CH 18

Aunt Wang lowered her head in response to Yu Hong’s words, and with traces of resentment mixed with helplessness mixed on her face, she said in a muffled voice, “Ma’am, this matter cannot be delayed, the more we put off the young master’s recovery, the harder it will be for him. He currently is eating well and his body is replenishing his fat reserves, if he doesn’t cooperate now, when his flesh grows back it will be even harder for the young master’s legs to move.”

Yu Hong’s eyes flashed with a light that was covered quickly before others could catch sight, and she pressed Aunt Wang’s hand even harder, “But my child is in so much pain! It hurts me to watch, just let him rest for today, alright?”

“This—” Aunt Wang wanted to refuse.

“Aunt Wang…” Mo Jingxuan began to plead for a break as well.

Reluctantly, she let go of Mo Jingxuan and stepped back from his bed, “Young Master Xuan, we can’t do this again tomorrow. Don’t you like the roses in the garden the most? If you don’t work hard, you won’t be able to stand or walk and see those roses anymore. You’ll always be stuck in this room.” Aunt Wang understood Mo Jingxuan’s current mentality was that of a child; he couldn’t tell right from wrong or what was good for him long term versus short term. If she didn’t tempt him with things he liked, he would avoid the pain brought from rehabilitation without any thought to the consequences.

There was hesitation and struggle in Mo Jingxuan’s eyes; those roses had been planted by his mother, he couldn’t help but want to look at them again. 

“Don’t worry Xiao Xuan!” Yu Hong smiled and patted his head, “Auntie ordered a wheelchair for you, I can push you around the year whenever you like. Do you want to go out later today with Auntie once XIao Heng comes back and look at the roses together with us?”

Eyebrows curving, Mo Jingxuan smiled innocently, “Yes! Thank you Aunt Yu, you’re so nice!” At this moment, the joy and gratitude in the eyes of the young man were so sincere that they seemed to be shining out, casting a halo of brightness around his gaunt profile.

“Ma’am, you can’t spoil the young master like this!” Aunt Wang’s tone was filled with opposition.

Yu Hong smiled and patted her on the shoulder, as if she didn’t mind the blatant disrespect from the maid, “I know Aunt Wang loves Xiao Xuan, but this child has only been awake for a few days, and you’re already making him grit his teeth and bear so much pain. Let’s let him rest and go out for some air for a change; that would really be much nicer of you.”

Aunt Wang bowed her head and stopped talking. After a while, she got up and turned to Yu Hong, saying, “I was ignoring the young master’s psychological age, it’s still you who knows best Ma’am. It’s around lunch, I will go prepare the meal now.” 

Happy with this outcome, Yu Hong nodded and watched Aunt Wang leave with contempt in her eyes. Once she had left sight, Yu Hong turned to look at Mo Jingxuan, all traces of the scorn she felt disappearing completely. “Xiao Xuan has been eating the same medicinal diet for so many days, are you used to it yet?” Her voice held gentle concern for her stepson.

Sticking out his tongue, Mo Jingxuan’s expression was disgusted, “It tastes so bitter, I hate it!”

She smiled at his naive words, “If it’s that bad, think about what you want to eat and maybe you can endure it better.”

“What to eat….? Spicy fried pork!” The name of the dish appeared in Mo Jingxuan’s head promptly.

“Fried pork? Doesn’t Xiao Xuan not like spicy food?”

“I don’t know.” Mo Jingxuan shrugged, “It just popped into my head.”

“Oh? It seems that our Xiao Xuan’s taste has changed a lot after sleeping.”

“Of course! Because I’m already an adult.” The pride in Mo Jingxuan’s childish tone was evident.

Yu Hong smiled, “Yes, our Xiao Xuan is already an adult. Later, Auntie will ask the kitchen to make you spicy fried pork and we can eat it for lunch tomorrow.”

“Really? Auntie Yu treats me the best!” His face fell as he went on to say, “Aunt Wang won’t let me eat anything yummy, only giving me yucky foods!”

Pinching Mo Jingxuan’s dry cheeks, Yu Hong’s lips formed a smile even as her eyes were set cold, “Then when Aunt Wang goes shopping, Auntie will quietly give you some snacks. But you have to keep it a secret and not tell Aunt Wang.”

“Yeah! I won’t tell Aunt Wang!” Mo Jingxuan was selling himself and counting the money for his creditor, not understanding who was really helping him at all. Aunt Wang didn’t let him eat anything besides the prescribed herbal diet given by the doctor for his health, not because she didn’t like him. His intestines and stomach were already in an extremely fragile state because of how long he relied on only nutritional supplements, so during this period of rehabilitation, he needed to avoid eating other foods that would burden them. If he wasn’t careful, they would be easily stimulated and may leave sequelae for the future. Even light foods such as fruits and vegetables could only be properly eaten after two weeks of supplementation.

“Okay, Xiao Xuan you take a nap first, Auntie will come back later and take you to see the roses.”

Mo Jingxuan nodded and closed his eyes obediently to sleep.

Before dinner, Aunt Wang was busy helping make Mo Jingxuan’s medicinal meal and Mo Heng, who lived on campus from Monday to Friday, came back from school specially to accompany Yu Hong in pushing Mo Jingxuan around the yard.

The villa’s yard was surrounded by a wooden fence more than one meter high. It was the beginning of summer, and the roses blooming in the yard climbed the fence. The whole villa was surrounded by a flower wall, the warm and bright colours filling the atmosphere with vitality.

“There are so many flowers….” The young man in the wheelchair looked as though he could be blown over by a gust of wind. The joy and expectations he had had earlier had disappeared, nostalgia taking their place as he gazed at the courtyard full of blooms.

Gently squeezing Mo Jingxuan’s shoulder a few times, Mo Heng explained, “While you were sleeping for so long, my mother and I have helped the gardener to take good care of it. We wanted you to be happy when you woke up.”

“Thank you!” Mo Jingxuan said emotionally. At this moment, in his immature soul, this woman and her son have subtly begun to occupy the softest corner of his heart.

Yu Hong shook her head, “Silly boy, you don’t have to say thank you for this! You are my child, just like Mo Heng, this is something to be expected. Don’t be so polite to Auntie, okay?”

Mo Jingxuan smiled warmly, basking in the affection being poured onto him.

“Auntie is going to go bring some water over so you can water the roses yourself, let Xiao Heng accompany you for a while.”

“Yeah!”

Yu Hong left the two step-brothers in the yard, and Mo Jingxuan looked up curiously at the young man standing beside him.

Mo Heng smiled gently, his bright eyes curving into beautiful arcs on his fair and handsome face while his tall figure leaned slightly forward towards Mo Jingxuan, “What are you looking at Jingxuan?”

“My brother looks so good!” Mo Jingxuan concluded in a cheery voice. 

Eyes brushing lightly over Mo Jingxuan’s ugly face, Mo Heng neglected to voice his thoughts, turning the topic around instead, “Brother, is there anything you want? I can bring it back for you on the weekend.”

After tilting his head and thinking for a while, Mo Jingxuan couldn’t come up with anything, “No.” Falling silent, his eyes penetrated the wall of roses in front of him, looking at the world outside through the densely packed gaps. There seemed to be something important that he was missing…

Mo Heng raised his eyebrows, “You don’t want anything?”

Shaking his head a little lonely, “I don’t know, I can’t remember what it is.”

“That’s okay, tell me when you remember and I’ll try my best to find it for you.” Even though he said this; however, Mo Heng didn’t care at all. What could a child ask for that would be so important? At most, he would want an expensive toy.

So naturally, he wouldn’t know that what Mo Jingxuan wanted at this moment was the same person that he had been scheming to take, and failing to take, only a few days earlier.

“Xiao Heng, can you bring me a mirror? I haven’t been able to find one and Aunt Wang won’t bring me any, but I really want to see what I look like now. Can you help me?” Mo Jingxuan looked at Mo heng expectantly.

“Of course he can,” Yu Hong approached them with a water bottle, “Xiao Heng, go fetch a mirror for your brother quickly.”

“Huh?” Mo Heng was puzzled; why should he have to do this for that ugly idiot?

Yu Hong smiled and tapped her watch as she glanced at the gate before saying, “Monsters in movies like to hide in dark corners and never walk among the crowd.”

Mo Heng smirked as he understood what his mother meant, and he went to grab a mirror from the house. How could a monster ever want others to see how ugly they were? Of course, they would hide away and keep to themselves out of fear. Mo Jingxuan’s corner was the same corner he had been sleeping in for more than ten years. That servant’s room fit him perfectly, concealing all of his darkness as long as he stayed within it.

Mo Heng checked the time himself; if his brother refused to stay in the dark himself, then let that face-saving father of his drive him in.

Seeing Mo Heng going to get the mirror as he wished, Mo Jingxuan happily took up the new topic, “It’s okay if the monster goes out, Ultraman will destroy it!”

Agreeing wholeheartedly, Yu Hong nodded, “Yes, Ultraman will protect everyone.”

Mo Heng, who had come back quickly, handed the mirror he had found directly to Mo Jingxuan, “This is mom’s makeup mirror, you should get one of your own in the future too.”

Mo Jingxuan placed the mirror on his knees, excited to see who he had become, “Did I grow up to be as good looking as brother?!” Little by little, he opened the mirror and his excitement faded away.

First, he saw his long, withered, dull hair. It was frayed and knotted, but he continued to open the mirror without hesitation.

The skin covering his body was white and slightly wrinkled, resembling a waterlogged corpse more than a human. Mo Jingxuan frowned and looked to see his face.

“Ah! Monster!” Mo Jingxuan was so startled that he threw the mirror away, falling off his wheelchair in fright, “Wooo~ Aunt Yu, wooo! Xiao Xuan has become a monster!” Mo Jingxuan lay on the ground and struggled to push himself up, shrinking into a ball as he whimpered, “Monster, so ugly–”

Yu Hong glanced behind her; a familiar car was approaching the villa. She hurried to appease Mo Jingxuan, “Xiao Xuan is not ugly, don’t worry.”

Mo Heng always went forward, squatting in front of Mo Jingxuan and raising his head to let him look directly at his face, “Brother is not ugly!”

Looking at Mo Heng’s pretty face, Mo Jingxuan desperately shook his head and pushed him away, trying to hide himself into the bushes on the ground.

“Squeak—” Hearing the wails coming from Mo Jingxuan, Mo Zhenhai told the driver to stop, and he got out of the car.

Walking over to the pitiful figure of his son on the ground, he was furious, “What are you doing?!” His ugly son was curled up with bare feet, whimpering for everyone to see, “Why are you outside? Howling so loudly, are you waiting for others to come and see the joke? Are you?!”

Yu Hong stepped up to pull Mo Zhenhao back, “Husband, don’t be so angry. Xiao Xuan is still young, you’re scaring him.”

Mo Jingxuan shrank further into himself, “It’s so ugly, woo woo– It’s so ugly, Xiao Xuan doesn’t want it! Woohoo, don’t….”

Mo Zhenhao glanced at the gate, thinking of the private cars that occasionally passed outside the walls, and frowned deeper. He stepped forward vigorously, pulling Mo Jingxuan up and heavily pushing him into the wheelchair, “Hurry up and push him inside, don’t let him embarrass me and come out in the future!”