CH 28.2

As soon as they settled into their seats, three little heads huddled together. Zhou Yuan turned his head and saw Jingjing press Miaomiao’s shoulder. She was whispering something into her ear. Deng Feng sat next to him and was trying to eavesdrop on their conversation but with little success.

Zhou Yuan: “…”

He heard Jingjing’s sentence clearly, “Three cobblers are equal to one Zhuge Liang!”

Zhou Yuan: “…” Thank you for the strategy.

Zhou Yuan pulled Miaomiao towards him. He didn’t want her to listen to such absurd rumors.

Zhou Yuan tried to soothe Miaomiao, “Don’t worry. They’ll calm down and think of the best way to resolve their problems.”

Miaomiao whispered to him, “Actually, I’m not afraid of getting my hair pulled…”

Zhou Yuan glanced at Jingjing. Needless to say, it had to be her who told Miaomiao that the boy would pull her hair.

Zhou Yuan knew that she had suffered a lot in the past, so she cherished her present life very much. So, he earnestly said to her, “It doesn’t matter whether you’re afraid or not. No one can hurt you.”

“I don’t want my mother to be sad…I just want her to be happy like before all this.” Miaomiao responded.

He didn’t believe that she was weak or anything similar to that, but he did feel heartbroken, “If you get hurt, you mom would become even more upset.”

Zhou Yuan rubbed her head, “Think about it. If you’re sad, wouldn’t your mother be sad too?”

Miaomiao recalled the time when she was hospitalized. Her mother cried for a long time because of her injuries…

She nodded, “Yes.”

Seeing that she understood, Zhou Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he said, “If someone ever bullies you, you must tell me…and your mother.”

Zhou Yuan found her expression cute, so he teased her, “What would you do if I’m sad right now?”

Miaomiao pondered for a bit. She had never encountered something like this before, so she didn’t know how to respond. Suddenly, she recalled what her mother did when she was sad. She stretched out her arms, hugged Zhou Yuan and rubbed his head. Then, she said with a cute, milky voice, “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid. Auntie is here.”

Zhou Yuan was amused that she called herself ‘Auntie’.

Realizing her mistake, Miaomiao said again, “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid. Miaomiao is here. Will this make you happy?”

Seeing her earnestness, Zhou Yuan replied, “Now, I’m feeling better. When I feel sad in the future, I’ll tell you.”

Although he stated this, he felt she wouldn’t have the chance to do so in this life.

The three mothers sat in the front, and they peered at them. They noticed that Jingjing and Deng Feng were sitting together. They were muttering something that they couldn’t comprehend, whereas Zhou Yuan and Miaomiao held each other and were discussing something.

Jingjing’s mother uttered, “I think we should come out to play more often in the future.”

Most of them only had a single child, and they lived in high-rise apartments. They reminisced wistfully about their youth when they used to play with other children. However, their own children found it difficult to call over their friends and play with them, as they were overwhelmed by oceans of homework.

Coming out to play today brought merriment to both child and adult alike.   

Deng Feng’s mother nodded, “After Deng Feng comes home, he just talks about Jingjing, Miaomiao and Zhou Yuan…”

“Our Jingjing does the same!”

Zhou Yuan’s mother smiled bitterly, “Whenever these topics come up, I should just stay quiet…”

“I wonder how Miaomiao’s mother is doing now.” Jingjing’s mother said with a frown.

“She should be alright now. While talking on the phone, she was a little excited, but she should’ve calmed down by now.” Mother Zhou said.

At this moment, Mother Hua opened a bottle of milk and handed it to Father Hua, “You didn’t eat lunch or dinner. Drink this milk first.”

Father Hua was upset, “First. We should talk about how we’re going to approach this problem…”

Mother Hua replied, “Fine, you speak.”

“The boy wouldn’t be in the same classroom as Miaomiao. They wanted to send him over, but I already told them that I wouldn’t take him in. I told them to just rent a house, so that he could live there.”

“Then, what about tomorrow? What should we do if they still haven’t rented a house? That spoiled brat tried to put a firecracker inside my hat during our New Year’s visit, and nobody reprimanded or punished him for that. After that little prank, he was so eager to buy a toy gun, that he cried. When they refused to buy him one, he bit his mother. Do you think that he’s a sensible and obedient kid? Will he treat Miaomiao with care? Do you think every adult around him warned him in advance, ‘When you stay at your third uncle’s house, you should be nice to your uncle’s daughter. Don’t snatch her things and don’t bully her?’ Would they even warn him? Do they even care? Answer me without betraying their conscience. If you can, then I don’t mind letting him move in with us.” Mother Hua said nonchalantly to her husband.

Father Hua couldn’t respond.

Mother Hua peered at him and continued, “They must feel that Miaomiao stole all of the resources that originally belonged to their kid. Now, they just can’t wait to take them all back. Do you need me to explain their thinking? After we had adopted Miaomiao, they should’ve just abandoned their farce. Normal people would’ve accepted their loss and moved on. But what did they do instead? They decided to complete every required transfer procedure without consulting us beforehand, and they are going to send him over.”

Mother Hua rubbed her temples, “I had a minor emotional breakdown this afternoon. I was panicking when I mentioned divorce. We’ve been together for almost fifteen years. It’s been a long time.”

After a brief pause, Mother Hua continued, “Then, I realized something. I imagined every possible scenario, and then I had an epiphany. I found out that my life wouldn’t be so hard even if you weren’t there.” 

Then, Mother Hua heaved a sigh, “I realized that my life wouldn’t change at all. I would continue to work, pick Miaomiao up from school, come home, cook dinner, and sleep…But, at the very least, there will be far fewer awful relatives. My life would instantly become better. I found solace in that, at least.”   

Although he was a big man, Father Hua’s eyes became faintly red and moist with tears when he saw her speak with such nonchalance. Her calm yet acrid words cut like a sword.

He finally said, “If they send their kid over to me tomorrow morning, I’ll immediately send him back. Don’t be like that. I’m still dealing with this problem.” 

They were able to overcome many obstacles together. They overcame their long-distance relationship and the difficulties that it entailed. They prevailed over their inability to have children. They got past his forgetfulness when he forgot their wedding anniversary…

She sighed, “This problem is a wake-up call for us. I know you worked hard to make this relationship work, and logically, they are your mother and brother, so I won’t hold anything against you.” 

Father Hua held her hand and didn’t let go, “Miaomiao also needs a father. Dear, you could trust me. I will take care of this tomorrow.” 

Mother Hua didn’t respond and scampered into the car. She said, “Let’s go down the mountain. We can’t let them wait any longer.”

Once they reached the bottom of the mountain, she saw Miaomiao awaiting her arrival. As soon as the car halted near the entrance of the hotel, she rushed over. 

Mother Hua picked her up and said, “I’m back.”

Night arrived, and they all stayed at the hotel. Father Hua didn’t go back. Zhou Yuan took Miaomiao into a room, and the four children started to play random games with the mahjong tiles for fun.

They were stacking tiles on top of each other to see whose tower wouldn’t topple over.

Miaomiao wasn’t in the mood to play, for she was thinking about something else in her heart.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yuan found someone who could purchase a Little Genius Watch from the city and deliver it to him.

He just had to go down to the hotel lobby and sign the receipt.

While Zhou Yuan was signing the receipt, the other party remained speechless. But he felt there was nothing wrong with a kid getting a Little Genius Watch. 

He was concerned about whether the child bought the watch without his parent’s permission since he made such a long trek to deliver it. It would vex him greatly if his parents didn’t pay him for the watch and its delivery. Then, the other party said, “Please, sign your name on the receipt.”

Zhou Yuan wrote his name elegantly on the piece of paper.

The other party uttered, “Damn. Do all elementary school kids sign so perfectly nowadays? And in cursive too!”

Zhou Yuan ignored his foolish remarks and went upstairs to his room with the watch. He wanted to study its manifold functions and features.

Then, he secretly called Miaomiao over and gently began his explanation about how to use the watch.

“This is extremely important. If you ever find yourself in any sort of danger someday, you’ll use this to call me for help.” Zhou Yuan carefully demonstrated how to pick up and answer a call. Miaomiao understood his reasoning; therefore, she listened very seriously.

Then, Zhou Yuan asked her to try making a call by herself.

When the call connected, Miaomiao smiled in surprise and said excitedly, “We could contact each other with this!”

“You must call me if you need any assistance in the future, okay?”

Miaomiao nodded in affirmation.

Zhou Yuan took the watch and wreathed it around her wrist. Although Zhou Yuan said that the boy probably wouldn’t be as extravagant as they claimed, he was truthfully very concerned. He was even more worried than Jingjing and Deng Feng.

Miaomiao’s wrists were very gaunt and thin. Her arms were trellised with scars. She always wore dresses with long sleeves, and many of her dresses were designed to conceal the lattices of scars up to her wrist. Conveniently, this also hid her watch. 

Since it was concealed, Zhou Yuan felt this was their best option since no one could spot it. This was their best method.

Zhou Yuan didn’t want Jingjing and Deng Feng to know about the watch, as those two were very flamboyant and vivacious. If they knew about this, they would bombard Miaomiao every day with calls. It would be very difficult to conceal it from other people.

Although it was easy to hide from the prying eyes of other people, it wasn’t easy to hide from Miaomiao’s mother. Mother Hua discovered her watch when she removed Miaomiao’s coat at night.

A transient moment of astonishment engulfed Mother Hua before she finally asked, “Miaomiao, who gave you this?” 

A watch wasn’t wrapped around her wrist at noon today.

“Zhou Yuan gave it to me.” Miaomiao didn’t hide anything from her mother.  

Mother Hua took a picture of the watch. Then, she searched on the internet for its price. She found out that it was worth more than a thousand yuan. 

Mother Hua was momentarily astounded. He helped fix a tablet last time, which cost a few hundred yuan. 

He was just a kid. Surely, she shouldn’t be taking advantage of such things from him. Also, where did he get so much money?

Mother Hua quickly contacted Zhou Yuan.