inspire-indiana Chapter 312 Obedient and Clingy Younger Brother (23)
Chapter 312 Obedient and Clingy Younger Brother (23)
The boy's ignited pride slowly died down, leaving him only feeling lost and helpless.
What will it eventually become?
"Xiao He, come and help me." Sister Li Ruan's soft voice came from beside her.
Turning his gaze, Jin Shuhe saw Lu Liruan struggling to drag the heaviest package on the ground.
Because of Jin Shuhe's rough handling just now, the outer cardboard box was damaged.
Lu Liruan supported the left side, and the right side opened up again.
"Ah, let me do it." Jin Shuhe hurriedly offered his help, and the two of them worked together to move all the things into the house.
In fact, Jin Shuhe didn't have much stuff. The heaviest box was full of books.
"Phew—" Lu Liruan bent over, her legs trembling from exhaustion. She realized she was indeed too out of shape.
"Quick, come and rest for a bit..."
Lu Liruan sat down on the sofa and called to Jin Shuhe, "Go get two bottles of Coke from the refrigerator!"
Jin Shuhe's emotions gradually calmed down as he moved the things; the anger and pain he felt earlier had dissipated somewhat.
He had actually thought about today's events for a long time, countless times, how to express his thoughts, and how to let Aunt Chun live her own life.
Now that he had finally succeeded, Jin Shuhe felt a sense of relief. Although he didn't know what the future held, at least he wouldn't have to feel guilty and sleepless every time he faced Aunt Chun.
He helped Lu Liruan unscrew the bottle cap, sighed slightly, and let himself sit down on the floor, curling up against the sofa.
"I was so nervous just now," Lu Liruan said, taking a few big gulps and letting out a long sigh.
"Huh?" Jin Shuhe didn't react.
"Your aunt looks at me like I'm a human trafficker," Lu Liruan teased Jin Shuhe with an exaggerated expression. "I'm such a reliable person!" She started bragging.
Jin Shuhe tried to smile, but in the end, he could only manage a weak twitch at the corners of his mouth.
Lu Liruan had been watching his expression closely. Seeing him like this, she felt sorry for him. No matter what, this child always subconsciously tried to please others, as if everyone else's feelings were more important than his own.
"If you don't want to laugh, then don't." Lu Liruan put the cola aside and patted his head. "You don't need to be so careful around me."
So Sister Li Ruan noticed it all...
Hearing Lu Liruan's words, Jin Shuhe lowered his head, somewhat self-deprecatingly: Everyone can see what kind of person I am, but I still think I'm behaving quite naturally.
“After we’ve rested enough, let’s pack our things and move them to that room over there,” Lu Liruan said, pointing to the room where Jin Shuhe had stayed last time.
Jin Shuhe subconsciously wanted to nod, but this time, he stopped.
"What's wrong?" Lu Liruan asked herself a few times, but didn't hear a reply.
"Sister Li Ruan... no need, thank you for letting me stay for one night. Tomorrow... I'll go out and find a place to stay," Jin Shuhe said in a hoarse voice.
"Huh?" Lu Liruan didn't follow his train of thought and didn't know where this came from.
"What are you doing?"
"I...I still have money. I'll find a place to stay." Jin Shuhe avoided looking into Lu Liruan's eyes.
"And then?" Lu Liruan pressed.
She then realized that the child had been using her words to reassure his aunt, but he had other plans in mind!
“Then…then I’ll go find a job. I have to pay back all the money Aunt Chun gave me over the years…” Jin Shuhe said softly but firmly.
Since high school, Jin Shuhe has meticulously recorded every penny Aunt Chun gave him. This wasn't just talk; Jin Shuhe secretly vowed that he would repay her, because Aunt Chun had no obligation to support him.
When his father passed away, he not only left nothing behind, but also burdened Aunt Chun with debts. Although legally she was not required to repay them, those who harassed her did not think so.
Jin Shuhe remembers that he moved three times before he finally settled down here.
Both father and son have wronged Aunt Chun.
"Not going to school anymore?" Lu Liruan gently tugged at his ear, turning him towards her.
"I……"
"So you've started working now?" Lu Liruan asked with a hint of teasing. "You're quite imaginative. How long have you been thinking about it?"
As soon as Lu Liruan heard his movements, she knew that this thoughtful child must have been planning this for more than just a day or two.
"No." Jin Shuhe sensed that Sister Li Ruan did not agree, and wanted to deny it but did not know how to say it.
"I disagree."
Lu Liruan suddenly felt that, in that instant, she understood the mentality of parents whose teenagers were threatening to drop out of school, and her blood pressure started to rise as soon as she heard it.
Although the child in front of her was definitely different from those rebellious kids, Lu Liruan still felt a tightness in her chest.
Jin Shuhe remained silent.
"What can you do after dropping out of school?" Lu Liruan rested her chin on her hand: "Become a waitress or a construction worker?"
“I don’t mean any profession is bad. I gave these two examples because with your current education, you might not be stuck in jobs like these. Oh... now even waiters probably need a high school diploma, and you can’t even do that.” Lu Liruan shrugged.
"I...I'm a high school student..."
“You’re only in your second year of high school now. If you don’t finish your third year, you’ll only have a junior high school education, meaning you’ve completed nine years of compulsory education,” Lu Liruan corrected him.
Jin Shuhe choked.
"Even if you take a job as a waiter, based on the average salary in Pucheng, you might earn three to four thousand yuan a month. Even if you rent a place in a remote area, the rent plus your living expenses will cost at least 1,500 to 2,000 yuan a month. What will you do with the rest of the money? Give it back to your aunt?"
Lu Liruan started calculating the accounts for him, and as she did so, she squatted down next to Jin Shuhe...
"Although I don't know how much money you plan to pay back to your aunt in total, judging from the amount of money you have left each month, it certainly won't be something you can pay off in a year or two, right?"
Jin Shuhe nodded silently.
Seeing that he had taken it to heart, Lu Liruan continued to ask him, "Suppose you really put in some effort and paid off your aunt's money, what would you do after that?"
"Will you continue living like this, in a daze? You'll be the same all your life because you've already missed the age when you're most likely to change your life."
“People can choose all kinds of lives. Although everyone says that there is no high or low status in work and that living is living no matter what, who doesn’t know in their heart what it means to live well and what it means to live poorly?” Lu Liruan felt that she had heard similar words from her mother.
What was she thinking back then...? Lu Liruan sighed inwardly: People always become the kind of person they used to dislike. That saying... is indeed true. Back then, she probably thought her mother was nagging.
"Are you going to stubbornly insist on taking the most difficult path?" Lu Liruan asked him earnestly.
Jin Shuhe hadn't thought that far ahead about Lu Liruan's words. At his age, no matter how precocious or intelligent he was, he was still psychologically constrained.
A sense of powerlessness and despondency filled his entire being, making him wonder what he would be like next.
Will I become like my father?
He lived a life he didn't want to think about, or even could honestly talk about.
What can I do?
The boy, who had been trying so hard to keep himself in check, murmured, "I can't choose anything for myself."
“You can choose me.” Lu Liruan also plopped down next to the boy, their shoulders rubbing together, and Lu Liruan nudged him with her elbow.
"You call me 'sister,' I can't just ignore you, can I?"
"I'm serious, I could easily support you all by myself, otherwise I'd show you my bank account."
Jin Shuhe was puzzled as to how the topic had suddenly shifted to this. He looked at Lu Liruan with a somewhat confused expression.
Lu Liruan didn't want the conversation to become too heavy; this child already carried too many heavy burdens.
“Sister Li Ruan… I can’t owe you so much.” Jin Shuhe didn’t even know why Sister Li Ruan was so good to him.
“Whether you owe one person or two, it’s still a debt. What’s that saying again? You don’t get itchy when you have too many lice, and you don’t worry when you have too much debt!” Lu Liruan laughed at herself.
"What, do you think I'm unreliable? Do you think we haven't known each other long enough to trust me?"
"no!"
"That's settled then. You can keep the same way you used to keep accounts. You can pay me back when you can really take care of yourself and earn money in the future." Lu Liruan tugged at his arm.
"Listen to me, at your age, don't take on so much responsibility, or you'll stunt your growth."
"I'm tall enough," the boy said sullenly.
“Pfft—” Lu Liruan nodded: “Yes, yes, it is quite tall.”
Jin Shuhe was initially overwhelmed by Lu Liruan's long and well-reasoned arguments, but then he realized that Sister Liruan had said all this just to persuade him to stay.
Did she go to so much trouble to stay and to help herself...?
Jin Shuhe quickly overwhelmed me with her boundless and sincere warmth.
Just like Sister Li Ruan said, what exactly is the reason?
Jin Shuhe wanted to ask, but didn't know how to start.
“It would be better if we didn’t know each other…” Lu Liruan saw through his thoughts; the young man’s confusion was impossible to hide.
"But I got to know you." Lu Liruan thought to herself: Getting to know you at this point in time is more important than simply completing the mission.
I got to know you first, and every time I look at you, I feel a pang of sadness in my heart.
Unlike completing the final task, I hope that no matter the outcome, in your life as a living, breathing person, in the years that go by day by day...
I hope you take good care of yourself, be happier, and suffer less.
I have the ability and I'm very willing to lend you a hand.
"I want you to be well, to go to school peacefully, and to smoothly get through the most confusing period of your adolescence."
Lu Liruan reached out and hugged the tall boy, her arm being pressed against his prominent shoulder blades.
Lu Liruan tried her best to hold him tighter, but the child wouldn't cooperate. He stiffened his back and wouldn't move, stubbornly refusing to turn around.
Before she could continue speaking, Lu Liruan saw a tear the size of a bean fall silently onto the light-colored sofa, creating a small damp patch, and she was immediately speechless.
"Trust me, I'll definitely take responsibility for you to the end. I've always liked you. I wish I had a younger brother like you," Lu Liruan said softly.
Jin Shuhe slowly raised his arm and responded to Lu Liruan's embrace. He could hear his heart beating rapidly, as if... something was about to change completely.
Perhaps, as Sister Li Ruan said, his life will change, leading him down a different path, one he never imagined.
On that road... there's Sister Ruan.
"Ah."
"You agreed? Tell me properly, or I'm afraid you'll sneak away when I'm not looking!" Lu Liruan pretended to be relaxed.
"Okay, thank you, Sister Li Ruan. I will continue my studies, and in the future..."
"Aren't you going to say that you're going to be filial to me?" Lu Liruan interrupted him suspiciously.
Jin Shuhe: ...
"Don't say things like that, it'll shorten my lifespan. Okay, take a break and go pack your things. I'll go downstairs later to buy you some necessities."
Lu Liruan didn't want to force him to say anything, so she let go of his hand and sat back down on the sofa. Only then did she realize that her legs were numb from sitting up so long. She had been too nervous to notice it at all.
Finally... she managed to calm the child down! To be honest, Lu Liruan felt a sense of accomplishment.
Look at my silver tongue, I'm definitely cut out to be a blogger!
You'll need to work on your speaking skills from now on!
After tidying up, Lu Liruan cooked two bowls of brown sugar glutinous rice balls in the kitchen.
Eating a bowl of this on a chilly, damp rainy night before going to sleep is simply the most comfortable thing ever.
It wasn't until Jin Shuhe lay down on the bed that she realized how tired she was. Her eyelids were drooping and her consciousness was starting to blur.
The most intense thought before he fell asleep was that he had actually made a decision he had never considered before, and now, he felt that tomorrow seemed... less uncertain.
"Get up! Come to the shop with me today!" Lu Liruan greeted him in the morning.
The sun was shining brightly outside the window, and apart from some remaining watermarks on the ground, it was as if yesterday's rain had never existed.
Lu Liruan was worried that Jin Shuhe would feel uncomfortable, so she thought of finding some work for both of them today. But then she realized that she was the one who felt uncomfortable.
Since the start of the school year would be the senior year, under Lu Liruan's strict insistence, she learned about the current situation at the school.
I also know that school starts on the 25th.
"Huh? Isn't it September 1st?" This was the only date Lu Liruan could remember.
“There was no parent-teacher meeting at the end of last semester. Before the start of this semester, we need to summarize the last final exam and then call a meeting for parents.” Jin Shuhe didn’t hide anything.
After saying that, he continued to wipe the top of the window, which Lu Liruan couldn't reach, with a rag.
Turning around, she saw Sister Li Ruan with a strange excitement on her face, pointing at her and asking, "Are there any things to keep in mind when attending a parent-teacher meeting?"
Jin Shuhe: ?