Chapter 32. People always have to live.
Gao Hou returned from the market, carrying groceries into the kitchen, and handed them to Chen Yao'an.
Chen Yaoan took the things from his hands, "Go out and tell them to wait a while."
Gao Hou stood there without moving, looking as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.
Chen Yao'an turned to look at him, "What's wrong?"
He finally couldn't help but ask, "You're so familiar with Xu Kalan now?"
Chen Yao'an didn't understand why he asked that. "It was alright, I guess. By the way, why did you go too?"
“Xu Jialan came to find me,” Gao Hou said somewhat reluctantly. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?”
"I haven't had time yet." She hadn't expected Xu Jialan to resolve the matter so quickly.
After hesitating for a moment, Gao Hou still said, "I think it's better for us to stay away from people like Xu Jialan."
Chen Yao'an paused in her washing of vegetables.
Gao Hou added, "I heard from Shi Xingyu that he has dated a lot of girlfriends since he came here, and that he is not a proper man. Besides, he will leave sooner or later."
She smiled, somewhat dismissively, "I know, I'm not dating him, we're just friends."
"That's good." Gao Hou was relieved. "Then I'll go out now."
"Um."
Not long after Gao Hou left, Zhang Ting came in again.
He rolled up his sleeves and said, "I'll help you."
"Actually, it's not that complicated. Gao Hou bought a lot of ready-made food, so I just need to cook a couple more dishes."
"It's okay, there's nothing to do outside anyway." He took the groceries from her hands. "I'll prepare the groceries for you. Just tell me what you need."
Seeing his skillful vegetable-washing movements, Chen Yao'an didn't stop him. "Do you often cook at home too?"
"As long as I don't work overtime, I cook all the meals at home."
"That's good."
Chen Yao'an started cooking, and the two remained silent for a while.
The vegetables were thrown into the pot, sizzling continuously until they finally stopped after a while.
After the voice faded, Zhang Ting suddenly spoke again, "The chairman, who is also Xu Jialan's father, came to Dai County some time ago."
"Um?"
Chen Yao'an was a little confused for a moment as to why he was telling her all this. "I know?"
You know?
"Yes, when Xu Jialan was hospitalized, his father visited him. You asked me to deliver some things, and we bumped into each other at the door of the ward."
"It was when the chairman came that he discovered Xu Jialan had never been to work, so the chairman stopped his salary after he went back, and all his cards were also suspended after he came to Dai County."
Chen Yao'an quickly understood what he meant. "You mean he's penniless and can't make ends meet?"
Zhang Ting smiled and said, "I'm not penniless, but it's true that I'm having trouble making ends meet."
"Isn't he planning to go back?"
"Judging from his expression, he doesn't seem to be planning to go back, so I'd like you to persuade him not to keep thinking about going against the chairman. Solving his basic needs first is the right thing to do."
Chen Yaoan recalled the conversation between Xu Jialan and Xu Qingbang in the hospital room that day. Their son was still lying in the hospital bed, but the father showed no concern whatsoever and his attitude was completely indifferent.
Why don't you go and try to persuade him?
Zhang Ting sighed, "You think I didn't try to persuade you? My words were completely useless."
"So my words will work?"
Zhang Ting looked up at her and said, "It might actually work. You'll see if you try it."
Chen Yao'an smiled at him but didn't say anything.
With Zhang Ting's help, the dinner was completed much more quickly.
The table at home was too small, so Zhou Yao and Yan Shumei didn't sit at it.
Chen Yaoan and Xu Jialan sat together.
Midway through the meal, Chen Yaoan served Xu Jialan some food, saying, "Hawthorn ribs, which you like."
"Thanks."
Zhang Ting and Attorney Chen watched this scene with smiles on their faces, while Gao Hou remained expressionless.
The meal was eaten slowly, taking more than an hour.
It was already quite late when it ended, and Zhang Ting had to take Attorney Chen back to Lin'nan, so she left early.
In the end, only Chen Yaoan, Xu Jialan, and Gao Hou remained.
Chen Yao'an got up to clear the leftovers from the table, and Xu Jialan and Gao Hou also got up to help. However, the two of them had their eyes on the same plate, and their movements were in sync. In the end, each of them held one end of the plate, and neither of them was willing to give way.
Xu Jialan looked at Gao Hou, and Gao Hou also looked at Xu Jialan. Xu Jialan raised an eyebrow at him.
"I'll do it," Gao Hou said.
"No need to trouble you," Xu Jialan retorted, not to be outdone.
Chen Yao'an came out of the kitchen and saw the two of them standing there with a plate in their hands. She took the plate from them and asked, "What are you doing?"
The two remained silent.
After helping to clear the table and clean up the dishes, Xu Jialan and Gao Houcai left, and Chen Yaoan saw them off.
Halfway there, Xu Jialan said he had something to say to her, and coincidentally, she also had something to say to him.
Chen Yaoan looked at Gao Hou, "Then you should go back first!"
Gao Hou opened his mouth, but ultimately swallowed his words and turned away helplessly.
After Gao Hou had walked away, Chen Yao'an said, "I also have something to say to you."
Xu Donglan smiled, then suddenly his tone became unserious, and he said in a slow, deliberate voice, "What do you want to tell me? Did you suddenly realize that I'm a good person and have taken a liking to me?"
The moon was bright and the stars were few. It was late, and the old men and women who had been chatting on the street had long gone home. A gentle breeze blew by, and his teasing voice reached her ears. Suddenly, she didn't feel so disgusted anymore.
She bit her lip. "I heard your dad stopped your salary?"
Xu Jialan's smile faded, her voice turning somewhat indifferent. "Who told you that? Zhang Ting?"
"Um."
Zhang Ting really has a big mouth.
Xu Jialan remained silent, and the two continued walking forward.
Chen Yao'an looked up at the sky and saw only a few stars. She asked him, "What are your dreams?"
"dream?"
Xu Jialan also looked up at the sky, but couldn't see anything. "Nothing. What about you?"
"I have."
"My dream before I went to university was to become a fashion designer and have my own clothing brand. Now I guess I've achieved half of that dream."
"You're quite farsighted."
“It wasn’t me who had foresight, it was my dad. I loved to draw when I was little and tinker with clothes using all sorts of materials. When I was in my second year of high school, he suddenly told me to take the art exam and study fashion design in college. He said I had talent.”
“I never thought about it before, but I know how impossible it is for an ordinary family like ours to take this path.”
This was the first time Xu Jialan had heard her talk about her family. When she mentioned her father, there was a hint of joy and pride in her voice.
He thought her father must be a remarkable person, at the very least a good father.
Unlike him and Xu Qingbang.
"It's a pity he passed away too young." The regret in Chen Yao'an's voice dissipated in the wind.
"He is..."
He died the year after I graduated from university; he was in a car accident.
After a while, the two of them quietly fell silent.
After a long pause, Chen Yao'an asked him again, "Is there anything you want to do?"
"What do you want to do?" He put his hands in his pockets and looked ahead casually.
It seems he never thought about it.
There really wasn't one.
"What about universities?"
"I studied architectural design."
"Then why did you study this?"
"Because of my mother." And also because he wanted to oppose Xu Qingbang.
Chen Yaoan nodded.
“Xu Jialan, it’s not that I want to meddle, but people have to keep living.”
She was like a teacher, carefully guiding him in the direction ahead.
The streetlights were dim, but countless tiny flying insects still flew into them like moths to a flame, making soft "plop" sounds.
—
The car was speeding along the road when Xu Jialan suddenly slowed down and stopped on the side of the road.
He rolled down the car window, took out a cigarette, and lit it.
He then recalled Chen Yaoan's words.
Lan Wangshu studied architectural design, and his maternal grandfather was also a well-known professor in the architecture department. Unfortunately, his mother's talents were not fully utilized and were completely wasted by marriage and Xu Qingbang.
He vaguely remembered that when he was in elementary school, Lan Wangshu and Xu Qingbang's relationship wasn't so strained yet. Back then, she would occasionally draw at home when she was in the mood.
She painted many beautiful buildings.
Whenever he sees it, he exclaims, "Mom, what a beautiful house!"
After hearing this, Lan Wangshu would always pat his head and ask him, "Isn't it beautiful? Why don't you study architectural design in the future?"
"good."
Later, after Lan Wangshu passed away, Xu Qingbang still ignored him. He became self-destructive and spent his days hanging out with the school's troublemakers until the year he was going to take the college entrance exam.
Xu Qingbang found him and, without asking any questions, wanted him to choose a management major according to his wishes, which he naturally refused.
However, he did not directly refuse Xu Qingbang, but agreed. But when it came time to fill out his college application, he secretly changed his major to architecture.
Today, Chen Yao'an rekindled the little flame buried deep in his heart.
She's right, people have to live.
In this small place of Dai County, there seems to be no place for his expertise to be used, except for Xu Qingbang's place.
Do we really have to bow down to Xu Qingbang?
Xu Jialan lit another cigarette for herself.
She could hear Yan Shumei crying over ten thousand yuan, and Chen Yao'an willingly enduring humiliation for that ten thousand yuan.
After finishing one cigarette, Xu Jialan lit another one for herself.
Half an hour later, he finally made a decision.
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