In the evening, after Jiang Suichu took a bath, he half-reclined on the bed and chatted with Tang Mi on WeChat.
Pei Shuo's howling could be heard from time to time in the video room next door. He and Lu Zhinian were playing games.
Tang Mi heard Pei Shuo's voice and asked, "Is Pei Shuo also at Lu Zhinian's house?"
Jiang Suchu put the phone aside, wiped his hair with a towel, and said, "Well, Uncle Lu will be back tomorrow, and Uncle Pei will come over for dinner."
In fact, Pei Shuo often stayed at Lu Zhinian's house when he was a child. At that time, he and Jiang Suchu were like the other two children of the Lu family.
Aunt Yuan will prepare delicious meals for them and put them to sleep. She still remembered that she was very clingy to Lu Zhinian at that time, and would clamor to sleep with Lu Zhinian whenever she stayed at Lu's house. The houses in the family courtyard are not big, and there are no extra rooms. Whenever Pei Shuo also stays at the Lu family, Jiang Suchu and Lu Zhinian usually sleep on one end of the bed, and Pei Shuo sleeps on the other end of the bed.
Thinking of what happened when he was a child, Jiang Suichu's eyes were full of yearning.
Tang Mi's voice brought her back to reality.
"Sui Sui, Jiang Minghao...he went home on the weekend...what's the matter?" Tang Mi asked awkwardly.
Jiang Suichu pursed his lower lip and said, "Saturday is his sister's birthday."
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment, and then Tang Mi's thoughtful voice came, "Then he... must be feeling very uncomfortable."
Jiang Suichu looked out the window and said softly, "He goes back to see Yaoyao every year on this day."
Rain or shine.
Every year on this day, Jiang Minghao would buy a cupcake and take it to Jiang Mingyao's grave, where he would stay all day. Jiang Minghao said that it was Jiang Mingyao's favorite food when she was alive, but she didn't eat it a few times because her family was poor.
This day belonged to him and Jiang Mingyao, and every year at the beginning of the year Jiang would silently choose not to disturb him.
Tang Mi felt sour in her heart. She sniffed and said, "Sui Sui, please tell me more about Jiang Minghao."
"I want to know more about him."
Jiang Suchu was stunned for a moment, picked up the phone, turned off the speaker, and put it to his ear.
About Jiang Minghao.
She thought about it for a while and didn't know where to start. She searched for the memory and rewinded it in her mind.
The first time she met Jiang Minghao was probably when her father was still alive. She couldn't remember which holiday it was in which year. Her father took her back to the countryside to visit her grandma.
At that time, she was still a little princess in the compound, and everything was so novel when she returned to the countryside. She sat on her father's shoulders and let him take her to pick ripe mulberries from the tree.
Mulberry trees grew right on the roadside. The children in the village were tired of eating them and let the fruits fall to the ground, turning the mud purple.
Jiang Minghao was there that day, and he wanted to climb up the tree and pick mulberries. But the children in the village bullied him. They climbed into the tree and refused to let Jiang Minghao climb up.
As soon as Jiang Minghao got close to the tree trunk, they kicked him and said unpleasant words. They said he was disabled and a monster because of his mother. Some boys even twisted their mouths and rolled their eyes to imitate Jiang Minghao's mother.
Among those who bullied him was Jiang Mingjie.
Jiang Minghao was forced to panic by them, so he picked up the rocks on the ground and threw them at the people in the tree. When Jiang Zhiwei saw it, he quickly stepped forward to stop him, and then grabbed Jiang Mingjie and several other boys from the tree.
Rural children were wild and disobedient to discipline. They tried their best to break away from Jiang Zhiwei's hand and ran away laughing.
He was also swearing obscene words.
Only Jiang Mingjie didn't dare to run and stood aside in fear.
Jiang Zhiwei put down Jiang Suichu from his shoulders, then picked up Jiang Mingjie and said sternly: "Xiaojie, apologize to Xiaohao!"
Jiang Mingjie had always been afraid of his uncle who was a policeman. He was reluctant and did not dare to disobey. He could only lower his head and whisper: "I'm sorry."
His voice was small and muffled.
Jiang Zhiwei lowered his face and said, "Raise your head, look into Xiao Hao's eyes, and apologize seriously."
Jiang Mingjie was frightened, raised his head and looked at Jiang Minghao, and said quickly: "I'm sorry."
After saying that, he didn't care what Jiang Zhiwei's expression was, and ran towards home.
Jiang Zhiwei shook his head helplessly. He squatted down and wiped away the footprints on Jiang Minghao's body that were kicked by those boys.
"Xiao Hao, uncle wants to say sorry to you on behalf of Xiaojie."
Jiang Minghao clenched his fists tightly, looked at Jiang Zhiwei's upright eyes, shook his head, and then said, "Thank you, uncle."
Jiang Zhiwei is the second eldest son in the family, and people of Jiang Suchu's generation in the village call him second uncle.
Jiang Zhiwei knew about his family's situation and sympathized with Jiang Minghao. He smiled and touched his head and said, "Uncle, can I help you pick mulberries?"
"Yes." Jiang Minghao nodded and climbed up the mulberry tree nimbly.
Jiang Zhiwei smiled and praised him for his awesomeness, then lifted Jiang Suichu onto his shoulders and carried her to pick mulberries.
Jiang Suchu was very young at that time, and her memory of that day had long been blurred. If she hadn't deliberately thought about it today, she would have almost forgotten it.
But she still remembered that Jiang Minghao picked a lot of mulberries that day. He held it in his arms with the hem of his clothes, and the purple-black mulberry juice stained his clothes, but he didn't care at all.
she remembered him saying.
——My mother loves to eat mulberries the most.
See you later is when his grandma took him back to the countryside after his father passed away. At this time, Jiang Minghao could no longer see any shadow of his past.
He was cold and violent, and no child in the village dared to bully him anymore. Even Jiang Suichu didn't dare to approach him at first, until she fell into the water and was rescued by him.
Two helpless people rely on each other and rely on each other.
The wind lifts the window screen.
Jiang Suchu looked at the desk by the window. The flowers in the vase were small and cute chamomiles.
Aunt Shuyuan just changed it for her.
Aunt Yuan said that the flower language of chamomile is to grow strong in the face of adversity.
Tang Mi's low sobs came from the phone. Jiang Suchu came to his senses and called her softly.
"Tangtang, are you... okay?"
Tang Mi wiped the tears on her face with the back of her hand and choked up: "Sui Sui, I really feel sorry for him."
Jiang Suichu paused and thought for a long time before speaking, "Tangtang, do you really like Jiang Minghao?"
Tang Mi's sobbing voice stopped, "Huh?"
Jiang Suchu said: "Tangtang, what I mean is that you just... sympathize with me, not like me."
If it was sympathy, Jiang Minghao never needed sympathy from others.
She was also worried that if Tang Mi didn't figure out whether she sympathized or liked Jiang Minghao for a while, she would just dive in.
In the end, both sides suffer.
Tang Mi turned over and lay on the bed with her cell phone in hand, staring at the crystal chandelier on the ceiling in silence for a long time.
After a long time, she slowly said to Jiang Suichu: "Suisui, I think clearly."
"From the first moment I saw him, my beating heart told me this without any reason."
"I am done."
"Maybe many people don't understand it, but I firmly believe in my choice."
Finally, Tang Mi said to her: "Sui Sui."
"It's the world that's bad, not him."
