novel
| ← Ch.51 | Ch.53 → |
Note: not proofreaded
Zhen Yuanbai didn't know how others might feel, but he didn't believe in it.
Zhen Youxiu pondered over it silently as if questioning the validity of Ling Xuan's word. Meanwhile, Zhen Yuanbai went to find Shi Bufan. It didn't take much effort as he walked towards a place with a signal and summoned him with a call.
"Take a picture?"
"My mother said that since we coincidentally met one another, we should just take a picture together."
In the end, Shi Bufan didn't reject since he was waiting for a chance to be with Zhen Yuanbai in public. With Zhen Yuanbai by his side, he could tolerate taking a picture with the two families.
While taking pictures, Zhen Youxiu wanted to be with Zhen Yuanbai, but he was pushed to the front by Qin Ying because of his short height. Zhen Yuanbai stood next to Shi Bufan when the latter suddenly held his hands. Afraid that the camera might capture this, Zhen Yuanbai hid their hands behind their backs.
Then, Ling Xuan tugged on Shi Bufan's sleeves, saying that they should take a picture as a family. Shi Bufan's expression became cold rapidly, but he didn't reject it.
Zhen Yuanbai was thinking about how Shi Bufan had the same grades as him in the past, so he couldn't help but glance Shi Bufan up and down. Zhen Youxiu usually had the expression as if someone had owed him money, but during their vacation, he surprisingly looked happier. Because of Shi Bufan's sudden appearance, his smile faded a bit. He walked over and tugged on Zhen Yuanbai's sleeves, knitting his eyebrows and asking, "Did he specially come here for you?"
Zhen Yuanbai hurriedly said, "Of course not. We just coincidentally met each other."
Zhen Youxiu stared at him and Zhen Yuanbai immediately shifted his gaze, feeling guilty."We... we are going to eat street food. Are you coming along?"
Zhen Youxiu said stiffly, "Do you want me to go?"
"..." Zhen Yuanbai glanced at him and humphed."Of course not."
"Then I won't go." Zhen Youxiu waved his hands unyieldingly. When he was young, he clinged onto Zhen Yuanbai, but as he gradually grew up, he found it to be losing face if he continued to be his elder brother's 'shadow. ' Therefore, he stopped forcing himself in these situations.
Zhen Yuanbai didn't know what Zhen Youxiu was thinking, but hearing that he wasn't going, he sighed in relief. After Shi Bufan finished taking pictures, he walked over, feeling better. After the two young men told their parents where they were headed, they took the cable car and left. Zhen Youxiu kept his eyes on the cable car until it gradually disappeared. He lowered his head silently and began to fiddle with his camera. Zhen Pingjin inadvertently gazed at him and he felt his eyelids twitching."What are you fiddling with? Hurry up."
It was a ten minute journey in the cable car and Shi Bufan propped his chin on the window, asking, "Are you afraid of taking this?"
"I'm not scared of heights." The bottom of the cable car was transparent. He just needed to lower his head in order to see the deep valley covered by clouds and fogs as well as the dangerous and narrow cliff. Zhen Yuanbai retorted without blinking his eyes, "Do you dare to jump on here?"
Shi Bufan raised his eyebrows and suddenly stood up to demonstrate his courage when the cable car started to sway. Zhen Yuanbai's face immediately paled and he hurriedly called out, "I know you dare! Sit back down!"
"I'm pretty happy to die with you." Shi Bufan took this opportunity to move over and sit beside Zhen Yuanbai. The cable car finally calmed down after his actions. Zhen Yuanbai pushed him hard and said, "I still want to live!"
Shi Bufan burst into laughter and reached over to pull Zhen Yuanbai in his arms.
Zhen Yuanbai was stunned.
From Shi Bufan's expression, Zhen Yuanbai realized that he asked an inappropriate question. He wanted to apologize, but he didn't know how to. When Ling Xuan talked about it, it didn't seem like a big deal. But Shi Bufan had accidentally cut her off when she was in the middle of telling her. Now that he casually asked Shi Bufan, he realized that this was an important matter to him. What type of matter would be insignificant to parents, but something untouchable for him?
Zhen Yuanbai was thinking about this when Shi Bufan hugged his waist. He said in his ears, "If you agree to booking a hotel room tonight with me, I'll tell you anything."
This bastard.
Zhen Yuanbai covered his mouth and pushed him far away.
Shi Bufan got his wish anyway. He went to a hot spring with Zhen Yuanbai. What sucked was that Zhen Youxiu, Zhen Pingjin, and Shi Xuan were in the hot spring as well. The two adults were chatting idly while Zhen Youxiu was leaning against the rock, playing on his phone. Shi Bufan swept his gazes over them as if confirming something.
Shi Bufan then turned around to see Zhen Yuanbai's reddened face from the steam. He was impatient and moved closer to him. Zhen Youxiu, like a radar, immediately glanced over while Shi Bufan pretended like nothing happened."Let's find a place to play games later, ok?"
"After I'm done bathing in the hot spring, I'm going to sleep." Now that the weather was getting colder and colder, Zhen Yuanbai was like a hibernating snake who was tired the entire day. Zhen Youxiu placed his phone down and silently gazed at the two of them nonstop. His expression seemed like he was going to skin them alive. Zhen Yuanbai couldn't bear this gaze anymore and kicked the feet that were inching over. He propped his body up and got out of the water, saying, "I'm dizzy. I'm heading out now."
He wrapped the robe around him and walked out, feeling light-headed. As soon as he walked out, he saw Ling Xuan drinking water on the sofa. She clearly left the hot spring recently as well. She faintly smiled when she saw him and said, "Why are you out so early?"
"I'm dizzy." Zhen Yuanbai walked over and sat besides her. Ling Xuan delivered the tea she just made over and seeing that he didn't know how to muster his words, she asked, "You want to ask me about Fanfan?"
Zhen Yuanbai nodded without hesitation and glanced at her as if eager to find out."Can you tell me about him?"
"There's nothing I can't tell you." Ling Xuan said with a gentle tone, "But just don't tell Fanfan. I don't want him to think about this anymore."
It seems like Shi Family's parents don't know that Shi Bufan had recovered his memory. Zhen Yuanbai subconsciously sat up and nodded firmly.
Ling Xuan brushed her hair behind her ears and said, "Speaking of this, it's your Uncle Shi and my fault... When we got married that year, I was 25 and we were in a great relationship. Plus, business was going good, so we were thinking about not having kids."
This seems to be the secret of the family, but it wasn't like how Shi Bufan had interpreted it to be. It wasn't as scary as him saying that his father kicked him into the swimming pool.
When Ling Xuan narrated the story, it was very calm and she explained everything with a simple few words.
When she was young, she pursued her career and Shi Xuan had placed his attention on making his business better as well. They had married for two years, but never considered how the situation might change if there was a kid in the family. They weren't anxious nor did they consider that. When they were young, Ling Xuan was confident and decisive. She extremely hated doing a sloppy job. Towards a couple like this, a delicate child appeared to be very annoying and a burden.
They didn't like children from other families, so they naturally didn't think about having their own kids.
But this was their thoughts as a couple. Besides them, they had a set of parents eager for grandchildren.
Ling Xuan and Shi Xuan were the only children in their families. Once they got married, they bought a villa and brought their parents over to their home. They hired nannies to take care of the seniors, so that they could live peaceful lives. Towards the two sets of seniors, they didn't have any special hobbies that they like to pass time with. Their biggest wish was to have a grandchild. Even more, they deceived the couple by pretending to be sick, so they would come home.
Ling Xuan remembered how she went back to visit her seniors alone that year and she had a very intense argument with her parents and parents-in-law. The four seniors each took turns to blame her. She didn't recall whether it was her parents or Shi Xuan's parents, but someone mentioned, "Xuan Xuan, you can give birth to the child and then let us take care of them. That way, we'll have someone to accompany us at home and it'll make us feel better. You just need to give birth to the child. We won't trouble you and Shi Xuan to take care of the baby."
The two sets of parents unanimously agreed to this and they all nodded. Then, they spoke to each other, saying, "That's right. We, seniors, can take care of the baby for you. You can continue working on your businesses. After all, it's a good thing that young people like you guys have your hearts in your careers. But you guys have to consider us as well. We just want an obedient grandson... while we are still mobile, we can watch over him for you. In the future, when you guys are older, the child can fulfill his filial duty as well... isn't that a great win-win situation?"
Ling Xuan sat on the sofa with a dark face.
At that time, she was young and extremely stubborn. Under the four seniors' attack, she finally relented and said, "Stop talking. I'll bear a child."
She glanced and her eyes revealed an incomparably icy gaze."Deal. I'll give birth to the child and you guys can raise him."
The four seniors revealed happy expressions and all nodded. After discussing this with Shi Xuan, she became pregnant not long later. The four seniors in the family were ecstatic, eagerly setting up a series of baby products. When Ling Xuan was pregnant, she had really bad morning sickness. Shi Xuan was summoned back multiple times, but Ling Xuan shooed him off to work.
Because of her pregnancy, she had acne on her beautiful face and her slender legs became swollen. One time, there were even symptoms of her having toxemia. Shi Xuan, under pressure, was rushed home, but Ling Xuan shooed him off again.
She was a strong-minded woman. Even if she was pregnant, she didn't need her husband's concerns and she only cared about the state of the company they created together. To her, the company was their true child, not the baby who was tormenting her. This baby was just a product for comforting the two parties' parents.
After nine months, she finally gave birth to the baby naturally.
The pale-faced Ling Xuan laid in the labor room and glanced at the ceiling with cold sweat. She thought: I'm finally free.
The second day she gave birth, she left the hospital. Like she said, she was only in charge of giving birth to the baby and the eager seniors took over the responsibility of raising the child. She didn't even spare a glance at the baby that came out of her stomach.
Speaking of this, Zhen Yuanbai was shocked. No matter what, he was unable to connect the ruthless and heartless woman Ling Xuan described to the gentle woman sitting in front of him now.
But the story wasn't done. Seniors believed that parents didn't want children in the past because they didn't have their own child. But once they do, they will definitely come home frequently to visit. Yet, this didn't apply for Ling Xuan. The second day after the baby was given birth, she left. Even until the baby was half years old, she never returned home once.
Yet, Shi Xuan was called home by his parents several times. Once, he was carrying the delicate and soft baby, and was forced to call Shi Xuan under his parent's pressure."Do you want to come home..."
Before he finished, Ling Xuan sternly cut him off and said, "I already gave birth to the baby and the deal is done. It's up to them however they want to raise the baby. What does this have to do with me?!"
Grandma Shi hurriedly snatched the phone back and she knew that her daughter-in-law's personality was fierce, so she softly coaxed, "But you have to at least come back once to take a look at him, right? What will the child think once he finds out he doesn't have a mother when he grows old?"
Ling Xuan said, "You guys should've considered this issue when you wanted me to give birth to the child."
She hung up.
Shi Xuan was very busy. Since his wife wasn't at home, there was no use of him staying at home either. Therefore, the seniors were responsible for raising the child again.
The seniors carried the delicate and soft grandson, not knowing what to do. The little thing was barely half years old and didn't know anything. But once he turns one or two years old, without his parents' companion, what will happen? If he knows that his mother is that ruthless, what will he think? This was extremely detrimental to the baby's development.
It was unsure what the four seniors were thinking, but before Shi Bufan was one years old, they hired a couple. Then Shi Bufan had parents who stayed by his side every day. Regarding the other couple, he only saw them once after a very long time.
Ling Xuan frequently received the responsible fake parents' photos and videos. They were really nice to Shi Bufan, at least better than her. In the beginning years, because she was busy with work, she disliked receiving the emails very badly. Then, when she was abroad once, she woke up during midnight and saw the email on her computer. For some inexplicable reason, she decided to click on it and then she saw the milestones of her son growing up. Slowly, she clicked through the beginning of when he was just a baby. She watched this even as the sun rose and slid away. When it reached midnight again, her stomach rumbled with hunger and that was when she realized that she had missed this cute little boy's development for so many years.
She always thought that she could remain heartless her entire life.
Ling Xuan's eyelashes hid the surging emotions under the bottom of her eyes. Zhen Yuanbai sat by the side, stunned. Then he subconsciously grabbed a tissue and passed it over.
"Aren't you going to sleep? Why are you still sitting here?" Shi Bufan suddenly came out and interrupted Zhen Yuanbai's thoughts. He abruptly stood up and said, "Mm. Right away. I'll go to sleep right away."
"Let's go. I'll bring you back." Shi Bufan reached over and Zhen Yuanbai subconsciously looked at Ling Xuan. The latter held a warm and amiable smile. He murmured, "Aunty, I'll be going back now."
Ling Xuan nodded and subconsciously glanced at Shi Bufan. The latter didn't even look at her as he directly pulled his little classmate's hands and walked out.
The cold air was pressing and Zhen Yuanbai glanced at Shi Bufan's hands. It was slender and warm against his.
He recalled the words that Shi Bufan blurted when he came to look for him. They treat me like sh*t.
Because he didn't personally experience this, he was unable to relate. But he suddenly imagined if someone told him that Qin Ying and Zhen Pingjin were just a hired couple who pretended to be his parents and how his real parents didn't want anything to do with him. How would he feel?
The cold air immediately seeped through his body and Zhen Yuanbai suddenly shivered hard.
He subconsciously looked at Shi Bufan and the latter confusedly turned around."What's the matter? Why are your hands suddenly so cold?"
He grabbed Zhen Yuanbai's hands and huffed, smiling."What are you staring at me for? You want me to hug you back?"
He glanced up to see Zhen Yuanbai's face close up. He smiled and pecked his lips.
"You..."
"Today's homework." Zhen Yuanbai hurriedly said, "What? What are you looking at? You don't need to return it."
T/N: Will be updating 3x a week now~ At this rate, the novel will be finished sometime in the end of June!
| ← Ch. 51 | Ch. 53 → |