Liang Yahe was furious. This afternoon, Mrs. Jiang had approached her and told her that there was something wrong with Jiang Xiaobai. After discussing the issue together, she was shocked and panicked to find out that Jiang Xiaobai had plans to leave. For the rest of the afternoon, they discussed possible solutions to the problem. As a result, they came up with a compromise—they decided to use the baby to kindle her reluctance to leave.
At that time, Du Xiaoyu was the first to say, “Xiaobai has refused to hold the baby recently. I guess that she’s afraid of getting attached to him if she holds him too much as it would make her reluctant to leave.”
Then, Liang Yahe immediately responded, “True. After all, she carried the baby to term for 10 months. She definitely has that line of thought. Then, why don’t we use that against her? Let’s make her spend more time with her baby.”
“How do we do that? That girl has such a stubborn personality. I’m worried that she will resist harder if we talk to her about it.”
“We won’t need to say anything.”
“We don’t need to say anything? What are we going to do then?”
Therefore, they came up with this solution tonight. Xiao Su was pulled into the room the moment he returned home. Then, the three of them waited inside the room. They didn’t know how much time had passed, but time seemed to stretch out as the minutes ticked by extremely slowly. Even so, Liang Yahe and Du Xiaoyu remained calm. On the other hand, Xiao Su was unable to contain himself. He did not know what was going on, and not knowing added to his fear and panic.
When he heard Liang Yahe scolding him, he took the initiative to ask, “Mom, what is going on? Why are we doing this?”
“How dare you ask me that? What did you do to make Xiaobai so angry?” Liang Yahe was so furious she started throwing things at him, completely disregarding the fact that he was her son.
In the end, Du Xiaoyu stepped up to stop her. “Mrs. Xiao, don’t get so emotional; calm down. Xiao Su has done well enough.”
“Done well? If he fulfilled his duties well, would something like this happen? Xiaobai is on the verge of leaving because of you, and yet you are asking me what’s going on? Do you have any brains in that head of yours? You can’t even take care of your wife and child! Why don’t you just drop dead?” Liang Yahe was absolutely furious because she was really taken with Jiang Xiaobai. Now that Xiaobai had given birth to a baby, she was even happier with her. To her, Xiaobai was a lucky star. Therefore, she was shocked to hear that Xiao Su had driven Xiaobai so far up the wall that she was considering leaving.
The moment Xiao Su heard those words, he froze in shock. “What did you say?”
On the verge of leaving? Xiaobai is thinking of leaving me? Since the day she gave birth, he had been feeling uneasy. His unease finally erupted and intensified greatly. Then, he stood there blankly. Liang Yahe continued to berate him, but he couldn’t hear a single word she said anymore.
Du Xiaoyu probably felt that Xiao Su looked rather pitiful, so she stopped Liang Yahe again. “That’s enough; stop scolding him. He seems quite upset over it too.” Then, she turned around and walked in front of him, gently saying, “Honestly, we elders don’t know much about the things going on between the two of you. Therefore, we can’t help you with it. Only you can solve this issue.”
After becoming aware of Jiang Xiaobai’s intentions, Xiao Su was determined to solve it himself. Although he had explained himself, it seemed like she was still extremely bothered by the incident the other day. What should I do? I’ve already explained myself. Even so, she is still acting like this. What else can I do? At the moment, his mind was blank and he did not know how to persuade her to stay.
On the other hand, Jiang Xiaobai was in the room. She sat there holding the baby in her arms as she coaxed him. For some reason, be it due to the connection between mother and son or whatnot, he stopped crying the moment she picked him up and looked at her unblinkingly. She felt her heart breaking under his gaze. Besides, his body was tiny and felt soft and warm in her arms, making her unwilling to put him down.
Then, she seemed to remember something and froze. After that, she placed him back into the cradle and turned around to leave. The baby reacted like he had a sixth sense and began to wail loudly again. However, she hardened her heart and continued to walk away, preparing to leave. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks—somebody was standing at the doorway. “He’s crying so loudly. Can you bear to walk away?”
Xiao Su? She was slightly surprised to see him. When did he come? Still, she had no intention to admit to it. She merely said, “I don’t really know how to take care of him, so I’m going to get Mom over to help.”
After saying that, she tried to leave in a panic. However, when she tried to walk past him, he caught her arm. At the same time, she heard him ask, “Do you not know how to take care of him? Or, do you not want to?”
Her steps stilled, but she did not answer him for a long time. The baby’s wailing cries continued in the background. Even so, none of them moved. A long while passed before she broke out of his restraints and coldly countered, “Since you already know, then why are you still asking me about it?”
He was surprised that she had admitted to it so quickly; he had expected her to continue pretending for a while longer. Seeing as the cards were on the table now, there was no need to beat around the bush anymore. Then, he turned his head and looked her in the eye. “Why? Is it because I helped Yan? Why are you so caught up with it? Why are you thinking of leaving me just because you can’t get over it? So much so that you don’t even want to hold your own child?”
Listen to that tone of his; he is mad at me, isn’t he? “That’s right! I’m insecure because of that incident! I can’t get over it! So what? You must be thinking that I’m kicking up a fuss over nothing, right? Well, I’m unreasonable! I’m petty! I’m overly sensitive! Are you happy with my answers now?”
Xiao Su scowled fiercely. He was here to talk to Jiang Xiaobai, not to pick a fight with her. However, the sight of her determined to leave left him feeling bitterly disappointed for a moment. Therefore, his words came out sounding harsher than he meant to say them. True to her temperament, she instantly dug her heels in and went head-to-head with him the moment his tone became harsh.
“Xiaobai, please don’t be like this.” He immediately softened his tone and continued, “The baby is still crying. Let’s calm the child down first. Then, we can talk, okay?”
Jiang Xiaobai wanted to refuse. However, she couldn’t bear listening to the miserable wailing cries of the baby. So, she closed her eyes and said nothing. He took her silence as her acquiescence to his suggestion and walked over to pick the baby up. For some reason, whether or not he held the child wrongly, the baby continued to wail even after he held it in his arms. The incessant wailing was giving her a headache. At the same time, it pained her to listen to it. Thus, she grilled him. “Do you even know how to take care of him? Why is he still crying so hard?”
He could only coax the baby softly, but it wasn’t working. In the end, she walked over and snapped at him angrily, “Hand him to me.”
He felt a little wronged when she snapped at him, but still handed the baby over to her. Strangely enough, he stopped crying the moment she held him in her arms. While he was astonished by it, he seized the chance to say, “The baby loves you; he can’t live without you”
That single sentence directly resonated with Jiang Xiaobai’s heart. My baby loves me; he can’t live without me. Her hands began to tremble as she held her baby, and her eyes reddened.
“Let’s talk like this, okay?” Xiao Su stepped forward, pulling both his wife and the baby into his arms as he leaned his head against her forehead and spoke in a hoarse voice.
