Twenty-Three Degrees Part 2

Lin Fang thought so as well. If he didn’t explain clearly, then by the time they found him, it wouldn’t be good for Shi Yun to jump around the minefield¹[1] It means to navigate a dangerous situation.. But it wasn’t appropriate to tell everything, so he only revealed a little bit.

Taking advantage of the long traffic light at the intersection, Lin Fang stepped on the brakes and turned around: “Wei Congying’s father had a woman he couldn’t forget. That woman died and left behind a daughter. Uncle Wei is now taking care of that daughter, and… That daughter seems to have become Wei Congying’s… stepmother now.”

“Stepmother?” Shi Yun was stunned.

“Stepmother?” Jiang Xuyang was shocked.

Hearing two identical exclamations, Lin Fang looked at Jiang Xuyang: “Didn’t you also see that woman enter the family home? Why are you so surprised?”

Jiang Xuyang cursed: “Illegitimate daughter, don’t you understand? Stepmother, my ass.”

–

When Wei Congying was a child, he didn’t know that his parents had a bad relationship. He always thought that it was normal for his father not to come home and his mother to always stay in her room and not go out.

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Back then, his mother was also the reason why his father abandoned his first love. That first love ultimately became the moon that hung in the sky²[2] Aka, the white moonlight. “White Moonlight” usually refers to a person or thing that is elusive in the heart, has always been loved, but cannot be touched.. The question of “When will mom and dad get divorced” that troubled Wei Congying for much of his childhood was answered when he first became a high school student.

Mom left very simply. A month later, he received a letter addressed from Singapore.

The letter was not long, and most of it was about the garden of his mother’s house in Singapore.

The few scattered words at the end were to ask him how he was doing.

Wei Congying never ended up replying to that letter.

–

As of late, he lived and ate by the racing track. He didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything except racing. Over and over again, he refreshed his former lap record on the racing track, and he fearlessly turned the throttle to 300.

After leaving his grandparents’ house that day, Wei Congying drove aimlessly for over an hour. When he came to his senses, he had already driven down the highway and parked in a nearby service area. He didn’t know how long he had been sitting in a daze in the car. After finishing a pack of cigarettes, Wei Congying made an international long distance call to his mother.

There was no time difference between here and Singapore, and it was afternoon in Singapore when Wei Congying made the call.

The call was answered very late, and didn’t go through until it was close to hanging up.

The voice of the person on the other end of the phone was very quiet: “Hello.”

Listening to that familiar voice, Wei Congying leaned on the driver’s seat, his grip on the steering wheel growing tighter: “Mom, what are you doing?”

“Mom is not busy.” Probably feeling that her son on the other end of the phone was in a bad mood, she asked, “Did something happen?”

Wei Congying told her that he found out that the woman’s daughter was Wei Mingcheng’s illegitimate daughter, but the reaction on the other end of the phone was dull.

Maybe it had been a long time since she had become deeply disappointed with Wei Mingcheng, so she was able to unaffected after hearing of this news.

Or maybe, his mother had already guessed it.

Wei Congying didn’t know which one of the two reasons it was. He realized that speaking out about this matter would only hurt his mother again. Wei Congying was about to change the subject when he heard a child’s voice calling his mother on the other end of the phone.

That cry of ‘Mom, Mom’…

The woman who was talking to him on the phone moved the phone a little away from her ear: “Mom is on the phone with your brother. Did you wake up from your afternoon nap? Do you want to speak with your brother…”

The child on the other end of the phone said something that he couldn’t hear clearly. After only a moment of silence, Mom’s voice rang through the microphone again: “This matter has passed for mom, so be it. Your sister is awake. I’m going to go over and take a look. Don’t take this matter to heart, what should be yours will still be yours.”

The phone was hung up.

Wei Congying didn’t know how long he sat in the service area, watching the cars coming and going and stopping for a while in the service area. The sun set slowly behind the mountain, and the afterglow used up the last bit of its strength to shine in the sky for the last ten minutes.

Wei Congying gradually came to his senses. In the end, Mom neither asked him how he felt nor comforted him.

Just like that letter.

Perhaps all his defense of his mother was to protect his former self, and his injustice was because he felt injustice for his former self.

The love of his grandparents for him is also because he is Wei Mingcheng’s son. If he was not Wei Mingcheng’s son, he would not get what he has now. If someone else was Wei Mingcheng’s child, then that person could also attain what he has.

Looking at the clouds in the sky, the glow is dazzling

The afterglow was still dazzling but only lasted a few minutes.

He got off the highway at the nearest intersection and speeded all the way to the auto shop.

He took the keys to the modified motorcycle from Cheng Ge.

He went to the racing track and ran lap after lap, taking in the smell of burnt tires in the air and feeling the sudden wind on his sides when turning the throttle.

Some people say that this feeling was the feeling of chasing the soul.

He suddenly understood what he wanted. He wanted a lover who would unconditionally choose him, love him, and stand by his side.

He did not allow betrayal, and he could not change for others. So in the end, he finds that this person can only be himself.

He spent his days either staying in a nearby hotel or running laps on the racing track.

Day and night were reversed for him every day; his mobile phone was turned off and silent; no one’s calls were answered; and no one’s messages were answered.

There was a convenience store next to the racing track. The convenience store’s main service targets were residents in the outskirts behind, who had not received the notice for demolition, as well as workers in nearby factories.

Wei Congying picked up a 12-pack of beers from the shelf, lowered his head to open the payment code on his mobile phone, and gave the name of a pack of cigarettes. He put the beer in his hand on the cashier’s desk and waited but didn’t see any cigarettes being brought over. He looked up and found that it was not the boss he had seen for the past few days.

Standing at the checkout counter was a girl who was younger than him. She looked at him blankly, as if she didn’t know which pack of cigarettes Wei Congying was talking about.

As she was wearing a high school uniform, she probably came to help watch the store for a while during the weekend break. There was still a childish air to her face, and she didn’t wear makeup, which made her look even younger.

Notes:

[1] It means to navigate a dangerous situation.

[2] Aka, the white moonlight. “White Moonlight” usually refers to a person or thing that is elusive in the heart, has always been loved, but cannot be touched.