novelraw Chapter 43
Chapter 43
Chapter 43
He sent his mom a heads-up message ahead of time.
Under a fine drizzle Liu Wenjie held the umbrella and walked little Xia Ying back to the estate, handing her two tissues.
Three adults had spotted them from a distance and hurried over long before they arrived. Xia Ying's grandpa was the most frantic; he squatted on the ground, gripped his granddaughter's shoulders, and burst into tears. "Where did you run off to just now? You scared Grandpa to death! If anything happened to you, what would I do?"
Little Xia Ying was overwhelmed with guilt. Using the tissues Wenjie had given her, she gently dabbed at her grandpa's tears. "Grandpa, I'm sorry. I won't do it again. I won't make you worry. Please don't cry."
Her grandpa could find no heart to scold such an obedient little granddaughter. He nodded, hugging her tight. "Coming home safe is all that matters. As long as you're safe, Grandpa's happy."
He turned gratefully to Wenjie. "Thank you, Xiaojie. Grandpa will bring you some good food another day."
Wenjie smiled politely. "No need to stand on ceremony, Grandpa." Whatever Grandpa bought would probably end up being eaten mostly by Mom and Xia Ying anyway.
After a few more words they parted—Wenjie and Lin Xiaoli on one side, Xia Ying's family on the other. As they said goodbye, Wenjie and the little girl exchanged a long look. The small girl waved her tiny hand, her eyes fixed on the older brother standing before her.
Wenjie knew his earlier words might have some effect, but how much depended entirely on Xia Ying herself. If she truly took them to heart, her life might change more than she expected.
Yet as he watched little Xia Ying being led away by her grandpa, he suddenly recalled the scene from a few days ago when she'd cried because he'd played with Xu Feifei. She'd insisted, "Older Brother Wenjie belongs to only one person. I can give anything else away, but not my Wenjie."
Thinking back, it seemed the girl had made him her emotional anchor these past two years. He couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that life was about to get more complicated.
"Should I be colder from now on?" he muttered. "I'm supposed to be the aloof top student. How did I turn into the warm big brother?"
Lin Xiaoli overheard his mumbling. "What are you babbling to yourself, sweetheart?"
Wenjie answered casually, "Nothing. I'm hungry. Let's go home and eat, Mom."
Lin Xiaoli rubbed her own small stomach. She wasn't actually hungry—she'd filled up on gossip. She grinned at the retreating backs of Xia Ying's family. "That family's story is dramatic enough for a soap opera. No wonder Grandpa Xia never used to mention it."
"Hmm?" Wenjie was curious. "What do you mean?"
Back at home, after Wenjie swore to keep it secret, Lin Xiaoli told him the whole tale.
Wenjie was stunned.
In short: Xia Ying's mother and her father's current wife had once been best friends. In college Xia Ying's mom broke up the relationship between her future husband and that best friend, then married him herself. After the wedding, Xia Ying's father cheated again—this time returning to his former girlfriend. That affair produced a child out of wedlock: the little boy.
That same year Xia Ying's mother became pregnant, hoping the baby would bind her husband to her forever. But when the father learned she had deliberately split him and his current wife years earlier, he insisted on divorce and demanded she abort the pregnancy.
She refused, gave birth to Xia Ying, yet still couldn't save the marriage. After a final, explosive fight they divorced. Later she was lucky enough to find a new husband and build a happy family.
The result: both sides had cut ties with the past and moved on, yet because Xia Ying existed the two families—who now despised each other—were forced to stay in contact. Every time they looked at the girl they were reminded of that hated marriage.
Grandpa Xia once said that, from the moment Xia Ying was conceived, no one had ever loved her. Even the family photo on her bedside table had only been taken because he feared she would feel too lonely. He'd had to force her parents to pose with her, just to leave her something to remember.
Lin Xiaoli slumped on the sofa with a sigh. "With a situation like this, both sides will probably never truly accept little Xia Ying. They're bound to keep disliking her."
She glanced at her son, who was still processing it all. "Xiaojie, do you understand what Mom is saying?"
Wenjie blinked. "It's complicated, but fortunately I'm your son, so I'm smart." He wasn't the dense Xu Feifei, after all.
Still, even if he could turn back time, he would never find a moment when Xia Ying's parents had loved her. From the very beginning, such a moment had never existed.
Two days later, while the uproar over her "escape" had yet to die down, little Xia Ying told her grandpa that night, "Grandpa, I want to see Mom and Dad again."
Her grandpa froze, then tried to comfort her. "Xia Ying, maybe... maybe we should let it go, okay? We're in no rush. There'll be plenty of time later. No need to meet them right now."
Little Xia Ying pressed her lips together, tiny hands clasped in front of her. She spoke slowly, "Grandpa, that's not it. I listened to what Dad said last time. This time I want to tell Mom and Dad face-to-face that I'm going to live with you, so they'll stop calling all the time asking me to move in with them."
Grandpa studied his granddaughter's expression. The fierce determination she'd shown last time was gone; she looked like the same timid, obedient child as always—yet something was different.
"You... you've thought about it? You're sure you want to stay with Grandpa and tell your parents clearly?"
Little Xia Ying nodded. "Mm-hmm. Grandpa treats me well. I want to live with Grandpa."
Grandpa smiled and patted her head. "All right. Then Grandpa will call them all here tomorrow, and we'll have a proper family talk. From now on no one will disturb my precious granddaughter's life."
Little Xia Ying smiled back. "I'll do my best, Grandpa. I'll try not to make you angry. When I grow up, I'll take care of you."
Grandpa laughed, touched. "Grandpa's happy just to see my good girl every day. I'm never angry. And you've got plenty of time before you grow up, but I'm looking forward to that day."
That same night, little Xia Ying came downstairs carrying something in her hands. She stopped in front of the trash can downstairs.
She opened her small palm and stared at the broken pieces of the strawberry hair clip. With reluctant but resolute determination she let the fragments fall into the nearly full bin.
Raising a tiny fist, she shouted her special-training slogan once more: "Be happy! Be strong!"
The moment she finished, several adults happened to pass by. Hearing her, they stifled giggles behind their hands.
Flushing, little Xia Ying covered her face and waited until they left before letting out a relieved breath. Then she scampered back inside.
At the foot of the stairs she glanced back one last time at the shards on top of the trash, grinned, and whispered, "I hope you'll be happy, Mom and Dad. From now on I'll live well with Older Brother Wenjie."
Upstairs, Wenjie was eating when, for no reason, he started choking and couldn't stop coughing. Lin Xiaoli and Liu Yingjun told him to slow down, but Wenjie hadn't been eating fast at all. How strange.
Was someone cursing him?