The Wind Blows Fallen Leaves Chapter 9

Brooch

Shen Luo didn’t plan to go on the day of the celebration party, so Liang Qian carried him directly to the door of the hotel, forgetting to bring his crutches. He sat on a stool the whole time, and An Yu saw him sitting aside and walked out to accompany him.

Shen Luo was going to pick up the wine glass. An Yu put his fingers on the rim of the glass to prevent him from picking it up. Then he raised his glass and drank the wine in one gulp. Shen Luo looked at him dissatisfied and said weakly, “I can drink it.”

“Your legs are not healed, so don’t drink. I’ll order some juice for you.”

As he spoke, An Yu took out a bottle of juice from under the table, opened it and poured it into the empty glass he had just finished, and put it in front of him. Then he picked up his own glass and clinked it with him. Shen Luo looked at the glass and couldn’t say no, “Okay, I’ll listen to you.”

They watched the farce in front of them. Many people drank until they went to the toilet to vomit. The private toilet was full of people. Liang Qian couldn’t squeeze in, so he had to cover his mouth and ran to the public toilet. When he came out, he propped up a packet of paper on the sink. He was a young waiter. His height was still slightly smaller than Liang Qian. Liang Qian’s eyes moved from his face to the mask that covered most of his face, and then to the paper towel and looked at him again, saying: “Give it to me? Thank you.”

The waiter looked at his pale face, patted his back and said, “Which room are you in? I’ll take you back.”

“No, no, I can do it myself. You are busy with your business.” Liang Qian washed his hands and was about to leave. Maybe he had squatted for too long and almost fell down when he was walking. He held his arm and said, “You should be more careful, right?”

Liang Qian stamped his numb legs and said, “Room No. 6, we’re in trouble.”

With his support, Liang Qian stood in front of the door. The numbness had faded. He walked to the door and left.

“Liang Qian, where have you been? Are you running away from drinking?”

As soon as they got back, they started drinking with their arms around each other. At the end of the day, he was so drunk that he said he could walk in a straight line and wouldn’t let anyone touch him. An Yu was worried about them going back together, so he was going to call a car to take them back.

The drinker went crazy and couldn’t stop him. Liang Qian looked at the green belt in front of him and shouted loudly: “I want to walk on the red carpet. I am so handsome. Not being a star is simply a loss for the entertainment industry.”

After saying that, he rushed out, but he got stuck and couldn’t get out. He still said plausibly: “No, run quickly. This red carpet can eat people, even if it’s not a celebrity.”

Then he started swimming inside. An Yu was holding Shen Luo aside, laughing so hard that he couldn’t speak. Shen Luo also laughed so hard that he couldn’t speak. Suddenly he realized that he was on the side of the road, and immediately slapped An Yu and said, “Stop laughing, go and pull him out.”

An Yu calmly helped Shen Luo sit down on the steps aside, and then went to fish out Liang Qian, who was swimming in the green belt. He stubbornly stayed inside and refused to come out. A passerby happened to pass by and the two of them worked together to fish him out. The passerby was the waiter who delivered the paper to Liang Qian. He heard the shouting here just after getting off work, and thought something had happened to someone, but he didn’t expect that something happened.

Liang Qian was still trying to break away from their restraints, and was thrashing around. Just as the car that An Yu called arrived, Shen Luo asked the waiter to take Liang Qian inside.

Liang Qian was firmly fixed in the passenger seat by the seat belt. An Yu accompanied Shen Luo in the back seat. The car drove out smoothly. Shen Luo closed his eyes as soon as he got in the car. An Yu was afraid that he would bump somewhere and took him into her arms. He quickly sent them home. Guo Rui came out and saw Liang Qian drinking like a bear. He was so angry that he hit him twice and said, “Jiu Mengzi is just like your father.”

As Liang Zheng stood embarrassedly in the corner, fearing that his anger would burn him, An Yu helped Shen Luo sit down in the living room.

An Yu arranged her clothes and said, “Hello, uncle and aunt, I’m An Yu. Since they’ve been delivered, I’ll go back first.”

Then reluctant to look at Shen Luo, Guo Rui put Liang Qian down and said to An Yu with a smile on his face: “You are the youngest son of the An family. Thanks to you for sending them back today. Why don’t you stay here since it’s so late? The rooms are all tidied up.”

An Yu waved her hand and politely refused: “No, thank you Auntie for your kindness.”

“Well, let’s come and play at home another day.”

An Yu nodded and said, “Definitely. I’ll leave first. See you uncle and aunt.”

When An Yu left the house, Guo Rui changed his smile from just now and looked at the unconscious Liang Qian with a serious look on his face. Then he looked at his father who was sitting thousands of miles away, and he suddenly became angry.

“Look at your son. He just follows you. He can’t stop himself when he drinks. He drinks until he can’t find his parents and doesn’t recognize him…”

Before he finished speaking, Liang Zheng admitted his mistake with 100% sincerity, “Hey, I was wrong. Don’t be angry. It’s late at night. Don’t be so angry that your body is broken. You can go to bed early and I’ll take care of it.”

You should be sincere and sincere every time you make a mistake. When Guo Rui shouts, he will never go northeast. Guo Rui faces north and he will never go northeast. Every time, he is coaxed into speechlessness. This time, Guo Rui went upstairs and helped Shen Luo up. Liang Qian was completely abandoned on the sofa, only taking off his shoes. Liang Zheng took out a blanket from the room to cover his stomach and didn’t care about anything else.

In the early morning, Liang Qian had a headache that was about to explode. Guo Rui brought him a bowl of porridge and asked him to drink it. He took it in a daze and took a big sip. He stood up immediately after being burned. After swallowing, his entire digestive tract felt like he had been tortured.

“Mom, you are going to burn me to death.”

Liang Qian stuck out his tongue and used his hands to physically cool down. Guo Rui crossed his arms and said, “Isn’t this good?”

“Mom, what’s wrong with you? I was just happy yesterday and drank two more drinks. Don’t be angry. I’m still your good son.”

Liang Qian climbed up her arm like a baby, put his chin on Guo Rui’s shoulder and rubbed it back and forth.

Guo Rui gently lifted his shoulders, and Liang Qian fell directly backwards. He staggered a few steps and stopped, touching his numb chin and continuing to say coquettishly: “Mom, mom, mommy, mommy, don’t be angry, your son will never be greedy again.”

“Is that good?”

Guo Rui couldn’t stand his attack anymore and was defeated. Then he said seriously: “I asked you to take care of Xiao Luo. It’s better for you. It’s really courageous for you to drink unconscious and ask Xiao Luo to take care of you.”

Guo Rui nodded his forehead and counted his sins. Liang Qian immediately ran away and fell on the sofa. He was suddenly stung. He reached out and touched a small brooch with his name engraved in official script. It was a work badge. He tried hard to remember where he had seen it and how he came home with him. He roughly recalled what happened last night. He seemed to have seen this brooch in the toilet. It belonged to a young waiter. He seemed to have seen it when he went home yesterday.

He looked at the brooch and thought of how it struggled desperately in his arms last night, and said to himself: “It must have been brought over by accident at that time.”

Guo Rui looked at Liang Qian who suddenly became quiet and stared at a brooch in a daze. He turned his head to look at it and mocked: “You brought the work badge to your house when you were drinking. She doesn’t go to work, why don’t you send it back quickly?”

Liang Qian then remembered that he had to go to work and rushed out of the house. He stopped a car and passed by. It was almost noon when he arrived. He walked into the store anxiously and felt guilty. He would feel bad if he was scolded by his boss because of this.

After searching around and not seeing that person, he had to stop another waiter and ask him: “Do you know where that young man named Qi Wang is?”

“Pray?” Liang Qian looked at his face expectantly. He searched the crowd, and then he suddenly slapped his head and said, “Oh, by the way, today is Wednesday, he is not here.”

“Did he rest or take leave? Do you know where his home is?” Liang Qian continued to ask.

The waiter continued to talk to him patiently: “He takes leave every Wednesday and Saturday, saying he goes to the hospital to take care of his mother. But strangely enough, every time our colleagues say we want to go see my aunt, he always refuses. Gradually, we don’t mention it anymore. As for his home address, we… don’t know.”

“Well, this is his work badge. I accidentally picked it up yesterday. When he comes tomorrow, help me give it to him.”

Liang Qian entrusted the brooch and left with relief.

“Mom, take a sip. The doctor said you need to eat more to get better quickly.” Qi Wang brought the meal he brought from home to her mouth and prayed that she would open her mouth and take a sip.

There was a skinny woman lying on the hospital bed, looking at one place with dull expression and eyes. Even when she heard someone calling her, she remained indifferent. She stayed in a stalemate for a while, hoping to put down the lunch box in her hand, and picked up a towel to wipe the white corners of her mouth. Suddenly she sat up straight and muttered: “Where is my child? Where is my son? He must have gone out to play again. Dad will be back soon. I want to go find him.”

After saying that, he lifted up the quilt and ran out barefoot. Qi Wang picked up his shoes and chased her out. She ran very fast and disappeared in a blink of an eye. Qi Wang happened to see his mother’s attending doctor. After explaining the situation, the two of them went to look for each other separately. Qi Wang went outside and unknowingly came to a pond.Standing in very shallowly, but just up to her calf, she saw Zhao Hongyin squatting by the pond, holding a soaked doll in her arms. She was no older than a three-month-old baby. She liked furry toys very much, but the only one she couldn’t put down was this one, because it was a gift from Qi Wang’s father.

Qi Wang put the shoes next to her and helped her stand up, then knelt down, wiped her feet clean, and carried her back to the room. His hands were clenched and shaking slightly, and mud mixed with blood was squeezed out from between his fingers. He lowered his head and remained silent along the way. His heart was soaked in water at this moment, and it kept dripping.Putting her on the bed, he immediately ran into the bathroom, used the faucet to cover his sudden collapse of emotions, spread his hands, and a small stone slipped from the palm of his hand and fell into the absorption pool. It hit his heart with a clang, and then rolled into the hole in the middle, never to be found again. The palm of his hand was also scratched by the stone, but was buried deep in the soil.

He was always paying attention to what was going on outside. He wiped his cheeks that had been wet for some time and went out with hot water in a relaxed manner. Zhao Hongyin was still holding the doll, hoping to wash her feet and take care of the wound. He reached out to get her precious doll.

“Who are you? This is my son, no one can touch him.”

Zhao Hongyin vigorously swatted away his outstretched hand and hid the doll behind her back to avoid being snatched away. She hoped to take back her hand and asked her in a negotiating tone: “How about we go give him a bath?”

Hearing these words, Zhao Hongyin was shaken, and slowly took out the doll and said, “Then you have to wash it clean, otherwise Dad won’t come back.”

“Okay,” Qi Wang took it carefully and said with a smile, “I washed him and brought it over to you next time, okay?”

“No, I don’t know you. What if you are a bad person and hurt my son? No, I can’t give it to you. Give it back to me.”

As she said that, she reached out to grab the doll, and prayed to stay there and let him snatch the doll away from her. Several long claw marks on her hands spread straight to her heart, oozing blood.

When he was a teenager, his hands should be slender and delicate, but the dense scars, calluses on his palms and rough lines on the back of his hands made him no longer aware of the wounds. The smile at the corners of his mouth had long since disappeared, his eyes were filled with tears, and his lower lip was bitten red.He was so white that he was trembling slightly. His eyelashes were still wet from the water. His hands drooped weakly, and his legs were weak. He squatted down and buried his head in his thighs. The place where the doll was soaked just now was close to his thighs. It was very cold, but it was not as good as what he said just now.

The words “You are not my son” would always ring in his ears every time he saw her, and he wanted to pretend that she had never said it before, but he couldn’t. Every time these words rang out, they would gnaw him to pieces like a beast, and this time was no exception.

“Mom, do you really…don’t remember me?”

Qi Wang choked up and said this, Zhao Hongyin dropped the doll as if triggering some mechanism and held him back and forth to look around, trying to find out his flaws, “You’re not, you’re not… your son?”

In the end, even she was not sure. A trail of tears secretly extended from the corner of her eyes. At that moment, her eyes became clear and she silently said to him: “Son.”

Qi Wang gently wiped away her tears with the pads of his thumbs, brushed away her messy hair, and swept away the haze in her eyes. At this moment, the natural elegance from the bones of a crazy woman showed, and she touched his head distressedly and said: “Xiao Wang, mom and dad really, really love you very much.”

Qi Wang’s nasal voice was heavy, but his tone was able to rub people into their bones: “I know.”

Although he spoke very softly, Zhao Hongyin could only hear that his tone was full of grievance and reluctance, because he never knew when the next time they would meet each other sober.

Qi Wang was a small ball in her arms, trembling slightly. Zhao Hongyin was so heartbroken that she was so choked that she couldn’t make a complete sound. She patted his back like she did when he was a child and said softly: “It was your mother who trapped you and made you like this. You can’t do what you like and become the person you want to be.”

“Mom, I won’t blame anyone. This is the path I have chosen. No matter whether it is smooth or bumpy, this is what I want to be.” With tears in his eyes, Qi Wang looked at the familiar, kind, kind face that he thought about day and night, and said, “Mom, I only have you.”

Zhao Hongyin stroked the scars on his hands, many of which were scratched by fingernails. This time, before Qi Wang could help her clean her hands, she threw her hand to the edge of the bed in hatred. Qi Wang tried to block it with her hands, but this time it fell directly on his hand. Zhao Hongyin quickly picked up his hand and covered it in pain, saying, “Why did you stop me? How could I hurt my son.”

“Mom, I said I don’t blame anyone. Your behavior will only make me more worried.”

Zhao Hongyin started crying with a ferocious face, but looked at her son with distressed eyes, patting the back of his head as if coaxing him when he was a child, and said: “I just can’t control it, but mom really doesn’t want this, and doesn’t want to mess up the life you should live well.”

Listening to these words, I prayed and hugged her waist and said: “No one has messed up my life. Since it happened, it is part of my life. Accepting it is the best way to face it.”

In this way, the two of them talked a lot, and they didn’t think of leaving until two suns appeared in the sky at the same time. Before leaving, Qi Wang took the doll away and promised to bring it back to him next time.

When he went to work the next day, Qi Wang was rummaging through his cabinet. At this time, another waiter came over. He saw Qi Wang’s hurried look and asked him: “Qi Wang, what are you looking for? Why don’t you tell me and I will look for it with you.”

Qi Wang looked at him with a sad face and said, “I saw my work badge before, but I can’t find it since I came here today.”

“Oh, wait a minute,” he suddenly thought of something and walked towards his cabinet, then spread his work badge in front of him and said, “Yesterday a comrade came over and said that he accidentally picked up your work badge. When you came yesterday, you happened to be away, so he asked me to hand it over on his behalf.”

Qi Wang remembered that after helping out that day, Liang Qian kept moving around as if he had grown up on him. At that time, he didn’t notice that anything was missing, but now he thought it was that time that he had lost it.

“Thank you,” Qi Wang took the work badge, “I’ll go work first.”