Chapter 44 Mysterious and Inexplicable

  When Cen Yanqiu came out of Tan Shizhe's house, the sky had already completely darkened, and only the streetlights on the side of the road were still struggling to hold their posts. He felt inexplicably uncomfortable in his heart, saw a can on the ground, and couldn't help but kick it hard with one foot.

  "Hmph...!" The empty can was kicked to the far side of the road, still slightly trembling. Qin Yanqiu let out a quiet sigh, his hands in his pockets, and began walking forward leisurely.

  Just now at Tan Shizhe's home, I heard about the situation in Tan Shizhe's family and it actually made him feel uncomfortable.

  Tan Shizhe's father left home when he was very young and didn't come back for many years. Later, he finally returned but divorced his mother and now no one knows where he is. After the divorce, his mother worked in another city and never came home during holidays. Tan Shizhe was raised by his fifth uncle and relied on him for survival.

  Cen Yanqiu had no idea about these things in Tan Shizhe's family. Usually, Tan Shizhe worked very hard and his academic performance was above average. Although he was a bit quiet, he was warm-hearted and enthusiastic towards his classmates.

  However, Xun Yanqiu suddenly remembered that Tan Shizhe's hand that had just been exposed seemed to be injured. How could he have hurt his hand? However, Tan Shizhe remained tight-lipped about this matter.

  Cen Yanqiu thought about it all the way home, and before he knew it, he had returned to his house. As soon as he opened the door and hadn't even put away the key, he saw his father.

  "Dad..." Cen Yanqiu smiled slightly, today he didn't know what was wrong with him, suddenly wanting to sit down and have a good meal with his parents.

  Qian Yanqiu's father, Qian Heyan, was a small boss of real estate developers and was also very busy, rarely having time to have dinner with his wife and son. Sometimes he would leave early in the morning, and every time he came home, there were still many phone calls to answer, and by the time he returned at night, his son had already fallen asleep. He left his son's affairs to his wife and rarely took care of his son, but Qian Yanqiu was still reassuring, with no bad things happening, which allowed him to work with some peace of mind.

  "Dad, are you going out again?" Cen Yanqiu looked at Cen Heyan with a puzzled face and asked, thinking that he hadn't had a good meal with his father for a long time.

  Cen He Yan glanced at his son, then picked up the shoes from beside him and changed out of his slippers. "Mm, I'll go out for a bit," he said. "I was originally going to wait for you to come back so we could eat together, but just now I received a call from a client, so I have to go out."

  "Should we wait for you to come back and have dinner together?" asked Cen Yanqiu.

  "It's okay, you guys eat, I might be back very late, just go to bed after finishing your homework tonight!" Cen He Yan said, and his figure also disappeared at the door.

  Cen Yan Qiu gazed at his father's disappearing back, shook his head slightly, and then walked into the hall. "Mom, I'm back..." He said lazily, looking at his mother sitting on the sofa reading a book.

  Cen Yanqiu's mother, Lin Jingxian, was a primary school teacher before Cen Yanqiu entered junior high school. Later, for his middle school entrance examination, she resigned and became a full-time housewife at home. Every day, she does household chores, goes to beauty salons, and occasionally practices yoga, but most of her time is spent on family matters. When she has free time, she will also pick up a book and read it slowly.

  She knew as soon as her son came in, but she was reading a book and didn't stop. When she heard her son's voice, she looked up and smiled slightly, "You're back, let's have dinner. Your father is out, just the two of us will eat."

  "Hmm..." said Cen Yanqiu, and then put down his backpack and went to wash his hands.

  Lin Jingxian walked to the dinner table, served a full bowl of rice for Cen Yanqiu, turned around, looked at Cen Yanqiu and asked: "Qiu, how was your visit to your classmate's home today?"

  Cen Yanqiu was still washing his hands, when he heard this, he paused for a moment, then pulled out two paper towels and turned around, saying: "His parents are not by his side, even if he gets sick, no one will know."

  As he spoke, Cen Yanqiu also walked to the side of the dinner table, pulled over a chair and sat down slowly, saying: "He has been living with his fifth uncle since childhood, but his fifth uncle is not often at home, often going to his daughter's house for several days. So these two days, his fifth uncle was not there, and he just happened to have a fever, and no one knew."

  "Why didn't he call and tell the teacher?" Lin Jingxian looked at her son in puzzlement.

  Cen Yan Qiu shrugged his shoulders, "His phone was stolen by someone and we didn't have everyone's contact information, so..."

  Lin Jingxian smiled faintly, lowered her head and said softly: "Qiu, you should get along well with your classmates in the future, like this classmate of yours today, be good to him."

  "I know." Xun Yanqiu raised his head, smiled slightly, and for some reason, he felt that his mother was different today. He sensed that her tone of voice was somewhat solemn. However, he couldn't quite put his finger on why his mother would be like this. Thinking about it, he should have heard something about his classmate.

  After dinner, Cen Yanqiu sat in the living room watching TV. There was no homework today, and he also wanted to relax and not be overwhelmed by his studies.

  Lin Jingxian was washing dishes in the kitchen, occasionally glancing through the mirror in front of her at her son sitting in the living room, her eyes also slowly dimming.

  "What fruit do you want to eat?" Lin Jingxian washed the dishes and came out.

  Cen Yanqiu didn't even lift his head, intently watching the TV program, and murmured: "Apple."

  It wasn't until much later that Lin Jingxian brought over a plate of apples and placed them on the table, sitting down beside Qin Yichen. Her gaze also fell upon the TV, pausing for a moment before she asked: "Qin, why aren't your classmate's parents by his side?"

  Cen Yanqiu still couldn't believe his mother was so concerned about his classmate. He looked away, gazing at Lin Jingyan, furrowing his brow. "I heard from his fifth uncle that his father left when he was very young and didn't come back for a long time. Later, he came back but wanted to divorce his mother. So, his parents got divorced, and his mother went to work in another city, leaving him with his fifth uncle."

  "Is that so......" Lin Jingxian nodded, also looking at her son, and her tone became serious again. "Qiu, how do you understand the word 'divorce'?"

  Cen Yanqiu saw his mother being so serious and was inexplicably surprised. His mother rarely talked to him about the philosophy of life, and he didn't know what had gotten into her today. Of course, he couldn't answer this question, and such a distant word, he didn't even want to understand.

  "It's really despicable, they got divorced and both went to find their so-called happiness, but the child will suffer. Every day going out without a hot breakfast to eat, coming back from school also having to cook for themselves, getting sick with no one knowing. Everything has to be done by themselves, it must be very lonely. If classmates find out, they'll even get laughed at and bullied..."

  "Hmm..." Lin Jingxian quietly listened, but didn't say anything else, pretending to watch TV very seriously.