Chapter 63: Apology
The autumn sun was like strands of gold, wrapping around people’s bodies, as if draping them in a light golden gauze.
Wen Nian, his red hair a mess like a chicken’s nest, got up from the bed with his butt in the air.
He yawned and looked around, finding that Chi Xiasheng, who was always an early riser, was actually still asleep. He couldn’t help but let out a small laugh and pounced on him.
“Xiaxia, get up! The sun is shining on your butt!”
Chi Xiasheng felt as if he were being crushed by a mountain. When he woke up, gasping for breath, he found that the instigator, Wen Nian, was smiling at him.
“You’re crushing me, Niannian. Get up.”
Wen Nian said, “Oh,” and rolled off the bed with a giggle. He stood with his hands on his hips, looking at the golden sunlight outside the window, and proudly lifted his little head. “I got up first today, Xiaxia! You little lazybones, I caught you!”
Seeing Wen Nian’s boundless energy as soon as he woke up, Chi Xiasheng also shook his head with a laugh. For a moment, he had actually forgotten all the troubles of yesterday. After washing up with him, they went down to eat together.
It was almost noon, so he didn’t plan to eat breakfast anymore and went straight into the kitchen to prepare lunch.
But as soon as he walked in, he found that Wen Shu was already in the kitchen, frowning at a pot of black stuff.
“Auntie Wen? What are you…”
His gaze fell on the black stuff in the pot, and he really couldn’t tell what she was cooking.
Seeing him come over, she quickly hid the pot behind her and coughed a couple of times. “This was an accident. You go out first. I’ll make lunch today.”
Since last night, when she had thought that Chi Xiasheng might be her deceased child, her heart had been filled with excitement, and she couldn’t sleep at all. She had stayed up until morning, planning to make him a loving breakfast.
Unfortunately, she had too few opportunities to cook. The loving breakfast had been dragged out until noon and was still not ready. Instead, a pot of porridge had been boiled into a black paste at the bottom of the pot.
She was a little embarrassed and shooed him out, even promising him, “Don’t worry, you and Wen Nian can just wait for a loving lunch!”
Wen Nian and Chi Xiasheng, who were sitting on the sofa eating potato chips, looked at each other and saw the panic in each other’s eyes.
Will Auntie/Mom really not blow up the kitchen?
With a worried heart, Wen Nian skillfully ordered three takeout meals.
After a busy noon, Wen Shu, as expected, brought out another pot of black paste. In the end, she simply pretended that nothing had happened and sat down to eat takeout with him.
“Mom, why did you suddenly think of cooking?”
Wen Nian’s mouth was full as he looked at her with wide, round eyes.
She tapped him on the head and told him to eat quickly. “Even eating can’t shut your mouth. It’s so annoying.”
After speaking, her gaze turned to Chi Xiasheng, her eyes filled with an undisguised warmth and gentleness.
“Xiaxia, you don’t have to worry about yesterday’s matter. Su Chimian might not be my child either. I won’t have any relationship with Su Chengjian in the future. I was in a bad mood yesterday and neglected you. I have to apologize to you for what happened yesterday.”
Chi Xiasheng was holding his chopsticks. Hearing her words, his hands froze, and he was stunned, not knowing how to react.
After a long time, he lowered his eyes and said, “Auntie Wen, you don’t have to… you don’t have to be like this. I know that child is very important to you. You don’t have to do this for me. It’s not worth it.”
She gently held his hand and sighed. “Of course you’re worth it. Don’t belittle yourself like this. The Su family doesn’t cherish you, but I have always treated you as my most precious treasure. I will not give you up for Su Chimian. You just need to remember this!”
If he had just been a little dazed before, now, after hearing her words, his mind was completely blank.
This was probably the first time someone had unswervingly stood by his side in the choice between him and Su Chimian.
A small flame in his heart gradually turned into a prairie fire, burning all the desolate and gloomy corners of his heart to ashes, and then scattering them in the air.
The painful and dark thoughts of last night seemed to have shattered into pieces in this instant.
“Yes, thank you, Auntie Wen.”
She shook her head and rubbed his head. “You don’t have to thank me. I’m your merman elder. I can’t possibly abandon you. If Su Chimian is really my son, then let him live in the Su family for the rest of his life. He has already acknowledged Bai Qian as his mother. Even if he calls me ‘Mom,’ I’m afraid there’s not much sincerity in it.”
After she had calmed down last night, she had already thought of countless results in her mind.
The worst one was that Su Chengjian was not lying, and Su Chimian was indeed her son.
After all, she had lived for so many years and had seen countless different kinds of humans. She could tell at a glance that he was wearing a hypocritical skin. He had been raised with this kind of personality by Mother Su, and it would probably be difficult to change in this lifetime.
Her own son had been taught to be like this. The thought of this situation made her feel both ridiculous and hateful.
But she still had other family members. She couldn’t affect their lives for the sake of Su Chimian. The best way was to leave him in the Su family.
Su Chengjian would not treat him badly. He could still be his little young master Su. This could be considered her last bit of warmth for her son.
But other than that, there would be nothing. There was destined to be no more intersection between her and him.
Hearing her plan, Chi Xiasheng was completely dumbfounded. But when he thought of her personality, he felt it was quite in line with her temper.
She was decisive and frank. She would never hesitate to discard what should be discarded.
Hearing their conversation, Wen Nian raised his head in a daze, feeling as if he had already fallen behind the times.
“What’s wrong with Su Chimian? What son? Mom, what are you talking about?”
He wanted to ask clearly, but she opened her mouth and, thinking that Pei Zhixuan had already gone to do a paternity test, she decided to just wait for the results to come out.
After all, in her heart, she didn’t believe at all that Su Chimian was her child.
To be honest, up until now, just the thought of this possibility made her feel as disgusted as if she had eaten a fly.
Before she could recover from the disgusting feeling, there was a knock on the door.
Su Chengjian was standing outside with Su Chimian, waiting.
She covered her head, having lost her appetite for food. She took a deep breath and then went to open the door.
Seeing her, he was obviously very excited and called out “Shu’er” affectionately, which made her clenched fists almost pop out a few fish scales.
Forcing back the urge to throw this person out, she rubbed the back of her hand to press down the scales and turned to ask them what they were here for.
He walked in with Su Chimian, his face full of tenderness. “I brought Mianmian to see you. Our family has been separated for so many years. We’re finally reunited today.”
In his heart, only Wen Shu and the son she had given birth to were his real family.
Behind him, Su Chimian gently lifted his head to glance at her, then lowered his head again and called out “Mom” in a low voice.
At this “Mom,” she was so scared that scales appeared on her again. She closed her eyes and, after calming down, said, “Don’t call me that. I don’t want to hear it. If you’re here to talk about this kind of thing today, then please leave.”
She didn’t want to waste time on him and directly issued an eviction order at the entrance of the living room.
He knew she was angry and quickly tried to remedy the situation. “Shu’er, I’m also here to apologize to you today. It’s right for you to hate me, but I really like you too much. I couldn’t bear the price of losing you, so I took your child away.”
She let out a light sneer, her eyes cold. “It’s good that you know. After you’ve apologized, take your son and get lost. I don’t want to see you. It gives me a headache.”
He hadn’t come today just to simply apologize. He wanted to take this opportunity to reconcile with her.
“Shu’er, I don’t believe you have no feelings for me at all. We once loved each other so passionately. We shouldn’t have come to this end! We’re both old now, with only thirty or forty years left. Let’s not leave each other with regrets. Can you look back at me?”
His gaze was full of deep affection as he spoke, and he dedicated all his strong love to her.
Unfortunately, she just shook her head contemptuously, thinking to herself, You only have thirty or forty years left, but I still have a lot of time. How can I stay with an old man like you?
“Su Chengjian, I have never liked you. I have lived for so long and have never put love in my heart. Don’t waste your time here. Just take your son and go.”
Hearing her say this, he had no intention of giving up at all and instead went a step further. “Shu’er, don’t you miss Mianmian? He hasn’t seen you since he was a child. Are you so cruel as to abandon him?”
She looked at the silently lowered-headed Su Chimian and raised an eyebrow. “If Su Chimian is really my child, I’ll just want to beat him to death. To be taught to have this kind of personality by Bai Qian, I’ll also beat that woman to death.”
Hearing her firm tone, the surprise in Su Chimian’s eyes made him suddenly lift his head and meet her gaze.
His eyes were full of hatred and shock. He looked directly into her eyes and asked, “Why? For Chi Xiasheng? But aren’t I your child?”
He hadn’t wanted to come today either, but last night his mother had found him and told him not to have any psychological burden, to just go over with an open mind.
For her, it was a little disgusting for him to acknowledge Wen Shu as his mother, but the thought that she would be good to him with all her heart made her feel a sense of glee.
Wen Shu saw through his thoughts at a glance and nodded, curling her lips. “Yes, I’m just for Xiaxia. What’s wrong? You Su family can abandon him and not care about him, but I can’t abandon Su Chimian?”
Hearing her say this, both Su Chengjian and Su Chimian’s eyelids twitched.
“Where is Chi Xiasheng? No wonder I ran into him last time. To have this idea at such a young age, his mind is really deep enough!”
He gritted his teeth and walked in. Thinking of the trouble Chi Xiasheng had brought him, he couldn’t help but explode completely.
