“Did he offend you?”
Is there some kind of magic in these two dishes?
Or is it that what has magic is this old, dilapidated house?
Could it be—
The child right before their eyes?
“Little friend, what is your name?” Li’s father asked.
“My name is Su Tang~”
Having spoken, Su Tang trotted on his short legs over to the cabinet in the corner of the room, taking out a small booklet from the drawer that was practically worn out from page-turning. Blinking his damp, wide eyes, he thoughtfully flipped open to the first page and pointed it out for Dr. Chen and Li’s father to see: “Uncle, look—it’s the ‘Su’ from ‘Suzhou,’ and the ‘Tang’ from ‘Begonia (Haitang).'”
Due to his health and family circumstances, Su Tang was already six years old and still hadn’t been able to start school.
Recognizing characters relied entirely on grandpa teaching him when he had free time. He loved learning very much, but the time grandpa actually had free was truly far too sparse.
Among the meager characters he could write, he wrote his own name the best.
At this moment, he held up the name he wrote best for the uncles to see.
His eyes were very large, his pupils pitch-black, gazing damply at the two adults before him under the dim lamplight. He didn’t know how obedient and how cute he looked while raising his small face to watch people.
Yet it exceptionally magnified the sickly aura of debility upon him, making him all the more heart-wrenching.
Li’s father, who had always been cold-faced, couldn’t help softening his tone: “Su Tang, did you make these meals?”
Su Tang nodded with glittering eyes: “Yes~”
“Uncle, I can even cook noodles!”
“Have the uncles eaten? If not, let me cook some noodles for you!”
Li’s father lowered his gaze to look at him, speaking warmly: “No trouble. The uncles have already eaten.”
Su Tang thought the uncles wanted to come in and sit for a bit.
Unexpectedly, they only looked around the room, asked him some questions about Li Xingchuan, and then left.
When leaving, Su Tang followed across the threshold, with the appearance of seeing guests off, acting just like a little adult.
Yet he was gently persuaded back.
“Good child, go back inside.” Dr. Chen instructed Su Tang: “Lock the door bolt on the inside. Aside from grandpa, don’t open the door to strangers anymore.”
Dr. Chen was also a person with children, and felt a natural pity for a child from an impoverished family lacking proper care, to the point of learning to be self-reliant too early.
——Especially one like Su Tang, who was as pretty as a porcelain doll.
If this were his own child, no matter what, he would never feel at ease leaving him home alone.
Su Tang stood right by the door, obediently waving goodbye to the two uncles: “Uncle, goodbye~”
Watching their figures walk into the distance, he finally followed instructions and locked the door properly.
In the distance, Dr. Chen, turning back every ten steps, saw the door close, finally set his mind at ease, and quickened his pace to catch up with Li’s father.
Walking by Li’s father’s side, he spoke in a low voice: “This child is indeed endearing, no wonder Xingchuan acts differently in front of him.”
Li’s father made no sound, yet neither did he refute it.
Dr. Chen continued: “In the past, we believed that Xingchuan held hostility toward everyone, but now you’ve also seen, he helped this child and even got along with him peacefully and calmly.”
He looked at Li’s father with a serious tone: “This is enough to prove that Xingchuan possesses the ability for normal life and socialization.”
“He is not an antisocial seed.”
“Perhaps in the past, he simply wasn’t willing to show this side. My suggestion is not to restrict Xingchuan from interacting with this child. He is currently at a critical stage of character formation, and his internal state is exceptionally important. From the current perspective, this child can clearly produce a positive, constructive influence on him.”
Li’s father remained silent as before, as if giving tacit consent.
After a long pause, he suddenly spoke: “We need to have someone check on his grandpa.”
Dr. Chen was slightly startled: “You don’t feel at ease?”
“It’s not that I don’t feel at ease with the child.” A trace of coldness flashed across Li’s father’s gaze, “It’s just that within this villa estate of mine, since when has such an impoverished family ever emerged?”
Dr. Chen felt a shock in his heart.
That’s right, although Mr. Li was cold in disposition and strict in governance, he had never mistreated the employees within the estate. Throughout Shengjing, who didn’t know that the Li family treated their subordinates with the most generous benefits? Whether it was the group corporation or this old villa estate, welfare and systems had always been top-tier.
How could an elderly man raising his grandson alone be made to work overtime until such a late hour?
As the two walked into the villa residential area, the first snow of this winter drifted down from the sky.
They couldn’t help quickening their pace.
At this moment, Su Tang was curled up inside the room, completely unaware that snow had already fallen heavily outside the door.
He was merely once again enveloped by silence, growing terrified.
Once everyone left, the room felt so empty.
Compared to when someone was here just now, it felt practically like a different world.
Su Tang slumped back down by the dining table, staring blankly at the enamel bowl Li Xingchuan had used, falling into a daze.
Outside, the sound of the wind grew louder and louder.
Su Tang’s fear also grew deeper and deeper.
And he was still worrying: After that Uncle Li went home, would he beat Li Xingchuan again?
Just now, they had asked so many questions about Li Xingchuan:
“How is his attitude toward you?”
“Has he ever bullied you?”
“When you are together with him, don’t you feel afraid?”
Unlike when questioning him, most of the questions related to Li Xingchuan had been asked by Uncle Chen, yet Su Tang always felt that the person who truly wanted to ask was Uncle Li. Because every time Uncle Chen asked a sentence, he would glance at him first, as if consulting about something.
And whenever a question landed, Uncle Li would always pause his actions, listening with exceptional concentration.
Even a dull-witted child like Su Tang could tell that Uncle Li actually cared a great deal about Li Xingchuan.
What on earth did big brother do wrong… He was truly terrified of big brother getting beaten again.
Getting beaten hurt far too much.
Just now, he had desperately wanted to cook for the uncles… actually because he wanted to ingratiate himself with the uncles so he could take the opportunity to plead with them to spare big brother.
Su Tang pressed his face against the icy tabletop, his mind a tangled mess.
After a while, having coaxed himself into feeling a bit calmer and gathering a tiny bit of strength back into his body, he got up, agilely cleaning up the bowls and chopsticks, and thoroughly tidying the room once more.
Yet even though all the chores were done, grandpa still hadn’t returned.
The room remained empty, with only the sound of the wind pressing harder and harder past the windows.
Su Tang finally couldn’t hold back any longer, slowly slumping back onto the table, burying his face in the crook of his arm, and crying softly, aggrieved yet suppressed, which triggered fit after fit of coughing.
Without realizing it, Su Tang fell asleep slumped over the table, still trailing tear tracks.
Half-asleep and half-awake, Su Tang suddenly heard a knock at the door.
The moment he was startled awake, Su Tang nearly tumbled off the seat. Sitting up with a panicked heart and shaking hands, for a good while he couldn’t tell where he was, only feeling subconsciously uneasy and terrified.
He suffered from startle syndrome and waking-stuper syndrome—he couldn’t bear the slightest fright when falling-asleep, otherwise he would experience varying degrees of startling and shaking symptoms, and upon waking up would still remain muddled in consciousness, in severe cases even suffering short-term mental confusion or running a fever and getting sick.
“Tangtang, it’s grandpa, open the door.”
Recognizing it was grandpa’s voice, Su Tang swallowed hard, wanting to make his pounding heart calm down faster. He hurriedly wiped away the tear stains on his face, stumbling as he ran over to open the door.
“Grandpa!”
He threw himself into grandpa’s arms, subconsciously wanting to pout and complain, “Why did you only come back now!”
Yet looking up to see grandpa’s exhausted, aged visage, the words on the tip of his tongue were swallowed back down. He merely hugged grandpa, rubbing against him softly like a cat, whispering in a tiny voice: “It’s actually snowing outside… Grandpa, hurry inside, I’ll go heat up the food.”
Grandpa Su scooped him up in an embrace, his rough palms gently stroking his small face: “Did you wash your face? Once it’s washed, go honestly lie down in the covers, grandpa will heat it up himself. Oh right, Tangtang, grandpa is telling you good news—starting tomorrow, grandpa won’t have to work overtime anymore!”
Su Tang tightly hugged grandpa’s neck, his eyes wide and round: “Really? Why is that?”
Grandpa Su laughed until the corners of his eyes piled into wrinkles: “While working busily tonight, I was suddenly called over by the big top leader. They said my work had a newcomer taking over, and because grandpa has worked solidly these past years, they’re transferring me to a new position! Starting directly tomorrow. Haha, it’s an easier chore, and pays more money than now. From now on, oh, there will be plenty of time to teach you characters, arithmetic, and take you to eat delicious things!”
“That’s so great, that’s so great!”
“Grandpa’s leader is truly a great person!”
Su Tang shook his little feet joyfully in grandpa’s arms, smiling with eyes as bright as stars, as if brimming with galaxies.
——He didn’t mention that he had been beaten, nor did he say he had invited that big brother to come home.
And he dared even less to bring up a group of adults surrounding the door, pinning big brother down in the snow.
Ever since he was small, he had self-taught the habit of “reporting good news and not the bad.”
On this end, the grandfather and grandson were warm and cozy.
Over on Li Xingchuan’s end, however, it was a completely different scene.
An hour ago, as soon as Li Xingchuan returned to the villa, he rushed into the living room like a trapped beast, smashing and kicking—virtually anything that could be destroyed was ravaged by him once more—
Yet suddenly, his movements stalled.
He thought of Su Tang’s grandfather, who still hadn’t returned late into the night.
And then, he actually stopped his tyrannical actions.
After hanging back up the blue-and-white porcelain hanging plate he was about to smash from his hand, he turned around and beckoned toward the second-floor railing.
Housekeeper Ye was standing there.
Housekeeper Ye was silently observing him as usual, long since accustomed to his outbursts.
Suddenly summoned by this young master, Housekeeper Ye hurried over to his presence.
Li Xingchuan raised his eyes, his voice still carrying undissipated hostility: “The regional manager of this district—is someone under your command, right?”
Housekeeper Ye was slightly startled, not expecting Li Xingchuan at his age to actually inquire about administrative affairs, internally sighing that he was truly worthy of being the family head’s child.
Respectfully answering, he said: “He falls under my jurisdiction, but he doesn’t need to report directly to me. He is branch management, and above him, there is still a general regional manager.”
Li Xingchuan said coldly: “Make him get out of the estate.”
Housekeeper Ye revealed a difficult expression: “Did he… did he offend you?”
Li Xingchuan lost his patience, raising his voice irritably: “I’ll say it again—make him get out!”
“Oh? Why.”
Just as Housekeeper Ye was in a dilemma, Li’s father’s calm voice suddenly traveled from outside the door: “Give me a reason.”
“He’s giving your employees a hard time! Is this reason enough?! If you don’t believe it, go investigate. If he’s innocent, I’ll do a handstand and eat your cane!”
Dropping these words, Li Xingchuan turned around and clanked-clanked his way charging up to the second floor. Immediately following, a heavy slamming of a door shook the stairs as if they were trembling slightly.
Li’s father’s gaze followed his back the entire way until that figure vanished at the end of the corridor. He walked into the living room, sitting down on the footprint-covered sofa, momentarily forgetting even about etiquette and decorum.
He merely leaned exhaustedly against the chair back, massaging his temples.
——It looked like the set of communication rhetoric Dr. Chen taught tonight had gone to waste yet again. Going upstairs now, he would mostly likely be met with a closed door.
He put his hand down, his expression turning increasingly cold as he spoke to Housekeeper Ye, who stood solemnly to the side:
“Go investigate.”
He was truly too exhausted.
He closed his eyes, thinking helplessly: Who on earth is this child like?
Such a hard-to-tame temperament, who is it like?
Not like him.
Yet it was identical to his mother…
Thinking of this, Li’s father suddenly sat up straight.
He didn’t dare to keep thinking further down.
Dr. Chen’s gentle voice drifted into his ears: “You should still go upstairs and take a look.”
Carrying a hint of certainty in his tone: “Just say that the child named Su Tang brought a message for him. He will definitely open the door.”