The difference between cloud and mud

Chapter 36

Jiang Tong walked out of the hotel before he had time to look at his phone.

"When are you free this weekend? My colleagues want to organize a farewell for you." This is the manager of a part-time restaurant.

“你的essay我看过了，我11月3日下午三点到四点，11月5日早上九点到十点，11月8日早上十一点到十二点有时间。我们可以见面详谈。请尽快回复。”这是裴璟。

"Grandma is coming to Hong Kong this week. I will spend all my free time with her. I may not be able to meet her. When will I be free next week?"

"Why didn't you reply to me? Are you in class?"

"You should have no classes now... Are you angry that I didn't notify you in advance?"

"Grandma came suddenly. I wanted to squeeze in some time to come out, but the paperwork preparation is too cumbersome... Let's be considerate to each other."

"..."

This is Xiao Fengtai, an adolescent boy with too much inner drama.

Jiang Tong was angry and funny.Xiao Zhizhong is stern and indifferent, Mrs. Xiao hides a knife in her smile, and Xiao Fengtai, who was jointly raised by the two powerful figures, is strong on the outside but capable on the inside.

If Mrs. Xiao saw the message sent by her precious grandson, she would probably be so annoyed that she wouldn't even think about bribing her, she would just tie a bundle and throw it into the Pacific Ocean to feed the sharks.

"I was in a meeting just now." He replied: "The signal in the building is relatively poor."

"Oh." Although Xiao Fengtai replied in seconds, between the lines was the subtext that my uncle is still angry, you hurry up and coax me.

"Come to my place next Friday night? I have something to talk to you face to face."

Xiao Fengtai was easily distracted by him: "Did something happen?"

Next Sunday is his birthday.

Xiao Fengtai didn't tell Jiang Tong, but the latter saw it from his student ID card when he packed his schoolbag for him.

Jiang Tong pretended to be mysterious: "It's not confirmed yet, I will tell you when it is confirmed."

The annual big day coincides with adulthood, and the Xiao family will definitely celebrate Xiao Fengtai grandly.Jiang Tong knew that as long as he spoke, Xiao Fengtai would not hesitate to let everyone's pigeons come to him.But he didn't want to get in the way.

Jiang Tong was 5 minutes late for the afternoon lecture.He stooped and groped to the back seat and sat down quietly.The classmate greeted him, saw the logo on the paper bag he put on the table, and inhaled in a low voice.

"Which school girl gave it to you?" He stretched out his hand and was about to open it to tear it apart: "It's really embarrassing, I'll make the decision for you, just follow the girl."

Jiang Tong put the paper bag into the schoolbag calmly: "A few days ago on the road, I met a gift from a questionnaire, and I used the bag to hold the lunch box - are you so willing to help me wash the leftover lunch box?"

The classmate mumbled and turned his head away, avoiding it all over his face.Jiang Tong bowed his head and smiled, took out his laptop and concentrated on listening to the class.

He lied.There is no leftover lunch box in the paper bag, but a beautifully packaged rectangular wooden box. The inside of the wooden box is padded with black velvet. A pen is fixed on the black velvet with a dark blue ribbon. It is the brand that is often seen in advertisements. classic style.

Coming out of the hotel, Jiang Tong should go straight back to school to prepare for the afternoon class.But he took a detour to the mall, swiped his card and bought the gift.

With a small pen, he used up the money he saved from working for two months and the expenses he usually saved between his teeth.Jiang Tong has been optimistic about the style for a long time, and originally planned to buy it after the last salary arrives at the weekend.He pretended to be calm in front of Mrs. Xiao, but his heart was still stimulated, so that he desperately wanted to do something. He wanted to prove his worth to Mrs. Xiao who was not there. He wanted to convince himself that from the deepest part of his heart, he She never wanted to cling to the Xiao family, and wanted to use this method to make her life easier.

On the weekend when Jiang Tong asked for leave, Xiao Fengtai and Mrs. Xiao went to visit his mother's grave together.

The cemetery is located on a green grassy hill, facing the sea, with a wide view.The tombstones were maintained and repaired by special personnel, and the black marble shone dimly in the sunlight.Mrs. Xiao's small head was embedded in the middle of the tombstone, surrounded by flowers placed in front of the tombstone by the grandparents and grandchildren.The woman has a bright smile, her eyebrows are charming and gentle, and she still looks like she was at the height of her youth.

"Time is not forgiving." Mrs. Xiao touched the tombstone, as if she was stroking her dead daughter's long hair: "In a blink of an eye, even Xiao Feng'er is going to go to college."

"I will never forget the way your mother left when she left."

Xiao Fengtai looked at the pocket black and white portrait on the tombstone, did Xiao Heling ever smile at him?Was she ever so beautiful, so gentle?

The memory of my mother is already very vague, only some broken fragments-tears dripping on the cheeks, flowing down the neck, warm at first, and then gradually cold.Koudan's nails, which were painted red, had sharp edges and were deeply sunken into the arms, leaving red marks one after another.Her eyes seemed bigger than in the photo, dark and lifeless, like two deep wells.

The grown-ups said she was ill and therefore could not live with him.Once a week, he was led to see her.He was very scared and resisted, but he didn't dare to speak out.They sat at opposite ends of a table in a room with walls of white sponge, mostly silent, a small red button clutched in his hand.

"It would have been better if you hadn't been born." Grandma said that she used to be the leader of the choir, but in his memory, her voice was hoarse and deep like a crow: "You, and your father, also bleed the blood of the devil. They're all Satan incarnate."

However, the next time she saw her, she cried and hugged him again to apologize: "Mom loves you, mom is sorry for you, let you stay in that house by yourself. Are you often bullied by the aunts brought back by dad? It's all because mom is too weak , there is no way to protect you."

He wanted to say that he was actually doing well, and the aunts brought back by his father always brought him toys and delicious snacks.It's just that when he gets up to drink water in the middle of the night, there are always strange sounds in Dad's bedroom, which makes him puzzled.But his mother hugged him too hard, his chest hurt, and he was gradually out of breath. He needed to press the red button to force them to be separated by outsiders.

The last time they met, she was rarely sober, and accompanied him to solve puzzles, and whispered to him in a soft voice for a long time.She praised him for his good grades in school, said she was proud of him, kissed him on the cheek, and promised to leave the hospital as soon as possible and take him out of this place to start a new life.

He actually doesn't want to leave Singapore, but his mother is happy, so he can do whatever.His mother asked him to keep it a secret, but he didn't tell anyone. He just secretly drew a circle on the calendar every day, secretly looking forward to it.

Then, he waited for the bad news that she committed suicide by jumping off the building while the nurse was not in charge.

Mrs. Xiao observed his expression, showing an expected wry smile.

"Don't blame your mother." Mrs. Xiao sighed: "She couldn't control herself at that time."

"I don't remember." He said softly, "I don't even remember her good looks or bad looks."

"It's fine to forget." Mrs. Xiao put her arms around his shoulders: "Your mother...your mother doesn't want you to remember her later appearance."

"You can not remember her and hate her, but don't doubt that she loves you." She whispered: "You don't know how hard she is trying to be a good mother."

"But if it wasn't for me, mom must be living a very happy life now." Xiao Fengtai said in confusion, "I remember she said she regretted giving birth to me, and she said that my father and I ruined her life..."

"The right thing your mother did in her life was to give birth to you, and the worst thing was not breaking up with your father in time." Mrs. Xiao quickly interrupted him.

"Kenneth, don't go on the same path as your mother." Her arms tightened around Xiao Fengtai's body, like a shackle of flesh and blood that was warm and stretchable.

"Back when your mother left, half of my life followed her. If something happened to you... What's the point of me being alive in this world."

Xiao Fengtai sighed unnaturally: "I don't understand what you are talking about."

Mrs. Xiao withdrew her hand and pulled her hair together: "It's nothing. I haven't seen your mother for a long time. I'm too excited to control it for a while."

"As people get older, they tend to be sentimental. Don't laugh at grandma." Mrs. Xiao patted him on the shoulder jokingly: "When you reach my age, you don't know what you look like."

No, something happened behind his back.Old people all over the world can be willful, stupid, incomprehensible, and sentimental, only his grandma can't.With the few words in his mouth, Xiao Fengtai couldn't piece together Mrs. Xiao's vigorous and resolute behavior when she was young.But he clearly remembered that at his mother's funeral, everyone held a handkerchief to wipe away tears, and even his father couldn't help crying.Only Mrs. Xiao was dressed in black, her back was straight, and her expression was frighteningly calm amidst the mournful voices.

This was the funeral of her only biological daughter, and the white-haired man sent the black-haired man, but she never shed a tear from the beginning to the end.

He felt something was wrong in his heart, so he paid attention to observing grandma every day.However, the old man acted as usual, until she boarded the plane back to England, Xiao Fengtai couldn't find a single flaw.