Even just leaning on the sofa and closing her eyes for a mont, she would enter a dream, in the dream—
Dad and Mom were old, sick, and she was in a very far, far, faraway place...
The plane seed to fly from one end of the world to the other, so long that her eyes beca dry.
She walked alone on the sidewalk, following where there were eaves, the sound of raindrops pattering on the eaves.
The wind blew on her arm, a cool breeze raising goosebumps.
She needed to sll the scent of this damp land, needed to be blown by this unfriendly wind, needed to gently lay down the thousand-jin heavy stone in her heart...
Xiao ng rembered this street, the nearest to ho and also the busiest, turning two more corners ahead was the famous Jinli and Kuanzhai Alley.
She loved a dessert shop deep in Jinli.
But she was fat as a child, her mother often seriously warned her not to eat, even if she did, it should only be in small, appropriate amounts.
But she liked it...
What child doesn’t have an appetite for food?
Fortunately, her mother was a teacher, going to school in the morning and only coming back in the evening.
Dad would always sneak away from the flower shop on hot afternoons to Jinli to pack desserts and bring them ho for her.
He would always warn her, "You mustn’t let your mom know! Your old dad is risking his life to buy these for you! Make sure to destroy the evidence after eating!"
"...Mm!"
She nodded heavily, then every ti after eating, she would stuff the dessert boxes deep into the shoe cabinet.
And seriously told Dad that she had already destroyed all the evidence!
Dad felt reassured seeing her so certain, but in the end...
When the shoe cabinet could no longer hold the dessert boxes, it was finally caught by Mom!
Seeing the moldy pile of dessert boxes, ants even eroded holes in the shoe cabinet...
He tossed the washboard aside and obediently knelt on it.
After that, she remained silent on the side, deeply afraid of being implicated.
She rembered, rembered that Dad took her to and from school every day starting from kindergarten, rain or shine...
Rembered Dad was very lazy, thought driving was troubleso, and liked riding his old-fashioned bicycle.
Dad was very handso, and this was famous at her school. Every ti at parent etings, she proudly clung to her Dad tightly.
But didn’t know, at that ti, every parent eting, Dad would be told a few things...
"People say even a slow bird flies early, why hasn’t Xiao ng improved?"
"Xiao ng is too careless as a student, very inattentive to learning. If she paid more attention, her grades would definitely be much better than now."
"Su’s father, you should keep a closer eye on Xiao ng. It’s almost ti for the high school entrance exams, what if..."
"Yes, yes, yes, yes..."
She rembered, Dad listened carefully with his head lowered as the teacher spoke, then scolded her when they got ho, but every ti he was heavy-handed, she would cry...
When she cried, Dad’s heart softened again.
Once, probably because the scores on her test paper were too terrible, Dad really got angry, actually pulling her over and harshly spanking her!
She could only cry from the pain.
Dad said, "I can raise you for a lifeti with no problem! But I can’t raise you for a lifeti! You silly girl..."
The rain was getting heavier, the wind blowing the big trees by the roadside, branches trembling chaotically.
Maybe she got tired from walking, Xiao ng walked into a café.
Ordered a cold drink, she sat by the window... watching outside, pedestrians hurriedly walking past in the rain under umbrellas.
Muddy water splashed by pairs of polished shoes.
Suddenly, her eyes turned red, then tears filled her eyes, and then slid down.
She buried her face in her arms, her sobs unable to be contained, attracting the glances of staff and others in the store.
The phone on the table vibrated...
She lifted her red eyes and saw "Uncle" on the caller ID.
Tears flowed even more uncontrollably...
After one round of vibrations, it started again...
Xiao ng picked up the phone, swiped the screen to answer...
She didn’t hide her sobs, just helplessly and confusedly cried, "Uncle... sob..."
To Yin Shixiu, Su Xiaong had this capability, a single sob could tightly grip his heart.
"Uncle... sob, I’m upset... sob... ah ah..."
She felt oppressed, breathless, the gloomy dark clouds outside her mind pressing on her chest.
Yin Shixiu took a deep breath, "Turn on your phone’s location, I’ll co pick you up."
"Sob... mm."
After hanging up the phone, Yin Shixiu looked at the location ssage sent on the phone.
Fortunately, it wasn’t far from him.
He said a few words to Lawyer Jin beside him, indicating he wanted to get the most "reasonable" punishnt for the Su Jianyi couple.
Lawyer Jin was a gold dal lawyer at one of the top four law firms.
Old Master Yin trusted him very much, as did Yin Shixiu.
After talking to Lawyer Jin, he ran straight to the location sent on the phone.
About a quarter of an hour later, he stood outside the café where Su Xiaong was, through the transparent glass with cute little floral prints, seeing her lying on that small table, crying uncontrollably.
Her shoulders kept trembling...
Yin Shixiu’s throat felt as if sothing hard was forcibly lodged in it.
His heart ached, contracting painfully.
Taking a deep breath, he walked into the café and approached the counter.
"Sir, hello, what would you like?"
"Iced Aricano."
"Alright, please wait a mont."
"May I ask... when did the girl over there arrive?"
"Well... it’s been about half an hour? She started crying shortly after coming in, very sadly at first..."
"Do you know... the reason?"
"Hmm, our manager did go over to ask, but the girl thought the manager was there to chase her away, so she said ’sorry’ and was about to leave. Our manager quickly clarified that wasn’t the case and told her to cry if she wanted to..."
"And then... she’s really just been crying on and off over there. Not sure why she’s so sad..."
"...Thank you."
The staff handed him the finished coffee. "Sir, do you know—"
Before the staff could finish speaking, Yin Shixiu took the coffee and walked over to the seat opposite the girl, pulled out a chair, and sat down...
Su Xiaong looked up at the sound, eting Yin Shixiu’s eyes, and the tears that had just stopped started flowing heavily again...
"You, you’re here..."
Yin Shixiu sighed lightly, pulled out a wet tissue, and wiped her tears. "If you can’t give a reason that convinces , I’ll definitely make you pay, Su Xiaong."
Su Xiaong looked at Yin Shixiu...
She knew the words she was about to say would upset him...
But... she didn’t want to lie to him.
"Why? Hmm?"
"I... don’t want to go back to Beijing anymore..."
"I don’t want to leave them... Uncle, I can’t leave them... sob sob..."
Su Xiaong’s words hamred heavily on Yin Shixiu’s heart, causing him to be deeply shaken.
She held his hand, "What should I do? When I think, if Dad never wakes up... I won’t even have seen him one last ti..."
"When I think, soday in the future, when they really need , and yet I don’t know..."
"Uncle, they only have one daughter... only one daughter... sob sob..."
Yin Shixiu sniffled and looked out the window.
Su Xiaong lowered her head, staring at the black wooden table, slowly and arduously saying, "I can never forget the day we rushed to the hospital, Mom’s unavoidably strong and upright posture..."
"I can never forget the words from the doctor when he first ca out of the operating room, telling us to be ntally prepared, the remorse I felt back then..."
"I hate myself for only caring about my own family, my own life, he raised for twenty years, yet I haven’t repaid him one bit..."
"Uncle... I feel it’s not fair. I really feel I’m very unfair to them..."
If only she had a brother or a sister who could stay by their side, but... there is none.
They only have her.
"Seventeen hundred kiloters... it’s not the distance between Beijing and Chengdu, it’s the distance between and the people who gave life and raised ... this distance is terrifying..."
Yin Shixiu turned back to look at Su Xiaong, "If you don’t go back to Beijing, what about Jinxi Huaiyu?"
"...I don’t know what to do. I know Shuangshuang and Huanghuang need , but Dad and Mom need , too..."
"I just know there are too many helpless situations, I just know that in this world, so many things are hard to fulfill both sides, which is why I’m upset..."
"...You regret marrying ."
Su Xiaong shook her head...
"You regret following to live in Beijing..."
Su Xiaong shook her head...
"You regret giving birth to two kids for , letting them beco your burden..."
Su Xiaong shook her head vigorously, "No, no... Shixiu, I don’t regret, I’m just very troubled, I’m just troubled..."
"Marrying you, moving to Beijing to live with you, working hard on our little family, even planning to study abroad for further education... for you, for the kids, for myself..."
"Getting pregnant before marriage, Dad and Mom protected , giving birth and postpartum, Dad and Mom were there for , even later when I returned to Beijing, unable to balance studies, Mom paused her work for half a year to co to Beijing to help ..."
"But what have I ever done for them..."
She can never choose between her children and parents, this itself is not a question one can answer.
Precisely because she can’t choose, and she knows, if she must choose, she wouldn’t check the option for her parents.
That’s why she feels the pain.
She understands too well that in her parents’ hearts, she is undoubtedly first.
Yin Shixiu felt bad, but fortunately, he knew the reason why she cried so sorrowfully.
"Get up."
Su Xiaong looked at him...
Yin Shixiu reached out a hand to her, "Let’s go back, crying here is really embarrassing."
Su Xiaong sniffled, took his hand, and followed him out of the café.
Yin Shixiu put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his embrace.
Su Xiaong wrapped her arms around his waist.
Neither of them said anything more.
They returned silently to the hotel.
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