Chapter 117: Returning to the Village

Aunt Liu was shocked, “Ye Xingling, don’t you dare!”

“Why wouldn’t I dare?” Xia Ling was not one with a good temper, to begin with. She had been very tolerant previously, and it was starting to get on her nerve. Now that she was agitated, she instructed Mr. Zhou. “Get her out of the car.”

Mr. Zhou acknowledged the order, got off and opened the car door, telling Aunt Liu. “Please.”

Aunt Liu saw his serious look and only just now understood the severity of the situation. She gripped the car seat tightly. “I’m not getting off!” They were on the outskirts with no bus stops nor taxis in sight, if she were to get off here, there was no telling whether she could find her way back.

Father Ye tried to fix the situation. “Xiao Ling, Aunt Liu said something wrong, don’t take it to heart. Let’s get the master to continue driving, we shouldn’t be late for Grandma’s birthday celebration…”

Xia Ling said, “You don’t want to get off? Then apologize to me.”

“Apologize to you? Why should I!” Aunt Liu was getting enraged again.

Mr. Zhou grabbed her elbow. “Madam, please get off the car immediately. Unless you want me to get physical?”

The situation was no match for Aunt Liu. Angry as she was, she had no choice but to apologize to Xia Ling. “Sorry.”

“Don’t want to get off?” Xia Ling asked coldly.

“No…”

“Great,” said Xia Ling. “Then shut up. If I hear one more word from you, out you go. There’s no room for discussion.”

“Xiao Ling, how could you treat…” Father Ye wanted to question why she was being rude to Aunt Liu but decided to swallow his words when he saw her cold expression. Was this girl really his daughter? When did she become so strong-headed and terrifying?

Afraid of being chased out of the car, Aunt Liu meekly assured Xia Ling that she would keep her mouth shut for the rest of the journey.

Only then was Xia Ling satisfied did she signal to Mr. Zhou to carry on driving.

After that incident, nobody said a thing in the car. The scenery outside the car was looking increasingly bleak as tall buildings gave way to huts and crops, easing into a village landscape.

Their white BMW stopped before a house.

“Third Uncle! It’s Third Uncle and Third Aunt, and there’s Sister Xiao Ling too!” A child excitedly skipped towards them the moment they had opened the car doors.

“Le Le.” Father Ye’s frown was immediately wiped away when he saw this little girl. He pinched her chubby red cheeks and asked, “Where’s your Mom? And where’s Grandma?”

“My mother’s cooking and Grandma is in the room. There are a lot of people inside, Big Uncle, Second Aunt, Fourth Uncle…” Le Le was naming them as best as she could while she counted them off her fingers. “Fourth Uncle gave Grandma a huge bed, and everyone’s crowding around to look at it.”

“Let’s go take a look too then,” said Father Ye.

Xia Ling stood alone in the space before the main door as she scanned her surroundings. This was a typical village-style two-storeyed hut with a watchdog lying on a haystack. By the haystack was an old wooden door with Spring Festival couplets on it, with the red color having faded into pale patches of pink after all the exposure to the weather elements.

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All of these were foreign to her — she grew up in an orphanage and then got taken in by Pei Ziheng to live in a mansion, and now that she was reborn she had lived in Skyart’s Training Camp and Li Lei’s apartment. This was her first time in the rural areas and being so close to the crops and smoke from the chimneys as well as lively children running about. She was at a loss of what to do.

Father Ye was already calling her. “Come on in, Xiao Ling, I’ll take you to see Grandma.” This coward of a man had gotten very happy the moment he reached his old hometown and had completely forgotten about Xia Ling’s cold disposition throughout the car ride.

Xia Ling was about to enter the house when Mr. Zhou called out to her. “Miss, your item.”

He placed a beautifully packaged box before her.

Xia Ling recalled this was her gift to Grandma Ye. She thanked Mr. Zhou and asked if he would like to join them for a while. He kindly declined and drove off, saying he would be back to fetch her the following day.

Xia Ling carried the huge box and followed both Father Ye and Aunt Liu into the house.

The rooms in the village house were big and spacious, and one of them was full of people standing around. Xia Ling caught a glimpse of the bed right away — it was in the center of the room, huge and maroon in color with a quality wood bed frame and good workmanship. That must be Fourth Uncle’s birthday gift to Grandma.

Sitting on the bed was an old lady with a head of white hair. She had her eyes closed and a kind smile on.

“Grandma.” Xia Ling had greeted her before she was even aware of the situation. She was slightly stunned at her own action — the way she greeted her was so natural, it was as if she had done it many times before.

Grandma Ye heard her voice and turned around. “Xiao Ling? Is that Xiao Ling?” The old woman was blind and had to reach both her hands out in search for her. “Xiao Ling is here? Come here, come to Grandma…”

Everybody’s head was turned as their eyes landed on Xia Ling, who was standing at the door.

They saw a pretty girl wearing a short-sleeved blouse. Her skin was fair and delicate and she stood quietly and sweetly by the door. Many of them could not take their eyes off her.

“It really is Xiao Ling.” Second Aunt smiled first and warmly approached her, holding her hand. “Your grandma has been talking about you every day, about how you haven’t been back in years. Hopefully, you haven’t forgotten us, your poor relatives.”

Xia Ling was uncomfortable as she held her hand and led her to Grandma Ye.

“Come, good girl, let me take a look at you…” Grandma Ye carefully and meticulously stroked her face with her wrinkled hands, from her eyes to her nose and finally her lips. “It’s Xiao Ling, it really is her.” Grandma Ye was delighted. “My good girl, how long has it been since you last came back to see Grandma? Grandma misses you so much…”

There were many grandchildren in the Ye family, but they all had parents, and only Ye Xingling had been bullied by her stepmother since she was a child.

Grandma Ye always had a soft spot for her and took greater care of her. Hence, as compared to the other grandchildren, she missed Ye Xingling the most.

Many of Ye Xingling’s original memories flashed before Xia Ling’s eyes, and she had a strange sense of closeness and bond with Grandma Ye. She did not know if it was because of Ye Xingling’s experiences that influenced her emotions, or that she never had an elder that loved and cared for her this much before.

She sat on the floor beside Grandma Ye and smiled. “Grandma, I’ve brought you a gift.”

“Gift?” It sounded like the voice of a busybody. “Xiao Ling, I heard you’re a big star now, what good stuff did you bring for your grandma? Your Fourth Uncle has already gotten her a bed, yours definitely tops his, right? Hurry and open it for us to see.”

Xia Ling looked up and recognized that it was coming from Fourth Aunt — Fourth Uncle’s wife, based on the memories.

With her words, everybody was now curious. “That’s right, what exactly did you get for Grandma?”

“It’s nothing very pricey,” said Xia Ling.

A look of victory was sparked off in Fourth Aunt’s eyes, along with some disdain. “How could it be, your Aunt Liu has praised you sky high, saying that you’d definitely give her something better than the bed we’ve given.” Fourth Aunt secretly laughed.