Chapter 6 — Six Sticks Change a Life

After that, he returned to his hometown for a while, then found a new girlfriend. In Shenzhen. When I heard this news, I was peeling a tangerine. After peeling, break into two segments and eat, quite sweet. It has absolutely nothing to do with Tong Nghieu. I don't hate him anymore. Hatred takes a lot of energy, he is not worthy. Those six strokes that year were the last bit of energy I was willing to devote to this relationship. Other than that, nothing more. For 3 years and 8 months, I did everything I could. I passed the law exam. I got some certificates related to psychology. I read the books Ta Chau sent me without missing a word, from business administration to novels, all kinds of things. His reading taste is very mixed, choosing books without any rules, sometimes stuffing "Masterchef's Table", sometimes "Details of the Civil Code", placing them next to each other as if haphazardly dropped on the bookshelf. I wrote to ask if you were serious about choosing the book. He said yes, he had planned carefully, practiced both cooking and law, and when he got out of prison, he could open a restaurant without fear of being cheated by anyone. I laughed out loud. That day, my roommates all looked at me with strange eyes. The release date is set for the second week of March. The night before, I lay in bed, eyes open, looking at the ceiling. No tension, no excitement. Just extremely calm. So calm that even I was a little surprised. For more than three years, I never gave up, nor did I blame heaven or earth. I picked up the baseball bat, I suffered the consequences, I paid the price for my actions. That story, and that emotional episode, were just sealed away. Tomorrow step out and start again. That's all. * The day I was released from prison was March 21, around 9:00 a.m. After handing over the procedures, warden Truong on duty personally saw me out the door. The moment the heavy iron door slowly opened, sunlight rushed into my face. The March sun is a very thin sun, carrying a bit of cold, but is extremely bright. I stood at the door, squinting slightly. And then, I saw him. He stood about five feet away from the prison wall. Wearing a thin dark gray windbreaker, her hair was slightly tangled by the wind. Holding a large bouquet of sunflowers in her arms, the flower stems were still covered in mud. It's like buying it straight from the farmer's hands, without wrapping paper, extremely original. Seeing me walk out, his eyes immediately turned red. He was clearly smiling, but tears were forming at the corners of his eyes and he couldn't hold back. He thrust a bouquet of sunflowers into my hand. “Hey, welcome out of prison.” His voice was sobbing, but he still tried to be gentle. I received the bouquet of flowers. Bow your head to smell. Sunflowers don't have any fragrance, just the sweet smell of grass. I raised my eyes to look at him. We haven't seen each other for nearly four years, it's still the same face, but the corners of the eyes have a few faint wrinkles, looking much calmer than before. "How long have you been waiting?" "I came at 8 o'clock." "An hour early." "Afraid of traffic jams." I looked at him, saying nothing. Being embarrassed by my staring, he turned away and poked the sunflower with his finger. "What are you looking at?" "Looking at something I missed before." He was stunned. I transferred the bouquet of flowers to my left hand, reached out my right hand, and tucked his wind-blown hair behind his ear. He did not avoid it. Just standing there blankly, eyes looking straight at me. "Ta Chau." "Um." "I said there's someone waiting for you outside." He nodded. "Wait." He nodded harder, a tear rolling from the corner of his eye. He quickly wiped it away with his hand, turned his face away, gritted his teeth and said: "Co Tri Y, don't be like that, a man like me has to cry." I laughed. That was my most comfortable smile in years. “Let's go home.” I said. “Yes.” He replied.