Chapter 124: Waiting for a sunset, breaking free from shackles (First subscription plus additional content)
"Don't worry about my stall. Cucumbers are 75 cents a pound."
In a messy vegetable market in Dongyang County, a girl with short hair and exquisite clothes is standing in front of a stall piled with fresh vegetables.
The ground was littered with crushed vegetable leaves, flying fish scales, and scattered chicken feathers.
The girl was wearing a dress and looked out of place here.
The stall owner could tell at a glance that the girl didn't come to the market often, and he started to have some concerns.
Most girls of this age have never done housework and don’t know the ins and outs of the vegetable market, not to mention that this girl’s family is obviously well-off.
He is an easy bully.
Lu Siwen looked at the cucumber with a flower on top, her eyes full of curiosity. She was not stupid enough to have never seen a cucumber before, but the ones she had seen on the dining table before were all cut. It was the first time she knew that a fresh cucumber had a small yellow flower on top.
After looking at it for a while, he said to the boss: "Boss, please help me get one."
The stall owner smiled kindly, grabbed three and put them in the bag, then quickly tapped them on the digital scale.
Back then, he was known as the "Ghost Hand King" and earned three houses in Dongyang by making a tin-clad weight.
Of course, times are progressing and electronic scales are more convenient.
"Seven dollars and thirty-three cents. Just give me seven dollars."
Lu Siwen lowered her head and pulled out a hundred-dollar bill from Tiffany's small waist bag and handed it over. After taking the cucumber, she took out one directly, her eyes fixed on the little yellow flower.
So strange. So cute.
Although no one cares about it and it is not well protected, it is still fresh and tender.
Lu Siwen broke off the small yellow flower and smelled it.
Cucumber-flavored flowers!
I politely said to the boss: "Thank you, boss, the cucumbers are very fresh."
The stall owner who was giving out change paused, then softened his heart and exchanged the fake fifty-yuan note for a real one, handing it to Lu Siwen: "Come to me when you buy vegetables next time, I'll give you a discount."
Carrying three cucumbers that theoretically weighed "ten kilograms", Lu Siwen walked out of the vegetable market, looked around, and didn't know which direction to go for a moment, or perhaps she didn't have a clear destination.
After a little thought, he casually walked to the left.
Lu Siwen was reluctant to throw away the little yellow flowers on the cucumber, so she pinned them to her ear, which made her look more beautiful.
She was standing at the door of an old barber shop, watching a grandfather with gray hair cutting the hair of a grandfather with even grayer hair.
Outside the pet store, looking at puppies that are priced less than a bag of cat food from home.
A wild cat on the roadside kept following her, trying to rub against her, until she took out a cucumber, which scared the wild cat so much that its fur stood on end and it ran away.
Downstairs of an old residential building, a centenarian basking in the sun gave her a soft sorghum candy.
There was an uphill section where the sanitation worker grandmother was riding with difficulty. Lu Siwen hurried up, using her thin arms and legs to push the bicycle with the power assist, and got her dress dirty.
When she was in junior high school, she was almost sent to an international school in Jinling. Her grandfather was still alive at that time and he insisted on keeping her by his side against all odds.
Because of this, my mother and grandfather had an unhappy relationship for a long time as they had completely different ideas.
His mother believed that one should go to the best place to receive education, and the family had the means. Even though she and his father could not leave Dongyang County for business, it would not prevent Lu Siwen from being sent to Jinling.
Grandpa’s idea is very simple: children should live with their families, instead of being placed in a strange city on the grounds of “better conditions”.
But today, Lu Siwen suddenly felt that although she grew up in Dongyang County, she was not actually familiar with this place. It seemed that every corner was new and interesting.
Before I knew it, I had been walking around for a long time.
I looked at the Longines crescent moon on my wrist and it was already four o'clock in the afternoon.
The agreed departure time for Shanghai was getting closer, but she still didn't want to go back.
So I continued to wander around aimlessly.
Finally, I looked up and saw the familiar overpass.
It seemed like there was some omen in the dark.
Lu Siwen stepped onto the overpass, came to a familiar location, and looked at the traffic crossing the overpass.
The streetlight at the edge of her sight caught her attention for a moment, then she looked away with some regret.
It was still early, and the sun had not yet set. Unfortunately, she was running out of time.
I'm afraid I won't be able to wait any longer.
At this time, a figure also stepped onto the overpass with hurried steps.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Lu Siwen's back from afar.
He walked behind Lu Siwen, stared at her for a moment, and then said, "Siwen..."
Lu Siwen was startled and turned around to look.
"Mother."
Qian Yarong hid her worries in a few seconds and put on a more serious face than usual: "What are you doing? Running away from home?! Who taught you that?!"
Lu Siwen quickly waved his hand: "I don't have any, I just want to go out for a walk."
Qian Yarong said angrily: "Then why didn't you answer the phone?!"
Lu Siwen was puzzled and quickly opened her small bag to try to look at her phone.
But he found that there was no mobile phone in it. The few hundred dollars he brought with him were also gone. He was stunned.
"Hey~? My phone is lost.
?! "
Qian Yarong sighed
She was so anxious that she ran out without even wearing socks, and her feet were sore from rubbing. Fortunately, she didn't run away from home. Fortunately, she was found.
But when he saw the stains on Lu Siwen's skirt and the ugly yellow flower that had wilted by her ear, he still felt angry.
————
Under the overpass, in another direction, Zhai Da was also walking towards this side.
When Lu Siwen "got lost", this was the only place he could think of.
Qian Yarong didn't say much on the phone, but no matter how you think about it, it was related to the arrangement of going abroad. However, Zhai Da didn't expect Lu Siwen to take such an extreme measure as "running away from home".
Logically, this shouldn't happen, and he had previously advised the other party not to engage in such childish behavior.
Because of the angle, Zhai Da saw the girl from afar, but she had her back to the edge and it was unclear who she was talking to.
I felt a little relieved and decided to go up and take a look.
Just as I reached the stairs, I was stopped by a voice.
"Zhai Da, this way."
Turning around, I saw Lu Zetao in formal attire, as if he had just left a meeting.
At this time, he was leaning against the wall behind the overpass stairs, a little disregarding his image, with his tie slightly untied and a cigarette in his hand.
This handsome old man has a special flavor today.
Lu Zetao exhaled a puff of smoke and said, "Thank you for worrying about Siwen."
Zhai Da nodded: "Of course, we are friends."
Lu Zetao observed Zhai Da's expression: "Just friends?"
Zhai Da said sincerely, "I understand your concerns, but we are just friends. I believe Lu Siwen feels the same way."
Lu Zetao didn't go into the topic any further, but pointed upwards: "Her mother has gone upstairs, and she's fine now."
Zhai Da asked doubtfully, "What are you doing?"
Lu Zetao smiled and said, "Let the two women stay upstairs. The two of us men will wait downstairs and let them have a good chat."
Zhai Da said uncertainly, "I'll be relieved once they confirm it's safe, but are you sure they can solve the problem?"
The overpass is not a good place to be, in case of emotional outbursts.
Lu Zetao looked up: "I know them both, nothing will happen to them, besides..."
The writer's ego began to play tricks on him again, and the sense of emptiness created by the false alarm came over him. Lu Zetao pondered:
"Besides, you can only break free from the shackles yourself. If someone else takes them away, they will eventually leave traces."
As he spoke, he exhaled a puff of smoke in a dashing manner and watched it slowly dissipate, as if he had regained the feeling of the literary youth he once was, even though he was now dressed in a well-tailored suit and laden with honors.
Zhai Da:
You are such a jerk! Isn't this a word from my book?
—————
Above the overpass, Qian Yarong frowned and said, "Come back with me quickly. You'll have to leave after dinner. Have you forgotten? We'll be heading to Shanghai tonight and flying to the United States tomorrow."
Lu Siwen was instinctively afraid of her stern mother, but she shook her head and said, "I can go back, but I won't go to Shanghai or the United States."
"What do you mean?"
Lu Siwen took a deep breath. "I was planning to tell you last night, but you kept making international calls after you came home. I was planning to tell you this morning, but when I woke up, you were no longer at home and you didn't answer the phone. If I can't get in touch with you, even if you ran away, it would be Mom who ran away first!"
Qian Yarong laughed angrily: "Who do you think I'm so busy for? Do you think I want to be so hasty? Aren't I just helping you arrange things?"
Lu Siwen knew this was his last chance, so he bravely responded, "No, please don't say that. I never asked my mother to send me to the United States. At most, I didn't object when I was young and ignorant. Now that I'm older, my thoughts have changed."
"I don't want to go abroad. I want to stay in the country and go to university."
This kind of resistance was not unexpected by Qian Yarong at all. She sneered and said, "Because of that Zhai Da?"
But Lu Siwen's next reaction was beyond Qian Yarong's expectations.
Lu Siwen was stunned, and then asked in surprise, "Mom, do you think I would regret something as important as this just because of Zhai?"
"From the beginning until now, I have never considered Zhai's situation in the United States."
Qian Yarong didn't believe it: "Then tell me, why is it?"
"No, Mom, I should ask you first why you insist on sending me to America."
"Because there's better education, a fairer environment, and more promising development. I can give you countless reasons. It's a beacon for the whole world, and everyone yearns for it. If you go there, you'll have a better life."
Lu Siwen raised her delicate little face and said seriously, "Since Mom is so eager to go, why don't you go yourself?"
Qian Yarong said helplessly: "Me? What will I do if I go to such a big business? What will happen to your grandma? What will happen to your dad? Find another one?"
Lu Siwen said word by word, "So you are concerned about this place, right? And I am the same, Mom. Why is your concern a reason, but mine is not?"
“
What worries can a little kid like you have? "
"You! You are my concern!"
Lu Siwen took a step forward and looked at his mother sincerely. "Mom, you are my concern, as are Dad, Grandpa's grave, my classmates at school, the university I haven't had the chance to experience, and the work I want to write."
Qian Yarong was surprised for a moment.
"Even this Dongyang County, Mom, do you know what's over there on the overpass?"
Qian Yarong looked in the direction of Lu Siwen's finger and saw just an ordinary road.
"What could it be? Sanmao and Damao neighborhoods. A few alleys."
Lu Siwen took a step forward:
"But I never knew that. I walked across this overpass every day for three years of high school, got off at the other end and got on the bus, but I never once walked forward."
"My road seems to be only this long, as if I can never get out of a flyover. I don't even need to go as far as America. I don't even know my feet well enough!"
"The reason I came out today is to see some familiar places I've never been to. I'm afraid if I can't convince you today, I'll never see them again."
Qian Yarong looked at her daughter's moist and red eyes and was moved for a moment.
Lu Siwen took Qian Yarong's hand.
All the thoughts and entanglements she had been having during this period finally had the opportunity to be sorted out and expressed.
"Mom, I don't want to hate you, nor do I want to break up with you. I just want to have a good talk with you."
“Thank you for giving me the best table and the best white paper”
"But in the end, the pen still has to be in my own hand."
Qian Yarong's eyes also began to turn red.
She thought a lot. She thought about Lu Zetao's unpredictable attitude recently and her daughter's recent estrangement from herself.
Thinking of the arguments with my late father-in-law.
In fact, she was already wavering, but she couldn't say it.
"Mom is willing to listen to your ideas. Let's go home and talk about it slowly. I won't force you anymore."
Finally, he sighed and hugged his daughter.
At this moment, the setting sun sinks into the orange sea, and the evening breeze falls into the city forest.
Lu Siwen waited for the sunset she had been looking forward to.
——————
Beneath the overpass, the warm sun casts slanting shadows, half cold and half bright.
Zhai Da and Lu Zetao leaned against the not-so-clean white wall.
The dividing line between light and shadow just passes through the foreheads of the two people.
"So you didn't plan to let Lu Siwen go abroad from the beginning?"
Lu Zetao crushed the cigarette butt and subconsciously smelled his fingertips.
I'll be scolded again if I go back. After all, I've quit for several years.
"Her mother prepared for this for a long time and put in countless efforts. If she didn't have a strong desire, I wouldn't have intervened."
"It's true that I'm a father, but I'm also a husband. I have to take both sides into consideration. I don't know if you can understand this at your age."
Zhai Da nodded: "I definitely haven't experienced it, but this is the principle."
Lu Zetao looked at his watch and felt that it was about time, so he said:
"I originally thought that even if I couldn't adapt after going there, I could come back and Yarong would be more accepting. But a while ago, when we were having dinner together, Siwen showed some different things, and I suddenly realized it."
At this point, Lu Zetao turned to look at Zhai Da and smiled unconsciously.
"After all, how could I bear to send a daughter who doesn't even understand what 'love' means to study so far away?"
How irresponsible this is. Lu Zetao added in his heart.
Waving his hand, Lu Zetao said, "Let's go, let's go up..."
Zhai Da shook his head and said, "I won't go. Family matters should be kept within the family, and outsiders should be avoided."
Zhai Da suddenly felt that this family still had a standard. Qian Yarong had a strong desire for control but had not gone to extremes. Lu Zetao's role was really important.
There was no need for him to get involved in what happened next.
Lu Zetao stared at Zhai Da for a while, as if trying to judge whether Zhai Da was serious.
"Are you relieved?"
"With you here, there's nothing to worry about. Also, Siwen hasn't contacted me today, and I never tried to persuade her to go abroad. I was just supporting her at most. Everything she did today was her truest thought."
Lu Zetao nodded, he believed Zhai Da.
"Also, you looked quite handsome just now. I might write about that in my book later."
Lu Zetao was stunned, then became interested: "Which sentence?"
Zhai Da waved his hand: "Every word of a father."
Then he turned and left.
Lu Zetao looked at Zhai Da's back and couldn't help but admire him:
"Young man, you're really awesome."
Considering the plot needs, we won’t drag it until 11 o’clock.
Xiao Xin has always said that additional chapters will be based on the plot so that the reading experience will be better. This is what she meant.
So the days when I don't update are not because Xiao Xin is short, but because it is not suitable~
4000-word chapter is here
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