Little Meteor Chapter 39
byChapter 39 I Can Go Too?
When Shen Mu’s father went to eat breakfast, he didn’t expect to see Jiang Chengxuan. Jiang Chengxuan greeted him, and Shen Mu’s father sat down across from him, staring at him for a moment, genuinely curious: “How did you know I would eat breakfast here? Did Xiao Mu tell you?”
“Actually, I wasn’t sure,” Jiang Chengxuan scratched his head. “This place is the closest to your home, and this breakfast shop has a good location. If I hadn’t found the right one, I could have seen you immediately when you came out.”
Shen Mu’s father paused with the steamed bun he was picking up, looked up, and scrutinized him: “You shouldn’t be a doctor; you should be a detective.”
The remark was neither light nor heavy, carrying an ambiguous meaning. Jiang Chengxuan couldn’t tell if it was teasing or sarcasm, so he just smiled: “Uncle, you’re joking.”
Shen Mu’s father stirred the soy milk in front of him: “I’m not joking. The fact that you could find this place, think of all this, consider our feelings, and not make a big fuss asking around for directions—you have a very meticulous mind.”
Jiang Chengxuan’s attitude was respectful: “I was just worried about you, Uncle, and wanted to apologize to you in person. Showing up unannounced yesterday was probably too abrupt.”
“Abrupt?” Shen Mu’s father snorted. “You dared to show up and lay your cards on the table directly; are you still afraid of being abrupt?”
Jiang Chengxuan chuckled: “Uncle, setting aside the one thing you can’t accept, what do you think of me as a person? Am I any different from ordinary people?”
Shen Mu’s father took a moment to reply: “There is indeed no difference, but that’s why I can’t understand how a good child could…”
He still found it difficult to articulate, so he lowered his head and ate a few bites of noodles: “In short, don’t expect me to accept this matter.”
His attitude was clear, so Jiang Chengxuan didn’t try to persuade him further. He looked at the thermos container placed beside him and asked, “Uncle, where are you going?”
“To his brother’s place.”
“Oh,” Jiang Chengxuan nodded. “Then, can I go too?”
Shen Mu’s father finished his noodles in a few quick bites: “If you want to go, then go.”
“Thank you, Uncle,” Jiang Chengxuan followed behind him. “Uncle, give me the car keys. I’ll drive.”
Shen Mu’s father asked him: “Do you have a driver’s license?”
Jiang Chengxuan laughed: “Of course. I wouldn’t dare drive without one. Don’t worry, Uncle, I drive very steadily.”
Shen Mu’s father tossed him the car keys: “Then you drive.”
Jiang Chengxuan took out his phone for navigation, set the destination, and started the car, smoothly driving out of the alley. Shen Mu’s father sat in the passenger seat. After passing a few intersections, he said, “Good driving habits.”
Jiang Chengxuan didn’t feign modesty: “That’s right. I passed all the subjects on the first try.”
Shen Mu’s father looked at him, displeased: “Didn’t your elders tell you that modesty leads to progress, and arrogance leads to backwardness?”
“They did,” Jiang Chengxuan said. “I will certainly keep what my elders said in mind from now on.”
Shen Mu’s father snorted and said something in dialect: “Pao li pao pi.”
“Hmm?” Jiang Chengxuan hadn’t quite understood and asked him, “What does that mean?”
Shen Mu’s father thought for a moment and explained: “In Mandarin, it should be called ‘glib’ or ‘oily-tongued.’”
Jiang Chengxuan stopped at the traffic light, turned his head, looked him in the eye, and said seriously: “Being articulate and being glib cannot be equated. Of course, I don’t deny that there are glib people, but the key is whether the heart behind the words is genuine. Uncle, please believe that every word I say to you comes from the heart.”
Shen Mu’s father snorted and didn’t respond.
Jiang Chengxuan wasn’t offended. He continued driving and laughed: “Hey, Uncle, young people also have a piece of advice. Would you like to hear it?”
Shen Mu’s father immediately said: “If it’s about making me accept that matter, then shut up.”
Jiang Chengxuan laughed even harder, stopping only after a good while: “Uncle, I just wanted to say, look at how steadily I’m driving this car. If you praise me, I will definitely work harder to drive well. But if you open your mouth and immediately tell me not to be arrogant, then my heart will sink halfway. Sometimes, we juniors are like this car; if you add more encouraging fuel, we run with more vigor. Don’t you think that’s the logic?”
Shen Mu’s father wanted to open his mouth to refute, but suddenly, Shen Mu’s words from yesterday echoed in his mind.
I got second place, and you asked why others could get first place, as if I’m never good enough.
The words on the tip of his tongue were swallowed back. He looked out the window: “You young people, you have a set of theories for everything.”
“This isn’t theory,” Jiang Chengxuan said gently. “This is just wanting you to know that sometimes one word of ‘not bad’ is more effective than ten words of ‘don’t be arrogant.’”
Neither of them spoke for the rest of the drive. When they arrived at the Mental Wellness and Rehabilitation Center, Jiang Chengxuan parked the car and followed Shen Mu’s father inside. The Security Guard at the entrance saw that there were two people today and smiled as he greeted them: “Did you bring a relative today?”
Shen Mu’s father hummed in acknowledgment. Jiang Chengxuan looked at the environment; it was decent, and the management procedures were quite standardized.
The Security Guard registered them both, called out on his walkie-talkie, and five minutes later, Xiao Hao was brought down.
The Wellness and Rehabilitation Center had three activity rooms. Shen Mu’s father found an empty one, led Xiao Hao inside to sit down, and took out the food from the thermos container for him.
Xiao Hao’s eyes were quite similar to Shen Mu’s, but his facial features were not. Xiao Hao looked more like his mother. Jiang Chengxuan noticed his eyes were dull and his movements sluggish, likely due to the medication.
Jiang Chengxuan looked at the back of his hand, where a few faint teeth marks remained. Although they were almost gone, it was still possible to see how deep the bite had been.
Shen Mu’s father said: “When he was home, we didn’t give him medicine. He bit himself.”
Jiang Chengxuan was silent for a moment, then asked: “Have you taken him to see a doctor?”
“We have, many times,” Shen Mu’s father found a chair and sat down. He continued only after confirming that Xiao Hao was eating without issue: “We even went to the big cities. They all said he couldn’t be cured. To this day, we don’t know why he is like this.”
Shen Mu’s father’s tone carried a hint of emotion: “I remember the first time I took him to a big city for treatment, I didn’t meet a good doctor. That doctor said he had epilepsy and needed expensive tests. It wasn’t as convenient back then; we carried cash on us, but the test fees were too expensive, and I didn’t have enough money. I went home, got the money, and came back. The second time, I couldn’t get an appointment with that doctor, so I saw another one. That doctor was very good. He said, ‘You don’t need to waste money on tests. I guarantee you he doesn’t have epilepsy.’”
“For poor people like us, spending money on medical treatment is taking a detour, and we took this detour for several years without finding anything conclusive. Our family really ran out of money to keep trying, so we gave up.”
Jiang Chengxuan said softly: “I can understand.”
Shen Mu’s father smiled, his eyes slightly red: “Everyone around us kept saying that he could be cured, that we weren’t trying hard enough, that we hadn’t taught him well. Anyone could come and criticize you, but how were we supposed to live our lives?”
“We muddled through like that for a few years. Later, the village head took pity on us and said that people in our situation could get a birth permit to have a second child, at least as a source of hope. That’s how we had Xiao Mu.”
A smile finally appeared on Shen Mu’s father’s face: “Xiao Mu has been obedient, sensible, and worry-free since he was little. Without him, we truly wouldn’t have been able to survive.”
Xiao Hao suddenly looked up, blinking innocently, and mumbled: “Is Xiao Mu going to school today?”
Shen Mu’s father’s expression instantly softened. He patted the back of Xiao Hao’s head: “Xiao Mu is grown up; he doesn’t need to go to school anymore.”
“He’s always like this,” Shen Mu’s father said to Jiang Chengxuan with a bitter smile. “Every now and then, he’ll blurt out something from a long time ago, as if time is jumbled up for him.”
Jiang Chengxuan felt the suffocating feeling in his heart intensify. He opened his mouth and asked: “Uncle, is your love for Shen Mu conditional?”
Shen Mu’s father frowned, not understanding why he was asking this question: “What do you mean?”
Jiang Chengxuan smiled: “You just said that without Shen Mu, you wouldn’t be able to survive. I know that with two children in the family, and one child being like this, it’s inevitable that all expectations will be placed on the other child. So he must be sensible, he must be worry-free, and he must become your hope. It’s as if if he deviates slightly from those expectations, he’s no longer a good child.”
Shen Mu’s father didn’t speak for a long time. Jiang Chengxuan thought he was angry and was about to speak to ease the tension when Shen Mu’s father suddenly said: “So even you think that we made Xiao Mu so unhappy?”
[Author’s Note]
Doctor Jiang’s progress in winning over Shen Mu’s father: 80%