Mother Shen awkwardly curled her fingers and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. It's time to eat."
Shen Anbai looked slightly impatient, but didn't say anything. He first washed his hands in the kitchen sink, and then sat down at the small dining table.
Before Mother Shen even sat down, she first served Shen Anbai a bowl of millet porridge before serving herself.
She sat down after serving the porridge. On the table were three boiled eggs, a stack of freshly baked pancakes, a plate of stir-fried bean sprouts, and a plate of shredded pork with sweet bean sauce.
Mother Shen reached out and grabbed a boiled egg. She had chilled it in cold water beforehand, so it wasn't very hot; it was just lukewarm.
She quickly peeled the egg and placed the round egg on top of the shredded pork with sweet bean sauce in front of Shen Anbai.
Shen Anbai paused in his act of rolling up the pancake. "Is this for me?"
"Hmm." Mother Shen nodded slightly.
Shen Anbai pursed his lips, lowered his head, and rolled the pancake repeatedly. "Did you wash your hands?"
Mother Shen immediately opened her own hands, "I just washed them, they're not dirty."
The woman was in her forties. Her hands were very thin from years of working, her fingers were slender, her skin was aged, and her palms were white with a thick layer of calluses.
As she spoke, she smiled and tried her best to prove to Shen Anbai that her hands had just been washed and were very clean, not dirty at all.
Shen Anbai picked up his chopsticks and poked at the boiled egg with disdain for three or four seconds. Finally, he put down the chopsticks, grabbed the remote control next to him, and turned on the TV.
Looking at the boiled egg on the plate, Mother Shen wanted to say something, but in the end she swallowed it.
" Zhouzhou, let's skip the boiled eggs tomorrow."
Upon hearing the somewhat familiar voice, Mother Shen paused for a moment, then slowly raised her head.
On the small, square television with its slightly grainy picture quality, the dining room inside looked twice the size of their living room, and the lighting was exceptionally bright.
The boy named Jiang Nan sat cross-legged, his fluffy pink hair falling over his forehead. He gripped a large iron spoon in one hand and held a plate in the other, shoveling a boiled egg into his mouth while muttering, "I want to eat jianbing guozi tomorrow."
Sitting next to him was a man in a suit and tie. He looked young from his handsome face, but his demeanor was unusually mature.
His expression remained unchanged. "The cook has taken the past few days off, so we'll probably have to find a new one."
"What are you looking for?" Jiang Nan snorted coldly. "Let that little brat Jiang Qingye come work as our cook."
Shen Anbai's eyes were practically blazing with fury.
He didn't know much about Fu Jingzhou before, but he had heard a great deal about Jiang Qingye.
After all, Jiang Qingye is the CEO of Peach Video, which is equivalent to a major client in half of the entertainment industry. Several of Peach Video's self-produced variety shows have become wildly popular. If this CEO were to give them even a second glance, they might just get a chance to rise to stardom.
Shen Anbai had been trying to get in touch with this President Little Jiang for a long time, but despite using many connections, he couldn't make any progress.
The person he desperately wanted was someone Jiang Nan could summon at will.
The gap is like an insurmountable chasm.
"Pfft--"
A startling sound of shattering porcelain rang out, and Shen Anbai immediately looked across at the other side.
Mother Shen was pale. The porridge she had just served in front of her had somehow fallen to the ground. The small white floral bowl shattered into pieces, and the golden millet porridge inside spilled all over the floor.
She wasn't looking at the table or the floor, but at the television.
Shen Anbai swallowed back the words he was about to say.
He keenly sensed something was wrong, frowned, and carefully observed Mother Shen's expression.
Mother Shen seemed unaware that he was watching her, and looked at the television with a slightly flustered expression.
"Mom, what's wrong?"
"No, it's nothing." Startled by these words, Mother Shen stood up awkwardly. "I'll go get the mop and broom to clean up."
Shen Anbai stared at her retreating figure, feeling that something was amiss.
In the past two days, Mother Shen hasn't even done any work, focusing all her attention on taking care of Father Shen 'Father Shen. All her thoughts are on him.
How could watching a TV series scare you like this?
After cleaning up the mess on the floor, Mother Shen found a new bowl.
Shen Anbai deliberately left the TV on, and the mother and son finished their meal in silence.
After finishing her meal, Mother Shen took out the two remaining boiled eggs from the pot, put a bowl of millet porridge and some leftover pancakes in a thermos.
After she finished tidying up, she stood at the door of Shen Anbai's bedroom and knocked. " Baibai, I'm going to the hospital. I'll be back to cook lunch for you."
"No need," Shen Anbai interrupted her coldly. "Your cooking is terrible. A-Chuan will pick me up for lunch today."
Mother Shen: "Okay, then I won't be back for lunch."
Shen Anbai remained silent.
He lay on the bed, absentmindedly scrolling through his phone, his fingers swiping aimlessly, completely unaware of what he was looking at.
All his attention was focused on his ears. The small house wasn't soundproof, and he heard Mother Shen place the thermos in the entryway, change her shoes, pick up the thermos again, and go out.
Hearing the door close, Shen Anbai waited for two more minutes. After not hearing his Mother Shen return, he got out of bed and left the bedroom.
Father Shen 'Mother Shen bedroom was directly opposite, and it was even smaller than Shen Anbai's room.
There was a double bed and a double wardrobe inside, but no desk.
He squatted down in front of the bedside table and searched around, but found nothing. Then he opened the wardrobe, rummaged through it a few times, and finally found Mother Shen's account book under one of her coats.
All the money in the house was managed by Mother Shen. She didn't believe in any smart money-saving methods and would always exchange her spare change for hundred-yuan bills and hide them somewhere in the house.
Shen Anbai didn't care about that small amount of money; he just wanted to investigate his Mother Shen's unusual behavior earlier.
This ledger was extremely important to Mother Shen.
Shen Anbai had always thought that these were just scattered accounts kept by his Mother Shen, but only after seeing them today did he realize how wrong he was.
The beginning of the ledger is indeed filled with accounting entries, but the latter part is Mother Shen's diary.
Mother Shen only had a junior high school education, and her handwriting was small and ugly.
I secretly went to visit Nannan at his school today. He seemed very unhappy. While the other students were playing soccer and badminton, he was just sitting on the side, looking very withdrawn.
This is the first page of the diary.
Upon seeing the word " Nannan," Shen Anbai felt a sudden jolt of confusion, followed by a complete blank.
Nannan?
Why did his mother call out the word " Nannan " so affectionately?
Could it be?
Could it be?
From childhood to adulthood, Mother Shen Anbai's Father Shen never hit or scolded him. Instead, they respected him greatly, giving him whatever he wanted and always giving him the best they could afford.
When Shen Anbai connected the two events, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.