The words had barely left her lips when a vague image began to appear in Zhang Rui's mind.
It's not very clear, but I have a feeling that she must have said something like that before.
The man opposite her patted her hair with a smile, "Let's eat our main meal first. After that, we can have banana split ice cream."
Who is this man? Is he her father?
Zhang Rui shook her head, trying to clear her mind of those images.
Whether it is true or not, it no longer matters.
She knew she was missing a memory.
Over the past few years, she has been going to the police station to inquire, hoping to see if anyone is looking for her, but after searching through all the records, she found nothing.
She thought that if her parents were still alive, they must have given up on her.
That's true. When she went missing, she was still young, and her parents were still young. They could have had a second or even a third child, let alone a second.
They—don't want her anymore.
"Rui Rui, eat properly and don't be picky about food."
"Mom, I don't want to eat green peppers."
"No, you have to eat the green peppers."
"But I really don't like to eat it."
"Forget it, if Rui Rui doesn't like it, don't force him to eat it."
A gentle female voice rang out, and the familiar voice made Ning Hongze tremble.
He looked up.
Then I saw his mother, Lu Xiu.
Lu Xiu has become completely different.
Her hair was dyed burgundy, which made her skin appear even whiter. She wore a mirror-like makeup, a lace dress with butterfly sleeves, and a wide platinum bracelet on her wrist.
She was elegant in demeanor, with a confident and composed smile on her face, and looked gently at the chubby boy sitting next to her.
"Mom is biased."
The girl next to her had long, jet-black hair tied into a high ponytail with a large bow. She was also wearing a lace butterfly-sleeved dress, a miniature version of it, making it immediately clear that they were mother and daughter, a family of four.
The chubby boy and the little girl looked remarkably alike.
She bears some resemblance to Ning Hongze.
Ning Hong felt a sudden pang in her heart, but she calmly withdrew her gaze.
He thought he was indifferent, but unexpectedly, seeing Lu Xiu still made him feel uncomfortable.
"Aze, what's wrong?"
Jiang Cha sensed that Ning Hongze seemed a little off, so she reached out her small hand and took Ning Hongze's hand in hers.
"It's nothing, I just ran into someone I didn't want to see."
Ning Hong gestured slightly in that direction with her lips, and Jiang Cha looked over accordingly. "Your mother?"
She whispered in his ear.
"And your maternal grandfather."
"·····"
"What are you two whispering about? You're keeping secrets from me?"
Zhang Rui pretended to be displeased, but she knew very well in her heart that Jiang Cha was almost raised by Ning Hongze. For Jiang Cha, Ning Hongze was probably much more important than herself.
"Sister, look how close we are. In the future, we'll probably be living together. If you meet someone you like at school, don't be shy, just marry him. Acha will be with me."
"No way, I can't hold you back. You're already twenty, you'll have to get married and have children eventually. After I graduate, I'll bring Acha to live with me."
Her life, which was originally a mess, was given light by Ning Hongze's appearance. She had already dragged him down for so long, how could she continue to drag him down?
There's a guy pursuing her at university right now. To be honest, he's handsome, outstanding, and gentle with her, and she's really attracted to him, but it still doesn't work out.
In this male classmate's eyes, she was probably as pure and innocent as a snow lotus. He once said she was like an angel—tsk tsk, look at what he said!
Unfortunately, she was neither a snow lotus nor an angel.
She is a single mother with a daughter.
A hint of self-deprecation flashed across Zhang Rui's face, but Ning Hong saw it clearly.
Just as Ning Hongze was about to say something, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her thigh. She saw Jiang Cha holding a spoon in one hand, eating ice cream with a serious expression, but her other hand was below, pinching Ning Hongze's thigh hard.
I don't know how someone so young can hurt so much when they pinch someone?
"Sister, I didn't actually tell you, but my mother was also abducted," Ning Hong said in a low voice.
"What?"
Zhang Rui was taken aback.
"Later, my mother ran away, remarried, and is now living a very good and happy life."
"And what about your father?"
He fell to his death while chasing after my mother.
Ning Hong sighed.
"You know where your mother is, why don't you go find her?" Zhang Rui recalled that when she met Ning Hongze, he was only sixteen years old and all alone.
"She doesn't want me anymore." Ning Hongze's voice was calm. It wasn't that he didn't want to go to her, but that she didn't want him anymore, and even her family members considered him a disgrace.
Even if he relentlessly pursued her, he wouldn't end up with a good life. He'd be better off alone.
“…Hongze—” Zhang Rui couldn’t understand.
She was willing to risk her life to bring her child out, even knowing it would be incredibly difficult—
“There’s no need for her to pity me. I can understand her. Seeing me will remind her of her miserable and painful days. Those days were really too hard to bear. No one would want to think about them.”
Ning Hongze glanced at the table out of the corner of her eye.
"What I mean by saying this is that if my mother can be happy, so can you. Because of their relationship, I don't want to get married at all right now. You could say I'm a little afraid of marriage. So please let Acha stay by my side and keep me company."
“Aze—”
Ning Hongze's words made it sound as if she had helped him, when in fact he had been the one helping her all along—
"So you really have no way to get married?"
"I'm not too sure about that either. Maybe I'll be normal in ten or twenty years." Once Acha grows up, his inability to get married will naturally be cured.
Lu Xiu had been feeling uneasy.
Three years ago, Zhang Zhanxuan took her to that small village, but they found nothing.
She heard that a kind person had given him the opportunity to study.
His grades were excellent, and in order not to make this kind person spend more money, he skipped grades one after another.
I graduated from high school at the age of sixteen.
It seems that he later got into a university in Beijing.
Hearing these words, Lu Xiu felt both proud and sad.
She couldn't help but recall the driver's words again, and if the person following behind her really was Hong Ze—her heart skipped a beat again.
Lu Xiu took a deep breath, raised her head, and her gaze fell on the seat by the window.
Just then, Ning Hong looked up, and their eyes met for a moment.
Lu Xiu suddenly stood up.
"Red then—"
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