Chapter 169: Chapter 112-113: Laying It All Bare / Ye Xuan Arrives
Stepping on the soft sand, with a cool breeze on my face, and breathing in the salty sea air, my mood inexplicably relaxes. Luo Ye rubs her cheek against Grandpa’s arm: "Grandpa, let’s just come to the resort ourselves next time, without bringing them along!"
"Ye’er, you’ve been through a lot." Grandpa Luo tenderly strokes his granddaughter’s head. "Grandpa, why would you say that?" Luo Ye is a bit puzzled.
"Ye’er, don’t keep everything bottled up and do it all by yourself. Discuss more with your dad. He’s not unreasonable." He pauses before adding, "You’ve been practicing until two or three in the morning and sneaked out twice. Did you think Grandpa didn’t know?"
"Grandpa..." Luo Ye doesn’t know how to respond, unable to believe that Grandpa, who always goes to bed early, would observe her so closely.
"Your master told me all about it before he left. Don’t you trust your master and not your grandpa? Even though this old man can’t be of much physical help, I can still offer some advice for you, can’t I?" A hint of dejection infuses Grandpa Luo’s tone.
"Grandpa, it’s not that I don’t trust you, I just didn’t want you to worry. If I can’t even trust Grandpa in this world, who else can Ye’er trust?" Her master must have told Grandpa Luo for her sake, and the fact he hadn’t mentioned it to her must have been intentional payback.
Speaking of which, what was so bad about arranging an early family reunion for him? Why hold such a grudge? Humph, once she meets her master’s wife, she will definitely settle this score.
"Of course, Grandpa understands Ye’er’s thoughts. But still, these are burdens that someone your age shouldn’t have to carry. I’m really surprised by how much you’ve changed, Ye’er. Can you tell Grandpa what exactly happened?" Grandpa Luo looks at his granddaughter with eyes full of compassion.
"Sigh, it’s nothing much. I just suddenly wised up. Of course, if there really is a reason, it’s that I was angry from being pushed around too much..." Luo Ye rambles on about various past incidents to Grandpa, who strokes her head and sighs from time to time.
"Grandpa, everything will be alright." Luo Ye smooths out Grandpa’s furrowed brow. "At the very least, things are moving in a positive direction now, aren’t they?"
"Yes, but still, find some time to talk to your dad soon. Some issues often get delayed in a guessing game." Grandpa Luo lets out another sigh. "Aside from being afraid that your dad won’t believe you, there’s surely another crucial reason that Ye’er is hesitant to speak up about. It’s how you came to know this information. Can you tell Grandpa?"
"Grandpa, I accidentally overheard a conversation between Dad and Uncle Liu, that’s how I found out, so I wasn’t sure how to talk about it." That was the only excuse she could use. As for when she heard it, she could claim she forgot the exact time, confident her dad wouldn’t have kept a timestamp.
She’d only recently come up with this excuse after discovering through surveillance that Liu Zhengxing occasionally discussed sensitive topics over the phone with her dad, leading her to believe there must have been threats and warnings in the past!
"Don’t worry, if he dares scold Ye’er, Grandpa will give him a proper scolding!"
"Grandpa, I’ll talk to dad when some time passes." As for what to talk about, she could control that. There were things she just couldn’t leave to her dad. He wasn’t ruthless enough. To truly have peace, she needed to handle things with absolute certainty.
She was curious to see if Mr. Liu would still call her affectionately "Xiao Luo" or "Grandpa," huh!
...
"Hello classmates, the student standing beside me is Fu Mo, the top scorer of our class’s promotion exam. Due to family matters, he hasn’t been able to come to school, but now, please allow Fu Mo to introduce himself!"
"Hello everyone, I’m Fu Mo, and I will be spending the next year with all of you..."
Luo Ye supports her chin with both hands and stares at Fu Mo, who is standing beside Yu Qing, maintaining a serious demeanor, trying hard to hold back the urge to laugh. Yes, Fu Mo is indeed Jingjing’s young uncle.
At this moment, Fu Mo is nothing like when she had met him before.
That day, only after she emphasized several times did Fu Mo dare to get closer, candidly stating she was the only girl who hadn’t been charmed by Jingjing. He was truly terrified by that little creature.
Luo Ye and Luo Feng met Fu Mo and Jingjing again when playing at the beach in the afternoon. To be precise, Fu Mo was coerced by Jingjing to wait for Luo Ye at the beach, though the little guy was more fascinated with Dou Dou and Song Qiu.
Fu Mo hit it off quite well with Luo Ye and Luo Feng. They exchanged numbers when parting and promised to get in touch again in the future. Initially, everyone, by collective unspoken agreement, didn’t ask about each other’s family background or school, perhaps as an instinctual form of protection. It was unexpected that they would meet again so soon.