4. Just a Nightmare Bai YiHan stood there, hidden, for a while. He took a deep breath, tucked his emotions neatly away, walked out from his corner and slowly descended.
Upon seeing her beloved little son coming down the stairs, YiHan"s mother hurriedly walked to him and asked, "HanHan, how come you"re up so late? Are you hungry? Aunt Yang? Aunt Yang! Quick, bring out HanHan"s breakfast!"
However, the moment Ma got near to YiHan, she immediately noticed YiHan"s red eyes. It was as if he"d been crying. Her tender mother"s heart throbbed in pain. Her whole body quivered. She stretched her hands out to his face in panic. "HanHan, what is it? Are you still unhappy? Is there anything you can"t tell me? Who upset you? Tell me. I"ll help you deal with them, okay?"
YiHan held tight to his mother"s outstretched hands. At the sight of his panicked mother, he couldn"t hold his tears in anymore. With tears rolling down his face, he held his mother close and muttered in a low voice, "Ma, I"m sorry…I"m sorry…Sis…I"m sorry…"
Ma went from panicked to fl.u.s.tered. Bai XueQing quickly walked over with a frosty face. "Han, tell it to me straight. Did someone bully you? Who? Tell me! Let him see how this woman will break his leg!" Her voice was imperious and fierce, but her hands were gentle as they patted YiHan"s back to comfort him.
At this point, Ma was too worried to bother arguing with her daughter over her crude way of speaking. "Yes, HanHan. Tell mother, what did you go through? Do you wish to kill your mother out of heartache?"
After some time, YiHan"s emotions finally calmed down again. To his mother"s and sister"s questions, he can only mutely shake his head. How would he even phrase what happened?
But how could Ma and XueQing be willing to let it go? Finally, YiHan gave into the persistent interrogation and replied, "I"m really fine. I just got frightened by a nightmare."
Annoyed, Ma said, "Don"t you dare try and distract me. What kind of nightmare can scare you to such a state?" Even XueQing eyeballed him. Her face seemed to be saying, "You"re lying again."
YiHan sighed and said in a gloomy voice, "It"s true. In my dream, I saw that I"d made our whole family bankrupt and all of us were squeezed into a tiny apartment, suffering."
Ma burst out chuckling with an audible "pfft" and patted him on the shoulder, "Hahaha, oh my little baby, how could you be so cute? How would you make our whole family bankrupt? With what talent?"
YiHan"s face went blank.
XueQing lightly coughed. Ma instantly tucked away her smile, cleared her throat and said, "HanHan, it must be because you"re not feeling well these few days. That"s why you keep having such lucid dreams. Don"t think on it. If you"re bored, make your sister take you out to play."
YiHan meekly replied, "Ma, Sis is very busy and I"m not a child anymore. Do I need an adult whenever I want to leave the house?"
His sister should be deeply in love with Mu JingYuan right now. It"s the time where they can"t bear to be apart at all, yet his sister didn"t go into the office or on a date and wait at home for him to wake up just because his feelings were all over the place. One can see how deep her love for YiHan was.
Why did he not know to treasure it before? Why did he push such a great sister further and further away? When he died, it had gone to the point where his sister wasn"t willing to talk to him at all.
"If you want me to accompany you, it"s no big deal if I delay things for a day," said XueQing.
Ma nodded in agreement, "See, your sister says it"s fine."
"There"s no need. I"ll go out for a walk later myself. If Sis has something on, you can go ahead," insisted YiHan.
The elderly patriarch of the Bai family, Bai HaiMing, founded the company from nothing when he was young and created the Bai Group by himself. When Grandmother pa.s.sed away, Grandfather was already quite old, so he threw the business at Pa, Bai FuRen, and bought a mansion in a quiet area to retire in. Bai FuRen did not disappoint. In the years since he"d taken over the Bai Group, the company was stable, and all their projects were well-managed and successful. Big Bro, Bai Yan, had even entered the company at a young age to help their father and prepare for his eventual succession.
XueQing also worked in the Bai Group. Don"t underestimate her just because she"s a girl. Most men aren"t even as talented and decisive as her. She"d climbed to the high ranks of the company with her own strength. Undoubtedly, she"s what they call a "New Woman".
Translator"s Note:
New Woman: It should be translated to "a strong woman" but it doesn"t really have the impact as New Woman has. It"s a rather old term from the Victorian era but it fits very well, provided one knows what it means.
The term New Woman always referred to women who exercised control over their own lives be it personal, social, or economic.
Ruth Bordin
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