After hearing Kong Hanyue’s words, the term “illegitimate child” once again appeared in Xia Yu’s mind.
He hesitated for a moment before cautiously asking, “What exactly happened?”
“It was a dark and stormy night. I was alone in the quiet room, accompanied only by the north wind and the moon. The intermittent croaking of frogs outside the window made me…”
“Get to the point,” Xia Yu interrupted Kong Hanyue’s rambling.
“Such an impatient man—you’ll approach things this directly even when you’re with a girl in the future?” Kong Hanyue complained.
“Well, I should be more patient with young and pretty girls, but not with you,” Xia Yu retorted.
“That’s too much! I’m still a young girl at sixteen, okay?” Kong Hanyue pinched her voice, making it sound childish.
“Alright, tell me what happened. Is she Zhong Yunze’s father’s illegitimate daughter?” Xia Yu redirected the conversation.
“Huh? Why don’t you guess it’s my child?” Kong Hanyue expressed surprise.
“I guessed you wouldn’t be willing,” Xia Yu clearly remembered how Kong Hanyue had complained when she was pregnant with Youxue.
For Kong Hanyue, the time of carrying a child in her belly had been a torment.
“Oh, it’s definitely not mine, nor is it Zhong Yunze’s father’s,” Kong Hanyue said with a tone of disappointment. She had wanted to tease Xia Yu, but her joke was uncovered before it even began.
“Then whose is it? Did you adopt the girl?” Xia Yu asked, puzzled. If it wasn’t Zhong Yunze’s father’s illegitimate child and not Kong Hanyue’s, then who would call Kong Hanyue “Mom?”
Wait, there was indeed one other person whose daughter could possibly fit.
“It’s Xia Dongyang’s daughter,” Kong Hanyue revealed the truth.
“Xia Dongyang?” Xia Yu had almost forgotten that name.
He was confused. Wasn’t Xia Dongyang supposed to be under the control of the woman with whom he had eloped, living a happy life as a construction worker? How did he end up leaving his illegitimate daughter with Kong Hanyue?
Back then, Xia Dongyang had run away with the illegitimate daughter without caring about Youxue’s and Xia Yu’s well-being, and Youxue had even cried over it.
“Did that guy run away again?” Xia Yu asked urgently.
“I don’t know either. The police just told me that Xia Dongyang and the girl’s mother seem to have become unreachable,” Kong Hanyue said.
Xia Yu thought for a moment. After Xia Dongyang and the woman disappeared, who would the police turn to for taking care of the child?
The answer was obvious.
“I’ll hang up first. I guess the grandparents will be called in. Let me ask,” Xia Yu said before calling his grandmother, Xia Nianhong.
The voicemail indicated she was on another call.
Five minutes later, Xia Yu dialed again and was quickly connected.
“Hello, Yuyu,” Xia Nianhong’s tone was normal, as if Xia Yu’s deduction had been just an illusion.
“What’s going on with that child?” Xia Yu asked directly. Regardless of whether Xia Nianhong knew or not, they needed to discuss this.
“Oh, the police called you too?” Xia Nianhong asked.
“No, my mom told me,” Xia Yu narrowed his eyes. It seemed that Xia Nianhong had intentionally hidden this from him.
It was understandable. Before matters became clear, traditional parents often chose not to inform their children, a necessary restraint for traditional families.
“I don’t know much either. Your grandpa and I will go to the police station to check the situation. You don’t need to worry about it—your grandma can handle it,” Xia Nianhong assured him.
Xia Yu hesitated for a moment. “Maybe I should come back too, in case you need anything. You might not know how to deal with it.”
“That’s fine. You should meet her—after all, she’s your sister. But don’t bring Youxue back, and don’t tell her about it. Let’s avoid unnecessary thoughts,” Xia Nianhong planned to keep Youxue in the dark after failing to hide things from Xia Yu.
Xia Yu verbally agreed but immediately called Youxue back home and told her everything after hanging up.
If he didn’t know, it would be fine for both of them to be kept in the dark. But now that he knew, hiding it from Youxue felt inappropriate. It would mean the whole family was keeping secrets from her.
Many family conflicts were rooted in concealment. Although Youxue was obedient and well-behaved, Xia Yu didn’t want it this way.
After hearing the story, Youxue’s face showed confusion. She didn’t know how to react.
Holding Xia Yu’s hand, she looked at him.
Pinching Youxue’s face gently, Xia Yu told her, “I’m just letting you know. Either Xia Dongyang will come back to take the girl, or the grandparents will raise her. Either way, it’s not our concern.”
Youxue opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but held back.
“What do you want to say?” Xia Yu asked.
Youxue then spoke up: “If she’s really my sister, it’s only natural for her to live with us.”
Xia Yu considered Youxue’s words. The girl meant that she didn’t mind interacting with the illegitimate daughter, which was a response to Xia Yu’s previous firm rejection of the idea of the girl joining their family.
“You know the girl, right? She’s only in second or third grade. If you want her to stay, the grandparents won’t agree,” Xia Yu said, reaching out to mess up Youxue’s carefully styled hair. Then he stood up to say goodbye to Youxue before heading to the airport.
Youxue waved goodbye to Xia Yu. She had no intention of following him—he would only be able to stand awkwardly by her side.
In the waiting lounge, Xia Yu first sent a message to An Siyao. Not knowing how many days he would be away, he asked An Siyao to take care of Youxue and let her stay there.
Although the security in the upscale villa area was good, he still felt uneasy leaving Youxue alone at home.
Then, he boarded the plane to Zilang.
At noon, he landed, turned off airplane mode, and saw a message from Kong Hanyue.
Kong Hanyue told Xia Yu that Xia Nianhong and the others were all at her villa.
Taking a taxi to Zhong’s villa, Xia Yu saw the illegitimate daughter of Xia Dongyang in the living room.
She was a rather cute little girl, wearing a pink cotton jacket and matching pants—an outfit clearly chosen by Xia Nianhong.
The girl was sitting on the sofa, holding a cup of hot milk in both hands and drinking it. She was cautiously sizing up Xia Yu with the corner of her eye.
Xia Yu’s first impression of her was: a well-behaved child.
She seemed to be a suitable sister, just like Youxue. But humans were the most difficult to judge based on appearances alone. Xia Yu couldn’t yet determine the girl’s true nature.
“Keke,” Xia Nianhong patted the girl’s shoulder and pointed at Xia Yu. “Call him brother.”
Xia Keke obediently put down her milk and timidly said to Xia Yu, “Brother.”
“Hmm,” Xia Yu responded slightly coldly before sitting down on the sofa.
Kong Hanyue came out of the kitchen, also bringing Xia Yu a cup of hot milk and sitting beside him.
After taking a sip of milk, Xia Yu asked, “What’s the current situation?”
Xia Nianhong coughed slightly and put her arm around Xia Keke: “The police couldn’t find Dongyang, so they handed Keke over to us. We’ll take her to go to school in the countryside.”
Xia Yu nodded. The situation was as he had imagined.
He looked at Xia Keke. The girl wore a smile on her face, seemingly very comfortable with the arrangement. Xia Keke’s smile delighted Xia Nianhong, who couldn’t help but pat the girl’s face again.
After taking another sip of milk, Xia Yu glanced at Xia Keke.
When he had just entered, he had sensed a bit of kindness from Xia Keke through telepathy. But when he nodded in agreement with Xia Nianhong’s plan, that kindness disappeared, replaced by a stranger’s indifference.
It seemed that Xia Keke wasn’t as happy about the countryside arrangement as she appeared on the surface.
He also thought back to his previous question about why Xia Keke had come to Kong Hanyue calling her “Mom,” and some guesses began to form.
These guesses were somewhat bold, and Xia Yu decided to keep observing.
He asked Xia Keke, “Why did you come here?”
“Father said I had another mother here,” the girl lowered her head, appearing sad at the mention of Xia Dongyang.
“Didn’t he tell you there are also grandparents in the countryside and a brother and sister in Afang City?” Xia Yu asked.
“I only know this place,” Xia Keke lowered her head even further.
“You’re at an age where you should understand things. Why come looking for a ‘mother’ with no blood or legal relation to you?” Xia Yu continued.
At this point, the feeling coming from Xia Keke had turned into a hint of hostility.
“Father and Mother suddenly disappeared, and I didn’t know what else to do,” Xia Keke grabbed Xia Nianhong’s arm, looking somewhat panicked.
Xia Nianhong immediately stopped Xia Yu’s questioning: “She’s still a child. How much can she know?”
“Is Yuyu jealous?” Kong Hanyue took the opportunity to tease Xia Yu.
Ignoring Kong Hanyue, Xia Yu changed the direction of his questions: “Where did Xia Dongyang go?”
“I don’t know,” Xia Keke answered.
“Then how did you get here? Did Xia Dongyang bring you?” Xia Yu asked again.
Xia Yu noticed that Xia Keke hesitated for a moment.
The girl answered, “I came by myself.”
“You don’t have an ID or money. How did you get here?” Kong Hanyue noticed the inconsistency.
“There was some money left in the drawer at home. I took a bus outside the station. You don’t need an ID to buy tickets there,” Xia Keke answered smoothly.
Xia Nianhong, moved with sympathy, hugged Xia Keke into her arms.
But Xia Keke didn’t look at Xia Nianhong. Instead, she stared at Kong Hanyue.
Seeing Kong Hanyue simply say “Oh” and then lower her head to play with her phone, Xia Keke looked very disappointed.
At this point, the matter seemed resolved.
Xia Keke, abandoned by Xia Dongyang, gained the love of her grandparents; Xia Nianhong and Xia Ye, who had been bored in their old age, gained the dependence of a well-behaved granddaughter; and Kong Hanyue and Xia Yu, as onlookers, enjoyed the spectacle.
A win-win situation for all four parties.
The group had lunch together, after which Xia Nianhong and Xia Ye took Xia Keke to bid farewell and returned to the countryside. At Kong Hanyue’s request, Xia Yu stayed overnight at her house.
After Xia Yu’s post-lunch rest, Kong Hanyue dragged him to the guzheng room, asking him to leave the sheet music for the guzheng pieces “White Horse in the Rain” and “White Horse” in the Kong family’s “secret manual” for generations to come.
Although the sheet music could actually be found in the music database, Kong Hanyue felt that handwritten scores by the composer carried more ritual significance.
The flower-school guzheng techniques written at the beginning of the manual were also handwritten by Kong Hanyue, who shamelessly signed her name.
Facing Xia Yu, who was looking at her signature, Kong Hanyue gave him a hard pat on the back, saying that if Xia Yu behaved well, she would even put his name on the manual in ten years.
After giving a perfunctory response, Xia Yu casually played the guzheng.
“According to tradition, you’re supposed to wear Hanfu when playing the guzheng,” Kong Hanyue muttered, though she herself had no intention of changing clothes and began playing another guzheng.
She tried to disrupt Xia Yu’s rhythm, attempting to lead him off track. However, Xia Yu, who had reached music level 6, remained completely unaffected. Instead, she was dragged back into the correct melody by his playing.
Angrily throwing down the guzheng, Kong Hanyue gave up on causing trouble. She turned to Xia Yu and asked, “How’s Zhong Yunxin doing now?”
Xia Yu stopped playing the guzheng and glanced at Kong Hanyue. Previously, Kong Hanyue had always called Zhong Yunxin “Xin Xin,” but after Zhong Yunxin caused her some trouble, she had switched to using the full name, a very realistic change.
“She’s fine. I’ve assigned an undercover agent to watch her,” Xia Yu said.
Speaking of Hu Lianglu, the undercover agent, Xia Yu suddenly remembered that he had yet to fulfill his promise to arrange professional training for her.
There had been too much going on these past few days.
He raised his hand and rubbed his forehead.
Seeing this, Kong Hanyue reached out to help him massage.
Xia Yu, initially on guard, was surprised to find that Kong Hanyue’s technique was actually quite good.
He had received level 3 massage skills from Yin Shulan. For him to say something was good, it had to be at least level 2.
Level 3 was professional-level massage, while level 2 was already considered highly skilled among amateurs.
“Lie down. It’s hard to massage you like this,” Kong Hanyue patted Xia Yu’s back.
Xia Yu lay down on the nearby cushion and enjoyed the massage.
The specific techniques weren’t that important. What mattered was that Kong Mama Kong Hanyue was actually showing concern.
Xia Yu felt like a father watching his daughter finally grow up and become considerate.
“Where did you learn to give massages?” Xia Yu asked.
“I go to a beauty salon for massages every day, so I learned,” Kong Hanyue replied.
You learn just by getting massages every day? This girl must have some kind of innate talent in this area.
Xia Yu’s professional instincts kicked in, and he immediately thought of special abilities.
Then, he realized that the key wasn’t just that she learned from getting massages, but the word “every.”
Indeed, the lives of the rich were indeed boring, wasting time on things like this every day.
Closing his eyes, Xia Yu slowly fell asleep.
Kong Hanyue, who had been talking to him, noticed that he had gone silent. After thinking for a moment, she took out the Four Treasures of the Study from the cabinet.
An hour later, when Xia Yu woke up, the guzheng room was empty except for him.
Looking at his blank body with no covering, Xia Yu sighed, thinking that Kong Hanyue still wasn’t considerate enough to even cover him with a blanket.
Xia Yu calmly walked over to the sink. Just as expected, he saw graffiti on his face again. This time, Kong Hanyue had gotten more creative—instead of the usual simple doodle, there was now a neatly written regular script character “肉” (meat).
After washing off the character, Xia Yu returned to the guzheng room, took out a brush, and knocked on Kong Hanyue’s door.
After subduing the struggling Kong Hanyue, Xia Yu picked up the brush and retaliated.
…
Spending two days messing around with Kong Hanyue like this, Xia Yu returned to Afang.
Time quickly moved into January, nearing winter vacation.
Xia Yu was searching online for information and preparing for a trip to the 26th District.
While flipping through a map, he noticed the 232nd District, right next to the 26th District.
He wondered how Mei Mei was doing. There hadn’t been any news about her at all.
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