Chapter 5, "Regardless of the Vastness of the Waters"
Today, Chen Lian picked up Chen Jizhou from school.
Chen Jizhou has been enjoying chauffeured transportation for half a month.
However, he didn't care about being picked up and dropped off by a car, because he usually had a lot of schoolwork and not many opportunities to exercise. Chen Jizhou quite liked riding his mountain bike to and from school. Perhaps it was because his personality was not suited to a disciplined environment, and riding a bike made him feel comfortable and free.
But when his father returned from his business trip, he tried to win back his son's favor, so Chen Jizhou gave him face.
As Chen Lian drove, he glanced at the people behind him in the rearview mirror, seemingly regretting that his son hadn't expressed any gratitude. He said, "Only someone as idle as me is getting bored, picking up and dropping off the young master every day. I've forgotten that I'm a boss or a public servant."
Chen Jizhou sat back, flipping through a vocabulary book, and said indifferently, "No need to say such harsh things. The eldest young master is in the Xie family. I won't fight for him. I'll just be the boss."
"Your provocation skills have improved, kid. Well then, I'll be your 'Camel Xiangzi' today." Chen Lian chuckled, pointed to the rearview mirror above his head, and muttered, "Just don't let your mom hear this, or she'll give you another beating. I won't help you with that."
Chen Jizhou: "No one but you is afraid of being punished by your wife."
Chen Lian clicked his tongue and said, "Chen Jizhou, have I given you too much freedom? You always have to argue with me, right?"
Chen Jizhou didn't respond with a single word.
All that remained was the sound of turning pages.
The back seat fell silent. Chen Lian was satisfied, feeling smug as if he had finally tamed a little beast: "Hmm...that's more like it."
Downstairs at the apartment building, he had barely finished speaking when he slammed on the brakes: "Isn't this Mengmeng? Came to see you?"
Chen Jizhou put down what he was holding and looked outside.
Chen Lian shouted from inside the car, "It's Mengmeng—!"
Jiang Meng was awakened by his voice, and replied with a bright smile, "It's Uncle Chen!"
Chen Jizhou got out of the car and slammed the door shut.
Chen Lian went to find a place to park.
Chen Jizhou walked forward: "What brings you here, Grandma?"
He had initially thought Jiang Meng had something important to discuss with him, as she rarely took the initiative to see him. However, when he glanced down, he noticed the gift and envelope in her hand. Chen Jizhou's smile faded slightly: "Didn't I tell you to..."
The wrong word hasn't been said yet.
Jiang Meng asked, puzzled, "What do you want me to do?"
He paused for a moment, then asked, "Whose?"
"Chi Yu'en".
Without hesitation, Chen Jizhou said, "Give it back to her."
He didn't want to say anything more.
I walked past her toward the entrance of the apartment building.
Jiang Meng chased after him and blocked his path.
Chen Jizhou glanced at her again: "You seem to really enjoy matchmaking?"
She shook her head: "Of course not."
But too lazy to explain, Jiang Meng stopped him and said with a smile, "Handsome guy, handsome guy, super handsome guy!"
She clasped her hands in a fist and shook them, saying, "It's hard to be a person, please be understanding."
A change of face is like a change of weather.
Is this the same person who said "I'm so annoyed with you" this morning?
Chen Jizhou originally thought he was immune to all enemies, but when he looked down and saw the girl's clear, smiling eyes staring straight at him, his heart melted.
Jiang Meng grabbed one of his sleeves and said, "Put it away, okay? Just to see what she wrote?"
Chen Jizhou asked her, "Would you be happy if I accepted it?"
Jiang Meng recalled Chi Yu'en's heartfelt speech and nodded vigorously: "Of course, I would be very happy, it's a good thing."
Chen Jizhou snatched the things from her hand and said without turning around, "Then let me make you happy."
Although Chen Jizhou is relatively rational and easy-going, rarely gives her a sour look, and doesn't usually act crazy, the possibility of him having an occasional episode, like right now, cannot be ruled out.
It's like they've taken the wrong medicine.
Jiang Meng didn't think much of it. She turned her head and saw Chen Lian smiling at her: "Want to go upstairs for dinner?"
She shook her head: "I have so much homework today. If you don't want me to work until 3 PM, let me go right now."
Chen Lian: "You're leaving already?"
Jiang Meng swung her arms and floated away, shouting, "I'm leaving! I'm leaving! I'm really leaving!"
"Come, come, Uncle Xiangzi will take you back in a sedan chair carried by eight men!" Chen Lian walked to the parking space and opened the back door.
Jiang Meng rushed over: "Thank you, Uncle Xiangzi! Mengmeng is so happy she's fainted in your A8!"
She jumped into the back seat and collapsed there, seemingly unconscious.
Chen Lian laughed for a long time after being amused by her, and only said when starting the engine, "Hey, hey, hurry up and sit properly, it's dangerous."
Chen Lian didn't come from a very high social class, but he was hardworking, frugal, and simple. He got into a top university in the country and continued his studies, becoming the first doctoral student from his village. In those days, his achievements were so great that they would have made his ancestors' graves glow with auspicious smoke. However, his father-in-law was still not quite impressed. Fortunately, he was down-to-earth and hardworking. In addition, Wang Jingbo only had one daughter, and seeing that she liked him, he let her have her way.
Chen Lian and Wang Qi were college classmates and dated for five or six years. When they got married, Wang Qi had already been promoted to a minor leader in the system. Chen Lian was originally teaching at a university. Two years later, his master's classmate went into business. He also had some ambition and wanted to give his wife a better life. He also wanted to get rid of the "marrying up" label and successfully catch up with the entrepreneurial trend.
Chen Lian has no airs of snobbery or contempt for the poor, and he is very optimistic. Whenever he brags to the children about "Uncle Chen back in the day" or "how I was back then," he only talks about the fun things and never recalls any of the hardships he has endured.
The love letter incident passed quickly.
Jiang Meng didn't take it to heart. She looked at the distant sky from the back seat and suddenly sighed, a sentiment she had uttered countless times since childhood: "If only Chen Jizhou's father were my father."
It's truly a case of being born to the wrong father, alas.
-
Jiang Meng arrived home the earliest today. She heard the door open from her room and knew that Jiang Su had returned. Around six o'clock, she heard someone come in again and heard voices outside talking.
As soon as Ye Zhaoxu entered the door, he said, "Why is your car parked downstairs again? It might rain heavily today, you'd better move it to the underground parking."
Jiang Su happened to be in the living room and replied, "I'm going out in a bit."
Ye Zhaoxu: "It's back to being incredibly busy late into the night again."
Jiang Su put on his coat: "Just say what you're thinking. I don't have time to ponder your hidden meanings."
Ye Zhaoxu: "I've been busy supervising students' theses lately and haven't had time for the family. I also don't care about your affairs. I don't want to know anything about what you're doing outside. As long as the house is quiet, that's fine. Mengmeng is going through a crucial time right now. Whether you stay with her or not is up to you. Just don't affect her, and I'll consider it a sign that you have any conscience—"
Before she could finish speaking, Jiang Meng's bedroom door suddenly opened, and a pretty, bewildered face peeked out: "Mom."
Ye Zhaoxu was taken aback. "Why are you home?"
"I'm out of school, it's almost seven o'clock."
Ye Zhaoxu paused for two seconds, glanced at her neatly dressed husband, and didn't continue the previous topic. She asked Jiang Meng, "Have you eaten? I'll make some dumplings."
She said, "Give me six."
Jiang Meng glanced at Jiang Su, who was about to leave: "Isn't Daddy going to eat?"
"have eaten."
Jiang Su answered her with his back to her, then closed the door and left home.
Ye Zhaoxu went to the kitchen to cook dumplings, and Jiang Meng pretended to help out, but there was nothing for her to do. She just wandered around the kitchen for a while.
Ye Zhaoxu prepared two pots to cook at the same time. Jiang Meng stirred her own pot a couple of times with chopsticks and looked at her mother, who looked travel-worn.
Ye Zhaoxu has a cool and aloof appearance, and she doesn't look old even though she's almost forty. She wore a dark green trench coat and had her hair tied in a low ponytail. Her intellectual look was so cold and aloof that it was a complete mismatch with the kitchen.
She really can't cook; she can only make simple fast food. Her father usually does most of the cooking at home.
After a moment of silence, Jiang Meng finally spoke up: "Mom, could you give me some money?"
"Going to a concert?"
Jiang Meng's eyes widened in shock: "I... I didn't say anything, did I?"
Ye Zhaoxu said, "I can't see through your little schemes."
"..."
"You are not allowed to go."
Jiang Meng was stunned one after another.
Ye Zhaoxu said, "There's plenty of time in college, why bother with these two days? It's more exciting to go out and have fun during your senior year of high school, right?"
"no……"
"No, no, that's not what I meant." Ye Zhaoxu retorted, "And I don't even want to talk about your taste. A boy's face is covered in so much powder, thicker than my dumpling skins stacked up. His eyeshadow looks like Sun Wukong's, his eyelids are reflecting light. What's so good-looking about that? Pretty boy, huh? Stop sticking your picture on the wall every day, it's ugly."
Jiang Meng gritted her teeth: "Enough! I won't allow you to say that!"
Ye Zhaoxu watched her run away, covering her ears, and after a while, he smiled quietly.
Jiang Meng hid in her room. A few minutes later, someone knocked on the door: "Alright, your husband, the most handsome man in the world—dumplings are ready."
At the dinner table, Jiang Meng took a bite of a dumpling and realized why Ye Zhaoxu had cooked the dumplings in two separate pots. Ye Zhaoxu's bowl contained diced shiitake mushrooms, which Jiang Meng couldn't eat.
Remembering the conversation her mother and father had just had, she asked, "What's Dad busy with?"
"Graduation season, what are you busy with?"
"……oh."
Ye Zhaoxu held her chopsticks but didn't eat anymore. She glanced at her daughter's innocent eyes, hesitated, and then gently brushed a stray strand of hair from her daughter's head.
Jiang Meng glanced at her as her warm fingertips brushed against her ear.
"Some hair fell into the soup."
After helping her straighten her hair, her mother asked again, "Are six enough?"
"More than enough, I'm stuffed." Jiang Meng finished eating, put down her chopsticks, and said, "I'm going to study now."
After finishing her homework, Jiang Meng lay down on her bed and played on her phone for a while. She opened her friend A's chat window and reported, "I still sent it."
A sent a [knocking] emoji.
Jiang Meng: "Why did you hit me?"
A: "Disobedient"
Jiang Meng replied: "Knock/knock/knock/knock/knock/knock/"
A: "Dizzy/dizzy/dizzy/dizzy/dizzy"
She knocked him unconscious!
Jiang Meng sat up laughing.
She clicked into A's profile and took a look.
He filled in his birthday as June, Gemini.
A 26-year-old Gemini man?
Jiang Meng: "Are Geminis an air sign? My childhood friend is also an air sign, but he's an Aquarius. Books describe air signs as having a romantic soul, as eternally wandering poets. That sounds so cool."
A missed the point: "Isn't it just a crush you can't have? You keep mentioning your childhood friend, how handsome he is that makes you so infatuated."
She wanted to refute every word in that sentence, but Jiang Meng's first thought was to tell him how handsome Chen Jizhou was. She felt that words were inadequate, and suddenly remembered that picture on the forum, so she sent it to him to make it more intuitive.
Jiang Meng was a little nervous when she sent the picture. She was sure she would be very angry if the other party said anything bad about Chen Jizhou: "This is his picture, what do you think?"
A: "Dizzy/dizzy/dizzy/dizzy/dizzy"
Jiang Meng: "I didn't knock on you, did I?"
A: "I'm swooning over his handsomeness!"
The incessant laughter made Ye Zhaoxu unable to resist knocking on his daughter's bedroom door and asking through the door, "What homework is so funny?"
Jiang Meng called out loudly, "Time to sleep, goodnight, Mom!"
Once the doorway quieted down, Jiang Meng snuggled into bed and continued chatting with him: "I discovered today that he's actually a pretty nice person."
A: "You had a very bad impression of me before?"
Jiang Meng: "Not really. He's a bit of a hoodlum, unreliable and seems like a jerk, but actually he's a decent person."
A: "No matter how reliable he is, you won't like him."
Jiang Meng: "Friends have their own role, which is different from that of lovers. Talking about liking someone can hurt feelings."
The chat window remained silent for a long time.
A replied again, simply with two words: "Goodbye".
Jiang Meng thought she had said something wrong: "What's wrong?"
A: Doing homework
Doing homework?
Jiang Meng was genuinely confused about his age, but then said, "It's good that you're not angry."
A: "No"
Jiang Meng: "Can't do what?"
A: "I won't be angry with you."
Jiang Meng got excited: "You said it, so from now on, no matter how I provoke you, you can't get angry."
A: "I said it."
Jiang Meng: "But I have a very bad temper."
A: "What a coincidence, I love to flatter people."
Jiang Meng laughed: "Is it because your girlfriend has a bad temper, and you've been trying to appease her too much?"
A: "I have many girlfriends, which one are you asking about?"
Jiang Meng: "What? You're such a jerk?"
A: "Youth is fleeting, how can we waste it?"
Jiang Meng rebuked: "How wicked you are!"
Jiang Meng then asked, "Which one do you like the most?"
A: "I like the one with the biggest temper."
A sentence with a vast range of interpretations.
After she sent the ellipsis, they fell silent.
A probably did go to do his homework. After a while, he came back and asked, "Are you relieved?"
What's there to be worried about?
She felt that these words were suggestive.
But he downplayed it.
Jiang Meng: "Nobody wants to join your harem."
A didn't rush to explain. Half a minute later, he calmly sent a photo. The text on the photo was an excerpt from "Dream of the Red Chamber." He had underlined a line from Jia Baoyu to Lin Daiyu: "Though there are three thousand rivers, I will only drink from one."
Aside from that, he didn't say anything else, which inexplicably seemed to suggest he was trying to clear his name as a scumbag.
Is he reading this?
It seems he's a liberal arts student.
It's highly likely that he's from the same province as her.
Jiang Meng: "What do you mean?"
A: "I don't really know either, but I'll give it to you."
What a flirting master, Jiang Meng thought.
Sure enough, scumbags have their charm. Just imagining him saying those words with that roguish, sassy face made her blush and her heart race as she propped her head up to look at the screen.
Jiang Meng: "Are you genuinely clueless, or are you pretending?"
A: "I was faking it, were you?"
"..."
Jiang Meng lost her phone and buried her burning face in the pillow.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com