The President’s Man - Chapter 269
She noticed some light movement beneath his waist area, and her eyes traveled down, only to see his clenched fists. “Zhihao…”
“He’s not my dad,” Xiao Zhihao said with a calm expression. He bowed at the grave thrice before turning around to face his mother. “He’s not my dad.”
“Zhihao,” Xiao Lei said with a sigh as she reached out to hug her son. “We have to accept this fact.”
“What fact? My dad is still out there. He’s not my father,” he said as he clenched his fists tightly. He then looked up at his mother and said nonchalantly, “I’m tired. I didn’t really get a good sleep last night. Can we go home now?”
Xiao Lei wanted to say something, but at that moment, Han Ye placed a hand on her shoulder as he said to Xiao Zhihao, “Zhihao, we would be having lunch with President Du and the rest. But after that, I can send you back if you want.”
He reached out to pat him on the shoulder, but Xiao Zhihao flinched and stepped away from Han Ye and his mother before saying, “Fine, we can go back after lunch, but I don’t need your help, Mr. Han. The driver can send me and my mum back. I think you should stay here with President Du in case they need your help.”
Once he was done with his words, he turned around and walked away from the grave.
Xiao Lei shook her head and said with a sad tone, “He didn’t want to accept it.”
She did not want to accept it as well, but as a mother, she had to. She could not live in denial.
“He just needs some time to heal,” Han Ye consoled her. He then went to stand in front of the grave before bowing three times. Once he was done, he clapped his palms together and closed his eyes, as if he was secretly transmitting his thoughts to the late Xiao Yunjie.
As he was paying his respect to Xiao Yunjie, Xiao Lei merely stared at the grave with a wistful expression, as if she had a lot of things to say to her late husband. When she saw a red butterfly flying around the grave before resting on one of the oranges that was used for the ceremony earlier, she smiled and lifted a finger, upon which the red butterfly’s wings fluttered. It flew toward her and landed on her finger.
“Are you the same butterfly?” she whispered while she looked at the red butterfly. It looked the same as the one she saw with Little Monkey and Luo Guangying last week. “Are you Yunjie?”
The red butterfly suddenly flew up and away, leaving Xiao Lei with Han Ye alone. “Of course… It’s just my wishful thinking,” she murmured to herself as she watched the red butterfly flying further and further away from them.
“What?” Han Ye asked. He had finished talking to Xiao Yunjie when he heard Xiao Lei’s mumble. However, he did not catch the exact words she was mumbling earlier.
“Nothing…” she said with a slight smile. “What did you say to Yunjie?”
He shrugged and replied with a gentle smile, “Nothing much… I just told him that I’d look after you guys so that he could feel more at ease…”
“That’s all?” she asked curiously since he “talked” to Xiao Yunjie for quite a while.
“Yeah,” Han Ye replied.
He had just told her a little white lie. Truth was, he also asked… No, he told Xiao Yunjie that he would court Xiao Lei and take care of her and Xiao Zhihao on his behalf, and he hoped that Xiao Yunjie would bless him in his endeavor.
Han Ye glanced at his watch and said, “Let’s go now. It’s getting too hot here. I don’t want you to faint again.”
She nodded. Before they left, she cast one last brief glance at Xiao Yunjie’s photo on the gravestone. On her request, DX had replaced the photo that they previously used on the tombstone with one that was more recent. In addition, he had also replaced the gravestone so that the words “Beloved husband of Xiao Xiao Lei and devoted father of Xiao Zhihao. Gone but not forgotten” were now on it.
“One day, I’ll put my real name there, Yunjie… Just wait a little longer,” Xiao Lei thought before looking away from her husband’s grave.
….
They met with everyone else at the Chinese restaurant right in the middle of the city center. Once everyone sat down, DX passed the menu to Xiao Lei and Xiao Zhihao.
“Order whatever you want. Don’t hold back,” he said with a calm expression.
“No, this is not right,” Xiao Lei said.
“This is the least I could do for you two. Go ahead,” DX said. He then looked at Xiao Zhihao and added, “What’s your favorite food, boy?”
Xiao Zhihao shrugged. “Food.”
Xiao Lei was worried that DX might feel offended, so she quickly added, “Zhihao is not picky with his food. I-I will order something.”
Once she finished ordering some dishes that she knew Xiao Zhihao would like, she passed the menu to DX who then ordered some of the most expensive dishes on the menu. After the waiter took down their orders and left the room, DX turned to Xiao Zhihao and asked, “How’s school? Are you fitting well there?”
“Normal,” Xiao Zhihao replied.
“Did those boys give you trouble again? I heard-” Jack was about to say something, but a sudden tug on his shirt caused him to turn to his brother who was sitting right next to him. “What?”
Lyle did not reply to him. Instead, he looked at Xiao Zhihao and said, “I heard that you moved back home.”
Xiao Zhihao nodded.
“We are going to the States next month for our yearly school trip, so I won’t be here. If you need any help, you can go find Alex. She failed some of her exams, so she was transferred to another class.”
“I would be there too!” Qhuinn said with a smile and a raised hand.
When Xiao Zhihao cast a curious glance at her, Lyle explained, “She would be staying with us for a couple of months. She would be in your class actually.”
Qhuinn smiled and said, “My mothers wanted to go on their second honeymoon, so they are dumping me off here.”
“Hey, you asked for this,” Layla said as she rolled her eyes.
“Well, duh!” Qhuinn rolled her eyes in the same way Layla did, which brought a smile to the face of her other mother, Judge. “I don’t want to be there looking at you guys making out the whole time…”
She then stood up and reached out with her hand. “Let’s be good friends.”
Xiao Zhihao looked at her hand for a few seconds before standing up and shaking it. When they were both seated down, Lyle said, “I might have to ask you to look after her when we are away. She’s prone to mischief…”
“Hey…” Qhuinn pouted while Jack grinned, which earned him a slap on the arm by her.
The kids continued to talk to each other, as if this were just a normal, everyday lunch. They kept including Xiao Zhihao in their conversation even though he barely spoke more than one or two words at a time.
But still, Xiao Lei was glad that these children were understanding enough and that they understood that her son was having a hard time at the moment.