Chapter 15

Editor: mako

Proofreader: jlycen

As I was going back upstairs, I dusted the snow off my body.

At this moment, Meng SiQi had not gotten off work yet, so I sat alone in the large apartment, suddenly feeling that the world was very scaringly quiet.

I could even hear each breath I took.

Thinking back to Chen ErXin’s words, I asked myself, “Pei JiYu, why aren’t you giving yourself a chance to start over again?”

You’re not dead yet, so it’s not too late.

No one loves you, so why can’t you love yourself.

Why are you giving up on yourself because of others?

For a long while, I sat alone on the sofa in the living room reflecting, and gradually got enlightened.

Unexpectedly, I recalled Father, who had not much time left.

Ever since the death of my mother, my father and I had become increasingly indifferent toward each other. With him busy with his work, he rarely concerned himself with me. Not only that, in the few years I was in England, we almost never got in touch with each other, let alone these recent four years where we were almost like strangers.

However, he was still my father.

The person who created and raised me. He was also the first person in the world who taught me love.

I should at least visit him, and if he was willing, also accompany him on his final chapter of this journey.

I would then have to contact Lu QingFan if I wanted to visit my father.

At this moment, I recalled Meng SiQi informing me that the photo with the phone number was in his study drawer.

So, I pushed the door open to enter the study.

Meng SiQi’s study was tidy, and the bookshelves against the walls were full of medical texts, most of which were related to tumors.

I walked towards his desk and opened the drawer.

The photo of me and Lu QingFan was on the top. As I looked at the two teenagers in the photo, I sighed deeply in my heart.

Picking up the photo, I saw another one below it with several pieces of yellowed candy wrappers neatly placed together. Momentarily curious, I lifted that old photo up and looked at it carefully.

It wasn’t an official photo, but seemed to be a random snapshot at a wedding banquet. Depicting only the sides or back of the guests, there were no clear shots of the guests’ faces.

It was such a useless photo, and I couldn’t understand why Meng SiQi had kept it like it was precious.

Suddenly, a hand came from behind my back and snatched the photo away. I turned my head in surprise, and saw Meng SiQi standing behind me with a red face and his coat still on.

I thought he was angry.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to rummage through your belongings,” I apologized, feeling a little embarrassed. “I just came to find my thing.”

Meng SiQi didn’t speak and only had a complicated expression on. I felt regretful, as I should’ve curbed my curiosity and restrained myself from peeping into other people’s secrets.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized again.

His silence left me feeling empty and suspended in place.

Meng SiQi released a long sigh with an expression of disappointment and resignation. “Indeed, you do not remember,” he said.

I was at a loss.

“More than ten years ago, we met once, and at that time, you were just this small. You were also chubby and full of baby fat.” He used his hand to demonstrate the difference in heights. “And I was only just this tall.”

I went completely blank.

“As so many years have passed, you’ve probably already forgotten about me.” Meng SiQi had a lonely look on his face.

“Soon after my mother died of an illness, my father remarried. At that time, I was young and immature. This coupled with the fact that I was unable to get along with my stepmother, I was extremely unhappy with my father’s remarriage.

So, on the day of the wedding, I hid in the corner and cried secretly, feeling that everyone in this world had wronged me. I felt aggrieved and sad.

As my father had invited a lot of guests to attend the wedding ceremony, there were also a lot of children, and as it got rowdy, no one even realized that the eldest son was missing.

This made me feel even more angry and resentful, as I felt abandoned by the whole world, and I had wished that everything would end at that moment. It was then that you showed up in front of me.

At that time, you were only around seven to eight years old, and naive. When you saw me wiping away my tears in the corner, you came to me and said, ‘Big Brother, don’t cry anymore. I’ll give you my candies.’

When I looked up, I saw a pale palm spread out in front of me holding four soft milk candies.

You had looked pitiful, seeming unwilling to part with those candies, as you said, ‘These are the last four candies, so I don’t have any more.’

Then, you thought that I was hiding and crying alone because I didn’t receive the blessing candies.”

At this point, Meng SiQi lightly chuckled.

I’ve long forgotten this old event.

“At that time, I thought that the child was so naive and adorable that he must have grown up pampered and with great attention. That day, I kept on thanking you, because out of so many people, only you had comforted and gave me the candies, telling me not to cry anymore. You were the only one,” he said.

I was unaware that such a little thing in the past would have been engraved into Meng SiQi’s mind till today.

I really didn’t even have a recollection of any of this.

“Then, my grandmother, who was unable to get along with my stepmother, took me away to live with her. Until I was an adult, I had never returned to this city.”

“So, this picture…”

“You’re in the picture,” he said. “I’ve looked through all the photos taken at the wedding banquet and this was the only one that has your shadow. You seemed to be missing when people were taking pictures.”

His words seemed as if he were blaming me.

“Where was I in the photo?” Why didn’t I see it just now?

“Here.” Meng SiQi pointed to a little child in the shadows of the dancing guests. Only half of his face was revealed.

After looking at it carefully for a long while, I realized it was really me.

It took me so long to identify myself, so I don’t know how Meng SiQi managed to find me in the thousands of photos taken back then.

“At that time, I took this picture and asked my friends if they knew who the child was. Finally, I only found out from my friend’s sister that this boy was the young master of the Pei family.”

The way he spoke made it seem like it was something that could be easily done. However, I knew he must have searched for a long time. His friends were all the same age as him, so how could they have known a person who was three or four years younger than them.

“When I returned to this city, you had already gone to England,” he continued. “The Pei family always said that you were studying in England, so when you came to the hospital that day, I thought that I had only met someone with the same name. It was only until I met you at the restaurant that I knew that you were truly Pei JiYu, the one who told me not to cry anymore. JiYu, these few years, I’ve been waiting to see you again.”

I was speechless.

With my chest full of warmth and feeling a sudden tinge on my nose, I couldn’t help feeling like crying. I then slowly squatted down and covered my face with my hands.

“JiYu.” Meng SiQi gently teased me, “Don’t cry. I have a lot of candies now, so don’t cry anymore.”

“I’m not crying, Meng SiQi. I’m not crying.” I was laughing, and no one but me knew how happy I was feeling at the moment.

Despite the tears in my eyes as I raised my face from my palms, a smile was on my face.

“You scared me again.” Meng SiQi’s ears redden. Oh, he could also feel shy too.

“JiYu, I want to take you back to see my grandmother who will be returning next year to settle down in this city. It will coincide with New Year’s day, so at that time, will you go with me to visit her?”

In a split second, I became nervous and declined, “No, no, no.”

As he had lived with his grandmother since he was a child, she would be his closest family. Besides, if I went with him on New Year’s day, it would put him in an awkward situation.

However, Meng SiQi just laughed. “Grandmother knew that in my heart, there was a little boy who gave me candies. She would like you.”

I was surprised that his grandmother was such an open-minded elderly, contrary to my father.

Back at that time, if my father had been partially tolerant to me, maybe Pei JiYu would have a different story.