Chapter 54 "Um...did I come at the wrong time?"
I stayed at the Li family's house until the afternoon of the next day.
I never saw Li Xiao's mother again, but I did see Li Xiao's father before I left.
After a night, when I saw Li's father again, perhaps because he was standing in the sun, the man seemed much gentler, and even had a kind and friendly smile on his face.
"From now on, please bear with my foolish son. If he does or says anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, please believe that Xiao'er has no ill intentions. You saw his mother like this last night. I have been somewhat negligent in disciplining Xiao'er, which has led to his imprudent and reckless behavior. But in essence, Xiao'er is not a bad child."
Hearing Mr. Li say this, I naturally nodded repeatedly.
Since the other party is Li Xiao's father, he can naturally be considered my elder.
Moreover, not only did Father Li speak so politely, but every word he said also matched my understanding of Li Xiao himself.
I really didn't expect him to talk about his son so frankly in front of outsiders.
"I've noted it down, please..."
I paused for a moment because I didn't know how to address the other person. If I called him "Uncle" directly, I was worried that it would offend him, so I simply omitted the title and used the word "you" instead.
"Please don't worry too much. Young Master Li is actually very kind to Pipa and to everyone around him."
Upon hearing what I said, the smile on Mr. Li's face suddenly paused.
Seeing my puzzled look, he coughed lightly and changed the subject.
I couldn't help but sigh inwardly, thinking how true they were father and son, even the habit of coughing while talking had been passed down exactly as he'd inherited.
Over there, Li's father was still talking: "By the way, you said your name is Pipa, that shouldn't be your real name, right?"
I'm not sure if Loquat is my real name, since people around me have been calling me that since I can remember, including my mother.
But if this is my name, I clearly still have the impression that my mother specially asked someone to send a message to the city to ask for a name for me.
That name must have been written on a piece of paper. On the day I received the reply, my mother held that piece of paper and looked at it for a long time. Her face showed a tension and excitement that I couldn't understand.
At the time, I thought she was happy because she had received a reply to the request she had made, so I kept staring at the words on that piece of paper.
I couldn't read at the time, so I wasn't very interested and didn't go over to take a closer look.
Looking back now, there's something that seems a bit illogical.
In our village, apart from those who had specific professions, such as accountants, book scribes, and those who performed rituals and chanted scriptures, almost everyone was an illiterate peasant.
Few men are literate, let alone literate women.
This situation applies not only to this village, but also to almost all the villages in the vicinity.
If that's the case, why did Mother look at that note so happily and repeatedly that day?
...as if she recognized what was written on it.
What's even stranger is that, given how carefully and earnestly the name was sought, why did it simply fade away and never be mentioned again? Did something unexpected happen?
A sharp, needle-like pain suddenly flashed through my mind.
Even the injured leg that hadn't acted up in a long time seemed to start to ache again.
I frowned slightly, feeling a little uncomfortable, and then shook my head slightly at Mr. Li, saying that I had always been called by this name.
“In our small village, because there was no need to go to school, almost no one could read or write, and very few people would give themselves proper names. As long as it wasn’t too unpleasant to hear and it was easy to pronounce, people would leave it as is.”
"I see." Father Li nodded, then asked me a somewhat strange question, "If I may ask, what is your mother's name?"
When I heard this question, my mind went blank for a moment.
—Yes, what was Mother's name again?
The woman who watched me grow up, the one I called Mother, her name...
It was at this moment that I suddenly realized that I had never heard anyone in the village, including my father, call my mother by her name.
—She was my father's wife, the mother of that idiot, but she was never herself.
Perhaps, she was once one too.
That day, I woke up from my sleep and saw my mother sitting at the door. When she said she was leaving the village, the tension and hope in her eyes were clearly those of a woman I had never seen before.
—That was my mother before she became my mother.
Unfortunately, I never knew her name, and even after she died and was buried, she was still just my mother and my father's wife.
I suddenly felt ashamed and regretful.
I wanted to just say I didn't know. But my voice felt like it was stuck in my throat, leaving me in a dilemma.
Seeing this, Mr. Li thought that I had been touched on a painful memory, and he apologized profusely.
Then, as if trying to shift the slightly heavy atmosphere, Mr. Li chuckled and changed the subject.
"Actually, Wan'er wasn't always like this; it just so happened that last night was the Lantern Festival. It was an extremely special day for her because many years ago, on a Lantern Festival, Wan'er lost her best friend, and she had been depressed ever since."
"..."
"Unfortunately, Wan'er gave birth on the Lantern Festival. She bled a lot that night, and even I thought... Fortunately, she pulled through, but her energy was much weaker than before."
"..."
I listened as Li's father recounted the events of the past.
His voice sounded calm, but it contained a deep tenderness for his wife.
I think that although the man in front of Li Xiao may not be a good father, he is indeed a husband who deeply loves his wife.
Do you know why I'm telling you so much?
Finally, a question from Mr. Li caught me off guard.
I was so engrossed in the other person's recounting of the past that I almost forgot that such things shouldn't be told to outsiders.
"...Why?" I blurted out, dumbfounded.
"Probably because—"
Father Li pondered for a moment, then suddenly revealed a slightly wistful smile: "You look a lot like an old friend of mine."
I don't know if the old friend that Li's father mentioned is the same person as the best friend of his wife that he just mentioned.
I didn't ask any further questions.
Father Li simply waved his hand.
Then he told me that I might as well come to my house for a visit when I have time.
"Everyone here will welcome you."
Mr. Li's statement was a bit strange, but given that all three of them were somewhat different from ordinary people, I didn't take it to heart.
Just hearing the word "home" still evokes an indescribable warmth—even if it's just a casual, polite remark.
When I said goodbye to Li's father and walked to the door, Li Xiao was already waiting impatiently.
Below the high-hanging plaque is Li Xiao, dressed in dark green.
From afar, I saw the boy idly kicking a pebble on the ground with the tip of his shoe. When he saw me coming, he pretended to stand up straight and acted as if he didn't care.
After a while, seeing that I hadn't started a conversation, it seemed like I couldn't hold back any longer.
"Hey, is the old man rambling on and on again? He's getting old and likes to talk nonsense. Don't worry about it."
“I heard your father say that although his son is a bit stupid and reckless in his actions, he is not a bad person at heart.”
I watched as the boy's face changed color, almost to the point of swearing, but he managed to stop himself and patiently continued listening.
"He also said that he has neglected your feelings in many ways over the years because of your mother's situation, so if his son says or does anything that is unacceptable, he told me not to mind, because you have no ill intentions."
After listening, Li Xiao remained silent for a moment before letting out a soft hum, then stared at me and asked, "So, what was your answer?"
“I think your father’s words make a lot of sense, so I agreed immediately.”
I didn't think there was anything wrong with my answer, but Li Xiao's reaction was surprisingly strong.
"You...you just agreed to it like that?!"
The boy, his eyes wide open, suddenly stood up from his seat, as if he had completely forgotten that he was sitting in a moving carriage. His head hit the roof of the carriage with a loud thud.
Before Li Xiao could recover from the dizziness of the head injury, the car, which had been moving steadily, suddenly stopped, and Li Xiao completely lost his chance to stand up.
With a loud bang, everything went black for a moment, and I felt a sharp pain on my forehead. Something warm brushed against my cheek and landed behind my ear.
When I came to my senses again, I was already pinned down by Li Xiao, sprawled out on my back, completely unable to move my hands and feet.
Immediately afterwards, the sedan curtain that had been covering the sedan chair was lifted from the outside, and soon a rather familiar loud voice rang out, saying something like, "Is the young master alright?" before abruptly stopping.
Then came a long, drawn-out gasp, like someone suffering from a toothache.
"Um...did I come at the wrong time?"
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