Chapter 10

◎Only sighs◎

The family sat in a circle at the dinner table.

The eldest brother Zhu Yuan did not cause the family to worry since he was young. He went to school smoothly and married his classmate who was a graduate student. The two of them worked in the system and their two children graduated from kindergarten with honors. Although Zhu Yao did not work properly every day, she could at least eat at the tea shop she brought as a dowry. Her husband was a pilot and was never at home. She raised Xiao Tao'er well by herself. There

was only Zhu He. Only Zhu He.

Zhu's parents could not understand why Zhu He was so good at playing the trumpet, but the second child was useless.

Zhu He's seat was empty.

He came back from Shenzhen, but he kept locking himself in his room. No one knew what he did every day. Zhu's mother said that he somehow got the urge to go out that night. After coming back from the bar, he never came out again, as if the outside world was terrible.

Zhu's mother chattered on and on, "I don't know what the two of them were thinking. Getting a divorce certificate is like buying vegetables. They just get it without thinking about it. The in-laws are a bit overly doting on Ningning. Not only did they not persuade her, they also told Zhu Zhu to find someone better - hey, is finding a partner also like buying vegetables?"

"Zhu Yao, please persuade your brother," Zhu's mother begged Zhu Yao, "or persuade your sister-in-law. It doesn't matter how you persuade her. Just persuade one of them. If you succeed, mom will reward you with 20,000 yuan."

Zhu Yao put a chicken leg into Xiao Tao'er's bowl and casually responded, "Don't think about Ningning. She can live a good life away from her second brother."

"Yes, yes, she's fine. Can you bear to see your brother like this - so decadent?"

Zhu's mother couldn't deny Zhu Yao's words. She looked up at Zhu He's door, which was tightly closed, but she still lowered her voice, "Mom really can't bear to see him like this, it's really heartbreaking."

Seeing that Zhu Yao didn't respond, Zhu's father comforted him, "Don't worry, if Zhu He can stand up, he will be quite good, after all, he has a good foundation."

Zhu Yao had to maintain his image in front of Xiao Tao'er, and tried his best to suppress the urge to roll his eyes.

"You two can't persuade him, how can she persuade him? The second child is not the kind of person who listens to advice," Zhu Yuan spoke for Zhu Yao, "Just wait for him to think it through, give him some time, he's not a child anymore, he can always figure it out."

Suddenly, Zhu Yao's words were pointed and his tone was very bad, "Why give him more time? He has obviously been given a lot of time."

"Forget it, forget it, let's not talk anymore, let's eat, eat."

After a meal of sighs, there were several dishes that were not touched at the end, and even Xiao Tao'er sighed and frowned, "Oh-oh-oh-oh".

"Why are you sighing?" Zhu Yao asked with a smile: "Come on, Xiao Tao'er, tell me what you have understood?"

Xiao Tao'er said: "Time is running out!"

Zhu Yao touched Xiao Tao'er's head, "That's about it, my daughter is smart, come, tell your grandma and grandpa what you just said."

"Grandma and grandpa," Xiao Tao'er's voice was crisp, "Time is running out!"

This was considered to be a fuss, and Zhu's mother asked Zhu Yao to stay and collect the dishes before leaving. Zhu Yao knew that the two elders were upset, so he had to go into the kitchen obediently, busying himself with a lot of noise, and then walked out of the kitchen after he was done. Xiao Tao'er was playing happily in the living room alone, and she refused to go back no matter what.

"I won't leave! I want to sleep at my grandma and grandpa's house tonight! - I want to, stay overnight!"

They let her watch TV and eat snacks while watching TV. Zhu Yao only let her eat one chocolate at a time, and they let her eat it all.

"Then Xiao Tao'er, stay!" Zhu's mother agreed.

Zhu Yao looked up at the clock and found that it was almost nine o'clock. She had an appointment with Du Ningyang to go house-hunting tomorrow morning, and she had to send Xiao Taoer over. It was quite a hassle to go back and forth, so she might as well just stay.

So she smiled and nodded to Xiao Taoer, "Okay, then let's sleep at grandma's and grandpa's house tonight."

Xiao Taoer raised her arms and shouted, threw her slippers and jumped onto the sofa. The little guy sat in the middle of the big leather sofa and began to flip the remote control skillfully.

After a long time, seeing that Zhu Yao hadn't left yet, she couldn't hold back her temper, "Mom, why aren't you leaving yet?"

"Who said to leave you alone? Mom will sleep with you tonight."

Zhu Yao walked to Xiao Taoer, bent down, picked up a bag of potato chips from the coffee table, tore open the bag, and threw the fragrant potato chips into her mouth.

Xiao Taoer couldn't hold back the disappointment on her face. Zhu Yao smiled in her heart, little guy, these tricks of yours are all left over from your mother's childhood.

Late at night, Xiao Taoer fell asleep on the sofa. The lights in the living room were off, and the TV was shining. Zhu Yao carried her back to the room. When he passed by Zhu He's door, he suddenly opened it.

"You're not asleep yet, want to talk?" His voice was hoarse, and his breath was filled with the heavy smell of cigarettes.

Zhu Yao carried Xiao Taoer to the bed in his room, put her down, and folded her out. Zhu He was already sitting at the dining table. His hair had grown to his shoulders, he had lost a lot of weight, was dirty, and looked very down and out, like a beggar, and he seemed to be in a different world from the elegantly decorated room.

"You've gotten yourself into this state after a divorce, you're amazing," Zhu Yao had nothing good to say to him, "If you have something to say, say it quickly, what do you want to talk about?"

"You met her later, how was she?" Zhu He was obviously trying to find something to talk about, "Does she plan to return to Shenzhen?"

Zhu Yao's voice was cold and expressionless, "Does it have anything to do with you? - Don't pretend that you care about her."

Zhu He raised his head, his eyes were full of dark circles and bloodshot, "I regret it, okay? These past few days I've been looking at old things... Really, I really regret it, I feel so sorry for her, I want to make it up to her. She can do whatever she wants."

"Really? It's not that it can't be made up," Zhu Yao's mouth curled up a trace of sneer, full of sarcasm, "She plans to set up a studio, and the shop has been found, 8,500 plus water and electricity, estimated to be 10,000 yuan a month, you help her pay the rent for two years for turnover. Okay?"

10,000 a month, 120,000 a year, 240,000 for two years, pay 240,000 to his ex-wife.

Zhu He smiled bitterly, helplessly, "How can I have so much money?"

Didn't you say anything is possible?

"Yeah, Zhu He, how can you have so much money? When people get married, they usually have to have a house, a car, and a dowry. When they live together, they have to work hard to make money together. When they divorce, their savings and property have to be divided. What about you? You have nothing like a pile of mud, and she wants nothing like a fool. She has to support you most of the time when you are together. What do you think she wants? Is she looking for the compensation you said today?"

"I have nothing to talk about with you," Zhu Yao stood up, "I have never seen anyone as stupid as her."

"I am sorry for her," he lowered his head and murmured repeatedly: "Really, I am especially sorry for her." I

have always been sorry for her.

After all, at the beginning, the person he liked was not her. Zhu Yao saw all this, felt sorry for Du Ningyang, and had a bad face for Zhu He.

She probably forgot that she was not close to her eldest brother since she was a child, and only loved to follow her second brother.

"But this time I really want to change my ways and live a good life with her," Zhu He stopped Zhu Yao from entering the house, "I used to think I only treated her as a little sister, but that's not the case. I may have liked her even earlier."

Zhu Yao opened the bedroom door, and the last words he left surprised Zhu He.

"Zhu He, you are already thirty years old. You can't make a living by liking someone. You should wake up and go back to the real world."

Only sighs remained.

-Du

Ningyang has been upset about not having the ice cream that Zhu He invited her to. She always wanted to find another chance to go out with him, but although he was easy to find online and would always respond immediately to messages, he didn't have much time left in the real world. He was either at school or in an Internet cafe.

In short, it was not easy to really meet him.

Du Ningyang later went to Hua Guang's ice cream shop by herself, and dressed up very pretentiously to give him a surprise, but he didn't show up all afternoon. Later she found out that he had resigned.

She pestered Zhu Yao every day, spinelessly asking her to think of a solution.

"It's his birthday next Saturday, and he said he would treat us to hot pot," Zhu Yao calculated the date, "but there is a small test that day, so we can only go out at noon and eat quickly and come back."

Du Ningyang was very happy, but Xu Zhaolin was not interested and subconsciously refused: "Or I won't go."

"Why?" How could someone not want to go? Du Ningyang screamed in shock, causing the classmates around to glance over here.

Xu Zhaolin and Zhu Yao had been following Zhu He since they were young, and knew what kind of person he was. They advised Du Ningyang: "You just arrived and don't know the situation. I advise you not to have too high expectations. You won't want to go to Zhu He's birthday party again after you've been there once." "

Why?" She lowered her voice, very puzzled, and put her face close to the easel, "...Is the hot pot not delicious?"

"No," Zhu Yao confessed, "It's that he would gather a bunch of weird people together to have a very awkward meal, and then he would enjoy it, sigh about world peace, and want to get together again next year."

Du Ningyang seemed unable to imagine such a meal, and asked with a stiff upper lip: "Who are they?" Zhu Yao

listed them all, "His classmates, netizens, friends he met at some point, his sister, his sister's friends... and so on, too many to mention, with a wide age and gender span."

"There are also some particularly strange people," Xu Zhaolin's eyes darkened when he thought of the super fat otaku with glasses and the bubbly-voiced loli who attended the event last year, "Anyway, you'll know when you see them. Some of his friends don't look like people who can make friends at all."

Zhu Yao rolled his eyes, "Sometimes I really admire him. He can get along with anyone and he's really not picky."

"Then why don't we not go," Xu Zhaolin went along with it, "Let's just buy him a 200-yuan gift card together."

On average each person had to pay more than 60 yuan, which was considered a very high-end gift at the time!

"Then he will definitely like it and be very happy!" Zhu Yao immediately raised his hands to agree, "How about we just decide happily..."

"No, we must go," Du Ningyang interrupted the two people's fantasy, "I haven't been there yet."

Facing the extremely resentful eyes of the two, Du Ningyang was rarely able to resist, "Anyway, it's just a meal...what can happen?"

Xu Zhaolin immediately: "It can make your life worse than death."

Zhu Yao followed up: "It can make you feel like every second is a year."

"Then think of it as for me..." Du Ningyang tentatively said: "Can you... just, bury your head in food, um."

"Forget it, let's go one last time, we're being treated anyway," Zhu Yao made the decision, "Let this ignorant girl see what it means to never give up until the end."