Max Level Return—I'll Protect That Fragile One

After chatting with Huo Wen’an for a couple of sentences, Xu Xingguang slept quite soundly that night.

At five-thirty in the morning, Xu Xingguang got up on time. She first ran ten kilometers carrying weights on the newly built track at the foot of Cangshan, then returned home covered in sweat.

Xu Xingguang took a shower, changed into a dress, went downstairs to the kitchen, and personally cooked a pot of noodles.

At eight o’clock, Sister Lin was the first to carry Xu Qingnian’s luggage downstairs and stuffed it into the trunk of the off-road vehicle co-purchased by Xu Xingguang and Huo Wen’an.

Xu Xingguang opened the kitchen window and said to Sister Lin, who was about to go upstairs to move the second load, ”Sister Lin, I’ve made breakfast. Can you help me bring the old man down? After having the meal, we should head back to the city.”

”Okay.”

Soon, a neatly dressed Xu Qingnian was pushed into the dining room by Sister Lin using a wheelchair.

Xu Qingnian stared at the bowl of shredded beef and vegetable noodles in front of him. For some reason, his eyes welled up with ripples.

Sister Lin prepared to feed Xu Qingnian, but Xu Xingguang said, ”I’ll feed him.”

Sister Lin hesitated for a moment, then nodded and went to the kitchen to have her breakfast.

Xu Xingguang held the bowl and sat on the soft stool in front of Xu Qingnian.

While feeding Xu Qingnian, she instructed him about future matters, ”Grandpa, I’ve hired a new male nurse for you. Rest assured, he won’t dare to treat you like that maid from the Xu Family did before.”

Xu Qingnian swallowed the noodles and asked her, ”How much does it cost?”

Knowing that Xu Qingnian was asking about the salary of the new nurse, Xu Xingguang didn’t hide it. She said, ”Fifteen thousand a month.”

Xu Qingnian was silent for a moment before asking, ”Is it your money again?”

Xu Xingguang nodded, calmly stating, ”Xu Zeqing has completely run out of money.” What Xu Xingguang didn’t say was that even if Xu Zeqing had money, he wouldn’t be willing to spend it on Xu Qingnian.

Xu Qingnian felt an indescribable feeling in his heart.

He didn’t open his mouth to take the noodles Xu Xingguang offered but squinted his old eyes and asked Xu Xingguang, ”Don’t you hate me?”

Xu Xingguang’s emotions didn’t fluctuate in the slightest. She picked up a pair of chopsticks full of noodles, fed it to Xu Qingnian, and then said, ”I don’t hate you because I knew from a young age that as a girl, I could never receive enough love from you.”

”Do you remember, when I was very young, Grandma kept urging my mom to have a second child. At that time, my mom was also hesitating about whether to have another child.”

”But in the end, she didn’t do it.” Xu Xingguang put down the bowl and placed the chopsticks above the rim of the bowl.

She looked at Xu Qingnian and asked him, ”Do you know why she would rather have a sterilization surgery than give birth to a second child?”

Xu Qingnian vaguely remembered, one spring, their family went back to the old home to perform ancestor worship. After returning, Mo Yinshu silently ran to the hospital for a sterilization surgery.

Upon finding out, Xu Qingnian and Hong Qingshuang were so angry that they didn’t speak to Mo Yinshu for several days.

During that time, the relationship between Xu Zeqing and Mo Yinshu also became particularly strained.

But Mo Yinshu went about her own way, uninterested in pleasing them. She took Xu Xingguang and moved to Cangshan Town to live separately. Only when the summer vacation ended, and Xu Xingguang had to return to school, did Mo Yinshu move back to the Xu Family house.

Yet to this day, Xu Qingnian never understood why Mo Yinshu had the sterilization surgery back then.

”I don’t know.” Xu Qingnian asked Xu Xingguang, ”Do you know?”

Xu Xingguang nodded, ”Of course.”

Xu Qingnian then asked her, ”Why?” Eager to know the truth, Xu Qingnian inquired.

Xu Xingguang said, ”That year during Qingming, we returned together to Grandpa’s rural hometown for ancestor worship. Having some free time, my mother took me up the mountain to dig spring bamboo shoots to eat.”

”We found a bamboo forest and saw many small mounds emerging from the ground. My mother and I assumed there were spring bamboo shoots hidden underneath. But she dug out a not fully decomposed little baby girl.”

At that time, Xu Xingguang was still young and only saw a piece of fabric before Mo Yinshu covered her head with a coat.

Mo Yinshu hugged Xu Xingguang, repeatedly whispering in her ear, ”Xingguang, don’t be afraid. It’s just a doll.” Xu Xingguang clearly remembered her mother’s hands trembling as she held her.

”My mother initially thought a sick child was pitifully buried there. She took me down the mountain to ask an old man about the little baby girl’s family’s address, intending to apologize.”

”But after hearing about it, that old man told us not to go. He explained that little girl was the fourth daughter born to that family. She was born with her lungs infected from amniotic fluid, and the family, unwilling to spend money treating her, strangled her to death right away.”