Chapter 574: Reconciliation
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Fu Zhi got a cup of warm water for Fu Zhao. She knew he was in a low mood right now, so she thought for a while before saying, “I’ve always been proud of you for being my father. Really, dad, get some rest. Don’t be self-doubting, and don’t be angry with Ye Jiu. He did all those things because he thought she would hurt me. Honestly, it’s my fault. I should’ve handled the matter in a better way. He left us at a very young age, and what he can’t learn to understand now, we can teach him slowly later.”
“I’m not mad with him, and I don’t think you didn’t handle the matter well…” Fu Zhao said, “I’m proud of you as well. You’re my dearest daughter. I couldn’t even bring myself to scold you, let alone other people a chance to harm you?
“I just think that Ye Jiu is no longer a kid. There are a lot of ways to solve a matter, and he doesn’t necessarily need to resort to the worst possible solution every time. He should know how to control himself, and how to respect life..”
“But he’s learning, and he’s getting better day by day,” Fu Zhi replied without any hesitation, “He knew how to please the people in the Fu Family on the day he came, and he’s learning how to be more friendly with his friends in school. All of my cla.s.smates like him very much.”
This was the reason why the Lus did not say anything when Xu Wei said she was going to adopt Ye Jiu. It was not because he was Fu Zhi’s brother. It was because they knew he was a good-natured kid.
As a father, Fu Zhao had the same problems as every other parent out there. He ignored Ye Jiu, but at the same time, he kept flexing to other people how proud he was of his sons.
“You should stop ignoring him and don’t keep praising me. If you don’t praise him, how does he know that you like him?”
Fu Zhi waited for a long while yet she did not receive any response from her father. She lifted her head to look at him and asked, “Why are you not saying anything, dad?”
Fu Zhao sighed, “You don’t understand. Silence is a man’s loudest cry. When a man is sad, he wouldn’t want to talk because he’s exhausted. Or perhaps he’s used to silence and pain. When a man is ignoring you, it means he has been hurt deeply!”
Fu Zhi replied, “You should stop reading those non-mainstream novels, dad.”
“For me, I wouldn’t fall down no matter how much hurt me.”
Fu Zhi was speechless.
“Go to sleep dad. I’m going to look for Ye Jiu.”
“Okay.”
It’s better for the doer to undo what he had done.
Other than feeling sad, he was disappointed as well when his son refused to listen to him.
Fu Zhao got into his bed and said, “Alright, you can go now. Remember to come home and visit me from time to time. Oh yeah, don’t forget to bring the coffee from Yu City…”
Fu Zhi did not want to talk to Fu Zhao anymore. She turned around and left the mansion.
Fu Yuan’s mansion was not far from Iris Time Villa. After she had gotten into a car, she headed to the nearest night market street.
Just as she expected, she saw Ye Jiu walking out of a two-dollar store.
It was noon right now and the sun was bright. She approached him, and she could clearly see the palm print on his cheek.
They looked at each other, but none of them talked.
After a while that seemed like an eternity, Ye Jiu decided to break the silence and called out to her, “Zhizhi.”
He leaned forward and tried to place his hand on her head.
“Don’t be angry, okay?”
Fu Zhi took a step back to avoid his hand as she looked at him expressionlessly.
Ye Jiu was stunned. He knew Fu Zhi must be very angry with him right now, so he looked at her and continued, “Look, didn’t I come back already?”
“Oh? So you still think you’ve done a good job?”
“Well, kinda…”
Fu Zhi’s face sank. She turned around and leave. Ye Jiu hastily went after her and tried to stop her from leaving but to no avail.
“Wait, Zhizhi. Let’s talk!”
Fu Zhi was walking rapidly at the front, while Ye Jiu was following behind her.
This night market was filled with a lot of people, and not far away from them, there is a couple arguing with each other. The girl was punching the boy, while the boy was trying his best to give her a hug.
“Go find your little lover. You don’t love me at all! You can’t even stop me from leaving!”
The boy looked exhausted. He grabbed the girl’s hand and planted a kiss on her lips to stop her from talking. Then, he bent down and scooped her up from the ground before talking, “Honey, I won’t allow you to leave me. I swear to G.o.d that I don’t have other lovers. I love you and only you!”
Ye Jiu felt the girl’s att.i.tude seemed to have softened, so he decided to do the same. However, he had underestimated Fu Zhi’s strength. Instead of grabbing her hand and scooping her up from the ground as the boy did to his girlfriend, Fu Zhi dragged him forward for three meters ahead.
Ye Jiu did not know what to say. Suddenly, his eyes lit up as an idea popped up in his head. He forwent his attempt to copy the boy. Instead, he kicked the ground to propel himself upward and landed on Fu Zhi’s back with unerring precision.
Fu Zhi was dumbfounded for a moment as she did not expect something like this. She turned her head and looked speechlessly at Ye Jiu, who had wrapped his hands and legs around her tightly from her back.
“Listen to me, Zhizhi. I…”
“No. I’m not going to listen to you,” Fu Zhi interrupted. As she did not want to cause his wound to open up again, she tried to shake him off her body in a gentle way. However, Ye Jiu coiled his arms even tighter around her neck and shouted, “I’m sorry, Zhizhi! It’s all my fault!”
“Let go of your filthy hands, you whited sepulcher!”
“No! I’ll not let you go. If I release my hands now, you’ll definitely walk away and leave me alone to deal with this cruel world. Can you forgive me, please?”
“You want me to forgive you? Can you tell me what did you do wrong?” Fu Zhi asked.
“I shouldn’t say yes to the experiment. I shouldn’t lie to you. It’s just that Aurora… Okay, okay, okay, I won’t talk about her, so don’t throw me away! I can feel that my wound is opening!”
Fu Zhi fell silent.
“Miss, you’ve ignored your brother for three days! He’s learned his lesson, and if you still ignore him, he’s going to build a business empire for you!”
The ice in Fu Zhi’s eyes slowly thawed. Ye Jiu noticed that, and he hastily followed up by pulling a piece of candy out of his pocket.
It was a milk candy and there was a cartoon printed on it. He handed it to Fu Zhi and said in a serious tone, “Here is your favorite candy.”
He did not dare to fight or argue with her anymore. As if he was holding the most precious treasure in the world, he said, “I promise I’ll listen to every word you say, and I won’t do any stupid things again in the future, so can you stop being angry with me?”
“Okay.” There was no expression on Fu Zhi’s face, but the slight upward curve that tugged at the corner of her lips could tell that she was no longer mad with Ye Jiu anymore.
There was a boy standing not far away from them. He was eating ice cream, and when he saw them, he tugged at his mother, “Mom, why is that big brother carrying a big sister, but this big brother asks his sister to carry him instead?”
“A long long time ago, we’re a matriarchal society, back then a man was allowed to rely on a woman for living.”
“Wow!” The boy exclaimed, “So this big brother is going through the atavistic process!”
Ye Jiu did not know what to say.
‘Mind your own business, you meddling kid! The world of a handsome man is something that an ordinary person like you can’t understand!’ Ye Jiu chided the boy inwardly as he jumped down from Fu Zhi’s back.
He accidentally touched his wound and his face grimaced in pain.
Fu Zhi handed the special medicine in her pocket to him.
As they were walking towards a milk tea shop, Ye Jiu asked, “How did you know I’m at the night market?”
“Judging from the money in your pocket, I surmised that you can’t afford a room in a 5-stars hotel, so I know you must be here.”
The smile on Ye Jiu’s face froze. Fu Zhi handed the cup of warm water to him and said, “You shouldn’t be arguing with dad so much. He’s not young anymore and his health is not as good as before.
“Also,” Fu Zhi turned sideways to look at him and said, “About the thing you’ve done after you came back from overseas.”
Ye Jiu’s heart skipped a beat. Just when he was rummaging through his brain for an excuse, Fu Zhi continued, “I know you just want to protect me, so thank you.”
This was something unexpected. He pressed his lips thin and said, “I thought you’re going to scold me again.”
“Why would you think so? You’re my brother, and I don’t have any says in what you want to do and what you don’t want to do. I know you want the best for me and you don’t want other people to bully me, but I don’t want you to kill someone for me. Zhou Tingting has commited a crime, and she will face legal sanctions. It’s really not worth it if you get sent into jail because of her.”
“I get it,” Ye Jiu replied, his voice low.
When they were heading out of the milk tea shop, Fu Zhi suddenly thought of something and she turned around. Just when Ye Jiu was wondering what she was going to do, she placed her hand on his cheek gently and asked, her eyes red, “Is it hurt?”
Ye Jiu was stunned.
“No, it doesn’t hurt at all,” he replied. The last thing that he wanted in this world was to see Fu Zhi cry. “It’s a little naive of you to think our dad is capable of hurting me with his strength.”
Fu Zhi opened up the ointment in her hand and smeared it on Ye Jiu’s face. A cold sensation soon spread from his cheek, and the pain had obviously lessened.
“Don’t be mad at dad. He reproached himself bitterly for slapping you, and he only ate a bowl of rice just now.”
Ye Jiu was speechless.
‘Well, considering the fact that he could eat three bowls of rice on a normal day, he’s really sad today.’
That said, Ye Jiu still pulled his face and said, “I’m a grown-up. I know what I’m doing, and I don’t need any advice from him.”
“Is it because he refused to go overseas with you?”
Honestly, Ye Jiu knew that the Fu Corporation was not the only reason Fu Zhao did not want to go overseas with him. He knew that Fu Zhao wanted to earn money so that he could save him. He understood Fu Zhao’s intention, but it did not mean that he could forget everything that happened in Country M.
It was the darkest time of his days. After they arrived at the medical facility, what welcomed them was not a healthier body but discrimination. Other patients called them b*stards, and since they were people from Country M, Ye Jiu and the others could not fight back.
Ye San and Ye Qi were rather unperturbed, and they took the world as it was. However, things were different for Ye Jiu. Although he had fallen out with Fu Zhao, there were times when he wanted to go home, but every time he forwent the attempt after he remembered the things Fu Zhao said to him.
He did not tell anyone, but he had been always hoping that Fu Zhao could come and take them home.
However, Fu Zhao did not come. Instead, he heard that the Fu Corporation was getting bigger and stronger.
Those praises stung his ears. It was as if they were mocking him and his ridiculous dream of changing Fu Zhao because of his own selfish reason, and that this was what Fu Zhao would become without them being his burden—a successful businessman whose name was known throughout the world.
Ye Jiu lowered his head in dejection.
Fu Zhi raised her hand and patted his head.
“Don’t blame dad, brother. He works so hard just so you would have a better life. He doesn’t want you to leave him because he thinks the medical industry that he has invested in could save your life.
“Dad really loves you, so can you don’t blame him anymore?”
She still remembered that on the day Ye Jiu and the others left, Fu Zhao’s voice was shaking when he was telling her bedtime story.
She saw him sitting on the balcony, taking drag after drag on his cigarette. Then, the next day, he pretended as if nothing had happened, put on his suit, and went to work as usual.
He needed a lot of money. For the young Fu Zhao, money meant security.
Fu Zhao and Ye Jiu, the former wanted the latter to come back, while the latter hoped that the former could ask them to say.
Both of them had given each other a lot, but none of them were willing to open the mouth first.
Ye Jiu put his chin on Fu Zhi’s shoulder.
“Dad has registered his name in the hospital. He wants to transplant his heart to you. Also, Fu Jiang’s father wants to give his heart to Ye Qi as well. As for Ye San, they still haven’t found a suitable heart for him, but they’re looking for it.”
Therefore, they loved you more than you imagined.
Ye Jiu’s eyes turned red around the rims. While he found it difficult to believe, he felt it was a blissful thing to be loved by other people.
He did not know how to express his feelings, and it took him quite a long while before he could calm himself down. His voice was raw and raspy when he was talking, “Let’s go back.”
As they were heading home, he said, “Don’t get me wrong. I’m willing to go back because of you.”
Fu Zhi then replied, “Let’s not go back, then. I guess he’s taking an afternoon nap right now.”
Ye Jiu was speechless.
By the time they arrived at the mansion, the door to Fu Zhao’s room was tightly shut.
He was not taking a nap. Instead, he was sitting on a chair. When he heard footsteps outside of his room, he quickly made himself look like he was busy.
Fu Zhi pushed the door open.
He hastily went up to them and said, “Zhizhi!”
He called Fu Zhi first. Then, he turned his head to look at Ye Jiu. He opened his mouth, but he did not know what to say, especially when he saw Ye Jiu’s swollen cheek.
After a short while, Ye Jiu broke the awkward situation first. “Dad.”
Fu Zhao was stunned, and he looked in disbelief at his son. He thought his mind or ears were playing a trick on him, but when he realized that Ye Jiu indeed had called him “dad”, his eyes lit up and he replied, “Yes! Son, I’m your father!”
Ye Jiu did not know what to say, and Fu Zhi shook her head.
Fu Zhao felt he was being silly as well. Before he could explain anything, Fu Zhi broke out into a chuckle and there was a smile tugging at the corner of Ye Jiu’s lips as well.
Fu Zhao felt warm in his heart. He scratched his head and laughed sillyly.
Fu Zhi asked, “Why didn’t you take a nap, dad?”
“I had a dream. It’s so beautiful yet tragic. It let me experience the true kinship between a family. I was shaken to the core, and I’ve never felt so painful before. It’s so painful that I could barely breathe, and then I woke up crying.”
Ye Jiu continued, “We’re sugar, sweet and sorrowful.”
Fu Zhi had no idea what they were talking about at all.
“h.e.l.lo? Can you guys speak human language, please?” She asked.
Fu Zhao sat down and said, “I didn’t sleep because I was fixing my pants.”
The corner of Ye Jiu’s lips twitched.
“Is the Fu Corporation going bankrupt soon? If not, then why are you acting as if we don’t have any money left? Besides, who the h.e.l.l use red thread to fix a green color pant?!”
“How is there any possibility the Fu Corporation will go bankrupt?!” Fu Zhao replied, “I learned this from the TV show. Do you feel touched now?”
“Touched? I just bought this pair of pants not long ago, and I haven’t even taken the label off yet. Besides, it’s not broken, so what are you st.i.tching here?”
“Well, easy. I just need to cut it open with a pair of scissors and then st.i.tch it back.”
Ye Jiu and Fu Zhi looked at Fu Zhao speechlessly.
Ye Jiu felt it was a wrong decision to come back here. He turned around and headed out of the room.
“Pants! Your pants!’ Fu Zhao shouted.
Looking at his pants, Ye Jiu was caught between tears and laughter. Then, he said, “Dad, it’s been hard on you all these years.”
Ye Jiu lifted his head, and it was only then he realized most of his hair had turned white and there were black circles around his eyes.
For a moment, tears nearly spilled out of Fu Zhao’s eyes. He raised his head up to stop the tears from coming out. He sniffled and patted Ye Jiu’s shoulder. “This is my responsibility as your father. As for you, if you do that again, I’ll make you kneel on durian for a day!”
Ye Jiu did not fight back. He just gave Fu Zhao a big and tight hug that the latter thought he was going to die.