For Chi Tang, the New Year was no different from usual from the time her parents were not divorced, her mother liked to go out and rarely stayed at home even during the Chinese New Year.
Her father preferred to go around betting money with people and she was often at home alone cooking dumplings for herself.
That year was the first year of her parent’s divorce. Apart from changing places in her house, there was nothing different. Chi Tang went home after dinner outside and saw that her neighbor had bought a lot of New Year’s goods.
Chi Tang retracted her gaze and walked with her head down, wondering whether there was a restaurant nearby for the New Year. If not, she would buy some dumplings and make do as before.
“Chi Tang!”
Chi Tang looked up and saw a beautiful woman waving and carrying a few gift boxes and beckoning to her, “Chi Tang, come on, open the door quickly. why is Nanlin so cold?”
Chi Tang paused, walked over, and opened the door, changing her shoes and entering the house.
The woman followed behind her like she was the owner of the house than she was.
After scanning around, she complained a little: “The house your dad bought is second-hand. Look, the decoration is too old-fashioned. It can’t help he has bad taste.” As she said that, she took off her coat and exposed the beautiful but thin skirt inside.
She changed the high heels and walked into the house, “It’s the Chinese New Year. Of course, Mom will come to see you. Is the money enough? Mom will give you five thousand.”
Chi Tang: “Leave as soon as possible. When he comes back and sees you, he will fight again.”
The woman was fiddling with her cellphone again, “I came to see what’s wrong with my daughter. He is so virtuous and embarrassed to quarrel with me.”
She transferred the money, “Chi Tang, go and pour your mother a cup of hot water. The weather in Nanlin is too bad. If it weren’t for my boyfriend opening a branch here, I wouldn’t have come to see you. I was too lazy to come.”
She talked like that, saying what she wanted to say, completely disregarding the feeling of others.
Chi Tang knew that she couldn’t have come to see her. At most, she would come and take a look at her when something happened. She had no expression on her face, read the account information on her mobile phone, and poured hot water for her mother.
This lady’s name is Tang Yue, her mother.
Chi Tang had inherited her mother’s appearance, but her personality was completely different from hers. It may be that she was bored with the two of them since she was a child, and she saw that she had some traits like them. She had to force herself to change it and the result was what it is now.
Ms. Tang Yue said a few words to her. She was accustomed to her indifference and chatted with others busily. She had been listening to the voice since entering the door. Chi Tang heard her talk about a man, asking him to come over and pick her up immediately after finishing his business, complained about the weather and temperature here, and sent several messages.
Chi Tang didn’t feel much, just that the new boyfriend her mother was looking for this time sounded better tempered than the one from last time.
It was also funny to say that her parents had been arguing and torturing each other since she was sensible, saying that they didn’t love each other, but they didn’t want to divorce, and they had to be tied together.
When they divorced that year, the person who felt the most relaxed was Chi Tang. She was tired of such a deformed family.
“Chi Tang, you go to school here, right? Which year are you in?” Ms. Tang Yue chatted with others on her phone for a long time, then looked up and smiled at her, looking very gentle and cheerful.
Chi Tang also looked at the phone without raising her head: “First grade.”
Ms. Tang Yue was surprised, “You go to high school?”
Of course, it was normal for her to not know details about her daughter’s life. After all, the relationship between her and her husband had reached the edge of rupture in the first two years, and she stopped going home. Chi Tang could spend a whole month without seeing her mother. She was always busy with whatever boyfriend she had at the time, flying all over the country.
If it was an ordinary person, it would have been embarrassing to make a mistake about the progress of your child’s study, but Ms. Tang Yue was not. She had always been a heartless person who only cared about herself. After asking such a sentence, she got a notification on her phone and went back to it again.
After drinking the glass of water Chi Tang had prepared for her, she stood up: “My boyfriend came to pick me up, I’m leaving.”
She touched Chi Tang affectionately and kissed her on the forehead, “Chi Tang take care of yourself.”
Chi Tang remembered that when her parents divorced, her mother did the same, kissed her on the forehead, smiled, and said to her: “Chi Tang, mother is often away from home, and my boyfriend doesn’t like children. It’s not convenient for you to live with me. You will be living with your dad in the future.”
She gave up her custody easily and ran for her free life without even an apology.
Chi Tang stood in place, watching her walking out briskly carrying her bag.
The door suddenly opened, and her father’s angry voice was heard, “Whose stuff is this? Tang Yue? Why are you here?!”
Her father used to return home in the middle of the night, but he came back so early today. Unsurprisingly, Chi Tang heard that the former couple quarrel again.
“Why are you coming to my house?”
“I came to see my daughter, can’t I?”
“My place, my daughter. take care of herself and get out of here!”
“Happy New Year, I’m too tired to fight with you!”
There is also the voice of a strange woman: “Chi Zhang, who is this, your ex-wife?”
There was a car honking the horn at the door. Ms. Tang Yue stepped in her high heels and walked away. Chi Tang heard her father shout, “Don’t let your concubine park his car in front of my house, otherwise my car will be smashed by him.”
Ms. Tang Yue replied, “You smashed a glass and you lost a house.”
There was a quarrel again, ex-husband and ex-wife, each brought one, and it became a fight. They continued until Ms. Tang Yue said bitterly that she would never come to his broken place again and rode in her boyfriend’s car. After that, Chi Zhang walked into the house with the woman who was a girlfriend or a lover, cursing.
When he saw Chi Tang sitting there looking at the phone, he became angry again, “I told you not to see your mother, why did you let her in? Ah? Are you trying to piss me off? Why are you like your mother!”
Chi Tang listened to him scold her. When she had enough scolding, she stuffed her mobile phone in her pocket, walked to the door, and changed her shoes.
Chi Zhang yelled: “Where are you going again?”
Chi Tang ignored him and closed the door. Something hit the back of the door and made a loud noise.
Her father roared inside: “You go, don’t come back if you have the nerve. You are as cheap as your mother!”
Chi Tang took a deep breath and stepped into the night. As she walked the unspeakable anger and grievances slowly dissipated, turning into tiredness.
Two days later, it would be New Year’s Eve. Many shops on the street had closed. However, some shops still insisted on doing business because of the prosperity of the last two days. They were more lively than usual.
She walked out too fast so she didn’t take her down jacket with her and she only had a sweater inside. On such a winter night, she couldn’t stand the cold.
A 24-hour convenience store on the side of the road sold oden. Chi Tang walked in and saw a clerk squatting on the shelf to replenish the goods. Her back was particularly familiar.
“You Yu?”
You Yu turned her head and looked at her in surprise, “Chi Tang?”
Chi Tang bought some oden and sat on a stool to eat and spoke to You Yu: “Didn’t you go to live at the head teacher’s house for the vacation? You work here?”
You Yu hesitated for a while before humming.
Chi Tang: “What happened?”
There was no one at the moment. You Yu stood by, smiled awkwardly, and looked through the glass at the street outside, “I didn’t want to cause trouble to the class teacher.”
She did live in the headteacher’s house before, but then her father brought a cousin from the village and said he wanted to take her away and went to the headteacher’s house to make trouble.
She didn’t want to cause trouble for the headteacher’s family so she lied and said that she would go stay with an aunt and ran out by herself.
Chi Tang ate oden in silence and when she was done said, “Do you have a place to go?”
You Yu: “Fortunately, the lady boss here allowed me to rest in the store.”
Chi Tang put down her chopsticks and looked up at her: “You are going with me. I will show you a place to hide.”
For Chi Tang, the New Year was no different from usual from the time her parents were not divorced, her mother liked to go out and rarely stayed at home even during the Chinese New Year.
Her father preferred to go around betting money with people and she was often at home alone cooking dumplings for herself.
That year was the first year of her parent’s divorce. Apart from changing places in her house, there was nothing different. Chi Tang went home after dinner outside and saw that her neighbor had bought a lot of New Year’s goods.
Chi Tang retracted her gaze and walked with her head down, wondering whether there was a restaurant nearby for the New Year. If not, she would buy some dumplings and make do as before.
“Chi Tang!”
Chi Tang looked up and saw a beautiful woman waving and carrying a few gift boxes and beckoning to her, “Chi Tang, come on, open the door quickly. why is Nanlin so cold?”
Chi Tang paused, walked over, and opened the door, changing her shoes and entering the house.
The woman followed behind her like she was the owner of the house than she was.
After scanning around, she complained a little: “The house your dad bought is second-hand. Look, the decoration is too old-fashioned. It can’t help he has bad taste.” As she said that, she took off her coat and exposed the beautiful but thin skirt inside.
She changed the high heels and walked into the house, “It’s the Chinese New Year. Of course, Mom will come to see you. Is the money enough? Mom will give you five thousand.”
Chi Tang: “Leave as soon as possible. When he comes back and sees you, he will fight again.”
The woman was fiddling with her cellphone again, “I came to see what’s wrong with my daughter. He is so virtuous and embarrassed to quarrel with me.”
She transferred the money, “Chi Tang, go and pour your mother a cup of hot water. The weather in Nanlin is too bad. If it weren’t for my boyfriend opening a branch here, I wouldn’t have come to see you. I was too lazy to come.”
She talked like that, saying what she wanted to say, completely disregarding the feeling of others.
Chi Tang knew that she couldn’t have come to see her. At most, she would come and take a look at her when something happened. She had no expression on her face, read the account information on her mobile phone, and poured hot water for her mother.
This lady’s name is Tang Yue, her mother.
Chi Tang had inherited her mother’s appearance, but her personality was completely different from hers. It may be that she was bored with the two of them since she was a child, and she saw that she had some traits like them. She had to force herself to change it and the result was what it is now.
Ms. Tang Yue said a few words to her. She was accustomed to her indifference and chatted with others busily. She had been listening to the voice since entering the door. Chi Tang heard her talk about a man, asking him to come over and pick her up immediately after finishing his business, complained about the weather and temperature here, and sent several messages.
Chi Tang didn’t feel much, just that the new boyfriend her mother was looking for this time sounded better tempered than the one from last time.
It was also funny to say that her parents had been arguing and torturing each other since she was sensible, saying that they didn’t love each other, but they didn’t want to divorce, and they had to be tied together.
When they divorced that year, the person who felt the most relaxed was Chi Tang. She was tired of such a deformed family.
“Chi Tang, you go to school here, right? Which year are you in?” Ms. Tang Yue chatted with others on her phone for a long time, then looked up and smiled at her, looking very gentle and cheerful.
Chi Tang also looked at the phone without raising her head: “First grade.”
Ms. Tang Yue was surprised, “You go to high school?”
Of course, it was normal for her to not know details about her daughter’s life. After all, the relationship between her and her husband had reached the edge of rupture in the first two years, and she stopped going home. Chi Tang could spend a whole month without seeing her mother. She was always busy with whatever boyfriend she had at the time, flying all over the country.
If it was an ordinary person, it would have been embarrassing to make a mistake about the progress of your child’s study, but Ms. Tang Yue was not. She had always been a heartless person who only cared about herself. After asking such a sentence, she got a notification on her phone and went back to it again.
After drinking the glass of water Chi Tang had prepared for her, she stood up: “My boyfriend came to pick me up, I’m leaving.”
She touched Chi Tang affectionately and kissed her on the forehead, “Chi Tang take care of yourself.”
Chi Tang remembered that when her parents divorced, her mother did the same, kissed her on the forehead, smiled, and said to her: “Chi Tang, mother is often away from home, and my boyfriend doesn’t like children. It’s not convenient for you to live with me. You will be living with your dad in the future.”
She gave up her custody easily and ran for her free life without even an apology.
Chi Tang stood in place, watching her walking out briskly carrying her bag.
The door suddenly opened, and her father’s angry voice was heard, “Whose stuff is this? Tang Yue? Why are you here?!”
Her father used to return home in the middle of the night, but he came back so early today. Unsurprisingly, Chi Tang heard that the former couple quarrel again.
“Why are you coming to my house?”
“I came to see my daughter, can’t I?”
“My place, my daughter. take care of herself and get out of here!”
“Happy New Year, I’m too tired to fight with you!”
There is also the voice of a strange woman: “Chi Zhang, who is this, your ex-wife?”
There was a car honking the horn at the door. Ms. Tang Yue stepped in her high heels and walked away. Chi Tang heard her father shout, “Don’t let your concubine park his car in front of my house, otherwise my car will be smashed by him.”
Ms. Tang Yue replied, “You smashed a glass and you lost a house.”
There was a quarrel again, ex-husband and ex-wife, each brought one, and it became a fight. They continued until Ms. Tang Yue said bitterly that she would never come to his broken place again and rode in her boyfriend’s car. After that, Chi Zhang walked into the house with the woman who was a girlfriend or a lover, cursing.
When he saw Chi Tang sitting there looking at the phone, he became angry again, “I told you not to see your mother, why did you let her in? Ah? Are you trying to piss me off? Why are you like your mother!”
Chi Tang listened to him scold her. When she had enough scolding, she stuffed her mobile phone in her pocket, walked to the door, and changed her shoes.
Chi Zhang yelled: “Where are you going again?”
Chi Tang ignored him and closed the door. Something hit the back of the door and made a loud noise.
Her father roared inside: “You go, don’t come back if you have the nerve. You are as cheap as your mother!”
Chi Tang took a deep breath and stepped into the night. As she walked the unspeakable anger and grievances slowly dissipated, turning into tiredness.
Two days later, it would be New Year’s Eve. Many shops on the street had closed. However, some shops still insisted on doing business because of the prosperity of the last two days. They were more lively than usual.
She walked out too fast so she didn’t take her down jacket with her and she only had a sweater inside. On such a winter night, she couldn’t stand the cold.
A 24-hour convenience store on the side of the road sold oden. Chi Tang walked in and saw a clerk squatting on the shelf to replenish the goods. Her back was particularly familiar.
“You Yu?”
You Yu turned her head and looked at her in surprise, “Chi Tang?”
Chi Tang bought some oden and sat on a stool to eat and spoke to You Yu: “Didn’t you go to live at the head teacher’s house for the vacation? You work here?”
You Yu hesitated for a while before humming.
Chi Tang: “What happened?”
There was no one at the moment. You Yu stood by, smiled awkwardly, and looked through the glass at the street outside, “I didn’t want to cause trouble to the class teacher.”
She did live in the headteacher’s house before, but then her father brought a cousin from the village and said he wanted to take her away and went to the headteacher’s house to make trouble.
She didn’t want to cause trouble for the headteacher’s family so she lied and said that she would go stay with an aunt and ran out by herself.
Chi Tang ate oden in silence and when she was done said, “Do you have a place to go?”
You Yu: “Fortunately, the lady boss here allowed me to rest in the store.”
Chi Tang put down her chopsticks and looked up at her: “You are going with me. I will show you a place to hide.”
