Chapter 168

Chapter 168

Before he could finish speaking, the servant who personally looked after Yao Qin hurried over with a message: she was awake and making a scene. Liu Shubai did not hesitate for even a second. Leaving Xie Qiyan and Xia Wanzhi behind, he turned and left.

His footsteps were rushed and disordered, filled with the kind of anxious fear and lingering dread that made it seem as if arriving one step too late would mean losing the person he loved.

Xie Qiyan stood there like that for a very, very long time.

Ever since Liu Shubai had told him about his mother’s condition, his pupils had lost focus. He had not rested well these past two days, and the excessive tension had made the red veins in his eyes even more pronounced. The corners of his eyes were visibly flushed. He stood there in a daze, his lashes trembling, and a tear slid down soundlessly.

Agony pierced through his heart and lungs. Xie Qiyan struggled to breathe.

The wind picked up. It was only when Xia Wanzhi’s loose strands of hair were blown against the side of his neck that he stiffly, slowly came back to himself.

“It’s not true, is it?” Xie Qiyan asked hoarsely.

Xia Wanzhi bit her lip, holding back the sting in her eyes. She did not dare shake her head, nor did she dare nod.

Even she could not accept this outcome.

Let alone Xie Qiyan.

He had suffered so much in his life, but no matter how difficult things became, he had never bowed his head and wept.

Those shoulders that had once carried Xie Corporation back to the pinnacle of the business world, those shoulders strong enough to hold up the sky, were trembling lightly now after hearing that his mother had been gravely ill for years. It was as if the belief that had sustained him all this time had suddenly collapsed.

He simply looked at Xia Wanzhi and, in a humble, timid voice, asked again, “She’ll get better, won’t she?”

It was all right.

She had only forgotten him for a little while.

She had only fallen ill.

She would get better.

Xie Qiyan did not believe in gods or fate. He had strength enough to struggle against destiny itself. But when heaven sent suffering down upon the people he loved, he had no choice but to submit.

All his strength left him. He could only hope that the heavens would open their eyes and take a good look at this mortal world.

He wanted to ask why.

Why was tormenting him alone not enough? Why did it have to hurt his family too?

Trembling, he lowered his eyes and looked at Xia Wanzhi.

He did not believe in gods. He believed in Xia Wanzhi.

He just looked at her like that, at the only deity he believed in, his wife.

Holding back a sob, Xia Wanzhi wrapped both arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. Then she nodded with certainty. “Yes. She’ll get better. She definitely will.”

Xie Qiyan’s vision gradually blurred. He bent at the waist, his shoulders slowly caving in, and shifted half of his weight onto Xia Wanzhi.

–

After Liu Shubai settled Yao Qin down, he invited Xie Qiyan and Xia Wanzhi inside. He seemed to have said something to Yao Qin in advance. Sitting in her wheelchair, Yao Qin lifted her eyes slightly and looked at the two people not far away. Then she smiled at Liu Shubai and said, “Shubai, your guests are here.”

That smile was so gentle and warm, like spring sunlight.

Xie Qiyan was momentarily dazed.

It was as if he had returned to his childhood. He would be playing off to the side, and the moment he turned around, he would see her wearing that kind, loving smile as she called to him softly, “Ayan, slow down. Don’t fall.”

She had changed, yet it also seemed she had not changed much at all.

Perhaps because Xia Wanzhi had drawn the image of Yao Qin he had imagined, Xie Qiyan found her very familiar.

She looked very much like the forty-seven-year-old Yao Qin in the portrait.

She was older now, with wrinkles, but her face was still kind and gentle.

But she had grown thin, haggard, weathered by time.

Years had passed, and a head once full of black hair had turned white.

Xia Wanzhi held her breath and looked nervously at Yao Qin. She sat there, holding a cloth doll in her arms.

She was smiling, no different from any normal person.

But when Xia Wanzhi’s gaze swept over Liu Shubai, she could clearly see his tension and worry.

Yao Qin lightly touched Liu Shubai’s fingers. He answered, his voice trembling slightly. “Did you forget? I just told you. They came to see you.”

Yao Qin seemed to realize something and froze for a moment. “My guests?”

Liu Shubai said gently, “Yes. Your guests.”

Yao Qin looked up at them, her eyes narrowing slightly, and then she smiled. “How could that be? How would I have guests?”

The air seemed to still. Yao Qin’s gaze fixed on Xie Qiyan, and the smile on her face sank little by little.

Everyone watched her reaction nervously.

Xie Qiyan’s breathing grew faintly heavy. With great difficulty, he took the first step. The first step toward his mother. Tentative, lost and uneasy, filled with deep longing.

The light was blocked by the tall figure before her. Yao Qin’s brows furrowed. Just as he was about to come close, she lowered her lashes, revealing a timid, panicked expression, and suddenly hugged the doll in her arms tightly.

“Ayan, Ayan…”
Xie Qiyan’s chest jolted. The look he gave Yao Qin was full of helpless bewilderment, his eyes reddening in an instant. It was as if he had been given the greatest surprise, yet was terrified it was nothing more than a dream.

Liu Shubai and Xia Wanzhi also stared at Yao Qin in shock, their hearts hanging in suspense.

Xie Qiyan’s lips were trembling.

He was so close to Yao Qin. So close.

Close enough that he could touch her if he reached out.

He crouched down, kneeling on one knee, then slowly lowered his other knee as well. Tears brimmed in his eyes, his fingertips shaking. He placed his palm on Yao Qin’s knee, and when the tears finally slipped down his face, he leaned his forehead against it.

Just like when he was little, resting his head on his mother’s lap, nestling against her as he listened to her tell stories from her own childhood.

“Mom,” Xie Qiyan said hoarsely.

“Mom…” This word, filled with more longing than sound, this word he had only been able to call out in his heart for more than twenty years, finally left his lips in front of her.

No one knew how much he had missed her.

He had longed for the day they would meet. Longed for the day he could call her that, and she would answer him softly.

Just like when he was little.

“Little Ah Yan…” Yao Qin’s arms tightened. She gave Xie Qiyan a wary glance, then suddenly hugged the stuffed toy in her arms, leaning back defensively as she murmured in fragments, “Little Ah Yan, don’t cry. Don’t cry…”

She gently rubbed her cheek against the “Little Ah Yan” in her arms to soothe it. When she looked up at Xie Qiyan again, there was a hint of reproach in her eyes. “Keep your voice down. You frightened my Little Ah Yan!”

Xie Qiyan only lifted his head. His hands still rested on Yao Qin’s knees as he stared blankly and helplessly into those eyes that no longer recognized him at all.

Even though he had prepared himself for this, in this moment, his heart was still riddled with wounds.

His throat choked tight, and Xie Qiyan couldn’t say a single word.

Yet he was grateful, too. At least she still remembered Little Ah Yan.

Yao Qin frowned at Liu Shubai. “Shubai, your guests are disturbing us.”

“All right, I understand. I’ll have him be quiet,” Liu Shubai said, playing along as he looked at Xie Qiyan with difficulty.

To the current Yao Qin, Xie Qiyan was a complete stranger.

Xia Wanzhi came over and helped Xie Qiyan up. The hand holding his was warm and strong.

“Hello, Ayan’s mother. May I introduce myself? My name is Xia Wanzhi.” After calming herself down, Xia Wanzhi bent slightly at the waist and knees until her gaze was level with Yao Qin’s, her bright eyes filled with kindness.

Yao Qin was extremely guarded around strangers. Before answering, she looked tentatively at Liu Shubai. Only after Liu Shubai nodded in approval did she smile and say, “My name is Yao Qin, and this is my Little Ah Yan…”

As she spoke, she held out the stuffed toy in both hands for Xia Wanzhi to see. Her lips parted slightly, as though she still had something to say, but the moment she made a sound, she abruptly stopped, as if she had forgotten what she wanted to say.

A flicker of heartache passed through Xia Wanzhi’s eyes. She gently stroked the plush toy’s head, doing her best to keep smiling. “What a coincidence. He’s called Little Ah Yan, and I’m called Xiao Wanzi.”

The toy was fluffy, filled with Yao Qin’s warmth and scent.

Yao Qin immediately brightened with joy. “Is Xiao Wanzi your nickname? Little Ah Yan is a nickname too. His full name is Xie…”

The moment she pronounced the word Xie, Yao Qin’s expression changed. The gentle kindness in her eyes suddenly narrowed into sharp suspicion. “Xie… Xie…”

“Xie what? What was I trying to say?” Yao Qin’s expression turned fierce. “Who are you? Were you just trying to trick me into talking? What are you to Xie Tianqi?”

Yao Qin, who had been sitting in the wheelchair, suddenly stood up. Her emotions were so intense that her blood surged and dizziness swept over her. Liu Shubai hurriedly reached out to steady her, wrapping an arm tightly around her and gently rubbing the spot over her back near her heart. “Ah Yao, Ah Yao! They’re my guests. Guests. They have nothing to do with Xie Tianqi…”

Yao Qin’s face had gone pale in an instant, but she soon took in Liu Shubai’s words. She stared blankly at Xia Wanzhi. “They have nothing to do with Xie Tianqi?”

Liu Shubai nodded and coaxed her. “No. Nothing to do with him…”

Xia Wanzhi had been somewhat frightened by Yao Qin’s sudden reaction. As she stepped back, she bumped into the arm Xie Qiyan had reached out. When he drew her protectively into his arms, Xia Wanzhi instinctively looked up at him.

What filled those eyes most was sorrow he was forcing himself to endure.

And beneath it was hatred.

Resentment and hatred toward Xie Tianqi.