Chapter 14: Irritability It's not him who did anything wrong, why would he...
Xu Sirui wasn't completely unaware of Zhu Yingning's kindness; after all, he'd received help from her before, and now this help had added to his already immense wealth. But he still found it hard to believe someone could be so selfless without any element of showmanship. In his view, any selfless act that violated human selfishness should be considered a purposeful performance.
The most typical example is the principal of the middle school he attended in the capital.
The principal is known for his compassionate heart. Apart from influencing problem students, his favorite thing is to do charity. It is said that no one has ever witnessed him lose his temper. Even if the class is the worst and most difficult to manage, he can remain calm and promote truth, goodness and beauty.
However, even such a "Buddha" principal, when a junior high school student in their school could not bear the pressure of schoolwork and jumped off the building, the first words that the students standing next to him blurted out were not condolences, nor calling 120, but:
"Damn it, you're causing trouble for me again!"
Therefore, when he noticed Zhu Yingning's "goodness", he inevitably wondered whether she did it on purpose to cover up Liu Guifang's behavior, or whether she was creating a persona in front of the classmates or the camera.
After school in the afternoon, he followed her home and couldn't help but ask again, "Zhu Yingning, you said you would help me find my down jacket, did you find it?"
"I asked the neighbors last night," she replied naturally. "They all said they didn't see anything. I'm planning to borrow a camera from the crew tonight and see if they can capture something."
"The hard drive of the first issue has been sent." He reminded her.
"I know, but the videos from the past two days weren't counted in the first episode. It's better to look for them than to do nothing."
Xu Sirui stopped talking.
After taking a shower, finishing her work and homework in the evening, Zhu Yingning went to the crew as she was told and asked them if they could lend her the camera.
Yang Ji sat cross-legged in the shed and asked curiously, "Why do you want to watch the video?"
"I want to help Xu Sirui find his down jacket."
Yang Ji smiled, rubbed the soles of his feet with a Buqiuren cigarette, shook his head and said, "Don't spoil him too much, he just needs to be dealt with. Let him find it himself."
"I didn't spoil him," Zhu Yingning explained seriously. "He thinks the clothes were stolen by the villagers, but I think someone just misplaced them. If we can find the down jacket, we can clear the villagers of suspicion."
Yang Ji didn't expect this reason. He was stunned for a few seconds, then laughed even more happily. He pointed at her and said to the people around him: "See? Little kid."
Only a teenager would take the "case" of a missing down jacket seriously, even resorting to such serious language as "clearing suspicion." Her childish insistence seemed endearing to the adults, so Yang Ji agreed, on the condition that she couldn't take it away and could only look at it here.
Zhu Yingning immediately nodded like pecking at rice.
She sat on the crew's folding stool and carefully held up the camera.
Each episode of a variety show lasts only a few dozen minutes, yet the material behind it is innumerable, with many meaningless repetitive shots and blank frames. After looking down for a while, she felt her back, legs, and eyes aching, and her butt felt like it was being pricked by needles, making her fidget uncomfortably. But the camera was expensive, and Zhu Yingning didn't dare to touch it carelessly, fearing she'd break something and have to pay for it. So, she held the camera tightly throughout the entire process, forcing herself to keep her eyes wide open and examine the footage carefully.
As I watched, an hour passed.
The crew members lay down in their sleeping bags one after another. Yang Ji also got in. After turning off the light bulb, he reminded her: "Stop watching and go back to rest."
"Uncle Yang, let me watch for a while."
"It's already ten o'clock."
"I'll go look outside the shed so I don't disturb you. I'll put it back where it belongs after I'm done."
"Hey, I don't mind you disturbing us..."
Seeing how persistent she was, Yang Ji was helpless. Knowing that she had a stubborn temper, he had no choice but to let her go.
For a moment, the world was silent and everything was silent.
There was no lighting outside the studio, only the moonlight dimly illuminating the hills. Zhu Yingning pulled a stool outside and sat, one hand supporting his chin, the other holding the camera, squinting in the hazy moonlight as he continued to review the video.
She didn't know how long she had been looking at it, but her exposed ankles suddenly felt itchy. She reached out and slapped a mosquito to death quickly and accurately. She put the camera on her knees and used a blade of grass to scrape the mosquito's body off her palm.
There are already mosquitoes. It seems that summer is really coming.
She was lost in thought about the coming summer, while adjusting the camera's position and trying to keep her heavy eyelids open.
This time, before I could look for long, a shadow appeared in front of me.
She raised her head and looked up at the person who came, a little surprised: "Xu Sirui?"
He was only wearing a thin nightgown, with his shoulders hunched and his arms crossed, looking down at her, his eyes dim because of the backlight.
The image of pajamas easily brings up associations with sleep. Zhu Yingning wrinkled her nose, barely suppressed a yawn, and asked sleepily, "Why aren't you asleep yet? Is something wrong?"
Xu Sirui didn't answer, but remained standing there, not knowing what he was thinking.
He was tall, and although he was thin, he had a big frame. He was blocking her way and it was quite oppressive. Seeing that he was reluctant to speak, she simply moved her legs and adjusted her body to face him diagonally, then lowered her head to continue checking the video.
Before she could even see the video on the screen, he reached out his foot, touched her trouser leg with the tip of his shoe, and said, "...Don't look at it."
"Why?" Zhu Yingning looked up at him in confusion. "We're almost done reviewing the video from the day before yesterday."
Xu Sirui was silent for a while, then repeated like a tape recorder: "Anyway, just don't watch it."
He just kept telling her not to look without giving any reason. Zhu Yingning felt puzzled and thought he was having a fit. She planned to ignore him and continue doing her own thing.
But she didn't know what touched a nerve with watching the video. The moment she lowered her head, he raised his voice and shouted, "I told you not to watch it!" Then he reached out and grabbed her arm and lifted her up from the bench.
"What are you doing!?"
The camera almost fell because of his sudden action. Zhu Yingning hurriedly caught it and glared at him angrily.
Xu Sirui took the camera from her arms, put it back in its place on his own initiative, patted her on the back with the back of his hand, and said unhappily, "Go back to sleep."
She wanted to turn around to get the camera, but Xu Sirui was standing behind her, like a giant ghost. If she moved to the left, he would block her to the left; if she moved to the right, he would block her to the right, occasionally nudging her with the back of his hand. By the time she realized what was happening, they had already pushed and shoved their way to the door.
Under Xu Sirui's strict supervision, she was so confused that she had to give up for the time being. She turned around and climbed onto the kang to lie down, thinking that it would be the same when she woke up tomorrow morning. She just didn't know what Xu Sirui was thinking.
**
Xu Sirui was not having a seizure, he just found it boring.
Lying on the kang, when he saw the empty bed on the other side of the 38th parallel, he suddenly felt completely exhausted.
If Zhu Yingning didn't know the truth about the down jacket theft, then wasn't he just forcing her to admit that her mother was a thief? What was the point of doing this? Was it fun to constantly pressure and embarrass a little girl?
Even if the truth was as he suspected, and Zhu Yingning was protecting Liu Guifang, so what? A down jacket meant nothing to his family. He wasn't worried about the money; he simply felt disgusted and wanted to know the truth. But if learning the truth meant embarrassing a girl who had to stay up late at night and sit outside feeding mosquitoes, he felt it was better not to know the truth.
so--
Forget it, let it be.
Xu Sirui didn't want to pursue the matter anymore.
He stood up and called Zhu Yingning back from outside, hoping that she could understand what he meant.
But it was obvious that Zhu Yingning and he had no tacit understanding at all, and she did not understand his painstaking efforts at all.
The next morning, when he woke up, he found the bed next to him empty. Xu Sirui didn't think much of it, as Zhu Yingning always got up earlier than him. He squatted outside with a cup of water and a toothbrush to brush his teeth. As he was gargling, Yang Ji, who was passing by, jokingly said, "Xu Sirui, you seem to be taking it easy."
He didn't understand what Yang Ji was saying, and didn't bother to pay attention. But then he heard Yang Ji's next sentence: "You're just lying in bed, and Yingning has already gotten up early to find a down jacket for you. I'm wondering, whose clothes are these? Why are they so busy, but you don't care?"
Xu Sirui almost swallowed the mouthwash.
Yang Ji's groundless accusation made him angry, but he was more concerned about the other meaning behind his words. He spat out the foam in his mouth, coughed a few times, and asked, "Did she go to look at the camera again?"
"Yes, I got up early to read it."
“…”
I give up.
These two huge words appeared in Xu Sirui's mind.
He didn't understand where Zhu Yingning got such stubbornness from, and even felt a little regretful that he had agreed to let her help him find a down jacket. He hurriedly finished brushing his teeth and said to Yang Ji, "I'll go and persuade her."
"Why are you trying to persuade me? I've already finished reading it."
"Have you finished reading it?" Xu Sirui paused, feeling a bad premonition in his heart.
"Yeah, I finished watching it about ten minutes ago."
"Did she show any...abnormal behavior after reading it?" he asked cautiously.
"Abnormal behavior?" Yang Ji thought for a moment and shook his head. "No, it's normal. She went to find her mother after reading it."
“…”
Well, it's over.
Xu Sirui glanced around and realized that Zhu Yingning and Liu Guifang were indeed not there. They were not in the house either. He didn't want to guess where they were, because it was obvious that the mother and daughter were most likely at the home of the so-called Sister Ping at the village entrance.
Xu Sirui felt irritated, a feeling similar to when he'd skipped class and went to the internet cafe and found Xu Zhengkang sitting next to him, perhaps even more so. It hadn't caused any real harm, but it was still irritating. He couldn't pinpoint the source of his irritation, so he wandered back inside, plopped down at his desk, and stared blankly at the mottled wall.
It was clearly not him who did anything wrong, so why was he so upset?
Xu Sirui thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure it out.
As I was thinking, the door was pushed open.
His body stiffened, and he turned his head awkwardly to face the door. He picked up a pen from the desk and poked it on the surface.
"Xu Sirui."
He heard Zhu Yingning calling him.
The author has something to say:
----------------------
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
