Chapter 6 — Fourteen Days of Vegetarian Dumplings

“Mom and Dad just wanted to come congratulate you and visit you a little by the way.” “Now that you two have finished visiting, you can go.” My voice was calm, I was about to turn around and leave. Mom grabbed my hand again and stuffed it into an envelope. “There are three thousand yuan inside, consider it…” “I don't need it.” I quickly withdrew my hand. The envelope fell to the ground. Her mother's expression became pitiful, she bent down to pick it up. I suddenly had enough. I let out a deep breath. “Very disgusting, do you two know that?” "What?" They both looked at me at the same time. "What you said is very disgusting. You two have never cared about me, why are you pretending to be like this now?" Dad gritted his teeth and said: "What nonsense are you talking about? If your parents don't care about you, how will you grow up?" "How is raising a child different from two people raising a dog? That's not right." I suddenly burst out laughing, self-consciously shaking my head. “Two people raising dogs are more thoughtful than raising children.” “Children have to sleep on the floor, and dogs also have their own nest.” "It's not like you two don't know how hot that tent is. It's because you know that that's why you bought the house and took Ly Huy and Ly Mien Mien there." “What about you?” Mom was a little panicked, stammering an explanation: "We were too busy, and you're grown up, so..." "So you two forgot about me." I understand why you should explain. “So when someone pries your door open, you two can still sleep well.” “So every time I come home, my part is always just work.” "So when there's not enough room in the car, the one who gets left behind is forever." "So when I was beaten by Ly Huy, the two of us stood next to watch the funny show." “So can you two stop pretending to care about me?” By the end, my throat was almost hoarse from screaming. Because I feel so disgusting. So disgusting that my whole body trembled, not wanting to look at them again. Dad's lips are white. He no longer had the same energy as before. Mother sadly pursed her lips, tears kept falling. In the end, they no longer tried to justify themselves, no longer showed authority in front of me. No more repeating lies that even they don't believe. I turned around and left. No money, no milk. Because I don't want to have any financial relationship with them anymore. Parents return home. Because I still completely block all their methods of communication. They can only occasionally send me messages in the family chat group. From food, clothing, housing, transportation to academic pressure. Pay attention to every big and small thing. But I didn't reply to any messages. Occasionally, Ly Mien Mien will leave messages for me in the game, helping me feed the chickens and weed. Use that way to show your remorse to me. As for Ly Huy and I, we have absolutely no contact anymore. Time passed very quickly. During Tet of my first year of college, I did not return home. I stayed in Kinh city to teach private lessons to students. Winter in Kinh city has snow. Everything is white, making people feel very quiet. In the group chat, my parents took turns asking me if I was coming home or not. I still didn't answer. After finishing teaching, I packed up the test and said goodbye to my employer. While walking out, mom suddenly posted a family photo to the group chat. In the second row in the photo, I'm standing in the middle of L
Huy Huy and Ly Mien Mien. That's the photo she hired someone to put together. It's just that I'm thirteen years old in that photo. That was the last photo taken before they moved out of the small tent. Putting me in their current family photo looks extremely out of place. I was silent for two seconds, then pressed the button to leave the chat group. After raising my head, I looked at the white snow in front of me and took a deep breath. Cold air flowed from my mouth to my stomach. So clean.