Chapter 973: Love Like Wine
"Uncle, are you in love?"
Xin Zimen and Xia Zhao looked at Xiu who they thought was out of energy and was gonna stay quiet. But they really forgot that this lazy person was actually filled with endless energy. Her battery would never run out once she was drunk.
"I'm not," said Xia Zhao.
Xiu narrowed her eyes at him and went to stand before him. Her dazed eyes were sparkling at the moment as she stared at Xia Zhao trying to see if he was lying or not.
"Uncle, I've known you for quite some years now," said Xiu. "I can tell your feelings." She didn't wait for his response and instead went on, "How about we do a little test?"
"Test?" he repeated.
"Yes, I'll say four words and you'll tell me what first comes to your mind hearing those words."
"That's such an old trick."
"Of course, I'll add my twist to it."
Xia Zhao knew he couldn't escape. They were talking about Xiu here. This girl was difficult to handle when she was sober but she was worse when she was drunk!
"Okay, I'll play with you," said Xia Zhao. "Go ahead."
Xiu grinned at him and raised her index finger, "First, apple."
"Christman eve," he replied.
"Maple leaves."
"Acer palmatum."
"Doves."
"Graceful."
"Now, the last one... white rose."
"Funeral," his voice was low and his expression solemn.
Xiu found his answers very interesting for some reason. They didn't follow the norm and maybe that's why she found them so interesting. "Now, Uncle, how about you tell me if all these things have something in common? What do these things have in common for you?"
Xia Zhao stiffened for a moment as he looked at her. His thoughts wandered off. Apples reminded him of Christmas eve not because it was tradition to give apples on Christmas eve. It was because Mu Chenyan would always send him one apple on Christmas eve. Maple leaf reminded him of Acer palmatum species of maple trees because he planted those trees together with Mu Chenyan. Doves were graceful because whenever she wore her white jade pendant carved in the shape of a dove, she looked very mellow and graceful.
As for white roses... They shouldn't be associated with funerals but with divine love. However, in his mind, years ago when he met Mu Chenyan before she left, it was at the funeral of her godmother, Madam Xiang. The wife of Xiang Tianyu and grandmother of Raelle Xiang. And back then, Mu Chenyan had placed white roses beside her grave because Madam Xiang loved white roses.
"Uncle Zhao, it seems you know what they have in common. Or should I say, who they have in common," chuckled Xiu cheekily. "Uncle Zhao, you're in love. Don't doubt it."
"Maybe you're wrong," he insisted.
"I'm not. When you start associating things with people, you either love that person too much or hate that person too much. I highly doubt that you hate that person. So, the only possibility is love."
"Are you really drunk, little schemer?" asked Xia Zhao.
Xiu giggled, "Wine Xiu is smarter than sober Xiu! But the world is not ready for that discussion." She was silently looking at the auction stage before she said, "At any other time, perhaps all these things wouldn't remind you of that person. But we were just discussing love and subconsciously that made you think of that person and how that person was associated with everything I just said." She turned to him and said, "Uncle Zhao, love is like wine. The older the wine, the stronger the taste, and the stronger the effect. Aged wine and aged love are intoxicating. Both bring you an addiction you can't let go of. Maybe with time and self-control, you think you escaped from this addiction but years later, just one glimpse of old love and one sniff of old wine is enough to pull you back to that addiction."
Xia Zhao didn't know what to say to her right now. It just reminded him of his own nephew.
"So, it's true. People associate love with what they find most interesting in life. Just like my nephew likes poisons and associated love with poisons. You like wine and are associating love with wine."
"Tsk. No matter what you call love, you can't deny it," she said. "Uncle, you should know you can't run from love. Because the moment you start running, you're already in the trap of love. Being scared of it only means it already has strong control over you. Denying it means, you're not ready to confront this powerful enemy."
Xia Zhao looked over at Xin Zimen and said, "She is really Sister Ai's daughter."
"You had doubts?" asked Xin Zimen.
Xia Zhao shrugged, "Xiu, you... I don't know how to deny what you just said. I can't refute it. But accepting it would only mean, I'm losing."
"Love is a losing game! You want to find a winner in love? Are you dreaming?"
"It's not that I want to win. I'm willing to lose. But she isn't. She hates losing me. She always did. She always wanted to win against me. You said it yourself, love is a losing game. She isn't willing to play it and I don't want to lose myself in the process."
Xiu tsked at him, "But you already lost yourself." She looked at her father, "Ah-Xin, I'm tired. Let's have some more wine?"
"No," came the response.
"Daddy!"
"I said, no!"
"Can't you do this much for your one and only daughter?"
"Stop emotionally blackmailing me."
"Daddy, pity me. Even my husband abandoned me for his son!"
"That's your son as well!"
"Then why is he always trying to take my husband from me?"
"Your daughter has a serious husband complex," commented Xia Zhao.
Xin Zimen couldn't argue with that. Indeed, his daughter had a husband complex. Who didn't know that? Her whole life revolved around her husband.
"I guess you should learn from her how to love," said Xin Zimen. "Trust me, her relationship with her husband might teach you a thing or two."
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