Start with the script kill shop

Chapter 4 Christmas Eve

John and Mina were chatting about work, and Jiang Qi was confused by a lot of professional terms, so he could only wander around John's house first.

It can be seen that in the years when John was not in prison, his career was indeed going well.High-end apartment, large flat floor, floor-to-ceiling windows, open kitchen, standard cloakroom for successful people, various styles of suits, and neatly arranged ties.

The home of the male protagonist of an idol drama with general configuration is nothing more than this.

Jiang Qi wandered slowly to the study room. There were three photo frames on the desk, all of which were photos with Mina.The notebook for work is still open, and there are analysis reports on it that Jiang Qi can't understand. There are many tomes on the bookshelf, and none of the books are clean and free of dust. Presumably, they are often read or wiped.

Jiang Qi saw from left to right, "Structural Dynamics", "Basic Mechanics", "Basic Bridge Architecture", "Basic Machinery"...

Jiang Qi: ?
Isn't John a biology student?What are you doing reading this kind of book when you are free?

It looks quite complicated.

Jiang Qi went around the house and found that the young version of John was indeed a winner and a successful person in life.

The house is luxurious, beautifully decorated, and tidy inside. There are many wine cabinets and model display cabinets. A series of sports items such as rackets and skateboards in the storage room show the rich hobbies of this successful man.

Before returning to the open kitchen in the living room, John and Mina were chatting about something that Jiang Qi could understand.

"It's such a pity this year. I thought I could go to Country Y with you during the Christmas break, but you didn't even have the Christmas leave." Mina was waiting for the roast turkey in the oven to come out, and she muttered while leaning against the kitchen counter .

The smell of turkey has already permeated the whole house, and the atmosphere of Christmas is very strong.

"The boss said that we will have a long vacation after the new drug development is completed, and we will go back then." John untied his tie a little tiredly, and was about to go back to the house and change into more comfortable clothes when Sunny called.

"Merry Christmas." Sunny's voice was equally gentle, lower than Mina's, "I haven't looked at my phone since I got off the plane. I just went to the supermarket to buy some food and I'm going to Dad's place. What can I do for you?" Did you tell Dad?"

John, who was smiling all over his face, withdrew his smile instantly, and said lightly, "No need."

"I knew it." Sunny on the other end of the phone looked very helpless, "You have not been back to China these years, and they have always missed you. Mom said she missed you very much last week. She said that she hadn't talked to you for more than ten years. You spent Christmas together, and she would love to meet your beautiful girlfriend."

"Miss me?" John's voice was full of sarcasm, "I'm afraid it's some polite words, or maybe it's because of her three new daughters, and she misses a child who can help her with housework and won't resist her. .”

"Don't say that." Sunny said softly, "She has gotten better all these years, at least better than when we were young, isn't she?"

"Of course, is there a worse mother in this world than she was? I will never forget that she cursed me that I would not live to be 28 years old."

"John..."

"Okay, I'll shut up." John paused, but couldn't help but speak, "But you really shouldn't raise..."

Sunny interrupted John: "She's our sister too, she's only 14 years old."

"She's only 14 and she's a drug addict! Alcoholic, uneducated, just a..."

"I used to be the same way," Sunny said, "it's just not as bad as her. John, you can't expect every child who grows up in the same environment as us to be the same as you were. You can live well with your talents , but we are not as smart as you, and often we can only rely on luck."

"Just like when I was young, I hoped that a kind person could help me. I am her sister. Shouldn't I help her once when she is wrong?"

John was obviously not persuaded, but he couldn't refute, and could only whisper: "It's not your responsibility."

"But I have the ability."

John shut up completely and gave up arguing.

"So, don't always have prejudice against dad. Although he is not a qualified dad, but believe me, he likes you very much, and he will not do this kind of thing to you."

"He doesn't like me."

Sunny chuckled a few times: "You are really like my son, I hope he is as smart as you."

John hung up the phone resolutely, and Jiang Qi seemed to hear Sonny laughing with her mobile phone thousands of miles away.

When John hung up the phone, the roasted turkey came out of the oven, Mina was excitedly adding various side dishes to the plate containing the roasted turkey, saw John hung up the phone and asked: "Is it Sunny's number? Tell me the recipe for apple pie, and there's still time to bake a pie."

John: ...

"I forgot to ask." John said with a little embarrassment.

He had just exchanged words with Sunny and forgot about the business.

Mina:?
Mina spread her hands and took off her apron: "Well, although I rarely cook today and want to cook a big Christmas dinner, obviously some people don't want dessert, so there will be no dessert today."

Just when Jiang Qi thought that the two of them were going to have a quarrel on Christmas Eve, the young couple suddenly showed their affection again.

When the dishes were served, John opened the chair for Mina, and the two of them sat at the dining table and began to enjoy the Christmas dinner.

Jiang Qi: ?
The spirit of Christmas is in the air.

John and Mina drank a few glasses of red wine, and Mina's cheeks were slightly flushed from the lack of alcohol.Under the dim light, the young lovers sat next to each other and whispered vague words. Mina laughed and fell into John's arms, and Jiang Qi silently turned her head away.

Wait a while……

Is there something that can't be played?

"Want to watch a movie?" Mina asked with a smile, lying in John's arms coquettishly, "I want to watch... sci-fi..."

Before he could finish speaking, John's cell phone rang.

It's Sunny's video call.

"Wait a minute." John sat up straight, and Mina sat up, out of his arms.

"It's Sunny's video call." John explained and connected the call.

Instead of Sunny's face on the phone screen, it was a clean tile.

"Sonny?"

A few seconds later, Sunny's face appeared on the phone. Her hair on both sides was slightly wet, her eyeliner was a little smudged, and there were unmelted snowflakes on her shoulders. The background was a white wall, and she looked very embarrassed.

"Are you home yet? Is it raining outside? Are you at the station now?" John asked.

"I'm in the hospital." The background voice on Sunny's side was a bit noisy, "Wait a minute, I'll find a quieter place."

"Hospital? What happened to you? Are you sick? Or your son..."

Mina heard that and leaned over: "Is Sunny sick?"

Sunny found a relatively quiet window, and it was snowing heavily outside the window, which was in line with the mood of Christmas Eve.

"Today is Christmas Eve, there are not many doctors and nurses in the hospital, everyone is too busy." Sunny said.

"Is it your son..." John had seen that Sunny was in good health.

Sunny sighed: "It's Dad."

"Him?" John's tone was a little colder, "He lives in that kind of place, and it's normal to be sick."

"He is very ill." Sunny looked at John helplessly, her tone was a bit sad, "He fainted when he went to the supermarket to buy vegetables this morning, and was sent to the hospital."

"People in the community contacted my mother, but...you know her. I just went to his house and found no one, so I called my mother to find out..."

"What's wrong with him?" John interrupted Sunny. "Anemia? Enteritis? Gastritis? Broken bones?"

"Those are minor ailments."

Jiang Qi saw John's face suddenly turn pale.

"It's pancreatic cancer. The doctor said he was diagnosed three months ago."

"Brother, Dad won't live for a few days."

John looked at Sunny on the screen in his hand, looked at her expression, and tried to find clues from her face to prove that she was lying.

"Pancreatic cancer." John repeated, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly, trying to force a sarcastic smile but failed, "So, he didn't tell anyone about such a serious illness, and he didn't want to contact us even if he was short of money for treatment yes?"

"No." Sunny shook her head, "I checked his treatment records, and he didn't receive any treatment."

"Is he crazy?" John raised his voice, "He obviously has medical insurance, and I bought it for him! As long as he is willing to speak...he hasn't received treatment, what is he doing these days? Sitting at home waiting to die? !"

"Calm down." Sunny seemed to have expected John to lose control like this, and said softly, "I don't know why he did this. Dad is sleeping now. You can ask him yourself when he wakes up."

"sleep?"

Sunny sighed: "The doctor said that he hadn't taken painkillers. He came to the hospital for follow-up visits several times, and each time he asked himself how long he could live. He refused treatment, refused to take medicine, and he hadn't slept peacefully for a long time. He is too tired. The nurse gave him a painkiller injection, no matter what happens, let him sleep peacefully before talking about it.”

"I don't know how painful pancreatic cancer is. Just now the nurse told me that some terminal patients would be in so much pain that they couldn't sleep all night, and the maximum dose of morphine was useless. They were so painful that they couldn't even hold their stomachs and talk. No, I can't even breathe. The nurse asked my dad how he got to the supermarket, and I can't even imagine it."

"He's torturing himself."

"I always feel that he has been punishing himself for something all these years. He can live well, but he wants to live in that small house. He even cleaned the street yesterday."

"You are really similar to him. You always complain to me about how weird he is, how much you hate him, and you get upset every time you mention him, but you are the one who bought him high medical insurance. Let me pay him You were the one who installed the heating in your house."

"Do you remember the police academy I went to? I didn't get a scholarship at all. I didn't get a penny scholarship. I really wanted to go to that school. I asked my mother and she told me to leave. She said that raising me was enough money and she would not help me with a penny. I had already given up, but then I begged my father unwillingly."

"I don't even know where he got the money. He gave me all the tuition fees in one go and told me not to bother him if I had nothing to do."

"Even the living expenses I gave you when you were in college were asked by my father to give it to you. Since I was a child, my father's favorite child is you. He can pay all the tuition fees for me. How could he ignore you."

"He's a really weird guy, he has no past, no friends, no relatives, he doesn't even let us take his last name. I've lived with him for almost ten years and I don't know anything about him, although he was He hasn't raised me for a day since divorcing my mom, but I can't hate him."

"You're the same as me, aren't you?"

John moved his lips, unable to speak.

"Is he awake?" John asked after a long silence.

"Not yet, the nurse will tell me when I wake up."

"Let me know when he wakes up." John hung up the video call.

He and Mina were still sitting at the dining table. The sumptuous meal on the table had cooled down. The scene was exactly the same as it was a few minutes ago, except that the festive atmosphere had long since disappeared.

John stared intently at the dishes on the table, wondering what he was thinking.

Mina didn't dare to speak, and didn't know what to say, she just sat quietly beside John and accompanied him.

Suddenly, John spoke.

"I felt like I was his most special kid when I was a kid."

"He would attend my parent-teacher conferences, buy me my favorite sandwich, walk me around the block, and answer my questions reluctantly."

"Although he won't tell me bedtime stories, won't participate in parent-child activities at school, won't accept the first gift I gave him, and won't attend my graduation ceremony, but I always feel that he is special to me."

"I hate him, I hate my family. For many years, I have always felt that if Sunny and I could be born in a normal family, we would be better off than we are now. But I have to admit that my intelligence is inherited from him, I inherited my looks from my mother, they gave them to me."

"I hate my mother, but I don't seem to hate him that much."

"I hate that I'm not his most special kid, and now I don't even know if he likes us or not."

John just wanted to find someone to talk to, to talk about his confusion and incomprehension for many years.

Mina held John's hand and said soothingly, "Honey, although I don't know much about it, I know that if a father doesn't love his child, he won't remember what his child likes to eat."

"My dad never remembers what I like to eat, even though I've told him so many times. He never drives me to school, he makes the driver do it. He doesn't talk to me, he's busy, you Look, he won't even spend Christmas with me."

Mina got up and poured John a glass of water: "Talk to him when he wakes up. You can ask for a few days off to go back and visit him. The boss will agree. If you don't mind, I can take time off to accompany you back."

Under Mina's comfort, John's mood improved a lot.Mina smiled at John and began to help him pick up the dinner plate, and John also got up to clean up together. Just as John was picking up the roast turkey that had only moved a few bites, Sunny's video call came again.

John hurriedly put down the plate of turkey and connected to the phone.

Sunny was in the ward, and the phone didn't see her face. John could only see the open door of the ward and the rushing nurses.

"Is Daddy awake?" John asked.

"No." Sonny choked out, "He's too tired."

"What?" John didn't come over.

"He passed away."

John and Mina froze together.

Mina stood in the kitchen at a loss. She wanted to go over to hug John, but she didn't move after taking a step.Although Jiang Qi knew the ending of the story long ago, seeing John's expression at this time, he also felt inexplicably sad.

"I want to see him," John whispered.

The picture on the mobile phone was trembling, and Sunny’s hand holding the mobile phone was shaking all the time. In the picture, the old man on the hospital bed seemed to be asleep, and a nurse was calling other nurses by the bed, waiting for the cart to come. Old John's body was removed.

Old John was very emaciated.

His gray hair is very sparse, his face is sallow, and his body is covered with age spots.Due to the torment of the illness, the fat lost in a large amount could not support the skin, and the skin on the face was loose. The appearance that should have been very fierce, now looks a little benign.

"He's so skinny," John said.

"Yeah." Sunny sobbed, "He's lost a lot of weight in the past few years, and he wears a lot of clothes like elephant skin."

"I haven't seen him for many years. The last time I saw him, he didn't have so many spots on his face."

"The hair is not white either."

"The suit I bought for him must be much bigger now."

"If only he could have worn it then."

"I've been saving money for a long time, and he will definitely like it."

As he talked, John looked at the phone with tears streaming down his face.

(End of this chapter)