Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Sheng Yize said grimly, “I can’t erase her old wounds, but I want to make her happy from now on.”
An Yibei’s fingers quivered at those words and he sneered. “Alright. If you really want to know, I’ll tell you.”
–
The study was filled with the aroma of coffee, but neither one of them touched their cups.
An Yibei’s voice was bland and emotionless. “Xiaxia isn’t my biological sister. She was adopted by my father.”
An Yibei began the conversation with a bombshell announcement.
Sheng Yize pursed his lips a little and kept his face impassive.
“She was my father’s patient back then. When they sent her to the hospital, she was barely alive. She was only eight then and her body was covered in wounds — cigarette burns, welts from a belt, bruises left by stones… She weighed less than 20kg and she would neither speak nor cry. She was even too afraid to eat…” The old memory brought a murderous look to An Yibei’s eyes. “Do you know why cats scare her so much? You’ll find the answer unbelievable. She had been waiting in an orphanage for so long until someone finally adopted her. But that monster then began to abuse her!
“At first, neighbors would interfere, but eventually, everyone grew used to it and just watched as he tortured her. Even kids of her own age bullied her for it! Once, she found this stray cat. She took care of it and shared the little food she had with it… But her foster father later discovered this. He threw the cat into boiling water in front of her, then dissected it.”
Sheng Yize clenched his fists at those words.
He had never thought such horrendous things could have happened to An Xiaxia before!
“Someone recorded his abuse of the cat and posted it online as a sick joke. An animal protection group protested the contents and some of its members found out where her foster father lived… When they got there, they found Xiaxia, who was barely breathing…”
It was such a sad story, really. No one cared when a child was almost abused to death, while a cat could catch public attention.
“She was then rescued and sent to the hospital my father worked in. She survived. The hospital put her through psychological therapy, but her memory could only go back as far as eight years old. She had forgotten everything that happened before that.” An Yibei lit a cigarette. The red dot flickered in the dim room.
“After the therapy, the protocol was to send her back to the orphanage. She normally never laughed or cried, but that day, she held my father’s leg and cried for hours. I think subconsciously, she was terrified of the orphanage. My father took pity on her and took her in. All her classmates used to laugh at her at school, calling her stupid… After what she went through and her memory loss, she knew next to nothing and she was afraid of almost everything. She was timid and used to cry all the time…” An Yibei was rambling. Seeing Sheng Yize’s eyes brim with tears was a cathartic feeling. He was no longer the only one in pain.
“Shall I keep talking? Do you want to know more?” An Yibei’s voice was mesmerizing. Sheng Yize asked in a raspy voice, “Does she know she was adopted?”
An Yibei smiled mockingly. “I have no idea. What do you think? Do you think she knows?”
Eight years old was old enough to have memories, but from An Xiaxia’s reactions growing up, he didn’t think she knew.
“If she doesn’t, we’ll keep it from her for the rest of her life. If she knows but pretends she doesn’t, I’ll pretend with her for the rest of my life.”