Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Xia Nuannuan didn’t notice the strange expression on her mother’s face. She stretched her arms out, hugged Mom Xia and said like a spoilt child, “Mom, what’s there to worry about? Just pretend that I’ve gone away to school and will come back to see you every year. If you miss me, why don’t you and dad move to Beijing?”
Upon hearing this, Mom Xia seemed to have some thoughts. “We could rent something in Beijing anyway, now that our home no longer-”
She halted suddenly.
Curious, Xia Nuannuan asked, “Our home no longer what?”
Mom Xia smiled and looked at her. “Our home no longer has you in it! But you’re in Beijing! Your Dad and I call it home only where you’re present.”
The girl laughed when she heard these heartwarming words.
While the mother and daughter talked to each other, Dad Xia stood at the doorway of his bedroom and looked at them quietly.
His weathered face was wet with tears.
He had brought up his precious daughter for so many years only to give her away.
He could hardly bear to do this.
But no matter what, he had to.
He saw that Shen Zihao treated his daughter well and that was a source of comfort to him. At least, not all of it had been in vain…
Dad Xia sighed at this thought.
Xia Nuannuan spoke with Mom Xia till late before they went to bed.
The following morning, when the day broke, she was up.
Mom and Dad had slept late last night, so they were not up yet.
She thought about how they were so reluctant to let her go and felt compelled to make breakfast for them.
As Shen Zihao was still asleep, she tiptoed softly out of the bedroom, gently opened the front door and let herself out.
As she walked down the street, she felt relaxed.
This was where she had grown up and she knew her way to the market with her eyes shut.
When she got to the market and as she was selecting the fresh vegetables and seafood, a robust aunty came up to her exclaiming, “Good grief, isn’t this Nuannuan?”
Xia Nuannuan paused for a moment and then said, “Oh, it’s Aunt Li!”
Aunt Li was her father’s colleague.
When she saw Xia Nuannuan, she immediately smiled and said, “I heard you’re doing really well! You’ve gotten married in Beijing! And after this are you settling down in Beijing?”
The girl smiled and answered, “Yes.”
The smiling Aunt Li continued, “So this time are you here to take your parents there?”
Xia Nuannuan was surprised at this remark. “Huh?”
“Your parents sold their house in a hurry. Wasn’t it because they were moving to Beijing to stay with you? They are going to enjoy their lives there! When you were little, I always said that you were a blessed child. What do you know?”
Xia Nuannuan wasn’t listening to Aunt Li’s last few sentences.
Her head had only registered that remark.
“…sold their house in a hurry…”
The house that their family had lived in for almost 20 years!
That was her parents’ sweat and blood of a lifetime, bought with a loan from the bank.
And now they had sold it off?
She finally realized where the 1.11 million of her dowry had come from.
So that was how they got the money.
At once, her eyes turned red.
She dropped the vegetables in her hand and ran back home at once.
Just as she arrived at the door, she heard her parents talking inside.
Mom Xia was saying, “This child, she disappeared early in the morning! Where could she have gone to?”
Dad Xia replied, “Could she have gone to the market?”
Mom Xia slapped her own thigh and exclaimed, “Oh no! I’ve only instructed our neighbors to keep mum about the sale of our house. What if she runs into people we know?”
At these words, Dad Xia immediately stood up and said, “I’ll go look for her!”
But the moment he opened the door, he saw Xia Nuannuan standing outside, her face wet with tears.