Chapter Five: Uncle Arrives
That evening, Yunyao received a phone call from overseas.
"Ah Yao, this is your uncle." A gentle, concerned voice came from the phone. "Your aunt and I are at the airport in R country right now. We're out of touch with the outside world and only just found out about your father's situation. We've already bought our plane tickets tonight. Don't worry, leave everything to us adults. We'll be in Nanhang City tomorrow."
"Uncle..." Yun Yao's nose suddenly stung with tears. The emotions that had accumulated over the past few days seemed to burst forth all at once, as if a switch had been flipped. The eighteen-year-old boy could no longer hold back. He covered the microphone so that his uncle on the other end wouldn't hear, and finally cried out in a low voice.
In fact, after her father was arrested, the first person Yun Yao wanted to contact was this uncle who was living in R country and had no blood relation to her.
However, the year my maternal grandparents passed away, my uncle's company in the small Nordic country of R also went bankrupt due to the financial crisis. His family was burdened with huge debts. Later, the family worked hard in R to pay off the debts and barely make ends meet.
My uncle is now a truck driver in R country, my aunt works as a live-in nanny in a local family, and their children are all attending boarding school.
My uncle was an orphan adopted by my maternal grandparents when he was young. He grew up with my mother and they had a deep bond.
Although my uncle later went to R country to work and settled down there, and did not frequently return to China to visit Yunyao's family, the relationship between the two families was not interrupted and remained very close.
Besides her father, her uncle was Yun Yao's closest relative.
Knowing the dire financial situation his uncle's family was in, Yun Yao ultimately decided not to contact his uncle. Saving his father required an astronomical sum of money, and he didn't want to, and couldn't, add any more burden to his uncle and aunt.
Unexpectedly, my uncle found out anyway, and he and my aunt bought plane tickets overnight and rushed to Nanhang City.
Hearing her uncle's concerned words on the phone, Yun Yao felt as if her heart was being warmed by water.
After hanging up the phone, a wave of drowsiness washed over him. The physical and mental exhaustion of the past few days swept over him like a tidal wave. The boy didn't even have time to recall the ups and downs of the day before he turned his head and fell asleep on the bed...
The next day, Yun Yao was woken up by another phone call.
It was a call from the lawyers handling her father's case; they delivered a devastating message to Yunyao.
According to information secretly revealed by an official, Yun Yao's father's case will be tried ahead of schedule.
The authorities are furious that Ma Jian and other key criminals have fled the country. The remaining suspects will be investigated more rigorously, and Ma Jian's father, who is closely related to him, will be the first to be implicated and may be sentenced to life imprisonment as a key criminal.
After hanging up the phone, the heavy burden of reality once again weighed on the boy's shoulders.
On her way to the airport to pick up her aunt and uncle, Yun Yao was still thinking about what the lawyer had said.
The opportunity for a reduced sentence is extremely rare; if you don't seize it in time, it will be too late once the formal verdict is announced...
...
At the airport, Yunyao met her uncle and aunt, but her uncle, whom she hadn't seen for a year, was seen walking with a cane.
"Uncle!" Yun Yao ran a few steps and helped his uncle, who was limping over. He was extremely surprised. "Uncle, are you injured? Why didn't you mention it on the phone before?"
The aunt, who was standing nearby, kindly declined the boy's offer to take her luggage, saying gently, "Your uncle had a minor accident while driving not long ago, but it's nothing serious, he'll be fine after a period of rest."
“Yes,” the uncle chimed in, “I’m fine, don’t worry about me.”
He looked at his nephew carefully, his eyes filled with concern. "Ah Yao, you seem to have grown taller again. Sigh, ever since your mother passed away, your uncle has been thinking of coming back to spend more time with you, but I just haven't been able to find the time. Now that I've injured my leg, I can't drive the truck for a while, so this is a good opportunity to come back and spend more time with you."
"And about your father's matter, your aunt and I will try to find a good lawyer for him this time we're back." The uncle patted the boy's shoulder reassuringly and said gently, "Ayao, you still have to study, so leave your father's matter to your aunt and me. By the way, did you take leave today?"
Yun Yao pursed her lips and said softly, "Uncle, I can't go to school now, because of my father..."
The uncle and aunt exchanged a glance, realizing the connection. They hadn't expected their brother-in-law's affair to have such a significant impact. Yun Yao was only a teenager; it was indeed better for her to suspend her studies if she was being gossiped about at school.
"It's okay, Yao. We can always transfer schools. There are plenty of places we can go. Besides, you're such a great dancer. Once this storm passes, there will be plenty of dance academies vying for you."
The man thought about it for a moment, and then felt that it was also inappropriate to leave his nephew alone in the country. He said, "Or, I think it would be better if you, Ayao, went with your uncle and aunt. The art schools in R country are quite good."
Yun Yao sniffed, afraid that he would not be able to hold back his tears in front of his family.
He had a lot on his mind that he couldn't talk about: his father's situation, the astronomical sum of compensation, and Qin Rao's coercion.
Although his aunt and uncle acted very relaxed about his leg injury in front of him, Yun Yao knew that before they had paid off the debts from the company's bankruptcy, the fact that he could no longer drive to supplement the family income because of his leg injury was a considerable burden for his uncle's family.
Looking at his uncle and aunt's simple clothes, neat and tidy but unable to hide their tired faces, he knew he couldn't tell them anything.
I can't even bring myself to think about going to R country with them.
Even so, when he heard his uncle say he would take him with him, a strong desire welled up in his heart.
It seemed as if he could reach out and touch the warm sunlight, but he still had to restrain himself from standing in the cold shadows.
He couldn't add to his uncles' burden, and he couldn't abandon his father in prison.
...
When Yun Yao brought her uncle and aunt home, an eye-catching luxury car was already parked at the door.
The car door opened, and a woman dressed in luxurious clothes, with exquisite makeup and eyes as sharp as a hawk stepped out of the car. It was Qin Rao.
Yun Yao stopped abruptly. Her uncle and aunt, puzzled, looked over at her with some confusion.
Qin Rao was also somewhat surprised. She looked at the middle-aged couple who had suddenly appeared beside Yun Yao, her sharp eyes sweeping over the three of them, and she vaguely understood what was going on.
She smiled before speaking and strolled over. "Little Yun'er, you've kept me waiting here for quite a while. May I ask who these two are?"
The person Yun Yao least wanted to see at this moment, yet had no choice but to see, was Qin Rao.
The young man wasn't quite good at hiding his sudden pallor, but he still managed to control his tone and introduced himself to the three in a low voice.
He introduced Qin Rao to his uncle and aunt, saying that she was an old friend of his mother's.
After exchanging pleasantries, the three of them walked into the house together.
Qin Rao, who was walking ahead, took advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention to deliberately slow down and get closer to the boy. She whispered to him in a teasing tone, "Baby, I waited so long for your call last night. So I couldn't help but come to find you first thing this morning. I didn't expect to meet your parents first."
"You..." Yun Yao looked at his uncle and the others in front of him in a panic. Seeing that they didn't seem to have noticed them, he breathed a sigh of relief.
The boy stepped aside to create some distance between himself and Qin Rao, and said to her in a low voice, feeling quite ashamed, "Be normal, don't go too far. My uncle and the others don't know about my father's supplementary payment, and... they don't know about you either. Don't let them get suspicious."
Qin Rao raised an eyebrow, her tone teasing, "Oh? My business? My... what business? Do you think your uncles can make decisions for you?"
Yun Yao pursed her lips, glanced at her, said nothing more, and quickly walked away, avoiding her.
Watching the boy's angry figure hurriedly flee, Qin Rao squinted her eyes and touched her lips, secretly relieved.
Young people are too sensitive. If he had really told his aunt and uncle about her forcing him, it would have caused some trouble for her scheme. Fortunately, it seems that the problem has been resolved automatically.
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