“Is there any occasion, why Auntie is making so much delicious food?” Xia Wan and Huo Yu walked downstairs together. They could smell the delicious food even before entering the room.
“Yes, some happy event happened today,” Aunt Qin’s voice came from the kitchen, and she was indeed beaming with joy. “And Auntie is very happy.”
“What’s the happy occasion?” Xia Wan asked with a sly grin, exchanging a knowing look with Huo Yu.
After Huo Yu talked to the person who manages relations with the public on the phone, they both stopped using the Internet. Because of this, they didn’t know that there was more trouble happening outside.
When Aunt Qin mentioned the happy event, Xia Wan naturally thought about Huo Yu and their relationship.
After asking, he quickly raised his feet to run downstairs. Suddenly, Huo Yu grabbed his collar from behind.
“Slow down,” Hui Yu said, his voice firm but calm, as he held onto Xia Wan’s collar to stop him from rushing downstairs too quickly.
“Oh, both of you can’t do that,” Aunt Qin exclaimed, halting them both. “It would be very dangerous if both lost balance.”
“It’s okay,” Huo Yu said reassuringly, his voice steady. “My hold is stable.”
“Isn’t it?” Xia Wan turned around with a smile, but his tone was teasing. “The eldest master has plenty of experience. Whether he’s pulling someone’s collar or grabbing someone’s school bag strap, can he ever be unstable?”
“Right?” Xia Wan raised his eyebrows, leaning slightly towards Huo Yu in a provocative manner. “Isn’t that so, Eldest Master?”
Huo Yu paid no attention to Xia Wan’s playful banter and instead led him to the house, keeping a firm grip on his (XW) collar as they walked.
“Oh, eldest master,” Aunt Qin said with a smile, unable to contain her amusement. “Don’t always pick on the young master.”
“Where did I bully him?” Huo Yu gently tugged on Xia Wan’s collar again. “Don’t parents have to carry a child who can’t walk properly?”
Aunt Qin never thought she’d hear a joke from Huo Yu. She felt happy and sad at the same time, but also really thankful. She glanced at Xia Wan with a smile on her face.
“No,” Xia Wan chuckled, his voice low as he protested. “I don’t want to have more fathers,” he said, still laughing.
….
There were many big dishes on the table, along with a clear-colored matsutake and black-bone chicken soup.
In Xia Wan’s mind, black-bone chicken was often eaten by pregnant women. He smiled and leaned over to smell it. He called Aunt Qin over, but with a mischievous glance at Huo Yu, he couldn’t help but ask with a smile, “Aunt Qin, even though I’ve announced my relationship with the eldest master, I’m not going to give birth to a child, am I?”
Huo Yu raised his eyelids slightly, giving Xia Wan a cryptic look that seemed to suggest if Xia Wan wanted to give birth to a child, there might be a way to make it happen.
Xia Wan met Huo Yu’s gaze and couldn’t help but bite his lip, trying to suppress his laughter.
However, Aunt Qin was still occupied with her tasks and didn’t notice the expressions on the two young men’s faces. She chuckled, finding their conversation amusing, and then explained seriously, “Who said you only drink black chicken soup when you have a baby?”
She continued placing some other side dishes on the table before going to prepare the fruit plate and nuts. Then, with a serious tone, she said, “I already know about you two. But that’s not why I’m happy today.”
“Are there other reasons?” Xia Wan was a bit surprised. “What could it be? Has Elder Brother Zhou been promoted?”
Aunt Qin’s husband’s surname was Zhou, and when Xia Wan referred to the elder brother of the Zhou family, he meant Aunt Qin’s son who was abroad.
“His little matters aren’t worth troubling you and the eldest master,” Aunt Qin said with a smile as she placed the fruit plate and nuts on Xia Wan’s side. “The happy event I’m referring to is much bigger than that.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Xia Wan was taken aback for a moment. Unconsciously, he and Huo Yu glanced at each other.
“Where did you hear that?” Huo Yu inquired.
“It’s all over the place now,” Aunt Qin said cheerfully. “The head of the Xue family personally posted on Weibo to announce it. He mentioned that they would hold a press conference soon. Everyone is curious to see the condition of the young master. And how he looks like now.”
Hearing this, Xia Wan suddenly remembered that his phone had indeed vibrated for a while earlier, but he was too busy teasing Huo Yu at that time, so he didn’t have a chance to check it.
He unconsciously reached for his pocket, only to find it empty. He realized he hadn’t brought his phone with him.
“I’m going upstairs,” Huo Yu said, understanding Xia Wan’s thoughts, and promptly stood up to head upstairs.
“Master, are you going to skip eating again because you’re busy?” Aunt Qin asked, wiping her hands as she emerged from the kitchen. She frowned unconsciously as she looked at Huo Yu’s retreating figure.
“No,” Xia Wan smiled, “He went to get my cell phone for me.”
He hesitated for a moment before asking, “When did the Xue family… send out the statement?”
“It had been a while,” Aunt Qin said, pulling up the Xue family’s official Weibo on her phone. “Take a look. sir.”
Xia Wan lowered his eyes and glanced at the phone screen. Xue Chong’s Weibo, forwarded by the Xue family’s official account, was displayed. Chong’s Weibo had only a few lines of text, but the official account had three lines of fireworks emojis next to it.
“Speaking of which,” Aunt Qin said as she sat down next to him, “I have some connection with the young master of the Xue family.”
“Huh?” Xia Wan looked surprised. “Have you met him before?”
“That’s right. No, but when the Xue family’s wife was pregnant, our mistress took me to visit her. The young master was only five or six years old at the time. I saw how excited he was about having a younger sibling. After our visit, he kept asking madam and sir for a brother or sister. Unfortunately,” Aunt Qin sighed, “It’s a pity that not long after that, Mr. and Mrs….”
There was a slight sound of footsteps on the stairs, catching Aunt Qin’s attention. She immediately halted her conversation.
“Not long after we returned, we heard that Mrs. Xue had given birth to a beautiful young master named Xue Yenke, and the Xue family celebrated it joyfully,” Aunt Qin said, unable to contain herself. She sighed again, “But not long after that, the young master went missing.”
Seeing Huo Yu coming down, Aunt Qin smiled warmly and began to rise from her seat. “When you’re old, you just can’t help but keep talking about old things,” she remarked with a chuckle.
“It’s okay,” Xia Wan said, looking at her intently. “Could you tell me more about the past?”
“Huh?” Aunt Qin smiled and replied, “I’m just worried I’ll bore you young folk by talking too much.”
“It wouldn’t happen,” Xia Wan shook his head.
Aunt Qin wasn’t sure if the “past things” Xia Wan referred to were about Huo Yu and his parents or about the young master of the Xue family.
But as Huo Yu approached closer and closer, she naturally began talking about the Xue family.
“Your cellphone,” Huo Yu said, handing Xia Wan’s phone back to him.
Xia Wan unlocked his phone and noticed that one of the missed calls was indeed from Wen Yunzhi. Seeing that he hadn’t answered, Wen Yunzhi had sent another message, informing him that the family was preparing to make the news of his discovery public.
Xia Wan’s fingertips gently brushed over the message, and a surge of indescribable emotion filled his heart.
Although Wen Yunzhi mentioned that the decision was made after a family discussion, Xia Wan knew deep down that they couldn’t bear to see him come to harm. They issued the statement in advance to draw attention away from him, hoping to shield him from any potential harm or malice.
“At that time,” Aunt Qin’s voice echoed in his ears. She wasn’t one to gossip, but these things were spreading like wildfire at that time. Plus, Huo Yu’s parents had some connections with Xue Chong and his wife, so he couldn’t help but pay more attention.
“The newspapers and TV were filled with missing person notices from the Xue family,” Aunt Qin continued. “There were photos of the young master of Xue was posted on telephone poles and walls all over Beijing. He was indeed a very cute child. If I had seen him on the road, I would have definitely recognized him. It was said that Mrs. Xue almost went crazy at that time, and Mr. Xue was also deeply depressed. The patriarch of the Xue family had just retired and had to temporarily return to the company. The Xue family was in turmoil for a long time, and the reward offered just to provide information was astonishingly high. Despite so many people paying attention, the child couldn’t be found, no matter how hard they searched.”
Xia Wan pursed his lips and slowly tightened his grip on the phone.
Once, Xia Wan had seen the pain that Wen Yunzhi couldn’t hide on her face, and he had also witnessed the anguish endured by Xue Zhen and Xue Chong. However, those instances of pain felt temporary and passed in his memory, overshadowed now by the weight of his own emotions.
Because most of the time, they showed him love and care as a family does, and they always looked so happy when they saw him. They also gave him lots of special and precious gifts.
Except for their initial meeting, they rarely brought up the pain and hardship of the past eighteen years. They didn’t share any specifics about their search for him during that time either.
All of this made Xia Wan quickly forget the pain and the struggle they had endured during those long eighteen years.
Aunt Qin’s words were the first time he heard about the basic details of those past events.
But just those few words made Xia Wan understand the deep pain and their suffering for 18 years.
He had never felt ashamed of anyone or anything in his life, but for the first time, he felt ashamed. Ashamed because he couldn’t do justice to his biological parents.
Because he couldn’t be as fair and rational when looking at the mistakes his adoptive father made towards them.
But his parents, brother, and grandfather showed him such selfless love that he couldn’t help but feel guilty.
In the face of their selflessness, Xia Wan felt incredibly selfish.
His mind was in turmoil. Suddenly, the gift he thought about giving them on the day of the press conference came to mind.
“What happened next?” Xia Wan asked softly, his voice barely above a whisper.
“What happened next?” Aunt Qin paused, recalling what had happened next as her thoughts naturally drifted back to the past.
Aunt Qin sighed, remembering how the past incident created a lot of commotion for years. Time flies really fast, she thought.
“Afterward, rumors spread everywhere. Those who were in Beijing back then, especially the elderly, might still recall,” Aunt Qin explained, “I heard that the nanny took the young master to the train station, and he got lost. There was a lot of gossip about the nanny at that time. In short, it wasn’t a good situation.”
Huo Yu listened intently to Aunt Qin’s words but for the whole time, his gaze was fixed on Xia Wan.
As Aunt Qin recounted the story, Xia Wan’s eyes were fixed on her with unwavering intensity, and over time, a subtle but noticeable redness began to appear in the circles around her eyes. Huo Yu, ever sharp, immediately caught this delicate shift in emotion.
Huo Yu’s long legs subtly shifted beneath the table as he gently touched Xia Wan’s ankle with his foot.
As Xia Wan’s eyes shifted involuntarily, they met Huo Yu’s gaze, and within those eyes, he discovered a mixture of warmth, tenderness, tolerance, deep understanding, and empathy. This blend of emotions acted like a balm, swiftly easing the pain within Xia Wan’s heart, simultaneously providing relief from the burden of guilt and regret that weighed on him.
Unintentionally, Xia Wan broke into a smile when looking at Huo Yu, and soon after, his hand on the table naturally found its place in Huo Yu’s warm palm. Despite the distance between them, the warmth from Huo Yu’s hand radiated and reached Xia Wan’s heart, creating a comforting feeling that made him smile even more.
Aunt Qin continued talking, but her words paused as she noticed their interactions. A smile formed in the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes.
“Everything will be fine now,” she couldn’t help but feel a little reassured. Unsure if she was referring to Huo Yu’s future or the Xue family. But she still continued, “At that time, the newspaper reported that the Xue family checked all the trains at the station that day, documenting the stopping points of each car. They investigated every corner, but unfortunately, the young master was still not found, and Mrs. Xue’s wife fell seriously ill because of it.”
“Was it serious?” Xia Wan’s concern was reflected in his quick question after hearing Aunt Qin’s words.
“Some said it was serious, but the outsider didn’t know the details. But if you think about it, losing a child is really hard for any woman,” Aunt Qin sighed. After a while, she added, ” There is no doubt that the lady from the Xue is strong. It’s said she didn’t work for five or six years after losing her child. During that time, everyone talked about the Xue family and the lost master of the Xue family, but as the years passed, people stopped paying much attention. Also, the Xue family’s money and connections couldn’t find the child, so some outsiders started saying the child might have passed away a long time ago. And over time, people kind of forgot about him. I just didn’t expect that after so many years, they would find the child again. That’s why I said everything will be fine.”
“Yes,” Xia Wan responded softly.
Aunt Qin stood up, saying, “I’m just happy for Mrs. Xue. She’s such a beautiful and gentle person. Why did she have to go through such a tough time? Luckily, God is watching over.”
“Don’t go back,” Huo Yu said as he looked at her. “Let’s just eat here. Xia Wan and I can’t finish it all alone.”
“The old man is still waiting at home,” Aunt Qin said with a smile, her eyes filled with tears but carrying the essence of peace and happiness.
“I’ll pack some for you,” Huo Yu offered, leaving the untouched food on the table. He stood up, went to the kitchen, rummaged for a container, and carefully packed a little bit of everything to give to Aunt Qin.
“Aunt Qin,” Xia Wan called out as he saw Aunt Qin tidying up, putting on her hat, and grabbing her bag.
“Is there anything else, young master?” Aunt Qin paused in her task and asked with a smile.
“It’s nothing,” Xia Wan looked at her and smiled. “I just wanted to tell you, actually, I am that child.”
“Ah?” Aunt Qin was momentarily stunned, then smiled again. “What child?”
The redness in Xia Wan’s eyes deepened. “I’m that child from the Xue family.”
With a bang, the phone in Aunt Qin’s hand fell to the ground. She looked at Xia Wan intently for a long time, her eyes welled up with tears, and her cheeks turned red.
Right after Aunt Qin left, Aunt Zhang called again.
“Wanwan,” Aunt Zhang’s tone carried a hint of seriousness, her voice deliberately lowered. “Your dad stumbled upon something on the Internet today, and he insisted on going to Xia Chenglin’s house to confront him. It really worried me.”
Xia Wan was also startled. “Is he gone now?”
“No,” Aunt Zhang said. “Later, I don’t know why, but he changed his mind again. He’s just grumbling a lot, talking about things that don’t really matter. I can’t help him with anything, he’s saying this is not good, that is not good.”
Xia Wan took a deep breath, realizing that Xia Chengzhang changed his mind because of the statement from the Xue family.
“It’s okay,” Xia Wan said. “Please help me keep an eye on him today. I’ll go home to see him later.”
“Eldest Master,” after ending the call, Xia Wan suddenly looked at Huo Yu and smiled. “Do you know why I don’t mind those mean words on the Internet?”
“Huh?” Huo Yu looked at him attentively.
Huo Yu doesn’t mind because he has a strong and resilient heart, and he has the power to influence and change things on his own. But Xia Wan was different.
“Because I feel so lucky. I have a healthy body, a loving family, not just one but two families, and finally, I have you, eldest master,” Xia Wan expressed, reaching out as he held Huo Yu’s hand tightly. “So much good has come my way that I’m not afraid of what others say or how they scold me. The most precious things are right here in my hands, and I don’t have the time or energy to focus on what’s outside. Having you is enough for me.”
“I’m so envious,” Huo Yu said softly, his eyes carrying a gentle smile.
“But everything I have belongs to you, eldest master,” Xia Wan paused for a moment and said seriously, “because I belong to you.”
🥹❣️
Thanks for the chapter! 🥺💜💜💜
So sweet. Thank you for the chapter 😊
Oh, what a bitter-sweet chapter! It’s do great that Xue family found him >w<
Thank You for the new chapter ♡(ŐωŐ人)
Im still not satisfied with how the FATHER easily get away from the KIDNAPPING! Just because his ill 😒 like the pain the family face that time is nothing
So you finally realize how selfish you are for ignoring the pain your so called adoptive father gave to your biological parents? But yeah, its better than to hold grudges, I suppose. Ngl would be great if the treatment didn’t go through, sorry not sorry
Not one, not two, but three family xd. Will he not talk about his experience of his other life ?