Chapter 8
As night deepened, Grandpa took Lin Huaixi off for his bath, while Lin Yunmi and her mother sat in the living room chatting.
Lin Yunmi took one look at her mother and knew she was still thinking about what had happened that afternoon. She stood up and went to warm some milk. “Mom, don’t be upset anymore. Be careful not to let your thoughts weigh too heavily on you, or you won’t be able to sleep tonight.”
Grandma took the hot milk and sighed. “I’m not upset. I just feel sorry for Qi Wang, going through something like this at such a young age. Did you notice his expression and his eyes? There’s none of the innocence or brightness a child should have anymore. If Qi Wang is allowed to keep growing up in that kind of environment, I’m truly worried about his future.”
Lin Yunmi walked over and thoughtfully began massaging her mother’s shoulders. “The problem may lie with Qi Wang’s mother. We were making such a commotion in the courtyard, but she never once looked outside. Qi Wang is her child. How can she not care at all?”
Grandma patted her daughter’s hand and then asked, “When you went inside to talk, did you see her?”
“No.” Thinking back to what she had seen, Lin Yunmi sighed. “The door was shut tight. I spoke to her through the door, but there was no response. They’ve lived here for quite a while already, but the whole house still feels empty and cold, without a trace of warmth.”
Mother and daughter sighed together.
After a moment of silence, Grandma suddenly said, “It was all thanks to you today. If you hadn’t been clever enough to scare off that nanny with the jade bracelet, I would have been thrown out, and Qi Wang probably would still be suffering under her mistreatment.”
Lin Yunmi sat down on the sofa opposite her, her expression turning rather serious. “Those words weren’t something I made up. That jade bracelet really was one of the pieces from our auction. I was shocked when I saw it too.”
“What!” Grandma half-rose from her seat, then slowly sat back down a few seconds later. “Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. This auction is very important to me. I spent a whole year preparing for it. I’m familiar with every single item, and I even delivered them to the buyers personally.” Lin Yunmi frowned tightly and muttered, “Judging from Nanny Sun’s reaction, that jade bracelet belongs to Qi Wang’s mother. So Qi Wang’s family is… How could they possibly have moved in next door to us?”
The mother and daughter exchanged a glance. They both understood, but neither of them said it out loud.
An absent father, a mother who did not care about her child, and now this jade bracelet—it made the problems in that family seem even more serious.
Lin Yunmi fell silent for a long time. A bold guess had just surfaced in her mind, and she was about to speak when the bathroom door suddenly opened.
Dressed in soft pajamas, Lin Huaixi came running toward his mother with his arms spread wide. His absorbent little slippers made soft puchi puchi sounds against the floor.
At once, Lin Yunmi forgot all those troubling matters. She crouched down and swept the little glutinous rice dumpling into her arms.
Lin Huaixi carried the sweet milky scent of body wash. His skin was so tender it seemed as though water could be pinched right out of it. His cheeks were flushed red from the steam of the bath, and a faint mist still clung to his big eyes, making them sparkle brightly when he looked at people.
Lin Yunmi’s heart turned soft. Like cuddling a kitten, she buried her face in Lin Huaixi’s shoulder and rubbed against him, unwilling to let go.
Then she used the same old trick again, pretending to be pitiful. “Mommy is so afraid of the dark. Without Xixi by my side, I won’t be able to sleep. Will Xixi sleep with Mommy tonight?”
Like a little grown-up, Lin Huaixi patted his mother on the shoulder. “Mm-hm, Xixi will stay by your side the whole time!”
Lin Yunmi sniffled and kept acting. “Mommy is already so old, and I’m still afraid of the dark. Doesn’t Xixi think that’s embarrassing?”
“Not embarrassing at all.” Lin Huaixi answered very seriously. “Mommy is very amazing. You’re just a little afraid of the dark. Mommy is already very round and very round, so you don’t need to be more round… no, not round. Perfect!”
Lin Huaixi used to forget that complicated word all the time, but after Qi Wang corrected him, he had remembered it this time.
Lin Yunmi praised him no matter what. “Xixi is amazing. You remembered such a difficult word.”
Lin Huaixi shook his head. “Qi Wang taught me. He knows so, so much. He can even read fairy-tale books with lots and lots of words. Xixi can’t understand them at all.”
Lin Yunmi’s smile faded slightly.
It was not surprising. In that kind of environment, Qi Wang had been forced and hurried into growing up. He was smarter and more mature than children his age, but also more pitiful.
Lin Yunmi did not say any of this to Lin Huaixi. She only asked, “Does Xixi like Qi Wang very much?”
Lin Huaixi nodded hard. “Very much! We’re good friends, and I’ll protect him too.”
Hearing the word protect, Lin Yunmi was a little surprised, but she still encouraged him. “Mommy believes Xixi will definitely do it. Since you’re good friends, you should play with Qi Wang more often from now on. You can invite him to come over too.”
Lin Huaixi nodded like a little chick pecking rice, so hard that even his hair fluttered.
Smiling, Lin Yunmi smoothed down his hair and carried him off to bed.
Mother and son could only spend time together on weekends, so when they were together, they were like conjoined babies, unwilling to separate even for a moment. They played games together, walked Grandma to her seniors’ college together, went to the supermarket together, and even when eating, they would feed each other bite after bite.
Lin Yunmi had not the slightest self-awareness of being a mother. She was still childlike at heart, unbelievably childish. Lin Huaixi, on the other hand, felt that he was a proper little man and had to take good care of his family. He was forever bustling around after his mother, never complaining of being tired, and looking as though he genuinely enjoyed it.
Lin Yunmi also did one practical thing: she helped contact a reliable nanny, and she also explained everything about Nanny Sun to Qi Wang’s mother.
Unfortunately, Qi Wang’s mother still stayed shut inside and gave no response. Lin Yunmi had no idea whether she had even heard any of it.
In the end, they were outsiders. They had no guardianship rights, so there was only so much they could do. Luckily, the two families lived close by, and the children attended the same kindergarten, so they could still look after one another in daily life.
Time flew by, and soon it was Sunday afternoon.
Lin Yunmi was about to take the car back. Smiling, she stroked Lin Huaixi’s hair. “Xixi, Mommy will come back to see you again next week.”
Lin Huaixi nodded, but his big eyes, reflecting his mother’s face, were full of reluctance to part.
No matter how obedient and sensible he was, he still instinctively depended on his mother and wanted to be with her.
Lin Yunmi crouched down and wrapped him in a tight hug, comforting him gently. “Xixi can sleep holding the doll Mommy gave you. That way, it’ll be the same as Mommy staying by your side.”
Looking at his hopeless parent, Lin Huaixi ended up worrying about her instead. “Mommy, you’re so scared of the dark. Can you really sleep by yourself?”
Lin Yunmi: “…”
Grandma almost burst out laughing. She looked at Lin Yunmi in a leisurely way, clearly waiting to see how she would talk herself out of this one.
Lin Yunmi’s face was thicker than anyone had imagined. She threw herself fully into the act and said pitifully, “It’s okay. As long as Xixi says before bed, ‘Mommy, don’t be scared of the dark,’ and gives me a little heart sign, then I’ll become very brave!”
Lin Huaixi nodded hard and hooked pinkies with Lin Yunmi. “Mommy, don’t worry. I’ll definitely remember.”
“So good.” Lin Yunmi pinched her son’s soft little cheek and continued, “Mommy will bring Xixi a gift next weekend too. What does Xixi want?”
Lin Huaixi thought for a moment, his gaze a little cautious. “Can it really be anything?”
“Anything at all!” Lin Yunmi answered without the slightest hesitation.
She had brought Xixi into this world because she wanted to treat him well, to give him all the beautiful things in the world. Even if Lin Huaixi asked for the stars in the sky, she would find a way to get them for him.
Lin Huaixi looked at Lin Yunmi with sparkling eyes, full of admiration and dependence, as though he were looking at his greatest hero. “Mommy is so amazing. You can earn lots and lots of money. But I also know Mommy works very hard. So the gift I want is for Mommy to rest well, drink lots of water, and not miss Xixi too much. You can only miss me a tiny little bit.”
He held up two fingers, leaving only a gap the size of a grain of rice between them. But then he felt a little reluctant, hesitated for a long time, and finally spread them apart just a tiny bit more, turning it into the width of two grains of rice. “Only this much, okay?”
Lin Yunmi had not expected that this was the gift Lin Huaixi wanted. Her nose turned sour, her eyes grew hot, and her expression slowly began to crumble.
Lin Huaixi was already used to this. In a soft voice, he coaxed her, “Mommy, don’t cry. I’ll help you take care of Grandma and Grandpa. Xixi is very amazing too.”
As he spoke, Lin Huaixi planted his hands on his waist and puffed out his chest, looking like a proud little rooster.
Lin Yunmi was so overwhelmed by how adorable he was that little hearts practically appeared in her eyes. She completely lost her composure, scooped Lin Huaixi into her arms, and started kissing and rubbing all over him.
“Xixi, Mommy loves you so much! How can you be this obedient and sensible? You’re my little angel! Mommy is just about to die of loving you!” In the chaos, Lin Yunmi kissed him so hard that it made an audible mwah sound. “As expected of me! To be able to give birth to such a wonderful little angel—I’m seriously too amazing!”
Lin Yunmi was about to go out for work, so she was once again dressed like a goddess, wearing delicate makeup, with her curled hair falling lazily down her back. But now she had transformed into a complete lunatic woman, utterly unconcerned with managing her expression, babbling nonstop like she was chanting a spell.
Lin Huaixi was long since used to it. He let his mother kiss and rub him however she liked, his mental state extraordinarily stable. He even let out a light sigh and looked at her with indulgent helplessness, as if saying, Parents these days are really hard to manage.
Grandma truly could not bear to watch any longer. She was almost ready to grab her daughter by the collar and pull her away by force. “Can you act a little more like a mother? It’s one thing when you’re at home, but this is outside. Watch your image. Stop howling and carrying on. If your colleagues see this, they’ll never take you seriously. How are you supposed to work then?”
Lin Yunmi flicked her curls back, her eyes shimmering as she flashed a bright smile. In an instant, her whole aura changed. “As if they would dare. Outside, I’m always the boss.”
Grandma: “…”
She herself was gentle by nature, and Lin Yunmi’s father was fairly steady too, so how had they somehow produced such a bizarrely peculiar daughter?
After a few seconds of silence, though inwardly she was enormously satisfied with her daughter and could not actually say anything bad about her, she could only say, “Hurry up and go, or you’ll miss your ride.”
Lin Yunmi nodded. Then she lowered her head, saw her son’s starry little eyes, and took two deep breaths before finally managing to recover her goddess image. She merely reached out and patted her son’s head. “All right, Mommy has to go now. You go back and play with Qi Wang.”
At the mention of Qi Wang, the reluctance in Lin Huaixi’s heart immediately lightened a great deal. Without even meaning to, he began thinking about what he and Qi Wang could play together.
Grandma turned, leading Lin Huaixi away by the hand, and noticed that Grandpa was still standing nearby. Helplessly, she asked, “You’re still going to the station to see Yunmi off?”
Grandpa replied cheerfully, “You take care of Xixi. I’ll be right back.”
His daughter was the treasure of the family, and Lin Huaixi’s birth had not changed that in the slightest. Even though Lin Yunmi was already well into her thirties, every single time she went out, Grandpa still personally saw her off and brought her back, rain or shine.
Grandma’s gaze rested on the father and daughter for a moment, and she let out a helpless little laugh. “All right, then. Off you go.”
And so they parted ways. Grandma led Lin Huaixi back, and the moment Lin Huaixi spotted Qi Wang sitting by the window, he ran over excitedly.
“Qi Wang!”
Without even lifting his head, Qi Wang knew it was Lin Huaixi. He put his book aside and had just been about to say something when he caught sight of Lin Huaixi’s face. His whole expression went blank with shock, and even his slightly open mouth closed again.
Lin Huaixi was still wearing his favorite little bunny coat, now marked with several obvious creases. The bunny hood had tilted crookedly to one side, his hair was a complete mess, and several little cowlicks were sticking straight up on top of his head.
Most eye-catching of all was that soft, fair, glutinous little face of his, now covered every which way with overlapping lipstick marks. The most obvious one was on his left cheek, and as he turned, it was displayed in full right before Qi Wang’s eyes.
Lin Huaixi himself was completely unaware of it. With smiling crescent eyes, he looked at Qi Wang and stood on tiptoe, waving to him.
