Chapter 44.2

The more he learnt about her, the wider and more candid he smiled. 

By the time the flower rolls were placed into the steamer, Tao Yi Xi was finally up.  

“Good morning Grandma. Ge-ge, you’re up so early as well?” 

“En, good morning. Take a seat and wait, the flower rolls should be ready soon.” He gazed at her tenderly.

This solidified Tao Yi Xi’s determination to have that talk with him.

After breakfast, Tao Yi Xi informed her grandmother before she pulled Gu Jing Yuan out of the house with her. 

They strolled aimlessly along the streets. No words were exchanged as she pondered on how to bring the topic up without causing their relationship to sour and at the same time, revert it back to its previous status of being neither too close nor too distant. 

It was unknown what kind of event or promotion the nearby shopping mall was hosting as there was a large crowd gathering there. 

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Fbl blyae vbl zyeu, obsx pbl dlyazu cydtle kdvs, nsxrzykdkdt yp pbl rypple cu, “Eyvnb oblal usw’al tskdt.”

Fbl kxxlekyvlzu vssj vos pvlrp cynj. Qw Kkdt Zwyd wdnsdpnkswpzu oydvle vs nyvnb bla cynj yde dsv zlv ts.

Tla pweeld alpkpvydnl xyel bkx qzwpvlale.

“Nlv’p qkde y xkzj vly pbsr vs pkv yde nbyv.”

“Xjyu.”

There was a tastefully decorated dessert shop nearby. As soon as Tao Yi Xi entered, the boss called out to her in pleasant surprise.

“Xiao Xi is back!”

“Happy New Year, Boss.” Tao Yi Xi greeted with a smile.

“Happy New Year to you too! Will you come back to work part-time this year? I’m paying triple during the Chinese New Year period.” The owner of the shop tried to entice her.

“Nope. I have to return to school in a couple more days.”

The boss sighed in regret, “Alright, when you have the chance in the future, do come back. My shop will always welcome you.”

Tao Yi Xi grinned and replied, “Thank you, Boss.”

“What drinks can I get for you today?” 

“A cup of milk tea with taro pearls for me. How about you?”

“A glass of lemon tea.”

“Coming right up, go take a seat first.”

The two of them found a corner seat.

Soon, the owner had one of his waiting staff deliver a slice of cake over. 

“Boss said it’s free,” the waiter was a handsome young lad. 

“Thank you.” She smiled courteously at him.

“You’re, you’re welcome,” a blush bloomed on his fair cheeks. 

“Cough.” After Gu Jing Yuan cleared his throat loudly, her attention finally returned to him.

“Did you catch a cold?”

“No, my throat is a little dry but I’m fine now. You’re very familiar with the owner?”

“En, I used to work part-time here.”

She was only in the second year of middle school right now. How much younger was she when she had to start working part-time? 

Gu Jing Yuan frowned. Ever since she stepped into his house, a doubt had already formed. 

“Doesn’t Xia Yan send money back to you all?” 

Xia Yan always bought all kinds of luxury brand goods with abandon. She would always hang around other wealthy ladies, dining, traveling, and staying at the best places; she lived extremely comfortably.  

And yet, her mother and daughter lived in such a dilapidated house with furniture that showed varying signs of wear and tear.

In addition, Tao Yi Xi, who was just a middle school student, had to take on a part-time job to make ends meet. 

Thinking about it, caused his fists to clench unconsciously.

Tao Yi Xi did not expect him to ask such a question.

“We seldom contact my mom.” 

“You’re her daughter. Just because you don’t contact her first, she just assumes to leave you alone?” It was no secret that his relationship with Gu Mu Yang was bad. But no matter what, all materialistic needs that were required, Gu Mu Yang would not forget to provide. 

Tao Yi Xi took a sip of milk tea and stated flatly, “We don’t want to disturb her new life. Plus, Grandma and I are living well by ourselves.”

“Even despite the fact that you got bullied? You consider that to be living well?” 

She looked up at him, “It seems that Grandma told you a lot of things.”

Staring out the window, her thoughts started drifting back to the summer vacation of that year.

Since she was a child, she had always looked lovely and delicate. The older she grew, the more she resembled an exquisite flower bud that bloomed in spring, looking more beautiful as the days passed.

The first time she got cornered inside the girl’s toilet was on the day the students took back their report cards.  

A group of delinquent girls with heavy make-up, surrounded her as they tugged at her hair and scratched her face with their sharp fingernails.

Back then, she was unarmed. Feeling extremely helpless at her situation, all she could do was bite down hard on her lips. Tears streamed down her face against her will due to the amount of fear she was experiencing.  

Her hair was disheveled and her face was injured. Yet, this painted a picture of a crying beauty which triggered the group of crazy girls into a frenzy. 

“Fuck! A stinky bitch that no one wants. How dare you go around seducing other people’s man! You’re as slutty as your mother who likes to seduce rich men. I want to see when your nudes start circulating around the school, who else will still want you!”

They were ready to rip her clothes off. Filled with horror, her struggling efforts renewed as she tried to break away from the group of girls cornering her. 

Grabbing tightly onto the collar of her top, she desperately made a dash out of the toilet as the group chased closely behind her. Finally, her pursuers slowly gave up as they glared hatefully at her disappearing silhouette.

It was only after she neared home then did she truly felt that she had escaped from them. Leaning against the wall in exhaustion, tears continued rolling down her cheeks. 

She did not need to look into a mirror to know how unkempt she looked. She lingered outside the door, afraid that if she was to step into the house in this state, Grandma would be worried. 

She squatted in a corner. There was never another moment where she had such a strong desire to have her mother by her side; to bring her into her embrace, comfort her, and tell her how to deal with those bad girls.

Perhaps God heard her cries, as the very next moment, Grandm’s phone rang loudly from within the cottage.

The elderly’s hearing was not very good, so she would tune up to the loudest volume with the speaker on when picking up a call. The ever so familiar and yet so foreign sweet voice clearly transmitted to her ears from within the thin walls.

“Mom, if it’s nothing serious, don’t keep calling. I have things to do on my end.” 

“Mom understands. But I just heard from Xiao Lin that you’ve found a new partner and he’s from a well-to-do family? What’s the person like?” Rich folks were extremely cunning, she was very worried that her daughter would get cheated. 

“I’m fine.”

“When are you getting married? Remember to bring the man home for Mom and your daughter to have a look.” 

“Mom, I can’t bring him back. He doesn’t know that I have a daughter.” Xia Yan lowered her voice, her tone was filled with disgust.

“Yan’er, if you decided to be together with him, you can’t hide this from him. Besides, Xiao Xi is very obedient, no one can dislike her.”

“Mom, she’s a burden.”

She’s a burden.

Tao Yi Xi shut her eyes in despair.

She finally understood that her mother would never hug her and comfort her, let alone teach her how to deal with such people.

She was just a burden to her mother.

“Yan’er, how can you say that?!” Her gentle grandmother snapped in anger, “If Xiao Xi knows this is what you think of her, how devastated would she be?!” 

Xia Yan paused for two seconds.

“At the beginning, you strongly insisted on marrying Tao Yan and even had a child with him. Yet, you easily left and the child lost both her father and mother when she was only so young. Have you upheld your duty as her mother?”    

“Mom, it’s too difficult when one is poor.” Facing her mother’s criticisms, Xia Yan complained about her own predicaments.

“Did you know how much Tao Yan’s medical treatments cost? We had to borrow money from relatives and they soon got scared due to the repeat times it happened and started to avoid us. In the end, he still left me. Back then, did you know what kind of life I was living? I don’t want to relive those times again.”  

Grandma exhaled a long sigh, “Even so, you shouldn’t say that you don’t want your daughter.” 

“We’ll talk next time. Mom, I still have things to do, I’ll hang up first.”

Grandma was stuck in a trance for a while. By the time she snapped out of it, she noticed that the sky was already dark. She muttered to herself, “Why isn’t Xiao Xi back yet?” 

Not a moment later, she received an incoming call.  

“Hi Grandma, Yue Yue’s parents left for a business trip, so she asked me to accompany her for a few days.”

“Okay, remember to take precautions when you’re outside.”

“En, goodbye Grandma.”

She had a good cry before wiping her tears away. Then she purchased some ointment and clothes that were on sale from the shopping mall before she found a cheap hotel and booked a room for four days to allow her wounds to heal. 

Those girls were right, she was a child that no one wanted.

No one would protect her, she could only rely on herself.

Tao Yi Xi came back from her trip down memory lane. She nonchalantly told him, “Actually, my situation isn’t that horrible.”

It was only later on that she found out that the boyfriend of the leader of that clique of delinquents fancied her.  

She did not even speak to that girl’s boyfriend before and yet, she was still condemned. 

“In the end, I paid them back for what they did.” 

She was never a weakling by nature. After knowing the reason, she was not one that would sit by passively and accept all the abuse thrown her way.  

Of course, Gu Jing Yuan knew that she was not one to suffer from a disadvantage willingly, but his heart still felt very heavy.

She might not have realized that when she recalled those horrible episodes from her past, the air that surrounded her was extremely dismal.

Nobody would want to have to go through that in their adolescence.

At least now he knew why she always carried a stun gun on her person.

He would never bully other students on campus. But he had heard from others that when girls fought with each other, they were even worse than guys. He dreaded to know what kind of abuse and violence she had to face back then. 

He hated that Xia Yan did not bring her over earlier.

Xia Yan was a selfish and narrow-minded woman, and despite knowing that, she still managed to surprise him every time with how much worse she could actually be.

How did such a narcissistic and incapable woman like Xia Yan give birth to such a resilient and independent daughter like her? It truly caused others to feel distressed on her behalf.

The atmosphere was heavy. Gu Jing Yuan was not eloquent and did not know what to say to comfort her.

Suddenly, a shrill female’s voice sounded from behind, “Well well well, who do we have here? Isn’t this Tao Yi Xi?”   

The abnormal tone made others uncomfortable.

When Tao Yi Xi noticed the four approaching people, her expression darkened and she did not even bother to maintain her superficial smile.