half-baked life

Chapter 6: At most, it’s just a kiss, you know?
"Why are you here?"

Jiang Xiaoping has never gone home in summer before, this is the first time.

Her mother didn't say anything, but looked at Jiang He with interest. Instead, her grandma greeted her with a smile, as if nothing happened in the afternoon.

While eating, Jiang He was filled with anxiety and kept stealing glances at Jiang Xiaoping next to him and Lao'er across from him, trying to find some subtle clues from their faces.

But she glanced around until her eyes were sore, but she still didn't see anything.

Jiang He could usually eat two bowls of rice in one meal, but that meal she only ate a little more than one bowl and put down her chopsticks.

"He'er, go with your mother tomorrow and live in a big house in the city and go to a good school."

While Jiang Xiaoping was clearing the table, grandma pulled Jiang He into the room and spoke to her softly.

"I won't go! Grandma, I was wrong. I will definitely not fight in the future. Really! I will listen to you in everything from now on!"

Jiang He begged and cried at the same time. She was just pretending to cry at first, just to squeeze out some tears to make her grandma feel soft. However, the more she said, the more she felt wronged. The fake act became real, and the tears fell uncontrollably. It fell down and hit the back of grandma's hand with big freckles.

"Grandma, don't let me go!" Jiang He sniffed and said this with a trembling voice, his throat completely choked.

In fact, she had more to say and ask.

She wanted to ask her grandma, and even more so, the beautiful woman who claimed to be her mother, why they pushed her around?Why don't you want her?Why not ask her what she really thinks?

If you hate her so much, why did you give birth to her in the first place!

"When did grandma stop wanting you?" Grandma also cried. She hugged Jiang He and wiped her tears with the rough heel of her palm, "Follow your mother to go to school in a big city, that's how you'll be successful!"

"I'm just as promising here!"

Jiang He remembered that night, she held her grandma and cried all the time. She cried so much that she couldn't even remember when she fell asleep.

Jiang Xiaoping didn't say a word from beginning to end. She just sat aside and patiently handed over tissues one after another, but Jiang He didn't take any of them. She angrily rubbed her tears and snot on her grandma's clothes. Make up your mind to draw a clear line and distance yourself from Jiang Xiaoping!
But after all, Jiang Xiaoping was her biological mother. The 13-year-old Jiang He could not draw clear boundaries with her, let alone have a relationship with her, so he still followed her to the city.

After arriving in the city, Jiang He found out that Jiang Xiaoping owned a bathhouse.

"This is called a public bathroom." Jiang Xiaoping corrected her.

Jiang He didn't say anything, and secretly rolled his eyes, feeling that Jiang Xiaoping was just trying to put her own face on it. It was obviously a slightly cleaner bathhouse, not a public bathhouse, and it had a pretty big one. A neon sign with the four characters "Xiaoping Bathroom" written on it.

However, the business of this bathhouse is really good. Jiang Xiaoping worked for less than three years. Not only did she pay off all the famine caused by opening the bathhouse, she also saved 10,000+ yuan and added a loan to buy a building next to the Second Ring Road. A two-bedroom apartment with a living room, totaling less than 50 square meters. The two bedrooms were just separated by the living room. She and Jiang He lived in one room, which was quite a bit like a well.

Jiang He will not treat others as their daughter.

As for Jiang Xiaoping, even 13-year-old Jiang He discovered that she was not good at being a mother.

The two "newbies" just lived in a daze under the same roof, and the running-in period was horrifyingly long.

In the first six months, Jiang He would hide in his room as soon as he came home, like a frightened rabbit. He would never step out of the bedroom except to eat, bathe and go to the toilet.

Of course, he never shouts "Mom". When he has to greet Jiang Xiaoping, Jiang He always uses "Hey" or "Hey" instead.

Jiang Xiaoping's reaction to Jiang He's "rebellious and unethical" behavior was "as long as you are happy." Given Jiang He's temperament, Jiang He naturally enjoyed it.However, as time passed, Jiang He began to wonder a little bit in his heart, could it be possible that he would never be called "Mom" again in this life?

She never expected that the "ice-breaking" with Jiang Xiaoping would be because of a love letter written to her by someone unknown.

Jiang He originally just wanted to take out his transcript and sign it for Jiang Xiaoping, but completely forgot about the anonymous love letter that she casually stuffed into the depths of her schoolbag.

The pink books folded into a heart shape were brought out together with the report card, and fell impartially and just right at Jiang Xiaoping's feet.

Jiang He was frightened at the time. After all, the school had just held a swearing-in meeting last month. At the meeting, the colonel leader repeatedly emphasized that premature love should not be allowed. The dean of the school even presented facts and reasoned, describing "puppy love" as if it were a scourge. Jiang He Although I felt it was a bit of a fuss, I didn't want to get into trouble. After the couple in the next class was caught by the class teacher, they each were punished by writing a 5000-word self-criticism. They even called their parents. They were so embarrassed!
"Are you handsome?" This was the first thing Jiang Xiaoping said after picking up the love letter.

"It's okay to fall in love, but you're still young and the most you can do is kiss, you know?" This is the second sentence.

"You...what are you talking nonsense about? I don't even know who it is! You...do you look like a mother?"

Jiang He's face suddenly turned red. She snatched the love letter in shame and rushed back to the room. When she calmed down, she realized that she had just called Jiang Xiaoping "Mom".

"...Mom, I went to school."

Early the next morning, when Jiang He, clutching his schoolbag, passed by the restaurant, he muttered vaguely to Jiang Xiaoping. Every word in this sentence was like overcooked glutinous rice, and it was sticky like a big ball. Even Jiang He couldn't quite hear what he was saying.

"Don't have breakfast?" Jiang Xiaoping, who was drinking soy milk, reacted the same as usual.

"It's almost late. I won't eat." Jiang He felt relaxed and disappointed for a moment.

She lowered her head and put on her shoes, then secretly turned back unwillingly, only to be caught by Jiang Xiaoping who stood behind her at some point.

"What did you just call me?" Jiang Xiaoping shook the signed transcript and the lunch box at Jiang He. The lunch box contained two sauced pork buns and a peeled hard-boiled egg. She couldn't hide her joy. He came closer to Jiang He and teased her, "Shout again and listen."

"Don't say good things again!" Jiang He grabbed the report card and lunch box, turned around and ran out. She was singing Da Ya Le all the way, and when she arrived at school, her lips were frozen in laughter.

More than ten years have passed, and the relationship between Jiang He and Jiang Xiaoping is no longer as awkward as it used to be.

However, even strangers who meet them for the first time can find that the relationship between the two is different from that of an ordinary mother and daughter. On the surface, they seem to have a harmonious relationship, talk about everything, and are more like friends than mother and daughter. , but it is much more complicated and entangled inside. It is not an exaggeration to say that love and hate are intertwined, and conflicts and hostility abound.

Jiang He felt that the main reason was her, because she still couldn't let go of the 13 years when she was abandoned by Jiang Xiaoping when she was a child.

In fact, Jiang He was able to roughly piece together the reasons from the rumors he heard from childhood.

It was nothing more than a clichéd extramarital affair. After the incident was revealed, the man chose to suddenly wake up and return to his family. Everything was happy, leaving Jiang Xiaoping as the "mistress" to bear almost all the infamy, and she, who was originally used as an important bargaining chip, also because of The failure of this emotional game will naturally lead to anger, disgust, and even abandonment.

However, Jiang He never confirmed it with Jiang Xiaoping, and Jiang Xiaoping never mentioned that past in front of Jiang He.

The two had an unexpected tacit understanding in this matter. The 13 years of being abandoned were like a cyst hiding under intact skin, growing and accumulating pus. As time went by, the two of them lacked the courage to go out. Take the initiative to touch it, let alone scrape the bones to heal.

Maybe one day it will heal on its own?

Jiang He often deceives himself to comfort himself like this, and it is still the same now.

(End of this chapter)