Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
An Xiaxia had heard those words many times before.
“Brother, I’m not a child anymore and I deserve to know the truth!”
An Yibei’s smile suddenly turned cruel. “What’s wrong with being a child? Why do you want to grow up all the time? Do you have any idea how painful life is once you’re an adult?”
He had carefully built this safe haven for her, but why did she have to go out there?
Why wouldn’t she stay in that safe and quiet place? Would she finally regret it if she saw what a cruel place it was out there?
“But I will… grow up,” An Xiaxia sobbed.
There would come a day when no one would be able to protect her.
What should she do then? Run away? But could she?
An Yibei clenched his fists and banged them hard on the table once, his tone savage. “You want to know? Fine, I’ll tell you. Where shall I begin? The pictures?”
An Xiaxia shuddered despite herself. Somehow, An Yibei now reminded her of a cornered beast.
“You guessed it right. She was your biological mother and her name was Zhong Yue… It comes from the poem ‘A Fair Maiden’: ‘O bells and drums/ delight the bride so fair and tender.’ It’s a beautiful name and she was even more beautiful in person. But do you know how miserable her death was? She was forced into a mental hospital by her husband and his mistress when she was only 23 and she lived in hell ever since. She could neither die nor live the way she wanted and she was tormented for over a decade! She saved up her sleeping pills and it took her as long as three years to finally come up with enough of them to kill herself with!”
An Xiaxia’s legs gave out. She collapsed on the floor, her cheeks streaked with tears.
How could that be possible…
“What else do you want to know, huh?” An Yibei crouched down beside her, smiling. “Do you want to know that she didn’t go mad in the mental hospital, and that she looked so happy when she died? She looked forward to her death her entire life, but she never once wanted to see you!”
“Stop… stop it…” An Xiaxia covered her ears. She didn’t want to hear all this anymore.
An Yibei pulled her hands away. “And about dad. Yeah, the worst operation in his life ended up killing a patient and he was blacklisted by the medical circle forever! But he was taking the blame for another man, who killed himself after the accident! His entire family moved abroad and there’s no way to clear dad’s name, no matter how unjustly he was treated! Do you still want to know? Huh?”
“I – I… I’m sorry…” An Xiaxia couldn’t stop crying. An Yibei was also on the verge of tears after yelling at her.
What on earth was he doing? Why had he lost control?
“Tears are useless!” An Yibei said harshly. “Are you afraid now? Do you regret it? It’s too late!”
He dragged An Xiaxia to her own room, threw her in, and closed the door behind him. He then leaned on the door and slowly sank to the floor.
On either side of the door, brother and sister both cried.
–
The hospital.
Su Xiaomo hurried to her feet when the operation was finally over. Her legs had gone numb from sitting there for so long.
She hobbled toward the ward, but saw an unexpected guest when she got there.
Luo Qianxi’s pretty face was streaked with tears as she banged on the door of He Jiayu’s ward. “I’ll be the one to finish you off if you have to die! He Jiayu! You owe that to me and my sister! You’re not dying on me!”
“Move,” Su Xiaomo said with an expressionless face.
Luo Qianxi turned to look. Seeing that it was Su Xiaomo, she frantically tried to grab her hair. “You bitch! You’ll never be happy together! You two owe my sister… She’ll never forgive you people!”
Su Xiaomo chuckled, then slapped Luo Qianxi with the back of her hand, threw her over her shoulder, and stepped on her back!
“F**k off. I’m not going to repeat myself! Don’t mess with me, you imbecile!”
