Chapter 42 - Seeking help

Chapter 42: Chapter 42 - Seeking help

By the time dinner was served, everyone had gathered around the long dining table.

Jua Gu sat quietly in his usual place, eating his food without paying much attention to the strange atmosphere around him.

Beside him, Ying Di stood silently.

The guy had barely spoken since returning home. He simply followed Jua’s orders like a shadow, and whenever Jua reached for something that was slightly too far away, Ying Di would silently pick it up and place it in front of him.

When Jua’s glass became empty, Ying Di immediately poured more water.

When Jua finished one dish, Ying Di quietly pushed another one closer.

Jua Gu glanced at him a few times. This guy really was becoming useful.

Across the table, however, Mo Yuxin’s face was slowly becoming uglier.

Her eyes remained fixed on Ying Di.

Her beloved son was serving that servant’s child.

Not only that, Ying Di was doing it willingly.

There wasn’t even a trace of reluctance on his face.

Mo Yuxin’s fingers tightened around her chopsticks as she glared at Jua Gu.

What exactly had happened to her son?

She looked at Jua again.

There was something strange about this child.

She couldn’t explain it, but since he had returned, Ying Di had been completely different. Before, her son had barely paid attention to Jua Gu. Now he followed him around obediently, listened to everything he said, and even served him at the dinner table.

She hated it.

Her thoughts slowly returned to the novel she had read all those years ago.

There had never been any continuation after Feng Yao married Ying Rui and received her happy ending. The story had simply ended there.

Everything that happened after that was outside the plot.

Which meant this child had only been in the family because Ying Rui had decided to allow the servant’s son to grow up alongside them.

Jua Gu had never been part of the story.

He was an existence that should never have mattered.

Yet now, this insignificant person had somehow changed her beloved son so much.

Mo Yuxin’s gaze became colder.

She didn’t like it.

She absolutely hated it.

At the side, Ying Mao had been silently eating his food.

But unlike the others, he wasn’t paying much attention to his meal anymore.

His eyes kept moving toward Mo Yuxin.

He could see the way she was glaring at Jua Gu.

He knew that look.

His mother had never liked him.

He had known that from the beginning.

But only recently had he realized that even Ying Di hated him. He had always thought his brother simply didn’t care about him, but now he understood that there was something much worse behind those cold looks.

And now his mother’s hatred was no longer focused on him.

It was focused on Jua Gu.

Ying Mao’s small hand tightened around his chopsticks.

He didn’t like that.

Not at all.

A strange nervousness slowly filled his chest as he watched her.

What if she tried to hurt Brother?

Jua Gu was strong sometimes, but he was still only one person. He had no real position in this family. If his mother really wanted to make things difficult for him, there was no way Jua Gu could fight against everyone.

Ying Mao lowered his head and quietly thought about what he could do.

He could ask his father for help.

But that wouldn’t work.

If his father found out that his mother was trying to hurt Jua Gu, then his mother would find out too.

And if she knew that Ying Mao had gone to his father behind her back, things would only become worse.

His little brows slowly knitted together.

There was only one other person he could ask.

His grandfather.

Ying Mao’s eyes quietly hardened with determination.

His grandfather was the only person he could think of who had enough power to protect Jua Gu.

After dinner, Ying Mao scurried back to his room and quickly pulled the phone out of his school bag.

He stared at the number on the screen for a long moment.

It was a number he had never dialed before.

His little fingers hesitated over the call button before he finally pressed it.

The dialing tone rang in his ear as he nervously bit his lip, his heart beating a little faster with every ring.

"Who is calling so late?"

A gruff voice finally answered from the other end, slightly hoarse and tired.

Ying Mao gulped and opened his mouth.

"G-Grandpa... it’s me, Ying Mao."

There was a short silence.

"Ying Mao... why are you calling so late?" came the blunt answer.

Ying Mao anxiously bit his lip again and gripped the phone tighter in his hand.

He didn’t really know how to say it.

He was only a child, and he had never needed to ask anyone for help like this before.

"I... I need your help, Grandpa..."

The other side of the line went quiet for a while.

Soon, a soft sigh could be heard.

"What is it, kid?"

Ying Mao lowered his head, his fingers twisting nervously around the edge of his shirt.

"I want you to protect me and my brothers from her."

His voice became quieter as he spoke.

"She... she isn’t a good person."

He swallowed hard before continuing.

"I really don’t feel safe with her."

The old man on the other side of the phone remained silent for a while after hearing Ying Mao’s words.

His expression darkened slightly, but his voice remained calm when he finally spoke.

"I’ll deal with this."

That was all he said before the call was cut.

Ying Mao stared at the phone in his hands for a few seconds before slowly pulling it toward his chest and hugging it tightly.

He let out a small sigh.

His grandpa didn’t seem to like him that much either.

But at least he had listened to him.

There was only one person who really liked him.

Jua Ge.

A small smile slowly bloomed on Ying Mao’s face at the thought of him. Just thinking about that man made the tight feeling in his chest loosen a little.

Without wasting another second, he threw the phone onto the bed and quickly climbed down.

He ran out of his room and hurried toward Jua Gu’s room.

When he reached the door, he noticed it was slightly ajar.

"Jua Ge..." he mumbled softly as he pushed the door open and peeked inside.

The smile on his face immediately disappeared.

Jua Gu was sitting beside the table with Ying Di.

The two of them were sitting together while Jua Gu patiently showed Ying Di how to write. A piece of paper was spread across the table, and Jua Gu was guiding his hand while teaching him how to hold the pen properly.

"Like this. Don’t hold it so tightly."

Ying Di stared down at the paper with his usual blank expression.

Jua Gu then pointed toward one of the characters.

"This one is pronounced like this. Say it."

"..."

Ying Di obediently repeated the word.

Seeing the two of them sitting so peacefully together made something inside Ying Mao’s stomach burn.

His little face twisted into an unhappy glare.

Why was Di Ge here?

And why was Jua Ge teaching him?

He didn’t even think about it for another second before rushing into the room.

"Jua Ge!"

Jua Gu barely had time to turn his head before Ying Mao threw himself at him and wrapped both arms tightly around his waist.

He then glared at Ying Di.

"Jua Ge is mine! He is mine!"

Ying Di, who had been pushed away by the sudden attack, simply landed on the floor.

He sat there for a moment, blinking blankly up at Ying Mao as if he didn’t understand what had just happened.

Jua Gu looked at the two children and sighed.

"What happened to you? Did you eat a lot of vinegar or something?"

He reached over and ruffled Ying Mao’s hair.

"I was only teaching him how to write."

His eyes then moved toward the door before lowering slightly.

"If that woman finds out something suspicious about him, we will both be in danger."

Ying Mao’s pout deepened.

He looked up at Jua Gu with his little brows furrowed.

"W-Why don’t I teach him?"

He pointed toward Ying Di, who was still sitting on the floor.

"I can teach him. You just came back from the hospital. You need to rest. You can’t overwork yourself."

Before Jua Gu could even answer, Ying Mao grabbed his hand and started pulling him toward the bed.

"Come on, Jua Ge. You need to lie down."

Jua Gu allowed himself to be dragged along, too tired to argue with the little boy.

Ying Mao carefully helped him sit down before pushing him back onto the bed. He even pulled the blanket over him and tucked it around his body as if he was some fragile old man who would break if he moved too much.

Jua Gu could only blink at him.

"You’re quite bossy today."

Ying Mao ignored him.

Once he was sure Jua Gu was properly lying down, he quickly turned around and ran back toward Ying Di.

He picked up the pen from the table and sat down beside him.

"Come here. I’ll teach you."

Ying Di looked at him.

Ying Mao puffed out his cheeks.

"Don’t look at me like that. Just write."

Ying Di silently picked up the pen.

Ying Mao then began teaching him the same words Jua Gu had been teaching him earlier, occasionally correcting his hand whenever he wrote the character incorrectly.

Jua Gu lay on the bed and watched the two of them from the side.

The sight of Ying Mao seriously teaching Ying Di, even though the little boy had been glaring at him only moments ago, made a small smile slowly appear on Jua Gu’s face.

He didn’t even realize he was smiling.

It really was nice to have a little one following you around all the time.

Jua Gu’s eyes slowly became heavier as he watched the two children sitting together.

Before long, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.