novelraw Chapter 53
Chapter 53
Chapter 53 This weekend, Qin Qing’s parents rushed back from out of province in a hurry.
Before they could even fully step into Grandma Qin’s house, Li Jinghe looked at Grandma Qin, who opened the door, with a stern expression. “Mom, where’s Qing? Get her out to the living room immediately—we don’t have much time, and we have to rush back tonight.
We can’t stay long.”
Grandma Qin was stunned by the urgency and only followed them inside after closing the door.
“What’s going on?”
Li Jinghe, who was just about to walk into the side bedroom after changing her shoes, paused and turned back. “Qing didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?” Grandma Qin’s expression tightened. “Tian Tian twisted her ankle yesterday. I thought you came back because of that.”
“She twisted her ankle?”
Li Jinghe and Qin Jingguo exchanged glances. “How bad is it?”
Grandma Qin frowned. “It’s swollen like a little bun. Luckily, we went to the hospital yesterday, and the doctor said it didn’t injure the bone—but she did strain a ligament. From now on, she’ll probably be prone to spraining it.”
“…”
Li Jinghe’s stern expression softened slightly, but after glancing at her watch, her brow furrowed again. “Let’s talk in her room, then.”
“What is this all about? Can’t it wait? Tian Tian is still resting in her room!”
“Mom, we’ll try not to disturb her rest.”
As Li Jinghe spoke, she exchanged a glance with Qin Jingguo.
Qin Jingguo, who hadn’t said a word since entering, sighed and gently pulled Grandma Qin aside. The two of them walked over to the side.
“Mom, here’s the thing. Qing called us yesterday and said…”
Meanwhile, Li Jinghe hung her bag on a nearby hook and walked straight to Qin Qing’s room.
When she reached the door and was about to knock, the door opened from the inside.
It was Qin Qing who appeared.
She stood in the doorway, looking up at Li Jinghe, and softly called out, “Mom.”
“…”
Li Jinghe felt a strange mix of emotions in her heart.
It had been two months since she last saw Qin Qing.
Meeting again after two months, she found it hard to scold her right away.
But…
Remembering what Qin Qing had said on the phone yesterday, Li Jinghe couldn’t keep calm.
She took a deep breath. Her carefully made-up face was expressionless, but her eyes looked seriously at Qin Qing.
“Qing, are you serious about choosing the humanities stream, as you mentioned on the phone yesterday?”
Qin Qing remained silent for a moment, then slowly nodded.
“Yes, Mom, I’ve thought it through. I want to choose the humanities.”
Li Jinghe’s brows furrowed deeply, and her rising anger made it hard to contain. She paced back and forth for a moment before pointing to the sofa, trying to control her temper.
“Come here, let’s have a serious talk.”
“…”
Qin Qing’s hands, resting by her sides, slowly clenched.
After a moment of hesitation, she followed her mother’s instruction and walked over, her left foot slightly limping.
Li Jinghe, who had walked to the sofa first, didn’t notice. After sitting down angrily, she looked coldly at the girl sitting on the sofa diagonally opposite her.
“Your grades in mathematics, physics, and chemistry are all excellent. You excel in the sciences—yet, your grades in the humanities, especially history, are only above average. Why do you want to choose the humanities?”
Li Jinghe took a deep breath, as if trying to quell her anger. “Qing, you’re still young and don’t understand many things. Simply put, the choice between humanities and sciences is the first major crossroad in your academic life. Only by making the right choice at this stage can you ensure a smooth path ahead!”
Qin Qing’s hands, resting on her knees, clenched tightly. After a long time, she seemed to lose some of her resolve, and her grip loosened.
“…Because I like it.”
Li Jinghe frowned. “What?”
Qin Qing raised her head, looking at her mother, and repeated almost word by word, “I want to choose the humanities because I like it.”
“…”
Li Jinghe looked at Qin Qing in disbelief. At that moment, her daughter seemed almost like a stranger to her.
It took her several seconds to find her voice again.
“Qing, I’ve always thought of you as a well-behaved, obedient child. You’re more excellent and sensible than others your age, never making your father and me worry too much—I didn’t expect that perhaps I’ve been wrong?”
“… I like the humanities,” Qin Qing said, her voice slightly hoarse. “Is that such an unforgivable mistake?”
“You haven’t made a mistake!”
Li Jinghe’s voice rose in anger, startling even Grandma Qin and Qin Jingguo, who had just stepped out of the room.
Li Jinghe, however, ignored them and continued to glare at Qin Qing. “But you’re still a child! Your current thoughts are immature, focused only on what you like and dislike—you don’t understand, and can’t yet see, the many things that have nothing to do with personal preferences! That’s why your father and I make decisions for you. When you look back on these choices later, you’ll realize who truly had your best interests at heart and what choices were the right ones!”
“Oh, what are you doing? You’ll scare the child with such a big commotion!”
Unable to stand it anymore, Grandma Qin tried to intervene.
But Qin Qing suddenly spoke up.
She looked up at Li Jinghe, biting her lip, not backing down.
“Mom, what is right?”
“…And what does it mean to have my best interests at heart?”
Qin Qing stared at her mother, her beautiful eyes brimming with tears, but she forced them back.
“Is what you believe is right, and what others around you believe is right, supposed to be my right? …Or, do you think what’s good for me—no matter how I feel about it—is really good for me? Is that it?”
Li Jinghe’s breath hitched. “Qing—how can you talk to your mother like that?”
“…”
Qin Qing clenched her fists tightly, trying to use the sharp, numbing pain to push back the overwhelming grief that had been building up for years.
With reddened eyes, she looked at Li Jinghe. “Mom, you say I’m more sensible and obedient than others my age… but have you ever considered why that is?”
“…”
The girl’s voice finally carried a sob.
“I’m sensible and obedient… because you and Dad were never around—it’s been like this since I was little! It took so long, so very long, to see you even once—so I just wanted you to praise me more, to look at me more! I thought that if I were even more obedient, you’d stay with me more, like other kids’ parents!”
The girl’s choked, nearly hoarse voice shocked the three of them.
They had never realized that their quiet, obedient Qing had been hiding so much pent-up emotion.
With a sobbing voice, Qin Qing looked at them. “But just because I’m sensible and obedient… does that mean you can use that to make me obey? Practicing the piano, painting, transferring schools, skipping grades… no matter what I like, no matter if I’m willing—as long as it’s good for me, you think you can decide everything for me?”
“I’ve had enough… I’ve had enough of being a well-behaved, sensible child!”
Qin Qing could no longer hold back the flood of emotions she’d been suppressing. She leaned on the sofa, struggling to stand up, clenching her fists as she looked at Li Jinghe, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Even if I make the wrong choice—I’ll bear the consequences! But if you choose for me, and someday I can’t go on—can you live the rest of my life for me?”
“You keep saying it’s for my own good—is it really to comfort yourselves, or have you truly considered what I think, what I like, what makes me happy, and what makes me sad?”
“…”
After pouring out everything she’d been holding back, Qin Qing felt overwhelmed by nearly suffocating emotions.
She stood there, pale and trembling. Under her parents’ shocked and complex gazes, Qin Qing bit her lip, turned, and headed back to her room, leaving her final words behind.
“Your idea of what’s good for me makes me feel terrible… I’m sorry, Mom, but this time, I won’t listen to you…”
After Qin Qing went back to her room, the living room was still eerily silent.
Li Jinghe, sitting stiffly on the sofa, also had red-rimmed eyes. Her lips trembled for a long time before she shakily spoke.
“…How did this child grow up to have such a temper?”
Qin Jingguo sighed and was about to sit down to comfort his wife.
Just then, the door to Qin Qing’s room suddenly opened, and the girl emerged, wrapped in a long coat, limping slightly on her left foot, with an expressionless face still streaked with tears.
Without looking back, she walked toward the door.
Grandma Qin panicked. “Tian Tian! Where are you going?”
“I’m sorry, Grandma, I just need to go out and clear my head. I’ll be back soon…”
Qin Qing’s voice was tense.
She reached the door and pushed it open, but stopped as she was about to close it.
She stood there without turning around.
“Mom, I’ve always been like this… You just never really looked at me or understood me.”
This time, without waiting for Li Jinghe’s response, Qin Qing shut the door and left.
She held her breath, her face flushed with suppressed emotion, and gritted her teeth against the stabbing pain in her left foot as she walked out.
She turned into the T-shaped corridor and pushed open the stairwell door.
The heavy metal door closed with a loud bang.
After that sound, it was as if some floodgate had finally burst open. The intense pain in her left foot caused her to collapse onto the cold, tiled floor.
Only then did Qin Qing realize that she’d forgotten to change into her shoes. The coldness from the floor seeped into her whole body through her bare feet.
She could no longer hold back. Hugging her knees, she curled up as tightly as she could.
But even in that position, she couldn’t escape the coldness seeping through her body.
She started sobbing, her breathing ragged from the overwhelming sense of injustice and grief.
At some point, the heavy stairwell door opened again.
Before Qin Qing could look up, a warm embrace enveloped her completely.
“Three minutes is the limit.”
The voice above her was low and hoarse, filled with helplessness, compassion, and sorrow.
——
“If you keep crying, I’ll really go crazy.”