Chapter 7 Aunt Zhan’s Son
Life at the Nursing Home was fulfilling. Spending time with the elderly, being with them in such pure and simple ways, made me feel whole.
On the weekend, I took the sheet music I had written to find Aunt Zhan. A strange man suddenly stood in the courtyard.
His brows resembled Aunt Zhan's, and his features were sharp, his presence powerful—strikingly handsome.
From his clothes and manner, he was clearly someone of considerable wealth.
"This is Chen Heng, Aunt Zhan's son."
Dean Lin introduced him to me.
Chen Heng stood beside Aunt Zhan. His gaze landed on me and stayed, sharp and measuring.
When he heard Aunt Zhan call me "Xiao Yan," his brow furrowed slightly, but he still said nothing.
In the evening, the elderly were all out in the courtyard. He came to find me while I was alone and busy in the kitchen, specifically to chat.
"I just watched the video my mother sent me of you playing the Piano. I thought it was excellent.
"With your skill, teaching the elderly here is somewhat of a waste of talent."
His tone sounded like praise, and also like regret.
But I could hear the probing beneath his words.
So I smiled faintly at him. "Don't worry. I have no designs on Aunt Zhan. I simply sympathize with a mother who lost her child.
"Because I lost a child once too. That's all."
He seemed not to have expected me to be so direct.
First he looked startled, then he looked at me with apology. "I'm sorry. That wasn't what I meant.
"It's just that my mother is the only family I have left. I tend to be more careful."
"I understand."
After those few words, we both fell into silence.
A moment later, Dean Lin suddenly walked in. He came up and took my arm.
"Xin Xin, someone outside is looking for you. They say they're your family. Go take a look..."
I wiped my hands on my apron, untied it, and had just stepped out the door when I saw an elegant middle-aged woman sitting on a chair in the courtyard, looking around with her eyes.
Dean Lin kindly poured her a glass of water. She accepted it politely and set it on the round table beside her, never taking a single sip.
Aunt Zhan was looking at her with a face full of confusion.
When she saw me come out, Aunt Zhan urgently grabbed my hand. "Xiao Yan, hurry and say it. You are my daughter!
"She insists she's your mother, but she's not, she's not at all..."
I soothed Aunt Zhan and signaled to Chen Heng. Chen Heng understood at once.
After he guided Aunt Zhan inside to calm her, I followed my mother out of the Nursing Home.
"Are you out of your mind? Have you forgotten everything I usually tell you? You even pulled out a Divorce Agreement, and you dare run away from home for this long!
"Who gave you the guts? Get back home right now!"
Without any beating around the bush, once we stepped outside the gate, my mother grabbed my ear and launched into a scolding.
"I'm not going back!" I wrenched free of her hand and rubbed my ear as I looked at her.
"I'm fine staying here. Don't trouble yourself. Zhou Yang and I are finished. Don't waste your effort!"
"How did I raise such a useless—"
Before my mother finished, an electric tricycle passed by, kicking up a cloud of dust.
She waved her hand and pressed a finger to her nose, her face full of disgust. "This godforsaken place—how can you stand living here!
"Let me tell you, so what if Zhou Yang cheated? Men of his status are all like that. In the end, it's because you weren't capable enough. You couldn't protect the child, and you let that so-called best friend of yours take advantage."
That child was a thorn in my heart.
Hearing this, I said nothing. I only fell silent.
"I know I don't sound nice, but I'm doing this for your own good.
"Besides, so what if you lost one child?"
After she said that, she stepped forward and grabbed me again, wearing an expression of good intentions.
"Don't worry. I asked someone for a secret prescription. I guarantee you and Zhou Yang will have a child right away. Once there's a child, no matter how he carouses outside, he'll have to hold back because of the kid!"
Again. Always like this.
She never asked what I wanted, what harm I endured.
She only forced her own will onto me, over and over.
Ever since she remarried, she never cared about me again.
I was bullied. People pointed at me and said my mother was a mistress.
She never cared how many more wounds I got from being beaten, never paid attention to my despair every time I broke down crying.
She only looked the other way and demanded I stay quiet, endure, and not embarrass her.
She only cared whether the son she bore could help her secure her place in the Song family.
She only cared whether my marriage benefited her connections and status.
I flung her hand off in fury. "Let me make this clear. I don't love him anymore. I don't want to be with him!"
"Are you really doing this for my good? Aren't you just eyeing the Zhou family's wealth and power? What, the son you had with your new husband isn't useful enough? One Zhou family isn't enough—you still need to ruin me like this?"
"Pa." My mother slapped me across the face.
"Is this how I taught you? You ungrateful thing! You're coming with me today. Even if you die, you die in the Zhou family."
She grabbed my hand without any care and tried hard to drag me toward the black Bentley parked nearby.
I struggled with all my strength. "I'm not going!"
"She said she isn't going. Didn't you hear her?"
Chen Heng appeared suddenly and blocked my mother.
"Who are you? What business is this of yours?"
"Meng Zhilan, is it? Please give my regards to your husband, Song Guowei." Chen Heng said as he held out a business card.
After my mother looked at it, her eyes froze for a moment.
Her momentum softened at once.
She looked at me with meaning. "So you do have some ability. Looks like I can't take you away today."
After that, she glanced at Chen Heng with some curiosity a few more times, said nothing more, and turned to leave.