Chapter 8: Zhuzhu

“It wasn’t me…”

“Zhuzhu needs to sleep. You go out.” Jiang Huaixu’s voice was cold, as if it would freeze.

Xu Chunian felt a little frustrated. She returned to the bedroom, lay down on the big bed, and stared at the ceiling, lost in thought about the blank six years.

She took out her phone and re-added Shen Qingli on social media.

She took a deep breath and opened their chat window.

[Ali, do you know what happened between me, Jiang Huaixu, and our child?]

The chat window kept showing that the other person was typing, but it took a long time to receive a message.

[Ali] I’m not sure. We lost contact after you gave birth to Zhuzhu a year later.

Xu Chunian furrowed her brows as she read the message. [You don’t even know what happened between me and Zhuzhu?]

[Ali]  Well, it was normal before she turned one. After that, you seemed to dislike Zhuzhu, and you weren’t very nice to her.

[Xu Chunian] Not very nice?

[Ali]  After her first month, we were still in touch, and you would bring Zhuzhu to meet me. Later, Jiang Huaixu discovered that Zhuzhu had bruises, and I never saw her again.

Xu Chunian looked at the chat box. Judging from Jiang Huaixu’s reaction, the bruises on Zhuzhu were most likely caused by her. Perhaps even Zhuzhu’s hand was related to her.

Why? She furrowed her brow and stared at the ceiling. Even though she couldn’t remember anything from the past six years, she used to hate it when parents beat their young children without reason. Why had the 24-year-old Xu Chunian become the person she hated the most?

Her phone vibrated, and Xu Chunian snapped out of her thoughts. Shen Qingli had sent another message.

[Zhuzhu could say “Daddy” when she was one year old, but she hasn’t spoken since she was one and a half. I met Jiang Huaixu at the hospital before.]

Xu Chunian furrowed her brow. What had she done all these years?

Zhuzhu’s face, which looked so much like hers, was adorable. How could she have been so cruel?

Xu Chunian suddenly sat up from the bed.

No! She couldn’t leave! She had to stay here. All the consequences shouldn’t be borne by the child. Zhuzhu was so cute.

She slipped on her slippers and went downstairs, where she ground a cup of black coffee and drank it like she was completing a task, pinching her nose.

The bitterness made her frown and stick out her tongue. In a daze, she suddenly saw a small figure at the entrance of the stairs, hiding behind a pillar.

Xu Chunian put down her cup and walked towards it gently.

When Zhuzhu saw her coming, she ran back quickly, but her left foot tripped over her right foot, and she fell hard onto the marble floor behind her.

“Zhuzhu!”

Zhuzhu heard her voice and was still terrified, constantly crawling backward.

“Don’t move. I won’t go near you. Okay?” Xu Chunian took a few steps back.

When Zhuzhu saw that she wasn’t approaching, she used one hand to push herself up from the floor and climbed the stairs with difficulty.

Xu Chunian saw her small figure and felt a sudden pang in her heart. She leaned against the dining table, bent over, and waited for the pain to subside.

After a long time, the sound of footsteps from upstairs disappeared, and she finally recovered, pressing her chest, which was still rising and falling, and taking deep breaths.

Zhuzhu’s knee seemed to have hit the ground. She found the medicine cabinet in the living room.

Strange. It was her first day in this house, how did she suddenly know where the medicine cabinet was?

She shook her head and carried the small medicine cabinet upstairs. Where Zhuzhu had fallen, there was a small pig stuffed animal. Xu Chunian bent down and picked it up. It was about the size of her palm, and the pink fabric was faded from washing.