"Mom, where are you going?", Ethan hurriedly asked.
Because he knew very well that if he didn't say anything, Riyana might very well cave under the pressure and tell on him.
"Your dad will be back tonight. I'm going to buy some braised goose, then get some vegetables and make something good for him to eat," Mom held out her hand toward Riyana, but turned her smiling face toward Ethan and said, "And you two don't go running around this afternoon either. If I come home and can't find you, I'll get angry."
But to everyone's surprise, Ethan suddenly spoke up, "Mom, I'll help you buy the groceries."
"Hm?"
Mom's expression instantly turned cold, and the fruit knife in her hand flashed with a bright, chilling gleam.
Before Mom had a chance to lose her temper, Ethan quickly explained, "Before Dad went on his business trip, his phone fell into the water and broke. He asked me to take it in for repair. It should be fixed today, so I have to go out and pick it up this afternoon. I can buy the groceries while I'm at it."
"So that's what it was," Mom's expression relaxed again, "I was wondering why the call went through before, but the person on the other end didn't say anything. So you took it in for repair."
"Yeah. I was originally planning to sleep for a while and then go pick it up, but since you still need to buy groceries…", Ethan lifted the blanket a little, "I'll just get up now and pick up the phone and buy the groceries at the same time."
Mom thought for a moment before nodding, "Fine, then I don't have to go out."
"All right, you two go out," Ethan waved his hand, "I'm changing clothes. Don't get in the way in here."
"Oh, oh."
Seeing that Mom was no longer pestering her about the key, Riyana was naturally more than happy to leave. She hurriedly grabbed her workbook from the table and left the room.
Hearing this, Mom also placed a glass of juice on Ethan's desk.
"Drink the juice before you go out, okay?"
"Mm, got it."
Ethan nodded.
After Mom and Riyana went out, Ethan quickly got to his feet, took clean clothes out of the wardrobe, and hastily pulled them on.
Then he pulled off the dirty sheets and blanket cover, picked up the clothes from under the bed, and threw everything into the washing machine. He poured in detergent and pressed the start button, all in one go.
He had finally destroyed the evidence.
"Phew!"
Ethan let out a huge sigh of relief.
But the moment he turned around, he saw his ever-present mother eerily standing behind him.
"Ethan, what are you doing?"
"W-washing… washing clothes," Ethan had no idea how many times he had been startled out of his wits that day, but he still suppressed his wildly pounding heart and calmly said, "Mom, when they're done, help me hang them out to dry."
"Sure," Mom nodded and agreed before finally revealing why she had been standing behind him, "Here, two hundred. Don't spend it recklessly. Remember to bring back whatever money you have left after shopping."
"Okay."
Ethan pretended to be calm as he took the two hundred yuan Mom handed him.
However, just as he was about to leave, Mom, who was standing behind him watching him go, suddenly said, "Ethan, did you finish the tomato juice I made for you?"
"Finished it."
"Good boy."
Mom had already walked to the doorway of Ethan's room and glanced at the empty cup on the desk.
Only then did a smile appear on her face.
"Then I'm going."
Ethan finally felt lucky that he had planned ahead.
When he had carried out the clothes and bedding, he had secretly poured that tomato juice with its fishy smell into the middle of the bedding. The liquid had been absorbed perfectly.
And now the washing machine was already filling with water. That so-called "tomato juice" had probably already been washed away.
Naturally, Ethan no longer had to worry about being found out.
———
After walking out of that oppressive home.
Ethan finally felt a little more relaxed.
He wasn't carrying a backpack, and he hadn't brought anything extra. He had simply tucked the old phone, the copper key, and the diary into the back of his pants and his pockets and brought them with him.
Earlier, because the phone had answered Mom's call, Ethan had been caught off guard and startled, his hand slipped.
The phone had fallen back into the water tank, and now it had automatically shut down because water had gotten inside.
In order to find the clue inside the phone, Ethan could only go to the market street and find a shop that repaired phones, then get the phone fixed.
Fortunately, he hadn't expected to get two hundred yuan in repair money from Mom for free.
Originally… Ethan had still been worrying about where to get the money.
As for buying the braised goose and such, he would obviously have to get the phone fixed first.
———
[Market Street]
There were a lot of people along the way.
Coming to a crowded place like this still helped Ethan relax somewhat.
Following his childhood memories, he quickly found a small shop on the pedestrian street that specialized in buying and selling second-hand phones and repairing phones.
Although it was called a small shop, it didn't actually even have a storefront of its own. In the corner of a large storefront, there was just a glass display counter about a meter long, with some phones inside.
And beside the counter, some repair tools were scattered around in a mess.
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