Chapter 3: The dilapidated home in Zhujia Village, the timid mother, and her serious illness...
A woman stood at the doorway. Like Zhu Yingning, she had dark skin and a thin figure. She was clearly Zhu Yingning's mother. Seeing Xu Sirui, she became a little reserved. She wiped her rough hands on her apron, forced a smile, and whispered softly, "You must be Ruirui, right? Come on, kid, come in and sit down. Have some food and some water. You must be exhausted after traveling all the way from Beijing to our place."
Xu Sirui rolled his eyes: "Don't call me Ruirui, am I familiar with you?"
He hated people who were too familiar with others, and he couldn't accept people other than Zhou Tianlan calling him by his nickname.
Liu Guifang didn't expect to receive such an answer. She was stunned by his words and became more and more at a loss. "No, I'm sorry... Auntie, I didn't know you minded. So... then what should I call you?"
He didn't answer, but looked around and asked casually, "Where is your nanny? Ask her to come out and wash my shoes. They are dirty."
"Nanny?" Liu Guifang was stunned for a moment, then she smiled kindly and squatted down, saying, "We don't have a nanny at home. Take off your shoes and give them to me. I'll wash them for you."
Xu Sirui was used to being served and didn't think there was anything wrong. He took off her shoes and gave her orders skillfully: "Give me another pair of slippers."
Liu Guifang responded while timidly taking out a pair of men's slippers from the cupboard. When he saw them, his brows knitted together: "I want brand new ones, don't give me those that have been worn by others."
"We don't have brand new ones at home. Although this pair of slippers has been worn by someone, Auntie has already washed them..." She smiled apologetically.
The situation was this: either continue wearing shoes contaminated with sheep feces, or wear someone else's slippers. This dilemma was not pleasant at all for Xu Sirui. He struggled with his mysophobia for a long time before finally saying, "...Okay, put your slippers down."
He put on his slippers and walked straight into the house, like an emperor on a private visit. He wandered around the small house and spoke with unconcealed arrogance: "Is this really a place for people to live? Why is it so dirty and messy? Where is the water cup? I'm thirsty, pour me a glass of water."
Outside, Zhu Yingning's face flushed with anger. She stared at his back and took a step forward to argue. Liu Guifang quickly held her back and said in a low voice, "Forget it, forget it, Ningning... Our family is so poor, it's understandable that he despises us. It's my fault. I'm useless. I didn't treat him well... Don't make him angry. Think about Jixiang and your brother..."
"Where's the water?"
Xu Sirui in the room was urging again.
Seeing her mother eagerly approaching, Zhu Yingning felt uncomfortable and had to rush over, "Let me do it."
She walked into the house and took out the best enamel cup in their house from the cupboard. She went around to the back of the house and rinsed it carefully twice with spring water in the cold. Then she went back to the house to get some boiled and cooled warm water and handed it to Xu Sirui.
Unexpectedly, his expression changed as soon as he took it: "What is this?"
"What's wrong?"
"Come and see for yourself, the bottom of the cup is full of dirt. Are you trying to poison me?"
Zhu Yingning took a closer look and said, "Oh!" "You misunderstood. This is not dirt, it's scale. The mountain springs here are high in minerals. When cups are used for a long time, scale will inevitably accumulate. It can't be washed off, but this thing is not dirty. You can drink it with confidence."
"...Not dirty?" Xu Sirui's face wrinkled into a ball. He stared at the scale and pondered for a long time. In the end, he couldn't get over it and pushed the cup back into Zhu Yingning's arms. "Forget it, forget it. I won't drink it. Let me eat. Are there scales on your bowls?"
Zhu Yingning's face was as ugly as the bottom of a pot. The cameramen who followed him into the room looked at each other, their eyes switching back and forth between "we have the material" and "what to do if a fight breaks out".
Seeing the tense atmosphere, Liu Guifang quickly stepped out to mediate, saying with an apologetic smile, "No, no, our family's dishes are always clean. Auntie has specially prepared some delicious dishes for you. Auntie is the best at making naan bread. No one in the village makes it better than me. You must try it!"
As he said this, he turned around and hurriedly brought out a plate of naan bread, and asked Zhu Yingning to set the table.
The so-called "dining table" is a four-corner folding low table placed on a bamboo mat in the middle of the room. Everyone sits on the floor, and this is considered the dining table.
The bamboo mats were equally yellow, their cracks filled with years of grime. Xu Sirui felt that the village should be called Huangjia Village, not Zhujia Village. Faced with Liu Guifang's enthusiastic "Please sit down, sit down," he twitched his lips and refused without hesitation, "I'll just eat standing up."
"Then eat more naan. Look how thin you are..." Liu Guifang said as she grabbed a naan with her bare hands and stuffed it into his hand.
The greasy naan bread was about to stick to his clothes. Xu Sirui backed away in fear as if he had seen something dirty, blurting out, "Why are you grabbing it with your hands? It's disgusting! Did you wash your hands just now?"
The camera was facing them, recording everything. Liu Guifang was so embarrassed that she was about to cry. Her lips trembled a few times and she managed to squeeze out a weak reply: "I, I washed it..."
"You didn't even wash your hands after helping me carry my shoes!" Xu Sirui exposed her lie without hesitation and took a few steps back. His eyes swept over Liu Guifang's frostbitten fingers and the greasy naan bread, and his appetite suddenly disappeared. "Forget it, forget it, I won't eat. I won't die from starvation for a night anyway... Where is the bathroom in your house?"
"Bathroom?" Liu Guifang was stunned again, until Zhu Yingning leaned close to her ear and reminded her, she suddenly realized, "Oh, the toilet, right? There are, there are, Auntie will take you there!"
As soon as the word "toilet" came out, Xu Sirui's heart sank. He followed Liu Guifang for a while, and when he saw the so-called toilet, he couldn't help laughing.
Being laughed at speechlessly.
There was a small hut built outside the house, with a dim light bulb hanging from the top of the wall. A large moth was lying on the bulb. The ground was a man-made dry toilet, with two wooden boards placed at the footrest for people to step on. The hole in the middle led to a manure pit, and the stench was overwhelming.
Liu Guifang rubbed her hands and smiled awkwardly, "Ningning usually cleans the manure pit. She's very diligent and always takes it to composting in time. I was busy picking you up today, so I was a little delayed..."
Xu Sirui covered his mouth and nose, his throat retching uncontrollably: "Stop, don't tell me these details, I don't want to hear them. Tell me where to wash your hands after going to the toilet? Yue..."
He could choose not to drink water or eat, but he couldn't hold his three urgent needs. Even if using this toilet would give him nightmares all night, he had to hold his nose and go.
"Oh, oh! The place to wash hands is behind the house." Liu Guifang explained attentively, as if she was afraid he would dislike her. "It's mountain spring water, very clean. There's also a newly opened bar of soap that Ningning bought specially in town..."
Before she could finish her words, the toilet door slammed shut in front of her.
Liu Guifang was turned away and had to retreat with her hands clasped.
After struggling with the crude toilet and washing his hands three times with soap, Xu Sirui returned to the house with a sour face.
Due to the small space, there was only one photographer left in the room. He sat around the dining table with Liu Guifang and Zhu Yingning, and the three of them looked at him eagerly.
"What are you looking at me for?"
Xu Sirui's patience was running low. Everything he'd experienced had challenged his perspective and understanding. He'd originally planned to maintain a positive image in front of the camera, but now? Bullshit! All he could think about was leaving. He had to survive the night, and he absolutely had to find a way to escape this hellhole. Whether it was crying and whining to his mother or kneeling down to beg his father for mercy, he couldn't stay here any longer, or his life would be shortened.
The photographer explained: "They are waiting for you to have dinner together."
"Didn't I already say I don't want to eat?" Xu Sirui hated this kind of self-indulgent behavior the most. "You guys eat yours, don't worry about me."
Liu Guifang worriedly advised, "How can you do that? You're a grown man, still growing, and you've been busy and tired all day. You should at least come over and eat something..."
Normally at home, not even Zhou Tianlan dared to nag him like this. Xu Sirui hadn't expected that in such an unfamiliar environment, he would actually need to listen to someone nagging him. His emotions were already on the verge of exploding, and Liu Guifang's annoyance instantly made him furious: "Fuck, I'm really convinced. Don't you understand what people say? I already said I don't want to eat it, and you dare to ask me to eat the pig food you made. You have to wait for me to eat it and then vomit it on you, right?"
After he finished yelling, the room fell into a dead silence. Liu Guifang, tears in her eyes, drooped her neck in embarrassment. Zhu Yingning stiffened her neck and glared at him in disbelief, her eyes blazing with anger. In the suffocating silence, only the photographer dutifully adjusted the lens, focusing it on Xu Sirui's furious face.
"F**k!" Xu Sirui didn't expect this guy to be so tactless. He kicked the camera, knocking the lens cap off, and pointed his finger at the photographer's nose, "Shoot again!"
The photographer looked at his nose and his heart, and silently crawled over to pick up the lens cap.
After venting his anger, Xu Sirui's depression finally dissipated a little. He ignored the embarrassment of others, took a step forward and walked towards the inside of the house.
The house was not big and was divided into two parts, the outside - that is, the entrance, where a large bamboo mat was laid, which was the usual activity space for Zhu Yingning's family. The gaps around the bamboo mat were cluttered with various sundries and a long and narrow desk; inside - Xu Sirui was about to go in.
The inside and outside were separated by a curtain that hung from the ceiling to the floor. He reached out and pulled open the curtain.
He had thought that there would be a more secluded bedroom inside where he could sit and rest alone, but this expectation was destined to be dashed again, because what came into view was not a bedroom, but a large kang.
Lying on the kang was a man in his seventies, who looked like he was nearing death. He was half asleep, half awake, with a string of saliva hanging from the corner of his mouth. Seeing him, the old woman hummed twice and giggled foolishly.
**
“…”
The visual impact was so strong that Xu Sirui was speechless for a long time. He stared blankly with his mouth open for a long time before pointing at the old lady on the bed and turning around to ask, "Who is she?"
"It's my mother-in-law. She has Alzheimer's disease and suffered a stroke. She has hemiplegia and usually lies in bed." Liu Guifang rubbed her hands and answered carefully.
The word hemiplegia brought up some negative associations with Xu Sirui, such as incontinence and drooling. Although he didn't smell any real strange odor, he subconsciously covered his mouth and nose. He glanced around the kang and asked with difficulty, "Don't tell me this is the bed I'm sleeping on tonight?"
Liu Guifang quickly said, "Don't worry, there's firewood burning in the kang, it's very warm, you won't freeze."
Shit! It wasn't even a question of whether I'd be cold or not. Xu Sirui was on the verge of collapse. He found that his train of thought was always at odds with this family's. "Who cares if I'm cold or not? I mean—am I going to sleep with this old, demented woman tonight?"
The term "demented old woman" was not pleasant to hear. Liu Guifang was stunned by his harsh words, and the smile on her face was as pale as paper. "I usually take care of my mother-in-law. Although she looks silly, she is not dirty at all... Our house is not big. Apart from this kang, there is really no other place..."
Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by a clear voice: "Your name is Xu Sirui, right?"
Everyone's eyes followed the voice and fell on Zhu Yingning. Xu Sirui also looked over and saw her squatting on the floor with her back straight, her eyes cold: "Please show some respect to my mother and grandmother."
"Ningning!"
Liu Guifang was horrified and quickly pulled her aside, blocking her way. She smiled ingratiatingly and nodded repeatedly to Xu Sirui, "Don't listen to her. She's just like that, stubborn and old-fashioned! Don't take her words of respect to heart, haha, haha..."
After hearing what Zhu Yingning said, Xu Sirui was a little annoyed and wanted to argue with her, but Liu Guifang's overly humble and flattering attitude completely killed his interest in arguing, and he felt as sick as if he had eaten a fly.
Because Xu Zhengyi did a good job, Xu Sirui had been showered with compliments since childhood. He'd become nauseated by the constant praise, and it had made him more sensitive to such things than the average person. He couldn't understand why someone would stoop so low for a little power and money. To put it bluntly, they were no different from stray dogs begging for food on the street.
Having lost interest, Xu Sirui didn't even have the energy to speak. He just said, "I'm not sleeping here anyway" and left.
He insisted on not eating, drinking or sleeping on the kang. Liu Guifang was very troubled. She tried to persuade him a few times, but the more she persuaded him, the more annoyed he became, like a bomb that could explode at any time. So she had to compromise and said to him, "Then Auntie will clean up the desk for you, okay? If you don't want to sleep on the bed, at least lie down on the desk..." After a lot of persuasion and talk, until her lips were sore, she finally persuaded him to come back.
So that night, Zhu Yingning and his family went to sleep on the kang, the crew packed their sleeping bags near their house, and only Xu Sirui sat alone at the desk to fight the long night.
He pulled out his phone and tried to text his family, but the signal was so poor deep in the mountains that he couldn't send any messages. He fiddled with it, but couldn't get the message through. His phone was almost dead, and there didn't seem to be anywhere in the village to charge it. To avoid running out of energy and not being able to contact his family, he thought for a moment and decided to turn off his phone.
As for whether he fell asleep that night, Xu Sirui had no recollection of it at all. It seemed that he dozed off on the table in a daze, but it also seemed like it was just an illusion.
At four o'clock in the morning, the crowing of roosters in the village successfully pulled him out of his half-asleep state.
He slowly stood up from the desk, rubbed his aching neck, and pounded his equally aching waist, feeling grumpy from lack of sleep.
I originally thought that I was the first one to get up, but when I looked out the window, Zhu Yingning was already doing farm work outside.
Xu Sirui stared blankly for a while, and when he realized that the crew members were still asleep, he suddenly had an idea and thought of a way.
Outside, Zhu Yingning was carrying a basket of feed to feed the chickens, but before he could even reach the chicken coop, Xu Sirui dragged him to a secluded corner.
"What are you doing?" She covered the basket, fearing that the feed inside would spill.
"Hey, bumpkin, let me ask you something."
Zhu Yingning frowned: "I'm not called a bumpkin."
"I'm asking you, where is there a signal nearby to make a phone call?" Xu Sirui ignored her protest and asked the question directly.
She looked at him suspiciously. Although she had a vague feeling that he had bad intentions, she answered truthfully, "There's no signal here. If you want to make a call, you have to go to town. There's a signal there."
"Then take me to town now."
"No, it's too far. The town is twenty kilometers away."
"Take me there on a bullock cart."
"No, the director and the others said that we can't help you leave here in any direct or indirect way. If they find out, I'll have to pay for it."
Xu Sirui was stunned, wondering if Yang Ji had any humanity left, even asking such a poor family for liquidated damages. He thought for a moment and continued his lobbying: "Paying compensation is a small matter. Let me tell you, my dad is very rich. If you can help me get out, I can give you a sum of money on top of the liquidated damages so that you can have enough food and drink in the future. How about it?"
Afraid that she wouldn't believe him, he even took off the Swiss watch on his wrist, slapped it into her hand, and said angrily, "Take the watch first, it's a deposit."
They say money makes the world go round, and Xu Sirui believed it without a doubt. He felt that if the bumpkin in front of him wasn't 100% convinced by him, after looking at his watch, he would at least be a little hesitant. As a result -
She stuffed the watch back into his arms without hesitation and shook her head in rejection: "No."
"?"
Before he could ask why, she replied sternly, "I've already agreed to abide by their rules, so I must keep my word. Honesty is a traditional virtue of the Chinese nation. It's wrong for you to bribe me like this."
"?"
Xu Sirui thought that the statement "Integrity is a traditional virtue of the Chinese nation" would only appear in textbooks, but he didn't expect that someone could actually read it out loud without changing his expression.
"...Are you okay?" He was puzzled. "No, you think you're acting like a red man? Who are you trying to show off to by saying poverty can't change wealth and nobility can corrupt people? This is money, money! You don't even want it?"
Zhu Yingning didn't care about his sarcasm at all. She patted her butt and stood up, saying seriously, "Anyway, I will never help you."
"Damn it." Xu Sirui was extremely annoyed. He kicked the stones under his feet and said angrily, "Do you think I don't know? Aren't you angry with me because of what happened last night and that's why you didn't help me? What did I say? Wasn't everything I said true? Your family is very poor, and your grandmother is an idiot!"
Zhu Yingning had already walked away while he was cursing, and it seemed that she hadn't heard him at all. The more Xu Sirui thought about it, the angrier he became. He kicked the wooden fence beside him and said angrily, "Who needs your help? If you don't help me, I have plenty of ways!"
**
Xu Sirui's method is terrible.
If he could travel back twenty minutes, he would definitely slap himself twice to stop himself from acting impulsively.
Otherwise, it would be like what is happening now, thinking that I can rely on my memory to find my way out of the mountain by myself, but I ended up getting lost in the forest. Not only could I not find the way back, but I also slipped and fell into a hunter's trap.
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