The shadows of the branches outside the window fell across the room.
Lu Xiaoqiao stood there, looking thin and fragile. Large tears rolled down her face like beads falling from a broken string.
They were real tears.
There was none of the acting from before.
She did not even make a sound.
She simply endured it, helpless and silent.
She was like the most beautiful flower growing on the edge of a cliff—beautiful, yet fragile, as if a single gust of wind could make her fall.
Xie Xun’s heart suddenly clenched with pain. His face instantly turned pale.
“Stop crying.”
Lu Xiaoqiao ignored him completely. Tears continued to fall, gathering dangerously on her soft chin.
Xie Xun closed his eyes and took deep breaths.
His hand moved uncontrollably to his chest, clutching the fabric of his hospital gown into a tight ball.
“Lu… Xiaoqiao,” he forced out through clenched teeth, each word taking all his strength. “Stop… crying!”
Lu Xiaoqiao turned around, facing away from him, and continued to cry silently.
Xie Xun’s back bent forward like a shrimp that had been gutted. Beads of sweat appeared on his temple as his veins bulged. The pain was so severe that he almost lost consciousness.
“I’ll give him to you!” he managed to say.
Lu Xiaoqiao froze, then immediately turned around.
“What?”
Her tears stopped at once.
The invisible rope that had been tightening around Xie Xun’s heart seemed to snap at the same moment, allowing air to flow into his lungs again.
Xie Xun looked exhausted, as though he had just survived death.
Unable to contain her impatience, Lu Xiaoqiao hurried to the bedside.
“Give me what? Tu Tu? You’re not going to fight me for him anymore?”
“…”
With his pale, grayish face, Xie Xun had a brief urge to kill her.
“Then it’s settled.” Lu Xiaoqiao wiped her eyes. “You won’t fight me for the child.”
Xie Xun closed his eyes.
Unable to feel at ease without hearing him say it again, Lu Xiaoqiao could not resist kneeling on one knee on the bed. She leaned over and reached out to lift his eyelid.
“You’re not going to fight me for the child?”
A vein on Xie Xun’s forehead bulged unconsciously.
Lu Xiaoqiao urged him, “Say something!”
As the unbearable pain in his body finally disappeared, a soft, indescribable fragrance suddenly drifted into his breath.
The fingertip resting against his eyelid was tiny and soft.
Caught off guard, Xie Xun opened his eyes and met hers at such a close distance.
Lu Xiaoqiao froze.
She even forgot to pull her hand away.
Xie Xun had a pair of strikingly beautiful eyes. His upper eyelids were sharply defined, and his natural downward gaze was like the moment a cat locks onto its prey—lazy and seemingly careless, yet hiding a dangerous scrutiny.
Time seemed to stop at that moment.
A vague voice briefly passed through Xie Xun’s mind.
“Why are you crying again?”
“Every time I see you, you’re crying. Am I some kind of devil?”
It was his voice.
But who had he been talking to?
He could feel her soft, gentle breath, as light as a spring breeze.
Lu Xiaoqiao was the first to react. She quickly pulled her hand away, climbed off the bed, and stood properly.
Still unwilling to give up, she asked, “You’re not going to fight me for the child, right?”
Xie Xun’s eyelids felt strangely cold.
“Mm.”
Lu Xiaoqiao unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.
Then Xie Xun added, “As for the divorce, we’ll talk about it later.”
“…”
What?
“It’s the same as I said before.” The man on the hospital bed seemed to have returned to his usual sharp and difficult self. “We’ll talk about the divorce after I remember everything.”
In other words, if they really divorced, the child would belong to her. He would not fight her for him.
That was enough.
Lu Xiaoqiao realized how easily satisfied she was. This condition had already been agreed upon from the beginning. After going around in circles, the issue of their divorce had simply returned to where it started.
Yet somehow, she felt inexplicably happy.
At least he was no longer going to fight her for the child.
After crying for real, she felt completely exhausted.
“I’m leaving.” She had no energy to argue with him today.
Xie Xun said, “Our son can stay with me today…”
Before he could even finish the sentence, a child’s crying suddenly came from outside the door.
It was Xie Yu.
Lu Xiaoqiao quickly opened the door. Two bodyguards were each holding a child, one crouching helplessly as he held Xie Yu, while the other was holding Lu Tu.
The bamboo dragonfly that Xie Xun had made himself was lying on the floor, broken into two pieces.
Wan Bao’er rushed over in panic when she heard the crying.
“What happened?”
“I don’t want it anymore.” Lu Tu’s eyes were fixed on the broken bamboo dragonfly.
The bodyguard handed Xie Yu back to Wan Bao’er.
Xie Yu was crying miserably. Wan Bao’er felt heartbroken.
“Tell Mommy. What happened?”
“Little brother pushed me,” Xie Yu said between sobs. “He didn’t want me to touch the bamboo dragonfly that Little Uncle made for him, so he broke it and pushed me too.”
Lu Tu was one year younger than Xie Yu. At three or four years old, even a one-year age difference could be clearly seen in their thinking and speech.
Lu Tu looked confused and did not understand what was happening.
Lu Xiaoqiao crouched down, took Lu Tu from the bodyguard’s arms, and held him close.
“Tu Tu, did you push your brother?”
Lu Tu stubbornly nodded. “Mm.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t want him to play with it!”
“…”
“Mommy, look!” Xie Yu cried. “I wasn’t lying! He pushed me. It hurt so much. Everything hurts!”
There was movement behind them.
Xie Xun came out, supporting his thin and exhausted body.
“Ah Hu, what happened?”
One of the bodyguards, Ah Hu, immediately lowered his head, looking nervous.
Xie Xun frowned. “Speak.”
“Young Master…” Ah Hu stammered, struggling to explain. “Second Young Master invited… Young Master to play with the bamboo dragonfly. But Young Master kept trying to break it. Second Young Master was afraid it would break, so he didn’t want to play with him anymore. But Young Master refused. Second Young Master couldn’t take it back from him…”
“You’re lying!” Xie Yu screamed. “You’re taking his side!”
Wan Bao’er gently rubbed his back. When she looked at the other bodyguard, her gaze was as sharp as a knife.
“Ah Bao, you tell me.”
“…”
The bodyguards were truly caught in a difficult situation.
Wan Bao’er and Xie Yu were important to Xie Xun, but so were Lu Xiaoqiao and Lu Tu. However, because of Xie Minghe, Wan Bao’er and Xie Yu were now the more vulnerable side. And Xie Xun’s attitude toward them… was truly difficult to predict.
Lu Xiaoqiao looked at the child who resembled her eldest brother-in-law, Xie Minghe, in several ways.
Xie Minghe had been the most gentle and refined man Lu Xiaoqiao had ever known. He was reasonable, calm, and intelligent. Xie Xun had given him the position of head of the family, and he had truly deserved it.
In Lu Xiaoqiao and Xie Xun’s marriage, he had never taken sides. No matter who was right or wrong, he would only order Xie Xun to apologize.
He had also loved Lu Tu very much. Whenever he went on business trips, he always brought back two identical gifts. Lu Tu’s gift was never inferior to the one he bought for his own son, Xie Yu.
After Xie Minghe passed away, Lu Xiaoqiao had always remembered his kindness. Seeing Xie Yu would make her heart ache, and she had once wanted to love and care for him together with Xie Xun.
He was a child who had lost his father.
But she was finding it harder and harder to do that.
“There’s no need to put them in a difficult position.” Lu Xiaoqiao stood up while holding Lu Tu. “They can’t take sides.”
Young Master, Second Young Master, Little Young Master…
When Lu Tu was not around, Xie Yu was the only young master, and “Little Young Master” was a title that belonged to him alone.
But once Lu Tu appeared, even the way the others addressed the children became confusing.
That alone showed how important Lu Tu was. It also showed Xie Xun’s attitude toward Xie Yu.
How could the bodyguards dare to take sides?
It was only a bamboo dragonfly.
Even his father had been willing to give way.
Lu Xiaoqiao cast a mocking glance at the broken bamboo dragonfly on the floor.
Just trash.