Chapter 7

I spent the whole night in fear, but my mother not only didn’t hit me, she didn’t even scold me. This situation is really rare. I think this time my mother may not only be angry, but also a little sad.

The next morning, my mother didn’t make breakfast and went to work early. My father grumbled and complained that she lost her temper for no reason, as if she had gone to bed early, and asked me if I had made her angry. Since my mother didn’t mention that to my father, I couldn’t tell the truth. I just said a few perfunctory words and hurried to school.

I spent the whole day in a daze, not knowing how to face my mother next.

I know my mother’s temper. She is a very stubborn type. When she gets angry, she beats me up, which is not bad. I am most afraid of her playing the cold war without saying a word. Last year, I had a fight with someone and refused to admit my fault. She was so angry that she didn’t talk to me for a month. In the end, I had to say all the nice things to coax her into talking.

This time, uh ... it seems to be much more serious than last time.

The next two days were just as I expected. My mother had a cold face and didn’t say a word. Occasionally she glanced at me, but she quickly looked away as if she had seen a cockroach.

Growing up, I was always my mother’s beloved son. I selfishly thought that I was the person she loved most in the world, even more than my father. This was the first time I saw such a disgusted look in her eyes. I couldn’t help but feel sad and depressed. I was really afraid that my mother didn’t love me anymore. I wanted to apologize, a sincere apology, but I didn’t know how to start.

I spent four days in fear until Saturday afternoon when school was over. When I walked out of the school gate, Alexander bumped into me and motioned me to look ahead. I looked up and was delighted to find that my mother’s car was parked on the side of the road. She was sitting in the driver’s seat, one hand on the steering wheel, the other hand on the open window frame, with a frog-eye mirror on her nose, looking at me expressionlessly.

Seeing my mother at this time was like sunshine, and the haze that had been covering me for several days instantly dissipated. I didn’t bother to say goodbye to Alexander, and quickly ran to the car window, bowed slightly, and said in a flattering manner: “Greetings to Mom.”

Mom pushed up her sunglasses, looked down at me, and motioned for me to get in the car. I happily sat in the passenger seat, looking at Mom’s fair face. Although she still had a frost on her face, I was almost happy in my heart. She was willing to pick me up from school, which meant that she had already planned to forgive me.

“Oh, my dear mother, I haven’t seen you for a few days. You have become more beautiful.” I said in surprise.

My mother glanced at me sideways, said nothing, and started the car. I was about to continue to flatter her, but when I looked over my mother’s shoulder, I saw a familiar figure standing across the street. It was the girl who framed me on the bus.

“Mom, it’s her! Stop the car! Stop the car!” I shouted.

My mother was startled, stepped on the brakes, turned her head and glared at me: “You are sick.”

I pointed across the street and explained, “It was her. It was the girl who framed me.”

When my mother looked in the direction of my finger, the girl had already disappeared in the crowd of people leaving school. After searching around but not finding her, my mother frowned and said, “There are so many people here, who are you talking about?”

I didn’t bother to explain, I opened the car door and jumped out, ran to the opposite side and frantically searched for her, but unfortunately there were classmates going home after school all around, and I couldn’t find her after searching for a long time. I returned to the car frustratedly, and my mother glared at me and asked, “Where is she?”

“I ... she ran away.” I frowned and said aggrievedly.

“Don’t try that on me.”

I originally wanted to explain, but when I saw my mother’s unhappy face, I swallowed the words back.

The car started and left the school. After turning two streets, I realized that the route was wrong, so I asked my mother where to go. She looked straight ahead and ignored me. When we arrived at our destination, a garden community, I looked left and right and asked cautiously again: “Mom, why did you bring me here?”

Mom still didn’t speak.

“Mom, you don’t want me anymore, do you? Do you want to sell me off?”

My mother glared at me impatiently and said, “Why are you talking so much nonsense? You’ll be suffocated if I don’t talk.”

Under any other circumstances I would have started making jokes a long time ago, but now I was really scared, so I quickly shrank my neck and shut my mouth.

After the car was stable, I followed my mother into a villa, where a middle-aged woman greeted us. My mother chatted with her in a low voice for a few words, and then asked me to follow her into a room. The room was large and bright, decorated very uniquely, with a sofa and recliner in the middle. I realized that my mother had brought me to see a psychologist.

The middle-aged woman asked me to lie on the sofa and began to guide me to talk. In an hour, she talked a lot, but I just listened to her and followed her. I couldn’t remember what she talked about.

After the conversation, the middle-aged woman talked to my mother for another half an hour, and it was almost nine o’clock in the evening when she finished.

After leaving the psychological clinic and sitting in the car, no one spoke.

I was thinking about what topic to talk about to break the awkward silence, but my mother spoke first, but her voice was still so cold: “The man just now is a psychologist, specializing in psychological counseling for high school students, and he is quite famous.”

“Oh.” I nodded pretentiously.

“After talking to her, do you think it helped you?”

“It’s ... okay.”

“What do you mean it’s OK?”

“It’s just ... okay.”

The car fell silent again. Mom’s fingers tapped the steering wheel rhythmically, looking very worried. After a while, she said calmly, “The doctor told me to relax as much as possible and not to have too much psychological pressure.”

“oh.”

My mother wanted to say something, but no words came out after she opened her mouth several times. In the end, she just repeated, “Don’t have too much psychological pressure,” and then drove home.

Although I received psychological counseling, my mother’s attitude towards me did not improve. Instead, it became more subtle than before. In the past, my mother and I often made small jokes between friends, but now she always had a stern face and was serious, as if she was deliberately avoiding me. She would be very nervous when we had some occasional physical contact.

I knew that my mother had talked to the psychologist about more than just the college entrance exam, but she was embarrassed to tell me. I also knew that what I did was wrong, so I actively cooperated with my mother’s so-called “treatment.”

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month passed. My mother took me to see psychological counselors twice. I have to say that the money was not wasted. After talking with the doctor, I felt a lot better.

In order to divert my attention, I put all my energy into studying and didn’t even bother to coax Patricia.

Unexpectedly, she ignored me when I kept chasing her. I had no time to spare, but she became more excited. She kept coming closer to me for no reason and kept hinting that we hadn’t been to the movies for a long time.

Since she is my girlfriend, I have to coax her. I bought the tickets in advance and made an appointment to meet her at Century Square on Sunday afternoon.

Because of what happened last time, I had some psychological trauma about taking the bus, so this time I decided to walk to the meeting place.

But it just so happened that when I was walking through the woods in the community garden, I suddenly heard people arguing.

“Don’t bother me anymore. I never said I liked you.”

The voice was tender and a little hoarse, sweet, cute and very familiar. Yes! It was the voice of that little witch.

I quickly looked in the direction of the sound, and sure enough, it was her!

The little witch was wearing a pink sweatshirt, jeans and sneakers, a black cap on her head, her hands in her sweatshirt pockets, blowing bubble gum, squinting with disdain. In front of her left stood a boy who was a head taller than her, with a square face and muscular body. He looked like a sportsman.

“If you don’t like me, then why do you agree every time I ask you out?” The boy seemed a little excited.

The little witch snorted and said with disdain: “As long as you are willing to spend money, I will agree even if it is a dog asking me out.”

Wow! Even an outsider like me felt that this was too much, not to mention the big boy. He pointed at the little witch and said angrily, “You ... are so shameless!”

“You are shameless. A grown man, you chased a little girl for three blocks. Where is your dignity? I’m warning you, if you follow me again, I’ll scream molest.”

“Fuck!” The boy raised his hands high, pretending to hit her. The little witch was not scared at all, she tilted her head and sneered: “Oh, you still want to hit a girl. Come on~!”

The boy was in a stalemate for a long time, and finally shook his hand off. He gritted his teeth and said, “Everyone said you were a prostitute, but I didn’t believe it. Now I know that you are a bitch.”

The little witch put her hands in her pockets and said slowly, “Yes, I am a bitch, I do paid dating. Last time when I checked into a hotel with someone, I saw your mother checking into a hotel with someone too.”

I couldn’t help but frown and thought, this girl has such a sharp tongue, how can I tolerate this?

The boy’s face flushed red, he grabbed her collar and roared angrily: “Try to say that again!”

The little witch was very calm, with the corners of her mouth slightly raised, and sneered: “If you dare to touch me, I promise to make you pay double.” As soon as she finished speaking, she glanced at me with her peripheral vision, and couldn’t help but be startled. Then she stretched out her hand to sweep the boy’s arm away, and ran over quickly. Like a poor little rabbit, she curled up behind me, crying and said aggrievedly: “Brother, he bullied me.”

Huh? Who is your brother?

Before I could react, the boy came up to me, looked me up and down, frowned, and asked loudly, “Who the hell are you?”

This matter has nothing to do with me and I don’t want to get involved, but this person’s attitude is really annoying.

I retorted, “Who do you care who I am?”

“Fuck!” The boy’s face turned red and his neck became thick, staring with his big bull eyes: “What’s your relationship with her?”

“I didn’t...”

“He is my brother! Let me tell you, my brother is a Taekwondo master, so you better be careful!” The little witch hid behind me, stretched her neck, and said hurriedly, her expression full of provocation.

I knew she wanted to drag me down with her, but I wasn’t going to fall for it. I quickly reached out and pushed her away from me, saying warily, “Hey, hey, hey, when did I become your brother? Don’t try to be your relative.”

The little witch was like a magnet. She came up to me again in a blink of an eye, holding my arms tightly with both hands, and said pitifully: “Brother, he bullied me, help me beat him.”

The boy looked furious. Before I could say anything, he had already leaned over to me, pointed at my nose and cursed: “Fuck you, where the hell are you from?”

“Fuck you! What the hell do you care where I am from!”

I knew it was a misunderstanding, so there was no need to explain it now. It seemed that I had to fight today. However, the other person was really big, half a head taller than me. If we really fought, I would probably suffer a loss.

The boy took another step forward, almost putting his big, square face, which looked like red pig liver, against mine.

“Are you looking for a fight?”

“Just try to touch me.” Although he was a little scared, he must not be timid in his momentum.

“Fuck! You’re so awesome! Which school are you from?”

“What do you care which school I’m from? If you have the guts, try touching me.”

“Try to be more awesome, try to be awesome again!”

“I’m your mother’s awesome, just try to touch me.”

“Where the hell are you from? You’re so awesome!”

I suddenly realized that this guy was not as powerful as he looked. He thought about it for a long time but did not take any action.

But that’s just as well, since if a real fight breaks out we won’t gain any advantage.

I was thinking about how to give both parties a way out and resolve the misunderstanding, when I looked past him, I saw the little witch brought a pot of flowers from somewhere and walked slowly behind the boy. I was stunned, then reacted and shouted, “Be careful.”

With a “bang”, the flowerpot hit the boy’s back of the head heavily. The boy screamed and fell to the ground.

“Run quickly, why are you standing there in a daze!”

Before I could react, the little witch had already grabbed my hand and ran forward. Looking back, I saw the boy with blood all over his forehead, falling to the ground, holding his head with his hands and rolling back and forth. For a moment, I was at a loss and could only follow her in a daze.

After running three blocks in one breath, I felt a little out of breath, but she still looked calm and composed.

I shook her hand off, bent down and gasped for air. The little witch stopped, turned around and sneered, “Your physical fitness is not very good. If you really fight with others, you will probably end up in the intensive care unit.”

I raised my eyes and glared at her, panting and saying, “Don’t ... tell me ... bullshit. If it wasn’t ... if it wasn’t you, would I have to ... get angry with someone? I ... I have a grudge against you, you ... you’ve been f*cking framing me.”

“Who made you my brother?” The little witch tilted her head and rolled her eyes.

“Who is your brother!”

“You.” The little witch smiled slightly.

“I am your uncle!”

“I don’t have an uncle, but I have a brother.” The little witch simply acted like a rogue.

“Don’t give me that shit. I’m telling you, you’re in big trouble! You framed me last time, and now you framed me again. How are you going to settle this?”

The little witch put her hands in her sweatshirt pockets, lowered her head, kicked her feet back and forth, and pouted: “So what do you want?”

“What do you think?” I pretended to look vicious.

The little witch raised her head and smiled sweetly: “Then I will sleep with you.”

I was stunned by what she said, and it took me a long time to come back to my senses. I couldn’t help but look her up and down. She had a cute little face as big as a palm, which was really pretty. Her figure was slender and thin, but not skinny. If I gave an overall score, she was even better than Patricia.

“Well ... if you say so, I feel embarrassed to object.” I knew she was just talking to me, so I might as well play along.

The little witch turned around and walked across the street. I quickly chased after her and stopped her: “You haven’t finished talking yet, where are you going? Tell me, when are you going to sleep?”

“Let’s go now.” The little witch gestured for me to look at the opposite side, which was a motel.

Ha! This is quite realistic. Okay, let’s see who is afraid of whom!

I walked with her to the door of the hotel and stopped to look at her. She looked at me and I said, “Go in.”

Without any hesitation, she walked into the hall and turned to look at me. I was about to follow her in when I suddenly felt something was wrong. This girl was so mysterious. It was impossible for her to let me take advantage of her. There must be some conspiracy. Could it be ... a trap?

She is the same age as my younger sister and doesn’t even have an ID card. I checked into a hotel with her and she accused me of kidnapping a young girl right after I checked in. I can’t clear myself of this even if I jump into the Yellow River.