Chapter 38
The Milky Way fell overhead, burning and spinning.
Lu Mingxiao's world was like fireworks, suddenly bright and dazzling. He was stunned by those five short words, afraid that he had misheard something. He even thought: No, no, no, this is not right. This topic, this atmosphere, Jiang Xiaoyu must have acted on impulse...
His jawline tightened, and he gritted his teeth to suppress the urge to nod: "Jiang Xiaoyu, what did you say? I didn't hear you clearly."
He subtly offered a way out, knowing that, given Jiang Huaiyu's personality, he would definitely...
His answer was a light kiss that landed on his cheek.
Jiang Huaiyu tiptoed up to kiss him, tilting his head and fluttering his eyelashes like butterfly wings. His soft, warm lips pressed against Lu Mingxiao's cheek, which was chilled by the winter wind. This slight warmth was like the first ray of sunshine breaking through the ice in spring, seemingly weak, yet carrying the power to shake the entire frozen ground.
Lu Mingxiao was like that frozen soil. He could clearly feel the budding of the seed. His heartbeat gradually quickened, eventually turning into a noisy drumbeat, and the seed broke through the soil in an instant.
He hugged Jiang Huaiyu tightly, and once he did, he didn't want to let go.
"You..." He nervously leaned close to Jiang Huaiyu's ear, as if telling a secret: "Didn't you say we weren't adults yet? How come suddenly..."
"Mmm." Jiang Huaiyu hugged him tightly, burying her face in his neck: "I can't wait any longer, and I don't want to wait anymore."
As the fireworks faded, only the gentle moonlight remained on the open ground, hazily enveloping the two, their intertwined shadows stretching long and thin.
Lu Mingxiao gently kissed Jiang Huaiyu's ear and answered his question seriously: "Okay, let's date."
The two hugged each other for a long time, as if everything was the same as before, yet everything also seemed different.
They no longer needed to find excuses to hold hands. Lu Mingxiao even "dared" to grab Jiang Huaiyu's hand and look at it again and again, and finally tried to put it in his pocket. However, since the two were already close to their home, the newly minted boyfriend directly rejected him.
They entered one after the other. The dumplings were already cooked. The old television was playing a boring Spring Festival Gala, which no one watched and just used as background noise. Jiang Lan and Li Qing had both changed into red dresses and were sharing anecdotes about their two children's childhood. Song Jingliang was learning to knit a sweater with Lu Chuan. When they returned, Lu Chuan took out the red envelopes he had prepared and handed them over.
"Lucky money, wishing you a safe and peaceful new year."
Jiang Huaiyu and Lu Mingxiao each received four red envelopes.
In the new year, it seems like the whole world loves them, including each other.
...
In the early hours of the morning, the Lu family courtyard, bustling all day, finally quieted down. The adults, exhausted from the day, quickly drifted off to sleep, while in the small bedroom—
A beam of warm light shone through the window opening in the wall panel and fell on Lu Mingxiao.
“Brother Xiao, I know you’re not asleep.” Jiang Huaiyu, wearing short-haired pajamas, leaned over and shone a flashlight on Lu Mingxiao: “Let’s chat.”
Lu Mingxiao closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. He knew what Jiang Huaiyu wanted to talk to him about.
The flashlight beam flickered for a while before silently going out, and Lu Mingxiao breathed a sigh of relief.
He himself was not quite sure whether the incident that happened when he was six years old had left any psychological shadow on him, but he was not afraid or reluctant to talk about it. He was unwilling to go into details because he was worried that Jiang Huaiyu would feel guilty and sad.
However, before they could fully relax, they heard rustling sounds at the door. The exaggeratedly ugly curtain with the words "Bringing in wealth and treasures" painted on it was gently lifted, and very light footsteps approached like a kitten.
They were so close that Lu Mingxiao could no longer keep up the act. He controlled his breathing and tried to continue pretending to be asleep.
With a soft "kiss," Jiang Huaiyu gave him a hard kiss on the cheek. Lu Mingxiao instantly snapped to attention, flipping over to hug Jiang Huaiyu, who was kneeling by the bed: "Jiang Xiaoyu, how could you do this?"
His ears turned bright red as he muttered a complaint in a low voice: "They really stop at nothing..."
"It's good that it's useful." Jiang Huaiyu chuckled and touched his ear, her fingertips tingling from the heat. "Brother Xiao, I would have investigated this even if you hadn't told me. You might as well tell me. We can use the time saved to hug and 'slip', don't you think?"
Lu Mingxiao gazed into those clear, stubborn eyes, sighed after a moment, and pulled Jiang Huaiyu onto the bed as well.
Their small single bed was not big enough for two tall, upright young men to lie side by side, so the two sat side by side against the wall, with flashlights in hand, wrapped in blankets and snuggling together.
"Let me think, this story goes back a long time..." Afraid of waking the parents outside, Lu Mingxiao spoke very softly: "It goes back to when our mother was born."
“My mother’s hometown is in a mountain valley in the south. Her original name wasn’t Li Qing, it was…” Lu Mingxiao paused, a hint of disgust flashing in his eyes: “Wang Laidi.”
Some names, once spoken, reveal the malicious intent of the person who named them. Jiang Huaiyu frowned; he was disgusted by this name, let alone Li Qing herself.
"It's disgusting, isn't it..." Lu Mingxiao gently fiddled with Jiang Huaiyu's fingers, the flashlight beam illuminating her nails in a cute pink hue. But in the darkness, a surge of malice churned in Lu Mingxiao's eyes: "When Mom was seventeen, her stepfather took five thousand yuan and gave her to a twenty-seven-year-old man. That man..."
His voice trembled slightly, and he didn't continue, but Jiang Huaiyu already understood what he hadn't finished saying.
Seventeen years old, the same age as them.
Jiang Huaiyu's breath caught in his throat. He felt a chill creeping up his fingertips like a venomous snake, a sharp pain tightening in his heart, followed by a sudden, explosive surge of rage. He gripped Lu Mingxiao's hand tightly, his voice hoarse as he spoke: "Those two beasts..."
But how did Lu Mingxiao know about these things?
Li Qing would never mention these traumas to the children. Who told Lu Mingxiao...?
He looked up, and their eyes met. Lu Mingxiao placed his fingertip on the corner of his eye, gently pressed it, and wiped away the moisture. Then he answered his question: "You want to know how I know? I heard it from that scumbag who forced his mother."
"What do you mean..." Jiang Huaiyu felt a chill run down her spine: "You've seen him? Wait a minute... Could that person be the suspect Luo? The murderer who broke into a house, robbed, and injured someone?"
Lu Mingxiao nodded.
Jiang Huaiyu felt as if she had been thrown into an icy lake. The suffocating cold instantly numbed her limbs. When Lu Mingxiao was six years old, Li Qing was already thirty-two. From seventeen to thirty-two, a full fifteen years had passed. It was hard to imagine how much pain Li Qing must have felt when this scumbag reappeared and hurt her child.
“Jiang Xiaoyu, breathe…” Lu Mingxiao put his arm around Jiang Huaiyu’s shoulder, letting her lean against him. He gently stroked Jiang Huaiyu’s trembling back, one stroke after another, his voice becoming low and hoarse: “Why do you have to hear it? I really wish she would never know these things…”
“No…” Jiang Huaiyu hugged him tightly, drawing courage from his body heat: “Brother Xiao, I should know these things, that’s my mother…”
Li Qing is a flower that blooms from the ruins. If he doesn't even dare to listen, how can he be worthy of being her child?
Lu Mingxiao lowered his head, kissed his hair, and continued speaking.
“That bastard Luo Gui didn’t tell me much. What happened later was pieced together from snippets of conversation between my parents over the years.”
When Li Qing was forced to marry Luo Gui, she was under the legal marriage age, so they did not have a marriage certificate. Luo Gui forced her to work and serve him, but she was still frequently beaten and verbally abused. For the first two years, she tried every means to escape, but being caught and brought back would only result in more severe beatings.
When Li Qing turned nineteen, she became docile and obedient. Luo Gui thought she had been beaten into submission, and since they were only a year away from getting their marriage certificate, Luo Gui lowered his guard.
Li Qing found her ID card and household registration book, took the money she had secretly saved, boarded a train heading north, and changed her name.
She escaped, but lived in constant fear, fleeing at the mere sight of anyone who resembled Luo Gui.
She was like a tumbleweed, carried by the wind to many places. Whenever she encountered water, she would take root and strive to grow stronger. She learned to communicate with people and was truly gifted. She learned many dialects, met many people, and saw many beautiful sights.
Before this, only her body had escaped. As her horizons and knowledge broadened, her soul also gained freedom. The face would still appear in her nightmares, but she was no longer being chased. She dreamed that she would fight back, even if it meant mutual destruction and bloodshed.
Her world is so vast, while maggots can only live in the gutter.
At the age of 23, Li Qing started learning the renovation business from her master, and that year she met Lu Chuan.
How much love would it take to be powerful enough to unlock her tightly closed heart?
Lu Chuan didn't know the answer, but he was prepared for a lifetime of hardship.
...
“Mom is the most amazing person I’ve ever met.” Lu Mingxiao gently ran his fingers through Jiang Huaiyu’s hair. “Her resilience and vibrant life force make me feel that nothing can defeat her. I’ve only seen her cry twice. Once was when Dad injured his lungs, and the other time was when I… was cornered in the house by that scumbag who came all the way from afar and got beaten up.”
As night deepened, the temperature in the room gradually decreased. Lu Mingxiao took Jiang Huaiyu's blanket and covered both of them with one blanket, while the other was wrapped around their bodies. They huddled together for warmth like two little sparrows building a nest for the winter. Unbeknownst to them, Jiang Huaiyu had cried a small patch of wetness on Lu Mingxiao's pajamas.
Lu Mingxiao simply brushed it off with "gave him a beating," but if it was just "gave him a beating," how could that beast have been sentenced to fourteen years?
Jiang Huaiyu knew he was downplaying the issue, but she didn't call him out on it. She simply nestled quietly in his arms, listening to his heartbeat.
"Hmm? Jiang Xiaoyu? Did you cry yourself to sleep?" Lu Mingxiao cupped Jiang Huaiyu's face in his hands and leaned over to kiss his swollen eyelids. "Alright, I've told you everything you need to know. From now on, it's our shared secret. Mom definitely doesn't want us to know these things, so don't act strangely in front of her, okay?"
"Hmm..." Jiang Huaiyu responded sullenly.
"Then go back to sleep, my bed is too crowded."
Jiang Huaiyu didn't move, but buried her head back in his arms and hugged him tightly.
"You're being coquettish again, fine, fine..." Lu Mingxiao gave in, pulling Jiang Huaiyu down to lie on his side and letting her sleep on the inside, wrapping them both up tightly in the blanket: "Then I'll hold you while we sleep, just this once, you'll go back over there by yourself tomorrow morning..."
“Brother Xiao…” Jiang Huaiyu interrupted him softly, “I will protect Mom with you.”
He grabbed Lu Mingxiao's pajamas collar and looked up at him: "I want to protect you too."
Those wet eyes, in the dim light, shone with a stubborn yet resolute glimmer.
Lu Mingxiao's heart softened terribly. He lowered his head and kissed the space between his eyebrows, gently responding to him:
"Okay, then I'll leave it to you."
Author's Note:
I've had so much going on these past few days, I'm exhausted, and I was writing a really important part, so I'm really stuck. That's all I have left, not a drop more. [melted emoji]
My mom is an amazing woman. She wasn't redeemed by love; she redeemed herself and then bravely went on to love again. [heart emoji]
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