Chapter 3

Who is still sending me a message so late? Muttering quietly, I walked to the bed and picked up the phone. It turned out to be a message from my father.

“Victor, take some time to come to the company tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Dad has something to tell you.”

When did Dad become so mysterious? If there is something, can’t he just call me, or come to my mother to admit his mistakes openly? I believe my mother will definitely forgive him. But since my father contacted me, it was a good sign. I quickly replied, “Got it, Dad.”

Then he asked again on WeChat, “Dad, why didn’t you come back tonight?”

A moment later, my father’s message came, “I’m at your aunt’s house! Don’t play with your phone so late, go to bed early.”

“I’ll go to bed soon.” I typed four words and sent them with a grinning emoticon. My father didn’t reply.

Put down the phone, lie on the bed with my hands on my head. I kept thinking in my head, what would my father ask me to do in the company, let me contact the company in advance? Occasionally, I would go to my father’s company, but not often. He was afraid of affecting my studies, and I was afraid of affecting his business, so I didn’t know much about the specific situation in the company.

Hey, I’m so stupid! Isn’t it obvious? Dad is a company boss, so he can’t bow his head. So he wants me to be the peacemaker between him and mom. I thought about this simple logic for a long time, but I thought that as long as my parents can get along, I am happy to help.

It was already ten o’clock, but I still didn’t feel sleepy. I thought that it was normal to stay up until twelve o’clock at night when I was in school, and it was normal not to be able to sleep now. Since I couldn’t sleep, I tried to send a message to Sophia. Unexpectedly, she was still awake like me and replied to me quickly.

“I have something to tell you. I discussed it with my parents tonight and they agreed that I can study abroad in Canada.”

“That’s a good thing. Your wish can come true.” I affirmed it first, then copied a link and sent it to him. “I checked some information about studying abroad this afternoon. I don’t know if it’s useful. I sent you the link. You can check it out first.”

“You just said it this afternoon. You are really concerned. You have done the work so quickly.”

“Of course, I am your boyfriend, so of course I have to prepare in advance.”

“Then will you accompany me to study abroad?”

“This...”

“Why, I don’t want to.”

“I will talk to my parents tomorrow and see how they react.”

“What if my uncle and aunt don’t agree?” There was a worried expression at the end of the message.

This matter really made me scratch my head. In my heart, I was not very willing to study abroad, but I don’t know why Sophia was so stubborn. It was said that a distant cousin of hers went abroad to get gilded and came back to become a senior executive of a large company, which touched her. But I am different. I have no feelings for foreign countries, and I think that the group of people who go abroad are more divided into two levels. One is the top students who mainly study, and the other is the people who failed the college entrance examination and have to go abroad to get a job. “This matter is indeed not something that can be done by talking. I think I should try my best to convince them.” At this juncture, I don’t know whether they agree to my going abroad or not, so I typed and sent it to them.

“Well, then you have to convince them as soon as possible.” Then Sophia sent another message below, “I found the class teacher, Teacher Zhang, and got the WeChat of a senior who is also studying in Canada. He just happened to be on vacation and returned to China recently. I plan to take some time to ask about his situation there.”

When I saw the word senior, I said worriedly, “A man? Why don’t you find a senior sister?”

“Why, you are worried.” I got a white eye expression, and then Sophia said, “Then why don’t you ask for me.” After that, Sophia pushed I sent a business card to her, “I’ll give you my senior’s WeChat first, you can add him and chat with him more, and ask him more about the situation in Canada.”

“Okay, I’ll ask him in the next few days.”

Sophia replied quickly, “Well, after you ask, I hope we can go to the school together next week to handle the procedures.”

“There’s still time, don’t be too anxious.”

“That’s it for now, I’m going to sleep.”

It was her bedtime, I was used to it, so I sent her a love as usual, and then said good night to Sophia.

I was going to sleep, but I still couldn’t sleep, so I simply took the phone back, looked at the business card Sophia sent, and added it after a few clicks. I didn’t expect that the senior was not asleep either, and he accepted it in a while. I’ve heard that students in college are all night owls who go to bed late, and it’s true.

I politely sent a smiley face and said hello to the other party. After waiting for a while, the other party didn’t reply, so I said that I was also a student of Mr. Zhang of No. 8 Middle School, and gave my name, and wanted to ask the senior about studying abroad.

The senior was also very polite. Seeing that I typed Mr. Zhang’s name, he thought that I didn’t add it casually, so he also replied to me and gave his own name - Ryan.

Seeing the senior’s name, I quickly typed a string of words and sent it out, “Hello Ryan!”

What I received was, “You’re welcome, junior.”

Then I politely said that I wanted to consult about studying abroad, and the senior said that he was happy to accept me as a junior, so I briefly greeted him on WeChat, talked about the current situation of No. 8 Middle School, the situation of substitute teachers, and my college entrance examination results, which was considered to be a preliminary approach to get closer.

He responded to every message, and the chat was quite natural. I asked him to have dinner tomorrow to learn more about studying abroad. The senior student agreed without refusing ... When traveling far away, I like to have someone I know in a foreign place, let alone going abroad. It should save a lot of trouble to have a senior student in a country where I am unfamiliar with. After the chat, I put down my phone and went to bed.

The next morning, my mother got up earlier than me. I originally planned to visit her in her bedroom after getting up, fearing that she still had troubles and wanted to care about her, but seeing my mother’s smiling face, I thought that my mother should be fine, so I didn’t say these words.

My mother was preparing breakfast, and her simple and elegant home clothes made her soft figure look quite soft.

“Mom, good morning.” I greeted my mother habitually.

“Get up, Victor, why don’t you sleep a little longer.” My mother put down the freshly squeezed soy milk and replied with a smile. She might be thinking that the college entrance examination was over, why did she get up so early.

“Didn’t mom say that it’s a good habit to go to bed early and get up early...” In fact, mom doesn’t like me to sleep in, thinking that it’s a sign of laziness. I replied calmly and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

After a while, the mother and son started to sit at the dining table to eat breakfast. Mom’s hands are very skillful, and she can make any ingredients into a variety of patterns. I kept praising her cooking skills, but she just smiled and ate a piece of bread in small bites.

“Mom, I have something ... I want to tell you...” After drinking the rest of the soy milk, I organized my words. Because I had to go to see that senior in the morning, and I really wanted to ask my mother, so I thought it would be better to confess this matter to my mother as soon as possible.

“What’s the matter?” Mom saw me staring at her and asked curiously, “You child, tell me if you have anything.”

“Mom, I ... If I choose to study abroad, is it okay?” I said this sentence in a low voice.

When my mother heard the news, she must have felt a little sad. Her lips were obviously trembling as she drank the soy milk. She wiped her bright red lips with a napkin, then put down the cup and asked a puzzled question, “Why do you want to go abroad? There are so many troubles abroad, how is it better than in China?”

“But I’m not sure yet, I just want to hear your opinion...” I felt that my mother seemed to be in a bad mood, and added nervously.

“Didn’t mom say last night that no matter what your choice is, mom supports you.” This time, mom and I finished eating, and then sat down to talk. She spoke first, “It’s just that studying abroad is something that needs to be done carefully. It’s not only related to your studies, but also to your future path. Moreover, you are unfamiliar with the place abroad. What if something goes wrong...”

A mother worries about her son even when he is thousands of miles away. I just mentioned it, and my mother has thrown out so much. It can be seen that from the bottom of her heart, my mother probably doesn’t want me to go abroad.

“Victor, have you made up your mind? If you must go abroad, mom can’t stop you, after all, you have grown up.”

Seeing my mother in a dilemma, I couldn’t help asking myself, do I want to go abroad? It’s really hard to answer, and it feels like it’s harder than the soul-searching question - who should I save first if my mother and wife fall into the water.

“Not yet, I’m just asking, don’t worry, mom, I won’t go abroad.” Facing my mother who was full of melancholy at this time, I could only answer like this.

“Mom doesn’t have to stop you, but it’s just whether it’s necessary. Otherwise, you can ask your dad again and see what his attitude is.” Mom stared at me and asked again after a while, “Which country do you want to study abroad? Do you have any preliminary intentions?” Mom has behaved very normally, but she still can’t hide the look of loss on her face. I’m afraid that every mother can’t remain indifferent when her beloved only son wants to go abroad.

“If I choose, I might go to Canada. The environment there is good, and there are many Chinese people ... But I’m still considering the school.” Looking at my mother, I told her what Sophia said to me.

My mother was a little worried when she heard it, “Going to Canada is so far away. You are only 18 years old. You don’t know anyone there. And the news says that country is not very friendly to Chinese people. Mom is a little worried...”

From the perspective of a mother, my mother’s analysis is indeed more rational than mine, but I still patiently told her, “Nowadays, planes are very convenient, and there are direct flights from Hefei to Canada. It takes a day to come back. As for the country’s human relations, don’t worry too much. They are also a country that respects the law. I, a student, will not break the law if I go abroad to study. The most important thing is that I will not have people I know to study with me...” I just answered my mother’s words normally at the beginning, but at the end, I was a little mysterious to her.

This really aroused my mother’s curiosity. When she heard that I knew someone who was going abroad with me, she became alert and made an expression that asked me to tell the truth, “Hmm? Are you hiding something from me? Tell me now...” “Then I’ll tell you, don’t be surprised...” I looked up at my mother and just met her rolling eyes. She looked very dissatisfied with my behavior of keeping it a secret. Whether I would study abroad or not was uncertain, but it was necessary to tell my mother about Sophia. I thought that I would tell my mother sooner or later anyway, so I might as well tell her about Sophia now, so I confessed to my mother, “Your son has a girlfriend, and she wants to go abroad to study.” When I said this, I was still very nervous. As expected, when my good son, who had always been studying hard, suddenly said that he had a girlfriend, my mother had to be very surprised and showed an exaggerated expression. At first, the expression was just disgusted with me for not telling her earlier, and then my mother started to check the household registration like all parents, asking me about various situations of my girlfriend.

“What’s her name?” “Where is she from?” “How old is she?” “How did you meet?” and so on. Mom didn’t mind asking a lot of questions.

I had to slowly introduce Sophia to her. I met her in junior high school, we gradually developed a good impression of each other in high school, and finally we became good friends. Then Sophia wanted me to go abroad with her ... I told her everything. Of course, I skipped the details. I wasn’t stupid enough to describe those more private things in front of my mother.

“So it’s Sophia, your deskmate, right? Mom has seen her. That little girl is pretty. My son is very discerning this time.” Sophia has always been my deskmate. I occasionally mentioned her to my mother, and she has seen her at parent-teacher conferences, so when I mentioned her, she remembered her.