Chapter 1009: Chapter 690: Uninvited Guest
Rong Si kept his eyes lowered, watching the parrot in the cage...
You said it could learn human language, but does it really understand the meaning behind the words?
If it can understand, can it also see through to the sorrow in their hearts?
It only tilted its head, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, looking entirely bewildered and clueless, curious yet puzzled...
"Old man... are you tired?"
Old Madam Rong suddenly asked, her voice thick with sobs.
Rong Si turned his head slightly to look at Madam...
The begonias behind her had not yet bloomed, and already the weather had turned cold. Who could say for sure whether this year’s begonias would bloom or not?
"Old man, when Ah Jing comes out, let’s just live a steady, peaceful life as a family, all right?"
"..."
The tears brimming in his wife’s eyes slid down her cheeks; the plea in her gaze made Rong Si’s heart feel as if it were being scratched by a cat’s claws.
"Think about how simple, how joyful it was when Jing’er taught the parrot to talk."
"No matter how much money, how much power, how high a status, none of it can be exchanged for that... Don’t have any more dealings with Yin Shiqing. He can barely protect himself; there’s no way he can help us."
Rong Si pressed his lips together and said nothing; he only listened to Madam’s persuasion, steeped in boundless pain, carefully weighing and pondering...
"Knots you can’t untie in the daylight, you can only endure through the night... I can’t endure anymore."
"Today, the Rong Family was renamed ’Jingzhi’—Jing from Jing’er. Back then, when we named him Jing, we hoped that while he harbored great ambitions, he could also remain calm and at peace."
"’Thus, lest it overflow, I will quiet my resolve, and when I am at leisure, I shall soar’... That fourth son of the Yin Family wasn’t entirely set on cutting off the Rong Family’s way out, old man, can’t you see that?"
"..."
Old Madam Rong wiped away her tears.
"This is all retribution... all retribution... The Rong Family should have kept its feet on the ground, doing trade, doing technology, doing innovation—we absolutely should never have taken such a huge risk for quick success and instant profit..."
"One misstep, and every step after goes wrong..."
"You were bent on letting Jing’er hold his head high in front of the Yin Family, to join hands with that Yin Shiqing and trample the Yin Family underfoot... and the result?"
"Yin Shixiu tenaciously pulled through, and with a flip of his hand, he slapped us so hard we were caught unprepared, unable to breathe. It was we who struck first; Jing’er is the one suffering this consequence."
"Enough..."
Rong Si spoke, weakly uttering the words.
Old Madam Rong covered her face, sniffed once, and the very next second she couldn’t hold it in anymore and completely broke down.
"The weather is so cold... Jing’er, will Jing’er catch a chill... Are the blankets in prison thick enough... sob... Is the food any good... Jing’er is so picky... how is he supposed to live like this... sob sob..."
As Old Madam Rong cried like that, Rong Si’s heart twisted with pain from her sobs. The moment he thought of what his wife was saying...
Old tears streamed down his face, already mapped with deep furrows.
"Ah Jing! Ah Jing! Ah Jing!"
The elderly couple clung to each other, wailing; the King Kong Parrot suddenly opened its beak and called out three times in a row.
Old Madam Rong moved her hands away from her face and almost instinctively turned back to look!
There were footsteps and a figure...
Old Madam Rong hurriedly stood up; the door was pushed open...
"Mom..."
The light in Old Madam Rong’s tear-filled eyes—expectation and surprise—flashed by, leaving behind an even deeper, denser sorrow and disappointment.
"Dad, you two..."
Rong Qiao stared wide-eyed at her parents’ tear-streaked faces and was frightened for a moment.
Then she heard the King Kong Parrot start crying out again,
"Ah Jing! Ah Jing! Ah Jing!"
The confusion on Rong Qiao’s face cleared; she understood why her parents’ faces were covered in tears. Her beautiful features dimmed and sank all at once.
"Retribution, this is all retribution..."
"..."
Rong Si could find no rebuttal to his wife’s wail.
When he instructed Rong Jing to take part in Shi Shengde and Wu Rong’s scheme, it had already set in stone that this day would come.
When he secretly laughed at Yin Shaohui and Zhou Mengqin’s despair after they lost their beloved son, it had already been set in stone that he, too, would have to taste this same bitterness.
Hurried footsteps sounded again; a servant walked to the doorway and hastily said to Rong Si and Old Madam Rong,
"Master, Old Madam, Mr. Yin Shiqing is here, at the gate."
Old Madam Rong wiped away her tears and looked at her husband...
When Rong Qiao heard the servant say that Yin Shiqing had come to visit, she quickly said to the servant,
"Go make tea at once and invite him in."
"Yes, Eldest Miss."
The servant agreed, and just as she was about to do as told, Rong Si spoke up and called her back,
"Ask Yin Shiqing to go back. Just say I’m not feeling well and won’t see him."
"..."
The servant was stunned for a moment, looking at Rong Si, then at Rong Qiao...
Seeing the servant hesitate even after hearing his order, Rong Si’s gaze instantly turned fierce.
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