Xian Tingfeng had been too impulsive since he was young, and because Xing Jia had just returned from overseas and become much more open-minded, he could not help but want her. He did not know that after he had left, the doctor had found out that she was pregnant due to vomiting, and she had failed to hide this secret, forcing her parents to give her medicine to kill the baby in her womb.
In the eyes of Xing Jia's parents, she was merely a tool that could help the Xing Family rise to a whole new level.
Xian Tingfeng had ignored her parents' cold-bloodedness, thinking that as parents, they could understand their daughter's unwillingness and not force her to marry someone else.
But two years later, when he went back to Shanghai to look for her, he found that the small yard had been burned down in the middle of the war, and nothing was to be found in ruins.
After searching for a few days, he saw her and a man surnamed Wan sitting in the car. The two of them held hands as they went to the theater.
Xian Tingfeng didn't expect that Xing Jia had already married. Although she didn't seem to be pregnant or have children, he had investigated and found out that she had married into the Wan Family one month after he had left.
In that small yard, she cried and said that she liked him, loved him, and wanted to be him.
If she followed him, she would be willing to suffer. In order to prevent her from suffering, Xian Tingfeng asked her to wait two years.
Why couldn't she wait?
At that time, the Xing Family had already fallen into decline, and Xing Jia's life in the Wan Family could still be considered pretty good, but the Wan Family's position wasn't that good either.
When Xing Jia saw Xian Tingfeng, who was wearing a military uniform, sitting there and looking at her indifferently, she only looked at him for a long time. She knew that he already had power and the foundation of the Xian Family in his hand.
However, she wasn't excited. She only calmly said, "General Xian, I'm already married. Please don't hurt my husband."
Xing Jia knew Xian Tingfeng very well. She knew his ambition, and she also knew about the wildness buried under his beautiful skin.
At that time, Xian Tingfeng only smiled. After laughing for a long time, he asked, "I only ask you this one question, can you come with me now? If you are willing, I won't pursue anything else."
But the answer Xing Jia gave was no. She said she was already pregnant, already been married into the Wan Family for two years. Her husband was good to her, and he didn't even ask which man she had been with before.
Xian Tingfeng only said, "Alright."
Then she was sent back.
Since then, he hadn't sent anyone to find her. After staying in Shanghai for a few more days, he left straight away, heading towards the north.
However, after he left, the person who took his orders in Shanghai destroyed the Wan Family step by step. It took them five years to pin countless crimes on Xing Jia's husband. In the end, the Wan Family was raided, and Xing Jia's husband was imprisoned.
That year was 1949. The people of China started to unite for peace. Xing Jia gave birth to a child in that year. The Wan Family was gone, and she also went missing.
The Xian Family's status in the country was even higher than when Xian Tingfeng's father was alive many years ago. At that time, he already had a lovely wife by his side, and his wife's son, Xian Jian, was already one and a half years old.
However, the man surnamed Wan in prison would never be let out.
After giving birth to her child, Xing Jia had used all sorts of methods to find Xian Tingfeng, begging him to let her husband go for the sake of their child's, begging him to let her husband go for the sake of their previous love.
Xian Tingfeng still didn't understand why she betrayed him. It's only two years, why can't she wait? Seeing that she had given birth to a child for that man and that she even did not hesitate to kneel down and beg him, he finally chose to avoid her.
That man surnamed Wan was tortured endlessly in prison. Some of this was arranged by Xian Tingfeng, while some were done by himself in prison.
Xian Tingfeng avoided Xing Jia's pleas for mercy and they never saw each other again.
Until a few years later, her husband had chosen to commit suicide. When he committed suicide, he was still wearing a shoe knitted by Xing Jia.
Xian Tingfeng didn't know how Xing Jia delivered the clothes to her husband, but when he saw the clothes and shoes on the man's body, he didn't even plan to leave the body for her and just ordered someone to burn it.
He remembered the day when he had burned the body by the river, Xing Jia had broken through the siege and knelt in the distance, screaming and crying.
With her bloodshot eyes, she shouted, "Xian Tingfeng! I shouldn't have saved you! You demon! I hate you! I hate you for the rest of my life!"
End of flashback.
• • • •
Old Man Xian's gaze gradually became focused and he said in a trembling voice, "She hated me for all her life. She'll hate me in her next life as well."
He gently picked up the jade stone on the table. "This was left to me by my father. In those impoverished years, this was the only valuable thing on my body. I gave it to Xing Jia later, but she secretly stuffed it into my bag when she sent me on the boat."
"Grandfather, you never understand a woman's heart." Xian Guiying suddenly spoke; her voice was soft.
Old Man Xian smiled and looked at her. "Yeah, I didn't understand it then, but when I did, it was too late."
"Grandfather, do you know why Xing Jia returned the jade stone to you before you left? And why did she marry someone else? Why didn't she want to go with you when you went back to look for her?" Xian Guiying suddenly felt sympathy for Qin Gengxin's grandmother.
She had really been cheated by her grandfather all her life. Xian Guiying suddenly felt that when the Old Woman was in the United States, she (the Old Woman) was already treating her very lightly by simply kicking a basin of hot water to her.
Old Man Xian didn't answer. He just closed his eyes and remained silent without anyone knowing what he was thinking.
After a long time, he opened his eyes and said in a soft voice, "I already know. I should have left with her that year. I had confidently believed that letting her wait for me was the best choice for her. However, I didn't know what she was thinking at that time, nor did I know that she was pregnant with my child, much less what she went through in the days after I left. After returning home, I blindly believed that she had betrayed me and that she had fallen in love with that man surnamed Wan."
"Grandfather, didn't you say that you haven't seen Xing Jia ever since? Then how did you know?"
Old Man Xian sighed. "Later on, I went to that man's prison. Before he committed suicide, he left a letter, not for Xing Jia nor for his child, but for me. It's a bloodletter."
"He wrote out everything that happened when he married Xing Jia, including the fact that Xing Jia had once knocked out, but he didn't mind that. Xing Jia wouldn't let him touch her for two years. It wasn't until a month before I returned to Shanghai, and because of the love they had for each other, she felt that he was treating her well and didn't want to delay their marriage any longer."
"At that time, I was blinded by jealousy and fury. In the following years, sometimes I think about it and realize that I really did too many darn things when I was young."
