Chapter 4 — Twice Do Thanh Hoa

“Youngest aunt, can I come stay with you?” The other end of the line was silent for only a second: "I will clean the extra bedroom for you right away." Hanging up the phone, I pulled the old suitcase over and opened the zipper. I without expression stuffed some old uniforms that were faded and two sizes larger than my body. Outside the living room, urgent footsteps were heard. “Ha Ha, what are you doing?” Mom pushed the door open and walked in. Seeing the suitcase on the ground, her voice immediately panicked. Without raising my head, I placed the tattered error notebook on top: "Move." "Where are you moving to? This is your home!" She rushed forward and wanted to snatch the clothes from my hand. "In the future, can I not bother you anymore? I will put food in front of the room door, please don't go..." I grabbed my clothes and looked at her coldly. Being hit by my eyes, she retreated and suddenly let go. I unzipped the suitcase, picked it up and walked straight past her. My father stood in the middle of the living room, opening his mouth to say something, but the coldness in my eyes forced him to take a step back. As soon as I arrived at my youngest aunt's house, my parents immediately chased after me. In the cramped living room of the youngest aunt's house, the atmosphere was tense to the extreme. Mom grabbed my shirt tightly, not caring about her face, crying in front of the whole family: "Ha Ha, please go home. I know it's wrong, I really know it's wrong..." I slowly removed her fingers one by one, smoothed out the wrinkled part of her shirt that she grabbed, then calmly said: "Yes, I know." Having finished speaking, I dragged my suitcase into the room my youngest aunt had prepared for me, and continued to coldly take out my clothes. Outside the living room, my mother cried so much that she could barely breathe. The youngest aunt stopped her with red eyes and did not let her enter. At that moment, the phone in my mother's pocket rang. It was my grandmother calling. As soon as the phone was received and the speaker was turned on, the grandmother's angry voice echoed throughout the house: "Truong Que Cam! Why are you running there crying now? What did you do before?" "The child's future was destroyed by your own hands. Do you now realize it was wrong? It's too late!" My mother held the phone, squatted on the ground, covered her face and sobbed: "Mom, I'm so heartbroken. I'm really sorry..." The crying outside the door mixed with my grandmother's angry scolding. From beginning to end, I didn't step out to look at her once. “Bang.” I turned around and closed the bedroom door, spread out a brand new math problem, forcing myself into a state of harsh studying that was almost self-torturing. I have to get back everything they owe me, both capital and interest. But as soon as I wrote the first solution, the phone next to me that was on silent mode suddenly lit up. A long message appeared on the screen from an unfamiliar phone number. 6 On the screen is a message several hundred words long: "Ha Ha, it's mom. This is the new phone number your dad just registered. Mom and dad have transferred this month's living expenses to your youngest aunt." “I bought some delicious food to improve my health.” "I can't sleep every night. I really miss you..." I looked at the screen, my eyes only stopping on those words for less than three seconds. After that, I calmly clicked delete, put the new phone number on the blacklist and threw the phone into the deepest part of the drawer. I picked up the pen again and put the nib down on the math problem. Since that phone number was blocked, my life has completely turned into a precision machine without any emotions. Every day, at five thirty in the morning, when it is still not dawn, the first second the alarm clock rings, I will open my eyes on time. I splashed cold water on my face, dispelling the last bit of sleepiness. At twelve o'clock at night, after finishing the last set of natural science questions, I mechanically turned off the desk lamp. The error notebook I had used since the twelfth grade, even the cover had come off, and I used transparent tape to tape it over and over again. I flipped it to pieces five times. Every trap that made me stumble, every sentence that made me lose points is engraved in my mind. Next to the middle finger of my right hand holding the pen, the old layer of callus wears away and then grows a thicker layer. It was like the old scar on my left wrist caused by the rusty steel wire, which became an indelible mark on my body. In process

Studying was almost self-torture, Ms. Chu was the only place where I could breathe. She goes to her youngest aunt's house once every weekend. She never called in advance, nor did she ever speak politely. She always silently carried a bag of apples or a carton of fresh milk, placed the items in the living room and then went into my room. She didn't ask anything. Don't ask if I'm tired, don't ask if I regret it, don't mention anything that happened last year. She just walked up behind me and patted me hard on the shoulder twice. Those two gentle pats gave me the strength to continue climbing out of the abyss. One evening at the end of the month, I was solving the last question of a physics lesson when my youngest aunt pushed the door open and walked in. Auntie held the phone, looked a bit awkward, stood next to the desk and wanted to say it again: "Ha Ha... today your parents transferred two thousand yuan to my account, saying it was your living expenses." She stopped for a moment and then carefully asked: