All these years, Yuchi Jin had been eating alone. Even though he had Yu Bo’s company, at the end of the day, they were still just two old men. It was a pitiful sight when it was just the two of them accompanying each other. Yuchi Jin was not always alone; he previously enjoyed the company of his wife and children.
If he was not strong, he would not have made it after all these years of being alone. But now, even his youngest daughter was back. Even though his eldest daughter was no longer around, her child was here, together with their entire family of four. Furthermore, Han Muzi brought Han Qing. Including him and Yu Bo, they had a total of eight people. It was full of life.
Yuchi Jin was all smiles, and the fact that Little Bean was sitting next to him made him even happier. All this while, Little Bean had been saying a lot of good things about Han Muzi in front of Yuchi Jin. Yuchi Jin did not like Han Muzi before, and his pride had made it worse.
But after Little Bean’s brainwashing throughout these days, Yuchi Jin’s appreciation of his granddaughter-in-law had greatly increased. Even so, he was proud and still could not simply let go of his ego and express his appreciation toward her.
Though, he did greet Han Qing and chat with him. After all, they were both chairmen of a corporation, so they had things in common to talk about. Very quickly, Yuchi Jin’s appreciation of Han Qing had increased. He felt that he was a trustworthy person. Throughout this meal, Little Bean had spoken well of Han Muzi to a great extent.
However, Song An was absentminded when eating at the table. Her mind took a trip down memory lane as she saw everyone at the table. At the time, she was still little, and her elder sister would take care of her the most. Their mother’s health went downhill after she gave birth to Song An and was bed-ridden for many years. Even the most expensive medication could not succeed in keeping her alive. After she passed, Song Xin was the person who took care of Song An.
Her elder sister took care of her like she was her own daughter because Yuchi Jin was devastated by the loss of their mother. Due to his unstable mental condition and exhaustion caused by the loss, he had put aside a lot of the matters in the company. Since Yuchi Jin had to take care of many matters in the company after his wife’s funeral, he naturally neglected his two daughters.
Even though initially the two sisters could understand what their father was going through, gradually, their relationship with him became estranged. After all, to children, their parent’s affection was the most important thing. This was contrary to always hearing that their father had a work client to attend to that night and that they did not have to stay up late to wait for him. In the beginning, they would not see each other a lot, but after a while, they never saw each other anymore. Yuchi Jin’s work became busier and busier, so much so that he had no time to accompany his daughters and never got to remarry.
Song An let out a smile silently as she thought about this. The only good only thing about her old father was his loyalty: her mother passed when she was young and at that time, he was already extremely well-off. Yet, no matter how many women came up to him at that time, he would not even bother giving them a look. He became a widower for his whole life. He never remarried, and never flirted with any other woman. But, it was a shame that he was too egoistic and forceful. Back in the days, he forced her elder sister to get engaged to the son of his business partner. This eventually led to her and her elder sister running away from their home. Song An thought that if he hadn’t put pressure on her and her elder sister back then, her elder sister might still be alive now…
“Grandaunt Song!” A childish voice brought her back from her wandering thoughts. Song An lifted her eyes and saw a pair of innocent yet curious eyes looking at her. “Grandaunt Song, why are you crying?”
Crying? Everyone else could not help but turn around and look in Song An’s direction.
Song An was stunned. She subconsciously felt her cheeks with her hands and found that they had become wet. Did she… shed tears unknowingly?
This was something unexpected for Song An. She was merely carried away by her thoughts and did not foresee herself becoming fully immersed in those memories that were incessantly flooding back, such that she ended up… in tears. It was embarrassing since so many people were here at the table, and most of them were younger than her.
At this juncture, Song An immediately stood up and forced a smile on her face. “The food might be a little too spicy. Please excuse me.” She then turned around and walked toward the bathroom.
This little interlude made the entire atmosphere at the table feel slightly awkward. Even though Song An still had a smile on her face, after she left, everyone else seemed to be less in the mood to enjoy the meal. Han Muzi was worried about her. She contemplated before putting down her chopsticks and standing up. “Let me go and check on her.”
Nobody stopped her apart from Ye Moxuan, who said in his deep voice, “Call me if you need anything.”
“Sure.” Han Muzi then stood up and walked toward the direction that Song An headed. Since the Yuchi residence was huge, Han Muzi finally found the bathroom with the help of a maid. What she did not know was that after she left the table, Ye Moxuan started talking to Yuchi Jin, who sat across the table from him. “Grandfather, I have something to tell you.”
After Han Muzi had found the bathroom, she thanked the maid, who respectfully responded to her and left.
Han Muzi thought that she would have to put in some effort to search for Song An after entering the bathroom, but Song An was just standing right there in front of her, leaning on the sink. Traces of tears were still found on her face, unwiped; it seemed like she was not in a rush to go back out there.
Song An heard footsteps coming toward her so she turned over to look in that direction. She saw Han Muzi and let out a smile. “Oh, it’s you.”
Han Muzi stopped walking and looked at Song An in slight surprise. After all, Song An was her aunt whom she was not particularly close to. Seeing Song An cry while trying to put on a smile made her feel bad.
“You don’t have to come here. I can calm myself down,” Song An commented just as Han Muzi was feeling helpless about the situation.
Han Muzi moved her lips before she began walking toward her to pass her a box of tissues. “Here you go.”
Song An stared at the box of tissues for a while before she decided to take it from her. She took out a piece to wipe off the tears and clear her nose. “I was just thinking about some things that happened in the past and felt nostalgic; I’m not sad.”
If it were not for Little Bean, she would not have known that she was in tears.
“Things that happened in the past…”
“Yeah. That grumpy old man… It’s all his fault. If he hadn’t put pressure on my sister and me at that time, we would not have left home; if we hadn’t left home, maybe… my sister would still be alive today, and she’d be… your mother-in-law.”
