When Xia Jun heard footsteps outside the door, he quickly put down the pork trotters in his hand and pretended to look weak as he lay on the bed. Even when Xia Wen walked to the edge of the bed, he did not move.
“Grandfather, wake up. The oil on your mouth is so shiny that it’s reflecting the light. Yet you’re still trying to pretend!” Xia Wen said as he held back his laughter.
When Xia Jun realized that he had failed in his attempt, he stopped putting on an act. He had forgotten that Xia Wen had a background in investigation. It would be extremely difficult to hide anything from Xia Wen! It was probably not such a good thing to have nurtured a family of elite professionals.
Whenever he faced Xia Xiu, he would always subconsciously tell the truth. If he accidentally lied to her, she would question him as if he was being interrogated. However, this was an occupational hazard for her and it would be hard for her to change.
When he faced Xia Fang, he felt like he was facing a scanner. It was as if she could detect the slightest symptom of any illness. She could keenly sense if there was something wrong with his health, even if the only clue was that his voice was more hoarse than usual.
Therefore, there was no difference between him being in this house and going to the battlefield. Even his helper could tell from his expression whether the food each day was to his liking.
“Has the matter downstairs been resolved?” Xia Jun asked.
“I guess so. I wonder what will happen in the future,” Xia Wen said with a deep sigh.
Xia Wen did not really know how to deal with this matter. Whatever he said just now was a little too harsh. It was like putting the relationship between the families of the Xia family’s first and third sons over a burner. The already fragile relationship was now in critical danger.
He was not worried about Xia Guang. He was just worried that his younger cousins would drift further and further away from the Xia family.
“You don’t have to think too much. You’re not the cause of this matter. What have you done wrong? You handled it very well. I heard everything that was said outside just now. It’s not your fault at all,” Xia Jun said.
Xia Wen’s earlier melancholy was immediately swept away. So Xia Jun could hear them! That meant the fainting spell was just a pretense!
“Grandfather, you did it on purpose! Tell me, did you deliberately leave me to settle this matter so that you can come back here to eat pork trotters!” Xia Wen said angrily.
Xia Jun chuckled and did not admit to anything, but keeping quiet was also a form of tacit agreement. If he did not pretend to faint, Xia Wen would not be able to put on such a domineering face at all! No matter if it was an act or not, he was just cultivating Xia Wen’s ability to handle situations. How could it be said that he had ulterior motives!
However, he still felt a little sad. When he fainted, none of the children from the third son’s family cared about him. They even looked like they looked forward to it. From the expression on Xia Yan’s face, it was obvious that he hoped that Xia Jun would die soon!
This was not the child’s fault. It was the type of education he received from a young age that caused him to develop such a way of thinking. That was why the children hated the Xia family and distanced themselves from the Xia family. Everything was instigated by Zhou Luo.
“Grandfather… why didn’t you bring Xia Lu and Xia Yan back then?” Xia Wen asked curiously.
When these two children were born, the Xia family was already doing quite well. It was definitely more than possible to support the two children. During Xia Wen’s growing up years, he had even lived with another family and went around being fed by the neighbors! He still managed to grow up well, so why did Xia Jun not bring these two grandsons back? Did he face some other difficulties then?
“It’s a long story…” Xia Jun said helplessly.
At that time, Xia Guang was still a small platoon commander in an outpost while Xia Mao and Xia Yao were promoted to higher ranks year by year. At that time, Xia Wen was still in the army. That was his last year in the army and he had already taken on the position of deputy company commander. His rank was much higher than Xia Guang, which meant that Xia Guang had to salute to Xia Wen if they met each other.
Xia Jun’s initial goal was for all the Xia family’s children to start from the bottom so that they would become even stronger. This was what Xia Mao, Xia Yao and Xia Wen had to go through. Even Xia Zhe had to make progress based on his own merits.
However, for some reason, Xia Guang turned out this way. Later on, Zhou Hua started to travel around and did not care about her children at all. During this time, Zhou Luo held on to the children tightly and refused to let go no matter what the Xia family offered her.
It was not as if the Xia family had never thought of taking the children back by force, but Zhou Hua had threatened to kill herself so as to force the Xia family to give up. In the face of that, Xia Jun could only give up the idea. Later on, he asked Xia Guang for his opinion, but there was nothing Xia Guang could do about it. In the end, these two children were brought up to be like this.