Chapter 62: Chapter 53: Want a Very Ugly Photo
Mo Guoqiang sighed heavily. ’It’s Feng Ying’s fault, but it’s my fault too. Feng Ying should have given me a heads-up before she acted. I wouldn’t have been so careless. If I’d just held on to Xiao Man tightly, where could she have run? If Xiao Man had been the one hurt instead of Xiao Feng, all of this trouble would have been avoided!’
’I wouldn’t be frantically trying to scrape together money for Xiao Feng’s treatment, and Xiao Man would be taken care of. Then Xuanxuan would have nothing to worry about. That couple has power and money—won’t they use it all for Xuanxuan’s future? Xuanxuan’s prospects... as Liu Fengying would say, a future bright as the sun and paved with flowers!’
’Once Xuanxuan has her wealth and status, as her biological parents and siblings, we’d naturally get to live happy, luxurious lives too! The people back in the village would drool with envy... This life would be absolutely perfect!’
Lost in these thoughts, Mo Guoqiang walked at a brisk pace and soon reached the gate of the family residential compound. Just as he had hoped, he convinced the guard to call the Tang family’s residence, the home of Tang Qingyun, Xuanxuan’s father. Xuanxuan herself answered the phone, and a few moments later, she came out.
"Xuanxuan, are you feeling better?"
Mo Guoqiang gazed at his biological daughter, his eyes filled with adoration. Xuanxuan resembled her birth mother, Liu Fengying, but was much prettier. She wore a pale yellow, lace-trimmed dress and little black leather shoes. Her hair was cut in a neat bob, clean and silky smooth, shimmering like satin. She had a rosy, apple-shaped face, fair and tender. Her eyes, though a bit small and slender, were dark and bright like clear mountain spring water. When she smiled, she was even more adorable—her eyes would crinkle into crescents, and dimples would appear on her cheeks. Mo Guoqiang had never seen such a beautiful, cute, and pristine girl in his entire life. ’To think that this girl is my own flesh and blood!’ The thought made his spirits soar, and he let out a foolish chuckle.
Xuanxuan, however, seemed far more composed. She greeted him softly, "Uncle Mo," and gestured for him to follow her to the side, far from the compound gate, so no one could overhear their conversation.
The detached "Uncle Mo" snapped Mo Guoqiang back to his senses, and he hurried to follow her.
Xuanxuan first asked why Aunt Liu hadn’t come with him. Then she asked Mo Guoqiang, "Did you come this time because you have something to tell me?"
Mo Guoqiang was taken aback for a moment. It took him a few seconds to gather his thoughts before he hesitantly explained how Liu Fengying had tried to deal with Xiao Man, but she had escaped, and Xiao Feng had been injured by mistake.
"Your sister, Xiao Feng, is in Wancheng Hospital right now. We’re short several hundred yuan for her medical bills!" Mo Guoqiang said, looking at Xuanxuan, hoping she would show some concern for her sister.
Xuanxuan seemed to freeze, blinking slowly. After a long moment, she said, "That Mo Xiaoman... she was born on the same day as me, so she shouldn’t be taller than I am, right? Is she very strong? You couldn’t even hold on to her, Uncle Mo?"
Mo Guoqiang cleared his throat. "Kids from the countryside do a lot of manual labor, so they’re a bit strong. When she started struggling with all her might, she was really hard to handle! She even bit me—look, there’s still a mark here! That little rascal is slippery as an eel. I let my guard down for a second, and she got away!"
Xuanxuan lowered her gaze, a sad expression slowly clouding her face. "Since you’ve failed, you might as well just wait for my parents to bring her here and send me to the countryside. I’m not strong. I can’t do farm work. I’ll die there!"
"No, no, that won’t happen!" Mo Guoqiang said hurriedly. "Good girl, good Xuanxuan, your real mom and dad would never let you go back to the countryside! Don’t you worry. Your mom... as soon as we sort things out with Xiao Feng, she’ll pull herself together and take care of that little brat!"
Xuanxuan looked up, her eyes twinkling. "So what are you going to do?"
"Uh, well, I’ll have to go back and ask your mom!"
"I can only have one father and one mother. You are Uncle Mo, and she... is Aunt Liu. But don’t you worry. I’ll still take care of you both when I grow up," Xuanxuan reminded him sweetly.
"Okay, of course!" Hearing his daughter promise to take care of him and his wife in the future, Mo Guoqiang was ecstatic, a grin stretching from ear to ear.
"Uncle Mo, go back and tell Aunt Liu this: My dad is extremely busy right now, and my mom said we could start by just looking at a photo of Mo Xiaoman. Aunt Liu said Mo Xiaoman looks like my dad. That can’t happen! I won’t allow it! You need to take a photo of her that’s ugly and doesn’t look like my dad, and send that instead. That’s all you have to do! Remember, it must be very, very ugly. So ugly she barely looks human! Also, keep an eye on her. Keep her locked up in that village and don’t let her run off! She especially cannot come into the city. I don’t want to see her! Our family is moving to the provincial city soon. My younger brother will be coming there for school, and we’ll all be reunited... Once this year is over, everything will be fine!"
Mo Guoqiang stood there like a block of wood as he listened to Xuanxuan, his mind struggling to keep up. "Wait, Xuanxuan, you just said you’d take care of us, but now you’re moving away? Does that mean we won’t see you anymore?"
Xuanxuan smiled. "My parents are kind and fair people. As long as you make that Mo Xiaoman ugly and keep her in the countryside, my mom will give you plenty of money to live on. And when the time comes, I’ll be the one sending the money and writing the letters! You’ll know my family’s address and where I am!"
"Oh, oh, I see. That’ll work," Mo Guoqiang replied automatically. "So, about that photo?"
"The photo is for my dad to see! Remember to tell Aunt Liu that you have to make the photo really ugly, so my dad can’t tell who she resembles. My dad is extremely busy. He’ll leave something like this completely up to my mom to handle."
In the end, when Mo Guoqiang left, he actually had money in his hand—a full five hundred yuan.
When Xuanxuan heard that they were short on medical fees and that Liu Fengying couldn’t return to the village, she immediately ran back into the compound and brought out the money. She said it was her own savings—allowance, lucky money from the New Year, and red envelopes from visiting relatives. She said she never spent it all and just kept it in a box, and it had added up without her even realizing it.
With the money in his pocket, Mo Guoqiang felt a sense of relief, but he still couldn’t help but sigh. ’It must be nice to be a high-ranking official. Is his monthly salary hundreds? Thousands? His children get to live so comfortably, without a single worry! And me, a grown man, I work myself to death all year for work points that barely add up to a few dozen yuan, plus a few hundred pounds of grain rations for the whole family... Ugh! I’m not even as well-off as an eleven-year-old kid!’
’Xuanxuan, my precious daughter, you really were born lucky!’
Liu Fengying was shocked to see Mo Guoqiang back at the hospital. When she learned that he hadn’t gone back to the village but had come into the city instead, it was immediately clear what had happened. ’How dare Mo Guoqiang disobey her and go behind her back to see their precious daughter!’ Liu Fengying flew into a rage, dragging Mo Guoqiang to a secluded corner to pinch and hit him. But in a place like a hospital, even secluded spots had people passing by, so Mo Guoqiang could only grit his teeth and bear it. He whispered to Liu Fengying that the Tang family didn’t know about the meeting; no one else had been home.
Then, he relayed Xuanxuan’s message to Liu Fengying. Liu Fengying narrowed her eyes, mulling it over for a moment before finally making a decision.
"This money belongs to my precious daughter. Why should we use it to pay for hospital bills? There are no more buses back today. First thing tomorrow, I’ll catch a ride back to the village, get money from the old man, and deal with that damn girl. I’ll get that photo sent over as soon as possible! You stay here and watch Xiao Feng. You can go back after my sister gets here to take over."
