Chapter 118 Apple I can't help crying
The process of leaving the school was relatively smooth. During the school sports meeting, the school was semi-open, and students' relatives and friends who wanted to come and watch could enter and exit freely with an invitation. They simply explained the situation to the teacher and the security guard and were allowed in.
The journey to the hospital was smooth, with no traffic jams and a smooth journey.
The only thing that wasn't smooth was the process of getting into the hospital. As they approached the hospital entrance, Xu Sirui's steps became slower and slower. Zhu Yingning didn't notice at first and pulled him forward. After walking for a while, she found that she couldn't pull him forward anymore. She turned around and looked at him. He had a hesitant expression and his steps were dragging.
She sighed, and even the sound of his name came out as a soft sigh: "...Xu Sirui."
"I'm not ready yet, give me another half an hour." His voice was very floating, like a kite pulled far away by a string.
She was silent for a moment, then released the hand that had been holding him: "Okay."
Xu Sirui turned and walked out.
It was noon and the sun was shining brightly outside the hospital. He walked out of the door, rubbed his face with his hands, crossed the street in front of the hospital, and went to a convenience store across the street.
Zhu Yingning didn't follow him. She stood at the hospital entrance, holding a bag of fruit she'd bought at a nearby fruit shop before entering—apples and kiwis. She'd borrowed his phone to look up fruits suitable for breast fibroids. She watched Xu Sirui walk into the convenience store and saw him order a pack of cigarettes at the counter.
There was no one at the convenience store, so he borrowed a lighter from the owner, took out a cigarette from the pack, put it in his mouth and lit it.
Because they were far away, Zhu Yingning couldn't see his expression clearly, she could only see the sparks flickering between his lips and teeth.
Sometimes it burns brightly, sometimes it dies out.
She looked at the sparkling lights across the street and gradually recalled the day when she took a ride to a strange city to pick up Zhu Dashan and take him home.
She couldn't remember many details of that day, only that she was busy, like a spinning top, not understanding anything, asking everything, and doing everything herself. It wasn't until she saw Xu Sirui's current state that she remembered that she, too, had felt homesick that day. When she finally paid the hefty fee and arrived at Zhu Dashan's ward, she paused her day's rush and went to the bathroom at the end of the hallway to wash her face.
The bathroom smelled terrible, a mixture of urine and the pungent smell of disinfectant.
But she still washed her face in it for a full five minutes.
Xu Sirui said it would take half an hour, but in fact it didn't take that long. After smoking two cigarettes, he returned the remaining pack of cigarettes to the convenience store owner, shook his clothes, and left the confused owner and returned to the hospital.
He returned to her and asked, "Do I smell?"
Zhu Yingning sniffed and shook her head: "No."
"Come closer and smell it."
She tiptoed to his collar, sniffed carefully again, and confirmed: "No."
When I looked up, I saw Xu Sirui smiling and saying, "I asked you to come closer, and you actually came this close?"
Normally, she would have reacted in some other way, speechless or angry, a reaction that came from the heart. But at this moment, she sensed that his words and the smile on his face were fake, not genuine. He was simply trying to say something funny to lighten the mood, so she faked a smile to match his reaction.
Both of them were absent-minded. After laughing, the atmosphere became even more depressed. Xu Sirui walked past her towards the ward, and she followed him with the bag.
**
Zhou Tianqing booked a single room for Zhou Tianlan so that no one could disturb him, but because of this, it was particularly quiet outside the room.
Arriving at the front of the ward, through the transparent glass above the door, they could see Zhou Tianqing sitting on a stool next to the bed with her back to them. Her long curly hair was swept over her left shoulder, and the right side of her face, which was exposed, was full of smiles. She was saying something towards the bed. Zhou Tianlan's figure was just blocked by her.
Zhu Yingning glanced back at Xu Sirui. Seeing that he didn't seem to want to open the door, she took the initiative to take over the task. She bent her fingers and knocked on the door. After receiving the response of "Come in", she pushed the door open and poked her head in first. She said, "Auntie Zhou, hello... I'm Zhu Yingning. Xu Sirui and I came to see you."
The first one to turn around was Zhou Tianqing, who was closer to the ward door. "Yingning? Aren't you guys having a school sports meet?"
"Hello, Auntie." She greeted familiarly, "We've asked for leave, and the school sports meeting won't be very strict, so it's okay to leave early."
Only after she said this did she see clearly Zhou Tianlan sitting in front of Zhou Tianqing. She looked both similar and different from the wedding photo in Xu Sirui's home. Similar because the arrangement of her facial features had not changed, and she still had the same facial features. Different because she looked much older than in the wedding photo. There were obvious wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, her cheeks were slightly swollen, and her long hair was gone, replaced by short hair that reached her ears, which was probably the uniform hairstyle for female prisoners in prison.
As she looked at Zhou Tianlan, Zhou Tianlan was also looking at her. A smile spread across his haggard face, with a hint of intimacy: "Are you Yingning? You look taller than when you were in the mountains."
Zhu Yingning was a little surprised: "Do you know what I look like?"
"I never miss any of your variety shows." She smiled.
Zhu Yingning suddenly realized, yes, as a mother, she would definitely watch every variety show her child participated in.
Thinking of Xu Sirui, she was a little slow to realize that Zhou Tianlan's eyes were always glancing behind her. She also glanced back, and then she was shocked to find that there was no one behind her.
He didn't follow in.
Zhu Yingning chuckled awkwardly twice, then retreated under the gaze of Zhou Tianlan and Zhou Tianqing. She caught Xu Sirui squatting at the door and whispered, "What are you doing? Come in!"
Without giving him a chance to regret or resist, she pushed him in from behind with all her might.
Xu Sirui was like a soldier who was forced to blow up a bunker. He stood beside the bed at a loss, with his head lowered. He didn't look at Zhou Tianlan, but only stared at the tip of his shoe. If you didn't know better, you would think there was a piece of gold carved on it.
Zhou Tianlan reached out and grabbed his arm, flipping him over and over. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, his eyes turned red. After choking for a long time, he finally said, "...You've lost weight."
Zhou Tianqing knew her sister and nephew's personalities well. If this situation continued, her sister would definitely spend the entire day weeping in front of her son. Xu Sirui was already awkward, and seeing others cry was even more awkward. This meeting would likely end in a long period of crying and awkward silence. Zhou Tianqing felt a splitting headache at the thought of that scene, and quickly spoke out to stop her sister from getting any more emotional: "He's not thinner, how could he be thinner? He's just taller."
Zhu Yingning understood and echoed, "Yes, yes, Aunt Zhou, Xu Sirui has grown again. He is now 1.86 meters tall."
"If I only grew taller but not heavier, doesn't that mean I've become thinner?" Zhou Tianlan sobbed, his own logic behind the words.
Zhu Yingning immediately added, "He's gained weight, too. He weighs over 120 kilograms."
"He's still thin, too thin!" She took a tissue and covered her nose with it, wiping her nose loudly. For example, someone's son was only a little over 1.6 meters tall, but he also weighed 120 kilograms. Xu Sirui was so tall, how could he weigh over 120 kilograms like him?
Zhou Tianqing said with a smile: "It's normal for children to grow taller during puberty, so it's normal for them to be lighter. Ruirui is fine like this. It won't be too late to build muscle when he grows taller."
Zhu Yingning nodded repeatedly. She caught a glimpse of the bag in her hand and quickly picked it up, changing the subject: "Auntie, look, this is the fruit that Xu Sirui and I picked for you."
In fact, she picked them all by herself. Xu Sirui was absent-minded the whole time on the way here, so let alone expecting him to pick the fruits, she even wanted to sigh, "Alas, it's a blessing that he didn't run away."
Zhou Tianlan finally stopped crying, took the bag, and looked through the fruits inside with curiosity.
Zhu Yingning took the opportunity to assign a task to Xu Sirui, who was as stiff as a log beside her. She picked a big, round apple from the bag and stuffed it into his hand: "Go peel an apple for your mother."
Zhou Tianlan was shocked: "Ruirui, you can peel the fruit yourself?"
Zhu Yingning: “?”
Zhou Tianlan's eyes turned red again without saying a word. He looked at Zhou Tianqing and sobbed, "I told you that he must have suffered when I was away."
Zhu Yingning: “?”
She seemed to understand why Xu Sirui was suffering from the prince's disease.
Xu Sirui walked into the bathroom in the ward holding the apple. The sound of running water came from inside. After a few minutes, he came out, found a peeler in the locker in the ward, pulled out a chair, sat on the chair and started peeling the apple facing the trash can.
He was focused and silent, his mouth seemed to be sewn shut with invisible thread, and his eyes were always glued to the apple peel.
He didn't talk, but someone had to talk in the ward, otherwise it would be too boring. Zhou Tianqing took the lead in the conversation. When she got tired of talking and stopped to drink water, Zhu Yingning would spontaneously take over and chat about all sorts of things, including their school and the latest news.
Zhou Tianlan would ask questions and laugh heartily when he heard topics that interested him. She was different from what Zhu Yingning had imagined. Although she looked haggard, she did not have the sadness that often characterizes the sick.
After a long chat, Xu Sirui finally finished peeling the apple in his hand. He peeled it too slowly, and the flesh oxidized, turning an uneven yellow-brown color. When Zhou Tianlan was about to take the apple, he finally said his first words since entering the ward. He spoke quietly, almost to himself, "Let me peel another one."
"No, this one is good." Zhou Tianlan said with a smile.
Xu Sirui's hand paused slightly when she took the apple.
She ate an apple, and a crunching sound filled the ward. She called out to Zhu Yingning, "Yingning, do you want some kiwi? Wash it and cut one and eat it."
Zhu Yingning was about to say no when Zhou Tianqing took out two kiwis from the bag and said, "I'll go to the bathroom and get some for you."
She was flattered and immediately stood up and chased after him, competing with Zhou Tianqing to wash the fruit.
The sink in the bathroom was so tiny that it certainly couldn't accommodate two people. In the end, Zhou Tianqing was squeezed out by Zhu Yingning. She stood behind her, watching her lower her head to scrub, with a helpless expression on her face. After watching for a while, she asked softly, "How is it? Is Ruirui's mother different from what you imagined?"
Zhu Yingning peeled the washed kiwi fruit with a knife and nodded hesitantly.
It's indeed different.
She couldn't see the other person's tone or expression during their correspondence. She had always thought Zhou Tianlan's personality was similar to Zhou Tianqing's, but she didn't expect...
"My sister has a very girlish mentality," Zhou Tianqing said with a smile. "When she gets emotional, she cries when she wants to and laughs when she wants to. She's also very simple-minded. Even at her age, she's still not very shrewd. She's very troublesome, but different from Ruirui. The only similarity is that sometimes I have to coax them like a child. However, she actually has a bit of a wise but seemingly foolish streak."
Zhu Yingning listened attentively, rinsed the sliced kiwi fruit with water again, placed it on a plate, and whispered the question that she had been reluctant to ask in public just now: "Aunt Zhou's illness..."
"Don't worry about that," Zhou Tianqing said. "The possibility of a disease is relatively low. We'll just remove the fibroid first, then observe for a while. If there are no major abnormalities, she can be discharged. We were able to secure medical parole mainly because of her good behavior in prison, her short sentence, and the fact that I have a lawyer following up on her case. We're trying to get this opportunity mainly to get her out for some fresh air."
Zhu Yingning wasn't sure if Zhou Tianqing was trying to comfort her, to stop her and Xu Sirui from worrying about children, or if she was being honest. She thought for a moment and then asked, "Is there anything we can do to help?"
"It would be a great help if you could come visit her more often." She smiled and touched her head.
"I will try my best to persuade Xu Sirui to visit her more often."
"Yeah." Zhou Tianqing withdrew her hand, but the smile on her face did not disappear. "I think Ruirui listens to you very well. Yingning, you really helped our family a lot."
"Really?" Zhu Yingning was stunned. She didn't think Xu Sirui listened to her very much.
But Zhou Tianqing nodded confidently and emphasized: "He has never even listened to his mother like this."
**
They didn't stay in the ward for long. When the sun was about to set, Zhou Tianqing and Zhou Tianlan worked together to urge them to go back, saying that if they went back now, they could avoid the evening rush hour and avoid having to wait in line for a taxi for half a day.
The two of them were packed up and thrown away like garbage bags.
There were many people at the hospital entrance and it was difficult to get a taxi, so they had to walk further away and then call a taxi.
When walking to the taxi stand, Xu Sirui always walked a few steps faster than her. Zhu Yingning wanted to speed up to catch up with him at first, but she found that as long as she sped up, Xu Sirui would also speed up, as if he deliberately didn't want to walk side by side with her.
She curled her lips.
When they reached the intersection and the light turned green, a crowd of people instantly rushed over from behind them, weaving in and out between them, almost separating them. Zhu Yingning finally found him, thinking that she really had to keep up, so she trotted over to his side and asked him to walk slower.
After saying that, she naturally glanced in his direction and was stunned.
She saw two lines of tears on his face.
Silent and clear.
There was a noisy crowd at the intersection. Occasionally, a passerby would notice his movements, glance at him in surprise, and then hurried away.
The world is so busy that no one has the heart to care about someone else's joys and sorrows.
Only her heart was clenched when she saw his tears.
The zebra crossing was only a few inches away, and he quickly crossed it. He opened his mouth and choked out a few breaths, "...You know, my mom never wanted to cut her hair short because she thought she looked most beautiful with long hair."
"Xu Sirui..."
"She said I couldn't peel an apple. Actually, she couldn't do any housework either. She even had to have someone else peel the shrimp for her before she would eat them. But when I handed her the apple just now, I felt the calluses on her hands."
He seemed to be asking her, or perhaps talking to himself, as he looked at his palms with tear-filled eyes and said, "How could she have calluses on her hands?"
Zhou Tianqing asked him why he just refused to go see his mother, did he blame her so much?
Sun Mingyuan also said that your mother is also a victim, Xu Sirui, don’t be so naive.
In fact, he did not blame her, nor did he ever list her as the perpetrator of their family misfortune. He was always unwilling to see her simply because -
He couldn't help crying when he saw his mother suffering.
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