Chapter 72

Despite her short stature and small feet, Grandma Xingxing ran incredibly fast, and Xu Gui and the others couldn't keep up with her.

Her eyes seemed to be spitting fire. When she arrived at the orphanage gate, a young woman was talking to an orphanage staff member in the courtyard.

When Grandma saw the other person, she quickly walked over and slapped him across the face.

"Smack!"

The sound of a slap rang out, and the woman's face was slightly turned to the side. She turned her head, looked at her grandmother in disbelief, and exclaimed, "Mom?! What are you doing?"

Grandma looked at the woman with a pained expression, her lips trembling as she said, "Why are you asking me? I want to ask you the same thing! Xingxing is your own son! He's sick and instead of taking him to get treatment, you're using those superstitious things to harm him. Have all those years of your education gone to waste?"

Disappointment filled her aged face. "How could you be so heartless?"

The woman in front of him was naturally Wang Lingxing's mother and her grandmother's daughter.

This was also the first time Xu Gui had met the other person. When she visited the Wang family before, she only met Grandma Wang and Father Wang. At that time, she only felt that Wang Lingxing did not look much like them. Now that she saw Wang Lingxing's mother, she realized that he looked like his mother.

Wang Lingxing's mother's surname is Yang, and her name is Yang Ai. She is very beautiful. Although she already has a son as old as Wang Lingxing, she still looks young, like a fragrant flower. Rather than saying she is Wang Lingxing's mother, it would be more accurate to say she is Wang Lingxing's older sister.

Being slapped in the face by her own mother in front of so many people made Yang Ai feel embarrassed. When she heard what Xingxing's grandmother said, she said with shame and anger, "What can I do? Who told him to get such a shameful disease? If he wasn't sick, how could this have happened?"

Grandma retorted angrily, "Isn't this because you're putting too much pressure on the child?"

"Speaking of pressure, isn't his deskmate at school, that little girl, under more pressure than him? Her mother is bedridden, and her father is just a farmer who even has to worry about tuition fees, yet she doesn't get sick. That little girl even gets first place in every exam, but what about Wang Lingxing?"

Yang Ai didn't think they were wrong, and even argued her case convincingly.

“Our family is so well-off. His grandmother would make him nourishing soup every few days, and we gave him plenty of living expenses every week. He never had to worry about food, clothing, or shelter since he was a child. But he couldn’t even maintain his top three grades, and in the end, he developed this strange disease, becoming neither male nor female, neither yin nor yang!”

"Do you know how people in our neighborhood are laughing at us now? When I go out, people point and whisper about me!"

At this point, she said bitterly, "Because of him, I got scolded by his grandma and dad, who said I don't know how to raise children. Haven't I taught them properly? What can I do if he's so disappointing?"

Hearing this, the dean couldn't help but feel glad that Wang Xingxing wasn't there. He had originally planned to come over, but Xu Gui stopped him and told him to go play with Wu Xueya and Zhao Di—the three of them had already built a deep friendship in the past two days.

It was thanks to Xu Gui that he was allowed to stay; otherwise, hearing his own mother say such things would have been incredibly upsetting for him, and it would have done absolutely nothing to help his condition.

Perhaps Xu Gui had anticipated this scene long ago... The dean couldn't help but look at the person beside her. Xu Gui was standing with her, arms crossed, quietly watching her grandmother and Yang Ai talk.

After hearing Yang Ai's absurd reasoning, Grandma couldn't help but say, "There are all kinds of people in this world. A star is a star, and his deskmate is his deskmate. How can you use his deskmate's standards to judge him?"

Yang Ai, however, said, "Then why can't he be as outstanding as his deskmate?"

She said with disdain, "I thought he was clever and cute when he was little, but I never expected him to become so stupid as an adult. The doctor said he might be under too much pressure. What pressure could he possibly have? He has no worries about food or drink. His life is much better than mine back then!"

Grandma was so angry at her words that she almost fell over. She pressed her chest, breathing heavily, as if she was about to run out of breath.

"Second Aunt!" Grandma's nephew came over, reached out to support her, and asked worriedly, "Are you alright?"

Grandma waved her hand at him, her expression somewhat dejected.

The nephew glared at Yang Ai and said sarcastically, "Yang Ai, people say that you've forgotten your family after you married into City A. I used to think it was a misunderstanding, but now it seems that it's really true. You really have forgotten your family after you got married."

Upon hearing this, Yang Ai said unhappily, "I'm just telling the truth. My mother doesn't like to hear it and feels unhappy. What can I do? Can't I even say a few words to my own son?"

The grandmother interrupted their argument. She looked at her daughter, whom she hadn't seen for three years, and felt that she looked even younger than she had three years ago, yet she also seemed even more unfamiliar to her.

Now she looks like a true city dweller, stylish and proud, completely different from how she used to be.

Grandma closed her eyes briefly and asked, "What exactly are you here for? You're not here to take Xingxing back, are you?" Her tone became somewhat sarcastic at the end.

“…I heard from my uncle that you came to City A, so I wanted to come and see you. As for Xingxing,” Yang Ai looked away somewhat guiltily and said, “If you really want to take him back to your hometown, then you can take him back.”

Grandma lifted her eyelids to look at him and asked, "What about you? Your Wang family doesn't care about you anymore?"

Yang Ai's gaze shifted, and she said, "We have no choice. If he stays at home, what will people think of us?"

Speaking of this, she suddenly glared at Xu Gui, seemingly getting angry, and said indignantly, "It's all that little star's fault. If she hadn't broadcast this, how would anyone know that Wang Lingxing has a strange illness, and how would they be laughing at us like this?"

Grandma said angrily, "If Miss Xu hadn't exposed this, you probably still wouldn't have admitted that Xingxing was sick, and would still be hiring those swindlers to 'exorcise' Xingxing, right?"

"You'd rather believe Xingxing was haunted than admit he's sick... What kind of parents and grandmothers are you?" Grandma questioned.

Yang Ai: "I'd rather he were possessed by a ghost than have a mental illness and become a madman!" At least then people wouldn't laugh at them for having a madman in their family.

Grandma looked at her in shock and disappointment, completely unable to believe that her once innocent and ambitious daughter had turned out like this. How could she say such things with such confidence?

Yang Ai, however, looked completely self-righteous, seemingly not believing there was anything wrong with what she said. She looked at her grandmother and said, "Mom, if you're willing to take her back to your hometown, that would be best. Her father and I have already discussed it and agreed that we'll give you three thousand yuan a month as child support..."

As she spoke, she added, "Actually, he's already nineteen and an adult, so we don't need to pay him child support anymore. But he's sick, so his father and I think we should raise him for another two years... We've already done more than enough for him."

When Grandma heard this, she felt not happy, but sad, and she wiped away her tears.

"Alright, then so be it," she said, having given up on the Wang family. As for her daughter Yang Ai—this was not her daughter; her daughter was dead. This person belonged to the Wang family.

Yang Ai seemed to sense her disappointment, and her expression turned somewhat awkward.

"Mom, you have to think about me too. If I could, I wouldn't want to give up my child," she said. "But look at Xingxing, what hope do I have for the future?"

"You don't need to say anything more," Grandma said listlessly. "I just hope you remember that since you promised to transfer three thousand yuan to the child every month, don't forget!"

Yang Ai responded with a soft "Eh," and said, "Don't worry about that. No matter what, Xingxing is still my child. How could we really abandon him? It's just that I'll have to trouble you to take care of him in the future."

Grandma twitched her lips, too lazy to talk to her anymore.

Yang Ai looked around and asked, "Where's Xingxing? I don't see him at all. I'm his mother, and he doesn't even come to see me?" Her tone was somewhat dissatisfied.

Grandma said, "I told him not to come, and it's a good thing he didn't. Otherwise, how heartbroken he would have been to hear those despicable things you just said?"

Yang Ai listened but didn't take it seriously. She looked around and said, "Why don't I go see him? I've come all this way, and it won't be so convenient to see him again after he goes back to his hometown with you."

After she finished speaking, she looked somewhat saddened, but since everyone had just heard her say those words, they felt no emotion whatsoever.

Yang Ai said, "Where is the star? I'll go find him."

The dean frowned and looked hesitantly at Xu Gui.

The director genuinely felt sorry for Wang Lingxing. Although he had only been at their orphanage for two days, the child was quiet, well-behaved, and incredibly obedient, which made people feel sorry for him. Therefore, the director truly hoped that he could get better and better.

Therefore, she was unsure whether to let Wang Lingxing meet Yang Ai, since even she, an outsider, thought what Yang Ai had just said was excessive.

What if she actually meets Wang Lingxing and says something even more outrageous?

"Let her see him," the grandmother said sadly. "She's right. Who knows when they'll see each other again? Maybe in a couple of days, she'll completely forget about her son."

Grandma made a self-deprecating remark.

Upon hearing this, Yang Ai said with some dissatisfaction, "Mom, how can you say that? Am I really that heartless?"

Grandma was too lazy to pay attention to her anymore. Yang Ai didn't seem to be in a hurry. She enthusiastically asked the staff to take her to see Wang Lingxing. The staff glanced at the dean and, seeing the dean nod, then took her to find Xingxing.

As she left, Grandma wiped away her tears, looking very downcast.

At that moment, Wang Lingxing was taking care of the other children in the orphanage with Zhao Di and the others. Yang Ai saw him from a distance and happily called out, "Xingxing!"

Upon hearing her voice, Wang Lingxing was startled. When he looked up and saw her, he silently stood up from where he stood, but did not move his feet.

Yang Ai walked over, hugged him tightly, and exclaimed happily, "Oh, my precious son!"

After hugging him, she let go, cupped his face in her hands, looked him over, and said with a touch of heartache, "You've lost weight!"

Wang Lingxing didn't speak, just silently looked at her. Yang Ai didn't feel awkward at all. She held his hand and asked him with concern, "...When you go to your grandma's hometown, you must be a good girl..."

Judging from her kind and caring demeanor, anyone who didn't know better would think she cared a lot about her son. However, everyone in the orphanage knew how she treated Wang Lingxing, so seeing her like this only made them feel a little strange.

"...She seems to care about Wang Xingxing quite a bit," the aunt in the courtyard whispered to Xu Gui—they were watching this scene from a slightly different distance.

But if she loved this son so much, how could she have said those things before?

The aunt was a little confused.

Upon hearing this, Xu Gui chuckled lightly and said in a calm tone, "If you hadn't seen your favorite toy or pet for several days, you would be just as excited as she is."

Xu Gui could see very clearly that Yang Ai's affection for Wang Lingxing was too superficial.

She did like her son Wang Lingxing, but her liking wasn't profound; it wasn't a mother's love for her child. Instead, it was more casual, superficial, and lacked genuine affection.

Not to mention, this Ms. Yang seems to have some histrionic personality traits—she seems quite happy to put on such a loving mother-son relationship in front of everyone.

The aunt listened, and felt even more confused, since she didn't know what histrionic personality disorder was.

Yang Ai didn't stay at the orphanage for long. After performing a scene of "motherly love and filial piety" with everyone, she left with very light steps and did not show any reluctance.

Before leaving, she transferred 20,000 yuan to Wang Lingxing and said, "From now on, you must listen to your grandma, understand? If you need money, just call your mom, okay?"

Wang Lingxing nodded calmly, escorted her to the orphanage gate, and watched her leave quietly.

He stood there motionless, like a statue devoid of joy or sorrow. It wasn't until Yang Ai had left for quite a while that he seemed to finally come to his senses, slowly turning around to go inside.

But as soon as he turned around, he was stunned.

At the entrance of the orphanage, Wu Xueya, Zhao Di, and several other children from the orphanage stood in front of him, smiling at him.

"Brother Xingxing looked so silly just now, so blank!"

"Brother Xingxing, have you finished dropping off Auntie? If you have, let's go back and play with the puzzle! We're sure we can finish the puzzle today!"

"And my building blocks, Brother Xingxing, can you help me take a look at my building blocks? Why does the one I built look different from the one in the picture?"

"Brother Xingxing!"

"Brother Xingxing..."

Several young children from the orphanage rushed over and surrounded Wang Lingxing. Wang Lingxing was patient and never showed any impatience towards the children, so the children loved playing with them.

At this moment, the children took turns holding his hands, wanting him to go back and play with them.

Wu Xueya also said, "Xingxing, Aunt Song said she cooked mung bean soup and told us to hurry back and eat it."

Wang Lingxing looked at them, his stunned expression slowly easing. He smiled and nodded, replying, "Okay!"

He was surrounded by children as he walked into the orphanage. The children's chattering voices were carried into the air by the wind. It was a sunny day with blue skies and white clouds.

*

Xu Gui decided not to return to the hotel in the afternoon.

She set up her fortune-telling stall right under the big tree at the entrance of the orphanage—it was an old locust tree, over a hundred years old, with a huge canopy that gave the feeling of being completely covered when people stood under it and looked up.

In sunny weather, its presence effectively blocks the sun's rays, providing shade during the summer.

After looking around, Xu Gui felt that this was the most suitable place to set up a stall, especially since it was close to the orphanage and convenient. So after the inspection, she decided to set up her stall here in the afternoon.

The orphanage had the tables and chairs needed for the stall. When she said she would set up the stall under the locust tree next door, the children from the orphanage were very enthusiastic. They carried stools and tables, without needing any adult help. If anyone tried to help, they refused, which was quite amusing.

And so, Xu Gui's fortune-telling stall was quickly set up. Since she hadn't brought her fortune-telling banner, she simply took a 4A sketch paper, wrote the words "fortune-telling" on it, and pasted it on the trunk of the locust tree next to her. Then she sat on a stool and began to wait for customers to come.

The cameraman circled around, found a suitable angle, set up the camera, and started the live stream.

It was already 3 PM. Xu Gui usually starts his live stream at 1 PM, but today he was at this time. Some netizens were already waiting in the live stream room. However, when Xu Gui's live stream started, they found that the background of his live stream had changed.

This time it wasn't under the familiar overpass or in a hotel, but in yet another unfamiliar place.

"【You've changed your livestream location again?】Netizens are curious."

Xu Gui explained, "I went back to the orphanage at noon today, and I'm currently livestreaming from near the orphanage."

Upon hearing this, the viewers in the live stream suddenly understood.

[No wonder there were so many kids around Turtle; it turns out he was livestreaming near an orphanage. Are all these kids still from the orphanage?]

...

Many children from the orphanage surrounded Xu Gui, and some were curious about the dark machine in the camera's hand. However, despite their curiosity, they were all sensible enough not to touch it. They just stood next to the machine and looked at it without touching it.

A literate child looked at the sketch paper that Xu Gui had pasted on the locust tree and read out the two characters on it: "fortune telling".

The children in the orphanage had a vague idea of ​​what fortune telling was, since the directors often talked about Xu Gui's fortune telling and they often watched Xu Gui's live streams.

Their understanding of fortune telling was that Sister Xu Gui knew everything... and that understanding wasn't wrong.

"The deans say that Sister Xu Gui can predict anything in this world. When Aunt Tuanzi found Brother Xueya, it was Sister Xu Gui who predicted it..." One child thought, a hint of anticipation appearing in his eyes: "Then, can Sister Xu Gui also predict who my parents are?"

"..."

Xu Gui never expected that his first guest this afternoon would be a child from an orphanage.

She looked at the child lying on her lap, who looked up at her and asked, "Sister, the headmistress and the others said you can predict everything. Can you help me find out where my mom and dad are?"

As he spoke, he reached into his pocket, pulled out two one-yuan coins, and held them up, saying, "I have money."

Xu Gui looked at the two coins, paused for a moment, and then reached out to take them. Seeing her take the coins, the child's face lit up with excitement, and he looked at Xu Gui with great anticipation.

“Well, you want to find out where your parents are?” she said.

The child nodded vigorously: "Yes, yes."

Xu Gui pretended to do some calculations and said, "Ah, I've figured it out. Your parents went to a very, very far place."

The child tilted his head: "A very far place?"

"Hmm." Xu Gui nodded with a smile, reached out and stroked his round head, and said, "It's just that it's too far away. Although they really wanted to take you with them, they really couldn't, so they could only leave you in the orphanage."

Child: "Can't I go to them?"

Xu Gui shook his head and said, "No, because they really have a lot of things to do, and if you go, you will disturb them."

The child was disappointed after hearing this, and with tears welling up in her eyes, she asked, "Just like you, Sister Xu Gui?"

Xu Gui nodded again: "Yes, they're just as busy as I am. Oh, no, they're even busier than Sister Xu Gui. They're so busy they don't even have time to eat or sleep. Otherwise, if they like you so much, how could they not take you with them?"

With teary eyes, the child asked, "Is that really true? So, I'm not an orphan, right?"

“Of course you’re not an orphan!” Xu Gui’s expression changed slightly, and he said with certainty, “You should know that your parents love you more than anyone else in this world.”

Sensing the certainty in Xu Gui's words, the child immediately stopped crying and smiled, saying, "Then I'm going to tell Dou Dou and the others that I'm not an orphan, so they can't call me that anymore!"

After saying that, the child ran off, while Xu Gui was stunned by his words.

“He started kindergarten last year,” the principal, standing nearby, said. “Many of the children in the kindergarten are from the neighborhood. Maybe their parents said something to them, and they started saying that Xiaoshu is a child without parents…”

Xu Gui fell silent for a moment.

This is a situation that most of the children in the orphanage have experienced, including Xu Gui. The children who spoke probably didn't mean any harm; they just overheard their parents talking about it and remembered it, then parroted it back to them.

But for the children in the orphanage, this seemingly casual remark was a devastating blow.

The dean sighed.

Upon hearing this, the viewers in the live stream fell silent, and even the previously lively chat became much quieter.

Just then, a comment suddenly appeared in the live stream: "[Ah, I remember who this kid named Xiaoshu is. There was a car accident here two years ago. A family of three was driving normally when they were hit by a sports car traveling in the wrong direction. The couple in the car died on the spot, and only their child survived.]"

Their child survived because, in the instant the car accident occurred, his father defied his body's instincts and faced the side that was hit head-on, while his mother used her body to firmly shield him in her arms.

It is said that when the firefighters arrived and rescued the man, the father, who was sitting in the driver's seat, had been almost crushed by the front of the sports car and was no longer recognizable as a human.

The child's mother's back was completely broken, but her spine still arched, firmly protecting her child in her arms, while she herself was crushed to pieces by the deformed vehicle.

This scene shocked not only the firefighters who were rescuing the person, but also the onlookers. Afterwards, the incident was widely reported, and the media continued to promote the greatness of maternal love.

The child's photo also appeared online at the time, so when people saw Xiaoshu, they recognized him as the child from the accident.

Netizens suddenly understood why Xu Gui said the child's parents had gone to a very, very far place—a distance between life and death.

[…Xu Gui was right, his parents truly loved him very, very much. No one in this world loved him more than they did!]

At this moment, Xu Gui's desire to build the orphanage into the world's number one orphanage became even stronger and more determined.

She thought: I must make a lot of money, and then I will build a huge amusement park in the orphanage, an amusement park even better than Disney's, so that everyone will envy the children living in the orphanage.

That's right, it's about envy, not mocking the children in the orphanage for not having parents.

With this thought in mind, Xu Gui's fighting spirit to make money became even stronger.

She pondered: perhaps she could try doing business with wealthy people instead of just setting up a stall on the roadside? That way, she might make money faster.

After all, the money of the rich is the easiest to earn.