"You mother and daughter are really alike. Neither of you can handle your own affairs well, yet you clamor for not accepting help from others." There was sarcasm in Wen Jiubai's tone, and he was obviously a little angry.
"You never asked me if I needed your help!" My anger flared up again.
"Then what are you going to do alone now?" Wen Jiubai folded his arms and looked at me, raising his eyebrows, "Do you plan to live on the street, or do you plan to go back and beg your mother to take you back?"
"That's my business alone, it has nothing to do with you!" I turned my head and wanted to leave, but Wen Jiubai grabbed my arm.
"Okay! Why are you having a childish temper!" Wen Jiubai snapped, which startled me.
Wen Jiubai sighed, and looked at me again, "Do you think I will look down on you because of this?"
I trembled all over, shook off Wen Jiubai's hand, and almost suppressed the sense of shame and said, "Of course. Wearing long hair, wearing a skirt... any normal man would do such a thing. If you are disgusting, just be disgusting." .”
After Wen Jiubai heard this, he laughed instead, "If you want to say that, wouldn't I be disgusted too? I also have long hair, and it's still this long." Wen Jiubai even brushed his hair deliberately.
"This—how can this be the same!" I stared at him speechlessly.
"That's right, do you know what's different?" Wen Jiubai straightened up and said calmly, "The difference is that I keep my hair as I want, but you follow your mother's orders, of course it's different Whether you have long hair or dress up as a woman, there is nothing to be ashamed of. The real thing to be ashamed of is the fact of obeying others."
Although I was reluctant to admit it, Wen Jiubai's words hit the nail on the head and made me silent.
"Okay, let's find a place to stay first." Wen Jiubai stretched out a hand to me, "I know there are cheap and clean hotels nearby. Put your mother's hotel aside, we come to Beining, and we have more important things to do do it."
I nodded, took a deep breath, and started walking again.
Not far from the train station, he saw the hotel that Wen Jiubai had mentioned. Upon questioning, Wen Jiubai actually booked a room here a long time ago, so he came prepared.
"Your mother, has it always been like this?" Wen Jiubai asked seemingly casually after putting down his luggage.
"That's right." I opened the suitcase and took out the toiletries in one go.
"Since when?"
I sat on the bed a little frustrated, "Since I can remember, she has been like this. She seems to have divorced my father when I was three years old, so I have no impression of what my father looks like. I have no idea All my dad's impressions come from her reprimands and complaints, saying that he is a scum, a big carrot, who betrayed her and then ran away. Since I was very young, she raised me as a girl. Let I wear long hair, wear skirts, and when I grow up, even spend a lot of money to buy me those expensive cosmetics to dress me up. Sometimes I feel that I am not her child at all, but just a doll in her hand."
"My mother's life was very hard. It is said that she was accidentally conceived by my grandparents. She didn't want it at first, but she couldn't shed it after three abortions. In the end, she was born alive. As the youngest child, her family didn't love her. Instead, she has been bullying her. With her own efforts, she worked part-time to earn tuition fees at a very young age, and worked hard all the way to study. Later, when she was in college, she met my dad. She thought she had met the right one. I married him without thinking. But I didn't expect this to be the result." I sighed, my eyes fixed on the corner of the bed sheet, "I... For my mother, it is not 'I', but her The second rebirth. Like playing a game, the player named 'Gu Xiping' lost, so she was not reconciled, and changed to a trumpet named 'Gu Yu', and wanted me to complete it for her. There was no clearing level in the last game. I’m not me, it’s just...my mother’s second life.”
Wen Jiubai looked at me silently, before speaking for a while, "However, you did not resist this fate, but let it develop."
"I've tried my best." I smiled wryly, and stretched out my hand to insert into my hair. "I failed on purpose during the college entrance examination, just to get a place farther away from this home. But now it's still..."
Just as I lowered my head in distress, I suddenly felt a pain on my forehead. I immediately covered my forehead and raised my head, and saw Wen Jiubai's fingers were raised in the air.
"What are you doing! It hurts."
"I understand your situation. Although you have to find a way to solve the matter of your mother and child, but there are more urgent matters now." Wen Jiubai shook the letter my second aunt wrote to him in his hand, " Do you still want to investigate the matter of your second aunt and your grandma?"
I cheered up and nodded, "Of course."
My second aunt has always been relatively withdrawn in our family. She has never been in a relationship since she divorced her ex-husband, and she has been celibate until now. My second aunt's house is far away from my mother's house, but relatively close to my grandma's house. Probably because of this reason, the second aunt took my grandma to her home to take care of her.
Wen Jiubai and I took a taxi for half an hour and arrived in front of my second aunt's house. Although I haven't been here for more than a year, the small senior management of my second aunt's house is exactly the same as I remember, except for a few pieces of paint on the door of the unit, there is no change.
We went upstairs and knocked on the door of the second aunt's house on the fifth floor.
"Here we come! Who is it?" There were footsteps coming from the door, and then the door was opened.
"It's me. Didn't you ask me to come?" Wen Jiubai replied with a smile.
My second aunt Zhang Shanqiu opened the door. I was thinking about how to say hello to my long-lost second aunt, but I found that my second aunt was not looking at me at all, her eyes were fixed on Wen Jiubai, and her mouth was slightly opened in surprise. .
"You... Are you Mr. Wen?" The second aunt asked stammeringly.
"Of course, I'm here." Wen Jiubai said with a smile.
The second aunt immediately covered her mouth, her eyes were flushed, as if she couldn't believe everything in front of her.
"Mr. Wen, it's really you! Oh my God, I didn't expect you to come!" The second aunt said excitedly. She stretched out her hand as if she wanted to touch the person in front of her, but she retracted it tremblingly, " It's really you... You haven't changed at all, you're still exactly the same as before! Oh, we, how many years haven't we seen each other?"
"Almost twenty years." Wen Jiubai said in a low voice.