Chapter 7 Interlude
[Flashback: A method of inserting supplementary information or memories into literary works, the main purpose of which is to develop the plot or portray the characters. 】
People's memories start to become clear and stable from about the age of three. In earlier infancy, most memories are subconscious and cannot be retrieved. This is a lifelong regret for Meng Chu.
He desperately wanted the childhood that he had lost due to "infantile amnesia".
Because when he was three years old, Meng Jining was born.
He still had some impression of that cold night when the turning point came. At that time, he was sitting outside the delivery room, his legs unable to reach the ground, and he could only sway in the air in rhythm with Meng Changqing's pacing.
He looked up at the man in front of him. He had never seen his father look like this. Nervous, expectant, anxious. My father looked at the door of the operating room, with a strange light on his face, as if there was some bright future ahead that would envelope and melt him.
Finally, the door opened and the nurse came out to tell them: "Congratulations, Mr. Meng, both mother and child are safe."
The beam of light expanded instantly, Meng Changqing smiled and ran towards the delivery room.
Meng Chu jumped off the chair and tried to grab his father's arm. He stretched his hand into the air and touched the rough texture of the woolen coat, but the corner of the coat quickly slipped through his fingertips.
He looked up and saw his father walk into the door without looking back. He stood there alone, listening to the crying of a baby coming from inside the door.
He had a vague feeling that this foreshadowed something, and along with the panic came a deep sense of powerlessness.
As Meng Jining grew older, this feeling of powerlessness became more and more obvious.
Although the family is not well-off, Meng Jining's milk powder is imported, and Meng Jining has the latest models of Lego and Transformers. Other people's younger brothers often wear clothes left by their older brothers, but Meng Jining's clothes are brand new. When he turned one month old and one year old, his family held grand banquets. In order to capture the first time he crawled, walked and spoke, Meng Changqing specially bought a digital camera and stayed beside him tirelessly just to capture that memorable moment.
Meng Chu watched everything, his heart aching with jealousy, not only because Meng Jining could easily get the love and care he wanted, but also because his younger brother was indeed likable.
Meng Jining was well-behaved, sweet-talking, and capable. What's worse, she was much prettier than him.
My younger brother has big light brown eyes, thick eyelashes, and his facial features are like those of a mixed-race child. Every relative and friend who came to visit our home would go over to tease him as soon as they saw him, and praise him as the most beautiful child they had ever seen.
They fed him candy, gave him all kinds of gifts, and were delighted as long as he smiled sweetly.
Meng Jining's parents took her to a photo studio to have their pictures taken. The owner didn't charge them any money as long as they agreed to hang Meng Jining's photo in the window.
There is nothing that can be done about a child like this getting more attention.
So, Meng Chu became a foil for the pretty kid. After the adults had teased Meng Jining, they saw him standing aside and asked him from time to time:
"Meng Chu, do you like your brother?"
"Meng Chu, my parents love my brother, are you jealous?"
"Meng Chu, do your parents love your brother more, or you more?"
Meng Chu raised his head, looked at the pairs of waiting eyes, and answered again and again:
"like."
"Won't."
“I love both.”
Then the adults laughed.
To this day, Meng Chu still doesn't know why they laughed. Was it because his hard-working answers pleased them, or was it because his sad mood exacted their revenge on his childhood?
But he never changed his answer, which was an answer that was sensible, well-behaved and obedient, an answer that met the adults' wishes.
But he actually regretted it. When his mother announced her pregnancy and the family was filled with joy, others asked him if he would be jealous if a younger brother or sister was born.
He said casually: "If I have a younger brother or sister, I will give him half of my parents' love."
He didn't realize that the choice was not his at all.
He also didn't expect that the other party would take everything away.
As time went by, the situation did not change. Soon, Meng Chu went to elementary school.
Elementary school is much more fun than kindergarten. There are no need to play so many group games. Everyone sits upright and listens to the class. The books are also more interesting than those in kindergarten. More importantly, Meng Chu discovered that he learned faster than his classmates.
Whether it is pinyin or arithmetic, he can understand it very quickly, while the teacher often has to wait for a while before explaining it to the whole class.
He also scored full marks in the midterm exam.
After school, he waited at the door with his schoolbag, looking very excited.
Now he is better than his younger brother in some aspects. From now on, others will praise him and his parents will pay more attention to him.
My mother often works the night shift, so my father always picks me up. He had beautiful visions in his mind: of course he had to mention the exams, and when his father was happy, he would talk about other things, such as their elementary school becoming a sister school with an elementary school in the neighboring city, and launching a donation project. Some wealthy students from the other school would help them subscribe to children's digests, children's science fiction magazines and the like. Of course, not every student was eligible for the donation, only those with the best grades, like him; and the school was about to hold a speed calculation competition, and he had been practicing after class, and with his speed, he would definitely win the first prize. The prize was a thermos cup, and he thought it would be a perfect gift to his mother. Didn't she often complain that the water in the cup got cold quickly? besides……
A lot of things really happened in school, and if I were to talk about them all, it would take a long time.
He went through each thing in his mind at the slowest pace, like savoring a rare candy.
However, he stood until his legs were sore, but Meng Changqing still didn't show up.
A light drizzle began to fall, and colorful umbrellas gathered in front of the school gate.
Several of his classmates who had scored full marks like him were reluctant to put their papers into their schoolbags even though it was raining. Instead, they held them in front of their chests, and as soon as their parents arrived, they immediately held them up proudly.
He looked carefully at the parents. They held umbrellas over their children's heads. The moment they saw the test papers, they broke into smiles, exclaimed in amazement and praised, as if solving those few addition and subtraction problems was the greatest miracle in the world.
He was waiting for the person to listen to his miracles, but unfortunately he never showed up. Finally, it was the head teacher who rushed over and explained to him: "Your brother is sick, and your father is in the hospital with him. He will pick you up when your mother arrives at the hospital."
She looked at Meng Chu and reached out to pull him over: "Wait in the duty room, don't catch a cold."
Meng Chu followed her into the room. The air-conditioner was on in the duty room and it was very warm, but the damp coldness on his body lingered.
After an unknown amount of time, Meng Changqing's figure finally appeared. He was riding a bicycle with his back hunched, shivering in the cold wind.
He called Meng Chu to come out, and Meng Chu came out with his bag and sat in the back seat.
Meng Changqing rode much faster than usual, and soon reached the downstairs at lightning speed.
"Jining has a fever again," Meng Changqing said, "I have to rush back to the hospital. Your mother and Jining haven't had dinner yet, so I have to bring them food. Go downstairs to Uncle Liu's and buy something to eat, then do your homework there and wait for Dad to come back."
He took out a twenty-yuan bill and handed it to Meng Chu.
Meng Chu took it, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Today is the midterm exam..."
"My parents haven't had time to cook these past two days, so you can have breakfast and dinner at Uncle Liu's."
Seeing his father turning around to leave, Meng Chu mustered up his courage and said, "Um, school..."
Meng Changqing had already stepped onto the bike. When he heard his words, he pedaled and turned around, his face full of anxiety: "What's wrong? The school wants to pay again?"
He looked at his father's eager expression and finally shook his head: "Nothing."
Meng Changqing sighed, as if he felt that his tone just now was not good, and reached out and touched his head: "Meng Chu, Dad believes in you. You are already a little adult and can take care of yourself, right?"
Meng Chu nodded. The affirmation in the tone cheered him up a little.
"What a good kid," Meng Changqing said, "With a brother like you, mom and dad can worry less."
Meng Changqing rode away on his bike. Meng Chu looked at his back and said to himself: I'm grown up now, I can take care of myself.
After thinking about it twice, he felt that he could finally be happy.
He walked into Uncle Liu's bun shop with his bag on his back and said solemnly, "I want two meat buns and a bowl of eight-treasure porridge."
They are old neighbors and the owner is very familiar with Meng Chu. He took the money and smiled: "Why are you eating alone today?"
"I've grown up." said Meng Chu.
The owner gave him buns and porridge, and he found a seat against the wall and started eating. Looking around, he was alone, without any adults around. He reaffirmed this feeling of pride, held his head high and took out his homework to start writing.
The next day, he still ate breakfast alone like an adult. When we got to school, my classmates were all talking about their parents’ reactions when they saw their scores. Some of those who did well had a big meal, while others said they were going to the amusement park next week.
Meng Chu's spirits were somewhat crushed. He quickly thought: I am an adult, I am better than them.
He maintained this sense of pride until the day Meng Jining was discharged from the hospital.
When Meng Jining was sick, of course they wouldn't listen to anything. Now that Meng Jining has recovered, he thinks it's time to talk about his own affairs.
"I got 100 points on my midterm exam," he told his parents, "in two subjects."
Meng Changqing looked at him with a surprised expression on his face: "So amazing."
Meng Chu smiled with satisfaction. Yes, ask some more questions, he still has a lot to tell them.
He took out the paper and handed it to them. Meng Changqing glanced at it and said "Great" again, then returned the paper to him.
"It just so happens that Jining has been discharged from the hospital. We should celebrate. Let's go to a restaurant for a meal," Meng Changqing said to his wife. "Hasn't Jining always wanted to go to that shop on Changping Road? The one that cuts the sandwiches into small pieces and skewered them with bamboo sticks?"
Meng Chu stood there, the fire in his heart gradually extinguished.
They went to the store, and Meng Jining complained in a clear childish voice that her hand hurt from the IV drip in the hospital, and also talked about many things that happened in the kindergarten.
Meng Chu remained silent throughout the whole process.
When he got home, he said the teacher still had homework for him, so he went back to his room.
He spread out the letter paper - the donated magazines had arrived and he had to write a thank-you letter to the donor. He started writing, then suddenly put down his pen, feeling extremely exhausted.
He finally gave up. He didn't want to appear happy anymore because he was really sad.
Not long after, Meng Changqing took them to his uncle's house to play. At noon, Meng Jining felt sleepy, so the adults sent them to take a nap.
Meng Chu was not sleepy, but in order to keep up with his brother's pace, he lay on the bed with his eyes closed.
After a while, the door slowly opened. He didn't open his eyes, but he knew that two adults were standing at the door, watching them.
"Honestly," he heard his uncle whisper, "the factory is not doing well right now, and it's hard enough to support one child. Why don't you see if there's any way to send him back?"
Meng Changqing was a little embarrassed: "The child is not an object. I have already taken him back. How can I have the nerve to send him back?"
"Didn't you adopt him because your sister-in-law had been silent?" Uncle said, "Now Jining is born..."
Meng Changqing fell into silence. These few seconds of silence were the longest in Meng Chu's life.
"Alas, people have to be responsible..." Meng Changqing finally said, "If we send it back like this, our reputation will be ruined."
Next, the two of them said a few trivial words, complaining about prices and wages, but Meng Chu didn't listen at all.
There was only the constant roar of alarm bells in his mind.
The roar continues to this day.
He even had a dark guess. They knew he was awake and deliberately told him the truth, throwing a huge bell jar into his childhood.
From then on, he could no longer complain about what he had received, or ask his parents to give him the same love as Meng Jining.
Later, he read a novel in a children's magazine that was donated to him.
There is a special country in the novel, where lives a special race of people called glass people. From the outside, these people are no different from ordinary people, with only one difference: if there are certain moments or things that hurt them, the hurt part of them will become brittle and turn into glass.
Once you touch that place, you will be shattered.
So they can only carefully protect that part until they die.
When seeing this story, Meng Chu kept wondering, can these fragments be put back together?
More importantly, can the parts that have long turned into glass grow back into tough flesh and blood?
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