Using Marriage as Bait : Extra 12
Extra 12
Feeling guilty about picking up her child late last time, Lin Xiyu made sure to arrive early in the afternoon to pick her up today. The kindergarten was still in the middle of program rehearsals, so Lin Xiyu waited at the entrance with the other parents.
In the crowd of parents, Lin Xiyu quickly spotted a familiar figure—the woman she had seen in the kindergarten director's office before. This was Jiang Zhouming's mother. Lin Xiyu remembered the information Lu Junting had shown her and knew that Jiang Zhouming's mother was a victim.
The woman exuded an aura of cold indifference—not the despairing kind, but rather a detached and unbothered kind of coldness.
Noticing someone’s gaze, the woman turned her head to meet Lin Xiyu's eyes. Lin Xiyu smiled at her, and she returned a faint smile before looking away again.
It didn’t take long for the rehearsal to finish, and Lin Xiyu soon saw her little girl running toward her with a wiggle in her step.
“Mommy!”
The little one sweetly called out and leaped into her arms. Lin Xiyu scooped her up and said, “Mommy wasn’t late today. Are you happy?”
“Mm-hmm!” the girl nodded enthusiastically.
Meanwhile, Jiang Zhouming was surprised to see his mother there to pick him up. She rarely came for him.
“Let’s go,”
The woman said indifferently when she saw him, turning to leave without holding his hand or offering any kind of affection, unlike the other parents.
Jiang Zhouming glanced at the little girl ahead, walking while cuddled in her mother’s arms. The two were laughing and rubbing cheeks, radiating warmth. His gaze dropped, concealing the sadness in his eyes. His mother had never been willing to even hold his hand.
As they got into the car, he finally asked, “Why are you here?”
“I’m here to say goodbye,” she replied.
“Where are you going?”
“Somewhere far away.”
The boy fell silent, and after a long pause, he asked, “Will you come back?”
“I won’t.”
The air grew heavy with silence. His small hands clenched into fists on his knees, his head hung low.
Although she had called it a goodbye, there wasn’t a single word of farewell exchanged between mother and son as they sat in the car in silence.
When the car came to a stop, the woman said, “I’m leaving. The driver will take you home.”
With that, she stepped out, retrieving her luggage from the trunk. The boy jumped out of the car and stood watching her walk away, her figure growing smaller in the bleak autumn wind.
His eyes reddened, and he bit his lip hard. He wanted to call out to her, to beg her to stay, but in the end, he said nothing. He merely clenched his little fists. He felt utterly powerless, insignificant, incapable of changing her decision.
She never looked back, abandoning him there without a second glance.
The next morning, when Xiao Tangtang went to rehearsal, she quickly noticed her dance partner seemed absent-minded. He kept zoning out, even stepping on her foot during practice. The teacher, unable to ignore it, reprimanded him a few times.
After some time, the teacher called for a break. Jiang Zhouming sat on the steps near the playground, his hands tightly clasped together, his head hanging low.
Xiao Tangtang walked over and sat beside him, asking, “Jiang Zhouming, what’s wrong?”
The boy didn’t respond.
Xiao Tangtang leaned over to peer up at his face. She saw that his eyes were red, and his teeth were clenched tight, as though he was about to cry.
Xiao Tangtang blinked and asked, “Jiang Zhouming, are you feeling upset?”
From Jiang Zhouming’s perspective, the little girl’s round face seemed even rounder, and her dark, shiny eyes reflected the sunlight overhead, making them appear even brighter.
Her bent-over posture as she looked at him was amusing. Perhaps not wanting her to keep up the comical pose, Jiang Zhouming slowly raised his head. Xiao Tangtang straightened as well, her eyes fixed on him, waiting for his response.
Jiang Zhouming half-lowered his eyelids and said, “My mom left.”
“Where did she go?” the little girl asked with a curious expression.
“I don’t know.”
“When will she come back?”
The boy shook his head, and his reddened eyes became even redder. “She won’t come back.” His teary eyes looked at the little girl. Despite trying to control his emotions, he was still just a four- or five-year-old child. When sadness overwhelmed him, he couldn’t help but want to cry.
“She doesn’t want me anymore,” he said, and as soon as the words left his mouth, a tear slipped down his cheek.
Xiao Tangtang could sense Jiang Zhouming’s sorrow. She thought for a moment—if one day her mom didn’t want her anymore, she would be even sadder than Jiang Zhouming.
Not wanting him to feel this way, Xiao Tangtang held his hand and said, “Then I’ll want you, okay?”
Jiang Zhouming didn’t want to cry. He hated himself for looking so pitiful. His usual silence, indifference, and distance from others were all ways to avoid appearing vulnerable. But he couldn’t hold back his tears and felt a surge of frustration, hating himself for crying.
Just then, a pair of soft, tiny hands held his, and he heard her say those words.
“Then I’ll want you, okay?”
At the age of four, a child’s mind was far from mature, and it was easy to forget many things. Yet, the words Xiao Tangtang spoke that day stayed firmly in Jiang Zhouming’s memory. Even years later, when he looked back on that day, he could still recall her expression as she spoke, the warmth of her hand holding his, the osmanthus tree blooming nearby, and the bright sunlight overhead.
He could even remember the sweet scent that seemed to come from her face when she smiled.
Jiang Zhouming froze, even the tears on his face seemed to stop flowing. He stared at the little girl in front of him, lost in thought for a long time.
“Jiang Zhouming, from now on, you’re mine. I’ll always want you, okay?”
Children love playing house, sometimes pretending to be husbands and wives. But that day, when Jiang Zhouming heard Lu Wantang say she would always want him, he believed her. He took her words as a promise.
At that moment, the sadness in his heart seemed to dissolve like smoke. What he felt was the warmth of her hand in his, her smile, and the determination in her voice.
I’ll always want you, okay?
He wiped his tears messily with the hand she wasn’t holding, nodded, and replied, “Okay.”
From that day on, Lu Wantang never saw Jiang Zhouming’s downcast expression again, nor did she ever see him cry. Every day, Jiang Zhouming looked forward to their rehearsal time at school because it meant he could see his little dance partner, Tangtang.
Before rehearsals began, he would always arrive at the playground early to wait for her. When he saw her, he would walk briskly toward her, and Xiao Tangtang would happily run to him.
The once silent, aloof boy who seemed indifferent to everything suddenly became vibrant and full of life.
Tangtang wanted to win first place, so Jiang Zhouming danced seriously. The two little partners grew more and more in sync, even earning praise from their teacher. Just like today, they were praised again, and the teacher told the other kids to learn from them.
During a break, Tangtang wanted to drink water, and Jiang Zhouming unscrewed the cap of her water bottle and handed it to her. After drinking, she wanted a snack, so Jiang Zhouming handed her the treats he had secretly brought for her.
Her family was strict about not letting her and her brother eat too many snacks, but Tangtang had a sweet tooth. Knowing what she liked, Jiang Zhouming would sneak some for her.
Tangtang offered him some snacks, asking, “Do you want some?”
“I don’t,” he replied.
“Okay.”
While Tangtang ate her snacks, Jiang Zhouming stayed by her side. His gaze fell on her shoes—a pair of white ones with cute cartoon designs. Noticing a bit of dirt on the toe, he knelt down and tried to rub it off with his fingers. When that didn’t work, he used his sleeve to clean it, finally getting it off. Jiang Zhouming smiled in satisfaction.
Since becoming friends with Tangtang, the once-silent, lonely Jiang Zhouming had become much more cheerful and talkative, though only with Tangtang.
When their eyes met, he said to her, “It’s clean now.”
Tangtang frowned slightly and grabbed his hand to check his sleeve. “Jiang Zhouming, you got your clothes dirty,” she said.
Jiang Zhouming pulled his hand away and hid it behind his back, saying, “It’s fine.”
Just then, Liang Yuan ran over and said to Tangtang, “Lu Wantang, how about I be your dance partner?”
Liang Yuan wasn’t happy that the teacher often praised Lu Wantang and Jiang Zhouming’s dancing. Why should that annoying boy—whose father was a rapist—get all the praise? Liang Yuan thought if Tangtang were his partner, he would be the one getting praised, so he tried to steal her as his partner.
Xiao Tangtang didn’t like Liang Yuan, the annoying pest. Hearing his suggestion, the little girl puffed up her cheeks and said angrily, “I don’t want to be your partner!”
Feeling humiliated after being rejected, Liang Yuan said, “You just want to dance with Jiang Zhouming. Do you like him?”
The boys nearby laughed. Xiao Tangtang knew the ‘like’ Liang Yuan mentioned wasn’t the same as the ‘like’ she knew. That kind of ‘like’ was bad—it made people laugh.
The little girl didn’t like being ridiculed. She retorted, “Liang Yuan, if you keep talking nonsense, I’ll tell my brother to beat you up!”
“Go ahead, call your brother! I’ll tell him you like Jiang Zhouming!”
“You’re talking nonsense!”
The little girl’s face turned red with anger.
Liang Yuan, feeling triumphant, clapped his hands and teased loudly, “Lu Wantang’s blushing! Lu Wantang likes Jiang Zhouming!”
Just then, Liang Yuan felt a sharp pain in his leg and stumbled forward, falling flat on the ground in an awkward position. The other kids burst into laughter.
As Liang Yuan got up and looked back, he saw Jiang Zhouming staring at him coldly. Liang Yuan hadn’t forgotten the time Jiang Zhouming had kicked him so hard that his head hit the ground.
Seeing Jiang Zhouming, Liang Yuan felt a little scared, but with so many kids watching, he didn’t want to lose face. He shouted, “Jiang Zhouming, are you looking for a fight?”
Jiang Zhouming glared at him and said icily, “If you dare say another word about Lu Wantang, I’ll beat you so badly you won’t be able to get up.”
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