just like it

Mother Wu repeated a few more words, still complaining that Wu Xia was ignorant and didn't care about her friends.

When she stopped to take a breath, Wu Xia said, "Mom, what I mean is, I will handle this matter myself, so you don't have to worry about it."

Mother Wu was stunned: "You handle it yourself?"

"Ah."

Mother Wu thought for a while, then shook her head: "It's not very good, I didn't say it, Xia Xia, your salary is not high, and asking you to pack red envelopes yourself is also a burden for you, and besides, I will give it to your dad, that doesn't mean Our family's intentions are more sincere, don't they?"

Wu Xia said: "Mom, what I gave also represents our family."

Mother Wu still insisted: "Oh, no, no, it's different, it's different."

Wu Xia secretly sighed in his heart, and he also knew that his parents just wanted to repay Qiao Ruige, and treated this great benefactor of their Wu family sincerely, but under the current situation, the more they behaved like this , he felt more and more uncomfortable.

He patiently persuaded: "Mom, listen to me. Really, it's better for me to come forward. Think about it, how do you give gifts? Do you include red envelopes? Rich people like them hold weddings, and they don't even know what the gift money is." It’s not appropriate for you to give as much as you want, let alone something, what can you give away? Antiques, calligraphy and paintings, or famous watches and jewelry? People who you can afford may not be interested in them. Even if you send them, they will accept them face to face It's just to save face and not embarrass us."

Mother Wu couldn't help but nodded as she listened.

Wu Xia added: "Besides, friends can be far or near, so I don't know if they will send us a wedding invitation. Well, even if we don't send this gift, we will still send it, but we are not the same as him after all. We have to behave like that." If you are too active, someone will say that we are trying to flatter and hug our thighs. Mom, do you really want this?"

Wu Xia really didn't want to say these words.

In recent days, tossing and turning in the dark night, he thought countless times that there was a natural barrier between Qiao Ruige and him, and it was Qiao Ruige who waved at him, giving him the illusion that he could step over this natural barrier.

Although those warm and tender memories gave him a moment of warm comfort in the cold night, but it was these coldest and most ruthless realities that woke him up again and again from his dreams in the middle of the night.

And how could his parents know about the entanglement between him and Qiao Ruige.

So he didn't want to say it, but he had to say it, using the most mundane and realistic reasons to dispel his parents' simple and simple thoughts.

He spoke rationally and calmly, but every word was like a knife's edge, slashing his heart every time.

Madam Wu frowned for a moment, then sighed: "Actually, your father and I haven't thought about this, but we feel that no matter what others think, we must be worthy of our own conscience. We have discussed it for several days, thinking about it. Or just wrap a red envelope, eight thousand eight hundred and eight, which is considered an auspicious number, but hearing what you said, it seems that it is really... not appropriate at all."

Wu Xia smiled, and patted Mama Wu's hand reassuringly: "So I told you not to worry, I know how to do it, you are elders after all, if you really want you to come forward, it will also make him feel uncomfortable."

Then he coughed again.

Mama Wu slapped her thigh: "Oh, I was too busy talking to you, I'll find you medicine."

Mother Wu stood up and walked into the house, waving her arms as she walked: "I remember that the medicine seems to be in that big bag, and it hasn't been unpacked yet, just wait."

"Ah."

He heard Wu's mother walk into the house, and went upstairs again.

Wu Xia took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took one out and put it in his mouth, lit it, took a slow puff, and then spit it out slowly.

He leaned his head back against the wall, looking at the blue sky above the courtyard.

He went home to see his grandfather and parents, but also to escape.

Even if it's just for a few days, it seems that not being in the same city as Qiao Ruige can make him relax a bit.

But I didn't expect that when I returned to the small town, I would actually talk about Qiao Ruige, and even discuss his wedding and how much gift money to give him. I really couldn't escape.

Eight thousand eight hundred and eighty, thinking of the number negotiated by his parents, Wu Xia felt distressed again.

The old couple are used to being thrifty, and they are reluctant to throw away even the cotton quilts they have had for many years. When it comes to making a red envelope for Qiao Ruige, they are willing to set the amount to a figure that they would never even dare to think about.

Usually, when relatives and friends celebrate birthdays or hold wedding banquets, sending five or six hundred yuan is beyond the sky.

Wu Xia was glad that he didn't let his parents know that Qiao Ruige took [-] yuan to help them settle Li Er. They all thought that after Li Er hurt someone, he felt guilty and didn't dare to ask for anything, so the matter was over.They all thought that Qiao Ruige's kindness to their family was just to help him block the black stick and save his life.

If they knew that they still owed Qiao Ruige a hundred thousand...

There was a wry smile on the corner of Wu Xia's mouth, he really wished that Qiao Ruige hadn't saved him that day.

Wu Xia took only one sip of the cigarette and stopped smoking. He coughed intermittently, and the cigarette burned slowly between his fingers.

Upstairs came the voice of Wu's mother: "Oh, you are dying, you are still smoking after coughing like this, please pinch it!"

As soon as Wu Xia moved her fingers, Mother Wu stuck her head out from the upstairs window and pointed at him: "I saw it, the smell of smoke can be smelled upstairs, why don't you pinch it?"

Wu Xia sat up straight and extinguished the remaining half of the cigarette on the ground.

As the Spring Festival approached, primary and secondary schools were already on holiday, and Jiang Miao received several text messages from Jiang Yan, urging him to fulfill the agreement and publish a statement in the newspaper.

Jiang Miao sometimes didn't reply, and sometimes replied "It's not time yet".

Probably his obvious perfunctory attitude annoyed Jiang Yan. One day Jiang Yan called directly, and he gritted his teeth on the phone and threatened: "If you don't publish the newspaper again, I will send the photos to the design institute. Post one a day, do you think it will be more effective?"

Jiang Miao said calmly: "If you want to do this, then I can only move back to Jiang's house immediately."

Jiang Yan never expected that his older brother, who was silent and conceded to him most of the time, would threaten him in turn. He was speechless for a long time before he burst out a word: "You!"

Jiang Miao hung up the phone.

On February 2 of this year, the weather was fine and windy, and the weather forecast would rain in the evening, with the lowest temperature being minus 2 degrees.

This day is three days away from New Year's Eve, and it seems to be no different from usual. Those who go to work, those who are on vacation, those who are happy to buy new year's goods, and those who have bought tickets to go home, everyone is busy on their own.

No one pays special attention to this day.

Only for some people, looking back afterwards, they realize that on this day, a major event that can change the fate of a lifetime happened.

This morning Jiang Miao got up, had breakfast, sat at the table and stared at the calendar on the phone for a while.

Luo Yuchuan came out of the study with a bag in his hand, and while putting on his coat, he came over and patted him on the shoulder: "What are you thinking about?"

"Ah, it's nothing, do you want to go?"

"Well, are you going out? Send you off."

Jiang Miao shook her head: "No, I won't go out today."

As the new year is approaching, Wang Li was very considerate and did not arrange work for him and Hu Chengjie, saying that it was only the first year, and let them enjoy the Spring Festival holiday first.Jiang Miao always felt that there was a deep meaning behind this sentence, as if it foreshadowed that there would never be such a leisurely time during the Spring Festival holiday in the future.

He was free, but Luo Yuchuan had to go to work, and the end of the year was the busiest time.

Luo Yuchuan put on his coat and carried his bag on his back. Jiang Miao took the initiative to go over. Luo Yuchuan hugged him, lowered his head, pressed a kiss on his lips, and touched his head: "Be good at home, I'm leaving."

Jiang Miao also nodded obediently: "Be careful on the road."

Luo Yuchuan took the car keys and went out.

Jiang Miao stood for a while, then turned around and cleared the table, took the dishes into the kitchen and washed them clean. When he came out of the kitchen, he looked at the clock on the wall, it was [-]:[-], then he went into the bedroom, and when he came out, he changed out of the clothes he had gone out with. .

Jiang Miao lied to Luo Yuchuan.

He went out and took a taxi. When it was almost nine o'clock, the taxi stopped outside the Jiangjia villa complex.

The end of the year is a time of intensive meetings in various companies, but Jiang Ze'an, the boss, didn't go to the company today. He got up early, ate some breakfast, and went into the study.

He was waiting for Jiang Miao.

Two days ago, he received a call from Jiang Miao, saying that he would come back to talk to him, Jiang Ze'an was both surprised and happy.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival last year, a friend of his in the business field suffered a heart attack. If the rescue was not timely, he would have almost died.

That friend was about the same age as him, and after the rest of his life, he felt that time was not forgiving. Fortunately, his son was married and had children, and he was able to inherit his career. Even if he really left, he would have no regrets.

This made Jiang Ze'an suddenly feel a sense of crisis.

He is 58 this year, and he feels that his body is still very healthy, but that friend usually pays attention to maintenance, doesn't he say that a heart attack is a heart attack?What's more, friends have already embraced grandchildren, and the family business has successors, but what about him?The eldest son ran away from home and has not returned, and the younger son is still in his third year of high school. If something happens to him, who will take over the career he has earned through decades of hard work?

Although he kept saying that he would just let Jiang Miao die outside without Jiang Miao's son, but he knew that it was just a moment of anger.

After all, it is his own flesh and blood.

Jiang Zhe'an has a very strong concept of passing on his sons and fathers in his bones. He originally wanted to wait for Jiang Miao's relationship with that man to fade away, and then slowly find a way to bring Jiang Miao home, but his friend's illness made him feel that he could no longer Continue to wait passively.

No one knows when irreversible variables will occur.

But he also knew that if he was asked to talk to Jiang Miao directly, he was afraid that there would be another quarrel and break up.He couldn't do it if he was asked to give in and accept that Jiang Miao liked men.

He thought about a lot of ideas, but was finally rejected by himself.

Going to the small southwest town to find Zhang Mian and asking him to persuade Jiang Miao was the most likely and safest step for him.

It's a pity that Zhang Mian looked like an honest and talkative person, but he was actually a lump of elm, and this step failed after all.

As a result, Jiang Miao actually took the initiative to call him and said that he would come back to talk to him. Jiang Zhe'an was very happy. He thought it was a signal that Jiang Miao was finally willing to compromise with him.

Bao Yanlin dressed up early in the morning and prepared to go out for a big purchase last year. As soon as she went down the stairs, the nanny brought someone in from the front hall. She took a look and was shocked immediately. She rushed up to block the man: "You How did you come back?!"

Jiang Miao looked at her, but said nothing.

On the other hand, the nanny said, "He has an appointment with Mr. Jiang."

Bao Yanlin was shocked.

She knew that Jiang Ze'an didn't go to the company today, saying that he was waiting for someone to talk about things at home, but she never thought that the person Jiang Ze'an was waiting for was Jiang Miao.

She glared at Jiang Miao with wide eyes, as if this would make Jiang Miao retreat.

Jiang Miao took a step sideways, avoided her and walked upstairs. This was also his home, and he didn't need anyone to lead the way.

Bao Yanlin hurriedly stretched out her hand to pull him, but Jiang Miao gave way, and Bao Yanlin only grabbed his sleeve.

She gritted her teeth and said, "You can't go up."

The nanny looked distressed by the side, but she didn't dare to say anything.

Jiang Miao looked at Bao Yanlin's bright nails on his sleeve, then looked up upstairs, and said, "Are you trying to get my dad down?"

Bao Yanlin was flustered and angry. Jiang Miao had already entered the door. It didn't matter whether he went upstairs or not, but she had nothing to do except grab his sleeve.

"You can't go up." She could only repeat angrily.

Suddenly there was the sound of the door opening upstairs, Bao Yanlin was taken aback, and let go of her hand.

After a while, Jiang Zhe'an appeared on the stairs, looked down at them, his eyes stopped on Jiang Miao, and said, "Come up."

Bao Yanlin couldn't help shouting: "Ze'an!"

Jiang Ze'an looked at her: "Aren't you going shopping? If you want to go, go early."

After he finished speaking, he turned around and went back to the study.

Jiang Miao didn't look at Bao Yanlin anymore, and stepped up the stairs to go upstairs, and the nanny quickly followed.

Bao Yanlin's carefully powdered face seemed to be unable to cover her ugly complexion. She stomped her feet angrily, turned and walked to the side, took out her mobile phone and dialed a number. When the call was connected, she lowered her voice and said angrily. Said: "Hurry up and go home, Jiang Miao is back!"

Jiang Miao entered the study room, and saw that Jiang Zhe'an had already sat down behind the large desk, leaning back against the back of the chair, with his hands folded on his lower abdomen, still showing the air of a cold and dignified father.

The brilliance in his eyes revealed a little bit of Jiang Ze'an's excitement at this moment.

"Sit." Jiang Ze'an raised his chin towards the chair in front of the desk.

Jiang Miao walked over and sat down.

Jiang Ze'an said to the nanny who was following Jiang Miao, "Go and get two cups of tea."

He looked at Jiang Miao: "Do you drink tea or coffee?"

Jiang Miao said, "Anything is fine."

Jiang Ze'an raised his hand to look at his watch, and said to the babysitter, "It's about the same time, so cook a few more of Jiang Miao's favorite dishes at noon, and don't cook shrimp."

Then he looked at Jiang Miao and said, "Let's eat at home at noon."

He was not discussing, but telling Jiang Miao his arrangement.

Jiang Miao shook her head, "No, I still have something to do, so I'll leave after I finish."

The corners of Jiang Ze'an's mouth froze. Jiang Miao's refusal let him down, and his attitude of "let's leave after finishing speaking" made him feel angry again.

But after all, he is the boss, Jiang Zhe'an quickly concealed his emotions, he nodded to the nanny: "Go and pour tea."

After the nanny delivered the tea and closed the door to leave, the father and son in the study were silent for a while.

Jiang Ze'an looked at Jiang Miao. After being away from home for more than a year, Jiang Miao looked pretty good in terms of complexion and mental outlook. His eyes were still so clear, but his temperament seemed to be a little more mature. Maybe it was because he seemed more calm and confident.

This conclusion made Jiang Zhe'an not sure whether he should be relieved or depressed.

What is gratifying is that Jiang Miao lived a very good life after being away from home for more than a year, but it was the same reason that made Jiang Ze'an depressed.

And thinking that Jiang Miao was still in love with that man, Jiang Zhe'an's eyes became a little colder. He thought, maybe Jiang Miao came home frustrated, which was more in line with his expectations.

Jiang Miao also looked at Jiang Ze'an. Jiang Ze'an was obviously old, not because of his gray hair or wrinkles on his face, but because of his demeanor and demeanor.

He watched Jiang Ze'an pick up the teacup and blow the tea leaves on his face, and slowly took a sip of the tea. For the first time, he clearly realized that his father was getting old.

With a sore heart, he lowered his head slightly, waiting for Jiang Ze'an to speak first.

Although he initiated the interview, he knew that Jiang Ze'an would have a lot to ask him, so he was willing to give up the initiative to his father.

"I read the news, you and your friend opened a studio together?" Jiang Ze'an said.

"Yes."

"Where did you get the money?"

"There are investors."

"What did you go looking for?"

"No, she came to find us on her own initiative."

Jiang Ze'an was stunned, obviously surprised: "Take the initiative?"

Jiang Miao said, "Yes, my friend just won an international award last year."

Jiang Ze'an was silent for a moment: "Isn't that overpowering you? Are you a partner or a part-time job?"

Jiang Miao said, "Partner."

Jiang Zhe'an was silent again, Jiang Miao understood his eyes, he was probably saying, "You are not famous and you have no resources, so you are too weak to be a partner."

"Wang always saw my potential," he explained.

He didn't want to say too much, Jiang Ze'an's attitude of doubting that he was "not worth investing in" made him quite hurt.

It has always been like this. In the eyes of others, his affirmed talent has never been on the stage with his father.

Jiang Ze'an asked some questions about the future planning and development of the studio, Jiang Miao answered briefly, and the father and son fell into a brief silence again.

Jiang Ze'an picked up his teacup and took a sip of tea, and then said: "In my opinion, this line of work is still not a career with a serious future. If you want me to be satisfied with your current achievements, or to get recognition from me, I just It's hard to say."

Jiang Miao was a little surprised when he heard it, but he didn't feel very depressed, as if it was normal for him to say these words, and it was not surprising at all.

Jiang Zhe'an added: "But in the end, you are a little bit of progress. You have someone to invest in, and you have a studio to rely on. You don't just shoot some wild models and earn some messy money."

These words made Jiang Miao unable to keep silent.

He raised his head and looked straight into Jiang Ze'an's eyes: "Dad, as I said, those people are not wild models, they are my university alumni, I just help them take photos for friendship, and I make money by my own ability, clean and clean Bai Bai, where is the mess again?"

It's not that he hasn't expressed the same meaning to Jiang Ze'an before, but now he expresses it more directly and forcefully, but Jiang Ze'an doesn't seem to care.

He waved his hand, obviously unwilling to talk further: "You don't need to make excuses, you still haven't let me down, you know it and come back to admit your mistake."

Jiang Miao was stunned, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly, he said, "Dad, you made a mistake, I didn't come back to admit it."

Jiang Ze'an was also stunned. He looked at Jiang Miao, his face turned cold: "What do you mean? You didn't admit your mistake, so what are you going to talk to me about when you come back?"

Jiang Miao stood up, took out her mobile phone, tapped on it for a while, put it on the desk, turned around, and pushed it in front of Jiang Ze'an.

Jiang Ze'an lowered his head in doubt.

On the phone interface, it was the candid photo that Jiang Yan sent to Jiang Miao.

Jiang Ze'an looked up at Jiang Miao in surprise.

Jiang Miao said calmly, "You can turn back, there are several more."

Jiang Zhe'an hesitated for a few seconds, reached out and clicked on the phone screen, and looked back at a few photos. The more he looked at him, the darker his face became, and his brows became more and more wrinkled.