Hearing Aunt Xia’s words, Uncle Xia shook his head and said to her, "Xiao Gui’s mom, I won’t lie to you, I originally thought elder sister would ask..."
Uncle Xia did not finish what he was saying, his face unable to hide a touch of righteous indignation.
"Forget it, let’s not talk about it."
Upon hearing this, Aunt Xia curled her lips and said, "Is it because that woman didn’t even bother to ask about Chuyi?"
"She just doesn’t pay any attention to the child in her heart, does she?"
Uncle Xia sighed and said, "She... seeing Chengzong return, didn’t care about Chuyi at all."
"Humph!" Hearing Uncle Xia’s words, Aunt Xia immediately got angry and said, "I’ve always said it about Zhao Chunxiao, that woman has no conscience!"
"Really, I’ve never seen anyone treat their own blood child like she does!"
Aunt Xia’s words made Uncle Xia feel very uncomfortable.
"Alright, alright, let’s drop it!" Uncle Xia said, "Her character does have one advantage, doesn’t it?"
"Whatever Chengzong says, she listens."
"When Chengzong says the city shops are busy, she has no objections."
Uncle Xia’s words carried a slight hint of irony, but in the end, he let out another sigh and said, "In the end, once her husband got what he wanted, she just stopped caring about everything."
Reaching this point, Uncle Xia let out another sigh and continued, "So let her stay by herself in the old house, she got what she asked for."
Aunt Xia glanced at Uncle Xia and thought to herself: A daughter who doesn’t recognize her own mother, a brother disappointed in her... Zhao Chunxiao’s life is really a failure.
Forget it, she didn’t want to think about such a person anymore; whether she was doing well or not, it was entirely her own fault.
"Let’s not talk about her anymore, let’s discuss tomorrow’s Chinese New Year, shall we? This year is a rare occasion, the whole family coming together to celebrate; we should really enjoy ourselves and not let irrelevant people spoil our mood," Aunt Xia said.
The two then ended their conversation about Mother Xia and turned to discuss the upcoming New Year’s celebrations.
Meanwhile, somewhere else, Xia Chengzong, who had returned from their hometown, saw Chuyi busy in the shop and hesitated to speak.
Seeing his hesitation, Chuyi naturally knew he had something to say.
As for what it might be, Chuyi could more or less guess.
Therefore, Chuyi, with composure, said to Xia Chengzong, "Brother, if you have something to say, just say it. You don’t have to worry about me."
Xia Chengzong looked at her and after a long silence, he said, "Chuyi, perhaps deciding to adopt me was a mistake."
When Chuyi heard this, she pondered for a moment, then asked Xia Chengzong, "Brother, what exactly did she say again? What did she do?"
"Why do you suddenly seem to feel so guilty toward me?"
Xia Chengzong shook his head and said, "No, she hasn’t said anything, nor has she done anything."
But it was precisely this saying nothing, doing nothing, that filled Xia Chengzong with even more guilt.
Because this "not saying," "not doing," included "not mentioning Chuyi," "not doing anything concerning Chuyi."
In essence, regarding the fact that Chuyi didn’t return, Mother Xia didn’t seem overly sad, she was only extremely caring towards Xia Chengzong.
This made Xia Chengzong feel very uncomfortable inside.
"If it weren’t for me, Second Aunt... no, I mean Mom, she would definitely still be thinking of you..." After a moment of thought, Xia Chengzong couldn’t help but say.
Although he hadn’t quite finished saying everything, from his demeanor, Chuyi roughly understood what Xia Chengzong was feeling guilty about.