She emptied the pail whenever it was full of leaves, then stumbled back to repeat the endeavor. The pail was light, and so were the leaves. Despite being small, Xunxun was very agile, running back and forth without a complaint. Her brothers, who already knew how to dote on their little sister, actively participated in her quest of filling her bucket with leaves.
That was when a butterfly emerged out of nowhere and fluttered before Lu Guang.
Lu Guang examined it curiously. He made an attempt to grab it, but the butterfly was too fast for the child and had already danced away.
“Fly…” blabbered Lu Guang as he went after it.
Lu Qi saw and chased after him. Xunxun was still focused on stuffing leaves into her pail. When she turned around and noticed that her brothers were out of sight, she nibbled on her fingers. Then, she tossed the pail away and went to look for her brothers.
Beside the gardens was a road—a shortcut to the Lu Estates that was mostly unoccupied. It was a car-free zone, but there were a handful of people who often ignored the rules and drove across it.
Lu Guang, in pursuit of the butterfly, stumbled into the middle of the road, blissfully unaware of the car zooming towards him.
In the car, Sun Yuhan was listening to music and chatting with Lu Qin. They had the world at their feet; she was at the zenith of success, and Lu Qin’s inheritance would be the frosting on the cake. All they had to do was to wait for the right people to die, before they could claim what was rightfully theirs—the things they longed after.
“My grandfather has assured me that I will get a cut of the inheritance—even my uncle has agreed to it. The only one that’s in the way is Ye Xinyu, but what could he hope to accomplish? All of the Ye Family’s assets will go to me in the end.”
“What about you?” asked Sun Yuhan. An odd look flitted across her mascaraed eyes. No one could have fathomed the meaning behind that look; except herself.
Lu Qin curled his lips. “As if I’ll get anything.”
He had always been living in Lu Yi’s shadow, the man whom he regarded as his worst enemy. Even better that he has three children now! Imagine that, three! Only a sow of a woman could pop out three kids at once, he thought bitterly. Old Master Lu’s partiality toward Lu Yi’s family had only swelled after the children came into the picture.
Lu Qin reckoned he wouldn’t be given anything when Old Master Lu dies.
Old Master Lu loved Xunxun to no ends, and it’s very likely that he would give everything to her. And who could blame him? The Lu Family had not come across a girl in a century, and this child was prophesied to bring honor to the Lu Family. There’s no way that Old Master Lu would be stingy with Lu Yi’s family; but he, Lu Qin, was a different story.
“And you are okay with that?” demanded Sun Yuhan as she continued driving.
Lu Qin pursed his lips. “Focus on driving. You’ll run into someone if you don’t focus.”
“Me, running into someone?” sneered Sun Yuhan. She was very confident in her driving skills. Well, there wasn’t anyone here, was there? She made a quick turn absentmindedly, trying to show off her skills.
That was when she saw a small child before the car.
She tried to hit the brakes, but stepped on the gas in her panic. The car zoomed forward.
Her heart was in her mouth, and she could only watch as the car shot forward. The child was going to be squashed into a pulp.
“Help, Lu Qin!” she cried. But Lu Qin seemed to be frozen in shock.
She didn’t notice Lu Qin consciously retracting his feet that had initially reached for the brakes.
As the car got closer, Sun Yuhan recognized the child; it was Lu Yi’s son.
She gritted her teeth. A madness overcame her, and she stepped on the gas. Her face was hideously distorted.
Just as the car was about to collide with Lu Guang, a person dashed out from the side of the road, scooped the child up, and plunged forward. The car shot past, missing them by a hair’s breadth.
Lu Guang broke into tears.
“Mama! Mama! Mama…”
When a child is afraid, the first person that comes to their mind is their mother. Even though he hadn’t seen his mother in a long time, she remained the most important person in his heart.
“There, there…” cooed Yan Huan, embracing him. Her legs were still twitching, her heart beating wildly.
She was in shock—the greatest shock in her life.
If she were a second late… her Xiao Guang would have been dead.
All three of her children were her blood and flesh, and she loved all of them equally. She was guilty towards all of them, especially her sons since she and Lu Yi had given most of their attention towards the sickly Xunxun. When Xunxun was smaller, she got hospitalized every once in a while, and so they had to spend most of their time in the hospital with her. The two boys were neglected, but they were always in their best behaviors; as though they knew their sister was sick.
Not once did they throw tantrums or cause a ruckus. They were always obedient, and didn’t even fall sick once! Otherwise, the adults would have been hard-pressed to tend to all of them.
That was also why Xunxun had learned the word “Mama” before her brothers.
When Yan Huan heard Lu Guang’s scared pleas for his mother, she realized for the first time how bad of a mother she had been. He must have forgotten he had a mother until now.
“Mama, mama…” called Lu Guang in between breaths, still crying. He reached out and gripped Yan Huan’s clothes.
“Mama…” called another voice. Yan Huan swiveled around and saw Lu Qi running towards him. He dove at Yan Huan and buried his head in her chest.
Yan Huan rubbed his head.
