Chapter 47 Quietly Leaving Failure Version
Xu Sirui considered himself a person who was not too worried about awkward silences, as he often used shocking words and actions to make others awkward. However, this awkward silence was different from the ones he had caused in the past. Silence became a pile of firewood, smoking the small cave with scorching heat. The sounds of breathing and heartbeats that came and went were like sparks in the air that could explode at any time. He felt dizzy as if he had been in a sauna too much. He stared at the wall opposite for a long time, racking his brains to find a topic to talk about, trying to change the atmosphere, but his brain was as empty as if it was rusted.
He shifted his gaze slightly and saw Zhu Yingning huddled beside him, breathing deliberately slow, staring blankly at the inner wall of her cavernous area, just like him. Her hair was still dripping, and her thin shoulders, her thin, low-quality summer uniform soaked through by the rain, revealing the straps of her small white vest underneath. He cursed inwardly and immediately lowered his gaze, averting his gaze from that delicate area.
After such a separation, as luck would have it, he suddenly realized that their hands were very close.
Although not touching, but...
As long as he wanted, he could hold her hand with just a slight raise of his hand.
Unlike his slender, fair hands, which looked untouched by the elements, her hands, though considerably smaller, felt more powerful. Her nails were neatly manicured, the joints distinct. A faint blue vein etched across the back of her hands, like the crisscrossing waterways seen from the sky, teeming with a vast, warm vitality. In his stereotype, a girl's hand was supposed to be as delicate and soft as depicted in male-oriented novels. Clearly, Zhu Yingning's hands were completely unsuitable for the adjective "soft and tender." Yet, for some reason, he felt a urge he had never felt before: he wondered if this warm water felt as vibrant and full of life as it appeared to be.
His mind was in a mess. He held his breath and slowly raised his stiff fingers.
Click.
A shadow suddenly flashed through my peripheral vision.
Xu Sirui was already a thief, and after being frightened like that, he almost lost his soul. He immediately curled his hands back and asked suspiciously, "W-what?! A snake?"
Zhu Yingning pointed at the gap in front of them: "Frog."
A green frog with a very standard appearance stopped at the junction of the wall and the ground, paused for a few seconds, and then jumped away with a snap.
After being interrupted like this, even if Xu Sirui had ten times the courage, he would not dare to repeat what he had just done. He could only pretend that nothing had happened, but his heart was full of turmoil. The belated rationality tortured his nerves, and he felt that he must have gone crazy just now.
He'd always been aware of the disparity between his family and Zhu Yingning's. To put it bluntly, Zhu Yingning's father wasn't even qualified to work as a security guard for their company. Xu Sirui possessed the unconscious shrewdness cultivated by the city's elite. From a young age, he'd known who was worth associating with and who wasn't. He'd use family background to divide people into small groups, arranging them within his personal network. And when he first arrived in this mountain village, he undoubtedly knew that everything here was just a fragment of his well-behaved elite career, a soon-to-be-discarded and forgotten fragment. Everyone here was undoubtedly just an insignificant passerby in his life.
After leaving here, how long can he remember Zhu Yingning?
One month, three months, half a year, or a year?
The prosperity of the city is enough to overwhelm a girl from the mountain village, including all the feelings, joys and sorrows she once brought to him.
but--
But ah.
"Hello, Zhu Yingning." He spoke softly.
She glanced at him in confusion.
"Do you have a good memory?"
Zhu Yingning didn't know why he asked that, but she still thought about it carefully out of habit, then said, "Not bad?"
"Then I'll read out a random string of numbers and you repeat it to me." He said and read out a string of nine digits.
"What's so difficult about this?" She smiled, repeated the string of numbers truthfully, and said, "If you want to test me, you might as well ask about the ancient Chinese texts in the textbook. I have already memorized the "Preface to Sending Off Ma Sheng of Dongyang" that we taught today... Eh? The rain has stopped, look! Xu Sirui." She said halfway and excitedly pointed outside the cave.
The water vapor outside the cave reflected a mini rainbow.
Seven colors twisted together, like a short dream.
**
Back at Zhujia Village, he found a crowd of people gathered at the village gate. Xu Sirui had initially assumed that the villagers had heard from the film crew that he was leaving and had spontaneously come out to see him off. But as he got closer, he realized that the recent heavy rain had flooded a low-lying house at the village entrance, and everyone was helping them salvage their furniture and drain the water.
Of course Zhu Yingning would not sit idly by and watch such a scene. She rolled up her trouser legs, walked forward, and said to him, "You go home first. I'll go back after I help them."
"Yeah." He looked at her back for a long time before turning around and walking towards her house.
At Zhu Yingning's house, Liu Guifang had already heard that he was leaving. She sat on the edge of the kang, looking as if she wanted to say something but didn't dare. She asked, "Are you really leaving? Why so suddenly? Look, Auntie isn't mentally prepared at all..."
Xu Sirui didn't say anything, but quickly packed his luggage. The first thing to be removed was of course the incongruous 38th parallel on the kang. When he moved the pile of clothes, he felt a little amused.
Next came his cell phone and other daily necessities.
While he was packing, Liu Guifang watched from the side with lowered eyebrows. When he was almost done, she spoke with determination, stammering, "Then... then is our Jixiang coming back too? I heard from the crew that our Jixiang will be flying back tomorrow. Um... Si Rui, can you talk to your parents and let him continue to film at your house until the end of the show? Our Jixiang was supposed to stay at your house until the end of the show, but your parents suddenly broke their promise..."
Without waiting for Xu Sirui to answer, she immediately said, as if she was afraid that he would be angry, "Auntie is not blaming you, it's just...it's just that we should also pay attention to that kind of...that kind of...spirit of contract! Yes, the spirit of contract! Right? If you want our Jixiang to come back early, that's fine, but...that is to say, can you ask your parents to arrange a degree for our Jixiang over there, so that he can live in your house and study in your city in the future?"
If Xu Sirui had heard such shameless words when he first came here, he would have vomited on the spot. However, he had known Liu Guifang for a long time now, and since he was about to leave here, it didn't matter if they broke up. He sneered and answered without giving any face, "No."
After refusing, he zipped up the suitcase. With a ripping sound, the zipper closed with a crispness that was slightly contemptuous.
Liu Guifang didn't expect Xu Sirui to refuse so directly. Her face suddenly became embarrassed, weak, and a little unhappy. After hesitating for a while, she suddenly blurted out, "Our Ningning treats you so well, but I think she's just wasting her time. Her kindness is in vain..."
"Fuck." Xu Sirui didn't expect that she had the nerve to bring up Zhu Yingning, and that she brought up Zhu Yingning to plan for Zhu Jixiang's future. His eyes almost popped out, and he strode in front of her, with a gloomy face, and said condescendingly, "Do you have any shame? For her sake, will you blow up your place on the first day I come here? You idiot, who do you think you are, and who does your son think you are?" After that, he pulled the handle of the suitcase, turned around and was about to leave.
He walked to the door of Zhu Yingning's house in anger, and saw Zhu Yingning stepping in the flood and moving furniture with others at the entrance of the village. He suddenly felt very upset.
Her sincerity, kindness, and chivalry were just tools for her to gain empty fame and tiny profits in her mother's eyes.
He had once truly believed that with her perseverance and ability, she would one day emerge from the mountains and reach a wider world. But now, he was no longer so sure. The family of origin was like a swamp, equally devouring all young and vibrant lives, especially women. Zhu Juan hadn't been spared, Zhou Li hadn't been spared, and Zhu Yingning... could she truly wriggle out of this mire?
Xu Sirui took a deep breath, temporarily released the luggage handle, returned to Liu Guifang, who was stunned by his scolding, took out something from his trouser pocket and threw it to her.
"Take it." He said in a deep voice, "Don't tell Zhu Yingning that I gave this to you."
**
The ox cart was ready. This time, the one borrowed was not from Zhu Yingning's family, but from another family in the village.
The child driving the cart sat on the ox's back, holding a bunch of red flower hearts in his mouth, and asked him in a vague dialect: "Can we go now?"
"Let's go."
The oxcart began to move slowly forward. Xu Sirui placed his suitcase on the wooden planks and sat on it, his arms resting on his knees. He looked at Zhujia Village, which was getting farther and farther away, and the villagers at the village entrance, which were getting farther and farther away. Among them was Zhu Yingning, who was busy digging a drainage ditch for the flooded household with a shovel.
He still hadn't told her he was leaving.
It was hard to explain the feeling. After thinking about it, he realized that he just didn't want to say goodbye to her in person or exchange goodbyes with her.
So corny.
Anyway...let it be.
It's good to walk quietly.
He imagined the scene of Zhu Yingning returning to her own home and finding that he had disappeared into thin air, and for some reason he felt like laughing. He could even imagine her stunned expression, which must have been stupid.
But Xu Sirui had clearly misjudged Zhu Yingning's reaction. He had forgotten that he had never once been able to get the better of her when they disagreed on something, like the flag-raising ceremony, the basketball game, the poetry recitation, or even this separation.
When the ox cart had traveled four or five miles at a leisurely pace, he suddenly heard Zhu Yingning's powerful voice: "Xu Sirui!!"
"Oh no." The child driving the cart looked back and said, "Sister Ningning is chasing us."
Xu Sirui turned around in shock and stared at the back of the ox cart. Sure enough, he saw her rushing out from the end of the road with a momentum comparable to a missile launch.
"Why didn't you tell me you were leaving?!" She ran while frowning incomprehensibly, her face full of confusion. "You're going too far! How could you sneak away like that? Get down first!"
"Shit..." Xu Sirui felt a chill down his spine, feeling that if he stopped now, she would skin him alive. So he hurriedly urged the child on the ox's back, "Hurry, hurry, run!"
The child said calmly, "It's already running."
"Run faster!"
"Give up." The child shook his head with a condescending air. "An oxcart can't outrun Sister Ningning."
Xu Sirui was stunned.
He finally understood how Zhou Li felt when Zhu Yingning chased her and stopped her that day. This guy is a complete lunatic!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
