Darkness engulfed him, and no matter how he struggled or cried out, it was all in vain. He could only let the darkness swallow him piece by piece, isolating him from that world.
This had once been the nightmare of his childhood.
Xia Yuning’s father and mother had been bound together by a family arranged marriage. His mother already had a lover before they married, but due to family pressure, she had no choice but to marry Xia Yuning’s father.
As for Xia Yuning’s father, he was a thorough playboy. After marrying Xia Yuning’s mother, he continued to eat, drink, make merry, and indulge in debauchery everywhere.
Xia Yuning’s mother did not care either, as they had no affection for each other to begin with.
Later, after Xia Yuning was born, his mother detested him immensely. Whenever she saw him, she rarely gave him a pleasant look, and eventually, she was unwilling even to cast a single glance at him.
His father was also frequently away from home. Every time he returned, he reeked of alcohol, and the collar of his shirt always bore various red lipstick prints.
When he was young, he did not understand why his father never stayed home overnight, why his mother hated him, or why the massive villa was always so desolate. Little Xia Yuning would always curl up alone by the door, hoping to catch a glimpse of his parents.
When he was young, he also did not know better, assuming his mother disliked him because he was not outstanding or good enough.
He naively thought that perhaps if he performed better and worked harder, his mother would come to like him.
However, when he clutched the various awards he had worked hard to achieve and went to find his mother, what he saw instead was his mother nestled in the arms of a strange man, holding the hand of a strange child, and gently and affectionately calling that other child son.
That was an expression he had never seen on his mother’s face. He had never seen her look that way; her expression was gentle and full of happiness, unlike the disgust and coldness she showed when facing him.
He finally felt love from his mother, except that it was a love that did not belong to him.
At that moment, he finally understood that he was never the crystallization of love, nor could he ever hope to receive it.
His craving for love gradually faded as he grew older. He grew up and saw through everything. Following wave after wave of disappointment, that yearning buried deep in his heart slowly vanished into nothingness.
In the past, he had desperately studied various skills and forced himself to become more outstanding just to gain his parents’ attention, even if it was just a tiny bit. Later, once that craving disappeared, he stopped being obedient and started acting out.
Smoking, drinking, skipping school, fighting, street racing; he learned all of it. After all, nobody cared about him anyway.
He simply muddled through his days like that.
Until the Xia family went bankrupt and Xia Yuning’s father disappeared.
The turning point occurred the summer Xia Yuning just turned adult. His father disappeared, leaving behind a mountain of debts, and the family’s company subsequently collapsed and went bankrupt as well.
Rumor had it that his father had offended some underworld forces, and once anyone became entangled in such matters, things became extremely troublesome.
By that time, Xia Yuning’s mother had long since immigrated abroad with her lover. After the disaster struck, only Xia Yuning was left behind.
With his father missing, the debt collectors tracked him down and demanded that he pay off his father’s debts.
The weather that day was stiflingly hot, and Xia Yuning wandered alone by the roadside. Even though fine beads of sweat covered his brow, he still felt chilled to the bone.
After enduring the most difficult period, he finally managed to find a relatively stable job, but not long after that, he got into a traffic accident.
Xia Yuning rubbed the space between his eyebrows and slowly let out a long breath.
He felt a bit stifled, so he reached up and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt, revealing his delicate collarbones, which made him feel somewhat better.
This was the first time since coming to this world that he had recalled his past life. Even just remembering it made it hard to breathe.
During afternoon tea, Lu Qian and Rong Fang engaged Xia Yuning in a long, pleasant chat, and by the time they prepared to leave, it was already nearly five o’clock.
Rong Fang held onto Xia Yuning, extremely reluctant to let him go.
Through an afternoon of interaction, she had completely fallen in love with this child, Xia Yuning.
When they reached the car, Xia Yuning paused, smiled at Lu Qian and Rong Fang, and said, “Dad, Mom, we will be heading off now. We will come visit again next time.”
Then he crouched down, looked toward Little Yuanbao who was tugging at his hem, and gently stroked Little Yuanbao’s head with outstretched fingers.
“Little Yuanbao, Auntie is leaving now. I will come see you again next time, alright?”
Although he was extremely reluctant to part with his aunt, Little Yuanbao knew it was time for him to go. So he obediently nodded, released his grip on Xia Yuning’s hem, pouted his lips, and said, “I know, Auntie.”
“Such a good boy.” Xia Yuning could not help himself; he reached out to pinch Little Yuanbao’s chubby cheeks before standing up to leave with Lu Jinglin.
Rong Fang watched their retreating figures and suddenly let out a soft chuckle. “Old Lu, look at how well-matched those two children look walking together, a handsome man and a fine partner.”
“Indeed.” Lu Qian raised an arm to wrap around Rong Fang’s shoulders, his usually stern expression softening into a rare gentleness as he looked at her. “I observed it today; the child Yuning is quite wonderful. He is a truly good boy.”
Hearing this, Rong Fang’s smile widened even further. “Yuning is genuinely wonderful. His temperament and his looks are both impeccable. In any case, I like him a great deal.”
“Grandpa, Grandma, count me in, count me in! I also super-duper like little Auntie!”
Little Yuanbao rushed over to join the fun, stretching out the word super and extending his arms wide to draw a huge circle, expressing his fondness for Xia Yuning. “He is this big!”
Both Rong Fang and Lu Qian were amused by Little Yuanbao’s antics.
“Oh you, what a little rascal.”
Over the past few days, Xia Yuning cooked almost every time he had a free moment, nurturing Lu Jinglin’s stomach so well that his stomachaches no longer bothered him when sleeping at night.
Lu Jinglin sat in the study, processing a document his assistant had just sent over.
The phone on the desk chimed as the assistant reported for work over the line: “President Lu, this is the third revised proposal submitted by the planning department regarding this product.”
Lu Jinglin had two assistants; the one on the phone was the other one.
Lu Jinglin answered calmly, “Mm, understood.”
“Why did the planning manager not send it to me himself?” Lu Jinglin’s eyes scanned the data on the computer screen. The screen’s glow reflected on his face, making his jawline appear even more distinct.
What other reason could there be? Naturally, because he is terrified of you, the assistant could not help muttering inwardly.
The first two proposals had already been rejected, and he remembered that Lu Jinglin’s expression had been freezing cold at the time, scaring the planning department manager so badly that his legs shook continuously and he could not even speak coherently.
This planning manager was newly appointed and experiencing this situation for the first time, lacking familiarity with the process. Therefore, after completing the third revision, no matter what, he did not dare show it to Lu Jinglin personally and had to beg his cousin for help. Well, who could blame him when that was his cousin?