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Chapter 59: He is afraid
Chapter 59: He is afraid
Chapter 59
The staff members slowly came to their senses from the shock: "He said earlier that he came to find someone, right? The one he wanted to find was Li Xiaoya? Then, what about that man in the suit who came before? Wasn't he also looking for Li Xiaoya?"
The staff member was confused: "Who exactly is Li Xiaoya's relative?"
Sheng Yuxiao stood up and started pushing people out, saying, "Go watch some Peppa Pig."
The staff member turned back to look at the director: "Is Young Master Sheng mocking my low intelligence?"
The director said, "Remove the question mark at the end of your sentence."
The staff member: "..."
Sheng Yuxiao picked out the sweet potatoes from the stove and skillfully scooped out the two meat buns from the pot, carrying them all the way to the man's front.
"Li Xiaoya specially brought these back from the county town," Sheng Yuxiao pointed at the buns and asked, "You don't have any dietary restrictions, right? It's too late if you do. If you don't eat them, I will."
The man shook his head repeatedly.
Even in such a situation, he still took out a tissue from his pocket and used it to pick up the bun.
He ate while drinking water, not wolfing it down.
"Do you know Wei Zhen?" Li Xiaoya asked, resting her chin on her hand.
The man put down his food and started to gesture.
The sign language interpreter immediately followed up: "I know of him, but I've never met him. Wei Lin sent him to find you. You've already met him, right? That's great, you didn't go with him directly!"
Li Xiaoya asked curiously, "Who is Wei Lin?"
The sign language interpreter continued his duty, saying word by word: "Father's adopted son. He's now handling many affairs."
"Is he a bad person?" Li Xiaoya followed up.
The man looked at the sign language interpreter first.
The interpreter's eyes were full of the clarity and naivety of a college student. He weakly raised his hand and said, "Um, according to the movie plot, should I say at this point that I won't tell anyone anything?"
The man glanced at him and continued to sign: "It's okay, go on."
"It's okay... huh? You trust me that much?" The interpreter was touched.
Sheng Yuxiao thought to himself that it must not be easy to find someone even more naive and foolish than him.
The man continued to sign: "We suspect Wei Lin is an ambitious person, and even your mother's disappearance years ago might be related to him."
"Doesn't Grandfather suspect him at all?"
"I don't know." The man smiled bitterly and continued to sign, "The grandfather you speak of is my father. It sounds like we're blood relatives, but in reality, I don't understand him either. I don't know what he's thinking or what kind of actions he might take."
Li Xiaoya comforted him: "It's okay, I don't understand my dad either."
The man forced a smile and gestured: "In their words, my father has already abandoned us."
"Why? Why would they say that?" Li Xiaoya's little face wrinkled, unable to understand.
"Because we are imperfect, we have inferior genes. We are the family's shame." When the sign language interpreter relayed this part, his voice was trembling.
It sounded like such cruel words.
The interpreter thought.
But when the man was signing this part, there was hardly any expression on his face.
It wasn't as emotional as when he rushed into KFC earlier.
Li Xiaoya couldn't help but sigh softly. She thought for a moment, walked to the man's side, and just like how Sheng Yuxiao comforted her, she raised her hand and gently patted the man's head, saying, "It's okay, my dad abandoned me too."
The man's expression sank.
"Uh, he will face retribution," the sign language interpreter dutifully translated.
Li Xiaoya asked him, "Are you full? Do you want to eat more?"
The man nodded, his face showing fatigue, and signed to ask, "Can I sleep for a while?"
Li Xiaoya immediately turned to look at Sheng Yuxiao.
Sheng Yuxiao didn't even blink and said, "It's perfect. Ning Heng's sleeping place hasn't been tidied up yet, so let him sleep in Ning Heng's bed."
Li Xiaoya nodded and took the initiative to hold the man's hand.
Her hand was very small, barely able to cover his hand. But the man allowed her to hold him like this and walk to the simple bed.
"You sleep now," Li Xiaoya released his hand.
The man grabbed her hand in return and gestured: "Wait."
"Hmm?"
The man took out the paper and pen he had borrowed earlier from his pocket and wrote three characters stroke by stroke:
Gui Wenqing.
Then he pointed at himself.
"Your name?" Li Xiaoya took the paper.
The man nodded, finally showing a slight smile.
He carefully put away the paper and pen, crouched down, and slowly stroked the ground he was standing on, as if through this action, he was trying to imagine in his mind how Li Xiaoya's mother had lived here years ago...
Then he slowly lay down, closed his eyes, and his breathing quickly became steady.
He fell asleep.
Finally able to have a peaceful, good sleep.
"Let me see," Sheng Yuxiao reached out and snatched the note, looked at it, and said expressionlessly, "Xu Ruying was right, this surname is indeed a bit ugly."
Li Xiaoya put the note on the heating stove and burned it.
Watching her actions, Sheng Yuxiao said in surprise, "I thought you would keep it as a memento."
Li Xiaoya crouched in front of the stove, watching the flames consume the note, and said softly, "He and Wei Zhen have never met."
Sheng Yuxiao quickly caught on: "Hmm? You want to keep pretending?"
Li Xiaoya asked, "Is that not allowed?"
Sheng Yuxiao smiled: "Of course it's allowed." This is more interesting than recording this stupid show.
"When we don't know how dangerous that person is, we'll just pretend we don't know anything. Is that right?"
"Yes, absolutely right!" Sheng Yuxiao walked out, "But before that, we need to specially instruct the idiots in the production team."
Half an hour later, Wei Zhen came back.
Li Xiaoya was sitting at the door and immediately asked him, "Did you go slack off?"
Wei Zhen's facial muscles twitched violently twice, and he said in a deep voice, "Of course not!"
"Oh."
"It's snowing," Wei Zhen started.
"Mm-hmm."
"It must be difficult to spend the winter here. You should come back with me. There's a warm fireplace, 24-hour food and hot water supply, and..."
"I'll leave when Sheng Yuxiao leaves."
"Alright," Wei Zhen gritted his teeth hard, "I didn't expect him to be more important to you than your soon-to-arrive relatives."
Sheng Yuxiao, who had just returned from outside, interjected, "I love hearing that."
Wei Zhen: "..."
"Actually, you've never met before. Apart from the blood relationship, you're no different from strangers to her. If you want to take my place, you'll have to work harder."
"But it looks like you can't take it anymore? If you can't take it, just go back. Tell your master that you're so useless you can't even bring back a little girl." Sheng Yuxiao said leisurely.
"Young Master Sheng doesn't need to provoke me. I won't leave," Wei Zhen sneered.
Sheng Yuxiao didn't say anything more.
Just as Wei Zhen was about to leave, he suddenly noticed the stranger in the room.
"Who is he?"
"Someone arranged by the production team."
"Arranged by the production team?"
"Yeah. I guess they thought the content has been too bland lately, so they arranged for us to pick up a mute person on the road."
"A mute?" Wei Zhen's eyelid twitched, naturally associating it with the young master at home.
"Is there a problem?" Sheng Yuxiao stared at him, "Your expression looks a bit off."
"No problem."
"Oh."
Wei Zhen turned and walked out, immediately contacting Wei Lin: "Sir, do you think it's possible that the young master has found his way here?"
Wei Lin was a bit surprised: "I thought they had completely abandoned themselves... If he were to use the family's resources, I would definitely know. But I haven't heard any movement here. How did he find his way here?"
Wei Zhen wasn't sure either, hesitating as he said, "Maybe it's just a coincidence. It can't be that just because a mute person shows up, it must be the young master."
"I certainly hope he doesn't say bad things about me to our little miss. That would cause me a lot of trouble. They're already useless, unimportant. But our little miss is different. She's now the only healthy person in Mr. Wei's bloodline. She's very important. I need her to inherit the estate and be infinitely close to us."
"I understand, sir. I'll keep an eye on him to confirm his identity."
"Plans change faster than we can anticipate," Wei Lin sighed on the other end of the phone. "Initially, I wanted you to intimidate an inexperienced young girl, so she'd listen to whatever you said."
Wei Zhen smiled bitterly. "Now you want me to humble myself and beg her, to please her."
"I'll send you Wei Wenqing's photo. Make sure to verify it."
"Yes, sir!"
After receiving the photo, Wei Zhen didn't get a chance to verify it because he had to take Li Xiaoya to school.
With heavy snow threatening to close off the mountain soon, the school organized a brief test before announcing the start of winter break.
As Wei Zhen carried Li Xiaoya on his back on their way home, he suddenly asked, "Where are Miss Xu and Young Master Ning? I haven't seen them."
"They went back to the city."
"Oh." Wei Zhen's eyes flickered, momentarily entertaining the thought of simply carrying Li Xiaoya away.
Just then, a rustling sound came from Li Xiaoya.
Wei Zhen couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing?"
Li Xiaoya replied, "Adjusting the microphone."
"Microphone?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Are you livestreaming now?"
"Yes," Li Xiaoya answered innocently. "Is something wrong?"
Wei Zhen immediately abandoned his idea. No wonder Sheng Yuxiao suddenly felt comfortable letting him take Li Xiaoya alone!
Countless eyes were watching him!
"Why do you suddenly look unhappy?" Li Xiaoya asked softly.
"No, it's nothing."
Wei Zhen didn't realize that worse was yet to come.
He finally arrived home with Li Xiaoya on his back.
The mute man, Wei Wenqing, was sitting around the fireplace with Sheng Yuxiao.
Sheng Yuxiao had told him that Li Xiaoya went to school and would be back soon, which helped Wei Wenqing relax a bit.
As soon as Wei Zhen stepped through the door, he matched Wei Wenqing's face with the photo.
There was no doubt. It was the young master!
He had actually found Li Xiaoya too!
Wei Zhen suddenly felt the weight of his task increase. Not only did he have to find a way to coax Li Xiaoya, but he also had to be wary of Wei Wenqing.
When Wei Zhen saw Wei Wenqing, Wei Wenqing also saw him.
Wei Wenqing gestured, asking, "Who is he?"
Sheng Yuxiao spoke up, "He's asking who you are. Care to introduce yourself?"
"My name is Wei Zhen," Wei Zhen forced out in a cold voice, while also coldly staring at Wei Wenqing.
Upon hearing this name, Wei Wenqing's entire body tensed up, his muscles almost involuntarily beginning to tremble.
It was Wei Zhen!
Wei Lin's man!
They had come to harm his sister's child!
Wei Wenqing was both angry and shocked, his teeth clenching audibly.
Wei Zhen, seemingly oblivious to his reaction, deliberately took his time lowering Li Xiaoya from his back.
Then, forcing a smile, he said to Li Xiaoya in a friendly tone, "I bought some snacks at the school store. Would you like to have some now?"
Li Xiaoya replied, "Sure."
Wei Zhen immediately opened his bag and started taking out the snacks.
Li Xiaoya reached out to take them.
Wei Wenqing was seething with rage, but unable to speak. He could only angrily tug at Sheng Yuxiao's hand, trying to get him to intervene.
Don't eat it!
Don't eat anything he gives you!
It might be poisoned!
Just as Wei Wenqing was about to stand up and stop it himself...
He heard Li Xiaoya say to Wei Zhen, "Alright, you can go feed the pigs now."
Wei Zhen's expression froze, the atmosphere he had carefully cultivated instantly shattered by the words "feed the pigs."
Trying to salvage the situation, he said, "I think it would be better if I stayed by your side to take care of you."
Li Xiaoya countered, "Are you not going to listen to me?"
"Of course, of course I'll listen to you..."
"Then go quickly, you have a lot of work to do. After feeding the pigs, go up the mountain to chop firewood, and bring back some mushrooms and chestnuts. Do you know how to identify mushrooms? If not, ask someone. We have a guest, and we'll use the mushrooms to make soup for him." Li Xiaoya rattled off in one breath.
Wei Zhen: "..."
Who was the mushroom soup for?
For Wei Wenqing?
It seemed he hadn't had the chance to reveal his identity to Li Xiaoya yet.
This was probably a good thing.
"Hurry up," Li Xiaoya urged him.
Wei Zhen reluctantly headed for the door.
"Wait," Li Xiaoya called out to him again.
Wei Zhen immediately stopped, harboring a glimmer of hope.
Li Xiaoya said to him very seriously, "To be honest, I'm not happy with you because you look really ugly and scary. You might even frighten the pigs. You can't scare my guest. So, smile."
Wei Zhen's expression froze. "S-smile?"
Li Xiaoya nodded. "Yes."
Wei Zhen painfully forced out a smile.
"Okay, you can go now," Li Xiaoya waved her hand. "Still very ugly."
Wei Zhen left, swallowing his pride.
Only then did Li Xiaoya turn back to look at Wei Wenqing.
Wei Wenqing was no longer as agitated as before. He sat there, stunned, watching Li Xiaoya act like a little adult, facing Wei Zhen without a hint of fear.
Not only was she unafraid, but she also commanded him with ease.
It was as if all the schemes they deeply feared, represented by Wei Zhen and those behind him, weren't so terrifying in the eyes of this child.
Li Xiaoya met Wei Wenqing's gaze and said, "Don't be afraid, I'll protect you."
She paused, then said, "What should I call you? Uncle... right?"
Wei Wenqing's breath caught in his throat.
Tears instantly welled up in his eyes.
He forced his lips into an awkward smile.
Then he nodded vigorously, again and again.
Li Xiaoya had already removed her microphone. She crouched in front of him and said softly, "As long as we keep pretending not to know each other, he'll keep trying to please me and be afraid of me. See? There's nothing to worry about. Sheng Yuxiao says we should make Wei Lin come and beg me to go home. I think Sheng Yuxiao is right."
She said, "Uncle, don't cry anymore."
Wei Wenqing's lips trembled.
More tears flowed.
He had rushed here to protect her. It should have been him protecting her!
He raised his hands to sign: "Before I came, I was so afraid. I was scared something had happened to you. I was also afraid you wouldn't like me. Who would like a mute person?"
He had been terrified that she would despise him.