27. Different paths lead to the same destination
As soon as Xu Wenqiang arrived home, Xu Yanmei called out from the bathroom, "Xu Wenqiang is back? Come in and give me a bath."
"I'm coming." Xu Wenqiang put down her schoolbag and walked into the bathroom.
The bathroom was steaming hot. Xu Yanmei sat in the bathtub she had bought, squinting her eyes as she took a bath. Seeing that Xu Wenqiang was still dressed, she said, "Take off your clothes and take a bath together."
Xu Wenqiang turned around and began to take off her clothes.
Xu Yanmei glanced at Xu Wenqiang inadvertently, and then never looked away.
She stared at the young, clean, white body before her, realizing for the first time that the life she had brought into being had already taken on the form of a woman. Before her eyes, she had grown from a shrunken matchstick to a waist, hips, and the contours of her breasts, unnoticed, a ripe, sweet apple. As for herself, she was terrified, yet she couldn't help but glance in the mirror. All she saw was a female ghost wandering the human world.
After Xu Wenqiang took off her clothes, she turned around and saw Xu Yanmei staring at her, and subconsciously hugged her body.
Xu Yanmei sneered: "Why are you blocking me? I've seen everything about you." Then she stood up from the bathtub.
Xu Wenqiang couldn't look directly at Xu Yanmei's naked body, so she turned her eyes away while taking a bath towel.
"Put on some more strength."
"knew."
When Xu Wenqiang was young, she often took a bath with Xu Yanmei. Later, when she grew up, the mother and daughter rarely took a bath together.
Xu Yanmei had always had some extra fat, soft and thick. When she was in a good mood, Xu Wenqiang loved tickling her, listening to her giggle. Now, Xu Yanmei's extra fat had increased, but it had lost its elasticity and drooped. Xu Wenqiang could no longer tickle her freely, but instead devoted herself to rubbing her back.
Xu Wenqiang controlled the strength just right, half light and half heavy. Xu Yanmei felt that all the joints in her body were comfortable.
As Xu Yanmei closed her eyes and enjoyed herself, she heard Xu Wenqiang say, "Mom, with my skills, when I graduate, I can open a bathhouse and probably support myself."
Xu Yanmei opened her eyes.
"Let me rub it for you." Xu Yanmei turned around and said.
Xu Wenqiang said: "I haven't taken a bath yet."
"No need to soak, just pour water on her." Without saying anything, Xu Yanmei picked up the scoop from the bathtub and started pouring water on Xu Wenqiang.
When Xu Yanmei splashed water, she used all her strength to splash Xu Wenqiang from head to toe. Then she took the bath towel and began to scrub Xu Wenqiang.
"Ah--" Xu Wenqiang screamed halfway, and the rest of the scream was muffled in her throat.
Xu Yanmei held Xu Wenqiang's shoulders with one hand and rubbed her back vigorously with the other. She worked at the farmers' market year-round, lifting heavy objects daily, and her hands were incredibly strong. After just a few rubs, Xu Wenqiang's back was already bloody red.
"Xu Wenqiang, I paid for your high school education so that you could go to college, not so that you could open a bathhouse in the future."
"What are you doing going to school with my money all day? Going there to eat and wait for death?"
As Xu Yanmei spoke, she increased the force in her hands. Blood was already forming on Xu Wenqiang's back, but she didn't say a word.
When Xu Yanmei ran out of strength, he threw the bath towel on her back and said breathlessly: "If you still want to go to school, study hard. When you are admitted to university, I will not give you a penny less for your university tuition."
"But what if I don't get into university?" Xu Wenqiang said hoarsely, "Your money will be wasted."
"Then you won't pass the exam!" Xu Yanmei grabbed the soap at hand and threw it at Xu Wenqiang. "If you dare to let my money go to waste, I will make you go to waste."
"Mom, college costs a lot of money."
"What's wrong with spending money? It's called investing, don't you understand? When you become successful in the future, you have to take care of me in my old age."
After hearing the last sentence, Xu Wenqiang's guilt finally disappeared.
She had always felt that whether she was going to high school, going to college, or even growing up, it was all at the expense of Xu Yanmei. Just like Xu Yanmei's body, which had been plump and round in her youth, now was just a mass of excess fat, Xu Wenqiang felt it was all because of her. But Xu Yanmei's words reminded her that even though she was currently absorbing Xu Yanmei's flesh and blood, she could repay her in the future.
Xu Wenqiang endured the burning pain on her back, bent down to pick up the soap, and rinsed it under the faucet.
"Mom, I got it. Turn around and I'll soap you up."
"Try talking nonsense again!" Xu Yanmei glared at Xu Wenqiang and turned away.
Xu Wenqiang carefully applied soap all over Xu Yanmei's back.
At four o'clock in the morning of the next day, after Xu Yanmei left, Xu Wenqiang got dressed and sat at the table.
Xiao Cheng said, "If you can get into the top 20, everything will be settled." Su Xiaoshan said, "Knowledge changes destiny." Xu Yanmei said, "You must go to college so that you can take care of me in my old age."
The three options all led to the same goal: learning. Xu Wenqiang decided to first get into the top 20 and then proudly continue to be the math class representative.
She also thought that if she really did make it into the top 20, she would dismiss the troublesome class representative with disdain, as a way of showing disdain for those who coveted her. "I deserve this class representative position, I deserve it, but I don't care." But then she thought again, she felt so foolish that she was mad. She already deserved it, so why not continue?
The first person to notice a change in Xu Wenqiang was her deskmate, Lin Tong. Lin Tong noticed that Xu Wenqiang stopped dozing off in class, started taking notes, and even raised her hand to answer questions, though only in math class. She no longer zoned out during evening study sessions; she was either working on exercises or memorizing vocabulary.
Seeing the change in Xu Wenqiang, Su Xiaoshan stopped talking. As long as Xu Wenqiang's grades improved, any rumors would disappear on their own.
Although Xiao Cheng said he wanted to help, he never took any real action. Coincidentally, Xu Wenqiang didn't want to have anything to do with him, so she stayed away from him.
Of course, the happiest person was Wang Rui. The warm look in her eyes when she looked at Xu Wenqiang could almost melt the ice and snow.
But improving academic performance is a process that requires a period of dormancy. During this period, in addition to enduring the hardships of studying, one must also wade through dangerous undercurrents.
When Chen Yang gloated over Xu Wenqiang's misfortune and stopped her on the way to school, asking her if she had offended anyone recently, Xu Wenqiang realized that the rumor was getting more and more intense, and had spread from the classroom of Class 4 of Grade 1 to all the classrooms in the Grade 1 teaching building.
The fight was so intense that one night, after evening study, when Su Xiaoshan and Xu Wenqiang were walking home together for the first time, he asked her, "Are you still going to be the math class representative?"
"Yes!" Xu Wenqiang answered very calmly.
Xiao Cheng had already asked her this question, and she had already considered it carefully. Now it seemed that Xiao Cheng's question that day was actually a warning to her in advance, allowing her to make an accurate judgment when her mind was clear.
Su Xiaoshan looked at Xu Wenqiang, who looked relaxed, and couldn't help but laugh at himself. He actually wanted to persuade her to give up being the math class representative and stay away from all the gossip. He knew better than anyone how stubborn Xu Wenqiang was.
"Just figure it out yourself." Su Xiaoshan said nothing more.
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