Chapter 4: Second Year of High School
Song Ting threw Nan Jiu onto the curb and let her tantrum. The dragging had left her hair and clothes in disarray, leaving her feeling extremely embarrassed. As soon as her hands were freed from their shackles, she clenched her fists and lunged at him, "You work at my grandfather's teahouse, don't you? What gives you the right to meddle in my affairs?"
"How did I interfere in your affairs?" Song Ting looked down at her, the veins on his forehead had faded away, and his expression had returned to calm.
"That year, if you hadn't urged my grandfather to send me back, would I have been thrown around like trash? I could have stayed here. My grandfather was even looking for transfers.
"Do you know what I'll have to face if I go back? Have you ever asked me if I'm happy to go back? All of you treat me like a burden, kicking me around.
"I've been away from my mom's house for a few days. Did they call the police? Did anyone come looking for me? They were just hoping I'd get abducted by traffickers on the road. It's such a shame I met you. You're not a trafficker, but you're just as good as one. It was you who made my grandfather change his mind and send me away.
"If you don't want me to come over, why did you come out to look for me? It's none of your business whether I go back or not. My own uncle didn't even ask about it, so what kind of uncle are you? You really take yourself too seriously..."
Some words, once spoken, are like a floodgate. Nanjiu wasn't without grievances and resentment. It was just that she was still young and didn't have the leverage to fight her fate. When she ran away from home that year, she'd mustered all her courage and risked everything to change her situation, but after only three months of peace and quiet, she was sent back.
She hadn't shared these feelings with anyone, not even her grandfather. She had long been accustomed to building a wall around indifference and contempt, cloaking herself in a cloak of indifference. However, today, Song Ting had pried open a corner of that wall. She hated this meddling man, and in his presence, she felt helpless and could only attack him with harsh words.
Song Ting wasn't angry at her attitude, nor did he even speak to stop her. Passersby would occasionally look over, and whenever they did, Nan Jiu's voice would drop, perhaps to save face. Song Ting simply turned around and blocked Nan Jiu in the street, allowing her to curse freely without worrying about anything.
Arguments are about give and take, and since Song Ting didn't argue with her, she kept on talking non-stop, and soon became exhausted. Nan Jiu licked her lips, a look of helplessness flashing across her face at the sudden silence.
When Song Ting saw that she had finished scolding him, he asked, "Are you hungry?"
"...Hmm?" Nanjiu was still fuming, his brain froze for two seconds before he replied without thinking, "A little bit."
"Let's go and eat."
Song Ting turned around and led the way. He took out his phone and called Old Man Nan, telling him that he had found Nan Jiu and would take her for a midnight snack before returning.
Nan Jiu took two steps back, staring at Song Ting's nonchalant back, feeling incredulous at his calm composure. Her words had been harsh enough, yet not only was there no anger on his face, he didn't even put himself in the shoes of an elder to lecture her. He even offered to take her out to eat. Nan Jiu suddenly felt that Song Ting was... a little peculiar.
The atmosphere between the two was a little awkward, or perhaps only Nan Jiu felt awkward, while Song Ting remained calm.
After he finished talking to Old Man Nan on the phone, as he was about to turn out of the alley, he suddenly spoke: "That year, I drove out to look for you."
He walked out of the alley, waved to the stall owner, and went over to get the menu. Nan Jiu froze at the alley entrance, a crack quietly opening in his heart, a mixture of emotions seeping in.
Song Ting turned around and beckoned Nanjiu to sit over. Nanjiu awkwardly moved to the front of the table, and the awkward atmosphere became even more intense. It wasn't like her fist was hitting cotton, but there was no cotton at all. Like a fool, she punched nothing.
After the food was cooked over high heat, Nan Jiu looked at the plates of delicious dishes and said to Song Ting, "Why did you order so much? I've already eaten at the internet cafe."
Song Ting raised his eyelids and glanced at her: "I didn't eat it."
“…” Nanjiu obediently shut up.
Nan Jiu, who claimed to have eaten, picked up her chopsticks and ate just as much as Song Ting. While eating, she stumbled across Song Ting's arm, where several visible nail marks, oozing blood, were visible. It was impossible for her to swallow her pride and apologize, so she simply turned to the side with her bowl in hand, pretending not to notice.
Seeing that she was silent, Song Ting started the conversation: "I heard that you are in a premature love relationship?"
"How strange?" Nanjiu turned his gaze away, "You've never had a premature love?"
"No." Song Ting raised his hand and asked the boss to bring a bowl of rice.
"Speaking of evil, what are you doing in school? Studying hard and making progress every day? You don't look like a good student."
Song Ting lowered his head to pick up some food, smiling without saying a word.
"Who told you I was in love too early? My grandpa? What would he know? It was my dad who told him. My dad believes everything others say, but he never asks me if I'm in love. It's always like this."
The boss had just brought a bowl of rice to the table when Nan Jiu took it and cynically shoveled the rice into his mouth. Song Ting had no choice but to ask the boss for another bowl.
"At your age, instead of thinking about things that have no future, you should think about your future."
"That's hilarious. Who says you have to have a future? People my age are just playing around. Do you have to get married and have kids just because you're in a relationship? Wouldn't that be a huge loss?"
Song Ting didn't comment on Nan Jiu's casual attitude towards life. Instead, he asked, "Have you been living at your father's house these years?"
"Thanks to you, I've been living on campus all these years."
Nanjiu said nothing more after this reply. She lowered her head and stuffed huge mouthfuls of rice into her mouth, chewing vigorously. Her roommates looked forward to going home every Friday, but she had no hope, never had any hope. The girls in her dorm took their clothes home to wash on Fridays. Only she, standing in the cold, wind-filled corridor in the -7°C winter, rubbing her dirty clothes, her hands feeling like they were pierced by ice, numb from the cold.
She wouldn't tell anyone about this, no one had ever asked, and no one cared. Just like at this moment, she simply chewed these not-so-nice memories along with the rice and swallowed them down.
Back at the teahouse, the lights were still on. Old Man Nan sat at the tea table, playing with his newly acquired tea pet. After Song Ting returned, he went straight to clean up the tea leaves. Nan Jiu snuck up to the door, trying to sneak back into his room.
"Come here." Old Master Nan knocked the tea pet on the tea tray and said in a calm voice.
Old Man Nan had spent his entire life in the world of mingling with all sorts of people, and at this age, he still carried a certain amount of gangster spirit around him. Although Old Man Nan was rarely mean to Nan Jiu, once he showed his displeasure, Nan Jiu wouldn't dare disobey.
She walked over to Old Man Nan with her head down. The old man poked the ground with his cane and said, "Starting tomorrow, there will be a curfew. No one is allowed to go out at night."
Nanjiu didn't move his lips, his voice mumbling and stuck in his throat.
Old Man Nan raised his voice: "If you want to say something, just open your mouth and say it loudly, don't curse me behind my back."
"I didn't scold you. I just said it's okay if I can't go out, but you have to buy me a computer."
Old Man Nan glared at her and said, "If you want to buy it, go find your dad. You might as well dream on your own."
Song Ting carried the tea leaves towards the tea cabinet. Old Man Nan's eyes turned and he saw the bloodstains on Song Ting's arm. He was so angry that he picked up his crutch and hit Nan Jiu's calf.
Old Man Nan often used his cane to scare Nan Jiu, but he never used much force. This time, he really hurt Nan Jiu. She screamed, holding onto the table leg, standing on one leg, staring, "Why did you hit me?"
"Why did I hit you? Your Uncle Song came back from the mountain and ran out to find you without even a sip of water. What did you do?"
"He drank it. The Internet cafe owner gave it to him." Nan Jiu's voice became smaller and smaller.
Seeing her talk back, Old Man Nan stood up with the help of his cane, his hair standing up in anger, and raised his cane to hit her. Song Ting had returned at some point, bent down to pick up the scattered tea pets on the tea tray, and his figure happened to be blocking Old Man Nan and Nan Jiu.
Nan Jiu huddled in the corner of the table. Song Ting tilted his neck and signaled with his eyes that she should go back to her room. Nan Jiu quickly turned around and limped back to the house.
Old Man Nan sat back down, slamming his cane into the ground. "It's no use defending her. She won't say a word good about you."
Song Ting lowered his head again and picked up the tea pet: "She is still young."
Nan Jiu listened at the door for a long time, until Old Man Nan returned to his room, then she picked up her clothes and went upstairs to take a shower.
Old Man Nan left the door open and heard Nan Jiu's footsteps coming downstairs after taking a shower. His voice came from inside the door: "Does your leg still hurt?"
Nanjiu paused, his voice breathy: "It hurts so much, I'm lame."
"It's better to be lame, so as not to run around."
"Dong dong dong," Nan Jiu's footsteps made crisp sounds.
Although Mr. Nan had rejected Nan Jiu's idea of buying a computer in front of her, he still asked Song Ting how much it would cost the next day. After hearing that it would cost several thousand, Mr. Nan pretended not to ask.
Although Nanjiu couldn't leave the house at night, she could still sneak out during the day. But soon, her only hope of going out was cut off. From that day on, Nanjiu couldn't go to any of the internet cafes around Maoer Lane. The network administrators and receptionists would tell her to leave whenever they saw her. Even Li Chongguang, who always boasted about how successful he was in the area, suddenly disappeared, no longer calling her out. It was hard not to suspect that all these strange things were connected to Song Ting.
Nan Jiu went out that afternoon, whistling a little tune, and returned twenty minutes later with a sullen face. Song Ting was standing at the tea table, greeting customers. Nan Jiu waited for a long time, leaning against a pillar with a drooping face, until he finally found some free time. As he was walking toward the counter, she approached him and asked, "You're keeping me from leaving?"
Song Ting didn't stop and didn't even look at her: "Did I tie you up with a rope?"
"Stop pretending, did you do this?"
Song Ting glanced down at her legs and asked lightly, "Does it hurt anymore?"
He didn't deny it, but instead teased her. Nan Jiu was furious. She had said all sorts of nasty things to her, repeatedly accusing him of having no right to control her, using Song Ting's status as a tool. He had appeared good-tempered that night, neither angry nor upset, but he had turned around and retaliated with the most powerful force, controlling her even more strictly.
Grandpa always said that teahouses were a complex world, and that Song Ting's success in managing a teahouse required skill. Nan Jiu rarely had the opportunity to be alone with Song Ting, and even when they did, he was usually taciturn. She had never seen him speak eloquently to any of his customers. Therefore, Nan Jiu believed that Grandpa's evaluation of Song Ting was exaggerated. Looking back now, Grandpa's evaluation still holds some value.
The slight guilt that Nan Jiu had felt for accidentally injuring Song Ting that night was instantly wiped out by this incident. Not only that, she also hated Song Ting to the core.
However, every policy has its own countermeasures. After two days of quiet, Nanjiu started running around again. Li Chongguang was wary of Song Ting, but Liu Yin was unaware of this and was actually happy to have Nanjiu come to play with her.
Nan Jiu saw Liu Yin wearing makeup and high heels and said enviously, "College is great. You can dye your hair however you want. I plan to dye my hair purple as soon as I graduate from high school."
Liu Yin said, "I studied at a five-year college and graduated."
Nan Jiu didn't say anything else. She thought Liu Yin was still in college, but she didn't expect that she was already working.
Seeing that she didn't respond, Liu Yin said, "I did pretty well on the high school entrance exam. Most of my classmates went to technical schools and started working in factories. My current cashier job is something many of my classmates would envy."
Liu Yin opened the software on her computer and started playing an idol drama. Nan Jiu stared at the screen, his eyes absent-minded. Her grades on the high school entrance exam were average, but she still managed to get into a decent high school. If she had stayed, she would most likely have transferred to Liu Yin's school as a part-time student, and whether she could have gotten into high school would have been questionable. She had resented her grandfather for years, and even held a grudge against Song Ting. Little did she know, they had given her more choices about her future.
Liu Yin now works as a cashier at a nearby shopping mall on the old street, a job that requires double shifts. Nan Jiu can only hang out with her on the days she's on the early shift. They've long since given up on playing video games and usually stay in Liu Yin's room, watching TV series and variety shows.
Every time Nanjiu went to see Liuyin, she would ask her if Song Ting was in the store. After asking so many times, Nanjiu couldn't help but notice something was wrong.
During dinner that night, Grandpa Nan told Nan Jiu: "Someone will be coming to the teahouse tomorrow. Dress neatly and keep quiet."
Nan Jiu laughed when he heard this: "There are always people coming to the teahouse. Why am I not dressed properly?"
Old Master Nan said earnestly, "Wu Guiying introduced a girl to your Uncle Song. She will come to meet him tomorrow. Your Uncle Song has no one at home, so we can't let him down."
Nan Jiu swallowed the meat in his mouth, looked up and asked, "Where are his family members?"
"Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask. Take that short top away and don't wear it tomorrow. What does it look like to have your belly button exposed?"
Nan Jiu grinned and said, "If I don't show off my slim waist, wouldn't it be a waste of my good figure?"
Old Master Nan glared at her and put another piece of braised pork into her bowl.
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Randomly drop red envelopes
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