It was the first time Cui Xuemei had ever seen so much money.
She had not held a proper job over the years, nor was she the sort who could endure hardship. Cui Xuemei had spent all the money she got from Chu Ci's father on mahjong and gambling.
Human desire knew no bounds.
At first, Cui Xuemei had only wanted to ask Chu Ci for a few thousand yuan. In their small county town, a few thousand was enough for her to squander for a month or two. She had never expected Chu Ci to give her fifty thousand yuan at once.
The stakes in the mahjong games Cui Xuemei used to play were relatively low, usually one or two yuan. Occasionally, when she had money, she would play for five yuan. Once Chu Ci transferred her fifty thousand yuan, however, she started playing mahjong with stakes of one or two thousand.
Cui Xuemei was the classic sort who was terrible at the game but loved playing. Whenever she won, it was purely down to luck.
So she quickly squandered the fifty thousand yuan Chu Ci had sent her. Desperate to win back her losses, Cui Xuemei refused to accept it and secretly called Chu Ci again.
There was a hint of remorse in Cui Xuemei's voice. "Cici, I know I've been awful. Everything is my fault, every last bit of it, but... I'm struggling even to afford food now... Could... could you help me out with a little more money..."
Having spent so many years mixing with all sorts on the streets, she knew exactly how to manipulate a child like Chu Ci who lacked a mother's love.
Chu Ci had not expected Cui Xuemei to spend fifty thousand yuan so quickly, but she was his biological mother, after all. After a few words of advice, he transferred her the only ten thousand yuan he had left.
Naturally, Cui Xuemei thanked him profusely. With the ten thousand yuan Chu Ci had sent her, she entered the mahjong parlor again.
If Cui Xuemei had never played mahjong for stakes of one or two thousand, she would have continued playing for smaller stakes. But after experiencing those games, she found one-yuan mahjong utterly joyless.
The ten thousand yuan Chu Ci had worked so hard to earn by rushing between engagements was gone in a single night at Cui Xuemei's hands.
Cui Xuemei still refused to accept it.
So Cui Xuemei called Chu Ci again, her voice tinged with tears. "Cici, I was going to visit you yesterday, but I got into a car accident on the way. The doctor is still waiting for the surgery fee. Could you..."
Her voice trembled slightly.
Chu Ci had not expected her to get into a car accident, and his voice immediately grew anxious. "Which hospital are you in? Do you need me to come see you? Where are you hurt? Is it serious?"
The barrage of questions left Cui Xuemei somewhat at a loss. She lowered her eyes guiltily, her lashes trembling slightly. "You're busy with work, so... so don't come see me. Besides, my injuries aren't that serious, but the doctor said I need a minor operation... The medical bills are twenty thousand... Could... could you send the money over first?"
"Okay."
Chu Ci agreed to Cui Xuemei's request without hesitation.
In truth, he had no money left at the time. He did not have any close friends in the entertainment industry, either, so he could only turn to his manager and ask him to put in a word, finally securing a temporary loan from the company.
A flicker of guilt crossed Cui Xuemei's eyes as she looked at the twenty thousand yuan deposited into her bank account. But once she entered the mahjong parlor, she immediately cast that little bit of guilt aside.
Cui Xuemei had better luck this time and won ten thousand.
When Cui Xuemei walked out of the mahjong parlor with the money, feeling thoroughly pleased with herself, she found Chu Ci standing there with a look of disbelief.
Chu Ci had only been nineteen then, his features still bearing the youthful innocence particular to teenagers. He seemed to have gone the entire night without sleep, with heavy dark circles under his eyes and an exhausted expression.
Seeing Cui Xuemei walk out of the mahjong parlor completely unharmed, Chu Ci lowered his eyes and curved his lips in self-mockery. "As soon as I got your call, I asked the director for time off. On my way here, I kept wondering how badly you were hurt. I went to every hospital nearby, but none of them had a patient named Cui Xuemei. If a woman on the street hadn't heard your name and told me you were at the mahjong parlor, I really wouldn't have known... that you asked me for twenty thousand yuan so you could keep gambling..."
Cui Xuemei had not expected Chu Ci to catch her red-handed, and a few flickers of guilt crossed her eyes. "Cici, let me explain. I... I didn't want your money to go down the drain like that. I had no choice but to ask you for another twenty thousand..."
"...No choice?"
Chu Ci lowered his head and repeated those words. He thought again of how worried he had been that Cui Xuemei was badly injured, how he had not even had time to eat. And what had happened? She had taken the money he borrowed and gambled with it.
How ironic.
"Don't ask me for money again."
Chu Ci coldly left her with those words and turned to leave.
Seeing this, Cui Xuemei hurried after him. She caught his wrist, tears glimmering in her eyes. "Cici, I... I know I was wrong... Please don't abandon your mom..."
Cui Xuemei's plea, "Please don't abandon your mom," struck Chu Ci hard. He suddenly remembered how, a long, long time ago, he had held Cui Xuemei's wrist just like this and cried, "Mom, please don't abandon me." What had Cui Xuemei done back then?
She had flung Chu Ci's hand away without mercy.
Years later, his and Cui Xuemei's roles had reversed, yet Chu Ci could not harden his heart enough to pull her hand away.
When Cui Xuemei saw that Chu Ci did not resist her touch, she knew there was still a chance. Her voice was thick with tears. "I... I didn't lose yesterday... I even won ten thousand yuan... I was going to use it to buy you clothes... I've been such a bad mother all these years. I've barely bought you any new clothes..."
Chu Ci pressed his lips together slightly and said nothing.
"There's a mall nearby. Let Mom take you to buy some clothes, okay? The seasons are changing right now. If you catch a cold, it'll break my heart..."
Chu Ci wanted to refuse Cui Xuemei, too, but the words "a mother's love" were far too much of a luxury, far too tempting to him.
The words "I don't want to go" rolled around on his tongue, but in the end, they became "Okay."
That day, Cui Xuemei bought Chu Ci a lot of clothes.
She had just won ten thousand yuan at the mahjong parlor and spent without restraint. Every piece of clothing Chu Ci tried on, Cui Xuemei had the sales assistant wrap up.
"I can't wear this many clothes..."
Chu Ci instinctively tried to refuse, but Cui Xuemei stopped him. "How could we leave them? Our Cici deserves the best."
-Our Cici deserves the best.
It was just that one short sentence, yet it made Chu Ci forgive Cui Xuemei again and again afterward. He stubbornly believed that Cui Xuemei did care about him as her son, but simply did not know how to express it in a proper, reasonable way.
That was the happiest period of Chu Ci's life.