60 Chapter 60
Tao Xi walked into the ward, and Fang Zuqing on the bed and Ye Yurong sitting next to him both looked at him.
The moment the two old men's gazes met his, he seemed to feel a slight tremor. The gazes filled with heavy emotions suddenly made him feel a little uncomfortable.
He was speechless for a moment, standing there not knowing what to shout. Fortunately, Yang Zhengming at the side helped him take the fruit from his hand and put it on the bedside, and said to Fang Zuqing: "This is what Tao Xi bought for you."
Ye Yurong quickly stood up from the chair, her eyes reddened as if she saw Tao Xi for the first time. She took two steps towards Tao Xi, but did not dare to go in front of him. She waved at him and called softly:
"Come and sit here, kid."
Fang Zuqing was wearing a hospital gown with an IV drip inserted in the back of his hand. His old face showed signs of illness, and he seemed to have aged a lot overnight. When he saw Tao Xi come in, the hand with the IV drip kept shaking.
Tao Xi walked to the chair next to the bed and sat down on the chair under the gaze of the three people.
Yang Zhengming brought another chair and wanted to help Ye Yurong sit down, but Ye Yurong did not sit down. Instead, she turned her back and wiped her tears with the back of her hand. Then she poured a cup of warm water and handed it to Tao Xi, asking him with concern whether he had eaten breakfast and whether he was hungry.
Just like yesterday in the conference room, Tao Xi took the glass of water with both hands and said thank you softly.
He could feel the old man's cautious hospitality, as well as the heavy sense of guilt behind this hospitality. He agreed to everything, because if he showed the slightest resistance or opposition, Ye Yurong would burst into tears.
He picked up the warm water that Ye Yurong poured for him, lowered his head and took a sip.
Ye Yurong finally sat down beside him. The two old men looked straight at him. Tao Xi felt as if those gazes had weight. He curled his fingers and wanted to say something, but didn't know what to say.
He is the closest person by blood, yet he is also the most unfamiliar person.
This awkward atmosphere lasted for more than ten seconds. Fang Zuqing spoke. He seemed to have some difficulty speaking, but he still tried to clear his throat. Like all parents, he asked Tao Xi, "Have you asked for leave from the school teacher?"
Tao Xi nodded and said, "I've asked for leave."
The two old men had been carefully looking at the 17-year-old boy in front of them. His eyes were so much like their daughter's. They were a little frightened when they first saw him in the conference room yesterday, and now when they looked at him more closely, they were filled with unspeakable pain.
Ye Yurong looked away, took out a handkerchief and wiped the corners of her eyes, then stretched out her hands and gently held Tao Xi's hands. Tao Xi did not resist, but just lowered her eyes.
Ye Yurong looked down at Tao Xi's hands and her eyes turned red again. These slender hands, like her daughter's, were naturally suitable for holding paintbrushes and should not suffer the slightest bit of hardship. She didn't even dare to imagine what kind of life her grandson had led in the past seventeen years.
After a long silence, Tao Xi heard his grandmother's trembling voice:
"My child, I have wronged you all these years."
Before she finished speaking, a few tears shed from her dim eyes and landed on the back of Tao Xi's hand.
Tao Xi shrank slightly as if he was scalded, and his eyes were a little swollen.
In the end, he just shook his head in silence.
"Do that family treat you well?" Ye Yurong couldn't help but ask the question she wanted to ask most. She looked at Tao Xi anxiously, with a hint of hope in her tone.
Fang Zuqing, who was sitting on the hospital bed, also cast a heavy gaze on Tao Xi's face and silently asked the same question.
Tao Xi didn't know how to answer this question. The past seventeen years seemed to flash through his mind only briefly. Too many emotions piled up and pressed down on his throat and tongue. He finally said:
“I’ve been doing pretty well.”
But this answer did not seem to comfort the two elderly people at all. They all fell silent, and Yang Zhengming, who was standing aside, did not speak either.
They had already heard Su Yun talk a lot about Tao Xi last night, and they didn't have time to be surprised as to why the Lin family's secretary knew so much.
They knew how poor the family was, how his adoptive father worked away from home all year round, and that he had a sick sister. They knew that Tao Xi had excellent grades and ranked first in the county, and that he was able to study at Wenhua No. 1 Middle School thanks to the Lin family's funding program. They also knew that he inherited his mother's talent for painting, and even though he was delayed for many years, he was still able to enter the top national competitions.
If a child wants to have a good life, he cannot do without the strong support of his parents. Their children walk the most rugged road in the world and become outstanding people.
But this road should have been a smooth one.
He walked this road alone for seventeen years, crossing mountains and rivers, and going through many hardships before reaching his home. However, they witnessed that the future of the child they raised was almost cut off and destroyed.
They even used the calculations of adults to force him to sign a letter of understanding. The compensation clauses, which they thought were full of sincerity, were ironically obvious. They were what he should have had since birth, but they used them as conditions to force him to compromise. It was ridiculous and hateful.
They hated Guo Ping very much, and they also hated themselves very much.
Nowadays, their children are still willing to visit them and tell them that they are living well.
Ye Yurong turned away and could not bear to ask any more questions. Fang Zuqing's old face, full of wrinkles, was flushed with blue, and his turbid eyes were filled with inextricable sorrow and regret. He stretched out the hand with the needle in it tremblingly towards Tao Xi.
Tao Xi hesitated for a moment, then shook Fang Zuqing's hand. He heard the gray-haired old man in front of him say to him in a hoarse voice:
"Child, Grandpa is sorry for you. You can blame me and hate me. But it is me who is sorry for my daughter and my grandson. I promised her that I would raise her child well and let him grow up healthy and happy, but I let him suffer alone outside for so many years. He finally returned home, and he still has to suffer the grievances of an old man like me..."
He began to cry halfway through his speech. The old professor, who was never serious, had never cried so bitterly except after his daughter died. He held Tao Xi's hand tightly, hunched over as if he was apologizing.
Tao Xi felt the old hand trembling uncontrollably. The guilt that weighed on his head was too heavy, wrapping him tightly, making him feel heavy in the chest and even his breathing a little sluggish.
He took a deep breath and tried to calmly say to the old man: "You have done nothing wrong to me. I will not blame you or hate you. Really, I have lived a good life these years."
But the two old people were still very excited. Ye Yurong couldn't bear it any longer. She tentatively stretched out her hands and hugged the young man in front of her into her arms.
Tao Xi did not resist, but leaned stiffly in Ye Yurong's arms. He had never been hugged by his grandmother before, and at this moment he was at a loss, like a child being hugged by an adult for the first time, with his hands and feet feeling uneasy.
Ye Yurong gently patted his stiff back, just like how his grandmother used to hold his sister Tao Le. He heard his grandmother crying and saying to him:
"I'm sorry, grandma, I didn't take my grandson home earlier. My grandson wanted to go home, but I didn't know and left him alone outside for so long..."
Tao Xi's Adam's apple suddenly rolled, he closed his eyes tightly, and the tears that had been accumulating in his eyes for a long time silently soaked his grandmother's clothes.
Yang Zhengming looked at the two elderly people and the child in front of him, and tears finally fell from his eyes which had already turned red.
How many seventeen years are there in a lifetime? Can an old man have another seventeen years left? Fate has played such a cruel joke, and those years will never come back.
Tao Xi didn't know how long his grandmother had been crying while holding him. In the end, he and Yang Zhengming comforted the two elderly people. Ye Yurong wiped away her tears, held his hand again and asked him many questions, asking about his childhood, whether he was sick, whether he ate well, whether he was bullied at school...
There is actually no point in recalling these past events. Tao Xi picked some ordinary things and answered them simply.
They did not mention Guo Ping or Yang Duole. They hated the former to the core, and they were obviously still upset about the latter, the child they had raised, and did not know what to do.
Tao Xi noticed their avoidance and didn't say anything. After talking to the two old men for a while, he saw that Fang Zuqing looked tired, so he was about to say goodbye. Just as he stood up, he suddenly heard the sound of the door opening.
He turned around and saw Yang Duole standing at the door, his eyes meeting his.
Yang Duole stared at Tao Xi for two seconds, then his eyes moved over the other three people in the ward. There was no expression on his face, and he turned around and walked away the next second.
"Yang Duole!" Fang Zuqing, who was lying on the hospital bed, shouted loudly, and then he started coughing violently.
Yang Duole stopped with his back stiff, but did not look back.
Ye Yurong was about to step forward and hold Yang Duole, but when she saw Fang Zuqing coughing, she had to quickly bend down to help Fang Zuqing breathe. However, Yang Zhengming had already strode forward and grabbed Yang Duole's arm, saying in a cold voice:
"How long do you want to hide?"
His original intention was to ask Yang Duole how long he would continue to avoid admitting his mistakes, but Yang Duole obviously did not understand this. He violently broke free from Yang Zhengming's hand, looked at Yang Zhengming and sneered:
"Isn't your biological son here? Or do you want to hold a recognition ceremony and call me over to hand over your son's identity to him?"
Yang Zhengming's face turned extremely ugly. He had finally contacted Yang Duole yesterday. He only told him that Fang Zuqing was ill and asked him to come to the hospital, but Yang Duole refused. He didn't expect Yang Duole to come today and meet Tao Xi here.
He suppressed his anger and said to Yang Duole in a deep voice: "Let's not talk about this matter first, just talk about the good things you did. You slandered Tao Xi for plagiarism and almost ruined other people's competitions. Shouldn't you apologize to him?!"
Fang Zuqing finally stopped coughing. The old man was filled with anger after great sorrow. His face was abnormally purple. He pointed at Yang Duole with a trembling hand and shouted:
"Come over here and admit your mistake and apologize!"
The old man was really angry. He found out that Yang Duole seemed to have known Tao Xi's true birth date for a long time. He couldn't understand why Yang Duole wanted to frame a classmate who had no great relationship with him. Now that everything was clear, he was even more furious.
Facing his grandfather who had loved him since childhood, Yang Duole did not retort. He bit his lips tightly, staring at the floor with his dark eyes, but remained unmoved.
Ye Yurong finally couldn't bear it anymore, so she advised in a sad voice: "Le Le, if you do something wrong, you should admit your mistakes and repent. You made such a big mistake, you should apologize to Tao Xi."
Tao Xi stood in the ward, watching the farce coldly. He put his hand in his pocket and touched his cell phone, regretting not leaving earlier.
Yang Zhengming frowned and stopped talking, Ye Yurong was still persuading him. After about three minutes, Yang Duole finally looked up at Tao Xi. He took a step forward, slowly walked towards Tao Xi, and stood one step away from him.
Tao Xi looked calmly at the pale-faced man in front of him. He almost didn't dare to look at this person before, as if he could not hide the resentment and hatred in his eyes if he looked at him for one more second. At this moment, he saw that these eyes, which looked very much like Guo Ping's, were filled with strong resentment and resentment, just like his past.
"You did it on purpose, didn't you?" Yang Duole's bloodless lips moved, the sound was not loud but loud enough for everyone to hear.
Tao Xi frowned and looked at Yang Duole without saying a word, his eyes cold.
"Yang Duole!" Fang Zuqing was almost heartbroken. He didn't expect that Yang Duole was still stubborn. Ye Yurong also sighed anxiously.
After all, this is the child they raised since childhood. No matter how disappointed or angry they are, seventeen years of affection cannot disappear overnight. They don't want to hurt Tao Xi anymore, nor do they want Yang Duole to go further and further down the wrong path and get into an irreconcilable conflict with Tao Xi.
After all, they no longer have the position to defend Yang Duole.
Yang Duole turned a deaf ear to the anxious reminders of the two old men. He seemed to be recalling something, staring at Tao Xi, and said in a firm tone:
"You've known it for a long time. You knew it since the first day you came to Wenhua No. 1 Middle School and saw me."
He paused, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and continued, "You deliberately tried to please Lin Qinhe, deliberately approached Yang Zhengming, and deliberately mentioned to Luo's mother in front of me that you were going to participate in the art competition and that you were Qiao Henian's student, because you knew that these would stimulate me the most. You deliberately drew the submission for the competition in the dormitory in front of Xu Ziqi because you heard what I said to Guan Fanyun that night, right?!"
Yang Duole's speech speed became faster and faster, and at the end his chest began to heave heavily, and his eyes seemed to pierce Tao Xi as if to cut off his flesh.
"What nonsense are you talking about!" Yang Zhengming's forehead was throbbing with veins. He couldn't help but step forward and grab Yang Duole's arm and pull it back, but Yang Duole struggled hard to break free again.
Yang Duole kept staring at Tao Xi, his eyes full of blood, and continued hysterically: "You've been here for so long, and you've had so many opportunities before you, but you never said it because you're unwilling to give up! You're afraid that even if they recognize you, they won't drive me away, so you're planning to take revenge on me, right?!"
Fang Zuqing was so angry after hearing this nonsense that he started coughing violently again. Ye Yurong was angry and anxious. She had never said a harsh word to Yang Duole before, but now she couldn't help but scold him in great disappointment:
"Le Le! We didn't teach you this since you were a child. Why do you blame others when you do something wrong? No one forced you to make mistakes!"
But Yang Duole simply wouldn't listen. He believed that Tao Xi was deliberately taking revenge on him. He stared at Tao Xi without giving in, as if he had to make him admit it.
But Tao Xi remained calm from beginning to end. He ignored Yang Duole's repeated questions and only said:
"Yang Duole, you should go see your biological mother."
Yang Duole's pupils shrank suddenly, as if he had heard something that made him extremely disgusted and frightened. He gritted his teeth and said, "Did Tao Jian ask you to persuade me? Tell her that I won't even go to see her even if she dies!"
Tao Xi looked at Yang Duole's expression as if he was avoiding snakes and scorpions, and thought of the woman who was still waiting on the hospital bed to see her biological son. He felt a sense of absurd sadness in his heart. He said:
"I just feel sorry for your mother. She stole my name for you and let you occupy my life for seventeen years, but you can only live like this ridiculously."
"I'm ridiculous?" Yang Duole seemed to be stimulated by this sentence and shouted hysterically, "Do you think I want this name and this kind of life?!"
He glanced at the other three adults, and suddenly laughed, saying, "I've had enough of this life of always being looked at by the shadow of a dead person!"
The three adults' faces changed when they heard this.
"Yang Duole, do you know what you are talking about?" Yang Zhengming frowned fiercely and interrupted in a cold voice.
"Isn't it?" Yang Duole looked at Yang Zhengming sharply, "Haven't you been disappointed that I don't look like her?"
He seemed to have been suppressing himself for a long time and finally found an opportunity to explode. He laughed miserably to himself:
"Yes, I don't look like him, I can't draw, and Qiao Henian refused to accept me as his student, but what can I do? What can I do? I have tried hard to learn for a long, long time, but I just can't learn it. You tell me it doesn't matter, but you can't hide your disappointment in me on your faces!"
Yang Duole's chest heaved violently, his eyes were red, and his pale face was full of tears.
"Le Le, we don't have..." Ye Yurong looked at the child in front of her in disbelief. She had never known that he had so much resentment towards them.
But Yang Duole obviously hadn't vented all his grievances. He cried so hard that his face was distorted. "Those relatives laughed at me behind my back, saying that I wasn't your biological child and that you took the wrong child away. You all told me it was a joke and not to take it seriously, but did any of you know that I was scared!"
"Every time I had my blood drawn in the hospital, I was afraid that you would secretly do a paternity test. Every time I had a nightmare, I dreamed that I was the fake one, and you found the real one and immediately lost me!"
Yang Duole raised his finger and pointed at Tao Xi, showing an ugly smile, and said: "Now the real Yang Duole is back, you have got what you wanted, and you don't have to be disappointed in me anymore, isn't that great?"
The two old men looked at Yang Duole, whose eyes were red and tearful, with shocked expressions. They opened their mouths but didn't know what to say. Yang Zhengming frowned and said nothing.
Ye Yurong was still distressed after all, and was about to walk up to Yang Duole with a tissue to wipe his tears, but suddenly she heard Tao Xi, who had been silent, say:
"You push all the faults onto others and take all the blame for yourself, as if the whole world owes you something. Do you want them to feel guilty about you?"
Yang Duole's sobbing stopped.
Tao Xi looked at Yang Duole coldly, as if he was looking at a crying and naughty child, and asked in a dull tone:
"You know exactly how they treated you over the past decade. Do you dare to tell your grandparents, whom you have called grandpa and grandma for so many years, that they have ever done anything wrong to you?"
Yang Duole bit his lips tightly and said nothing.
Fang Zuqing sighed, Ye Yurong turned her face away and wiped her tears. Yang Duole's words really hurt them.
"You've had such a close relationship with them for so many years that even if they knew you were not their biological child, they would not abandon you. You know this, but you are just not satisfied and unwilling to let me take even a little bit of you, right?"
Tao Xi looked straight at Yang Duole, but Yang Duole remained silent.
He took a step closer to Yang Duole, taking in the resentment on his face, and said in a cold voice:
"Yang Duole, what disappointed them was not that you were not like my mother, but that they raised you with all their heart and gave you so much love, but you only learned to be selfish and resentful. You said that I was unwilling, but what was there in you that was worth my unwillingness?"
Yang Duole suddenly raised his eyes and looked at him.
Tao Xi ignored the resentment in Yang Duole's eyes and was extremely tired of this farce. He simply said goodbye to the two old people and walked out of the ward.
Not long after he walked out of the ward, Yang Zhengming caught up with him, grabbed his arm, and quickly let go.
Tao Xi stopped, looked at Yang Zhengming, and asked politely, "Do you have anything else to say?"
Yang Zhengming looked at the pair of cold eyes and felt mixed emotions. He said to Tao Xi in a somewhat flattering tone:
"Move back home. Grandpa, grandma and I all hope you can come back. We've already decorated the rooms at home."
There was a faint sound of crying in the ward, but Tao Xi remained silent and did not answer.
Seeing that Tao Xi didn't say anything, Yang Zhengming added, "If you can't get used to living here, I have another house. Tell me what you think. I'll decorate it however you want, as long as you're willing to come back and live here."
This was their original plan. There was no reason for their child to live outside, so they let Taoxi return to the Fang family first. If Taoxi couldn't adapt, Yang Zhengming planned to let Taoxi live in the house he had just bought, and the property would naturally belong to Taoxi in the future.
Yang Zhengming expected Tao Xi to agree, but he saw Tao Xi's gaze turned to the end of the corridor. Her eyes suddenly became bright like the evening stars. At that moment, Yang Zhengming was a little dazed. Fang Sui once looked at him with such bright eyes.
"Thank you, but don't bother."
Yang Zhengming was stunned when he heard Tao Xi say this. Then Tao Xi said goodbye to him and walked quickly to the other end of the corridor.
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