It's very difficult to ask someone my parents' age to change their minds and the way they speak. I could argue with them, too, but in the end it just turned into a tiring quarrel that didn't make any sense.
So I fell silent and said no more.
My father seemed to want to say something, but my aunt pulled me into the kitchen first.
"We'll talk about it later. Go see your mother first. She's been busy all afternoon and knows you'll be back to cook a lot of dishes."
On the dinner table, as my aunt said, there were a lot of cooked dishes, steamed, fried and stewed, which looked quite rich.
The kitchen was overflowing with soot, and the cooker hood still felt choking when turned on at full capacity. My mother was wearing an apron and was pouring a basket of washed green leafy vegetables into the frying pan. The water and oil come into contact, causing a violent explosion, making the kitchen even louder.
"Manjuan, look who's here!" Auntie shouted.
Mother heard the sound, turned her head and saw that it was me. She turned the fire on the stove down, wiped the apron with her palm twice, and looked me up and down carefully.
"Mom." I stood straight in front of her and let her look.
Her eyes were mostly on my legs, and a few times she seemed to want to touch the black exoskeleton, raising her hands and dropping them halfway through.
"There must be... I haven't seen you stand up in twelve or three years."
"Well, almost thirteen years."
She pointed to the crutches I was holding in my right hand and asked, "Do you want to keep leaning on this?"
"No, this crutch is mainly to help me get used to standing faster. In another ten or twenty days, I will be able to get off the crutches completely." I lowered my head and clenched the grip tightly, and said.
She nodded, "Oh", turned around, turned the fire up, and continued cooking.
"There are still two dishes left, you should prepare the tableware first, and dinner will be ready when Luo Yu arrives."
My aunt took out a pair of chopsticks from the chopstick rest and handed it to me: "I just took out the bowl and spoon, you can put it on first."
As soon as I came out of the kitchen, my aunt pulled the sliding glass door, and I could only hear Yixing's voice slipping out of the gap.
"Children have their own children's blessings, I also think about it now..."
Father is sitting on the rocking chair on the balcony, holding his big tea jar, watching the news on his cell phone. There were noisy cartoons on TV, but Bei Yan didn't have the heart to watch it anymore. He focused on the egg yolk, hugged and kissed it, and whispered a few words from time to time.
This is obviously a normal family, and I don't know what the problem is that makes it so difficult to communicate with each other.
I once told Shang Muxiao that resentment doesn't matter, it's okay to not reconcile, and this sentence may apply to me now. There are many things that are destined to be regrets, too entangled, and become a disease in my heart after a long time. It is better to look at it and do what it is, and the boat will naturally go straight to the bridge.
A pair of bowls and chopsticks were set up, and my aunt came out of the kitchen with the dishes.
"Luo Yu is temporarily working overtime at the company today, saying that he can leave at five o'clock. It's almost here now." She glanced at the clock on the wall and said, "Brother, Xiaoyan, come and sit down first, and wait while you eat."
Father stood up with the tea jug in his hand, passed by the TV, and saw Beiyan was still teasing the dog, he scolded: "I didn't hear your aunt talking, why don't you wash your hands and eat? You are eleven years old, can you understand? something."
Bei Yan's face collapsed, he quickly put the dog aside, jumped off the sofa and ran into the bathroom quickly.
Staring at the closed bathroom door, I lost my appetite before I even touched the food.
"Brother, Xiaoyan is also getting older, don't keep scolding him in front of everyone, it will hurt his self-esteem." My aunt couldn't stand it any longer and spoke out for Beiyan.
The father muttered: "It's all my own family, and there are no outsiders."
The aunt shook her head and poured drinks for everyone. After a while, the mother also came out with a large pot of chicken soup in her hand.
"Drink the soup first, it won't taste good when it's cold." Carefully placed the chicken soup in the middle, then she took off her apron and threw it aside.
Staying with my parents, whether it's eating or doing other things, always feels like a string in my heart that is stretched to the extreme, so that I have to think twice about every word and deed, for fear that the string will break at some point. .
Beiyan came out of the bathroom and sat directly beside me.
"Why do you wash your hands and the clothes are wet?" Mother frowned and stared at the water stains on his sleeves.
Bei Yan just picked up the spoon and put it down, murmured, "It got wet accidentally."
My mother couldn't stand being sloppy since she was a child, and being neat and tidy is a person's upbringing for her. Wearing dirty clothes, no matter how high the education level is, in her eyes, it is still uneducated.
"It's good to roll it up. It's hot now, and it'll be dry in a while." I rolled up the sleeves for Beiyan, and rolled up the water marks on the cuffs so that they would not be exposed.
"Thank you brother." Bei Yan gave me a bright smile.
Perhaps she was also worried that today was Bei Yan's birthday. Although her mother still looked a little disgusted, she didn't say anything about her younger son.
My aunt and my parents had a very pleasant chat with my aunt on the table, telling anecdotes about the neighborhood. Beiyan and I couldn't talk to each other, we just concentrated on drinking the soup.
"Did you get my present?" I asked in a low voice.
Beiyan raised his head when he heard the words, his mouth bulging, it was all chicken.
"I got it, thank you brother!" he said inarticulately, "I haven't opened it yet, will you fight with me after dinner later?"
Every year I give him a set of Lego blocks for his birthday. Last year was the lunar space station, and the year before was the Statue of Liberty. This year, I wanted to buy a fire station, but Shang Muxiao insisted that I buy a motorcycle, saying that motorcycles are for every boy. The ultimate dream. I had no choice but to take pictures of the bright red Ducati. Fortunately, I didn't dislike the appearance of Beiyan.
"Okay, I can be your assistant."
Bei Yan became more and more happy, his eyes narrowed with laughter, and his face seemed more rounded.
When the soup was almost finished, the doorbell rang.
"It should be Luo Yu..." Auntie made a gesture to get up.
"You sit, I'll drive." I stopped her, got up first and walked to the door.
As soon as the door was opened, Shen Luoyu sneaked in.
"What are you looking at?" I asked.
"I saw a car downstairs that was exactly the same as the new car you bought. I thought you brought your partner with you. I thought you were too rigid." She said while taking off her shoes.
Exactly the same car
"That car didn't have a license plate?"
The new car will have to wait until next week, so Shang Muxiao's car is still a temporary license.
"No, new, otherwise I wouldn't admit my mistake." Shen Luoyu said.
In an instant, I had a strange intuition, which prompted me to walk out regardless of Shen Luoyu's surprise.
"You... where are you going?"
I didn't look back and said, "I'll go down and come back right away."
Of course, there is a possibility that the exact same model will appear downstairs in this world, but if you add the new car without a license plate, the possibility of Shang Muxiao not leaving at all increases a lot, and the latter "possibility" is very worthwhile. Floor to find out.
As soon as I walked out of the door, I saw the black SUV from a distance, and at a glance I recognized that it was Shang Muxiao's. The annual inspection logo on the windshield was posted by me, and the angle and skewness were exactly the same.
I approached slowly, and through the front windshield, I saw Shang Muxiao playing with his mobile phone in the car, but he didn't notice my arrival.
Knuckles tapped the car window lightly, he was startled, looked over with a french fries in his mouth, and looked at me through the gray-blue glass membrane.
The car window was lowered a little bit, he ate the french fries, coughed lightly, and explained, "That... I'm also waiting at home, and I'm also waiting here. It's more convenient to wait here, instead of running back and forth."
Glancing at the passenger seat, there was a McDonald's paper bag above it, and a takeaway order was posted on the outside of the bag.
I ate dinner upstairs with my family, and he ordered fast food downstairs and waited for me alone in the car for hours. Either way, it's kind of sad.
"Get out of the car." I opened the door.
He didn't quite understand what I was going to do, and his expression was puzzled, but he got out of the car obediently.
I rubbed his head satisfactorily, pointed my crutch at the door of my building, and said, "Let's go, I'll take you home for dinner."