“Isn’t it that car from your family?” Shen Peichuan looked at him curiously. If he had sensed something was wrong, so Zong Jinghao would definitely notice that as well.
“Perhaps…your dad is here?” Shen Peichuan didn’t say the name but he knew that car belonged to Yuxiu.
But he didn’t dare to mention the name to Zong Jinghao.
“What do you think that woman is up to?” Zong Jinghao asked suddenly.
Zong Jinghao seldom mentioned Yuxiu, and today was the first time he brought her up.
Deep down in his heart, he knew that Lin Xinyan was most probably meeting Yuxiu. The last time, she went to Lin Xinyan’s clothing store’s grand opening and even gave her a bracelet. Lin Xinyan was still wearing the bracelet until today.
Obviously, Lin Xinyan was here to bring the children back to meet her.
Zong Jinghao narrowed his eyes and wondered why did Yuxiu want to approach Lin Xinyan. What is she up to?
“Perhaps she wants to cotton up to Lin Yanxin?” Shen Peichuan was making a wild guess. After all, Zong Jinghao had been very cold to Yuxiu. “You see, Ms. Lin has given birth to two lovely children for you. It doesn’t matter what you feel about her; you will have to take care of her out of responsibility. The children are the flesh and blood of the Zong family. Therefore, I bet your dad loves the children too. Yuxiu knew that you disliked her, but she could always cotton up to Ms. Lin and the children?”
Zong Jinghao found Shen Peichuan’s analysis on point. If his analysis was correct, how could Lin Xinyan not notice Yuxiu’s motive? She even brought the children to meet Yuxiu.
Moreover, Lin Xinyan’s attitude towards him had obviously changed this time. If Yuxiu were the one who swayed Lin Xinyan for her change of attitude, then it would be too scary to think of.
What did Yuxiu say to her? What did she do to change her?
“Your step-mother is a patient person, she was still young when she married your father, yet they didn’t have another child. It is…”
Zong Jinghao turned and looked at him.
Shen Peichuan had no choice but to bite his tongue. He then changed his tone by saying, “I heard that stepmothers usually ill-treat their stepchildren, some of them even tortured them. Since she married your father at such a young age, I bet she was still fertile back then. However, she didn’t give birth to any child, and also didn’t do anything to harm you. I think her biggest mistake would be marrying your father at the wrong timing when your mother had just passed away.”
He had to admit that Yuxiu didn’t do anything to harm him. Shen Peichuan’s analysis was on point; however, he still couldn’t accept Yuxiu.
If he accepted her, how could he face his dead mother?
“Do ask someone to check if there are other villages around this area?” He needed to find out whether Lin Xinyan was meeting her? If so, why did she meet up with her?
Shen Peichuan nodded, “Sure, I will send someone to check it now.”
Meanwhile, Lin Xinyan sat in the car and looked back from time to time. She was afraid that someone might follow the car.
Luckily it was a quiet neighborhood, and not even a single car passed by.
Soon, the car stopped at the front door of the Cheng family.
Yuxiu had waited at the front door and anticipated their arrival. When the car finally arrived, she stood in stunned silence. All these while, Lin Xinyan never knew about her real identity when she met the children, but it was different now.
“Huh? Grandma is here too.” Lin Ruixi spoke as she was holding Lin Xinyan’s hands.
Lin Xinyan then asked the children to stand side by side, and she crouched down to look at them. “Xi, Ruixi, I want you two to do me a favor. Is that alright?”
“What is it?” Lin Xichen asked.
Lin Xinyan turned them to face Yuxiu and introduced formally, “She is your Grandma.”
“Yeah, I knew it. We have met before.” Lin Xichen blinked her big eyes innocently, not knowing why her mother would tell her something that she already knew.
Lin Xinyan stroked their hairs and said again, “She is your real Grandma.”
She was the mother of Zong Jinghao, and also their real Grandma.
She encouraged the children to walk towards Yuxiu, “Let’s go over there.”
Lin Xichen heard the conversation between Aunt Yu and Zhuang Zijin before; he knew that this Grandma was Zong Jinghao’s stepmother, not the real Grandma. However, since her mommy said so, he knew that her mommy must have had her own reason. So, he took his sister’s little hand and walked towards Cheng Yuxiu.
Cheng Yuxiu looked at them and her eyes welled with tears instantly. She had never seen her son before he turned six years old but she couldn’t remember well as she wasn’t in a good mental state. Then, she got better eventually and Zong Jinghao grew up slowly.
She missed out on seeing how he grew up; she missed out on the best part of his childhood. Which meant that she didn’t know when he started walking, growing his first tooth, started talking and what his first word was.
She knew nothing about it. She missed out too much that she had too many regrets.
At this moment, her heart ached as she watched the little ones walking towards her.
“Grandma.” Lin Ruixi was the first one to call out Grandma. She wasn’t as cautious as her brother, she believed that this was the real Grandma if her mommy said so.
Lin Ruixi had a soft and pleasant voice. Hearing her voice, Cheng Yuxiu couldn’t hold the tears in her eyes and it rolled down uncontrollably. She quickly wiped her face as it wasn’t nice to cry in front of the children.
She bent down and hugged the children into her arms, “Xi, Ruixi, it has been so long.”
While Lin Xichen pressing his chin against her shoulder, he had a feeling that Grandma was actually a nice person. He then said lovingly, “You can meet us as often as you like. Don’t worry.”
Cheng Yuxiu was moved at what he said. Zong Jinghao had never given her a chance to go near him. Ever since she was married into the Zong family, he had always been cold to her.
And now, she was happy to be able to hug his children.
“Let’s go. I will bring you over to the yard.” Cheng Yuxiu stood up and held both their hands, with one on her left side, and another on her right side. Lin Ruixi looked up at Cheng Yuxiu and asked, “Grandma, do you have any yummy food inside the house?”
“Come on, Ruixi. Why do you think about food all the time?”
What a glutton.
Cheng Yuxiu replied with a smile, “Yes, I do.”
“Today I went to the mountains with my father and my brother. There were so many persimmons there. We plucked a lot of them. They were so sweet, and we even brought some with us.” Lin Ruixi said proudly. It was her first time climbing up a mountain to pluck fruits.
She thought it was interesting and she was doing really well.
“Oh, really? Is that the persimmons from the west hill?” said Cheng Yuxiu in a surprised tone. Over the years, she had a good understanding of Zong Jinghao’s temperament. He had always been a cold person and a workaholic, so she never thought that he would change after being a dad.
He brought the children to the mountains.
He is a humane person with feelings.
“Although ripened persimmons were delicious, you should not eat too much of it. Two persimmons should be the maximum.” She said lovingly as she stroked Lin Ruixi’s hair.
“Yeah, mommy told me about it in the car just now. She said too many persimmons would be bad for my health. I want to eat it so badly, but I only got to eat three of them. I really want to eat more, but mommy won’t let me. Also, the persimmons are just too small. She made a gesture with her hands as she spoke, “it was the size of an egg, some are even smaller than an egg.”
Lin Xinyan held a bag of persimmons in her hand and walked at the back of them while they talked.
She looked at their back, and a small smile crept onto her lips.
It was almost afternoon when the fog cleared up and the sun shone warmly onto them.
Cheng Yuxiu chatted and laughed happily with the children as she led them into the yard.
