Su Er hung up the phone and lit another cigarette to quell her momentary lapse of judgment.
Nicotine numbed her nerves, giving her a brief chance to escape reality.
Su Er turned her head and looked at the mess on the ground. Her previously uneasy heart suddenly felt grounded.
She seems to be worrying too much. What she should be doing now is cleaning up the mess and finding a good place to hide her toys, cigarettes, and alcohol.
After finishing her cigarette, Su Er quickly took a shower, then tidied up until the early hours of the morning. Only after confirming that there was no smell of smoke in the room did she close the window and lie down.
...
After that night, her parents never directly mentioned the matter of taking the civil service exam and staying at the school to her again.
But there were plenty of subtle hints, such as casually mentioning in front of her who someone's child got a promotion, got married, or had a baby this year...
Add a sentence like, "Peace and tranquility, how wonderful."
She doesn't spend much time at home anyway, and she doesn't want to end up arguing with her parents every time.
At first she would reply with a couple of words, but in the end she lost all her temper.
She listened to what Su Boyuan and the others were saying, letting it go in one ear and out the other, at least she could have a moment of peace after they finished rambling on.
During her week at home, she almost returned to the lifestyle she had before her second year of high school.
I was woken up promptly at seven o'clock in the morning to have breakfast and do morning exercise.
At 10 p.m. sharp, someone would knock on her door and tell her to turn off the lights and go to sleep.
The time spent using electronic products was reduced to a minimum when the two elders were not teaching. They read three books and wrote three book reports.
In this mundane life, the only difference from before is that there is now someone on my phone with whom I chat a few words every day.
She and Jiang Siyan didn't actually talk much.
Most of the time, he asked her what she was doing.
She said she was reading a book.
He asked what book.
She would send a picture of a book title, and then the conversation would end abruptly.
He wouldn't reply until late at night, but by then Su Er was usually asleep.
Sometimes, Su Er felt that they were like pen pals who communicated by letter in an era when roads were impassable.
You never know when, because of the loss of a letter, you might lose all contact with someone.
Of course, there were also one or two times when Jiang Siyan would call late at night.
One time, He Yi got up to use the bathroom and heard noises coming from her room. She knocked on the door and asked, "Er'er, aren't you asleep yet?"
Su Er was so startled that her hand trembled. She hurriedly stuffed her phone under the covers and pretended to be half asleep, saying, "Mom, what did you say?"
He Yi pushed the door open and came in. Seeing that she was indeed very tired, he closed the door again.
At that time, Jiang Siyan was usually on his way back to the courtyard after get off work, watching the endless stream of cars and people, quietly listening to the panicked rubbing sounds on the other end of the phone, and her deliberately muffled voice.
How come they look so much like teenage boys and girls secretly in love during their school days? Thinking of this, Jiang Siyan couldn't help but chuckle.
Just then, Su Er put the receiver back to her ear, looking quite accusatory, yet not forgetting the clear boundary between them, and asked, "What are you laughing at?"
Jiang Siyan chuckled teasingly, "Does our Er'er not even need to think before she lies?"
Su Er would always hang up the phone in a fit of anger.
This was an extremely opportune time; her rebellious nature was suppressed at home, and yet, at night, there was this seemingly unspeakable presence.
Just like when she was in school, she would secretly read novels and browse through erotic poems behind her parents' backs at night, and skip evening self-study for the first time...
It's the same kind of unusual sense of satisfaction that comes with it.
She told herself that Jiang Siyan was nothing special; it was just that he had just the right amount of time to satisfy her somewhat childish rebellious nature.
...
After a week at home, Su Er opened her makeup bag for the first time in a proper manner.
She stood in front of the mirror, using an eyebrow pencil to draw her already delicate eyebrows and eyes. "Mom, I'm not coming home for dinner tonight."
He Yi happened to have no classes today. When he came out of the study, he was taken aback to see her dressed so lightly. "Where are you going?"
"Shushu invited me to dinner."
Hearing the familiar name, He Yi breathed a sigh of relief and told her, "Don't eat that junk food! Eat something healthy!"
Su Er opened the cap of the lip gloss and lightly dabbed it on her lips. "Okay."
Su Er had almost finished tidying up when she pursed her lips and heard He Yi calling her from the living room, "Er Er, you have a phone call."
"Shushu?"
He Yi took a closer look and said, "No, his surname is... Jiang? His name is Jiang Siyan."
Su Er paused, her hand on her lips smudging the lip gloss.
Without time to tidy up, she quickly walked out, calmly took the phone, and said, "I'll take it; it's my assistant."
He Yi looked at her suspiciously: "When did you get an assistant surnamed Jiang?"
Although Su Boyuan and He Yi strongly disapproved of Su Er's acting career, they still regularly checked on Su Er's work situation and even knew the names of her assistants.
Su Er didn't even blink and said, "Sister Qin helped me recruit a new one."
He Yi clearly didn't believe her and stood there with the book in her hand.
Su Er had no choice but to answer the phone, "Hello, what's up?"
Jiang Siyan noticed the stiffness in her voice and asked with a smile, "What's wrong? Why are you so nervous?"
Su Er coughed lightly, answering a question unrelated to the one asked, "What script?"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Siyan guessed something: "Auntie is right next to me."
"Um."
"Give the phone to your aunt, I'll handle it for you."
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