Three days later, Lin Dongming and Qin Fangrui divorced.
Lin Jingxiang followed Lin Dongming. When Qin Fangrui knew her choice, she burst into tears and begged her not to leave. She almost knelt down to Lin Jingxiang.
Lin Jingxiang said it very bluntly. Her father could give her a future, but Qin Fangrui, who had been unemployed for many years, would not only be of no help to her future, but might even be a drag.
She is worthy of being the daughter of Qin Fangrui. When it comes to cruelty, I admire her.
Last night, the three of them quarreled in the living room about this matter until midnight. I closed the door, buried myself in the quilt, and could not sleep all night.
In the morning, I went to school with two panda eyes. I was memorizing words while dozing off. The symbols on the textbook were like tadpoles, swimming on the paper. I lay sideways on the desk to take a nap, and before I knew it, I fell asleep until the self-study bell rang.
"Little Confused, what did you do last night? You are so sleepy."
"Since you didn't have breakfast, and I don't know your preferences, I just took the initiative."
Someone was talking in my ear in a daze. I rubbed my eyes, thinking I was dreaming. When I looked up, I found a loaf of bread and a box of milk on the table.
I felt a cold gaze from behind me, and I turned around to see a young and beautiful girl chatting and laughing with two other girls. I knew her. Her name was Yu Xinna, a girl as beautiful and dazzling as Lin Jingxiang.
She was a dance arts student, and her academic performance was not as good as Lin Jingxiang's, but because of her outstanding appearance and tall figure, it was not easy to ignore her. Yu Xinna saw me looking at her and gave me a perfunctory smile. I shook my head and thought I had seen it wrong.
My stomach growled. The house has been a mess lately and Qin Fangrui even forgot to give me pocket money. In fact, I've been hungry for several meals.
"Shen Xingmo gave it to you. Didn't you see the look in Yu Xinna's eyes? She seemed to want to kill someone." My deskmate Wu Li followed my gaze and reminded me.
"Yeah." I was so hungry that I couldn't care less. I grabbed the bread and started eating it. Wu Li patted his chest exaggeratedly and clasped his fists to express his admiration for me.
I was a little embarrassed and looked at her in confusion.
Wu Li rolled his eyes at me, then shook his head fiercely: "You, be more careful. Yu Xinna, that witch, is worth ten of you, Lin Jingyuan. No, twenty of you."
"I didn't provoke her." I swallowed the bread in a few bites and said calmly.
"Too young, too naive." Wu Li gave me a meaningful look, pointed at Shen Xingmo with a pen, and whispered to me, "She likes Shen Xingmo, everyone on earth knows it."
I choked on the milk and started coughing, looking at her in surprise. Yu Xinna likes Shen Xingmo? If I eat the breakfast that Shen Xingmo sent me, wouldn't that be courting death?
"I finally got it." Wu Li nodded with satisfaction.
Yu Xinna was attracted by my cough and looked at me. The milk in my hand seemed to become hot. I didn’t know whether to throw it away or drink it, so I simply put it in the desk and waited until no one was around to drink it.
I lowered my head, not daring to meet Xinna's gaze. Unfortunately, Shen Xingmo came over at this time. He walked to the seat of the student in front of me, leaned on the desk with his hands behind his back, and looked at me with shining eyes.
"Do you like it?" He looked at the unwrapped wrapping paper on my desk and reached out his hand involuntarily. I was startled. He looked at me strangely, took the scraps of paper and threw them into the trash can next to him.
"Thank you, Shen Xingmo." I smiled dryly. I think my smile would have been more beautiful if Yu Xinna hadn't stared at us with a sniper-like gaze.
Shen Xingmo was stunned for a moment, and then he curled up the corners of his mouth, as if he was afraid of hurting my self-esteem. He paused and said, "Don't smile like that."
"Ah? Weird?" I put away my smile. Objectively speaking, I spend most of my time with a stern face. It's really difficult for me to smile like a flower.
"You look good even if you don't smile," he said softly.
These words were like a basin of hot water that poured over me from head to toe. With a "swoosh", I felt the blood rushing to my head and my face instantly turned red like a cooked shrimp.
I had never heard such straightforward praise. Regardless of whether Shen Xingmo was telling the truth or not, I held onto the chair nervously , fearing that I would fall off the chair out of fright.
"I can't stand you guys, you're so sour." Wu Li stood up madly, took the notebook and pen and left with murderous intent. I didn't even bother to stop him. I turned my head and saw Yu Xinna staring at me. Her hateful eyes seemed to burn a hole in me.
"Don't forget the exhibition on Saturday." Shen Xingmo stood up straight, squinted her eyes and smiled at me, revealing her white and neat teeth, "I'll pick you up."
He never seemed to speak loudly to me, and when I felt depressed, he would keep his distance from me.
Yu Xinna's hostility was so obvious that he must have noticed it. I haven't ordered her to leave yet, he said, then took a step back and returned to his seat.
It doesn’t matter if you are loved or hated.
The weather is as changeable as a baby's face, with cloudy and sunny weather being unpredictable. When I went out on Saturday, the north wind made my face hurt. Passing by someone else's yard, I saw a few persimmon trees swaying in the wind, with branches covering the remaining few small red lanterns, as if trying to fight against the strong wind.
Lin Dongming had already moved his luggage away, but Lin Jingxiang didn't say she would go with him and stayed at home for the time being. Qin Fangrui was in a low mood, and except for cooking two meals a day, she spent the rest of her time sleeping.
They don't know when I go out, and they don't care.
"I was worried that you weren't wearing enough. The temperature is so low today." Shen Xingmo, wearing a navy blue tweed coat, stood in the wind. When he saw me walking out of the community, he rubbed his hands and ran up to me.
"I checked the weather forecast." I handed him a bottle of mineral water, and he opened it and took a sip.
"I checked. It takes an hour by bus and about 30 minutes by taxi." He took out his phone and used the app to locate it for me. "The bus takes a long detour and takes a lot of time. Let's take a taxi. There are still 20 minutes before the exhibition starts, so we don't have to worry about queuing. What do you think?"
"I'll listen to you." To be honest, I'm a road idiot. Walking the same road forward and walking back give me two asking for my opinion on such a question, Shen Xingmo might as well ask Baidu directly.
Then, Shen Xingmo used an app to call a taxi and took me all the way to the east gate of the Provincial Museum. The Yuhua Stone exhibition was in an exhibition hall inside.
There was a vendor pushing a tricycle . I smelled the tempting aroma and glanced at him a few more times.
"Want to eat?" Shen Xingmo noticed that I was attracted by the sweet potato. Before I could answer, he ran over. He said a few words to the vendor, and soon he ran back holding a sweet potato. "Here, warm your hands."
I held the sweet potato in both hands, broke it in two, and gave him half. I didn't realize he hesitated for a moment before he took it with a smile.
Later I found out that Shen Xingmo didn't eat sweet potatoes, but that day he ate them all in front of me.
We didn't have to queue and entered the exhibition hall smoothly. I curiously leaned over the transparent glass display case and looked at the strangely stones painted with pictures, which made people particularly like them.
Even after I finished visiting the first exhibition hall and entered the second one, my enthusiasm remained unabated.
"A Yuan?" Shen Xingmo called softly behind me.
"Ah? What's wrong?" I was bending over, looking at a landscape painting on a large red rock, and I answered him without turning my head.
"You agree? Can I call you that?" His tone was filled with inexplicable joy. I realized it belatedly and looked into his calm and clear eyes. I blinked and it was too late to refuse.
"Okay, okay." I said reluctantly. It's just a name, it doesn't matter much.
"A Yuan?" He looked at me with a hint of doting. I said "hmm". He got used to calling me that. Like a child, he kept calling me that in my ear, "A Yuan, A Yuan, A Yuan, A Yuan A Yuan..."
"I heard it, I heard it." I covered my ears and walked forward to escape from him.
"A Yuan! A Yuan! A Yuan--" He chased after me and kept shouting around me. I looked at him like he was a lunatic and sighed silently in my heart. Could it be that Shen Xingmo had some unknown quirks?
There were strange eyes looking at me and Shen Xingmo. I consciously kept a few meters away from him and pretended not to know him. Maybe he talked too much and God punished him. Half an hour later, Shen Xingmo covered his stomach and seemed to be in pain.
"Are you feeling unwell?" I looked at him with concern. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead, his hands were covering his stomach, and his face was pale. Shen Xingmo looked at me with difficulty and ran towards the bathroom.
Hey, don’t go too far.
After visiting the exhibition hall, I wandered along a long corridor. Suddenly, I heard a quarrel.
"Chen Jinmo, what do you want from me?"
"I just ask you not to be so willful, okay, Miss?"
"I am willful? Yes, I am willful. I am willful because I am with you. Look at you. What have you become now? I tell you, I don't like any of your bad friends. I want my future and I don't have time to mess around with you! I, Lin Jingxiang, really blind to fall in love with you."
"If you don't like me, get out of here!"
"Chen Jinmo! You bastard!"
There was a crisp sound of slapping, and the air became silent in an instant.
There was a wall between me and them. Outside the corridor was a small garden. From where I was standing, I could see through the thin gauze window that Chen Jinmo's teeth were chattering with anger . Seeing how arrogant he was, Lin Jingxiang slapped him in the face with her teeth bared.
"Chen Jinmo, let's break up! Since you're a man, don't harass me anymore!" Lin Jingxiang cried and ran away from Chen Jinmo. There was only one way leading to the outside of the small garden, and Lin Jingxiang was bound to pass through this corridor.
They also looked like they were here to see the exhibition, but I never met them inside. I guess they have been arguing here for a while.
Seeing that Lin Jingxiang was about to run out, I must not let her know that I had seen her arguing with Chen Jinmo, so I turned around and ran away in a hurry. When I saw a fork in the road, I turned it. I didn't pay attention to the steps under my feet and accidentally fell to the ground.
My ankle hurt so much that I dared not cry out. I limped and, with a quick urge, hid behind a door. As I straightened my back and tried to use the trees next to me to shield my body, Lin Jingxiang walked over outside, sobbing.
Chen Jinmo did not chase after him.
Fortunately, I was worried about meeting any of them, so I planned to find another way out. Just as I relaxed, a hand patted my shoulder.
I was so scared that I almost lost my soul. I turned around and saw Shen Xingmo smiling at me: "What bad things have you done? You are sneaky."
"No, no." I said, and walked around him and forward. It turned out that this was the bathroom. There seemed to be a way out at the back. My ankle was sprained and it hurt every time I took a step.
"You're lying. I can tell at a glance that you're in trouble." Shen Xingmo chased after me relentlessly, staring at me intently. I didn't dare to look him in the eye and shrugged.
"Cat, there was a wild cat just now and it scared me. I was afraid it would bite me, so I hid." I lied with my eyes open, not caring whether Shen Xingmo believed it or not.
"What's wrong with your foot?" Shen Xingmo didn't keep asking this question. He finally noticed that something was wrong with the way I was walking. Seeing that I was walking on tiptoe, he squatted down to check my ankle.
It seemed that nothing escaped his eyes. Just as he pinched my ankle and I cried out “ouch” a few times, Shen Xingmo immediately decided to carry me on his back.
Apart from holding hands with Chen Jinmo, I have never been so intimate with other boys. Now I have to avoid Chen Jinmo, so how can I be willing to climb on Shen Xingmo's back?
Shen Xingmo put the schoolbag on his chest and waited for a long time. When he saw me with an awkward look on my face, he pulled my arms without even asking any questions. I screamed and realized that he had already carried me on his back.
He said, I'm afraid you will suffer from sequelae.
I held my breath and listened quietly, my eyes as calm as a lake of clear water, but my heart was filled with turbulent waves.
I have to admit that Shen Xingmo looks as thin as a long bean, but his body is very strong. He carried me on his back and walked forward steadily. I could hear his breathing and smell the scent of cedar wood on his body. He sprayed a light perfume, which was fresh and elegant and smelled very good. The branches of Metasequoia were intertwined above my head. I raised my head, feeling dazed.
At this moment, I thought of Chen Jinmo, who exuded a faint smell of tobacco.
He wasn't there when I was hurt.
Of course I didn't know that Chen Jinmo was standing behind us, a few meters away. When Lin Jingxiang and Chen Jinmo were arguing, Chen Jinmo found me, but he didn't chase Lin Jingxiang, but came to find me.
Then he heard another sound, and he stopped.
When Shen Xingmo walked out with me on her back, Chen Jinmo stood at the corner of the corridor, looking gloomy, watching us leave. This boy who accompanied me through my youth saw me gradually moving away from him and breaking into other people's world, and he found himself helpless.
For the first time, he realized that the beautiful girl like the spring breeze would grow up, fall in love with a man, leave him, and forget him. His heart felt like it was cut by a saw, it hurt so much, she would leave so easily before she could lead him out of the darkness.
He would never allow this to happen, never.
Those star-like eyes turned cold and sinister due to loss and disappointment, and were no longer clear.
My ankle was sprained and the skin was slightly broken, so Shen Xingmo took me to a nearby clinic. I watched him silently disinfecting me and applying medicine to me with a gloomy face.
I told him that I would be more careful next time.
He nodded gently, with no intention of speaking. I stuck out my tongue, not understanding how I had offended him. After treating my wound, Shen Xingmo sent me home without staying a moment longer.
The house was deserted and the air conditioner was off. No one was in the living room or the room. Lin Jingxiang and Qin Fangrui were both out. I skipped to the kitchen to make a bowl of egg and vegetable noodles.
——Be careful not to let the wound come into contact with water.
When the water was boiling, the message rang. When I opened it, I saw that it was sent by a stranger. Today, only one person knew that I sprained my ankle.
——Last time I was in charge of collecting student information in the class, and I saved your number. Shen Xingmo.
Immediately afterwards, another text message popped up. I was about to reply and ask him where he got my contact information, but when I saw the message from him, I deleted the text in the send box and replied "OK".
After I finished eating the noodles, Lin Jingxiang came back, followed closely by Qin Fangrui carrying a bunch of bags. Qin Fangrui walked in with a smile on his face, hooked his hind legs and closed the door.
"Xiangxiang, Mom won't have the chance to buy you clothes in the future. Take these and these with you. You look good and have a good figure, and you can wear them decently. You live with Lin Dongming and that vixen, and I'm afraid they will abuse you." Qin Fangrui stuffed the shopping bag in her hand into Lin Jingxiang's hand like she was presenting a treasure .
"Mom!" Lin Jingxiang had just had a fight with Chen Jinmo today, and she was so angry that she had no place to vent. She impatiently got rid of Qin Fangrui, glanced at me at the table, and pointed at an orange paper bag in her hand, "Give that one to Lin Jingyuan, I can't wear so many."
"Why do you care about her? She has clothes to wear." Qin Fangrui didn't even look at me. She was right. Most of my clothes were left over by Lin Jingxiang. I had a closet full of them, which could keep out the wind and cold. I didn't need them to care about me.
"Then put it in my suitcase. My dad will come to pick me up tomorrow. Pack everything you need to take tonight." Lin Jingxiang loosened her hair, changed into slippers and went to take a shower. Qin Fangrui heard her say this and responded with a smile, "Okay, okay, Mom will go right away."
I rolled my eyes at Qin Fangrui. Lin Jingxiang is her life, and I am her debt collector. If my life is not easy in the future, Qin Fangrui will not be much better off either.
I thought darkly, at worst we can just waste each other’s time.
It rained heavily the next day, but Lin Jingxiang still left.
Lin Dongming drove the car downstairs and came up to help Lin Jingxiang move things. I lay on the bed with my back to them and pretended to be asleep, not wanting to see the false farewell scene.
Qin Fangrui folded her arms and kept instructing Lin Dongming about Lin Jingxiang's food, clothing, housing and transportation, like a good wife and mother sending her husband and daughter on a long journey.
I listened with contempt, wondering why she had done that earlier. If she had been a little gentler and treated Lin Dongming better, they wouldn't have ended up having no contact with each other until they died.
They walked out of the room and I got up secretly.
Lin Jingxiang stood at the door, carrying her toiletries, and waited for Lin Dongming to come out. They went downstairs one after another, and Qin Fangrui followed behind them with two umbrellas.
It was pouring rain outside and thunder was rumbling. Qin Fangrui was wearing thin pajamas, her face was pale and she didn't move at all, like a zombie. She looked at Lin Jingxiang and Lin Dongming with resentment as they got into the car, started the car and drove away.
"Lin Dongming!" Qin Fangrui suddenly rushed into the rain and shouted at the exhaust gas, "I hope you treat Xiangxiang well! Don't let that woman bully her! If she doesn't live well in the future, I will kill you!"
The car rushed down the hill, splashing water all over the ground, and merged mercilessly into the road, disappearing in the rain in a blink of an eye. No one cared about the poor woman .
"Ah——" Qin Fangrui fell to the ground. The heavy rain instantly soaked her whole body. She cried loudly and looked miserable.
I put on my coat, went to her room to get her coat and umbrella, and rushed downstairs.
At this moment, I suddenly realized that from now on, Qin Fangrui and I would be the only ones left to depend on each other. Lin Dongming abandoned us, mother and daughter, like throwing away two pieces of worthless rags.
Qin Fangrui made him give up on his feelings, and I made him give up on the future. Only Lin Jingxiang was his treasure and the future he was willing to invest in, so he took her away regardless of everything.
When a man becomes cruel, it can be chilling.
It took me two steps at a time and I quickly arrived in front of Qin Fangrui. I held the umbrella over her head. She looked up at me quickly and continued crying.
She sat on the ground with her legs apart. Her pajamas were soaked in dirty water and stained black. Her face was wet and her crying was so loud that it was hard to tell whether it was rain or tears.
"You won't die without them."
I don't know why, but every time I talk to Qin Fangrui, I can't help getting angry, and the words I say are as harsh and unpleasant as the words she uses to scold me. Sure enough, when Qin Fangrui heard these words, she immediately became full of energy and jumped up from the ground.
Pah—she slapped me viciously.
"Lin Jingyuan, are you happy to see me like this? Don't even think about it. If I'm not well, you will suffer as well!" She roared through gritted teeth.
"Oh, I see." I put one hand in my trouser pocket, clenched it into a fist, and looked down at her. I was so glad that she hit me with her left hand so her strength was not that strong.
My left ear has never been in good condition, and now it's buzzing and I can't hear anything. I don't know if I'm deaf.
“Go up when you’ve recovered your strength. Don’t make a scene here and let the neighbors laugh at you.” My cheeks ached and a few strands of hair fell in front of my eyes, blocking Qin Fangrui’s resentful sight.
"A burden."
Qin Fangrui pushed me aside, glared at me angrily, and then walked into the corridor. What disappointed me was that from beginning to end, she never cared whether my ears and cheeks hurt.
With my fingernails digging into the flesh of my palms, I looked up at the endless rain curtain, trying hard not to let my tears fall. Lin Jingyuan, this is just the beginning, and the battle with Qin Fangrui will be long in the future.
Can't cry.
I slowly relaxed myself and adjusted my rapid breathing. I grinned and learned to face these things with a smile. I stretched my hand to the sky outside the umbrella and scooped up a handful of rain.
There was a half-moon shaped blood mark on the palm of my hand where I pinched it. I held the rain water and clenched it into a fist, and the cold rain water flowed out from between my fingers.
In hand, there is nothing.
The rain didn't stop until midnight.
Qin Fangrui went into her room right after taking a shower and never came out. I was afraid she might be upset, so I leaned against the door and listened for a long time until I heard a deafening snoring, and then I left.
There were a few packets of instant noodles in the cupboard, so I quickly ate dinner. Qin Fangrui didn't eat anything, and I was afraid she would faint from hunger, so I fried a home-cooked dish and heated it in the rice cooker before I went to bed with peace of mind.
The sound of raindrops, like sifting beans, dispelled my sleepiness. I held the phone, opened the text message from Shen Xingmo, then flipped to Chen Jinmo's number, and hesitantly closed and opened my eyes again, repeating this several times. I sighed and put the phone on the bedside table.
But what I never expected was that my cell phone rang at this moment.
I was startled and picked up the phone with some anticipation. I couldn't tell who I hoped would call me. The words "Chen Jinmo" flashed on the screen. I answered the call calmly, and his frivolous voice came from the other end.
"Jing Yuanyuan, brother misses you, do you miss me?"
"Are you still awake?" I lay flat on my back, looking at the ceiling above my head. The other end laughed and teased me, "I miss you so much that I can't sleep."
"Unhappy?" Whenever Chen Jinmo was unhappy, he would become unserious, laugh louder than usual, and speak without shame.
"I'm happy when you come to accompany me." Chen Jinmo burped and spoke softly, as if he had drunk too much. The sound of rain mixed with his mumbling, "Young Master, I'm very happy, very happy."
"Chen Jinmo, my parents are divorced, and Lin Jingxiang left with Lin Dongming today." My tone became very serious, not caring whether he could hear me or not.
"Oh oh..." Chen Jinmo was a little surprised, his voice was very light, there was silence on the phone for a while, his tone was smiling, "She doesn't want me anymore."
"Huh?" I asked knowingly.
"I said - she dumped me -" Chen Jinmo smiled bitterly. As he smiled, he choked and started coughing. When he stopped coughing, the other side suddenly became very quiet.
The air seemed to freeze at this moment.
I could only hear each other's breathing.
"Chen Jinmo?" I called him.
“Jing Yuanyuan…” He sighed heavily, as if all the strength in his body had been drained away. His tone was so sad that it made people feel distressed. “I feel uncomfortable…”
“……” I listened in silence.
"I feel terrible."
“……”I still don’t know how to comfort him.
"She really left like this..." There was a hint of sadness in his voice.
I was speechless for a moment.
It was eerily quiet in the room.
The air was terribly stiff.
Chen Jinmo smiled, as if he didn't want to hear any words of comfort, and quickly hung up the phone.
I held my phone and looked out the window. The sky was filled with heavy rain, gloomy and sad.
Just like us in this city, who can't sleep at night, our young faces are covered with gray sorrow that cannot be dissolved or cut off.