Chapter 38
"Brother Xin!"
"Brother Xin...?"
The man and woman who spoke up stood next to Wang Ma, and the three of them looked at the three people opposite them, feeling very awkward.
The fish in the bucket seemed to sense the awkwardness and quickly jumped out to create a laugh, hopping and jumping around on the bluestone slab to make their presence known.
"Brother Xin, you two know each other?" Bai Lu reacted and scooped the fish that was 'seeking death' back into the bucket.
Xu Xin gave a soft "hmm," and said, "A former classmate."
Bai Nan wanted to greet them, but seeing that Xu Xin's expression wasn't purely happy, but rather seemed a bit complicated, she didn't say anything.
While the fish they caught were being braised in the kitchen, only Bai Lu and Bai Nan remained in the lobby on the first floor.
Xu Xin led his two classmates upstairs to the second floor, while Wang Ma went to the kitchen to keep an eye on things. Once no one else was around, Bai Lu couldn't help but start complaining.
"What do you mean by 'former classmates'? They traveled all the way from Taipei to find us here, aren't they friends? Besides, those two looked so happy when they saw Xu Xin, it didn't seem like they were just casual acquaintances. What kind of relationship do you think they have?"
Bai Nan: "You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?" She was also very curious, mainly because Xu Xin's reaction was somewhat intriguing.
Xu Xin's room upstairs.
"Brother Xin, you ran off to such a far-off village without a word, and we've been looking for you everywhere! I was almost desperate!" the boy complained, and then tried to pounce on Xu Xin's bed.
"The Force!" Xu Xin quickly called out to him, "No."
Force looked aggrieved after being rejected, "Brother Xin, do you think I'm dirty? You used to let me lie on your bed whenever I wanted! Waaaaah—"
Xu Xin gets a terrible headache every time the Force makes this noise.
"Stop using your Force. This is someone else's house, so tone it down." The girl's gaze swept across Xu Xin's face, and after noticing a hint of impatience, she warned him.
"Waaaah—I'm so wronged, sis, you know how much I begged Uncle to help me find Brother Xin." Yuan Li snuggled up to his sister Yuan Li and buried his head in her neck.
Yuan Li felt nauseous and interrupted him sharply: "Yuan Li! Don't force me to hit you!"
"Alright, alright, I won't make a fuss anymore." Yuanli knew when to stop.
Seeing that Yuanli had stopped acting, Xu Xin pulled over a chair and sat down, asking seriously, "So, what brings you here?"
The two exchanged a glance, and Yuan Li cautiously began, "My uncle—"
"If you're looking for my father, you can go to the Xu family's old residence in Taipei. I don't have anyone named Xu Tang here," Xu Xin interrupted her coldly, then stood up to see her out.
"Take care, and don't bother seeing me off."
Seeing his displeasure, Yuan Li quickly stopped talking and asked, "Brother Xin, were those two boys you just met your new friends? What are their names?"
Xu Xin raised an eyebrow and replied, following her words, "You've already found their home, and you still don't know their last name?"
Yuan Li was so choked that he didn't want to talk anymore. Seeing this, Yuan Li quickly joked, "We were only concerned about your whereabouts and didn't pay attention to anyone else. We'll definitely go down and say hello later!"
"They'll be here soon," said Wang Ma, who had finished cooking and called them downstairs for dinner.
Upon hearing this, Xu Xin turned and left, completely ignoring the two of them. Yuan Li hurriedly followed, making Yuan Li grit his teeth in anger.
She knew that Yuanli would become spineless whenever he saw Xin-ge, completely disregarding his sister's feelings! Humph! It infuriated her!
Yuan Li stomped his feet loudly as he went downstairs.
"Hi!" Bai Lu greeted the person as they came downstairs.
"Hi! My name is Yuanli, and her name is Yuanli. We're here to see Brother Xin!" Yuanli took the hand towel he offered and smiled at them in a friendly manner.
Hypocritical! Yuan Li rolled her eyes inwardly, waiting for Bai Lu to greet her first, but after Bai Lu led Yuan Li to sit down, he ignored her completely.
Good, good, good! She was almost laughing in anger. City C was definitely against her! She hadn't encountered a single kind face since arriving here!
"Hello, I'm Bai Di. Please sit here," Bai Nan said to Yuan Li, preparing to offer her his seat.
Yuan Li's expression softened slightly, and he walked over there with great composure.
However, just as she lifted her foot, Xu Xin, who was sitting next to Bai Nan, suddenly raised her hand to stop her: "Don't worry about her."
This infuriated Yuan Li, who completely lost her composure as the eldest daughter of the Yuan family: "Xu Xin! We had to transfer flights and take the high-speed rail, and it took us two whole days to finally find this place! Our dark circles haven't even gone away yet! And this is how you treat us!"
Xu Xin raised his eyes calmly: "I didn't ask you to come." In other words, you came here of your own volition, and you willingly suffered the consequences.
Bai Nan was a little surprised by his attitude. Although he seemed difficult to get along with at first, after getting to know him for a while, she found that Xu Xin was cold on the outside but warm on the inside and was actually very gentle.
But he was indeed very cold, even indifferent, to his friends who had come from afar.
"Okay! I'm leaving now! The Force!"
Yuan Li's temper flared up, and he stomped his foot, about to walk out. Seeing this, Wang Ma quickly stepped forward to stop him: "Oh dear, what's wrong? Friends should talk things out."
Wang Ma was so anxious that she even started speaking in her hometown dialect.
Yuanli looked left and right, realizing he couldn't afford to offend either of them, and started crying on the spot.
Xu Xin didn't even look up. After wiping his hands, he picked up his chopsticks and calmly started eating.
Bai Nan and Bai Lu exchanged a silent glance; the former gave a wink, while the latter gave an OK sign to indicate that he understood.
Three, two, one...
action!
Bai Nan quickly bypassed Xu Xin, taking three steps at a time, and before anyone could react, suddenly grabbed Yuan Li's arm.
She first said "sorry" softly, then twisted both of her arms behind her back. Yuan Li froze on the spot, and only reacted when the force from behind made her lose her balance and stumble forward.
Before she could get angry and question him, the Force on the other side was also simultaneously restrained, except he was in a worse state, with half of his body pressed down on the dining table and his face deformed.
This sudden turn of events startled Wang Ma, who instinctively blurted out, "What, what happened? Are they bad people? Xiao Lu, Xiao Di, what are you doing all of a sudden?"
After saying that, she took a deep breath and pulled out her phone with trembling hands: "No, no, I have to call the police right away, Master Zong isn't here..." She didn't finish her sentence, but Bai Nan sensed her unfinished words.
She looked at Bai Lu and met his gaze. He winked mischievously, looking as if he was still immersed in this 'special' operation.
Aside from Bai Nan and Bai Lu, who came up with this idea, the calmest person on the field was Xu Xin. He glanced at the two of them, then lowered his head and continued eating.
Seeing that he wasn't falling for it, Bai Nan gritted her teeth and said loudly, "That's right! Aunt Wang, call the police quickly. Who knows what's going on with these two? They came to our house without saying a word. What if they're bad guys—" She deliberately dragged out her words, leaving Yuan Li enough room to refute.
"Or what if it's some kind of demon or monster? Quite a few people have died in this courtyard—"
"Shut up! You're all utterly unreasonable! Vulgar and uncouth! How could Xu Xin be friends with you! I've had enough! Let me go!" Yuan Li was so angry that her teeth chattered, and her voice grew increasingly shrill. "I must have been blind to come to this godforsaken place! Xu Xin! You just stand by and watch them torture us! Are you even human?!"
"Back then, Yuanli practically begged your dad to find out where you went! We were even worried you might do something rash and secretly run away abroad, so we shamelessly asked your former classmates! Do you know what they all said?"
"They say you're as childish as a three-year-old! Ask around in Taipei, which family doesn't have a man keeping a mistress?! Don't even mention just having an illegitimate child! There are plenty of families that have a whole villa full of children! Who would be like you! Leaving everything behind without a word, just walking away like that!"
"You're a deserter!"
Yuan Li became increasingly agitated, as if he had been preparing these words all the way here, so that he could finally utter them all at once so smoothly.
These words terrified Bai Nan and the other two, and also frightened Yuan Li. He cried and begged her to stop talking, but no one paid any attention.
Xu Xin stared intently at Yuan Li, and Bai Nan noticed that his hand holding the chopsticks was starting to tremble, clearly indicating that he had taken his words to heart.
He said, "That day was the anniversary of my mother's death! It was the anniversary of the deaths of seven people in the Xu family!"
Although the voice wasn't loud, Bai Nan felt it was deafeningly loud, as if every word was stained with blood.
Xu Xin slowly stood up and walked to Yuan Li. Bai Nan noticed the veins on his forehead and the trembling at the corner of his mouth, and immediately felt regret.
"Do you think I came here because I'm weak? Because I can't accept that Xu Tang has a mistress? And an illegitimate child who's almost my age?" His voice didn't tremble at all, but everyone present could hear the tension in his words.
The string was stretched so tight that even the air seemed to tighten—as if a slight touch would produce a sharp, trembling sound.
Looking at his pale knuckles and tightly pursed lips, and listening to his calm yet almost indifferent tone, they inexplicably felt as if a damp cotton ball was pressing on their chests, and even their breathing became lighter.
"You're wrong. Even if Xu Tang has a few more mistresses or illegitimate children, it has nothing to do with me. I don't care at all." He clenched his fists tightly, as if he were desperately holding back a gate that was about to burst—but the string that had been stretched to its limit finally snapped. His long-accumulated emotions, like a wild horse that had broken free of its reins, crashed through the fence of reason and could no longer be reined in.
"What I care about is his shamelessness! He chose to bring his mistress home on the anniversary of my mother's death! Back to our home! My mother's and my home!"
"What I care about is that this kind of person is my father! His filth and shamelessness are very likely to be passed on to me! That disgusting! utterly repulsive gene and blood! Is hidden in my body!"
He could no longer control his emotions; he clenched his jaw so tightly that he finally spoke again: "I even went to get a paternity test, just to prove it to my mother, to prove it to myself! I—"
"Not his son."
Bai Nan couldn't help but step forward and hold his hand tightly, but she knew that there was nothing she could do at this moment, and she couldn't even find a way to comfort him.
"But reality is so cruel. I am not only his son, but I also have to live my whole life bearing his name. I also have to work hard, learn from his example, and live my whole life for the Xu family!"
"I will live my whole life for the Xu family, where all the people who loved me and cared for me the most are gone, and for the Xu family of a woman I don't even know and her son!"
He choked up several times but didn't cry; his eyes just turned red from holding back his sobs.
"Do you know what Yuan Li is?"
“I saw everything, I can’t…remain indifferent.”
After leaving behind his last words, Xu Xin turned and left. No one dared to stop him, nor did anyone have the heart to stop him.
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