Jiang Mingxi hugged Song Lan tightly, looked up at him, and said firmly, "I've seen him before!"
Feng Moshan was startled by the sudden appearance of the elementary school student. "Holy crap, who is this?!"
Song Lan looked down at the child standing in front of him, his dark eyes meeting hers, and gradually his gaze overlapped with the image of the tear-streaked little face in her mind.
Seeing that Song Lan was being held without saying a word, Feng Moshan looked at the child with suspicion.
You know, this arrogant guy at school was someone who wouldn't let anyone touch him easily. It was only because he lived in the same neighborhood as Song Lan and they had known each other for so many years that Song Lan finally accepted him putting his arm around her shoulder.
Now this strange child is hugging him, and he doesn't push him away?
Is the aloof and arrogant persona of the "cool and aloof king" about to crumble?
Feng Moshan asked with interest, "Kid, who are you?"
Jiang Mingxi held onto Song Lan tightly, then looked at the unfamiliar older brother beside her, "Big kid, mind your own business."
Feng Moshan:...
Hey!
Feng Moshan reached out to grab the elementary school student by the back of his collar, intending to teach him a lesson in manners.
But as he reached out, Song Lan raised her hand to stop him, saying, "You go back first."
Feng Moshan looked at the child with surprise and doubt, then at the arrogant one, "You know him? You really know him? How did you meet? Where did you meet? Whose child is he?"
Song Lan remained silent, only offering no words.
Silence, oh silence. Either erupt from this silence, or force Feng Moshan to leave.
really--
After staring at each other for thirty seconds in silence, Feng Moshan slung his backpack over one shoulder, put his hands in his pockets, and walked away, saying before he left, "Blah blah blah, you can play in the basketball game tomorrow, and I'll come to your house tonight to help you with your homework."
As soon as Feng Moshan left, Song Lan looked down at the child in front of her. After not seeing him for several years, the first thing she asked was, "Is your mother good to you?"
Jiang Mingxi initially thought the older brother looked familiar, but she didn't actually know who he was.
But when Song Lan asked that question, all the pent-up grievances he had been holding back burst forth, and he burst into tears, pouting, "I don't have a mother!"
Song Lan frowned. "Didn't the dean take you to look for your mother? You couldn't find her?"
Jiang Mingxi didn't understand why her older brother would say such things. She shook her head, crying, "I have no mother, no one will adopt me, even Brother A-Wang has been adopted. I have no mother, and no Brother A-Wang either. By the river..."
Jiang Mingxi suddenly realized what was happening.
He knew why the older boy looked familiar, and why he had impulsively run towards him.
"Are you the older brother by the river?" Jiang Mingxi asked Song Lan, wiping away her tears.
Song Lan raised her hand and ruffled his hair.
When the little one was small, he could bend down and pick him up, but now that he's in elementary school, he can't be held anymore. He just pinches the little one's cheek and says, "You don't even remember me?"
Jiang Mingxi cried even harder, "I'll remember you even if you turn to ashes!"
Song Lan:...
No need.
People were coming and going at the school gate. Jiang Mingxi was crying her heart out. Even Song Lan, who usually didn't talk to anyone, felt embarrassed at this moment.
I took his hand and led him into the alley next to the school gate.
There weren't many people in this alley.
Song Lan rummaged through her bag and pulled out a tissue, handing it to Jiang Mingxi, "To wipe your nose."
Jiang Mingxi took the tissue, wiped her face haphazardly, and continued to cry, "I want my mom so much! Why does everyone else have a mom but I don't?! Why!"
He stomped his foot at Song Lan.
It's amazing how people are like this. He's been in the orphanage for so many years, and since A-Wang left, he's never lost his temper with anyone, not even cried like this.
Always well-behaved.
But now, after so many years, when he saw the older brother he hadn't spent much time with by the river back then, he couldn't hold back and started crying and making a scene.
Song Lan squatted down to comfort him, "Not everyone has one, I don't."
Jiang Mingxi stomped her foot and pushed Song Lan, "Isn't it something to be proud of? Having a mother is what's truly something to be proud of."
Song Lan was already squatting when Jiang Mingxi suddenly pushed him, causing him to lose his balance and fall backward to the ground.
Feeling down and not wanting to get up, I simply sat against the wall, took the crying child's hand, and pulled the child closer to me. "I miss my mom too."
Jiang Mingxi plopped down on her older brother's lap, "That can't possibly be more than what I want, I want it the most! Do you still remember your mother? I don't remember my mother anymore, waaaaaah!"
I feel so awful.
I don't remember my own mother at all.
I deserve to die!
Song Lan held the child, her head pressed against the wall behind her, gazing at the gray sky above. "I remember, but I don't really want to remember."
All he remembered was his mother scolding him, hitting him, humiliating him, forcing him to kneel in the snow, locking him alone in the house for days, and forcing him to watch horror movies...
He didn't want to remember any of it.
If he doesn't remember, then when he thinks of his mother, it must be because she loved him very much.
The older one cried, and the younger one cried too.
One of them cried, wondering why she couldn't remember her mother.
Why do I have to remember this so vividly?
Exhausted from crying, Jiang Mingxi leaned against Song Lan. "Tell me, what is my mother doing right now?"
Song Lan closed her eyes wearily, leaning against the wall. "They must be trying very hard to find you."
"Why can't you find me? Am I that hard to find?" Jiang Mingxi asked.
Song Lan forced a smile, wanting to comfort the child, but her heart was too heavy to manage. "There are so many people and so many places across the country. Mommy will search little by little, but I'm sure I'll find you."
Jiang Mingxi stopped talking and rested her head against Song Lan's chest.
After a long pause, he finally said in a muffled voice, "Do you want to find your mother?"
Song Lan remained expressionless, calm, and indifferent. "My mother is easy to find; she'll be found as soon as I die."
Jiang Mingxi is all grown up now and knows what death means. She immediately straightened her head and looked at Song Lan with fear and unease.
Song Lan touched his face, which had been bruised by his school uniform. "I want to ask her, am I not good enough?"
Jiang Mingxi threw herself into Song Lan's arms and hugged him tightly, "Hello!"