Chapter 218: Her Secret
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Liao Jiayan seemed to be numbed by the alcohol, and her eyes became unfocused. She placed her fingers on the bottle and said softly, “Can I exchange this wine for your story tonight?”
“I’m afraid I’ll scare you if I tell you.” Meng Chuyuan’s lips curled up slightly, and there was a faint smile in her eyes. Her smile was obviously very gentle, but it made one’s heart ache.
“Tell me, I’m not afraid.” Liao Jiayan forced her blurry and sleepy eyes to look at Meng Chuyuan firmly with what little consciousness she had left.
Seeing that Liao Jiayan was so persistent, Meng Chuyuan summarized simply, “I’m an orphan. The grandmother who raised me is not my biological grandmother.”
Liao Jiayan, who didn’t hear anything else, looked at her with dissatisfaction. “That’s it?”
Meng Chuyuan smiled. “That’s all.”
“Boring… Your story isn’t shocking at all…” Liao Jiayan muttered. After a while, she laid on the table and slowly closed her eyes.
Liao Jiayan was drunk and passed out. She had completely lost consciousness and couldn’t be woken up no matter how hard Meng Chuyuan tried. Meng Chuyuan was still awake. The topic just now hadn’t left her heart and directly affected her current mood.
Meng Chuyuan opened another can of beer and instinctively clinked glasses with Liao Jiayan. She lowered her eyes and stared at her drowsy side profile. “I suddenly changed my mind. I want to exchange my story for wine with you.”
She knew that Liao Jiayan definitely couldn’t hear her now. Coincidentally, that matter had been hidden in her heart for many years. Even in front of Lu Qingye, she had never told him the truth.
Meng Chuyuan first took a sip of wine to gather her emotions. There were a few times when she wanted to speak, but she forced herself to hold it back. It was not until she finished half the bottle of wine that she mustered her courage and said, “My father is deaf and mute. My mother has mental problems. In the eyes of others, they are not normal people.”
She had never met her father. She heard from the villagers that her father had been injured in a mudslide. Because the location of the disaster was remote, he could not call for help normally and missed the opportunity to be rescued.
Her mother was mentally ill and would often exude extreme behaviors. The villagers called her a lunatic. Later on, her condition became more and more serious. The villagers were worried that her mother would hurt the innocent, so they did not let her go out. They even discussed sending her out of the village.
Meng Chuyuan’s impression of her mother was very vague. At that time, Meng Chuyuan was young and had only just started to remember the things around her. Her mother was crazy and would snatch candy from her.
Later, her mother was trapped at home. While waiting for someone to send her out, she secretly ran away for a few days and did not return home. Then, Meng Chuyuan heard the news of her mother’s death.
Meng Chuyuan sighed softly and said, “The one who adopted me was a grandmother from next door. She insisted on sending food to me and my mother every day. I naively thought that she was my biological grandmother.”
After her mother left, Meng Chuyuan lived with that grandmother completely.
Born in that kind of family, it was inevitable that the villagers would look at her with prejudice. Children around Meng Chuyuan’s age would always tell her that she was the daughter of a lunatic.
At that time, she was young and insensible. Their labels served as a constant reminder of the fact that she was crazy.
Because of this, Meng Chuyuan had an argument with a few children her age. One of the neighboring children fell during the commotion and scraped his knee. The parents brought the villagers to ask for an explanation that day. Everyone felt that she might have inherited her mother’s mental illness and wanted to send her away.
It was not until that time when her grandmother protected her and would rather offend everyone than let everyone take Meng Chuyuan away that Meng Chuyuan found out the truth of the matter. It turned out that the person she had always called her grandmother was not her biological grandmother.
“Grandma said that I’m a normal child. Mom’s mental illness was triggered after my father passed away. It wasn’t inheritable.” Meng Chuyuan’s eyes were filled with tears. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks silently, and her voice became a little muffled. “But amidst the cries of people calling me a little lunatic, I don’t even know now if I’m crazy or not.”
She did not know if her grandmother’s words were true or if she was just trying to coax her, so she did not dare to define herself, nor did she dare to guarantee that she would become like her mother one day.
Meng Chuyuan’s eyes were red. She squeezed the can in her palm hard and held it tightly in her hand. “They don’t like me and can’t tolerate me. They want to lock me in the house and not let me out… After Grandma passed away, I ran away. I ran with all my might. I swore I would never go back there.”
She had been smart and sensible since she was young. She was more mature than ordinary children her age, and no one had taught her how to conduct herself.
Growing up in such a family and environment, she more or less had resentment in her heart.
She had clearly done nothing, but she was rejected for no reason.
Then she learned to accept it.
Since she could not change what had happened, she would have to accept it.
She had gotten over it with herself.
Regardless of whether she was sick or not, she had to live the rest of his life well first.
There was still half a bottle of wine left in Meng Chuyuan’s hand. Yellow liquid flowed out of the bottle that she had flattened, overflowing onto her hand and wetting the sleeves of her clothes.
At this moment, a faint shadow suddenly landed on her head. She leaned down and the faint scent of hormones mixed in the air.
Meng Chuyuan looked up with teary eyes. When she saw a familiar face appear in front of her, he was stunned. “Why are you here?”
“Doesn’t your hand hurt?”
Lu Qingye bent over, his gaze parallel to hers. Suddenly, he lowered his eyes. He reached out his hand from his trouser pocket and placed it on the back of Meng Chuyuan’s hand. He slowly pried open her fingers and took out the deformed can.
He took a piece of paper and wiped Meng Chuyuan’s hands clean.
Meng Chuyuan kept staring at him, trying to see something from his face, but Lu Qingye was a man who did not show his emotions.
“When did you appear?” Meng Chuyuan was shocked by his sudden appearance.
“Is that important?” Lu Qingye placed the tissue on the table and looked up at the tears on her face. He said slowly, “Or do you not want me to appear?”
She narrowed her eyes and deliberately avoided Lu Qingye’s gaze. She said softly, “No.”
However, she was indeed not mentally prepared to let others know about those things.
Before Meng Chuyuan came out, she told him that she was going to have supper. In the end, she did not come back for a long time and did not answer his call. Then, Lu Qingye followed her phone’s location and found her.
He only arrived when Liao Jiayan was lying down. He wanted to come up and call Meng Chuyuan home, but he accidentally heard her say that she wanted to tell a story, so he stood behind Meng Chuyuan and listened to the entire process.
Meng Chuyuan blinked and pushed away the tears in her eyes, returning to normal.
There was a hint of surprise in her eyes. She pretended to be calm and said, “Did you hear everything?”
Lu Qingye raised his hand and wiped the tears from her eyes with his slightly warm fingers. “I’m yours. What are you afraid of?”
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