?"
Su Tu wanted to refuse, but after hearing these words, he was persuaded: "Okay, I'll go."
"Just consider it a thank you for the meal today."
Su Housheng didn't understand: "I'm eating at home, why should I thank you?"
"Yes."
Su Tu looked at him with a look of farewell in his eyes and said with relief: "This is a favor between you and me. It's fair to repay a favor."
"But next time, when you introduce business to me, please also mention that I charge a design fee."
-
"sister--"
Su Xin realized something belatedly and ran out of the villa area. Finally, panting, he stopped the man in front of the parking lot: "Why did you agree to this?"
Su Tu paused and waited calmly for her to catch her breath: "Didn't I tell you?"
"It's a matter of personal connection."
Su Xin frowned: "But there is no such thing as personal relationships between family members."
She originally thought that asking Su Housheng to call them back would ease the situation, but now, for some reason, it seemed like it was going to be a farewell forever. Her voice was filled with deep uneasiness: "Don't you want us anymore?"
Su Tu wanted to say yes, but he felt that such a statement would be too much of an exaggeration for himself.
When had she ever had them?
Su Xin was anxious: "Are you still blaming him?"
Su Tu raised his eyes and said coldly: "No."
She had figured it out a long time ago.
Several million is not a small amount of money. Su Housheng can afford to borrow it, but there is no reason for him to borrow it. It is not an indispensable relationship, so why should she ask him to take the risk for her?
He did nothing wrong.
How could she have the right to say whether it was strange or not?
Su Xin was about to cry: "Why didn't you go home for so long?"
Su Tu's expression remained calm, and his voice was filled with a resigned calmness: "I don't have a home."
"But you used to come here often!"
“…”
In Su Xin's impression, her sister was undoubtedly gentle and kind, and even had a bit of a secretive flattery towards her.
Whenever she loses her temper, no matter whether Su Tu did anything wrong or not, she would immediately lower her head to coax her, as if she was afraid that she would never pay attention to her again. It is not an exaggeration to say that she has a people-pleasing personality.
But ever since New Year's Eve, she suddenly started to distance herself from herself.
No matter how many times Su Xin called or sent messages, or how she threw a tantrum and said she was really angry, she would never receive any reply from her.
"There's no such thing as you!"
She still started crying: "When you want to be nice to me, you try your best to be nice to me. If you say you want to ignore me, you really will ignore me. I haven't done anything wrong, why do you treat me like this? Wuwuwu..."
"I begged him! I told him it was just a loan, and that I would pay him back as soon as I made money, but he didn't listen to me. What can I do if he doesn't listen to me? Wuwuwu..."
Su Tu turned his head, his eyes a little out of focus, looking at the road without focus, and said sincerely apologetically: "I'm sorry."
The coldness in his voice did not waver.
She is good to her.
It wasn't pure to begin with.
Su Xin never knew that she was nice to her in order to make her like her, because only if she liked her, would Su Housheng and Zheng Liqing like her, be assured of her helping to look after the children, and often call her to come over.
Only then can she continue to live in the illusion that she also has a complete family.
But now.
She doesn't need these anymore.
She couldn't even keep her home, which was now just an empty shell.
I don't have the energy to maintain other people's homes anymore.
Su Xin shook her head frantically: "I don't want to be sorry! I just want you to pay attention to me!"
"If you want to blame him, blame him. I blame him too! But don't blame me. Don't ignore me, okay..."
Her little face was red from crying, and she choked deliberately, thinking that Su Tu would soften his heart and coax her gently like before, even more painfully than she was.
But after a long time, she just gently touched her head and said resolutely: "Go back."
"It's too hot outside."
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