Sheng Min involuntarily took a step back. Almost at the same time, Li Mingge's hand pressed hard on his shoulder blade. His stern gaze was like ice water poured out of thin air. Sheng Min suddenly came back to his senses from the shock.
He pinched his palms, pursed his lips, and looked at the woman in front of him again. She was about the same age as Li Mingge, and had well-maintained facial features. It was not difficult to see her beauty when she was young. In terms of appearance alone, she was an elegant woman - except for her eyes, which were almost fanatical, reminding Sheng Min of the fans who had once forced their way into his apartment with a knife late at night.
Sheng Min couldn't remember what the man looked like clearly. He only remembered that there was a bracelet hanging on his thin and pale arm. It looked like an ordinary Bluetooth bracelet, but it was actually a special locator for mental patients. At this moment, the woman standing in front of him was wearing an identical bracelet on her dry and bloodless hand.
"Son, son?"
Realizing Sheng Min's intention to retreat, the woman's nerves suddenly tensed up and she called him repeatedly.
"I… "
Sheng Min opened his mouth, his throat felt dry, and the smile on the woman's face disappeared immediately. She grabbed his hand, and the box in Sheng Min's hand fell to the ground: "What's wrong with you? Why don't you speak? Tell me what's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell?"
"He's fine." Her outburst was sudden, but Li Mingge seemed accustomed to it and quickly stepped forward to comfort her, "Shu Xin, look at me. The child is fine, don't think too much."
"What's wrong? What happened to you? Are you sick again? Are you sick again? Your dad is hiding it from me..."
Shu Xin totally ignored what Li Mingge said. She just held Sheng Min's hand tightly, digging her nails into his flesh. The moment the pain came, the first thing that came to Sheng Min's eyes was the mottled scars on Li Xuan's body.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." Sheng Min calmed down and smiled. The woman, who was still excited despite Li Mingge's repeated persuasion, miraculously calmed down when she heard Sheng Min speak.
"Very good?" She looked at Sheng Min absentmindedly.
"Yes." Sheng Min looked into her eyes, "Very good."
"Oh, okay, okay..." Shu Xin repeated over and over again.
"I told you, the child is fine." Li Mingge gently hugged her shoulders, "He didn't come back on Monday. He was revising a paper at school... The child missed you too, so he brought you a gift..."
Sheng Min picked up the box on the ground and handed it over cooperatively. There was a small stain of mud on the corner of the ribbon.
"My son bought it for me." Shu Xin smiled happily and showed it to Li Mingge.
"Yes." Li Mingge said with a smile, "Our son has been close to you since he was young. Just now on the way back, he told me that he wanted to eat the pig stomach and chicken you made. Is it ready?"
"Chicken with pig stomach..." Shu Xin was stunned for a moment, then shouted loudly, "Sister Zhang!"
"Here, here." A woman with short hair came to the door at some point.
“Is the food ready?”
"Okay, dinner will be ready soon." She replied quickly, but unconsciously looked at Li Mingge's face, which looked nervous.
"It's ready. Mom will take you inside to drink. You must be hungry. Come on, follow mom into the house. It's so hot, you're sweating. You can't tolerate heat or cold."
Shu Xin dragged Sheng Min's sleeve through the courtyard, stumbling in her haste. Li Mingge and the nanny followed behind. The nanny whispered, "I wasn't paying attention while cooking, and the wife ran out..."
"We'll talk later." Li Mingge said calmly, but he quickly stepped forward and held Shu Xin's other arm. "Walk slowly, be careful not to trip the child."
Shu Xin looked frail, but she was quite strong. Sheng Min was dragged into the villa by her, and her wrists were all blue, which, combined with the purple and blue finger marks on the back of her hands, was a bit scary.
"Let's open the gift first and see what it is?" Sheng Min tried to pull his hand out.
Shu Xin was distracted and nodded. She looked at him for help and said, "I can't remember where the scissors are."
"I'll take you to get it. Come, let your son rest for a while." Li Mingge took her hand gently and took her away smoothly this time.
Auntie went to the kitchen, and Sheng Min was the only one left in the huge living room. He breathed a sigh of relief and looked around.
The Li family's decoration is very typical of Chinese style, with various Huanghuali furniture and calligraphy and paintings on the wall. The single-family villa should have good lighting, but because the curtains are drawn all year round, the house seems quite dark. Perhaps it is because the central air conditioner is turned too low, Sheng Min always feels the chill lingering. He raised his hand and gently rubbed the bruise on his wrist. Suddenly, he heard the sound of quarreling and slamming doors from the second floor, breaking the silence that did not last long.
"Li Xuan." Sheng Min frowned and raised his head. Li Mingge's face suddenly appeared beside the railing on the second floor. "Come up."
There are four rooms on the second floor. Li Mingge stood at the door of the second room from the left. When he saw Sheng Min approaching, he raised his hand to knock on the door: "Shu Xin, the child is here, can you open the door?"
He took another step back and motioned Sheng Min to come forward. The door was opened a tiny crack, and Shu Xin smiled happily when she saw him.
"Come, son." She grabbed Sheng Min's hand again, "Come quickly."
With previous experience, Sheng Min did not show any sign of avoidance and obediently entered the room. He then watched Shu Xin quickly close the door, blocking Li Mingge outside.
"Here, help mom put it up. I don't want your dad to help me, he doesn't know how to do it." Shu Xin stuffed a fist-sized translucent ball into his hand without saying anything. A familiar gift box was casually thrown beside him. This was probably the gift Li Mingge asked him to bring back.
"Put it on." Seeing that he was slow to move, Shu Xin urged him.
This was a storage room, but it was different from the usual ones. There was nothing else in the middle except a table and two chairs. The walls were covered with pieces of wenge wood, irregularly arranged up and down. Some were empty, but most were already filled with various items.
The wall facing Sheng Min was filled with translucent spheres of different colors and sizes. The arrangement seemed familiar. Sheng Min thought about it carefully and remembered seeing them in Li Xuan's physics book. These were the eight planets in the solar system.
This whole wall was filled with planetary models, arranged in groups of nine according to their distance in the solar system. The only group left was the top one, which only contained the sun and the third planet.
"Son?" Shu Xin became uneasy.
"Okay, I'll do it." Sheng Min smiled and comforted her. He took the model and walked to the wall.
These models are probably from different series, and the workmanship and appearance of the same star are also different. Sheng Min doesn't know what is in his hand, and it is difficult to infer from the original where it should be placed.
Seeing Shu Xin's mental state, Sheng Min didn't want to stimulate her sensitive points and cause unnecessary trouble, so the model seemed a little heavier when he held it.
He slowly raised his hand and moved closer to the wall while casually talking to Shu Xin. While chatting, he seemed to move between different positions unintentionally, carefully observing Shu Xin's expression.
The fifth or sixth one, Sheng Min thought.
It was too close, and it was difficult for him to judge more. Shu Xin began to get anxious because he was taking a long time to put the model in the correct position.
Sheng Min made up his mind and put his hand on the grid at the back...
That should be right. Shu Xin didn't say anything, looking at the models on the wall with a trance smile on her face.
Sheng Min pinched his brows and quietly stepped aside. After making sure that her attention was not on him, he planned to open the door to let Li Mingge in. However, before he moved to the door, he was attracted by a row of photos on the other wall.
There were family photos, more than 20 at a glance, arranged in chronological order. The parents grew from immature to mature, and the children grew from babies in swaddling clothes to tall and handsome young men. Even if they were placed in a room that was not very bright, this could probably be considered a warm memory - if it wasn't for the fact that the child suddenly changed from one photo to another.
"son."
Sheng Min's eyebrows jumped. He didn't know when Shu Xin had quietly come behind him.
"What are you looking at?" She still had that mysterious smile on her face, her dry arms wrapped around his shoulders affectionately like seaweed wrapping around a dead body on the seafloor, "Look at you when you were a kid, you were so pretty, so pink."
She reached out her hand and fondled the frame of one of the photos. In the photo was a completely unfamiliar boy, about fifteen or sixteen years old. From his facial features, it was not difficult to tell that all the photos since he was a baby were of him, and after that, the boy in the photo suddenly became Li Xuan.
Although they were both tall and thin, Li Xuan did not look like the original child, which was particularly obvious when the photos were put together. The boy had a pleasing round face with smiling eyes, but his complexion, in the unclear image, was still abnormally pale.
Li Xuan, who appeared for the first time in the photo right next to him, looked even younger than him and not very tall, but his features were quite similar to now. He had a stern face and looked at the camera impatiently.
Noticing his gaze and smile, Shu Xin also looked over. She seemed to be unable to see the difference between the two children: "But my son has always been handsome..."
Her fingers slid along, and when she was about to touch Li Xuan's photo, Sheng Min subconsciously stopped him.
"Son?" Shu Xin looked at him with some fear.
Sheng Min couldn't explain why, but he just didn't want Shu Xin to meet Li Xuan again, even photos were not allowed.
"I'm hungry." Sheng Min put aside his complicated thoughts for the time being and showed a sincere smile. Fortunately, acting is his specialty after all. "Let's eat first? Okay?"