In the evening, he looked at his phone, there were two missed calls from Uncle Paul, and he had locked himself on the balcony to answer the phone like he had done last time.

Uncle Paul said, "Xingchen, you're about to meet your own family!" Why are you not home all day? Come back quickly and have a good discussion. ”

Liu Xingchen said: "Uncle Paul, is my dad at home?" ”

"Do you want the chairman to answer the phone?"

Liu Xingchen said: "No, you can just talk to him for me, and say that I am still sleeping at Wu Jiao's house tonight." Well, hang up. ”

"Hey, Stars......"

Liu Xingchen hung up the phone and turned off the phone directly, and when he turned it off, he was still thinking that Wu Jiao hadn't called all day, and there was no text message, which was surprisingly worry-free.

Ai Mengmeng is still silent because of the noon incident, he knows that she will feel inferior as soon as she arrives in front of other people's parents, and feels that she is a wild child who has no mother and no father, this is the deepest scar in her heart, coupled with her mother's attitude is so harsh, she feels even more uncomfortable, he is reluctant to leave when he sees her frustrated appearance, and wants to stay with her for another night, this night, he wants to have a good talk with her, but Ai Mengmeng's mouth is like being glued, and she only knows how to smoke one after another, Don't bother to say anything to him.

She is usually an extremely talkative person, and all men and women can be the objects of her conversation, especially when it comes to the mountains, which is called a dark and unobtrusive person, but she talks very little about her parents and childhood. At this moment, perhaps she is walking lonely in a world of her own, looking back on the intertwined fragments of life between childhood memories and broken families.

Her parents and her childhood seemed to be a forbidden area that he would never enter, perhaps because they grew up in a completely different family environment, and whenever he looked at her classic expression of not crying, laughing, humble or arrogant, he had to mobilize all his brain cells and emotional nerves to try to understand.

He saw that there was an old lock on the door of her heart, which locked the painful innocence and fragmented family ties that she did not want to trace, and she stubbornly and cowardly sealed them carefully, deliberately forgetting them, but it backfired.

Someone once said that two people broke up because they didn't love enough. That's what they only believed 10 years ago. At this age, they deeply realize that the gathering and dispersion between people is not about whether they love or not, but how much they love, but by the "edge".

He knew that the reason why she was desperately trying to fulfill his marriage to Wu Jiao was because she didn't want her tragedy to happen to another person. He was moved, even angry, by this, a fragile and innocent victim who always had to force himself to show great courage to have compassion for others! However, this is Ai Mengmeng, he loves this person because he understands her, and the truth behind those silences, how much she longs to be loved.

Early in the morning, Ai Mengmeng rubbed her eyes, heard a gentle sound of the door closing, and Liu Xingchen left. His silence made him unbearable, because she was a person who liked to make trouble and like crazy. She was right, she ignored him all night, and he also had self-esteem. But she misunderstood. Liu Xingchen didn't leave angry this time.

Today is very sunny, the temperature is relatively high, he insisted on wearing a straight suit jacket, after walking into the elevator room, pressed the button on the nineteenth floor, the slightly pierced stubble made him look inconsistent with his actual age, he could have shaved in Ai Mengmeng's house, but when he saw the bearded face in the mirror, he felt that this image was very, as the saying goes, no hair on the mouth is not firm, he wants to use the stubble on the chin to increase the persuasiveness.

This building has a total of 21 floors, known as the Pentagon of the International Education Foundation, and there are many people busy on each floor. The elevator clattered, and he stepped out, and there was silence in the spacious hallway, knocking on the door of the chairman's office.

It was not Uncle Xiao Zhao who opened the door, it was a woman, and Liu Xingchen didn't know him. He asked, "Does Liu Chenghou work here?" ”

The woman looked him up and down, "Is there anything wrong?" ”

Liu Xingchen took out his ID and handed it to her. She looked at it, opened her mouth, and hurriedly said, "The chairman is inside, please come in." ”

Pushing open another door, Dad was talking to an employee with his head down. Liu Xingchen took a deep breath, straightened his suit, and said, "Dad." ”

The chairman raised his head in surprise: "...... Stars? ”

Liu Xingchen smiled: "Dad." ”

The chairman asked, "Why are you here?" What happened? ”

Liu Xingchen said: "I came to you, it's not a big deal, it's a little thing, Dad, can I talk to you alone?" ”

The chairman of the board of directors sent the people around him away, and then leaned back in the swivel chair: "Say it." ”

Liu Xingchen stood opposite him seriously, staring at his father's eyes with blazing eyes: "Dad, I don't want to marry Wu Jiao." ”

"Ho! I knew it was this! The chairman rolled his eyes, gasping for breath and making an angry sound in his throat.

Liu Xingchen sighed deeply, bit his lip, and continued: "Dad, there is something I have been hiding from you, today, I want to tell you the truth. ”

The chairman of the board of directors has long known that he has something in his heart, but he has never found an opportunity to ask, today he can take the initiative to confess, to be honest, the chairman is still very surprised: "What is the truth?" You said. ”

"Dad, you still remember when I was in high school, I had a fight with Director Cui's son, and I was hospitalized, and I begged you to expel Cui Xiaokai at that time, although you didn't agree at the time, but later you still met my request, and I haven't thanked you for that incident."

"Don't talk this nonsense, just get down to business, huh."

Liu Xingchen thought for a while and said, "Actually, what I liked at that time was not Wu Jiao, it was another girl." ”

The chairman said: "No matter who you liked at the time, you have caused an irreparable fact, you and Wu Jiao have been together for seven years, and it is useless to say anything now!" ”

Liu Xingchen grabbed the white and said: "Dad, please listen to me!" I was trying to protect Ai Mengmeng, because her parents were divorced, and no one supported her, I was afraid that the school would find Ai Mengmeng because of my fight, she was a girl who wanted to save face, well, no, she was a girl with strong self-esteem, and she lived alone in her teens, I was afraid that she would be wronged and would not be able to jump off the building or something, so she lied and said that she liked Wu Jiao, and pretended to compete with Cui Xiaokai for a girlfriend. Because Cui Xiaokai always harassed Wu Jiao and affected Wu Jiao's learning, Ai Mengmeng was Wu Jiao's best tablemate, so I wanted to help Wu Jiao kick Cui Xiaokai out of school, I designed the fight incident in order to help Ai Mengmeng, and you will know what happened later. I admit that I was ridiculous at that time, but my heart for Ai Mengmeng has never changed, and I often dreamed of her during my years abroad, and being with Wu Jiao was completely to fill the emptiness in my heart......"

The chairman of the board of directors held back his anger and listened to his words: "You have helped others so much, and people don't like you, do you, to put it mildly, it's not that you're hot!" Hum. ”

Liu Xingchen hurriedly said: "No, Ai Mengmeng also likes me, we dated for a while in high school, and then she was ...... by the school Fired, fired. ”

The chairman asked, "Because of what?" ”

"Actually, she dropped out of school herself."

"I'm asking, because of what, because of what?"

"Because she'...... Smoke. Liu Xingchen felt that he was becoming less and less convincing, and his mouth became more and more disobedient.

The chairman's face turned red, and he held the edge of the table with his hand in luck: "...... Such a girl, in your eyes, is she better than Wu Jiao? ”

"No, I'm not saying that Wu Jiao is not good enough, and I don't mean that Wu Jiao is not beautiful enough, but I don't have feelings for her, and I have tried countless times, if I am asked to marry her, it will be worse than death."

"Hah! Then why haven't you died in the past seven years and are still alive and well! ”

Liu Xingchen knew that it was time to reveal the last secret and confession, and he said: "Dad, Ai Mengmeng and I have slept together, just after returning to China. I can't let her down because she's still, she's still ......"

"Say no more! Stinky and shameless! Get out of here! ”

In the face of his father's insults, Liu Xingchen really wanted to disappear into this room immediately, but he couldn't be kicked out like this, he said: "Dad! Maybe I'm a bad guy in your heart, but I've always been proud to have a father like you, and I've always wanted to be as decent and responsible as you, but I really can't listen to you this time, I can't marry Wu Jiao, the purpose of my coming here is to show my heart to you, and formally apologize to you. After he finished speaking, he bowed deeply to his father, stood up and left, leaving behind a disappointed chairman and a sad father who was over half a hundred years old.

He wiped his eyes in the elevator, and his mind lingered with the last glance of his father's face, his dad's capable torso and slightly silver-haired sideburns, a large hand in charge of the economic lifeblood of thousands of large and small institutions, and a silver-white wedding ring......

He drove the car in a trance, wandering around the white streets, thinking about it all the time until his stomach gurgled, and finally he thought, this is the only way. When he got home, he saw his mother's unanswerable expression. Mom seems to be jealous, every time she and her dad quarrel over something, she will be like this.

"Mom, what's wrong with you? Why did you pout your mouth to the sky? Didn't I come back to have lunch with you? He walked over and sat down next to his mother, put one hand on her shoulder, and said no big or too small.

Mom turned around and ignored him.

He grabbed his mother's hand and shook it: "Mom, I'm hungry, hurry up and start eating." ”

"Your dad hasn't come back yet." Mom said coldly.

He said, "But I'm hungry, do you have anything good to keep for me?" ”

"Nope."

He crooked the corners of his mouth, came up with a crooked idea, and said in surprise, "Oh, Mom- why do you have crow's feet?" ”

Mom was really deceived by him, touched the corners of her eyes and said nervously: "Really, really......"

He sat his mother, who was busy looking in the mirror, on the sofa, and said with a wicked smile, "Haha, no! Lie to you! My mother is the youngest tender mother in the world, and she looks more tender than her son, how could she give birth to such a thing, just kidding......" he said and squeezed his eyes at the half-annoyed mother: "Mom, why are you angry for no reason?" You don't look good when you're angry, beware of crow's feet. ”

Mom beat him hard: "Stinky boy, are you so blatantly leading that kind of woman to the surface?" ”

"What kind of woman, her name is Ai Mengmeng, but I chased her for ten years before I got it." He smiled at his mother's face and asked, "Mom, what do you think of her appearance?" Isn't it special? ”

Mom said without thinking, "It's not pretty! I don't like it! ”

Liu Xingchen was really a little unhappy, and his smile suddenly retracted: "I'm not too rare to ask you, hum." So he got up and went upstairs.

The mother looked at her son's back in surprise: "This kid, isn't it just an affair, and he's so serious!" You want to me off!! ”

Liu Xingchen heard his mother's shouting, and was even more unhappy, and slammed the bedroom door shut.

As long as he makes up his mind to stand in a camp with Ai Mengmeng, he will inevitably be opposed to his family, he has long known that this is the case, Ai Mengmeng is not the type that is easily accepted by the elders, even if the elders accept her, she may not appreciate it, because she is too high, too selfish, and too unaccustomed to getting along with the elders, family conflicts will definitely be indispensable in the future, I am afraid that these small frictions are just beginning, but he thinks it doesn't matter, the Great Wall is not built in a day.

At noon, the chairman called and said that he would not come back for dinner, the chairman's wife and Liu Xingchen had lunch in their respective rooms, no one paid attention to anyone, in the afternoon, Wu Jiao came uninvited, the chairman's wife was stuffy, and her arrival finally eased the stiff atmosphere at home. Wu Jiao brought the seafood she bought on this trip, as well as some home-grown fruits and vegetables. The chairman's wife looked at the slightly tanned Wu Jiao, and couldn't help but think of her son's affair, and she was very upset, but she didn't know that Wu Jiao was the last time she came to see her.

Wu Jiao thought, maybe this kind mother doesn't know what kind of person her son is, maybe she has been tormented in a world forgotten by men all her life, and her jewels can't hide a pair of self-deceptive eyes, but she is lucky compared to herself, at least her man is willing to give her a name, even if she lacks her husband's love, she can still be compensated for by her son, but how could she expect that the endless doting on her son will continue a tragedy to another woman, This father and son are really better than blue.

At this moment, Wu Jiao hated the man with a negative heart, and when she looked at Liu Xingchen, there was no longer any temperature in her eyes, which made Liu Xingchen always have a chilling illusion. Wu Jiao is very well-behaved today, the chairman's wife left her at home, she found a very reasonable excuse to excuse herself, she didn't need Liu Xingchen to say anything at all, in his room, she didn't even take off her coat, took out an envelope from her bag, and handed it to him: "Ah, this is your scholarship, it's all in this card, as well as the password and my passport, which are also in it." ”

Liu Xingchen looked at her inexplicably: "What are you doing here?" ”

"I won't help you hold it, once you accidentally lose it one day, you should blame me again, and keep your own things by yourself."

Liu Xingchen said: "This money will be given to you, you can use it however you want, and I won't ask if you lose it." ”

Wu Jiao grabbed his hand and put the envelope in his hand: "Why do I want your money for no reason, don't forget that I also have a scholarship, although it is small, it is enough to spend." ”

Liu Xingchen was already determined not to want this marriage, so he resolutely couldn't ask for this money anymore, and he put the envelope in her hand again: "What I gave you, you can take it, make things simpler, okay." ”

Wu Jiao took it back and secretly stuffed it into his drawer before leaving. He drove Wu Jiao home, and she was silent along the way, because this was their last reunion, and she still had some nostalgia for his body temperature. Passing by a familiar service area, she saw a light on the side of the road, and her first thing she said, "Can I stop in front of me?" ”

"What's wrong, isn't it comfortable?" His slightly nervous eyes gave her a hint of nonsensical hope, but she knew full well that he was only motivated by morality, not love.

She nodded, noncommittal. He immediately parked the car in the service area, turned on the lights in the car, and quickly looked at her: "How are you feeling?" What's uncomfortable? Is it the child who is moving? ”

She shook her head: "I have a little headache. ”

"Headache." He lowered the window of the car a little, so that the cold air in the car dissipated in a very short time in a sultry night breeze, and the insects and frogs in the wild on the summer night were silent and tranquil. He asked, "Is that better?" ”

She nodded and said, "Xingchen, can you hug me?" ”

He didn't seem particularly reluctant, just a little sluggish, he unbuckled his seat belt, leaned over, and put his arms around her, letting her weak shoulders snuggle in the crook of his thick arms. She said, "Thank you." ”

He was a little puzzled, and said with a joke: "So numb." ”

She smiled slightly, her eyes still wet from the warmth of this moment. When feelings can only be beautiful by distance, maybe they can only be remembered by him if they leave him. How she wanted to see what kind of girl he would marry, and how that girl was better than herself. But whether his future wife was better or better than her, she did not have the courage to bear that fact.

She said: "Senior, when you hold me like this, you imagine me as the original Wu Jiao, okay?" ”

He became more and more puzzled by her logic tonight: "What, why can't I understand, you always speak weirdly today." ”

The lights outside the car turned into hexagonal crystal water molecules flashing on her eyelashes, and she closed her eyes in his fragrant embrace: "Senior, do you still like Ai Mengmeng?" ”

Liu Xingchen's body trembled slightly, the world seemed to be shattered and reborn in his trembling, his long silence was already an answer, but he still wanted to ask rhetorically: "Doesn't Ai Mengmeng already have a boyfriend?" ”

After a long time, she also asked, "Then you don't have anything to say to me?" ”

She sensed that he was hesitating, but she didn't know what he was hesitating, maybe it was because the excuse wasn't enough to make it up, maybe there was a good reason for not wanting to be too cruel. This subtle atmosphere is like people who meet in a dream, just by looking at each other to know what is going on in each other's minds, without words, the language is too rough.

Suddenly, however, he said rudely, "Yes." ”

He gritted his teeth, and his voice sounded very calm: "Wu Jiao, I'm sorry, I can't marry you." ”

Wu Jiao didn't want to say the following words, but she hated it, she looked into his eyes, trembled her lips and forced him: "What about the child?" ”

He didn't answer for a long time.

She pushed him away, leaning against the window and weeping, staring at the dark green grass and trees hanging silently in the sultry air: "You let me get a tire......"

He still didn't answer.

She closed her eyes in despair - even if the last words were meaningless dialogue, she would die.