hsntnovel Chapter 210 The Zhang Family
Chapter 210 The Zhang Family
Jiang Xingni's only question about her was: why did someone with such a character end up in a province near the border, a place that could be described as a slum?
It was yet another problem hidden in her home, just waiting for Jiang Xingni to push open the door before she could solve it.
*
Jiang Xingni pushed open his own window.
The key to the front door has not been changed since it was replaced after my parents died.
Jiang Xingni simply added a password function to the old-fashioned door lock after high school.
However, she hasn't been home for a long time.
The last time I came back here for Chinese New Year was when I was in junior high school.
Since starting high school, Jiang Xingni has spent the Spring Festival either participating in competitions or winter camps across the country, or in a rented room near the school.
She really rarely has time to go home.
To be precise, it's not that he rarely has time; even when he does, Jiang Xingni is unwilling to go home.
The house was empty; there was no one she wanted to wait for. Returning home held no appeal for her.
The combination lock hadn't been charged for years. Jiang Xingni tentatively pushed it and found it was out of power.
Anyway, she came in by climbing through the window.
Jiang Xingni didn't care. He first charged the combination lock before looking around his room.
It still looks the same.
Thanks to the protective measures Jiang Xingni had set up, virtually no homeless people would force their way into Jiang Xingni's house and take over his place.
Too lazy to put the bowls and plates in the cupboard, they were left on the stove. Over the years, a thin layer of dust has settled on the bottom of the bowls.
Jiang Xingni walked over and rinsed the water again—but when he turned on the tap, he found that there was no water inside.
Jiang Xingni slapped his forehead, only then realizing that he hadn't paid his water and electricity bills for a while.
At least Jiang Xingni remembered to hand over the heating, and didn't just leave it lying around because no one was living there.
Otherwise, when Jiang Xingni returns, the room will be no different from an ice cellar.
She sighed, took out her phone, and paid the water and electricity bills on the phone. She didn't pay too much, since Jiang Xingni wouldn't be staying here for long anyway.
"Where have you been living all this time?" The system curiously looked around through Jiang Xingni's eyes.
Jiang Xingni still didn't take off her mask. Her vision was partially obstructed by the mask, and to be honest, Jiang Xingni was really not used to it.
"To be precise, it's the place I used to live in," Jiang Xingni corrected the system's words expressionlessly.
In Jiang Xingni's short life, he actually only lived in this place for a few years.
In my memory, I spent even less time living with my parents.
Her strongest impression of the house was that she was alone.
The young girl learned on her own how to use an induction cooker while standing on a stool, and how to cut off the hand of a malicious person who reached in with a knife.
How can she protect herself in a dangerous place, and how can she survive without being killed when everyone knows that her parents are dead and that she is an orphan?
【You've suffered so much…】The system cried out in Jiang Xingni's mind with heartache.
Jiang Xingni found it all just annoying.
She rubbed her temples—with the mask covering her face, Jiang Xingni could only rub the cold, hard mask.
"I don't think I'm that bad off," she said helplessly.
Compared to Xiao Jiming, Jiang Xingni at least has a place to shelter from the wind and rain.
The system is not satisfied.
But things can't be calculated that way.
Xiao Jiming is the protagonist of the entire comic. In other words, this world was created to serve Xiao Jiming, and the setting of the Lower City is only to make Xiao Jiming more in line with the "beautiful, strong, and tragic" character setting.
But what about Jiang Xingni?
What did Jiang Xingni gain?
It was clearly a perfect opportunity to elicit sympathy, but the system was absolutely certain that this plot point would not be included in the comic. Apart from the system, no one would listen to Jiang Xingni's experiences or past, and no one would feel sad because of Jiang Xingni.
The system became even angrier at the thought.
It's all Xiao Jiming's fault.
Jiang Xingni: ?
She was amused. As she walked towards her parents' room, she asked the system in her mind, "Why are you blaming Xiao Jiming?"
Xiao Jiming isn't even an accomplice.
The system is simply taking its anger out on others; if you really want a reason, the system itself can't give one.
Her fingertips traced the wall, and she was momentarily stunned.
"My impression of this place is actually just that I grew up here," Jiang Xingni murmured to himself.
But what about even earlier? Why is it that all she remembers growing up in the downtown area?
What about her kindergarten years, the period when her parents were teaching her to speak?
Although most people's memory is short-lived, their memories of things before the age of three are already blurry.
But Jiang Xingni had a premonition.
—Her memories of the period before she was three years old are vague, and it's not just because people automatically forget things as they grow up.
Her earliest memories of the downtown area and her time with her parents are from elementary school; her earlier memories are completely hazy.
"What about my parents?" Jiang Xingni asked the system in his mind in a daze.
Then she pushed open the door to her parents' bedroom.
She hadn't expected to get any answers from the system.
Jiang Xingni vaguely remembers that her parents' actual deaths were very sudden.
They didn't leave any last words. As usual, they pushed open the door to their room and prepared to go to work.
Jiang Xingni tidied up and prepared to go to school.
When she got home from school, she received the news—her parents had died.
Cause of death unknown.
All that is known is that they died in an unknown alley, and both of them had their hearts ripped out. The forensic examination showed that the father died earlier than the mother, indicating that he died protecting her mother.
She was taken to identify whether the bodies were her parents.
That was the first time Jiang Xingni had seen a human corpse at such close range.
The eyes were still open, but the once bright pupils had dimmed, like glass beads that had been smashed on the ground.
After returning home, Jiang Xingni didn't dare to look into their bedroom or sort through their belongings for several years.
The last time Jiang Xingni entered this place was when she was in junior high school. She was telling her parents in a rambling voice what kind of junior high school she had been admitted to while sorting through her parents' belongings—belongings that hadn't been sorted out for several years.
Once again, now.
She gently closed the door, and before she could even look around, a murderous aura suddenly approached.