Chapter 65 Brother, don't tell him where I am.
On his way back, Zhao Fei drove very fast.
A fire was burning in his heart, making him restless.
Found it! Finally found it!
But what should we do next?
Should we just rush in?
No, Wen Xiaoxiao will run away, she definitely will.
We can't take any more risks this time.
When the car drove back to the provincial capital, Zhao Fei did not go home, but instead turned into an old residential area in the west of the city.
Wenbin's family lives here.
Zhao Fei parked his car downstairs at the tenement building but didn't go up immediately.
He sat in the car, lit a cigarette, and it was still dark; the whole building was quiet.
He waited like that, until the sky gradually brightened.
At seven o'clock, Zhao Fei stubbed out what he didn't know was how many cigarettes he had smoked, opened the car door, and went upstairs.
The knocking sounded particularly abrupt in the quiet hallway.
After knocking several times, the door opened a crack, revealing Wenbin's sleepy face.
"Zhao Fei?" Wenbin was taken aback and quickly opened the door wider. "So early, what happened?"
"I found Xiaoxiao." Zhao Fei got straight to the point, his voice hoarse.
Wenbin instantly snapped to attention: "Where?!"
“In the neighboring city, on Hongqi Street, a tailor shop opened.” Zhao Fei briefly explained the situation, omitting the part about Zhao Qingda threatening to exchange houses. “But I can’t go to see her directly. I’m afraid… afraid she’ll see me and run away again.”
Wenbin ushered him into the house. Han Manjuan was also woken up. She put on her coat and came out of the bedroom. Hearing this, she quickly poured a cup of hot water and handed it to Zhao Fei.
"Let's go find her!" Wenbin said excitedly.
“I want…I want you to go see her first.” Zhao Fei held the water glass, his hands still trembling slightly. “Go in your name. Just say…just say you came here on business and found out about her by chance. Don’t mention me, don’t mention that I know where she is. Just see if she’s doing well, if she’s having any difficulties.”
Wenbin and Han Manjuan exchanged a glance. Han Manjuan nodded: "It's only right. Xiaoxiao is raising three children alone, it must be tough for her. We should go and see her, we can help out."
"I'll go now." Wenbin got up to change his clothes.
“Wait,” Zhao Fei called out to him, “Don’t be too hasty, don’t arouse her suspicion. Just… just act like it was a chance encounter.”
Wenbin and Han Manjuan took the earliest long-distance bus to the neighboring city.
Following the address given by Zhao Fei, they inquired along the way and finally found Hongqi Street.
The sign for "Xiaoxiao Tailor Shop" is right in front of you.
Wenbin stood across the street, watching that familiar figure busy in the shop, and suddenly felt a lump in his throat.
Two years have passed, and his sister has lost weight, and her back seems to be a little hunched.
Han Manjuan tugged at his sleeve: "Let's go, let's go."
The two crossed the road.
When Wenbin arrived at the shop entrance, Wen Xiaoxiao was bending down, stepping on the sewing machine, humming an off-key nursery rhyme, and coaxing Xiao Gai in the bamboo basket next to her.
Yizhen and Yibao were sitting on the ground playing with scraps of cloth when they heard a noise and looked up.
"Mom, someone's here," Yizhen whispered.
When Wen Xiaoxiao looked up and saw the two people at the door, she froze.
The sewing machine stopped with a "click," the needle stuck in the fabric.
"Brother..." Her voice trembled uncontrollably.
Wenbin's eyes reddened, and he took a few steps inside: "Xiaoxiao..."
Wen Xiaoxiao stood up, and the scissors in her hand fell to the ground with a "clatter".
She looked at Wenbin, and tears welled up without warning.
"How...how did you find this place?" She wiped away her tears, laughing and crying at the same time.
Wenbin lied as Zhao Fei had instructed: "I came here to buy veterinary medicine. One of the cars in our fleet had a broken seat cushion, and I heard there was a skilled tailor here. But when I inquired, I found out there was a female tailor surnamed Wen who was even more skilled. When I heard the surname Wen, I asked if her name was Wen Xiaoxiao... I didn't expect it to be you."
Wen Xiaoxiao believed it.
She took her brother's hand and looked him up and down: "How are you doing? Brother, how's your health?"
Wenbin wiped away his tears: "It's all good. I'm married now. This is your sister-in-law."
Wenbin pointed at Han Manjuan, and Wen Xiaoxiao was both surprised and delighted.
She stepped forward and called out, "Sister-in-law."
"Oh," Han Manjuan replied, wiping away her tears.
Yizhen and Yibao looked timidly at the two strangers. Wen Xiaoxiao pulled them over: "Call them uncle and aunt."
"Uncle...Auntie..." the two children called out softly.
Wenbin squatted down and looked at his two nieces, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
He patted the child's head and took out some candy he had prepared from his pocket: "Good boy, this is from your uncle."
Han Manjuan had already walked to the bamboo basket, looking at the chubby little boy inside, and was extremely pleased: "This child is so handsome, what's his name?"
Wen Xiaoxiao picked up Xiao Gai and said, "Call him Wen Xiao Gai."
At noon, Wen Xiaoxiao insisted on having her brother and sister-in-law stay for lunch.
She closed the shop, went to the market to buy meat and vegetables, and then cooked braised pork, scrambled eggs, and cabbage and tofu, filling the table with food. Liu Shuhua knew that her family had come to visit, so she took her three children out to play, leaving them some space.
While eating, Wenbin looked at the simple living quarters and felt a pang of sadness.
Half of the room was occupied by a kang (a heated brick bed), and the outside was mostly filled with sewing machines and fabric, leaving the children with nowhere to play.
"Xiaoxiao, come back with me." Wenbin put down his chopsticks. "It's too hard for you to take care of three children all by yourself."
Wen Xiaoxiao shook her head and put a piece of meat on her brother's plate: "Brother, I'm doing fine here. The shop is doing okay, enough for us to eat and drink. Aunt Liu is also a very kind person and has helped me a lot."
Wenbin hesitated for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Where's Zhao Fei? He came looking for you after you left."
Wen Xiaoxiao paused for a moment.
She kept her head down, her expression unreadable, and after a long while she said, "Brother, don't tell him where I am."
Wenbin's heart sank.
As expected, Zhao Fei guessed correctly.
But he didn't understand why: "Zhao Fei...did he bully you before? Is that why you specifically instructed him to do this?"
Wen Xiaoxiao shook her head and didn't say anything.
The atmosphere became somewhat somber in the latter half of the meal.
Before leaving, Han Manjuan left behind the clothes, nutritional supplements, and snacks she had bought for the child, and also gave Wen Xiaoxiao some money.
Wen Xiaoxiao declined, but Han Manjuan insisted on putting it in her pocket: "Take it, buy something nice for the child. You've become so thin, it breaks my heart."
After seeing her brother and sister-in-law off, Wen Xiaoxiao stood at the shop entrance, watching their figures disappear around the street corner, feeling empty inside.
When Wenbin got home, it was already dark.
Zhao Fei was waiting downstairs at his house. His car was parked in the shadows, with only a red cigarette butt flickering in the darkness.
"How are you?" Zhao Fei greeted him, his eyes bloodshot.
Wenbin pulled him aside and lowered his voice: "I saw her. She's not doing too well... but she seems to be in good spirits. All three children are doing well too."
"What did she say?"
Wenbin glanced at Zhao Fei, his eyes filled with complex emotions: "She told me not to tell you where she is."
Zhao Fei gave a bitter smile, a smile that looked worse than crying.
He had expected this.
"Zhao Fei," Wenbin hesitated for a long time before finally asking, "What exactly happened between you and Xiaoxiao?!"
Zhao Fei remained silent.
He leaned against the cold wall, looking up at the dark night sky.
After a long time, I heard him say:
“Yi Zhen Yi Bao…is my child.”
Wenbin's mind went blank, as if he'd been hit on the head with a stick. He stared wide-eyed at Zhao Fei, his lips trembling, "You... what did you say?"
"Xiaoxiao and I...we..." Zhao Fei couldn't finish his sentence. He covered his face, and his shoulders began to tremble.
Wenbin's anger flared up instantly.
He grabbed Zhao Fei by the collar, his eyes bloodshot: "Zhao Fei! Are you even human?! She's your brother's wife! How could you... how could you do such a thing?!"
Zhao Fei did not resist and let Wenbin hold him.
After Wenbin finished yelling, he finally raised his head, his eyes bloodshot and filled with tears, but his gaze was unusually firm:
"We truly love each other!"
These words were like a bucket of ice water poured on Wenbin's anger.
He released his grip, took a step back, and looked at Zhao Fei blankly.
True love?
Why did Wen Xiaoxiao hide?
Why didn't Zhao Fei dare to go directly to her?
"What...what exactly happened?" Wenbin's voice was hoarse. "Did you force her, or..."
“I seduced her.” Zhao Fei interrupted, his voice resolute. “It was my fault from the very beginning. I took advantage of her when she was heartbroken… I ruined her reputation, I forced her to hide here alone with her child. Wenbin, if you want to hate someone, hate me. It has nothing to do with Xiaoxiao.”
Wenbin was completely confused.
For a moment, I didn't know who to believe or who to hate.
A few days later, Wenbin went to the neighboring city again.
Wen Xiaoxiao was surprised to see him: "Brother, what brings you here again?"
"I came to see you and your child." Wenbin put down the things he brought, his doubts growing stronger.
Han Manjuan also came this time, bringing sweaters and hats she had knitted for the children.
She pulled Wen Xiaoxiao aside to talk, while Wen Bin sat to the side, watching Yi Zhen and Yi Bao play on the ground.
After Han Manjuan took the child to find Liu Shuhua, Wenbin finally spoke: "Xiaoxiao, tell me the truth. What exactly happened between you and Zhao Fei?"
Wen Xiaoxiao stopped sewing. She lowered her head, and after a long while, she whispered:
"At first... I was the one who took the initiative to go to him."
Wenbin's heart tightened.
“Zhao Qingda hit me, cursed at me, and had an ambiguous relationship with Wang Juan. I was furious and wanted to get revenge on him.” Wen Xiaoxiao’s voice was calm, as if she were talking about someone else’s business. “I knew Zhao Fei had feelings for me, so I… so I went to find him.”
She looked up, tears welling in her eyes: "Brother, don't blame him. I seduced him, I was shameless. But later... later I really fell in love with him. He was good to me, genuinely good to me. In all my life, besides you and Mom and Dad, no one has ever been so good to me."
Wenbin opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word.
“After the divorce, Zhao Fei said he wanted to marry me, that he would acknowledge the child in my belly and take care of it.” Wen Xiaoxiao’s tears fell and landed on the back of her hand. “But I can’t agree. Brother, who am I? Who is Zhao Fei? He’s the big boss of three pig farms, young and promising. He deserves better. I can’t be a burden to him.”
"You can't just leave like that!" Wenbin said, both angry and heartbroken. "Do you know how hard Zhao Fei searched for you? He almost turned the entire provincial capital upside down!"
Wen Xiaoxiao shook her head: "Only if I leave can he start over. In time, he'll forget about me, get married, and have children. Yidi is still young; he can't be without his mother."
Wenbin looked at her and suddenly remembered what Zhao Fei had said that day.
He said he seduced Xiaoxiao and ruined her reputation.
It turns out that both of them wanted to take the blame upon themselves.
"Do you know what Zhao Fei said?" Wenbin's voice was hoarse. "He said he seduced you and that he was sorry to you. When you first disappeared, he drank every day and said that he was the one who ruined you."
Wen Xiaoxiao was stunned.
She didn't expect that Zhao Fei would take all the blame on himself, even in front of her brother, in order to protect her.
Wenbin is gone.
Wen Xiaoxiao sat alone in the shop as darkness slowly fell, without turning on the light.
She took the photo frame out from the bottom of the drawer.
That was a photo taken when Yizhen and Yibao were 100 days old.
In the photo, she and Zhao Fei are on either side of the child.
Zhao Fei was laughing so happily, and she laughed too; the happiness was real.
After the divorce, Zhao Fei said, "Xiaoxiao, I'll marry you, and we'll live a good life together from now on."
What was her response? It seems she didn't answer.
Later, she still ran away.
Wen Xiaoxiao's fingers gently traced Zhao Fei's face in the photo.
It's been almost two years. Has he lost weight? Is he doing well? How tall has Yidi grown? Has he... found someone else?
These thoughts pierced her heart like needles.
She thought she was strong enough to raise three children on her own.
But when her brother told her everything Zhao Fei had done for her, the wall she had built around her heart crumbled.
Tears blurred my vision.
Wen Xiaoxiao hugged the photo frame tightly to her chest, curled up in the chair, her shoulders trembling.
The night outside the window grew darker and darker.
Across the street in the shadows, the black Santana had once again come to a stop.
Inside the car, Zhao Fei stared at the huddled figure in the tailor shop, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly, his fingernails digging into the leather case.
He wanted to rush over, to hug her, to tell her not to cry, that he was there, that he had always been there.
But he didn't dare.
He feared that once he opened this door, she would disappear without a trace again, just like before.
So he could only wait.
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