I couldn't contact Li Ya, especially when alan told me that he hadn't seen Li Ya again since the day of the class reunion, and I was even more anxious.

All the news that Xu Binwei received seemed to indicate that Uncle Li was doomed, but no one mentioned whether Li Ya was involved or what kind of result would be. Xu Binwei said that this would be a good thing for Li Ya, and no news would be good news. If Li Ya was really involved, it would not be so quiet.

When I was at a loss, I naturally thought of asking for help from another person, even if I could get some exact news, it would be good.

Hesitated for a long time with the phone, and I dialed the number.

"Early summer." Although we met and had few calls in recent years, he could hear my voice immediately.

"Uncle Quan, it's me... Are you in good health recently?"

"Very good, thank you for thinking about me." Even through the radio waves, I could feel that his face must be filled with a loving smile at this moment. He has always been like this to me, more intimate than his father.

"Uncle Quan, I have something I want to ask for help."

"What's the matter, you said."

"You have seen the news that Mayor Haibin was under double supervision. I would like to ask you to ask how the case was finally decided, except for Uncle Li... what happened to everyone else, how about Li Ya. I have been unable to contact her for a long time..."

Uncle Quan listened to a young man and said, "Don't worry, Li Ya should not be affected. I'll help you learn more. If there is any news, I will tell you."

"Well, then I'll wait for your news...Uncle Quan, how is he? Are he in good health?"

"...Well, it's not bad. I often go fishing when the weather is good some time ago."

"Oh...it's okay, Uncle Quan, I'll hang up first..."

"Wait a minute." Uncle Quan hurriedly interrupted me, "Don't hang up first, Chuxia, say a few words to Mr. Lin. I'm in his office..."

After a while of silence on the phone, another low voice rang out, "Xia Xia...I am my father."

Lin Yuanhong, my father, the person who loved me the most since I was a child, has counted the number of times I met him with one hand since I came to Haibin.

I thought my memory of him must have been very blurred. Although I could not forget this person and those things, I might not remember every detail of him so clearly. However, when he calmly called me, I suddenly realized that this was not the thick and full of energy voice in my memory? It was heavy, as if it was accompanied by the vicissitudes and sufferings accumulated by the years.

"Xia Xia, how are you doing on the beach?"

"...Well." I responded softly, and then there was no more noise. Even if he was not in front of me and holding my phone, I still didn't know what to say to him.

Maybe he was also tired when facing me. I heard him sigh softly and slowly said, "I will go to the seaside in a few days. Can we... meet? Dad has something to say to you..."

"Let's talk about it, I'm hung up." I quickly cut off the phone, and his breath and voice stopped abruptly. Looking at the screen of the phone that was already dimming in my hand, I couldn't help but surging in my heart.

————

Everything is silent, and the night is drooping outside the window.

I lay in Xu Binwei's arms, gradually calming down my breath. Looking at the darkness in the room, my heart felt like I was covered with a layer of haze by the boundless night.

Xu Binwei pulled up the quilt to cover my naked shoulders and gently kissed me on my cheeks, with a hoarse voice that was too late to dissipate.

"What's wrong with you today? You seem a little absent-minded... Or am I not doing well today?" Xu Binwei said, lingering in my legs with one hand.

Although Xu Binwei is very considerate to me, he always holds me intimately after every time after doing it. If I feel uncomfortable, he will help me take a shower, but I really don’t need to learn about his good physical strength and food. I hurriedly held his hand, put it back on my waist, and snuggle tightly in his arms. What I want to say to him at this moment requires him to give me more strength and warmth.

"Xu Binwei, I want to tell you about my mother."

"Okay, I've never heard you mention your family, what do you want to say?"

I closed my eyes and began to recall my mother's appearance...

"My mother is very beautiful and gentle. She is an accountant, but she is not smart at all. She is always careless and loses everything. My father said, what if you two mother and daughter don't have me?"

Xu Binwei said "um" and said lightly: "Continue."

"Later, my father's job became busier and he quit his job and took care of me at home. My father became busier and often traveled on business trips. As soon as he came back, they would quarrel, and they would wake me up when I fell asleep. This situation continued until I was eight years old."

"I was in the second grade that year. I remember very clearly that during the summer vacation, I went to my grandfather's house in Haibin City. When I went home... my mother was dead. She committed suicide and cut her wrists. At that time, Uncle Quan took me home. As soon as I entered the house, I looked for my mother everywhere. There was no room in that room. Finally, I found her in the bathroom. She was lying in the bathtub, covered in blood, her white skirt was dyed red, the water was also red, and there were blood stains that had begun to turn black on the edge of the bathtub..."

The scene from seventeen years ago began to appear in my mind. Uncle Quan held me and covered my eyes with one hand. He thought I wouldn't see it, but in fact, with just that glance, the picture had firmly occupied my entire brain, like a trace carved by a knife, and it could not be erased. The bloody smell made my stomach roll, and I vomited it all on Uncle Quan, and then I fainted.

I was sleeping for two days, and the bloody scene was everywhere in my dreams. I even dreamed of the blood-red mother standing up from the bathtub. Her face was no longer beautiful, with a hideous and terrifying face, which was like a zombie in a zombie film, walked towards me step by step, and every footprint left a pool of disgusting blood.

"For so many years, I have been trying to forget. Until now, I can't remember many things that happened when I was eight years old, but that scene has been imprinted in my mind... Xu Binwei, I can't forget that pool of blood and the disgusting fishy smell. Even if I love her so much, I'm really scared to see her like that."

I felt Xu Binwei hugging me tighter. His palm gently stroked my hair, and a kiss full of pity and love fell on my eyebrows and nose, "Don't be afraid, baby, with me, everything is over, don't be afraid."

I closed my eyes and raised my head to find Xu Binwei's breath and kissed his lips. I wanted him to know that because of him, I was not afraid of those memories now. I just wanted to take out the darkness buried in my heart and let me spread it out, tell him the pain I didn't want to talk to, and let him share the burden.

"My mother committed suicide because of dad. After mom died, grandpa was very angry and never interacted with dad again. We had never met in the past few years. I also thought it was dad's infidelity that caused mom's death. Later I realized that mom had been suffering from depression long ago... But this cannot offset the dad's mistake. If he could put more energy at home, if he could care more about mom, if that day... he could rush home immediately when he received the call instead of insisting on holding that damn M&A meeting..."

Many things can save their mother's life, even if she is not healthy, she will at least live in this world. But reality is reality. No matter how many assumptions there are, what has happened can never be changed.

"So, like your grandfather, you are unwilling to forgive your father, unwilling to go home, and staying in Haibin City forever." Xu Binwei sighed slightly, wiped away the messy tears on my face.

"Yes." I nodded in his arms. I couldn't accept that my father abandoned his mother's life for work. I couldn't accept that he had such a cold-blooded and heartless father. "He has obviously received the call. Even though his mother threatened and deceived him with her life many times when she was sick, how could he really ignore it? How dare he take such a risk? Didn't he think that if it was true, we would lose her..."

Xu Binwei patted my back lightly, just like the movements of his mother when she was a child when she was coaxing me to sleep. His voice was also rare and gentle.

"It's all over, don't be afraid, I will always be by your side. Xia Xia, let all the unpleasant memories pass by. No matter what happens in the future, I will leave it to me..."

In the end, I fell asleep with Xu Binwei patting my back and comforting him with soft voices. Perhaps it was because I finally vented my emotions deep in my heart. Although I talked about so many past events, I met many scenes that I had been deeply afraid of, and cried for a long time. I slept very peacefully that night. There was no blood in my sleep, no cold ward, and no overwhelming white. It made people tremble with trembling white.

Since I learned about the cause of my mother's death and the rift between me and my father, Xu Binwei has been trying hard to persuade me to let go of my resentment towards my father. In fact, I understand the reason he said. I also know that even if I complain, I cannot deny my concern for him after all, otherwise I would not ask about his situation every time I talk to Uncle Quan on the phone.

Xu Binwei asked me if I would reject my father if I saw him again. I said I didn’t know.
Chapter completed!