Chapter 24 Almost Discovered
Feeling sorry for his sister-in-law spending the New Year alone, Li Yugu decided to stay a couple more days, bringing Yidi with him to the Li family home.
Zhao Fei was worried about the pig farm and also about his family, so he took a bus back home alone on the afternoon of the second day of the Lunar New Year.
By the time I got home, it was already pitch black.
Pushing open the gate of the courtyard house, it was quiet inside.
Wen Xiaoxiao has probably already gone to sleep.
Zhao Fei went into his room and put his things down.
There were still a few homemade fireworks piled up in the corner.
He picked up the fireworks and matches and went into the yard.
He walked to the window of the east wing, gently knocked on the glass, and called in a low voice, "Xiaoxiao? Xiaoxiao, are you asleep?"
After a moment of silence, Wen Xiaoxiao's muffled response came: "...Big brother? You're back?"
"Yeah, just got back. My aunt and Yidi are staying at my grandma's for a couple of days." Zhao Fei paused. "I have a few fireworks here, want to come out and take a look?"
After a while, the door to the east wing opened gently.
Wen Xiaoxiao came out wearing a cotton-padded coat, her face still showing the dazed look of someone who had just woken up. Under the cool moonlight, she had a unique softness about her.
Zhao Fei lit an incense stick and handed her a firework: "Take this head, I'll light it."
Wen Xiaoxiao took the slender firework tube in a daze.
Zhao Fei struck a match and brought it close to the fuse.
With a "whoosh," the fuse ignited, and sparks spread rapidly.
"Lift it further away," Zhao Fei reminded him.
Wen Xiaoxiao subconsciously raised her hand and pointed the firework tube diagonally at the deserted corner of the wall.
The next second, "Sizzle—!" Golden sparks suddenly shot out from the nozzle, drawing a bright trail in the darkness, illuminating her wide-open eyes and Zhao Fei's focused gaze on her profile.
"So beautiful..." she murmured, the firelight dancing in her eyes.
The fireworks quickly faded, and the courtyard was once again shrouded in darkness and silence, with only a faint smell of gunpowder remaining.
That brief moment of light and noise seemed to be just an illusion.
The two stood side by side in the quiet courtyard, neither of them moving.
"Xiaoxiao," Zhao Fei suddenly said, "I want to be with you." He had kept these words in his heart for a long time.
Wen Xiaoxiao almost dropped the firework remnants in her hand.
She turned her head and looked at Zhao Fei's serious face in the dim light.
The tide of reality soon overwhelmed her.
She twitched the corners of her mouth, her tone deliberately relaxed, even tinged with a mocking joke: "Big brother, hurry up and go back to your room to sleep. In your dreams... anything goes."
These words were like a bucket of ice water.
Zhao Fei's lips twitched slightly; he accepted the rejection.
He didn't go back to his room, but he didn't say anything more either.
He simply stood silently beside her.
Standing for too long allows the cold to seep into your bones.
Wen Xiaoxiao couldn't take it anymore and coughed softly.
Zhao Fei seemed to wake up with a start: "It's cold outside, let's come inside." He was referring to the direction of his main house.
Wen Xiaoxiao did not object and silently followed him into the main house.
It's warmer inside than outside.
Closing the door shut out everything from the outside world.
This time, there was no alcohol, no violent conflict as an excuse.
Wen Xiaoxiao suddenly became unusually proactive. She moved closer to Zhao Fei, wrapped her arms around his neck, tilted her head up, and kissed him.
Zhao Fei was taken aback by her initiative, but quickly became infatuated with her.
He sensed the urgency in her movements and understood that this might be a distorted way of expressing her feelings for him, yet one that she couldn't openly acknowledge.
He responded with tenderness, more gently and with more effort than ever before.
The night was as dark as ink.
Just before dawn, in the deepest and quietest moment, the sound of a key turning suddenly came from the courtyard gate!
Then came the sound of staggering footsteps and indistinct mutterings.
It's Zhao Qingda! He actually came back at this time!
Wen Xiaoxiao was instantly jolted awake from her daze.
Zhao Fei reacted quickly, pulling her into his arms and covering her head and body completely with a thick quilt. He held his breath and listened intently to the sounds outside.
Zhao Qingda staggered drunkenly through the courtyard, cursing under his breath: "Damn it... I'm freezing to death... This awful weather..."
He walked straight to the door of the east wing, took out his key, and found that the door was not locked, but only slightly ajar.
He pushed the door open and shouted, "Wen Xiaoxiao! Where the hell have you been? Get me a cup of hot water!"
The room was dark and quiet, and no one responded.
Zhao Qingda groped his way to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), reached out and touched it; the kang was empty, and the bedding was ice cold.
He froze for a moment, then his temper flared up instantly, and he cursed in the darkness, "Damn it! Where the hell are you in the middle of the night?! Wen Xiaoxiao! You fucking get out here!"
He assumed Wen Xiaoxiao might be in the main room or the toilet, so he staggered out and yelled in the yard, "Wen Xiaoxiao! You filthy woman! What are you hiding for? Get out here right now!"
Only his hoarse cursing echoed in the silent courtyard.
He walked to the door of the main room, pushed it open, and found no one there.
Then I walked to the toilet in the corner of the yard, but there was no one inside.
"Damn it! He's really not home?" Zhao Qingda was both cold and angry. The alcohol was getting to him, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. "He must have gone to that lousy tailor shop again to finish some work! Earning that little bit of money, he doesn't even come home! What a cheapskate!"
He cursed viciously, thinking that Wen Xiaoxiao was out doing chores, even though the timing was wrong. But he was too drunk to think about it too much.
He was freezing, so he turned around and went back to the east wing, hastily rummaging through the closet for a thicker cotton overcoat and putting it on, still cursing under his breath: "I'll deal with you when you get back... You've gone too far..."
Then he staggered out of the east wing, slammed the courtyard gate shut, the engine roared, and the car quickly disappeared into the pre-dawn darkness.
Only after the sound completely disappeared did Wen Xiaoxiao dare to breathe very lightly on the kang (heated brick bed) in the main room, under the covers.
Every curse Zhao Qingda uttered in the courtyard felt like a whip lashing at her heart.
Zhao Fei pulled back the covers, hugged her tightly, and whispered to comfort her, "It's alright, we're leaving, we're leaving."
But this time, Wen Xiaoxiao did not relax in his arms.
After the initial fear came a deeper despair and pain.
Zhao Qingda's cursing just now was like a sharp knife, brutally dissecting the reality she had been trying to escape.
Their relationship was ultimately something that couldn't be made public.
What catastrophic consequences would occur if it were discovered?
Zhao Fei noticed the intense fluctuation in her emotions.
He cupped her face in his hands and saw the unfathomable struggle in her eyes.
“Xiaoxiao,” his voice was hoarse, with a desperate resolve, “if you’re willing, we’ll leave. Right now. The pig farm, the house, everything here—I can give it all up. We’ll take Yidi and go somewhere no one knows us, to start over. Just say the word.”
Flee far away? Wen Xiaoxiao's pupils suddenly contracted.
The temptation is too great.
But where can we escape to?
Reality is not a storybook.
Also, can she really abandon her older brother who has just settled down?
She shook her head violently, pushed Zhao Fei's hand away, curled up in the corner of the kang (a heated brick bed), hugged her knees, buried her face in them, and sobbed, "No...no...can't..."
Seeing her retreat, Zhao Fei felt a surge of powerlessness.
He didn't know how to comfort her.
After a moment of silence, Zhao Fei suddenly stood up, walked to the old wooden cabinet by the wall, unlocked it, and took out a small cloth bag from the bottom.
He walked back to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), sat down, and opened the cloth bag, inside which was a dark red savings book.
He pulled Wen Xiaoxiao's cold hand and stuffed the bankbook into her hand. "Here, take this."
Wen Xiaoxiao looked up blankly.
"This is all my savings." Zhao Fei looked into her eyes, his tone calm and serious. "All the money the pig farm has earned over the past few years, except for expenses, is here. It's quite a lot, so please keep it safe for me."
Wen Xiaoxiao suddenly tried to pull her hand back: "No! How can this be! This is your money!"
Zhao Fei wouldn't let her break free: "What's mine is yours. I'm at ease leaving it with you."
He paused, then lowered his voice, "In case... you need money, or... you want to leave, you can use it anytime."
With trembling hands, Wen Xiaoxiao opened the savings book.
The number above is indeed quite large.
This is not just about money, but also about Zhao Fei's unspeakable loyalty and commitment.
Large tears fell onto the first page of the savings book.
She finally pulled her hand back forcefully and pushed the bankbook back to Zhao Fei, saying, "No... I can't take it... You keep it... I... I'm not good enough for you..."
The sky was already showing the first light of dawn.
Looking at Wen Xiaoxiao, who was crying uncontrollably, and then at the bankbook that had been pushed back to him, Zhao Fei felt a profound sense of bewilderment for the first time.
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