An Earlier Meeting - Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Wei Qingwen left the bustling audience area and walked over to Huang Xiaozhi.

“Little one, do you want to go and take your makeup off?”

Huang Xiaozhi was still focused on looking at her photos in the camera. She thought about it and decided that she should take her makeup off. She nodded.

Wei Qingwen led her away from the field to a quiet, empty classroom.

She took out a series of makeup removers. Huang Xiaozhi sat obediently in the chair, like a small animal ready to be handled.

She was ready to be a rotten fish, letting Wei Qingwen “carve” her up.

Wei Qingwen held a makeup remover pad and gently wiped her face while saying, “You performed very well. Your mom here took a few photos for you.”

At this moment, Huang Xiaozhi’s face couldn’t show too much expression. She could only move her mouth.

“Really? Show me later.” She was really curious about how her mom had taken her pictures. After all, Wei Qingwen’s photography skills were always “touching.”

But this time, Wei Qingwen was a little proud. “You’ll definitely be satisfied when you see them. Do you want me to put on some light makeup for you?”

After the makeup was removed, she would be completely bare-faced. She still had to take a group photo later.

Huang Xiaozhi’s face was clear and clean without makeup. Being bare-faced made her look even more pure.

Huang Xiaozhi shook her head, thinking that a bare face was better.

She didn’t take off the decorative feathers in her hair, and her hairstyle was still intact. She only planned to remove her makeup.

Wei Qingwen respected her wishes.

In her heart, her daughter was always the best and the most beautiful. There was no need for comparison. She felt that every woman had her own kind of beauty, and as long as she was satisfied with herself, that was all that mattered.

Wei Qingwen smiled and carefully finished removing her makeup. She pulled a chair and sat next to Huang Xiaozhi, taking out her phone to look at the photos.

Huang Xiaozhi turned her head and leaned in, looking at the screen together.

The photos weren’t well taken, but for her mom, it was progress. She finally gave a thumbs-up. “Our Ms. Wei has improved. That’s great. There’s still room for more.”

Her fingers moved slowly. Unconsciously, she finished looking at the photos. Wei Qingwen flipped to the next photo, and a picture flashed by.

It was a photo of Wei Qingwen and a man. Huang Xiaozhi, with her sharp eyes, saw it. She snatched the phone and went back, her gaze fixed on that photo.

“Who is this?” Her voice was a little tight.

Wei Qingwen lowered her head, and a complicated smile appeared on her lips. “Your father.”

Huang Xiaozhi turned her head abruptly, looking at her smiling mother.

Behind this smile, things were definitely not simple.

“Didn’t he abandon you and run away?” she questioned, her face sinking, thinking that her mother still couldn’t forget her first love.

Wei Qingwen didn’t blame her. All of this stemmed from her own selfish decision.

She was still smiling, her voice a little ethereal. “Things aren’t what you think. Let’s talk about it when we get home, okay?”

Huang Xiaozhi’s body was a little stiff. She blinked, as if she saw tears in her mother’s eyes.

This was so different from the story she had heard since she was a child. She was in a daze.

She turned her head again and looked at the photo carefully. In the photo, her mother was wearing a white dress and a headband, smiling brightly and happily.

The man next to her was holding her, his gaze focused and gentle.

This man… didn’t seem like the “useless person” they had described.

She had never known the truth of the matter. This was the first time she had seen her father in a photo.

Now that she thought about it, she didn’t have the last name Wei but Huang. There were probably many reasons hidden behind it.

She silently turned off the phone, looked at her mother, and had no expression on her face. “When we get home, can you tell me everything, without missing a single detail?” She stood up.

Wei Qingwen tried her best to maintain her smile and nodded.

Huang Xiaozhi didn’t say anything more. She turned around and walked out of the classroom.

The classroom instantly became terrifyingly quiet, with only Wei Qingwen left.

Shaping her daughter’s father into a bad person was the most selfish thing she had ever done.

Huang Chu had once joked that if he disappeared one day, when their child was born, she should say that he had abandoned them.

Now, thinking about it, she used this excuse, but it was far from the truth.

He was an intelligence officer who had infiltrated another country to gather information.

Even Wei Qingwen didn’t know if he was dead or alive now.

Huang Chu had once said with a guilty conscience that he was sorry to Wei Qingwen. They didn’t get married, and then he completely disappeared.

As he had wished, Wei Qingwen had held onto this lie for seventeen years.

She covered her face. Suppressed sobs finally broke through. Her eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and her tears flowed fiercely. Her lover had disappeared, leaving only Huang Xiaozhi.

This daughter could also be considered his legacy.

The entire classroom echoed with her low sobs. She had hidden it for so long, but in the end, she couldn’t hide it anymore.

I’m sorry, Huang Chu.

I’m sorry, Little One.

And I’m sorry to myself.

Her lover was gone.

…

Huang Xiaozhi rushed out of the classroom, and tears rolled down her face.

So her father wasn’t a bad person? Her family made up lies just to make her believe her father was a scumbag so she wouldn’t be sad? Those years she was mocked as a “fatherless wild child”… those grievances, now they seemed to be nothing?

Everyone knew the truth, but she was the only one kept in the dark.

What exactly happened? She didn’t know anything.

She wiped her tears hard and walked outside. On the way, she ran into Yu Wen, who seemed to be looking for her.

Huang Xiaozhi subconsciously turned around and covered her eyes.

Yu Wen was a little at a loss. She raised her hand to pat her shoulder, then pulled it back.

“What’s wrong? Who upset you?” Her voice was full of concern.

This sentence was like opening a floodgate. Huang Xiaozhi’s tears gushed out.

She turned around and tried to force a smile, her face still covered in tears. “My… my father isn’t a bad person.” Her voice was choked with sobs.

Yu Wen froze for a moment, then hugged her tightly.

Huang Xiaozhi’s chin rested on Yu Wen’s shoulder. Yu Wen gently patted her back, comforting her warmly. “Okay, I know.”

Huang Xiaozhi finally burst into sobs.

She had a father! This father loved her mom, and he must have loved her too! She could also be a little girl who was favored by a father’s love!

Yu Wen held her, patiently comforting her. At this moment, the world seemed to only have the two of them.

…

Wei Qingwen packed up her things in the classroom and opened her phone again, staring at that photo.

In the photo, she was only 19 years old, in the prime of her youth.

Huang Chu wasn’t a handsome man, but he was clean and proper. Wei Qingwen fell in love with him at first sight.

In fact, when she scrolled through, there were many more photos, but there was only one family photo.

She had just given birth to Huang Xiaozhi. Her hair was down. She looked weak but content, holding her daughter. Huang Chu was standing next to them, making a peace sign.

There was only this one photo.

Wei Qingwen treasured the group photos in her album, but she treasured them even more in her heart.

Many people had advised her to find someone else, but she thought, I never will in this lifetime.

She only loved Huang Chu. In the past and present, that had never changed.

Time would change many things, but it wouldn’t change her.

Her heart would not change either.

She loved Huang Chu. She didn’t blame him and she didn’t hate him.

Huang Chu also deeply loved her. He only blamed himself for not being able to give her a stable home.

Wei Qingwen sent a message to Huang Xiaozhi. “Little One, Mom has something to do and is going home first. I won’t be coming in the afternoon.”

Huang Xiaozhi didn’t see it.

She picked up her things and hurried out of school without stopping for a second. She needed to go home and calm down.

…

On the stone steps of the field, Huang Xiaozhi told Yu Wen everything.

Her feelings were as tangled as a mess.

For so many years, all she had heard were lies her family had made up, just so she would believe her father was a terrible person, so she wouldn’t be sad?

Yu Wen looked at the sad Huang Xiaozhi, who had her head lowered. She didn’t know what to say, but she could understand Wei Qingwen. A mother, to prevent her daughter from suffering from the loss of a father, chose to protect her with a lie.

This was Wei Qingwen’s heavy and loving selfishness.

Huang Xiaozhi was an accident, but they chose to keep her and love her with all their might.

Before Huang Chu left, he told Wei Qingwen that after the child was born, she should make up a story and make him out to be a bad person. After the child was born, he was never heard from again.

Yu Wen gently patted Huang Xiaozhi’s back. Looking at her red eyes and nose, she felt both heartache and envy.

“Now that you know the truth, you can blame Auntie Wei for not telling you sooner, but you can’t hate her. When I was at your house, I could clearly feel that she loves you very, very much. I don’t know what happened in the past, but it’s all in the past. What’s important is the present and the future. We have to live well in the present and the future.”

Huang Xiaozhi rubbed her eyes and tried to smile. “No, I won’t. I don’t blame her and I don’t hate her. I just feel… that she always carries everything on her own and doesn’t tell me anything.” The more she spoke, the stronger her heartache for her mother became.

Just as she finished speaking, her phone rang.

It was Wei Qingwen.

She answered the call.

“Hello… Little One, are you still at school?” Her voice was a little hoarse.

“Mom, there are still activities in the afternoon. What’s wrong?”

“…” There was a brief silence.

“Mom? What’s wrong?” Her heart jumped.

“…” Still silent.

“Mom!” She raised her voice.

She heard a heavy sigh from the other end.

“Little One, will it be okay if I come pick you up and take you home later?”

“…”

Huang Xiaozhi was silent for a moment, then she said softly, “Okay.”

The call ended.

Yu Wen looked up and asked, “What’s wrong? What did your mom say?”

Huang Xiaozhi sat down. “She said she’s going to pick me up and take me home. I guess… she has something important to tell me.” She frowned slightly.

“Are you staying at school this afternoon?” Huang Xiaozhi turned her head and asked.

Yu Wen nodded. “Of course.”

The two of them went back to the classroom to change out of their dresses.

After changing and tidying up, it was about time.

Wei Qingwen came to pick her up.

Huang Xiaozhi said goodbye to Yu Wen and left a novel for her in case she got bored.

They got into the car. The mother and daughter were silent the whole way. It wasn’t until Wei Qingwen didn’t turn towards home and drove onto an unfamiliar road that Huang Xiaozhi turned her head. “Where are we going?”

Wei Qingwen looked serious. She was wearing sunglasses. She forced a smile on her lips. “I’m taking you somewhere.”

Huang Xiaozhi didn’t ask any more questions. The only sound in the car was the low humming of the engine.

One of them was driving intently, and the other was looking at the tall buildings flying by outside the window.

Huang Xiaozhi wondered, Where are we going? Who are we going to see?

She wasn’t familiar with the road, but Wei Qingwen was driving with ease.

The car stopped at the entrance of a cemetery.

Huang Xiaozhi had guessed about seventy to eighty percent of it.

Wei Qingwen walked in front without a word. Every step was heavy. Huang Xiaozhi, behind her, was also feeling heavy-hearted.

Looking at her mother’s back, she could truly see the traces of time, those few strands of white hair.

The two of them were silent.

Wei Qingwen stopped in front of a tombstone, blocking the view.

Huang Xiaozhi quietly stood next to her and saw the photo and name on the tombstone—her father.

The man in the photo was clean-cut and had a heroic look on his face.

She looked at her mother. Wei Qingwen’s expression was stiff, and her eyes were empty, as if only an empty shell remained.

“What did my father… do?” she asked in a soft voice.

As soon as she finished speaking, tears silently rolled down Wei Qingwen’s face. She held back her sobs and forced a smile. “You should call him uncle… He was… an intelligence officer.” Her voice trembled slightly.

Huang Xiaozhi was confused about why she should call him “uncle” at first. When she heard “intelligence officer,” she instantly understood the weight of it.

“Was that Uncle’s request?” She looked at the tombstone.

Wei Qingwen’s gaze was fixed on the black and white photo. She had taken it herself eighteen years ago, and now it had become a cold epitaph.

For all these years, the base had taken care of them, but she still didn’t know if Huang Chu was alive or dead. There was no body, and no news.

A long time ago, she firmly believed he was alive. Until one night, she dreamed of Huang Chu. He was still young. He smiled and said he was dead and that she should set up a grave for him, otherwise, he “wouldn’t have anything to eat.” The dream was too real.

After struggling for a long time, she never dreamed of him again. Finally, she applied to the base and had this tombstone set up.

Wei Qingwen wiped her tears, her gaze fixed on the photo. “Yes, this is your uncle. If you have anything you want to say, say it. I’ll wait for you in the car.” She turned and left, her back looking tired and sad.

Huang Xiaozhi watched her mother disappear around the corner. For all these years, it seemed that her mother had been the only one waiting for an impossible hope.

She turned her gaze back to the tombstone and said softly and solemnly, “I’m sorry.”

This “I’m sorry” contained so much.

She slowly sat down next to the tombstone, her body leaning against the cold stone, as if she was closer to her father, repenting for her past misunderstandings.

“Uncle, what you did made Mom very sad. This is the first time we’ve met… here.”

“I don’t know what kind of unforgettable story you two had.”

“And I don’t know what your past was like. It seems… I’ll never have the chance to know.”

“Uncle, I don’t blame you and I don’t hate you. Actually, when Mom said how bad you were, I almost really hated you.”

“When I saw other people’s fathers holding their children’s hands, I only had my mom. It’s a lie to say I wasn’t envious… Luckily, my grandpa and grandma filled that void a little.”

“Now that I think about it, I don’t hate you that much anymore. The person you truly owe is Mom.”

“I’ve asked her many times, but she’s always kept her mouth shut. If I hadn’t found that photo, I might have been kept in the dark forever.”

“She’s done a great job of keeping this a secret for so many years… Was that your request?”

“Uncle, I’m sorry.”

After saying that, she stood up and solemnly knelt down and kowtowed three times.

She stood up and lowered her head. “I’m sorry, Uncle. I came in a hurry and didn’t bring anything. Next time… I’ll definitely bring something.”

There were so many other things she wanted to say, but she wouldn’t get a response, so she swallowed them back.

She wanted to hear her mother tell her everything.

Back in the car, she saw that Wei Qingwen’s eyes were red and swollen.

She buckled her seat belt and turned to look at her mother with determination.

“Mom, now, can you tell me everything? I have the right to know.” Her voice was calm and strong.

Wei Qingwen knew she couldn’t hide it anymore. She had rehearsed this countless times.

She took her daughter’s hand and stroked it gently, not daring to meet her gaze. “Little One, you can blame me, but… please don’t blame your father, okay?” Her voice was pleading.

Huang Xiaozhi looked at her quietly. Wei Qingwen took a deep breath, her gaze fixed on the void.

“I… fell in love with your father at first sight. His name is Huang Chu. He wasn’t the most handsome, but he had a special quality that attracted me.”

“I was the one who shamelessly pursued him. We had planned to get married when we were old enough… but he was chosen by the base to… carry out a special mission.”

“He was very capable and had turned many dangerous situations into safe ones. But this time… it seems he failed…”

“Before he went abroad, I was already pregnant with you. Before he left, he told me not to tell you his true identity and to make up a story about him being… a bad person.”

“At first, I didn’t understand. Later, I did. He wanted you to completely abandon the ‘father’ figure, so you wouldn’t be in danger like him, and so you wouldn’t… be in pain like me.” Her voice was choked with sobs.

She looked up at her daughter, her eyes filled with tears.

“I was also selfish and listened to him. Now, it seems… it worked a little?” She smiled and cried at the same time, her lips curling up, but tears streaming down.

Huang Xiaozhi looked at her mother trying to be strong, and her heart twisted in pain. She tried her best to smile in response, but her eyes were getting hot and blurry.

“For all these years… was it hard raising me alone?” Her voice also became choked with sobs.

Wei Qingwen shook her head vigorously, wiping her tears away haphazardly.

“It wasn’t hard! Look, aren’t we doing great now?” Her voice was deliberately light.

Huang Xiaozhi looked at her forced smile and also curled up her lips, but her vision became even blurrier. Tears blurred her vision.

The two of them finally reached out and hugged each other tightly, comforting each other. How could she really blame her father? And how could she really blame her mother?

Now, saying who to blame or who to hate was meaningless. What had happened had happened and couldn’t be changed. It was better to accept it.

Reality was cruel. She couldn’t promise the future.

She couldn’t bring herself to hate anyone.

The only thing she was powerless against was the time that couldn’t flow backward.