Listen more to what the people who love you have to say.
On the way, Jiang Jingshu deliberately slowed her pace. Sure enough, the footsteps behind her caught up.
Jiang Jingshu turned around and looked at Xie Zhijin, "I didn't expect them to call you too?"
Xie Zhijin nodded. "I didn't listen to a word they said."
Jiang Jingshu nodded with a smile, "Xie Zhijin, what were they saying?"
Xie Zhijin waved his hand dismissively, "They just said that this whole thing is my fault, that it started because of me, and that I should apologize to you and beg you not to call the police."
Jiang Jingshu listened quietly to him. It was very cold outside, and the two of them stood there. "But I won't beg you, and I hope you will call the police."
Xie Zhijin looked at Jiang Jingshu, as if trying to see through her, "Jiang Jingshu, no matter what, no matter how much pressure comes from all sides, you must not forget that you are the most important person."
Don't worry about what others do; protecting yourself is the most important thing.
Jiang Jingshu nodded again.
Xie Zhijin couldn't help but ask, "Why are you nodding like that? I don't know what to say anymore."
"Thank you for your support. You have before, and you still do now." Jiang Jingshu looked at Xie Zhijin.
"And it will be the same in the future."
Xie Zhijin added those four characters, and continued to do so from then on.
Always, I will be your ardent supporter.
—
That evening, Xie Zhijin called Zhao Xu and told him that Jiang Jingshu had called the police.
Zhao Xu called Xie Zhijin's father, Xie Wendong, and the two went to the hotel where Xie Zhijin was staying.
Xie Wendong is a manager at a private company. He makes a little money and doesn't go home all day.
Having no other choice, Zhao Xu had to ask Xie Wendong for help.
Meanwhile, Xie Wendong was indulging in a life of pleasure at the hotel where Xie Zhijin was staying.
Upon receiving Zhao Xu's call, he sat up impatiently in bed. "What? Not enough money?"
"Xie Wendong, where have you been fooling around again?" Hearing Zhao Xu's voice, Xie Wendong looked impatient. "Get to the point!"
"Your well-raised son sued me?"
After listening to Zhao Xu's explanation of the whole story, Xie Wendong got dressed, gently comforted the woman beside him, and then hurriedly left the hotel.
He asked his men to search for Xie Zhijin and they arrived at the door of Xie Zhijin's room and began to knock.
Zhao Xu stood next to him, and she couldn't help but cover her nose because of the smell in the air.
This smells like perfume.
But it wasn't coming from her.
Zhao Xu stared at Xie Wendong, suppressing his nausea, and took a step away from him.
Xie Zhijin opened the door, staring expressionlessly at the two people in front of him. "You've come here to interrogate me?"
The next second, Xie Zhijin was kicked to the ground by the man, and Xie Wendong grabbed his collar and asked viciously, "You brat, I raised you for so long, just so you would be unfilial to your mother for the sake of outsiders?"
Xie Zhijin turned his head away, no longer looking at him.
"Keep your eyes on me. What's wrong? You're not happy about not getting beaten up lately?" Xie Wendong said, and then slapped Xie Zhijin across the face.
"Why aren't you saying anything? You think you can hide from me by moving out?" Xie Wendong glanced around the room. "I can find your location with a flick of my finger. You'll never escape me in this lifetime."
Throughout the entire process, Zhao Xu remained aloof and watched coldly from the sidelines.
Xie Zhijin stared at Xie Wendong, his mouth throbbing and bleeding from the blow Xie Wendong had given him.
He couldn't help but sneer, but he couldn't utter a single word.
"You brat, have you lost your mind?" Xie Wendong kicked the vase by the door to the ground. "Go and beg that little vixen of yours to drop the case, you hear me?"
"Xie Wendong, the perfume you're wearing is making me want to vomit. What, didn't my mother go to the hotel entrance and slap her?"
Before he could finish speaking, Xie Zhijin's face was suddenly slapped again, and Xie Wendong's curses echoed in his ears, "You dare to lecture me? Wait till I beat you up today, or you won't know who's the king or queen!"
Xie Zhijin simply watched quietly from the corner, his eyes as calm as a stagnant pool.
It's just become a habit.
The expected punches did not rain down on Xie Zhijin.
When Jiang Jingshu kicked the door open, Xie Zhijin was huddled in the corner. She frowned and said, "Stop!"
Xie Zhijin was surprised that Jiang Jingshu would suddenly barge in. He quickly stood up, but Jiang Jingshu turned her head and said, "Didn't you learn Sanda (Chinese kickboxing)? Are you just going to let him hit you like that?"
After saying that, he stared at Xie Wendong, his tone icy and devoid of any emotion, "I have already called the police. There are surveillance cameras in the hotel, and the police will be here soon."
The room was a mess, and Xie Zhijin had obvious bruises around his eyes and mouth, and even his cheeks were swollen.
Jiang Jingshu looked at Xie Zhijin, who must have many wounds on his body. She gently helped Xie Zhijin up, letting him lean against her. She stared at Xie Wendong and asked, "Why did you hit him? Is he really your biological son?"
"I'm paying to raise my son, and I can't even discipline him? You're quite something, young lady, you even called the police? If the police come, this is my family matter."
Xie Wendong pointed at Jiang Jingshu with his finger, but Xie Zhijin slapped his hand away, saying, "Don't point at her. You only have the right to educate me here, not to do anything to her."
"What kind of life do I have? I raised such an unfilial son who even thought of calling the police to arrest us. Come on, if you're so capable, arrest us all and see who will support you then." Zhao Xu, who had been quiet for a long time, became even angrier when he saw his son's disobedience.
“I haven’t spent a single penny of the money you gave me. I earned all the money for my hotel stays, tuition, and accommodation myself. After high school, I stopped relying on you.”
Xie Zhijin spoke coldly.
"You earned it? How did you earn it? What did you use to earn it? We gave you the money, and you don't want it? Give it back to us!"
As if touched on something, Xie Zhijin turned over and threw a bank card on the ground. "I've had enough. From the time you adopted me until now, have you ever shown me any kindness? All I've received is endless insults and endless punches. Here's the card back. Can I cut ties with you? I've already escaped to a hotel. What more do you want from me?"
Xie Zhijin didn't understand why he was still holding onto this guy, since he had already stopped fighting back, stopped talking back, and even kept his distance.
This world is hard to understand.
The police arrived quickly. Jiang Jingshu took Xie Zhijin's arm and said, "Come on, let's go to the hospital to get our injuries checked."
Xie Zhijin stepped back slightly, "Jiang Jingshu, there's no need. Even if the sky falls, they are still my adoptive parents. I can't do that."
"Xie Zhijin, shall we go to the hospital first?" Jiang Jingshu looked at Xie Zhijin and pulled him outside.
Xie Zhijin followed Jiang Jingshu, and the two arrived at the hospital.
On the way, Jiang Jingshu asked Xie Zhijin, "Why didn't you fight back?"
Xie Zhijin lowered his eyes and said, "They raised me, and even if they say they weren't very friendly to me, at least they gave me a place to stay."
“But that doesn’t negate the fact that they hurt you, Xie Zhijin,” Jiang Jingshu stared at Xie Zhijin, “tell the police the truth, okay?”
Xie Zhijin nodded slightly, then shook his head.
"Xie Zhijin, has anyone ever said you're a conflicted person?" Jiang Jingshu looked at Xie Zhijin and gently poked his forehead with her finger. "Rather than being conflicted, you're still a gentle person. Even when treated like this, you don't think about taking revenge on him, but rather about how hard it was for him to raise you."
"It's not as good as you say, it's just my own cowardice." Xie Zhijin quickly refuted Jiang Jingshu's words.
Jiang Jingshu shook her head. "I read a sentence these past two days that's very similar to yours."
"What did you say?" Xie Zhijin asked her.
Jiang Jingshu said, "The world kissed me with pain, but I responded with a song."
"You think too highly of me. I'm not as wonderful as you think. I'm just incompetent, cowardly, weak, and afraid to resist."
Jiang Jingshu solemnly told him, "A person who is incompetent, cowardly, and weak will not stand up to protect someone when they are being bullied. Do you understand? Xie Zhijin, you are not incompetent. Your father only pointed at me with his finger, and you were able to knock his hand away. Your mother slapped me in public, and you were able to tell me and ask me to investigate."
Xie Zhijin simply listened quietly.
Jiang Jingshu said a lot, but she had only one purpose: she didn't know why Xie Zhijin always thought of her as worthless. She just wanted to say more and more.
It made him realize that he wasn't the way he described himself.
He believed he was full of flaws, unaware that some people regarded what he considered his "flaws" as strengths.
“Jiang Jingshu, you have too much of a bias towards me,” Xie Zhijin still didn’t believe what Jiang Jingshu said. He knew himself better than anyone. He thought Jiang Jingshu was just comforting him, making him think he was a good person. But he understood everything; he knew Jiang Jingshu was just making excuses for him. He took a deep breath and said to Jiang Jingshu, “I know what kind of person I am.”
"you do not know."
Jiang Jingshu responded to him with unwavering certainty.
He didn't believe he was that good, nor did he believe what she said.
"It's okay if you don't believe what others say. Since you don't believe it, I'll say more. The more I say, the more you'll naturally believe it."
"How is this possible?" Xie Zhijin looked incredulous, his face still throbbing with pain from the injuries.
“Why not? Xie Zhijin, didn’t you just believe your parents? You’re clearly not a cowardly person. They’ve said it so many times, and you still believed them.” The wind was strong and the weather was cold outside, but Jiang Jingshu’s words flowed into Xie Zhijin’s heart like a warm current.
"Then could you listen more to what the people who love you have to say?" Jiang Jingshu looked into Xie Zhijin's eyes, trying to convince him that he was a good person.
Jiang Jingshu wanted him to know that it was unfair to those who loved him to take the words of those who disliked him as gospel.
Xie Zhijin nodded, though he remained unmoved.
Jiang Jingshu wasn't in a hurry. The road ahead was long, and one day he would be able to recognize himself.
Xie Zhijin's injuries were still classified as minor. Jiang Jingshu sometimes felt that the law was imperfect. The emotional trauma was more than ten times greater than the physical trauma.
But she had no power to change it.
However, Jiang Jingshu is determined to get to the bottom of this matter. She wants Xie Zhijin to be free from his suffering forever.
He shouldn't be shrouded in inferiority.
He should be ambitious and uplifting.
Thinking of this, Jiang Jingshu shook her head again.
No need to strive upwards, no need to be ambitious, no need to be brave.
As long as he's being himself, anything is fine.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
