DF Chapter 12
by VolareXu Lijing’s secret base is actually a small sandy beach where no one has ever been.
Jingjiang is a well-known tourist city, and many people travel thousands of miles to see the sea. Most beaches have many tourists every year. The Binhai Highway is a bit further away and is a small road, so it is not popular. There are not many people around, and Xu Lijing’s secret base is on the side of the Binhai Highway, in a very remote location. If it weren’t for locals familiar with the terrain, they probably wouldn’t be able to find it.
Xu Lijing carried dozens of cans of sparkling water she had just bought at the convenience store and threw them all on the beach, beckoning the two to sit down together.
The seawater at night was also surging onto the beach with the tide. Tonight there was a beautiful moon, shining on the sea surface, creating shimmering waves. The daytime heat was well dissipated by the seawater at night. They sat by the sea with a comfortable temperature of only twenty-six or seven degrees.
Xu Lijing used a bottle opener to open a bottle of orange-flavored sparkling water. With a “pop,” the bottle cap fell to the ground. She handed one to Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an respectively, smiling and saying, “Let me say it again, thank you so much for today.”
Friendships between girls actually develop very easily. Such a thrilling experience is even more of an emotional booster, at least for Song Ji’an and Xu Lijing.
Song Ji’an knelt on the sand, raised her glass bottle, and clinked it with Xu Lijing’s. After clinking, she seemed to remember something, and looked at Sheng Jia with burning eyes, dragging out her voice, “Sheng Jia, you come too.”
Sheng Jia, stared at by four eyes, reluctantly clinked her lychee-flavored sparkling water with the two of them. Song Ji’an and Xu Lijing immediately burst into laughter. Song Ji’an said loudly, “Then let’s celebrate Xu Lijing’s successful revenge today and the smooth fulfillment of her wish!”
Xu Lijing smiled and took out a mobile phone from her bag and turned on the video recording function, “Say it again, say it again, to keep a souvenir.”
So Song Ji’an leaned closer to the phone after she turned on the video and took a look, and once again said loudly against the sea breeze, “Then let’s celebrate Xu Lijing’s successful revenge today with her own efforts and the smooth fulfillment of her wish, cheers!”
Xu Lijing echoed with a smile, and the two looked at Sheng Jia again. Sheng Jia reluctantly and cooperatively clinked glasses with them again.
This time, the three of them used a little too much force, and the sparkling water in the glass bottles poured out, wetting their hands. Xu Lijing found tissues for the two of them, but did not turn off the phone. Instead, she switched the phone to selfie mode, turned her back to the sea, and said loudly into the phone, “Before, I didn’t know what to do tomorrow every day, but now I suddenly know what I want to do!”
This was a very sudden sentence, so sudden that Song Ji’an and Sheng Jia didn’t react.
But Xu Lijing had already said very seriously, “I want to study hard. I want to be a lawyer in the future. I want to be like the sister today, who can use language to protect myself and also protect others.”
She learned new vocabulary today: safeguarding her legitimate rights and interests, and safeguarding her fairness and justice.
This is what she has been pursuing for so many years of rebellion.
Until this moment, she suddenly realized that what she was pursuing was such a broad road.
“Actually, I’ve been clumsy since I was a child, so I have such a bad temper. I can’t win arguments with others. I’m not that eloquent, so I can only use my fists to protect myself,” Xu Lijing said, “But in the future, I can’t always protect myself with my fists, because even with my fists, I will suffer losses and get hurt. I won’t always be so lucky.”
“I want to learn better ways to protect myself, and also be able to use these methods to protect others like the lawyer sister.”
That was a light in Xu Lijing’s eyes that she had never had in so many years. Her eyes were as bright as stars. She smiled and turned off the video, keeping her great wish at the age of eighteen.
Song Ji’an applauded her in support, also sincerely happy for her.
Xu Lijing is a social butterfly. She dug out the canopy and small lights she had hidden here. After pulling Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an to assemble them, she turned on the Bluetooth speaker, humming along while playing music, and occasionally happily went to the beach to step on the water.
Song Ji’an was pulled by her and followed her to draw randomly on the sand. Only Sheng Jia sat under the canopy, holding the sparkling water, and quietly looked at them.
She really didn’t want to be moved by the current happy atmosphere, but she couldn’t help but be moved.
The two figures on the beach looked so light and free. Halfway through their playing, Song Ji’an waved her hand vigorously and shouted to Sheng Jia, “Sheng Jia, come and play together?”
Sheng Jia didn’t move. She sat in place, watching them very deeply, until Song Ji’an and Xu Lijing ran over, each holding one of her arms and walking towards the beach.
“Why are you so cold all the time? You only have a bit of human touch when you fight with me.” Xu Lijing complained while pulling her towards the water, “Let’s play in the water. The tide is not big tonight, it’s very gentle.”
“Sheng Jia is not without human touch,” Song Ji’an retorted, “She’s a super cool girl.”
Sheng Jia was dragged into the sea by them, one playing the good cop and the other playing the bad cop. Unexpectedly, a wave hit, turning all three of them into drowned rats.
The previously chattering air had a moment of stagnation, followed by the laughter of Song Ji’an and Xu Lijing.
Sheng Jia helplessly brushed her wet hair back. She didn’t realize that the corners of her lips were also uncontrollably rising.
The three of them played until ten thirty before preparing to separate.
Xu Lijing’s home was nearby. She carried the remaining sparkling water by herself, waved to Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an, and walked forward.
Originally, Sheng Jia was also preparing to walk home by herself, but Song Ji’an grabbed her hand, saying that Auntie Liu would not be here for a while, and she was a little scared to wait by herself. She hoped that Sheng Jia would wait with her for a while. In return, she could also send her home along the way.
But in fact, Sheng Jia’s home and Song Ji’an’s home were on the north and south sides, and this “along the way” was very inconvenient.
But Sheng Jia did not refute, because she could see that Song Ji’an had something to say to her, and she also had something she wanted to say to Song Ji’an.
When Xu Lijing left, she gave Sheng Jia five hundred as thanks, and Sheng Jia accepted it.
She didn’t know how to thank Song Ji’an for her help tonight. If it weren’t for Song Ji’an, even if she didn’t have any major problems, she wouldn’t have been able to avoid being called in by her parents.
She was not used to establishing close relationships, so she always wanted to make everything clear, but now it was obvious that she was owing more and more.
Sheng Jia took out three hundred from her “reward” and handed it to Song Ji’an. Facing Song Ji’an’s puzzled gaze, she only said softly, “This is what you deserve.”
Song Ji’an pushed the money back, “But I didn’t do anything. This is Xu Lijing’s thanks for helping her escape the pursuit, and it has nothing to do with me.”
Sheng Jia pursed her lips when she heard this. Before she could speak, Song Ji’an raised her eyebrows and said, “And are you giving me a reward because you want to settle things again? I don’t want it.”
As she spoke, she seemed to have learned Xu Lijing’s smugness, and said with a smile, “I’ve been preventing you from doing this for a long time. If you want to thank me, you have to think of other ways, right? Just owe it to me first, and I’ll tell you what I want when I’ve figured it out.”
After spending an evening together, Song Ji’an was no longer so cautious when facing Sheng Jia, and even began to expose her own cunning nature.
Sheng Jia: …
Sheng Jia was a little helpless and a little troubled, but the resistance in her heart was not that deep. In the end, she just nodded, which was regarded as agreeing, and even passed Song Ji’an’s friend request.
Unlike Song Ji’an’s full friend list, Sheng Jia’s friend list only had a dozen or so people in total, most of whom were part-time bosses.
Song Ji’an looked shocked. In the past, she thought that Sheng Jia deliberately didn’t pass it because she wasn’t familiar with her, but it turned out that she didn’t add a single classmate in the class, and her social circle was pitifully small.
Sheng Jia didn’t feel anything about her shock. After all, she didn’t have much social needs, and she wasn’t familiar with most of the people in the class.
Soon Auntie Liu arrived, and the two of them sat in her back seat again. This time, they were probably too tired. They didn’t say much in the car and even fell asleep head to head. It wasn’t until they arrived at Sheng Jia’s The Neighborhood that Auntie Liu woke up the two who were sleeping soundly.
Sheng Jia walked towards her home with her bag on her back. Suddenly, a horn sounded behind her. She turned her head and saw Song Ji’an, still sleepy-eyed, leaning on the car window and waving to her. The smile on her face was still dazzling and bright even in the dark night. She said to her, “Sheng Jia, good night!”
Sheng Jia didn’t reply. She stood in the bright light illuminated by the high beams and looked at her for a while. In the end, she raised her hand and waved to her, and then disappeared into the darkness again.
After entering The Neighborhood, it turned into a large area of darkness. Sheng Jia tried to calm the thumping in her heart. It seemed that from the moment Xu Lijing and Song Ji’an pulled her into the sea, her heartbeat had unconsciously changed speed. It was the kind of rare heartbeat that was filled with joy and freedom, and it hadn’t completely calmed down even now.
There were still many people playing mahjong all night on the first floor. As usual, Sheng Jia glanced at the door and didn’t see Sheng Huaiying. So she tiptoed upstairs. Under normal circumstances, Sheng Huaiying should have been asleep at this time.
But when she turned on the lights in the room, she saw a scene of ruins. The room had obviously been smashed up, and Sheng Huaiying was sitting on the sofa with a tired face, not knowing what she was thinking.
The heart that was surging with happiness suddenly cooled down. She was not one of those fish who could swim freely in the sea with her companions.
Her life was a pile of mud, blocking every path to her happiness.
As if returning to reality in an instant, Sheng Jia became the indifferent, unsympathetic, and calculating girl again.
She also finally remembered that everything that had developed today was in her plan. Her relationship with Song Ji’an would be drawn closer without any deliberate traces in Xu Lijing’s incident today.
“Wang Jian is about to come out, and his brothers are trying to take over this house again.” Sheng Huaiying said slowly after a long time, “You still have a year before the college entrance examination, so go to a farther place.”
Sheng Jia silently changed her shoes and walked in. She squatted down, preparing to clean up the shattered dishes on the ground.
“Did you call the police?”
Sheng Huaiying sneered, “Is it useful to call the police? Even if I divorce him, can his brothers go to jail for running into my house and smashing a few of my dishes to vent their anger?”
No, at most they would be detained for a few days, and then they would come again.
Endlessly harassing them.
“When you take the college entrance examination, go to a farther place. I’ll sell this house, and then we’ll never come back here again, okay?” Sheng Huaiying bent down, took her arm, pulled her to sit beside her, this was the best idea she had thought of for so long.
She wanted to hide in a place where no one could find them again and start over. Wherever Sheng Jia went, she would go there to accompany her and settle down.
Sheng Jia looked down at the shards of porcelain in her hand and didn’t speak.
Sheng Huaiying felt that this was a great idea. She turned sideways and hugged Sheng Jia, as if to draw great courage from her daughter, and said in a low voice, “Let’s do this, okay? Wherever you go, Mom will follow you.”
Sheng Jia nestled in her arms and didn’t move.
Only a complex emotion Emergency in her deep dark eyes, representing her unfinished words.
——But Mom, I’m not your child, I also want to follow my mom.