Chapter 695: One Year Later
“Xiaofu, don’t cry anymore, come. Sit up. Mummy has made some soup for you. Drink it quickly while it is still hot. The doctor said that you have been too emotional lately, and you also have not been eating enough. You are already showing signs of a slight miscarriage. In the future, you have to be careful to take care of the baby.”
Xia Xiaofu’s mother helped her sit up, and she wiped her tears clean before she drank the soup that her mother fed her. Even though she did not want to drink it at all, she tried very hard to drink it.
“Mum, don’t worry. In the future. I will not do silly things anymore. I will take good care of myself.”
Xia Xiaofu touched her flat stomach. This was her Little Fifth, and it was the blood that Luoxi left for her. She would definitely give birth to Little Fifth safely and healthily.
She would not continue to be in a daze and retreat anymore. She had already found a new direction in life.
n.o.body could not bring her down anymore. She would bring Little Fifth up until she was grown up.
“Xiaofu, this child belongs to?” Xia Xiaofu’s mother asked her carefully.
“Luoxi.” Xia Xiaofu had a sweet smile on her face as she spoke.
Xia Xiaofu’s mother had already guessed the answer. Throughout these trying times, she had already experienced her family going down in crumbles, and now, thinking back about Ou Luoxi as a person, she was extremely emotional…and regretful….
That youth who was handsome and skinny, no matter how cold she treated him, he would not retaliate at all. He would only lower his gaze down as he was busy inside the kitchen, and he would not use any sweet words to gain her favour, but every time he looked at her, he would always be very reserved and nervous…
Xia Xiaofu’s mother did not expect him to end up in trouble so suddenly. For the last two months, he would feed his blood to Xia Bo everyday. There were a few times where she could tell that he was feeling faint.
The moment she thought about this, Xia Xiaofu’s mother’s eyes were a little moist. She did not dare to tell Xia Xiaofu about the matter regarding Ou Luoxi feeding his blood to her father, so she stretched her hand out to wipe her tears. She was emotional as she said, “Such a man… Why would he be gone just like this?”
“Luoxi did not die.”
Xia Xiaofu’s mother froze.
Xia Xiaofu’s tone was firm as she repeated, “Unless I see his body. Otherwise, I will not believe that he has died. I’ll always wait for him, until I…cannot wait anymore.”
Upon seeing her daughter in this state, Xia Xiaofu’s mother could only lower her gaze and shed tears.
…
One year later
In the Ou family villa, Ou Ze’s mother, Chen Ni, was haughty and arrogant as she sat down on the sofa in the living room. The helpers in the villa were lined up behind her. She took a fan in her hand as she fanned herself. She was staring at the kitchen as she coldly snorted, “Be a little quicker. Quicker! Your mother-in-law is here today. Why are you unable to even make a meal? Do you really consider yourself the Young Mistress of the Ou family already?”
Xia Xiaofu wore an ap.r.o.n as she stood inside the kitchen to fry rice. Her small, fair hand had a few blisters on it, but she did not care too much about it, and she was focused as she stir fried the vegetables.
Of course, she would not bother about the sarcastic att.i.tude that Chen Ni had or the judgemental att.i.tude of the helpers. Over the past half year, she’d already become used to it.
She was used to Chen Ni making life difficult for her. In the past, she did not know how to cook, but when she was eight to nine months pregnant, she had a large belly and would kneel down to wipe the floors. She would prepare meals in the kitchen. There were so many helpers in the villa, but everyone would laugh at her as they stood behind her, and they would judge her.
In the Ou family, she was treated worse than a helper.
Xia Xiaofu did not say a single word. Chen Ni was even more furious as she said, “Xia Xiaofu, do you think that you are still the Nation’s G.o.ddess like before? Have a look at yourself. In this half year, you came over, my Ah Ze did not come back home for a single night. You are unable to persuade your own man to stay. Forget being unable to make him stay, you even gave birth to a money wasting thing. Our Ou family does not want a daughter; we want a son!”
Xia Xiaofu served the dishes and soup that were done and placed them on the table before scooping a bowl of rice. She did not have any expressions on her face as she looked over at Chen Ni and said, “It is time to eat.”
Chen Ni glared at Xia Xiaofu fiercely. Xia Xiaofu had been in the Ou family for almost a year now, but she never addressed Chen Ni as Mum. What was she being arrogant for?
Chen Ni stood up, walked over to the dining table, raised the warm bowl of soup, and directly threw it all on Xia Xiaofu.
“What did you cook? Can I actually eat this?”
Xia Xiaofu’s face was wet after she was splashed with the soup. The ingredients and the soup were splashed on her hair and clothes. She looked extremely dishevelled. but she did not have any reaction. All she did was to stoop down and tidy up the utensils on the carpet.
Chen Ni looked at her being so obedient, but actually, the arrogant att.i.tude in her bones came out immediately. She pointed at Xia Xiaofu and started to rant, “You are eating the food from our Ou family and use the items belonging to the Ou family, and we are even providing for your mother. The dog that our family raises knows how to wag its tail and to act cute towards its owners. What capabilities do you have to be so arrogant in front of me?”
Xia Xiaofu picked the utensils with her small hand and froze. Her long eyelashes fluttered for a moment before she plainly said, “Then you can go ahead to ask Ou Ze why he is not raising a dog. If he agrees to divorce me, I might really wag my tail and act cutely in front of you.”
“You!”
Chen Ni had a sinister gleam in her eyes. She lowered her gaze towards Xia Xiaofu’s small, egg-shaped face. It was just one month after her confinement period. Other women’s figures would still be still bloated, but her floral dress was accentuating her curves, she did not have any spots on her face, and her skin was even fairer compared to the time before she gave birth, just like a peeled egg white.
Her small lips did not have much colour to them. Her skin was pinkish, and any man who looked at her would be tempted to rush forward to bite her.
Xia Xiaofu looked like a natural vixen, so it was no wonder that her son could not bear to take any drastic measures against this woman.
Chen Ni was absolutely livid. She stepped forward, bent over, and pinched Xia Xiaofu’s slim arm forcefully as she said, “You are harsh with your words!”
Xia Xiaofu did not say anything, and she raised her eyebrows, taking the pain.
Chen Ni was done throwing her tantrum. She stood up straight, and she looked down on Xia Xiaofu as she wiped her hands and said, “Every time I come over, it is a waste of my time, especially when I see that old face of yours. I am going to vomit, okay? That will be all for today. I have an appointment with someone to do my hair.”
Chen Ni walked away with her high heeled shoes.
…
Chen Ni left the villa. Xia Xiaofu tidied the dishes and utensils on the floor and cleaned up the place before going upstairs.
After opening the door, she went inside with light footsteps.
There was a wooden baby cot in the room and a pink mosquito net on the small bed. There was a wind chime that was by the side of the pink mosquito net, and when the small cot moved a little, Xia Xiaofu knew that her Little Fifth had already awoken.
She tucked the strands of hair by her cheeks behind her ears, and Xia Xiaofu had a blissful and sweet smile on her face. She walked over to the side of the baby cot and lowered her gaze to look at her little precious baby.
Little Fifth was already two months old now. When she was born, she was only 2.3kg. Her lack of nutrition made her extremely tiny, but Little Fifth was very healthy, and all of her medical checks showed that she was normal.
Little Fifth was very very obedient. She probably knew that her Mummy was busy, so she slept on her own small bed quietly and never ever cried. When she carried Little Fifth at night, Little Fifth would open her eyes and move her small fragrant body in Xia Xiaofu’s embrace.
Xia Xiaofu stretched her fair index finger out to touch Little Fifth’s small face. Little Fifth resembled her. Even their skin was alike. She was only two months old but was already fair and cute like a piece of water tofu.
She held Little Fifth’s small hand before placing it by the side of her lips to kiss it. Her soft and gentle voice had the satisfaction of a new mother as she said, “Little Fifth, did you miss Mummy?”
Little Fifth opened a crack in her eyes, started to blabber, and placed her small hand in her mouth as she sucked on it.
Xia Xiaofu laughed out loud. She bent over and took Little Fifth into her embrace as she said, “Little Fifth, are you hungry now? Do you want to eat? Come, Mummy will feed you dinner.”
Xia Xiaofu sat down by the side of the bed, before lifting her s.h.i.+rt up to feed Little Fifth milk.
She did not have enough milk, but Little Fifth also did not eat much, so she could still make do.
Xia Xiaofu looked at her daughter’s tiny face, and she was satisfied inside her heart. No matter how tired she was, as long as she saw her daughter’s small face, she felt that her entire heart was full.
Little Fifth was her everything.
Little Fifth was done drinking milk, and she closed her eyes to sleep. Xia Xiaofu placed her in the small cot before sitting down on the chair to rock the bed softly, and she hummed out a lullaby.
She did not know how much time had pa.s.sed when the door opened with a bang!
Xia Xiaofu was alarmed as she awoke. She raised her gaze up to have a look. It was Ou Ze.
Ou Ze reeked of alcohol. He was stumbling as he walked. When he came into the room, he stretched his hand out to undo the suit jacket that he was wearing and threw it onto the sofa before looking over at Xia Xiaofu.
Xia Xiaofu stood up, and she had her guard up as she looked over at Ou Ze as she said, “Why did you come back?”
During the entire time she was pregnant, he did not come home even once; today was his first time.
“Ha, haha, Mrs. Ou, this is my home, my room. Isn’t it very normal for me to come back? Why are you acting so surprised and looking at me like that?”
As he spoke, Ou Ze walked over to the side of the ba.s.sinet, and he looked at Little Fifth. “This is the wild child that you had together with Ou Luoxi. She is already so old now.”
“Ou Ze, what do you want? You are not allowed to harm my daughter!” Xia Xiaofu stretched her slim arms out to protect the ba.s.sinet behind her.
Ou Ze stretched his hand out to pinch Xia Xiaofu’s small chin, and a sinister cold smile appeared on his face as he said, “Xia Xiaofu, you can be considered to have spent so much effort to give birth to this wild child, and now that you have, what did you think? If there is a day when she gets kidnapped or she is run down by a car on the streets, would anyone suspect that it was me who did it?”
“Ou Ze, you dare! If anything goes wrong with my daughter, I would not let go of you, even if I become a ghost!”
When the news of her pregnancy was first made known to Ou Ze, Ou Ze sent her to the operating table immediately and wanted her to get an aboriton, but she struggled with her entire life.
She knew that Ou Ze could not accept this child, so she contacted her a.s.sistant, Xiao Li, and announced the news of her pregnancy on Weibo first, then attached the pictures of her pregnancy as she made interactions with the other netizens.
She had too many fans, and they were all spread across China, so when the news of her pregnancy surfaced, it made it to the top of all the entertainment headlines, and with a single photo of her pregnancy, it was enough to create buzz.
She pushed herself to the top of everyone’s discussion, and as she expected, Ou Ze was also afraid of the pressure of the public. Although she was extremely afraid during her ten months of pregnancy, she still safely made it through.
And now Little Fifth was born, and as Ou Ze said, there were too many possibilities in Little Fifth’s path. Ou Ze could totally create an accident and extricate himself completely.
Xia Xiaofu glared at Ou Ze coldly and fiercely. If anything happened to Little Fifth, she would fight it out with him!
Ou Ze saw the hate in Xia Xiaofu’s gaze and saw that she looked extremely firm. There was a fire ignited inside his heart, but he laughed coldly and hugged Xia Xiaofu directly.
Xia Xiaofu was shocked. She instantly went to push him away as she said, “Ou Ze, it was you who forced me to marry you. I don’t have you inside my heart at all. In my eyes, you are just a shameless ghost who is extremely disgusting. You would never compare to Ou Luoxi!”
Upon hearing the name, “Ou Luoxi”, Ou Ze’s cheeks contracted for a moment, and he said, “Ou Luoxi, Ou Luoxi. He has already been dead for a year now. Why do you still have hope?”
“He did not die. He would not die. There will be a day when he’ll come back. He will bring both me and Little Fifth away!” Xia Xiaofu glared at Ou Ze fiercely as she spoke.
Ou Ze was really angry. He stretched his hand out to rip Xia Xiaofu’s off.
“Ah!” Xia Xiaofu shrieked out loud.
Knock, knock. Someone knocked on the door. Xia Xiaofu’s mother’s nervous and anxious voice rang out from outside the door as she said, “Xiaofu, Xiaofu, what’s wrong?”
“Mum, save me!” Xia Xiaofu begged for help.
Xia Xiaofu’s mother heard her daughter call for help and started to use her body to knock the door down as she said, “Ou Ze, if there is something you want to say, say it properly. Don’t touch my daughter, Xiaofu!”
Xia Xiaofu’s mother’s voice attracted all of the helpers in the Ou family over. The helpers were in a dilemma as they looked at Xia Xiaofu’s mother and the tightly shut door, “Madam Xia, don’t be like that. Young Master will get angry later.”
Ou Ze, who was inside the room, heard a huge commotion outside the room, and he was extremely irritated. He let go of Xia Xiaofu before getting up from the bed.
The moment Xia Xiaofu was released, she used her clothes to protect herself.
Ou Ze opened the door, Xia Xiaofu’s mother snuck her head inside the room to have a look. She wanted to barge into the room as she said, “Ou Ze, did you hurt my daughter? You…”
She had yet to complete her sentence when Ou Ze quickly stretched his hand out to push Xia Xiaofu’s mother and said, “Get lost! You are just an old thing who can’t die!”
Xia Xiaofu’s mother did not expect Ou Ze to attack her. She crashed against the wall instantly before slumping down to the ground. She’d never been treated so badly, and she was in a momentary daze.
“Mum!” Xia Xiaofu ran out of the room quickly to help her mum stand back up.
Ou Ze looked over at the helpers and said, “This mother-in-law of mine seems to be too free. In the future, ask her to work together with you all. If she doesn’t do the ch.o.r.es, she will not be allowed to eat.”
“Yes.” The helpers nodded their heads.
Ou Ze walked away in large strides.
…
Xia Xiaofu helped her mother into her own room. Her mother’s face was pale, and she was in a daze. Ever since the Xia family crumbled, in this year, she could be considered to have experienced all of the bitterness in the world.
Xia Xiaofu handed a towel over to her mother and said, “Mum, wipe your face.”