CH 11

The call was quickly picked up, and a mature man’s voice came from the other end, “Lingjun, what happened for you to finally remember to call me?”

Zhao Lingjun’s eyes were red; she hesitated momentarily and said firmly, “Dad, I decided. I’m not going to wait anymore.”

Hearty laughter rang out as the man suppressed his delight, “You finally figured it out, hmm?”

“I won’t let my Yixiu lose his inheritance rights!”

“Yes, yes. It was daddy’s negligence. I didn’t think that that woman would have had a son with Xiao Yao, don’t worry darling. Your father won’t let your hard work for so many years go to waste. Jun Ying died in a car crash, wouldn’t it be poetic for her son to join her in the same way?”

“No,” Zhao Lingjun refused, “This is not that little town, if you kill him here it is sure to be investigated. And even if it is an accident, XIao Yao will surely use the chance to pin us down.” She paused before reminding her father, “He even sent someone to investigate that woman’s death, if she hadn’t died earlier, we wouldn’t have escaped so easily.”

“So? Do you have any better plans then?”

She gritted her teeth, “Yes, I plan to….” Zhao Lingjun explained her plan in detail and listed out what she needed.

“Hahaha, as expected of my, Zhao Qingyun’s daughter, you are just as ruthless as I am,” the praise that he was helping out so earnestly flew over Zhao Lingjun’s head as she looked at her son, who was stirring in his sleep once more.

“Yixiu is waking up, contact me yourself once you’ve finished.”

“Will do.”

“Mom, I’m hungry….I didn’t get to eat anything earlier.” Yixiu was rubbing his eyes as he whined.

She walked over to pick him up, saying, “I’ll go bring you some yummy snacks, but mom has an important request first.”

Yixiu tilted his head, looking at his mother strangely; she felt slightly different from usual for some reason, “A request? Should I sing you a song?”

“No,” she shook her head, “I want you to apologize to dad with me for what happened during breakfast….can you do that?”

“Well, if daddy is angry, then yeah! I’ll tell him sorry with you!”

“Thank you darling!” Zhao Lingjun pinched his nose as she pretended to cry, “It’s all mommy’s fault, I’m sorry you have to do this! But Yixiu doesn’t want daddy to be angry with mommy either, do you?”

She watched him deny it hastily and continued to persuade him, “So, if Yixiu is able to make daddy happy for mommy, he will stop being angry and we will all be happy again!”

Yixiu assured his mother he understood, and she brought him downstairs to have some small snacks in between meals. As they ate, she taught him how to act when he saw his father that night, and time passed quickly.

So, when Xiao Yao came home in the evening, his leg was latched onto by a small cannonball who refused to let go. As he faced his son’s immature apology and cute attitude, the man could not continue to be harsh.

Mo Jingxuan was upstairs with Xiao Ying watching everything going on around the house, his field of perception having increased with practice. His anger towards the man rose as he saw his indecisive attitude when treating his family members, and Xiao Ying quickly noticed the distortions in his shadow.

“Xuan, what’s the matter?” He reached out to touch the soft quilt the shadow was cast on.

After tidying up his emotions, Mo Jingxuan smiled at his baby, “Nothing’s wrong, I just hate your father a little bit more now.”

“You don’t need to hate like him, I’ll hate him too!”

“Little, fool, that’s your father.”

Xiao Ying didn’t care, “I only need you Xuan, I don’t care about anyone else.”

Mo Jingxuan reached out to grab the boy, “Baby, please….” Don’t care about me.

“What’s wrong Xuan?”

Shaking his head, “It’s okay, I just hope you can make some more friends in the future.” Mo Jingxuan was just a shadow, but perhaps that was a good thing. He could use the darkness to cover up the worry and grief in his eyes.

Sensitively aware of the emotions of the man in front of him, Xiao Ying pulled away, “You want to leave me!” He stared at his shadow in shock.

Mo Jingxuan reached out, only to watch as Xiao Ying dodged his touch, “No, I don’t. I promised I would never leave you, remember?”

“Since you don’t want to leave, why do you keep asking me to make more friends? Why are you constantly making sure that I am surrounded by others?”

As he worried that maybe his baby was too intuitive, Mo Jingxuan struggled to explain, “I just don’t want you to be lonely…. I’m not a good person to be occupied with.”

“Yes you are! You saved me! And you can never leave me! As long as I have you, Xuan, I will never be lonely.”

Placing a kiss on the top of Xiao Ying’s head, he smiled, “I know. But I still hope you won’t make me your whole world; you should be surrounded by people, someone everyone must look up to….” His voice trailed off. I will take you to explore the world you didn’t get to see last time and let you have the childhood you were unable to receive.

Xiao Ying was silent, hugging Mo Jingxuan back and staying still in his arms for a long, long time. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he said, “I promise, I’ll become the person you want me to be.”

Getting the answer he was listening for, Mo Jingxuan was happy and swung Xiao Ying around, letting him fly through the room.

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

During dinner that night, Xiao Yao brought up the topic of finding Xiao Ying a school. The best school in the capital usually didn’t accept students so early, but things had been arranged for him to start classes on the following Monday.

Mo Jingxuan, who had originally been happy after hearing this news, noticed a subtle change in Zhao Lingjun’s attitude, and his good mood disappeared without a trace. The woman had held different attitudes towards Xiao Ying these few days, but they had all been extreme. Ranging from vigilance to jealousy and even hatred, the complete disregard that was shown right now was in stark contrast.

Normally, this would not have bothered him, but the idea that she thought he was no longer a threat to her meant she had a plan. And despite how Mo Jingxuan pondered, he could not think of what it could be.

He still remembered that Zhao Linjun and Xiao Yixiu were living in the Xiao house until after he had escaped from Xiao Ying in his first life, he had heard others gossiping about their not so noble dismissal from the family when hiding in the city. The Xiao family had been won over by Xiao Ying with his own strength; it was not merely left to him by his father as was planned this time around. Xiao Ying had drafted a document for his assets to be donated before he went crazy, but that woman had used some means to prove that the document was drawn up after he had gone mad. Xiao Ying’s mental state was deteriorating horribly, and all of his possessions ended up in Zhao Lingjun’s and Xiao Yixiu’s hands.

Despite how favourably things worked for her then, she did not have a significant enough influence to pose a threat to Xiao Ying, causing a few minor troubles were the only thing to be wary of.

But it was truly confusing…..he didn’t remember hating this woman in his previous life. Well, in his last life, Mo Jingxuan didn’t hate those who opposed Xiao Ying, but in this life….He could not look at her face without feeling disgusted!

Mo Jingxuan frowned; Zhao Lingjun would create trouble for his baby in the future; he definitely had to deal with her early! But as he thought about it, he sighed again; no matter how he tried to convince himself, he had no good reason to move yet. All he needed to do was stay by Xiao Ying’s side and monitor this woman’s movements at all times. And as long as he could catch and squash the minute beginnings of maliciousness each time, he didn’t believe that Zhao Lingjun would be able to stay determined.

But even as Mo Jingxuan made his plans, he had to set them aside the Sunday before his baby’s first day. His enrollment in school was the beginning of his new identity as the Xiao family’s son, and Mo Jingxuan would not allow it to go badly.

More importantly, Mo Jingxuan hoped that Xiao Ying could study in this school until he graduated instead of having to transfer halfway through. Growing up, it would be much better for his personality and mental health if he could make close friends and learn with them.

At the same time, though, Mo Jingxuan didn’t want to face the future and all the questions that he had very purposefully been avoiding….In this life, did he still exist? And if he did exist, would he meet Xiao Ying again and…..But if he didn’t exist, was he really erased by god? Not allowed to have anyone remember him and his pain in this world?

Maybe non-existence was the best result, to eliminate all of his bad experiences in the future from the source, or….maybe he could find a chance to go and see…..in that disgusting Mo family’s house…..

“Xuan?” Xiao Ying frowned and shook Mo Jingxuan, who had been distracted with his thoughts.

Coming back to the present, Mo Jingxuan grasped the child’s hand, and they went downstairs, “I’m fine.”

As he looked down at the transparent hand resting in his, Xiao Ying’s eyes darkened, and he followed Mo Jingxuan closely, letting him take the lead.

Xiao Yao had planned to personally take Xiao Ying to buy his school supplies, and Xiao Yixiu was downstairs making a fuss for him to not go. As her husband came close to losing his temper again, Zhao Lingjun carried Yixiu away as he lay boneless in her arms.

They stacked into the car in the garage, and as they left the house, Mo Jingxuan extended his consciousness up to Zhao Lingjun’s room on the second floor.

She was picking up the phone to call her father without any worry that someone would be looking in, “Dad, did you get it?”

“…..” Mo Jingxuan was unable to hear the other line with his limited abilities.

“No, I’ll come get it myself. It’d be too conspicuous for you to come here and it just so happens that Xiao Yao went out with that bastard this morning so I have plenty of time.”

Another pause, and she continued, “Alright, I’ll meet you immediately…..where should I go?”

The answer assumedly came quickly, and the woman hung up. Mo Jingxuan was relieved knowing that the woman was beginning to make her move; after all, the monsters that you don’t know are far scarier than the ones you are familiar with, and as long as she took one misstep, he would easily be able to throw her out.

Mo Jingxuan stayed quiet for the rest of the day, and the father and son pair continued shopping until dusk, filling the trunk of the car to the brim.

The first thing Mo Jingxuan did as he got home was stick his consciousness to that woman. She was headed to the kitchen as soon as she heard that they had arrived and dismissed the cook. Once everyone was gone from the room, she took out a small glass bottle full of white powder from her pocket with shaking hands, and then…..she didn’t do anything. She stood in front of the prepared meals, trembling from anxiety, and could not make up her mind. Ultimately, she returned the bottle to her pocket and left the kitchen.

Sighing in disappointment, Mo Jingxuan knew that Zhao Lingjun would not give up just like that, there would definitely be a next time, but the baby started school tomorrow. He had no way to monitor her while he was paying attention to Xiao Ying. But…if she wanted to hurt Xiao Ying, she would have to do it at the house, and he could still watch her while they were here.

As for whether she would hurt others in the family while aiming for Xiao Ying, Mo Jingxuan did not care. As long as he protected Xiao Ying, of course, Xiao Yao could be protected if it was convenient, but the premise is that it was convenient; nothing mattered more than Xiao Ying.

The next morning, Mo Jingxuan acted as the alarm clock and was in charge of the wake-up call.

He gently patted Xiao Ying’s cheeks, “Baby, it’s time to get up! Today is your first day of school so you can’t be late.”

Xiao Ying was still half asleep and in a daze, kept his eyes closed as he put his arms around Mo Jingxuan’s neck and hung tightly, “Xuan, pee….”

“Hehehe!” He pinched the child’s nose helplessly, “Okay, I’ll hold you to pee.” Mo Jingxuan carried the child to the toilet and held his little brother steady, suddenly feeling ashamed. Was it this thing that entered him so cruelly in his previous life? It was still so small now…. Clearing his throat with some fake coughs, Mo Jingxuan drove away the inexplicable thoughts in his head, concentrating on aiming for the boy.

In the coming times, Mo Jingxuan, who did not have to sleep, acted as an all-around nurse for Xiao Ying. He took care of everything from urinating to washing his hands, brushing his teeth, and cleaning his face. Even his clothes were changed by him! As he did these chores without complaint, he marveled at how much he had changed from being this man’s lover to his personal maid. But no matter what he thought, the hands applying lotion to the boy’s body never faltered.

What he didn’t know, however, was that Xiao Ying was awake from the beginning, and his eyes never moved away from Mo Jingxuan’s translucent face for a moment.

“Xuan, I will never let you leave,” he said suddenly, his eyes still half shut to conceal the shockingly possessive emotions in his eyes.