Mixed Chapter 53

integrity

“This is where I used to live.” Song Shixue raised her finger and pointed to the six-story building under an old sycamore tree.

“Not many people live here now, and I don’t know if it will be demolished in another two years.” As she spoke, Song Shixue looked a little melancholy. “It’s a bit shabby. If you feel bored, we can just walk around and leave.”

Chi Nuan quickly scanned the area with his eyes, seeing the criss-crossing wires in mid-air, the dusty low green plants, and the three or two compact old-fashioned red brick residential buildings.Taking a deep breath, you can smell the pungent spices left over from a certain restaurant’s cooking in the air.

It’s really shabby.

But not boring.

Even though he was an “old boy” in the past, Chi Nuan loved this atmosphere from the bottom of his heart.She feels that urban development and construction are getting faster and faster, and there is always a lack of “live” things, so she can hardly resist this kind of real fireworks.

“How could it be boring? According to what you said…” Chi Nuan thought for two seconds, “Oh, Bashi! I think it’s not too late for Bashi!”

Song Shixue was amused by her sudden poor Rongcheng dialect and couldn’t help but reach out and scratch the tip of her nose.

Chi Nuan sniffed and prepared to take out his eating utensils and click on hundreds of them, but his hand came up empty.His cheeks bulged and he had no choice but to take out his cell phone.

Before they could find the best angle, they saw a stooped old woman walking towards Song Shixue on the cracked cement floor with a cane.

She squinted, adjusted her reading glasses and walked closer, looking at Song Shixue lovingly: “Is this… Xue’er?”

“Mr. Rong?” Song Shixue said in a Cheng Nuan accent that was unfamiliar to Chi Nuan, with half excitement and half uncertainty in her tone.Then he hurriedly helped her.

It had been a long time since she came back to see her, and the lady in front of her had changed from the “hot auntie” in her memory who was neat in doing things and always good at bargaining with vegetable vendors with her loud voice, to a little old lady with wrinkles on her face, a kind smile, and dark skin.

Song Shixue and Chi Nuan helped her sit on a bench not far away.

“Oh, our Xue’er is getting more and more beautiful, like a big star on TV.” Rong Yan, like most old people, doesn’t act rusty just because the younger generation hasn’t been back for a long time.Her withered and weathered hands covered the back of Song Shixue’s hand, and her voice also sounded loving and vicissitudes of life.

“Who is this next to me?” she continued.

“My friend, her name is Chi Nuan.” Song Shixue answered softly.

“If you have to have friends, it’s good to have friends. In recent years, so many young people here have gone out to work hard, and the one I worry about the most is you.” She gently patted the back of Song Shixue’s hand and repeated, “It’s good to have friends, it’s good to have friends…”

She called Chi Nuan over, took out one hand and touched the back of her hand back and forth in the same way.

“At first glance, this little girl is a nice person, and she looks so well-behaved.” Concubine Rong smiled at Chi Nuan.

“Thank you, Miss Rong.” Chi Nuan said shyly.

“You two have nothing to eat, so go to my house to eat.” Before they could answer, she enthusiastically held one hand and started to walk home.

There is no elevator in the old-fashioned community, and Rong’s legs and feet are not very convenient now, but fortunately, her house is on the second floor and she can still climb up.

Song Shixue felt sour when she looked at the unchanged furniture and the photo of Uncle Zhang on the wooden cabinet next to the TV.

“You guys sit down first, I’ll cook some food for you.” Rong Nv bent over and was about to enter the kitchen when she was stopped by Song Shixue.

“I’ll do it, Concubine Rong. Just sit on the sofa with Chi Nuan and rest.”

Seeing her hesitation, Chi Nuan echoed from the side: “Yes, Miss Rong, come sit and chat with me.”

“That’s what I want.” Wrinkles formed on her face, and she smiled so hard that her teeth couldn’t be seen.

Song Shixue may have asked Concubine Rong to sit down because she didn’t want her to be too tired, but Chi Nuan’s agreement was more selfish.

Although Song Shixue mentioned their family’s affairs because of the art exhibition, he was still willing to take her to understand her past.

But not enough, far from it.

“Ms. Rong, how do you and Song Shixue’s family know each other? Well, why do you say you are worried about Song Shixue?

“Neighbors.Their family was full of teachers, and the teachers were very popular in the past, so everyone liked to go to their house, and they became familiar with her.The main reason is because my son’s Chinese language performance in junior high school was really a mess, so I just asked old man Xue’er to help her make up lessons for convenience.”Rong Ma slapped her knees with her palms, “That old man gets angry when I talk about her!When my son goes to college, I have more free time. They are both busy, so sometimes I help take care of Ha Xueer.Unexpectedly, when I was about to send Xue’er back that day, I saw her old man arguing with her mother. Oh, the quarrel was fierce, and there was a sound of things being thrown inside the house.”

Chi Nuan originally wanted to ask what “old man” meant, but when he heard about Song Shixue’s mother, he more or less guessed it and continued to listen attentively to Rong Ni.

“Xue’er was only in elementary school at that time. Anyone who has raised children like me must know that this is a critical moment in all aspects of development, so I quickly knocked on the door and persuaded them to stop arguing, stop arguing.After a few days, it started again.Oops, in the next two years, they started fighting directly. Every time, they beat her mother until her face was bruised and swollen, and sometimes she even beat Xueer. You said she was so thin, how could she tolerate it?”

Her voice gradually became hoarse, and Chi Nuan pulled out a piece of paper for her: “Hey, we also tried to persuade her mother to divorce, but we didn’t succeed.Later, Xueer became more and more withdrawn and unwilling to interact with others, so I worried about her.She and I were the closest at that time, so I still let her come to my house to play during holidays from time to time to enlighten her.Hey, it’s just because the family has too much influence, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“Then…” Chi Nuan’s throat tightened.

“Then, she went away to study in college… She came back once later, and that time her old man owed money and drank alcohol, and almost beat her mother to death.”Rong Yan let out a long sigh from her throat. “Fortunately, that beast was caught, but I heard that her mother passed away last year?”

Chi Nuan nodded dully.

“Oh, my miserable child.”Looking at Song Shixue’s back, Rong Ni picked up the cup and took a sip of warm water to calm down, her cloudy eyes covered with a layer of mist.

Once, when Song Maoye was not addicted to gambling and alcoholism, Chi Nuan saw the happy Cheng Xue from the tombstone; later, she heard Song Shixue say that Song Maoye “beat the butt” of young ladies, drank too much and abused her, and Chi Nuan saw the painful Cheng Xue in the painting; now in Song Shixue’s hometown, she listened to Rong Ni talk about Song Maoye in her eyes and Cheng Xue, who was forever bound by Song Maoye.

She pieced together Song Shixue’s original family from paintings, photos, and words.From the original family, we pieced together Song Shixue as a child, Song Shixue as she grew up, and Song Shixue as she grew up.

Again and again, pieced together and combined.

This time, Song Shixue used her “readiness” in exchange for Chi Nuan’s integrity towards Song Shixue.

Concubine Rong paused and said, “He is going to be released from prison.”

Get out of jail?Chi Nuan couldn’t understand why such a scumbag couldn’t be executed directly.

Song Shixue’s movements in placing the bowls and chopsticks became louder, and the sound of clattering bowls echoed in the room.

Song Maoye…is about to be released from prison…