Chapter 10: Not Going

As the lift rises one floor at a time, Uncle Chan looks at Tan Mo reflected in the mirror.

The young man is still expressionless, but Uncle Chan, who has served him for almost a year, still thinks Tan Mo is in a good mood today.

Tan Mo's life is like a timed machine fulfilling its own instructions, going to school at the same time, eating at the same time and resting at the same time every day. Uncle Chan and Aunt Chan take care of this silent teenager by strictly following the time on the clock.

Aunt Chan would go to Tan Mo's room and clean up Tan Mo's clothes and so on while Tan Mo was eating.

As usual, when I enter Tan Mo's room, the bookcase, the table and even the bedside table are full of books that Aunt Chan does not even recognise.

Aunt Chan sighed again and didn't touch Tan Mo's book, just put Tan Mo's changed clothes into the changing basket and prepared them for washing.

As usual, Tan Mo's pockets are always clean, but today, Aunt Chan found something out of place in them.

One candy.

Aunt Chan held the candy for a long moment, glanced subconsciously at the door, breathed a soft sigh of relief and then carefully placed the candy on Tan Mo's table and closed the door.

At 7.20pm, Tan Mo returned to his room after dinner and only when he returned did Aunt Chan rush to Uncle Chan and tell him about the candy in Tan Mo's clothes.

Only those who were around Tan Mo and knew him well enough could understand how meaningful the candy really was.

No wonder Tan Mo was in a good mood today, it was not an illusion.

At 9pm, Uncle Chan's mobile phone vibrated, Uncle Chan hurriedly picked up the phone and closed the door, then hesitated for a moment after hanging up and knocked gently on Tan Mo's door.

"Come in", Tan Mo's voice is cold and short. Uncle Chan is used to this and opens the door into the room to see Tan Mo with a hand knife in his hand, quickly dismantling a tightly-wound mechanical watch.

Uncle Chan looks at the tiny parts on the table and then moves his eyes to the piece of candy that sits at the front of the table.

Uncle Chan smiled, thinking that maybe it would be different if he talked to Tan Mo about it today, and maybe Tan Mo would say yes.

"Mr. Tan just called", Uncle Chan looked at Tan Mo and spoke carefully.

Tan Mo was still fiddling with his mechanical watch in his hand and didn't look up, "Yes?"

"Mr. Tan said the top doctors in Germany were contacted and will be there at the end of this week..."

Tan Mo cut him off before he could say, "No."

Uncle Chan stalled, looking at the boy's cold face, and tried to persuade him again, but no matter what he said, Tan Mo just said no.

Not going to hospital, not being examined by a doctor, not receiving reassessment.

It had been a year since Tan Mo's mother died and his legs were paralysed. Tan Mo would not go home and would not receive treatment, and Mr. Tan had forcibly taken him for rehabilitation, but Tan Mo resisted.

He sticks the manual knife he used to dismantle the parts into his leg.

Since then, no one has dared to force him to undergo treatment.

Uncle Chan's face darkened and he wordlessly exited Tan Mo's room, shaking his head at a concerned Aunt Chan.

They thought Tan Mo would look different today and maybe agree to go to rehab, but it was still the same: Tan Mo wouldn't accept treatment, he didn't want to stand up, or he didn't want to live at all.

Qiao Lan, on the other hand, was in a good mood all night.

She was disappointed by Tan Mo's refusal, but when she returned to the classroom after the assembly, she found that Tan Mo did not have the candy on her desk and was instantly in a better mood.

Tan Mo took this candy away!

It's all good when you get home.

Qiao's grandmother has never dared to let Qiao Lan cook for herself since she lost a piece of beef in a meal she let her cook, but a new problem has arisen when she doesn't let Qiao Lan cook.

Qiao's grandmother had a very good plan, she would only cook a little bit of food, as long as it was enough to feed Qiao Yuan.

As a result, her good grandson did not have enough to eat that day.

Qiao Lan eats quickly and eats without saying a word, while Qiao Yuan eats and watches TV at the same time.

Qiao Yuan was dumbfounded, as was Qiao's grandmother.

Qiao's grandmother again scolded Qiao Lan for not having a conscience and eating so much, and now Qiao Yuan was hungry.

Qiao's grandmother stayed up late waiting for Qiao's father Qiao's mother to return and then complained to Qiao's father, only to be disliked by Qiao's mother again.

"It's not like our family can't afford to buy rice and vegetables, we can just make more if we don't have enough to eat."

The fault of Qiao Lan for stealing food was immediately put on Qiao's grandmother, who said that if you hadn't cooked so little, Qiao Yuan wouldn't have been able to eat.

Qiao's grandmother would love to smack Qiao's mother in the face with an apron.

In the past, when Qiao's mother had not yet given birth to Qiao Yuan, Qiao's grandmother would scold and beat her whenever she wanted to, but now she can't beat or scold her.

Qiao's grandmother had three sons in total and because of this, Qiao's grandmother looked down on Qiao's mother.

Qiao's father is Qiao's grandmother's youngest son and the son she loves the most.

Qiao's father was scolded by his second brother and felt guilty for what he had done to Qiao's mother.

"My mother helps you take care of your son every day, cooks and washes his clothes, you don't even know how to be considerate and you still think my mother is not serving her well, if you think she's not serving you well, go serve yourself!"

Qiao's mother's eyes are rounded.

Didn't Qiao's grandmother and Qiao's father insist on having grandchildren in the first place?

Qiao Yuan is my son, isn't he your son?

Qiao's mother, no longer the obsequious character she used to be, immediately quarrelled with Qiao's father, while Qiao's grandmother, who was staying at Qiao's house, heard that her son and daughter-in-law had quarrelled and had a cold war, so she came back contentedly.

On that day, Qiao's grandmother was sent back by Qiao's family.

When Qiao Lan saw the tall and proud girl, she realised that it was Qiao Lu who had asked her to go elsewhere that day to recite her book.

Qiao Lu follows her beautifully dressed mother, with the superiority of a city dweller entering the countryside, and is even more smug when she sees Qiao Lan.

She looks down on Qiao Lan, whose parents are uneducated and who is not as good-looking as she is, and whose studies are not as good as hers.

Qiao's mother washed the fruit with a black face and shoved the fruit plate into Qiao Lan's hand after washing the fruit, "You're like a wooden pile with no eyesight, why don't you take the fruit out?"

"Oh," Qiao Lan carries the fruit plate out of the kitchen, and in the living room Qiao's grandmother is sitting in the middle of the sofa, with Qiao Yuan and Qiao Lu to her left and right.

Qiao's second uncle is angry with her brother, but she is nice to her niece, jokingly asking Qiao Lan to sit down too.

When Qiao Lan sat down, Qiao's grandmother couldn't sit on her butt. Is she allowed to sit here?

When Qiao Lu reached out to pick up an apple, Qiao's grandmother hurriedly said, "This apple has a thick skin, let Qiao Lan peel it before you eat it.

With a disgusted look on her face, Qiao Lu handed the apple to Miss Qiao and asked her mother to peel it for her. Miss Qiao quickly peeled one, cut the apple into several pieces and gave one to each person.

Qiao Lan also took a piece, Qiao's grandmother glared at Qiao Lan, "You are so old that you still need your aunt to serve you, all you know is eating and eating, you can't even serve people and you have a temper, no man will want you if you lose money in the future."

Miss Qiao is not used to hearing her mother-in-law speak so vulgarly, especially in front of the children, saying what to serve or not to serve, men or not to men, her face a little embarrassed, "Mom, this is what you say, nowadays, this society, girls study well in the future is not worse than boys."

Qiao's grandmother pointed at Qiao Lan, "You can't compare her with your Lu Lu, look at her, she looks like a student, it's a waste of money to let her study, she was at the bottom of her class in the last exam, she might as well quit school early to help her father!