Jiang Yu watched the Lu mother and daughter coldly, the corners of his lips unconsciously lifting into a faintly mocking smile.
When he sensed Lu Yige's gaze on him, he switched expressions and offered her a gentle smile, nodding lightly.
Lu Yige eyed him suspiciously. After thinking for a moment, she said, "You should come with us. Most summer part-time jobs are physical labor—you won't really learn much."
Mother Lu took a long, thoughtful look at Lu Yige and added, "Come along, Xiao Yu. If you want to train yourself, once you're in university you can intern at a company—you'll learn far more that way."
This was exactly what he wanted. Jiang Yu hesitated before saying, "Wouldn't that be too much of an imposition?"
"How could it be?" Mother Lu replied. "We'll be family sooner or later."
Jiang Yu glanced at Lu Yige and saw her turn away, her face flushed with embarrassment.
Family?
How ridiculous.
It had been a long time since Jiang Yu last had that dream.
In it, the heavily made-up woman held his hand as they walked down the street.
The curses of neighbors drifted into his ears, pressed into his heart, crushing him with shame.
Yet the woman seemed utterly unconcerned, walking with her head held high, brazen and defiant.
"Shameless homewrecker!" someone shouted angrily, hurling an egg at her.
The egg burst and splattered across his face. Frightened, he squeezed his eyes shut.
His nose stung as he looked up at the tall woman beside him, wanting her to hold him.
But she did not notice his feelings. She wiped the egg off her face and laughed loudly, wildly.
Jiang Yu shuddered.
After laughing her fill, she shouted back, "You old hag—can't even keep your filthy husband in check, and you come yelling at me instead!"
Even more vulgar insults rained down on her, along with vegetables and trash thrown from all directions.
Jiang Yu tugged at her hand, wanting to leave quickly.
She ignored him and stood there trading insults with the crowd.
Tears welled in his eyes. He struggled free and ran forward as fast as he could.
He had to get away—far, far away.
A flash of white light appeared before him. He ran toward it with all his strength and suddenly found himself at home.
He sat on a low stool in a dark, cramped room, with only a sliver of light filtering in through the window.
He couldn't help staring at it.
Then there was a knock at the door.
"Coming," the woman said in a soft, affected voice.
When she opened the door, a rough-looking man stood outside. Jiang Yu remembered him—he had been there two weeks earlier.
The woman blocked the doorway, lightly patting the man's chest as she said coyly, "You devil, why are you here again? Your wife threw eggs at me just a few days ago."
"Don't mind that shrew," the man said gruffly. "Good girl, look what I brought you."
He pressed something into her hand.
"Oh my." Her laughter was sharp and piercing.
Jiang Yu found a corner and hid.
It was like this every day—different men every day. He covered his ears and trembled in the corner, the constant noises suffocating him.
"Come here," the woman called after an unknown amount of time.
He didn't dare move, and her voice turned vicious.
She looked at Jiang Yu as he slowly walked over, then pulled a small box from the drawer at the foot of the bed.
He recognized the box. She always kept it hidden. Once, when he accidentally touched it, she had beaten him.
With a smile on her lips, she carefully traced the patterns on the box before taking out a photograph.
In the photo was a young man and woman. The woman, with long black hair, looked pure and gentle in her youth.
The man—
She stared at the photo, smiling with obsessive madness. Pointing at the young man, she said, "Child, remember what he looks like. You must remember. If one day you see him..."
She paused, then screamed hysterically, "Tell him! Tell him that the woman he claimed to love most cheated on him hundreds of times—hahahahahaha!"
Terrified by her expression, Jiang Yu took a step back.
She fixed her gaze on him and suddenly grabbed his shoulders. "Why do you look so much like him? Why do you look so much like him? Wouldn't it be better to look like me?"
"You shouldn't have been born into this world!" Her eyes were bloodshot as she wrapped her hands around his neck.
Jiang Yu struggled desperately to break free, gasping for air.
But he was too weak. He could only let her choke him, sinking into despair and suffocation like falling into the deep sea.
Unable to breathe, unable even to cry, he used all his strength to call out through tears, "Mom."
She froze, then released him and shoved him to the ground.
Much later, he heard her let out a faint sigh.
At a loss, he could only stare at the window, which slowly grew larger, wider, and brighter.
"Class dismissed. Today's homework is addition and subtraction within one hundred. Don't forget to complete pages 20 and 21 of your workbook."
He followed the line out of the school gates in a daze. At the intersection, he turned left.
The taller class monitor at the front reminded him, "Jiang, be careful on your way home today."
He walked into the familiar street. People stared at him with strange looks.
He was used to it. He ignored them and kept walking.
A sense of unease rose within him, and he quickened his pace.
When he reached his building, a chaotic red scene made his vision blur.
Fragmented, incomprehensible voices drilled into his ears.
"She's dead."
"How did she die?"
"She jumped from the fifth floor."
"Serves her right—being a homewrecker so long."
"Stop it."
"She's dead, but that poor kid—only seven."
No. No.
Jiang Yu ran upstairs frantically.
"Mom!"
He shoved the door open.
"Mom!"
He searched the cluttered room over and over.
"Mom..."
His vision went black, and he collapsed to the floor.
When he woke up, he was in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by unfamiliar faces—older, younger, and some his own age.
He sat alone in a corner of the courtyard, watching the others play with indifference.
A girl his age sat beside him and smiled. "You've been here three days already and haven't said a word."
He stood up, intending to move to another corner.
"Don't go." She grabbed his hand and placed a small flower in his palm. "This is for you."
He froze, staring at the small flower with a yellow center and white petals.
Looking up, he saw her smiling brightly, as warm as the flower itself.
"Jiang Yu," he said. "My name is Jiang Yu."
"How do you write it?" The girl held out her palm. "Write it for me."
He didn't move or speak.
"Since we're here, we're all family now. Don't always stay silent, Xiao Yu," she said seriously.
"You're not my family."
She held his hand and said, "If I say I am, then I am."
"What's your name?" Jiang Yu suddenly asked.
"Nian Nian. My name is Nian Nian."
"And your surname?"
"I don't have one. The director gave me this name." She rolled her eyes. "How about I take your surname? I'll be your family from now on—okay?"
"No."
"I don't care. From now on, I'm Jiang Nian, and you're Jiang Yu. We're each other's family."
Jiang Yu looked at her silently and did not object again.
He blinked, and suddenly he was standing at the gates of Hengyang High School.
There, he saw someone—the man from the photograph.
Though he had changed a lot, Jiang Yu recognized him at once.
A girl walked beside the man as they moved through the crowded campus.
His blood surged violently. As if possessed, he followed them.
He followed them through the school, up the stairs, and suddenly realized they were heading to the same classroom.
When the man passed by him, he did not even spare him a glance. Jiang Yu clenched his fists silently.
"Jiang Yu. Jiang Yu."
Someone was calling him.
He opened his eyes. Lu Yige's face slowly overlapped with that of the girl beside the man in his dream.
"What's wrong? You look really uncomfortable. The plane is about to land," Lu Yige said softly.
"Nothing." Jiang Yu's eyelashes trembled slightly.
"Oh right—did you tell Jiang Nian you were coming to Shanghai?"
"Why would I tell her?"
"You're so close. Of course you should tell her," Lu Yige muttered.
Jiang Yu said, "I promised you I'd keep my distance from her."
"When did you promise me that? You said it yourself," Lu Yige stared at him in disbelief. "Besides, aren't you family?"
"Are we?" Jiang Yu said lightly. "Family."
After they got off the plane, a dedicated driver came to pick them up.
Lu Yige pressed her face to the car window the entire time, looking outside with wide-eyed curiosity.
The Shanghai branch of the Lu Group was located in the city center—a nearly sixty-story skyscraper.
They took a private elevator. Watching all this, Jiang Yu found it almost laughable.
He and his mother had once lived in such wretched circumstances.
When they reached the floor, he followed the Lu mother and daughter with his head lowered, growing increasingly uneasy.
When the door opened, the face he saw was unfamiliar—someone he had never met.
Lu's father embraced his wife and daughter, then looked Jiang Yu up and down.
"And this is...?"
"He's the child I told you about before."
Jiang Yu's lips trembled as he forced out a few words. "You're Uncle Lu?"
"Yes." Lu Zhang's expression was stern as he scrutinized him.
Jiang Yu's face turned even paler.
***
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