Chapter 96: Pay With His Life
As the old saying goes, one shouldn’t criticize a dead person no matter what. Life is the most noble thing.
Mu Jingzhe also felt regretful. After all, Chubby Boy was still young, and his life had just begun. That said, she couldn’t shoulder all the blame just because she felt guilty and sorry for him.
How old was Shao Xi? He was only half of Chubby Boy’s age. He was also very pitiful.
From the standpoint of a parent, how was this fair to Shao Xi, who might be traumatized by all of this?
“Little Xi, don’t think too much. Don’t think too much.” At that moment, Mu Jingzhe only wanted to protect Shao Xi.
When Shao Xi finally calmed down, they heard someone shout that the child’s mother had arrived.
Someone who knew Chubby Boy had gone to inform his mother.
Chubby Boy’s mother ran a shop just across the street, so she wasn’t far away. She rushed over in no time.
Mu Jingzhe and Shao Xi met the chubby mother they had come across in the morning again. In contrast to her ferociousness in the morning, right now, the chubby mother’s face was filled with panic and disbelief.
“It can’t be my Chubby Boy. No, he just went to collect some folk songs. It’s not him…”
She kept denying it until she saw the body and his familiar clothes. Her legs gave way, and she fell to her knees.
The person supporting her wasn’t able to pull her up no matter how hard he tried.
“No, no… Mommy only chided you a little. How can you just leave me like that!” She lay on the ground, unable to stand up. Later on, she only managed to make her way over by crawling.
“Please, everyone, help me take a look. Help me save him…” She wailed, her voice shrill.
The surrounding onlookers couldn’t bear to watch and turned their heads away. The two people standing beside Mu Jingzhe whispered.
“That’s why she shouldn’t have hit and scolded the child all the time. She even said that he’d be useless if he didn’t win first place and he should just die.”
Mu Jingzhe was appalled. She and Shao Xi had seen Chubby Boy get scolded, but they hadn’t known that she used to say such awful things to him.
From their intermittent conversation, Mu Jingzhe had learned that Chubby Boy had been single-handedly raised by his mother. His father had passed away when he was very young.
He had been a writer and poet whose books had even been published. He used to be a famous scholar.
Chubby Boy had been talented from a young age. His mother had placed great importance on grooming him, but she had been too strict with him. No matter the competition he participated in, he had to win first place. Otherwise, he would be scolded or beaten up.
Chubby Boy had been forced into a corner, and everyone had tried to persuade the mother, but to no avail. His mother had always said that this was the only way to become successful.
In the end, Chubby Boy hadn’t been able to take it anymore and had chosen to resolve this in the worst way possible, by killing himself, just as his mother had told him to.
As a mother, how could she accept that she had forced her own child to his death? In the end, she fainted from crying. The people around her helped call the police and take care of the funeral arrangements.
Mu Jingzhe looked at Shao Xi’s pale face and knew that she couldn’t help, so she brought him away.
Mu Jingzhe, who was in a hurry to leave, didn’t even look in the direction she was going. She was going in a completely different direction from the guesthouse. It was Ji Buwang who later led them back.
“Don’t think too much.” Ji Buwang comforted her. “We can only hope that something like this won’t happen again in the future.”
That chubby mother’s educational methods weren’t desirable, and neither was Chubby Boy’s method. No matter what, one ought to cherish one’s life.
Ji Buwang tried to comfort Shao Xi, but the latter didn’t say a word. At his tender age, there was only so much he could endure.
Mu Jingzhe had originally planned on going back, but after what had happened, it was a little difficult for them to go back right away. She roused herself and said, “Give him some alone time and let him rest.” She needed some time to calm down herself.
“Mm, I’ll be next door. Call me if anything happens. Don’t think too much.”
Shao Xi lay on the bed obediently, but he didn’t dare close his eyes. The moment he did, he felt as if he could see Chubby Boy crashing to the ground in front of him again.
Mu Jingzhe, who was experiencing the same thing, told Shao Xi, “When his work is published, let’s buy a copy, alright? From now on, we’ll burn paper money for him this time of the year. If there are any good pieces, we’ll burn them for him too so he can read them over there.”
Shao Xi finally responded. “Okay.”
With Chubby Boy gone, the one in the most pain would definitely be the chubby mother he had left behind. She would probably feel guilty for the rest of her life. Mu Jingzhe’s heart was heavy.
Unexpectedly, right after Mu Jingzhe expressed her sympathy, the chubby mother came to their door at night.
“Shao Xi, are you inside? Get the hell out here!”
Now that such a thing had happened, it was unavoidable that the organizer of the competition would step in. The chubby mother had accused them of being unfair, which had resulted in the death of her son, and later on, she’d somehow managed to get hold of Shao Xi’s address.
“It’s all your fault. Get out here. I’m going to kill you today to get revenge for my son’s life!”
It turned out that she was there to avenge Chubby Boy. Ignoring the owner’s obstruction, she had brought a pair of scissors to the door and she was pounding on it.
The owner wanted to stop her, but the chubby mother held the scissors to her neck.
“If you continue to stop me, I’ll die in front of you. If I can’t even avenge my son, I don’t want to live anymore. What’s the point of me living?”
The owner was forced to retreat, and Mu Jingzhe, who was inside, frowned.
“Don’t be afraid, it’s fine.” Mu Jingzhe comforted Shao Xi. She didn’t understand what was going on in this person’s mind. Why would she think of looking for Shao Xi?
However, the chubby mother had found an outlet to vent her anger. “Open the door, Shao Xi. Don’t think that just because you’re keeping quiet I won’t know you’re in there. You are the one who caused Chubby Boy’s death, yet you still have the nerve to live!”
Ji Buwang came out to stop her. “What kind of nonsense are you talking about? What does this have to do with Shao Xi!”
“How is it not related to him? If he hadn’t gotten first place, my Chubby Boy wouldn’t have died. Shao Xi even provoked him and scolded him. He’s the one who forced my Chubby Boy to his death.”
Shao Xi’s face, which had finally eased up, turned pale. He was already blaming himself to begin with, so when he heard this, he was even more convinced that it was his fault.
Mu Jingzhe was furious. “Little Xi, stay there and don’t move.”
She gritted her teeth and opened the door. “Bah! You’re accusing my Little Xi of causing your child’s death? It was clearly you who caused the death of your son!”
Initially, Mu Jingzhe really didn’t want to say this because it was too agitating for a mother to hear. However, this time, she was really furious.
She pitied this mother, but in the end, she wanted to pin the blame on Shao Xi. Those who didn’t know better might think that it was true!
“Don’t think that outsiders don’t know. I’ve already heard about it. You’re the one who kept scolding your son and forcing him to do this. You’re the one who told him to die if he didn’t get first place. You know very well why your son died.
“I used to pity you, but it turns out that you don’t even know how to reflect. All you know is how to blame others. What kind of mother does this?!”
Mu Jingzhe gritted her teeth. “No wonder he wanted to leave. You were the one who forced him to do that. It’s all because he had a mother like you!”
It hadn’t been easy for the chubby mother to make up an excuse to absolve herself of the blame and find a scapegoat, but in the end, Mu Jingzhe ruthlessly exposed the truth. How could she take it?
“Shut up, shut up!” She shrieked and waved the scissors over. Her eyes were red and filled with hatred, as though she wanted to kill Mu Jingzhe.