The room Lin Ching-ah booked for Li Mu was the best luxury business suite in this three-star hotel.
The so-called luxury business suite was nothing more than an extra living room of about 20 square meters, and the decoration was ordinary.
Lin Ching-ah did not take her luggage. She followed Li Mu to the room. Li Mu invited her to sit on the sofa for a while. It was too painful to wait outside for two or three hours in the winter. The room was warm, so Li Mu asked her to rest here. When it was time, he would send her to the station so that she could sleep after getting on the train.
As soon as the two sat down on the sofa, Li Mu's mobile phone rang. He took it and saw that it was Su Yingxue. Li Mu naturally said to Lin Ching-ah, "It's my girlfriend."
Lin Ching-ah nodded gently and did not make any sound. She knew that Li Mu had a girlfriend. When he confessed to Su Yingxue, the students of the National People's Congress were in an uproar. Dong Ai also specifically mentioned it to her. At that time, she felt that when Dong Ai talked about it, her tone seemed a little lost.
As soon as the phone was connected, Su Yingxue asked Li Mu, "Dear, what are you doing?"
Li Mu said, "I'm in Qilu, doing something. What about you?"
Su Yingxue said, "I came out to buy a pack of cigarettes for my father. All the cigarettes at home were given away by my mother."
Li Mu said with a smile, "Auntie probably wants uncle to quit smoking. If you buy cigarettes for him, be careful, auntie will get angry with you."
Su Yingxue said, "It's okay. Anyway, my mother knows that she is deceiving herself. When my father goes to work, she can't stop him from smoking at all."
After that, Su Yingxue added: "Oh, by the way, my sister will participate in the Art Examination of Beijing Film Academy. I promised to accompany her. The night after tomorrow, I will go back to Beijing with my sister-in-law."
Li Mu had heard Su Yingxue mention this before, so he said, "Since you've already promised her, then go. I'll go back after the fifteenth day."
Su Yingxue said, "Xinran has been pestering me for the past two days, saying that she wants you to treat her to a meal. When my family was watching 'Old Boys' and saw your name, they didn't think of you, but she guessed it was you immediately, so she insisted on getting to know you. Do you have time tomorrow night?"
Li Mu said without hesitation, "I have time. How about this, I'll treat you two to the ecological garden. The environment there is better."
Su Yingxue said, "Sure, anything is fine. I was afraid you wouldn't have time."
Li Mu said, "I can't offend my sister-in-law. I'll definitely make her satisfied tomorrow."
After hanging up the phone, Lin Ching-ah said with envy, "You're so good to your girlfriend."
Li Mu smiled and said, "I have to be good to my girlfriend."
Lin Ching-ah nodded and asked, "She's also from the National People's Congress, right?"
"Yes, we're from the same batch. We were classmates in high school."
Lin Ching-ah asked, "Does she know what you're doing now?"
Li Mu shook his head: "She knows part of it. She knows 3321, knows Alipay, knows that I filmed 'Old Boys', but she doesn't know about Makino Technology and other things."
Lin Ching-ah looked curious: "Why didn't you tell her?"
Li Mu shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know. Maybe I want our relationship to be as pure as possible, or maybe I don't want to scare her. Not only her, but my parents also don't know about it now."
Lin Ching-ah nodded in understanding. As a young man, he had indeed achieved too much. Even the people closest to him would probably need time to slowly accept this fact.
Li Mu thought of the family affairs that Lin Ching-ah was facing, so he asked her, "Have you settled everything in your family?"
Lin Ching-ah nodded: "It's all settled. It's actually just a matter of money. As long as they're satisfied."
Seeing that her expression was a little unnatural, Li Mu comforted her: "Any problem that can be solved with money is actually not a big problem."
Lin Ching-ah sighed softly and said: "On the way here from home today, I was thinking that in the future, it would be enough for me to come back once a year for the Chinese New Year. In fact, for them, it doesn't matter if I come back or not, as long as they give me the money. The main thing is that I don't want to spend the Chinese New Year alone in Yanjing. Otherwise, I won't even have the heart to come back. In the future, if I get married and have a place to spend the Chinese New Year, I'm afraid that I won't even have the heart to come back once a year. If my future husband can love me, I don't want to come back for the rest of my life."
Li Mu realized that he might have said something wrong. He shouldn't have mentioned it. However, looking at Lin Ching-ah, there should be a lot of things hidden in her heart. It might not be a good thing for her to bear everything in her heart.
Lin Ching-ah raised her head to look at Li Mu and asked him: "Li Zong, are you interested in listening to my complaints?"
Li Mu sat up straight and said: "I'm all ears."
Lin Ching-ah smiled slightly and said: "Actually, I'm just complaining about my fate. I'm not talking about how miserable my life is. I just feel that I've never been loved since I was young. In Zaoshi City, the concept of patriarchal values is especially strong. When my grandparents were young, the family used to compare the number of sons. My grandparents had a total of six children, but only my father was a boy. Therefore, their family had always been bullied by the people in the village. There were few sons in the family, and the neighbors with many sons would bully you and take advantage of you. My father was used to being bullied since he was young, so his patriarchal values were much more serious than my grandparents' generation." "My father was born at a good time.
When he was young, he caught up with the recruitment of state-owned enterprises. He could be considered to have an iron rice bowl, but the employees of state-owned enterprises were very strict about family planning. He had my brother, but he always felt that he didn't have enough sons, so he wanted to secretly have another one. In order to give birth to me, my mother hid in my second aunt's house in the village for half a year after she got pregnant. After I was born, she found out that I was a girl, so she left me in the village for my second aunt to raise. When I was young, I took my second uncle's surname. At that time, I always thought that my second aunt and uncle were my parents. When I was two years old, my mother went back to the village with a big belly and secretly gave birth to three children. "" My third child was a girl.
My second aunt really didn't have the energy to take care of my sister, so my mother instructed her to send the child away. At that time, I didn't know that the girl was my biological sister. When I was seven years old, it was time for me to go to school. My second aunt and uncle had two children, so if they registered me, it would be considered a miscarriage and they would be fined. But if I didn't register, I couldn't go to school, so my second aunt took me to my parents' place and quarreled with them. Then, she left me at my parents' place and left angrily. My second aunt's idea was very simple. She just wanted me to go to school, and if a child was still an unregistered child at the age of seven, it would delay a lot of things. My parents didn't agree to it at first, but they didn't have a place to settle me, so they could only leave me at home for the time being. "
Not long after I lived at my parents' place, my parents were reported. The task force came to verify it, but they refused to admit it no matter what. They even kicked me out of the house indiscriminately. I was only seven years old, and I had no money in my pocket. I cried downstairs for a whole day, and my parents' neighbor couldn't stand it anymore. She secretly took me home and asked me if I knew the contact information of any of my relatives. I remembered my second aunt's address, so she took me to the bus and sent me back. "" My second aunt was furious when she heard what happened at home.
She gathered my other four aunts together, and the five of them sent me back. They demanded that my parents keep me and register me as a household register. My father had no choice but to follow the other aunts to register me as a household register. The family planning team came and fined them 8,000 yuan. My five aunts pooled half of the money. From then on, I stayed at my parents' place, but my parents didn't have any feelings for me. At first, they didn't want me to go to school. Later, the teachers of the children's school found my parents, and they reluctantly agreed to let me go to school. "" In high school, I scored first in the whole school and fifth in the county. My parents didn't want me to go to school anymore, so I gave up the best high school and went to a mine that was willing to waive my tuition fees for three years. After I was admitted to the National People's Congress, I received a scholarship from my high school and five red packets from my aunts. I worked as a private tutor in the city for two months, which was enough to pay for the first year's tuition fees.
My parents didn't want me to continue my studies, so I gave up the best high school and went to a mining school that was willing to waive my tuition fees for three years. After I was admitted to Renmin University, I received a scholarship from my alma mater and five red packets from my aunts. I worked as a private tutor in the city for two months and earned enough money for my first year's tuition. After I graduated from Renmin University and got a job, my parents' attitude immediately changed. They didn't care at first, but they started demanding money from me. They asked me for money to renovate the house and cement the yard. They asked me for money when my brother started a small business. They also asked me for money when my brother got caught up in gambling. Now that he's old and can't find a partner, they also asked me for money. If I hesitated for even a moment, the three of them would immediately turn against me and call me an ingrate. It wasn't easy for them to support me until I graduated from Renmin University, but in the end, I turned against them and told everyone that I'm blind and have a wolf cub … "
Li Mu was dumbfounded. He had heard of similar things before, but he had never encountered something as extreme as Lin Ching-ah. The West Ridge Coal Mine was also very strict with family planning. Other than the underground workers who could have a second child, no one else was allowed. There were also people who secretly gave birth to their children in the countryside and brought them back after many years. However, even after they were brought back, they did not dare to change their household registration. They would always claim that the child was their relative's child. However, these families loved their second child very much, regardless of gender. The reason was very simple. The parents felt that they had lost too much money and wanted to make it up to them.
However, Lin Ching-ah's experience was on the extreme end. Not only did her parents not feel that they owed her, but they felt that she owed them. It was hard to imagine how Lin Ching-ah had been living in such a family environment from elementary school all the way until she graduated from high school.
Lin Ching-ah said so much in one breath, but her emotions did not fluctuate much. Instead, she became more and more relaxed. She continued to say, "My second aunt is getting on in years. I went to visit her this year, and her two sons are not very filial. Maybe it's because of their limited resources. She and my second uncle are still relying on farming to survive. Qilu is different from other provinces. The per capita area of arable land here is very small, not even one mu. The two of them can only grow some rations. Fortunately, the villagers use grain and a small amount of money to exchange for staple foods like pancakes and sesame seeds, so they can barely survive. As for me, I've been blindly trying my best to please the three of us. I've never been able to truly repay my second aunt and uncle. When I left, I gave them our year-end bonus for this year."
Li Mu nodded. "From what you said, you shouldn't have given a single cent of your brother's wedding money."
Lin Ching-ah smiled and said, "Yes, I actually regret it. If I knew this would happen, I would have ignored them and let them cry and hang themselves. Anyway, they won't really hang themselves. If I gave that money to my second aunt and uncle, it would at least be enough for them to live in their old age."
As she said that, Lin Ching-ah suddenly became energetic. She sat up straight and said to Li Mu, "You don't know, when I went out today, I told my parents that I've given back enough to this family over the years. Now that I've paid for my brother's wedding money, from now on, I won't care about any of their requests. If I come back for the New Year next year, I'll give them 5,000 yuan for living expenses and accommodation. If I don't come back, forget it. You don't know how ugly their expressions were. They wanted to scold me, but I didn't give them a chance. I took my suitcase and left. Now that I think about it, I feel that I was really cool at that time."
Li Mu smiled and said, "Hearing you say that, it's quite satisfying."
Lin Ching-ah blinked and smiled. She said mischievously, "I think so too. Although I don't think it's right, it's still pretty cool when I think about it. I can't live so foolishly in the future. I have to be good to those who treat me well. As long as I have a clear conscience, I can forget about those who treat me badly. After returning to Beijing, I changed my phone number. Anyway, they haven't been to Beijing to see me for so many years. They don't know where I live or where I work. Once I change my phone number, they won't bother me anymore."
Li Mu smiled and nodded. He wanted to praise Lin Ching-ah for making the right decision, but he didn't expect Lin Ching-ah to look at him and ask, "Li Zong, can I ask you for a favor?"
Li Mu said, "Go ahead."
Lin Ching-ah said a little embarrassedly, "Actually, it's not a big deal. I just want to borrow your shoulder to lean on. I still feel a little uncomfortable right now, but don't worry, I won't make your shoulder wet from crying."
Li Mu saw that she seemed to be joking, but there was a faint sense of helplessness in her words. He didn't think much of it and gently nodded. He sat in front of her, patted her shoulder and said, "Come on."
Lin Ching-ah smiled shyly and said, "Li Zong, you really are the best boss I've ever met. Don't worry, I'll just lean on you for a while."
After saying that, Lin Ching-ah slowly tilted her head over with a smile and gently leaned on Li Mu's shoulder. After a moment, she sighed and said, "It's really good to have someone to lean on at a time like this …"
Li Mu looked at the time. It was ten o 'clock in the evening. There were still two hours before the train she was going to take left. He whispered, "Take a nap. I'll send you to the station at eleven."
"En, thank you, Li Zong."
Lin Ching-ah, who was leaning on Li Mu's shoulder, felt an unprecedented sense of security. Li Mu asked her to take a nap for a while. She didn't know why, but she really felt sleepy.
Her eyelids became heavier and heavier. In the end, she couldn't help but fall asleep on Li Mu's shoulder.
Li Mu also closed his eyes for a while, but he didn't sleep. After ten minutes, he felt a little wet and hot on his shoulder. He opened his eyes and saw that Lin Ching-ah, who was sleeping on his shoulder with her eyes closed, was silently crying.
Li Mu didn't respond, nor did he rashly wipe her tears. He didn't move, and even his breathing was very careful, for fear of disturbing her.
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