Butterfly
"You mean you saw it here..." Yu Xi bit her lower lip, as if those two words were extremely hot to the touch and she couldn't say them no matter what. After struggling with it repeatedly, she still couldn't say the name the child used to address Meng Chou.
Meng Qingze was exceptionally clever; he knew what Yu Xi was going to say and babbled, "There, Daddy is there."
He pointed at Meng Chou, staring intently at Meng Chou's hiding place, his eyes filled with anticipation that he wanted Meng Chou to come out and play with him.
Zhang Jinhua and Meng Yun were so frightened that they stood frozen in place, both gasping in shock and extremely tense. They both knew that mentioning Meng Chou in front of Yu Xi was a taboo subject.
Moreover, this was the child Yu Xi had wanted to take with her from the very beginning. This was only the second time he and Yu Xi had met since Meng Qingze was brought back.
Meng Qingze usually spends most of his time in his room. After Yu Xi comes back from a busy day, he also locks himself in his room and rarely eats dinner, let alone sees Yu Xi.
Yu Xi's memory of him was still from when Meng Yun carried him back, and he hid in Meng Yun's arms, timidly calling her "Mom".
She simply said, "There's no need to force him like this."
Now, the little guy isn't as afraid of her as he was when he first arrived.
Seeing Yu Xi watching from the side, Zhang Jinhua took a few steps forward, picked up Meng Qingze, and said with a smile, "President Yu, you can't believe what a child says."
She knew that Yu Xi never believed in ghosts or gods. Other bosses paid great attention to feng shui, but Yu Xi would just put up a lucky cat and a money tree.
She didn't believe in these things, and Meng Qingze just happened to run into her two biggest red flags.
“Shouldn’t we believe what children say at this age?” Yu Xi said as she walked behind the tree. “A pure heart says what it sees, without any ulterior motives.”
Zhang Jinhua didn't know what to say for a moment, so she turned her head and gestured for Meng Yun to come over and speak for her. Meng Yun immediately understood and slowly walked over.
Yu Xi raised her hand and whispered, "Don't come any closer!"
She put a single finger to her lips and whispered, "There's a butterfly here."
"Isn't it said that after people die, they turn into butterflies to visit their families? Just now, as he said that, a butterfly happened to appear here."
"Then do you think this butterfly could be Meng Chou? Could it be that he came to see me?"
Meng Yun and Zhang Jinhua dared not speak easily. When they heard these words, they understood that Yu Xi was on the verge of a breakdown again.
With Meng Qingze there, they were also worried that Yu Xi's emotional fluctuations might frighten the child.
Meng Chou, who had been hiding behind the tree, looked at the butterfly above his head. He dared not move, afraid that the slightest movement would cause the butterfly to fly away.
"Could you do me a favor? Just stay in her hand for a minute, okay?" Meng Chou started to negotiate with the tiger butterfly. Looking at the butterfly with its wings spread wide and motionless, he felt really stupid for trying to communicate with a butterfly that couldn't understand human language.
But the butterfly seemed to understand what he said, and slowly flew to Yu Xi's outstretched fingertip, where it stayed obediently without moving.
Yu Xi quickly showed the butterfly to Meng Yun and Zhang Jinhua, repeatedly saying, "Look, I knew it was him, I knew it was him who came back."
"The child was right after all, he's back." As she spoke, she started to cry. In front of them, Yu Xi couldn't control her emotions and cried.
She usually stayed by herself, and when someone mentioned Meng Chou, she would fly into a rage, then find a corner and hide there to cry secretly.
She didn't want anyone to see her vulnerable side, but at this moment she simply couldn't hold back anymore.
Meng Qingze stretched out his short arm, trying to wipe away her tears, "Mommy, don't cry."
While Yu Xi was still in a daze, Zhang Jinhua took Meng Qingze and left first. She didn't forget to whisper to Meng Yun, "Spend more time talking to President Yu, and don't let him do anything foolish."
"Don't worry, with me here, there won't be any problems," Meng Yun replied, watching the two leave.
The butterfly lingered on Yu Xi's finger, reluctant to leave. Yu Xi murmured to the butterfly, "If you miss home in the future, come back and visit. I'll ask them to plant more flowers, and you can find your way home by smelling their fragrance."
"They say butterflies have very short lives. Don't come to see me as a butterfly next time. It's too short, and I can't keep you here."
"Ah Chou, do you know? I really did listen to you and tried to live a good life."
A dense, stabbing pain shot through Meng Chou's missing heart. Even though his heart had been given to Yu Xi, why did it still hurt?
He echoed Yu Xi's words, "I really wish I could become a butterfly and stay in your garden. Even if my life is short, it would be enough to be by your side."
"Thank you," he said to the butterfly, and the butterfly, as soon as he finished speaking, flew away with him.
Yu Xi didn't chase after it. She looked up, tears streaming down her face, watching the butterfly fly high into the sky and into the distance until it disappeared from sight.
She stubbornly stared in the direction the butterfly had flown away, remaining in that pose like a wooden statue. The wind lifted her skirt, the hem swaying at her feet like a blooming rose.
Waiting quietly for that butterfly that will never return.
"Little Fish, I wish you could see me and hear my voice. I've actually been by your side all along. Every day I've spent in the underworld, I've been counting down the days until I can see you again."
"Perhaps the best arrangement for ghosts is to be able to see their families again. The greatest torment is that we can see you, but you can't see us."
He poured out his emotions, but nothing was as real as the handkerchief Meng Yun handed him at that moment.
"Sister-in-law, don't be too sad." Meng Yun took out a handkerchief from his shirt pocket and handed it to her. "Look, if it really is my brother who has come back, it means he hasn't forgotten us, he still remembers us."
"You've finally said something sensible." Meng Chou crossed his arms and raised his head like Yu Xi.
To comfort her, Meng Yun said, "Let me continue telling you stories about my brother when he was a child!"
“I remember once when we went with Dad to an orphanage for a charity event, he actually suggested throwing a grand birthday party for you, a little girl, even though he didn’t know you. I found that strange at the time.” Meng Yun recalled that he knew nothing about Yu Xi’s background and had not investigated it much.
More than these things, he preferred to explore her hobbies, everything she liked, and her various little habits. Therefore, he didn't know that the orphanage they had visited was the place where Yu Xi had lived since childhood.
"Did he really go there to celebrate his birthday with someone?" Yu Xi began to try hard to recall the memory. She was not a person who liked celebrating her birthday, but someone had barged in, making her start to re-examine the date.
—
"Xiao Yu, you've run away again!"
"He always hides here on his birthday, hurry up and find him."
"Today is the day President Meng is coming to donate money. I told him not to celebrate this girl's birthday, to leave a good impression on President Meng. It would have been fine to have another child host the birthday party, but he insisted on having her come. Now look what happened."
"What's the use of saying all this now? Let's hurry up and look for it. I'll go check the front yard."
Two accompanying teachers walked back to back down the corridor, hurrying to find the birthday boy. One of them, also running at a breakneck pace, bumped head-on into a little boy at the corner.
Yu Xi winced in pain, clutching her bottom where she had fallen. She slowly stood up, using the railing for support, and muttered, "Who is it? Why aren't you watching where you're going?"
Meng Chou patted the dust off his pants and looked at her without saying a word.
Seeing that he didn't speak and was a complete stranger, Yu Xi asked, "Are you new here? Were you abandoned by your parents too?"
Before Meng Chou could answer, she looked at his exquisite attire and his silent, calm personality, which were completely different from hers. He didn't seem like someone abandoned by his parents at all; he was clearly a rich young master from some wealthy family.
"I know, you're the son of that wealthy businessman who came here to donate today, right?"
Meng Chou didn't answer her. Passing by her figure, he noticed a long shadow cast by the sun at the corner. Judging from the height and appearance, it should be the teacher he had just met in the front yard who was looking for someone. Considering that Yu Xi had been running around in a hurry just now, he deduced that the person she was looking for was her.
"Your teacher is here, aren't you leaving?" Before the words were even finished, hurried footsteps and shouts came together, "Xiao Yu, don't hide anymore, everyone is celebrating your birthday together, and you can even receive a birthday present today, isn't that great?"
Ignoring the pain, Yu Xi immediately ran to one side of the fork in the road. As she brushed past Meng Chou, she said, "Please, don't tell the teacher you've seen me. I'm leaving now!"
Meng Chou watched her calmly from beginning to end, from the moment they met until she fled. Just as her figure disappeared, the shadow gradually shortened, drew closer, and came to his side.
"Little friend, did you see a little girl run past?" The teacher gestured with her hand, "She was about this tall."
Meng Chou pointed in the opposite direction from where Yu Xi had run away, "I see her, she ran that way."
"Okay, thank you." The teacher didn't have time to think about whether his words were true or false; she just hurriedly tried to catch up with Yu Xi.
Meng Chou slowly walked in the direction Yu Xi had fled. He continued forward from the fork in the road until he reached a storage room. There was nowhere else to hide nearby except for this room.
Meng Chou pushed open the dusty iron gate, and a cloud of dust rushed towards him. He quickly raised his sleeve to shield his face. After the dust cleared, a series of clear footprints were visible on the gray cement floor, which had not been covered in dust for many years.
He didn't speak, but followed the footprints until he reached the wooden box. Outside the large box, there was a corner of Yu Xi's light yellow dress. He gently tugged at the corner of the dress that she had forgotten.
The person inside the box hurriedly pulled her skirt inside and threatened, "I'm not going back with you. I've said I hate birthdays. Even if Chen Miao comes, I won't go. I just don't want to go today."
"If I came, would you be willing to come out of this box first?" he asked.
Yu Xi recognized his voice, immediately opened the box, and poked her head out. "Oh, it's you! Why didn't you say so earlier? I thought it was the teacher looking for me. You scared me!"
She jumped out of the box in a few quick movements, took out a cushion that looked fairly clean, patted it a couple of times and put it on the ground. She sat down in one corner, pointed to the empty seat next to her, and said, "Hey, sit down!"
"I don't want to go out. If I go out now, I'll definitely be discovered. And you're not allowed to go out either." Yu Xi grabbed the corner of his coat and said domineeringly, "If you go out, they'll find out about me."
“Okay, I won’t leave.” Meng Chou, who was always a bit of a germaphobe, glanced at the cushion and sat down next to her without hesitation.
He asked, "Why don't you want to celebrate your birthday?"
"Because I don't know which day is my real birthday. The director always sets the day we came to the orphanage as our birthday. But I don't want that. I want to find my parents and ask them which day is my real birthday."
"And did you know? I heard that a rich person came here to donate money today. It was also an event they arranged to celebrate my birthday, all in order to get more donations for the orphanage."
"So, I like it even less."
Meng Chou listened quietly to her. He understood this feeling. Wasn't he the same way on his birthday, reluctantly eating with his so-called family?
“If you don’t want to go, then don’t go.” He had barely finished speaking when he added, “But if we could really get more donations, wouldn’t you and the people here be better off?”
Yu Xi didn't think as much as he did, nor was she as rational as Meng Chou. She simply said, "Anyway, I'm not willing."
As the two were talking, a figure flashed past the window. Yu Xi immediately stood up and covered his mouth, while Meng Chou did not struggle, but calmly watched the shadow pass by outside the window.
"It must be the teacher who's looking for me. I can't stay here any longer. I'm leaving now. Remember to keep it a secret." Yu Xi quietly opened a crack in the door and slipped out.
After she left, Meng Chou dialed the number on his wristwatch, and the person on the other end answered quickly.
"Ah Chou, where did you go? Are you lost? Send me your location so Dad can send someone to look for you."
"Dad, I'd like to throw a big birthday party for the person whose birthday is today, is that okay?"
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