CH 23

Jian Xingsui said, "If there's nothing wrong, then just fill it out for me. I still have to fill in other questions."

"Oh..." An Ran's mood was quite complicated. He tentatively said, "Then will mom and dad... Oh no, will uncle and aunt come to see you?"

Jian Xingsui was not sure, he said, "They might come."

An Ran smiled: "That's good too. You guys haven't seen each other for a long time. So they probably are missing you as well."

Jian Xingsui thought, if they will indeed come, then it should be because they missed you. It was unknown whether they would really come to see him or not.

But he didn't need to talk about this kind of thing, so he just waited quietly for An Ran to fill out the form and took it over, and said, "Thank you."

Just as he was about to leave, An Ran behind him said, "Wait!"

Jian Xingsui turned around to look at him.

An Ran stood there, as if a little tangled, and finally said, "Brother Jian Xingsui, maybe my father and brothers will come to see me in two days, you guys..."

Jian Xingsui stopped in place.

It turned out that if the pain had been extreme, the body will still have a memory no matter what. When An Ran said this, his heart ached involuntarily. The memory of father Jian in his mind only remained of that day when he was standing in his room using cold words and throwing the cheque at him.

In fact, sometimes, of course, he also recalled some other things. For example, when he was really young, his father would take their family out for a spring outing. He would hold himself in one hand and his brother in the other. And his mother would cook his favorite dishes for him, the eldest brother would buy him the latest toys, and the second brother would come to his room to sing to him on rainy days.

Their family used to be very good.

But later, as he grew up, his own stupidity became unbearable, until he entered the same class as An Ran in junior high school. He didn't know when everything changed. It was like he opened the halo of cannon fodder after meeting An Ran. Then gradually, everyone around him was disappointed with him for even a smallest thing.

He also wanted to work hard and become the pride of his family, but he was always messing up things, at least in the eyes of others. Some things were not something that could be grasped. Over the years, he had lived so ignorantly, like a stick, obviously already feeling the pressure, but still unwilling to bend down and let go, and in the end he could only be smashed to pieces.

He knows that.

"Why are you telling me about this?" When Jian Xingsui turned around again, his eyes were calm: "I have nothing to do with them anymore."

An Ran choked.

This seemed to be the answer he wanted, but it also wasn't.

Looking at the back of Jian Xingsui's departure, he felt inexplicably that this person seemed to be different from before, and would never be the same again.

...

Next day,

The program team started recording. Because the stage performance would not be recorded for the time being, so the program team arranged a task for everyone, that is, to call their parents in front of the camera. The purpose was to see how everyone's parents would react when they haven't seen their children for a month.

Before making the call, the staff member also came over and asked, "I'll interview you guys a bit, how do you think your parents will react when they get on the phone?"

The contestants responded differently.

Shen Xingchen: "That's so obvious, they would of course, miss me."

Ning Ze said succinctly: "They will motivate me to work hard."

Li Xu'an smiled: "They should miss me very much, and then they will tell me something else such as to eat more."

An Ran also showed a moved expression: "I think it's enough as long as I can talk to my parents. To be honest, I miss them so much after being out for so long."

The staff turned the camera to Jian Xingsui and said, "What about you?"

Jian Xingsui didn't expect to get pointed by the camera.

Facing the camera, he smiled slightly awkwardly: "I can't guess this either."

The staff laughed and let him go in the end, but the more this happened, the more curious everyone would be. Then someone came in and handed the box with the phone to everyone: "There are five minutes now, please take this opportunity to call your parents and have a good conversation."

After everyone got their phones, they started making calls.

Shen Xingchen was the first one. He dialed the phone and heard a low-pitched male voice. Father Shen said, "Is something wrong?"

"Hey, Dad." Shen Xingchen tried to remain calm but at last couldn't hide his excitement: "It's me, your son!"

Father Shen: "Why, did you get into trouble again?"

The audience watching in the live broadcast room was laughing crazily.

Shen Xingchen let out a "tsk" and couldn't maintain his expression: "Dad, what are you talking about, I miss you, we have an event here in two days, you know, bring my brother to see me, this is this the only chance you'll get to see me for a few months!"

"..."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

Shen Xingchen was very proud: "What happened, are you very happy?"

"Just a few months?" Father Shen seemed to sigh, "I thought I would be able to live in peace for more time."

?

Shen Xingchen's eyes widened.

The audience in the live broadcast room was amused by the father and son's reaction. Although President Shen seemed to dislike his son, his words were full of doting, which made people laugh and envious.

Then there were other contestants.

Ning Ze's parents really cared about him and told him to work hard.

Then An Ran called, and father Jian who answered the phone was equally gentle: "Ran Ran, we all watched your live broadcast, you did a good job, we are all proud of you, don't worry and don't be afraid of anyone! You have your family's backing!"

The words brought tears to An Ran's eyes.1

The audience in the live broadcast room was also moved.

Almost everyone was taking the opportunity to express their feelings. Everone was happy and seemed to having one of the best times of their life finally being able to talk with their parents and getting their blessings. Only Jian Xingsui was sitting on the side. He was continuously dialing the phone, but the phone couldn't get through. 

One minute, Two minutes and now, Three minutes had passed. When everyone else was already concluding their loving conversations with their parents Jian Xingsui was always getting a cold mechanical voice in stead: "I'm sorry, the user you called is temporarily unavailable..."

Jian Xingsui still.......wanted to try. Just this once, please pick it up. Please..... Please

"I'm sorry, the user you called is temporarily unavailable..."

.........

The staff's camera was facing Jian Xingsui: "What's the matter, no one picked up?"

Jian Xingsui looked up at the camera and didn't know what to say. His hand on his lap tightened unconsciously. He lowered his eyes to cover up the gloom in his eyes, and forced a smile: "Well, they should be busy."

Were they really that busy?

No one knew.

In the past five minutes, all the contestants were chatting with their family members, only Jian Xingsui sat there without saying a word. He could only listen and feel from others how it felt like to have a parents.....a loving parents which he would probably never experience again.

Finally, when the recording was over, the program team was going to take back the phone. Just when Jian Xingsui was about to return the phone, the phone suddenly vibrated, and then the bell rang. He hesitated for a while, wondering whether to pick it up or not because the five minutes have passed.

The staff member smiled gently: "It's okay, you can receive it."

Jian Xingsui hesitated: "But the regulations..."

"It's okay, the rules are meant to be broken." The staff pointed to the corner where no one was around: "Go there, just give me the phone after calling."

That staff had never seen someone be so helpless and miserable.

Jian Xingsui then picked up the phone and walked away.

The staff looked at his back and sighed. It wasn't that he was willing to make an exception for Jian Xingsui. The main reason was that when the child just sat there, although he tried his best to restrain himself, the look in his eyes was so heartbreaking.

...

The other side.

Jian Xingsui answered the phone hesitantly, "Hello."

Father Zhang said, "Hey, is it Xing Sui? I was busy in the store just now, so I didn't hear it."

Jian Xingsui said quickly, "It's alright."

Although he was indeed really angry and a little emotional when he had left the house at that time, after a month, his anger from that time had long since disappeared. Seeing other people's parents taking such care of their children, he was vaguely looking forward to it, wondering if the Zhang couple would be able to give him some warmth too.

He waited for a while, and heard Father Zhang say, "Are you alright there?"

A smile slowly appeared on Jian Xingsui's face, and he said, "I'm good."

"Ok then, tell me how is Ran Ran? Is he okay? How's he eating?" Mother Zhang came over from the side: "Did he have a hard time? I watched the live broadcast and he seemed to have lost a bit of weight."

Jian Xingsui's hand tightened while holding the phone.

Was An Ran tired?

Maybe...

But wasn't he tired?

For practicing for a single performance, he lost five or six pounds, but who noticed that?

Jian Xingsui said stiffly, "He's okay, he's really okay."

Mother Zhang sighed: "That's good, then I can rest assured. I'm always worried about that child. By the way, Xing Sui, why are you calling us?"

Things had gotten till here, Jian Xingsui didn't want to invite them to visit at all. So he made a random reason: "It's nothing, the program team wanted to fill in the blood types of our parents, what blood types are you guys?"

Father Zhang blurted out and thought about it: "Oh, Type B"

Jian Xingsui frowned unconsciously: "Type B? But I'm A?"

"..."

There was dead silence on the other end of the phone.