574: Reconciliation

Reconciliation

Fu Zhi got a cup of warm water for Fu Zhao. She knew he was in a bad mood right now, so she thought for a while before saying, "I've always been proud of you for being my father. Really, dad, get some rest. Don't doubt yourself and don't be angry with Ye Jiu. He did all those things because he thought she would hurt me. Honestly, it's my fault. I should've handled the matter in a better way. He left us at a very young age, and what he can't learn to understand now we can teach him slowly later."

"I'm not mad at him, and I don't think you didn't handle the matter well…" Fu Zhao said. "I'm proud of you as well. You're my dearest daughter. I couldn't even bring myself to scold you, let alone give other people a chance to harm you. 

"I just think that Ye Jiu is no longer a kid. There are a lot of ways to deal with something, and he doesn't necessarily need to resort to the worst possible solution every time. He should know how to control himself and how to respect life."

"But he's learning and he's getting better day by day," Fu Zhi replied without any hesitation. "He knew how to please the people of the Fu Family the day he came and he's learning how to be friendlier with his friends at school. All my classmates like him very much."

This was the reason the Lus had not said anything when Xu Wei had said she was going to adopt Ye Jiu. It was not because he was Fu Zhi's brother but because they knew he was a good-natured kid.

As a father, Fu Zhao had the same problems as every other parent out there. He ignored Ye Jiu, but at the same time, he kept flexing in front of other people and saying how proud he was of his sons. 

"You should stop ignoring him and praising me. If you don't praise him, how will he know that you like him?"

Fu Zhi waited for a long while yet she did not receive a response from her father. She lifted her head to look at him and asked, "Why are you not saying anything, dad?"

Fu Zhao sighed. "You don't understand. Silence is a man's loudest cry. When a man is sad, he won't talk because he's exhausted. Or perhaps he's used to silence and pain. When a man is ignoring you, it means he has been hurt deeply!"

Fu Zhi replied, "You should stop reading those non-mainstream novels, dad."

"I personally wouldn't fall down no matter how much it hurt me."

Fu Zhi was speechless.

"Go to sleep, dad. I'm going to look for Ye Jiu."

"Okay."

It'd be better for the doer to undo what he had done. 

Other than feeling sad, he was also disappointed when his son refused to listen to him. 

Fu Zhao got in bed and said, "Alright, you can go now. Remember to come home and visit me from time to time. Oh yeah, don't forget to bring coffee from Yu City…"

Fu Zhi did not want to talk to Fu Zhao anymore. She turned around and left the mansion. 

Fu Yuan's mansion was not far from Iris Time Villa. After she got in the car, she headed to the nearest night market street.

Just as she'd expected, she saw Ye Jiu walking out of a two-dollar store.

It was noon right now, and the sun was bright. As she approached him, she could clearly see the palm print on his cheek.

They looked at each other, but neither of them talked. 

After a while that seemed like an eternity, Ye Jiu decided to break the silence and called out to her. "Zhizhi!"

He leaned forward and tried to place his hand on her head. 

"Don't be angry, okay?"

Fu Zhi took a step back to avoid his hand as she looked at him expressionlessly. 

Ye Jiu was stunned. He knew Fu Zhi had to be very angry with him right now, so he looked at her and continued. "Look, didn't I come back already?"

"Oh? So you still think you've done a good job?"

"Well, kinda…"

Fu Zhi's face sank. She turned around to leave, but Ye Jiu hastily went after her and tried to stop her to no avail. 

"Wait, Zhizhi. Let's talk!"

Fu Zhi was walking rapidly ahead, while Ye Jiu was following her.

This night market was filled with people, and not far away from them was a couple arguing with each other. The girl was punching the boy, while the boy was trying his best to give her a hug. 

"Go find your little lover. You don't love me at all! You can't stop me from leaving!"

The boy looked exhausted. He grabbed the girl's hand and planted a kiss on her lips to silence her. Then, he bent down and scooped her up from the ground before talking. "Honey, I won't allow you to leave me. I swear to God that I don't have any other lovers. I love you and only you!"

Ye Jiu sensed that the girl's attitude had softened, so he decided to do the same. However, he had underestimated Fu Zhi's strength. He did not manage to grab her hand and scoop her up from the ground, as the boy had done to his girlfriend. Instead, Fu Zhi dragged him forward for three meters.

Ye Jiu did not know what to say. Suddenly, his eyes lit up as an idea popped up in his head. He forwent his attempt to copy the boy. Instead, he kicked the ground to propel himself upward and landed on Fu Zhi's back with unerring precision.

Fu Zhi was dumbfounded for a moment, as she had not expected something like this. She turned her head and looked speechlessly at Ye Jiu, who had wrapped his hands and legs around her tightly from her back. 

"Listen to me, Zhizhi. I…"

"No. I'm not going to listen to you." Fu Zhi interrupted him. She did not want to cause his wound to open again, so she tried to shake him off her body gently. However, Ye Jiu coiled his arms even tighter around her neck and shouted, "I'm sorry, Zhizhi! It's all my fault!" 

"Take off your filthy hands, you whited sepulcher!"

"No! I won't let you go. If I release my hands now, you'll definitely walk away and leave me alone to deal with this cruel world. Can you forgive me, please?" 

"You want me to forgive you? Can you tell me what you did wrong?" Fu Zhi asked.

"I shouldn't have agreed to the experiment. I shouldn't have lied to you. It's just that Aurora… Okay, okay, okay, I won't talk about her. Don't kick me away! I can feel my wound opening!"

Fu Zhi fell silent. 

"Miss, you've been ignoring your brother for three days! He's learned his lesson, and if you keep ignoring him, he's going to build a business empire for you!"

The ice in Fu Zhi's eyes slowly thawed. Ye Jiu noticed that and hastily followed up by pulling a piece of candy out of his pocket.

It was milk candy with a cartoon printed on it. He handed it to Fu Zhi and said in a serious tone, "Here is your favorite candy."

He did not dare fight or argue with her anymore. As if he was holding the most precious treasure in the world, he said, "I promise I'll listen to every word you say and I won't do anything stupid again in the future, so can you stop being angry with me?"

"Okay." There was no expression on Fu Zhi's face, but the slight upward curve at the corner of her lips showed that she was no longer mad at Ye Jiu.

There was a boy standing not far away from them. He was eating ice cream, and when he saw them, he tugged at his mother. "Mom, why is that big brother carrying a big sister but this big brother is asking his sister to carry him instead?" 

"A long long time ago, we were a matriarchal society, a man was allowed to rely on a woman to live." 

"Wow!" the boy exclaimed. "So this big brother is going through an atavistic process!"

Ye Jiu did not know what to say. 

'Mind your own business, you meddling kid! The world of a handsome man is something an ordinary person like you can't understand!' Ye Jiu chided the boy inwardly as he jumped off Fu Zhi's back. 

He accidentally touched his wound and grimaced in pain.

Fu Zhi handed the special medicine in her pocket to him. 

As they were walking toward a milk tea shop, Ye Jiu asked, "How did you know I'd be at the night market?"

"Judging from the money in your pocket, I surmised that you couldn't afford a room in a 5-star hotel, so I knew you must be here." 

The smile on Ye Jiu's face froze. Fu Zhi handed the cup of warm water to him and said, "You shouldn't be arguing with dad so much. He's not young anymore, and his health is not as good as before. 

"Also..." Fu Zhi turned sideways to look at him and said, "About the thing you did after you came back from overseas..." 

Ye Jiu's heart skipped a beat. As he was rummaging through his brain for an excuse, Fu Zhi added, "I know you just wanted to protect me, so thank you."

This was something unexpected. He pressed his lips firmly and said, "I thought you were going to scold me again."

"Why would you think so? You're my brother, and I don't have any say in what you want to do and what you don't want to do. I know you want the best for me and you don't want other people to bully me, but I don't want you to kill someone for me. Zhou Tingting has committed a crime and she will face legal sanctions. It's really not worth it for you to get sent to jail because of her."

"I get it," Ye Jiu replied, his voice low.

As they were heading out of the milk tea shop, Fu Zhi suddenly thought of something and turned around. Just as Ye Jiu was wondering what she was going to do, she placed her hand on his cheek gently and asked, her eyes red, "Does it hurt?"

Ye Jiu was stunned.

"No, it doesn't hurt at all," he replied. The last thing he wanted in this world was to see Fu Zhi cry. "It's a little naive of you to think our dad is capable of hurting me." 

Fu Zhi opened the ointment in her hand and smeared it on Ye Jiu's face. A cold sensation soon spread from his cheek, and the pain lessened obviously. 

"Don't be mad at dad. He reproached himself bitterly for slapping you and he only ate a bowl of rice just now."

Ye Jiu was speechless. 

'Well, considering the fact that he could eat three bowls of rice on a normal day, he's really sad today.'

That said, Ye Jiu still pulled a face and said, "I'm a grown-up. I know what I'm doing and I don't need any advice from him."

"Is it because he refused to go overseas with you?"

Honestly, Ye Jiu knew that the Fu Corporation was not the only reason Fu Zhao had not wanted to go overseas with him. He knew that Fu Zhao wanted to earn money so that he could save him. He understood Fu Zhao's intentions, but that did not mean that he could forget everything that had happened in Country M.

That was the darkest time of his life. After they'd arrived at the medical facility, what had awaited them was not a healthier body but discrimination. Other patients would call them b*stards, and since they were from Country M, Ye Jiu and the others could not fight back.

Ye San and Ye Qi were rather unperturbed and accepted the world as it was. However, things were different for Ye Jiu. Although he had fallen out with Fu Zhao, there were times when he wanted to go home, but every time he forwent the attempt after remembering the things Fu Zhao had said to him. 

He had not told anyone, but he had always hoped that Fu Zhao would come and take them home. 

However, Fu Zhao had not come. Instead, he'd heard that the Fu Corporation was getting bigger and stronger. 

This praise stung his ears. It was as if they were mocking him and his ridiculous dream of changing Fu Zhao because of his own selfish reasons and this was what Fu Zhao would become without them burdening him—a successful businessman whose name was known all over the world.

Ye Jiu lowered his head in dejection.

Fu Zhi raised her hand and patted his head.

"Don't blame dad, brother. He works so hard just so you will have a better life. He doesn't want you to leave him because he thinks the medical industry he has invested in could save your life.

"Dad really loves you, so can you not blame him anymore?"

She still remembered that, on the day Ye Jiu and the others had left, Fu Zhao's voice had been shaking while he'd told her a bedtime story. 

She had seen him sitting on the balcony, taking drag after drag of his cigarette. Then, the next day, he had pretended nothing had happened, put on his suit, and gone to work as usual.

He needed a lot of money. To the young Fu Zhao, money meant security. 

Fu Zhao wanted Ye Jiu to come back, while the latter hoped that the former would ask them to stay.

Both of them had given each other a lot, but neither of them was willing to open his mouth first.

Ye Jiu rested his chin on Fu Zhi's shoulder.

"Dad has registered at the hospital. He wants to donate his heart to you. Fu Jiang's father wants to give his heart to Ye Qi as well. As for Ye San, they still haven't found a compatible heart transplant for him, but they're looking for one.

"Therefore, they love you more than you imagined."

Ye Jiu's eyes turned red around the rims. While he found it difficult to believe, he felt that it was blissful to be loved by other people.

He did not know how to express his feelings, and it took him a long while before he could calm down. His voice was raw and raspy when he said, "Let's go back."

As they were heading home, he said, "Don't get me wrong. I'm willing to go back because of you." 

Fu Zhi then replied, "Let's not go back then. I guess he's taking an afternoon nap right now."

Ye Jiu was speechless. 

By the time they arrived at the mansion, the door to Fu Zhao's room was tightly shut.

He was not taking a nap. Instead, he was sitting on a chair. When he heard footsteps outside his room, he quickly pretended he was busy.

Fu Zhi pushed the door open. 

He hastily went up to them and said, "Zhizhi!"

He called Fu Zhi's name first. Then, he turned his head to look at Ye Jiu. He opened his mouth but he did not know what to say, especially when he saw Ye Jiu's swollen cheek. 

After a short while, Ye Jiu broke the awkward silence first. "Dad."

Fu Zhao was stunned and he looked in disbelief at his son. He thought his mind or ears were playing a trick on him, but when he realized that Ye Jiu had indeed called him "dad", his eyes lit up and he replied, "Yes! Son, I'm your father!"

Ye Jiu did not know what to say, and Fu Zhi shook her head. 

Fu Zhao felt that he was being silly as well. Before he could explain anything, Fu Zhi chuckled, and there was a smile tugging at the corner of Ye Jiu's lips.

Fu Zhao felt warm in his heart. He scratched his head and laughed sillily. 

Fu Zhi asked, "Why didn't you take a nap, dad?"

"I had a dream. It was so beautiful yet tragic. It let me experience the true kinship between a family. I was shaken to the core, and I've never felt so much pain before. It was so painful that I could barely breathe. Then, I woke up crying." 

Ye Jiu continued. "We're like sugar, sweet and sorrowful."

Fu Zhi had no idea what they were talking about.

"Hello? Can you guys speak the human language, please?" she asked. 

Fu Zhao sat down and said, "I didn't sleep because I was fixing my pants."

The corner of Ye Jiu's lips twitched.

"Is the Fu Corporation going bankrupt soon? If not, then why are you acting as if we don't have any money left? Besides, who the hell uses red thread to fix green pants?!"

"How is there any possibility the Fu Corporation will go bankrupt?!" Fu Zhao replied. "I learned this from a TV show. Do you feel touched now?"

"Touched? I just bought you this pair of pants not long ago, and I haven't even taken the label off yet. Besides, they are not torn, so what are you stitching?"

"Well, easy there. I just need to cut the fabric open with a pair of scissors and then stitch it back."

Ye Jiu and Fu Zhi looked at Fu Zhao speechlessly.

Ye Jiu felt that it had been the wrong decision to come back here. He turned around and headed out of the room.

"Pants! Your pants!" Fu Zhao shouted.2

Upon looking at his pants, Ye Jiu was caught between tears and laughter. Then, he said, "Dad, it's been hard on you all these years."

Ye Jiu lifted his head, and it was only then that he realized most of his hair had turned white and there were black circles around his eyes. 

For a moment, tears nearly spilled out of Fu Zhao's eyes. He raised his head to stop the tears from falling. He then sniffled and patted Ye Jiu's shoulder. "This is my responsibility as your father. As for you, if you do that again, I'll make you kneel on durian for a day!"

Ye Jiu did not fight back. He just gave Fu Zhao a big, tight hug that made the latter think he was going to die.

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