Chapter 232 - Help you to look for him

After Han Ye got back into the car, Xiao Zhihao also walked back to the car. When Xiao Lei saw her son walking back, she quickly got out of the car and gave a bottle of water to him. 

"It's hot. Drink more water," she said worriedly when she saw his flushed face. His eyes were fine, albeit a little bloodshot, as if he had been holding back his tears, and his palms were red with fingernail marks. 

Xiao Zhihao noticed where his mother's eyes were looking at, and he quickly kept his hands into his pant pockets. 

When Xiao Zhihao looked at the bottle in his mother's hand, he wanted to reject it, but then, Xiao Lei said softly, "You've just recovered."

The boy looked up at his mother's worried face and nodded. His throat was so dry from the heat as well as the stress that he was bottling inside that when the cold water ran down the back of his throat, he could not help but enjoy the feeling a little. 

Xiao Lei glanced at her son's neck, where Yun Qi's necklace was at, and she wondered if her son would ever go back to being who he was prior to this. Even since Xiao Zhihao found Yun Qi's body, he had been slightly off in demeanor. She could understand that he was upset and angry, like she was when her parents passed away, but even so, she could not bear to see him acting like this. Like he was in pain, but there was nothing that she could do for him. 

Once they were back inside the air-conditioned car, Han Ye asked with a smile, "Zhi Hao, is there anything that you'd like to eat?"

"No," the boy answered brusquely while looking out the window. His right hand, which was now covered with two bandaids, was on the necklace. He was playing with it absentmindedly while thinking about the times he spent with Yun Qi. 

"Let's go for something light, Han Ye. You can choose the venue," Xiao Lei said as she glanced at her son through the rearview mirror. 

Han Ye gave her a brief glance before nodding. "Alright."

He drove back into the city center and brought them to a popular Chinese restaurant. With just a few words with the manager, Han Ye got them a private dining room that was far from the din.

After ordering a few dishes, the three of them sat in silence. Xiao Zhihao was extremely quiet. There was no expression on his face, as if he were barely even there.

Han Ye wanted to engage the boy in a conversation, but Xiao Zhihao's current habit of answering with either a nod or a shake of his head made Han Ye's job hard. If the question could not be answered with a nod or a shake, then Xiao Zhihao would just shrug. 

In the end, Han Ye decided to leave the boy alone. He then looked at Xiao Lei and asked, "Xiao Lei, I'm curious about something. Does Zhi Hao resemble his father?" 

Xiao Lei glanced at her son for a moment and nodded. "A little bit. Zhi Hao's features are more to a mix of mine and Yun Jie."

She then raised an eyebrow and asked in a curious tone, "Why did you ask?"

"Just trying to look for a conversation to talk about…"

"Erm," Xiao Lei thought for a moment before saying, "Zhi Hao used to resemble my father, but he's slowly developing into his father's figure. Although, I think Zhi Hao is more well built compared to my husband back when he was at Zhi Hao's age." 

"What do you mean?" 

"Yun Jie said he was really small sized when he was young. Well, that's what he told me. If you have met him in real life, you'd find it hard to believe, especially since he's over six feet now." Xiao Lei smiled at the memory of her husband. 

She touched her wedding ring absentmindedly as she thought about the happy times that she spent with her husband, and she wished that he would return to her as soon as possible. Every day... Not a moment passed by where she stopped missing him...

"Oh, he's smaller in size?" Han Ye asked as he made a mental note.

Xiao Lei nodded. "He said he was really small compared to kids his age, but Yun Jie also said that he grew fast after he turned twelve, and within a few years, he was towering over all his friends." 

She knew what Xiao Yunjie went through as a child, so she knew why he was smaller in stature, but she did not see the need to tell Han Ye about it. After all, this was her husband's painful past, something that her husband had to take a lot of courage to tell her. 

It was his secret, not hers.

Therefore, she had no right to mention anything to anyone. The only person she would tell it to would be their son, but only when Xiao Zhihao was old enough to handle it. 

Han Ye thought about what Head Manager Han said, that the boy "Jie" was small in size and looked to be six or seven years old. "Jie" was a common name, and he was not sure if "Jie" and "Yunjie" was the same person.

"Jie…" Han Ye frowned as he thought about the name. Xiao Yunjie. The little kid "Jie". The "Ah Jie" who saved Kai Xin and Jack from their kidnappers. And Han Ye himself knew a few more people who went by the moniker "Ah Jie" and "Xiao Jie".

"Is everything alright?" Xiao Lei asked when she saw Han Ye was frowning. "Let's talk about something else." 

"No." Han Ye shook his head. "Xiao Lei, I want to know if you have been looking for your husband."

She frowned. "Of course I did. I tried to look for him at places where I thought he would be, and I made anonymous calls to his old friends to see if anyone had heard from him, but the answers were always in the negative."

The waiters came in at this point and laid out a few plates of dishes on the Lazy Susan in front of them. After they left, Xiao Lei asked in a curious tone, "But Han Ye, why are you suddenly curious about my husband? Did you know anything?" 

Even Xiao Zhihao looked up at Han Ye when he heard his mother's question. Like his mother, he just wanted to see his father again. He felt so much pain inside, but he did not want to tell his mother anything because he did not want to give her more things to worry about. 

To Xiao Zhihao and Xiao Lei's disappointment, Han Ye shook his head. "I just want to help you look for him." 

He took a few pieces of sweet and sour pork and placed it on Xiao Zhihao's bowl of rice. He knew that Xiao Zhihao loved this dish, so he ordered a huge portion in order to stimulate his appetite. 

Everything he ordered today was either Xiao Zhihao's favorite or Xiao Lei's favorite. 

Xiao Zhihao stared at the bowl in front of him for a short moment before picking up his chopsticks and eat. Even though his mechanical movement bothered Xiao Lei, she did not say anything. At the very least, Xiao Zhihao was eating, so she was glad for that.

"You should start eating as well," Han Ye said as he placed a huge piece of sweet and sour pork on Xiao Lei's bowl. 

As she ate, Xiao Lei tried to think if there was anyone else that she missed, but she could not think of any. 

However, just as she was about to take a sip of the old cuc.u.mber soup with pork ribs, she suddenly recalled something. 

After Xiao Yunjie ran away from home, he wandered around for a short moment before he joined a huge gang at Imperial City. Xiao Yunjie told Xiao Lei that he was only in this gang for a short time before leaving.

However, he had never mentioned the name of the gang. He said that he regretted joining the gang and that it was his biggest regret in her life

Xiao Lei wanted to say something to Han Ye, but she could not say anything now. Not when her son was here. She did not want her son to know about hers and her husband's background.

She waited until they were back home. After Xiao Zhihao went into the apartment, Xiao Lei closed the door so that she could talk to Han Ye. 

With a hushed tone, she told Han Ye about Xiao Yunjie's past, before he met her. Since Han Ye knew who Xiao Lei was, she hoped that he could help her. 

xxx

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