Chapter 1123: I Want to Make You Stay (1)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
He did not say anything else and instead began eating the vegetarian buns.
An Xiaoning smiled, and the two of them had an enjoyable breakfast.
—
Mei Yangyang found something amiss with Long Xiaoxi after breakfast. To be exact, she seemed to be limping when she walked, as if there was an aching spot in her leg.
“Xiaoxi, what’s wrong with your leg?”
Long Xiaoxi chuckled and walked toward her. She said softly, “Mommy, didn’t you discover that something of yours is missing?”
“What’s missing? Did you take money from my wallet?” Mei Yangyang asked in puzzlement.
Long Xiaoxi immediately retorted, “Mommy, what are you saying? I’m not a dishonest child.”
“Which thing of mine has gone missing, then?”
“Hehehe…” She covered her mouth and continued chuckling, further confusing Mei Yangyang.
“Tell me, just what’s missing?” Mei Yangyang probed.
“Go to your bedroom and take a look for yourself.”
Mei Yangyang immediately headed upstairs and scanned her surroundings in the bedroom, only to discover that everything was intact and that nothing was missing.
Mei Yangyang’s curiosity was piqued, and she headed downstairs again. “Come here,” she said to Long Xiaoxi.
Noticing that her mother did not find anything unusual, she smiled gleefully and mocked, “Mommy, you’re so stupid.”
“Yes, yes, yes. I’m very stupid. Hurry and tell me, what thing of mine is missing?”
“Mommy, I’ve used almost all of your sanitary pads. Hahahaha.”
Mei Yangyang was dumbfounded. “You’ve used them all… on what?”
After asking her question, she shifted her gaze onto Long Xiaoxi’s body. Staring at her unsteady gait, Mei Yangyang thought to herself, Could it be…
“Ah! Mommy, please have mercy on me!”
Mei Yangyang picked Long Xiaoxi up and carried her upstairs. She then headed to the master bedroom and discovered that half of her sanitary pads were gone. She then went inside Long Xiaoxi’s bedroom to see that the dustbin was full of opened sanitary pads.
When Mei Yangyang retrieved some sanitary pads from Long Xiaoxi’s pants, she questioned, “Xiaoxi, tell me, why are you using these?”
Shaking her head, Long Xiaoxi said, “Because you’re using it. I wanted to see if there would be blood on mine too…”
Mei Yangyang threw the sanitary pad into the dustbin and placed Long Xiaoxi on her lap. She explained, “Baby, you’ll have to wait until you’re a teenager before you can use these. You don’t need them now.”
“Why not?”
“You’ll be a big girl when you become a teenager. By then, your body will expel a small amount of blood each month. That’s when you’ll have to use these pads, so as to prevent your clothes from being stained by the blood.”
“Oh, Mommy, I understand,” said Long Xiaoxi.
“I’ll have to send you back to school this afternoon. Aren’t you going to treasure the time left and go play with your Brother Minhe?”
“Yes, yes, I’m going to go now.” She hopped off Mei Yangyang’s lap and skipped out of the room merrily.
When she reached the doorstep of Zhong Minhe’s house, she heard the sounds of an infant crying. Greatly taken aback, she tiptoed toward the house and craned her neck inside to take a peek.
She was greeted with the sight of Zhong Minhe’s mother carrying an infant in her arms.
“Auntie, is Brother Minhe at home?”
“He’s doing his homework inside.”
“Is Xiaoxi here?” Zhong Minhe asked.
“Yes, it’s me,” said Long Xiaoxi, who began walking toward him.
“Good timing, I’ve just finished doing my homework,” said Zhong Minhe, who placed his workbook into his school bag using his foot.
“Brother Minhe, who’s that infant your Mommy is carrying?”
“She’s my sister. Daddy and Mommy adopted her from a village. She’s a year old now. Mommy named her ‘Zhong Tianai.’”
“I saw her. She’s really adorable.”
“Shall we play with her?”
Long Xiaoxi agreed with a nod, “Okay.”
—
“Mr. Jin, Ms. An,” greeted Feng Qiubai, who had arrived at the hospital ward with a lot of gifts. An Xiaoning was surprised to see her, for she and Tuoba Hancheng had already been divorced for quite some time now. Why would she come to visit Qingyan at the hospital?
“What brings you here, Ms. Feng?”
Feng Qiubai placed the gifts on the table and said, “I saw the news about Mr. Jin being hospitalized. I decided to visit him and relay a message to you.”
“What is it?”
Feng Qiubai said with a solemn expression, “There are very few people who are aware of this so far. I doubt you know about it yet, Ms. An.”
“Just what’s the matter?”
“Your half-brother has contracted HIV.”
My half-brother…
Tuoba Hancheng?
“You’ve already divorced him, how did you find out about this?”
“I was having dinner at a restaurant a few nights ago and I happened to bump into him and his longtime partner. There was a partition in between our tables so I happened to overhear their conversation. Tuoba Hancheng had passed the disease to his partner, and his partner fell out with him over that. However, Tuoba Hancheng agreed to pay for his treatment in a bid to get him to remain tight-lipped.”
“Did you tell anyone else about this?”
Shaking her head, Feng Qiubai said, “No, I didn’t tell anyone at all. My company has transferred me to an overseas branch and I’ll be staying abroad for quite some time. I’m leaving in a few days. I decided that it would be better to inform you.”
“You’re not staying in S Nation anymore?”
She nodded and answered, “Yes, I plan to develop my career overseas. I won’t be coming back often.”
“Do you have a boyfriend now?”
Feng Qiubai answered with a nod, “Yes, he’s my former classmate and he’s overseas now. I’m not getting any younger either. I used to be overly picky and held my expectations too high. However, I now just want to find a man who’ll dote on me.”
“That’s the mindset you should have. Actually, a woman’s family matters the most to her. No matter how domineering a woman may be, she’ll still need a shoulder to lean on. I wish you a blissful life from now on.”
Feng Qiubai said with a smile, “Thank you, I hope Mr. Jin recovers soon. I won’t impose on you any further, then.”
An Xiaoning walked her to the door of the hospital ward and watched her leave.
She had rarely interacted with Feng Qiubai, Lin Shishi’s cousin. Feng Qiubai had probably realized something and learned a lesson from the Lin Shishi incident.
Once she entered the hospital ward again, Henry stared at his mobile phone and said to her, “Your half-brother, Tuoba Hancheng, has made it onto the news.”
“Did the media expose the news of him being HIV positive?”
“No… he killed himself by slitting his wrists in a hotel room.”
An Xiaoning did not believe him at all. She said, “You must be fooling me. How could he have committed suicide so soon when I just heard it from Feng Qiubai?”
“See it for yourself,” he said while handing her the mobile phone.
An Xiaoning tapped the mobile phone screen, only to find that what Henry had said was true.
“Boss, that fellow is calling you again!
She quickly grabbed her mobile phone and answered the call from Tuoba Rui.
“Hello.”
“Hancheng has passed away.”
“I just saw the piece of news.”
“Xiaoning…” Tuoba Rui spluttered, clearly having suffered a huge blow.
“Yes, I’m here.”
He fell silent and began choking with sobs.