Reason for Marrying Hao Yi
The decor in Ding Xuan’s home was very plain, just like an ordinary rural household. As soon as you stepped into the main room, there was a dining table, a few chairs, and a long sideboard set directly opposite the door.
There were a few pictures on the wall, including a map, portraits of national leaders, and some landscape paintings.
There was a door on each side, which should have led to the bedrooms, and there was also a back room, though it was only used to store miscellaneous things.
Even such a simple place had been kept spotlessly clean, but now, after three months with no one coming back, a layer of dust had settled over the table and stools.
Suddenly, Hao Yi’s brows moved slightly, as if he had thought of something. He turned his head toward Ding Xuan, who was holding a rag and cleaning, and asked, “Where are your parents?”
Earlier, Ding Xuan had said that he was the only one at home, and this place was clearly where he had grown up. Then what about his parents?
Hearing Hao Yi ask that while he was busy, Ding Xuan’s hands paused, and his expression turned a little sad.
“When I was ten, they died in a car accident.”
Hao Yi fell silent. Ten years old, which meant it had happened seven years ago. Ding Xuan had been so young then. How had he lived after his parents left?
As if he knew Hao Yi’s confusion, Ding Xuan wiped the dust from the table as he said, “After my parents passed away, my uncle and aunt took me in and let me live at their place, paying for my schooling.”
By Ding Xuan’s account, his uncle and aunt should have been his benefactors, but Hao Yi saw no gratitude on Ding Xuan’s face, only calmness.
But soon, Hao Yi understood why.
“They used the compensation the driver paid my family to buy a three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment in a place close to the city center. In the end, they only left me a few hundred yuan. But they were afraid of people talking, afraid people would say they took a child’s life-saving money to buy a house, so they paid for my schooling and living expenses. When I was thirteen, I didn’t want to keep living at their place, so I moved out and came back here. They also didn’t stop paying for my schooling or living expenses because I left.”
Hao Yi quietly watched Ding Xuan, whose face was calm, and realized that Ding Xuan was even tougher than he had imagined. Maybe it was because of the environment he had grown up in over these seven years.
“Then how did the Hao family find you, and make you marry me?”
It would have been fine if Hao Yi had not asked. As soon as he did, Ding Xuan’s emotions stirred, his chest rising and falling repeatedly, but he quickly forced them back down.
He looked silently at the rag in his hand for a long time before saying, “My uncle was a back-of-house worker at a clubhouse, and that clubhouse happened to be one of the Hao family’s businesses. I don’t know how they found my uncle, and then a man told him that if he let me marry you, he would give my uncle’s family five hundred thousand yuan. My parents were gone, and my uncle and aunt became my guardians, so naturally they went to my uncle to discuss it.”
By the time Ding Xuan got that far, Hao Yi already knew the whole story. Ding Xuan had been sold to the Hao family by his uncle, who took the Hao family’s benefits and then stopped caring whether Ding Xuan lived or died.
He had never expected his relatives to be so heartless. Hao Yi was furious, and the hand hanging at his side unconsciously clenched into a fist.
After Ding Xuan finished speaking, he continued quietly tidying up. Hao Yi walked over and helped him clean as well.
By the time they finished, it was almost nine-thirty. Ding Xuan’s knee hurt, and on top of that he had not rested the night before. That day he had also been thrown out and forced to set up a street stall, leaving him feeling somewhat drained.
Hao Yi told him to go rest, then went into the kitchen to search around. He found a medicine pot, lit a fire in the stove, and put in the two medicinal ingredients he had bought during the day to simmer.
Ding Xuan did not dare be careless with Hao Yi. Seeing that Hao Yi still had not returned to the room for a long time, he could not help getting up to check. As soon as he came out, he smelled a strong medicinal fragrance drifting out from the kitchen.
Ding Xuan hurried over and took a look, only to see Hao Yi squatting beside the stove, with a black medicine pot sitting on top.
“Young Master, what are you doing?” Ding Xuan asked in confusion.
Hao Yi said, “Making medicine. You go rest first. I’ll apply it for you when it’s ready. With these two herbs added, your knee should improve by tomorrow and heal by the day after.”
He had not expected the young master to still be thinking about his knee. Ding Xuan was moved beyond words. He said, “Young Master, you, why are you suddenly being so nice to me?” Last night the young master had even beaten him and punished him by making him kneel on the floor.
“I was a bastard before. I won’t be like that again.” Though he had somehow been saddled with that blame, Hao Yi felt a little depressed. But who told him he had taken over this body?
Hearing this, Ding Xuan’s eyes suddenly turned a little red. Ever since his parents left, no one had cared about him like this. After he was forced to marry the young master, he had been tormented every day, and he had thought that his life would just be like this forever. He had never expected the young master to suddenly change for the better, and it made him feel as if he were dreaming, unable to believe it.