She is in the fog

Ning Xiaoduo had not walked far, and He Xi could clearly see her back. She was afraid that she would suddenly turn around and see Mingmei and her together.

In a moment of desperation, she forcefully broke free from Mingmei's arms and said without thinking, "Can you please stop interfering in my business? We have broken up and there is no relationship between us anymore. I can handle my own affairs and you don't need to worry about it. You are beautiful and good at studying. There are many people who want to be friends with you. Why do you have to keep pestering me? I don't deserve it, I really don't deserve it! I am like a clown in front of you. You are already good enough and don't need me to walk by your side and be a foil."

Sharp words burst out of her mouth one after another like a string of cannonballs.

Mingmei's expression changed from confusion at first, to shock, then to panic, and finally to disbelief.

"The Foil", a novel by French writer Emile Zola, tells the story of an industrialist named Durandeau who makes a business out of ugliness and specializes in collecting ugly women to rent out as foils to make beautiful women look even more beautiful.

What Mingmei couldn't believe was that she actually thought that she was being nice to her and becoming friends with her just to use her as a foil?

"Not at all! I didn't want you to be a foil, and..."

"Enough! Stop talking. Just like what was said in the letter of breaking off friendship, we have nothing to do with each other anymore." He Xi pulled the strap of his schoolbag, turned around, brushed past Wen Wan, and left without looking back.

"He Xi, I think you are very good."
Mingmei shouted this sentence towards her back. The wind was blowing, and she didn't know if He Xi heard it.

At night, He Xi couldn't fall asleep, so he simply opened the forum on his mobile phone and entered the forum of Nanzhou No. 1 Middle School.

The first post on the front page is "Eye-to-eye contact of the century: They must be in love, right?"
The pictures used as the cover are two photos of Mingmei and Li Bufan.

He Xi clicked on the large picture.
The dark background, two beams of light overlap. The person taking the photo is very skilled, and it seems that it has been post-processed. The subject of the photo is particularly prominent, and the light and shadow color atmosphere is particularly eye-catching. When two people pass by each other, a strong sense of fate comes over us, just like an idol drama.

Click on another one.
The two beams of light separated.
Mingmei strode forward. Li Bufan turned around and looked at her back with a smile on his face and affectionate eyes.

2F: [They are definitely dating! Look at the look in Li Bufan’s eyes in the second photo.]
3F: [You can’t hide the look in your eyes when you love someone! That look is simply so full of love. ]
4th floor: [The Mingfan Party has the blue sky above their heads! ]
5th Floor: [Ahhhhhhh, there is definitely something fishy about Li Bufan's eyes! ]
6th floor: [Two Li party passing by]
7th floor: [But I think Li Fuyue and Li Bufan are a better match]
8th floor: [ky upstairs, please get lost, this is Mingfan’s post! [Angry]]
9th floor: [Ming Fan is a good match! ]
10th floor: [Don’t mention Li Fuyue anymore. Children from single-parent families usually have psychological problems.]

He Xi's gaze stopped at the 10th floor, and she looked at the ID of the floor owner: colorful balloons in the clouds.

Do children from single-parent families usually have psychological problems?
The author's statement was too speculative. He Xi felt offended and could not help but click the reply button and typed a long paragraph. Just as he was about to reply, another idea suddenly flashed through his mind.

She was so eager to refute, didn't she just care too much?
She deleted the entire long paragraph, skipped [Colorful Balloons in the Clouds], and turned to the floors below.

……

After reading all the comments below that post, I was left with only one thought.

Not worthy.
It's not that Li Bufan and Mingmei are not a good match, but——

"I do not deserve."
She talked to herself, then uninstalled the forum.

On the other side, Ning Xiaoduo was lying on the luxurious princess bed in the villa, excitedly calling Ding Xianting.

"Okay, it was done well this time."

Ding Xianting: "I paid someone to photoshop the photo as you requested. The picture looks just like something out of an idol drama. Of course, the most important thing is that you captured the photo well, so that we can retouch it later."

"Don't worry, I will give you double the amount you spent, and you won't lose anything. Please pay more attention to the replies to the post, and if there is anything you don't like, just delete it directly."

"Ok."

Ning Xiaoduo: "Also, find more people, register more Tieba accounts, and keep them on my screen during this period. Don't miss out on Space either, let the editor of Baishitong say something, and everyone should forward it. You must create an atmosphere for them to be in love."

"Okay, Sister Ning."

……

2012 11 Month 11 Day.
It was Sunday and we didn’t have classes during the day, but we still had to attend evening self-study classes.
At that time, there was no such thing as "Double Eleven Shopping Festival". November 11 was given the name "Singles' Day" because of the unique four "11s", which looked like a group of singles standing together.

Young people love to join in the fun, and since Singles' Day is called a festival, the exchange of gifts is inevitable. Lollipops, with their unique appearance, have stood out on Singles' Day and have become the most popular gift for students on that day.

He Jiahe was holding a bag of Alps lollipops and distributing them in the class, giving one to almost everyone he saw. When he was about to approach He Xi, he greeted Wu Ruowei in the back row and handed her a lollipop: "Ruowei, happy holidays!"
It seemed as if he had intentionally or unintentionally omitted He Xi.

After four evening self-study sessions, the desks of the popular students in the class were almost all filled with lollipops, but He Xi didn't get a single one.

To be honest, she wasn't greedy and just wanted to eat a lollipop. What's more, she didn't give anything, so how could she get anything in return? But she knew in her heart that even if she went to the supermarket and bought a big bag of lollipops and generously distributed them to her classmates, there would probably be very few classmates willing to accept her gifts, after all, no one wanted to have anything to do with her.

Back downstairs in the community, He Xi looked up at the floor where his home was. It was pitch dark, and he guessed that they had fallen asleep early.

She took the elevator upstairs, opened the door with minimal movement, took out the flashlight from her pocket, changed her shoes in the hallway, and tiptoed into the bedroom.

Sitting at the desk and turning on the desk lamp, she put her schoolbag in her arms and took out the unfinished homework from evening study, intending to study late into the night.

As soon as I took out my homework book, I found that there seemed to be a purple thing at the bottom of my schoolbag.

She reached out curiously and took it out. A grape-flavored lollipop.
It’s Mingmei’s favorite grape-flavored lollipop.
The warm yellow light shines on the purple packaging bag, bringing a little warmth in this cold season.
She looked at the lollipop in silence for a long time.

The next day, November 11, was an ordinary Monday.
However, it was He Xi’s 17th birthday.

That day, He Xi received a call from Sun Siqin. She looked at the note on the screen: Grandma.
He sighed, decisively hung up the phone, and replied with a text message: [Busy]

Soon, Sun Siqin also replied by text message: [Happy birthday, Yangyang. Are you free this weekend? Come to grandma's house. Grandma will make you your favorite crab dinner.]

He Xi: [No, I still have to make up for the lessons]

Perhaps, apart from her nominal grandmother, no one else can remember her birthday.

However, she still didn't know how to face her.
After all, her adoptive mother died because of her. What kind of emotion should she have when facing her adoptive mother's biological mother?

Just ignore it to avoid being reminded of the past.

After returning home from evening self-study, He Xi looked up as usual and suddenly found that the lights on his floor were still on.

Are there any guests? He Xi thought so, then took the elevator upstairs, opened the door, and saw He Jingrui and He Jingqi in a panic, as if they were avoiding something.

When they saw that it was He Xi, they breathed a sigh of relief and said in unison, "It turned out to be you. I thought my parents were back and scared me."

As expected of twins, they speak in such sync with each other.

Seeing them turn on the TV again and sit on the sofa, He Xi asked curiously, "Where did they go?"

"I don't know, maybe it's for the wedding."

"Aren't you guys going to bed yet?" He Xi said as he walked towards his bedroom, "You still have classes tomorrow."

He Jingqi shook his head like a rattle: "No, it's not easy for my parents not to be at home, I can finally let loose for once. By the way, sister, I've already washed up, can you help me buy some snacks from the supermarket downstairs?"

Only when they need He Xi to do something, the brother and sister are willing to call her "sister".

But He Xi felt very happy because she felt as if she had importance in this family and was no longer alone because of the name "sister".

She stopped, turned around and asked, "What do you want to eat?"

"Buy some spicy food, some chips, and some Coke."
"I want to eat beef jerky!" He Jingrui shouted excitedly.

"Your mother doesn't allow you to drink Coke." He Xi reminded kindly.

"It's okay, we won't let her find out. Dear sister, the money mom left for us is in the drawer of dad's study, go get it yourself."

In the end, he couldn't persuade them. After putting his schoolbag on the chair in the bedroom, He Xi walked into He Sicheng's study.

She opened the drawer under the computer desk, and sure enough, a 100-yuan note was lying on the top.

She reached out to take it out, and just as she was about to close the drawer, she suddenly found an old photo.

The photos are protected by plastic film, and there is no sign of the passage of time, but the strong feeling of film is overwhelming, and it has a sense of age. Moreover, the two people in the photos are obviously the younger He Sicheng and Chen Quxin.

She picked up the photo and looked at it carefully.

Chen Quxin had long slightly curly hair, a red hairband on her head, a red and white polka-dot skirt, and a slightly bulging belly.
He Sicheng had his hair parted in the middle, a white shirt tucked into brown trousers, and a black leather belt. He put his arm around Chen Quxin's shoulders and smiled.

There are a few orange numbers attached to the lower right corner of the photo: 98.08.13
This is the date automatically generated by your film camera.

In other words, this photo was taken on August 1998, 8.

There suddenly seemed to be a thorn in He Xi's heart, which hurt her so much.

She originally thought that her adoptive father would inevitably be lonely after her adoptive mother's death, so she and Chen Quxin reunited as a family for comfort. She also always thought that He Jingrui and He Jingqi were Chen Quxin's children with other people.
It was not until today that she suddenly realized: No wonder the brother and sister also had the surname He, no wonder He Sicheng was so good to them, it turned out that they were He Sicheng's biological children with He Sicheng's genes and blood flowing in their veins.

In other words, as early as 1998 - or even earlier, the adoptive father had an affair with Chen Quxin? Even had a child?
But at that time he was clearly still getting along well with his adoptive mother, so how could he do something unfaithful?
He Xi couldn't believe it. After all, as far as he could remember, everyone could see how good he was to his adoptive mother before she passed away.

She still remembers that after her adoptive mother He Yanyan passed away, her adoptive father, who used to be a positive and cheerful person who never smoked or drank, immediately became depressed and negative. He lost hope in everything, chain-smoked one cigarette after another, and even developed an alcoholic disorder.

Sometimes when he was very drunk, he would grab He Xi's neck tightly, accuse him of killing He Yanyan, and ask her why she was alive.

(End of this chapter)