hsntnovel Chapter 212 The Story of Parents
Chapter 212 The Story of Parents
Ji Hanzhang had heard this kind of talk many times since she gave birth to Jiang Xingni.
— It's like she should focus on her family, she should be a good mother and take good care of her children.
They say Jiang Xingni never knew what her mother looked like growing up, and that she grew up with her father. How pitiful she is!
They said Jiang Xingni was ridiculed by her classmates at school for being a child without a mother's love, saying things like, "Your mother is dead, your father will find you a mistress sooner or later, so don't complain then."
When Ji Hanzhang learned that these words had been used against his daughter, his first reaction was not to want to return to his family, but to regret that he had neglected his daughter because he was focused on his career.
Instead, she regretted not having had the child.
She loved Jiang Qishi so much that she was willing to have a child for him; she wanted a child that she and Jiang Qishi would have together.
Jiang Qishi also loved her enough.
After Jiang Xingni was born, if someone had to sacrifice their career to stay home and raise the child, Jiang Qishi would prefer that person to be him rather than Ji Hanzhang.
Ji Hanzhang is far more talented than him in research and is capable of going much further than him.
Jiang Qishi was completely willing to pave the way for Ji Hanzhang, not wanting Ji Hanzhang's career to be ruined because of Jiang Xingni—their daughter.
They love each other enough.
As a result, less love was given to Jiang Xingni.
It's not that the two of them didn't love Jiang Xingni, but compared to their love for each other and their love for their careers, their love for Jiang Xingni was insignificant.
Jiang Xingni's birth was an added bonus to their love for each other. They would not harbor any ill will towards the young child—especially since the child was their own daughter—just because Jiang Xingni was hindering their careers. However, they would certainly consider that possibility.
If only Jiang Xingni had never been born.
This idea accompanied Jiang Xingni as she grew up and went to kindergarten. Only after Jiang Xingni became more sensible did they gradually give up this idea.
After all, Jiang Xingni is too sensible.
She doesn't need much care from adults.
She doesn't need much company; she can play quietly all day even by herself.
Jiang Xingni doesn't even need parental guidance to deal with bullying and malicious slander at school. In some cases, Jiang Qishi and Ji Hanzhang were the last to know about the bullying and retaliation she experienced.
Jiang Xingni has learned to take care of herself without worrying her parents, and she is quite proud of this and doesn't feel sorry for herself at all.
*
The reason I moved from the capital to the lower city was actually because of Ji Hanzhang.
They were national researchers. Ji Hanzhang was responsible for research on supernatural beings and those with supernatural abilities, while Jiang Qishi was actually responsible for a more sensitive issue.
Why are there so many organizations outside of state control in China, even though they are under state control?
Even the Taixu Academy, despite being an official organization, has no records of its establishment found in the country's archives.
The government had long harbored suspicions about the superhuman community, and Jiang Qishi's job was to investigate the origins of these organizations.
Since discovering that he had been assigned this task, Jiang Qishi, who was not particularly diligent to begin with, became even more complacent, focusing solely on being a support for his wife and completely ignoring the state of his career.
Under these circumstances, Ji Hanzhang received the report sent from above.
The report indicates that the lower district of Tuhe City appears to have become a research site, where even if one breaks the law, few people will pursue the matter.
The government has always wanted to deal with the lower district, but the efforts have often failed due to unknown forces.
Some people hoped that Jiang Qishi and Ji Hanzhang could move to the Lower City and investigate everything related to the supernatural while also acting as internal support to wipe out the entire Lower City.
The day after receiving the report, Ji Hanzhang wrote an application requesting to be transferred from the capital to Tuhe City to conduct his research.
On the third day, Jiang Qishi followed suit, also requesting from his superior to leave the capital with his wife.
That was the first time Jiang Qishi and Ji Hanzhang had a fight.
"Do you know how dangerous the lower district is?" Ji Hanzhang was almost amused by Jiang Qishi's words. "And Jiang Xingni is still in elementary school. Are you going to transfer her to Tuhe School with you?"
Jiang Qishi replied without hesitation, "We can't let you be in danger alone."
"Jiang Xingni is already a big girl, she can go to elementary school. Even if the two of us leave, it won't be a problem for her to stay here alone."
Ji Hanzhang was so angry he laughed.
She values her career, but she wouldn't abandon her daughter to this extent.
The final agreement was that the entire family of three, along with Jiang Xingni, would move from the capital to Tuhe City.
Ji Hanzhang's only act of kindness towards his daughter was that he did not directly send Jiang Xingni to a primary school in the lower city district, but after a brief evaluation, he sent her to a relatively normal primary school outside the lower city district.
No one knows when the effects began to take hold.
Jiang Xingni was the most obvious one—she forgot her past of growing up in the capital and thought she was just a native of the lower-level city.
Then there were the superiors who were in contact with Ji Hanzhang and Jiang Qishi, who also forgot about the two men's existence.
Everything happened quietly.
On the day the couple died, Jiang Xingni held his mother's hand tightly, looked up at his mother's face—black hair and black eyes just like his own, nothing special about her.
Her mother's soft black hair fell down, gently landing on Jiang Xingni's face.
"Mom will be back soon." She kissed her daughter's cheek, her eyes filled with fervor.
She has caught sight of the monster, and now she and her husband are going to see for themselves what this monster, which they have studied their whole lives, actually looks like.
She was finally able to witness the monsters firsthand, to study them, the living monsters.
And so Ji Hanzhang died at the hands of the monster.
Jiang Qishi died even earlier than her, standing in front of the monster. His heart was ripped out in front of Ji Hanzhang, and his body fell to the ground empty, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Those black eyes also dimmed.
It looks like a black gemstone that has rolled around in mud.
Then there's Ji Hanzhang.
As an ordinary person, she spent her whole life studying the supernatural, and finally, before she died, she saw only the tip of the iceberg of what she had been researching.
The world of supernatural beings is unwilling to cooperate with ordinary people like them; this is the first time Ji Hanzhang has seen something supernatural.
Then she felt a slight coolness in her chest.
My whole body felt light and airy as it plummeted downwards, and then downwards again.
She thought about her life, her unfinished work, and her husband.
Then Ji Hanzhang thought of Jiang Xingni.
This was the first time Ji Hanzhang had no negative emotions, no worries about his future, and no thought about whether his life would be better without Jiang Xingni. He only thought about Jiang Xingni.
He thought of his daughter.
Think about the only legacy you leave to this world.
There's always a possibility that Jiang Xingni will find out what her mother's profession is in the future, and then she will be proud to have such a mother. In the end, she will follow in her mother's footsteps.
This was Ji Hanzhang's last thought before he closed his eyes.
She wanted Jiang Xingni to take over her inheritance, walk the path she hadn't finished, and fulfill her last wishes.
Ji Hanzhang didn't want Jiang Xingni to die an obscure death like her.
She actually had a very long future planned for herself.
Ji Hanzhang had many wishes that he never had the chance to fulfill.
Jiang Xingni was just the most insignificant one in her life—in her heart, Jiang Qishi was far more important than Jiang Xingni.
Ji Hanzhang skipped a grade to enter university at the age of fourteen. In the same year, she met Jiang Qishi. At the age of twenty-six, she entered a national-level research institute and dedicated her life to her career.
If things go smoothly, her files might be declassified a century from now, and Jiang Xingni would be proud to have had such a mother.
Now, Ji Hanzhang, an unidentified corpse, his name crossed out in black in his file, a martyr who lost contact with his superior for strange reasons—has fallen in a nameless alley.
She died lightly.
Just like water disappearing into water.