This was why Shao Qihai had come. He naturally hated Shao Qiyun, but he also saw Shao Qiyun’s abnormality. In the past, she had treated Xiao Wu as non-existent and loathed the very sight of him, but ever since Xiao Wu had become successful, her attitude had changed.

  Last time, she had dared to ask Xiao Wu for money. This time, she had dared to leave out Xiao Wu when asked which of the kids was the most favored. In that case, she would dare do something even worse when she was forced to.

  Shao Qiyun had been released and didn’t have to go to jail, but those loan sharks wouldn’t let her off. Zhao Lan and the others didn’t have that much money to give her either. If she was forced, who knew what would happen?

  Shao Qihai knew very well that Shao Qiyun hadn’t left out Xiao Wu’s name because of maternal love. Instead, she was treating Xiao Wu as her future money tree.

  He would never allow such a thing to happen, let alone let Xiao Wu know about his parentage.

  “Shao Qiyun, remember this. If you dare reveal it… I won’t mind finishing what I left unfinished a few years ago.” Shao Qihai’s eyes were filled with killing intent.

  Shao Qiyun trembled even more when she saw Shao Qihai like this. “I won’t. I remember. I won’t.”

  After saying that, she couldn’t help but touch her neck. It was as if she had gone back in time a few years ago, when she had almost been strangled to death by Shao Qihai.

  At the time, she had wanted to drown Xiao Wu. When Shao Qihai had seen that Xiao Wu had nearly stopped breathing, he had almost strangled her to death.

  At that moment, she had known that Shao Qihai would really kill her. From then on, she had started to be afraid of Shao Qihai. She believed Shao Qihai wasn’t making an empty threat. How could she not be afraid?

  If that little brat hadn’t been lucky enough to survive, she would have been killed by Shao Qihai long ago.

  Seeing Shao Qihai like this, Shao Qiyun suppressed the restless thoughts she’d been having these days. She truly feared that Shao Qihai would kill her.

  When he saw Shao Qiyun tremble and start to bite her nails again, Shao Qihai took a deep breath. “Remember what you said today. You’ve already killed your son. Xiao Wu has nothing to do with you.”

  Xiao Wu couldn’t speak after that incident. Shao Qihai hadn’t said anything, but he’d kept feeling that it had something to do with Shao Qiyun almost drowning him. At the time, Xiao Wu had really stopped breathing. Fortunately, he had started to breathe again later on.

  \r \r \r

  However, Xiao Wu had only gotten better after a period of time. From then on, he had never cried again. It was unknown if it was because he was young, but Xiao Wu subconsciously remembered that he had brought trouble upon himself by crying, so that fear had been carved into his bones ever since.

  Perhaps it was the fear of death, or perhaps it was because something like that had happened to him not long after his birth, but Xiao Wu had never cried or said a word since then.

  A long time ago, Shao Qihai had taken Xiao Wu to the doctor, but after examining him, the doctor had said that Xiao Wu was fine and there was no medicine for him to take. Every time Shao Qihai saw Xiao Wu, his heart ached and he blamed himself. He had also racked his brains for solutions, but nothing had worked.

  Later on, when he was the right age to be able to speak, Xiao Wu indeed didn’t know how.

  Shao Qihai had given up and accepted the fact that Xiao Wu couldn’t speak. He hadn’t expected Xiao Wu to be lucky enough to meet Mu Jingzhe and actually learn to speak.

  Shao Qihai couldn’t explain why Xiao Wu could speak, just like he couldn’t explain why Xiao Wu couldn’t speak back then. He could only guess that perhaps it was because Mu Jingzhe had healed some of Xiao Wu’s pain, or perhaps motherly love had given him a sense of security, so he was no longer afraid and finally dared to speak.

  Xiao Wu had been unfortunate, but he was also lucky because he had met Mu Jingzhe. Shao Qihai was very certain that he would only acknowledge Mu Jingzhe as his mother in this lifetime.

  Shao Qihai glanced at Shao Qiyun coldly and bent down to walk out of the straw hut. However, his expression changed the moment he went out.

  It was because he had seen Xiao Wu. Xiao Wu was standing outside the straw hut, but he hadn’t noticed him just now because his vision had been blocked.

  Shao Qihai looked at Xiao Wu, panic flashing across his face. “Xiao Wu, what are you doing here? You…”

  He had been really angry just now, and the wind outside was blowing so loudly that he hadn’t noticed Xiao Wu’s footsteps. He also had no idea when Xiao Wu had arrived.

  Shao Qihai hoped that Xiao Wu had just arrived and hadn’t heard anything, but Xiao Wu’s expression implied otherwise.

  In the past, Xiao Wu had been a shy little boy who loved to smile, pure and innocent like a blank piece of paper. At the moment, he had a stiff expression on his face and he was looking at him as though he didn’t know him.

  When Shao Qiyun realized that something was wrong, she saw Xiao Wu turn around and run away.

  Shao Qihai’s heart sank as he stared at Xiao Wu’s back.

  “What’s going on? Second Brother, did he hear?” Shao Qiyun was extremely anxious and quickly tugged at Shao Qihai.

  “Get out of the way!” Shao Qihai pushed her away, feeling self-reproach and fury. “It doesn’t matter if he heard or not. You’d better watch yourself!”

  Shao Qihai quickly gave chase. He ran very quickly and, logically speaking, should have been able to catch up to him. However, perhaps because Xiao Wu was really agitated, Shao Qihai didn’t manage to catch up to him. He didn’t even see him at home.

  “Where’s Xiao Wu?” Shao Qihai quickly asked when he returned home and saw Shao Dong.

  “Didn’t Xiao Wu come looking for you? You suddenly left without saying a word, so he was worried about you and he chased after you.” Shao Dong looked at Shao Qihai and frowned. “What happened?”

  “It’s nothing.” Shao Qihai didn’t know how to tell Shao Dong. “I’ll go look for Xiao Wu first. If he comes back, Little Dong, watch over him and don’t let him run around.”

  “Xiao Wu is missing? Why?” Mu Jingzhe came out when she heard the commotion.

  Shao Qihai’s mind was a mess. “Yes, something happened.” He had planned to hide it for the rest of his life. He had never expected Xiao Wu to hear it in such an unexpected way.

  Xiao Wu was none other than the main party.

  Seeing that Xiao Wu hadn’t even returned home, Shao Qihai didn’t dare take any chances. His mind was filled with thoughts of how to explain this to Xiao Wu.

  Shao Qihai searched the entire village but couldn’t find Xiao Wu. On the other hand, Mu Jingzhe, who was worried, went out to look for Xiao Wu and found him.

  Xiao Wu was hiding in the haystack beside the Mu Family’s field. Mu Teng had made it for him previously. He had dug a hole in the middle so he could hide in it and play. Xiao Wu used to love hiding in this place when playing hide-and-seek.

  Later on, even when he was not playing hide-and-seek, whenever Xiao Wu had something on his mind or felt unhappy, he would go to the haystack. It was considered Xiao Wu’s safe space. Mu Jingzhe was able to find him easily.

  “Found you, Xiao Wu.” Mu Jingzhe was still smiling when she saw Xiao Wu, but when she noticed Xiao Wu’s face, she didn’t smile anymore.

  “What’s wrong? Xiao Wu, what happened?” Xiao Wu had covered his mouth, afraid that Mu Jingzhe would hear him, but his face was covered in tears.

  Mu Jingzhe had seen Xiao Wu cry before, but she had never seen him cry so hard. “What’s wrong, Xiao Wu? Did your father scold you?”

  Seeing Mu Jingzhe’s concerned expression, Xiao Wu pounced on her and hugged her tightly. He then wailed. “Mommy, Mommy…”

  “I’m here, I’m here.” Mu Jingzhe knelt on the haystack and hugged Xiao Wu. As she patted his back, she reassured him. “Don’t be afraid, Xiao Wu. Don’t be scared. I’m here.”

  Xiao Wu continued to hug Mu Jingzhe and cry. He kept calling her ‘Mommy’ but didn’t say anything.

  Mu Jingzhe’s heart clenched as she saw his tears. “Xiao Wu, tell me what kind of grievance you’ve suffered. I’ll only know what happened after you tell me. Did your father say something? If he did, I’ll go beat him up, alright?”

  Mu Jingzhe was forced to say things like ‘beat him up’, but Xiao Wu was still very sad and didn’t respond.