35 : Im annoyed

 Chen Zhoumu was a little stunned by the sudden three questions. The people in front had already gone far away, and now only the two of them and some staff were in the lobby and backstage.

The stage lights were still on, and some of the light shone backstage, just enough to make their facial expressions clear.

Song Shi still had his hands in his pockets and quietly looked at him after asking the questions. This was the first time he had treated someone like this. He

took the initiative to make peace, asking about his dissatisfaction, even if he didn't know why the other person was like this.

If he didn't explain this time, then the two of them would never be able to talk, Chen Zhoumu had a strong premonition of this.

Sure enough, after the two looked at each other for a while, Song Shi, who was standing in front, frowned a little impatiently, and then turned around and left without hesitation.

There was a familiar pulling sensation on his arm. He didn't know how many times the other person had grabbed his hand.

Song Shi didn't continue to walk forward, and didn't say anything with his back to him.

A moment later, a voice came from behind. Chen Zhoumu's voice was a little hoarse from the fever he had last night: "I'm not angry, I'm not sulking."

He turned around to look at Chen Zhoumu, whose eyes were lowered. He hadn't slept well last night, so his eyelids were drooping and slightly pink.

Song Shi looked at him and suddenly felt a headache coming on. The usually talkative and unserious man now had a hint of grievance on his face.

He wasn't good at comforting people, and the fact that he took the initiative to talk to the other person was already a big favor. He would hardly care about anyone else.

But this morning, when he saw the other person's lonely figure standing in front of him, he softened and gave him a way out.

After a while, Song Shi finally spoke: "Can we turn the page?"

Chen Zhoumu pursed his lips, and for some reason, he impulsively reached out and hugged the person in front of him, smelling the lingering scent of his gardenias.

Then, with a muffled laugh, he said, "Yes, if Song says yes, then yes."

Song Shi was stunned by the sudden hug, and after half a second, he reacted and pushed the other away, saying, "Stand still."

"Why didn't you come with me this morning? I was almost late, and I forgot to write my self-criticism. You have to take responsibility for me." Chen Zhoumu didn't seem to have any emotion after being pushed away, but he still held onto the other's hand tightly.

The stage lights snapped off, and the staff not far backstage were about to leave. The two followed behind them and walked out of the back door of the lobby.

Feeling their clasped hands, Song Shi suddenly felt that he shouldn't have given the other a way out. He should have just kept begging to come closer. He was really getting more and more demanding.

The light became brighter as they walked out of the lobby, and Song Shi pulled his hand away. The break between the second and third periods was long, and the bell hadn't rung yet.

The two walked side-by-side back to the classroom from the lobby. After sitting down, Chen Zhoumu spoke again: "How was your meal last night? Did you drink?"

Song Shi turned to look at Chen Zhoumu, who was busily searching for something in his desk, and casually asked the question.

"How did you know?"

"I smelled it last night..."

Song Shi stared at him and chuckled: "Heh, weren't you asleep?"

The person who asked the question paused noticeably, and Chen Zhoumu then remembered that he had stubbornly not replied to Song Shi's messages last night.

He had also heard Song Shi get into bed, but hadn't said a word.

Chen Zhoumu pursed his lips, looked up, and saw Song Shi looking at him expressionlessly, the meaning extremely clear.

He could only chuckle.

Song Shi continued: "Read the messages but didn't reply, pretended to be asleep, Chen Zhoumu, what exactly do you want?"

He lowered his head slightly. What else could he want? He didn't want him to attend Tan Xiuyuan's party, he didn't want to see the two of them together, he didn't want to hear anything about them.

Neither now nor in the past.

But how could he possibly say such things now? He could only make up some excuse.

"Well, I think I was just too tired last night, or maybe my brain just went blank... My phone was dead, that's for sure, I only charged it when I got back to the dorm," Chen Zhoumu scratched his head, then looked up at the other person and continued, "I didn't want to bother you guys since you were at that party..."

"..."

The way Chen Zhoumu was racking his brains to make up nonsense reminded him of the dog he used to have when he lived in Guangzhou, the one that wouldn't dare look at him whenever it did something wrong.

That all-white dog was named Shishi, and it belonged to his mother, Zhang Shu. It had been with Song Shi since he was a child, until he died in his first year of high school. The name Shishi was also given

by Zhang Shu. Who would have thought that the well-known scholarly Miss Shu in Guangzhou would name her son Shizi (Persimmon) and her pet dog Shishi?

Thinking of this, Song Shi became a little absent-minded, turning to stare at the other person. He suddenly remembered the first time he saw that dog.

At that time, Song Shi had no friends and no one to accompany him. He had just arrived in Guangzhou from another place, and that day he said it was the first time he had met the father that Zhang Shu mentioned every day.

Song Jinming had married into the Zhang family. In his youth, he had achieved upward social mobility solely through his good looks, and many in the Zhang family were unwilling to let Song Jinming enter their home.

It wasn't until Zhang Shu became pregnant and gave birth to Song Shi, and Song Shi was almost five years old, that Song Jinming was allowed to enter the Zhang family.

The Zhang family treated Song Shi extremely well. At that time, Zhang Shu was the only descendant of the main branch of the Zhang family, and no one dared to say anything, no matter how unwilling they were, because he was Zhang Shu's only son.

From a young age, he was constantly flattered, and everyone wanted to find a connection with him. At that time, the relationship between the main branch and the collateral branches of the Zhang family was not very good.

However, the Zhang family's kindness to Song Shi did not mean that Song Jinming was also on their list of people to curry favor with.

Zhang Shu was not a faithful person. Before she became pregnant with Song Shi, rumors about her were rampant. Although she became much more restrained after having a child, no one knew that perhaps after a while, Song Shi's father would be replaced.

Zhang Shu's parents died early, and from adulthood, she single-handedly raised the entire Zhang family. Everyone admired her; she was a famous heiress from a young age, and everyone wanted a piece of her pie.

Even after she had a child, they kept sending men to her side.

After Zhang Shu's death, all her property went to her first-in-line spouse, Song Jinming.

At that time, Zhang Shu hadn't left a will, leaving Song Shi only the things she had given him before her death; nothing else. From then on, only his dog kept him company.

Perhaps because he had suffered so much mistreatment in the Zhang family, Song Jinming began to reveal his true colors after becoming the heir. Even if other members of the collateral branches tried to interfere, it was to no avail.

Having been by Zhang Shu's side for almost ten years, he understood the Zhang family's situation and began to beat and verbally abuse Song Shi.

Song Jinming unleashed all the humiliation he had suffered in the Zhang family onto Song Shi, who was only eleven years old at the time.

Later, as he grew older, these things gradually eased.

Song Shi, who had been beaten, hid in his room listening to the shouting and cursing outside as things were being smashed. Shi Shi, who was beside him, gently rubbed against his bruises.

Song Jinming and Zhang Shu didn't have a formal wedding ceremony, but they had registered their marriage when Song Shi was a child, though they never publicly acknowledged their relationship.

Shishi was beaten to death by Song Jinming, brutally beaten with a stick. Song Shi, a high school freshman, had just returned from school and hadn't seen that familiar white figure.

The gate to the Zhang family villa opened, and Song Shi glanced at the cleaning lady mopping the floor.

Entering, he saw Song Jinming sitting on the brown sofa, smoking with his eyes half-closed. Song Shi hadn't known he'd be back so early.

Of course, he didn't want to know, so he ignored him and went upstairs. The white figure was nowhere to be seen.

He searched under the bed, behind the sofa, in the bathroom—he turned the room upside down—but Shishi wasn't stupid enough to run away on its own.

Song Shi came downstairs, not even glancing at the person sitting on the sofa, and then asked the aunt standing in the hallway.

The person who answered wasn't the other person, but Song Jinming, who was sitting on the sofa: "Dead."

Song Shi was stunned for a moment, followed the gaze, and then looked at the person wiping the floor. The bloodstains in the tile grout couldn't be wiped away for a long time, staining the white floor red.

Like ink, it seeped into his heart and spread, indelible and impossible to clean.

He suddenly stood up, his tone unusually angry: "Song Jinming!"

"Tsk." Song Jinming stood up, the cigarette still unfinished in his hand, looking down at Song Shi who was looking up.

"I'm your father!"

Immediately, a shadow came from behind Song Shi, someone grabbed his hands, and a sharp pain shot through his groin as his knees slammed heavily into the ground.

Song Jinming threw his cigarette butt in front of him: "You didn't even call me 'father' when you came in, and you dare to yell at me like that."

Then he felt a pulling sensation on his scalp and a strong smell of smoke: "If you weren't my son, you'd be what a dog would be like."

Song Shi couldn't find Shishi's body that day. He later hid in the toilet and smoked for half a day. The burning pain on his face was nothing compared to the pain in his heart at that time.

"To be honest, there was a reason why Song Jinming couldn't get into the Zhang family back then. His appearance was just bad. When the patriarch was still alive, he seemed kind and easygoing, but actually...tsk tsk."

"He could even harm his own son; how vicious is he?"

"The Zhang family's vast wealth is now all in Song Jinming's pocket. I think the patriarch was just unlucky in love. Even if Song Jinming seemed to have no designs on the Zhang family back then, as time went on, isn't he now clinging to them?" "

That kind of person is the most cunning, and he's also a jinx to his wives. If the patriarch looks normal and healthy, who knows, maybe that person was behind his death..."

"Stop talking! If you keep going, do you even want to stay here? This is all part of the Zhang family's affairs; nobody can predict the future."

"Let's go; walls have ears..."

"I've told you everything, and I promise I didn't make anything up!"

Chen Zhoumu stared at Song Shi's sincere reply, one hand resting on the table as usual, looking at him sideways. Then he reached out and poked Song Shi's cheek: "Hmm? Are you listening?" Song Shi snapped

out of his reverie at the poke and looked down at the hand so close to him.

Chen Zhoumu had been talking to himself for almost ten minutes, moved by his own words... but the person who was supposed to hear his explanation hadn't listened to a single word.

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