Chapter 9 "Su Li, I don't want to be your father."
Su Li was frightened by Zhou Jinbai's words. She had never seen Zhou Jinbai speak like this before. At that moment, some discordant images flashed through her mind. Zhou Jinbai's look and expression were very cold, and he still had that kind of eyes that looked at everything without warmth.
But Su Li was so flustered that her chopsticks fell on the table. She quickly stood up, cleared the dishes, and walked to the kitchen. Her voice was trembling as she spoke, "You, you're a little weird. Don't come to my place for dinner in the future."
Zhou Jinbai didn't take her panic seriously, but asked her, "Why are you panicking? I didn't say I wanted to disregard moral principles with you."
Su Li breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this, but did not look back at him. Instead, she went straight into the kitchen, put the dishes in the sink, took out rubber gloves, and prepared to wash the pots and dishes.
She thought that if he ignored Zhou Jinbai, he would leave. However, when she washed the dishes, cleaned up the kitchen and went out, Zhou Jinbai was still sitting in the restaurant, smoking.
This is the first time I see him smoking. I've never seen him smoking before.
She took the rag to wipe the table, still a little panicked, "I'm glad you're not kidding me. I was scared to death."
Zhou Jinbai squinted his eyes and looked at her, "Don't you want to hear the story of how I made my fortune?"
Su Li stopped wiping the table and looked into his cold eyes. "Don't you have anything to say?"
Zhou Jinbai leaned lazily against the back of his chair. "There's really nothing much to say. After all, no one wants to recall the hardships they've endured in the past."
Su Li knew that it must not have been easy for him to get to where he is today, but she couldn't imagine why it was difficult.
She didn't answer. Zhou Jinbai continued to talk to himself, his deep voice sounding a bit frivolous. "I made my fortune by selling scrap, or what people call garbage collecting."
Su Li stopped wiping the table again and asked, "Collecting waste?"
She had thought of many ways in which Zhou Jinbai could have become rich, but she never imagined that he started with those things.
To be honest, it was a little different from what she thought. She thought that big shots like Zhou Jinbai were born with the ability to get rich quickly.
Although he didn't hear her answer, seeing her somewhat dazed look, Zhou Jinbai's lips twitched slightly.
“Isn’t it a little unbelievable?”
Su Li nodded honestly.
"I thought you had a family background. If you didn't, it would definitely be more difficult."
Zhou Jinbai was already very indifferent when talking about the past.
"I have no home, no family, only a sister who depends on me for everything."
When Su Li heard this, she seemed to understand.
She quickly wiped the table and sat down opposite him.
"So the person you're referring to as someone who disregards moral principles is your sister?"
“…”
Zhou Jinbai did not answer his question, but held the cigarette holder with his thin lips.
"You seem quite interested."
Su Li covered it up a little embarrassedly.
"Eating melons is human instinct. Who told you to say these things all of a sudden?"
Zhou Jinbai took out the half-smoked cigarette, took out a piece of paper, and dusted the ash on it.
"Then I won't say anything, lest you reveal these things and threaten me later."
“…”
It’s not that he doesn’t want to talk about it, but Su Li seems to have forgotten what happened in the past.
The time between the ages of 25 and 28 when he was truly poor and destitute was when he couldn't even compete with others in picking up trash.
Some elderly people get up very early. He and Zhou Zexi live in a remote and dark basement. He gets up at five o'clock every morning and sets out. The cardboard boxes and garbage around him have already been picked up.
He also had conflicts with some elderly people because of picking up bottles. Those elderly people called him a waste, saying that he was young and didn't do anything, and was competing with the elderly to pick up cardboard boxes and garbage.
At that time, he had just been fired from the construction site and was slightly injured, but no one would take responsibility for him because he didn't even have a family. His only child, Zhou Zexi, was only ten years old and it was impossible for him to stand up for him.
After suffering a loss, he recuperated at home, but Zhou Zexi needed money for school and everything, so he could only drag his injured body to pick up trash and sell it for some money.
If he had a way out at that time, he would never do such a thing, but he felt that picking up garbage was not anyone's patent, and those garbage resources that could be reused were the only hope when he was at the end of his rope.
After Zhou Zexi went to school, he was not idle. At that time, one of his legs was lame because the injury had not healed yet, but he still had to make a living.
Once, he had a conflict with someone at the gate of Hope Primary School. He had seen several large cardboard boxes and was squatting on the ground to pick them up. He was thinking that he was lucky, but before he could tie them up, he was kicked in the back. He staggered and fell to the ground. His palms were scratched on the cement road because he used too much force.
A man with a fat face took away several large cardboard boxes that he was about to bundle, followed by an old woman who did not look very short of money.
She still had her gold ring and gold earrings on.
If it were in the past, he would have fought with that man to the death, but this time he chose to remain silent because he still had Zhou Zexi. If something happened to him because of such a small matter, Zhou Zexi would become an orphan.
He swallowed his anger, got up from the ground, rubbed the blood from his palms, and prepared to leave.
When he stood up and prepared to leave, a little girl about ten years old tugged at his clothes and handed him the mineral water bottle in her hand.
Zhou Jinbai looked down at her, not knowing what she meant.
The little girl had two pigtails and a pair of beautiful and pure lychee eyes.
She whispered to Zhou Jinbai, "That old lady comes here every day. All the cartons and bottles here belong to her. I don't like her very much. I'll give you my bottles."
Zhou Jinbai took the bottle, a little confused, but still said thank you.
The little girl shook her head, said "you're welcome", and asked him to wait for a while. She went back to school. After a while, she found a lot of different bottles from the school trash can, put them in a black plastic bag, and gave them to him.
Zhou Jinbai was shocked by her behavior, but she said, "Come here every day from now on, and I will pick up all the bottles in the school for you."
Zhou Jinbai, "..."
Although it's a bit funny, I can't refuse such kindness.
Zhou Jinbai really came the next day. She kept her word and after school, she collected all the mineral water bottles that her classmates didn't want anymore and brought them out to him at the school gate.
Zhou Jinbai didn't know why she did this at the time. When he asked her a few days later, she said, "I saw them beat you. I hate them. Aren't these things owned by whoever grabs them? They even beat people."
Zhou Jinbai remained calm, "It's okay, uncle can handle a beating."
The little girl shook her head. "My parents said that people who hit others are bad people. You didn't hit anyone, so you are a good person. I will help you from now on."
Zhou Jinbai was poor and destitute at that time. He was unkempt, had an unshaven beard, didn't care about his image, and wore tattered clothes. So in the eyes of the little girl at that time, he was probably just a sharp guy who picked up garbage.
He thought the little girl was very interesting, and every day during his free time, when school was almost over, he would go and stay there for a while.
At that time, in order to support Zhou Zexi, he felt that the child was really a burden, but since he met this little girl, Zhou Jinbai felt that having a daughter was really great.
When Zhou Zexi despised him for being poor and bringing shame to himself, a strange little girl would collect waste on campus and send it to him. After he had some money, he would give her some money every time he collected her waste, but she never took it.
She told Zhou Jinbai, "I'm not short of money. My mother gives me fifty yuan in pocket money every day."
Zhou Jinbai took back his wrinkled one-dollar bills.
After his injury healed, he decided to contract an area to do waste management. He went to the school gate for the last time and said goodbye to her.
When he asked her what her name was, she wrote two words crookedly on the palm of his hand.
Su Li.
"Uncle, my name is Su Li, Su from Suzhou Gardens, and Li from Lychee."
At that moment, Zhou Jinbai felt that it was great to have a daughter.
At least it's heartwarming.
Girls are born with the ability to love. Even if they are just together for a few days, his broken heart will be healed.
He gave the little girl the butterfly hairpin he had bought for a few dollars, but the little girl refused to accept it, saying that her parents forbade her to accept gifts from others.
Zhou Jinbai told her, "This is a thank you gift for helping me these days. I wouldn't accept a gift without merit, but you have made a contribution and you helped me."
After a moment's silence, the little girl took the hairpin he had given her and thanked him happily. However, she soon became unhappy and asked him, "Will you not come again in the future?"
Zhou Jinbai nodded. "I'm going to do something useful in the future. I'm not really short of money now, so I'll leave these things to those who need them more, and I'll find another way out."
The little girl didn't understand. "But that old lady keeps coming here. I'm in fourth grade now, and I've seen her picking up things for four years."
Zhou Jinbai squatted down to look her in the eye. "That's her. We can't imitate her. If there are people like me who need these things to make a living, then those scraps will be lifesavers. We should learn to be grateful, but also learn to let go."
The little girl didn't quite understand, but she felt that this uncle was different from those people.
When Zhou Jinbai left, she asked Zhou Jinbai what his name was. Zhou Jinbai told her his name, but she probably forgot it in a blink of an eye.
He made his fortune by collecting scrap. After he had some money, he went to work at a scrap station. Because he was responsible and smart, he won the favor of the scrap station owner, who gave him the authority over a region.
All the waste and garbage in that area is his responsibility to recycle.
Thinking back to the path he had taken in the past, Zhou Jinbai felt that he was quite lucky.
He has done all kinds of menial jobs, trying his best to survive.
It’s a pity that I never saw that girl again.
She transferred to another school after junior high school, and every time he passed by that elementary school, he would look over there.
At that time, his desire for a daughter reached its peak, but unfortunately, he couldn't even support himself and Zhou Zexi, let alone marry a wife and raise a daughter.
Fate plays tricks on us.
In fact, he has not forgotten that name over the years. With gratitude, he is still full of longing for his daughter. It's a pity that he will never have such an angel in this life.
But this world is so small. Three years ago, Zhou Zexi was 22 years old. He said he wanted to get married right after graduating from college and brought back a very beautiful girl who was the same age as him.
The two people seem to have a very good relationship. If it were someone else, Zhou Jinbai would definitely refuse this marriage. Not everyone can sit back and enjoy the fruits of his labor and share everything he has worked hard for over the years.
But the girl's name is Su Li.
He asked someone to check Su Li's background and found that she overlapped with the little girl he met more than ten years ago.
The scenes of the past were still in his mind, and Zhou Jinbai felt both funny and helpless.
This is probably fate, this girl is destined to be with the Zhou family.
He didn't say a word of rebuttal and agreed to their marriage. As he wished, he had the little girl as his daughter.
Even the daughter-in-law.
But I don't know when his mind changed.
Zhou Jinbai felt that he was sick and had thoughts about his daughter-in-law.
At that time, Su Li and Zhou Zexi were in a passionate love relationship, and he hardly met them. He couldn't stand it when he saw Su Li's face.
But she is my daughter-in-law.
No matter how many ideas he has, he has to suppress the devil in his heart.
I thought they would live like this for the rest of their lives, he as the father-in-law and she as the daughter-in-law.
But only three years later, Zhou Zexi cheated on his wife.
Isn't this the opportunity?
Although there is a difference of more than ten years between the two.
Zhou Jinbai stared at her face for a long time without moving his eyes away.
Su Li felt uncomfortable being stared at by him and deliberately tried to find a topic to talk about. "Speaking of collecting waste, I remember when I was in elementary school, I met an uncle who was beaten up while picking up cardboard boxes at the school gate. He looked so pitiful, and his legs were even lame. I couldn't bear to see it, so I went to pick up all the mineral water bottles in our school and gave them to him. At that time, I wondered how there could be such poor people in this world."
Zhou Jinbai, "..." His originally calm heart suddenly jumped.
But Su Li frowned again, "I remember he told me his name, but I can't remember it. I didn't remember it."
Zhou Jinbai, "..."
Su Li, "But the butterfly hairpin he gave me has been kept at my house. I've never worn it. I think he's a really good person. I don't know if he's still alive. Some people really do their best to survive. Rich people like you at the top of the food chain won't understand."
Zhou Jinbai raised the corner of his lips, ignoring her next words, and asked, "How good is he? That you've remembered him for so many years?"
Su Li thought about it and it was a little unclear, but she still remembered that the man taught her a lot of lessons.
"I don't know either, but I think he's a good man. Even though he's so poor, he still thinks about others and worries about them being left with nothing. That's what impressed me the most."
Zhou Jinbai's expression remained unchanged.
“The man may be poor, but his ambition is not.”
"Yes, he must be living a good life now. Good people will live long."
Zhou Jinbai smiled.
"Su Li."
"ah?"
There was an imperceptible emotion in Zhou Jin's white eyes.
"Don't treat me as your elder anymore."
When Su Li heard this, her heart, which had finally calmed down, started beating wildly again.
"What's the meaning?"
Zhou Jinbai's tone was nonchalant.
But his eyes are so deep that they can drown people.
"I don't want to be your dad, give me a chance."
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