Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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“Xiao Zhuo, who brought you down to play today? Where’s Aunt Li?” the old man asked.
“Grandma Li went home to take care of the baby, my mom brought me down to play.”
The old man was surprised. “Your mom? Why would she bring you down to play?” That woman never cared about Xiao Zhuo.
Ji Xiaozhuo nodded, “It really was my mother who brought me.”
“Would that woman be so kind? She’s not lying to you, is she? Did she ask you to do anything?” That woman must be up to something bad. I really don’t know what Ji Yan was thinking, marrying a woman like that!
Ji Xiaozhuo took the old man’s hand and earnestly explained, “Great-Grandpa, Mom didn’t lie to me. Mom is really good now, really good. Great-Grandpa, please don’t scold Mom anymore.”
The old man snorted heavily, “How could your mom possibly be good? She must be playing some trick!”
Ji Xiaozhuo couldn’t stand hearing anyone say bad things about her mother. So he withdrew his little hand, put it behind his back, and said seriously, “Great-Grandpa, please don’t say bad things about Mom anymore, or I’ll get angry.”
Seeing that even his great-grandson didn’t want to hold his hand, the old man immediately gave in, “Okay, okay, Great-Grandpa won’t say it anymore. I won’t scold your mom next time either. But when you go back, you can’t tell your mom, dad, and me that you met. It’s our secret.”
Ji Xiaozhuo nodded obediently, “I know, I’ll try my best to keep the secret.”
The old man saw that it was getting late and didn’t want to delay any longer. So he patted the little guy’s head and said, “Alright, then you should go back now. Great-Grandpa will come to see you again next time.”
“Okay, goodbye Great-Grandpa!” Ji Xiaozhuo immediately started his toy car and drove back to find his mother, but he was spotted by Tang Tang halfway there.
Tang Tang was terrified. When she saw Ji Xiaozhuo, she immediately dropped her crutches and rushed over to hug the little guy tightly. The tears that had been welling up in her eyes suddenly streamed down her face. She sobbed, “Where did you go? Mommy thought you were gone! Mommy was so scared, you know?”
Seeing Tang Tang cry, Ji Xiaozhuo was stunned. He then realized that his secret meeting with his great-grandfather had frightened his mother. He immediately felt guilty and apologized in a soft voice, “I’m sorry, Mom. I shouldn’t have run off like that. Don’t cry.”
Tang Tang hugged the little one tightly, but her tears wouldn’t stop. She really thought she had lost the little one. What if he had been kidnapped by human traffickers? She would never be able to atone for her sins, even if she died.
Seeing Tang Tang crying incessantly, Ji Xiaozhuo’s eyes also reddened. After thinking for a moment, he imitated how Tang Tang usually comforted him, stretching out his little arm and trying his best to pat Tang Tang’s back. “Mommy, baby was wrong, please forgive baby, don’t cry, okay?”
Tang Tang raised her hand to wipe her tears, then wiped the little guy’s tears as well, and asked, “Where did you go? Why didn’t you tell Mommy before running so far?”
Ji Xiaozhuo immediately lowered his head, not daring to look into her eyes, his two index fingers touching each other, and said a little guiltily, “Nothing, just went there to play.” He had promised his great-grandfather not to tell, otherwise his father would be angry.
Tang Tang felt the little guy might not be telling the truth, but since he didn’t want to talk about it, she didn’t force him. She took his little hand and instructed him, “Then next time you can’t just run off without saying a word, okay? Mommy will worry.”
Ji Xiaozhuo nodded heavily, but suddenly noticed that Tang Tang’s right knee was scraped and bleeding. He immediately widened his eyes in alarm and pointed to the wound, saying, “Mommy, your leg is bleeding!”
Tang Tang waved her hand dismissively, “Mommy’s fine, I just accidentally fell. Mommy will put some medicine on it when we get home.”
“Mommy, did you fall while looking for me?” Ji Xiaozhuo’s little face involuntarily wrinkled up. He wanted to reach out and touch Tang Tang’s wound but didn’t dare. “Mommy…”
“No, Mommy just lost her balance. Mommy’s fine now, let’s go home.” After what happened, Tang Tang didn’t dare let the little guy play anymore and took him home directly.
Ji Xiaozhuo felt guilty for making his mother worry and even causing her injury. He only felt relieved after watching Tang Tang treat the wound. So while Tang Tang was cooking, he secretly grabbed his tablet and hid in his room to send a voice message to Ji Yan: “Dad, I did something wrong today. I made Mom cry, and she bled. I’m not happy anymore.”
“It was on purpose”
After saying that, the little guy covered his head and buried himself in the bed, refusing to move, like a depressed little piglet.
That evening, Ji Yan saw the little guy’s message and, hearing his sullen voice, felt a little worried. He decided to video call him, and the call was answered quickly. The little guy was only wearing a pair of underwear, revealing his chubby upper body, sitting on the bed with his little legs crossed, looking very worried.
“What happened today? What did you do wrong?” Ji Yan asked.
Ji Xiaozhuo put his little hand to his chin, sighed, and wanted to tell his father the truth, but remembering his promise to his great-grandfather, he had to hide his great-grandfather’s part of the story. He said, “Today, Mom took me downstairs to play, and I ran too far. Mom was scared and cried, so she fell and her leg bled.”
“Then why didn’t you tell Mom you ran far?”
Ji Xiaozhuo lowered his head, pointing with his little finger, and stammered, “Well… I just went to play.”
Ji Yan was silent for a moment, and having a general idea of what was going on, he didn’t press the issue further. Instead, he said, “Next time you go somewhere, you have to tell your parents. You can’t go far by yourself. What if you get kidnapped by human traffickers? Do you understand?”
Ji Xiaozhuo nodded.
Seeing that he knew he was wrong, Ji Yan didn’t say anything more, just told him to go to sleep and hung up. However, his mind was racing. She got hurt and cried for Xiao Zhuo? Could acting really go this far? Could it really be because of amnesia and a drastic personality change?
It seemed he really needed to go back and check on her.
While Ji Yan was thinking, Ji Xiaozhuo was also thinking, his chubby arm under his head, legs crossed, reflecting on the day’s events.
He felt his mother had really changed. She used to ignore him and yell at him, but now she was so gentle, smiling at him, cooking him delicious food, calling him her darling, and even crying because he was missing.
His mother seemed to love him so much now.
Should he forgive her this time and give her a chance?
Ji Xiaozhuo frowned and thought for a long time, finally sighing and deciding to forgive his mother. His father said a man should be broad-minded and give way to girls; his mother was a girl, so he would give in to her.
As if a huge weight had been lifted from his heart, Ji Xiaozhuo’s lips curled up, and his toes began to move happily. He rolled around on the bed several times before finally falling asleep.
….
Tang Tang noticed that the little guy’s behavior had changed drastically overnight. Before, he would turn his head away if she made eye contact with him, and would even huff and puff, pretending to be impatient. But this morning, he didn’t refuse the food she put on his plate. When she took him to school, he even took her hand and led her, telling her not to fall.
Tang Tang looked at the little guy in surprise, not understanding what was wrong with him.
“Baby, what’s wrong? You’re not angry with Mommy anymore?”
The little one nodded emphatically, announcing to her with a serious expression, “I’ve decided to forgive you this time, but don’t make the same mistake again next time.”
Tang Tang was surprised, cupping the little one’s chubby face to confirm, “Baby, you’re really not angry with Mommy anymore? Have you made up with Mommy?”
The little one tried to look serious as he nodded, “Yes.”
Tang Tang couldn’t help but laugh, giving the little one two big kisses on the cheek, “Thank you, baby, you’re so good.”
The little one’s lips … He curled his toes upwards, exclaimed “Ouch!” and said nonchalantly, “Because I’m a man, I have a broad mind.”
Tang Tang was amused by his earnest little face and chuckled, nodding emphatically, “That’s right, baby, you have a very broad mind, Mommy loves you so much.”
The little guy’s ears turned slightly red, he fidgeted a bit, and seeing that no one was around, he quickly tiptoed and kissed Tang Tang on the cheek, whispering, “Then I love you too.”
After saying that, he seemed a little embarrassed and immediately ran away on his short legs.
Tang Tang’s heart was almost melted by his cuteness. How could there be such an adorable child?
To celebrate the official reconciliation between mother and son, Tang Tang decided to cook a big meal tonight. She took out all the ingredients from the refrigerator and made a vegetable meatball dish, a sweet and sour pork dish, a Kung Pao chicken dish, a tofu soup dish, and a cola chicken wing dish that the little guy loved. She learned this dish from a cooking show on TV; it was her recent new hobby.
“Wow—” The little guy’s eyes widened at the sight of so many dishes. “Mommy, is today a special day?” Only on special days would they cook so many dishes, right?
Tang Tang nodded. “Yes, today is a very, very good day, so we’re going to celebrate.”
“What kind of special day?” The little guy tried hard to think of what day it was, but his brain capacity was limited, and he couldn’t figure it out.
Tang Tang patted his little head. “Today is the day baby forgave mommy. Mommy is very, very happy, so we’re going to celebrate.”
Ji Xiaozhuo paused for a moment, then couldn’t help but giggle, his chubby cheeks trembling with laughter.
This was the first time Tang Tang had seen the little guy laugh so happily. At this moment, he was like a real child. Before, he always tried to act like an adult, a self-protective mechanism formed spontaneously when he had no one to rely on. Tang Tang understood this feeling very well because she used to be like that too. In front of others, she was always quiet and reserved, not knowing what to say and afraid of saying the wrong thing and getting into trouble. Only in front of her loving nanny would she act spoiled and laugh out loud, being her true self.
Tang Tang felt sorry for Ji Xiaozhuo, who was barely four years old and shouldn’t be like this.
Now that the little guy was willing to be himself in front of her, she felt relieved.
Tang Tang picked up a chicken wing for the little guy, “Do you want Mommy to feed you?” The little guy couldn’t use chopsticks well yet, only a spoon, but using a spoon to hold a chicken wing was inconvenient.
Ji Xiaozhuo shook his head, trying hard to control the chicken wing with the spoon, “I can do it myself, I’m not a three-year-old anymore.”
Tang Tang: “…Okay then, you’re definitely not a three-year-old anymore.” You’re a three-and-a-half-year-old.
Just as the mother and son were about to indulge in their meal, the sound of a key turning in the lock suddenly came from the doorway. They both froze, looking towards the entrance.
The next second, a tall, resolute-faced man in military uniform appeared in the doorway.
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