Chapter 114
Chapter 114
Qin Song settled into the hotel run by Jingjing’s family.
Jingjing added Qin Song on WeChat and told him that if he needed anything at all, he should come straight to her.
Qin Song knew she was only trying so hard to curry favor because he’d exposed her little trick and she felt guilty. She was probably afraid that if he made a post online, no one would ever come to her family’s already struggling hotel again.
She sent Qin Song her real name over WeChat. Qin Song didn’t even look at it before changing her contact name to “Jingjing.”
The moment they added each other, she sent three smiley faces and asked, “Handsome, do you need anything at the hotel tonight?”
Qin Song stared at the message and frowned. There was way too much room for misinterpretation in that sentence.
He replied, “Help me buy a razor. And some alcohol.”
Jingjing replied instantly, “I’ll go buy them right now.”
Twenty minutes later, Jingjing delivered a brand-new razor and a bag of beer to Qin Song. He noticed she had put on a light layer of makeup.
She clung to his doorframe and asked ingratiatingly, “Handsome, do you need anything else?”
Qin Song shook his head.
Jingjing said, “Did you come to Singapore alone? Are you traveling by yourself?”
Qin Song said, “Is that not allowed?”
Jingjing said, “It is, it is…”
After hesitating for a moment, Jingjing asked, “Are you single?”
Qin Song studied her for a while, then answered, “Do you need something?”
Jingjing’s face flushed. She stammered, “N – no… That’s not what I meant. I just thought, since you’re alone in a foreign country, you should be careful. Um, you’re pretty handsome, so… be careful…”
Qin Song impatiently pulled the door shut.
He had discovered that even if this girl wasn’t mentally ill, everything about her gave off a neurotic, unhinged vibe.
Ever since Jingjing told him the so-called murder had been something she’d made up, the taut nerve inside Qin Song had finally relaxed completely.
Whenever he was afraid or anxious, his hands and feet would go ice-cold. Now, he could feel the warmth slowly returning to them.
He sat down, popped open a can, and took a big gulp of beer.
Tonight, for some reason, he suddenly missed his father and mother.
He remembered when he was very young, he had always hated going to kindergarten.
But his parents had to go to work every day. They had to make money to support the family. So no matter how hard Qin Song cried, no matter how tightly he clung to their pant legs and sleeves, they could only force him inside.
Qin Song remembered that he could never fit in with the other children. He would rather sit alone on a little stool and play with his fingers.
The thing he thought about most was what time his mother would come pick him up. He looked forward to the moment he saw her with desperate longing.
The little girl who sat next to him was half a year older than him. She was an older girl.
Decades had passed, but whenever Qin Song thought of her, he still subconsciously called her “the older girl” in his mind.
In Qin Song’s memory, the older girl was a little taller than him and always wore a very serious expression. She was capable and efficient. Once, she had held a cup of water in one hand while using her free hand to button Qin Song’s clothes.
That one-handed buttoning had shocked Qin Song for many years. Even now, in his thirties, he still had to use both hands to button anything.
Actually, it wasn’t just that older girl. Almost all the students in the class were half a year to a year older than Qin Song. He was the youngest child in the class.
There was a boy with a very square face who was always trying to bully Qin Song. Whenever he did, that older girl would sternly scold him and even kick him.
Qin Song remembered that she was very flexible. When she kicked someone, she could lift her leg especially high.
Once, he finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst into tears beside her.
The older girl asked him, “What’s wrong, Qin Song?”
Qin Song sobbed, “I miss my mom.”
For a three- or four-year-old child, there was nothing embarrassing about saying the words “I miss my mom.”
The older girl patted his back and said, “Sometimes I miss my mom too, but when I play with everyone, I feel happy again. Don’t be sad. Your mom will come pick you up this afternoon!”
Qin Song asked her blankly, “How much longer?”
The older girl smiled and wiped his tears with the back of her hand. “Three or four more hours, and your mom will be here.”
Another time, the older girl gave Qin Song a huge box of bubble gum. She said that when he was eating candy, he wouldn’t miss his mom anymore.
Qin Song remembered that the candy was called Big Big Roll. In his memory, you could pull it out longer and longer, and it would never run out.
Unfortunately, that day, Qin Song had once again failed to live up to himself and hidden in a corner crying. The kindergarten teacher gently picked him up and soothed him.
The teacher said to the other children in the class, “You all keep playing.”
With that, she carried Qin Song into the little nap room and comforted him slowly.
The older girl ran in too, sitting beside Qin Song and wiping his snot for him.
When they came out of the nap room, Qin Song’s Big Big Roll was gone. Every child in the class was chewing a piece of bubble gum.
The square-faced boy sat on a stool, clutching the candy box in his hand and snickering.
The older girl glared at him, then turned back to Qin Song and said, “It’s okay. I’ll bring you another one tomorrow.”
When school let out, the square-faced boy’s mother came to pick him up first. As he ran out, he shoved the candy box back into Qin Song’s hands.
Qin Song opened it and took a look. The box was already empty.
The square-faced boy said with a grin, “My aunt used to live in the same neighborhood as your family. She said your mom is a mistress.”
Qin Song looked at him in confusion.
After the square-faced boy left, Qin Song found the older girl and asked her, “What’s a mistress?”
The older girl was packing her schoolbag. Her bag had come as a free gift with Crystal Love jelly, which had been very popular back then.
Hearing Qin Song ask that, she frowned and said, “A mistress means a third party.”
Qin Song was even more confused. “What’s a third party?”
The older girl asked, “Do you know what a boyfriend and girlfriend are?”
Qin Song nodded. “I do. You’re my girlfriend, and I’m your boyfriend.”
The older girl smacked him. “That’s not what it means! We’re just friends. Boyfriends and girlfriends are people who get married!”
Qin Song said, “Then what’s a third party?”
The older girl said, “Say you’re my boyfriend, but then you become another girl’s boyfriend too. Then you’re the third party… No, wait, let me think. No, that’s not right. She should be the third party… No, I can’t remember. But my mom said mistresses are the lowest kind of people.”
Qin Song counted on his fingers and thought about it for a long while.
The older girl asked him, “Why are you asking about that?”
Qin Song said, “Luo Zhirui said my mom is a mistress.”
The older girl cried out, “Nonsense! You should smack him in the mouth!”
Qin Song asked, “Why do all of you know words like that, and only I don’t?”
The older girl patted his head. “You’re still a little kid. I heard it when my mom and dad were talking. They wouldn’t let me listen, so I listened secretly.”
After saying that, she shouldered her Crystal Love schoolbag and waved to him. “My dad’s here to pick me up. See you tomorrow, Qin Song.”
That night, when his mother was giving him a bath, Qin Song sat in the basin and asked her, “Mom, Luo Zhirui said you’re a mistress.”
Qin Song’s mother, Song Fengmei, froze. “What did you say?”
Qin Song repeated, “Luo Zhirui told me today that his aunt said you’re a mistress.”
Song Fengmei drew in a deep breath, her chest expanding with it.
As she rinsed the bubbles off Qin Song, she said, “He’s talking nonsense. Don’t listen to his garbage. That whole family isn’t right in the head. His aunt is a famous shrew.”
The next day, just as promised, the older girl brought Qin Song a brand-new box of Big Big Roll.
Pointing at the square-faced boy’s nose, she warned him, “You’re not allowed to steal his Big Big Roll again today, or I’ll kick you to death.”
The square-faced boy stuck his tongue out at her, then ran off to play on the slide.
At lunch, the teacher handed out spoons to the children.
The spoon Qin Song got had a little flower pattern on it.
The older girl told him that whoever got the flower spoon would have his mother come pick him up first that afternoon.
Qin Song gripped the beer can in his hand as two streams of tears slowly rolled down his face.
He had long since forgotten that older girl’s name, but he remembered what it felt like to miss his mother.
What he felt now was exactly the same as what he had felt in kindergarten decades ago. But here, there was no one left to wipe his tears with the back of their hand, and he would never be able to wait for his mother again.