Mo Jue was in a bad mood the whole day. As Chu Li, Jason, and the others were telling Mo Shitian about Su Ruyu’s life in those years, they smartly omitted Su Ruyu’s romantic relationship with Wolf. They only told Mo Shitian how stern Old Witch was, how she lived her days, and any other anecdotes. Everybody could actually feel how Mo Shitian felt toward Su Ruyu.
He was wholeheartedly dedicated to her.
The Mo brothers quietly sat by the side and listened in. Mo Ye was typically expressionless, and Mo Jue was expressionless as usual as well. It seemed as though the Mo brothers were much less presumptuous before their father. They were very silent for a moment as they found it hard to accept the change in these relationships.
In the evening, Eleven brought dinner to Su Ruyu, who was sitting in the garden of her courtyard. She, having neither appetite nor interest in talking, had Eleven back away. In her helplessness, Eleven could only abide.
The Mo brothers had nary an appetite and returned to their rooms early.
Since Su Ruyu did not want anybody to disturb her, Eleven, in her dutifulness, felt that Mo Shitian would certainly take his chances and decided to simply sit on the moonstone railings outside Su Ruyu’s courtyard.
Mo Ye was in his room, vexed. Since he could find nobody to talk to, he went downstairs to look for Eleven.
“What brings you down here?” Eleven asked in bewilderment. She looked toward Su Ruyu’s door and figured her master would not be able to hear them from this distance. “You’re in a bad mood?”
Mo Ye sat down about a meter away from her and tapped the empty space next to him. Eleven frowned at why he didn’t come over to sit down. Oh, well, since he was not feeling good, she would go along with him. Just as she was about to sit down next to Mo Ye, he suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist and had her sit on his thighs, tightly hugging her before burying his head in her fragrant hair without saying a word. He seemed somewhat depressed and glum.
At a loss, Eleven could only hold his hands.
Silently.
Stars littered the night sky, and the gentle moonlight poured onto everything like a mysterious veil. The fragrance of the flora in the Su’s mansion’s backyard was invigorating.
“Mo Ye, if you are feeling really stifled, you can talk to me,” Eleven turned around and gently said. For once, her voice was not cold. She gently stroked his head.
All that happened today greatly shook the brothers. Actually, the brothers were also innocent victims whom Mo Shitian should dote on and care for. After all, they were his and Su Ruyu’s children. Even if he did not treat them as treasure, he should not have left them to their own devices and created trauma in their hearts. Any child would want their parents’ care and love, her included. As she was an orphan, she only had one very small wish when she was younger, which was for her parents to appear before her someday. She did not want them to be very rich or very capable; all that she wanted was a word of consolation when she was hurt.
The Mo brothers probably felt the same.
“I don’t want to talk about anything,” Mo Ye said in a stifling manner. Eleven had never seen Mo Ye like such. In her opinion, he was often self-confident, calm, and tended to make intricate plans. There was nothing that could make him seem so troubled and dejected.
Eleven looked down and kissed his cheeks. “It’s okay.”
He had to personally make sense of all these things. After all, she had never experienced them personally and did not know how to describe the feuds and grudges of their seniors. In her opinion, she would naturally take Su Ruyu’s side in the incident as her heart was certainly with Su Ruyu. Even though she had some dealings with Su Ruhua, they were nowhere near a tenth of her dealings with Su Ruyu.
She would not allow anybody to harm Su Ruyu, and she would dislike anybody who had hurt Su Ruyu. But this incident left her troubled. She did not know how to resolve the emotional knot between them.
“If you were in our shoes, what would you do?” Mo Ye asked Eleven.
“Me? I don’t know. I do not have parents, and I haven’t experienced such feelings to know what to do,” Eleven honestly replied.
Mo Ye bitterly laughed. “Well, Dad actually does not love us nor dote on us. If we did not grow up by his side as ignorant children, I’m afraid that we would really hate him. He treated us extremely cruelly when we were young. Yes, we weren’t his beloved’s children, but he should not have treated us that way.”
Eleven heard him and broke into a slight smile. “What are you laughing about?” Mo Ye raised his eyebrows.
“That… What if, and I mean hypothetically, you have a child with some other woman and cause your own child and me to die? Would you treat that child well? When you see that child, would you be reminded of our child? Wouldn’t you be reminded of me? It won’t be hard to guess that we would be a happy family of three if it weren’t for that child, no? There wouldn’t be hatred in your hearts then, right?” Eleven smiled, knowing that she had hit the crux of the question. All many problems needed would have been a perspective shift to give a very different answer.
If he were in the situation, it was afraid that he…
Mo Ye fell silent and turned around to look at the door. While his biological mother was behind the door, he still felt that Su Ruhua was his actual mother because she was closer to him, whereas Su Ruyu felt like an outsider to him.
“Mo Ye, can I be honest? I feel that my master was really wronged and really pitiful all these years. If all these did not happen, your family of four would definitely have had a very happy life. Twenty-seven years have passed, and it’s a… good thing… that my master has lost her memory. If she didn’t, how would she live her days out? My heart aches when I think about it,” Eleven gently said. “Do not blame her. You have no basis nor right to blame her. Nobody, and I mean nobody, has the right to blame her.”
“I know!” Mo Ye solemnly replied, knowing for certain but could not accept it. “I am past the age where I need parental love. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“You can’t say that! My master lost her children, and then her memories. To her, these twenty years between you and her simply did not exist. She needs you all,” Eleven said. She did not know how to tell Mo Ye. Just because he did not need motherly love did not imply that he did not need a mother.
Mo Ye felt bitter in his heart and fell silent.
“I still feel that you guys actually love your father,” Eleven said. “If not, how are you so…”
So obedient?
“It’s a matter of habit.” Mo Ye knew what she was driving at and plainly said, “When we were young, he did not hit us or scold us. His gaze, however, left us feeling how… terrifying… this world is…”
