Juliet Tower

Seeing that school was about to start, and the rehearsal and performance of An Jiayu's concert were all safe and sound, Qiao Yumian was slightly relieved.

He put down his phone, moved his notebook and exercise book to the dining table in the living room, and supervised Li Huijun while studying, so that he would not be too absorbed in learning, and he would not be able to find out if he disappeared.

In the evening, Li Huijun will go out to buy vegetables. She still remembers how to buy vegetables, but occasionally steals things.Qiao Yumian had already greeted the surrounding shops that she frequented in advance, left her mobile phone number, and went to clean up the aftermath before the shops closed at night.

At first he wanted to make dinner, but Li Huijun didn't even look at the things he made, and insisted on cooking by himself. There were only two or three dishes left, rib noodles, tripe noodles, and green vegetable fried rice. Yu Ying said that these dishes were all delicious. Used to be the main dish of his grandparents' home cooking restaurant, Li Huijun helped in the back kitchen every day when he was a child.It's just that her current craftsmanship has deteriorated badly, and the taste of the finished product is extremely unstable. Qiao Yumian is often so stunned that she can't eat anymore, and she has to find ways to stop her from overeating.

"Mom, drink a glass of water first." With dementia patients, she can't be head-to-head. At this stage, her mood is mostly stable, but occasionally she is stimulated by trivial things that normal people never take to heart.The doctor said that this is a normal phenomenon. Her language system has a barrier, and the family members have to try to understand her inability to express her intentions.

He quickly poured what she hadn't eaten into his bowl while Li Huijun was holding the cup to drink water.

—Do you want me to study with you tomorrow?

An Jiayu would ask a question every day before going to bed.

--Need not.You practice the piano well and take good care of your mother.

Qiao Yumian never agreed.

Knowing the truth is one thing, but seeing Li Huijun's state with his own eyes is another. He didn't want An Jiayu to get involved in this kind of thing.

——My mother has my father and my aunt.Then I'll find you after practicing the piano, okay?I'll just take a look at you, don't stay for too long, and take a rest.

An Jiayu has become more patient with him recently, and never dislikes his negligence and rejection.But the more this happened, the more uncomfortable Qiao Yumian was.He was afraid that the brilliance of the violinist would be smoothed out by the trivial matters of his parents. He was like a black hole of negative emotions, which would only consume the other party unilaterally.Every time he thought of this, he not only blamed himself, but wished he could destroy himself.

——Really no need.I just have to go out tomorrow, see you when school starts next week, okay?

--……good.Then, if you can't sleep, just send me a voice message.

Qiao Yumian has traveled to many places recently, including Li Huijun's company, Yu Ying's house, the hospital, and Qiao Zhe's newly rented house.

Li Huijun's illness is a long-term battle. Currently, there is no effective medical treatment. Although expensive medical expenses are not needed, professional escorts in the middle and later stages are indispensable. In other words, they need money.

He originally wanted to ask his father for help with a cheeky face, but when he entered the crowded room and hall, he couldn't speak when he saw the distress of the three of them.

Not seeing each other for a year, not only Qiao Zhe, but even Xu Manman are different. For a woman in her 40s to give birth, she is going through hell. Although she is trying her best to cover it up, her skin and eyes all reveal accelerated aging.

But Qiao Zhe quit his comfortable job and went to the south with a long dream, but now he has to bow his head again for the reality. At the age of 50 or [-], he couldn't find a decent job at all, so he had to spend [-] to [-] yuan. I introduced that I bought a second-hand Corolla and started running Didi.

"Yu Mian, sit down first. Just now your father sent me a WeChat message, saying that on the way back, he received an order for work nearby, and it would be delayed for more than ten minutes." Looking at the baby, Qiao Yumian thought that a child with brain damage would look different, but it didn't. Qiao Yining, who was only half a year old, already looked beautiful.

Qiao Yumian didn't expect to be alone with Xu Manman, the agreed time has passed, and Qiao Zhe hasn't arrived home yet.

The baby's daily necessities are the most messy, there is a stroller at the door, the washed clothes have not yet been folded, diapers and milk powder are piled up in the corner, and various crawling mats occupy more than half of the already crowded living room. Qiao Yumian is standing in front of the shoe rack in the hallway I can't move an inch.

Xu Manman held Qiao Yining in his arms and wanted to tidy up a corner that could entertain guests from the messy space, and the movements were very difficult.

"Auntie, don't be too busy, I can just stand here and wait."

"Why don't you give her a hug, and I'll clean it up right away." Xu Manman, who became a mother, was much hotter than before, and she didn't even wait for Qiao Yumian to agree before handing the soft lump of meat to Qiao Yumian.

"I...I won't..." He backed away in fear, closing the door behind him.

"It's okay, it's like hugging a puppy."

He felt that this woman was trying to make things difficult for him.They were clearly not familiar with each other, but the other party took one of his hands and guided him to wrap around Qiao Yining's legs so that the baby could sit on the elbow: "The other hand protects the back Just carry it on your back."

The other party let go of his hand suddenly, his arms sank, he hurriedly pressed Qiao Yining's back towards him, his neck was sweating.

In his impression, babies are mostly little monsters with sharp cries, and no one knows what they are thinking or what they want.

But Qiao Yining was unusually quiet, she could even be said to have no energy, and she couldn't see a newborn baby's curiosity about the world in her eyes.

When the siblings stared at each other, there was no wonderful blood reaction. Qiao Yumian even felt that this fragile little life, like him, did not want to touch each other.

They are the same.

No one asked them if they wanted to come to this world, if they wanted to be born into such a family.

He waited for Xu Manman to clean up the living room and put Qiao Yining on the crawling mat.

The mother, who was no longer young, was very energetic. She climbed to the opposite side of her daughter with a toy and began to tease her, guide, and even force her to do the rolling and crawling that her peers had learned spontaneously, until her daughter burst into tears impatiently.

"Be good and don't cry... Let's climb for a while, shall we?" Seeing her daughter's tears, Xu Manman collapsed in an instant, feeling distressed and anxious.But she wiped away her tears, and continued to change a toy, repeating the boring movements.

As dusk approached, Qiao Zhe finally returned home slowly. When he walked to the door, Qiao Yumian heard a scolding from the neighbor: "Your family, pay attention, it's okay to cry now. Boss cries in the middle of the night, and others still need to sleep?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. The child is small and easily frightened." Qiao Yumian turned around and glanced through the cat's eyes. His father was nodding and bowing to apologize to the sloppy uncle who took out the trash.

Qiao Zhe came in hurriedly, changed his clothes and washed his face: "Son, wait a minute. I just passed by the roast meat shop and picked up a fried chicken. They do a good job, and almost sold out at this point. This is the last one. School starts next week, why are you free today?"

"...Well. I am, come and take a look."

There is endless pain and sadness in every door.He even felt that Qiao Zhe regretted it.Regretting having a daughter, regretting marrying Xu Manman, in the practice of reality, the beauty of first love was completely consumed.

So he left without being able to speak.

He returned home after taking the subway for half an hour from Qiao Zhe, and happened to meet Li Huijun going downstairs to buy something.

She looked normal when she wasn't talking, if she wasn't wearing pajamas.

The shopkeepers nearby have already learned about her recent situation, and are used to it, making jokes with her from time to time.When they saw Qiao Yumian not far away, they unconsciously showed sympathy. Qiao Yumian slightly nodded at everyone, followed her mother from a distance, and walked slowly home.

When going up the stairs, Li Huijun looked back at him inexplicably, and hesitated for a while before muttering: "I'm back."

"Hmm. What's for dinner tonight?" The mother and son went up the stairs one after the other, Qiao Yumian looked down at the shopping bag in her hand, it was green vegetables and a box of eggs.

Climbing up to the second floor, Li Huijun suddenly stopped at the last step of the stairs. Qiao Yumian almost bumped into her back, raised his head and asked, "What's wrong?"

He followed Li Huijun's hesitant eyes to see that Twilight shot obliquely from the only window in the corridor, just in front of the anti-theft door of their house.

Gray walls, mottled and rusty fences, and dusty floors.

The square kraft paper bag protects the bottom of the bouquet, and a bouquet of fresh and gentle peach pink blooms quietly against the last sunlight of the day.

The bouquet of flowers was the same as An Jiayu himself, without any flowers and leaves mixed in, it was clean, pure and warm.

The mother and son were silent for a long time, Qiao Yumian smiled, and said softly, "It's Julietta. Looks good."

Fearing that Li Huijun would accidentally hurt himself, he sealed the glass and ceramics at home long ago.

He rummaged through the cabinets at home, and finally found a pure white ceramic milk jug from the storage box on the top of the cabinet. It was a gift from Yu Ying several years ago, and it had been put away since the day he brought it back.

After rinsing, he filled half a jug of water, mixed the preservative that came with the bouquet into the water, and removed the wrapping paper and hemp rope layer by layer.

In the early morning of the next day, he took advantage of the sunshine to take a photo of the windowsill and sent it to An Jiayu.Yesterday evening, the half-opened flower heads had absorbed enough water, and layers of petals had already unfolded, exuding the peach fragrance.

——Didn’t you say that I’m going out...why did I make a trip for nothing...

- passing by.How long will this flower last?

An Jiayu almost replied in seconds.

About a week.

School just started at that time.

When the flowers wither, he can see him again.

The author says:

Now Julieta is not expensive, and there are many domestic products.If you like it, you can go to a certain treasure to order a bunch. If you are lucky and encounter a good product, you can open it for many days.