Chapter 506: Telling Each Other Their Life Stories
He took a deep breath, calmed down his emotions, and looked out the window at the dark night, as if he wanted to pour out all his grievances to this endless darkness:
"I have no choice but to leave my hometown and escape to this place to avoid the limelight. In fact, I still have relatives in City 49. They are my last concern in this world."
Wang Jianguo's voice trembled a little and tears flashed in his eyes.
"I really want to contact them, even if it's just to hear their voices and know if they are doing well."
"But I don't dare. I'm afraid those bad guys will follow the clues and implicate them. Then I will be dead and there is no redemption."
Wang Jianguo smiled bitterly and shook his head, then picked up the wine glass on the table and drank it all in one gulp. The spicy wine flowed down his throat, but it could not wash away the bitterness in his heart:
"So, Brother Shuzhuo, compared to me, your life now has been rough."
"But at least you are still guarding this land, and you have fellow villagers to accompany you. Isn't it more miserable for me to come here?"
At this time, the house was silent, with only the lights still flickering, as if quietly listening to their story and witnessing the friendship between people who were all stranded in the world.
He Yushui was originally listening quietly to Wang Jianguo and Zhao Shuzhuo telling their respective sad pasts, and the expression on his face kept changing with their words.
From the initial empathy, it gradually turned into an indescribable loneliness. When she heard the end, her eyes were red.
Those sad things that had been buried deep in my heart for a long time suddenly burst out like a flood that broke through a dam.
She raised her head slightly, tears flashing in her eyes, and said softly with a trembling voice:
"what about me?"
These three words are filled with endless grievances and unwillingness.
"My mother left us when I was still very young, and all I remember of her are a few vague fragments."
"Her warm embrace and gentle humming make me feel empty inside every time I think of them."
As he spoke, He Yushui's mouth corners turned down slightly, showing a bit of bitterness.
"Later, my father married a stepmother. I thought things would get better, but who knew..."
She paused and took a deep breath, as if she was trying to muster up the courage to face the unbearable memory.
"Dad was so cruel that he abandoned my brother and me and ran away with my stepmother, leaving us alone at home."
"At that time, I felt like the sky had fallen, and my brother and I were the only ones left in the world."
He Yushui clenched his hands tightly together, and his knuckles turned white from the force.
"I thought my brother would be my last resort, but what about him..."
Her voice became more choked and her eyes were full of disappointment.
"He is not nice to me at all. He gets angry at me when things don't go his way. He leaves all the housework to me. I am so tired that my back aches every day, but I don't even get a warm word from him."
He Yushui's tears finally burst out, slid down her cheeks and dripped onto her clothes.
"Later, my brother left for the army without saying a word. He didn't even say goodbye to me when he left."
She raised her hand to wipe away her tears, but they still kept flowing.
"So many years have passed, and there is no news at all. We don't know whether he is dead or alive."
"I worry and hope every day, hoping that he will come back suddenly, even if it's just to see me."
He Yushui sniffed and looked around, his eyes full of helplessness:
"Look, I'm all alone now, with no one to rely on. I've suffered so much and been wronged so many times over the years. I'm miserable too."
Her crying made the atmosphere in the room even more solemn, as if the air was filled with sadness.
Outside the window, fireworks occasionally bloom in the night sky, and the brilliant colors contrast sharply with the sadness inside the house.
This New Year's Eve carried too much pain and comfort for the three of them.
Zhao Shuzhuo had just finished pouring out all the sorrow that had been pent up in his heart for many years. His emotions were still immersed in the memories of the difficult years in the past, and the tears in the corners of his eyes had not yet completely dried up.
But when he looked up at Wang Jianguo and He Yushui, he was shocked to realize that his emotion was like a huge rock thrown into a calm lake, causing ripples.
It also brought out the sad things deep in the hearts of the two that they didn't want to touch.
Instantly, regret and self-blame surged into his heart like a tide. His eyes were full of panic. He quickly stood up, waving his hands in front of him, and apologized anxiously:
"Oh, it's all my fault, it's all my fault!"
The voice was filled with regret, as if he wanted to slap himself a few times.
He frowned slightly, and the wrinkles on his forehead became more obvious. His eyes wandered back and forth between Wang Jianguo and He Yushui's faces, trying to capture their emotional changes.
"It's Chinese New Year, a festive day, we should be happy and excited, but why am I so careless and talking about such sad things?"
As Zhao Shuzhuo spoke, he slapped his forehead with his hand, his tone full of blame for himself.
He knows very well that New Year's Eve is a time of reunion, hope and the beginning of a new year for the Chinese.
Everyone is looking forward to throwing away the bad luck and worries of the past year and welcoming the new year with laughter and joy. But I forgot about it for a moment and broke this peacefulness.
"The past, whether good or bad, is in the past, just like turning the pages of a book."
"It will only cause more trouble if we read it again. Let's not talk about it anymore, okay?"
Zhao Shuzhuo's voice gradually regained some calmness, with a tone of persuasion.
He walked forward a few steps, patted Wang Jianguo's shoulder gently, and held He Yushui's hand, giving them some strength and comfort.
"Look at us now. Although we have experienced a lot of ups and downs, we are all living well now!"
There was a glimmer of hope in his eyes as he looked around the house at the sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner and the warm lights.
"We have food and drink, and we have each other's company. That's better than anything, isn't it?"
Zhao Shuzhuo forced a smile on his face, trying to dispel the haze that shrouded everyone's hearts.
He knew very well that although life had brought them many hardships, their reunion at this moment and the warmth they had at this moment were already gifts from fate.
Outside the window, fireworks rise into the sky from time to time, blooming into colorful patterns in the night sky, which is the signal of the New Year.
It seems to be cheering them on, telling them that a new life has begun and the pain of the past will eventually fade away with time.
There were still tears in He Yushui's eyes. She raised her hand and gently wiped away the tears that kept flowing from the corners of her eyes with her fingers. There was a bit of stubbornness in that movement, as if she was trying hard to wipe away the sadness in her heart.