Chai Meicen had been brewing her feelings all along, wanting to adjust her mentality. She planned to have a good talk with Zhou Rui tonight.
As a result, Zhou Rui made her fail again this afternoon.
After his phone was confiscated, Zhou Rui played with a washing machine for two class periods in the afternoon.
Zhou Rui and Zhuo Wenqian were deskmates. The two of them also brought a big jar of water and tinkered with it enthusiastically.
Chai Meicen sat in the front row the whole time, hearing the two whispering softly and gritting her teeth secretly while sitting in the front row.
Zhou Rui: "Wow! It moved, it moved."
Zhuo Wenqian reached out to take her eraser: "Wash my eraser, I smudged it when sketching, it’s very black now."
Zhou Rui mercilessly rejected: "Put the eraser away for now. Your stuff is an eyesore. Let's wash two jujubes first."
Zhuo Wenqian: "This little thing spins pretty fast, haha."
Zhou Rui: "Do you think we should add some detergent?"
Zhuo Wenqian: "Let's add some, it will wash cleaner with detergent, but won't we have to rinse it with clean water afterwards before we can eat it?"
Zhou Rui: "Can't we just rinse it with clean water again?"
Zhou Rui was quite filial. He washed three jujubes first, then reached out and poked Chai Meicen's back before handing over the three jujubes: "Here, eat up. They are washed, and machine washed too."
Chai Meicen pulled up the corners of her mouth to accept them, but couldn't say "thank you" for a long time.
At least she didn't hit him, that’s not bad.
Chai Meicen looked back at the things on their desk, then at the pink mini washing machine with a rainbow heart pattern on it. She felt complicated.
It is said that if a child's needs are not met during a period of time, it will cause the child to develop bad habits. For example, if you always stop a child from sucking their fingers, they will persist in doing so when they don’t get the satisfaction they need later on.
She seriously reflected on herself. Was it because she didn't play house with Zhou Rui when he was little that made Zhou Rui like these things now?
She looked gloomily for quite a while, and made an effort to warn herself: stay calm, don't get too angry, the generation gap between you is due to your bad temper.
She took a hard bite of the jujube and continued to look down at her book.
The two behind her hadn't stopped yet, still researching.
Zhou Rui: "The nozzle is aimed right, the water flow is quite strong!"
Zhuo Wenqian: "Though tiny, it's a fully functional piece. It's made to look quite real, I didn't have a toy like this to play with when I was little."
Zhou Rui: "Let's wash a few more jujubes for us to eat later, and pick some bad ones to give to Li Xiaonan and Yang Ming."
Zhuo Wenqian couldn't help but chuckle: "Deal."
It only took a short while to wash by hand, but they insisted on using the mini washing machine. Each batch washed at most three jujubes, going through detergent and then clean water. By the end of the two class periods, they were just about done.
The two of them spent the time quite fulfilled and happily.
Chai Meicen couldn't help but turn around and ask Zhou Rui: "Did you do your homework?"
Zhou Rui looked up at Chai Meicen and answered: "I'll do it during evening self-study later."
It was only during evening self-study that Chai Meicen remembered that on even weeks, the international class had self-study on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On odd weeks, they watched English original movies on Mondays and Wednesdays for self-study, with the class monitor keeping discipline.
They would draw the curtains when watching movies during the day, and turn off all the lights at night, so it was impossible to do homework in that environment.
Zhou Rui had already forgotten what he casually promised Chai Meicen. When she kept turning back to glare at him several times, he felt baffled.
After being released from self-study in the evening, Zhou Rui walked alongside Chai Meicen and asked her, "Why do you keep looking at me? It makes me feel very guilty."
"Did you do your homework?" Chai Meicen asked gloomily.
Human nature is to be a broken record. For parents, it means taking the broken record approach to the extreme.
The first time, the attitude is good.
The second time, the tone rises.
The third time, the face turns hideous.
The fourth time, hands-on directly.
"Can't I just make it up during morning self-study tomorrow?" To Zhou Rui, this was not a big deal at all!
"There’s also morning reading during morning self-study. You are betting that the teacher won't collect your homework, aren't you?"
"Oh, I'll just finish it when I find time."
"You, we have such a big washing machine at home, the latest tumble dryer model. You don't play with it, don't even touch it. You bought this broken thing to tinker with for a whole afternoon, is that fun? How childish can you get?"
"I just thought it was quite fun." He even chuckled "hehe" after saying that.
Zhou Rui did it on purpose. He was upset that his phone was confiscated and he was bored, so he tinkered with the toy for a whole afternoon. Unexpectedly, he had sincere fun playing with it, it really was quite amusing.
Also, watching Chai Meicen wanting to get angry but forcing herself to restrain, he found it particularly interesting.
Chai Meicen was very speechless, but finally managed to restrain herself with great difficulty.
She wanted to be a mother who could communicate heart-to-heart with her son, she couldn't be too bad-tempered.
Restrain yourself, restrain yourself. He’s your own flesh and blood, it’s not like you can beat him to death!
The two walked side by side to the stands by the sports field.
Many students would gather here after school, especially in summer. It was especially lively.
Sitting on the stands in groups of three or five, the students chatted happily while eating kebabs and ice cream.
Across from the stands was the track field, where students who went jogging after evening self-study would come to exercise before returning to the dorms to wash up and sleep comfortably.
Jiahua International School had a great campus environment, illuminated everywhere by streetlights. Here there were also big lights that could light up a large area.
Many small flying insects fluttered around the light bulbs, adding a touch of vibrant speckles to the light, but also surprisingly lending some hazy charm to the night scene.
The cool night breeze blew gently over Chai Meicen.
She and Zhou Rui arrived at the stands. She had just walked a few steps wanting to find a place to sit down when she saw Zhou Rui standing below the stands. He threw his schoolbag onto the front row seats and said to the others, "I don't want to see anyone else in this area."
When Chai Meicen looked back, she saw those students walking away sullenly. The area really was empty of others now.
"You're quite capable huh." Chai Meicen couldn't help but taunt sarcastically.
"Just average, if you want to see, I can make you see something even more spectacular." Zhou Rui was not ashamed at all, rather he arrogantly walked over and randomly found a place to sit down.
"I can also let you hear a loud slap." Chai Meicen walked over and sat down next to Zhou Rui.
"No need, no need. I'm just clearing the scene to facilitate our mother and son heart-to-heart, right! What if I accidentally call you Mom by mistake, won't others be shocked if they overhear it? Don't you think? We should also consider the onlooking crowd."
Sitting shoulder to shoulder, the two looked at the students running or frolicking on the sports field, at a loss for how to start the conversation.
The problem lay right here.
Their mode of interaction was simply crude. Though they didn't say it outright, they actually cared very much about each other.
They would never say things like "you've worked hard", "I miss you", or "I love you" to each other. Saying those would make them feel nauseous.
Even when Zhou Rui caught a cold, Chai Meicen would scold him, saying it was because Zhou Rui played on his phone too much and was too arrogant to wear long underwear. But her actions were to buy medicine, help Zhou Rui with physical cooling, and make food for Zhou Rui that she wished she could simply feed into his mouth.
Now the two wanted to talk heart-to-heart, but didn't know how to start the conversation.
Zhou Rui cleared his throat and rubbed his nose with his finger. He asked, "Shall I go buy you a milk tea?"
"You don't even have your phone, how are you going to buy it?"
"That reminds me, I'm so annoyed that my phone was taken away. Our school allows payment by phone scan, that proves the school doesn't prohibit students from using phones. Yet they confiscated my phone."
Chai Meicen was finally amused: "Let Uncle Hou get it back for you tomorrow."
Zhou Rui turned to look at Chai Meicen, hesitated, then asked: "What do you know so far? I'm afraid Yang Ming and the others are overthinking things, so I didn't ask carefully."
"I just know that you were really acting out of justice when you fought." After answering, Chai Meicen paused for a moment, then added softly, "Tian Yueyi came to find me too."
"She came to find you too?" Zhou Rui was truly unaware of this and extremely surprised.
He knew Tian Yueyi was a very timid girl who didn't even dare to talk to strangers, somewhat socially awkward, and just focused on studying quietly.
It was also because of this that Zhou Rui found it suspicious when Tian Yueyi suddenly came to him, which led him to discover that Tian Yueyi had encountered trouble.
Chai Meicen nodded: "Mm, she came to tell me the reason, which made me think to ask Yang Ming again."
"Oh......"
"Actually, after hearing it all, I really felt very sad. Why do your friends understand you better than I do? I'm your mother after all. I should be the one who trusts your character the most, yet at the time you needed it most, I was still the one who hurt you again. Do you know how bad I felt?"
After listening, Zhou Rui finally felt a little at a loss for what to say. He was not good at expressing these things.
Resting his elbows on his knees, he clasped his hands together, kneading and wringing them. In the end he just pursed his lips and lowered his head, not knowing what to say.
"First, I apologize to you. I failed as a mother. I don't trust you, I don't truly understand you, I even doubted you. I..." Chai Meicen started apologizing to Zhou Rui.
In her mindset, even if she was the parent, she could also make mistakes. If she did something wrong, she should still apologize to her child.
Just this point alone already made her much better than many parents.
But she also knew this was not an excuse. Being able to make no apologies the best outcome.
"No, you're good enough." Zhou Rui interrupted Chai Meicen and said, "I just don't know how to tell you. You're at home and don't know what exactly happened to me at school. Not understanding is normal. I don't tell you anything either, yet you love to overthink. Of course this kind of result would happen. We both hold responsibility." Zhou Rui also thought it through clearly.
Chai Meicen held her forehead, a little troubled: "We really do lack communication."
Not just the two of them lacked communication.
In the greater environment, how many children this age are willing to tell their parents everything?
Zhou Rui knew that Chai Meicen must be feeling very unhappy at this moment. Whenever this happened, what he had to do was to coax Chai Meicen and cheer her up. The two of them relied on each other, without any other relatives. The only person they had any contact with was Hou Ranxi.
Ever since he was little, he knew he was a man. He needed to take on some responsibilities and be her backbone during Chai Meicen’s moments of vulnerability.
“I can’t really explain the reason for this fight, after all it concerns a girl’s reputation. The social environment is just like this - as soon as it involves a girl’s chastity, people will mock her in an exceptionally harsh manner. She is the victim, yet people still try to find fault in the victim. Society is simply unfair to girls. I wanted to protect her, so I can’t say anything more, or it would negatively impact her.” Zhou Rui explained to Chai Meicen.
Chai Meicen nodded: “I understand. Then what about before, why didn’t you tell me about those other incidents? I always thought you were naturally aggressive. If you had told me the truth, I would have tried to think of solutions together with you.
“It’s a bit inappropriate to talk about...”
“What’s inappropriate about it?”
“I just want to protect those people I can protect.” Zhou Rui looked at Chai Meicen as he said this, and continued seriously, “When I was little, you were often slandered. At that time I was so angry, but no matter what I did, those people just laughed it off. I always felt upset about it in my heart.”
Chai Meicen looked at Zhou Rui in surprise. She didn't expect the root cause to be with her.
As a single mother with money, many people said that she was probably a mistress or someone with a disreputable background. There were many nasty remarks.
During that period, she had also endured it, and argued with those people. Hou Ranxi had also retaliated.
But later on, she gradually let it go. Let them say what they want, she didn't care anymore. Living freely was the most important thing.
Zhou Rui went on, "Ever since then, I realized how sad it is when someone is bullied, or feels exceptionally lonely when there is no one to help during difficult times. So I thought...when there are people who need help, I should lend a hand. Maybe I'm too stupid and couldn't think of a better way. Over time it just became like this."
"Your intentions were good." Chai Meicen acknowledged this point.
"But I would feel really awkward telling you about it. I feel so uncomfortable now I just want to go run laps." Zhou Rui pointed to the track field and said to Chai Meicen. This kind of sentimental scene didn't suit him.
Chai Meicen laughed along, and then her smile contained tears.
She was an emotional person. She would sob watching Korean dramas. Hearing Zhou Rui say these things made her even more heartbroken.
She still remembered when she brought Zhou Rui to the amusement park to play. At that time Zhou Rui was only two and a half years old.
When they were playing in the ball pit, a parent hit Chai Meicen with a ball. Zhou Rui immediately got unhappy, grabbed a ball and threw it back at the parent in retaliation, throwing four to five balls until Chai Meicen stopped him.
Another time, Chai Meicen bought a storefront wanting to open a breakfast shop but someone tried to extort money from her. The other party was a man who even got physical with Chai Meicen. No matter how capable Chai Meicen was, she was no match for a burly man.
The five-year-old Zhou Rui leapt over, biting down on the man's arm and not letting go. Even when the man shook him off and he fell to the ground, hitting his head and bleeding, he still leapt at the man again, like a little leopard biting the man until he screamed incessantly.
Zhou Rui had been like this since he was little, always protecting her.
How could she have gradually forgotten this after Zhou Rui grew up?
She now felt both gratified and proud, mixed with self-reproach.
She knew her son was very good, especially good. He looked particularly domineering, but he had a kind heart. His intentions were good, he just used the wrong methods.
Seeing Chai Meicen crying and laughing at the same time, Zhou Rui felt quite helpless. This was what he feared the most from Chai Meicen.
He reached his hand out towards Chai Meicen: "Put your hand here."
Chai Meicen didn't understand, and placed her hand in Zhou Rui's palm.
"Look, my hands are a whole size bigger than yours now. Don't worry, from now on I can protect you." Zhou Rui said with a smile, and quickly retracted his hand.
He still felt a little embarrassed.
This made Chai Meicen cry even harder, but she stubbornly said, "I really must thank you."
When Zhou Rui was little, his hands were so tiny that Chai Meicen didn't even dare to grip them tightly, for fear of crushing them, or his arms falling off with too much force.
Unknowingly, Zhou Rui had grown so big, his outstretched palm could cover Chai Meicen's entire face.
In fact, he understood everything. It was Chai Meicen who thought she needed too much care. Suddenly realizing one day that Zhou Rui had also been secretly protecting her, this warm feeling made Chai Meicen's tears flow non-stop.
Zhou Rui propped his chin up with one hand, looking at the track field and said, "To be strict about it, I'm also at fault. I hid my secret of protecting the earth too deeply."
"Yes, I don't expect you to do good deeds and leave your name behind, but you have to remember to keep a diary, or reveal a little bit to me, okay? Give me some idea, instead of suddenly startling the heavens and moving ghosts and gods, leaving me to live in terror every day. Or you could tell me, you're actually Superman, so next time when there's danger I'll know to ask you for help."
"Okay! I'll pay attention in the future." Zhou Rui nodded and slapped his thigh, agreeing briskly and neatly.
"Also, you can go help others, but don't put yourself in danger either. I'm your mother, the first thing I worry about is your safety. What would I do if something happened to you while fighting one day?"
Zhou Rui was stumped by the question, and hesitated before nodding, "I know I was wrong."
"You might not think it's a big deal when you're doing it, but do you know that every wound on your body pains my heart when I see it?"
Zhou Rui nodded again. "Mm."
"I'd rather you don't do these good deeds. I only want you to be safe and sound. So next time something comes up, tell me okay? I can help think of ways to resolve the issues without fighting. Is that okay?"
"Okay." Zhou Rui immediately agreed, his attitude was very good.
"To increase your trust in me, you can see how we resolve this matter this time, and use it to decide whether to believe in me and Uncle Hou in the future."
Zhou Rui couldn't help laughing. This was the pace for Uncle Hou to get promoted to a formal position in the family! It was basically the tone of a family of three already!
He really didn't know what was taking these two people so long, keeping things platonic was fun?
But he quickly stopped laughing, because Chai Meicen shifted the topic again.
"We're done talking about the fighting. Now let's discuss your puppy love issue. What exactly happened between you and Zhao Bingqing, when you were ambiguous for a period of time?" Chai Meicen took out some tissues at the same time and wiped the tears from her face as she spoke very seriously.
Zhou Rui immediately sat up straight, pointing at the lamp overhead that had small bugs circling around it, and said to Chai Meicen, "Mom, given such fine weather, why don't we perform a backflip for you!"
Chai Meicen shook her head. "No, I just want to hear how you failed to harvest the young cabbage, and even got beaten up by the young cabbage instead."
"Can't we maintain a harmonious conversational atmosphere? Do we have to bring up these unhappy things?" Zhou Rui really didn't understand. Whenever this matter was brought up he wanted to frown.
"I just want to have more confidence the next time I argue with Zhao Bingqing. You should at least tell me the truth."
They didn't get to continue because Chai Meicen's phone rang just then.
The caller ID showed it was Hou Ranxi, but when she answered, she heard Hou Ranxi ask, "Why can't I reach Zhou Rui?"
"What's the matter, he's right next to me."
"Pass the phone to him."
Chai Meicen gave the phone to Zhou Rui, and saw Zhou Rui start grinning foolishly, then he hung up the call.
Chai Meicen looked at Zhou Rui, and Zhou Rui asked in an extremely annoying manner, "Curious or not?"
"......"
"Do you want to know what Uncle Hou said to me?"
"Just say it quickly."
"Uncle Hou asked me to skip class and meet him. If I don't go now, I won't be able to make it back before the dorms are locked up at night."
Chai Meicen nodded. She had asked Hou Ranxi to help handle Zhou Rui's matter, so it was probably Hou Ranxi wanting to find Zhou Rui to understand the situation.
"Alright, I'll let you off this time." Chai Meicen compromised. They could talk about the puppy love issue later.
Zhou Rui followed behind Chai Meicen with his head lowered. When they passed by a stall, he called out to Chai Meicen.
Chai Meicen stopped and looked back at him, just in time to see Zhou Rui running to the milk tea stall. Not long after, he came back with a cup of milkshake.
"Did you bring your meal card?" Chai Meicen took the strawberry milkshake and asked.
Last time Zhou Rui bought Chai Meicen a strawberry milkshake, but Chai Meicen was in a bad mood and didn't drink it, so it ended up completely melted.
Zhou Rui had kept this in mind, which was why he bought another cup for Chai Meicen today.
"Lost it long ago."
"Then how did you buy this?"
"I smiled at a girl and she bought it for me?"
Chai Meicen immediately frowned, "You didn't extort money from a female classmate did you?"
As she said this, she took out her phone and pulled Zhou Rui along, "Let's go, we need to return the money to her."
Just then, two girls walked by holding milk tea cups. As they passed the two of them, Zhou Rui said to one of the girls, "I'll pay you back next time we meet."
When the girl heard Zhou Rui speak to her, she nervously covered her mouth. But one could see she was smiling so widely her apple muscles were bulging.
She seemed a little embarrassed, hiding behind her bestie, while her hands kept waving, "No need, no need, my treat."
After saying this she quickly ran off, but kept smiling even from far away. She seemed to be quite pleasantly surprised.
"See, I used my charm to swipe my card." Zhou Rui cocked his brows at Chai Meicen.
Chai Meicen made a small twist with her mouth. "It's still thanks to my good genes."
"Yes yes yes, I inherited well," Zhou Rui said with a laugh, taking the milkshake from Chai Meicen's hand again.
"Wasn't it bought for me?"
"It's too cold. I forgot to take a bag. I'll take it to the door of the employee dormitory and you can take it in yourself."
Zhou Rui sent Chai Meicen to the dormitory door before leaving. This was probably his most shameless truancy ever, walking away with a disregard for all relations.
*
Zhou Rui was much more comfortable with Hou Ranxi.
Chai Meicen would get angry at the slightest thing, but not Hou Ranxi. She hadn't gotten angry at Zhou Rui in all these years, and often spoke up for him. Zhou Rui had always gotten along well with Hou Ranxi.
"Coming to a teahouse really doesn't suit my temperament," Zhou Rui grumbled after coming in, seeming dissatisfied with Hou Ranxi's choice of venue.
But there weren't many shops still open at this time.
"The pastries here are pretty good."
"Passable. I want a Coke."
"Got it." Hou Ranxi turned her head to order a Coke.
Hou Ranxi placed a box on the table. Zhou Rui happily took it over, "A gift for me?"
"For your mother."
"Oh." Zhou Rui lost interest and tossed it back on the table.
Hou Ranxi smiled as she watched him, then took out another box, "This one's for you."
Only then did Zhou Rui cheer up a bit, grinning as he took both gifts, and obsequiously said, "I will definitely deliver the gifts along with your kind regards."
"What were my kind regards?"
"I'll tell my mom Uncle Hou wishes her a long life of a hundred years."
"You and that mouth of yours."
Hou Ranxi asked Zhou Rui about what had happened and some specific details. She even took out a notebook and pen to record what he said, and recorded audio too. Zhou Rui suddenly felt a bit awkward, a little embarrassed.
"What are you guys planning to do about it?" Zhou Rui leaned in to ask.
"Don't worry, we'll definitely protect that girl."
"Oh... alright." His intentions were seen through by Hou Ranxi.
"A girl you like?" Hou Ranxi sensed Zhou Rui was being protective, suspecting it was a gallant effort for a beauty.
"What... We just know each other. Grew up together. I haven't even had a relationship yet!"
Hou Ranxi was actually shocked. She looked Zhou Rui up and down, then laughed, "Ah, you've got the face of someone who's not single."
Zhou Rui was a little annoyed. He turned the questioning on Hou Ranxi, "Hey! You're in your thirties and have never had a relationship. Have you even had your first kiss?"
Hou Ranxi's first reaction was to turn off the audio recorder. Then she looked at Zhou Rui unhappily, "Don't pry into an adult's business."
"Do you usually take care of it yourself? Aren't you lonely?"
"Keep your mouth shut! Let me think if I have any other questions." Hou Ranxi sat in her chair pondering.
"Alright, I'll play a round first." Zhou Rui crooked a finger at Hou Ranxi, "Lend me your phone."
Hou Ranxi's phone always had games on it, and she would occasionally play a few rounds with Zhou Rui, which also allowed Zhou Rui to directly log into his account.
While they were silent, the TV behind Zhou Rui kept playing the news.
Zhou Rui looked up to see Hou Ranxi's expression change. Her smile disappeared in an instant, replaced by unusual sternness, even a hint of sinister.
This expression gave Zhou Rui a fright. Following Hou Ranxi's gaze, he looked back at the TV.
The news footage had already switched to the next news item.
He vaguely remembered the voice just now mentioning some group, confirming someone important would be returning to the country soon.
It was probably news that an important figure of some group would be coming back.
"What's wrong?" Zhou Rui asked Hou Ranxi.
"Oh, nothing. A competitor is coming back to the country." Only then did Hou Ranxi come to her senses.
Zhou Rui assumed it was a business competitor, and casually said, "Tsk, I'm different from you adults. I think as long as there's enough money to spend, that's fine. Don't make trouble for yourself competing, what's the point?"
Hou Ranxi nodded, stroking her chin as she stared at Zhou Rui for a long time.
"Recently...take good care of your mother," she suddenly said.
"No need to tell me, I know what to do."
He's coming back.
Take good care of her.
