When we got home, Xiaohui had already fallen asleep with Xixi in her arms. We couldn't bear to disturb their tranquility and quietly returned to the bedroom.
I followed the routine step by step, and after taking a shower and changing clothes, Xiao Min and I lay down in each other's arms.
Before I could make any move, Xiao Min had already wrapped around me like a vine.
The alcohol ignited an unprecedented intensity in her. She burned in my arms, her searing passion nearly melting me. Her usual reserve and shyness vanished, and the panting and moaning that escaped her lips radiated a reckless abandon, a hearty release. I whispered a warning that walls could hear, but she responded with a defiant chuckle, abandoning herself even more to the surging tide, as if asserting her sovereignty in the most primal way possible, completely submerging me...
Dew in the morning, rain in the evening. To have these twin sisters share the same joys in a single moment was, for me, an unprecedented experience. Years later, looking back, the person is gone, but the delicate fragrance of a lotus flower beside my pillow lingers stubbornly in the depths of my indelible memory.
Xiao Min was almost powerless under my tenderness and accepted my suggestion to take Xixi back to the county town for the New Year. She naturally knew that the reason I stayed alone in the provincial capital was to wait for Xu Tong and her daughter to return home and spend the Spring Festival with them.
Of course, I wasn't a gentleman, wandering among women, relying on nothing more than deception, promises and deception. But at that time, I completely forgot: paper will eventually cover fire.
January 21, 2012, the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, was cold.
At the International Arrivals Hall at Beijing Capital Airport, I waved enthusiastically toward the exit. The moment Xu Tong appeared, she took off her sunglasses. The moment our eyes met, she hurried toward me, pushing a stroller.
I held her tightly in my arms. She clung to me, her body trembling slightly. Was this trembling from the excitement of reunion, or from the coldness of her thin clothing? I couldn't tell.
After a brief hug, I handed her a bouquet of flowers, then quickly leaned over to look at my daughter Xu Anqi in the stroller.
The long flight had obviously made her extremely uneasy about the unfamiliar surroundings. When I, a completely unfamiliar face, suddenly appeared before her, she could no longer bear it, her little mouth pursed, and she burst into tears.
Xu Tong quickly leaned over, picked up her daughter from the stroller, patted her and coaxed her: "Baby, don't cry, look, this is daddy——"
Countless nights of longing now transformed into a scalding spring, pouring out uncontrollably. A heavy sense of sadness and powerlessness instantly gripped me. I was so incompetent, unable to keep my daughter by my side, forcing her to sail across the ocean shortly after she was born. The unfamiliarity and resistance in her eyes now—isn't this... my retribution?
That night, I checked Xu Tong and her daughter into a five-star hotel. As the excitement and joy of the reunion wore off, Xu Tong began to complain: "Having to stay in a hotel after returning home? What's the difference between this and not coming home at all? Can't I just go back to the county for the New Year? I miss my parents and my brother."
I soothed her, "Did you sell your old house? We've hired a nanny now, so let's move back in. Besides," I leaned over to Anqi in Xu Tong's arms, gently lifting her tender little face, "it's okay for our family of three to be together, so it doesn't matter where we celebrate the New Year, right, right, Anqi?"
The little guy seemed to have adapted to me, a "stranger", and giggled in his mother's arms.
Xu Tong pouted, her resentment still lingering: "In England, it was just the two of us all day long. There wasn't even anyone to talk to. It's still like this after I came back. It's so boring."
"Did you hire a Chinese nanny?" I asked tentatively. "Does she usually... chat with you?"
This only brought back her frustration. "Don't even mention it! This old lady from Fujian, who speaks fluent Mandarin, is talking to her like a jack of all trades all day long. How can we even talk to her?"
"Can she speak English?" I asked again.
"She only speaks a few awkward English sentences with a thick Minnan accent," she curled her lips, "I'm too lazy to waste words with her."
A wave of guilt washed over me. I gently put my arm around her shoulders and said, "Xu Tong, I'm sorry for putting you through this. I've been very thoughtful. This time, I'll definitely find you a suitable nanny."
Xu Tong curled her lips, revealing undisguised disdain. "Guan Hongjun, I know you too well. Put away your hypocrisy! If it were just for the bond of being your daughter, you would have forgotten me long ago. Tell me, why are you urging us mother and daughter to come back so urgently? What are you planning?"
There's no need to beat around the bush with someone who understands. Besides, I know Xu Tong's personality well—she's sober, almost cold. Any empty promise is worthless to her; only the tangible things in front of her count.
I didn't intend to hide it, and told her directly that Xiang Qianjin sacrificed his life to save me and was recognized as a martyr, and that I needed her to bring An Qi back to help with the process of collecting the pension.
She was a woman after all. After listening to my story, she sighed deeply, "Xiao Xiang is a good man, a little naive, but he risked his life to save you at the critical moment. He is your savior." However, before she finished sighing, she suddenly changed the subject, her tone cold: "Tell me the truth, that's a debt you owe him! What does it have to do with us? Now you call us back all the way here just for this?" She sneered, her eyes like knives, "Do you think I will cooperate?"
I knew she was angry and didn't want to argue, so I had to soften my stance and plead, "You're right, this matter should have implicated you. But the situation now... If Qianjin had fake-married you and registered An Qi in his name to help me avoid the penalty for having more children than allowed, we wouldn't be in this situation. We have to collect this money and give it to his sister-in-law, so that they, an orphan and a widow, can have something to rely on."
My pleas failed to move her—it was her inherently cold and unsympathetic nature that fueled her deep disappointment and resentment. "Alright," she said in a cold, hard voice, "I'll consider this as repaying Xiao Xiang's debt of gratitude. But I can't have come all this way in vain! Besides, according to the law, this compensation should belong to An Qi." She thrust out her hand and went straight to the point, "Tell me. How much do you want me to get?"
Reality, naked reality. The Xu Tong before me was no longer the one I remembered, a woman so unfamiliar that it chilled me.
I took a deep breath, but the air felt heavy in my lungs, as if filled with ice. The invisible pressure was almost suffocating. My face remained expressionless, but my voice was unsettled. "Name your price."
She barely paused, saying firmly and without a doubt, "I want half."
I didn't hesitate at all, as if the answer was already waiting in my throat: "Yes."
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