Chapter 19 - The Taste of Chocolate
Translator: Lav
Editor: Levs
Zhang Liangliang did not run too far. She was sitting next to the flowerbed downstairs, sobbing with her head lowered and shoulders shaking.
Shi Lei walked over and bowed his head to look at her. He wanted to comfort her, but did not know where to start.
“I more or less understand your situation after your parents’ conversation. Your father idles about, with some unhealthy addictions and this home relied on your mother for support. Before the accident, although they fought often, but it was still a complete family. Then, your father had an affair, when he took his mistress out, something happened. I’m guessing a car crash……. Your father was fine, but his mistress was not. And your father shouldn’t be driving while intoxicated, so when they were seeking civil liability, they sentenced him. Under anger and frustration, your mother applied for divorce and you were given to your mother, and gave her the only property, the house, to your mother. But after your father was released, he was unreconciled and he comes over often to make a scene. You became like this in the past year or so, right? Probably, you are also like your mother, loathing to have a father like this.”
Zhang Liangliang was in shock. She did not think that through a simple dispute, Shi Lei almost reconstructed the truth.
She lifted her head up, black tears hanging down from her face. Shi Lei took out some tissues and passed it to her.
“Honestly, it was not too hard to guess. It’s probably because the previous tutors did not want to get involved, so they did not really talk to you. I’ll put it in this way, you hate the fact that you have a father like this, but your mother is not wrong. Perhaps because you are unwilling to accept the truth that she proposed to divorce, but, any normal woman would not tolerate with their husband doing something like this. Of course, I’m an outsider, and I don’t plan to persuade you. What i want to say is that your rebellion, everything you do won’t avenge your father. All he cares is getting a sum of money, or perhaps not only once. Once he achieves that, he might even use your mother as an ATM in the future. The only person you can rebel against is your mother, but is it really your mother that should be bearing with your rebellion?”
“For what reasons do you think that he doesn’t care about me?” Zhang Liangliang finally spoke, choking with emotions.
Shi Lei sat down next to Zhang Liangliang, and said: “If he really cared about you, the first thing he should have done after he stepped into the house was to ask how you are doing. But he did not even hypocritically show some affection, it can only be explained that he does not care about anyone other than himself.”
Zhang Liangliang was quiet again, she used the tissue given by Shi Lei, wiping her face furiously.
As she threw away the tissue, Shi Lei saw that Zhang Liangliang was rather delicate and pretty, except the overly heavy makeup she was wearing completely covered it.
“Maybe you think you are very unhappy, and that sense of unhappiness comes from your parents, so you want to rebel through actions like these…….”
“Nonsense! Who do you think you are? Don’t think that you know everything! How long have you known me? Yet you are talking about these big reasons! The type of people I hate the most are people like you, you are full of reasons, you know nothing at all, don’t pretend like you know everything! Get lost! I don’t want you as my tutor!”
All of a sudden, Zhang Liangliang, who struggled with difficulty to calm down, seemed to be provoked, and snarled once again.
Shi Lei was distracted for a second, and suddenly understood. “Fine, looks like I’m wrong. You are not trying to rebel against your mother, and also not your father. In your heart, you don’t see him as a father anymore long ago, right? I know, you lack attention and care. You feel like you don’t have a father anymore, your mother is busy with work everyday and doesn’t give you attention. So, you made yourself like this in hoping she would give you more attention and care.”
“You are talking nonsense! It’s not like this! I don’t need anyone’s concern, I like the way I am now! Get lost! You’ve already gotten the money for today, my business has nothing to do with you! Get lost!”
Shi Lei knew he guessed her thoughts completely right as she shouted harshly. After hesitating for a while, Shi Lei stood up and returned the house key to her.
“I’ll contact your mother later. You can calm down here for the time being.” As he said this, Shi Lei turned around and walked away.
Behind him, Zhang Liangliang widened her tear-filled eyes, and did not understand Shi Lei’s way of doing things.
After taking two steps, Shi Lei turned around, took out a piece of chocolate from his bag and passed it over: “When you are not in a good mood, eat chocolate, it helps to soothe your mood.”
He shoved the chocolate into Zhang Liangliang’s hands and left.
Zhang Liangliang looked at the chocolate in her hands, and scolded loudly: “Who the hell wants your chocolate!” She raised her hand and threw the chocolate towards Shi Lei.
Shi Lei did not turn around. He knew that no matter what he says to her at this time, all reactions he’ll ever receive are her hysterical resistance.
Seeing that Shi Lei really left like that, tears streamed down Zhang Liangliang’s face once again. She glanced helplessly toward the direction of the neighbourhood’s gate, mumbled, but did not know what she was muttering.
After a long time, she finally stopped crying. Through her blurry eyes, the world was no longer clear. In her eyes, Zhang Liangliang seemed to hear Shi Lei’s voice once again.
Shi Lei said to her: “When you are not in a good mood, eat chocolate, it helps to soothe your mood.”
Zhang Liangliang wiped her eyes using the back of her hand, looked at the broken chocolate on the ground in front of her. Although hesitant, she walked over and picked up a small chunk. She carefully wiped away the soil and dirt on it and placed it in her mouth. It was sweet, mixed with the specific bitter taste from cocoa, stimulating her taste buds.
Driven by an invisible force, Zhang Liangliang picked up the rest of the chocolate on the ground one by one and ate them all.
Without knowing why, Zhang Liangliang really felt like her mood was better. Maybe it was because of these chocolate, or maybe because the tears released the negative emotions she held in her heart.
Clutching the house key which Shi Lei shoved to her earlier tightly, the midst of her palm seemed to catch a sense of warmth that remained from Shi Lei.
Suddenly, Zhang Liangliang frantically ran towards the direction of her home, found her phone and called Zhang Meimei.
Zhang Meimei was in the middle of a meeting, but chose to pick it up seeing it was from her daughter.
“What’s the tutor’s phone number?”
Zhang Meimei was a bit surprised, asked: “Did he leave already?”
“Hurry up and give me his number!” Zhang Liangliang’s tone of voice was not polite just like how she usually communicates with her mother. But this time, Zhang Meimei sensed something different. In the past tutors, Zhang Liangliang would never ever asked for their contact details.
Restraining her curiosity, Zhang Meimei sent Zhang Liangliang Shi Lei’s phone number.
Originally, she wanted to call Shi Lei and ask what happened, but there were a bunch of people waiting for her in the meeting room. Zhang Meimei was in deep thought, nevertheless, she put away her phone and returned to the meeting room, returning to her usual role, methodically arranging every single piece of work.