Paige stood at the gate of the fence, looking up and out. The lights of thousands of households and the starry sky in the distance indicated that it would be a good day tomorrow.
It was very warm.
In fact, the southern border has always been a city suitable for a slow-paced life, but when she lived there before, she didn’t allow herself to slow down.
Paige smiled as she thought about it, carrying the groceries back to her small courtyard, and said to Gabriel, “Eat quickly, then take a break, and we’ll go for a night run.”
“You want to go running again?” Gabriel was surprised.
“Yes, let’s exercise.” Paige sat down at the small table, picked up a chopstickful of noodles, and added, “It’s right in the community.”
“… Oh.”
Gabriel felt that after dinner, it would be more comfortable to find a small reclining chair and lie in the courtyard watching the stars, but as long as there were no classes, he would just go along with his mother.
“Eat more, starting tomorrow I’ll research cooking and make you something delicious.”
Over the years, the only thing Paige hadn’t improved at was cooking. Olivia had always stayed by her side and spoiled her so much that she had never cooked more than a few times. Even if she did it occasionally, the food she cooked was barely edible.
Gabriel blinked a few times in trepidation when he heard this. “Mommy, I think ordering takeout is pretty good.”
It’s better not to study.
“…”
Paige divided another helping of noodles into his small bowl and said, “Eat the noodles and shut up.”
You’re so blunt.
At this moment, on the balcony of a villa, a two-meter-high flower rack stands quietly, surrounded on three sides, enveloping the entire balcony. The young green leaves and bright flowers still exude a gentle fragrance even at night.
A half-meter-tall telescope stands behind the flower rack, and the lens is quietly hidden among the leaves and flowers, hidden seamlessly.
The lens is fixedly aimed at a certain place.
The lens captures a small courtyard. The fence is good, allowing the lens to easily capture everything inside. The small lights in the courtyard flicker gently, and a large wooden bear stands at the entrance, with an extremely innocent smile on its face.
Two people Two people are sitting at a small table, eating noodles. The young woman adds a little bit of noodles to her son from time to time. I don’t know what they are talking about, but they both laugh.
Huh.
They can still laugh.
A slender hand brushes past the lens.
“Snap.”
The lens cap drops, plunging the room into darkness.
A few seconds later, the lens cap is lifted again.
The camera once again shows the warm scene of the two eating dinner in the courtyard.
…
After dinner, the two have had enough rest. Paige changes into a pair of white short-sleeved T-shirt and shorts for herself and Gabriel, and then goes out for a night run.
Gabriel is a busybody. He goes for a run, and hangs half a bottle of fruit juice around his neck, saying that he gets thirsty when he runs. After Paige forces him to drink cool boiled water instead, the little guy resolutely puts the glass down.
“Juice can’t replace water, and children should drink more water,” says Paige as she jogs along the road in the residential area, educating her son as she goes.
“Got it, Mommy,” says Gabriel, slowly following behind her.
Paige continued running, looking around. After giving birth to Gabriel, she had moved to this neighborhood, but she had been too busy to take a good look at it.
She realized after running that the neighborhood was even bigger than she had thought. In front of them were more than 30 small villas, in the middle were six- or seven-story commercial buildings, and in the back were high-rise residential buildings as high as 33 stories. The neighborhood was full of lights.
Her small villa was so short and the courtyard so small, but if you really looked, there were so many options in this community.
“Are you Gabriel and Gabriel’s mommy?”
Running to the fitness and leisure area of the community, someone recognized them by the light of the street lamp.
Paige stopped, took Gabriel’s hand and walked over. There were a lot of people in the leisure area, including elderly women out for a walk, and mothers and fathers out playing with their children.
Paige didn’t know many people, not as many as Gabriel.
Gabriel called out to everyone he knew, and a few elderly women and young mothers came up to them with smiles on their faces, but they weren’t called, and they looked embarrassed.
Paige was about to go up to him and ask him to call her grandma and auntie, when one of the elderly women grunted, “Gabriel, if you don’t call me, does that mean you don’t remember me? My grandson is about your age, and we’re both learning mental arithmetic, so we have a very good memory and we don’t forget anyone we’ve met.”
“…”
Paige instantly shut up.
This sounded really strange.
“…”
Gabriel made a face at the old lady and ran away, playing on the slide with a little kid and ignoring her completely.
“Hey, you…”
Seeing this, the old lady’s face turned green with anger. She was about to say something, but when she looked at Paige, she shut up again and whispered something to the person next to her.
“Don’t mind her, she’s just like that, she loves to brag about her little grandson.”
Paige turned her head and it was Fryday, who had just returned from square dancing, walking up to her and whispering, “She also likes to compare her little grandson to your Gabriel, today she’ll talk about what he’s learned, tomorrow it’ll be something else, and behind your back she’ll always say that Gabriel isn’t smart, which makes your Olivia so angry that her lungs are about to burst.”
No wonder Olivia keeps pushing Gabriel to study, it turns out that the stimulation is so great.
“…”
Paige frowned as she listened, thinking about Gabriel’s reaction just now, and asked, “Did she say anything else behind his back?”
On hearing this, Fryday smiled awkwardly, “Yes, she did. She said that Gabriel didn’t have a father, that his mother was too busy to see him all day, but they lived in a villa, and she wondered what kind of work you did…”
Fryday couldn’t continue after the latter part of the sentence, and waved his hand, saying, “But she dares not say it now. I saw you on TV before, and I saw your husband too. She didn’t believe it, and insisted that I was mistaken, saying that you couldn’t possibly own a big company and your husband couldn’t possibly be a big tycoon… Anyway, now that she’s seen you, she can finally shut up. No matter how brave she is, she dares not speak nonsense in front of you again.”
“…”
Paige listened quietly and asked in a low voice, “How many people said such things before?”
She had been busy before and didn’t know about this.
“Well, they were the ones Gabriel didn’t greet. If you ask me, Gabriel is very smart and knows who is good and who is bad,” Fryday whispered to her.
But before, neither Olivia nor Gabriel had ever complained in front of her, and they never asked Daddy anything.
Paige looked at Gabriel playing on the slide, and her heart felt like it was being squeezed.
Perhaps he had struggled before, too, wondering whether Daddy was really as good as she said, or whether other people were right and he didn’t want him… But he didn’t ask, because he didn’t want to make her sad.
Her Gabriel was just too warm-hearted.
“Hey, by the way, did your husband come back with you? Bring him out for a walk, just to piss off those people.”
Fryday looked at the group of people gathering together again, wondering what they were whispering about, and couldn’t help but get angry.