Chapter 23 Youthful Spirit Never Fades
It's very quiet at home.
Mom sleeps in Mom's room, and Dad sleeps in Dad's room.
How long has this situation lasted?
Jiang Meng, who is usually oblivious to things, only realized now that this was very unusual. She used to think that it might be because the couple was not used to each other's sleeping habits, such as the room temperature, snoring, or the pressure of sleeping positions.
She never imagined that this was a harbinger of division.
Standing under the living room light left for her, she finally realized that this home had lost its last bit of warmth and its meaning of existence.
Hearing the door open, Ye Zhaoxu came out of the room.
She went to the water dispenser to get some water, glanced at Jiang Meng, and said, "You're back."
Jiang Meng gave a curt "hmm" and went back to her room, closed the door, and looked at the test paper for a while.
She was about to call Su Yu to ask about the homework when she heard a noise outside.
"Oh, right," Mom knocked on the door again, "a classmate called today, saying that he has your error notebook but couldn't contact you. It was a boy."
Ye Zhaoxu left after giving his instructions.
A notebook for wrong answers? Jiang Meng remembered. She had discussed math problems with Li Shuheng before. Because Jiang Meng went home every day during the summer vacation and focused on studying, she didn't use her mobile phone very often, so she left her home landline number.
Jiang Meng returned Li Shuheng's call.
Li Shuheng asked her a question and then asked if she wanted it now. She said, "Just leave it with you. I've already finished reading my book, so there's no rush."
Li Shuheng agreed, and then said, "How about we add each other on QQ? I'm afraid your parents will always answer the phone, and I can also send you something while I'm at it."
They had never exchanged contact information since they met, and they didn't contact each other very often in private. After Jiang Meng agreed, she received several photos from him.
It was during that rainy season, Li Shuheng took this picture of her under the magnolia tree.
He said, "This one didn't get printed, but I should still show you your photo; I think it's quite nice."
Jiang Meng really liked the photo, and the more she looked at it, the more she liked it. It wasn't because Li Shuheng was particularly skilled, but because she looked beautiful, natural, and energetic in the photo.
She saved the photo on her phone and set it as her screensaver.
Jiang Meng usually tries to avoid Jiang Su when going to and from school, and even when they do meet, she treats him like he's invisible.
Occasionally, Jiang Meng would have some dramatic speculations, like in the TV dramas she watched as a child, that they might have already divorced, and maybe one day she would find their green divorce certificate in some small drawer.
She hadn't yet reached the point where she couldn't stand seeing Jiang Su, however, the dramatic part still happened not long after, but what she discovered wasn't their divorce certificate, but a toy race car.
When Jiang Meng returned home from school that day, she saw the toy race car in the key storage basket in the entryway. It was a toy the size of her palm.
The kind of toy that little boys in kindergarten love to play with.
It appeared openly in her home, right under her nose.
Jiang Su was cooking in the kitchen when he heard Jiang Meng enter the house. He had just brought out a bowl of vegetables and saw that her face was frighteningly dark.
He put down his chopsticks, wiped his oily hands, looked over, and asked in a calm voice, "Have you encountered any problems you can't solve lately?"
Jiang Su approached, intending to help her carry her schoolbag.
His intention wasn't to ask her about her studies, but Jiang Meng's recent unusual emotions were too obvious. Even if Jiang Su didn't take her to heart, he couldn't avoid her sour faces and avoidance.
Sure enough, before he could even touch her backpack strap, Jiang Meng sprang back several meters: "Can you stay away from me?"
Jiang Su frowned: "What did you say?"
"Can you please stay away from me?" she finally yelled, throwing the toy at him. "I feel disgusted and want to vomit just looking at you!"
The toy hit Jiang Su's chest, then fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.
Ye Zhaoxu had just parked his car downstairs and entered the room when he saw this scene. He quickly went over and pulled Jiang Meng aside: "What happened?"
Jiang Su remained silent for a moment, then picked up the toy fragments.
He still didn't show much emotion, maintaining a sanctimonious and pretentious demeanor.
Jiang Meng couldn't take it anymore, "Can you get out?"
Ye Zhaoxu grasped her trembling shoulders.
"How can you talk to your father like that?"
"He is not my father."
Jiang Meng's emotions affected her mother, who shook off her hand. She looked at Jiang Su and raised her voice again: "I'm asking you a question, can you get out!"
Broken toys become trash and are disposed of.
Jiang Su walked over slowly and said to her, "Calm down, Jiang Meng."
Jiang Meng pushed away his outstretched hand: "What are you pretending to be now? Go ahead and use the same kind of passive-aggressive attitude you have towards me! Why should someone like you be carefree and happy? Why should others bear your pain? This is my home too. Why should I have to please you to have a place in the world? Why should I have to watch your face to breathe? This is my home too!"
"How dare you treat me like this?!"
"Can you just disappear from my sight? It would be even better if you disappeared from the face of the earth!"
"..."
"Jiang Meng!"
Seeing that she was losing control of her emotions, Ye Zhaoxu yanked her schoolbag hard, causing Jiang Meng to stumble and fall in front of her. "Who taught you to talk to your father like that?!"
Jiang Meng glanced at her mother, but she didn't want to say anything more.
She no longer expects a response, a satisfactory outcome, to return to her childhood, or to be taken seriously.
She shoved her mother away and rushed out of the house.
Jiang Meng hadn't gone far.
When Ye Zhaoxu came over, she was sitting in front of the convenience store glass, quietly eating a rice ball, her expression serene.
She relaxed a little, bought some more oden, sat quietly next to her daughter for a while, and then asked her, "When did you find out?"
Jiang Meng said in a low voice, "Someone sent me a text message."
"Let me see."
"I've blocked him."
“It might be from his side…” Ye Zhaoxu paused.
"Do you want money?" Jiang Meng looked at her. "Or are you fighting for the inheritance?"
Ye Zhaoxu was silent for a moment: "This is an adult matter, you shouldn't get involved. I didn't tell you because I was afraid it would affect your studies, Mom will handle it."
"Are you divorced?"
Ye Zhaoxu said, "I'm hiring a lawyer."
Jiang Meng said coldly, "Get all his money and then tell him to get lost."
Ye Zhaoxu wasn't angry when she heard this; instead, she smiled. She gently touched the top of Jiang Meng's head and said earnestly, "You can't say those kinds of things casually, not even to the angrier or the closest people you are, understand?"
Jiang Meng didn't answer but instead asked, "Now you know how to lecture me? Are you just going to put up with this?"
"It's not that I have to endure it."
Although Jiang Meng spoke very rudely today, perhaps because she had not fulfilled her responsibilities as a parent, Ye Zhaoxu was lenient with her anger because of this guilt. "It's not something I've been holding back for just a day or two. I don't want to affect you for now. His situation is probably quite complicated. That woman keeps asking for money, not because she wants to marry him, but purely because she wants money. I'm too lazy to ask for the specifics."
Jiang Meng finished her rice ball and scooped over the bowl of oden in front of her.
"You're so beautiful, must have had a lot of suitors when you were young?"
She laughed: "No less than yours."
"Then why did you fall for someone like that?"
"I just picked one randomly, the most handsome one."
Why did it turn out this way?
Ye Zhaoxu's personality was far from gentle, but seeing her daughter looking worried, she unusually spoke kindly to her, saying, "There are many people in this world who have no conscience. Some are fathers, some are children, some are lovers, or some are friends. Don't keep asking why. There is no why."
Ye Zhaoxu said, "Now that you know, I feel relieved. You may need time to accept it, but Mom wants to tell you that no matter what happens in the future, you will still be you, and I will still be me. It is most important to fulfill yourself."
Jiang Meng's nose tingled with emotion.
She didn't want to cry at all when she was throwing a tantrum, but now she picked up a tissue to wipe her eyes and asked, "How did you two meet?"
Ye Zhaoxu: "I'm afraid you'll find it absurd if I tell you, and I'm also afraid you'll get hurt."
Jiang Meng was puzzled.
She hesitated for a moment, but continued, "It was a one-night stand. I met him at a friend's birthday party. I got pregnant, so I went to see him."
Ye Zhaoxu recounted the story briefly, omitting some details. For example, she wanted Jiang Su to accompany her to the hospital for surgery. If a man can't empathize with a woman's pain, he should at least offer some financial support and companionship. Why should she bear it all alone? In short, she didn't mention any of the complicated details.
“We discussed it and realized that although we had just graduated, we were both adults and capable of taking responsibility. In the end, he said, ‘Keep the child, and I will marry you.’”
Back then, they felt that marriage was the best outcome. If given the chance again, they would probably still choose to get married.
Unfortunately, it was only when I was approaching middle age that I realized that marriage is never the perfect ending to life.
Eighteen years later, no matter how many negative details she avoided, she couldn't hide the fact that her birth was hasty in front of Jiang Meng. Nor could she avoid revealing the truth to her: people don't necessarily have children because they love each other.
So whenever Jiang Meng blinked her innocent eyes and asked her about the details of her parents' love story, Ye Zhaoxu could only vaguely brush the topic aside.
A Möbius strip, sliding from a chaotic ending back to a hasty beginning.
The truth that has come to light was predetermined.
“There are many things I don’t like to say. I find them cheesy, but I’m also afraid you’ll think I’m being cold. You need to know that you are a piece of flesh that fell from your mother’s body. You have nothing to do with him. Don’t ask him for too much affection.”
Seeing her daughter's silence, Ye Zhaoxu felt a pang of regret for a moment.
I shouldn't have said it.
The truth was irretrievable, leaving her trembling, her thin shoulders weak and powerless as she faced the shattered moon's reflection in the bowl through her blurry, watery eyes.
"I don't care about the past, but I never want to see him again. Otherwise, I will never come back to this house."
Ye Zhaoxu nodded: "Okay, I'll have him move out."
-
Summer begins with rain and ends with rain.
As autumn arrives, the senior high school building becomes lifeless and desolate.
The art class is preparing for the art exams, so they won't be going back to the teaching building for classes recently. Jiang Meng went to the art studio to find Li Shuheng.
He should have come over to return the things, but Jiang Meng was going to pass by there after school anyway, and besides, his art studio was on the first floor, near the school gate, so she took the initiative to go find him.
Some students lingered, while others walked out with their backpacks. The teacher had already left. She entered the classroom, stepping over the thick paint on the floor. As she brushed past a girl, the girl glanced at her.
But Jiang Meng didn't notice.
After leaving the classroom, the girl saw the boy riding away on his bicycle at the school gate and quickened her pace: "Chen Jizhou."
Chen Jizhou straddled the bicycle, one foot on the ground.
He was stuck on the road near the entrance. There were quite a few people there during school dismissal time, so he leisurely waited for the light to come on for a while.
Hearing someone call his name, Chen Jizhou turned around and saw a girl he vaguely recognized but not very familiar with. They had been in the same class before they were divided into different majors, but he couldn't quite remember her name.
Chen Jizhou asked her, "Is something the matter?"
The girl immediately said, "No, I just finished class and saw Jiang Meng go to see Li Shuheng. I was just wondering if they're together?"
Chen Jizhou paused slightly, then frowned.
As he lowered his eyes, the girl tentatively continued, "Weren't they taking extra classes together during the summer vacation? I saw Li Shuheng often going to her to discuss math problems."
Chen Jizhou looked at the red light ahead and replied in a low voice, "What does this have to do with me?"
He didn't want to listen, but the other party didn't seem to be planning to back down and wanted to report some "gossip" details to him.
He finally remembered that the girl had confessed her feelings to him.
To show he didn't want to pay attention, Chen Jizhou took out his phone and looked at it aimlessly for a while. He opened the chat list, and at the top was Jiang Meng's chat box. It's true that when you're down on your luck, even drinking cold water can cause problems. He was trying to distract himself, but he caught her off guard and saw her new profile picture.
That day, Chen Jizhou passed by under the magnolia tree and saw that the other person was taking pictures of her.
So this is the picture.
Girls often have many clever ways to express their feelings, and this is perhaps one of them.
There is someone I like.
Do you like this person?
The phone slipped from my exhausted palm into my pocket.
The girl asked him, "Aren't you curious about your friends? They're still in the art studio."
Chen Jizhou had probably played for too long today; his hands were a little sore, and his grip on the head of the ball trembled slightly. He changed to a crouching position, no longer forcing himself to support himself, allowing his hands to relax completely.
He lowered his head, ran his fingers through his hair, the soft strands flowing through them before leaving them empty again.
He rarely showed such restlessness and anxiety, his body feeling as if it were being scorched under the hottest summer sun, or as if he had swallowed a whole half-ripe persimmon.
"I don't want to know." Chen Jizhou put on his headphones.
The girl behind him saw the green light come on, but the street corner was still chaotic after school. Without hesitation, he rode his bike and nimbly weaved through the traffic like a dragon, showing no fear of danger.
She watched the cars passing by with trepidation, too afraid to follow.
He was driving very fast and disappeared from sight, eager to escape something.
The school uniform, billowing in the wind, always stands tall, and the youthful spirit will never be diminished.
It was as if, as long as he left this place, he would still be the carefree and unburdened Chen Xiaoyao.
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