Lu Xiaoqiao left with Lutu.
On the taxi ride back to the Lu family home, Lu Xiaoqiao gently rubbed the little boy’s round head.
Lutu looked up at her. “Mom, should I apologize to Big Brother?”
Lu Xiaoqiao asked, “Why should you apologize?”
“I broke the bamboo dragonfly myself,” Lutu said quietly. “Big Brother kept taking it and wouldn’t give it back to me. I got angry, so I broke it myself. After that, I pushed him too.”
Lu Xiaoqiao remained calm. “Why did you invite him to play with you?”
“Because he wanted one,” Lutu said. “He doesn’t have a dad to make one for him. He’s pitiful…”
Lu Xiaoqiao hugged his small body tightly. “It’s not your fault. It’s your father’s fault. Let him deal with it himself.”
Lutu’s eyes widened. “Then wouldn’t I be causing trouble for Dad?”
Lu Xiaoqiao said, “No. He’s your father. He should solve every problem for you.”
“…” Lutu was confused for a moment. “Mom, are you unhappy?”
She didn’t sound as gentle as usual. Her tone and attitude were much harsher.
Lu Xiaoqiao forced down the heaviness in her chest and softened her voice.
“Don’t worry about this anymore. But remember, okay? Next time, don’t damage your own things because of someone else. That would only mean punishing yourself.”
Lutu seemed to understand, but not completely.
“When we get home, ask Grandpa to make one for you,” Lu Xiaoqiao said, changing the subject. “Grandpa can carve all kinds of things.”
Lutu immediately became happy. “I want a little horse.”
“A big horse is fine too,” Lu Xiaoqiao said.
After comforting the child, Lu Xiaoqiao’s phone rang. It was an unfamiliar number.
She answered without thinking.
There was silence for two seconds.
Then came a deep, hoarse voice weakened by illness.
“Tutu…”
Lu Xiaoqiao hung up.
Then she immediately blocked the number.
Lutu asked, “Mom, who was it?”
“A spam call,” Lu Xiaoqiao replied.
Xie Xun’s phone had been lost when the Maybach fell into the water. He had also been in the hospital these past few days, so he had someone get him a new phone.
The number was new too.
The other person didn’t even give him a second to speak. After hearing several seconds of the disconnected tone, Xie Xun slowly raised his thin eyelids.
Li Yundong quickly explained, “The second young master has always been raised by the Lu family. Madam rarely brings him here. And since President Xie manages the group, everyone naturally…”
They had unconsciously come to regard Xie Yu as the only young master of the family.
Originally, there was nothing wrong with that.
Xie Minghe and Xie Xun had their own families, and each had only one child. Naturally, the servants in each household would refer to their own child as the only young master.
Lu Xiaoqiao keeping Lutu away from the conflicts of the Xie family was actually a good thing.
But Xie Minghe’s sudden departure had completely disrupted all the relationships and balance of power.
It was like an emperor dying and leaving behind a young crown prince. Once the regent took control, the crown prince and the regent’s son would naturally become rivals, even if neither of them intended to compete.
Even if Lu Xiaoqiao and Lutu had no such intentions, they couldn’t stop other people from thinking that way.
Xie Xun’s expression was faint. “But Ahu and Abao are my people…”
“…You don’t remember?” Even though Li Yundong knew that Xie Xun had lost part of his memory, he was still surprised. “Ahu and Abao belong to President Xie.”
This was also the main reason the bodyguards were caught in an awkward situation and confused about whom they should address as the young master.
They used to work for Xie Minghe.
Xie Xun looked at him.
It was obvious that he did not remember.
Li Yundong felt that things were getting worse.
“All the bodyguards who were close to you were replaced when Assistant Song was fired,” he explained. “All of them. Every single one. The people closest to you now belong to President Xie. The others are new.”
“…” Xie Xun lowered his eyes.
The carving knife in his hand shaved the bamboo piece again and again. It was gradually taking the shape of a bamboo dragonfly.
“Why did I fire Song Ming?”
It was too strange.
Not only had he fired an assistant who had followed him for years, but he had also replaced all his personal bodyguards.
Unless they had done something that violated one of his biggest taboos, he would never have done something like this.
Li Yundong truly didn’t know the reason.
“Perhaps Madam knows,” Li Yundong reminded him. “And then there’s… Assistant Song himself.”
Lu Xiaoqiao had once had a huge argument with Xie Xun because of Song Ming. She must know what had happened.
Bamboo shavings fell to the floor like snowflakes, drifting gently through the air.
Xie Xun kept his eyes lowered. “Where is Song Ming?”
Li Yundong replied, “Assistant Song left Jincheng a long time ago. We don’t know where he is now.”
It had happened a year ago.
So many things had happened since then that no one had paid attention to where he went.
“Find him,” Xie Xun ordered.
“…Yes.”
After a moment of silence, Li Yundong couldn’t help asking, “Why don’t you just ask Madam directly…?”
Xie Xun continued carving the bamboo piece, then said something that was difficult to understand.
“She’s full of lies. Just a little liar.”
“…” Li Yundong stood there without moving.
Xie Xun didn’t even look up. “Leave.”
“Sir…” Li Yundong hesitated. “Are you really not going to comfort Madam?”
The carving knife in Xie Xun’s hand suddenly slipped and cut his finger.
Blood immediately began to flow.
Li Yundong panicked. “Your hand is bleeding…”
Xie Xun narrowed his long eyes slightly. A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Slowly, he raised his bleeding finger to his lips and sucked the blood from it.
Li Yundong: “.”
The scene looked strangely wicked.
When Xie Xun pulled his finger away, a streak of red remained on his dry, pale lips. Against his sickly face, it gave him an almost enchanting appearance.
“She’s hoping I’ll die.”
He still remembered how she had stood by the bridge with her hands in her pockets, coldly watching him die.
For some reason, Li Yundong felt that beneath Xie Xun’s endless complaints, there was a faint sense of grievance.
Surely he had imagined it.
As if he had suddenly remembered something, Xie Xun handed his new phone to him.
“Help me restore my apps and contacts.”
Li Yundong helped him set everything up in the hospital room.
The only sound in the room was the soft scraping of the carving knife against the bamboo.
When he finished, Li Yundong asked Xie Xun to check the phone.
His contacts had been synchronized, and all the apps he normally used had been downloaded.
Xie Xun scrolled through the phone several times. Then he tilted his head slightly and fell into thought.
Li Yundong carefully asked, “Is there an app missing?”
Xie Xun looked unusually confused.
“I don’t know.”
Something just felt wrong.
The new screen looked strangely empty.
It seemed that an important app was missing.
But he couldn’t remember what it was.
The harder he tried to think about it, the more his head began to hurt.
Li Yundong didn’t know either. He had already restored all the apps based on what he remembered from before.
Unless there was something Xie Xun had installed himself without telling Li Yundong.
“Take this to her.”
Xie Xun’s gloomy voice interrupted his thoughts.
He was holding a freshly carved bamboo dragonfly.
Li Yundong was slow to react. “Give it to whom?”
“…” Xie Xun narrowed his eyes at him. The pressure in his gaze was frightening.
“You tell me.”
Cold sweat immediately broke out on Li Yundong’s forehead.
Xie Xun looked away, and the oppressive feeling in the room eased slightly.
“Give it to my son.”
“Yes!”
“Go tell my sister-in-law,” Xie Xun said, closing his eyes. “Teach the child properly. If he is taught badly, it will be the child who suffers. My brother is gone, but I won’t abandon them. Tell her not to worry and not to try anything.”