He would be fragile for a while, in a dark night with no one else, and in front of this woman.
Some people said that one who had not experienced something could never empathize with those who had.
She believed that. If she had never experienced being abandoned by her father, she could not understand how he felt at this moment.
Perhaps they felt empathetic towards each other because they had the same experience.
Lin Xinyan reached out and patted him on the back.
Without too many words, she comforted him silently.
Zong Jinghao was not an emotional person. He would not have shown his fragile side if it was not Lin Xinyan who was with him at this moment.
“Shall we go back?” His voice came dully from Lin Xinyan’s neck.
“I said I went back to get the clothes. If I didn’t take them, I’m afraid that Xi would think too much about it as he’s a sensitive child.” Lin Xinyan thought of her son and her tone became more solemn, “From now on, don’t put Xi’s safety at risk. I am serious.”
“Yes.” He really did not think about what to do if an accident happened.
Once Zong Jinghao calmed down, he started the car and drove.
It did not take long for the car to arrive at Lin Xinyan’s residence. She got out of the car, and Zong Jinghao followed.
Lin Xinyan turned back and looked at him, “Are you going up too?”
“I want to take a look at your residence.” He had not been there before.
Lin Xinyan walked in front of him. When they arrived at the door, she took out her key to open the door.
The place was not very big, but the decoration created a warm atmosphere and it felt very homely.
Lin Xinyan went to Lin Xichen’s room first to get his clothes, and then she went to her own room to get Lin Ruixi’s clothes.
When she was packing the clothes, Zong Jinghao walked around the house freely. This place was not very big, and the two children kept it clean and neat. On the side cabinet, there was a photo of Lin Xichen and Lin Ruixi.
He stretched out his hand and picked it up. The background in the photo was a grass field. The children looked slightly over two years old and they were playing with bubbles.
Lin Xinyan saw the photo in his hand and said with a smile, “This was taken when they just learned to walk. Though Xi is very smart, he only started walking at one and a half years old, and he could walk steadily only when he was over two years old.”
She had light in her eyes when she talked about her children.
Her entire body exudes the brilliance of maternal love.
It was warm and gentle.
Zong Jinghao put the photo down. The smile like this could only be seen when she was in front of her children, right?
“Please take a seat. I’ll go over there.” Zhuang Zijin’s room was next door, and she had to go and clean up the room.
Zong Jinghao gave a light hum.
After Lin Xinyan left, he sat down by the bed. Perhaps because she was taking care of the children, the bed was covered with a cartoon bedsheet, which was very clean and tidy.
The drawer of the bedside cabinet was half open, and there was a pink book in it. He opened the drawer and saw that the book was actually a photo album.
He stretched out his hand, took the photo album out and opened it. A picture showed a very small baby wrapped in a pink quilt and was wearing a little pink hat. She had a soft and tender face, and she looked very cute.
He continued to turn the page. This page contained photos that were taken when Lin Xichen was a child. Similarly, he was wrapped in a little blue quilt, and was wearing a little blue hat. He also had soft pink cheeks just like his sister.
The photo seemed to be taken just shortly after birth because he looked really small.
Lin Xinyan took photos of them every year. She kept the memories of them when they learned to walk, when they had their first teeth, when they first spoke, and the first sentence they spoke.
She took note of all these carefully.
Click!
A photo fell from the album and landed on the ground.
Zong Jinghao picked it up. This was a photo of Lin Xinyan and her two children. She was sitting on the carpet and the children were playing with building blocks. She looked at her two children and smiled tenderly.
He held the photo in his hand and looked at it closely for a moment. When he was about to put it back into the album, he discovered that there were handwritings behind the photo through the light. Hence, he turned it around and saw a paragraph written with a black pen on the back of the photo.
My precious babies, I am sorry that I did not give you a complete family. You only have Mommy and Grandma in your home, but I will love you very much. Thank you for coming to my world. You brought light to my gloomy world, and I am no longer lonely and afraid.
When he became engrossed while looking at the beautiful handwritings, he heard a noise. Then he put the photo back to where it was and closed the album.
Lin Xinyan held a bag in her hand and popped her head out from the door, “I’m done.”
Zong Jinghao stood up and his tall body immediately created a shadow. He looked at her and asked, “Have you finished packing?”
“Yes.” Lin Xinyan nodded.
“Let’s go.”
Lin Xinyan nodded. Zong Jinghao walked to her and reached out to take the bag that was in her hand, “I’ll carry it for you.”
“You don’t have to. It isn’t heavy.” There were just a few clothes and some daily necessities in the bag.
“Give it to me.” He took it over.
Lin Xinyan turned her head to look at him. She lowered her eyelids slowly and followed him without saying anything. Then she locked the door and walked out of the residence.
His family’s residence.
Their maid went out to buy groceries, and when she was back, people threw eggs at her.
“What happened?” Xia Zhenyu looked at the disheveled maid, and her eyes widened.
The maid lowered her head and said, “I came back after buying groceries, and people smashed me with eggs when I was at the gate. They also said that I shouldn’t work for you all as a maid.”
In fact, what they said was actually worse. They said that she should not serve these dogs who bullied children. Any other jobs were better than this.
“Madam, you better not go out during these few days, so as to avoid encountering any radical people who may do something bad to you.”
Xia Zhenyu took several steps back and the maid came forward hurriedly to support her, “Are you okay?”
She shook her head. If people came to smash them at their residence’s gate, what the company’s office was facing would be much worse, wouldn’t it?
Indeed, the situation in the company was even more miserable. Many of their stores had been boycotted. When people heard that the stores belonged to Pioneer Group which was the He family’s corporation, they would not enter at all, let alone spending money there.
The He family had chain stores in every city in the country, and the bad situation was expanding bit by bit.
Sales fell by 20 percent in just one day, which was a very fast rate of decline.
He Ruixing drove He Wenhuai back home, “I’ll go and find Zong Jinghao to see what conditions he’ll propose. We can’t let this issue continue to spread.”
He Wenhuai was also anxious. Credibility and reputation were very important when it came to doing business. Once credibility had landed in crisis, no one would want to invest and buy their stocks.
“Well, if he doesn’t let go, you can plan for the worst.” This was also what he expected when he planned for the worst.
In this case, Zong Jinghao came on strong and hardly gave him any room to mitigate, which showed that he was really angry.
The reason why he would be so angry was nothing but what He Ruilin and He Ruize did, which had crossed his bottom line.
Since Zong Jinghao wanted to punish them, he would just push the both of them out. They had not committed a serious crime such as homicide. At most, they would be interrogated and detained for two days.
When Zong Jinghao was appeased and calmed down, this matter would pass.
“Dad, there’re many people at the gate.” He Ruixing was driving the car and he saw from a distance that there were many people around his gate.
Most of them were cursing and ranting about how the He family bullied the weak, how evil they were, and so on.
In short, the things they said were as bad as they could be.
“Let’s enter from the back door.” He Wenhuai had a sullen face and he was furious.
“Zong Jinghao was too savage!” He did not give any warning at all, and moved against the He family directly, which left him completely unprepared.
“That’s his style of doing things, and it’s well-known in the industry.” He Ruixing was part of the business circle, and naturally had heard some things about Zong Jinghao’s style of doing things.
Decisive, bold, and vigorous!
When the car stopped, He Wenhuai entered the door angrily. Xia Zhenyu was about to call and warn them about the people at the gate so that they would enter from the back door.
Seeing them coming in, Xia Zhenyu put the phone down and greeted them, “Are you all right?”
“We’re okay. We entered from the back door.” He Ruixing sighed, “This matter has affected us too much. I won’t eat dinner at home tonight. I’ll go out.”
“Where are you going?” Xia Zhenyu asked.
“I’ll go and talk to him.” He Ruixing’s voice toned down slowly, because he was not confident and was not sure what to do.
“I’ll leave this matter to you then.” He Wenhuai was out for the entire day and he was looking very tired. Xia Zhenyu helped him into the room.
Seeing He Wenhuai entering the house, He Ruilin came down from the second floor, “Brother, I’ll go with you.”
“What are you going to do when you’re there?”
He Ruixing looked at her coldly, “It’s all because of you that this happened. Things will be worse if you go.”
He Ruilin had become accustomed to being denied by him and was not angry. Instead, she walked down step by step in her slippers and looked at He Ruixing, “I have something in my hand that’ll make him willing to talk to us, or even give in.”
“What is it?” He Ruixing asked dubiously.
He Ruilin had a well-thought out plan and she was confident, “You take me there and I’ll show it to you. How about that?”
