Chapter 338: Shao Xi’s New Work: “Nameless”
When the villagers heard about the car, they all came to take a look. When Old Lady Mu heard that, she said that it must be fake. In the end, she couldn’t help but come to take a look and was caught red-handed by Li Zhaodi.
“Eat mooncakes, everyone.” Li Zhaodi felt proud and elated as she generously handed them the mooncakes.
Full of anger after seeing the car, Old Lady Mu was in no mood to eat. “No.”
“Why don’t you want any? Mom, you’re not unhappy that Jingzhe has a car, are you?” She glanced at Mu Xue beside her. “Is it because Xiao Xue isn’t the one getting such a gift?”
Li Zhaodi pretended to sigh, but because her acting skills weren’t good enough, she seemed very fake. “That’s true. It’s normal for you guys to be unhappy. If Xiao Xue hadn’t kicked up a fuss previously and had gotten married, she would have been the one with the car.”
“Our Xiao Xue has a car anyway. She already has one!” Old Lady Mu retorted angrily.
“So what? Is it a gift from her children?” Li Zhaodi snorted. “Previously, you looked down on my Jingzhe so much and thought the world of Mu Xue. Now, take a look again. Mu Xue can’t compare to Jingzhe in any aspect.”
“How is she inferior? You shrew, I can’t be bothered to waste my breath on you!” Old Lady Mu didn’t know why things had ended up like this.
She was about to leave with Mu Xue, but Li Zhaodi didn’t let them off. “Mom, how are Xiao Xue’s marriage prospects coming along? Is anyone coming to propose to her? Or are you still waiting for a rich man? If you ask me, I think she should just settle. If she continues to be picky, she’s going to become a spinster.”
Mu Xue was already 25 years old. Even in modern times, an unmarried woman at this age was called a leftover girl, let alone in that day and age.
Old Lady Mu and Mu Xue had faced a lot of gossip recently. Mu Xue’s face turned pale, and Old Lady Mu was furious. “You don’t have to worry about Xiao Xue’s marriage prospects. No matter what, she will marry a better man than Mu Jingzhe!”
“Then I’ll be waiting for the wedding banquet.”
As soon as Mu Jingzhe stopped paying attention, Li Zhaodi floated in the sky and displayed her true colors to her heart’s content. When Mu Jingzhe entered, Li Zhaodi danced around and told her about the confrontation that had taken place just now.
Mu Jingzhe: “Mom, why did you provoke them?”
The annoying trait was carved deep into her mother’s bones. As she hadn’t had the chance to put it to use for such a long time, she couldn’t suppress it anymore.
“Who asked them to treat us like that back then? I’m happy today and I want to take revenge. They said so much previously, but now, that picky girl is turning into a spinster. Hahaha…”
“Mom, don’t call her a spinster. Mu Xue is still very young!”
“Young? She’s already 25 years old.” Li Zhaodi was about to say something when she saw Shao Dong enter. A smile immediately appeared on her face.
“Aiyo, my eldest grandson is here. Let me hug you properly. There’s my eldest grandson!”
Li Zhaodi pounced over and refused to let go of Shao Dong. No matter how she looked at him, he was pleasing to the eye. As long as he treated her daughter well and was willing to spend money on her, he’d be a good grandson.
Now, Li Zhaodi could totally call them ‘darlings’. Shao Dong’s face turned red because of the exaggerated way Li Zhaodi was calling him ‘darling’.
The five kids had bought her a car, so Mu Jingzhe used 100% of her energy and focused on obtaining a driver’s license. Fortunately, she knew how to drive, so after more than a month of hard work, she finally obtained a driver’s license.
After getting her license, Mu Jingzhe drove the children around happily. “I can take you kids wherever you want to go in the future.”
Shao Dong had long heard Little Bei say that Mommy looked das.h.i.+ng when she was driving. From this point onward, Shao Dong could finally admire her himself.
Mu Jingzhe drove the children around in the car and returned home after admiring the autumn scenery. After dinner, Shao Xi said that he wanted to be alone with Mu Jingzhe for two hours because he had business to discuss with her.
Shao Xi handed his notebook to Mu Jingzhe. “Mommy, I finished writing the first draft of the story I previously mentioned.”
“You’ve finally finished it?” Mu Jingzhe’s eyes lit up as she took it quickly. “I was about to ask you since I hadn’t heard you say anything about it all this while. What’s the story about? Is it very long?”
Previously, Mu Jingzhe had been able to read Shao Xi’s essays intermittently without much time pa.s.sing between each essay, but this time, it had taken longer than expected.
“It’s just a children’s story. It’s not long. Mommy, read it first.”
“Mm.”
Mu Jingzhe read for two hours. The short story wasn’t long. It was less than 30,000 words, but Mu Jingzhe read it very seriously and slowly.
This story exceeded Mu Jingzhe’s expectations, as it really didn’t sound like Shao Xi’s style. However, overall, it was obvious that it had indeed been written by Shao Xi.
Mu Jingzhe sat there for a long while before calling Shao Xi in. “Little Xi, why did you think of writing such a story? Were you inspired by your daddy and the nameless hero that you heard of before?”
“I guess so.” Shao Xi looked at Mu Jingzhe nervously. “Mom, what do you think?”
“I think it’s very good. So good that I don’t know how to describe it.” Mu Jingzhe looked at Shao Xi, feeling very shocked. Shao Xi was only ten years old.
A ten-year-old child had actually written such a good story. “It’s very meaningful. I didn’t expect you to write this story from the perspective of a child. Besides, Little Xi, am I imagining things? Why do I feel like this story was written for someone?”
Shao Xi smiled. “So you can tell, Mommy. Actually, my original intention for writing this book was to give it to someone.”
At first, he had wanted to write a story about the nameless hero and give it to Fang Yu.
“Who? The pen pal you’ve been replying to?” Mu Jingzhe, who was sharp, asked.
“I can’t hide anything from you, Mommy.” Shao Xi hadn’t told Shao Qihai about Fang Yu’s ident.i.ty, but he told Mu Jingzhe.
“I’ve been keeping in touch with him too. We can talk about anything. Fang Yu is a little silly and tells me everything. I wrote the story with him in mind.”
Mu Jingzhe respected the children’s privacy and had never peeked at Shao Xi’s letters, but she knew that he had been in contact with someone. She just hadn’t expected Fang Yu to be the child Shao Qihai had escorted previously.
Shao Xi explained the original intention behind his creation. Mu Jingzhe was filled with emotions as she listened. “Little Xi, you did a very good job. A particularly good one. I’m really proud of you.”
Although the protagonist was a child and not a nameless hero, this was indeed the story of an unnamed hero, albeit from a different perspective.
Those heroes, regardless of whether they were well-known or nameless, were all ordinary people. They also had families and children. The protagonist Shao Xi had simply named ‘Nameless’ was the son[1] of the nameless hero.
It was the story of Fang Yu, who disliked and didn’t understand her father and even deliberately went against him. She didn’t understand the meaning of death. There was also a shadow of Shao Xi and his siblings in the story. Although these were the words of a child, they were extremely real.
Mu Jingzhe was greatly moved when she saw this. She felt that Shao Xi’s writing had improved a lot.
This essay was very mature. If Shao Xi hadn’t said that he was the one who had written it, Mu Jingzhe would have thought that it had been written by some great writer. However, only Shao Xi could write prose with such childlike language and give off such a vibe.
[1] Fang Yu is a girl, but Shao Xi is under the impression that she is a boy