Chapter 33

I Really Want to Drink Fruit Tea

In the evening, the children gathered together to play a game. Tutu seemed to have regained his energy. Li Zexuan was lost in his thoughts. He was thinking about the grapes in the well.

‘How will I tell Ms. Lin?’ he wondered.

At Tutu’s House, Nannan took advantage of the rare free time and chatted with Xu Xiaoxiao for a while.

The two of them chose a backyard without any surveillance cameras.

“I’m so envious of you. You get along so well with Wheatley.” Xu Xiaoxiao was very sad and jealous. She wished Tutu would accept her, too. She had done so much for him and still he hated her.

Nannan smiled guiltily. She wanted to tell Xu Xiaoxiao the truth, but she didn’t know if she was reliable.

“Children need to be coaxed. Maybe girls are easier,” said Nannan, reluctantly. She knew, more than anyone else, that her relationship with Wheatley was also messy.

“It doesn’t matter to Tutu. I have tried to coax him and love him. I always try to take care of him and buy him the toys he likes. I try to be there for him even more than his own mother. But as you already know, Tutu hates me. He thinks I am his enemy,” said Xu Xiaoxiao sorrowfully.

Nannan sighed. “Don’t be discouraged, Xu Xiaoxiao. No matter how much we love them, we aren’t their biological mothers. And they will never see us as that. But even biological mothers have their own difficulties with their children. All we can do is keep trying and work hard to connect with them. They are still young. They will understand as they grow up.” Nannan was trying to comfort Xu Xiaoiao but realized that these were the words she needed to hear the most as well.

There were countless times when she had tried her best to connect with Wheatley. She had wished that Wheatley would accept her and like her for real. She still hoped for the best.

“Can we be friends and keep in contact? Let’s talk more about our difficulties.” Xu Xiaoxiao felt that she could trust Nannan.

“Didn’t we already become friends yesterday?” Nannan patted Xu Xiaoxiao’s shoulder. “I think Su Wei is on your side. Children will grow up and live their own life in the future. The most important thing is to be on good terms with your husband. You two will be together forever, after all.”

“Look at Lin Wan. She has three stepsons. Isn’t she in a worse situation than us? She gets criticized so much by her stepsons and even by the people online. She has made it into the hot search for all the negative reasons. But still, she always stays strong and appears to be in a good mood doing whatever she feels like doing,” said Nannan.

Xu Xiaoxiao thought of the incidents that had come to pass in the Li family in these few days and felt a little better.

In the Li family’s courtyard, Lin Wan laid down on the recliner. She didn’t read a book or check her phone as usual. She just lay there with a sun hat on her face.

Li Yanchen thought that Lin Wan could take an early retirement if she wanted to. She never felt bored at all.

He moved two chairs and placed them together. Then he laid down on it.

“Li Yanchen, isn’t the chair hard? You can go inside and lie down on the bed,” said Lin Wan. ‘Why does he have to do what I do?’

“Do you have any hobbies?” he asked. He wondered what went on in her mind most of the time.

“Of course, I do.” Even a lazy person had hobbies. “Li Yanchen, I don’t know what you want but this is such an insensitive question. We surely know each other better than this?”

Li Yanchen ‘s questions deepened her suspicion. She understood now that he had ever paid attention to the original owner of her body so much so that he didn’t even know about her hobbies.

The man sucked in a breath. ‘What does she mean? Did she forget the reason why we got married in the first place?’ But he felt that she was right. Even if they were no more than roommates, they should still show some interest and concern for each other since they lived under the same roof.

“I am sorry,” he said. “I will show more interest from now on. Do you want to tell me?” Other than her illness, he had never really cared much about Lin Wan. He realized that the question must have come as a shock when he suddenly cares about her hobbies now after all this time.

“Mr. Li, I’m sorry but I won’t tell you. That is for you to find out by yourself,” said Lin Wan. Her face showed annoyance. When she first came to this world and inhabited this body, she couldn’t understand why the original owner of the body had chosen Li Yanchen who had three sons and was known to be cold and emotionless.

Li Yanchen sensed the displeasure on Lin Wan’s face. “Alright,” he said.

“I am going to take a nap,” she said and turned the other way, facing away from Li Yanchen.

He looked at her thin and frail back and thought of the desserts they had enjoyed together at the end of lunch. Lin Wan had eaten with relish. She kept saying that that was the best cake she had ever tasted. Li Yanchen had tried it and thought it tasted alright. It wasn’t so different from other birthday cakes he had eaten in the past.

Lin Wan’s mother had died when she was young and she had been raised by her father. However, the Lin family were pretty well off. So, it seemed impossible for Lin Wan to have not been able to afford a birthday cake.

However, Li Yanchen felt that Lin Wan’s expression had been similar to his sons’, as if she too was a child who was starved for her parents’ affection. Everyone was aware of how Lin Dalu doted on his daughter and spoiled her with love.

Li Yanchen was confused. He then assumed that Lin Wan missed her mother.

“Daddy.” Li Zekai ran into the yard, sweating profusely.

Li Yanchen hurriedly made a gesture to tell Li Zekai to be quiet. He looked at Lin Wan, who was still sleeping, then walked to his son. “Let’s go outside and talk,” he whispered.

The director cut away from the Li family’s courtyard. Otherwise, he felt like he would lose a lot of viewers if he only showed Lin Wan napping in the courtyard.

“Dad, brother seems to have a heat stroke.” Li Zekai was panting.

Li Zekai pulled Li Yanchen and led him to the place full of reeds, where the children played. In the evening, the reeds were very cool, much cooler than the courtyard. Even if the children were running here all day, it was simply unlikely they would suffer from a heat stroke.

Li Yanchen thought that this might be Li Zexin’s rotten idea of a trick he used on his younger brother. But when he reached there, he saw his eldest son lying on the ground. Li Yanchen was shocked.

“Daddy, big brother is paralyzed.” Li Zekai knelt on the ground.

His eldest son was almost as tall as him. It would be difficult to carry him back. He squatted on the ground beside his son. “Can you stand up? I will help you to walk back home.”

‘I think so,” mumbled Li Zexuan. “I feel hot, and my throat is dry. I really want some fruit tea to cool me down.” Li Zexuan thought his acting was very realistic and that he could fool father.

However, when Li Yanchen leaned down to help his son up, he realized that Li Zexuan’s skin wasn’t really that hot to the touch. He also saw that the sweat on his forehead wasn’t fresh. His face was pale and didn’t look at all flushed as one would look if they suffered from a heat stroke. Besides, he talked very clearly. Li Yanchen realized that his son was only pretending.

“Sure, let’s go home,” Li Yanchen said.

“Jiejie, tell Xinxin that I’m going back. You guys can continue playing,” said Li Zexuan to his brother.

“I’ll ask brother Xinxin to come home with us,” said Li Zekai. He felt that they shouldn’t be playing when their elder brother was sick.

“No, don’t. It’s alright. Li Zexin is having fun. It’s your turn next, right? Go and play.”

Li Zexuan panicked thinking that his brothers might follow. Lin Wan had made the fruit tea in secret in the middle of the night last time. If they all followed home, she might refuse to make fruit tea for all of them.