Chapter 424 - 420: Give and Take

Chapter 424: Chapter 420: Give and Take

"You almost didn’t make it back and had to stay in the hospital for a while? How can your business trips be so dangerous? Are you okay?" Aunt Li exclaimed, clearly startled.

"I’m fine. I’m used to it," Luo Hongyi said nonchalantly.

"Does your family know about your situation?" Aunt Li suddenly recalled hearing Tang Ermei wailing in the courtyard a few days ago, saying she couldn’t count on Third. ’That’s odd,’ she had thought. ’The Luo family’s third son is clearly the most successful, so why would she say they can’t count on him? Could it be because he might lose his life at any moment? Is that why she said it?’

With this thought, Aunt Li’s gaze on Luo Hongyi turned probing.

Luo Hongyi found Aunt Li’s stare strange but didn’t know why. A thought struck him, and he answered honestly, "They probably know. There was one time I almost didn’t make it, and the company sent someone to bring my parents to the hospital to see me one last time. Fortunately, I pulled through."

Luo Hongyi sighed. "That’s just how our job is. When I was chosen by the company and left home at such a young age, they had already given my family a large sum of money. The agreement was that after they trained me, I’d have to risk my life for them for a few years. They even signed a contract with my parents. I’m already considered one of the lucky ones. Compared to colleagues who never made it home, anyone who comes back alive—even if they’re disabled—is fortunate."

His expression darkened. "Take this last mission, for instance. One of my colleagues almost made it so his son, who’s only a few months old, would never get the chance to call him ’Dad’ to his face. He only saw his son once after he was born. He dreams about him day and night but doesn’t even dare to carry a photo from his one-month celebration. Seeing things like this, I sometimes worry that if I get married, I’ll just be ruining a girl’s life. After all, it’s incredibly hard to marry someone like us, who lives life on a razor’s edge. Even if we’re in the same city, she might not see her husband often. She’d have to handle everything at home, big and small—even childbirth and raising kids—all on her own, just gritting her teeth and enduring it."

Of course, the reason he’d stayed at the hospital this time wasn’t for himself, but to accompany Qi Guoqing during his check-up. However, there was no need for him to be so specific, nor could he be. He just needed the villagers to understand that his current "success" came at a great cost. This would prevent those jealous people from taking the moral high ground and feeling it was unfair to his parents that his wife would be the one to "reap all the benefits" of his hard-earned success.

He suddenly felt that he needed everyone to know what Nuannuan, the woman who would one day marry him, would have to face.

As expected, Aunt Li sighed. "So that’s how it is? Aih, people only hear from your parents about how well you’re doing, but they really have no idea what’s going on underneath. Your parents are quite heartless, aren’t they? To know what you’d have to face when you were recruited and still be willing to let you go?"

’If it were her own child,’ Aunt Li thought, ’she would never have been able to part with them.’ No wonder Tang Ermei had said what she did. How could a mother be so cruel? ’Isn’t he her son too?’

A wave of pity washed over her, and she couldn’t bring herself to repeat Tang Ermei’s words. If this boy found out, who knows how much it would hurt him?

"Auntie, it’s getting late. I think I should head back." Checking the time, Luo Hongyi stood up. This would also prevent his parents from coming back and his mother seeing him leave Aunt Li’s house, only to rush over and settle scores later if any rumors started in the village.

"But the gate is locked. How will you get back in?" Aunt Li stood up, trying to make him stay. "Why don’t you go rest in my Shunzi’s room? I’ll wake you at five, and you can wait for them at the gate then. How about that?"

"No need, I can just climb over the wall." A simple lock was certainly no match for Luo Hongyi, but he wasn’t about to reveal that skill. Climbing the wall would work just as well.

"Alright then, I’ll walk you out." Aunt Li stopped insisting and, despite his protests, personally escorted Luo Hongyi to her door.

"Hongyi, when did you get back?" Xu Shishun, who was just about to reach his own home, cried out in pleasant surprise when he saw Luo Hongyi walking out of his house. He was a few years younger than Luo Hongyi and had loved to follow him around since they were kids. The person he admired most in his life was Hongyi.

"Shunzi?" Seeing Xu Shishun after so long, Luo Hongyi almost didn’t recognize him. He was clearly younger than him, yet he looked so dark and thin that he seemed a few years older.

"Shunzi, why did you suddenly come back? You don’t have to work today?" Aunt Li was also startled to see her son.

"I have a half-day off. I was thinking that Yue’s belly will get bigger and bigger soon, and she probably won’t be able to bend over to use the latrine. So I wanted to take the chance today to come back and ask Dad, when he goes to the mountains to find wood for the cradle, to also get an extra plank to build a chair for her so she can relieve herself while sitting," Xu Shishun said, scratching his head with a slightly embarrassed smile in front of Luo Hongyi.

"That’s great, you’re about to have a son. How many months along is your wife?" Luo Hongyi smiled and patted Xu Shishun’s shoulder.

"Hehe, five months," Xu Shishun replied with a blissful smile.

"So, next year then," Luo Hongyi nodded. He remembered that he had several pairs of silver bracelets on him. On his way back, during a transfer, he had taken the opportunity to buy a silver bracelet for Qi Aiguo’s child. He had found the bracelets so exquisite and cute that he couldn’t help but buy a few extra pairs. He reached into his pocket but actually retrieved a small brocade box from his storage ring, opening it and handing it over. "I probably won’t be able to make it for the one-month celebration next year, so consider this an early gift for the baby."

"No, no..." Xu Shishun was stunned when he saw the pair of silver bracelets and quickly waved his hands in refusal. "These are silver, aren’t they? They’re too beautiful. They must be very expensive."

"Exactly, Hongyi, you should put those bracelets away quickly. If your mother finds out, there’ll be a huge scene for sure," Aunt Li, also taken aback by Luo Hongyi’s extravagance, chimed in, waving her hands as well.

"If none of us tell her, how would she ever find out?" Luo Hongyi closed the brocade box and forcefully pushed it into Xu Shishun’s hands. "Take it. I’ll be upset if you don’t."

Clutching the brocade box, Xu Shishun was at a loss.

"Shunzi, since Hongyi is telling you to take it, then just take it." ’At worst,’ she thought, ’when Luo Hongyi has a child in the future, I can make the baby a few outfits, or buy some yarn and have my daughter-in-law knit a few sweaters to repay the favor. Relationships get stronger through this kind of give-and-take, right?’ With this in mind, Aunt Li smiled at her son.

"Thank you, Hongyi." Only then did Xu Shishun express his thanks and carefully tuck the brocade box into his pocket. A smile spread across his face; his wife would definitely love such exquisite bracelets.

"There you go. Shunzi, what are you and your wife doing in town these days?" Luo Hongyi asked with a satisfied smile, seeing that he had accepted the gift.

"What else can he do? He could never get into his studies and has no diploma, so he can only do manual labor. He’s hauling bricks at the brick factory now," Aunt Li said, looking with heartache at her son, who was getting darker and thinner. "My daughter-in-law is doing better. She works at the bookstore in town during the day and studies at home every night. Something about... something about taking some kind of exam to attend university from home." She was a bit muddled on the details but still mumbled with a sense of shared pride, "I’ve never understood how you can attend university from home. Wouldn’t it be better if everyone just studied at home? Why would anyone need to travel thousands of miles away to go to a school?"