Difficult To Raise Chapter 49
byChapter 49 Mother Jiang Ran closed his eyes and suddenly turned off…
Jiang Ran closed his eyes and turned off the screen.He took several deep breaths before pulling himself away from the throbbing.It was only then that Jiang Ran truly believed what Jiang Jin said and did to him.
It’s not a joke, it’s not revenge, but it’s real, he might really be serious about… liking him.
This is too outrageous, Jiang Ran thought, he couldn’t respond to this feeling, but he couldn’t refuse Jiang Jin either.
My thoughts suddenly became very chaotic, not because I was irritable, but because I didn’t know what to do.
Not wanting to stay in the dormitory any longer, Jiang Ran packed a bag and prepared to go out.Jiang Haodong heard the noise, opened his eyelids in a daze, and glanced at Jiang Ran, “There are no classes today. Where are you going? The library?”
“No,” Jiang Ran said, “I’m going to the supermarket to buy something.”
“Oh, wait for me then.” Jiang Haodong rubbed his eyes, lifted the quilt and sat up from the bed, his hair messy from sleep. “I’ll go too, just in time to stock up on some snacks.”
Jiang Ran responded, pulled up a chair and sat down to wait for him. His eyes fell outside the window, and the chaotic thoughts in his heart were still there.
“Let’s go.” Jiang Haodong moved very quickly and finished washing up in less than ten minutes.
The two of them walked out of the school together. There were some small convenience stores outside the school. To go to a large supermarket, you had to take the subway for three stops and then walk for about a kilometer.
Jiang Ran usually finds it troublesome and rarely comes here. He buys everything nearby and if he doesn’t have anything, he buys online. So when he saw a welfare home on the way, he was a little surprised.
“There is an orphanage here,” he said.
Jiang Haodong followed his gaze and saw a white car parked at the entrance of the orphanage. A woman in a red dress was standing in front of the trunk and bending down to pick up something.
Revealed from the cartons were some brightly packaged snacks, bottled drinks, and a few brand-new children’s toys.
“Hey, it’s true. I didn’t pay attention to this road before.” Jiang Haodong said: “Looking back to see if there are any volunteers recruiting online, it’s not too far away. It would be good to show love when you have nothing to do.”
“Yeah.” Jiang Ran responded casually, his eyes still on the woman.I don’t know why, but I feel a little uneasy.
While the two were talking, the woman just turned around, raised her hand to smooth the broken hair in front of her forehead, and inadvertently looked towards them.
She has long curly hair and wears high heels. Her figure is slightly out of shape, and there are many signs of age on her face, but she can still tell that she must have been beautiful when she was young.
Jiang Haodong stared at her for a few seconds. Suddenly his eyes lit up. He turned around and bumped Jiang Ran’s arm. His tone was a little surprised: “Hey, Ran’er, look at this person’s eyes, he looks like you…”
The second half of the sentence got stuck in my throat and I couldn’t say it anymore.
He saw that Jiang Ran’s face had lost all color in an instant and became frighteningly white.
“Let’s go…” Jiang Ran grabbed his arm fiercely, his voice trembling unnoticeably, “Let’s go!”
“Oh…oh.” Jiang Haodong was startled by his sudden reaction and was dragged forward by him in a daze.
After just a few steps, a cold hand suddenly reached out from behind and clasped Jiang Ran’s wrist accurately.Immediately afterwards, there was a slightly thin female voice.
“Xiao Ran…is that you?”
This sound.
Jiang Ran’s breathing suddenly stopped.
It had appeared in his dreams countless times, in the late nights when he was abandoned, and in his lonely and helpless childhood.
He thought he would never hear it again in his life, but at such an ordinary time, he was caught off guard and it rang again.
Jiang Ran seemed to be nailed to the spot, his feet were as heavy as lead, and he couldn’t take a step forward.
He subconsciously moved his hand, trying to get rid of that hand, but the other person pulled it tightly with an almost stubborn force, and he couldn’t break free this time.
“I know it’s you,” the woman said firmly, “I can recognize it!”
Jiang Ran turned around numbly and saw the woman’s red eyes.
This tearful expression.He didn’t know how many times he had seen it, in distant memories, in nightmares as terrifying as the abyss.
It’s his mother, Chen Rong.
The woman who had disappeared from his life for an unknown period of time and who had abandoned him without any scruples appeared again.
The moment he turned around, the tears in Chen Rong’s eyes fell suddenly as if she couldn’t help it anymore.
It was too shameful to cry in front of Jiang Haodong. Chen Rong quickly wiped it with her hands, forced a smile at Jiang Ran, and said slightly excitedly: “It’s really you, Xiao Ran! I knew I was right, I knew it!”
Jiang Haodong looked at them blankly, a little confused about the current situation, “Do you…do you know each other?”
Jiang Ran finally came back to his senses. He avoided Chen Rong’s gaze without leaving any trace, and reluctantly twitched the corner of his mouth towards Jiang Haodong. His voice was dry: “Well, we are acquaintances. You go first, I will say a few words to this aunt.”
Although Jiang Haodong thought Jiang Ran’s attitude seemed a bit strange, Jiang Ran said so and he would not meddle in other people’s business. He nodded and said, “Then I’ll leave first. I’ll wait for you at the supermarket in front. Come back when you’re done.”
Jiang Ran said “hmm”.
After Jiang Haodong left, Chen Rong looked at his leaving figure and asked, “Xiao Ran, is this your classmate?”
Jiang Ran didn’t respond, but said impatiently: “What’s the matter with you?”
The smile on Chen Rong’s face stopped and she said, “We haven’t seen each other for a long time, and my mother just wanted to…”
“Sorry to interrupt.” Jiang Ran’s eyes fell on her lightly and he said unceremoniously: “Ms. Chen, I don’t think we are very familiar with each other. If nothing is wrong, can I leave first? You just heard that my friend is waiting for me.”
His tone sounded cold and hard. There was no joy at all to reunite with his mother, but there was obvious impatience.
Chen Rong rubbed her hands in embarrassment, “Then… Xiao Ran, if you have anything to do, go ahead and do your work. I… I have nothing to do. It’s so unexpected that I bumped into you here. I want to talk to you.”
Jiang Ran turned around and left without even looking at her.
“Wait.”
Chen Rong stopped him from behind. The woman’s voice was low and full of expectation, “Xiao Ran, are you working here now or are you going to school? There is an S University nearby. Are you studying at this university?”
“You have grown a lot taller. Mom almost doesn’t recognize you anymore. Fortunately, your eyes have not changed. I can tell at just one glance…”
Jiang Ran paused, turned around suddenly, with red eyes, almost tremblingly interrupted her: “Stop talking!”
This woman, this woman who abandoned him time and time again, could still say such words as if nothing had happened after blocking his phone number without hesitation.
It was as if the estrangement between them for so many years didn’t exist, as if he was the only one who took it seriously, and he was the only one who was the fool.
“Where I work and where I go to school seems to have nothing to do with you.” Jiang Ran said coldly: “I don’t really want to see you or talk to you. Please just pretend that you don’t know me, okay?”
Chen Rong was shocked by his appearance. Her lips moved but she didn’t say a word.After a while, she lowered her head, her shoulders slumped slightly, and her voice was full of guilt and weakness: “I’m sorry.”
“…Actually, I looked for you later, really.” She raised her head, her eyes filled with tears again, and explained eagerly, “But you changed your phone number, and I called you many times but couldn’t get through. Xiaoran, I…”
“That’s enough.” Jiang Ran closed his eyes and interrupted her again, with a hint of exhaustion in his voice, “As you said before, we have no bond as mother and son in this life. So let’s be like this. From now on, we will be strangers, which is good to everyone.”
After saying that, he stopped looking at Chen Rong, slammed her hand away, turned around and strode forward, his steps so fast that he seemed to be escaping.
Back in the dormitory, Jiang Haodong was called away by a phone call from her girlfriend.
Jiang Ran sat at the desk and suddenly missed Jiang Jin.It has nothing to do with those feelings that are constantly being cut and confused. I just simply and urgently want to hear his voice, even if it is just one sentence.
Taking out his cell phone from his pocket, he realized that Jiang Jin was extremely quiet today. There were no calls, no voice messages, and not even a single message.
After being stunned, he still called Jiang Jin.The phone rang several times before someone answered it. Jiang Jin’s voice came from the receiver, a bit muffled, “Brother, did you miss me?”
With just a few words, Jiang Ran’s irritability because of Chen Rong’s incident was inexplicably dissipated.He suppressed the strange feeling in his heart and asked calmly: “What are you doing?”
“I’m doing my homework.” Jiang Jin smiled, “Don’t you always ask me to study hard?”
“Oh?” Jiang Ran was a little surprised, “So obedient?”
“When did I not listen to you…”
As soon as he finished speaking, a low cough suddenly came from the other side of the phone. It was not an understatement, but a continuous cough with a sense of depression, as if something was blocking the throat, making it difficult to breathe.
Jiang Ran sensed something was wrong and asked hesitantly, “What’s wrong with you? Are you sick?”
Jiang Jin coughed for a long time and finally recovered. He paused and said, “No, I just choked on the water. It’s okay.”
Jiang Ran still wanted to ask more questions, but a slight movement suddenly floated over the receiver, like the sound of someone walking, followed by a vague female voice. From a distance, it was not clear, but a few words could be captured intermittently:
“Get more rest…eat a light diet…”
“Observe more these days…”
“I have to lose another bottle of this water…”
Jiang Ran’s heart tightened, and the fingers holding the phone tightened instantly.Just as he was about to speak, Jiang Jin’s voice rang out in a hurry, a little hurriedly, “Brother, I have something else to do here, so I won’t tell you for now. I’ll call you back when I’m done.”
Before Jiang Ran could respond, there was a soft beep on the other end of the phone, and he was hung up in a hurry.
Uneasiness flooded Jiang Ran instantly like a tide.He dialed back immediately, but only a cold tone came from the receiver: “The number you dialed has been turned off, please try again later.”
*
In the hospital filled with the smell of disinfectant, Jiang Jin sat on the hospital bed with a pale face. The cold light from above his head illuminated his bloodless lips clearly.
He Siyu skillfully took away his cell phone and turned it off without giving him any chance to refuse.
Jiang Jin said helplessly: “What are you doing? Give me your phone back quickly.”
Without even looking at him, He Siyu put the phone into his pocket and said, “Have a rest.”
“I’m fine.” Jiang Jin tried to quibble: “How can I not know about my body? It’s just a slight fall, what can happen?”
“Really?” He Siyu snorted coldly, poking at him mercilessly, “Then what did you vomit just now?”
“You fell down the stairs. It’s serious. Do you understand? Be honest with me.”
He Siyu couldn’t understand why someone would be so fussy like Jiang Jin, who wouldn’t stop even though he was lying on the hospital bed. If it had been anyone else, he would have been so uncomfortable that he didn’t want to move, so he wouldn’t have thought about making a phone call.
“Okay.” Forced by his eyes, Jiang Jin could only lie back unwillingly, not forgetting to complain, “My brother must have heard it just now, he will be worried.”
“Your brother doesn’t care.” He Siyu mocked unceremoniously, “He doesn’t even know how much he bothers you right now.”
“What do you know?” Jiang Jin closed her eyes and looked away from him, and said with a slight smile: “My brother cares about me in his heart, but he is just tough-talking.”
After a while, he spoke again, with a bit of seriousness in his tone, “If my brother asks… don’t tell him, it’s nothing serious, don’t let him worry.”
He Siyu felt uncomfortable all over, and the strange feeling he had when he was a child came back to him. He felt that his best friend seemed to be a different person every time he met his brother.
He subconsciously took out the cigarette case from his pocket, took a cigarette and put it in his mouth. The next second he remembered that he was in the hospital, so he gave up lighting it. He just bit it and said vaguely: “Shut up.”
There was no reply for a while, and when he looked up again, Jiang Jin was already asleep on the bed.