Chapter 26:

...
When Zhang Man returned home, he heard Zhang Huifang calling in the room as soon as he walked in. It should have been calling one of her best friends.
She narrated indignantly, accompanied by sobbing from time to time.
Zhang Man frowned. Just watching her elegantly and decisively drew Zheng Zhi a glass of wine, he thought she didn't care.
But also, Zhang Huifang has such a strong and face-loving temperament, how could she show fragility in front of others, crying and crying at home.
Zhang Man was a little worried, and tiptoed to the door of her room, and listened to them calling.
On the other end of the phone is a best friend of Zhang Huifang, named Xu Yan, who used to form a band with her, Zhang Man has also met. Although Xu Yan didn't study when she was young, she played in bands and bars, but her temperament was much quieter than Zhang Huifang. She married her son as early as her twenties, and later changed her career as an accountant. She had a good life.
"Yan Yan, I really didn't expect that he was such a person."
Zhang Huifang shed tears while twitching a tissue, and turned on the hands-free for convenience, so Zhang Man's voice could be heard clearly.
"Fang, it's not that I said you, you are thirty-five this year, not fifteen. Now that you have a few wrinkles on the corners of your eyes, why don't your eyesight grow? After so many years, people are still so sloppy?"
Xu Yan paused and sighed again: "But this time I really don't blame you. Zheng Zhiping looks like a dog in fashion. Everyone is smiling. I didn't expect to be such a scumbag."
Zhang Huifang sobbed a few times and calmed down a little: "Yes, I have been in contact with him for a while, and he has always acted like a gentleman."
She paused, and her voice lightened a lot: "And... he made it clear before that he doesn't want children in the future. If I'm with him, he will help me take care of Manman... You know, I There are vines, so I won’t have children. So I really thought about it this time. I wanted to try it for a while, and if I could, I would get married. I didn’t expect it... Yan Yan, you don’t even know How ashamed I am today."
After listening to Xu Yan, she suddenly remembered her last relationship that ended without disease, and took a breath: "You don't want children...So, you broke up with Xu Shang because he insisted on having children after getting married? Xu Shang is more honest. People, it’s kind to you. They divorced their ex-wife for so many years and haven’t looked for them, and they don’t have a child. There is a lot of pressure in the family. Isn’t it normal to want a child?

Zhang Huifang's voice was a little anxious: "I know that Xu Shang is very good to me, and to be honest, I also like him very much, even better than those boyfriends before. He... is a very attractive person. But that is also No way, his mother is old and she must have children. If she has children, what will my Manman do?"
Xu Yan paused for a long time, and then asked: "Then there were two or three that I thought were good, and they were a good deal with you. I broke up for this reason?"
Zhang Huifang calmed down for a while, her voice less excited.
"Not all. Although there are one or two who don’t want children after they say that, I feel that they don’t care about Manman, and it is impossible to treat her as his own daughter. Yan Yan, although I have made many boyfriends, But I’m not such an indifferent person. I always keep my distance until I’m sure. I think I’ll try a few more and I should be able to find the right one... It’s because I have bad luck."
While she was talking, she looked in the mirror and removed her crying eyeliner.
"...You know me. When I was young, I was headstrong and irresponsible. Manman was completely an accident in my life."
"When I gave birth to her, I was a child myself and would never have children. What's more, for me at that time, love and youth were everything, and I didn’t care about her so much. But now... I can’t help but think about it. Manman."
"She has never seen her father since she was a child, and never kissed me. With her temperament, I, a mother, have to bear most of the responsibility. I always wanted...I always wanted to find someone who loves me and loves her even more. She is the father she wanted when she was a child. But so many years have passed, it is too difficult. Yan Yan, do you think I will stop looking for it in the future? Without father, there will be no father. Although my mother is not decent, she can still Take care of her..."
She finished with choking. She was in her thirties, and suddenly started crying, as if she was the same girl who was sitting in the corridor of the hospital 16 years ago with a test sheet and crying.
...
Zhang Man was already shocked when he heard this, and when he recovered, he found that his face was already cold.
She covered her mouth, tried not to make a sound, and walked out quietly.
The corridor was dim, and the voice-activated light broke one or two. She numbly walked down the long stairs and opened the unit door.
Oncoming, there was a cold wind.
The wind roaring at night became more and more fierce, and when passing through certain objects, it also made a sharp whine. Zhang Man slowly squatted down at the door. The temperature made her mind clearer.
It is impossible to say that she has never complained about Zhang Huifang.
She couldn't understand her chaotic private life, and hated her to live uneasy and steadily, today and tomorrow. In her long childhood memory, the word "dad" is the most painful in my heart.
She didn't know who her father was. She only knew that her mother had changed boyfriends one after another. Gradually, she never asked this question again. She looked at her various romantic entanglements coldly and kept herself out of the matter.
Even Zhang Huifang has always been suspicious of marriage and love.
She still remembers Zhang Huifang's predecessor, Xu Shang. The two had been in love for a year, which was longer than many of her boyfriends before. It was so long that even Zhang Man thought it was time to settle this time. But a few months ago, the two separated peacefully. When she asked her, she said lightly that it was a disagreement.
She vaguely remembered several people again, and it seemed that a few were quite suitable, but they all died without a problem.
She always thought that it was Zhang Huifang who liked the new and was tired of the old and refused to die. It was because she was tired of losing her novelty, so she changed boyfriends one by one.
Unexpectedly, it was because of her many times?
It turns out that the fact has always been the opposite, and she has been dragging her down.
She never understood how difficult it is for an unmarried mother with children to live in this society.
...
Zhang Man suddenly remembered the last break between Zhang Huifang and Zheng Zhi in his previous life.
The house they bought in City H was secretly sold by Zheng Zhi and used for gambling. Later, the three of them had to rent a dilapidated house. That house is very far from the center of Z city, almost to the outskirts, and it is a small house with two bedrooms and one living room, with an area of ​​less than seventy square meters.
It is the place chosen by Zhang Huifang, which is close to her school. At that time, Zhang Huifang worked in the city center by herself, and had to take the bus for more than an hour every day.
She still remembered that the house was really old and the door locks of her room were all rusted and could not be locked. Zhang Huifang was so busy to pay off his gambling debts that she didn't bother her with this.
Zhang Huifang was not at home that day, Zhang Man changed clothes in the room, but Zheng Zhi entered her room without knocking the door. Just as Zhang Man put on his underwear, he screamed in fright when he came in, and put on his shirt hurriedly. However, the man didn't feel embarrassed or guilty at all. Instead, he stood at the door and looked at her with a disgusting look in his eyes.
At that time, he was her father in name.
This happened several times and even worsened.
Zhang Man finally couldn't bear it, and once talked to Zhang Huifang while Zheng Zhi was away.
She still remembered that Zhang Huifang's complexion at that time instantly turned blue, his lips were about to bleed, and the whole person was holding the door frame and shaking, looking terrible.
That afternoon, she locked herself in the room for several hours, not knowing what she was thinking.
At night, Zhang Huifang asked her to enter the room to do her homework, not to come out no matter what happened. Zhang Man looked at her calmly, nodded, and entered the house without saying anything.
However, when Zhang Man heard the huge movement and opened the door, she saw Zhang Huifang holding a kitchen knife chasing the drunk Zheng Zhi from the kitchen to the living room. Her eyes were scary, like real He's going to hack him to death.
Zheng Zhi was so frightened that he ran away. After that, he didn't come back for several days. Later, the two agreed to divorce.
On the day the two divorced, Zhang Huifang was sitting on the ground that day, shaking and saying to Zhang Man that she would never tell anyone that Zheng Zhi once wanted to harass her.
She thought at that time that Zhang Huifang could not afford to lose this face, but now she understands that she is actually protecting her.
She was afraid that if this matter spread to her school, she would be laughed at.
So this is ah.
So even when Zheng Zhi gambled the most, she didn't mention divorce, but after hearing that Zheng Zhi had offended her, she carried a kitchen knife and wanted to kill him.
After that time, Zhang Huifang seemed to be many years old overnight. He was a violent person who loved to run out every day, and kept herself at home for more than a month. Later, she never fell in love again. Zhang Man always thought that she was broken by Zheng Zhi and no longer believed in love.
It turns out that she didn't believe in love, but that there would be a man who loved her as well as her own daughter.
It's not because she's willful and unwilling to give up, but the love she wants is double. Which man can afford it? That's why I have been walking on thin ice for so many years.
Zhang Man covered his face and burst into tears.
She didn't know until today that it was not only when she was young, but Zhang Huifang is also called "Man Man" when she talks about her with her girlfriends.
As she said, when she gave birth to her, she was a willful and squeamish child.
She is the first time to be a daughter, and she is also the first time to be a mother.
The next day, Zhang Man asked to make up lessons at Li Wei's house, but he was obviously absent-minded.
What happened yesterday shocked her too much. She didn't understand at first, why does life always have to go in circles like this? People who are clearly in love, why can't they convey their minds directly, but have to have layer after layer of misunderstanding, thus alienating.
It's like there is a hand that no one can see, smiling and manipulating people who are working hard behind them, teasing them, creating barriers between them, and making them feel regretful all the time.
She and Zhang Huifang were like this, as were her and Li Wei in the previous life. You have to go around such a big circle to understand the other party's intentions.
She was depressed and sullenly lying on her stomach not wanting to do the problem.
Seeing her uncomfortable look, the young man stopped the book he was reading, turned around, and asked questions in his eyes.
Zhang Man suddenly had a desire to talk, so he slowly talked to Li Wei about the relationship between her and Zhang Huifang, and as he spoke, he couldn't help crying.
After she finished speaking, she poked the young man’s arm: "Now, Li Wei, why do you sometimes want to know the truth of a thing, and always make so many detours? Sometimes, why can’t we directly To the other party?"
The young man looked at her seriously, with infinite tenderness in his eyes, and the water-like gaze gave Zhang Man great comfort.
He thought for a while after hearing her question.
"Zhang Man, do you know the shortest distance between two points?"
Zhang Man thought without hesitation: "Of course it is a straight line."
The boy shook his head: "Only when the space is flat, the shortest distance is a straight line. If the space is curved, then the shortest distance will be a curve-there is no straight line in a curved space. So sometimes life is not. Deliberately detour, because for feelings, that may be the shortest distance."
Zhang Man was stunned for a while, knowing that he was trying to comfort herself, and her heart was pounding after the boy had said that.
At this time, other people may tell her not to feel sad, and then use their own life experience to enlighten her and comfort her relationship with her mother will definitely get better and better in the future.
But he didn't.
Regarding feelings, he has nothing to do, and has no experience in this area. She complained to him about this, but he didn't even have relatives.
However, he was still clumsy, trying his best to comfort her with his physical worldview, telling her that everything was actually the best arrangement.
Zhang Man's heart suddenly opened up.
But isn't it, if there is no separation and twists and turns, perhaps the emotions will not be so deep. Besides, she has been born again. The people she loves and the people who love her are now by her side.
All the misunderstandings have been solved, and none of them will leave anyone again. All this is not a detour, it is the shortest distance and the best arrangement.
Zhang Man looked into his eyes and said softly, "Li Wei, you are so kind."
He is the best man in the world.