Chapter 222 - Registered as his father's friend

Xiao Lei looked at the feast that lay in front of her, and she thought about how much she had changed over the past few months. 

She then continued, "I know Zhihao has been struggling at school, probably because of that as well. He couldn't say where his father is... and he couldn't say who his mother is as well, you see... At school, I made him registered me as his father's friend c.u.m guardian."

"Why?" Han Ye asked softly as he poured her some sparkling gr.a.p.e juice before pouring a glass of wine for himself. 

Xiao Lei took a sip of her juice before she replied wryly, "What am I supposed to do? Xiao Xiao Lei doesn't really exist in this world. Without proper papers, I can't prove anything." 

She placed her head down on the table and sighed. "I'm not even listed as his mother in his birth certificate paper."

Han Ye knew that when he was doing background checks on Xiao Lei and Xiao Zhihao, but he did not know why at that time. When he found out who she was, he had deducted this one by himself. Hence, he did not press on in this issue.

He wanted to know something else. "But that doesn't answer my question earlier..."

She stared at him, and at the moment, Han Ye could have sworn that he saw a raging fire in her eyes as she said with a determined tone, "I want to take back everything that is mine, that is Zhihao's. He shouldn't have suffered from being looked down upon by his schoolmates. My husband shouldn't have to work so hard to the point of risking his life just so he could provide for us. Fan Entertainment and everything that Fan Chuan is enjoying now; all of it belongs to Zhihao, not to those murderers. And I don't want to hide anymore."

She stabbed her chopsticks down into a piece of chicken b.r.e.a.s.t meat, as if she were stabbing into the hearts of her enemies, and said, "My babies would have strong fathers, and I'm happy for that, but I'm still going to make sure that my Zhihao would have a strong background as well. I want him to be able to hold his head up at that prestigious school of his!"  

Han Ye was surprised that she had thought about so many things. He thought that she would want to keep hiding, but it looked like he was wrong.

"Why are you staring at me?" Xiao Lei asked in an annoyed tone. 

Han Ye smiled and shrugged. He then reached over and patted her head. When she looked at him with a frown, he said, "I'll help you, Xiao Lei. Whatever you want. Don't worry too much. I, Callum, and Guangying would help protect you and your son as well. We won't let anything happen to you."

He thought, "Especially me..."

He saw the love in her eyes when she talked about her missing husband, and he knew that she was still in love with her husband despite him being missing for two years. However, he was still adamant to protect her. Even if his feelings for her would not be reciprocated, he was fine to protect her from behind the scene. 

"Xiao Lei..."

"Yeah..."

"I'm sorry."

"What for?" She gave him a curious glance. 

"Your back... I saw it earlier..." he said while looking at her in the eye. "If I had known..."

She picked a fried wanton and stuffed it into his mouth before he could finish his sentence. She then said, "It's not your fault. As you said, you didn't know."

"Are those..." He swallowed the food before saying, "Are those from back then? The accident."

Xiao Lei looked at the drumstick in her bowl and nodded. "Burn scars do not go away that easily." 

"That must have hurt," he murmured as he looked at her with a sad expression. 

"It... was," she replied with a sad expression. She could still remember the pain as if it were a fresh memory. But the pain of being burned was less than the pain of watching her parents being burned to death.

Han Ye stared at her for a few seconds before he went to the fridge and got a chilled tofu pudding. He then placed it in front of her and said, "Tofu pudding with brown sugar, your favorite type of pudding." 

Xiao Lei's eyes went wide open. "They served it here?" 

Han Ye shrugged. He actually asked the hotel to prepare it before their arrival. 

As he watched Xiao Lei pick up the spoon while eyeing the dessert with greedy eyes, he could not help but smile slightly. 

Just as he was about to say something, he received a call from Luo Guangying. 

"Hey, what's up?" 

There was a moment of silence from the other end.

Han Ye looked at his phone screen for a few seconds before placing it back against his ear. "Guangying?"

Luo Guangying was calling from a hospital. He looked at the door of the emergency room as he said with a grim tone, "It's Zhihao. Something happened earlier."

....

During the evening on the same day, Luo Guangying and Callum took Xiao Zhihao to visit his friend. Everything was fine, and they even took Xiao Zhihao out for lunch before that. 

When they arrived outside Xiao Zhihao's old house after a long drive, Xiao Zhihao glanced at the broken gate and frowned. His neat lawn was now covered with weed and grass, and his house looked even more dilapidated than before. The doorknob lay on the ground, broken, and the windows were smashed open as well. 

Xiao Zhihao looked away. This house was everything to his parents, and he had plenty of beautiful memories here with both his parents and Yun Qi. 

"Do you need us to go with you?" Luo Guangying asked with a kind smile. He remembered how difficult the boy from next door was, and he did not want Xiao Zhihao to come into any danger.

Xiao Zhihao shook his head. "I'd be fine. I'm just going to look for Yun Qi. I'll come out with her." 

Luo Guangying offered to drive them to a nearby mall so that they could talk properly, and Xiao Zhihao had accepted his offer. He only wished for Yun Qi to be at home. He did not tell her that he was coming since he wanted to give her a surprise. 

"Alright then. We'll just be out here if you need us," Callum said. He was the one driving today. 

Xiao Zhihao smiled and nodded. When he got out of the car, he adjusted his new suit and took the bouquet of roses that he bought earlier with him. With his current allowance, he could afford little things like flowers and gifts now.

He then walked to the front door of Yun Qi's house and knocked. 

There was no response after a minute, so he knocked harder. 

Still no response. 

Just as he was about to take out his phone and call her, the door was opened and someone yelled, "Stop making a racket!" 

Xiao Zhihao was slightly startled, but he quickly calmed down. When Xiao Zhihao saw the person's face, he sighed. "Yun Wei."

It was Yun Qi's older good-for-nothing brother who liked to pick on her, and from his bruised face, he was either in a fight recently or that he was hit by his father again.  

Xiao Zhihao frowned and thought, "If Yun Wei was hit, then... Yun Qi... Is she fine?"

He shook the thought out of his head and looked up at Yun Wei. 

He thought that Yun Wei would make jokes about him or try to push him around, but to his surprise, there was fear on Yun Wei's face. 

"Z-Zhi Hao..." Yun Wei stuttered. He then glanced behind himself for a few seconds before looking at Xiao Zhihao and the bouquet of roses in his hand. "What are you doing here?! Shouldn't you be at home? You said you'd be spending the weekend at home because your mother wanted to hang out!"

Xiao Zhihao frowned. That was a white lie he told Yun Qi a few days ago in preparation for this surprise. "How did you know that?"

xxx

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