Chapter 31 Part 2: The Unveiling of a Painful Past (2)

His hand suddenly felt empty. Xiang Chen, startled, grabbed Xu Hengzhou’s hand, pleading softly, “Brother, I’ll be very good. Please don’t leave me.”

Xu Hengzhou’s hand, which had been covering him with the blanket, paused. His mind worked quickly, and he easily deduced why Xiang Chen might have such a strange and illogical thought about him leaving.

He had thought the morning’s incident was over, but apparently, Xiang Chen was still dwelling on it.

Xu Hengzhou tucked him in, gently comforting him. “Chenchen is very good. Brother won’t leave you.”

Xiang Chen, however, didn’t seem as happy as Xu Hengzhou expected. He just tightened his grip on his hand and remained silent.

Feeling a little uneasy, Xu Hengzhou stroked his head. “Are you unhappy?”

Xiang Chen didn’t speak for a long moment. Just as Xu Hengzhou thought he wouldn’t answer, Xiang Chen’s muffled voice came from beneath the blanket. “Mommy said that too…”

Mommy said that too, and then she left.

When Xiang Chen was very, very young, from the moment he gained consciousness, his mother seemed to always be sick. Her complexion was perpetually pale, and her smile, though beautiful, was also very fragile.

His father was always busy with work, constantly telling him, “Xiang Chen, you must be good, be quiet, and don’t bother Mommy.”

Xiang Chen was too young then to understand many things, but he obediently listened to his father. He didn’t go out to play with other children; instead, he stayed with his mother, reading fairy tales. When she was awake, she would tell him stories; when she slept, he would read by himself.

Xiang Chen thought, if he was this good, one day his mother would get better and take him to the amusement park, just like other children.

But later, his mother had an attack right in front of him. Her beautiful face turned a terrifying bluish-white, and she collapsed, struggling for breath, before Xiang Chen’s eyes.

Xiang Chen was terrified. Fortunately, his father returned in time and rushed his mother to the hospital.

Xiang Chen insisted on seeing his mother, but his father angrily told him, “Xiang Chen, why are you being so naughty? I told you to be quiet, why did you have to bother Mommy!”

Xiang Chen stood there, bewildered. He hadn’t been naughty. He never cried or made a fuss in front of his mother, not even daring to speak loudly.

That day, his mother was just telling him a story when she suddenly collapsed. He was very scared. He was terrified his mother would abandon him.

Later, his mother finally recovered a little. When she returned home from the hospital, Xiang Chen secretly went to see her, holding her hand and saying, “Mommy, I’ll be good. Please don’t leave me.”

That day, his mother looked much better. She held Xiang Chen in her arms, kissed his forehead, and smiled, saying, “Xingxing, you’re the best little boy. Mommy won’t leave you.”

Xiang Chen was so happy. He thought his mother was getting better, but not long after, his mother was gone.

That year, he had just started elementary school. When he returned home from school, his mother had already left. He didn’t even get to see her one last time.

“I was truly very good.” In the darkness, Xiang Chen’s tears streamed down his cheeks, leaving wet marks on the blanket. “Mommy said she wouldn’t leave me. She lied to me…”

Xu Hengzhou instinctively held the child in his arms tighter. His heart felt as though it had been pricked by needles, a dense, aching sensation spreading through him.

Xiang Chen, however, seemed to be trapped in a nightmare, continuing to recount the painful, sleepless past. In this dark night, he completely unburdened his history to Xu Hengzhou.

After his mother’s funeral, his maternal grandparents came to see him. His grandmother, behind his father’s back, secretly told him, “Xingxing, you must be good, listen to your father, don’t make him angry. You absolutely must be good…”

Xiang Chen nodded, bewildered. He only understood why his grandmother had cautioned him so when he grew up. His father was in his prime, handsome, and his career was on the rise. He would inevitably marry another woman, who would become his new mother.

Indeed, not long after, a new mother entered their home.

The new mother wasn’t as beautiful as his own mother, but she was very healthy. She had divorced her previous husband and brought her son with her when she married his father.

The boy was two years older than Xiang Chen. The day before they moved in, his father told him, “Xiang Chen, you must be good and get along well with your new mother and brother.”

Xiang Chen remembered his grandmother’s words. He listened to his father, calling his new mother ‘Auntie’ and her son ‘Brother’, even sharing his toys with him.

That boy was very polite in front of his father and treated him very well, always letting him have his way. Xiang Chen was very happy; he had never had playmates growing up, so having a brother to play with was truly wonderful.

But Xiang Chen soon discovered that this brother was only kind to him when their father was present. In private, his attitude towards him grew worse, sometimes pushing or pinching him.

One time, Xiang Chen was pushed down and cut his leg. It hurt terribly, and he wanted to go back and tell his father. His new mother forbade him from telling his father, saying his father wouldn’t believe him anyway.

Xiang Chen didn’t believe her. As soon as his father returned, he cried and showed him his scraped knee, telling him how that mother and son had bullied him.

However, his new mother, with a remorseful expression, told his father, “The two children were playing together, and Xiao Yu didn’t watch his brother properly, causing him to fall.”

She then pulled her son over and made him apologize to Xiang Chen.

The boy then apologized to Xiang Chen with a wronged look, and all of Xiang Chen’s tearful complaints turned into false accusations, truth twisted into lies.

His father angrily said, “Why are you so naughty? Lying and slandering others at such a young age. Can’t you learn from your brother?”

That night, Xiang Chen was punished by not being allowed to eat dinner. He cried on an empty stomach for most of the night. He no longer wanted to be a ‘good child’.

After that day, Xiang Chen changed. He stopped talking to the mother and son, ignoring their pretense in front of his father. Although his father often called him rude, Xiang Chen simply didn’t listen.

In private, if the boy bullied him again, he fought back. He was small and couldn’t beat the other boy, so he used his hands, feet, and even bit him. Although his own injuries were usually more severe, he never let his tormentor off easy.

Because his new mother always found a way to shift the blame for their conflicts onto him, his father grew increasingly disappointed in him. He stopped listening to his father, and eventually, his father gave up trying to manage him.

Then came a major conflict. The boy called him a motherless child and laughed, saying his mother was short-lived. Such words clearly came from someone else.

Xiang Chen was enraged, rushing forward like a little tiger. He used a stool to injure the boy’s leg, and in turn, his own head was split open and bleeding profusely.

His new mother took her son to the hospital, while Xiang Chen was left at home. When his father returned, Xiang Chen’s entire face was covered in blood.

Because this incident was so serious, his maternal grandparents also heard the news. They came to see Xiang Chen, and he cried and pleaded to go with them.

After his grandparents heard his story, they were furious.

They went to confront the family of three, but the woman cried pitifully in front of his father, claiming her Xiao Yu’s leg was injured and they didn’t know if he would be left with a disability. In reality, the doctor had already said her son only had a hairline fracture and would recover with time.

However, Xiang Chen’s miserable state at the time might have scared his father, so this time he didn’t fully believe the mother and son’s words.

Later, the woman secretly met with his grandparents and threatened that if Xiang Chen didn’t leave, he would one day lose a leg and be a cripple for life.

His grandmother was so enraged she nearly had a heart attack. But they dared not gamble. Even if they told Xiang Chen’s father, he couldn’t watch Xiang Chen constantly.

They only had Xiang Chen’s mother as a child; if anything happened to Xiang Chen, it would be the death of the elderly couple.

His grandparents gained custody of Xiang Chen from his father, and Xiang Chen followed them without looking back.

“I thought he would keep me,” Xiang Chen’s soft, childlike voice sounded as if it had been frozen, a hint of indifference in his words.

“When my grandparents came to take me, he didn’t even say a word to make me stay. That’s when I knew he probably no longer wanted to raise me. Or perhaps, he already knew what that mother and son had done to me, but he chose them, not me.”

Xu Hengzhou nearly ground his teeth. He placed a finger on Xiang Chen’s forehead, gently stroking the spot where a scar once lay.

He had seen the adult Xiang Chen, and he had seen that scar on his forehead. Even after more than ten years, the scar was still prominently visible across Xiang Chen’s brow, a testament to the severity of the original injury.

Xiang Chen had stopped crying. When he spoke of his grandparents, his voice suddenly thawed. “My grandparents were very good to me…”

His grandparents lived in an old house in the suburbs. The place was large, but the house was dilapidated, and at night, he could hear mice scurrying across the mosquito net.

Their family’s financial situation was also difficult. His grandmother had heart disease, which his mother had inherited. Fortunately, Xiang Chen was a healthy baby.

With two heart patients in the family, the medication alone cost a fortune, which had crippled his grandmother’s family.

Later, his mother married, but his grandfather also retired, living on a meager pension to pay for his grandmother’s medicine and their daily expenses.

This was also why, after his mother died, his grandparents never suggested Xiang Chen live with them. Their conditions were too poor, and they feared burdening the child.

But Xiang Chen didn’t care. Here, no one would bully him, and his grandmother would even give him the only egg. He preferred to eat steamed buns and pickled vegetables at his grandparents’ house than return to his father’s home.

Yes, that was his father’s home, not his own.

Xiang Chen settled into his grandmother’s house. His school was transferred from a prestigious elementary school in the city to an ordinary one near his grandparents’ home.

He had no parents to attend parent-teacher conferences for him, and over time, his teachers and classmates knew he was a child without parents.

Xiang Chen was handsome, well-behaved, and obedient. Though not exceptionally bright, he studied diligently, earning the affection of many teachers.

However, favoritism often bred jealousy, and innocent children would only express their feelings through the most direct and intense means.

He didn’t know when it started, but Xiang Chen’s schoolbag was always found in the trash can, his completed homework torn, and his textbooks scribbled upon.

Xiang Chen endured it, once, twice, until he could no longer bear it. He beat the boy who tore his books until his face was bruised and swollen.

Both he and the boy had their parents called in. The other family arrived en masse, filling the teacher’s office. Only his grandfather came for him. His grandmother hadn’t been feeling well those days, and he begged the teacher not to tell her.

The family was noisy in the teacher’s office, shouting that they would beat Xiang Chen to death and demanding the school expel him.

The teacher tried to reason with them, explaining that their child had bullied Xiang Chen first. The boy’s mother glared at Xiang Chen with a distorted face.

“Even if our Qiqi threw your schoolbag, even if he tore your homework, you shouldn’t have hit him! How can you be so vicious?”

Xiang Chen didn’t understand why he should just let it go. His homework, buying two extra notebooks meant his family would have one less egg to eat.

He only had one schoolbag; if it got dirty, he would have to carry a dirty schoolbag to school.

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