Chapter 148 Birthday Gift
Xie Jinghuai frowned deeply. "Who's in the room? What's going on?!"
"Yes, it's young master..."
One of the maids said timidly, "A few days ago, Guanlan Garden underwent a thorough cleaning, and we tidied up the entire villa. Tonight, the young master wants to play with a toy car that Miss Lin gave him, but he can't find it anywhere and is searching for it in his room."
Before he could finish speaking, there was another loud bang.
Are they looking for something?
If you didn't know better, you'd think Big was tearing the house apart!
Xie Jinghuai breathed a sigh of frustration and strode into the bedroom.
"Oh dear, my little darling! These are all valuable items, you'll break them!" Butler Ning pleaded earnestly from the side.
"What nonsense! I don't care, I just want the toy car that Aunt Xinxin gave me!"
Tongtong angrily rummaged through drawers and cabinets like a little bandit, "If I can't find the birthday present my aunt gave me tonight, you're all doomed!"
He picked up a large box at the bottom, opened it and rummaged through it. Seeing that there was no car inside, he didn't care what was inside and threw it on the ground without any regard for its contents.
With a whoosh—
The contents of the box were scattered haphazardly on the ground, creating a mess, which landed right at Xie Jinghuai's feet.
"Young Master, you're back!" Butler Ning looked at the man as if he were a savior descending from heaven.
"Dad, Dad..." Xie Junheng, who was always being difficult, suddenly froze.
However, the next second, he straightened his back and became self-righteous.
He was looking for a birthday present from his aunt Xinxin. His father was always very forgiving and wouldn't get angry with him about anything related to his aunt Xinxin.
Xie Jinghuai lowered his phoenix eyes, glancing at his feet.
Exquisite ties, finely crafted cuffs, lapel pins, and uniquely dialed wristwatches... all these items appeared before his eyes like a tidal wave.
Among them, a wooden mechanical photo frame caught his attention.
He bent down to pick it up, and suddenly his pupils dilated.
The photo in the frame shows him clumsily holding his son when Tongtong turned 100 days old. He has no recollection of when the photo was taken.
Xie Jinghuai's breathing tightened. He turned the gear next to him, and the photo changed again.
The photo shows Tongtong when he was two years old, with his arm around his son as they watched peacocks together in the garden. Tongtong was laughing happily, and he also showed a rare, cheerful smile. If it weren't for this photo, he wouldn't have known he could laugh like that.
He flipped through a few more photos, and they were either of him and his son or just himself; none of them showed the three of them together.
Suddenly, the photos stopped turning, and the frame broke.
"Oh my god!"
Butler Ning hurriedly picked up the items at the man's feet one by one, wiping them with her sleeve. "What a pity! These are all birthday gifts that Madam prepared for you. Almost every single one was made by Madam herself. They are the fruits of her labor!"
Xie Jinghuai gripped the photo frame tightly, his eyes wide. "What did you say?"
"Young Master, after all these years, you couldn't have known nothing about it, could you?"
Butler Ning gasped, as if looking at a monster that had sprung from a rock. "Every year on your birthday and your wedding anniversary with your wife, she prepares a gift for you."
For the past five years, there hasn't been a single year without it!
"The gift Jiang Shiyuan prepared for me... why didn't she give it to me?" Xie Jinghuai's eyes grew even redder.
His heart felt like a punctured hourglass, the flowing sand slowly blocking his chest cavity, making it increasingly difficult for him to breathe.
“I gave it to you twice, but each time you received it, you just tossed the box aside and didn’t even bother to open it.”
Butler Ning shook his head helplessly, "So, I can only help Madam put them away. After all, these were all made by Madam herself, and I really can't bear to part with them."
My wife is incredibly skillful. Take this mechanical photo frame, for example; she assembled it right in front of me. I was completely amazed. She's so talented!
Xie Jinghuai stood frozen in place, like a patient suffering from amnesia who had suddenly been struck by lightning, and all the details he had never cared about before suddenly came back to him.
Actually, he doesn't like celebrating his birthday and doesn't care about birthday gifts.
Lin Zhixin and Shen Zhantang organize birthday parties for him every year. One is a close friend, and the other is a benefactor. He can't refuse either of them, so every year, as long as he is in Beijing, he spends his birthday with them.
—Lin Zhixin: "Brother Jinghuai, if your sister isn't happy about celebrating your birthday, then you don't need to come. Don't force yourself..."
"It's alright. You're her own sister, so Jiang Shiyuan has no reason to be so petty. If she can't even accept my normal social interactions, she shouldn't have agreed to marry me in the first place."
—Shen Zhantang: "That's right, you're even jealous of your own sister. Does your family own a vinegar factory?"
Ah Huai, don't bring her along! She can't even speak properly; she'll only spoil the fun!
Countless piercing sounds echoed in Xie Jinghuai's mind.
His eyes immediately turned bloodshot, and he roared, "Xie Junheng, come here!"
“Dad…” Tongtong slowly walked up to the man.
"Pick up everything on the ground."
Xie Jinghuai trembled with anger. "Then, immediately, call your mother and apologize to her."
"There are so many servants in the house, why should I be the one to clean up? I am the future heir of the Xie family."
Tongtong looked aggrieved and pouted haughtily, "Besides, what did I do wrong, Dad? Why should I apologize to Mommy? I won't!"
Xie Jinghuai roared, "What you smashed was a gift from your mother. For that alone, you should kneel in the Xie family ancestral hall!"
Butler Ning was stunned.
Young Master, has your personality changed?
He used to be quite disdainful of his wife.
"I don't."
Tongtong's personality is just like Jiang Shiyuan's, stubborn to the extreme. "Dad, you don't really care about the things Mom gave you, otherwise why would you pile them up in an inconspicuous corner?"
"If I hadn't thrown them out today, you'd have no idea Mommy gave you these, would you?"
Xie Jinghuai's brow twitched fiercely, "Xie Junheng—!"
Butler Ning was drenched in sweat: He really is his own son, always pulling out his old father's oxygen tube!
Tongtong turned her little face away, "You should apologize to Mommy. I did nothing wrong. I won't apologize. Besides, I didn't do it on purpose."
Just then, a maid rushed over, carrying a red toy car.
"Young master, your toy car has been found!"
"Wow! Great! Give it to me!" Tongtong cheered, stepping on the tie that Jiang Shiyuan had given to Xie Jinghuai without any pity.
Xie Jinghuai's mind went blank for a moment. He snatched the toy from the maid's hand and slammed it to the ground in front of Xie Junheng. The toy shattered instantly!
"My...my little car..."
Tongtong's face turned pale instantly, her lips trembling, "This is a birthday present from Aunt Xinxin, Dad, how could you..."
"Who told you I don't like the gift your mother gave me? Who gave you permission to ruin your mother's good intentions like this?"
Xie Jinghuai glared at him with his crimson eyes, stomped on the toy car, and ground it down hard. "Since you're so insensible, I'll make you taste what it feels like to have your favorite things ruined like this!"
"Wow—! Dad...you've gone too far!"
Tongtong collapsed to the ground, wailing, "The things Aunt Xinxin gave me are my most precious possessions! Don't you like Aunt Xinxin too? Why did you do this?!"
"Xie Junheng, I'll say it again, for the last time, I don't like your Aunt Xinxin."
Xie Jinghuai's hands were bulging with veins, his eyes were dark and intense, "I will not divorce your mother, and you will never have a new mother!"
...
Xie Jinghuai has been suffering from severe insomnia lately, and tonight is no exception.
In the study, Han Xu neatly arranged the gifts prepared by Jiang Shiyuan on the table, and he also wiped the tie that the young master had stepped on clean.
"Are the numbers correct?" Xie Jinghuai frowned, fiddling with the broken photo frame.
"It's been counted, yes."
Han Xu craned his neck to look over, clicking his tongue in admiration, "Madam is a capable person. How is this made? I've been looking at it for a long time and I still can't figure it out."
Xie Jinghuai coldly said, "Because you're stupid."
Han Xu inwardly scoffed, but outwardly remained respectful, "Then, Mr. Xie, have you figured it out?"
The man's face darkened. "Enough with the nonsense, get out!"
"Okay!" Han Xu obediently moistened his mouth.
The study was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Xie Jinghuai's brooding gaze swept over each lovingly presented gift, finally settling on the photo frame in his hands.
Only now did he realize that there wasn't a single photo of Jiang Shiyuan in the entire Guanlan Garden, including the Xie family group photo and on his phone.
They had never even taken wedding photos.
Oh no, he also has a marriage certificate.
But if they divorce, he won't even have this one and only one.
Xie Jinghuai took out the jade hairpin that had broken into two pieces from his bosom, slowly closed his eyes, and clenched his five fingers fiercely.
A drop of blood seeped through his fingers, but he was oblivious to it.
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