He took his phone and made a call before bringing his daughter to leave. No matter what, this incident must be suppressed. No matter how the child died, this incident could not happen in front of Rainy and in the welfare home.
Lin Qing sat on the floor for a really long time and did not move. Gradually, he stood up and wanted to find his sister that was not far away. In the end, a few people came over and used a white cloth to wrap his sister up before taking away the wheelchair. Then, more people came with mops and water; and after a short while, there were no signs of what had happened as if a child had never fallen down and someone had not just died.
Lin Qing sat still on the floor and dumbly stared at the stairs that had just been washed clean.
Slowly, he stood up and walked over, step by step. He walked up the stairs, and from the top, he picked up flower after flower before coming down and placing it at the place where his sister lay.
“Guo’er, don’t worry. Brother will take revenge for you.”
The child-like voice started thickening as though it went to hell and back, space recording a dazzling age.
This year, Lin Qing was almost ten; and Rainy was almost four. However, Guo’er would forever be stuck at six years old.
Xia Ruoxin totally did not know what was happening. When she returned home, she felt that something was amiss. Chu Lui was hugging Rainy, and his entire body was stiff. His expression was grave.
“What happened?” She put her bag down and felt nonchalant towards her uninvited guest. She only wanted to know what had happened.
“Guo’er’s dead.” Chu Lui said lightly as if a child passing on and the world missing a life were natural. Actually, it was. Since the day a human was born, one would definitely experience death… just that some were earlier and others were later.
“How can it be?” Xia Ruoxin felt a whir in her head as if it was going to explode. “How did Guo’er die? How could she? She was clearly okay this morning.”
“She fell down the stairs and to her death.” Chu Lui ruffled his daughter’s hair. “Rainy was there coincidentally and saw everything. Lin Guo’er died in an ugly manner.”
He tried to pick the less cruel words to describe it. Her head had almost fallen off, and it was twisted in that manner. It was no longer ugly… it was horrifying.
Not to mention a child, even the adult would be scared to no end when they saw such a scene. They could not forget it and would have nightmares for a really long time to come.
He felt thankful that the person at the scene was not Xia Ruoxin, but him instead.
Just that, Chu Lui did not know how to explain to his daughter.
“Don’t tell her the truth about this. She’s too young and can’t handle it.” Chu Lui told Xia Ruoxin, and the ‘she’ was obviously their daughter that was still young.
“I know.” Xia Ruoxin extended her hand which was filled with sweat. Her lips quivered, and her heart was jumping fervently in her chest. One was because Guo’er was only six, and two, because of Rainy.
She could not even imagine what she would do if Rainy fell the same way. What was she going to do? She could never handle the consequences of her daughter leaving.
“Uncle…” Rainy opened her eyes and looked up. She smiled at Chu Lui lightly and revealed teeth as white as rice.
“What happened to Sister Guo’er? Is she awake?”
She asked in a naive voice, unaware of what was going on.
“Mm, Sister Guo’er is still sleeping.” Chu Lui placed his hand on his daughter’s face. “So Rainy must behave and sleep well, okay?” Chu Lui smiled, but there was a dark aura around his eyes.
What did he have to do to raise this weak child into an adult? What could he exactly do?
“Then, Rainy wants to sleep, too.” She rubbed her eyes, turned around, and reached her hand out towards her mother.
Both her mother and Uncle were here; Rainy was really happy.
Xia Ruoxin carried her daughter and placed her chin on top of her daughter’s head, not letting Rainy see the tears falling down as she was upset about the departure of a small life and even self-reproaching as she should not have left the child.
“It’s okay.” Chu Lui extended his hand and placed it on her shaking shoulders. “It’s just an accident; no one wanted it to happen. It’s not your fault. Also, I’ll handle this myself. As for Lin Qing, I don’t think you should tell him the truth either.”
Xia Ruoxin did not push him away as she really needed a shoulder, something to lean on right there and then. Actually, she was wondering if Guo’er’s death had anything to do with her daughter; but she did not dare think further and did not ask her or even speak about the matter in front of her.
Sorry, Guo’er…
She bit her arm and felt so helpless for the first time.
Chu Lui had indeed handled this matter cleanly with his own means. As for Guo’er’s news, no one would suspect as Guo’er’s relatives came and picked Guo’er only. The relative felt that Lin Qing would have a better education here so he was left behind. As for Guo’er, they brought her back to their hometown. The director had seen that person before and could prove with his given documents that he was the relative of the Lin family, just that he did not come around often. Even though Xia Ruoxin had adopted both children, the procedures have not been settled so if the relative wanted the child and Guo’er was willing to follow, the director could only let the man take her away.
When Lin Qing came, he was very quiet and silent as if he could not see that there was something wrong, but there was a strange feeling about him.
“Xiao Qing, come over.” The director gestured towards Lin Qing. Lin Qing came over and stood in front of the director.
“Xiao Qing, look.” The director took out a photo, and it was a family photo of the Lin family in the past. She pointed at a man in the picture. “Do you know who this is?”
Lin Qing nodded. “This is my fourth uncle, but not a direct uncle; he’s from another side.”
“Oh, so this is what happened.” The director put down the photo and ruffled Lin Qing’s hair. “Your fourth uncle brought Guo’er away, and Guo’er really liked him. They were in a hurry so they left directly. They wanted to bring you too because they had more children in their household, but I told them that you’re doing well here and could receive a better education. Hence, he only brought Guo’er with him.
“This is their address. If you want to look for them in the future, you can just go here. Actually, it’s better that Guo’er went with a relative.” The director sighed. “After all, adopted children would never be biological. It’s best if Guo’er followed a real relative.”
