Chapter 60 Misunderstanding
“Sizzle——”
"Oh! Tell me before you move. You're almost tearing my skin off!" Qi Xiuchun just shouted and Hang Liumei covered her mouth.
"Hush! Keep your voice down!" Hang Liumei said, tearing off another piece of the plaster with a curled corner from Qi Xiuchun's waist, and then she put a new piece on, pressing it carefully with her hands. She pulled Qi Xiuchun's clothes down and put them on: "The others might be asleep. If we wake them up, our old arms and legs will be exposed as useless."
Qi Xiuchun held his waist and lay down, pulling the towel to cover his stomach: "Anyway, you, Hang Liumei, owe me a big favor this time. I'm at the age of retirement and enjoying the scenery, why do I have to suffer this?!"
Hang Liumei put the remaining plasters into a box in the dark, squatted beside the bed and laughed at her: "Whoever was moved to tears by the sight of the old dean, whoever went into the grottoes and shouted that he would not come back, whoever thought of the good times in Dunhuang and wanted to eat steamed buns, it was your fate, and I will not take responsibility for it."
After saying this, Hang Liumei propped herself up on the hard bed and prepared to lie down to sleep. Her wrist went limp, and she fell directly onto the pillow. There was a muffled "thump" sound, and Qi Xiuchun sat up in shock and blurted out, "Oh my god! What happened?"
This time everyone outside heard it. "Mom? Aunt Qi? Mom! Mom!" Dad Mai shouted loudest through the door, his voice mixed with Xiao Mai and Pu Zhihe's.
Hang Liumei quickly lay down on the bed and shouted to the outside, "It's okay, it's okay. The shelf fell and hit your Grandma Xiuchun."
Someone outside asked, "Is everyone okay?"
Qi Xiuchun replied: "It's okay, it's okay. Why are you so blind? I'll sell it tomorrow morning!"
The two urged the others to go back to bed, listening to the footsteps walking away, pointing at each other's noses and laughing. However, once they lay down, the aching numbness in their bones came back, making them toss and turn for a long time before they fell asleep.
It was all caused by days of painting. The pain started in their knees and elbows, but they didn't think much of it, thinking they'd just sunbathe their backs. The cave was cold and gloomy, and after sitting absorbed in painting for hours, even the slightest movement felt like rust on their bones and strained their tendons. For the past few nights, they'd been secretly buying plasters and applying them to each other to help with the pain.
Hang Liumei didn't dare let the children know about this, fearing they would force her to leave. She also ordered Qi Xiuchun not to show it. People can act, but things can't be faked. Several times when Hang Liumei walked past others, they said they smelled medicine. She always said it was floral water and herbal ointment, but it still aroused suspicion.
During lunch, Hang Liumei stood up with a bowl in her hand and wanted to scoop some mung bean soup. She didn't expect the white porcelain spoon to be so heavy. Somewhere in her wrist she got hurt and felt a sharp pain, causing her to drop the spoon and almost knock the bowl over on the table.
Dad Mai put down his chopsticks, stood up and supported Hang Liumei: "Mom! What's wrong? Sit down, sit down, sit down quickly!"
When he held Hang Liumei's arm tightly, he felt that the skin on her elbow was unusually rough. He rolled up the sleeves of Hang Liumei's clothes and took a look: "Mom! Why are there so many plasters on your arms? Does your arm hurt? Are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere else? Are you tired? Why are you hiding it from us?" Pu Zhihe and Xiaomai also came over.
Hang Liumei sat there without answering, looking at Qi Xiuchun for help. Qi Xiuchun widened his eyes in surprise, looked around at the people around him, and spread his hands: "This is all your mother and grandmother's idea, and I just listened to her."
The three younger generations understood the two's problem and were helpless. Mai Dad made the decision: "Okay, I won't rush you back, but if you're sick, you need to get treatment. Xiaowei has a chronic cervical spondylosis. I took him to see an old Chinese doctor on the edge of town. I think he's quite good at treating illnesses. Sometimes you really can't help but trust these experts. Can I take you there sometime?"
Hang Liumei shook her head. "Just rest for a couple of days and you'll be fine. Why are you still running? You're already feeling uncomfortable all over, and now you're riding in a car and walking. Your condition is only getting worse before you're cured. Okay, that musk pain-relieving ointment we bought these past two days is quite useful. Stop wasting your time."
"You just want to be stubborn with me. Okay, I'll go. You all wait at home." After saying that, Dad Mai picked up the bowl and finished the last mouthful of rice. He put on his sunglasses and picked up his helmet and walked out the door without waiting for Pu Zhihe and Xiaomai.
Before the others could react, they heard two "bangs" outside, and he had already left on a motorcycle that he had gotten from somewhere.
Dad Mai rushed to the inconspicuous clinic at lightning speed, quickly bought a bag of ointments and compresses, threw them into the car, got on, and drove away with two more "booms".
On his way home, he was stopped by a convoy of trucks. Workers were unloading cargo from the trucks and moving it deep into the desert. Mai Dad stopped one of them and asked, "Brother, what project are you building?"
The sweat-drenched worker paused, tugged on his white gloves, loosened his hat, and looked out at the crowd of people working on the scaffolding in the distance, his face bewildered. "What project? We don't understand. They brought these tables and chairs over, and we just put them up. It must be some kind of event or something, and it looks pretty fancy to me."
When Dad Mai heard there was a party, he wanted to show the four people in the house, so he turned the bike around and headed straight for the desert. The stage for the first half of the event had already been set up, and workers were adjusting the screen and sound system. The second half was the dinner. A dozen long dining tables were arranged in a circle, and young men in work clothes were decorating them. The tables were lit with lamps, candles, and flowers, and the air was filled with the sweet aroma of a shopping mall.
There was an English word printed everywhere here. He couldn't pronounce it, but he knew it was a high-end cosmetics brand. When he was in Hong Kong before, he almost bought a lipstick gift box from this brand for Mai Sui, but the others stopped him because they thought the color he chose was too ugly.
It seems that this is indeed a famous brand, and the event is so luxurious. He is planning to buy Mai Sui their lipstick next time.
A burst of shouting caught his attention. He turned around and saw a huge event sign standing behind him. He didn't care at first, but the "co-organizer" in the lower right corner clearly listed Mai Sui's company.
"Will Mai Sui come to participate?" Mai's father immediately rejected this idea: "If she comes, she will definitely tell me."
When we got home, Mai's father casually mentioned this matter: "Mom, there's a big event going on in the desert in a few days on the edge of the city. I went for a walk around today and didn't expect Mai Sui's company to be there."
As he spoke, he was taking the medicine out of the bag one by one and placing it on the table. Hang Liumei and Qi Xiuchun, who were sitting next to him, looked at each other warily - he had actually caught the clue.
Hang Liumei immediately retorted: "How could it be Mai Sui? It definitely can't be her! If she came, even if she didn't tell you, she would have to look at me."
Qi Xiuchun chimed in: "Yes, Xiao Jiang, Mai Sui is a junior leader sent to Hong Kong by the company. How could the boss come to such a small event by himself? Hey, don't you agree?"
She was asking about Pu Zhihe and Xiaomai. After returning that day, Hang Liumei told Xiaomai that Mai Sui was going to celebrate his father's birthday. She wanted her grandson to be happy too, to let him know that his parents had hope of remarrying. Xiaomai feigned innocence: "Mom's been busy with work lately, and we haven't talked in a while."
Pu Zhihe simply shook her head without saying anything, then stood up and gestured to the two of them, "It's already this late, Teacher Zhao should be here to look at the drawings soon. Grandma Hang, Grandma Qi, let's go into the bedroom so I can apply the medicine for you."
After the others left, Mai's father began to think more and more that something was wrong. He had only casually mentioned it, so why did everyone deny it? At the very least, they should have been hoping for Mai Sui to come, just like him. Why did they all seem to know Mai Sui wouldn't come? Could it be that Mai Sui had told them something, and they were hiding it from him because they were afraid he would be upset if they knew?
Dad Mai thought more and more, and he was still thinking about this matter alone in the room until Zhao Xiaowei came.
Zhao Xiaowei held up the pattern the three had modified and praised it endlessly: "Great! Great! Really great! Look at this, this, this, I can't even name it, but it has the charm of the murals and the personal touch of the teachers. I think it's great. Then let's find some time to go to my small factory and pick out the shapes directly. Such a good pattern, we have to match it well, right? Make it into a cup or a teapot? Anyway, it's your call!"
Several people immediately agreed to meet at the porcelain factory the next day.
When the three of them set out early in the morning, Xiaomai wanted to follow, but her father pulled her away and said, "You stay with Dad today."
He thought about it all night but couldn't figure it out, so he decided to give up and stick to his plan. He had been wanting to make some changes to his personal image recently.
The owner of the shop where he got his rings adorned his ears, neck, wrists and fingers with jingling ornaments. Mike's father used to be a bit conservative and thought it was too artificial for men to wear these things, so he only wore wedding rings for all these years.
Although she is not as tall as him, she is better at dressing up than him. She wears a white short-sleeved shirt with a denim vest on the outside all day long, and hangs a broken meteorite around her neck with a leather rope. What's more amazing is her ears, with three or four pierced ears on one side.
As he bent down to teach Mai Da how to make a ring, Mai Da would always catch a glimpse of the new studs on his ears. These things didn't diminish his masculinity, but instead enhanced his unique aura. After spending time with this boss, Mai Da became attracted to him.
When Mai Sui and I watched Hong Kong movies together before, some of the male actors wore earrings, and Mai Sui praised them for being handsome. He scoffed at the time, but he never expected that he would be so eager to get his ears pierced now.
But he was still a little worried about the effect, so he thought of letting Xiaomai take the risk for his father first and took his son to a tattoo and piercing shop.
"Do you want a tattoo or earrings? We can also cut hair and trim beards." The boss was originally lying on a deck chair, fanning himself. After the two men entered, he followed them, stood against the door frame, threw his cigarette butt on the ground, rubbed one foot on the other leg, put on flip-flops, and asked lazily.
"Dad?" Xiaomai wanted to stand up, but her father pushed her down on the seat. She didn't know what he was going to do.
"Sit down. You're an adult now. Dad brought you here as a souvenir. Nowadays, handsome guys dress up and look cool and uninhibited, so girls will like them," Mai's father said to the boss. "My son wants to get his ears pierced. Boss, can you take a look?"
Although Xiaomai doesn't mind getting her ears pierced, she feels that this boss doesn't seem to be in that line of work. It would be more convincing to say that he's an ear cleaner or a pedicurist.
The boss looked down at Xiaomai and nodded. He lifted up the old man's sweatshirt with holes in it and scratched his back, revealing the tattoos all over his back. He asked again, "Where do you want to be pierced? The earlobe or the ear bone? The price is different."
"Just hit the earlobes, one on each side," Mai Dad said, standing there directing the boss as he turned to look for his tools.
Mai Sui was on her way to a rehearsal for an event today. Halfway there, she felt so hot and thirsty that she got off the bus to buy some popsicles. As she was scanning a QR code at the canteen entrance, she noticed her ex-husband and son in the shabby little shop across the street. Just as she was about to leave, she saw a sign that said "Tattoos and Piercings."
She stood there holding a popsicle, glaring, and thinking with gritted teeth, why is this idiot taking my son away again!
Out of the corner of his eye, Mai Dad vaguely felt that someone was staring at him from the opposite side. When he turned around, Mai Sui immediately covered his face with a fan and ran away in a panic, leaving only a sneaky back view to Mai Dad.
"Hey? There was someone who looked like your mother! Did you see that? The slippers on that woman's feet were so ugly. Your mother, I, you, and Xiao Pu wore the same pair when we went to the movies! And that woman was also wearing a white top and a green skirt. Your mother has that outfit too! Wait here while I go out and take a look."
By the time he ran out of the store, Mai Sui had already slipped into the car and hid. Mai's father looked around but couldn't find Mai Sui, but he was 80% sure it was Mai Sui. "Is she really here? Why didn't she contact me if she came?"
When he returned to the store, Xiaomai's ears had already been pierced. Dad Mai no longer had the heart to get a pair of pierced ears himself, and he walked out with his son in a depressed mood.
Mai Sui cautiously poked her head out of the car. Seeing that the two had come out so quickly, she felt relieved. She thought they hadn't messed with anything big. Mai's father started the motorcycle and whizzed past her car with Xiao Mai in his arms. She quickly shrunk back under the seat, making sure they were gone before she dared to sit up straight.
When the father and son returned home, Hang Liumei and the others had not yet returned. Still unwilling to accept the news, Dad Mai asked his son, "Did you really not see your mother today? That's strange. I can't be dazzled at this age. Is that a hallucination? Are there people in this world who look so similar?"
He was stuck in a rut, but still didn't dare to text Mai Sui. He lay on the cool mat with his hands on his head, his left leg crossed over his right, and tried to convince himself, "When I left Hong Kong, she was chatting and laughing as she dropped me off at the airport. Nothing has happened these past few days. If she really is here, she must be too busy with work to see us. She's also afraid I'll overthink things if she doesn't see me, so she simply didn't tell me to avoid upsetting me. She must still love me."
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