Thinking back to this, Xiao Dingyu wondered what he would say if the Xiao family came looking for him. He didn't exactly hate his mother's family, but he couldn't accept that the woman his maternal grandfather had married afterward and her daughter had conspired to kill his mother.
Three days had passed since Xiao Dingyu learned that the Xiao family was investigating him. As Xiao Dingyu was leaving get off work, he pushed his bicycle out of the factory gate, put his foot on the pedal, and was about to pedal hard when someone grabbed his arm from the side.
Xiao Dingyu turned his head to look and saw someone familiar but whom he hadn't seen in a long time. The two looked at each other silently, and the people around them who were leaving work began to whisper among themselves.
Xiao Dingyu withdrew his gaze. "Let's go! Let's find a place to talk up ahead. It's not good to be stuck here at the factory gate when the workers are leaving. Put your luggage on the back rack."
Xiao Bolin followed behind Xiao Dingyu, looking at Xiao Dingyu pushing his bicycle ahead in a daze. Xiao Bolin remembered the last time he saw Xiao Dingyu was when he was sixteen. Back then, Xiao Dingyu was quite thin and small; now, apart from a slightly similar appearance, everything else about Xiao Dingyu was different.
Xiao Dingyu led Xiao Bolin to the state-run restaurant and found a seat. "Take a look at what dishes you'd like to order, and I'll call the waiter over to write down the menu."
Xiao Bolin rushed over to the textile factory gate as soon as he got off the train; he was genuinely hungry. Without hesitation, he looked at the menu and told Xiao Dingyu what he wanted. Xiao Dingyu then told the waiter what he wanted to order.
The uncle and nephew sat facing each other in a somewhat somber atmosphere, seemingly unsure of what to say or how to say it. Nearly thirty years...
These events have turned this once very close uncle and nephew relationship into something both familiar and estranged.
“You don’t seem surprised at all by my arrival. Did you know I would come? Was it Brother Minglun who helped you change your name and leave?” Xiao Bolin asked, looking at Xiao Dingyu.
Having arrived at this point, Xiao Dingyu had nothing to hide, so he admitted it directly. "Yes, I begged Uncle Zhilun to help me."
Xiao Bolin asked Xiao Dingyu with some sadness, "Do you hate us that much? So much that you don't even want to see us and just leave? Then why did you change your name to Xiao?"
Xiao Dingyu looked into Xiao Bolin's eyes and said, "I don't hate you. I just can't accept that those two women conspired to harm my mother. I just hate why my mother's own father has betrayed her time and time again."
"Why should only my mother and Uncle Zhilun suffer? My mother lost her life, and Uncle Zhilun died alone. I changed my surname to Xiao only because my mother's surname is Xiao. I am only my mother's son. In the future, besides my mother, I will also be Uncle Zhilun's son."
Xiao Dingyu took a breath. "I don't know why you've come today. Are you here to see someone I haven't seen for almost thirty years, or to persuade me to forgive the past, to forgive General Xiao for his suspicions about my mother and Uncle Minglun, and to forgive him for protecting that adulterous couple?"
“Let me make it clear to you, I do not hate any of your Xiao family’s brothers or sisters who are related to my mother by blood. These things have nothing to do with you. I cannot forgive General Xiao’s actions, even if he regrets them now and realizes that he was wrong. None of that matters, because my mother is no longer here.”
With reddened eyes, Xiao Dingyu poured wine into his glass and raised it to Xiao Bailin. "Uncle, I know you've worked hard for my mother, and I'm very grateful for your kindness. I, Xiao Dingyu, am doing very well now, with a loving partner and filial children. My surname is Xiao, but not the Xiao of a prominent military and political family in Beijing; it's the Xiao of Xiao Baiyu. This glass is a toast to you to thank you for coming to find me."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
