ATBWSTBP Chapter 98
by VolareChapter 98: Uncle Li’s Memories
Uncle Li returned home, put down his carrying pole, and sat on the chair behind the house, feeling unsettled.
Li Mengyao walked over.
“Dad, what’s wrong?”
Uncle Li rubbed his head.
“I just ran into a childhood friend. Come to think of it, it’s been thirty or forty years since I last saw her!”
Li Mengyao perked up and dragged a chair over, a gossipy expression on her face.
“Dad, could it be your first love!”
Uncle Li raised his hand and gave her a light smack.
“What nonsense are you talking about! I was only a teenager when she left!”
Li Mengyao said “Oh,” sounding disappointed that she didn’t get to hear some juicy gossip.
“Then what are you brooding about here?” She leaned in closer again, her expression mischievous.
“The owner of Slow Residence, it turns out he’s Bai Shu’s (Uncle Bai) grandson! When he was little, he was a strange kid, never talked, never cried, never smiled. I never imagined he’d grow up to be so handsome!”
Li Mengyao’s interest was piqued.
“The owner of Slow Residence? That cold-faced guy with the scar on his face?”
“What are you saying?” Uncle Li scolded her.
Li Mengyao rolled her eyes. “I didn’t say anything wrong. He does have a scar on his face. Even if it heals, there’ll still be a scar. Isn’t that disfigured? And you know how cold-faced he is!”
Uncle Li glared at her.
“Even if he is disfigured, he’s still ten times better-looking than you, you crazy girl!”
Li Mengyao pouted, unwilling to admit the truth.
“Hmph, can you blame me? It’s all because you and Mom had such a low starting point!”
Uncle Li stared at Li Mengyao, speechless.
Li Mengyao giggled.
Uncle Li sighed.
“Hey, Dad, you still haven’t said what you’re reminiscing about,” Li Mengyao asked, hooking her arm around her father’s, smiling playfully.
Uncle Li seemed to be holding something back, but finally, he said it.
“Back then, when Sister Xia secretly sent her sick son over, I actually saw it.”
“Her son was already eight months old, but he couldn’t smile, couldn’t make a sound, couldn’t cry. He didn’t react no matter how people tried to amuse him.”
As Li Mengyao listened, she curled her lip, thinking, how could someone like that be worthy of Jin Mo, whom she liked?
“Bai Shu named him Bai Xian, and had someone register him, saying that although the child hadn’t spoken yet, he was very smart!”
“But to be honest, that child was indeed different from normal children.”
“I remember when Xiao Xian was just over a year old, one day, he insisted on dragging Bai Shu towards the mountain. Bai Shu was old and couldn’t resist him, so he asked me to come along.”
“Who would have thought that as soon as we reached the mountainside, the adjacent mountain would collapse.”
Li Mengyao was stunned.
“Really?”
Uncle Li nodded. “Really! Half of Bai Shu’s house was buried, and my house was completely buried!”
“In that sense, Xiao Bai Xian was my savior!”
Li Mengyao curled her lip. She didn’t believe it.
“Maybe it was just a coincidence!”
Uncle Li didn’t deny it.
“Later, Xiao Mo came, and Xiao Xian gradually became more lively. He would laugh, he would speak, although only in single syllables, and he would play with Xiao Mo, make milk for him…”
“Hey, wait a minute, what Xiao Mo? Jin Mo?” Li Mengyao was shocked and interrupted her father.
Uncle Li paused. “Oh, right, you weren’t even born then, so you wouldn’t know about Xiao Mo.”
Li Mengyao nodded vigorously. Not only was she not born, but her mother hadn’t even met her father yet!
Uncle Li smiled.
“Speaking of which, Xiao Mo’s name was given by Xiao Xian.”
“Bai Shu had only gone out to do farm work for a day, and when he came back, there was an extra little kid.”
“He asked around the neighborhood, but no one had lost a child. Plus, Xiao Xian kept holding on to him and smiling at the little kid, so he took the little kid in.”
“Xiao Xian kept calling the little kid ‘Mo,’ so Bai Shu named him Xiao Mo.”
“After Xiao Mo came, Xiao Xian took him everywhere, sleeping, eating, they were inseparable.”
“We originally thought they would grow up together, but less than half a year later, Bai Shu fell into a mountain ditch in a car accident.”
“Luckily, Xiao Xian and Xiao Mo were sitting in the shed and were only slightly injured, nothing serious. Bai Shu, on the other hand, hit his head on a rock and wasn’t discovered in time, so he died.”
“By the time Sister Xia got the news and rushed back to handle Bai Shu’s funeral, Xiao Mo had already been taken away by people from the orphanage!”
“When Xiao Xian woke up and couldn’t find Xiao Mo, he went back to not smiling, not crying, not speaking!”
After listening, Li Mengyao felt a trace of sympathy for Bai Xian, but then, thinking of Jin Mo, she snuffed out that trace of sympathy.
“Dad, you’re troubled by this?” Li Mengyao said, then suddenly exclaimed, “That’s not right, wasn’t that Xiao Mo taken away by people from the orphanage? Then who is the current Jin Mo? Is he the Xiao Mo who was taken away?”
Uncle Li leaned back, resting his head on the back of the chair.
“I just ran into Sister Xia. She said that Jin Mo is Xiao Mo, whom Xiao Xian took out of the orphanage when he was five years old.”
Li Mengyao’s mouth gaped open.
“Five years old? He could recognize him?”
Uncle Li chuckled. “That’s right, only two years had passed, he was only five years old, but Xiao Xian could still recognize Xiao Mo. Isn’t that amazing!”
Li Mengyao raised her eyebrows. “Hmph, maybe it’s just a coincidence!”
All that was left of her was her stubbornness.
“Bai Shu and I always thought Xiao Mo was an abandoned child, someone from the city who didn’t want him and secretly abandoned him.”
“Who knew that a little over a year after Bai Shu passed away, a group of people came to the village, asking around if anyone had seen a child.”
“I had just met your mother at the time and was preparing to get married, so I wasn’t out working.”
“When I saw the photo of that little kid, I recognized him at first glance. That little kid was Xiao Mo!”
“The Xiao Mo in the photo was a little smaller, but his eyes were exactly the same, there was no mistaking him.”
“I immediately told them that I had seen him.”
“Soon, a young man came, tall, handsome, and beautiful, he looked like he was from the city, and he was the rich type.”
“He asked me where the child was?”
“I told him everything I knew!”
“He gave me a large sum of money and left his phone number, saying that if I had any news, I absolutely had to contact him again.”
Li Mengyao jumped up from her chair excitedly.
“So, Jin Mo isn’t an abandoned child, maybe that Bai Shu stole him from someone else’s family!”
Uncle Li immediately scolded her.
“What nonsense are you talking about!”
Li Mengyao curled her lip.
“I’m not talking nonsense! Since someone came looking for him, it means Jin Mo isn’t an abandoned child. Then how could he have appeared in someone else’s car for no reason? Either that Bai Shu stole him, or that cold-faced ghost stole him!”
Uncle Li was simply infuriated by Li Mengyao!
“Xiao Xian was only two years old back then, how could he steal a child?”
“Why not? Didn’t he predict the landslide? What’s stealing a child compared to that? Hmph!”
Li Mengyao had a huge opinion of Bai Xian.
So what if he was handsome, he was still disfigured! Why did he have such an arrogant look on his face!
The people who had asked about him a few days ago had disappeared after asking, so how could she let go of such a good opportunity this time?
Li Mengyao narrowed her eyes, and when she saw Uncle Li glaring at her, she quickly concealed her expression.
“Dad, do you still have that person’s phone number?”
Uncle Li thought for a moment and shook his head.
“I wrote that phone number in a notebook, I think it was the one you used to paste celebrity pictures in. Who knows where it is now?”
Li Mengyao’s eyes lit up, then she put on a regretful look.
“Oh well, if you can’t find it, then forget it!”
After saying that, she turned around and walked towards the front desk.
Her face, turned away from Uncle Li, was filled with malicious glee.