Chapter 218: Chapter 213: Jima’s Mortal Life (Part 1)
Jima gripped the new steering wheel with both hands, like a knight holding the reins.
But she couldn’t charge forward like a knight, crushing everything in her path or killing the living.
The car was newly bought by Jima, and she didn’t even know what brand it was, but she spent over 500,000 yuan, enough to make a down payment on a house in Long City.
The car was big, and Jima liked big cars because they could carry a lot of things, like a freezer strapped to the roof, with the frozen Mang Ziqi curled up inside.
In the back seat were her biological father and… her brother.
Yes, her brother.
After her biological father remarried, the woman brought along a son, who was older than her, so she had to call him brother.
However, Jima didn’t want to call him brother. Fortunately, the corpse of Mang Ziqi spoke up and said, “He has a nickname, called Master. When we were young, we usually called him Master Luo.”
Jima suspected that her soul wound had something to do with Master Luo, at least many stories hinted at that—a biased stepmother and an insulting stepbrother.
But at the moment, Jima hadn’t gleaned anything from Master Luo.
He was happily chatting with her biological father Xu Ziqiang in the back seat, his mouth never stopping. Jima suspected that during this ride, Master Luo and Xu Ziqiang talked more than she did with her father.
“Ah Qi,” Master Luo’s voice came from behind, “how much did you spend on this new car?”
“Five hundred thousand.”
“So expensive!” Master Luo exclaimed, “You could buy a house in the city center with that.”
“Isn’t it okay?” Jima felt that this kind of showing off was quite awkward.
“Why buy something so expensive?” Xu Ziqiang sighed, “You don’t have an income now, what’s the point of buying a car in Long City? Always wasting money.”
“It’s fine, I’ve started a company now,” Jima said. “I have a rich second-generation investor who invested a lot, and I also have a manager under me who helps me run the business. I just need to remotely control them.”
Master Luo exclaimed loudly, “You’ve started a company?”
In the rearview mirror, Jima saw Master Luo leaning forward, a smile on his face, which was hard to tell if it was mockery or pure surprise.
“Yes.”
Wasn’t it a lie to family? From a certain perspective, I just rephrased the truth.
“How much can your company earn in a month?”
Jima really hated such direct questions, but it seemed normal among close people?
She said, “The prospects are uncertain right now, the company is low-key for now, relying entirely on the rich second-generation’s funding. How much was it? Five hundred thousand or something?”
“So much?!” Master Luo exclaimed, raising his eyebrows, smiling as he patted Xu Ziqiang’s thigh, saying, “You’ve raised a good son. In the future, you’ll be the dad of a rich second-generation; you can enjoy life properly.”
Xu Ziqiang, who usually looked gloomy, laughed this time and said, “Where… if it really turns out that way, I’ll rest easy.”
Why do I feel like I wasted that 500,000?
The red light in front finally turned green, and the traffic jam began to crawl forward.
Having not driven for over three hundred years, Jima relied on the driving knowledge she crammed last night, shifting gears, lightly pressing the gas pedal, and maintaining a certain distance from the car in front—this is what she found on Baidu.
The new car slowly started, following the traffic. The previously sluggish convoy now sped up, barely keeping pace with a rabbit’s footprints.
For the first time, the long queue showed signs of being able to pass through the intersection before the red light came on.
As the red light drew closer, Jima breathed a sigh of relief, finally able to escape this maddening intersection.
The feeling of a light injury was like releasing a long string of feces. However, Jima had no need to relieve herself and hadn’t experienced that pleasure in a long time.
Suddenly, a black sedan overtook her, rudely and accurately wedging itself between her and the car ahead. Jima instinctively tapped the brakes.
At that moment, the traffic light turned yellow, and the encroaching black sedan took the opportunity to cross the crosswalk. Just as Jima’s car reached the crosswalk, the yellow light turned red.
The black sedan sped away, leaving Jima as the lead car in the queue, waiting at the red light.
The “straight branch” at her waist shouted:
“Kill him! Tie him to the back of the car, drag him around the whole city, let everyone see what happens when they provoke you! Then cut off his head and stick it on the roof!”
Jima’s knuckles turned white as she prepared a vicious curse, but it remained unspoken until the black sedan vanished from sight.
Be a low-profile demon, be a low-profile demon, bear with it, wait a month or two, then kill his whole family, yes, kill the whole family. Before killing, I have to tell him it’s because he cut off my car, so he met this fate—his wife, children, and parents all dead—first crush his child with the wheels, then chop off the heads of his relatives one by one…
Finally, when it’s his turn, I’ll step on his head and slowly crush his skull.
At this moment, Xu Ziqiang said, “Ziqi, why aren’t you driving faster? We have to wait again.”
Jima got angry and turned her head to yell, “What did you say!”
Xu Ziqiang replied, “I said you should drive faster, or do you want me to drive?”
Jima shouted, “Say that again, and I’ll throw you out of the car!”
“How can you speak to your dad like that?”
“If you weren’t my father, would I have run over to be abused? I would have enjoyed life long ago. Do you think I’ve been happy these past few days?”
Xu Ziqiang didn’t speak; his face often showed sadness. He leaned against the back of the car and raised his hand to wipe the tears from deep wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.
The car fell silent.
Master Luo said nothing, and occasionally low sobs could be heard from Xu Ziqiang in the back seat.
The red light finally turned green. Jima stepped on the gas, and the new car tires screeched against the pavement as the vehicle surged forward.
“There’s a camera two hundred meters to the right ahead…”
A phone placed on the car window broke the silence.
After ten minutes of driving, they finally escaped the annoying urban circle. It wasn’t easy; Jima had restrained herself ten times from jumping onto the sidewalk and speeding down the pedestrian lane.
Someone finally spoke in the back seat. Master Luo said softly:
“Uncle, don’t be angry. That idiot earlier wasn’t looking at the road, rushing to reincarnate, blocking Ah Qi in front. Who wouldn’t be angry? Ah Qi hasn’t driven in a long time, and she couldn’t control her temper for a moment.”
Xu Ziqiang said, “I might as well jump out of the car since you don’t want me as your dad.”
I’m so fed up; this mortal just wants me to feel guilty and plays the pity card. I would rather you jump out and die so I could be at ease.
Jima pressed the gas pedal, increasing her speed.
Master Luo continued to comfort her:
“Ah Qi is still filial. He’s covered all the medical expenses and even quit his job to come back to see you. It’s been almost ten years since your car’s been on the road, and you bought a new one… Ah Qi, you should develop in another city. Are you leaving the new car for your old man to drive?”
Master Luo guessed Jima’s original plan.
Jima said, “Yes.”
“You see, why are you still crying?” Master Luo said with a smile, “If I were as successful as Ah Qi, my mom would be so elated she would fly to the sky.”
Xu Ziqiang’s expression softened considerably.
Jima also didn’t know if Master Luo genuinely meant what he said. All she knew was that she was speeding, but it seemed neither of them noticed.
The blurry memories of the county town appeared in front of her; Jima slowed down, gradually turning from the national road into the county town.
A sigh came from Xu Ziqiang behind:
“Ah Qi, you’ve grown up; I shouldn’t say so much to you. When you were little, I changed your diapers…”
This time it surprisingly didn’t include the classic scene of my biological mother holding her nose and running out of the house.
Jima ignored it.
But the more Xu Ziqiang said, the more emotional he became, and he sniffed, saying:
“The thing I regret most in my life is that I brought you into this world without giving you a complete family. I, your dad, have no ability to give you any help; I just hope you won’t resent your useless dad in the future.”
More strange words, attempting to provoke my feelings of guilt.
Jima assessed inside; she drove toward the entrance of the community. The community was located behind the government compound and could be considered a rundown place.
Jima said, “Let’s stop here.”
As the car door opened, Master Luo patted Jima on the shoulder and said, “Don’t take this matter to heart; it’s that idiot.”
Xu Ziqiang walked to the front of the car door and asked, “Are we having dinner together tonight? Your second aunt brought some free-range chickens from the hometown.”
“No, I’m going to my mom’s place.” Jima expressionlessly started the new car and drove away.
Perhaps my biological mother was better? Could better heal my soul wounds.
Though on the phone, she seemed like a woman trying to control herself from afar.
But halfway down the road, Jima realized she was lost.
She couldn’t remember where her biological mother lived.
So Jima pulled over, got out of the car, patted the freezer on the roof, and shouted, “Hi!”
A muffled voice came from inside the freezer:
“You should go eat with my dad.”
“Why?”
“You hurt him.” Mang Ziqi in the freezer said, “He’s a good dad.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Go on, I feel uneasy.”
“He’s just using guilt to force people to comply.”
“No, he’s expressing real feelings.”
Jima thought for a moment and began to feel guilty, which was rare for her. She said, “Alright, you’re right, but first tell me, where does my mom live?”
“Across from the rice noodle shop.”
“Which rice noodle shop? There are rice noodle shops everywhere in the county town.”
“You’ll know.”
Jima drove along the street, her gaze scanning one rice noodle shop after another. She stopped at one, and past memories surged in her mind, salivating instinctively.
Because as a child, she often had breakfast at that rice noodle shop.
Naturally, she found her mother’s home, which was a yard with a banyan tree. Jima parked inside, lifted her head, and looked at the second floor.
More forgotten childhood memories surfaced murkily.
She remembered she spent her middle school, high school, and university years in this house.
Jima closed the car door, turned around, walked straight to the gate of the yard, leaving the freezer and car behind, picked up her phone, dialed, and when connected, she said:
“Hello, Dad, I’m coming over to eat tonight.”
