After passing the written test and the re-examination, I got the admission letter from the School of Translation as I wished.
During the summer vacation, Mu Chenghe took me to visit his mother's home in City B.
That day was his grandfather's 90th birthday. In fact, I didn't want to go with him, not because I was afraid of meeting his mother, but because Mu Chenghe had fallen ill again before that.
I didn't dare let him drive, so we both took the bus.
I took the bus to City B with Mu Chenghe twice, but my mood was completely different before and after.
The birthday banquet is held at home, and the whole family has a family dinner.
When we entered, a young girl was greeting guests at the door. When her eyes fell on Mu Chenghe who was coming towards us, her eyes suddenly lit up and she shouted into the house with a smile: "Mom, Dad, my brother is back."
Is that Jiang Dongan
I looked at Mu Chenghe suspiciously, then at the person opposite me.
Mu Chenghe lowered his left hand, subconsciously held my hand, and introduced me: "Dong'an, this is..."
Before he could finish his words, Jiang Dongan curved his eyes and called me sweetly, "Sister-in-law."
Now not only I, but even Mu Chenghe felt a little embarrassed.
When I entered the living room, I saw Mu Chenghe's mother coming out of the study after hearing Jiang Dongan's call.
I smiled and greeted her with some trepidation.
This is the third time I have met her. The first time was at my father's commendation ceremony. She gave me a bouquet of flowers and hugged me. Who knew we would have such a fate? The second time was when she came to pay New Year's greetings during the Spring Festival this year.
After introducing us to other relatives in the living room, she asked Mu Chenghe and I to sit in the small living room inside the study, and then she sat down next to us, obviously wanting to talk to us for a while.
"I heard from Xiaohe that you are still planning to continue studying?" asked Mu's mother.
"I will start school next month," I replied.
"I remember you said last time that your mother was also in City B, but I was busy with work and didn't contact her much. I wanted to visit her first, but Xiaohe was not here, so I was afraid it would be a bit abrupt."
I didn't know Mu Chenghe would tell her so much about me, so I focused my attention on chatting with her.
Then she chattered on and on about some family matters, her tone always very polite.
I could tell that she was not usually like this, so she was a little unnatural when she talked to me. I could feel that she was trying hard to appear amiable in front of me.
Maybe she is feeling as anxious as I am at this moment.
Thinking of this, I suddenly felt warm in my heart.
After talking to me, she started chatting with Mu Chenghe again, asking about his work and recent situation.
Mu Chenghe answered her carefully without showing any impatience.
I was watching from the side, my eyes moving between the two people as they spoke.
The mother and son look very similar, not only in facial features, but also in skin color. She is almost sixty years old, and there is not a single spot on her face. Although she is dressed simply, her skin is white and bright, making her look several years younger.
The two chatted for a while, and it seemed that they had finished talking about all the topics they had thought of beforehand. Just as they were about to fall into silence, they happened to hear the voices of Jiang Dongan and her father talking in the kitchen. So, Mu's mother mentioned Jiang Dongan again, saying that she had just had a boyfriend, but they broke up within three months.
I don't know why, but I have an indescribable feeling.
Jiang Dongan's ears were very sharp. He rushed in from the living room, hugged Mu's mother's neck from behind and said, "Mom, I heard you say bad things about me to my brother."
"They say you are too casual about feelings at such a young age." said Mu's mother.
Jiang Dongan retorted: "You always worry about things that are beyond your control. You used to worry that my brother would become a bachelor, and you used to dislike me for dating too early."
Mother Mu slapped Jiang Dongan's hands that were hugging her and said, "Take your claws away. They are all greasy."
Jiang Dongan groaned and retracted his hand, shouting, "Dad, my mom hit me."
At this time, a middle-aged man poked his head out from the door with a busy look on his face and said to Mu's mother, "You will be the chef for the next dish. I will talk to Chenghe and the others."
Mu Chenghe stood up and nodded: "Uncle Jiang."
I knew that this man was Mu Chenghe's stepfather, so we stood up and greeted him.
Mother Mu rolled up her sleeves and urged Jiang Dongan to walk towards the kitchen.
Mu Chenghe's eyes followed the family of three, but his left hand gently held my hand again. I looked up and found some other emotions in his eyes.
Suddenly I felt a little sad. There was a happy family in front of me, and the one among them was obviously his biological mother, but there was an invisible wall separating him from the outside.
I suddenly understood what that subtle feeling that flashed through my mind when I saw the mother and son talking just now meant.
That is alienation.
Under Mu's mother's deliberate enthusiasm and concern for him, that deliberateness turned into a kind of alienation.
Thinking of this, I squeezed his fingers back.
After a while, the nanny brought the birthday boy back from his walk, and everyone started eating.
After dinner, he declined his family's invitation to stay overnight, saying that he had already booked a hotel and would visit my mother on the way.
After we left, I glared at him and said, "You just lied. My mom was clearly on a business trip."
He smiled and said nothing.
Just now, the old man was very happy during the meal, and he pulled Mu Chenghe to drink a glass of wine with him. Mu Chenghe did not refuse. At this moment, he was holding my hand and walking on the road, his cheeks flushed, and he looked like he was about to get drunk.
After going through the formalities at the hotel, Mu Chenghe fiddled with the room card for a long time but failed to open the door. He was drunk but still had a good temper, and slowly tried the four directions of the room card twice with both hands.
Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore and snatched the room card. When I looked at it, I found that the room number was wrong.
"It's next door."
I pulled him unhappily to find the next room and opened the door quickly: "Teacher Mu, your IQ will become negative as long as you drink a little bit of alcohol, right?" I muttered while inserting the card to turn on the light, but he suddenly put his arm around my shoulders from behind, turned me over to face him, and then pushed me against the wall, and then pressed down with his familiar soft lips that smelled of alcohol.
I placed my hands on his chest and kissed him back.
He sucked my lips and tongue, and after a little satisfaction, he moved to the side of my cheek and opened his mouth to suck my earlobe. I was a little ticklish, so I giggled and hid to the side.
He stopped, put his forehead against mine, and asked slowly: "Tongtong, marry me, we can have our own home, okay?"
I listened to his words and thought about what happened at the Mu family just now. My chest felt warm. I inserted my fingers into his short hair and gently kissed the tip of his nose.
Just then, a beeping sound rang out in the air.
I turned around and saw that the door was not locked, but just ajar, so the alarm sounded.
"Are you so impatient that you didn't even close the door?" I said.
Mu Chenghe stretched out two fingers to straighten my chin, forcing me to face him again: "Don't interrupt."
"Let me think about it first?"
"naughty."
"Then if you beg me a few more times, I will agree to you?" I blinked.
He let me go and locked the door himself, then casually turned on the light in the porch, turned back and pinched my face, his eyes darkened, and threatened: "Don't beg me for a while." After that, he glanced at me, unbuttoned his shirt, and went into the bathroom to run the water for a shower.
After the fall, I adapted to the new school while learning to drive.
The School of Translation is not far from University A, but there are so many first-year graduate classes that I am almost too busy to do anything, not to mention that I have to squeeze out time to go to the driving school on weekends.
Mu Chenghe was also very busy. He almost stopped his classes at school and devoted himself to the experimental project.
So after a semester, the two of them were together less and less.
Chen Ting's family and I often meet. Perhaps it was because of Mu Chenghe's request that whenever he was not at home on holidays, Chen Ting and his wife would often invite me out for dinner in case I was bored.
I used to be a bit in awe of Chen Ting, but when I got to know him better, I found that he was just a chatterbox.
"Xue Tong, can you help Mu Chenghe improve his taste?" Chen Ting said.
"The fact that he could find me proves that he has good taste," I retorted.
"I'm not referring to you." Chen Ting said.
Then he began to recount to me the choices Mu Chenghe had made over the years. Whether buying a car or a mobile phone, he would see which model was used most by the people around him, and that would definitely be his goal.
I listened to his complaints, smiled and thought about it, and it was true.
At this time, Chen Ting's wife Wen Xi came back with her son from the bathroom.
After the meal, I watched the family of three leave and then drove home.
On the way, I received a call from Mu Chenghe and told him about the naughty little son of Chen Ting.
Mu Chenghe said: "I refuse to receive any news from Teacher Chen."
"What are you complaining about?" I asked him.
"We were classmates, but I watched him go from one person to two, and then to three..."
"I originally wanted to tell you something, but I think I shouldn't continue to attack you," I said.
"What?" he asked curiously on the other end of the phone.
"Teacher Mu, Teacher Chen is almost becoming four people."
"… "
On the night before New Year's Eve, Mu Chenghe finally came back.
After lunch the next day, Chen Ting brought his wife and children home, planning to spend New Year's Eve together.
I washed the rice and put it in the pot, then started cutting vegetables.
"There are only five of us, why do you need to cook so many dishes? I'm not a outsider, so just be casual." Chen Ting leaned against the kitchen door and said to me politely.
I rolled my eyes at him and said, "I made this for Teacher Mu and Sister Qian, not just for you."
"It's not fair of you to treat me like this. After all, I was once Teacher Chen." Chen Ting shook his head.
At this time, there was some movement in the hallway, probably Mu Chenghe coming back.
Just now, Chen Ting and his wife brought their son, Xiao Chen Cheng, in. The child was three years old, an age that even dogs disliked, and as soon as he got home, he broke a crystal trophy that Mu Chenghe had placed next to the TV.
Chen Ting was furious and picked up his son and beat him up.
Mu Chenghe and I finally persuaded him to calm down after much persuasion.
The child burst into tears, and the sound was really heartbreaking. Mu Chenghe coaxed him and took him to the convenience store at the door to buy snacks.
At this moment, the uncle and nephew came back holding hands happily carrying a big bag of food.
When little Chen Cheng saw his father, he hid behind Mu Chenghe and then followed him to sit on the sofa. Mu Chenghe held him on his knees.
Xiao Chen Cheng took the opportunity to put his arms around Mu Chenghe's neck and kissed him several times on the face.
Mu Chenghe was so itchy that he smiled.
Little Chen Cheng said again: "Uncle Xiao Mu, the plane we took last time was so big. My dad said that you will also design such a plane for us to ride in the future."
"Your dad just loves to brag about me." Mu Chenghe smiled and shook his head.
At this moment, Chen Ting had replaced me and was cooking his specialty in the kitchen, so I was happy to be free and sat next to him watching Mu Chenghe teasing that little bastard.
Wen Xi was fiddling with the trophy that was broken by Xiao Chen Cheng.
"Sister-in-law, please stop it. Be careful not to scratch your hands." Mu Chenghe said to Wen Qian while holding little Chen Cheng.
"How can I do this? I've heard that this award is very valuable. It would be a shame to break it."
Little Chen Cheng started to eat the seaweed that Mu Chenghe had bought for him. Halfway through, he remembered the juice and took it out of the bag and asked Mu Chenghe to unscrew the bottle cap. But Mu Chenghe had just handed it to Little Chen Cheng to take a sip when the juice spilled. Mu Chenghe was also splashed with juice.
Wen Xi finally lost her temper and yelled at Xiao Chen Cheng: "Believe it or not, I will beat you up!"
Little Chen Cheng relied on his father not hearing the noise in the kitchen, and Mu Chenghe was beside him, thinking his mother was joking with him, and he was still smiling. But the child observed his mother's expression for a few seconds and found that his mother was really angry, so he pouted and burst into tears.
Mu Chenghe advised: "Sister Qian, please talk to the child nicely and don't scare him. If he wants to do this, just let him do it."
"It's all because of the adults' pampering." Wen Qian held her forehead with her hand.
"It's normal for boys to be naughty. If you set too many rules when they are young and stop them all the time, it will affect their imagination and creativity."
"With the genes that Chen Ting and I have, how can we be creative?" Wen Xi laughed, "But you..."
I helped take out the spare clothes from Chen Cheng's small schoolbag and helped Wen Xi change her clothes.
Wen Xi asked me in a low voice: "When are you going to have a wedding banquet and when are you going to have a baby?" She turned around and looked at Mu Chenghe.
Mu Chenghe glanced back at me and answered slowly: "Xue Tong is young, wait a little longer." Then he went back to his room to change clothes.
"The red envelopes have not been given out, and we are getting anxious." Wen Xi said jokingly.
At this time, the people from the cake shop delivered the birthday cake.
While Chen Ting was signing for the package, he asked, "Who's having a birthday?"
Xue Tong said: "Chenghe."
Chen Ting slapped his forehead and said, "I forgot."
There was no 30th day of the twelfth lunar month this year, so his birthday was skipped. Knowing that he liked to have a lively time, Chen Ting's family was specially invited to celebrate both his birthday and the New Year.
At the dinner table, Chen Ting said, "You are so unlucky in your life. You have fewer birthdays than others. Don't we miss New Year's Eve every now and then?"
Mu Chenghe said, "If you think about it this way, I will be one year younger than you every few years. It won't take long for me to be the same age as Xue Tong."
Chen Ting laughed out loud: "Brother, you finally feel the sadness of an old cow eating young grass. Your girlfriend is as beautiful as a flower, but you see that you are going downhill, and she is still unwilling to marry you."
Wen Xi poked Chen Ting's arm and told him to stop.
Mu Chenghe cut the cake and handed me a piece.
Little Chen Cheng bit into the cake and suddenly asked, "Uncle Xiao Mu, is Brother Niu Niu here? I want to share the cake with him."
Niu Niu is the son of the couple next door. Originally, the old professor of mathematics lived next door, but after retirement, he was in poor health and moved to his daughter's house. The house was empty for half a year, and then the children felt it was a pity and rented it out.
The tenants were a slightly older couple, very welcoming, and would occasionally cook some hometown dishes and serve them to Mu Chenghe and I. There was also a child named Niu Niu who was a few years older than little Chen Cheng, and would come over to play whenever he saw little Chen Cheng.
I met Niu Niu’s mother yesterday. I heard that her husband had to work and couldn’t go home on New Year’s Eve, so it was just the mother and son spending the New Year together.
After listening to Xiao Chencheng's question, I simply went next door to invite Niu Niu and his mother over to share Mu Chenghe's birthday cake so that everyone could have fun together.
After a while, I complained that the show was not interesting and suggested that we play mahjong.
"Okay." Mu Chenghe agreed.
Bai Lin taught him how to play mahjong during the summer vacation. He should be in the stage of being ignorant and curious about mahjong at this moment, and his interest is strong.
Chen Ting glanced at him and said sadly, "Okay, but I definitely won't fight with Mu Chenghe."
I burst out laughing.
Chen Ting was dragged by him to play mahjong several times. He didn't know if playing mahjong was related to IQ as well as luck. Chen Ting lost money every time.
I guess Chen Ting has already put Mu Chenghe on the blacklist of poker friends.
So, the Chen Ting couple, I, and Niu Niu's mother played mahjong, while Mu Chenghe was left out and could only take care of the children.
When the two children are around, they usually compete with each other in talent.
So, Xiao Chencheng performed a song he learned in kindergarten. This time, Niu Niu's mother won first, so she left her seat and encouraged her child, saying, "I told you before that Uncle Xiao Mu is a teacher. Recite the multiplication table you learned to your brother and the uncles and aunts."
Niu Niu is a very smart child, and his parents are willing to cultivate him. At the age of five, he can know a lot of simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Multiplication of two-digit and single-digit numbers and addition of several digits are all no problem for him. As for eighty-eight sixty-four and ninety-nine eighty-one, they are even simpler for him, and he can recite them by heart.
Mu Chenghe saw that he was very smart, so his shortcomings in teaching and educating people were exposed.
"Uncle is testing you. What is ten times ten?" Mu Chenghe asked.
Niu Niu said without hesitation: "One hundred."
"What about 11 times 11?"
This stumped the child. Niu Niu scratched his head, looked at the ceiling, frowned, thought for a long time, and finally said, "I don't know."
"Uncle knows a simple method. Can I teach you?" Mu Chenghe blinked.
I turned around and glanced at Mu Chenghe, smiling.