PPS Chapter 113

Chapter 113: “Mom” [Revised]

After Zhang Anru chased after him, she saw the figure squatting on the ground in the small garden.

The little red hair was particularly eye-catching.

She paused, then walked to the boy’s side and sat down.

The two of them, with a combined age of sixty or seventy, were sitting on the ground without any regard for their image.

Chu Zhaoyi’s ears twitched, and a faint fragrance came to his nose, the scent of Zhang Anru.

Chu Zhaoyi had a piece of cookie in his mouth, and with Zhang Anru’s arrival, he chewed a little slower.

“Ah Yi, eat slowly,” Zhang Anru put her hand on Chu Zhaoyi’s back, patting him a couple of times, her gentle face filled with worry.

“We’re going to eat in a little while, eat fewer cookies, or you won’t be able to eat dinner.” Like mothers all over the world, Zhang Anru was always worried that her child would secretly eat snacks before meals and not be able to eat a proper meal.

Chu Zhaoyi didn’t say anything, and stubbornly took two more pieces from the box and stuffed them into his mouth, his mouth full.

Zhang Anru sighed almost imperceptibly, stood up, and didn’t know where she was going.

Chu Zhaoyi listened to the movement and realized that the person had gone far away before raising his head, looking in the direction Zhang Anru left, his eyes carrying a grievance that he himself didn’t even notice.

He had never given Zhang Anru a good look, and he had just hurt her.

It was normal for her to be angry, right?

This was what Chu Zhaoyi could have predicted.

But when it really happened, he felt a little uncomfortable.

Chu Zhaoyi threw the box on the ground, and the cookies inside spilled out, rolling around on the ground and getting covered in dust.

He wasn’t a sentimental person, except when he was in front of Gu Yusen, he liked to be a little capricious.

But this time, he didn’t know why, even though he had done something bad and shouldn’t have received Zhang Anru’s forgiveness, he still felt aggrieved when she abandoned him and left.

He probably knew that he was being unreasonable.

But what he wanted… was motherly love.

The kind that Li Yurong had given to Xie Haoran.

Favoritism.

Chu Zhaoyi swallowed the cookies in his mouth. This time the cookies were rather dry, and he had eaten too many in one bite, making it a little difficult to swallow.

Full of grievances, he wanted to go find Gu Yusen.

“Ah Yi, come and drink some water. The cookies I made this time were too dry, and you ate so many in one bite, your mouth must be dry.” Zhang Anru, who had returned, sat down next to Chu Zhaoyi with a cup of warm water in the second before Chu Zhaoyi was about to stand up and leave.

So she didn’t leave.

She didn’t think he was annoying and didn’t want him anymore.

She was just worried that his mouth was uncomfortable,

And went to get a cup of warm water.

Chu Zhaoyi stared blankly at Zhang Anru’s face, like a wounded little beast discovered by its mother, who carried him home by the scruff of his neck, and didn’t forget to stuff a piece of bread into his mouth because he was hungry.

The Chu Zhaoyi that Zhang Anru had seen was always expressionless, his eyes always dark and devoid of any emotion.

But the current Chu Zhaoyi had shed those defenses, shed the dark ink in his eyes.

He was looking at his mother expectantly.

Zhang Anru was a little puzzled and wanted to touch the boy’s head, but felt that such an act was too presumptuous between them.

The hand raised in mid-air was withdrawn.

Chu Zhaoyi took the water cup handed over by Zhang Anru and drank it, put the cup aside, and went to pick up the scattered cookies on the ground.

Only then did Zhang Anru notice the cookies scattered all over the ground. Seeing that Chu Zhaoyi was about to pick them up and put them back in the box, she frowned and reached out to grab the boy’s overly slender wrist.

“Ah Yi, be good, it’s dirty, don’t eat it. If you like, I’ll make some more tomorrow.”

Chu Zhaoyi felt the unfamiliar touch on his wrist, which was different from Gu Yusen’s. Gu Yusen’s hands were always hard, and when his high body temperature held him, he always felt warm.

But Zhang Anru was different. Zhang Anru’s hands were soft, with a hint of coolness, and she didn’t use much strength.

Chu Zhaoyi obediently didn’t move, letting Zhang Anru grab his wrist and put it back in place.

Zhang Anru was a little surprised to see him so obedient, and couldn’t help but nag a few words.

“Don’t eat dirty things, Ah Yi must remember, it’s dirty.”

Chu Zhaoyi blinked his eyes: “But the food that Li Yurong gave me was all thrown on the ground.”

For a long time, when Chu Yu’s business failed and the family didn’t have much money, Li Yurong was in a bad mood, and the food she gave him was just a steamed bun that she casually threw on the ground for him to pick up.

Little Chu Zhaoyi had eaten a lot of food off the ground.

Some steamed buns were stained with paint, and he would swallow them, even though he knew the paint was poisonous.

But he was very hungry.

He didn’t want to die.

He wanted to live.

Although he didn’t know why.

“In the life before I was eighteen, she was my mother, she didn’t teach me this,” Chu Zhaoyi continued, staring intently at Zhang Anru’s face.

In fact, he no longer cared about these things. When he was young, he had begged Li Yurong for some affection, but he didn’t need it when he grew up.

He said these things knowing that Zhang Anru would feel sorry and regretful.

He wanted to verify it.

Sure enough, Zhang Anru reacted after hearing these two sentences.

Zhang Anru’s heart was instantly clenched hard, and her eyes turned red involuntarily. She tossed and turned in the middle of the night, imagining countless times Chu Zhaoyi’s situation in the past eighteen years, and repeatedly admonished herself that perhaps Chu Yu would not be too harsh on him for her sake.

But the information she found was far from her hopes.

When she really heard Chu Zhaoyi’s experiences, those descriptions of Li Yurong were like a sharp knife, carving traces on her heart.

She almost couldn’t breathe.

Zhang Anru didn’t care whether Chu Zhaoyi would reject her. She reached out and gently embraced Chu Zhaoyi, her embrace warm and powerful, as if she wanted to isolate all the pain and past.

Her fingers gently stroked Chu Zhaoyi’s back, trying to feel the existence of this child.

This was the first time they had embraced each other.

Chu Zhaoyi’s guess was verified. He thought he would feel joy, but he didn’t. Zhang Anru’s appearance was delicate, and she looked particularly pitiful when her eyes turned red.

Chu Zhaoyi felt the constant pain in his chest.

It was very unfamiliar.

Including this soft embrace.

It was all very unfamiliar.

But he was a little attached.

“Ah Yi, I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” Zhang Anru knew that she shouldn’t cry, but tears uncontrollably flowed down.

A trembling sob rang in Chu Zhaoyi’s ear.

“Then can you touch my head?”

He had seen it many times when he was a child. Many children would have their heads touched by their mothers, but Li Yurong never would.

He was a little curious.

Zhang Anru didn’t ask why, she just reached out a hand and placed it on Chu Zhaoyi’s head.

Zhang Anru’s hand was soft, and it felt soft on his head, with a warm feeling.

She was always fragrant, and the posture of their embrace made Chu Zhaoyi almost surrounded by this scent.

Chu Zhaoyi narrowed his eyes and rubbed Zhang Anru’s palm with some nostalgia.

So this was a mother.

“Mom…”