Chapter 099 Sweet and Salty-8
On a rainy night, Jiang Yan was soaked and walked aimlessly on the street.
[Mengtang, I like you.]
[Stay away from me, homosexuals are disgusting.]
[But you gave me flowers before.]
[Flowers? I don’t remember. Don’t be so sentimental.]
Car horns honked past his ears. Jiang Yan paused and stood in the pouring rain. Raindrops slid down his cheeks along the loose hair on his forehead.
"Hahaha."
Jiang Yan suddenly bent down and covered his face with his hands. Self-deprecating words came out from between his fingers. The liquid in the corners of his eyes mixed with the rain and flowed from his fingers into the corners of his mouth, salty, wet and bitter.
Meng Tang lied to him.
Meng Tang was lying to him!
It turns out that in the end, no one really liked him.
"Mom, why is that brother standing in the rain?"
A little girl holding her mother's hand, looked at a boy in a wet white shirt not far away, and asked innocently and curiously.
The mother holding an umbrella beside me said patiently and gently: "Girl, you see that little brother doesn't have an umbrella, what should you do now?"
The little girl looked at the pink umbrella in her hand and instantly understood what her mother said. She took advantage of the green light and trotted to the boy across the street.
"Brother, I'll hold an umbrella for you."
Jiang Yan looked up and saw the little girl's sweet smile. He was stunned for a moment and said in a daze: "...Thank you, thank you."
"Brother, why don't you go home?"
Jiang Yan lowered his eyes slightly, "Home? Do I still have a home..."
The little girl tilted her head, as if she didn't quite understand. However, for her age, she is the one being spoiled, so it is normal for her not to understand these things, and she doesn't need to understand them.
Jiang Yan curled the corners of his mouth and forced a smile. He wiped his wet hands and touched the little girl's fluffy head. "What about you? Why don't you go home?"
The little girl puffed her lips. She didn't answer the question, but grabbed the corner of Jiang Yan's clothes and said, "Brother, come home with me."
"Um?"
"I have a lot of people in my family, they will definitely like you."
Jiang Yan's eyes widened slightly, "This... isn't good."
"My mother is there, let's go find her."
The little girl was very enthusiastic, which made Jiang Yan feel a little uncomfortable to refuse. Especially when he saw the mother mentioned by the little girl, he was stunned for a moment.
——Isn’t that Mengtang’s mother?
Although he had never actually met Mengtang's mother in person, he had seen a photo of Mengtang and a woman, and judging by their ages, it was probably Mengtang's mother.
"May I have your name?"
Jiang Yan asked while waiting for the green light.
"Name?" The little girl put her finger on her lips. "Brother, did you say number? I'm 007, the youngest child in our family."
"In our family, only brother Xiao Meng has a name because he was the only one who was taken away."
After hearing what the little girl said, Jiang Yan was stunned and his expression was full of confusion.
Beep, beep—
Cars flashed past, splashing water on the road. The street lamps cast a dim light, stretching out the shadows of one tall and one short under the lamp.
After a moment, Jiang Yan asked speculatively: "The little brother Meng you are talking about, is his name Meng Tang?"
"Hey, it turns out that my brother knows Brother Xiao Meng."
The little girl said, "But I haven't seen Brother Xiao Meng for a long time, and I don't know how he is doing now."
Jiang Yan's eyelashes trembled twice, and he whispered, "He is doing well."
"I guess so." The little girl's eyes lit up, "Brother Xiao Meng is a very good person."
“…Is that so?” Jiang Yan said to himself.
The green light is on.
Jiang Yan was led by the little girl to the other side of the street. When they came in front of the woman, the little girl enthusiastically introduced her to her mother:
"Mom, can you let this brother come back to our house?"
The woman showed a surprised expression, "Brother has his own family." After saying that, she turned to look at Jiang Yan, "I'm sorry, I originally wanted her to bring you an umbrella."
The moment the woman's gaze touched Jiang Yan, there was a slight change. It was a little surprise, the surprise of seeing an acquaintance.
The little girl raised her head and said, "But my brother just said he has no home."
"It's you." The woman said.
"Do you know me?" Jiang Yan asked in a puzzled tone.
The woman smiled and said, "I remember you. About a few years ago, you often played with my little Meng. At that time, my little Meng liked you very much."
At that time.
Jiang Yan grasped the word and his heart skipped a beat.
Somehow, a sentence suddenly popped up in his mind: growing up is a gradual separation. The promises made in youth will eventually be eroded by time. There are very few people who are willing to stand by you without any scruples.
Jiang Yan smiled bitterly and said, "Maybe it's my problem. He... doesn't like me anymore."
He can understand.
Suddenly he understood.
After all, he has always been a monster in everyone's eyes. Living alone in the city is his normal state. No one likes a monster.
"Why do you think so?" the woman suddenly asked.
Jiang Yan did not hide it and said frankly: "I confessed to him today, and he rejected me. It's normal, he is a boy, I am also a boy, and a... very weird boy."
"What do you like about him?" The woman seemed to understand something and asked in a gentle tone.
"Huh? I thought you'd be mad."
"What are you angry about?"
"Mengtang is your son. Wouldn't you feel disgusted if a boy likes him?"
The woman smiled and said, "I respect his choice, as long as it's the person he likes."
After a pause, the woman continued, "What I want to know now is, why do you like him, and what do you like about him?"
Jiang Yan pursed his lips, thought for a moment, and said, "Because of some things in my family, I have been subject to rumors, bullied, and isolated since I was a child. No one wants to be friends with me, except Meng Tang. He is my first and only friend."
"He is very nice. He would give me candy when I was sad, make me laugh, and send me small gifts, birthday cakes and greeting cards."
"At that time, I thought he was the most unique person in the world... and I still think he is now."
"Maybe you just depend on him and don't really like him." said the woman.
Jiang Yan shook his head and told the deepest secret in his heart, "I had a class reunion and I drank a little. I got drunk. At night, Meng Tang and I slept in the same bed. I felt him kiss me secretly."
"I thought he liked me, too, but was just shy?" Jiang Yan said, getting a little excited, but calming down the next second. "So I plucked up the courage to confess to him, but he rejected me."
“I was really drunk that day.”
"Maybe I kissed him secretly and he found out, so when I confessed my feelings to him later, he reacted so strongly."
Jiang Yan finished speaking and smiled apologetically, "Sorry, I said so much by mistake. It's raining a little bit. You should go back first."
The woman nodded, then handed Jiang Yan an umbrella. Before leaving with the little girl, she asked again, "If one day you discovered that under his skin was a monster without facial features, would you still like him at that time?"
"What do you like, the bright and beautiful him, or the hideous monster hidden under the skin?"
Jiang Yan was a little confused, "What did you say?"
"He tried to tell you the truth, but you chose to ignore it because you liked the normal, spotless him."
The sound was drowned out by the increasingly heavy rain. At this time, the woman and the little girl had already walked a long way.
"Mom, what are you talking about? Qiqi doesn't understand." The little girl frowned and asked.
"Qiqi, let me ask you a question. If one day your little brother Meng turned into scrap metal, would you still like him?"
The little girl bit her little finger and said, "Can't you ask Dad to fix Brother Meng?"
"A broken heart cannot be repaired."
"Ah?" The little girl immediately covered her chest. After a few seconds, she suddenly let go of her hands and said in shock, "No, Daddy said we don't have hearts."
"Because you haven't gained any emotions yet."
"mood?"
"Family, friendship, and love. Brother Xiao Meng is the fastest growing among you, so it doesn't matter if you don't understand it for now."
The little girl pouted, "Okay."
Bang--
There was a sudden loud noise behind me.
The little girl who turned back first exclaimed:
"That brother fainted!"
…
I don’t know how long it took, Jiang Yan slowly opened his eyes and woke up to find himself at home.
Familiar room, familiar layout, familiar air. Jiang Yan stretched out his hand to block his eyes, his mind was a little confused, what happened yesterday, how did he get back.
At this time, a woman's figure appeared at the door. It was his mother.
"Mom, you are finally willing to go home."
Jiang Yan sat up from the bed, "How did I get back yesterday?"
The woman said, "It seems that your classmates sent you back."
"Oh." Jiang Yan rubbed his eyes, "Where's Dad?"
The woman said: "He went to work. It was a job introduced by your classmate."
"My classmate?" Jiang Yan could guess that it was Meng Tang. Meng Tang was the only person he was familiar with.
So what exactly does Mengtang mean?
But his father is willing to go to work now, and it seems that he has moved on, which is a good thing.
Jiang Yan exhaled slowly. He was a little tired. "Mom, I want to sleep a little longer."
"good."
The woman walked out and closed the door.
Around night time, my mother's voice rang out at the door, "Xiaoyan, your classmates are here. I'm going to go out for a while. You two should get along well."
The door closed and opened again, and someone knocked on Jiang Yan's door. Jiang Yan asked, "Who is it?"
"It's me."
It’s Mengtang’s voice.
Jiang Yan asked: "Don't you dislike me? Why did you come here again?"
"Listen to me."
Jiang Yan interrupted, "Don't you want a child? I can't give birth to one."
"I……"
Jiang Yan couldn't tell how he felt at the moment, whether it was a pleasant surprise or sadness.
Meng Tang is a person who always gives him hope and makes him sad.
But he couldn't change the fact that he liked Mengtang. Mengtang had already left a mark in his heart. The joy and hope of youth had long been like redemption.
"Come in."
Jiang Yan finally softened his heart and let Meng Tang in.
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