At that moment, Xing'er looked very serious. Although he wanted to greet Ah Li as warmly as usual, he couldn't because his stern father stood beside him. He glanced sideways at his tall father, Li Xiaohao, and secretly signaled to Xing'er with his eyes.

Children understand each other's unspoken feelings best. With just that inconspicuous small gesture, Ah Li immediately grasped Xing'er's predicament. She consciously let go of his hand, returned to Yingzi's side, clung to her leg, and hid behind Yingzi as if seeking refuge.

When Yingzi saw Xiaohao leading Xing'er toward her, she understood about eighty percent of the situation immediately. Those monkeys had left the forest to find Xing'er; thank heavens they had been brought back! However, though relieved in that moment, she dared not show her joy in front of Xiaohao. She stood meekly by the spring like a child who had done wrong, awaiting the inevitable lecture she anticipated.

To her surprise, Xiaohao didn't scold Yingzi. He suddenly squatted down, pointed at Yingzi with his finger, and said affectionately to his son, "Xing'er, your mother is right there."

"En," Xing'er nodded tensely, indicating he understood his father, but he made no other move, remaining rigidly by his father's side like an inanimate block.

Yingzi stood there dumbfounded. This reunion between mother and son was astonishingly cold, a universe away from the tear-jerking scene she had imagined.

Just as Li Xiaohao was emphasizing again to Xing'er, "Your mother is there," Yingzi proactively stepped in front of Xing'er, sinking to one knee, fighting back the tears welling in her eyes, and gently caressing Xing'er's small face with her hand.

She longed to pull Xing'er into a fierce embrace, the way she might hold Congcong, but found Xing'er standing before her with stiff limbs, so tense that any gesture of intimacy or affection felt superfluous to him. Seeing her own flesh and blood so distant, Yingzi's heart broke. She couldn't blame Xiaohao, nor could she blame Xing'er; the situation was ultimately the result of her own impulsive moment, a price she would inevitably have to pay.

In that intensely awkward moment, Ah Li sprang out from behind Yingzi, grabbing Xing'er's little hand and exclaiming, "So you do have a mother? I thought Uncle Ming had just picked you up!"

Startled by the words, Xing'er froze, glancing at Ah Li, then at Yingzi, before looking up at his tall father. As understanding dawned, he suddenly wrapped both small arms around Yingzi's neck and burst into wrenching sobs. Between cries, he shouted, "Mom... Dad... I'm not an orphan..."

Yingzi clutched Xing'er tightly, tears streaming down her face, and choked out, "Of course not, forgive me, forgive me..."

Li Xiaohao, standing nearby, remained expressionless. He let out a long sigh, his mind drifting back to his own lonely childhood. If Xiao Linghua had possessed the fortitude back then to accept him, perhaps the person standing here today would be a different Li Xiaohao; perhaps the Nangong couple would have met a different fate; perhaps his relationship with Li Xiaoshu would wear a different face... A thousand 'what ifs' whirled through Xiaohao's brain. Yet, countless suppositions could not overcome one cruel reality. The road lay beneath his feet, demanding he walk on, and the person was before him, but his heart remained unreachable.

"What are you planning to do?" Xiaohao squatted down, his cold words yanking Yingzi from the tender warmth of the mother-son reunion back into reality.

"What do you mean, what am I planning to do?" Yingzi wiped the tears from her cheeks, then used her sleeve to dry Xing'er's face, gazing at Xiaohao with eyes swimming in moisture.

"What blood do you plan to feed Xing'er?" Xiaohao's emotionless sentence slammed Yingzi, who was still immersed in the joy of reunion, straight into a frigid hell.

For more novels, visit storyread.net.