Chapter 28 Who could make Jiang Shan laugh so happily...?
Jiang Shan heard the bathroom door open and turned his head, just in time to catch a glimpse of Zhu Meng's mixed feelings.
Thinking about the social embarrassment she caused by answering the phone on speakerphone yesterday, she didn't even bother to eat her delicious corn. She jumped up from her chair and pulled out her Bluetooth earphone case from her purse on the sofa.
Just as the Bluetooth headset was plugged in, Jiang Hai made a video call.
It must have been too much trouble to send voice messages, so the little girl deliberately avoided her mother and father and hid in the bathroom, wanting to have a "face-to-face" video chat with Jiangshan.
Jiang Shan slipped on his slippers and quickly walked to the balcony.
After the call connected, the little girl's round face popped up on the screen, her cheeks puffed out slightly, clearly trying to be cute.
"Sister, guess again, guess again! We're so close, it'll be no fun if I just tell you!"
Jiang Shan, worn down by her persistent nagging, could only chuckle and guess again.
"You must be going on your autumn outing soon, right? I remember your autumn outing last year was around this time too."
Jiang Hai's personality is not as sullen as hers. When Jiang Hai was a child, he could barely walk steadily, but he was already very influential in the community.
From 90-year-old grandmothers to 40-year-old security guards to three-year-old children, everyone knows that the Jiang family has a lovely little daughter.
Given her personality, she must have many friends at school. Making a new friend wouldn't excite her this much.
"Sister, you have such a good memory! It's true, the autumn field trip is the day after tomorrow, but what I wanted to tell you isn't about the field trip~"
The little girl pouted her lips high, with a hint of childish smugness, a completely different expression from the adult's stinking boastfulness.
Jiang Shan gently smoothed her upturned tuft of hair from afar.
"Didn't you just say it was almost done? Why don't you tell me? I really couldn't have guessed."
"Sister, you're being cheeky, but okay—I love you the most, sister!"
The little girl's voice was clear and strong, like a melodious tune played on a guqin.
"Sister, I'll tell you a secret, it's a really special, really beautiful person who joined our class. She has such fair skin, just like Snow White from the fairy tales!"
Jiang Shan stroked his chin.
"You have very fair skin... Are you a girl?"
"No, it's a man!" Jiang Hai exclaimed excitedly. "I've never seen a man like this before, and he's even better looking than the stars on TV dramas!"
Jiang Shan wanted to say that you are only seven years old and have seen very few handsome men, but seeing the little girl's excited expression, he ultimately didn't say it to hurt Jiang Hai's feelings.
She thought for a moment and asked, "Do you have any photos?"
As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.
She could tell whether he was handsome or not at a glance.
Jiang Hai shook his head, a hint of helplessness showing on his childish face.
"It's a pity there are no photos. When the teacher was taking photos of us, he didn't want to be in the picture... But we should be taking a group photo on our autumn outing the day after tomorrow."
"A handsome boy is more important than a school trip?"
Jiang Shan knew that Jiang Hai was obsessed with looks. When she was a child, she would be captivated by beautiful women and handsome men. But she thought that Jiang Hai had made many good-looking friends because of this, so his definition of beauty and handsomeness should have improved. She teased her.
"Xiao Hai, when you were in first grade, you loved autumn outings the most. You were always saying you wanted to prepare potato chips and cakes, saying you'd have a blast playing in the forest park. How come you want handsome guys more than autumn outings now?"
Jiang Hai blushed with embarrassment. She rolled her eyes and said the title of the old song that Jiang Tao always played at home.
"I love the country, but I love the beauty even more!"
Jiang Shan burst into laughter.
"Now that you have a beautiful woman, you don't want your older sister anymore?"
Jiang Hai pouted his little mouth high, and with his two chubby cheeks that hadn't faded yet, he really looked like a ripe red apple.
"Sister, you're so mean~ But I love you the most, the most, the most! ...But sister, there's something strange about this."
Jiang Shan said, "Oh?" and then said, "Tell me about it."
Jiang Hai's voice was very low, the kind of volume reserved for whispering.
"This guy is very handsome, but he doesn't talk much. I've seen him in class for over a week and he hasn't said a word. Also, he's always accompanied by a tall guy in black clothes who looks very fierce..."
"But the teacher told us that he was not mute, he was just a little special."
Jiang Shan's relaxed smile froze instantly.
"Just a little special"?
Children are naturally lively, and some even feel uncomfortable if they don't speak for a minute. This little boy is only in second grade, but he can go a whole week without saying a word. This is more than just a little bit special.
Humans are social animals. The less you talk, the less good you are at talking; the less good you are at talking, the less you want to talk. Jiang Shan understands this all too well.
Due to social anxiety, she was very quiet during her busy high school years.
But it was that experience that made her afraid to be quiet anymore.
She will never forget that terrifying night when she held her high school math test paper with a score of only 120, was too afraid to go home after evening self-study, and wandered aimlessly along the coast. By the time she came to her senses, the seawater had already reached her waist.
People will develop health problems if they don't speak for a long time.
"Xiao Hai, he's dangerous. Listen to your sister, don't have any more contact with him."
A red warning light flickered in Jiang Shan's heart, and he unconsciously lowered his voice, like the gloomy sky before a storm.
"Why?" Jiang Hai kept leaning his head closer to the screen, his round, grape-like black eyes blinking rapidly. "Sister, he's really handsome, incredibly handsome! You'll like him just by looking at him!"
The land remained unmoved.
"Honey, no matter how handsome he is, we'll just admire him from afar. Don't get close to him, okay?"
Jiang Hai found that his attempts to act cute and charming were no longer working, and he rubbed the goosebumps that had appeared on his forearms.
"Sister, you're so fierce!"
"..." Jiang Shan also realized that he had been too harsh in his tone when speaking to his seven-year-old sister.
She instinctively wanted to blurt out, "Sister, this is all for your own good. You'll understand when you grow up," but then she felt that the words sounded too preachy, just like Chen Yuan and Jiang Tao, so she didn't say them in the end.
"Xiao Hai, you're still young. Listen to your older sister first, okay? These special groups of people can only be approached by people who have undergone special training. We are ordinary people, so it's better to stay away from them."
"Hmm... but if everyone keeps their distance from him, no one talks to him, no one plays with him, isn't that basically isolating him? It's like that..."
Jiang Shan rubbed his temples, which were throbbing again in the wind: "School bullying?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Jiang Hai nodded repeatedly, his eyelashes fluttering. "Although he is a little different from others, we can't bully him on campus just because he's special, right?"
Jiang Shan unconsciously rubbed the hem of his clothes, not even noticing that he had crumpled his pajamas.
These special people are like those soaking in a bottomless swamp; ordinary people watching from the sidelines do indeed feel sorry for them.
Every knight with a righteous heart bravely rushes in, but before they can even rescue the trapped person, they themselves step into the trap created by that person. From then on, the knight's life is dragged down by this stagnant pool, shrouded in darkness.
But how could she explain this to her seven-year-old sister?
Jiang Shan hesitated before speaking.
"Does he have violent tendencies?... Oh, in other words, does he usually hit people or throw things?"
Jiang Hai shook his head.
"No, no, he doesn't hit people or break things. He just sits at his seat all day playing with a Rubik's Cube or doing math problems that I can't understand, without saying a word."
Jiang Shan finally made up his mind.
The boy is only six or seven years old, and his mind is not yet fully developed, so it's unlikely that he has developed depression.
That can only be... a child from the stars.
"Knock knock knock!" The urgent knocking came from Jiang Hai's side, and almost at the same time, two blurry faces appeared on the frosted glass door of the bathroom.
"Xiao Hai, I heard you talking in there? Were you chatting with a classmate? A boy or a girl? Why are you taking so long in this bathroom? I told you not to look at your phone while you're on the toilet! Were you secretly playing games?"
"No, I wasn't playing games! I was practicing my English on my phone!"
Jiang Hai hesitated as he told his two lies: "I do have a bit of a stomachache, but it's not very painful."
"Does your stomach really hurt?" Chen Yuan's voice rose a chord. "Do you have diarrhea? How about Mom makes you some anti-diarrheal medicine?"
"It's okay, Mom, no need to bother!" Jiang Hai knew she should hang up the video call, but looking at her sister's melancholy eyes hidden behind her black-rimmed glasses, she couldn't bear to do it. "I'll be fine in a bit."
"No, Mom is worried. Mom wants to come in and check on you." Chen Yuan's tone was firm, leaving no room for negotiation. As soon as she finished speaking, she turned the handle and walked in.
The familiar commanding tone came through the phone, and Jiang Shan's heart still jumped into his throat, even through the phone screen.
At the critical moment, she moved her finger and hung up the phone.
Jiang Shan was momentarily bewildered, his younger sister's adorable round face vanished, as did his mother's angry questioning. He looked around, feeling lost, and after a few seconds of hesitation, he turned around, pushed open the balcony door, and went into the living room.
Zhu Meng leaned back on the sofa, her face a little pale.
He covered his upper left abdomen with his fingers, and his eyes lit up when he saw Jiang Shan return.
Are you... chatting with friends?
Jiang Shan didn't even hesitate, and immediately shook his head: "No."
How could she possibly have such a close friend?
She was busy studying throughout elementary, middle, and high school.
As for the friends I made in college...
There are people taking civil service exams, those taking public sector exams, those taking postgraduate entrance exams, those applying for postgraduate admission without taking the entrance exam, and even people like her who go straight out of university to find jobs.
But when we were freshmen, we came from all over the country and were like a blazing fire. After graduation, we went our separate ways and scattered like stars in the sky, and we basically lost touch.
Zhu Meng stared intently at Jiang Shan's face, unable to tell whether he was happy or disappointed.
What's gratifying is that Jiang Shan doesn't have anyone close enough to surpass him and share his joys and sorrows; what's disheartening is that he can't guess who this person is who can make him laugh so happily.
Jiang Shan is not a person who laughs very much.
Who else could be making her laugh so heartily but a friend?
After all, her family doesn't seem like...
The more you overthink, the more uncomfortable you feel physically.
Zhu Meng rarely gets sick, so his tolerance for illness is far less than that of Jiang Shan, who has been through many battles.
He was in so much pain that he broke out in a cold sweat and could barely sit still on the sofa.
Feeling embarrassed to wipe the sweat from his back with a tissue in front of Jiang Shan, Zhu Meng could only shrink back on the sofa and slowly nod.
"……oh."
Jiang Shan rarely saw Zhu Meng so pale, and out of concern for his friend, he asked a few more questions.
"Are you alright? Should we go to the hospital?"
"...It's nothing." Zhu Meng forced a smile, like a bitter, unsweetened coffee without milk or sugar. "It's psychosomatic; going to the hospital won't help."
Jiang Shan felt a sudden alarm bell ring in his mind.
She had just told her sister not to associate with people who are mentally unhealthy.
Now, Zhu Meng will give her a psychosomatic illness.
How can things in this world be so coincidental?
Jiang Shan's foot, poised to take a step forward, hovered in mid-air, unsure whether to land.
According to the principle of "better to avoid trouble than to cause trouble," she should have pretended not to hear, but Zhu Meng had at least taken care of her for a few days, so as a reward...
Jiang Shan chewed on the words that welled up in his mouth.
Is it convenient to talk about it?
Zhu Meng's long, slender eyelashes drooped.
His face was expressionless, but the words he uttered sounded like the whispers of a demon.
"...It's none of your business."
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