Chapter 60: My Self-Esteem (I)
"I've made the kitchen stew, and I've specially explained that you must eat here at night!" After speaking, Mother Zou patted me on the shoulder, "Ning Han, study hard with Teacher Ai, grandma will make you something to eat in the evening." β
"Okay." Ning Han was very happy. My face was full of melancholy, and at night there were ingredients brought from the moon, and I was also stuck in my throat, and it was hard to swallow.
"Teacher Ai, why are you unhappy?" Ning Han asked, staring at my face.
"No, I'm happy." I tried to show eight teeth, but the effect was not smiling.
"Why are you still upset when you have something good to eat?" Ning Han looked at me confusedly, the world of children is so simple. Actually, when I was her age, a box of ice cream could make me happy for an afternoon, but now my troubles can't be solved by a cart of ice cream. How can she understand the bitterness in my heart?
When I finished giving Mrs. Zou a massage, I tried to stop having dinner here, "Aunt Zou, I have something else to do in the evening." I smiled and said yes again.
"Huh? You have to eat everything, you look at how thin you have been in the past two days, the soup is stewed, or it is specially stewed for you, how can you just go? Come on, hurry up and it's all ready, you eat more. She pulled me to the restaurant without saying anything, hey, I couldn't hide from it now, I shook my head helplessly.
But in the restaurant, there were just me and Mrs. Zou, three people Ning Han, and Sister-in-law Liu. There are only a few people in the huge restaurant, and it really looks empty.
But there are still some small lucks in my heart, hehe, fortunately, Zou Jialiang is not here!
"Come to Xiaoya, drink more. This soup is good for us women. "Mrs. Zou adds soup to my bowl from time to time. Hey, although Zou Jialiang is not here, I still have an indescribable embarrassment.
Growing up, the last thing I liked was eating with my elders. Now the old lady of the Zou family is sitting next to me again, she is such a person who pays attention to etiquette and upbringing, and the dining table is the place that can best reflect a person's etiquette and upbringing.
"Mr. Zou, you're back!" I was drinking soup with my head down when I heard Sister-in-law Liu say this. Oops, just now I was lucky to think that I couldn't take a picture of him when I was eating, but I didn't expect that I still couldn't hide.
"Mom, you're all here." Zou Jialiang walked over, I stopped drinking the soup, looked up at him, he was also looking at me, I smiled politely and stiffly at him.
"Jialiang, sit down and hurry up to eat." Mrs. Zou said to Sister-in-law Liu, "Go and add another pair of dishes and chopsticks to Mr." β
"Teacher Xiao Ai is also here." He smiled and sat down next to me, and I immediately moved to the side.
"Jialiang, after eating for a while, you still have to send Xiaoya home." Mrs. Zou took the bowl from Sister-in-law Liu and said while serving soup to her son.
"Yes, that's for sure." Zou Jialiang took the bowl and lowered his head to eat. For the rest of the process, I barely communicated with him the whole time. Three generations of their grandparents chatted with each other, and I sat there and became a loyal listener.
"Here, eat more." Zou Jialiang put vegetables in the bowl for me.
"Thank you." I responded simply, and in a blink of an eye, I saw Mrs. Zou looking at us with a smile in her eyes.
After the meal, Zou Jialiang sent me home as promised, but today he didn't drive the Bentley car, but changed to a Land Rover off-road, hey, rich people are domineering.
"Slow down on the road." The old lady stood outside the window and whispered.
"I know, Mom." Zou Jialiang started the car, and I was going to spend the next few dozen minutes alone with him in the car.
"Why are you so silent today?" Zou Jialiang asked softly.
Although it was just this gentle sentence, my heart was also slightly shocked, "No, I don't usually talk much." β
"Oh, my mom really likes you. In all these years, I haven't seen her so close to anyone. Zou Jialiang said with a smile, I also smiled, but did not reply. Actually, I could feel his mother's attitude towards me.
I suddenly noticed that the scenery outside the window had become very unfamiliar. From the previous high-rise buildings, it gradually turned into an open space, in fact, I just found out that I was not taking the way home, but I didn't open my mouth to ask, I wondered if Zou Jialiang had temporarily adjusted the route. However, the road conditions are becoming more and more rusty, and the scenery outside the window is changing more and more. There weren't even street lights in these areas, and I began to feel uneasy, what was this for, but you wanted to kill me and throw my body out into the wild.
"Mr. Zou, is this the road we take every day?" I still didn't hold back my question.
Zou Jialiang glanced at me with a smile, just this glance made my heart furious, "No, I'll take you somewhere." He still spoke in a light tone, but my heart was beating the small drum "dong dong", what are you going to do, don't scare me, boss.
The road was getting rougher and rougher, and the street lights on both sides of the road were gone, and I had no idea where it was. It was pitch black outside the window, and the Land Rover's snow-white headlights illuminated the road ahead. In this kind of road condition, the superiority of off-road performance is shown. I can't say it's like walking on the ground, but it's really not very bumpy to sit in.
At this moment, I was a little scared, I looked at Zou Jialiang, he was still calmly driving, his face continued to be unfazed before, but my heart was already turbulent.
In the trepidation, he finally arrived at his destination, Zou Jialiang turned off the car, "Get out of the car." He opened the door and walked out, and I got out of the car with him.
In front of you is an open lake, surrounded by cold air and a cool breeze on an autumn night. A bright moon hangs in the sky, rippling a little moonlight in the lake. The reeds by the lake are blooming, and the reeds float gently under the night breeze, exuding a trace of white tidbits. After so many years in the provincial capital, how did I not know that there was such a paradise?
The shore is connected with sand, and the branches shake the waves. The moon is as bright as snow, and there is nowhere to recognize the fisherman. Immediately a few lines of poetry came out of his mouth.
"It's a little cold over here." I was admiring the beautiful scenery in front of me, but Zou Jialiang took off his coat and put it on me.
"Mr. Zou, thank you, I'm not cold......" I want to pick up the coat from my body.
Jialiang's hand firmly pressed my shoulder, "Wear it, otherwise you will catch a cold." His voice could not tolerate the slightest protest.
The coat has a faint perfume smell on it, which makes people smell very comfortable, and I think this should be that kind of high-end men's fragrance. He walked to the side, put his hands in his pockets, and looked at the moon in the sky, his eyes shining inside, and in the moonlight, a face with a thrilling heroic aura.
"I don't know why, but I always come here whenever I'm not calm or don't know where to go." He looked at me.
"It's really beautiful here." I responded.
"When I was a child, my father used to bring me here to play until I was nine years old, when he died of illness." He took a deep breath, "After that, I lived with my mother and lived a life of being stretched thin, and those years were really difficult!" β
I looked at Zou Jialiang, his eyes as clear as the water in this moonlit lake.
"Actually, I didn't go to college, and I started working on construction sites for a long time, carrying sand and cement, and bleeding from my shoulder. Whenever I'm upset, when I come here, all I see is playing with my father. He picked up a stone from the ground and threw it into the lake. "A few years ago, the province wanted to reclaim and develop this lake, and it took me a lot of effort to keep it. β
"But you're successful now." I only now found out that I know so little about Zou Jialiang.
"Success?" He turned his head to look at me, "No matter how decent the scenery is, it is purely an appearance, who can really understand my heart?" There are countless warblers and swallows around him, each with an unsightly purpose, and his face is also covered with thick camouflage. β
He suddenly turned his head to look at me with burning eyes, and I couldn't help but jump in horror when he looked at me like this. He walked up to me and looked at me condescendingly, and suddenly there was a great sense of oppression around me.
"Xiaoya, I'm afraid of marriage, I don't dare to get married. But I like you a lot, really. I've never felt like this, can you promise to be my lover? I can give you everything. He wrapped his hands around my shoulders and slowly moved his face towards me, getting closer and closer, I could even feel his breathing.
I suddenly felt a little nauseous, so I shook my shoulders and pushed him away, "Mr. Zou, I'm sorry, I don't want to." β
He straightened up and looked at me in amazement, "Why?" β
"I can't accept your statement, I know you have money, but what kind of person do you think of me as this? Are you willing to do anything if you give money? "I'm a little angry.
"I think it makes sense, you be my lover, and I'll pay you." He folded his hands over his chest and looked at me steadily.
I took a deep breath, "I know you're a businessman, but please don't apply your business thinking to every problem." I was really angry, but I still kept my normal tone, "I'm going back!" β
Zou Jialiang was stunned, then nodded, "Okay, let's get in the car." β
On the way back, we didn't say a word. Even when I got out of the car, I didn't say goodbye to him, I was actually seen by him as a woman who would agree to "money deals", in the final analysis, I still felt that I should not ask him to borrow the 10,000 yuan.
"Xiaoya," he rolled down the window and called out to me from behind.
"Is there anything else you can do?" I turned my head and asked him coldly.
He was stunned for a few seconds, "It's okay, go back and rest early." β