On the drive home upon leaving Seabay Villa, Xiao Su received a text message from Jiang Xiaobai, the ghostwriter. ‘Mr. Xiao, was Mr. Ye satisfied with the information?’
Without much thought, Xiao Su sent a short reply. ‘It’ll do.’ He closed it then tapped open his contacts list instinctively and saw that familiar name at the top—Zhou Xiaoyan.
They had not seen or contacted each other since they arrived back in the country. After what Yan told him that day, he did not think it would be very gentlemanly to keep bothering her. He tried his best not to go look for her. But it had been so long that he wondered how she was doing. Alas, he suppressed the urge to call her and continued driving.
A while later, however, Xiao Su found himself at the building of Yan’s old company. It was Sunday so there was no one there. He pulled his car up and rolled down the window to look at the entrance of the company. Staring intently, he could visualize Yan going to work.
Before they came back, Yan must have always been happy to go to work. Dressed in her little outfit and carrying her purse, she would hurriedly jog toward the company. While hurrying, though, she would accidentally drop something she was carrying. Then, as she hastily bent down to pick it up, all the other things in her arms would fall out as well.
She must have looked careless and unorganized. Xiao Su did not use to like women like that. But if that woman was Yan, he found it unexpectedly adorable. Seeing things through these filters really made people illogical. He suddenly thought, The one who loves is the fool. The fact that he was too afraid to call Yan but came all the way to an empty building instead, was foolish. After a while, he departed from the company.
…
Time went by quickly. Yan spent every day in the hospital looking after Mr. Zhou diligently. Her efforts during that time were noticed by the Zhou couple. Luo Huimei even lost count of how many times Mr. Zhou had complimented Yan.
“Zhou, don’t you think our daughter has matured so much since she came back? She hasn’t complained once and doesn’t even look the least bit agitated.”
Mr. Zhou nodded in agreement. “You’re right. She has matured quite a bit. I thought our father-daughter relationship would break down after being apart for five years.”
“What nonsense are you talking about? You’re father and daughter after all. As long as you’re not too stubborn, how would your relationship break down?”
Too stubborn? That comment made him frown. “How am I stubborn?”
“How are you not stubborn? You’re still stopping her from doing what she wants even though she’s an adult. Stopping her is one thing, but you even went as far as to threaten to end your relationship with her. Do you really want her to live the rest of her life under your influence and with your mindset?”
Although Mr. Zhou never saw it that way, he was rendered speechless by what Luo Huimei said. He only responded a while later, “I’ve never thought of restricting my daughter’s life. It’s just that the job she had at the time was hard to come by, but her ungrateful attitude toward it made me angry. But if you felt so strongly about it, why didn’t you bring it up at the time? Why are you only bringing up the past now and getting so worked up about it?”
Luo Huimei was peeling an orange. She cleaned the white bits off the orange completely before putting it in her mouth while Mr. Zhou stared at her but did not get a piece for himself. Finally, he asked, “Why are you peeling the orange so cleanly?”
She glanced down at it. “I’ve always eaten oranges like this. How did you not notice after all these years? Also, what did you mean by bringing up the past? Is that called bringing up the past? You were so overbearing at the time; how could I have said anything? You already ended your relationship with your daughter. What if you divorced me too? How could I have dared to speak up?
“Do you have to make me sound so terrifying? Do you still not know me after living with me for so many years? How could I divorce you?”
However, she did not pay any attention to his words and continued eating her orange. “Yes, I have lived with you for so long, so I know the way you think. Do you know how I felt when you said you were going to end your relationship with our daughter? I only wondered how a person could change so much. You weren’t like that before. So, when you changed, do you think I dared to say anything? If you divorced me because I spoke up, our family will break apart. Do you know that I was the one who held this family together all these years?”
“Are you saying you’re the only one who put in the effort?”
“Wasn’t I? Haven’t you noticed how you and Yan were the past five years? Wasn’t I the one who called her every year? Who knows, if I hadn’t done that, she might’ve run off with someone and never came back! I also called her and begged her to come back this time when you got into the accident. Otherwise, do you think this day would have come?” She got more worked up as she spoke. “Don’t you think you’re being ungrateful?”
Mr. Zhou thought if he continued this conversation with her, both of them would definitely get into an argument. Ever since Yan left home, the couple argued more than they used to. Every time they were done arguing, however, Luo Huimei would secretly go into the room to wipe her tears. That made Mr. Zhou angry but also regretful and heartbroken. Still, he was not able to swallow his pride and confront her. But now that he had come so close to death, these things suddenly felt rather trivial to him.
At this age, there was no need for him to get to the bottom of everything, especially when it came to family matters. Why make a fuss over something so petty? In the past, he would have thought that she was being irrational and argued with her some more. He would have even accused her of being erratic. But these things did not seem important to him anymore. Life is short. I have lived more than half my life now; my remaining days are numbered.
Mr. Zhou sighed then said gently, “Alright, Huimei. I was never ungrateful. You’ve done so much for the family all these years. At the time, I was just reckless and not in my right mind.”
