Chapter 173 Adding Fuel to the Fire

Yang Hongwen was like the child who exposed the emperor's new clothes, easily exposing the seemingly cautious harmony among all the members of the Yang family.

After Yang Wei came back, everyone in the family was very cautious, afraid of saying something wrong or doing something wrong that would cause dissatisfaction among the two children and cause them to misunderstand.

Even Yang Hongen spoke less than usual, adhering to the principle of talking less and doing more.

Yang Wei and Xia Wu seem to get along easily and harmoniously, but in fact, aren't they also trying hard to improve their relationship?

There was a long silence outside the door. Before Yang Wei could say anything, tears started to fall.

She smiled with tears in her eyes and asked, "Brother, what are you kidding? I am your sister. No matter where I go, I am your sister."

"Yes, Xiaowen, stop fooling around and come out for dinner." Liu Guizhen hurried to help persuade him.

A moment later, the door was opened from the inside, and Yang Hongwen looked unhappy. He frowned, his expression very distressed: "You don't want me to be your brother, so leave."

Yang Wei stood there in a daze, as if she didn't understand why Yang Hongwen said this.

"I didn't say that."

"You said it!" Yang Hongwen stubbornly retorted loudly: "You told me not to look for you, saying that you don't have a brother like me, then I don't want you to be my sister either, you won't see me."

He spoke incoherently, making it difficult to understand.

But Xia Wu understood.

She walked forward and patted Yang Hongwen on the shoulder: "Brother, that happened a long time ago. Xiaowei didn't abandon you, she went to college. Zhou Hui is a college student. Didn't he tell you what going to college means?"

It is very difficult for Yang Hongwen to understand all this. He is more like an autistic patient with low intelligence and weak language organization ability. He is not completely incapable of taking care of himself. He can even perform better than ordinary people in some hobbies.

But he does have an abnormal IQ.

Xia Wu has been giving his brother spiritual spring water to drink, but unfortunately it doesn't have much effect on him.

He was still not very smart, but not as stupid as before.

He can shoot videos, play with his phone, and is no different from a normal person when he's not talking.

His family no longer worried about his ability to live on his own and showed great confidence in him.

I thought Yang Hongwen would be very happy that Yang Wei came back.

But he seemed to still be alive in the hurt that Yang Wei had brought him many years ago, unable to let go and unable to get over it.

Yang Hongwen trusted Xia Wu very much. He knew that his brain was not very clear, and he was full of doubts about what his sister said: "Has it been happening for a long time?"

Without waiting for anyone to answer, he lowered his head and said to himself, "It seems like a long time ago. My sister even apologized to me."

Yang Wei burst into tears.

I didn't finish the meal properly after all.

Yang Wei was overwhelmed by the sudden emotion. She went back to her room, lay on the bed and cried, and no matter how Liu Guizhen tried to persuade her, she couldn't stop.

In the end, Xia Wu was the only one who could comfort her.

After Xia Wu moved to the mountain to live, some of Yang Wei's things were put back into this room. After she came back, she basically did not move the furnishings in this room.

The walls are covered with old newspapers and countless awards. Since the first grade of elementary school, Yang Wei's name has been a frequent visitor on the school's honor roll.

On the table were her trophies and her books, which Xia Wu had flipped through and kept intact.

Xia Wu had speculated about Yang Wei's past life countless times in this room.

She looked for Yang Wei's image in the left-behind children in the village.

Xia Wu has wondered more than once what the left-behind children in the village will be like when they grow up.

After seeing Yang Wei, she understood.

Everyone is the sum of past experiences, and inevitably bears the imprint of the environment.

The poor life, the foolish elder brother, and the desire to escape from the mountain village took root in the girl's heart like vines and struggled to grow.

A person's dreams and goals are a reflection of the depths of his soul.

Just like when Xia Wu returned to the village, she unexpectedly enjoyed everything. She was not afraid of the scorching sun, worked hard in the land, and made money with her own hands, and she was calm and at ease.

That's because she had never experienced the hardship of farming in her childhood.

Yang Wei has experienced those hardships firsthand.

The beauty that Xia Wu perceived was the pain that Yang Wei wanted to escape from.

I had to get up before dawn to cut grass for the pigs. During the busy farming season, I had to tie my brother to a tree to prevent him from wandering off, which made the villagers laugh at him. Weeds scratched my arms, leaving red rashes. Ugly bugs would appear from every corner...

The more Yang Wei hated the countryside, the more she wanted to leave.

She grew up in love, and the more she was loved, the more painful she felt.

After saying that she hated her brother, Yang Hongwen didn't cry the whole night. She cried non-stop, feeling that she was too much, very bad, and very terrible.

Especially since she shouldn't have to bear all this.

"I'm sorry," Xia Wu stroked Yang Wei's back and said this belated apology with great sincerity. She owed Yang Wei in her past life and this life, and this debt could not be escaped just because it was not her subjective will.

"I stole your life and made you suffer here for me. No matter what you do, it's what you deserve. There's no need to feel guilty or blame yourself. Even if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't do better than you."

Given the poor educational conditions in Yanggou Village, the fact that a famous university student like Yang Wei could emerge from the village is proof of Yang Wei's extraordinaryness.

"You always have a place in this family, even though I am my parents' biological child. But I think they have raised you for 10 to 20 years, and their feelings are by no means fake. They cannot be replaced by just one or two years of me spending time with them," Xia Wu awkwardly comforted Yang Wei.

Yang Wei's crying gradually became quieter, "Aren't you angry with me?"

"Why am I mad at you?"

"I stole your things."

"You mean the Xia family's things? No, no, no, those were originally yours."

During the years when Yang Wei suffered, Xia Wu squandered the wealth and doting that did not belong to him.

Of course she owed Yang Wei.

Yang Wei raised her head and looked at the afternoon with red eyes, "Don't say that. Living in the Xia family is not easy either."

Yang Wei is such a good girl.

Xia Wu sighed sincerely.

"Aren't you comforting me?"

"No," Yang Wei sniffed and sat up. "When I first went back, I felt amazing. My family was so rich, a fortune I couldn't even dream of in the previous decades. I don't know if you can understand, but I was blinded by the money."

She was afraid of being rejected by her biological parents, so she showed 120% of her patience and tried to overcome the Xia family's defenses as if she were overcoming a difficult problem.

She certainly didn't want to make another person's life miserable, but she also didn't want to give up what she deserved.

This is human nature and not difficult to understand.

But after Yang Wei was recognized by the Xia family and changed her surname, she found that life in the Xia family was different from what she had imagined.

First of all, every member of the family has his or her own things to do, and this is also the case for ordinary families.

But the Xia family is so big that even if every member is at home, they may not be able to see each other.

Therefore, the emotions between people are so indifferent that they can only communicate with each other through money.

Xia's parents may not like Yang Wei very much, but they give her a lot of money and arrange for Yang Wei to do what they think she should do.

Including but not limited to how to dress, what major to study, and who to marry.

This is what Yang Wei can't stand the most.

She thought that arranged marriages had long been thrown into the abyss along with the feudal dregs, and she never expected that in modern times there are still people who retain such dregs as child betrothal and arranged marriages.

Fu Shilin may be excellent, but Yang Wei is equally excellent. She has always lived in the admiration of her teachers and classmates. Naturally, she is unwilling to submit to a man's name and become Mrs. Fu, whose own name will be replaced.

Especially Yang Wei doesn't like Fu Shilin very much.

Every time she saw Fu Shilin, Yang Wei felt a sense of guilt.

That was the feeling of guilt towards Yang Hongwen.

Yang Wei really couldn't stand it.

That's why she asked Fu Shilin to cancel the engagement.

Yang Wei's complaints about the Xia family were echoed by Xia Wu. "You're absolutely right. When I was sick as a child, it was the family doctor and the nanny who took care of me. Even if I wanted Mother Xia to hold me to sleep, she would never tolerate me giving up her own life to be with me."

"Maybe the Xia family is very wealthy, but when it comes to satisfying people's needs for parental love, they seem to be a little lacking."

Xia Wu added.

Yang Wei nodded. "Just like in the Yang family, my parents love my brother and me very much, but our financial situation doesn't allow it. You may not believe it, but when I participated in campus sports competitions in high school, I didn't even have a pair of running shoes that cost over a hundred yuan."

"So, there's no such thing as a perfect family, at least not for the two of us."

"Seems fine now?"

The two girls looked at each other and felt a sense of empathy.

"It's really good. You lacked money, and I lacked love. Now you have money, and I have love too. No, we have both money and love at the same time."

Xia Wu saw it clearly. No one was a bad person, and there was no need to stop interacting with each other forever.

She actually missed Mr. and Mrs. Xia very much, but she just kept it to herself and didn't say it.

And whenever she thought about her past life, she always wanted to cry and didn't want to see them.

Some things are understandable, but hard to let go.

Xia Wu and Yang Wei talked a lot until their stomachs growled with hunger. They went out to eat and then slept in the same room to continue chatting.

Xia Wu talked about his childhood, both good and bad.

Yang Wei also talked about her own stories, both good and bad.

After such a long talk all night.

Both Xia Wu and Yang Wei had completely let go of their feelings.

The hospital that caused them to be taken away by mistake was sued and may have to pay a large amount of compensation.

Yang Wei still decided to go on a long journey. She had let go of her worries and wanted to pursue her dreams.

How can life be completely perfect? ​​Perhaps imperfection is the best.

Xia Wu still wants to stay in the small mountain village, where she has her career and her lover.

After meeting Ji Yunzhou, Yang Wei said directly without any reservation: "Your vision is much better than before."

Xia Wu laughed out loud with joy, and Ji Yunzhou laughed too.

After staying at home for three days, Yang Wei was treated to all kinds of delicious food and drinks. She was so happy that she didn't want to leave.

On the day of her departure, her family took Ji Yunzhou's car to take her to the high-speed rail station.

Yang Hongwen also came.

This time, Yang Wei chose to say goodbye to Yang Hongwen properly.

She hugged her brother, patted his shoulder, and said seriously: "Brother, I'm going to study. I don't mean to leave you. I will call you often."

Yang Hongwen responded seriously: "Video call."

You can see people when making video calls.

"Okay, let's make a video call. Are you not mad at me anymore?"

Yang Hongwen was silent again, and seemed still angry.

Xia Wu poked his arm secretly, "You are so petty!"

Yang Wei also hugged her, "I don't know who is older between the two of us, Xiao Wu, take good care of your parents, grandpa, and brother, and take good care of yourself. Be happy."

Xia Wu replied, "Don't worry about your family. Just fly as high as you want. I'll take care of everything."

Yang Wei hugged Yang Guojun and Liu Guizhen, and finally waved goodbye, "I will be back!"

She carried her suitcase and disappeared at the security checkpoint with light steps.

Liu Guizhen felt lost. Xia Wu walked over and supported her mother's shoulders. "She will be back. Let's go back."

Yang Wei came and left, and the trouble she brought to Xia Wu has not been resolved yet. She is hesitating whether to contact her parents.

She was referring to Xia's father and mother.

Ji Yunzhou hugged her tightly from behind, "You've always been brave, why are you so hesitant about this?"

Xia Wu thought for a moment and said to Ji Yunzhou, "I once had a dream."

"What dream?"

"In the dream, my parents pushed my hands away and said I was unworthy of being their daughter. They said Xiaowei was their real daughter and I had disappointed them."

Ji Yunzhou hugged her and said, "It was just a dream."

"But what if it wasn't a dream?"

"I'm not as smart as Xiaowei, nor as outstanding as her. I'm not good at studying, and I'm always in love. I don't seem to have made any contribution to the family."

Xia Wu felt lost.

When she was in the Xia family, she seemed to have done nothing except enjoying and squandering.

"But you are you. You are my sweet Ah Wu. I love you no matter what you do."

Ji Yunzhou held Xia Wu in his arms and rocked her gently as if coaxing a child. His voice was soft, as if soaked with water, and full of genuine pity.

In his arms, Xia Wu seemed to have truly transformed into a little baby, a sweet little baby. Her eyes were red and her mouth was pouting.

“But I’m very disappointed with them.”

"No parent can ever be truly disappointed in their child."

"Am I their child too?"

This is what Xia Wu really wants to ask: Is a thief who stole their biological daughter's happy life still considered their child?

Ji Yunzhou was unable to answer this question for Xia Wu.

Xia Wu hid again and hid in Ji Yunzhou's arms. Except in his arms, there was rain everywhere else in the world.

Ji Yunzhou patted her back gently, coaxing her to sleep tenderly. His distant gaze seemed to penetrate the night sky, and no one knew what he was thinking.

At dawn, Xia Wu became the lively and cheerful Xia Wu again. The traffic brought by the big anchor had not subsided yet. The company was very busy every day and more orders were placed than before.

Xia Wu indulged himself in work and was so busy that he never had time to rest.

Ji Yunzhou said that he would be away for two days. Xia Wu did not ask any further questions. He just reminded him to be careful and turned around to continue working.

Who knew that two days later, several uninvited guests were brought to Yanggou Village by Ji Yunzhou.

"Mr. Ji, is this the Yanggou Village you mentioned? Is Xiao Wu here?"

Two days have passed, and Zhao Fei still can't accept this reality.

She couldn't figure it out. In the past two years when Xia Wu ignored her, he didn't go abroad to spend money and change his mood. Instead, he ran to the countryside without telling her and Xia Mingcai, and even contracted a mountain to farm!

God knows how Zhao Fei felt when she first heard what Ji Yunzhou said. She was about to collapse!

The daughter she raised with so much money and effort actually went back to farming.

If this gets out, she will definitely become a laughing stock among the ladies in the circle!

But these things were told to her by Ji Yunzhou, and she had no choice but to believe them.

Even Xia Mingcai was polite to Ji Yunzhou.

Everyone in the circle knows that Ji Yunzhou is not the head of the Ji family now, but when Ji Yunzhou was in power, the Ji family was at its peak.

Even if Ji Yunzhou abdicates, the Ji family will still be a lean camel that is bigger than a horse.

"Whether it's true or not, you'll know when you see Xiao Wu."

Although Xia Mingcai was not as emotional as Zhao Fei, he also could not accept it.

A few days ago, Fu Shilin told him to cancel the engagement between the two families. He called Xia Wei and found out that Xia Wei had already gone abroad.

He couldn't contact Xia Wu, so he called his son. Xia Heng simply said it was none of his business. He couldn't ask him to arrange a marriage on behalf of his sister.

Xia Ming was so angry that he threw his phone to the ground.

He was still angry with Zhao Fei, thinking that Zhao Fei had not disciplined her two daughters well, allowing them to become arrogant.

Ji Yunzhou came to visit and first talked about his relationship with Xia Wu, and then said that Xia Wu had returned to the Yang family and was farming on some mountain in the village.

This made Xia Mingcai embarrassed and angry.

How could his daughter go to farm!

The arrival of Xia Mingcai and Zhao Fei was within Ji Yunzhou's expectations, but Fu Shilin behind them...

Ji Yunzhou glanced at Fu Shilin and always felt that there was something wrong with the other party's aura.

He felt a little helpless. Only at this point did he realize that something was wrong. Was he going a little too far?

Ji Yunzhou called her and asked her to pick someone up at the village entrance.

Xia Wu thought he was going to pick up Ji Yunzhou.

When someone came on a motorcycle, everyone was dumbfounded.

Middle-aged elite men, middle-aged ladies, young elite men.

The three of them stood at the entrance of the village, just like an international catwalk, making people unable to take their eyes off them.

Ji Yunzhou looked like a young wife who was about to be beaten or scolded and went back to bed, "I'll invite my uncle and aunt to come over and play for a few days."

Xia Wu was stunned, his jaw almost dropping to his chest.

She subconsciously wanted to run.

Xia Mingcai called her, "Xiao Wu! Come here!"

Xia Wu walked over with her neck hunched, and called out cautiously, "Dad, Mom, why are you here?"

Zhao Fei looked at Xia Wu in disbelief. "Xiao Wu, why are you in the village? Aren't you abroad?"

"I, I'm back from abroad." Xia Wu said in a low voice.

"What are you doing back here? You're wasting your youth here! What's so good about this place?!"

Zhao Fei shouted loudly, attracting a lot of attention.

Xia Wu was anxious and stamped her feet, saying, "Don't say that! I have worked hard and honestly to achieve this!"

Xia Mingcai: "Nonsense! Come back with me and clean yourself up. How can a lady from a noble family behave like you? If anyone knew, they would laugh at you!"

Autocratic, tyrannical, and strict.

The familiar smell hit Xia Wu in the face, and it was really hard for him to adapt.

She glared at Ji Yunzhou angrily, "You caused this mess, you deal with it yourself."

Ji Yunzhou could only go forward and explain to Xia Mingcai, inviting them to go to the Yang family first to sit and see what Xia Wu had achieved before talking about these things.

The group walked towards Yang's house. Ji Yunzhou and Xia Wu walked in front to lead the way. Someone behind them stared at them with fiery eyes, which made Xia Wu breathless.

Xia Wu poked Ji Yunzhou in annoyance, "Forget about my parents, but why did you bring Fu Shilin as well?"

Ji Yunzhou looked innocent: "I didn't want to bring him, but he insisted on coming!"

When Liu Guizhen saw Xia Mingcai and his wife, she was as scared as if she had seen a ghost. She was like a primary school student seeing her teacher, full of fear and insecurity.

You have to know that when the incident of the wrong baby happened, Xia Mingcai wanted to give Yang Guojun money and let the couple go back to the countryside, just for the good of the two children, and keep them in the Xia family.

Xia Mingcai is such an arrogant person, and Zhao Fei doesn't think there is anything wrong with it.

If you really love your child, of course you should give him/her a lot of money!

But Xia Ming didn't know that there are some people in this world who value dignity more than money. It doesn't matter to them whether the child is with them or not. Yang Guojun and Liu Guizhen refused to take the Xia family's money.

If Xia Wu hadn't contacted them and asked to come home, they probably wouldn't have gone to snatch the child from Xia Mingcai.

In today's society, money can solve many problems.

Liu Guizhen entertained the distinguished guests with great care, fearing that she might not be entertaining them well enough.

Even so, Zhao Fei was still picky. She picked up the clean glass and looked at it from left to right. Finally, she smacked her lips in disdain and asked Xia Wu, "Is there no mineral water here? I'll just have to drink that."

Liu Guizhen felt very embarrassed, which made Xia Wu sad.

She pushed the cup over and said, "The cup is clean. I washed it. Everyone, drink this. It's spring water flowing down from the mountain. Try it."

Zhao Fei looked unhappy. "I don't even drink this. Who knows if there are any harmful substances in the water?"

Xia Wu was as angry as a pufferfish. She was really fed up with her family's arrogance.

Fu Shilin picked up the water cup and took a sip. "It tastes pretty good."

Xia Mingcai also frowned and said, "If the conditions are not good, you should bear with it. I told you not to come a long time ago!"

"My daughter was kidnapped, why couldn't I come? If you hadn't told me to leave it alone and blamed me for spoiling the child, would I have only found out about Xiao Wu coming here today?"

The couple continued to quarrel in front of outsiders, and Xia Wu was no longer surprised.

She just wanted to see him off.

"After you finish your tea, go back quickly. No one kidnapped me. I came back of my own accord. This is my home, and this is my mother. You don't belong here. You'd better go back early."

When Zhao Fei heard this, tears welled up in her eyes, filled with disappointment.

Xia Mingcai said to Xia Wu: "Xiao Wu, how could you talk to your mother like that? Apologize to her now!"

Xia Wu was stubborn. "I won't apologize. I didn't say anything wrong. You came to my house and you still look down on my own mother. I don't like that!"

Liu Guizhen quickly stopped her, "Xiao Wu, don't say that!"

Zhao Fei's heart was broken. She was about to burst into tears when she was accused by the daughter she had raised as her own daughter for 10 or 20 years.

Unfortunately, Xia Wu didn't buy it at all.

She was annoyed to death.

Ji Yunzhou stepped forward at the right time and said, "Uncle and aunt, didn't you want to know why Xiao Wu left and came here on your way here? I think the most important thing we should do is sit down and have a good chat."