small red cloth bag

small red cloth bag

Shen Muwei had a full schedule of classes on Monday morning and afternoon. After a day of classes, she rode her electric scooter to the residential area of ​​the old campus of Huida University.

It was dinnertime, and the aroma of food wafted from the old-style residential building.

Shen Muwei locked the car downstairs and climbed up to the fifth floor with light steps.

She turned the key and went inside to change her shoes. An elderly woman emerged from the house next door: "Xiao Wei, you're here? Perfect timing. Could you help me with my retirement certification? I have to recertify it every year, and I always fail."

"Grandpa, I'll go see Grandma first." Shen Muwei called out to the old man, took a few steps towards the kitchen, and saw an elegant silver-haired woman wearing an apron cooking in the kitchen. "Grandma!"

"Xiaowei's here? Grandma made you sweet and sour fish, it'll be ready in a bit."

Shen Muwei pushed open the door and hugged her grandmother from behind: "Ah...Grandma, I've had such a hard week, waaaaah..."

Grandma gently patted the back of her hand: "Okay, don't stay in here, there's too much smoke. Go out and play for a while."

"Grandma, I need something from you, can you give it to me?"

"What is it? You want money? Your mom's been too strict with you and you're broke, huh?"

"Oh no, I am..."

Halfway through his conversation, Mu Jinyou politely tapped twice on the kitchen door with his phone: "Have you two ladies finished talking? Xiao Wei, could you please help me with the verification?"

"Go quickly and help your grandfather first. We'll talk after we finish eating."

Shen Muwei was kicked out by her grandmother and ran to help her grandfather with the authentication process.

Shen Muwei held up her phone and instructed Mu Jinyou: "Nod...shake your head...blink..."

Just as the verification was in progress, the key at the door rattled. Shen Muwei subconsciously turned her head to look at the door and saw Mu Qing carrying two boxes of milk and a bag of rice.

Shen Muwei and Mu Qing are currently in a cold war and have been staying in the dormitory for the past few days without going home.

I deliberately avoided her, but then I ran into her here again. It's no surprise that Mu Qing won't say anything nice.

As expected.

"Oh dear," Mu Qing said, stepping back to check the house number before stepping back in. "This is my house, I didn't go to the wrong place. Isn't this Superwoman? What are you doing in my house?"

A cold, robotic female voice came from the phone: "Authentication successful."

Shen Muwei timidly handed the phone back to Mu Jinyou, scratched her brow, and whispered to the woman at the door who was speaking in a strange tone, "Mom..."

Mu Qing seemed not to hear, slamming the door shut and taking off her sneakers: "Who are you calling 'Mom'? Your mom isn't here..."

Before she could finish speaking, Mu Jinyou tapped her head twice with his fingers and scolded her sternly, "You're a mother now, yet you still speak so tactlessly. What kind of person are you? You're just spouting nonsense."

Mu Qing was silenced by his knock, and after muttering a few words, she dared not say anything more and took the rice to the kitchen.

Shen Muwei was secretly delighted and gave her grandfather a thumbs up with a grin. Mu Jinyou pretended to be fierce and pointed at her with one finger in the air. She smiled and stepped forward to take her grandfather's arm and acted coquettishly.

Dinner was all sour, spicy, and sweet, prepared according to Chen Muwei's favorite flavors. The old woman doted on her granddaughter, constantly piling food into her bowl.

Shen Muwei had a good appetite and ate heartily. She accepted all the dishes that her grandparents put on her plate, which made the elderly couple very happy.

Suddenly, Mu Qing spoke up: "I haven't seen you eating so heartily outside. Even Superman needs to eat more when he's out."

These words left Shen Muwei completely bewildered.

Mu Jinyou: "Eating won't shut you up, huh? All you do is talk about Superman, Superman, what kind of Superman?"

Grandma said gently, "Don't always be so harsh on Xiaowei. It's good that young people are lively. There are few young people who love sports these days. I see many people getting out of breath when they walk fast. It would be great if Xiaowei had a sport she liked."

Mu Qing was scolded by her parents. She stammered for a long time, feeling that it was in her parents' house to educate their daughter, so she simply stopped talking.

Shen Muwei was born prematurely and had a difficult delivery. From birth, she was in poor health and got sick frequently, making her a constant patient with medicine as a child.

Her family doted on her immensely; she was truly a child who grew up in the palm of their hands.

To improve Mu Qing's health, a physical education teacher became a nutritionist, dedicated to matching various dishes; in addition, she took Xiao Mu Wei to exercise at a fixed time every day.

After all that, Shen Muwei was eventually raised to be the most resilient child.

Shen Muwei enjoys rock climbing, and he usually just plays around at the club, since the club has ample safety facilities. Mu Qing is quite supportive of this.

However, during the summer vacation, Shen Muwei secretly participated in an outdoor rock climbing activity under the guise of a trip, without Mu Qing's knowledge.

The club filmed the students' activities and posted the videos online.

In the era of short videos, the power of big data in content delivery is truly astounding. The club's videos, which primarily utilize technical shooting techniques, quickly garnered tens of thousands of likes after being posted.

Then Mu Qing came across this video online.

Shen Muwei specifically asked the person in charge to delete any footage of her, because her family wouldn't allow it.

The person in charge did indeed delete her footage, but secretly kept a picture of her profile and back. It was precisely because of her profile and back view that the video went viral.

Many commenters felt that the contrast between her sweet profile and the smooth muscle lines on her legs made her look like a super-strong little girl.

The official account replied with a facepalm emoji: [She's 1.74 meters tall, an adult, and not some little girl.]

A fleeting glimpse is hardly enough for anyone to recognize her, but Mu Qing is different. She is Shen Muwei's biological mother, and she can recognize her even in a mere 0.01-second shot.

After watching and confirming the video several times, she clicked on the club's official video account and saw a first-person perspective video of rock climbing.

Although Ms. Mu Qing believes that life lies in movement and respects every sport, this video still made her legs weak.

On this very day of summer vacation, Mu Qing exploded.

On the contrary, the two elderly people were more composed and casually said, "Isn't there a safety facility? A minor fall won't kill us, and a major fall won't even require calling 120. Life and death are up to fate."

Unable to get the feedback she wanted from her parents, Mu Qing called Shen Hongtao, who was far away in Nigeria, but still received no response.

No one understands her feelings as a mother who struggled to give birth to a child and raised the child to be so healthy, only to have the child go off to do extreme sports. In the end, she could only have a cold war with her daughter.

Because her grandparents were there to support her during the meal, Mu Qing didn't say anything more, and Shen Muwei ate relatively easily.

After dinner, she insisted on helping her grandfather wash the dishes. Firstly, she didn't want to be in the same space as Mu Qing, lest Mu Qing bring up rock climbing again. Secondly, she needed her grandparents' help and had something to ask them, so she wanted to linger until Mu Qing left.

The sky was an indigo blue. When Shen Muwei finished washing the dishes and came out, she found that Mu Qing was still there.

Years ago, Shen Muwei was in poor health. His maternal grandmother, Zhou Cixin, knew a master who told her that the child should be raised by an elderly person from a young age. The master wrote a peace talisman and instructed Zhou Cixin to place it under the child's pillow until he was fourteen years old.

Shen Muwei was already far past fourteen years old, and she had never seen this peace charm again after she turned fourteen.

She thought that if she had really scared Xiang Zhixing into causing this problem, giving him this peace charm might be of some use.

Just then, I received a message on my phone from Xiang Zhixing:

xzx: [Where are you? Can we meet up later?]

After yesterday, Xiang Zhixing had a brief exchange with Shen Muwei on his phone. It was nothing more than him being quite scared, and Shen Muwei offering him some comfort.

But Shen Muwei wasn't good at comforting people, and her words sounded weak and ineffective.

The other person said they were scared, and Shen Muwei replied, "Don't be afraid."

The other person said they couldn't sleep, and Shen Muwei replied, "I fell asleep after closing my eyes, holding my breath, and exhaling for a while."

After replying to her twice, Xiang Zhixing didn't send her any more messages.

Shen Muwei replied first: 【Okay, but wait for me a moment.】

Mu Qing was still talking to Zhou Cixin about Shen Hongtao's railway project in Africa when Shen Muwei realized that Xiang Zhixing was still waiting for her. She couldn't wait any longer, so she pulled her grandmother into the room and locked the door behind her.

She got straight to the point: "Grandma, where's the lucky charm I had when I was little?"

Zhou Cixin asked her why she suddenly thought of asking this.

"Grandma, something's wrong. Don't ask any more questions, just tell me where I am."

“Burn it. The master instructed that it be burned on your fourteenth birthday, and then you should move in with your parents.”

Shen Muwei forced a dry laugh: "Heh... burned it..."

"What's wrong? What happened to you again?"

"No, I'm fine. I just suddenly remembered this and wanted to see what it looks like."

Zhou Cixin was relieved: "Oh, it's alright. But I still have that red cloth bag outside. I was originally going to leave it for you, but I was afraid you wouldn't like it, so I've been keeping it for you. Do you want it?"

Shen Muwei's eyes sparkled as she hugged her grandmother tightly: "Grandma, you're my savior! Let me see this, I'll take it."

The red cloth bag is just a very ordinary little red cloth bag, with yellow thread at the seams, and there isn't even a pattern on it.

She put it in her pocket and patted it, saying, "Thank you, Grandma. I'll take this with me."

Outside the door, Mu Qing kept grumbling to her father that Shen Muwei had been causing her a lot of trouble lately, and now he wouldn't tell her his secrets anymore. Mu Jinyou looked at her speechlessly and said, "Did you tell us your secrets from back then?"

Mu Qing wondered if she hadn't checked the almanac before going out today, since her parents kept contradicting her every word, and yet every single one of their statements was irrefutable.

Shen Muwei came out of the room, looked at the scene in front of her, and pointed guiltily to the door: "I'm leaving first."

Seeing that Mu Qing hadn't moved, she sneaked towards the door.

Mu Qing also came over, stood next to her fiddling with her phone, and after fiddling with it for a while, asked her, "Are you going back to the dorm later?"

Shen Muwei was puzzled. Where else could she go if not back to the dorm? Surely she couldn't be going home with her, could she? Was this some kind of excuse to give her an out?

Just as she was about to back down, her phone chimed. Fearing it was a message from Xiang Zhixing, she quickly opened it, avoiding Mu Qing who was standing nearby. It turned out to be a message from Mu Qing.

It was a picture, and the person in the picture was none other than the scene where she and Xiang Zhixing were whispering to each other while having dinner at the restaurant yesterday.

She stared wide-eyed at Mu Qing, only to see Mu Qing's lips curl into a smug smile as she raised an eyebrow at her.

Mu Qing was very satisfied with her expression. After all, she was her own daughter, and she was a talkative person. She hadn't spoken to her daughter for a week, and she really couldn't hold back anymore.

She happened to be having lunch with a colleague that day when she encountered this scene, which gave her a chance to talk to her daughter.

Shen Muwei explained stiffly, "We're not in that kind of relationship..."

"I know, I understand. You don't need to say anything more. I've been through this before. Don't worry, I won't bother you."

Shen Muwei was speechless. No wonder Mu Qing said those things at the dinner table. She hadn't eaten much that day because Xiang Zhixing had told her that.

Now that her father is away, her status in the house is even lower than that of the family's Brazilian tortoise. The consequences of telling Mu Qing what happened a couple of days ago are self-evident.

Mu Qing's gossipy nature was even stronger than she had imagined. After hesitating for a long time, she could only silently change her shoes and say goodbye to her grandparents.

It only takes ten minutes to cycle from headquarters to the agreed-upon location for Xiang Zhixing.

He arranged to meet at the flagpole not far from the playground.

There is a wide open space in front of the flagpole where aunties are doing square dancing.

Xiang Zhixing sat on the steps not far away, wearing a baseball cap, his right hand resting on his knee. The warm streetlights shone on his hat, casting only a cool shadow on his face.

Shen Muwei has good eyesight and can see him sitting there from afar. Even though the square in front is filled with the noisy, rustic square dancing music of the aunties, it can't hide his melancholy temperament.

Shen Muwei parked her car on the side of the road, locked it, and called out to Xiang Zhixing, but the sound was drowned out by the music. She took out her phone to send him a message when a yellow stray dog ​​suddenly appeared from somewhere nearby. It was very excited to see Shen Muwei and wagged its tail at her.

Just then, a child playing on a skateboard passed by, and with a burst of excited, sharp screams, the yellow stray dog ​​was startled and barked twice at Shen Muwei.

Shen Muwei is a staunch cat lover. Between cats and dogs, she definitely prefers cats, especially since she is a little afraid of dogs outside.

The dog bared its teeth at her, and she panicked. The memory of being chased by a dog for a kilometer in the village when she went back to her grandparents' hometown as a child resurfaced in her mind.

She seemed to be nailed to the ground, completely unable to move. She took a step back, and the dog followed suit, taking a step forward as well.

Shen Muwei silently counted to three in her mind, and without hesitation, she took off running.

She didn't dare turn around, only hearing the soft sound of dog paws on the ground behind her, but it was quickly replaced by the whistling wind.

Then, her phone vibrated in her pocket. She reached into her pocket as she ran, and a helpless male voice came through the receiver: "Shen Muwei, are you running back to the dorm? The dog has stopped chasing you."

Her voice was hoarse and unsteady from exercising. She exclaimed "Ah?" and slowly stopped, then continued running forward a short distance using the momentum.

She forgot to hang up the phone. Panting, she turned around. On the playground, where people were everywhere, the dog was gone, and Xiang Zhixing was nowhere to be seen either.

She swallowed hard, took a few steps forward, and her breathing gradually calmed down: "Where are you?"

"The statue is here."

Shen Muwei turned her head to the right and saw Xiang Zhixing standing next to the statue, his tall figure stretched long by the streetlight.

"Oh, I see. I'm coming over."

After saying that, she hung up the phone, took a few steps, and then ran towards him.

Clearly, the sudden sprint had stimulated Shen Muwei, causing her brain to release dopamine. When she ran up to Xiang Zhixing, her cheeks were flushed, her bangs were blown aside, fluffy and natural on both sides of her forehead, and a smile was on her face.

Her eyes sparkled, and she smiled, saying, "Xiang Zhixing, I'm here. What's wrong?"