67.067 An Awkward Man
In the morning, Su Yu was making cold dishes when Xiao Yuan quietly walked over, stood next to the cutting board, raised his eyebrows and said, "Mom, Ping An cried last night, he cried in bed."
Did you comfort him?
“I told him to stop crying, but he cried even harder and hid under the covers, ignoring me.” Xiao Yuan picked up the vegetable leaves that had fallen from the cutting board and rubbed them between his hands to extract the juice. “He’s not awake yet. When he wakes up, you can comfort him, and he’ll listen to you more.”
Xiao Yuan pouted. Ping An just liked to compare himself to him. He should ask his mother to comfort him; that would definitely be more effective than him talking himself dry.
"Okay, I won't go to work today."
After she finished mixing the vegetables, Ningjin also came back with fried dough sticks and tea eggs. He looked around the house, frowned, and asked, "Isn't he getting up to eat?"
"He's not awake yet. He cried a lot last night and went to bed late. Let him sleep. I'll keep the food warm in the pot until he wakes up." Su Yu ladled out a bowl of rice and handed it to him, then sat down to eat herself.
The man glanced at the bedroom on the right, hesitated for a moment before sitting down, picking up his chopsticks, and starting to eat. He didn't say a word during breakfast. After finishing, he squatted in the yard, sometimes pulling up newly sprouted weeds in the vegetable garden, sometimes using a hoe to smash the uneven ground, making a lot of noise, but he didn't go out. The person in the bedroom seemed to be sleeping very soundly and showed no intention of getting up.
"Take Xiao Hei out for a walk, take it to Daye to get a bath, and come back when its fur is dry." Su Yu assigned tasks to the increasingly dark-faced man and sent him out.
"Didn't we just wash it a few days ago?" He complained, but he quickly tied the dog's leash. As soon as Xiao Hei saw this, it knew it was time to go out for some fresh air. Once the leash was tied, it struggled to pull the expressionless man out.
Su Yu pushed open the door and sat on the edge of the bed, saying to the bulge under the covers, "Your dad's gone out. Are you getting up to eat?"
The thin blanket was suddenly pulled back, and Ping An sat up, her hair wet, her eyes swollen shut, staring blankly at the woman beside the bed.
"Get up and eat. Your dad bought you your favorite tea eggs. They smell delicious." Su Yu handed him the clothes, without mentioning what happened last night.
While he was brushing his teeth and washing his face, Su Yu brought out mung bean porridge, fried dough sticks, tea eggs, and a fried egg. Xiao Yuan stood in the middle of the yard, not knowing what to say. He wanted to go out but didn't want to. If he didn't go out and didn't speak, he would look like a fool. He kept glancing at Ping An's swollen eyes. He picked up the small shovel that his father had thrown on the ground and went to the vegetable garden to loosen the soil.
He ate his porridge quietly, finishing one bowl without touching the others. Su Yu peeled the tea egg and threw it into his bowl, saying, "This is all yours. If you can't finish it, Xiao Hei will get it. Hurry up and eat."
"Hmm." He responded, took a bite of the tea egg, and as he swallowed, he seemed to choke, tears dripping from his eyes and splashing into the bowl.
"Waaah—" He threw down his chopsticks, covered his face, and burst into tears as the woman patted his back. The egg he hadn't swallowed fell to the ground.
"Mom, are you angry with me? Do you think I'm a bad kid?" he asked vaguely, covering his eyes with his hands, not daring to look at her.
"I don't blame you, and I don't think you're a bad kid."
He moved his hands away from his eyes, opened them wide to look at the woman's face, tears welling up and blurring his vision. He wiped them away, looked at her earnestly, and asked again, "Really?"
"Really, I never blamed you," Su Yu said earnestly, staring at him to prove she wasn't lying.
Ping An suspected she hadn't heard him last night. He was momentarily relieved and instinctively tried to brush it off, but remembering the beating he'd received and his father's words, he lowered his eyes and confessed, "Didn't you hear what I said last night? I deliberately mentioned Xiao Dan's stepmother. I never wanted you to have a child from the beginning, but I didn't dare say anything. My dad said I was scheming against you. I'm selfish and have no conscience." As he finished speaking, he bit his lip, tightening his embarrassing face to prevent the shameful tears from flowing out again.
“I heard you clearly. I heard everything you said last night. You're not heartless. If you were heartless and selfish, you wouldn't be crying today, and you wouldn't feel embarrassed to see me.”
Su Yu sat in the chair, looking him in the eye, and asked calmly, "Do you resent your father for hitting you?"
Ping An immediately shook his head.
"Do you feel wronged when he hits you? Did he hit the wrong person?"
Ping An shook his head and then nodded hesitantly. "I won't hold a grudge against you and Xiao Yuan because of the argument. Liu Quan told me about how his wife was kicked out of the village and died of illness after marrying someone, and I didn't doubt you. I told him, but he didn't believe me." He even made him kneel down and kept hitting his hand.
“Well, your dad hit you wrong, so I made him apologize. I believe you wouldn't be so heartless. Even though you're young, you have the ability to judge.” Su Yu rubbed her hands together; the words she had planned last night seemed to have become a jumbled mess. She tried to speak more coherently. “But you also have your reasons. If you hadn't used the matter of Xiao Dan's stepmother to test him, even if you answered slowly, your dad would have believed you immediately after you explained it clearly. It's like a thief. If he passes through an orchard and the fruit goes missing after he leaves, people will first suspect him. But if he is an innocent and honest person, and he says he didn't steal it, most people will believe him, and his family will choose to believe him without any doubt.”
"You understand what I mean, right?" Su Yu asked dryly.
“I understand. I did something wrong first and I lied, so my dad didn’t believe me when I told the truth.”
"Oh, so smart." Su Yu happily patted his tangled hair. "You heard what I told Xiao Yuan when we were collecting snail shells. We're family, we live together every day, we can speak frankly, don't test us." Su Yu felt guilty saying this, but she still forced herself to continue: "Your dad raised you alone for six or seven years, he didn't complain about you being a hassle. Even when he ate cornbread, he made sure you ate well. He never complained about hardship or fatigue, he just wanted you to be happy. He loves you so much, he definitely won't dislike you because of having another child. He's mainly angry that you're not honest and that you're petty."
Ping An felt a little embarrassed, and a smile secretly crept onto his lips. He had never heard of the word "love" before, but his father loved him.
“In the future, if you have any other questions, don’t keep them to yourself. Just ask them directly, okay? If you have any opinions, we can talk face to face. For example, you don’t want me to have any more children. You keep guessing and even use other people’s affairs to speculate about our family. People are different. How can you understand other people’s thoughts? Just like I don’t want to have any more children either. Have you ever guessed correctly?” Su Yu asked.
Ping An was shocked. "You don't want to have a baby? It's not because of me that you don't want one?" Last night, when he heard his father say that he was not going to have any more children, he wasn't as happy as he thought. He even regretted it a little when he went to bed. He was afraid that his father thought he had caused trouble, which made him decide not to have children. That was clearly his purpose before.
Su Yu wanted to say that it was because of him, but seeing Ping An's relaxed expression, she swallowed her words. She couldn't figure out what he was thinking and was afraid that if she said yes, he would get a taste of success and cause trouble again next time things didn't go his way.
“No, I think having you and Xiaoyuan is enough. We don’t need to add another child to the family. Besides, I prefer working and having money every month. I don’t want to stay at home raising a child. Your dad agrees. He also thinks that our current life is good. He’s satisfied with having two obedient and sensible sons.” She concealed Ping An’s role as the catalyst in this matter. Compared to the son he had relied on for eight years, the opinion of a child he had never met and whose personality he didn’t know must have influenced his decision.
Ping An laughed, picked up his chopsticks again, and said, "I was so stupid. I promise I won't guess anymore. I'll just say what's on my mind and won't hide anything from you."
For Yu Ping'an, his biggest fear was that his stepmother would dislike him and distance herself from him after his secret thoughts were exposed. He liked that she treated him like an aunt would treat her cousins—casually joking and laughing, hitting and pulling his ears when angry, but a few kind words would make her happy again. His second fear was that he would force his parents not to have any more children. He had many thoughts when he was making a scene, but when he heard what he wanted to hear, he realized that he couldn't bear the responsibility for this long-awaited decision. It was at that moment that he realized that this family was supported by his parents, and although he had the ability to act recklessly, he couldn't reach out and take over the consequences of his recklessness.
As for being beaten, scolded, and forced to kneel, those were relegated to the back of the list due to the influence of these two emotions. Now that he had made his point, he felt much better and was in the mood to eat again. In no time, he had stuffed a completely cooled fried egg and a slightly hard fried dough stick into his stomach.
"I won't make wild guesses anymore. If you have any questions, just ask," he said again.
"Well, this is the first time, but if it happens again, I'll be heartbroken too. And it's not something you can fix by shedding a few tears." Su Yu beckoned Xiao Yuan over. "You heard it too. From now on, it's just the four of us at home. If you have any questions, ask them directly. You'll never know what adults are thinking if you don't ask. Don't keep things bottled up inside." She poked Xiao Yuan's chest.
"Okay." Xiao Yuan smiled, pursing her lips.
As soon as she finished speaking, the man who had gone to walk the dog pushed the door open and came in. Su Yu crossed her legs and looked him up and down, then glanced at the listless dog, and asked meaningfully, "When did you get back?"
Ning Jin scratched his face, glanced at her, and stammered, "Just got back."
"Oh, really? That's quite a coincidence." Su Yu drawled out her words.
The man ignored her, untied the dog's leash, and let it go back to its kennel.
"Do you want me to go outside and make room for you? I noticed your son is limping a little," Su Yu asked him quietly as she squatted down next to him.
"Lame?" Ning Jin was startled, wondering if he hadn't been careful with his strength last night.
"Your son is washing the dishes. I'm taking Xiaoyuan out to buy some things."
The door closed and then opened again, before slamming shut behind it. Ning Jin waited a moment, then walked over quietly, suddenly flung open the door, and said to the two people outside, one tall and one short, "Why don't you come in and sit down?"
"Just passing by, I have important business to attend to, I won't bother you any longer to apologize," Su Yu said with a grin, pulling Xiao Yuan away.
"What a load of rubbish about apologies," the man muttered.
He turned around and saw Ping An coming out of the kitchen. He walked a little unnaturally, but it wasn't exactly a limp.
"What happened to your leg?" he asked in a harsh voice, not waiting for an answer. He walked over in a few steps and rolled up his trouser leg. There were scabs on his knee, probably from falling and scraping it last night.
"It'll be fine in a couple of days," Ping An said. He added that scraped knees are very common; they're most prone to scrapes and abrasions when running, falling, or fighting.
Ning Jin hummed in agreement. He had seen many minor injuries like this when Ping An was just learning to walk, and it was nothing to him. But this time, because he had caused the scrape himself, he felt it was much more serious.
“Last night was the first time I’ve ever lost my temper and hit you. If this beating will teach you a lesson and help you get rid of your bad habits, then it’s worth it. If you’re still petty, you’ll get beaten again in the future.” Ning Jin didn’t apologize as Su Yu had expected. When a father hits his son, he’s the one who was in the wrong first, so he deserves the beating.
"Yes, I know." Ping An rubbed the corner of her clothes, staring hesitantly at the man in front of her.
Ning Jin immediately turned stern, raised his hand, and frowned as he asked, "What did I tell you? Just ask what you want to say, don't be so coy."
Ping An blushed slightly, but still spoke up: "My mom said you love me very much, right?"
Forehead……
Now it was the man's turn to be coy. He licked his lips, cleared his throat, and frowned, saying, "What are you saying, you grown man? You're giving me goosebumps." He raised his arm to show his son, trying not to reply.
"You told me to ask questions, so why don't you answer?" Ping An persisted, pressing, "Is that right?"
"Yes, yes, yes, how could I have such a stupid son like you? If I hadn't done that, would you have gone through all the trouble of raising you? You have no idea how smelly your poop was when you were little, and how you used to wet the bed at night. I washed your wet sheets every day." The man walked into the house with a disgusted look on his face, muttering to himself.
"I'm going to sleep for a while, don't talk to me." He was afraid of hearing something even more embarrassing.
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