Chapter 16 There is no trace of a woman living in his house
The security guard said, "He was selling kebabs on the pedestrian street next door. The urban management crackdown there was quite strict for a while, so he set up a stall at the entrance to our complex for a few days, but he's probably gone back now. Miss Chu, do you need me to call the police for you?"
Chu Yao shook her head: "No, I know him, it's just a misunderstanding, thank you."
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Chu Yao left the security room and headed straight for the next block.
I searched along the snack stalls one by one and actually found it.
Sheng Rong, whom I haven't seen for nine years, is much thinner and more mature than he was in high school.
There were quite a few people standing in front of the kebab stall. He flipped the skewers skillfully and looked up to ask the customer in front of him: "Do you want it spicy?"
Chu Yao walked over and called out tentatively, "Sheng Rong."
Sheng Rong froze for a moment, then raised his head and smiled naturally: "Old classmate, long time no see, come and take care of my business."
Chu Yao looked at his reaction. He seemed unaware that the family he blocked the keyhole and splashed paint on was hers?
She wanted to ask him directly why he did it.
But just as he opened his mouth, someone suddenly shouted, "The urban management is here!"
All the snack stall owners in the surrounding area pushed their carts and ran away quickly.
Chu Yao immediately pushed Sheng Rong's stall and said, "Run! What are you standing there for? I can tell you don't have as much experience setting up stalls as I do!"
Sheng Rong still held the skewers in his hand and stood there for several seconds. He quickly stuffed it into the pocket of the customer who had paid, caught up with Chu Yao, and the two of them pushed the cart together and ran.
Chu Yao sniffed and smelled the burnt smell of charcoal grilling. She immediately reminded Sheng Rong: "Hurry up and turn it over there. It's all burnt!"
Sheng Rong didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "You're still worrying about this when you're running away?"
"Turn it over quickly! I want to eat it later!"
“…” Sheng Rong had no choice but to barbecue while running.
The two men stopped only when they could no longer see the urban management officers.
Sheng Rong figured he wouldn't have the chance to set up shop again tonight, so he simply packed up and went home.
Chu Yao was full of questions, so she followed along.
Sheng Rong's family lives nearby, in a relocation house with an affordable price.
There is one bedroom and one living room, and the living room is separated by a door panel to form a second bedroom.
It was not dirty inside, but it was crowded because it was filled with boxes containing raw materials for kebabs and some handicraft materials.
Chu Yao looked at Sheng Rong: "So you've always lived so close to me."
"I just moved here a little over a year ago..." Sheng Rong dragged a stool for Chu Yao to sit on and chatted casually, "Do you live nearby too?"
"Yes." Chu Yao nodded, "The house where you splashed paint and blocked the keyhole today is my home."
Sheng Rong's eyes widened in shock. "What? That's your house? I... I didn't know... Someone told me to do this. He said you were addicted to online gambling and that you borrowed money and didn't pay it back. He wanted me to write a note on your door saying, 'Pay it back!' and give me two hundred yuan... I thought it was only natural to pay back a debt, so I wrote it... I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
Chu Yao waited quietly for him to finish, then patted his shoulder: "It's okay, I forgive you. I don't gamble online, it must be that the news I reported recently offended someone, and they're taking revenge on me."
Sheng Rong scratched his head, still feeling a little guilty and uneasy: "I'm not usually that easily taken advantage of, but when I hear about online gambling, I get stressed..."
Chu Yao raised her eyebrows slightly: "Why are you so stressed? Is it related to the misfortune that happened to your family back then?"
Sheng Rong said nothing and turned to spread the folding table.
His house is too small. If he puts a table there, there is no room to walk.
So the table is only put down when eating.
He put the grilled skewers on a plate, put it on the table, and took out two bottles of cold beer from the refrigerator.
Seeing that he didn't say anything, Chu Yao didn't ask any more questions.
As a journalist, she is used to getting to the bottom of things.
But if the person involved doesn't want to talk about it, she won't insist on exposing their scars.
But unexpectedly, Sheng Rong sat down and beckoned her: "Sit down, aren't you curious? Let's talk slowly."
Chu Yao sat down, picked up a grilled chicken wing and took a bite. Her eyes lit up: "Wow, your cooking skills are pretty good. Your business is usually good, right?"
"Of course." Sheng Rong smiled, poured her a glass of beer, and slowly told her what happened that year.
"Back then, I was too vain. Teacher Chen... and you classmates all cared about me, but I repeatedly rejected your concern because of my vanity. But now, after so many years, I'm no longer as naive as I was back then."
Chu Yao said nothing and just listened quietly.
"My parents didn't gamble online. They're very decent people. The one who gambled online was my uncle, my father's younger brother... But the one who really harmed my family was me."
"Since I was a child, I have always considered myself a young master and spent money lavishly."
"But one day in my second year of high school, my dad suddenly told me that our family had gone bankrupt due to business failure and owed over 30 million yuan..."
"At first they were afraid to let me down, so they kept me going until they couldn't hold on any longer, and then they told me about the bankruptcy."
"I really can't accept it at all. I'm too vain... I'm so vain that when my uncle came to my house, I deliberately told him that my family is very rich."
"At that time, my uncle was addicted to online gambling and owed more than 10 million yuan. He asked my father to borrow money, but my father frankly told him that the family was bankrupt."
"My uncle didn't believe it, so he stabbed my dad with a knife and yelled at him, 'You're talking nonsense! Xiaorong said you were rich! You didn't lend me the money! You just want to watch me die!'"
"My neighbors all heard what I said, and they often used me as a negative example to teach their children that wealth shouldn't be exposed, otherwise you'll end up like Sheng Rong's father, who got stabbed until his intestines spilled out."
Sheng Rong's tone was very calm, as if he was no longer very sad.
Having said that, he paused and handed Chu Yao a bottle of seasoning: "Do you want cumin?"
Chu Yao took over: "This is not your fault at all. Seventeen years old is the age when people care about their reputation. I cared about my reputation at that time too. The gambler is at fault. Gamblers have no humanity. They always think it is someone else's fault... Even if you didn't pretend to be rich at that time, your gambling uncle would not give up asking your father for money."
She thought of Cheng Yiyi...
There was one thing she remembered. She told Cheng Yiyi clearly that she had no money and had just bought a new grave for her father.
But Cheng Yiyi still asked her to borrow money these days, always feeling that she could squeeze out some.
If she didn't stop it, she was really afraid that Cheng Yiyi would do something extreme in the future because she couldn't get the money.
Chu Yao looked up at Sheng Rong's house again.
In this small house, there is no sign that a woman has ever lived there. The shoe racks are filled with men's shoes, and the clothes racks are filled with men's clothes.
Chu Yao casually asked, "Where's your mother?"
Sheng Rong was stunned for a moment, then said nonchalantly, "My mother is very good. She stayed with us for five years without a single complaint... But then one day, she..."
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