Chapter 24
Bring her happiness
Xu held Jiang Fengyi in his arms, continuously transferring the warmth of his body to her.
Jiang Fengyi lay obediently in her arms, silently absorbing the power from Xu Que. This was the first time that her emotions had not been affected after confronting her mother.
"Thank you," she said sincerely, "thank you for being there."
She leaned against Xu Que's chest, feeling the strong beating beneath his clothes; each vibration offered her silent comfort.
Xu lowered his eyes, tucked the hair behind her ear, and leaned closer, nose to nose, nuzzling her affectionately.
"You're so wonderful, I want to stay by your side forever."
She touched the back of Jiang Fengyi's hair: "So there's no need to thank me. Allowing me to stay by your side is your reward to me."
*
The three people locked out looked at each other in bewilderment. Jiang Xuan, unwilling to give up, pressed the doorbell again, but this time, no one opened the door for her.
Zhao Rufei, being relatively rational, stepped forward and advised, "Aunt Jiang, Feng Yi is still angry. Let's wait until she calms down before we come."
"She has no respect for elders at all! Is this how she treats her elders?"
Zhao Rufei pulled Jiang Xuan away, saying, "Let's go back first, and come back another time." She was good at coaxing people, and with just a few words, she persuaded Jiang Xuan to leave with her.
After coaxing the person into the car, Zhao Rufei didn't let the driver start the car. Instead, she asked Jiang Xuan, "Aunt Jiang, you must be lonely staying in this big house all by yourself. Why don't you come stay at our house for a few days?"
"I've kept the original furnishings of the room you stayed in before, so you can move in right away."
When Jiang Xuan returned home, she was alone with a house full of servants. She was most afraid of being alone and loved being around people, so she agreed to the arrangement.
"Then let's go to your place."
Is your grandmother home? I haven't seen her in a long time.
"She'd love for you to go and chat with her."
The tension that had been building between the two men at Jiang Fengyi's door moments before was completely gone, replaced by laughter and cheerful conversation.
*
The area outside the door finally quieted down.
Xu listened quietly for a while, but heard no more noise from outside.
She placed her hand on the furry head of the person in her arms and asked, "Do you want to take a nap? After you wake up, I'll take you somewhere."
"Where?"
"A place to find happiness."
Jiang Fengyi, whose head was still in her arms, squinted her eyes, unwilling to get up.
"I'm a little sleepy and don't want to move."
"I'll carry you inside to sleep."
Suburban orphanage
After hearing from Dean Su Mei that Sister Xu Que would be coming back to see them today, Yuan Yuan moved a small stool and sat in the yard early in the morning to wait.
Xiao Hua followed closely behind and sat down next to her.
"Yuanyuan, do you think that pretty lady will come along too?"
The little girl shook her head: "I don't know, but I want her to come."
I want her to come too.
Yuanyuan complained, "We can only stay here. The director won't let us go out. I'm so bored that mushrooms are growing on my head. Only when Sister Xu Que comes will she play with us for a while."
"We can only stay in this courtyard; if we go any further, the dean will stop us."
Xiaohua, being older and more sensible, said, "Yuanyuan, don't say that. The director only doesn't let us go to places too far away for our safety."
“But Jingyi is younger than me, and she has already been to many places.”
"Because Jingyi has her parents with her, her mom and dad will protect her safety."
Yuanyuan stopped talking.
Her chubby little hands supported her rosy cheeks, her eyes gazing into the distance, waiting for the figure she longed for to appear.
The familiar roar of the generator filled her ears, and even before she saw anyone, Yuanyuan knew that Sister Xu Que had arrived.
She could recognize the sound of Xu Que's car.
"It must be Sister Xu Que."
She grabbed Xiaohua's hand and ran towards the door: "Come on, we'll be the first ones there this time."
Although she was a child who knew Xu Que was coming, she was a step slower. By the time Xiao Hua pulled her to Xu Que's side, there were already children who were already there with swift legs.
"Sister Xu Que!"
"And there are pretty older sisters too!"
Round eyes widened, and Jiang Fengyi was infected by her joy.
Xu brought her here, and seeing the innocent smiles on the children's faces, she was indeed healed a lot.
Jiang Fengyi chuckled softly, "I remember you, Yuanyuan."
She patted the little girl's head: "You treated me to candy last time, so I'll return the favor and treat you to candy this time."
As soon as she finished speaking, she magically flipped her hand upwards, revealing a handful of candies in her palm.
Jiang Fengyi pinched the little girl's round, rosy cheeks and stuffed the candy into her pocket.
Dean Su Mei was worried about their teeth getting cavities, so she wouldn't give them too much candy. Only at this time could they indulge without restraint.
Yuanyuan swallowed hard, unwrapped a candy, but instead of putting it in her own mouth, she stood on tiptoe and held it high, intending to feed it to Jiang Fengyi.
Jiang Fengyi squatted down and took it into her mouth.
"Sister, I'll give you all my candy, can you play with me more often?"
She leaned close to Jiang Fengyi's ear, covered her mouth with her hand, and whispered, "I have a lot of candy hidden in my drawer. You can have it all."
After she finished speaking, she blinked and looked at the other person.
Xu, who had finished distributing toys and books to the other children, walked over at this moment.
"Yuanyuan, what's the matter you've asked someone to do for you this time?"
She turned to Jiang Fengyi and said, "Don't mind her. She asked me to lend her my car keys last time because she wanted to drive out for fun."
Yuanyuan put her hands on her hips and said, "Sister Xu Que, don't disturb my deal with the pretty sister."
"Pfft... Hahaha..."
"You're so young, do you even know what a transaction is?"
“I know!” Yuan Yuan said, looking like a little adult. “A transaction is when I give you what you want, and you give me what I want.”
Yuanyuan pushed Xu away, who was delaying her transaction.
"Sister Xu Que, I'm very busy right now. I'll play with you later."
Before the person was even pushed away, Jiang Fengyi took Yuanyuan's hand.
"I promise you, I'll come visit you whenever I have time."
"Yay!"
Yuan Yuan's big eyes immediately curved into crescent moons, and when she smiled, her little tiger tooth was revealed as she greeted them.
"I'm going to tell Xiaohua this good news!"
She couldn't wait to run to find her friends, but she overestimated her legs and tripped over a stone on the ground.
It looked like it was about to fall to the ground.
"careful!"
Xu reacted quickly and caught her head, thankfully preventing her from hitting it, but she just fell to the ground.
"Ouch!"
Yuanyuan winced in pain.
"My butt hurts so much from the fall."
Jiang Fengyi quickly stepped forward: "Besides your bottom, is there any other pain? Let me take a look." She lifted Yuanyuan's long skirt, which reached her knees, to carefully check if there were any wounds on her legs.
Unexpectedly, Yuanyuan, who was usually well-behaved in front of her, acted out of character and tugged at her skirt to prevent her from seeing.
Xu, who was standing nearby, also spoke up: "No..."
Before she could understand what the two meant, her fingertips touched a cold, hard object. Before she could figure out what it was, her eyes saw the answer.
Beneath the empty skirt, an ugly prosthetic limb was hidden.
The round prosthesis is not covered by expensive skin, but only by cold aluminum alloy components.
"It's not good, don't look!"
Yuanyuan quickly pulled her skirt down to cover her scars.
With Xu Que's help, she stood up and looked at Jiang Fengyi with a hint of timidity in her eyes. She mustered her courage and asked, "Sister, will you still come to play with me in the future?"
Jiang Fengyi straightened her skirt and patted off the dust.
"Of course I will. I won't go back on my word."
Round eyes lit up again: "Great!" She happily held out her little finger to Jiang Fengyi, "Sister, let's pinky swear!"
After Yuanyuan left humming a song, Xu looked at Jiang Fengyi's reddened eyes and comforted her.
"Don't blame yourself too much, it's not your fault."
Pointing to Yuanyuan's back, she continued, "You see, she didn't seem to care. She's already playing with the other children."
“Yuanyuan just thinks the prosthetic leg is too ugly and doesn’t want you to see it. I’ve already promised her that I’ll replace it with a beautiful bionic prosthetic leg when I get my salary next month.”
"It's okay, she's stronger than you think."
Jiang Fengyi suddenly asked, "Are there many children like this?"
"What?" Xu didn't understand.
"I want to ask, are there any other disabled children like her in the orphanage?"
Xu remained silent for a moment.
"It should be said that most of the children here were abandoned by their families because of their disabilities or illnesses. Some are lucky enough to be cured with money, while others are unlucky and have to live with the disease for the rest of their lives."
Upon hearing this answer, Jiang Fengyi's heart sank.
"and you......"
Xu replied with a smile, "I am very lucky. I don't have any incurable diseases or physical disabilities."
"Maybe it's because I'm a baby girl, that alone was enough for my parents to abandon me."
Jiang Fengyi's eyes reddened even more, and she forced herself not to let the tears fall.
Seeing that she had only made the person more upset, Xu felt extremely annoyed and quickly led Jiang Fengyi away from this place of sorrow.
"Anyway, we've already distributed the things to them. Let's go, now it's our turn to find some fun."
Jiang Fengyi was still immersed in her own emotions: "Didn't you bring me to see their smiling faces?"
Xu scratched his head: "No!"
“The place I want to take you is the place I would sneak away to when I was a child and was unhappy. Every time I came back from there, my sadness would be gone.”
"Running away without permission?"
"Dean Su Mei thought it was dangerous and wouldn't let me go play there, so I usually went secretly."
Xu led Jiang Fengyi to search deep into her memories.
Xu led Jiang Fengyi carefully along the mountain path, which was rugged and covered with weeds and pebbles, making it easy to twist one's ankle.
The two soon arrived at a stream, with lush greenery on both banks and a clear spring flowing down in the middle, making a "whoosh" welcoming sound.
"Found it!"
Xu's eyes lit up.
"Where!"
Jiang Fengyi looked in the direction Xu Que was pointing and saw a cliff on a hillside where a stream was splashing down, creating a misty spray under the blazing sun.
Beside the mist, the addition of sunlight created a magnificent rainbow in front of the two.
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