70. Song Zhixu
"You went back to your hometown?"
"Um."
How are you feeling?
Looking at the children running in the fields and the mischievous little white dog that kept running over to play, Song Zhixu smiled and said, "It's alright, the air in the countryside is not bad."
Duren chatted with him for a few minutes, and the conversation casually turned to Lin Jiang: "Did you watch the awards ceremony yesterday? He and Shen Ju both won awards. I asked you to come and see them, but you didn't."
Song Zhixu lowered his gaze, then plucked a foxtail grass and twirled it in the sky. "You know my family situation. They're so difficult to deal with; they'll make a scene if things don't go their way."
The other end of the line fell silent. Duren cautiously asked him, "Are you asking for money again? Can't you hide it from me this time?"
“I’ve been on TV, how can I hide it from her? Xiaoshan can’t hide it from her either. My stepmother has confiscated my ID card. Now she won’t believe anything I say. She just wants money.”
The results of this year's OT were indeed remarkable, and Song Zhixu also contributed a lot and received a considerable amount of money. However, these have not yet been paid out and have not been deposited into his account. He cannot withdraw them even if he wants to.
Durren's voice turned serious on the other end. "How many do they want? You need to figure out a way to get out of here first. Come back to our side and we'll help you think of a solution."
Song Zhixu watched the children running on the ridges of the fields, jumping around the little white dog he had picked up, and said in a very relaxed tone, "It costs a million."
Durren nearly spat out his coffee. "A million?! What does she need so much for?"
Song Zhixu carefully counted on his fingers for him: "Tuition is 150,000 yuan per person per year. Living expenses have to be the highest tier. Most importantly, tutoring fees are more expensive than tuition. Oh right, I also need to buy a piano for my sister. In case she stops dancing, the piano can be a backup plan. This is just for this year. I also have to support them through university. Next year, the price will go up, and I'll have to give them 1.2 million yuan..."
"Alright, alright," Durren said, his head throbbing with frustration. "Does she think of you as a bank? That you can have as much money as you want? And what are you thinking?"
Song Zhixu smiled indifferently, "Where would I get that much money to give them? Anyway, they have no money but our lives. At worst, we'll all die together."
There was a long silence on the phone. Duren then spoke to him earnestly, "You're not alone anymore. Even if you don't think about yourself, you should think about us, right? Lin Jiang has worked so hard to train you and has played one or two thousand matches with you. You finally made it and won the world championship. If you don't play, he'll be so disappointed."
No matter what, Lin Jiang is Song Zhixu's Achilles' heel.
He was still smiling, but his eyes slowly reddened.
The laughter of children running on the ridges of the fields reached his ears. A little white dog stumbled and fell to his feet. His phone, which he was holding in his hand, became scalding hot. He said in a hoarse voice, "Did Lin Jiang ask me?"
Duren paused for a moment, "He's been busy with Chen Ju lately, he probably didn't think of you."
Song Zhixu laughed again. He suddenly recalled that when he got home that day, the first thing he wanted to do was share with Lin Jiang the little white dog he had picked up on the roadside. The first message that popped up on his phone was that Lin Jiang had publicly admitted in a live broadcast that Shen Ju was his boyfriend.
He didn't know when they started, nor did he understand why he was still chasing after them when the finish line was already gone.
It is true that a person's starting point is determined from birth.
The little white dog rubbed against his ankle. He squatted down and stroked its little head forlornly. "Old Du, I might not renew my OT contract next year."
Duren was puzzled. "Why? I've already told the boss I'd give you a raise. If it's a family matter, I can help you with the lawsuit."
"It's not a family matter, it's my problem." Song Zhixu picked up the little white dog and walked home into the wind. "Anyone can be the top laner for OT, it's not like I'm indispensable. I want to go out and see what I'm capable of. If I have the chance in the future, I'll come back to OT..."
Then he would prove to Lin Jiang that he also had the ability to stand on his own.
Duren was silent for a moment, then suddenly burst out: "I disagree! Song Zhixu, what are you thinking? If you leave now, won't the fans outside tear you apart? If you want to say this, go say it to Lin Jiang. If you have the nerve, then say it to him! I certainly don't!"
"Old Du..."
"Don't call me anymore, I'm not going to care about you anymore!"
After hanging up the phone, Song Zhixu took a few deep breaths, found Lin Jiang's phone number, but couldn't find it no matter how hard he tried, even though he knew the number by heart. His hands were shaking when he dialed it.
"Beep—beep—"
In those few seconds, Song Zhixu thought about many things. He hugged the little white dog tightly, trying to give himself some courage.
"Hello?"
"Captain, it's me."
"Song Zhixu, what's wrong?"
Lin Jiang seemed busy; the sound of his fingers typing could be heard even through the phone. Song Zhixu hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Are you busy?"
"Hmm... I'm fine, what's wrong?"
Lin Jiang is always like this; no matter how busy he is, he will always listen attentively whenever they have something to say.
Song Zhixu gripped his phone, his palms slightly sweaty. "I...I'm really short of money lately, extremely short of money."
Do you need to borrow money? How much?
"No, what I meant was that I won't renew my overtime contract next year. I might sign with another team; they'll offer more..."
The knocking suddenly stopped, and the silence was terrifying. This was the first time Song Zhixu had ever been so afraid of Lin Jiang. He squatted nervously on the edge of the field, holding the little white dog. "Lin Jiang, why aren't you saying anything?"
Lin Jiang stopped his work, took off his glasses and placed them on the table. "Song Zhixu, you don't spend money recklessly, and you don't have any bad habits. At most, you spend a little money on games. Apart from your family, I really can't think of any reason why you're short of money. You're in the prime of your career right now, and there's still so much I haven't taught you. Are you sure you want to give all of that up for money? If you go out into the world, your foundation won't be solid, and you'll easily be a flash in the pan, only making quick money. Everyone needs to be responsible for their own life. Don't do things you'll regret."
"And have you forgotten what I told you when I met Xiaoshan that day? What you lack is courage, both on the field and in life. I can teach you things on the field, but in life, you still have to rely on yourself..."
Song Zhixu nodded, her eyes reddening. "I know."
He wiped his hand with his sleeve. "I thought you were going to yell at me. Old Du just gave me a piece of his mind."
"You deserve to be scolded. He's worried so much about you, and you just leave like that? Aren't you afraid of hurting his feelings?"
"I know I deserve to be scolded..." Song Zhixu stroked the little white dog and asked casually, "Lin Jiang, when did you and Shen Ju start dating?"
"Why are you gossiping too?" Lin Jiang's tone became relaxed. "Before the World Championship started, I guess."
"So early? Why didn't you give us a heads-up?" Song Zhixu's smile was more like a grimace. "You... why did you only lie to me about having a girlfriend? Why didn't you lie to him?"
"Don't you know Shen Ju's personality? He'll get to the bottom of things; you can't hide anything from him..."
Song Zhixu covered the microphone, trying to suppress his emotions. Lin Jiang's voice could still be heard through it: "That's just how he is. You can tell by how he plays games. Even with his hands in that state, he still secretly practices behind our backs. Who can stop him from getting what he wants? If you had his kind of perseverance, you could probably achieve the same level of success as him..."
Shen Ju has this kind of confidence; he has had it since birth, it is a right bestowed upon him by God.
But I myself would need to climb for ten or twenty years on my own to possibly get rid of the inferiority complex brought about by my family of origin and catch up with that kind of desperate courage.
Song Zhixu covered the microphone tightly, and only dared to reply with an "um" after his emotions had calmed down, for fear that his surging emotions would be revealed in the slightest.
It was too far away. Lin Jiang was really too far away from him. It was a height that he could never catch up to in a lifetime, so he never dared to hope for it from the beginning.
But when he learned that Lin Jiang had accepted Shen Ju, he was overwhelmed with sadness, and he didn't know how to describe it. He realized that Lin Jiang could be won over, but sadly, he didn't even have the courage to try...
After hanging up the phone, Song Zhixu walked along the ridges of the fields for more than two hours before calming down.
He returned home and saw his younger siblings, who had come home from the city for the holidays, playing in the yard. His stepmother took two bright red apples, wiped them clean, and handed them to them, saying, "I bought these especially for you. They were very expensive, and I only bought two. You can eat them yourselves, okay? Don't share them outside..."
My sister glanced at it and threw it on the table, saying, "I don't want to eat it."
"Hey, you silly child..."
Looking at them, Song Zhixu saw a family that wouldn't even buy him an apple. He wondered what he had left to cherish.
He strode into the yard. His stepmother glanced at him and quickly shooed his younger siblings back to their room. "Zhixu, you're back! How did the talk with your boss go? How much of a raise did you get? I heard a champion like you should get at least a million a year. You should take on more gigs while you still can..."
Song Zhixu sat down, then picked up the apples his younger sister had thrown on the table, asking, "How much per pound?"
His stepmother was quite polite to him, saying, "They're hard to buy here. Your dad went to the county town to buy them. They cost 15 yuan each for this size."
Song Zhixu really wanted to laugh, "You asked me for a million, but you can't even afford to buy me a $15 apple?"
The stepmother paused for a moment, then immediately covered her face and began to cry, "Your father and I are also reluctant to eat this. It's all for your younger siblings to get proper nutrition; they're still growing..."
"Growing up?" Song Zhixu slammed his fist on the table. "When I was a teenager, you gave me two hundred yuan a month for living expenses. Why didn't you say that I was still growing?"
His stepmother was so frightened she didn't dare to speak. His father, who was inside, heard this and came out, slapping him across the face. "How dare you talk to your mother like that? Back then, the family was poor, and you suffered because of it. Now that things are better, we can't let your younger siblings suffer anymore! What do you have to feel wronged about? Your mother treats you like her own son!"
Song Zhixu looked at the apple on the table, then at his biological father and stepmother, and laughed in anger. "Are you sure you still consider me your own son? My mother's compensation money came through long ago, a full 800,000 yuan, and you wouldn't spend a single penny on me, but you're so generous with the money you spend on those two little bastards..."
Before he could finish speaking, another slap came across his face. The sound startled the neighbors, who all criticized Song Zhixu for being insensible and jealous of his younger brother and sister-in-law as soon as he returned.
His father grabbed a stick, but he didn't fight back. He said fiercely, "Go ahead and hit me. Break my hand, and I'll never have to pay you money again for the rest of my life!"
These words immediately stunned them. The stepmother quickly grabbed the stick and put on another act of maternal love but filial impiety, which made people from all around point at Song Zhixu and say, "You are so insensible!"
Song Zhixu used to care a lot about what they said, but after meeting Lin Jiang, he suddenly stopped caring so much.
Only you know if the shoes fit. If they're uncomfortable to wear, you might as well just throw them away and go your own way.
Without saying a word, Song Zhixu went straight into the house, ransacked the place, took out the ID card hidden in a compartment of the cabinet, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and left.
Of course, the stepmother couldn't let him run away. She sat on the ground, pulling on his backpack, wailing and shouting, "Come and see this heartless wretch! I raised him, he's making money now, and now he doesn't care about me anymore! You be the judge! For so many years I've treated him like my own son, who knew I'd raise such an ingrate..."
They pulled at his clothes, so Song Zhixu took them off. They pulled at his backpack, but he didn't want it either. Clutching his ID card, he was determined to leave.
Villagers from all around came running to see what was going on, and the old village chief was alerted. He brought seven or eight people in charge to the scene to give Song Zhixu a pep talk.
Song Zhixu simply said, "I have no obligation to support my younger siblings."
Theoretically speaking, his parents are still alive, so it's not his responsibility to support them. But the village chief said, "But it's your duty to support your parents."
"Then tell me, how much money should I give them per month?"
The village chief did some calculations and said, “Your stepmother has no blood relation to you, so you should support your father. The minimum standard in our village is 800 yuan per month. Now that you have the ability, you should at least give him 1,000 yuan.”
Song Zhixu nodded, then began to look for his transfer records, which were evidence he had kept at Du Lun's suggestion. "In the past five years, I have sent a total of 970,000 yuan home. After deducting the 60,000 yuan I gave them for their retirement, there is still 910,000 yuan left. I will deduct it from there in the future. Once it is all gone, they can come to me. Is that reasonable?"
Upon hearing this, the stepmother's expression changed. "You can't calculate it like that! I raised him, so everything he earns should be mine..."
Whispers rippled through the crowd. They had thought Song Zhixu was really as bad as his family had said, but it turned out he had earned a million in five years—money that would make anyone envious.
The old village chief said in a deep voice, "That's where Old Song is wrong. It's a good thing that your son Zhixu is capable of making money. Your mother is gone, so as his father, you should be happy for him, right? He's given you so much money, why are you still not satisfied? You cry and make a scene here every day, saying that Song Zhixu doesn't support you. Besides, you are still able-bodied and it's not time for him to support you yet. Even if you take this to court, you have no grounds for complaint."
These words made Song Zhixu's biological father blush with embarrassment, while his stepmother retorted, "This is my family's business. In my family, the money my children earn should be mine, no matter who the Emperor himself is!"
She thought she was in the right, saying that she knew the neighbors would criticize her after she finished speaking, and that it made her so angry that she started arguing with them again. Then she grabbed Song Zhixu's sleeve and said, "Ask yourself honestly, have I been good to you? Have I treated you like my own son?"
Song Zhixu was too lazy to argue. "The people here have all watched me grow up. They can tell what kind of life I lived when I was a child and what kind of life my younger siblings lived by comparing the two."
The aunt next door watched Song Zhixu grow up. When he was a child, he didn't have money for food, and it was the aunt who provided him with food from her family. "Old Song's family has a new daughter-in-law, so how can they take care of their original son? He's often not home, and when he gets hungry, he comes to our house to freeload..."
Once this was mentioned, many people remembered it and started talking all at once. Compared to that, Song Zhixu's life was truly inhuman.
Song Zhixu felt a pang of sadness thinking about these things. He forced back his emotions and said, "If my family were truly poor, I wouldn't say anything. But you've already made a living, yet you treat me like this. Do you expect me to support you in your old age? Love is mutual. How you treated me before is how I will treat you in the future. From today onwards, I will not send you a single penny. If you still cause trouble, then let's go to court and settle all the money I've sent home over the years, including my mother's pension. Let's calculate exactly how much you owe me..."
After he finished speaking, ignoring the stares of those around him, he picked up his backpack from the ground, dusted it off, put on his hat, and left.
The farce behind him continued: his stepmother was wailing and lamenting in the yard, neighbors and villagers were all offering their opinions, and the old village chief's admonition rang out: "Alright, this is the result of your own actions, it's really not his fault..."
The moment I stepped out of the yard, the weight on my heart finally lifted.
Actually, Lin Jiang was wrong. He taught him not only initiative on the field, but also the courage to defy reality.
He will no longer hesitate; if he wants something, he will strive to get it.
Behind him came his father's angry voice: "You unfilial son! Get out of this yard and don't ever come back!"
Song Zhixu suddenly wondered if he really accepted his fate and turned into a pile of mud, would they still keep him like this? They would probably sweep him out with a broom.
He chuckled self-deprecatingly and pulled his hat brim tighter.
There's nothing to miss.
That place was never his home.
He had only stayed in that house temporarily for over a decade, merely a passerby for more than ten years. Now that he had woken up from the dream and could see the road ahead clearly, he would keep moving forward and would never look back...
I finally caught up; I accidentally wrote a bit too much.
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