Reverse Approach

Su Beimo received a call from Su Jing in the morning and went to the health clinic.

Su Jing, who worked overtime all night, had faint red blood in his eyes. Next to him sat an old woman with gorgeous hair and a kind complexion. Su Beimo walked forward quickly and called her: “Grandma.”

Grandma Su immediately held Su Jing’s hand and patted the back of his hand: “Beimo is here, you can go back. Look at how tired you are, you can’t even walk properly and need this old woman to hold you”

Every other month, Grandma Su had to go to the health clinic for a simple medical checkup. It did not take much time, but there was always someone to accompany her. In this regard, Su Ya and Su Jing were taking turns, and this month, it was Su Jing’s turn.

Usually when Su Jing worked overtime, he would tell Su Ya in advance. This time he was too busy and confused, only thinking about this early this morning.

Su Ya left early in the morning today, going to the stationery store to order goods, so Su Jing had no choice but to call Su Beimo.

“You, you’re just always stuck with your work, that’s why Ah Qin doesn’t want to live with you.” Grandma Su often talked about old times. She was very fond of Su Bei Mo’s mother, so much that even though Su Jing and Zhao Qin divorced years ago, she still liked to talk about it.

She was old and confused. Knowing that her son did not like to listen, she still loved to nag.

Su Jing was helpless: “Mom.”

“Okay, I don’t want your company, you go back to bed.” Grandma Su was most satisfied with this son, the one she was least satisfied with was also this son, “I have my baby grandson to accompany me is good.”

They tossed back and forth, wasting most of the time. So much that by noon, Grandma Su’s physical examination had not yet ended.

Su Beimo took out his phone and looked at the time, thinking that it was too late to rush to the stationery store.

This also meant that today Liao Nanqing couldn’t buy cigarettes, so was he going to get beaten up again?

The sudden thought was dull to the point that it seemed like an egg in boiling water. The inside was solid, and with the temperature, they were so solid that they cannot be ignored. Just like the heat in the afternoon distorted the sight, the whole city melted into a huge steamer.

And inside the health clinic, the cool air conditioning made the old lady sneeze. Su Beimo took a thin jacket he prepared from his shoulder bag and put it on Grandma Su. There were other old people around who saw it and praised Grandma Su for having a good grandson, saying that Su Beimo was tall and handsome. It made Grandma Su smile from ear to ear.

She said: “Yes, my son and daughter are not worry-free. But the grandson is really quite striving, he studies well since childhood. You know the math competition in the city, hey yes, that’s it. He won the prize every year at that time. The certificates are all hung in the living room of our house, there is a wall…”

The old people had a tacit agreement to sing and praise each other’s children and grandchildren.

Su Beimo listened boringly, and couldn’t dispel the interest of the elders.

Until someone mentioned–

“You know, the grandson of the old lady in East Street is back…” The person who talked lowered the voice by three points, sounded a little sneaky, “I don’t know what to think. That kind of thing happened in the past. Isn’t it good to leave?”

“When did he come back?”

“Came back to live there half a year ago.” The person tsk-ed twice, “Maybe there’s bad luck in that house. I also heard that the grandson of the old woman, he seemed to be…”

Before she finished speaking, Grandma Su coughed hard.

She was leaning on a cane, not talking to these people. He dragged Su Beimo’s hand to the other side and sat down, not following them to talk nonsense.

“Grandma, you are a little bit out of society.” Su Beimo teased her.

“The family on East Street was also unfortunate back then… Hey, things have passed so long. It is too evil to go back and talk about their family like this.” It was obvious that she had heard of the full version of this incident but Grandma Su just sighed and said nothing more.

The results of a simple medical examination could come out the same day. Except for some old problems, Grandma Su’s body was quite healthy. She left with Su Beimo for dinner and started to mash up the condiments as soon as she got home.

Some simple vegetables were planted on the balcony, and summer was the season to eat young bottle gourd. She took a green one and planned to stir-fry it with chicken soup in the evening. Holding a small stool, she was sitting on the balcony peeling bottle gourd, her rough fingertips covered with the juice of the pods. A second ago the sun was blazing, but now it was gloomy.

Su Beimo turned off the air conditioner and opened the balcony windows for ventilation.

The sultry wind gradually became cooler, and Grandma Su looked up at the clock on the wall.

“Your aunt must not have an umbrella with her today, you send it to her.”

The stationery store was not far from Grandma Su’s house, it took about 15 minutes to walk there. Su Ya usually rode a bicycle to the store, and it would take a while to get back home after the rain.

With two umbrellas in his hand, Su Beimo walked there.

He ran into Liao Nanqing on the road.

He always met Liao Nanqing and his miserable appearance.

The Liao Nanqing in front of him was covered with chalk dust and sticky with sweat that couldn’t be wiped clean. The pair of eyes were slightly red, not crying, but was about to cry. But he was like this low weather, with dark clouds, but no rain fell for a moment. Just telling others silently that he was almost crying.

Only with a little restraint, he could stop crying.

Smothered in the heart, a never-ending repetition of emotions near the edge of collapsing. Over and over again, suppressing the trembling and anger.

There were male students whistling at him as they sped by on their bicycles.

Immediately after, a bag of garbage fell from the sky and smashed on Liao Nanqing. The black garbage bag fell to the ground, and the snacks inside were scattered all over the place, with melted popsicles and chips crumbs that left traces on Liao Nanqing’s body and hair.

The boy walked away, but Liao Nanqing seemed to be still in front of Su Beimo.

Su Beimo ran into this scene and didn’t know what to say. It was not appropriate to say hello, it was also not appropriate to burst into a rage. He stood like a big fool, ten steps away from Liao Nanqing, in a dilemma.

Liao Nanqing dusted the garbage off. Feeling that the jacket covered with dirt was very disgusting, he took off the jacket, rolled up into a ball and stuffed it into his backpack. Then, he wiped his face and hurriedly walked in front of Su Beimo.

Calling him as if he was fine.

“Su Beimo.”

He opened his mouth, his throat was quiet for a day so it was a little hoarse: “Why didn’t you come to the stationery store today?”

Su Beimo gulped. He didn’t look away, didn’t go to see Liao Nanqing’s miserable appearance, his heart was mixed. It seemed that he was bullied today because of his absence. He didn’t buy the cigarettes, so this happened: “Accompanied my grandmother to the medical examination.”

Liao Nanqing noticed Su Beimo’s small movements, and quietly sniffed the smell on his body. It was still mixed with some bad smell. The smell of that bag of garbage just now was indeed strong, and even after he took off his jacket, his body still carried some unpleasant smell.

Even he himself felt stinky, let alone Su Beimo.

Liao Nanqing took two steps back consciously and asked awkwardly: “So, will you come tomorrow?”

Su Beimo hesitated for a moment.

Liao Nanqing’s face was pale, took another step back and said in a lost: “Not coming?”

Su Beimo looked at his eyes that were as pitiful as a puppy: “Coming.” He paused, “But won’t sell you cigarettes anymore. You’re wrong, the method is wrong.”

It was totally wrong.

The gloomy wind was damp and suppressed, and it was hard to breathe when it blew on the face, blowing long enough to feel a layer of cold thin sweat on the body, making people feel sticky and uncomfortable. But today’s rain stopped in the dark clouds, and it never fell after a long time. Su Beimo raised his head and loosened his neck, then slowed down his breath, not feeling well.

He looked at Liao Nanqing again. He was crying without even making a sound.

His eyelashes were two dark clouds, and teardrops fell first. It was quicker and more unexpected than the rain.

It was as if all the grievances today were locked in a box, and Su Beimo opened it with a single word. When the box was opened, the lock broke, and all the discomforts that could not be closed appeared. Apart from crying, Liao Nanqing seemed to have no other way of expression.

Su Beimo was silent for a while with an umbrella between his elbows and two hands in the trouser pocket.

Then he took out a hand and pressed it on his head, putting this action that he thought to be weird into practice: “Being submissive doesn’t solve anything. The more timid you are, the more they will bully you. You need to know that they’re wrong.”

“But I can’t help it.”

Su Beimo sighed.

Liao Nanqing wiped his eyes vigorously with the back of his hand, and the hand was wet, “I want to transfer.”

“Transfer.”

“But my mother won’t answer my call, my father…” He stopped talking, his cheeks were wet. Su Beimo felt that Liao Nanqing was a very tolerant and patient1 boy from the first time he saw him. After being bullied, he didn’t say anything, and he was cautious about everything, but he knew that the depressed heart of this guy was about to explode.

A time bomb would explode at any time, and once it exploded, it was the extreme of desperation.

The sky was raining at this time, one and two, getting heavier and heavier. Liao Nanqing didn’t mean to leave, and Su Beimo didn’t urge him, quietly opened an umbrella and handed it to him.

Su Bei Mo held open another one and stood in front of him, patiently waiting for him to finish crying and said, “Go back and take a good hot shower, eat a meal and rest early.”

As the rain became heavier, Liao Naqing choked up and answered.

“Then sort out your thoughts, try to tell your class teacher about this in advance tomorrow. Say it properly, they will definitely believe it.”

“Yeah.” The boy answered obediently.

But Su Beimo’s heart was very stuffy. The quicker he responded, the stuffier he was in his heart. Like a stove, it made people uneasy.

That night, Su Beimo had a strange dream.

Inside the dream was a classroom scene, white light, the tree shadow outside the window was mottled, swaying in the wind. Except for him and Liao Nanqing, there was no one else. While Liao Naqing was lying down to do practice papers, he sat opposite him to give Liao Naqing a lecture. After talking so many times, Liao Nanqing couldn’t understand it. Stupidly stunned, and was very bad at studying.

Su Beimo took the pen to draw the key points for him. The red pen didn’t have ink, so it didn’t work after being scratched many times.

The more you scratched, the more irritated you were, and finally the test papers were crumpled up into a ball and thrown aside.

Liao Nanqing lowered his head in front of him, as if he had received a heavy rebuke, and the thin bangs in front of his forehead were about to stick to the table.

Su Beimo wiped the sweat from his face and woke up.

The current time was 7:30 in the morning.

The air conditioner was turned on at 26 degrees. Covered with a quilt, Su Beimo was woken up by the heat.

With a buzzing vibration in his ears, Su Beimo picked up the phone and answered the call: “Auntie.”

“Beimo, the test papers ordered by the students in the store yesterday were not taken. You have to go to the store earlier today. I still have something on my side. I have to trouble you to visit the store today.”

Su Beimo, while looking for clothes in the closet, replied, “Okay, I’ll go there now.”

“By the way, I saw you unpack a box of band-aids. They are not sold separately. Are you using them yourself?”

The stationery store had a record of its daily sales, and this box of band-aids had never been recorded. Su Ya was a little worried, could it be that Su Beimo was injured? Although it was certainly not a big problem, but Su Ya had always raised Su Beimo as her own child, so she had to ask more when she saw it.

“I just saw a little hamster hurt, so it was given to it”

“Where did the hamsters come from in this place? Don’t worry about those wild mice. What will you do if you are caught and bitten? Pay attention to yourself.” Su Ya repeatedly urged and hung up the phone with confidence.

Su Beimo felt a headache at his own metaphor. He smiled, Liao Nanqing’s temper was almost the same as the hamster biting him.

raw: 隐忍 (to bear it patiently)