Chapter 1413: Chapter 1005: Full-time Mother’s Counterattack 13 (Four Thousand)
Others are bustling with purchasing New Year supplies, but Qi Qi doesn’t need them. She usually buys whole pigs, cattle, and sheep, and only buys seasonal vegetables and fruits, never out-of-season ones.
So relatively speaking, their food is quite healthy.
To save money, the mother and son almost never go out. Qi Qi either livestreams or creates, while her child stays at home solving puzzles, and in the evenings she takes him to nearby parks for walks.
Qi Qi doesn’t anticipate the New Year at all, as there’s no atmosphere, so she treats it just like a weekend. Nonetheless, the dishes are richer because after all, she wants to teach her son to feel the festive atmosphere.
However, most people in the apartment are from out of town, and as the Spring Festival approaches, it gets quieter. On New Year’s Eve, it seems like only their family remains on this floor, an indescribable loneliness and helplessness. The more it’s like this, the more it proves the hardships and difficulties of the migrant people in the Capital.
In the adult world, is there anything easy?
Fortunately, Beijing is the Capital, a city that never makes you feel lonely. On Chinese New Year’s Day morning, she takes her son to the Flag-Raising Ceremony at Tiananmen Square, then to the Imperial Palace, and on the way back stops by the company to clean up, check the caller ID (since having a mobile phone, the landline only rings on weekdays). If there are no important calls, she doesn’t pay any attention—feeds the fish, changes the water, and fiddles around until dark, then heads home with her son.
After a day out, it’s quite tiring. The little guy walked by himself the whole time without making her carry him, so after washing up at home, he falls into a deep sleep.
After washing up, Qi Qi continues to work. Although all the calligraphy and paintings sent out before New Year’s Eve have been paid for, and she even earned ten thousand yuan more than estimated (sixty thousand), she is used to being busy and can’t really stop. After all, she has plenty of space and time. She sleeps for a while, checks on her son, then goes back to work, and runs out whenever there’s a noise, repeating the cycle.
On the first day, the child got tired. On the second day, he insisted on staying in. The rare leisure sees mother and son basking in the sun on the balcony. She scrolls through Douyin while the child assembles Legos, occasionally asking her for help. Suddenly, someone sends her a private message; she opens it to find it’s from her ex-husband, Mr. Wen???
[You changed your phone number, I couldn’t contact you, so I have to communicate this way. I’m sorry, it was my fault before. Now my daughter is sick and needs a bone marrow match. Can Xiao Han come home for a bit? I know my request is excessive, but children are innocent. I’m begging you; as long as you’re willing, you can set any conditions.]
At that moment, Qi Qi was sipping tea, and when she read the message, she choked. Xiao Han asked with concern, "Mom, are you okay?"
Looking at her son’s innocent, healthy, and lovely face, then reading the man’s humble tone in the message, she felt it was somewhat ironic, even more melodramatic.
Her ex-husband claimed that due to renovation, the child had fallen ill, and said the child was only eighteen months old, hadn’t seen the world, and he didn’t want her to leave just like that.
And they’d only been divorced for a year and a half. No wonder he was so eager to push for a divorce, even sued twice in court. Originally, he didn’t want her to have their son, but she held on to him, so he was forced to sign the divorce papers. Now seeing the child staying with her, isn’t it lucky?
She wouldn’t call it retribution, because children are innocent. But if she were to let her child save the mistress’s child, it’s impossible.
In her past life, others didn’t face such retribution; instead, she died of cancer. In this life, her crossing paths changed many trajectories, seeming like revenge for her, but she isn’t the Holy Mother, so naturally, she uses the response she was given before as retaliation: "Dream on."
Before he could reply, she directly blocked him, just like blocking him on WeChat, out of sight, out of mind.
She still has her old phone number saved, though she doesn’t log in often. She has two WeChat accounts, the old one occasionally checks messages and friends’ updates. Her parents contact her through the old account, while the new one is mostly classmates and colleagues. She doesn’t post moments; anyone wanting to follow her must find traces through her Douyin account.
Actually, thinking about it, it’s quite pitiful. Across two phone numbers, there isn’t anyone she can bond with—no friends, confidantes, and even the limited familial bonds rely on family ties. How f***ed up!
Before the year turned, she transferred six thousand yuan to the old man, but he thought it was too little, saying she sold a piece of calligraphy for fifty thousand but only gave him six thousand, scolding her for being unfilial.
