Chapter 15
After returning from National Day, the seats were adjusted.
Lin Jiu's entire group moved to the left, and the others followed suit.
So, she no longer sat by the window. Now, she couldn't just turn her head and watch the people coming and going in the corridor without any obstruction.
There is an aisle on her right, making it easy to get in and out.
However, what troubled her was that
Across the aisle, on the other side is Zhuo Ling.
As we all know, Zhuo Ling is a very popular girl.
During every break, a group of girls would gather around her and chat. Occasionally, a boy would come over to chat for a few minutes, just to make his presence felt.
Actually, Lin Jiu didn't mind all this. After all, sometimes when she was working on a question, she would forget everything else and automatically block out the sounds around her.
that is......
It is not so convenient to go out to get water or go to the toilet.
Even though there was an aisle next to her, she still had to ask others to make way for her as usual.
Because there are always people leaning against Zhuo Ling's table and chatting with her, sometimes it causes congestion in the aisle.
That's how it is now.
Lin Jiu had just filled his water cup, passed the smart pedestrian barrier, and returned to his seat.
Class was about to start in a few minutes, and she had no intention of continuing to study.
She supported herself with her hands and listened to the conversation next to her with great interest.
Today, they have changed the topic. It is no longer about movies, concerts, albums, clothes, etc., but about domestic travel.
Lin Jiu was a little interested in this topic.
For the past ten years or so, she has basically been wandering around the village and town, and occasionally comes to Qingshan District.
Come to think of it, she has never left Guicheng.
In the past, she learned about the colorful world outside through novels.
Although the novel's content is mostly fictional, the depiction of the extravagant life in the big city is quite good, at least that's what Lin Jiu thinks. After all, her world is very small, and the most she's ever seen are fields, mountains, and forests.
Sometimes the TV would report on the outside world, but most of the news was very objective and boring, making it hard to watch.
Novels are different. Through a series of stories, they allow people to truly feel the prosperity of big cities.
Therefore, Lin Jiu likes to read novels very much. She can always understand something beyond her cognition from the author's writing.
For example, she had always thought that 10,000 yuan was a significant amount of money. She had never imagined that trillions of yuan could exist. When she saw the setting for Asia's Richest Man, she was deeply shocked. She felt her worldview being shattered and reshaped.
She likes this kind of breaking down and reorganizing.
She never thought this was a bad thing. After all, her spiritual world was too small and too poor.
Moreover, she just happened to have enough discernment and judgment, and she felt that she could grasp the right degree and would never accept everything.
She is usually skeptical of things that are beyond her imagination. She is extremely curious about these doubtful contents and wonders whether they really exist.
After arriving at No. 4 Middle School, she saw Wen Min and Ji Xin, and she thought that some of the content was indeed true.
Now, she was completely listening to Zhuo Ling's personal experience, and the authenticity was extremely reliable. After all, her family was indeed rich and could travel everywhere.
Gimhae City.
This is the city that Zhuo Ling mentioned specifically.
After listening to her, Lin Jiu's biggest impression of this city was that it was bustling with foreigners.
As for the streets and famous check-in spots she mentioned, Lin Jiu couldn't remember the names after hearing them.
Lin Jiu observed the reactions of some of the other listeners. Some seemed to have been there before and could agree with a few words. As for some who had not been there, they just sighed a few times.
All right.
There is always a little gap between people.
People born in cities and others born in cities, although they are in the same area, have certain differences in family conditions.
Lin Jiu thought that she was not the only one who had not been to Jinhai City, there were other people like her.
Thinking of this, she suddenly felt a little comforted.
Although...this kind of thinking is a bit immoral, it can really comfort myself.
The bell rang for class, and this was her favorite Chinese class.
The reason why I like Chinese is mainly because my Chinese teacher is very interesting.
The teacher's surname is Jiang. He is married with children and has a happy family life.
Teacher Jiang is not like other teachers. He is very rigid and only teaches professional courses from textbooks.
She often shares things from her daily life, which makes everyone laugh.
Occasionally she would talk about some moral principles and tell some real cases of failed early love, jokingly but with a bit of seriousness, to educate them: Don’t fall in love too early, study hard, and get into university.
Sometimes Lin Jiu would wonder if Teacher Jiang emphasized this every now and then because there were so many handsome boys and beautiful girls in their class.
In this class, Teacher Jiang performed normally, combining teaching with ethics.
However, she assigned an after-class homework, asking students to write an 800-word essay about their mother.
After class, Lin Jiu took out his notebook and thought for a long time but still didn't know how to start writing.
However, Tang Yue behind her was obviously more distressed.
When Lin Jiu turned around, he could see her bitter face, which had lost her usual liveliness.
After dinner, Lin Jiu returned to the dormitory to wash his hair. Tang Yue was the only one in the dormitory, lying on the bed.
After she simply said hello to the dead man lying on the bed, she went into the bathroom to wash her hair.
As soon as she came out, she saw Tang Yue standing beside her bed, looking like she was waiting for her.
Lin Jiu wiped his head with a towel and asked, "Waiting for me?"
Tang Yue nodded without saying anything.
"I'm going to blow dry my hair for a while, I'll be right back."
After saying that, Lin Jiu hurried to the corridor, blew his hair half dry with a hair dryer, and sat on the bed.
She patted the bed on her left side and said, "Sit here."
Tang Yue sat down slowly, looking down as if she didn't know what to say.
Looking at her profile, Lin Jiu had no choice but to ask in a guiding way: "What's wrong?"
After a few seconds of silence, Tang Yue whispered, "Can I ask you a question?"
"...you asked."
Tang Yue glanced at Lin Jiu, wanting to say something but stopping herself, as if she was extremely embarrassed.
Under Lin Jiu's encouraging gaze, she finally asked, "Have you ever been slapped by your mother?"
“…”
Lin Jiu immediately guessed why Tang Yue looked like a bitter herb flower. It turned out that she was beaten by her mother.
Rolling her eyes, she said cunningly, "Before I answer your question, I want to ask you, why did you choose to ask me this question?"
Logically speaking, Tang Yue and Zhou Qing are the ones he gets along better with, so he should talk to them about his troubles instead of her.
Tang Yue's mind was a little stuck, as if she hadn't expected Lin Jiu to ask that. After a few seconds of hesitation, she turned her head to look at Lin Jiu. "Because I don't want this to be known to too many people. If I tell one of them, Zhou Qing or Zhou Kexin, the other might know. If I tell you, then only one person will know... Even though we haven't known each other for long, I trust you. You definitely won't tell anyone else."
It's a reasonable reason.
Lin Jiu kept his promise and said directly: "My mother beat me before, but I can't remember why."
Tang Yue blinked, looking surprised: "Really?"
"Really? It happened when I was a kid." Lin Jiu's expression was serious, without any sign of lying.
Her answer was like a shot of encouragement to Tang Yue.
Since people around her had the same experience, Tang Yue no longer hid it and told them everything.
"During the National Day holiday, my younger brother grabbed a toy from me. I refused to give it to him, and he started crying and making a fuss. My mom came over and scolded me in a very harsh tone. I was also very angry at the time. She thought it was clearly not my problem, so why did she make it seem like it was my fault?"
Tang Yue seemed to be getting angry when she recalled the scene, her voice rising a few notches: "I talked back, and my mother slapped me. Although I know she favors boys over girls, but... I didn't expect her to be so biased, actually hitting me for such a small thing!"
After the excitement, her voice became lower again, a little aggrieved, "This is the first time she hit me since I can remember. I'm very sad..."
Lin Jiu, an only child, didn't quite understand her mother's partiality. But she did understand the feeling of being beaten by her mother. It wasn't pleasant, and it felt even worse when it was unjustly done.
However, she really didn't know what to say. This kind of family conflict was the most troublesome.
She was an outsider, and even if she comforted her from Tang Yue's perspective now, Tang Yue and her mother would still have to reconcile after a while.
There may be a psychological gap between them, but they are still family after all.
Problems like parental favoritism are family problems. In the future, Tang Yue might encounter more grievances, and these grievances are life problems that she needs to face alone.
After thinking it over again and again, she had no choice but to pat Tang Yue on the back, letting her release her emotions and feel better.
Seeing Tang Yue's depressed mood, she asked, "Did your mother apologize to you later?"
"...She saw me crying so hard that she apologized to me that night and even cooked a delicious meal." Tang Yue snorted softly, "Do I have to forgive her just because she apologizes? I don't want to forgive her at all."
"So writing an essay now brings back sad memories for you?"
Tang Yue swayed her feet, then nodded: "Yeah."
Perhaps because she had someone to talk to, Tang Yue was able to vent a lot of her emotions and began to return to normal.
She pouted and complained, "How can a mother hit her own daughter? I don't even know how to write an essay..."
“…”
I recovered quickly and have already started writing essays.
Tang Yue seemed to remember that the person next to her had also been slapped, and quickly shut her mouth.
There was silence in the air for a few seconds, and then she asked curiously, "Did your mother apologize to you after she hit you?"
Lin Jiu looked at the cabinet, a little absent-minded.
She recalled the scene at that time.
She didn't remember how old she was at the time, but she knew her grandmother wasn't crazy yet.
In the main room, she cried loudly with her lips pursed, her face covered with tears because of the burning pain brought by the slap.
Yang Bing stood in front of her, as if he couldn't stand the child's crying, and scolded her loudly: "Don't cry."
Yang Bing's tone was so harsh that she cried even louder after hearing it.
The child's crying was giving people a headache. Yang Bing became impatient, his face darkening, his hands raised in the air, "If you cry again, I'll slap you again."
Little Lin Jiu looked at the hand that was about to fall next to him and felt a little scared, so he lowered his head, bit his lips, tried hard to control his tears, and suppressed the sound in his throat.
After a minute, she slowly stopped crying. Then she ran to the bedroom and hid in what she thought was a secluded place. Later, her grandmother found her in the corner between the door and the wall, carrying food.
Perhaps Yang Bing felt that such threats were very effective. Every time he saw Lin Jiu crying, he would scold her harshly.
Why are you crying?!
Stop crying!
Later, Lin Jiu learned to be smart and cried in hiding, without making any sound.
She knew that if Yang Bing saw her crying, she would get angry with her again. She never dared to cry in front of Yang Bing again.
Lin Jiu didn't speak for a long time, so long that Tang Yue thought she wouldn't answer. When she stood up to leave, she heard someone behind her murmur, "No."
——Never.
Originally there was only one miserable person, but now there are two miserable people.
Tang Yue felt a little regretful, thinking that she was bringing up something that was not relevant and that the other party was in a worse situation.
She wanted to turn around and comfort him, but Lin Jiu acted as if nothing had happened. He combed his hair, took the key and said to her, "Let's go back to the classroom."
During evening self-study, Lin Jiu wrote on the draft paper: Mom.
After thinking for a moment, she wrote a fabricated composition, which was what her ideal mother looked like, gentle and amiable.
But her real mother is the complete opposite of this.
Because she and Yang Bing don't look like mother and daughter, but rather like the most familiar strangers.
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