Home/ The Selfish Gene/ Chapter 35
Holding an umbrella and humming a song, I climbed up the stairs all the way. The cake box in my hand swayed back and forth with the movement of my arms, and the cake inside may have become mushy, but it’s fine. If the birthday person doesn’t dislike it, others probably won’t either.
“Let your mother have a good rest. If you need any help, just let me know. Don’t worry about the food stalls. It’s off-season anyway, and there isn’t much business…”
Stopping on the steps and waiting for the middle-aged man in the leather jacket to turn around and leave, I tilted my umbrella slightly and pretended to look away without greeting him.
The short and fat middle-aged man didn’t notice and hurriedly brushed past me with his tattered umbrella. He took a turn on the long steps and went into another messy and dirty building.
Before I could retract my gaze, Ji Chenfeng’s voice rang in my ears.
“…Sang Nian?”
Even though he didn’t see my face, he still recognized me just by looking at my back. Sure enough, it’s indeed a relationship of bed partners.
As I turned around, I raised my umbrella and smiled at him: “It’s me.”
Ji Chenfeng held on to the door frame with a slightly surprised expression and asked me as I approached, “Why did you come here so suddenly?”
He took the umbrella from me, closed the door, and went into the bathroom to drain the water.
I took off my shoes, and then went to put the cake on the low table where I once ate before.
“It’s nothing important, I just wanted to come and see my aunt.”
In the bad weather, the inside of Ji Chenfeng’s house gets really dark. Perhaps because the previous guest had left just now and the tea cups were still on the table, a small electric heater was turned on beside it, providing a meager amount of heat in this cold and damp room. But even so, the cold still penetrated every inch of my skin. As soon as I sat down, I couldn’t help but want to wrap up my coat tightly.
“Is it very cold here?” Ji Chenfeng bent down and took away the tea cup on the low table, saying, “The voltage here is not stable, so we can’t use high-power appliances such as air conditioners. If you feel cold, just put my coat on your lap.”
I shook my head and said, “Make me a cup of hot tea. My body will just warm up in a while.”
Ji Chenfeng touched my head and turned around to go to the kitchen.
A series of suppressed coughs came from the only bedroom. After a while, the bedroom door was gently opened, and Yan Shanhua walked out wearing a cotton coat.
Perhaps it’s because she heard my voice in the back room, she wasn’t surprised when she saw me sitting grandly on her tatami.
Apart from her slightly haggard face, she seemed to be in good spirits. If it weren’t for Ji Chenfeng telling me personally, I never would have imagined that this is a woman with a terminal illness and was about to die soon.
“Xiao Nian…” She sat down cross-legged across from me and called out to me in a hoarse voice, with an expression that was neither happy nor sad. She pursed her lips for a while, and after a long time of deliberation, she only said one meaningless sentence, “You are here.”
“I’ve been wanting to see you for a long time, but I’ve been busy lately, and I finally got some time today.” Of course, I have plenty of time, but I just don’t want to see her. If it weren’t for Ji Chenfeng being able to hear it now, I wouldn’t even want to say such disgusting things to her.
“This is a snack for you.” I pushed the cake box on the low table towards her.
“I’m very happy that you came. You don’t need to bring anything.” Yan Shanhua seemed to be completely unable to distinguish which of my words were true and which ones were lies, yet she believed them.
Will cancer cells metastasize to the brain and also cause brain damage? Just by looking at my expression and thinking about it, she should have understood that I possibly couldn’t really be here for her.
“It’s not a good thing…” I untied the ribbon on the cake box and gently lifted the lid, revealing the cream cake covered with large red strawberries.
As a result of my violent movements when I was carrying the cake before, the surface of the cake was rubbed against the inner wall of the box, and a lot of cream was scraped off. From the side view, it didn’t look good, but it was still quite perfect if you look from above.
“This was my mother’s favorite cake when she was alive.”
In an instant, Yan Shanhua’s face turned pale, and her gaze staring at the eight-inch cake was like encountering a beautiful flower that smelled like corpse— how much she liked it before, but how frightened she is now.
“Today…” Her lips trembled, as if she had thought of something, but after just a few words, she covered her mouth and turned around, coughing violently.
Ji Chenfeng came out of the kitchen with a teacup in his hand. Seeing Yan Shanhua’s appearance, he quickly put down the cup and went over to pat her on the back: “How are you? Do you feel any discomfort? Is your chest tight? Do you want to vomit?”
Yan Shanhua’s coughing gradually stopped and she waved her hands to indicate that she was fine.
She looked up at me and then quickly lowered her gaze, probably remembering what day it was. On this day many years ago, she took Mrs. Sang’s child, and was already haunted with nightmares. In addition, now that she was seriously ill, she may also feel that it is karma, which made her even more afraid of everything related to Mrs. Sang.
“I, I’m a little tired, Chenfeng, please entertain the guest, I’ll go inside and take a rest.” She said as she struggled to get up, entering the bedroom in a panic.
With the sound of the door closing, the electric heater on the side suddenly dimmed as if startled. Ji Chenfeng and I looked at it at the same time and witnessed its final glory.
Opening the dazzling toolbox, Ji Chenfeng sat on the tatami with one leg propped up, holding a screwdriver in his hand. In front of him was an electric heater that had already been dismantled into eight pieces with all of its various parts removed.
“Do you even know how to fix this thing?” Holding the cake on the paper plate, I inserted a fork into it, picking up a strawberry along with the cream.
I put it into my mouth and the sweet and sour juice instantly overflowed between my teeth, and paired with the slightly sweet fresh cream, it was just right, not too sweet or greasy. It’s indeed very delicious. No wonder it was Xu Wanyi’s favorite.
“My dad taught me this when I was a child.” Ji Chenfeng inspected the dismantled parts and said without raising his head.” Before the accident, he used to work on a construction site and knew a little bit about everything. From a very young age, he taught me a lot of things, saying that if I learned it, I would be able to take better care of my mother in the future, as if he knew that…he wouldn’t be able to stay with us for a long time.”
The fork paused in mid-air, staring at the scattered cream cake that I had eaten, but in an instant, I lost my appetite.
“Your dad was really kind.”
Ji Chenfeng stopped his movements and looked up at the photo on the wall. He seemed to have fallen into a certain memory. Looking at the photo of himself and Ji Wei, he was lost in thought as he said, “Hmm, he was very good.”
Although Ji Chenfeng was not a professional, he had an excellent teacher. Repairing small household appliances such as electric heaters was no problem, so he reassembled them in three or four strokes. As soon as the electricity was plugged in, the orange light lit up again, and warmth descended once again on the small area around the low table.
All the cake that I couldn’t eat was given to Ji Chenfeng, and he didn’t mind at all. Not only did he eat mine, he also completely ate his own piece.
After staying for an hour, I finished drinking the tea and eating the cake, so I got up and prepared to leave.
“Are you really not going to stay for dinner?” Ji Chenfeng escorted me out of the door, and then took me down the long steps. The light rain had stopped, so neither of us was holding an umbrella.
“No, I have something else to do tonight.” The table was too short and too small, the room was too cold and humid, and the electric heater was too hot. In such an environment, I felt like my stomach won’t be able to digest anything I eat.
Slowly walking down the stairs, the pointed tip of the long-handled umbrella hit the surface of the stone steps, making regular sounds.
Taking out the cigarette case from his pocket, Ji Chenfeng lit a cigarette and puffed on it silently. The smell of tobacco quickly permeated the air, blowing into my nose along with the breeze.
If there was a time when he looked most like someone from the Fly City, it would be when he smoked.
When he doesn’t smoke, he just looks like a cold and handsome guy. But once he puts a cigarette in his hand, he looks like a bad guy with a dangerous temperament for no reason. Regardless of his true nature, his appearance alone is still very intimidating.
“Who did Dr. Ji learned to smoke from? Your dad?”
The type of cigarette he smokes has a refreshing taste and is a brand I used to like. Ever since I quit smoking, I have never seen anyone else smoke this type of cigarette except him.
Zheng Jieyuan once smoked one out of curiosity and complained that he felt like he had eaten a big mouthful of mint-flavored toothpaste, and he never touched it again. It can be seen that ordinary people don’t like it very much.
“This…” Ji Chenfeng looked at the cigarette in his hand, then turned to look at me. After a few seconds, he said, “No. I learned it from others.”
Others? This wording was very ambiguous. Friends are friends, and relatives are relatives. But who are the “others”?
Feeling that his attitude was a bit strange, I asked further.
“Who? Someone special?”
He held the cigarette in his mouth and looked away, making a vague “hmm” sound from his throat.
I stopped in an instant and already had the answer in my heart.
What kind of special person, is it the man from the past? So, do you think of him every time you smoke? Are you still looking forward to reuniting with that scumbag again? You keep thinking about it, so of course you can’t forget it. But how can someone else’s anchor be on my pet?
Looking down at Ji Chenfeng who had already walked down, I quickened my pace, patted him on the shoulder, and while he was looking back, I unexpectedly grabbed the cigarette in his mouth and snatched it away.
“Today is my birthday.” Holding up the cigarette, I asked, “Can Dr. Ji quit smoking for me?”
Forget about all the other men, just think about me.
Ji Chenfeng was slightly stunned: “Today is your birthday?”
Turning the wet cigarette holder, I deliberately described myself as miserable and pitiful: “My mother died in childbirth when she gave birth to me. I have never celebrated a birthday before, but today is indeed my birthday. If you nod, this will be the first birthday gift I ever received in my life.”
Ji Chenfeng finally understood why I brought the cake to his house today. After being surprised, his dark eyes were gradually infected by many complex emotions, becoming unprecedentedly soft.
After a while, he nodded and said, “I will quit smoking, but this is my promise to you, not a birthday gift. You can also ask for something else as a birthday gift.”
Something else? I don’t lack anything, nor do I have any fanatical hobbies. At the moment, I really didn’t know what to ask for. And wasn’t it me who gave him the money? So what’s the difference between asking him for it and buying it myself?
“I owe you for now, and I’ll ask you for it later when I think of it.” I said.
As I spoke, a crisp crash suddenly sounded at the end of the long stairs. I thought the sound was familiar, but before I could figure out what it was, Ji Chenfeng rushed towards the place where the sound came from, so fast that it even brought a gust of cool breeze in front of me.
When I ran down the steps in confusion, I saw Ji Chenfeng firmly pressing a small boy onto the ground not far away, and I finally remembered why I thought the sound was familiar— my car window had been smashed again.
“Let me go!” The messy boy on the ground struggled desperately, not only using all of his strength to fight, but also trying to bite people.
Ji Chenfeng treated him like a fierce wild cat, clasping his back neck and then pushing one of his arms against his back, pressing his knees against the boy’s thighs. It took a lot of effort to control the person.
Seeing that he couldn’t break free, the boy began to cry loudly and beg for mercy.
“I’m sorry, I won’t dare to do it anymore. Let me go, big brother… I, I still have my sister and my father at home. They are still waiting for me to go back… My father is seriously ill and paralyzed, and my mother ran away with someone. If I can’t go back, my sister will starve to death…”
The boy looked to be only thirteen or fourteen years old. His hair had not been washed for several days and was tangled together like weeds. His clothes were too thin to withstand the current temperature. The soles of his sneakers were cracked, and his toes were exposed —— This may be the reason why he couldn’t run past Ji Chenfeng.
“Call the police.”
For a moment, I was startled and looked at Ji Chenfeng. He didn’t show any sympathy for the boy’s plea for mercy. His voice was cold and hard, and his side face was covered in frost, without any trace of warmth.
“Forget it…” Regardless of whether the boy’s words were true or false, he was only so old. I’m afraid he is not old enough to be held criminally responsible. So what if he broke a car window and was sent to the police station? Shouldn’t he be just let go after being taught a lesson?
Ji Chenfeng raised his head and had no intention of listening to my opinion. He once again said in a stern and irrefutable tone: “Call the police!”
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