Chapter 4: Madness
"I want to bring He Shu back."
"No!" Song Jing slammed the chopsticks on the table, making a loud noise.
"He Zhicheng, don't even think about it. My own child is still in my belly, and I don't want to be someone else's stepmother first!"
"Then what do you want me to do? He's my son! He's still a child, how are you going to let him live alone?" He Zhicheng also threw the bowl and chopsticks, and the delicious meal ended in a bad mood.
He Shu didn't know that He Zhicheng had fought for him. In his heart, the purpose of this father's existence was to be a cash machine that would provide him with living expenses every month.
Qi Yue's death even made He Shu hate He Zhicheng.
If Dad hadn't left Mom, if Mom was sick and Dad was willing to spend money to save her... maybe Mom wouldn't have died.
There is no "if" in the world, and no one is given a chance to do it again.
One day before the New Year, He Zhicheng came to the old building again.
"Xiaoshu, come home with your dad to celebrate the New Year?" He Zhicheng failed to change Song Jing's mind about living with He Shu, but in the end Song Jing agreed to let He Shu celebrate the New Year with them.
"I'm not going." He Shu was doing his homework at the dining table, opposite him were Qi Yue's urn and portrait.
He Zhicheng took a look at the photo and felt that Qi Yue in the photo was staring at him, which made him feel creepy.
"But how are you, a kid, going to celebrate the New Year at home alone?" He Zhicheng looked away.
"I am not myself, I still have my mother with me."
"He Shu, your mother will be buried sooner or later. I've been looking at cemeteries recently. Once I choose one, I'll..."
"Bang!" The portrait fell down, shocking He Zhicheng so much that he stopped talking. His heart was pounding, and he heard his son's hoarse voice ringing in his ears: "You are not worthy of burying my mother. I will buy her grave later."
He Zhicheng walked out of the old residential building dejectedly and looked back at the lights upstairs. Even the lights were old and dim.
His eyes felt a little hot. Now in middle age, he could no longer control his wife or his son. The only person who was willing to let him control his decision, he couldn't control the decision either.
………
"Happy New Year!"
"Happy New Year!"
It was the first day of school after the New Year. Even though the first month of the lunar year had already passed, a group of half-grown children in the classroom were still happily greeting each other.
"Happy New Year, He Shu." Xia Miao had two braids, one on the left and one on the right, with red butterfly hairpins on them, which made her look particularly festive.
He Shu raised his eyes from the book, nodded, and said nothing.
Xia Miao pursed her lips and turned around. Her seat was in front of He Shu. After putting her schoolbag away, she heard her deskmate muttering, "I don't know what you're talking about every day."
Xia Miao secretly touched her deskmate. He Shu has always been like this, but she didn't think there was anything wrong with He Shu.
The novelty of the winter vacation could not be quelled in the morning. After school at noon, these small teams began to gather, play with each other, and walk out of the school in groups of three or five.
Almost all the students who study here live nearby and go home for lunch. The few who live far away can also eat at small restaurants outside the school.
He Shu walked at the end and returned home slowly. When he was opening the door with the key, the auntie opposite stuck her head out.
"He Shu, is school over?"
He Shu nodded, opened the door and was about to go in when the aunt opposite called him.
"Xiao Shu, is your house still for sale? I'm going back to my hometown for the New Year and a relative wants to buy the house. He doesn't mind that our building is old and the price he offered is not low."
His mother is dead and has no need for money, so why is he selling the house?
He Shu was too lazy to talk to this old woman, so he just said, "I'm not selling it."
Unexpectedly, the woman next door stopped him and said, "He Shu, I watched you grow up. Now you have no mother, how pitiful it is to be alone. If you sell the house and have money, won't your father and relatives fight for you?
We don’t know how long it will take to demolish our building. Even a child can’t understand. The current house price is not worth much, just over 2,000 yuan. My relative gave you 2,500! I pity you and asked for such a high price for you! If you don’t believe me, go ask the agent how much this house is for…”
The old woman's mouth opened and closed, and a foul smell came to his face. He Shu clenched his fists and could no longer hear what she was saying.
"Bang" He Shu closed the door tightly, and the old woman outside the door was still scolding him for being ignorant.
Closing his eyes and standing against the door for a while, He Shu calmly cooked himself a bowl of noodles, adding only a little salt, without vegetables or eggs. However, he ate very carefully, as if he had eaten all the bad emotions into his stomach.
After lunch, He Shu opened the door, looked across, and went back into the house to take out two tubes of 502 glue.
One tube was squeezed into the keyhole of the opposite door, and the other tube slipped into the crack of the door. After doing all this with an expressionless face, He Shu went to school.
After school in the afternoon, He Shu went to the market to buy some vegetables and took them home. When he was going upstairs, he met the locksmith who was going downstairs with a gloomy face.
The old woman next door was still yelling and cursing upstairs. He Shu stopped, thought for a moment, went downstairs to a small park not far away, found a stone table, and started doing his homework. He kept writing until the sun went down and he could no longer see clearly. He Shu rubbed his cold hands, put on his schoolbag and carried the vegetables back home.
The days passed uneventfully. There were always people who wanted to bully He Shu because he was young, but he always retaliated against them in his own way.
During this period, Song Jing gave birth, and both mother and daughter were safe.
He Zhicheng was very happy, because now he had both a son and a daughter. But Song Jing didn't think so. He Zhicheng had always wanted to take He Shu back home to raise him, wasn't it because He Shu was a boy?
Originally, she thought that if she gave He Zhicheng a son, he would no longer miss He Shu. However, she gave birth to a daughter. This made Song Jing, who always felt that she was better than Qi Yue, feel a little frustrated.
This trace of emotion gradually turned into postpartum depression. During the entire confinement period, Song Jing acted like a madman and was irrational.
When He Zhicheng held her daughter, she said that He Zhicheng was just pretending to do it for her. When He Zhicheng didn't hold her daughter, she felt that He Zhicheng despised her for giving birth to a girl.
The endless quarrels day and night made He Zhicheng exhausted.
He began to dislike going home and would hang out outside after work. Occasionally, when he came to the bottom of an old building, he wanted to go up and see his son.
But thinking of the urn and photos placed in the living room, he dared not do so. He could only find some friends to drink with, and went home drunk every day.
He Zhicheng's desperate behavior made Song Jing unable to cope with it. Facing He Zhicheng who was drunk every day, Song Jing had no place to vent her anger.
When anger accumulates to a certain level, it needs an outlet. Song Jing, who had lost her mind, finally exploded one day when He Zhicheng got drunk and shouted Qi Yue and He Shu.
"He Shu!" Song Jing's sharp voice sounded behind her head.
He Shu turned around and a slap came towards him with the sound of wind.
