Chapter 35

"Didn't I tell you to go home and wait for me?" Song Zhiyi gave his brother a slap in annoyance.

Song Zhiyu held his head and screamed, then said shamelessly, "You were fine in the afternoon, but when I finished recording the show and went out, I found that you were gone. You said you went to the hospital, so of course I had to come and see you."

"You come here to watch the excitement!" The elevator opened, and Song Zhiyi walked out first. He was not too surprised to find the paparazzi squatting nearby.

The incident happened suddenly, and she and Mao Suiqiong had no time to cover up when they sent Liu Minmin to the hospital. Ren Xiuming and Song Zhiyu also seemed to have left right after finishing the recording, so it was not surprising that they were targeted by paparazzi.

As an all-around assistant, Yu An was already very familiar with handling these matters. He went out alone and came back with a large black bag in his hand. Song Zhiyu went into the bathroom with the bag. When he came out, he had changed his clothes and was holding a hat with a built-in wig in his hand.

"Okay, let's go." He lowered the brim of his hat casually, hiding his highly recognizable eyes under the shadow of the brim and his forehead.

Song Zhiyi handed the bag over and watched him nod with satisfaction. With this outfit, even their biological mother, Ms. Song, might not be able to recognize him at first glance.

"Ahhh! Song Zhiyu!"

Deng Qiu never thought that he would meet his idol when he went to the hospital for a cold! Although he didn't know why the idol was dressed like this, the height, broad shoulders, long and thick neck and long legs were definitely Song Zhiyu!

She covered her mouth and ran over excitedly. Fearing she would be mistaken for a stalker, she hurriedly stopped one meter away and whispered excitedly, "Can you give me an autograph? I've liked you for a long time, and I've been a fan of you since your debut!"

Song Zhiyi on the side: "..."

She took back what she had just said. Do fans have sharp eyes? How did they recognize it?

Song Zhiyu was not surprised. He made a hush gesture and walked to a corner so as not to disturb the patients. He whispered, "Of course, where do you want to sign?"

"Wait a minute..." Deng Qiu searched around, regretting why she didn't bring her album with her. However, let alone the album, she didn't even have a piece of draft paper.

Deng Qiu's face turned redder and redder, fearing that he would waste too much time and make his idol angry. Finally, he could only awkwardly stretch out his right hand, tremblingly opened it, and said as if he was about to cry: "Can I sign here?"

It was a fresh ticket.

Song Zhiyu couldn't help but burst out laughing. Seeing the little fan in front of him with tears in her eyes, she quickly comforted him, "Forget about the receipt. It's too slippery to write on."

He was acting as his sister's bag carrier at the moment. He very skillfully took out a pen from the bag, then a palm-sized notebook, shook it in his hand, and only after seeing his sister nod did he open a blank page and sign on it.

"…Do you need a signature?"

"Ah, what?" Deng Qiu was obviously distracted, and added hurriedly, "Yes, yes, just write to: the swing in the fable."

Song Zhiyu paused for a moment, chuckled, and said in a low voice: "The 'swing in the fable' turned out to be you. I didn't expect the contrast to be so great."

This name often appears at the front of his Weibo comments, and he is an out-and-out fan of Yanshiye and his mother.

Deng Qiu's face got hotter than before. What could be more socially embarrassing than accidentally saying the nickname of Okinawa? Not only did he say it, but he was also recognized!

Here, the idol and fans are like a family. Two steps away, Song Zhiyi's eyes have gradually become dead fish eyes. There is no strange light in them, only full of incomprehension. Sure enough, even if she experienced this scene a hundred times, she still couldn't understand it.

Why her brother has fans may be the top unsolved mystery in her mind.

*

The combination of encountering a fan with eagle eyes and golden pupils, and it happened in front of his sister, obviously made Song Zhiyu boast for a long time. After returning home, he "inadvertently" told it again in front of Aunt Lin. After receiving a lot of praise, his tail finally dropped a little.

Before they came back, both said they had eaten out, so Aunt Lin didn't prepare dinner. She only baked a batch of bread and saved it for later.

Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow are weekends. Aunt Lin has used a few days of her annual leave to make a total of nine days of vacation. She plans to go on a self-driving tour with some friends.

Before leaving, she couldn't help but ask again, "Xiaoyi, do you really not need to find another aunt to take care of you for a few days? She's someone I know, and her character and craftsmanship are both reliable."

Thank God, after watching the TV series, Aunt Lin's language system finally returned to normal.

Song Zhiyi sighed and shook her head to refuse: "Just go and play without worry. Xiaoyu and I are already big enough, and we have a refrigerator full of semi-finished products you made, so there's no way we'll get hungry."

Because they don't like having strangers in their home, the Song family only hired Aunt Lin as a live-in nanny. Even the part-time cleaner who comes to clean the house on time has not been replaced in many years.

“But…” Although all the food she made could be eaten by boiling, steaming, or microwaving, Aunt Lin was still a little worried. After all, the brother and sister had once been interested in cooking, but the end result was that the kitchen had to be completely renovated.

"There are not so many buts," Song Zhiyi winked at her brother, and the two of them took the luggage while the other held Aunt Lin's shoulders and pushed them out. "Don't worry, if it really doesn't work, we can still go out to eat. You're already so old, you won't be hungry."

My friend's car was already waiting outside. Aunt Lin took the suitcase, hesitated, and said, "Okay, don't order takeout. The food from takeout is not clean."

The brother and sister nodded in unison, and as the car drove away, they high-fived each other in tacit understanding: "Barbecue or crayfish?"

Song Zhiyu said without thinking, "Barbecue."

"Okay, then order some crayfish." Song Zhiyi picked up her phone and placed an order for the takeaway in the shopping cart without even looking at it.

“…”

It’s not that the lobsters made by Aunt Lin are not delicious, it’s mainly because they don’t taste like junk food.

As soon as the takeaway arrived, the two of them quickly took it to the cinema on the third floor and randomly found a comedy movie to play as background music.

Song Zhiyu swore that this was his last indulgent meal as he peeled the lobster skillfully and efficiently.

When he eats things that need to be shelled, such as shrimps and crabs, he likes to put them in a small pile before eating. I don’t know if it tastes better this way, but it must be very suitable for others to steal, such as Song Zhiyi.

"What are you looking at? I'm helping you grow some weight, understand?" Feeling her brother's cold eyes, Song Zhiyi stole another one and threw it into her mouth without panic. "Did Liu Liu ask me to supervise your diet? I can't seem to remember."

"..." Song Zhiyu got angry.

A news push popped up on his phone. Song Zhiyu glanced to the side and uttered a puzzled nasal sound.

"Sister, tell me honestly, did you say anything to Teacher Mao today?"

"What? Are you talking about Liu Minmin?" Song Zhiyi was getting angry when he thought of what Ren Xiuming had done. "I'm telling you, you can't imagine what I've discovered today..."

After listening to his sister's story about how Liu Minmin got lost, Song Zhiyu couldn't even afford to eat crayfish. He said angrily, "Ren Xiuming looked quite humble in the show, how could he be such a jerk? No wonder Teacher Mao beat him in the hospital. We left too early. We should have stayed to help Teacher Mao!"

"Hmm... Hmm?" Song Zhiyi's head suddenly rose before he could even nod. "What did you say? Teacher Mao and Ren Xiuming had a fight? And in the hospital?"

"Yeah." Song Zhiyu took off her gloves and wiped her hands with a tissue. She turned on her phone, clicked on the news and handed it over. "Sister, you are really something. Since you told Teacher Mao about Liu Minmin, why didn't you stay in the hospital for a while? Now they have been photographed by paparazzi."

Song Zhiyi looked at the news while looking at his hand. The title and text were full of personal speculation, but the pictures and videos clearly showed that Mao Suiqiong was grabbing Ren Xiuming desperately. Judging from his clothes, it was indeed what happened today.

"But I haven't told Teacher Mao about Liu Minmin yet?"

Firstly, she hadn't figured out how to start the conversation, and secondly, Liu Minmin suddenly had a miscarriage, so she really didn't have time to tell him.

Song Zhiyu was also confused: "Then what happened to them? How about asking your magical little notebook?"

Song Zhiyi had exactly this idea.

The character card booklet was still on the first floor, so Song Zhiyi went downstairs to update the reading information. Song Zhiyu came down after a while with the peeled lobster meat and went to the kitchen to get a pair of chopsticks.

"So, did you find out why they were fighting?"

"Found it," but this was even more strange, "Mao Suiqiong seemed to know Liu Minmin's background."

"That can't be possible," Song Zhiyu was confused. "Didn't you say that Liu Minmin found out there was something wrong with the baby after giving birth, and she and Ren Xiuming went to the hospital for a checkup and found out?"

"The original card didn't say that Liu Minmin would have a miscarriage." Song Zhiyi poked his temple with a pen, then thought of something else and slid his fingers forward, "Found it."

I placed my finger on the words, and the corresponding image quickly appeared in front of my eyes. However, this time the screen was flickering as if the signal was bad, and I could occasionally hear a strange crackling sound.

[Birthmark...Do you have a birthmark on your back?]

[Abduction...]

[…When I was a kid, I accidentally broke a thermos and got a burn on my back…]

[……]

The picture was unclear and the sound was occasionally fragmented, but this did not prevent Song Zhiyi from guessing what had happened.

"So what you mean is that Liu Minmin and Mao Suiqiong got to know each other on their own? Then was it Liu Minmin who told the story about Ren Xiuming?"

"I'm not sure about the former, but it sounds like Mao Suiqiong discovered something and asked." In the original storyline, today's events should not have happened. Except for Liu Minmin being raped, which is questionable.

"As for the latter..." Song Zhiyi pondered for a moment, "If Liu Minmin knew that she was Mao Suiqiong's daughter, given the psychological pressure she was under, she would most likely take the initiative to tell Mao Suiqiong, and it is also possible that she was too frightened and had a miscarriage."

Song Zhiyu frowned, apparently still trying to understand. Song Zhiyi glanced at him, without any intention of explaining.

Although there were some things she couldn't understand, such as why Liu Minmin kept it a secret that Ren Xiuming had molested her, Song Zhiyi still kept it a secret because it concerned her self-esteem, and didn't even tell her brother.

After all, it’s still…

"Ren Xiuming, you really deserve to die!"

*

Liu Minmin lived in a single room. At night, after the nurse on rounds left, she pulled out the needle in her hand and walked to the window wearing a thin hospital gown.

Living in the city, it is difficult to see the stars and the moon. It was no different tonight. She looked at the street lights outside, her face as calm as a wood carving.

My eyes were still swollen, but I couldn't shed tears anymore.

Liu Minmin touched her belly and felt ridiculous.

Mao Suiqiong helped her escape from the life that had no end in sight, and taught her skills and how to be a good person. In her eyes, Mao Suiqiong was not only a teacher, but also the only family member she recognized in her heart.

After knowing that Mao Suiqiong was in poor health and would not have children, she secretly vowed to take care of Mao Suiqiong until his death. As a result, she looked at Ren Xiuming as if he were her father.

However, she didn't know when it started, but the way Ren Xiuming looked at her became more and more wrong.

First, there were those creepy eyes, and then there was the hand that held her when he taught her to play the violin. It was as slippery and disgusting as a snake.

This always brought back some bad memories for her. She thought about finding Mao Suiqiong to expose everything, but she backed off in the end.

Having never gotten along well with male elders since she was a child, Liu Minmin finds it difficult to distinguish what is closeness and what is crossing the line. She is afraid that she is overthinking it, and she is even more afraid that Mao Suiqiong will be angry and kick her out after knowing all this. After all, if you think about it carefully, she is the outsider.

So she chose to be patient.

Until the dinner three months ago, Mao Suiqiong suddenly had to leave because of something urgent, and Ren Xiuming kept forcing her to drink glass after glass. She had always been a good drinker, but she got drunk very quickly that time, and when she woke up, she was in the hotel.

Even though three months had passed, Liu Minmin still felt a palpitation when she recalled how she felt that morning. She leaned against the windowsill and suppressed her gasps, then fell to the cold floor in this position.

The thing she least wanted to happen still happened. Ren Xiuming even kept her photo.

The next month was the darkest time in her life. When she finally couldn't bear it anymore and wanted to find a reason to say goodbye to Mao Suiqiong and escape from all this, she found out she was pregnant.

Ren Xiuming asked her to give birth to the child, saying that her senior brothers and sisters all had families and children, and that they might not be able to take good care of the teacher when he got old. If she passed away, there would be no one to take care of Mao Suiqiong. As long as she gave birth to the child, not only would someone take care of Mao Suiqiong instead of her, but he would also destroy all photos and videos and never harass her again.

Liu Minmin knew why Ren Xiuming made such a promise. Since he dared to take action against her, who was nominally a student, he must have other illegitimate children out there. However, because Mao Suiqiong controlled the financial power of the family and had two outstanding students, he had no way to get rid of the illegitimate children in the open.

She finally agreed to this request and decided to leave as soon as the child was born and never appear in front of Mao Suiqiong again.

In fact, she no longer knew how to face Mao Suiqiong and could only reduce the frequency of their meetings as much as possible. Every time they could not be avoided, she had to make great efforts to maintain her calm appearance.

Liu Minmin got up from the ground, picked up her changed clothes, and staggered towards the bathroom.

Fortunately, I was wearing pants today and they were long enough.

She wrapped one leg of her trousers around her neck and a slight self-deprecating smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

After tying the other leg, Liu Minmin took out her mobile phone, took another look at the photo of her and Mao Suiqiong on the home screen, then opened the memo and put the phone on the ground with the locked screen.

The cell phone with the suicide note went out, and the last ray of light in the bathroom also disappeared.

Liu Minmin's head drooped weakly.