Chapter 44

The car sped all the way there. The anger buried deep in An Xiang's heart temporarily made her forget the pain radiating through her body. All she could think about was getting home as quickly as possible.

By the time they reached the residential complex, she pulled a red banknote from her pocket and handed it to the driver. "Keep the change." After saying those four words coldly, An Xiang grabbed her bag and got out.

Her ankle was injured, but she did not walk slowly.

She soon reached the door and raised her hand, pounding on it hard enough to make it rattle.

Click.

The door opened.

"An Xiang, you're back—"

Before Pei Chen could finish, An Xiang squeezed past him and entered.

Everyone was gathered in the living room. An Xiang's gaze passed over Pei Yizhou and the twins before finally landing on An Zimo.

He turned around and gave her a faint glance. As if nothing had happened, he turned back and continued changing the TV channels.

The string An Xiang had kept taut finally snapped.

Unable to endure it any longer, she took three steps forward, snatched the remote from An Zimo's hand, turned off the television, and hauled him up like a rat. Then, under the entire family's watchful eyes, she raised her palm and swung it hard at him.

Pei Chen reacted quickly and stopped her. Her descending hand missed its mark, her nails scraping past his ear and leaving two red marks.

Caught completely off guard, An Zimo staggered and fell back onto the sofa.

He forgot to blink, staring at An Xiang in disbelief.

Pei Chen and the younger children were all dumbfounded. They never would have imagined that gentle, soft-spoken An Xiang would actually try to slap someone.

"An... An Xiang, calm down." Pei Chen shrank his neck back nervously and stepped forward to persuade her. "Isn't Momo back now? Don't be angry."

"Big sis, d-don't hit Momo..."

Pei Nuo was immediately frightened into tears by that slap. She used her tiny body to shield An Zimo, sobbing as she kept An Xiang from approaching him.

An Zimo remained blank-faced throughout.

That indifferent, unconcerned attitude chilled her heart completely.

An Xiang swallowed, her voice hoarse as she spoke. "An Zimo, if you don't want to live with me, then don't."

The words carried tremendous force, cracking a tiny fissure in An Zimo's cold expression.

Pei Chen was utterly shocked. "An Xiang, don't say that. If Zimo doesn't live with you, who's he supposed to live with? He's just young and doesn't understand. I ran away from home when I was little too, right, Great-Grandpa?"

Pei Yizhou said nothing, merely staring coldly at An Zimo's face.

Pei Chen was terrified that the relationship between mother and son would turn bitter.

He himself had grown up without a father or mother. He knew how important a mother was to a three-year-old child.

Pei Chen grabbed An Zimo and shouted at him, "You little brat, apologize to your mom right now! If your mom doesn't raise you, who in this world will?"

An Zimo stared at An Xiang's face. After a long while, he suddenly turned his head away and spat out a few words. "...She isn't my mom."

The words were not loud, but they reached everyone's ears clearly.

Pei Chen abruptly fell silent, not knowing what to say.

An Xiang calmly looked at that face. Her lips twitched, but her eyes still reddened beyond her control.

"An Zimo, since you don't want me to be your mommy, then I won't be." She fought back a sob, lowered her head, and hastily wiped away the tears spilling out. "I know you don't want to live with me. I know that no matter what I do, you just don't like me."

Suppressing her sorrow, she said word by word, "Then I won't make you stay with me against your will."

An Zimo clenched his fists, his lips pressed tightly together.

"To tell you the truth." An Xiang took a deep breath and pointed at Pei Yizhou. "Mr. Pei is your dad. He's very rich, and you'll definitely live well with him. Besides, Mr. Pei also wants to take you back."

Suddenly being dragged into this, Pei Yizhou's temple twitched. He rose and stopped in front of An Xiang, gripping her shoulders with both hands as he softly tried to stop her. "Enough. Stop talking."

"Why can't I talk?!" An Xiang broke free from Pei Yizhou. Tears surged down her face as she glared fiercely at An Zimo. "An Zimo, I already apologized to you. What right do you have to treat me like this?"

"Do you think you're the only one in this world who has had it hard?"

"You have a mommy who cares about you, a mommy who cooks for you and washes your clothes. But who do I have?"

"You ran away from home just because you wanted to. Do you really think life is some children's game? Do you think I can forgive you just because you're young and don't understand?"

Her crying would not stop. All the grievances she had suppressed for so long burst forth at this moment.

An Xiang knew she had done something wrong. She knew she should not have left him in that village. But none of that could become a reason for An Zimo to act so willfully.

He had returned safely today only because he was lucky. What if the same thing happened to them again next time? How would he escape if he met a madman like that? The outside world was full of danger, but he did not care at all.

No matter what she said, he would not care, because he would never acknowledge her. No matter what she did, in his eyes, she would always be a stranger he disliked.

"I can't be a Good Mommy, and you happen not to like me either. So this works out perfectly." She took a deep breath and calmed herself down, turning her head away so she would not look at him again. "Go. Live with Mr. Pei, and you can... get what you want."

An Xiang pressed her lips together and cried until she could no longer make a sound.

All strength left her body, and she leaned into Pei Yizhou's arms. Her sobs gradually quieted.

"G-Great-Grandpa, An Xiang is bleeding!" Pei Yan pointed anxiously at An Xiang's back and shouted. In the end, he could not bear the sorrow either and tilted his head back, bursting into tears.

"An Xiang is going to die! Waaa... What do we do? She's going to die!"

Pei Yizhou did not dare delay. He scooped An Xiang up around the waist and headed outside. As he closed the door, he tossed a few words to Pei Chen. "Take care of your brother and sister."

The two adults left, leaving only Pei Chen and the three little brats in the living room.

Among the little brats, only Pei Nuo was crying like an idiot. An Zimo sat on the sofa like a wooden puppet without saying a word, while Pei Yan watched him.

After watching for a while, Pei Yan started crying too.

One twin was a female soprano and the other a male tenor. Their tears rose and fell melodically, making the room lively as though they were performing an opera.

The noise gave Pei Chen a splitting headache. He knelt in front of Pei Yan and said, "Little ancestor, why the hell are you crying?"

Pei Yan howled at the top of his lungs, "I'm crying because I have to acknowledge this annoying bastard as my grandpa!!"

Pei Chen froze. "Acknowledge wha—" Before he could finish, An Xiang's words from not long ago automatically replayed in his ears—

[Mr. Pei is your dad.]

"..."

"..."

Fuck!!!!

Pei Chen pinched his thigh, and in an instant, the entire world seemed to turn dark and bleak.

He could not accept this reality. He grabbed An Zimo's shoulders and shook him hard, shouting even louder than the two crying children. "An Zimo, say something!! My great-grandpa is really your dad?!"

Impossible!

He had never heard of this!

Wasn't Pei Yizhou supposed to be cold and aloof?!

An Zimo was shaken until stars filled his vision. He frowned and gave a quiet hum.

That "mm" was like a bolt of lightning striking Pei Chen's skull.

Pei Chen pinched the space beneath his nose so hard that he barely kept himself from fainting.

"Impossible, impossible, I don't believe it..."

He could not believe his first love had ended like this. He could not believe that the person he had wanted to marry for so long would turn out to be his great-grandmother. And he absolutely could not accept calling a little brat not even four years old his grandpa!

"I... I'm going out. I'm going to find them and ask them myself." Pei Chen was about to rush out when Pei Nuo tightly wrapped herself around his thigh.

Pei Chen struggled twice but could not shake her loose. He could not bring himself to use force on his sister, so he gritted his teeth and said, "Nuo Nuo, let go. I'm going to ask Pei Yizhou what the hell is going on. I don't want some grandpa who appeared out of nowhere."

"Wuwuwu, no, no." Pei Nuo lay on the floor, crying as she clung to Pei Chen's leg. "You're going to break them up, aren't you?"

"W-what did you say?"

"Nuo Nuo won't let you go!" Pei Nuo pouted. "I want An Xiang to be Nuo Nuo's great-grandmother. I want to stay with Grandpa Zimo forever, and I want kisses in An Xiang's arms."

Pei Chen's mouth twisted with anger. "Have you lost your mind? I'm your real brother. Why aren't you thinking about me?"

Pei Nuo's eyes glistened as she pouted. "But Great-Grandpa is also my real grandpa!"

"..." Pei Chen was rendered speechless. After a moment, he said, "It would be the same if An Xiang got together with me! You'd get the same benefits. Why aren't you taking my side?"

"It's different!" Pei Nuo raised her voice even higher. "If An Xiang becomes my great-grandmother, she'll definitely give me allowance money!"

"Allowance..." Pei Chen's eyes widened.

Th-that was true.

If An Xiang became his great-grandmother, then given Pei Yizhou's personality, he would definitely hand all his money over to An Xiang to manage. Then Pei Chen could take as much money as he wanted. But if An Xiang became his wife, it would be different. If she were his wife, then he would have to give her however much money she wanted. The key was that he could not afford it—Pei Yizhou had all the money.

The sorrow in Pei Chen's heart began to ease, and he even felt a little tempted.

Just as Pei Chen was struggling over whether it would be better for An Xiang to become his wife or his great-grandmother, he heard a cold sneer from behind him.

"Heh. Love that crumbles at the first blow."

Pei Chen's face flushed with embarrassment. Pointing at Pei Yan's nose, he cursed, "Brat, don't get cocky. Keep talking to your big brother like that, and I'll smash your head in."

His younger brother responded with merciless laughter.

"I don't care. I still have to find them and get answers!" Pei Chen could not swallow this insult no matter how he looked at it. He took out his phone and texted the nanny. The nanny lived in the building next door and arrived shortly after receiving the message.

Pei Chen dumped the three children on her and worriedly instructed her for a long time. "Pei Nuo and Pei Yan are the same as usual. Just coax them to sleep. But you need to keep an eye on that kid." Pei Chen pointed at An Zimo. "That little brat is crafty as hell. Don't let him run off. If he won't listen, tie him up with a rope."

The nanny stared blankly for a while. "T-tie him up?"

"Yes, tie him up." Pei Chen emphasized viciously. "Don't hold back. If anything happens, I'll take responsibility."

He did not dare waste any more time. After saying that, he strode away.

Pei Nuo complained that she was hungry, so the nanny went to the kitchen to make them a late-night snack. The three children sat side by side on the sofa.

An Zimo sat in the middle, surrounded by the twins on either side.

He was very quiet, quieter than ever. The place by his ear where An Xiang's nails had scraped him was slightly red. An Zimo could not feel the pain. Numbly, he stared at his reflection in the television screen.

In his daze, a pair of small hands settled over the place where he had just been hit.

He looked over and met Pei Nuo's worried gaze.

"Nuo Nuo, don't rub it for him. He deserves it." Pei Yan showed no sympathy, his tone full of schadenfreude.

"But Grandpa Momo will hurt." Pei Nuo furrowed her pretty little brows. Her hand did not pull away; instead, she rubbed the spot even more gently, then opened her mouth and blew on the wound. "Blow, blow, and it won't hurt anymore."

"What pain?" Pei Yan had picked up plenty of swear words from his brother. Curling his lips, he said, "If he knew pain, he wouldn't have run away from home. Hmph!"

Pei Nuo pressed her lips together and looked cautiously at An Zimo. After a while, she asked, "Momo, why don't you like your mommy?"

An Zimo lowered his lashes, his expression cold and still like an ice sculpture.

Pei Nuo sighed. "You already have such a good mommy. Why did you still run away from home?" she said quietly. "If I had a mommy like An Xiang, I would never leave for the rest of my life."

He spoke quietly. "If I want to leave, I leave. Why do I need so many reasons?"

Pei Nuo leaned against him, her clear eyes gazing deeply at his face. "Momo, now that you have a mommy, you have to treat her well."

She was very serious, nothing like a child saying such words.

An Zimo could not help raising his eyes.

Pei Nuo's eyes reddened as she said word by word, "Otherwise, when Mommy is gone... when Mommy is gone, it'll be too late even if you want to treat her well."

As Pei Nuo spoke, the tip of her nose turned red. Tears swirled in her beautiful eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall. "Nuo Nuo is very sad now. I wish I had been born earlier. Then I could have been Daddy and Mommy's child for a few more years, spent more time by their side, sung songs for them many more times, and told them I loved them many more times."

She pressed her lips together. "But... but when they died, Nuo Nuo couldn't even talk yet."

She could only know what they looked like from photographs.

Pei Nuo lowered her little head deeply, her suppressed sobs filled with longing.

She missed her mother, and she missed her father too. But all that longing had gone into the grave with the dead.

In the end, the words "I love you" could only be spoken thousands of times to cold gravestones.

An Zimo was without feeling, without desire, without joy or sorrow. He was destined not to understand the meaning behind Pei Nuo's tears.

He looked out the window. The deep dusk reflected in his eyes seemed ready to swallow his soul. Through the dark night, An Zimo saw only the silence of the universe.

—He felt nothing.

An Zimo: I have no heart.

I don't care, I don't care! You've all been so cold toward me lately, QAQ.

Wuwuwu, so what if you're cold? Even if you are, I'm still giving out red envelopes.

Red envelopes for the first two hundred.