"What do you mean I'm not my father's son? I was brought out of the Great Deities Palace?" Li Xianyu's body shook and instinctively felt that Great-Grandma was going to reveal a big secret.
Great-Grandma remained silent.
"It's too false." Li Xianyu was still clever, and caught her loophole. "Didn't you say that only the blood of a Li family descendant can awaken you?"
"I'm messing with you." Great-Grandma rolled her eyes and said, "Do you think with your present status, you are suitable to know so much? Do you know many people want to know what your father brought out of the Palais? If you want to live long, don't ask around."
"Oh." Li Xianyu sighed and scratched his head. "In comparison, I should consider how to deal with tomorrow's punishment. My parents are going to beat me to death."
The punishment was certain, the monk can escape but the temple will still remain. Perhaps his punishment would be worsened because he escaped.
At the thought of this, Li Xianyu was devastated. In the novels, the protagonists enter and leave all kinds of forbidden places, residential buildings and girls' dormitories effortlessly, as if walking on flat ground. When it got to him, he was surrounded by dozens of girls, taking pictures and videos.
Was this the difference between reality and fiction? Or could it be, the protagonist was actually buxom Great-Grandma who was around him?
Li Xianyu called his adoptive father and after waiting for a long time, the call got through. A tired voice of a middle-aged man droned, "It's not even dawn yet. Why are you calling me?"
"Dad, there's something I need to tell you. I might have to trouble you to go to school tomorrow," Li Xianyu said.
"No, get out of here."
"Dad, there's really something going on."
"Wait till I get home. Your mother and I are on vacation in the Maldives."
"You… Went abroad?"
"Mm, I took all the annual leave the other day, and it was also with the physiotherapy benefits of the state-owned enterprises. It's more than a month's vacation, so I just brought your mother to play in the Maldives."
"Why didn't I know?"
"You still dare to ask? How long have you not been home? You only call me when you need money or something has happened to you. I don't even receive text messages or greetings from you usually. I brought you up for nothing. Don't think that just because you didn't pop out from your mother's womb, you can go out and lead a wild life. You still have to take care of us when we are old. Got it, little red boy?"
His adoptive father was such a man, liked to fool around, exaggerated and unorthodox, with the gift of the gab. When he was young, he was a punk. He was always hanging around in popular discos in the 1980s and 1990s. As soon as he sent a message on his pager, he could gather dozens of brothers.
Therefore, towards his adoptive son's unruly lifestyle, he approved of it in private. He was gratified to say that although Li Xianyu was not my own, at least you are raised by me and have the demeanor of my youth.
Occasionally, when there was plenty of money in his private stash, he would give Li Xianyu an extra five hundred dollars for him to nourish himself.
He must not have thought that his young son had a profound understanding that was not inferior to his: "When you are young, you don't know how precious your virility is. When you're old, you cry and lament."
"Oh, that's alright. Have fun with Mom," Li Xianyu said. "Oh yes, how about Big Sis?"
"Who knows? She doesn't look for a job after graduation and only runs around all day. Sometimes I don't even see her for the whole month. If I hadn't seen her send those travel photos on her social media circle, I thought she had been abducted and sold to become a prostitute. Alright, I got to go. If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up."
The call ended.
That's great. No family is here. Even if the school were to call them, they won't be back for a while. He can pull some favors through Baoze Group to eliminate the follow-up impact.
My sister is a travel maniac and graduated from Fudan University's Department of Business Administration. After leaving the school, she unleashed her full potential and ran around the world.
Today, you see her send posts in her social media, wearing a kimono and tasting sashimi in Japan and strolling through the streets of cherry blossoms after dinner. Tomorrow, she may have taken a picture under the Eiffel Tower.
His adoptive parents were most worried about her safety. Their daughter is too beautiful, thus, they were always afraid that she would get into an accident outside. As for their daughter's failure to do something serious in her life, the couple did not panic at all. His adoptive father often said, "My daughter possesses the fate of Queens. In the future, she wouldn't have to worry about food or clothes, and is destined to be rich and prosperous."
There was a reason for him to say so.
Li Xianyu suddenly remembered one thing, as he took out his cell phone again, and opened the photo album. "Great-Grandma, you said my mother is not dead, right? See if this woman is my mother."
When he was chatting with Great-Grandma once, she said that his biological father knew he could not escape, and quietly hid his wife and son in a place no one knew. According to Great-Grandma, he should have been raised by his biological mother, but he clearly grew up with his adoptive parents.
Li Xianyu suddenly had a bad thought: Brother, rest assured. Your son will call me father, and I will take care of your wife.
Great-Grandma took the mobile phone to take a look. On the screen was a family photo. The picture depicted a family of four, a middle-aged husband, and wife standing close next to each other, a pair of children did not stand around them. Li Xianyu who was still a young child stood together with his mother.
On his right was a tall and cold girl, who deliberately stood further from her brother. She appeared to be out of place with the whole family.
She frowned as if she disliked her brother, but if so, she should stand next to her father, not her brother. Her frown resembled more like she was dissatisfied with the intimacy of her brother and mother and her mother's estrangement from herself.
The photo was taken by Li Xianyu when he was in junior high school. Before long, his adoptive father revealed the truth to him. After college, he moved out of the house. After his sister graduated, she went out all the time. The family of four gathered less and separated more. Thus, they never had a chance to take pictures of the whole family again.
When Great-Grandma looked at it, she shook her head and said, "This is not your mother."
Li Xianyu asked, "Might she be in disguise or something?"
Great-Grandma replied, "Even if one disguises her face, her temperament and height will not change. Your mother must have remarried. After all, her husband was dead, how silly would it be to stay with you. I knew long ago that she was not a good woman. If she had not taken tight control over your father's money, my monthly allowance would not have been withheld. If it hadn't been for the Li cub in her stomach, I would have beat her till she defecated."
She began to recount old vengeance again.
Li Xianyu thought in his heart, You are such a spendthrift, which wife in the world can tolerate it. Had it not been for my mother's control over finances, the 200,000 dollar inheritance might not have existed.
He dared not say this. After all, he was now living with Great-Grandma. He had to be smart. He had to count on Great-Grandma for the next generation of the Li family to exist.
Li Xianyu calmed down. Great-Grandma's eyes were very sharp, and her character held a grudge. If she was sure the woman was not his biological mother, it most probably was true.
So where's my birth mother, did she really remarry? Even though he didn't want to admit it, but from the average person's point of view, it seems that the only way is to be remarried after you are widowed at a young age.
"But I haven't seen your adoptive father." Great-Grandma frowned.
"He's my dad's sworn brother, haven't you seen him?" Li Xianyu was shocked.
Great-Grandma tilted her head, recalled carefully, shook her head and said, "I haven't seen him."
Li Xianyu's expression changed. "That means there's something wrong with my adoptive father?"
Great-Grandma murmured, "That's not it. Although I watched your father grow up it's normal that I don't know his friends. Does your mother know that you have so many close friends?"
Li Xianyu was speechless.
He stood by the side of the road, his fingers tapping gently on his head, recalling his adoptive father's life little by little. Although most of the memories were vague, but if he carefully pondered, if his adoptive father had anything amiss in his life, Li Xianyu would soon remember it.
His brain was not bad, as he had gotten into Shanghai University effortlessly and it seemed that he was smarter than some of the guys that always got last for examinations.
A man who was flippant, was a hooligan when he was young. After meeting a woman whom he liked, he had changed himself and entered into a state-owned enterprise on the basis of relations. He then worked for more than 20 years there. This kind of life was very common, and there was no strange experience. He was equally cheeky in real life and occasionally talks to his son about dirty jokes.
He liked to hit his son on the head, which may be a habit left behind when he was the leader of a bunch of hooligans. The trifle matters of life flashed through Li Xianyu's mind in snippets of flashbacks. Li Xianyu did not find anything suspicious in his memories.
He remembered his father's will, and he did entrust himself to his sworn brother. The adoptive father could be fake but the will could not be disguised.
Where did his birth mother go? It does not preclude the possibility that his biological father had asked his mother to give him to his adoptive father.
His biological father knew that he could not escape, and before parting, asked his birth mother to remarry. She didn't want me to be a liability, so she entrusted me with my adoptive father.
I should ask my father someday, who exactly gave me to him, Li Xianyu thought.
"Tsk-tsk, it's your sister who has an exceptional face, her demeanor is very prosperous," Great-Grandmother appraised.