Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Auntie Liu recalled the massive threat she received!
Her face turned white as she was afraid that the mountain villagers would hurt them if they were angered.
Father Ye’s face was ashen as well, and he stuttered. “Xia… Brother Xia… you’re not being reasonable here. How can you forcefully break our family apart? Xiao Ling is my biological daughter, after all. I want to speak to her… I want to ask her myself why she’s being so unfilial…”
Xia Haichao couldn’t let him do something like that.
He was firm and refused to move aside. “Miss Ling doesn’t have time to meet you.”
“You… aren’t you being a bully now?” Father Ye was anxious. Even though he didn’t usually show much concern for this daughter, and under Auntie Liu’s instigation, he failed to show her much fatherly love over the years, she was still his biological daughter. Furthermore, she was famous and successful. He couldn’t accept simply breaking all ties with her out of a sudden.
Auntie Liu’s face was still pale, but she piped up in a small voice. “This girl… why does she treat strangers better than her own father?” Her gaze subconsciously drifted to the huge backpack Ah Nuo was carrying. It was filled with all kinds of gifts for the Xia Family.
“Grandfather Ye, Grandmother Liu!” Suddenly, an adorable child voice rang out.
Everyone turned and saw Shaohui running over to the Ye Family couple, despite having run ahead earlier. Auntie Liu took a while to realize that “Grandmother Liu” was herself. Was this child tired of living? Why was he making her sound so old?
“Who are you calling old?!” She shrieked and was about to throw her temper when she caught sight of Xia Haichao’s warning glance. She shuddered and shut up.
Father Ye also noticed that the child was present.
He didn’t have much impression of Xia Ling’s child.
The last time they met was five years ago when she had just given birth. The child was skinny, sickly, and weak—not adorable at all. Later, he heard that the child died, and while he was a little sad, he didn’t think too much about it. Then, Chu Chen was constantly threatening the family and disallowed them from going to look for Xia Ling. With Auntie Liu fanning the flames, he was furious at Xia Ling and thought to himself that her child dying was her punishment.
Hence, when Xia Ling was grieving for her dead son, he didn’t even give her a call to console her.
A while later, he heard that Xia Ling had adopted a child. Auntie Liu complained. “Her parents and sister are so poor that they have to skip meals, and she doesn’t even give a whisker of concern to us. What now? She’s spending money on a bastard from God knows where? Why did she adopt him? So that he will fight us for her wealth?!”
His anger festered within and he didn’t want to show any concern for the child.
As such, when it was revealed that this child was actually Xia Ling’s biological son, Father Ye continued to ignore him out of habit.
It was only when the active child came bounding over to him that he suddenly realized what it felt like to have a little grandson. This grandson was adorable from having been well taken care of by the Xia Family when he was younger. His features were pretty and he had his adorable little head raised to look at Father Ye with round, innocent eyes. When he smiled, his eyes would form a line, making him look all the cuter.
Father Ye’s heart melted and he said gently, “Are you little Shaohui? I’m your grandfather.”
Little Shaohui reached out his small chubby hands. “Hello, Grandfather Ye. Do you have a gift for me?”
“What?” Father Ye’s smile froze on his face. He had only come here because of Xia Ling’s request and Auntie Liu’s orders. He was only here to earn that 30,000 yuan. How would he have remembered to bring a present for this child?
Father Ye’s expression turned to embarrassment at little Shaohui’s question.
Father Ye felt around in his pockets, but other than a pack of cigarettes, there was nothing else. “Grandfather will bring you something next time…” He replied awkwardly.
Little Shaohui’s face was filled with disappointment. He turned to Auntie Liu. “How about Grandmother Liu?”
Auntie Liu scoffed. “Your mother already wants to break all ties with our family… And you think I will bring you a gift?”
She thought that the child would cry after hearing her answer, and had already thought of a plan to deal with his tantrum. However, Shaohui merely retracted his hand and nodded. “Grandmother Liu is right. Only family will remember to bring a present.”
This sentence struck Father Ye in the heart.
He suddenly realized that he never treated Xiao Ling and her child as family, always wanting to get something from them, and never giving anything in return.
Even though they were father and daughter, the distance between them was far, almost like strangers.
Xia Haichao secretly commended the little Young Master for his statement, before speaking up, “Little Young Master Shaohui is right. Both of you didn’t even prepare a present for him. We in the Xia Family have reason to suspect that you’ve mistreated Miss Ling and Little Young Master Shaohui. Please stop resisting the matter of transferring their family registration to us.”
Father Ye lowered his head like a defeated rooster.
Auntie Liu tried to salvage the situation. “You can’t speak like that. Children are not supposed to scorn us for being poor or ugly. We might be penniless, but you guys don’t look any better! Why should we transfer Xiao Ling’s family registration over to you?”
The Xia Family lived a free and casual lifestyle, and while they had raised immense wealth over the years, they didn’t show it. Even the structures in the mountain village were old and wooden, which didn’t stand out even though they were planned and created to perfectly match the mountainous backdrop. Hence, it wasn’t surprising that Auntie Liu thought that this was a normal, small mountain village.
Xia Haichao smiled. “Little Young Master Shaohui was still painstakingly brought up by the Xia Family, regardless of whether we have money or not. We gave the little young master food, education and presents, all of which still add up to a significant sum. How about this? If the two of you can return that money to the Xia Family, we will stop asking for the transfer of their family registration.”
Auntie Liu was at a loss for words. Caring and educating a child for four to five years required significant expenditure. Was it worth it to pay so much for this irritating child?
She tried to do the mental calculations.
Father Ye opened his mouth to ask after plucking up the courage, “How much are you asking for?” He was reluctant to lose his daughter given that she was the first superstar in the Ye Family bloodline. He was hoping that she would continue to make the family proud.
Xia Haichao continued to smile as he responded, “Not much… we are a self-subsistent family and all the food we have here is grown in the yard. It’s hard for me to give an exact calculation. Let me see, a few years ago one of the people in our village brought the rice in the fields to the city to be sold. It was about ten thousand yuan for half a kilo of rice.”
The Ye Family couple sucked in a breath of cold air at hearing the figure.
“You liar!” Auntie Liu exclaimed. “How can rice be that expensive?”
“Oh.. not just the rice… the vegetables, fruits, melons, fish, meat… everything here is of fine quality and fetches a high price. Little Young Master Shaohui stayed here for a whole four years… why don’t you make the calculations?” Xia Haichao calmly responded. In actual fact, with the Xia Family’s wealth, they could easily hand Xia Ling two billion yuan as an “allowance.” The amount they spent on the meals really wasn’t considered that expensive.
The crops here were grown and harvested according to Fengshui, and the quality was unmatched. Many people would bring bundles of cash to them to buy some of their crops.
To normal people, it was exorbitantly priced.
Auntie Liu shook her head. “I don’t believe you… you’re just making things difficult for us…”