The Remaining Warmth Of Fog Harbor Chapter 32

Shen family shock

In the cultural and creative district of Wugang Old Wharf, the warm breeze carries the salty smell of the sea water. The handicraft shops along the street are hung with a dazzling array of accessories. The sun shines through the gaps in the sycamore leaves, casting mottled light and shadow on the ground.Shen Zhiyi held Lu Wanheng’s hand, their fingertips intertwined, and their pace was slow. She had just come out of the illustration material store, holding a stack of custom-made drawing papers in her arms, with a long-lost relaxed smile on her face.

Lu Wanheng had just passed the most tight financial stage of the project, so the two of them specially took half a day to avoid all pressure and come to the pier to select packaging materials around the exhibition.Lu Wanheng naturally protected Shen Zhiyi on the inside of the sidewalk, holding a paper bag full of painting materials in his other hand. He occasionally lowered his head to listen to her talk about new illustration ideas, and the tenderness in his eyes almost overflowed.Such an ordinary and sweet couple’s daily life is their most precious moment of relaxation after overcoming family pressure and financial difficulties. They thought that by staying away from the isolated environment of their hometown, they could escape the worldly judgment. However, they did not expect that a sudden encounter would completely detonate the conflicts in their original family.

Not far away, at the entrance of the milk tea shop, a young boy dressed in trendy and carefree clothes was stunned. It was Shen Zhiyi’s younger brother Shen Jiale, who had been favored by his parents since childhood.He came to Wugang with his classmates for a trip. He originally wanted to take some photos of internet celebrities checking in and send them to his circle of friends, but he caught sight of his sister who stood out in the crowd, and Lu Wanheng, who was intertwined with her and in a close posture.The image of same-sex people holding hands was like a scourge in his blocked cognition, instantly arousing his curiosity and malice.

Shen Hao did not come forward to say hello. Instead, he subconsciously took out his mobile phone, adjusted the angle, and pressed the shutter button continuously. The intimate scene of the two holding hands and Lu Wanheng brushing the fallen leaves from Shen Zhiyi’s hair was clearly captured in the lens.His parents’ usual instructions to “carry on the family lineage” and “glorify the ancestors” immediately came to mind, as well as his dissatisfaction with Shen Zhiyi for “not doing his real job of painting”. At this moment, he seized the opportunity and immediately packaged the photo and sent it to his parents through the family group. He even added a caption: “Mom, look at it. My sister got together with a woman in Wugang. It’s so embarrassing!”

The moment the message was sent, the situation in my hometown thousands of miles away completely exploded.When Shen’s mother saw the photo, her blood pressure instantly soared. She dropped the bowls and chopsticks in her hands to the ground, pointed at the phone screen and cursed. Shen’s father sat aside with a gloomy face and kept smoking. The family members who were originally dissatisfied with Shen Zhiyi staying alone in Wugang to paint suddenly concentrated all their grievances.In that small county that values ​​boys over girls and has conservative ideas, same-sex love is a scandal that is immoral and unacceptable. It is a scandal that will be stabbed in the spine by neighbors, not to mention that the other party is a helpless woman who “cannot carry on the family line.”

Relatives in the family group followed the trend and made harsh remarks, accusing Shen Zhiyi of being unfilial, perverted, and corrupting the family tradition. His younger brother Shen Hao fanned the flames and kept sending details of their encounters in order to prevent chaos in the world.Years of patriarchal prejudice, dissatisfaction with her daughter’s loss of control, and fear of worldly judgment all intertwined to make Shen’s mother completely lose her mind.She immediately packed her luggage and bought the fastest high-speed train to Wugang, repeating over and over again: “I want to capture this unfilial daughter, and I won’t let her lose the Shen family even if I beat her to death!”

At this moment, Shen Zhiyi was still immersed in the sweet time with Lu Wanheng, and knew nothing about the storm that broke out in his hometown.She leaned on Lu Wanheng’s shoulder, looking through the group photos she had just taken, planning to paste the photos into the couple’s book. She did not realize at all that the clutches of her native family were breaking through the distance of thousands of miles and attacking Wugang’s studio and apartment.This conflict caused by her younger brother’s candid filming, without any buffer, directly pushed Shen Zhiyi to the edge of the breakup of her original family, and also made the sense of security she had finally built up face the crisis of collapse again.Lu Wanheng noticed the slight coldness on her fingertips, squeezed her hands tightly, and softly comforted her, but he did not expect that the coming storm would be far sharper and more hurtful than the Lu family’s asset freeze and workplace pressure.

Three hours later, Shen’s mother appeared angrily downstairs at the Wugang penthouse apartment, carrying a canvas duffel bag.Relying on the location sent by Shen Hao, she inquired all the way, regardless of the property management, she rushed upstairs and kicked open the ajar door with a bang, breaking the tranquility in the apartment.

At that time, Shen Zhiyi was adjusting the drawings of the “Late Night” series in the balcony studio, and Lu Wanheng was sorting out project contracts in the living room. The sudden loud noise shocked both of them at the same time.Mother Shen rushed into the house and glanced at the tidy apartment, the illustrations of the couple hanging on the wall, and the couple’s slippers placed in the entrance hall. All the details confirmed the facts in the photos, and anger instantly overwhelmed her mind.

She rushed straight to the balcony and overturned the easel in front of Shen Zhiyi. The framed paintings were scattered on the ground, and the watercolor paint was splashed on the ground, making a mess.”Shen Zhiyi! You shameless thing!” Mother Shen’s roar pierced the tranquility of the studio, sharp and mean, “I raised you to study for you, and this is how you repay me? Hanging out with a woman, perverted! Shameless!”

Shen Zhiyi was frightened by this sudden attack. Looking at the hard-earned drawings scattered on the floor, her eyes turned red instantly. She stood up and tried to stop her: “Mom! What are you doing! This is my work!”

“Work? You are an immoral and dirty thing!” Mother Shen pushed her away and stabbed Shen Zhiyi’s forehead with her fingers, spitting. “Let me tell you, in our hometown, homosexuals like you are perverts! They are mentally ill! They are a shame to the Shen family! Why did I give birth to such an unfilial daughter like you, who came specifically to ruin the reputation of our family!”

Lu Wanheng stepped forward quickly, protecting Shen Zhiyi behind him, with a cold expression but maintaining restraint: “Auntie, if you have something to say, please speak it carefully. Don’t do anything, let alone destroy her hard work.”

“Do you still have the nerve to speak?” Mother Shen pointed the finger at Lu Wanheng, looking her up and down, her eyes full of contempt and malice, “You are the one who seduced my daughter, right? Look at you dressed like a dog, with such dirty thoughts! You pervert, stay away from my daughter! Even if our Shen family is poor, we will not let our daughter be with someone like you!”

The insulting words were unbearable, and words such as “pervert”, “dirty”, “shameless” and “unfilial” were like sharp knives tempered with ice, repeatedly piercing Shen Zhiyi’s heart.Shen’s mother didn’t stop at all. She smashed the apartment, smashed water glasses, overturned the dining table, tore up all the couple’s books and Polaroid photos, and her insults became more and more mean. She even dismissed Shen Zhiyi’s dream of painting for many years as worthless: “I told you to stop learning painting and go back to your hometown to get married and have children, but you refused to listen. Now that you have done such a scandal, I will beat you to death, you unfilial daughter!”

After making a scene in the apartment, Shen’s mother was still upset. She grabbed Shen Zhiyi’s wrist and forced her to her offline studio.At that time, there were collaborators in the studio who were working on the details of the exhibition, and two assistants were sorting out the painting materials. Shen’s mother rushed into the studio and cursed again in front of everyone, labeling Shen Zhiyi as “perverted” and “unfilial”. She even picked up a paintbrush and hit Shen Zhiyi, threatening to destroy the studio for “corrupting the style”.

The collaborator and assistant looked at each other, lowering their heads in embarrassment, their strange eyes pricking Shen Zhiyi like needles.She stood there, her face pale and her whole body trembling. The grievance of being ignored by her parents and treated as a patriarchal child since she was a child was intertwined with the humiliation at this moment, making her almost suffocated.Lu Wanheng protected her tightly, apologizing to everyone present and stopping Shen’s mother’s excessive behavior, but Shen’s mother was like crazy, completely disregarding dignity, and just wanted to completely destroy Shen Zhiyi’s life and force her to bow her head and admit her mistake.

“If you don’t break up, I will make trouble every day until your paintings can’t be unfolded, until you can’t stay in Wugang, and until everyone knows you are a pervert!” Shen’s mother pinched her waist and stood in the middle of the studio and roared. The sound spread throughout the cultural and creative park, attracting countless passers-by to watch and take photos.Shen Zhiyi saw that the studio that she had worked so hard to run, the upcoming exhibition, and the paintings that she regarded as treasures were destroyed by her mother. She also saw the strange and contemptuous looks of people around her, and the defenses in her heart collapsed little by little.She finally understood that in the eyes of her patriarchal, conservative mother, her happiness, her dreams, and her dignity were not as important as a comment from her neighbors or her younger brother who continued the family lineage.

After making a fuss in the studio and apartment, Shen’s mother still didn’t calm down. She threw herself on the sofa in the apartment, panting heavily, staring at Shen Zhiyi fiercely, and threw out the last trump card.She took out a prepared agreement to sever the relationship between mother and daughter from her duffel bag and threw it in front of Shen Zhiyi. The paper was crumpled hard, and the words on it were cold and bone-chilling.

“I’ll give you the last two choices. Either, cut off all contact with this woman now, delete all contact information, go back to my hometown with me, get married, and live peacefully. I will forget about the past; or, I will immediately publish a statement in my hometown newspaper and the local public account in Wugang, completely severing the mother-daughter relationship with you. Whether you live or die in the future has nothing to do with the Shen family. We will pretend that we never gave birth to a daughter like you!”

Shen’s mother’s tone did not change at all, and every word was filled with decisive malice. She had taken advantage of Shen Zhiyi’s weakness of being soft-hearted and valuing family ties, and wanted to use the most extreme method to force her to give up love and dreams, and return to the patriarchal cage to be a reproductive tool at the mercy of others.”Your brother is still waiting to buy a house and get married. If you persist in your obsession, not only will you be embarrassed, but your brother Jiale’s marriage will also be ruined by you. You will be the eternal sinner of the Shen family!”

Every word revolves around her son. There is never a word of concern about Shen Zhiyi’s life, he never asks how much injustice she suffered in Wugang, and he never cares about her difficulties in being pressured by the Lu family and being troubled by money.In Shen’s mother’s understanding, her daughter was born to pave the way for her son, sacrificing her own happiness in exchange for the dignity of the family and the future of her younger brother. Now that she has gone against her parents’ wishes and chosen a homosexual, it is treason and heinous.

Shen Zhiyi looked at the severance agreement, her fingertips were cold and her whole body was shaking.She longed for her parents’ love and to be treated fairly since she was a child. Even if she was ignored at home and gave all the delicious and useful things to her younger brother, even if all the money she earned from working part-time was to support the family, and even if she gave up her own preferences to cater to her parents, she still couldn’t get a trace of preference.She thought that by staying away from her hometown, painting in Wugang and meeting Lu Wanheng, she could get rid of the shackles of her original family and have a life of her own. However, the appearance of her mother abruptly brought her back to the cold reality.

“Mom, Wanheng and I really love each other. It’s not as dirty as you think. Painting is my dream. It’s not that I’m not doing my job properly. I’m not unfilial. I just want to live my own life.” Shen Zhiyi’s voice was filled with tears. She argued with reason and used every word with all her strength. “Most of the money I earned over the years went back home to pay tuition for my brother and buy a mobile phone. I have never treated my family badly. Why can’t you understand me just once?”

“Understand? I understand that you are throwing people away from the Shen family? I understand that you are cutting off the incense of the Shen family?” Shen’s mother sneered, her eyes getting colder, “I’m telling you Shen Zhiyi, don’t tell me about true love and dreams. In our hometown, these are all fallacies! You must break up and go back with me, otherwise I will publish it in the newspaper immediately and let everyone see that the Shen family has a perverted daughter. I don’t have a daughter like you!”

Lu Wanheng stepped forward to support the crumbling Shen Zhiyi, looked at Shen’s mother, and said firmly: “Auntie, feelings have no gender. You have seen Zhiyi’s efforts over the years. You will only destroy her by severing the relationship and forcing her in the newspapers. I can guarantee that I will be good to her all my life, protect her dreams, and will not let her be wronged.”

“Do you promise it will work? Can you pass on the family line to her? Can you give our family a gift?” Mother Shen didn’t listen at all and pushed the agreement forward again, “Sign it or not? If not, I will contact the newspaper now and let the statement appear in the newspaper tomorrow!”

The neighbors who were watching and the property owners who came after hearing the news were all whispering to the side, and their strange eyes were like a net, tightly wrapping Shen Zhiyi.She looked at her mother’s determined face, at the bold words “severing the relationship between mother and daughter” on the agreement, at the messy drawings and torn love letters on the floor, and the last trace of her expectation for family affection in her heart was completely shattered.She finally understood that to this patriarchal family, she had never been an independent individual. She was just a tool to exchange benefits and maintain dignity. Her happiness had never been within the scope of her parents’ consideration.

“I won’t sign, I won’t break up, I won’t go back to my hometown!” Shen Zhiyi suddenly raised his head, with tears in his eyes, but his eyes were firm. The grievances of patriarchal preference that had been accumulated for more than 20 years completely exploded at this moment, “Since I was a child, all good things belong to my younger brother, and I wear what he has left.I bought clothes and used his leftover stationery to get into the Academy of Fine Arts, but you didn’t let me study and forced me to enroll in a normal college. All the first salary I earned from working was used to buy a computer for my younger brother. When I came home during the Chinese New Year, I had to do all the housework. I was beaten and scolded if I made the slightest mistake.I tolerated all this!”

“I thought that because I was obedient and subsidized the family, you would look at me more, but you only have eyes for your younger brother, only for the continuation of the family line, and only for the dignity of the family! I stayed up late painting in Wugang, was made difficult by clients, pressured by the Lu family, and had no money to eat. You never asked me a question. You only asked me for money, when I would return to my hometown to get married, and to change my brother’s wedding room!”

“Now that I have met someone who is really good to me, I have my own dreams and my own life, you are going to destroy it all and force me to go back to that cage and continue to be my younger brother’s stepping stone! I tell you, it’s impossible for me! I will never be at your mercy again in this life!”

The grievances and anger that had been accumulated for many years erupted like a volcano. Shen Zhiyi’s roar was full of tears, and every word was filled with tears, pouring out all the injustice and forbearance of more than twenty years.Mother Shen was angered by her resistance, her face turned livid, she raised her right hand and slapped Shen Zhiyi hard on the face with all her strength.

The crisp sound of “pop” was particularly harsh in the quiet apartment.

Shen Zhiyi’s head was beaten to one side, clear fingerprints instantly appeared on his cheek, burning pain spread, and blood oozed from the corners of his mouth.This slap completely shattered her last attachment to her original family and completely extinguished all her expectations for her parents’ affection.She covered her face, slowly turned her head, and looked at the woman in front of her who gave birth to her but never loved her. The tears in her eyes disappeared, leaving only cold despair.

“You hit me?” Shen Zhiyi smiled, a sad and desperate smile, “Okay, good fight. From today on, I, Shen Zhiyi, have nothing to do with the Shen family, or you!”

She no longer read the severance agreement, no longer listened to her mother’s yelling and insults, took out her mobile phone, opened the family group and address book in front of Shen’s mother, blocked the contact information of her parents, younger brother, and all relatives one by one, deleted all chat records, and exited all family group chats. She acted decisively without any nostalgia.

“If you want to publish it in the newspaper, just go ahead and break off the relationship. I don’t care anymore.” Shen Zhiyi’s voice was terrifyingly calm, without a trace of emotion. “I will not break up, I will not go back to my hometown, and I will not give my family another penny. Your dignity and my brother’s wedding room have nothing to do with me. From today on, I have no family, and my only family member is Lu Wanheng.”

Mother Shen was shocked by her determination, and immediately started to roll around, crying, “Unfilial daughter” and “Raised in vain”, but Shen Zhiyi never looked back. She turned around and leaned into Lu Wanheng’s arms. Her tense nerves collapsed instantly, tears bursting down the bank, and her suppressed cries were heartbreaking.Twenty years of grievances, the desire to be favored, the pain of being ignored, and the despair of being slapped completely broke out at this moment. She was like a child who had all her strength taken away, crying and trembling in Lu Wanheng’s arms.

Lu Wanheng hugged her tightly, wrapped her trembling body with his coat, patted her back gently, and whispered comfort over and over again. His eyes were full of heartache and anger, but he did not say another word to Mother Shen.She knew that any words at this moment were feeble, and only companionship and hugs could give Shen Zhiyi some comfort.

Seeing that Shen Zhiyi was out of luck, Shen’s mother was completely helpless. She picked up her duffel bag with a curse, slammed the door and left. She said harsh words before leaving, but she could no longer shake Shen Zhiyi’s determination.The apartment was in a mess, with broken drawings, torn photos, and mutilated couple’s books. Shen Zhiyi curled up in Lu Wanheng’s arms, feeling completely shattered.She personally severed all connections with her original family, said goodbye to the family that favored boys over girls and never gave her warmth, and said goodbye to more than 20 years of tolerance and grievance. However, at this moment, she lost all ties of blood and fell into boundless loneliness and pain.

The lights of Fog Harbor outside the window were still bright, but Shen Zhiyi’s world collapsed at this moment.She finally lived for herself once, but she paid the price of a complete break with her original family. Her collapsed emotions overwhelmed her. Only Lu Wanheng’s arms were her only driftwood and her only light in the boundless darkness.

Banxia novel, a lot of fun