AM Chapter 57

57 Let’s Go Home for Dinner

Liang Jingren rarely took afternoon naps. He usually used his lunch break to do things he hadn’t finished before, or things that needed to be done urgently, which was commonly known as “overtime.” As for overtime after sunset, it depended on his mood and condition that day.

But today, Liang Jingren very rarely took a nap on the short sofa in his office.

This short sofa was very similar to the one in his bedroom, neither allowed him to stretch his legs. He didn’t like to curl his legs, so he simply put his calves directly on the sofa armrests, crossed.

Chen Mo had slept on the double sofa in his bedroom a lot. He could always curl himself up just right, and he could always sleep soundly. Sometimes he couldn’t be woken up even after being called several times. Liang Jingren admired him greatly.

In short, after a four-and-a-half-hour nap, Liang Jingren woke up in a daze.

He held his head and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the streetlights and traffic outside, and realized that it was almost time to get off work.

He turned around, took a pack of cigarettes from his desk, lit one, and walked back to the floor-to-ceiling window while smoking.

As the smoke passed through his lungs, he saw that the setting sun in the distance was even redder, and the lights on the ground were not worth mentioning at this moment.

Liang Jingren wasn’t sure if he was really afraid of heights. He hadn’t gone to the hospital to diagnose this, but he often had the urge to jump down when he stood at a high place.

Perhaps he was indeed afraid of heights, but his nature was to pursue excitement.

However, there was a limit to the pursuit of excitement. At least he would never do anything illegal now.

For Liang Jingren, doing it with Chen Mo might be considered a kind of excitement, but being in love with Chen Mo was not – the scale was a bit too big.

After finishing a cigarette, Liang Jingren’s mind became much clearer, and he had indeed slept well. Although night was approaching, his mental state was actually quite good.

It was much better than last night, and better than this morning when he opened his eyes before the sun rose.

When the second cigarette was lit, the sun had completely disappeared from the horizon.

As his pupils sank into the night, the memory of last night reappeared in his mind, and Liang Jingren began to reflect: he was too outrageous and unreasonable last night.

Why did he cry in front of Chen Mo? He should have hung up the culprit who made him sleep badly and beat him up.

Human emotions are really complicated and inexplicable…

Just like love, it’s also inexplicable – Liang Jingren never understood why Chen Mo loved him so much.

When he lit the third cigarette, the red fluorescent light intertwined with tobacco and fire became the brightest landmark in the entire office except for the reflective glass.

The smoker hiding in the darkness began to miss home.

He missed the two-bedroom apartment on the fourth floor of the old residential building where he lived with his mother and brother more than ten years ago.

In Liang Jingren’s memory, Liang Jingyu was always obsessed with the family eating together, so before he started acting out in junior high school and skipping classes, the family of three always sat neatly at a foldable square table for dinner.

That broken table seemed to have been used for many years. As he grew taller and stronger, he didn’t dare to put both elbows on the table, for fear that he would overturn the entire table with one force.

He remembered that when he was a child, Liang Jingyu always had a lot to say at the dinner table, talking garrulously about his social life and grades at school. His mother would always nod and echo with a smile, occasionally asking a question or two, and then turn to him and say: “You should learn from your brother!”

Liang Jingyu, who was five years older than him, was good at pretending to be a good child. He would smile and say at the dinner table: “Little Ren is so smart, he will definitely do well in his studies in the future! He just hasn’t exerted himself yet!” Then, as soon as he returned to his room, he would flip through his test papers and circle his wrong answers, making several “tsk tsk” sounds, and look at him with an arrogant and annoying gaze, saying: “Come here, you idiot, your brother has less homework today, I’ll give you some pointers if you don’t understand.”

However, Liang Jingyu, who had consistently been in the top ten of his grade and had won the city-level Outstanding Student Award, dropped out of high school in his senior year.

His mother was sick.

In fact, she had been sick for a long time.

Because it was a congenital heart disease, his mother had always adopted conservative treatment, taking medicine all year round, and going for regular check-ups. But the deterioration came so suddenly, she entered the emergency room, lost her job, and the insurance that his father, who had died unexpectedly when Liang Jingren was three years old and whose impression was not deep, had accidentally obtained and his mother’s savings of more than ten years were all spent, barely enough for the surgery fee and the cost of the ICU ward.

Fortunately, his mother’s condition improved, and the family could still eat together at home.

But from then on, the family was mostly unable to gather all three people.

After entering junior high school, he began to eat in the school cafeteria, his mother did some piecework at home, cutting woolen yarn, and Liang Jingyu, with his excellent eloquence and social skills, became the sales champion at a young age.

The days at that time could not be considered hard at all, at least from the perspective of Liang Jingren, who was in his rebellious teens, he still had the capital to be rebellious, and even his family couldn’t control him –

His mother couldn’t control him. Liang Jingyu, who used to control his studies, was busy running around every day, leaving early and returning late. Occasionally, when he came home and saw that he wasn’t asleep, he would ask him to see his test papers.

He did indeed, as Liang Jingyu had said, exert himself later and caught up from behind. The scores on the test papers were able to satisfy Liang Jingyu, so Liang Jingyu no longer pursued or asked about other things.

In fact, Liang Jingren hated Liang Jingyu the most during this period, because Liang Jingyu seemed to pin all his expectations and obsession with “going to college” on him. And he had no interest in going to school at all. He even rebelled by skipping school, fighting, and going to internet cafes with some people who didn’t do well in school. Later, in order to earn pocket money, he even started a “smuggling” business of spicy sticks, snacks, and even cigarettes in the school.

Even after going to high school, he developed his business and subordinates to other junior and senior high schools.

Liang Jingyu probably knew how idle he was usually. They had many fierce quarrels, but, very ridiculously, their quarrels never revolved around the issue of him skipping school or fighting. Liang Jingyu didn’t lose his temper at him when he went to school or even the police station to take him home – the only thing Liang Jingyu cared about was his grades, which had obviously declined.

One night, Liang Jingyu came back from socializing, smelling of alcohol, and reached out to ask him to see his monthly exam papers.

He had failed the exam. He himself was upset, and he tore up the test papers at school.

Liang Jingyu seemed to have guessed something. He vomited alcohol and smoke in the room and ridiculed him arrogantly as before, and praised himself greatly, saying something like “I worked so hard to support you to study” and other father-like and mother-like words.

Liang Jingren was rushing to finish his homework and make up his notes at that time, and he was already very upset. He also had to be forced to listen to a drunkard talking at length next to him. Finally, he couldn’t sit still, he stood up suddenly and slammed the pen, shouting at his brother:

“You have the ability to earn the money you earn now in the future! You can earn so much even if you don’t go to college, why do you have to rush me to go! Isn’t it just a broken college? Is it that important?!”

After that, his aversion to learning became more and more obvious. He slept in class, handed in homework late, sneaked to the toilet to smoke during the interval exercises, and even the bell for the last self-study class before school became his fixed alarm for scaling the wall to “leave early.”

But even so, Liang Jingren never thought of really dropping out of school and not taking the college entrance examination.

After all, not only Liang Jingyu, but his mother also had expectations of him.

When Liang Jingren was in the second year of high school, he was still thinking: there is still one year left, and he will be liberated after passing the “single-plank bridge” that thousands of troops and horses pass.

Also in his second year of high school, his mother fell ill and was in critical condition again. After the operation, the doctor suggested that the patient be hospitalized for long-term observation. As a family member and the first person to bear the medical expenses, Liang Jingyu agreed.

One day, he went to deliver food to his mother. In the hospital corridor, he saw Liang Jingyu frowning at the bill. It was at that time that Liang Jingren had the idea of dropping out of school to work.

But when he had prepared all the materials, holding his breath, and was about to explain the situation to Liang Jingyu, the economic situation of the family suddenly underwent an earth-shaking reversal –

Liang Jingyu didn’t know where he got a lot of money, sent his mother to a high-end ward, and the huge cost of the medical equipment and instruments used every day was enough for ordinary people to have one or two minor operations.

Liang Jingren felt that the development and unfolding of things was not right. He asked Liang Jingyu what he was doing and where he got so much money. Liang Jingyu only said that he had changed to a new job and advanced his salary.

Liang Jingyu avoided answering what kind of job it was and which company’s boss was so generous.

On the contrary, Liang Jingyu smiled and said to him: “You take care of me, take care of yourself, there is less than a year left for the college entrance examination, are you ready?”

After changing to a new job, Liang Jingyu became busier than before and hardly cared about him anymore.

Moreover, Liang Jingyu, who used to be like a mama’s boy, didn’t even visit his mother in the hospital much.

Every time Liang Jingren went to deliver food and soup, his mother would ask about the recent situation of their brothers with concern, and he could only answer: “It’s good.”

He couldn’t say specifically what was good. When his mother asked what Liang Jingyu was busy with, he couldn’t answer at all.

Later, one time, he followed Liang Jingyu to an alley. He quietly peered into the alley, and there were many people smoking in the shadows.

The sparks of fire surrounded Liang Jingyu’s thin body in a white shirt, and the endless smoke gradually enveloped Liang Jingyu.

A rough hand with wounds held an unlit slender white cigarette and passed it through the smoke, handing it to Liang Jingyu. The owner of the hand respectfully called Liang Jingyu: “Bro Liang.”

Liang Jingyu took the cigarette and raised his head to say to the burly man who was much more robust than him: “Thanks.”

After that, Liang Jingyu borrowed a fire from another direction.

Gradually, the smoke rising from his hand mixed with the surrounding smoke, dissipating in the place where light could not reach.

Liang Jingren, who witnessed all this, widened his eyes. He recognized the strong man who handed Liang Jingyu the cigarette –

He had fought with that strong man’s rogue little brother before, because that hooligan brother had actually reached out to his “customers” to extort money.

They had a fight, and as a result, they were both arrested after a passerby called the police.

Liang Jingyu came to the police station to pick him up, while that rogue little brother was dragged away by this strong man by the collar.

At that time, when waiting for someone to bail them out at the police station, the strong man arrived before Liang Jingyu, and even chatted with him for a few sentences.

The strong man introduced himself and said that he could be called “Strong Bro.”

Strong Bro praised him for being brave and skilled, and also said that his little brother actually went to junior high school students to ask for money to buy cigarettes, which was really worth fighting! He also patted him on the shoulder and said that he fought well!

“The shop owners in that area of ​​C District all know me, you can come to me, and I will treat you to ice cream! Just as compensation for this matter!” Finally, Strong Bro patted his chest and said to him.

Liang Jingyu arrived at the police station and finished dealing with the police after a while.

The annoying thing was that Liang Jingyu turned around and taught him a lesson in front of the police and other strangers in the police station.

It was Strong Bro who helped him out of the siege.

Immediately afterwards, the socially adept Liang Jingyu began to talk to Strong Bro, and the two even exchanged business cards with each other.

As the saying goes, no discord, no concord. But it was obviously Liang Jingren who had the fight, but in the end, it was Liang Jingyu who joined Strong Bro’s group.

– And he didn’t know how he managed to get to a position where even Strong Bro had to call him “Bro.”

But even if Liang Jingyu became a “big brother,” he could only spend money to buy expensive hospital beds and special care. He still couldn’t buy his mother’s life.

Before long, the family of three was reduced to only two people, and they happened to be brothers who were sick of each other and had nothing to say.

Later, he still followed suit and dropped out of school in the second half of his senior year, just like Liang Jingyu used to do.

Liang Jingyu was very angry, but he had no time to take care of him anymore.

At that time, Liang Jingyu had a large group of people under him to manage, and a large wave of debts to collect. And above Liang Jingyu, and also above Strong Bro, there was a genuine “big brother” “covering him.”

Liang Jingren had repeatedly advised him to leave there, his work felt very dangerous.

But Liang Jingyu said that he was actually just an accountant who managed the accounts, and Strong Bro and a group of younger brothers would do the debt collection. He himself would not be in any danger.

Liang Jingyu’s income was completely beyond his reach. He just delivered food and did odd jobs, and after leaving school, he started to live a low-key and troublemaker-free life.

The only high-profile behavior was that he fell in love with riding motorcycles. Almost all the money he earned was used to buy motorcycles and play with modifications.

Liang Jingyu passed by when he was washing his motorcycle downstairs one time, and cursed him maliciously: “If you break an arm or a leg and end up in the ICU one day, you will be responsible for all the medical expenses!”

Fortunately, Liang Jingyu’s malicious curse did not come true. He lived safely to the age of twenty-five, and even rented a small garage, owning three cool motorcycles that were admired by the eyes in the local circle.

Liang Jingyu was doing unknown socializing deals at night, while he was driving his “Bumblebee” freely on the mountain road at night.

On the surface, they were still living together, but at this time Liang Jingyu didn’t often go home, and the two hadn’t eaten at the same table for nearly a year.

Liang Jingren thought that this kind of life with his brother, with no intersection and where each was safe and sound, would continue forever, until one day, Liang Jingyu suddenly called him and said: “Let’s go home and have a meal together.”

So they sat face to face in front of that folding square table whose frame had rusted and could not maintain a level surface without pressing down hard. Liang Jingyu took the initiative to talk to him about his recent work and life, and had a harmonious and friendly meal with him.

About a week after the brothers had that family meal, Liang Jingyu’s wrist, which was wearing his mother’s silver bracelet, was also wearing silver handcuffs.

Liang Jingren was holding his motorcycle from a distance, watching Liang Jingyu, whose face had been covered with a cloth bag, walk out of the “old nest” where people were talking about it, and get into the police car flashing red and blue lights.

Speaking of which, according to the way Chen Mo calculated their cohabitation anniversary, he hadn’t seen Liang Jingyu for two months.

Before Chen Mo moved back to the villa, Liang Jingyu always liked to show up in the villa from time to time and make a big table of dishes to give him a surprise.

Although it was annoying that Liang Jingyu came uninvited without saying hello, Liang Jingren didn’t hate the surprise his brother prepared for him.

He would usually keep his brother in the villa for dinner, after all, he couldn’t finish that big table of dishes by himself, not to mention that he often ate in the company before coming back.

He didn’t know how many cigarettes he had smoked. The ashtray on the desk behind Liang Jingren was already full of cigarette butts.

He squinted his eyes and looked at the starry sky lit up by the old residential buildings in the distance, slowly inhaling a mouthful of nicotine, and then exhaling the waste gas extremely slowly.

Through the reflective glass in front of him, Liang Jingren noticed that the screen of his mobile phone on the table lit up. After a while, the phone rang.

Just right, he walked to the table, shook the ashes on the ashtray, and answered the phone.

The caller ID showed that it was Chen Mo calling.

Liang Jingren took a puff of cigarette just as he answered the phone, so he didn’t speak right away.

After a while, Chen Mo’s timid voice came from the phone:

Chen Mo asked him, are you still coming home for dinner tonight?

That’s right, Liang Jingren suddenly remembered that after Chen Daxiang’s death, four years ago, he and Chen Mo often sat together in the villa’s restaurant to eat.

As long as there were no social events, he would definitely come home for dinner.

Chen Mo was picky about food and liked innovative dishes, so they changed the cooking aunt almost every three months, at most half a year, to change the taste and style.

Recently, the style of dishes Chen Mo made has become almost fixed. He was also lazy, knowing how difficult it was to prepare meals in different ways every day.

However, Liang Jingren had no complaints about the dishes and tastes that had been approaching for days, Chen Mo’s cooking was very good, and the food he made suited his taste.

So, he will go home for dinner.

In the dark office without lights, Liang Jingren glanced at the dazzling mobile phone screen. He thought it was already very late, but it turned out that it was just the time when Chen Mo usually came home to cook?

Also, it’s late autumn, the days are short and the nights are long.

Not hearing his answer, the person on the phone anxiously called him: “Bro Ren?”

Liang Jingren came back to his senses, exhaled a long breath of smoke, and said: “Go back, why not go back?”

“Cook for me, oh, don’t cook too much, I’m not very hungry today.”

After all, he had slept well. He hadn’t done much work though. Liang Jingren smiled when he hung up the phone, thinking.