Chapter 19: Pouring rain

　　Cherry Adams took a couple of big steps forward, forcefully ripped Jasper Lee's hand away, and slammed the box cutter down hard on the floor.

A few drops of blood splattered.

Cherry Adams' first reaction to the injury on his wrist, old and new, mottled like an ink stain, was that he was joking. She wiped the bloody wound with her sleeve.

More blood gushed out, accompanied by the fishy smell of rust.

　　Cherry Adams finally realized he wasn't joking.

She was overcome with confusion, sadness, and outrage.

Without saying a word, Cherry Adams slapped him across the face.

　　Jasper Lee seemed to come to his senses, covering his face with his other hand and staring at her in disbelief. There was no water in his eyes from the injury, no pain, just endless confusion. But the scars on his wrists and forearms, of varying depths, showed his familiarity.

He had hurt himself like this many times.

Cherry Adams realized this far too late.

　　She was shaking with anger, and Jasper Lee was so innocent that he looked as if he hadn't even woken up yet. She raised her hand and slapped him again: "Are you awake? Are you out of your mind?!"

Cherry Adams looked down at him with contempt and disgust in the dreary room where even her spirit had been extinguished. Suddenly she pulled back the curtains and let in the dreary daylight.

　　"Look at this shit, Jasper Lee! Do you know how many people less fortunate than you still survive in society? Some people don't even have enough to eat or a bed to sleep in! Some children are even more unfortunate, just like you were last year, homeless and living on the streets... They don't have a nice person like me!"

　　"Only me! Only me!" Cherry Adams pointed at her red nose, "Only me, fucking like a fool, raising your brother that useless thing, and I have to fucking raise you! Do you really think everyone is as nice as me? Who will stop you if you want to die?"

Cherry Adams' chest rose and fell violently.

Jasper Lee said obscurely, "Sister..."

　　"Go! Go!" Cherry Adams pulled him up through clenched teeth, "Hospital! Hospital! Do I have to ask you?"

Cherry Adams dragged him into the car, and Jasper Lee was strapped tightly into the passenger seat. The evening sky was threatening rain, and the bright spring sunshine of the afternoon had disappeared, leaving only dark, heavy clouds.

The constant motion was irresistible.

It roared and crashed against the riverbank and the city.

　　Cherry Adams slammed her foot on the accelerator and plunged into the storm.

It was rush hour and traffic was everywhere!

"Fuck!" Cherry slammed the wheel.

Jasper Lee had never seen Cherry Adams lose her patience while driving, and this was the first time; she didn't vent her anger with rude words, as she usually did, and this was the first time, too.

And it was the first time she had ever hit him.

　　Jasper Lee's cheeks burned like flames.

"Sister..." he tried again.

"Get out! Don't call me sister! I'm not your sister!"

Cherry Adams grabbed his bloody wrist, yanked him, and dragged him to the reception desk. Jasper Lee felt his wrist tear in her tightening grip. He hissed, but Cherry Adams didn't let go, looking at him like he was garbage: "Hurts? Now you finally know pain?"

　　Jasper Lee went to the infirmary to see the injury and to get medicine and bandages. The doctor looked at his left wrist and sighed, "Young man, what's gotten into you to abuse yourself like this?"

"What's gotten into him?" Cherry Adams scoffed with her hands on her hips. "He never studies, and he's already rotten in society! I don't know who he's been in contact with and who's given him these non-mainstream ideas, and at such a young age he's already learned to hurt himself!"

　　Jasper Lee pinched the bandage and said nothing.

Cherry Adams said he had mental problems.

"Doctor, I don't think he should go to the surgical ward, he should go to the psychiatric ward. He's sick in the head!" Cherry Adams nudged him, "Look at the mess he made. I told him not to at the time, but he took a knife and cut himself, as if someone had put a spell on him!"

　　"Well..." the doctor said tactfully, "I would suggest that the parents communicate with their child."

"I can't communicate with him! Cherry Adams glared at Jasper Lee. "He's sick! He's hopeless!"

The doctor thought to himself, you don't look sick either.

"Has the child been under too much stress lately?"

Stressful. Jasper Lee shook his head, no.

"Then it must be an emotional problem..."

Emotional frustration. Jasper Lee shook his head again.

　　"Is it that your sister is also..."

Jasper Lee shook her head even harder.

"That's enough! What's the point of asking these questions? This is a waste of my time!" Cherry Adams stood up impatiently, "Let's go! I have to pick up your brother from school!"

After getting the medicine, they left the Peking Union Medical College Hospital. It had begun to drizzle. Cherry Adams bought an umbrella at the gate as they were still some distance from the parking lot.

　　"What a waste of money," she complained. The doctor's a quack, too! How did I end up with this? It's such a miscarriage of justice! Am I to blame for your mistake?"

Jasper Lee interrupted, "Are you blaming me?"

Cherry Adams frowned, "What do you mean?"

"I mean nothing."

"Explain yourself to me!"

Jasper Lee walked out into the rain alone.

　　"No, you're sick, and you're getting on my nerves! Come back here!" Cherry Adams angrily slammed her umbrella on the ground, ran quickly into the rain, and caught him from behind.

"You don't have to worry about us anymore."

Jasper Lee turned away stiffly.

"No, are you schizophrenic?" Cherry Adams was even more confused. "Tell me honestly, have you been beaten? What exactly did they do to you?"

　　"It's just like you said," Jasper Lee said with a heavy heart, his mouth hanging down. If it weren't for you, we would have been on our own by now, wouldn't we?"

"Then what? You survived the hardships in Rye Town, so why now..."

"So why should I go back? Back to a life where no one cares? Jasper Lee's voice trembled, and the tears that had been welling up in his eyes were gradually drowned out by the torrential rain.

　　A gray moth that has seen the light of day can never return to darkness.

Every minute and every second, he could not bear the loneliness.

"...then it would be better to die."

Die, die.

Who gave him permission?

Cherry Adams' fire, which had just died down, was rekindled and pointed directly at the top of his head. She grabbed him again, this time with hysterical intensity: "You bitch!"

　　She clenched his bruised wrist mercilessly, purely out of revenge, as if to let off steam.

Blood seeped through the bandage.

"Why the fuck did you die? Jasper Lee, I thought you were so capable and full of life! You know what? You are a waste of space! Your brother is a waste of space too, and your whole family is a bunch of losers! How much money did you cost me last year? Do you dare to calculate?

　　"I even... went out of my way to find you a place to study, pulling so many strings and spending so much money! I fucking owe you! You Lee brothers have been freeloading on me for a year, and if you dare to die, it's over! Even as a ghost, I won't let you go!"

　　"Stop bullshitting." Jasper Lee's expressionless face had already torn away the veil of everything, revealing the truest part of his heart, "You never intended to take care of us. You even told Li Yun this afternoon that you were going to send me away. If you no longer intend to raise me, why are you still treating me well?"

"Who said they were going to send you away?"

Cherry Adams felt confused.

　　Jasper Lee: "Weren't you at the driving school this afternoon and didn't you get a call from Li Yun?"

"Bullshit! I was trying to find a way to get your junior high school records!" Cherry Adams finally responded, "Who is this Li Yun? Explain to me!"

In the drizzle, there was silence between the two of them.

The tense atmosphere eased.

　　"You... didn't talk to him on the phone at that time?"

"I was on the phone! You must have heard wrong!"

Cherry Adams could not calm her excitement, and it was as if she had banged her head against a brick wall. She discovered that the wall was a flimsy, shoddy construction, and she was both annoyed and helpless: "My young master, I wondered what had happened!"

　　Jasper Lee was still processing the new information when he was mutely pushed into the car. Cherry Adams handed him a towel, even though she was soaking wet herself: "Wipe yourself off."

He was a patient, what could she do?

Jasper Lee wiped his wrist.

Cherry Adams drove off.

"Go on, that relative of yours... Li Yunlong, right? What about him? Did he shoot at you?"

　　Jasper Lee's eyes were still red from tears, and as he gathered his thoughts, he began to explain about his cousin Li Yun.

When he mentioned that Li Yun had threatened him for being an underage tutor, Cherry Adams couldn't hold back and cursed.

"He's sick, isn't he? You didn't tell me about something this big? I'll send someone to get rid of him sooner or later!"

Jasper Lee whispered, "I'm afraid you'll think..."

　　"I don't feel that way! Don't always assume the worst about me!"

Cherry Adams resented his attitude: "Money, money, money. I told you a long time ago, young people shouldn't think about money! Your present task is to study hard! Didn't I warn you a long time ago? I told you to find a school to go to, but you didn't listen, and now you're depressed!"

　　"Fortunately, your sister, who is a clairvoyant, has already taken care of your school matters. In the future, you should quit your crappy tutor job and concentrate on your studies!"

Jasper Lee hesitated, "What about the money..."

"That's not your concern!"

Afraid he wouldn't believe her, she threw her cell phone in her pocket at him, "Look at the balance on my bank card."

　　Jasper Lee wiped the water stains off the screen and clicked into the interface to see a pop-up message saying that 20,000 yuan had been deposited.

"Don't worry," Cherry Adams said, staring down the street. Since you both called me sister, I can support you for one day, so you can go to school and buy food.

Thank you," said Jasper Lee, feeling embarrassed about his unfounded misunderstandings and suspicions of the past few days.

Outside the car window, the spring rain continued to fall.

　　It was like the chaotic and disorderly emotions of adolescence.

Cherry Adams looked at him once, then again, and finally couldn't help but laugh: "Come on, you're so embarrassed your ears are red. It's over, don't think about it anymore."

"Okay."

"Don't embarrass yourself in the future."

"Yes, I'll never do it again."

"And don't pay any attention to that Li Yunlong either." Cherry Adams tilted her chin, "Let him take care of himself."

　　"Okay," Jasper Lee said, "let him fend for himself."

"If he dares to bother you again, just give me a call," Cherry Adams said with a thumbs up. "He dares to bully my soldier, I think he's tired of living."

With the knot in her heart untied, Jasper Lee let out a light laugh.

"Don't tell your brother anything when you get home later."

　　No way, it's too embarrassing.

"I won't tell."

Cherry Adams drove for a while.

Jasper Lee looked at his wrist.

"Does it hurt?" Cherry Adams was used to giving a sweet treat after a slap, "I've been so busy lately that I haven't been able to take care of you, and I've been neglectful.

"No," Jasper Lee's heart was clear as a mirror, "it's my own problem, I haven't handled these things well."

　　"You're just a child, what could you do?" Cherry Adams corrected his thinking again. If you run into trouble, come to your sister and tell her three times.

Jasper Lee obediently said it three times.

"You can't just say it, you have to remember it."

"I remember it," Jasper Lee paused, "are we... forgetting something?"

Cherry Adams' face changed, "Oh no..."

The phone rang, it was Pascal Lee.

　　His voice was tinged with a pitiful, cute little cry. "Sis, the rain has stopped, why haven't you come to pick me up yet?"