The phone lights up. Chen Jiaxian was so excited that she almost threw her phone on the bed.
She opened it hurriedly.
Guan Xi's reply was as straightforward as her person.
Guan Xi: "You're welcome."
Chen Jiaxian clicked on Guan Xi's WeChat account, but it was empty. She rolled on the bed and pulled the quilt over her face.
Mother Chen walked in through the door with a bowl of soup and lifted the suitcase at the foot of the bed. The box overturned and its contents spilled out, some all-season clothes.
"What are you packing for?" Mother Chen put down the soup.
"The suitcase is moisture-proof." Chen Jiaxian sat up straight. "Clothes are not prone to mold."
Mother Chen was unaware of her daughter's desire to fly away.
Mother Chen handed the spoon to Chen Jiaxian and said lovingly: "I see you have lost weight recently and your face is sunken. Mom will give you a good patch."
Chen Jiaxian slowly scooped the soup with a spoon and drank. Chen's mother stroked her back one by one: "What threshold can't be passed? You child has been thinking too much since you were a child. Don't think too much about things, you can always overcome them on your own. .”
Her mother was comforting her in her own way. Chen Jiaxian's nose felt sore.
"Female." Mother Chen patted her, "Who was that bad boy yesterday? Mom told you that that bad boy looked dishonest and unreliable, but you must not date a man like that."
For some reason, when she heard the word "dishonest", Pan Qiaomu's arrogant eyes appeared in Chen Jiaxian's heart.
Chen Jiaxian curled her lips. She hated the arrogance of elites.
"Charles is the CEO of the company's partner." Chen Jiaxian clarified softly, "It's a working relationship."
Mother Chen breathed a sigh of relief: "You went out to work and met a lot of bad people. I saw you fooling around with that unmarried woman last night. She was so hard to resist! Why do you care about her? The money in your hand You must save it carefully and don't spend it randomly. Have you paid your salary this month?"
Chen Jiaxian hid her cell phone under the quilt and lied with difficulty: "...not yet."
Mother Chen muttered: "Why is it so late?"
Chen Jiaxian remained silent.
Mother Chen sighed and said with a sad face: "Female, I can understand why you were so angry last night. You have indeed helped the family too much in the past few years. But the family is really struggling with cash."
Chen Jiaxian was holding the soup in her hand, and then thought of the shrimps Chen's mother made last night, and the spoon in her hand became heavy.
Her mother loves her, but is a little clumsy. she thinks.
"Yeah," she said.
Mother Chen looked at Chen Jiaxian: "Your father is worried. This is a difficult time for the family. How much can you help?"
Hearing the expected request, Chen Jiaxian couldn't help but ask: "Why can't the family make money? Even if the economy is not good now and it's hard for everyone to do business, how much money can we make by selling sugar water?"
Chen's mother said: "Your father wanted to add some simple meals such as rice rolls, so he bought a rice roll machine and some other equipment. The deposit has been paid. If the balance cannot be paid, the deposit will be wasted."
Chen Jiaxian asked: "When did you buy it?"
Mother Chen paused: "A few weeks ago."
It was when Chen Jiaxian joined Zhuoxiu.
They calculated her salary, right?
Chen Jiaxian felt as if a hand had twisted her heart, and the pain gradually spread throughout her chest. She panted for a long time before barely suppressing the heat in her eyes.
She put her hand under the pillow, held Guan Xi's work ID card, and then raised her head to meet Mother Chen's eyes.
She asked knowingly:
“Since you know your family doesn’t have enough money, why do you still buy it?”
Mother Chen's eyes averted for a moment.
Looking at Chen's mother's twinkling eyes, Chen Jiaxian still didn't understand anything.
She was indeed submissive, gentle, and conflict-avoidant, but that was once upon a time.
At this moment, she was sure that she had a strong and painful desire to ask her mother if she had ever truly loved her.
Chen Jiaxian said aggressively: "It's to use my salary to make up for it, right? You know that I won't stand idly by, right? When you gave birth to me, you gave birth to a financial product that can get rewards, right?"
Mother Chen was stunned at first, then in disbelief, and finally furious.
She reached out and patted Chen Jiaxian on the back: "You kid, why are you talking back! What do you think of your parents?! When you find a job, shouldn't you give back to your family?" She shed tears, "White-eyed wolf! I'll support you!" White-eyed wolf!”
"I'm furious!"
Chen Jiaxian let her hit her without dodging. Her eyes looked at Mother Chen calmly. Her mother smelled of oil fumes, her hair was tied back randomly, her face was deeply wrinkled, and she was always tired.
Chen Jiaxian hasn't had a good look at her mother for a long time. At this moment, her mother's appearance seems a bit strange.
Mother is just too hard. she thinks. My father must have asked my mother to do this.
She didn't want to ask. Mother loves her.
Chen Jiaxian's voice was much calmer than she thought: "How much does Chen Jiahao pay?"
Mother Chen shed tears: "Chen Jiahao is still studying! Where is the money? Those who work pay, but those who study cannot. Isn't this a traditional custom? Can your parents treat you badly? Or will Jiahao treat you badly in the future? Wait for you On the day you get married, won’t your family give you a dowry?”
Chen Jiaxian calmly narrated: "The traditional custom is that money will be paid after marriage, and unmarried people will not pay."
Mother Chen's eyes dodge.
Chen Jiaxian stared at Mother Chen. Mother Chen wiped away her tears: "The candy store is a business passed down from the Chen family's ancestors. Are you just so indifferent?"
"Mom, have you gone to the hospital to have your waist checked?" Chen Jiaxian asked suddenly.
Mother Chen raised her red eyes and her expression softened a little: "It's an old problem. There's nothing good to see."
"Then I will subsidize your medical expenses privately." Chen Jiaxian asked.
Chen's mother said: "Whatever else I bought, I gave it to your dad to buy equipment. The whole family worked together."
Chen Jiaxian said nothing. A suffocating silence fell on the room.
It will hurt if you ask, and it will hurt if you don’t ask. Perhaps since menstruation is destined to begin, women cannot be separated from pain.
After a long time, Chen Jiaxian asked softly: "Mom, you are from a foreigner's surname. What does the Chen family's sweet water shop have to do with you?" She smiled and shed tears, "I am also a foreigner, and the Chen family's sweet water shop has nothing to do with me. what is the relationship?"
…
What does this have to do with me. Pan Qiaomu persuaded himself this way.
In the flickering private room, the singing voice was loud, but Mamasang's voice was even louder. Pan Qiaomu looked over.
"She is only eighteen years old, really eighteen years old!" Mamasang pulled the girl in front of him and said to Mr. Wang, "This one is really eighteen years old!"
The young girl wears a light blue coat, has long black silky hair, a fair face, is pure and quiet. The small side of her face was smiling. It's just that Pan Qiaomu has seen too many docile girls recently, and seeing this kind of flattering attitude makes him feel uncomfortable all over.
What is to please.
Rare items to live in, awaiting sale. Pan Qiaomu only thought of these two words.
A group of girls sat on the sofa. Pan Qiaomu stood up, naturally hid next to the singing table, ordered a few songs and started singing silently. He told himself in his heart that he should respect other people's choices, what does this have to do with him.
But Pan Qiaomu couldn't help but think about it.
He has always been proud of his personal values. However, they both make people happy, so what’s the difference between him and her? Isn’t the value he thinks of selling “people” as commodities? If "sex" and "age" shouldn't be measured by value, then should people?
After Pan Qiaomu finished singing, the young girl who had just become a rare commodity was already sitting next to Mr. Wang. Pan Qiaomu looked at his watch. The time was half past ten in the evening.
The atmosphere in the room was fluctuating, and it was obvious that everyone's thoughts were no longer on singing.
Mr. Wang came over, patted Pan Qiaomu on the shoulder, and looked at him meaningfully: "We are going to continue playing, Xiao Pan, you?"
Pan Qiaomu understood.
He looked at the girls sitting on the sofa. There was no reluctance on their faces. In the face of customers, there is no essential difference between their imperative to gain and his imperative to gain.
Pan Qiaomu said nothing more, apologized, and left with his assistant.
"It was really fun." After returning to the hotel, the assistant couldn't help complaining, "Mr. Pan, the difference in quality is too big. Do we have to recruit customers from this poor place?"
Pan Qiaomu looked at his hands.
If it is said that people's desires will eventually be directed towards money, and they will be able to buy rare goods, then who is more noble than others, and who is more filthy than others.
He doesn't want to please, nor does he want to be pleased.
After the assistant left, Pan Qiaomu locked the bathroom door and vomited.
