Chapter 63
After New Year's Day, the temperature in Changqing plummeted. Cold air swept through the city, pressing down on people and turning face-to-face acquaintances into mere nodding acquaintances.
The most common chatter in the classroom became whether the windows and doors were closed, and behind each thick stack of books, a frozen shrimp was curled up.
Jiang Jiawei's hair, which she hadn't cut since summer, had grown quite a bit. Now that the temperature was so high, she was even more reluctant to cut it. Although the school didn't allow her to wear her hair down, tying it into a low ponytail and tucking it into her scarf could still keep her warm.
I've maintained my habit of waking up an hour earlier than usual since I started preparing for the speech contest. Standing on the rooftop, I occasionally see the white contrails left by airplanes flying by, which inexplicably interrupt my clear thoughts of reciting the text, leaving me with a blank frame for a while before I can react and continue.
After New Year's Eve, no unfamiliar numbers called our landline again.
Good morning.
Jiang Jiayi emerged from her room, still half asleep, scratching the itchy spot on her waist. "Good morning, sis."
The soy milk on the table was steaming.
Jiang Jiawei flipped through a book of college entrance exam essays at a glance, while munching on a piece of corn.
She rarely multitasks when it comes to eating, but Jiang Jiayi discovered that this potential seemed to have been unleashed from the moment she decided to participate in the speech contest.
"sister."
"Um?"
After addressing her by name without saying anything more, Jiang Jiawei glanced at Jiang Jiayi, who handed her a peeled egg, concealing what she was about to say, "Here you go."
"I don't want to eat it, I just ate one."
Jiang Jiayi withdrew his hand, his expression clearly indicating that something was wrong. However, Jiang Jiawei seemed to vaguely guess what he wanted to say, so she pretended not to see it, ate the last bite of corn, drank the now lukewarm soy milk, and got up to go back to her room to change into her school uniform.
Jiang Jiayi looked at the closed door, then slid her gaze to the landline in the living room, and finally fixed it on the glass fish tank next to the TV, where a school of fish swayed in the reflection on the wall.
Because their parents ran a shop, the siblings never lacked playmates growing up. Jiang Jiayi felt that Mu Zhengxi, with whom she had shared so many meals, should be different, but his sudden disappearance after the summer vacation made him realize that they were all the same.
Some even harbored more malicious speculations, suggesting that a rich young master like Mu Zhengxi might have had a brief moment of genuine affection, but that it would probably be quickly overshadowed by encountering newer people and things, not to mention that he was going abroad to study next year.
Jiang Jiayi condemned herself for thinking he was a good match, and secretly rejoiced many times that she had discovered it in time, so that she wouldn't have actually helped push her sister into a fire pit.
But what he overlooked was, what if... Mu Zhengxi was different to Jiang Jiawei as well?
The final of the 21st Century English Speech Contest was held in Hanyang.
Jiang Jiawei changed her clothes. Her younger brother, who had already cleared the table, hadn't gone to school yet. He was standing by the table when he saw her come out. He straightened up and called out, "Sister!"
Jiang Jiawei chuckled, "What's wrong with you today?"
"No." The person who reached out and put their arm around her shoulder was already tall enough for her to look up at, but the way they lazily leaned against her body was still no different from when they were children.
The low temperature slowed down the action but didn't freeze time. A countdown to the college entrance examination was hung next to the blackboard, but the first thing to arrive was the final exam week of this semester.
Fortunately, the temperature has recently risen, and under the bright sunshine, the black ballpoint pen writes smoothly on the paper instead of freezing like a shivering snake.
The two-day exam is over.
The somber atmosphere was swept away by the excitement of the upcoming holiday, and the sound of desks and chairs being moved around the teaching building clattered loudly.
The ceiling seemed to be shaking.
Mu Zhengxi looked up and stared until his eyes felt dry and he saw double. Medical staff gradually left the ward, and the attending physician also came out.
"May I go in?"
"OK."
Mu Zhengxi then politely nodded to the other party, ignoring Zeng Yuan's occasional glances at him, and turned to enter the ward.
The footsteps faded away, and the ward returned to silence.
Mu Zhengxi sat on the edge of the bed, listening to the steady and regular sound from the monitor. He stretched out his hand and hesitated in mid-air for a long time, as if afraid of popping a floating bubble, and finally did not dare to put it down.
Minxia, who was standing behind him, turned her head away, suppressed her sobs, and walked out of the ward.
Upon receiving the news, Mu Shaoqing and Mu Zhengting also rushed over.
What's wrong with your complexion? Have you had dinner yet?
Mu Shaoqing frowned as he looked at his youngest son, who sat on the sofa like a statue, and kicked his shin.
Mu Zhengxi lifted his eyelids to glance at him, then lowered them again.
Zeng Yuan came in, and Mu Shaoqing stepped forward, asking, "What do you mean?"
Before answering, she glanced at Mu Zhengxi, who stood up and started to walk out. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a square-faced man with a buzz cut and a scar under his left eye in a black suit in the corridor. A blurry image flashed through her mind as if she had been electrocuted, and she took a step back.
Mu Zhengxi sized the other person up and down, then asked in a slightly unfriendly tone, "Who are you?"
The man nodded and bowed slightly to him, saying politely and respectfully, "I am Mr. Mu's bodyguard and driver."
"Mu Zhengting?"
"yes."
"The new guy?"
"It's been more than half a year."
"May I have your name?"
"Lin Qiang."
The back of his head felt like it had been punched hard by those two words, causing dizziness and blurred vision. He felt nauseous and wanted to vomit, as if someone had reached into his throat. Mu Zhengxi reached out and braced himself against the wall, and the bodyguard next to him immediately stepped forward to support him.
Then, sounds from all directions assaulted his eardrums, causing a sharp pain.
"Don't touch me."
He futilely used his weak strength to tear off the sticky water plants that were wrapped around him.
"Don't touch me."
"Jung-hee!!! Where's the doctor?! Call a doctor right now!!"
"Jung-hee, it's me, it's Mom, it's Mom."
"Don't touch me..."
"Don't……"
The deposited silt floated up and stirred up the clear water after the heavy object fell.
"Hello, are you Mr. Mu Zhengxi?"
"Yes, it's me. What's wrong? What happened to my wife? What happened?"
"She was involved in a traffic accident at the Hubin intersection and has been taken to the First Hospital for emergency treatment."
Mu Zhengxi didn't know how he got to the hospital. Holding a pen, he suddenly forgot how to write his name on the sheets of paper handed to him by the nurse. He asked in a daze, "Wait, how do I write the three characters 'Mu Zhengxi'?" Under the nurse's instruction, he signed his name with trembling, crooked strokes, like a beginner. Then he listened to the doctor explain those incomprehensible Chinese phrases, struggling to understand the important words. For example, pregnancy. For example, miscarriage.
"How is my wife? How is my wife?"
"Is my wife alright?"
"The driver who caused the accident has been caught. It's... Mr. Mu's driver, Lin Qiang."
"He said that he... originally just wanted to... take revenge on President Mu, to make him experience the pain of losing his wife and children, but... he didn't expect that President Jiang would be in the car that day."
Upon hearing this, Mu Zhengxi tilted his head and chuckled, licking his lips.
Mu Zhengting's affair with his subordinate's wife led to a desperate act, costing him his wife in the intensive care unit and a child he never knew existed.
[“Mu Zhengting, the eldest son of Zhongxie Group, suffered a serious skiing accident, sustaining severe head injuries and falling into a coma.”]
"If you want a grandson, you can have any of your illegitimate children have one for you. I'm sorry, I can't help you with that."
He dodged the file that was thrown at him, anticipating its arrival. He glanced at Mu Shaoqing sitting behind his desk, just as when Mu Shaoqing asked him to sign the agreement to withdraw from the family trust fund when he decided to marry Jiang Jiawei, showing no hesitation and even disdain.
"If you don't have any illegitimate children, while you're still able, hurry up and have one."
At thirty-four, Mu Zhengxi had more leverage. He could no longer be considered young and impetuous, nor could he be treated like a naive young boy. However, because he was the youngest son, who was deeply attached to his family, his weakness was easy to exploit.
Mu Shaoqing looked at the person coldly and said in a light tone, "I have already told Jiang Jiawei about this."
Sure enough, the other person's expression changed drastically.
"Who the hell gave you permission to do that?!"
"I was just standing up for Jiang Jiawei's right to know." Mu Shaoqing tightened his pen, giving her a look that said he didn't even want to look at her anymore. "Low sperm motility, how the hell can you come up with such an excuse!"
"Whether you go through artificial insemination or find another woman, I want to see my child by the end of next year."
"You're fucking insane!"
"So you think you can just lie to me like that?! I have no right to know about my child?!"
"Mu Zhengxi, don't you think you're being cruel?! How is what you're doing any different from what your father did?!"
Mu Zhengxi walked into the kitchen, grabbed Jiang Jiawei who was standing in front of the sink, the red marks on her neck were bleeding, and the scabbed wounds on her arms had reopened.
"Stop paying attention to her! I told you to stop paying attention to her! Don't you understand what I'm saying?!"
"This is my responsibility and obligation! It's not yours!!"
His eyes were red and bloodshot.
Jiang Jiawei looked at him quietly for a long time before speaking softly, "I understand Mu Zhengxi, I'm not stupid." She pulled her hand away, looked away, twisted her wrist, took out a new bowl, and, suppressing her emotions, looked at him with the calmest possible tone, saying, "A mother who loses her child is pitiful, and a child without a mother is also pitiful."
The smell of fermenting Chinese medicine in the air is so strong that just smelling it makes one's tongue taste bitter.
Mu Zhengxi turned around, his chest heaving, took a deep breath, and raised his hand to cover the lower half of his face.
"If you could choose a point in time and travel back in time, when would you want to go back to?"
"Um...actually, my first thought was to go back to my mom..." Halfway through her sentence, she suddenly became emotional and apologized. Jiang Jiawei bit her lip and remained silent for a long time.
An assistant handed her a box of tissues. Jiang Jiawei pressed the tissues to her eyes, blinked, exhaled, and smiled. "Mentioning my mother... I'm sorry..." She almost broke down again the moment she opened her mouth.
The host signaled for the cameras to stop.
She looked up at the ceiling, fanned her face with her hand, and it took her a while to calm down.
"Okay, that's enough, sorry."
“My first thought was to go back to when my mom was still alive, probably when she was in kindergarten. But then I thought, if we go back to that time, it would mean that she would have to endure the pain of illness again. I think that’s something I can’t bear, and I don’t want her to suffer from it.” Jiang Jiawei rested her chin on her hand and paused. “I can’t bear it, and I don’t want her to.”
"Have you ever thought about turning back time? Or do you think that what's past is past, and you should look forward and not look back?"
"Actually, if possible, I might want to go back to when I was in high school."
"Why?"
"To be honest, I regret not studying hard in high school. I have never experienced university life. Of course, this is my own personal reason, not because of family reasons as some people say."
"However, if you had gone to university back then, you might not have become a makeup artist, and you might not have met the people and things you are experiencing now. It would have meant starting a completely different life."
"Yes, so I still want to experience different ways of life."
The host joked, "Then you probably won't run into President Mu either."
Jiang Jiawei was silent for a moment, then smiled faintly, "If we're meant to be, we'll meet again."
"Haha, does President Mu have any objections to this?" The host glanced at Mu Zhengxi in the studio and politely nodded back.
"So... you could say that if you could live your life all over again, you wouldn't choose to live like this, right?"
"Yes, that's one way to understand it."
"Why? Because by worldly standards, your life is actually quite fulfilling. Whether it's your career or your family, you've reached a level that most people can't achieve."
Jiang Jiawei smiled, thought for a while, and then slowly answered the host, "Because it's too hard, this kind of life is too hard."
Mu Zhengxi lowered his eyes, turned and walked out of the studio.
"Let's get a divorce."
Have you thought it through?
"I've thought it through."
The lights in the ward were so bright they hurt my eyes.
"Brother, you're awake!!! How are you??? Is anything bothering you???" Mu Yashan, who had rushed to the hospital to take care of him all night after hearing the news of his fainting last night, exclaimed as she stood up. "I'll go call the doctor."
Mu Zhengxi reached out and grabbed her wrist, his Adam's apple bobbing as he uttered a strained sound, "Do me a favor."
"Let me be alone for a while."
"elder brother……"
Please.
Mu Zhengxi closed his eyes again.
Tears streamed from the corners of her eyes and trickled down her temples.
Who is truly the luckier one?
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