Bai Qiuyi got up, agitated, while listening to the chatter on the other end of the phone. Just as he was about to run his hand through his hair, someone grabbed his wrist from the side. When Bai Qiuyi turned around and saw Jiang Shu, strangely, his irritability dropped a bit.
Jiang Shu held his hand as he hugged him from behind. He hoisted himself onto the desk behind them and brought Bai Qiuyi to sit on his lap. Bai Qiuyi slowly calmed down by his attentive actions.
“Mom, I haven’t made any shady friends.” Bai Qiuyi relaxed and leaned on the boy’s chest behind him, “My friends all come from good backgrounds and they are bright and studious. They’re nothing like the uneducated people you say they are. And Mom, even if you don’t trust your son’s words, you should have confidence in E University. Being admitted to E University proves that they are good enough…”
Bai Junyan listened to him without saying anything and the more she listened, the more she frowned. Before Bai Qiuyi could finish speaking, she interrupted him, “Mom will not harm you! Excellent grades do not mean that they have good character. Look at you, how long have you been in school studying? Yet you’ve been taken away from me and don’t intend to return home. Why do you need to be a tutor? Does the family lack your money?”
Her voice became fierce as she scolded him. She was actually very panicked when her son went to college and stayed so far away from her, but she kept bottling her emotions. After her son moved to school, she sent her son many messages. Although her son responded every time and in a timely manner, Bai Junyan felt that something had changed. Today, the phone call from her son made her face this new loss of control. Bai Junyan tousled her hair irritably, making her carefully tied hairstyle suddenly become loose and messy.
“Yes,” Bai Qiuyi’s soft voice was in sharp contrast to Bai Junyan’s rigid voice. “Mom’s birthday is coming soon. I want to use the money I earned to buy a gift for my mother.”
Jiang Shu rested his chin on the boy’s shoulder, quietly listening to the son and mother go back and forth. Witnessing such a situation, he felt infinite sympathy for Bai Qiuyi. The mother’s control over the boy was far more severe than he imagined. Her overbearing attitude made Jiang Shu feel uncomfortable, and he was an outsider. How would Bai Qiuyi feel?
“Mom doesn’t need you to make money to buy gifts,” Bai Junyan refused. “You coming back and being obedient, that is the biggest gift to Mom.”
“I will go back, but not today,” Bai Qiuyi remarked. “I am also very obedient! But Mom, can you please let me finish what I said? You asked me to read more, so I did. The books have taught me that people must be filial and have a grateful heart. Mom, you have raised me for so many years and provided me with food and clothing, and you always give me the best things. Every birthday of mine, you’ve always prepared a careful gift for me. As a son, I have never done anything for you. Seeing my friends sending gifts to their moms on Mother’s Day and their birthdays made me realize I’ve never done anything of the sort for you. Knowing this, I often couldn’t sleep well at night and I always feel very guilty towards Mom. I’ve not been a good son. Mom, you have been working hard for our livelihood and our family, and only now I realize my mistake…”
Bai Qiuyi spoke a lot, and Bai Junyan felt strangely calm after listening to it.
Of course, she disagreed with many of her son’s words: she thinks her son was the best.
She felt that her son did not need to do anything. If she worked harder and earned a little more, he would be able to live a good life.
But her son didn’t think so.
He will feel guilty.
He won’t sleep well.
And all because she didn’t let him do unnecessary things and didn’t allow him to give her birthday gifts.
Bai Junyan finally compromised. She didn’t want her son to remain trapped in guilt.
However, even though she compromised, Bai Qiuyi still had to report his movements to her every day as before.
After hanging up the phone, Bai Qiuyi wondered, “Could this be considered a success?”
“Don’t think about it.” Jiang Shu suggested. “Let’s have a barbecue tonight. I’ll have someone prepare the ingredients.”
The two had agreed before that in order to facilitate the tutoring, Bai Qiuyi will stay at Jiang Shu’s house this weekend.
“Okay,” Bai Qiuyi nodded. “My mother usually doesn’t let me eat these things, saying they are bad for my health.”
“It’s okay to eat them occasionally.” Jiang Shu noticed that the boy seemed to have recovered his good mood and felt relieved.
But then he remembered something. He didn’t want his younger brother to have a girlfriend. Wasn’t this the same as his mother restricting him from making friends? Jiang Shu felt that he shouldn’t be like this.
However, it was indeed not suitable to fall in love when one was a student! And after school ended… There were still a few years left, so he didn’t have to worry too much about this now.
Jiang Shu thought seriously that it would not be too late to worry about it after graduation.