Chapter 11 Are the people simple and honest? The winding gravel road is like a snake's belly...
On Thursday morning, Xu Sirui got up before school time and had breakfast, but he still refused to go to school.
Yang Ji tried to persuade her with great enthusiasm, but seeing that his words were ineffective, he had no choice but to go find Zhu Yingning again.
However, this time Zhu Yingning rejected him: "No."
"Why?"
"He said he hated me."
Yang Ji had no choice but to do his best to find excuses for Xu Sirui: "Haha, you know he's just like that. Apart from online games, what else does he like? Even his parents would get scolded by him if they stood in front of him. He might say he hates you, but he doesn't necessarily mean it. He might just be a mean person..."
Before he could finish his words, Xu Sirui's loud voice suddenly rang out from the room: "Zhu Yingning—Hey! Zhu Yingning—!"
Yang Jixi said happily: "Look, he is calling you now. I said that you two are the same age, so it is easier to get along."
Zhu Yingning walked in with a skeptical attitude. The moment she entered, she saw Prince Xu leaning against the desk with his arms folded, a look of impending disaster. Upon seeing her, he immediately pulled a long face and pointed at his suitcase, saying word by word, "My down clothes and quilt were stolen."
"What?"
Zhu Yingning walked over, bewildered, and peeking inside the suitcase, she found her down jacket missing. He'd been staying in bed for the past two days, refusing to go to school, so he hadn't had a chance to wear it. Seeing his clothes lying on the desk, taking up unnecessary space and disrupting her homework, she simply rolled them up and stuffed them in his suitcase.
"Didn't you take it out and wear it? Maybe you forgot where you put it?" she asked.
Xu Sirui immediately blew his beard and glared: "I took it out and wore it? You are ridiculous! Don't I know whether I have worn it or not? But you, did you take it away?"
"I didn't! I put it in the box for you two days ago."
The subtext of his words was as if she had stolen the down jacket. Zhu Yingning also became anxious, "Why would I steal your down jacket?!"
"Did I say you stole it? Why are you so anxious? Are you guilty as a thief?"
"Xu Sirui!" She was furious.
As soon as Yang Ji stepped in, he saw the two men on edge. Zhu Yingning had one hand on Xu Sirui's collar, and Xu Sirui was pinching her wrist. The two of them were glaring at each other, looking as if they were about to fight. He was startled and hurried to stop Xu Sirui: "Hey, hey, hey, that's too much! It's okay to hit others, but you even hit Yingning. Are you still a man?"
"?"
Xu Sirui was furious. He didn't understand why this had anything to do with whether he was a man. Just because Zhu Yingning was short, did he have to give in to her?
The photographer also took the opportunity to persuade him: "Let's look inside the house first. It's too early to conclude that it was stolen. Maybe someone just put it somewhere else."
Zhu Yingning also thought it made sense, and she was eager to prove her innocence, so she let go of Xu Sirui's collar, turned around and followed the staff to search.
Everyone was busy, except Xu Sirui, who sat on a chair with his legs crossed, like an overseer, and from time to time he would arrogantly say, "Look carefully, don't be blind." The moment Zhu Yingning looked up and saw him, she felt a surge of anger in her stomach, and she wanted to rush over, grab his neck and punch him twice.
However, the group turned the house upside down but still couldn't find his down jacket.
When asked if she had washed it, Liu Guifang waved her hands repeatedly: "How dare I wash it casually? What if it gets damaged?"
When I asked my grandma, she just smiled foolishly and couldn't give me any answer.
When I asked the crew, they all said they didn't see anything.
There is no doubt that the down jacket is missing. It can't have grown wings and flown away on its own. All the evidence points to theft.
"The people are simple and honest?"
Xu Sirui leaned against the wall, a mocking snort came out of his nose, and he looked at Zhu Yingning leisurely.
Her face flashed red, white, and green, a dazzling display comparable to a dyeing operation, until all the colors finally settled into a single, shameful crimson. She lowered her neck, biting her lower lip. It took a long time for her to manage a sentence: "I'll help you get it back, prove it wasn't stolen... I'll definitely get your down jacket back!"
"Really?" Xu Sirui sneered and did not comment.
**
Xu Sirui stopped his hunger strike, having fully realized that he couldn't endure the hardship. But he also didn't want to go to school. He didn't want to go to a place with such appalling teaching standards, watching a bunch of talented students scramble to raise their hands to answer questions, and listening to teachers far inferior to him impart knowledge even elementary school students could understand. After watching Zhu Yingning carry her schoolbag to school, he began his day of solitude, or rather, the most boring day ever.
He couldn't go home for the time being, and calling his parents to beg for mercy was useless. He planned to stay in the village and kill time before figuring out a new way to leave. During the previous two days of hunger strike, his body had automatically prolonged its sleep time to protect itself, and he had slept almost all day. But now that he had eaten a full meal and was full of energy, he couldn't fall asleep, so he had to get up and find some entertainment.
There were few entertainment activities in the mountains, and there was basically no fun to be found. The few entertainment activities almost all required dealing with people or animals. He hated dealing with the people in the mountains and also hated the poultry here. He wandered around aimlessly for the whole morning, and in the end he didn't find any fun. He was so bored that he was about to molder.
After lunch, he had to lie down on the kang and take a nap, forcing himself to sleep for a while to fight boredom. The photographer saw that there was nothing to record, so he also went to rest.
Xu Sirui slept intermittently until four in the afternoon before he got up from the bed.
His head was dizzy, heavy, and hot from excessive sleep. Every time he moved, it felt like water was sloshing around inside him, dirty water with a lot of silt deposited on it. He supported himself with his temples, feeling dizzy and light-headed as he walked out of the house. Like an idle tramp, he wandered aimlessly around the village.
When he reached the village entrance, he heard Liu Guifang's voice coming from the open door of one of the houses. He glanced inside and saw Liu Guifang sitting on the rattan chair of that family, talking to someone inside.
Life in the village was simple and dull, and walking the streets was an important social activity. Moreover, villagers were often related by blood, with many relatives living together. It was common for everyone to visit each other and maintain close relationships. Without giving it much thought, Xu Sirui was about to leave. But before he had taken a few steps, he heard Liu Guifang inside, her voice lowered, "Sister Ping, please keep my down jacket for me."
down jacket?
Xu Sirui was stunned, his feet seemed to be stuck by glue, and he was pulled to the spot.
The person Liu Guifang called Sister Ping laughed and said, "Sure, sure! I'll definitely keep it well hidden for you."
He froze outside the door, glancing inside and seeing Liu Guifang, who usually behaved submissively in front of him, rubbing her hands together, still looking respectful and humble. She smiled shyly and embarrassedly, "Actually, Sister Ping... I'm also a little unsure about this, and I feel like what I'm doing is immoral... But you know me. My husband works hard outside for a year and can't earn a penny. Our son Jixiang has grown up wearing nothing but cotton-padded jackets picked up from fellow villagers, let alone down jackets. As a mother, how could I not feel sorry for my child? I'm thinking about my child too, so I got so obsessed..."
Sister Ping advised, "Oh, Fang'er, you're just too kind-hearted! If I were to ask you, that child is obviously rich, and his family must have plenty of food and clothing. What's wrong with you taking a piece of his clothing? It's not a big deal! Why are you making such a big deal about it? If he even cares about this, then he's really uneducated."
Liu Guifang heaved a sigh of relief, not knowing whether she was persuaded by the other party or was comforting herself: "That's right, that's right..."
Xu Sirui didn't listen to the rest of the conversation. He turned around and walked away.
The winding gravel path, like a snake's belly, twisted and turned towards one mountain after another. He walked along the end of the road, but he could not get out of the deep mountains. Instead, he walked like a ghost, and was always back to where he started.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, the sky was bright and the sun was standing on the top of the mountain, shining hotly on him.
It should have been the best time of the day, but he felt a sticky, sickening sensation, like someone stepping on someone's chewing gum while walking down the street. The chewed gum stuck to the sole of his shoe, and it wouldn't come off no matter how hard he tried to shake it off or how hard he tried to grind it. Over time, the dust on the road eroded it into a foul black.
Absolutely disgusting.
**
"Mom, I'm back—"
It was almost seven o'clock when Zhu Yingning returned home. She put down her schoolbag, rolled up her sleeves, and went to the kitchen in the back to help. She took out the soup and rice from the stove and brought them to the dining table in the house. Then she soaked the soup in one of the bowls of rice, mashed it with a spoon, brought it to the kang, and began to feed her grandmother by coaxing and tricking her.
This is her daily routine after school.
The old lady is old and needs help to eat and take a bath. Although Liu Guifang is said to be taking care of her, she feels sorry for her mother's tiredness and always helps whenever she can.
After feeding the old lady dinner, Zhu Yingning skillfully went to the kitchen to get a bucket of hot water, lowered the curtain in the middle of the room, and began to wipe the old lady's body.
The old lady had to be wiped clean. Her mouth was leaky, and she always got rice crumbs all over her body when she ate. Even a bib was useless. But even though she was old and confused, she still had an instinct for hygiene. If she was not wiped clean immediately, she would cry loudly, disturbing the whole family.
After completing the whole process, Zhu Yingning finally had time to sit down and eat.
The food left for her was almost cold. She picked up the bowl and ate most of it in a few mouthfuls.
As she was eating, the hairs on her body stood up. She keenly noticed a fiery gaze falling on her. She looked up and saw Xu Sirui sitting at the desk, supporting his chin with one hand, staring at her silently, with a heavy and ambiguous look in his eyes.
She felt a little uncomfortable with his gaze, so she shifted her hips and asked, "Is there something wrong?"
He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he stared at her for a while before turning his head away and saying, "No."
"?"
baffling.
Zhu Yingning frowned. Seeing that he said nothing, she could only mutter to herself in her heart. She finished the food in her bowl and casually told him, "There's a new basin of hot water in the kitchen. Take it and take a bath first, otherwise it will cool down and we'll have to boil it again."
Under normal circumstances, Xu Sirui would definitely retort to her, "How dare you arrange for me?"
But today, I don’t know if this person took the wrong medicine. Not only did he not refute, he also said "oh" obediently and turned to go to the kitchen.
“…”
Zhu Yingning stared at his back in confusion.
She planned to go to the back of the house to chop firewood while Xu Sirui was taking a shower, and then hurry back to the house to do her homework. However, just as the firewood was set up, she heard Xu Sirui's voice coming from the iron shed next to her: "Zhu Yingning, are you outside? I forgot to take my pajamas."
She wiped the sweat from her forehead with her arm and said, "You find someone else to help you. I'm chopping wood."
"Who else can help except you? It's just a pair of pajamas, hurry up!" Xu Sirui's voice immediately became impatient.
She glared at Tiepeng and turned to help him call for help, but he shouted presciently, "You dare? Go get me some clothes!"
“…”
Helpless, Zhu Yingning had no choice but to hold the machete and angrily and without any deterrence, chopping at the air in the direction of the iron shed for a while. Then he put down the work at hand and went back to the house unhappily to help him find pajamas.
Zhu Yingning couldn't tell what material Xu Sirui's pajamas were made of, but she could tell by instinct that they were expensive. She picked one up at random, but she was afraid the calluses on her hands would scratch it, so she had to hold it between her elbows. She walked to the iron shed, knocked on the door, and said to him, "Do you want to open the door and take it, or do you want me to throw it in from above?"
"Don't throw it away." He quickly stopped it.
Zhu Yingning stood outside waiting for him to open the door.
She originally thought that Xu Sirui would open the door a crack and take the clothes from the gap, but before she could react, the door of the iron shed suddenly opened completely, and Xu Sirui reached out and pulled her in.
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