He was easy to soothe. All she had to do was give him a smile, no, even a glimpse of her smile was enough. As long as she paid him some attention, not like his mother used to completely ignore him as if she didn’t see him, he would be very happy.
So he hugged her tightly, his arms squeezing so hard that her bones started to ache.
"You said it yourself!"
Seeing his delighted expression, Dong Huiying thought for a moment, then with a mix of caution, confusion, and incomprehension, yet with a serious look, she gently asked, "Yue Ning, do you really like me?"
Liang Yuening’s face stiffened. He almost instinctively snorted in response but quickly stopped himself, nodding earnestly and honestly.
He cocked his head, "Why so many whys? To like someone is just to like them, right?"
Dong Huiying was somewhat at a loss for words.
Liang Yuening scratched his head, then counted off on his fingers one by one.
"Actually, if I really had to give a reason, it’s not like there aren’t any. Before, besides my eldest brother and the others, no one ever smiled at me, no one cared whether I was cold or hungry, no one worried if I got hurt, no one treated me as nicely as you do... After all, you know, fourth brother and I look the way we do, and those people outside disdain us."
He sneaked a glance at her before quickly looking down, muttering, "I used to be so horrible to you. If I were in your shoes, I would definitely despise that guy. When I was little, eldest brother said I was petty, because Pei Yu kicked me once, and I almost broke his leg in return... But what’s wrong with that? I just didn’t want to be bullied, whoever hit me, I’d hit back, but you’re different."
"Look, I always used to be mean to you, but you never held it against me."
He also thought hard about how he felt when he saw Baobao being nice to Yixuan, it felt unfair to him. They were all family, so why did Baobao only treat Yixuan well, why didn’t she treat him nicely?
So he wanted to catch her attention and ended up being tricked by his second brother, soaking overnight in the frigid river water, sneezing and coughing with a runny nose. He had intended to ask Baobao to treat him, but ended up being treated by Doctor Xiao instead.
Back then, he didn’t really understand all this jealousy and competition for attention. He just wanted to be treated fairly, not neglected or overlooked. Maybe it was also because he realized that she seemed quite nice, much, much better than before.
When they were traveling to Jun City, they met Su Lang on the road and were captured by his Black Wind Camp. He and Baobao got hurt a lot. He remembered the situation was chaotic then, and if it weren’t for Baobao, he wouldn’t have been able to escape.
Later, because his injuries were so severe, Baobao had Hong Xiangjun take him away first. That was the first time that he was protected by a woman.
As a child, he had a wish. When he was just a little kid, inherent to his childish nature, he subconsciously sought something from someone called a mother. But he never found it; all he received was cold indifference and disregard.
Later, he grew up, and she gave him what he had lacked back then.
The care she divided among them wasn’t copious. Her attention was often stolen by other brothers, which regularly made him feel sad.
In her eyes, he was just one of the six brothers in the family, but to him, she was the only one. His whole heart was fixed on her.
It’s just that he was clumsy. Often when he wanted to be good to her, he couldn’t quite do it right and he couldn’t control his bad temper, so he would snap at her unintentionally.