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Parasitic Child: Chapter 20
Chapter 20: Pay a visit
An Yuan pushed open the door.
The room was the same as always. Xiao Zhen was sitting at the desk reading, the cat was half-lying on the desk, and the chicken was perched on the chair grooming its feathers.
As soon as An Yuan came in, the cat and chicken tacitly dispersed. As if I’m some kind of monster, An Yuan thought. She unwillingly glanced at the cat, and the cat, as if scalded, jumped onto the top of a nearby cabinet.
An Yuan could only open her mouth unhappily: “Xiao Zhen, just now your teacher called, saying you skipped class halfway through a lesson at school. What happened?”
Xiao Zhen replied, “My stomach hurt, and I couldn’t hold it, so I ran to the bathroom.”
Hearing this, An Yuan was immediately alarmed and nervously asked her son about his condition, whether he needed to go to the hospital. Xiao Zhen could only reassure her that he was fine now.
Still suspicious, An Yuan insisted that Xiao Zhen must have eaten some street food that upset his stomach. She then launched into a 40-minute-long lecture about unscrupulous vendors and the dangers of gutter oil. It was only after Xiao Zhen repeatedly promised he was fine and she saw that his face was rosy that she reluctantly felt reassured.
Before leaving, An Yuan thought of petting the chicken. Before she could get close, the chicken flapped its wings in terror and flew out the window.
I think these two pets must have some misunderstanding about my status as the head of this household.
The sound of her phone notifications chimed. An Yuan remembered she had dinner plans with her girlfriends that evening. She quickly freshened up, left the house, and got into the car.
Driver Zhang told her there was a toolbox under the car seat, and he didn’t know who had left it there.
“That belongs to Lao Liu,” An Yuan said. Back when Lao Liu worked as their driver, he often helped with small repairs. This was his toolbox. Yesterday, An Yuan had sorted it out and was planning to find an opportunity to give it to Luo Qingxi.
She then instructed Xiao Zhang to take a detour to Luo Qingxi’s house first to deliver Lao Liu’s belongings.
Leaning against the car window, An Yuan watched the scenery speeding by along the roadside. Xiao Zhang’s driving felt completely different from Lao Liu’s. An Yuan was particular about drivers. As a child, she had a weak constitution and got car sick easily, but she never felt sick riding in Chauffer Su’s car. Among the family’s drivers, Chauffeur Su’s driving was undeniably the best. After retiring from the military, Su became her grandfather’s chauffeur and was the person her grandfather trusted most. Because her grandfather doted on her, he only let Chauffeur Su drive her. An Yuan’s motion sickness didn’t improve until she was an adult, but by then, she had developed a habit of discerning a driver’s skills from subtle details.
For her, a driver had to be steady.
Lao Liu drove steadily, turning corners neither too fast nor too slow. Riding in his car felt comfortably smooth, like being gently ironed out. Even now, with the change of drivers, An Yuan still hadn’t gotten used to it. Xiao Zhang’s driving wasn’t bad, but it lacked that soothing, ironed-out feeling. She missed Lao Liu deeply. If it weren’t for Lao Liu’s insistence on resigning, An Yuan would never have agreed to let him leave.
He was an honest, quiet man with a good temper. Most drivers don’t have a good temper; they’re quick to curse at pedestrians who block their way. But even when Lao Liu leaned out the car window to urge people to move, he did so amicably. Maybe that was why Luo Qingxi chose him.
The first time An Yuan saw Lao Liu’s wife, she was utterly shocked. Based on her imagination, Lao Liu’s wife should’ve been a typical rural woman. But when Luo Qingxi appeared by Lao Liu’s side, countless phrases like “Beauty and the Beast” and “a flower stuck in cow dung” flashed through An Yuan’s mind.
Luo Qingxi’s beauty was both inside and out. Her hair was jet black and lustrous, her skin white as ivory, her nose perfectly chiseled, her slightly downturned eyes just right. She exuded an aura of pure and elegant charm, so pristine it felt almost sacred, like a snow-capped mountain.
When Lao Liu said this was his wife, An Yuan couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of defeat—or perhaps it was a kind of sorrow for such beauty. This is too strange, she thought.
Maybe it really is just a matter of personal choices. An Yuan thought of herself, back then when her father roared fiercely, “If you stay with him, don’t even think about stepping into this house for the rest of your life!”
She didn’t respond, only dragged her small suitcase and left home, recklessly going to Yan An’s side. This decision, she would never regret for the rest of her life.
What kind of feelings did Luo Qingxi have when she chose Lao Liu back then? A man who looked rustic, dull, and old, with only a high school education—no matter how you looked at him, he was completely mismatched with the elegant and refined Luo Qingxi.
An Yuan felt she would probably never understand Luo Qingxi. She had a favorable impression of Luo Qingxi, but Luo Qingxi, like her temperament, always kept a quiet distance from people. She was very gentle and courteous, but you could never truly get close to her.
“Xiao Zhang, stop the car.”
An Yuan pushed open the car door and quickly walked into a commercial center. There was a well-known ice cream puff shop in the mall. She remembered Liu Xingquan liked this kind of sweet. She chose two of every flavor and had the store pack them. She hoped to see that child’s bright smile. When Liu Xingquan was little, he used to act spoiled with her. When did he start becoming so distant?
Luo Qingxi’s home was in the old town district. Although near the bustling city, most of the buildings were old public housing. The low, aging buildings intertwined, sketching out dark and deep alleys. These houses were remnants of the last century, with severely outdated facilities but affordable rent.
Xiao Zhang parked the car at the intersection and asked if he should deliver the items. An Yuan shook her head, picked up the toolbox and puff bags, and walked into the winding alley.
The alley was almost devoid of sunlight, with dirty water bubbling in open drains. An Yuan counted the house numbers from memory, turned into a passageway, and as soon as she stepped into the corridor, she saw a group of people blocking the stairs, with a woman’s cursing echoing continuously.
An Yuan tiptoed to peek and found the woman’s cursing was coming from the second floor at Luo Qingxi’s doorway. The crowd blocking the stairs were watching with great interest, clicking their tongues as they commented.
She curiously asked what had happened.
A neighbor replied, “What else could it be? That family’s awful mother-in-law is here causing trouble again. Poor woman—her husband Lao Liu just passed away not long ago, and instead of being considerate to the widow and orphan, the mother-in-law comes here to make trouble.”
“Why is she making trouble?”
“What else? Money, of course,” the neighbor sneered.
On the second floor, an elderly woman was wailing, “My son!! How could you leave me alone!! What am I supposed to do now~~~”
An Yuan recognized the elderly woman as Liu Laotai 1, who had attended Lao Liu’s funeral.
Liu Laotai cried hysterically, “My son~~~~~ How could you be so cruel~~~”
“Mom…” Luo Qingxi stood at the doorway, her face pale.
“Who’s your mom?! I don’t have such a shameless, heartless, wicked daughter-in-law!!” The old woman screamed, “You swallowed my son’s hard-earned money!!”
“Mom, I didn’t…”
“Don’t lie! Where’s the thirty thousand yuan? My son worked as a driver for a big boss; he must have had at least thirty thousand in savings! That’s my son’s hard-earned money!! Hand it over!!”
“Mom, Rui Guo built a house for you in our hometown, paid for Second Uncle’s hospital bills when he was sick, and covered Third Brother’s wedding expenses. Over the years, he really didn’t have much savings.”
“You swallowed his money!!” Liu Laotai cried out to the onlookers, “I worked so hard to raise my son, and now he’s gone!!! His body hasn’t even gone cold, and this woman is already cheating us out of money!!”
“Do you know? My son worked for a big boss, had good benefits and decent income. If it weren’t for this woman urging him to quit, my son wouldn’t have had the accident!!”
“Mom…”
“It was you who killed him!!”
“Mom, I didn’t…”
“If it weren’t for you whispering nonsense to him on the pillow, how would he have gone crazy and smashed his job? Now he’s gone, and you’re still taking his money!! My son’s hard-earned money!!!”
“Mom… Rui Guo has always been supporting you all; you know better than anyone that he really didn’t save much.”
Mother Liu screamed, “Liar!! You’re lying!!”
“Mom, I’ve already given you Rui Guo’s pension. The remaining half is the share that Xingquan and I are entitled to. After handling the funeral expenses, we really don’t have much left.”
“You’re making excuses!! You’re lying!!” Liu Laotai fiercely lunged forward, grabbing and tearing at Luo Qingxi’s clothes. “I worked so hard to raise my son, and now he’s gone just like that! You broom star 2! And you still want to take my money!!”
Luo Qingxi kept retreating, trying to free herself from the old woman’s frenzied grasp.
“Don’t hit her!” The watching neighbors began to clamor. One neighbor stepped in to block Liu Laotai, speaking soothingly, “Lao Taitai 3 ah, please calm down. You’re all family; can’t you just talk this through?”
“I raised my son all by myself! His wife is so heartless, ungrateful! This wretch! If it weren’t for my son’s blindness in marrying her, how would she have the good fortune to be alive today? I’m going to teach her a lesson right now!”
“Lao Taitai ah, you should be reasonable,” the neighbor said. “Xiao Luo said she already gave you the pension, and Lao Liu used to support you quite a lot. Now Xiao Luo is raising a child on her own; it’s not easy for her. You should also think about your grandson.”
The old woman glared at the neighbor, shouting, “What do you know! Why are you defending this woman? This is my son’s wife; what’s it to you? Do you think she’s young, widowed, and seductive?”
The neighbor protested, “Don’t say things so unpleasant.”
The old woman screamed, “My son is dead!! He just left his poor mother behind!!! Now his wife still wants to take my money!! Who will pity me!!” She reached out to grab Luo Qingxi again, who stepped back. A few neighbors, unable to watch any longer, tried to restrain the old woman. In the chaos, someone accidentally bumped her, and the old woman staggered and naturally sat down on the ground.
“Murder!! Murder!! Killing my son wasn’t enough; now they want to kill his old mother too~~~~ Murder!!” She wailed and cried, throwing and smashing everything she could reach.
The crowd instinctively stepped back, forming a circle around the old woman, leaving her in the middle. This time, no one dared to approach her.
********
An Yuan ended the call. She had just reported the incident to the police, and they would likely arrive in a few minutes.
At this moment, Luo Qingxi was surrounded by a few neighbors who were softly comforting her. Luo Qingxi said nothing, her eyes red as she quietly watched Mother Liu, who was rolling and making a scene. Other than that, her face was devoid of any emotion, as if it were something happening to someone else.
An Yuan stood downstairs watching Luo Qingxi for a while, thinking to herself that today really wasn’t the right time to deliver the items.
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