Chapter 35 (Part 2)

Two years ago, Dong Shen was very fat and was laughed at by Zhao Yuning several times, but two years later, Dong Shen had become a handsome young man.

"I don’t wanna!" Dong Shen said angrily. "Your whole family are the real fatties."

Seeing that it became a small battle between two children, Dong Hui, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned around and said to Madam Zhao, “Honestly, Zhao jie, you lost a great treasure. Mingxi is kind and hardworking, precisely the kind of daughter I want. Since you don’t want her, you should have said so earlier. It would have been better if you let her come to us. Our whole family will buy her beautiful clothes and let her live in a beautiful room. She won’t have to live so pitifully at your place.”

Madam Zhao simply wanted to slap Dong Hui in spite of her family education and shut her up, but the pain in her heart was too overwhelming— It seems like she truly did not fulfill her responsibility as a mother, that even outsiders treated Zhao Mingxi better than her.

She couldn't help but say to Zhao Mingxi who was silent, “Mingxi, let's have a chat, alright? Mom has reflected a lot in the past two days, I apologize to you—”

“What kind of apology is this? You will just talk about it, but will your family take any action? You already have your biological daughter Zhao Yuan, so why are you still looking for Mingxi?!”

Dong Shen was the most uncomfortable about this scene. He said angrily, "It's all because of you guys that Mingxi can't even have her birthday on the proper date. Until now she is still using Zhao Yuan's birthday! Let me tell you this, just wait a few days. As soon as Mingxi turns eighteen, my mother will bring her to change the date on her ID card! She won’t need you guys anymore.”

After Dong Shen finished speaking, he reached over Zhao Mingxi and forcibly pulled off Madam Zhao’s fingers.

Madam Zhao’s blood surged to the top of her head.

She couldn't refute what Dong Shen said.

Yes, they did wrong Mingxi in this matter.

About three years ago, Zhao Yuan was injured during her school’s Sports Day. After she was sent to the hospital, they discovered that Zhao Yuan was not their biological daughter because her DNA was different from theirs.

Afterwards, they figured out that there had been an incident in the hospital that year whereby they took home the wrong child.

They didn’t know if it was the work of Zhao Yuan's biological mother or someone else, but the two children were swapped while they were still in the incubator.

So afterwards they started looking for their biological daughter Zhao Mingxi.

At that time, they thought that they would never be able to find her, so in the midst of the whole family’s despair, they decided to treat Zhao Yuan as their biological daughter. They changed Zhao Yuan’s birthday from October 24 to her own real birth date, October 14.

But to their surprise, after the change, they found Mingxi.

They faced a problem then, whether to change the date of Zhao Yuan's ID card again to Mingxi, or to ask the newcomer Mingxi to compromise and change the date according to Zhao Yuan's real birthday.

Back then, Zhao Yuan was only 15 years old, and she was about to change the date for the second time. She thought that the Zhao family didn't want her anymore, so she cried really hard that day. Madam Zhao felt sorry for her, so she begged Mr. Zhao to change Zhao Mingxi's date...

At that time, Madam Zhao thought that Mingxi wouldn't mind. After all, the family would celebrate her true birthday again on the 24th. The ID was just a number.

But now, Madam Zhao regrets that decision.

She could clearly see what she was like. Because she didn't want to push Zhao Yuan away, she chose to push Mingxi further away bit by bit.

...

Half of Madam Zhao’s body was exposed to the rain outside. She was so sad that her internal organs hurt. She subconsciously looked at Mingxi, who had been silent, and pleaded, “Mingxi, have I completely lost you?”

She still had a flicker of hope that Mingxi would come back to her.

But what she didn’t expect was for Mingxi to look up at her and calmly say, “Yes, you have lost me.”

Zhao Mingxi seemed to have really let go of them completely.

She no longer worried about them, nor would she ever beg for the love of their family again.

At that moment, Madam Zhao could see darkness tunneling her vision. Dong Shen took this opportunity to tear her fingers away from the door.

The Dong family's car drove away.

Madam Zhao's legs went soft and she almost sat on her knees in the rain but was quickly helped up by the driver and Zhao Yuning.

Madam Zhao cried so much as she recalled what just happened. “Why is this happening?”

However, she clearly knew the reason why this was happening.

She realized that she was the executioner who caused all this.

"If- if we change Mingxi's birthday, will that make everything better?" Madam Zhao asked Zhao Yuning in tears.

Zhao Yuan's face changed when she heard her under the eaves of the restaurant.

...

*

The Dong family's return to China gave Mingxi a little bit of confidence. At least someone will attend the parent-teacher meetings in the future.

There will no longer be anyone secretly taunting whether she was the adopted daughter of the Zhao family, or why the handsome eldest brother of the Zhao family always only picked Zhao Yuan up from school and not her.

Aunt Dong will come to pick her up in the future.

God knows how grateful Mingxi was that in this life, the Dong family is still there.

Because she took some time out to have dinner with them after school, after returning to school in the evening, Mingxi forced herself to do a few more test papers and didn't go to bed until midnight.

The next morning, Mingxi was still the first to wake up in the entire dormitory.

As soon as she entered the classroom, she saw that Jiang Xiuqiu had already returned to school. His seat was on the other side, surrounded by several girls. When he saw Mingxi coming in, he raised his peach eyes and glanced at Mingxi.

Mingxi raised her hand to say hello and walked to her seat.

Since Fu Yangxi was not happy that she was trying to freeload on Jiang Xiuqiu's luck, she simply won’t do it. 2% was dispensable for her anyways.

However, Mingxi could feel that something was wrong. Fu Yangxi didn't come to class today. On the other hand, Ke Chengwen lay on the table lazily as he read some comic books. When he saw her, his expression was a little strange, and after a hurried greeting, he lowered his head to continue reading his comic books.

But what’s strange was not this, it was the fact that Fu Yangxi's table— Why is it empty?

The noise-canceling headphones were gone, and the jacket that was messily thrown was gone as well.

His favorite Pikachu pillow that he always carried around for the past few months ever since she bought it for him had also disappeared.

She heard that Fu Yangxi used to be absent from school frequently, skipping for two or three days at a time. However, he came to school every day for the past month. That’s why Mingxi was a little startled when she saw that his table was empty.

"Where is Fu Yangxi?" Mingxi couldn't help asking. "It's not the weekend, so why is his stuff missing?"

Ke Chengwen said, "He took two days off. I think he’ll come back the day after tomorrow. Don't worry."

"Why did he suddenly ask for leave?" Mingxi thought of the sudden rainstorm and cold current last night, and was inevitably a little worried. "Is he sick?"

Ke Chengwen looked at Mingxi, feeling a mix of emotions. He said vaguely, “He got caught in the rain after school yesterday.”

“Does he have a fever? Is it serious?” Mingxi asked.

"Nah, he’s okay. It’s just a little cold," Ke Chengwen said.

Mingxi had no choice but to sit down first. In the end, Fu Yangxi didn't come to class at all today.

As Mingxi had to prepare for the Hundred School Tournament, she didn't think too much about it.

But once she started doing the questions, she raised her head, and when she saw the empty seat beside her, she felt a little uncomfortable.

This was the first time that Fu Yangxi didn't give her a heads up before he decided to not come to school.

Without his voice around her, everything seemed much quieter.

Finally, when school was about to end, Mingxi couldn't hold back anymore and texted him.

"Xi ge, Ke Chengwen told me that you caught a cold."

"Do you have a fever? There should be a private doctor at home, right? Have you seen the doctor yet?"

"What’s your body temperature?"

"Is there anything you need? I can send it over to you."

Mingxi kept holding the phone. She was restless. When she saw that Fu Yangxi never answered, she couldn't help but send another one: “Was it so uncomfortable that you fell asleep? If you can see my message, please reply me QAQ*.”

*QAQ is a crying emoticon

Even after she was done with her messages, there was still no reply from him.

...

Mingxi subconsciously began to look through the chat records between her and Fu Yangxi. In the past, in order to improve her luck, she only sent three messages to Fu Yangxi every day, and almost all of them were three periods.

This was the first time that she had sent Fu Yangxi five messages with actual content in them.

Mingxi felt uneasy.

It was mainly because of the fact that she had recently discovered Fu Yangxi’s fear of dogs, and she often found scratches from glass explosions on his body. Although he said that he got those scratches when the glass bowl exploded after being filled with overly hot instant noodles, Mingxi always felt that something wasn’t quite right with his story.

She started packing her school bag the moment the final school bell rang. She was planning to visit Fu Yangxi's house.

She turned around and asked Ke Chengwen, "Do you know the address to Fu Yangxi's home? Can you send it to me?"

Ke Chengwen was stunned. "Didn't you not want it before?!"

Mingxi said, "I'm scared that he can’t take care of himself. Didn't you say that there are no adults in his home and that he lives by himself most of the time?"

...

After getting the address from Ke Chengwen, Mingxi carried her schoolbag, bought some anti-fever medicine and anti-fever stickers, and hurried to Fu Yangxi's address with an umbrella.

Over at this side, after she left, Ke Chengwen quickly sent a text message to Fu Yangxi: “Crap. Xi ge, I couldn’t stand the temptation of a beautiful girl and told Zhao Mingxi your address. It's the address of your own apartment, not your mother's villa.”

After falling out of love, Fu Yangxi, who was curled up in the bed decadently, continued to stare at the WeChat messages sent by Zhao Mingxi. His mood was complicated and sad. A hundred episodes of life and death in TV dramas had already been staged in his mind.

When he saw the message from Ke Chengwen pop up, he withdrew from the chatroom and took a look. Then he immediately sat up.

What the hell? Little Mask is coming? But I haven’t even washed my hair yet!

Fu Yangxi was in absolute despair. She said that she didn't like me, so why does she still care about me?

Just let me die!