Xia Meng

While talking, there was a loud knock on the door, as if the door was about to be knocked open. Xia Meng realized that something was wrong, and hurried to her mother to find out what was going on.

Mother tremblingly said: "Your father owed a lot of money to outsiders, and now they are coming to ask for the debt."

In Xia Meng's mind, it was like a thunderbolt struck down, making her scalp numb, and it seemed that lightning flashed, and the picture was as pale as snow in an instant.

Xia Meng glanced at the frightened mother and sister on the sofa, her brain was running fast, she thought to just hide at home quietly and let them knock on the door, who knew that the neighbor next door would come out to listen to gossip.

"What are you arguing about? It's late at night, and other people's homes need to rest well."

"It's none of your business. They don't pay back the money they owe, and they want to hide. I'll smash the door down today to see if he can get out."

Xia Meng listened to the neighbor next door sighing and said: "Hey, I have no money to borrow, and I don't have it now, how long can I hide." After finishing speaking, he closed the door.

Xia Meng's hands trembled uncontrollably. She glanced at the house and quickly settled her eyes on one spot. She collected herself and said to her mother and Xia Ke: "You go to my room and lock the door if you can. Now, don’t come out no matter what you hear, and call the police if you don’t hear me for a while.”

The mother grabbed Xia Meng, her eyes were full of anxiety: "Mengmeng, what are you going to do, don't do anything stupid, mother will come if you need anything." She struggled to stand up from the sofa, but her legs Sitting down again.

Xia Meng helped her mother up, and said to Xia Ke: "Take mom in, remember what I just said, did you hear?"

Xia Ke only yelled "Sister" and didn't know what to say. Looking at his mother, his eyes drifted between Xia Meng and his mother.

"Don't be afraid, I'm here." Xia Meng actually squeezed out a smile, as if she was just going to drink a cup of tea.

After all, Xia Ke didn't say much, nodded to Xia Meng, and helped her mother into the room.

After confirming that her mother and Xia Ke had entered the room, Xia Meng's face sank and she walked towards the kitchen, and then walked to the door. Hearing the continuous knocking on the door, she stabilized her breath and opened the door.

As soon as the door lock was loosened, the people outside immediately opened the door forcefully, not giving the people inside the chance to close the door again. Two men and one woman stabbed their gazes into Xia Meng's body in unison.

Xia Meng pretended to be calm and asked: "Who are you looking for?"

The woman outside the door immediately yelled in a shrill voice: "Stop pretending, call your dad out quickly, hide at home and ask your daughter to open the door, what are you doing, get out quickly, and pay back the money."

Xia Meng was stung by such voices, her ears hurt, her ears were buzzing like tinnitus, she didn't hear what the woman was saying clearly, but she saw through the gap that the opposite person secretly opened the door a crack, revealing her slender eyes looking at her. Everything that happens at the door.

Seeing that Xia Meng didn't speak, the woman thought Xia Meng was too frightened to speak, and said impatiently: "I'm too lazy to talk nonsense with you, I have to find him today." While speaking, she yelled at the two men next to her, ready to rush into the house.

Xia Meng's eyes widened suddenly, and she pulled out her right hand, which was always behind her back. A bright light passed between them, forming a boundary, separating the distance from the three people.

"What are you doing! What are you doing!" the woman screamed.

"He's not at home, and we can't find him." Xia Meng said coldly.

"Who are you lying to? Then why are you blocking it? Let us go in and look for it." The woman approached tentatively as she spoke.

Xia Meng directly stabbed her with the knife, causing her to take a few steps back in fright.

"If you say you are not here, you are not here. If you dare to take a step closer, I will not be polite."

The woman sneered bluffing, "Who are you scaring? The little girl with no hair is still here learning how to dance with knives and guns. It looks like the real thing." He rolled his eyes and said, "If you have the ability, kill me."

Xia Meng really sneered, it wasn't the kind of bravado, but the indifference from the bottom of his heart, he straightened his back, "Then come over and try, see if I dare to kill you." The chill in the words was fierce You have to get into the hearts of those three people.

At this time, Xia Meng didn't care at all. She wasn't afraid of doing it, and she wasn't afraid of taking the risk of killing people. She didn't even care if she died here today.She is completely willing to fight, she has someone who needs to protect, she can give up herself.

A 20-year-old girl exuded malice that made the three adults shudder.Now the woman was really scared, she believed that if she took a step forward, the girl in front of her would definitely stab her with the knife without hesitation.

But adults feel that it is very shameful to admit defeat to someone younger than themselves. The more serious the matter is, the more life-threatening it is, the more prominent this bad habit of desperate for face.

"Okay, you have the guts, I'll let you go today." The woman said that her feet had already started to turn around and was about to leave, she pointed at Xia Meng with her finger, and she was still relentlessly trying to save face, "Don't think I'm afraid of you, Let me tell you, I remember you, little girl, just wait for me, I won't kill you next time."

Xia Meng threw the knife directly, the back of the knife brushed against the woman's face, and then fell to the ground with a dull metallic sound.

The woman screamed.

"If you dare to come to my house to make trouble again, I will definitely let you be carried out covered with a white cloth. It's just a matter of life for life. I don't care. If you don't care, just come."

The three of them rushed downstairs without saying a word, and soon heard the sound of the door opening and closing downstairs.

When Xia Meng bent down to pick up the knife on the ground, she raised her head to look at the eyes in the crack of the door, those eyes immediately shrank back, and closed the door tightly.

As soon as Xia Meng locked the door, her mother pulled Xia Meng from behind, holding Xia Meng's face in both hands, and said with tears streaming down her face: "I'm sorry, my Mengmeng, my mother failed to protect you and asked you to do it." I'm sorry for such a dangerous thing, Mengmeng, I'm sorry."

Xia Ke also quickly came to him, looked at Xia Meng back and forth, and asked, "Is there any injury?"

Xia Meng shook her head, pulled the two of them to sit on the sofa in the living room, poured three glasses of water, picked it up and drank half of it before putting down the glass.

"What's going on? What happened? Why does my dad owe others money? How much is he owed? Where is he now?" Xia Meng was more worried about these countless questions than the fear she faced just now. .

Xia Meng's mother wiped her tears, took a few deep breaths, and slowly said: "Your father is a friend who runs a restaurant in that family and raises several Tibetan mastiffs. The surname Chen, whose wife has leukemia, borrowed it from your father." Money, say interest." Mom's expression fell into memory.

"I paid it back on time in the past few months, and there is also a good interest rate, and I have known him for many years, and my friendship is also good. I heard that it was for his wife to see a doctor, so I was quite worried. Later, your father's company needs to turn over funds. , I couldn’t afford to borrow him for a while, so I borrowed money from relatives and friends, and borrowed money from the bank. Who knows, he suddenly disappeared last week, and his home was also emptied. Find him." Thinking of this, my mother became very angry.

Xia Meng handed her mother a glass of water, and her mother drank a couple of sips, then continued, "Your father owed a large amount of money to the outside world, and it's not enough now. Someone said they saw him in Chongqing yesterday, and your father rushed over overnight. Yes, no news yet."

After Xia Meng finished listening, she didn't say a word, but she sorted out her thoughts in her mind, and almost got it straight, and asked, "Then how much money does he owe in total?"

"He said it was estimated to be more than 500 million."

Xia Meng even found it a little funny, can't she even tell how much she owes?

"Does he have a general solution now?: Xia Meng didn't realize that he suddenly became extremely calm, and his thoughts were not as chaotic as before. The most important thing is to find out the cause and effect and the current solution to the problem.

Xia Meng's mother lowered her eyes, didn't know how to speak for a while, and was silent for a long time, just when Xia Meng thought she was not going to speak, she suddenly said to Xia Meng: "Your father is going to sell the house, we The two of you will go back to your hometown to hide for a while, Xia Ke still has to go to school and rent a house for the two of you, the debt collectors only have information about me and your father, without the two of you, I can't find you. But." Xia Meng's mother lifted At the beginning, looking into Xia Meng's eyes, holding her hand, tears filled her eyes again, "Mom is not willing to leave you two."

The night is like ink splashing on the earth, the cold wind is extremely noisy, as if it wants to sweep away everything in the world, and it has a big mouth like a monster, trying to swallow the lonely shadow.

Xia Meng's parents have always treated Xia Meng in a free-ranging manner since she was a child, in the name of exercising her independence, but in fact they are busy with their own affairs and have no time management.In Xia Meng's memory, the number of times he ate at the same table with his father was so small that he could count it on two hands. When he got up for school every day, he might have gone out, or he might not have gotten up yet. When he fell asleep at night, he was basically I haven't returned home yet, and the number of times I even meet with each other is very limited throughout the year.

This also caused Xia Meng's memories of her father to be mostly from her mother's narration before she could remember. In her mother's memory, her father doted on her eldest daughter very much. Time appeared to protect her.

But the older they got, the more alienated they became. Later, when Xia Ke was born, her mother quit her job and stayed at home to take care of the two children full-time.Xia Meng can already go to school by herself at this time, so she mainly takes care of Xia Ke.

It seems that from this time on, Xia Meng gradually stopped relying on anyone.She learned to take care of herself, and she never opened her mouth to ask for help if she could solve it by herself, and kept her thoughts in her heart without showing them. She knew that her father was busy with work and her mother was busy with taking care of her younger sister, so she had to be sensible and not let them worry about it.

Later, when Xia Meng's mother realized that she was becoming more and more reticent, always walking alone, never asking them for help, and carrying everything by herself, it was too late.

Xia Meng said softly to her mother: "Just do it like this, don't worry about us, I will take good care of Xia Ke."

"But, you still have to go to school, open a shop, and take care of Xia Ke, how can you be so busy?"

Xia Meng smiled, as if she was comforting her mother, trying to reassure her, "You can rest assured and go with Dad, I can arrange it, don't worry."

When Xia Meng finally lay down on the bed, she suddenly felt tired, very tired, so tired that she wished she could fall asleep right away and never wake up again.The thoughts that were still clear just now seemed to be rusted, stuck and unable to move, unable to think about anything.

As if after realizing it, the courage that had just dazzled her head disappeared all of a sudden, and fear quickly took over, filling every gap in the room, making people nowhere to hide.

Xia Meng's hands were as cold as a corpse, she picked up the phone tremblingly, and dialed Lin Xi's number.

"Hey, Mengmeng, what's the matter?"

"Lin Xi." Xia Meng's teeth chattered together, making a rattling sound.

"What's the matter, what happened?"

"Lin Xi, I'm afraid." Xia Meng, who was shivering for a long time, could only choke out such a sentence.

Lin Xi on the other end of the phone nervously listened to Xia Meng's stumbling narration, and roughly understood the situation. She is not a person who can comfort others, and now she can only be separated by the phone, Lin Xi was at a loss for a while.

"I'll go find you." If it's in person, you can still hug her, so that she won't be so lonely.

"No need," Xia Meng finally calmed down, "It's too late, it's not safe to rush here, I'm already much better."

"Be good, let's rest at home tomorrow."

Xia Meng shook her head, thinking that Lin Xi would not be able to see her, and said, "I'm afraid it's easier to think wildly when I stay at home. Come pick me up tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, then you should sleep well now, and I will pick you up after dawn."

"Ah."

"Don't be afraid, I'm here."

Xia Meng didn't fall asleep, and spent the whole night with her eyes open, as if she was awake, and as if she was in a dream. When her belly turned pale that day, she breathed a sigh of relief, and finally made it through the night.

The sky was dark and it was raining moderately.

Xia Meng stood at the gate of the community early and waited for Wei Linxi. She almost escaped from the house, and the thrill and depression of last night still remained in the house, making her breathless.

Perhaps out of self-protection, Xia Meng often evades reality, or drinks, or sleeps. In short, she is unwilling to face the problem in front of her soberly. Most of the time it works, but the effect lasts for a short time.

When Wei Linxi's car appeared at the corner, Xia Meng bought buns and milk as usual, and got into the co-pilot.

The car drove towards the school at a leisurely pace, neither of them spoke, only the wiper wiped the rainwater falling on the windshield in a nonchalant manner, repeating its mechanical movements.

Xia Meng stared at the falling rain for a while, picked up the steamed stuffed bun she just bought, and bit into it unhurriedly, just like eating breakfast on the way to school every day.

Whenever it rains, there will be a long queue of cars blocked at the viaduct under construction, and the red taillights strung a long road.

Wei Linxi and his car were waiting in the queue, occasionally moved forward a meter or two, and stopped again.

When she stopped again, Wei Linxi secretly turned her head and glanced at Xia Meng. She was still gnawing on the buns calmly, and couldn't help feeling distressed.

She reached out and touched Xia Meng's head.

Wei Linxi suddenly caught a glimpse of water dripping from the corner of his eye, and hurriedly turned his head to look.

Xia Meng still maintained the posture of stuffing buns into her mouth, but big tears rolled down her eyes continuously, like the rain outside the car window.

Wei Linxi's heart twitched suddenly, she gently stroked Xia Meng's back, and said in a low voice: "Hey, my little baby, don't cry."

Xia Meng cried out, tears flowed into her mouth, mixed with the buns and swallowed into her stomach.

The rain started to fall heavily, pattering on the car, drowning out Xia Meng's cries in an instant.Wei Linxi steered the steering wheel with one hand, and comforted Xia Meng with the other. He just wanted to hurry through the traffic jam so he could find a place to stop and wipe Xia Meng's tears away.

Slowly, the crying became quieter, and after a while it turned into a low sob.Xia Meng wiped away her tears, even though she had no appetite and her stomach was sour and nauseated, she still gorged on the unfinished buns again, as if she was angry with the buns.

"I'm not sad, I'm not afraid." Xia Meng sobbed and said after a while.

"Okay, we're not sad, and we're not afraid. I'm here, so don't be afraid." Wei Linxi finally drove through the traffic jam and parked the car on the side of the road.

Wei Linxi took out the napkin and wiped away Xia Meng's tears. Seeing her acting brave, she felt sore.

"Little fool, don't take everything into your heart, tell me, I'm always here."

Xia Meng, who had already almost controlled her emotions, completely broke the line of defense when she heard Lin Xi's comforting words.

When people are sad, it’s okay if no one sees them. Once someone comforts and cares about themselves, they will instantly break their defenses and become aggrieved and vulnerable.

Xia Mengche cried out completely, pouring out all the fear, grievance, timidity, and uneasiness of yesterday. She is not afraid that people passing by will hear her crying. Find a cathartic outlet.

Wei Linxi hugged Xia Meng, and Xia Meng buried her face in Wei Linxi's shoulder, crying like a child who has been wronged by the world, and needs to be hugged and cared for at this moment.

When they arrived at the school, it was almost time for class, and Wei Linxi sent Xia Meng directly to the teaching building.

"Be good, call me if you feel uncomfortable, and I'll pick you up." Wei Linxi rubbed Xia Meng's red and swollen eyelids.

Xia Meng nodded, opened the car door, took a deep breath, turned into the teaching building, and disappeared.

Xia Meng walked into the classroom with the bell ringing. Xu Yang felt strange. He didn't see Xia Meng when he came today. Logically, she arrived 10 minutes before class. Could it be that she asked for leave?Just as he was about to send a message to ask, Xia Meng came in with his head down and the bell ringing.

Xia Meng was about to sit down, put down her bag from behind, and raised her head slightly when she took out her textbook.

Xu Yang was startled, and when he wanted to see clearly again, Xia Meng had already turned around to face the blackboard.

Those red and slightly swollen eyes couldn't get rid of Xu Yang's eyes.