Chapter 15
It was already very late at night, and the lights in a house in the old community were still on. Lin Zongbei was sitting on a chair in the corner of the house.
The curtains behind him were drawn tightly, as if he wanted to keep everything inside so that people outside couldn't see.
He had prepared dinner and had heated it up two or three times, but the man in the bedroom was not finished yet. The sound was like a knife torturing the young man, the tiny knife slowly cutting every inch of his body.
By the time the man finished, he had given up on heating up the meal and looked at the food on the table, thinking it was cold.
The man came out of the bedroom, saw Lin Zongbei, turned to the woman in the room and said, "Your son."
The woman put on her clothes and came out to see Lin Zongbei. She didn't know when her son came back, so she winked at her son, but Lin Zongbei seemed not to see it.
She had no choice but to turn to the man and say, "Yes, my son."
Man: "I heard he went to a good school."
When the woman announced the name of the school, the man was surprised. He looked at Lin Zongbei again and said, "What a good school! Your son has such good grades. He has a bright future."
The woman smiled and said, "The old man left me with only one son. Fortunately, this child is very capable, otherwise I would have no hope in life."
The man listened to the woman's complaints without saying much. He just turned to Lin Zongbei and said in a more serious tone, "Try to get into a good university in the future, then you can go out and see the world."
Lin Zongbei still didn't say anything, just looked at the two of them. The woman was a little anxious at this moment and wanted Lin Zongbei to say something, but Lin Zongbei still ignored them.
She even wanted to go forward and slap Lin Zongbei to wake him up, but the man saw through her intentions and stopped her, saying, "This child has grown up, it's normal for him to have a temper. What are you doing?"
The woman said disapprovingly, "He's my child when he grows up. What's the big deal if I spank him a few times?"
Man: "The child has grown up and has self-respect. You can't treat him the same way as when he was little."
The woman snorted and said softly, "I'm not doing this for you."
The man casually picked up his coat, his voice tinged with smile: "I understand."
She reached out and grasped his sleeve, hooked it gently, and softened her voice: "Are you leaving?"
The man looked down at his sleeve being pulled, the smile in his eyes grew wider, and he patted it, "Well, time to go."
After the man left, the woman returned to normal. She was no longer the same as before. She turned around and looked at Lin Zongbei, saying slowly: "Next time you go back at this time, go straight upstairs to sleep. You don't have to cook anymore."
Lin Zongbei finally spoke. His words lacked much emotion. He simply asked, "How many boyfriends have you had?"
"Why are you asking that? What's wrong with you? Are you angry?" Xu Ting sighed, "Mom, didn't I tell you not to come in if you see anyone?"
Lin Zongbei didn't answer. Xu Ting sat on the sofa and began to remove her makeup. Her hands slowly and heavily wiped off the makeup on her face, revealing the pale skin underneath.
"I'll collect the school fees tomorrow and send you there. Just talk to the teacher. It will only take a few classes. I think she will agree." Xu Ting's voice was tired. She didn't look back, but continued to remove her makeup in front of the mirror.
Lin Zongbei: "Why can't you find a good family to marry into? At least you don't have to live like this now."
"A good family? Where can you find a good family?" Xu Ting smiled. "Even if you have a good family, it doesn't necessarily mean you can get married."
"Your dad... your dad is okay, he just looks honest. But I'm glad I chose your dad back then. If nothing else, he gave me a good son.
"For this reason, I don't blame him."
Lin Zongbei asked again, "Don't you think most of your life choices are wrong?"
Seeing her son's uncharacteristic behavior, Xu Ting frowned: "What's wrong with you today?"
"Do you know what they say about me behind my back? What do they say about you?"
Xu Ting sighed, her mind clearing up. She said in a hoarse voice, "Don't worry about what others think. Let's just live our lives well. Just do your best to get into university, and no one will say anything."
"My grades are the best in the class, but the teacher never considers me when selecting candidates."
"If there's something like this, I'll go find your teacher." Xu Ting thought for a moment and continued, "Forget it, just talking is useless. I still have to give you some money."
"Just wait, I'll go visit your teacher later."
"No, she knows where your money comes from. They all know it." Lin Zongbei snorted coldly and continued, "They will think it's dirty and refuse to take it."
Xu Ting's hand paused, and her face in the mirror instantly turned even paler. "What did someone say at your school?"
Lin Zongbei: "They are all talking about this, who do you want to ask?"
"I'm sorry, son."
"Mom, there's nothing I can do..." Xu Ting's voice suddenly grew hoarse, tears welling in her eyes. "Mom is uneducated, and your dad doesn't have much money left. Your school fees are too high, and Mom's salary can only cover living expenses. There's nothing else."
"What else can I do besides this?"
Lin Zongbei: "Then why did you give birth to me? If you hadn't given birth to me, you could have lived a much better life."
When he said this, Xu Ting smiled and replied softly, "The happiest thing in my life is giving birth to you."
Lin Zongbei said coldly, "But I'm not happy. Everyone feels sorry for me. If I could have been born into a better family, I would have achieved great things."
"You...you can do it later."
"No, now if I want to build a springboard, I must have one of these two things: money and power, and I have neither. I have nothing."
Lin Zongbei gave a bitter laugh and said, "Even if I get into a good university in the future, I will still have to return to this circle after graduation and can only be a pawn of the rich."
She walked over and tried to reach out to pull Lin Zongbei, but he suddenly dodged her.
"Don't touch me. You do that kind of thing with those men every day. Have you ever thought about me? They looked down on me to begin with, and now it's even more so."
Xu Ting shook her head and said, "I can't help it. I really can't help it."
"No way? You shouldn't have sent me to that school, you know? I used to think a simple life was pretty good."
"But since I entered that school, I've seen a different life. What they have since birth is something I can never achieve even if I try my best in my whole life."
"It made me see the world clearly, and you destroyed me."
"They said they wanted to find a henchman, but they couldn't find someone like me. They thought I was dirty and were afraid of getting infected if they got close to me."
He approached step by step, and Xu Ting retreated again and again. She looked at her son's unfamiliar expression and finally realized that something was wrong. Her voice trembled: "Don't do this, Mom is scared."
"I'm scared too. Why are you giving me a hopeless life?"
"Why are you so selfish? If you're already living such a hard life, why do you want to have another child? Why do you want to bring another person into this world to suffer?"
The pent-up anger, shame and pain erupted at this moment.
He took out a knife from his pocket, raised it in front of Xu Ting's horrified eyes, and stabbed the sharp blade into her chest.
An hour later, blood was flowing all over the floor, Xu Ting's clothes and Lin Zongbei's body were covered in blood, and the air was filled with the smell of blood.
He watched Xu Ting fall to the ground, her eyes filled with tears, which slowly overflowed from the corners of her eyes.
Suddenly, he seemed to realize something, threw away the knife, squatted on the ground, hugged Xu Ting's cold body, and cried in suppressed voice, tears streaming down his face.
Half an hour later, his tears dried up and he returned to normal. He put the body down and squatted beside it, watching as if thinking about how to deal with it.
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