Chapter 261 - Red Butterfly

....

A few minutes before Little Monkey sudden bout of tears...

Xiao Lei and Luo Guangying were chatting about something when Little Monkey got bored. She climbed down from Luo Guangying's lap and walked around the pavilion, looking at the ants and bugs on the ground. 

"Little Monkey, don't touch them, alright?" Luo Guangying said as he kept his eyes on her. 

"Em!" Little Monkey was squatting down next to a small ant hill next to the pavilion, and she nodded.

Xiao Lei and Luo Guangying went back to their conversation, and every now and then, they would take a brief glance at Little Monkey to make sure that she was not doing something that she should not be doing. 

A red butterfly with black stripes flew toward them out of nowhere and landed on the back of Xiao Lei's hand, which caused her to gasp softly. She was very careful not to move her hand. 

"Little Monkey," Xiao Lei called out without taking her eyes off the butterfly. The red color on the butterfly was so vibrant that she was totally captivated by it. 

"Yes?" Little Monkey got up and turned around. When she saw the red butterfly, she yelped in joy and ran over. However, when she got there, the butterfly seemed to be startled by her, and it flew up into the air before flying a few rounds around the inside of the pavilion. 

"Butter... fly!" Little Monkey giggled as she ran around the chairs and the round table, trying to catch the butterfly. 

"I see you've been spending time with your Uncle Callum," Luo Guangying said with a chuckle. "It's butterfly, one word."

"Butter... fly!" Little Monkey said. The red butterfly seemed to like her, and it circled around her before flying out of the pavilion. 

When Little Monkey pouted, the red butterfly flew back toward her, and it flew around her head for a few seconds before flying out again, as if it were telling her to follow it. 

"Wait! Wait!" Little Monkey giggled loudly. The seating area of the pavilion was raised from the ground, so Little Monkey had to take the steps. Since it was just two small steps, Luo Guangying and Xiao Lei did not run over to help her. 

Instead, Xiao Lei merely said, "Be careful."

Little Monkey slowly walked down the two steps before jumping up on ground, trying to catch the red butterfly that was playing with her. "Butter... fly! Come! Come!" 

The red butterfly landed on her head, and when she attempted to catch it, it then flew up and landed on her nose. 

Little Monkey looked on with wonder. 

"Did you get it?" Xiao Lei whispered to Luo Guangying who had his phone pointed at Little Monkey. 

Luo Guangying nodded and replied, "And it's a perfectly clear photo! Kai Xin is going to want to see this." 

When they looked back, Little Monkey had disappeared from where she was standing at earlier. 

"Little Monkey?" Xiao Lei stood up and quickly glanced around. When she saw Little Monkey climbing onto the grave of the man who saved Kai Xin's life, she immediately rushed over.

The red butterfly had landed on the man's gravestone, and Little Monkey, young as she was, did not know that what she was doing was disrespecful. She had accidentally kicked over the silver-plated joss stick pot, causing the incense ash inside to spill out. 

Thankfully, there was no joss sticks there, or she could have hurt herself. 

Little Monkey reached out with a hand, hoping to catch the red butterfly that was resting on the gravestone, but just as she was about to catch it, Xiao Lei lifted her up and gently scolded her, "It's not good to run onto someone else's grave..."

"Butter..." Little Monkey pouted and looked at Xiao Lei with her big, bright eyes. 

However, Xiao Lei was immune to her adorable attack. She merely said, "The butterfly is happier when it can fly freely. Don't catch it."

Little Monkey sighed and nodded sadly. 

Xiao Lei then placed her back on the ground. Kneeling on one knee beside her so that she could be at the little girl's level, Xiao Lei said gently, "Please apologize to this Mr. You've made a mess at his place."

Little Monkey looked at Xiao Lei curiously. She did not understand who was this "Mr." and where was he. She looked up at Luo Guangying who was standing behind Xiao Lei, but the man merely chuckled and shrugged, as if he could not do anything about this. 

Xiao Lei smiled and patted the little girl's head. She then said, "There, that's his photo. Just bow and say you're sorry to--"

Her last word got caught in her throat when she turned and saw the photo on the gravestone. Xiao Lei's eyes went wide open, and she released Little Monkey before slowly climbing over on all fours. She did not even care about the incense ash that was now on her knees and hands. 

"Xiao Lei?" Luo Guangying frowned when he saw what she was doing. It was unlike her to do something like this. 

Xiao Lei got on her knees, and she tried to wipe the photo on the gravestone clean with her hands, but the ash on her hands got transferred onto the photo, which made it worse. "No..." she murmured as she wiped her hands on her dress, leaving gray stains on her otherwise clean, black dress. 

"Auntie Xiao Lei?" Little Monkey called out, somewhat afraid. She went to Luo Guangying and hugged the man's leg. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know..." Luo Guangying replied as he bent down to pick her up. "Xiao Lei, what's wrong? Do you know him? Is he-"

Luo Guangying's words got caught in his throat as well. "It can't be that much of a coincidence..." he murmured under his breath. 

When Xiao Lei finally got her hands clean, she gently and carefully wiped the ash off the photo. When she did, she narrowed her eyes and looked closer at the photo. After a few seconds, she asked with a trembling voice, "G-guang Ying... D-do you... know this man's name?" 

"The only thing we knew about his is that his name was Ah Jie." 

Xiao Lei breathed in sharply. Her hands were trembling as she reached over to her wallet, which she kept inside the small sling bag that she had been carrying around. She then took out the photo of her husband inside. 

The photo that she had now was newer, and in it, her husband had five-o-clock shadow around his mouth as well as wrinkles around his eyes and forehead...

With a trembling hand, she slowly put the photo of her husband next to the one on the gravestone. Even though the photo on the gravestone was old and blurry, but Xiao Lei could recognize him nonetheless. 

"The moniker he used when he was young... was Ah Jie," Xiao Lei said with a sorrowful voice. Tears were lining her eyes as she added, "That's why he didn't come home for so long... He couldn't..."

Her body started to tremble as she tried to hold her tears in, but she couldn't. Xiao Lei kept looking at the photo of her husband when he was young. He looked very different now compared to when he was young and scrawny, but she could recognize him anywhere... And Luo Guangying's answer to her question earlier cemented it for her. 

"Why... Why..." Xiao Lei asked as she stared at the photo. Her hands moved by itself as they pounded the gravestone. "How could you..." 

The sadness she was giving out was affecting Little Monkey, who had also started crying into Luo Guangying's shoulder. 

"No crying..." Little Monkey cried softly at first. She reached out a hand to try to console Xiao Lei, but Luo Guangying gently pulled her back. Little Monkey then looked at Luo Guangying and asked tearfully, "Why she cry?" 

Luo Guangying merely shook his head. 

"No cry!" Little Monkey snapped as she cried louder. "Ahhh! Daddy! Mummy! No!"  

Perhaps little children were especially sensitive to someone's emotions, but Little Monkey was crying as if she could feel Xiao Lei's pain of losing her husband. Tears were running down Little Monkey's cheeks as she cried for her parents. She hoped that her parents could help Xiao Lei, and she kept screaming for her parents. 

Luo Guangying had to take Little Monkey away from Xiao Lei. However, he did not walk far. Even he could feel the sadness coming from Xiao Lei's body, almost as if her emotion had become so great that it turned tangible. 

The sight of Xiao Lei hunched over the gravestone with tears slowly fell down her cheeks as she continuously hitting it was extremely hard to see, especially when Luo Guangying knew how much she wanted to see her husband again. Before this, she could still live thinking that her husband was alive out there, but all her hopes were dashed today.