Chapter 65
The two arrived at the door and saw it was open, with Yang Jiabo’s loud scolding coming from inside.
"Enough." Yang Jiabo always found it hard to stay calm when facing Li Guizhen, easily agitated. After being nagged for so long, he couldn’t hold back anymore.
Li Guizhen was stunned by his shout, her eyes reddening as tears streamed down. "I’m your mother. How dare you yell at me?"
Yang Jiabo looked at her pitiful appearance as she cried and wiped her tears, but his heart remained numb, he had seen this scene too many times. Suppressing his emotions, he spoke as calmly as possible: "You and Dad are impossible. Crying won’t change anything. I’ll give you the alimony on time, but I don’t want to say anything more."
"Jiajia, is something wrong over there?" Wei Feng called from the doorway.
"It’s nothing." Yang Jiabo walked to the door, forcing his expression to soften. "Why are you here?"
"We heard the arguing and came to check." Wei Feng glanced at Li Guizhen, who sat with her back to them. "Aunt Li, if you have something to say to Jiajia, say it properly. At your age, you need to control your temper, getting too worked up isn’t good for your health."
Li Guizhen felt too embarrassed to face Wei Feng, a junior, and found his words unpleasant, so she simply pretended not to hear him.
"Sorry for worrying you. I still have things to handle, so you can go back first," Yang Jiabo said awkwardly.
"Then we’ll leave. Call us if you need anything." Wei Feng turned to Li Guizhen again. "Aunt Li, I’m leaving. Take care of yourself."
"Mhm." Li Guizhen responded dismissively.
Dr. Chen gave an awkward smile and nudged Wei Feng to leave. After they were gone, the sound of crying grew louder inside. Yang Jiabo closed the door directly, sat back in his original spot, and watched Li Guizhen coldly without a word.
"Wuu… I’m your mother, you unfilial son. I shouldn’t have given birth to you in the first place." Li Guizhen repeated these same phrases, hoping Yang Jiabo would comfort her so she could take the opportunity to dismount the donkey on the slope. But he ignored her completely. Thinking of her lonely life now, she was overwhelmed with sorrow. She regretted everything and wanted to make amends, to have the family live together again.
[借坡下驴 (jiè pō xià lǘ): lit. Dismount the donkey on the slope; fig. Take the opportunity to back down or withdraw gracefully.]
Li Guizhen was a selfish person who never believed she was at fault—or if she was, she thought she could just change and everything would be fine. She never considered whether her family could forgive her or accept living with her again.
"If I had a choice, I wouldn’t want to be your son either." Yang Jiabo’s tone was so cold it sent a chill down Li Guizhen’s spine.
Li Guizhen was both furious and heartbroken. She couldn’t understand why Yang Jiabo was treating her this way, grieving over her son’s lack of filial piety and care.
Yang Jiabo suppressed his irritation and spoke as evenly as possible: "Some things, once missed, are gone forever. Instead of clinging to regrets and trying to reclaim the past, you’d be better off starting fresh, finding someone new, and living well. Even if you forced Dad to reconcile, what good would it do? The past is an insurmountable barrier, the rift in our hearts won’t disappear."
No matter how much Yang Jiabo disliked Li Guizhen, she was still his mother. He couldn’t bring himself to hurt her. Seeing her so deluded and confused, he couldn’t help but offer a few words of advice.
"You—"
Li Guizhen opened her mouth to say something, but just then, Yang Jianguo returned. As soon as he entered, he shot Yang Jiabo a worried glance. Seeing that he was fine, his furrowed brow relaxed slightly. He turned to Li Guizhen impatiently. "Why are you here?"
"I came to see you and Jiajia, and to discuss something with you." Li Guizhen wiped her tears, her tone uncharacteristically gentle.
"We’re doing fine, and there’s nothing left to say between us. You should leave."
Yang Jianguo’s immediate dismissal made Li Guizhen start crying again. Frowning, he glanced at Yang Jiabo worriedly and said, "Jiajia, I can’t leave right now. Go check on the restaurant for me."
"Okay." Yang Jiabo agreed readily and stood to leave. Though he was already in charge of the restaurant, Yang Jianguo’s request was clearly just to send him away. He stopped by the neighbor’s first to reassure Wei Feng before leisurely heading toward the restaurant.
Watching him leave, Wei Feng sighed. "Every family has a difficult scripture to recite."
[家家有本难念的经 (jiā jiā yǒu běn nán niàn de jīng): lit. Every family has a difficult scripture to recite; fig. Every family has its own troubles.]
"Time erases all past suffering." Dr. Chen seemed lost in thought, as if recalling something.
Wei Feng figured Dr. Chen might be thinking about the past and didn’t disturb him. Instead, he took out his phone and texted Wei Jing. He and Yang Jiabo had lost contact for years, and since he’d be recuperating here for a while, he needed to ask his brother for more information.
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