Zou Zeming laughed as he came out of the car followed by his mother, Madam Zou who was still glowering at him with a light glare.
" You and your brother only know how to tease your mother like this," said Madam Zou as she walked behind her son who was carrying his duffle bag on his shoulders while walking past the throng of strangers who were walking up the slightly steep-looking path that was half-covered with cobblestone while the other half was left untouched, waiting to be covered with the cobblestone that was sitting on the side.
" Has brother returned from the medical college? Did he not say that he was going to come and spend some days with you since I am going away?" Zou Zeming asked remembering the talk that he had with his brother on the call before coming to this city.
" Not yet, he could not get any free time with everything that is going on," Madam Zou replied with a sigh, she was yet to get used to her eldest son leaving for the medical college and now she had to see her youngest leave as well. "It is his final year and he is busy with his internship, it will take him some time to clear up his schedule and then come back home."
Zou Zeming rolled his eyes as he came to a stop in front of the university gates and then turned on his heels to look at his mother whose eyes have turned red again, he scrunched up his nose and then said with a light joking voice, " Come on lawyer Zou, stop crying like this is you continue to act like such how do you expect me to leave?"
" Then don't leave," said Madam Zou with a hoarse voice. " The house will be so silent with all of you gone."
Zou Zeming smiled, his dimples reappearing as he stretched out his hands and hugged his mother before patting her on the back. Softly he murmured in her ear, " I know that I am being a selfish mom but let me take this time off, all right? After what happened to Dad, I don't think I can do it again. So, just three years give me just three years, I will be back, all right?"
Madam Zou willed her tears away as she sniffed and then pulled back from her son as she stretched her hand and covered the cheeks of her son with the back of her palms before she said with a sobbing smile, " Take all the time that you need, mom will be waiting for you two brothers to come back home. Our home. All right?"
Seeing her son nod, Madam Zou turned to look inside the college building before she asked, " Are you sure you do not need me to come with you? What if you get lost, Zeming? You have always been bad with direction and without someone guiding you, I am afraid that you won't be able to find the administration building."
" Come on Mom, I am eighteen, I will be fine," Zou Zeming rolled his eyes as he added, " Just how hard can it be? It is just finding a building on a small campus."
…..
" Are you here to report?" The woman behind the small glass frame with an open window in the centre looked at Xua Ying Yue. Her gaze dropped to the bandaged-covered hands of the girl who was holding out her documents to her before the woman raised her gaze and looked at Xua Ying Yue with a sympathetic smile. " Had an accident, my dear?"
" Something along the lines," Xua Ying Yue replied as she watched the woman take the documents from her as she started to verify them one by one before taking a look at the form that was filled out by Xua Ying Yue before nodding to herself. " All in order."
The woman with glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose then turned to pick up the stamp that was sitting on the corner of her table and then pressed it on the form before she placed it on the pile of forms sitting on the table before she conversationally continued, " What kind of accident? Was it a serious one? Do you want me to add some leaves for you before you can join the classes?"
The woman was in her forties and looked rather kind as she stretched out her hand and took the money that Xua Ying Yue handed to her to pay the fees of the college which was a lot less when compared to the colleges in the S city.
" They were burned," Xua Ying Yue replied without a blink of her eyes just as the woman counted the bills and then placed them in the money drawer before she pulled out a receipt from the counter and then filled it before stamping it as well.
After she was done, the woman raised her hand and looked at Xua Ying Yue with a sympathetic pair of eyes. " Must have accidentally spilt hot water, right? I did the same too when I was young and had no idea how to cook."
Xua Ying Yue blinked her eyes and then without a change of her expression, she corrected the woman, " Not accidentally, mam. They were deliberately burned." Her words caused the smile to slip off the face of the woman as the latter stared at her in shock. But Xua Ying Yue did not stop there instead she continued speaking, " A bunch of girls forcefully pushed my hands in a burning furnace."
The woman's mouth fell agape just as Xua Ying Yue stretched her hand in front of the shocked woman who looked at her empty hand and said," Huh?"
" The receipt mam," Xua Ying Yue pointed to the paper slip that the woman was holding.
" Oh right," the woman handed the receipt to Xua Ying Yue before she said, " You can start coming to college from the fifth."
Xua Ying Yue nodded as she turned around and walked out of the room while leaving the receptionist to gaze at her back before she settled down her chair and dragged her hands down on her face. " Teenagers really scare the living lights out of me."
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