Chapter 43: The So-Called "Hysteria" of the Cold War
Xu Sirui was extremely angry, but since he was under someone else's roof, he had no choice but to return to Zhu Yingning's house with a smug look on his face.
When he realized she was already lying on the kang, her back to him, looking like she didn't want to bother with him, he hated Zhu Yingning's lack of separate bedrooms for the first time. If they had, they could at least each have their own room to sulk in. Now, he had just been slapped by her, and she had just slapped him, and now they had to sleep in the same bed. Even newlyweds didn't quarrel like this.
He climbed onto the bed in frustration and lay on his side, leaving Zhu Yingning with a cold and hard back.
When he woke up the next morning, he didn't say a word to her.
He vowed never to speak to her.
Then……
The cold war lasted for four whole days.
For four days, he'd been waiting for Zhu Yingning to apologize, but she'd ignored him, showing no sign of apologizing. His mood kept cycling between "That's hilarious! I won't forgive you even if you apologize" and "Why haven't you apologized yet?!" He felt like a patient with a terminal split personality disorder.
On the fifth day, which was Monday of the new week, Xu Sirui was a little upset after realizing that Zhu Yingning really had no intention of apologizing.
At this moment of breakdown, Chen Bin suddenly found him and said that the school would hold a poetry recitation competition on Friday, and each class would send ten people to participate, and hoped that he could actively participate.
Xu Sirui really couldn't understand how such a small and shabby school could have so many extracurricular activities, including basketball games and poetry recitations. There were so many books that they couldn't even teach them all. Are these activities interesting?
However, looking at Chen Bin's serious face, he finally didn't say these angry words.
He had seen many conscientious and responsible teachers throughout his life, but to be honest, there were very few who could persist in teaching in the mountain village like Chen Bin. Even though Chen Bin's teaching skills weren't particularly outstanding, Xu Sirui could see that he sincerely wanted to do his best to ensure that the children in the mountains had a rich and colorful school life. So, when Chen Bin patted him on the shoulder and enthusiastically said, "This is a good opportunity to enhance our sense of collective honor," he didn't just walk away like usual. Instead, he felt a mixture of anger and amusement. He suspected that Zhu Yingning's methodical approach to persuading him to participate in group activities was something he had learned from Chen Bin.
Moreover, in such a collective activity, Zhu Yingning would surely demonstrate her exemplary work ethic and tirelessly participate. Thinking of this, Xu Sirui felt that participating wouldn't be a problem. Of course, he wasn't trying to use this as an excuse to reconcile with her, but rather, he was childishly trying to prevent her from carrying out the activity smoothly.
In short, for various ulterior motives, Xu Sirui agreed.
Chen Bin was very pleased. He took off his glasses, wiped away the non-existent tears from the corners of his eyes, and said, "I knew you were a good child."
When it was time for the rehearsal agreed upon after school, Zhu Yingning, who had been in a cold war with him for five days, finally took the initiative to call him over to cooperate with the rehearsal, Xu Sirui showed his "good boy" nature, snorted coldly from his chest, turned around and walked out of the classroom, and went on strike.
"Xu Sirui!" She called him in disbelief from behind him.
Xu Sirui felt a subtle sense of relief. The exasperation in her voice made him feel lighter, having been suffocating for five days. He strode briskly, not even turning back, and quickly walked out of the school gate, onto the mountain path leading home. The photographer, who was following him, trotted over to catch up, shaking his head and sighing, "Xu Sirui, I still don't know why you two quarreled, but you were really childish."
“…”
He glared at the photographer and said, "I'm just childish, it's none of your business."
Back home, Xu Sirui felt even better when he thought that Zhu Yingning might still be struggling at school. He stretched and stood at the door to enjoy the fresh air.
But people are sometimes so mean. After standing at the door and blowing the hot summer evening breeze for ten minutes, he suddenly felt bored and thought his behavior was indeed quite boring.
At this time, he noticed that the old hunter who lived at the entrance of the village had returned from another village. He held a wrinkled pack of cigarettes in his left hand, took out a cigarette from it with his right hand and put it in his toothless mouth. He took out a lighter from his trouser pocket and was about to light it for himself with trembling hands.
Sometimes, the way people get along with each other is so magical.
No need for too many pretentious excuses, just a little curiosity.
He watched the old man light his cigarette, and recalled the old man's appearance outside the cave that night, babbling as if about to say something. A belated, inexplicable curiosity welled up in him. The sultry evening breeze, the azure mountains, the dim sky, and an old hunter speaking in a dialect—all these images combined to highlight this subtle curiosity in him, like the faint aroma of a bean simmering over a slow fire.
As a teenager, it is natural for Xu Sirui to explore when he is curious.
He walked towards the old man with the same long strides.
The old hunter's eyesight was poor, so he didn't see him. He lit a cigarette and was about to go into the house. Xu Sirui had no choice but to shout "Hello" loudly, blocking him in front of him and asking directly: "What did you want to tell me that night? About Zhu Yingning?"
The old hunter glanced at him with his cloudy eyes. He spoke with a thick dialect, and with a cigarette in his mouth, he gestured and babbled a few words. Xu Sirui didn't understand a word, and didn't even know whether he meant to say it or not. He realized that communication between them must have an intermediary, or a translator, otherwise it would be completely impossible. He happened to see a child passing by, so he reached out, picked up the child, and threw him into the old hunter's house. He walked in himself, without any sense of bothering others. He said to the child as a matter of course: "Okay, help me translate what this old man is saying?"
Only after he finished giving the order did he realize that the child looked familiar. After a moment's thought, he suddenly said, "Your name is Chengcheng, right? Don't just stand there like an idiot. Translate for me quickly."
Unexpectedly, Chengcheng was very disrespectful and turned around to run out of the house. However, she was short and had short legs, so she was caught by Xu Sirui after running a few steps.
He wondered, "Why are you running?"
Cheng Cheng looked at the old hunter: "He looks scary and ugly, he is a monster."
“…”
Xu Sirui was silent. He had never thought that one day he would have to act as a parenting mentor. "Don't judge people by appearance. It's very uncultured. I thought you looked like a pea."
Cheng Cheng struggled in vain and had no choice but to let Xu Sirui drag him back.
"Whatever I ask next, you will translate it to the old man in dialect, and translate the old man's words to me as well. Got it?" he instructed.
Cheng Cheng didn't say that he knew, nor did he say that he didn't know. He scratched his head, pulled at his pants that were stuck in his butt, and looked around the old hunter's house like someone with ADHD.
Xu Sirui couldn't do anything about him, so he could only ask the question he wanted to know: "What exactly did you want to tell me that night?" Luckily, Cheng Cheng was reliable enough to help him translate most of his words, and also translated the old hunter's answer truthfully. But the old man's speech was illogical, so he pieced it together, sorting out the old hunter's answer in his mind, and barely put together a sentence that was logical but very strange: "You said... Zhu Yingning has hysteria?"
After he finished speaking, he himself was amused by this outrageous answer.
No way, she looks normal.
Cheng Cheng looked at the old hunter's mouth and helped translate: "What he said is true. Sister Ningning really has hysteria."
Xu Sirui hissed, "What kind of hysteria is this?"
The old hunter danced with joy, talking and gesturing, and Cheng Cheng relayed the story truthfully: "He said that when Sister Ningning was six years old, uh, or maybe seven, her parents and grandparents were not at home one time, leaving her and her younger brother alone in the house. She was busy with housework and didn't watch her younger brother, so her younger brother ran into the mountains to play. When the adults came back, they were very worried. They thought it was Sister Ningning who didn't watch him, so they beat her up and told her to go to the mountains to look for her younger brother. She was not allowed to go home until she found him. She cried and went into the mountains to look for him. As a result, not long after Sister Ningning left, her younger brother returned home on his own. The family happily ate dinner, chatted and gossiped. No one remembered she was still in the mountains. She got lost in the mountains and couldn't get out until late at night."
The old hunter was old and had a light sleep habit, often suffering from insomnia. When he couldn't sleep, he would go for a walk in the mountains. It was a coincidence that he found Zhu Yingning, who had been lost in the mountains for a long time and was crying in the early morning of that day.
"He said Sister Ningning was so frightened that she was possessed by a ghost. After waking up from a nap, she completely distorted the story, saying she accidentally got lost in the mountains and was found by her parents, who were worried about her safety."
Hearing this, Xu Sirui was stunned for a long time.
Putting aside the superstitious statements such as "hysteria" and "being possessed by ghosts" in the old hunter's narration, he was very sure that Zhu Yingning's behavior was a typical symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder. In order to avoid repeatedly recalling this stressful memory, her subconscious helped her complete an exquisite memory tampering, replacing the object in the matter of "her parents were worried about Zhu Jixiang" with herself.
But her subconscious still had a vague impression of the old hunter saving her, so when the children in the village were afraid to approach the old hunter because of his fierce appearance, she was the only one who had an inexplicable trust in him. It was also out of this trust that the old hunter taught her hunting and occasionally lent her his treasured Qing bow to play with.
Zhu Yingning's parents may have later felt that their behavior of abandoning their own child in the mountains until late at night was not good, and they silently accepted the good parent image that Zhu Yingning gave them due to post-traumatic stress disorder until now.
Cheng Cheng continued translating, "He told you not to mention this to Sister Ning Ning, to avoid provoking her hysteria and lest she be possessed by the ghost again. He said you shouldn't have argued with her like that that night."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
