I’ll Hold Your Hand And Promise You A Lifetime - Chapter 40

After that day, Yu Xiaohua began to notice more and more of Yue Xi’s shining qualities. While it wasn’t exactly fondness, at least there was no longer any hostility. She made the greatest compromise she was capable of.

That same night, Yi Luo set aside all her negative feelings and had a heartfelt, soul-baring conversation with her mother. They slowly began to understand each other, and their relationship gradually became more harmonious.

Yue Xi understood clearly that Yu Xiaohua wasn’t truly accepting of her and Yi Luo being together—her current tolerance was only temporary and out of consideration for Yi Luo. There was always the risk that if she made one misstep, everything would erupt again. So she was determined to keep striving for her goal. When she studied at home, Yi Luo would stay by her side. Every time she looked up and saw Yi Luo’s serene and beautiful face, it gave her motivation. Yue Xi even celebrated a sweet and joyful sixteenth birthday.

Summer vacation passed in a blur, and soon, a new semester had begun. The happiest news was that the five of them were still in the same class, and their revolutionary friendship only grew stronger.

The scorching heat was gradually swept away by the autumn breeze. The sun, no longer blazing, hung high in the sky, offering a gentle warmth to the autumn days. The air was pleasantly cool. Summer’s reign had ended. After being tempered by the heat, youthful hearts began to settle, fermenting a subtle fragrance in the calm of everyday life.

In the blink of an eye, the crisp, clear days of autumn arrived. People climbed hills and admired the scenery, eager to experience the joy and melancholy that the ancients had written about.

Time passed steadily. That late autumn, Yi Luo also turned sixteen.

At the beginning of winter, Yi Luo’s family went to the cemetery in the suburbs.

“Auntie, we’ve come to see you,” Yi Luo said, looking at the photo on the gravestone of a woman whose gentle smile and features resembled her own. She was surprised and smiled softly. “Who brought flowers for Auntie?”

“Huh? Someone came this year?” Yu Xiaohua’s sharp eyes noticed two fresh bouquets placed in front of the gravestone beside it, still dripping with water. Whoever had come must’ve just left.

Yi Tianyu looked at the flowers but didn’t respond. Who could it have been? While pondering, he walked over. “Luo’er, just like before, let’s leave some flowers over there too.”

“Mm.” Every year, Yi Luo would leave a small bouquet in front of that stranger’s grave, though she never knew who it belonged to. She was always curious—what was this unknown man’s connection to her family? Whenever her father came here, he would fall silent for a long time, clearly feeling sorrow.

“Dad, why do we only leave flowers here and not elsewhere?”

“That man… he was supposed to be your uncle, your aunt’s fiancé. They had a child together. But later, he married another woman. Three years after your aunt passed away, he was buried here as well.” Yi Tianyu recalled the gentle, smiling man he had once known. If things had gone differently, if those events hadn’t happened, maybe his sister could have had a happy life with him.

“I wonder what happened to their child…” Yu Xiaohua looked at Yi Luo, her mind drifting to that tiny infant who had lost its mother so young, and then its father too. A truly tragic fate. Doing the math in her head, she figured the child couldn’t be much older than Yi Luo.

“Sigh…” Yi Luo’s father exhaled. “We haven’t heard anything since we last saw them. No word at all.”

Yi Luo was shocked. She’d known since she was very little that her aunt had passed away, but she hadn’t known about all this. It was true what they said—every family had its own difficult history.

“Sigh… year after year. Hard to believe little sis has been gone this long,” Yu Xiaohua said, placing down the flowers and joss paper.

Yi Tianyu sighed as well, his thoughts on his younger sister. “She left too soon… so young… Heaven really is unfair…”

“How did Auntie pass away?” Yi Luo asked. Her grandparents never spoke of her aunt; it was like a forbidden topic. They never allowed her to join her parents on visits to the cemetery. Still, whenever she heard the word “aunt,” she felt an inexplicable affection—perhaps a bond of bl00d. Her father had told her that her aunt had once held her as a baby, and that she resembled her the most.

“Your aunt… it was a medical accident,” her father said. He figured there was no harm in telling her now—they were family, and his sister had loved Yi Luo dearly.

“Then why won’t Grandpa and Grandma let us visit her?” Yi Luo asked, puzzled.

“Your aunt made some bold choices back then,” Yu Xiaohua said, gazing at the faded black-and-white photo. She remembered the young woman—gentle and lovely, yet impulsive and headstrong. Yi Luo was just like her, even in personality.

“She had a child out of wedlock. Your grandfather, with his stubborn, old-fashioned temper, couldn’t tolerate that. He thought she had destroyed the family’s long-standing reputation. He raged through the house, yelling at everyone. So he disowned her—and her child too,” Yi Tianyu continued. “Your aunt kept it hidden from me. If I hadn’t heard she was in the hospital and gone to visit, I wouldn’t even have known she was giving birth. She kept it that well hidden. That man too—he didn’t tell a single family member!”

“You didn’t explain it clearly to me either. I’ve never really understood what happened,” Yu Xiaohua added. At the time, she’d been pregnant with Yi Luo, and Yi Tianyu hadn’t told her much—just told her to rest and take care of herself.

“Do you remember him?” Yi Tianyu asked, pointing to the man’s tombstone. His face was still young in the photo.

“Yes, I remember. Your sister even introduced us all once,” Yu Xiaohua recalled. If he had lived in ancient times, he would’ve been a dashing scholar—handsome, refined, and very considerate. After that meeting, she had even privately scolded Yi Tianyu for not being attentive enough and told him to learn from the man.

“He came to our house again afterward,” Yi Tianyu said, glancing at her. He’d never mentioned this before.

“When was that?”

“You weren’t home. He saw Luo’er. When he looked at her, he started crying, thinking of his own child.”

“Huh?” Yi Luo was stunned. She had met her would-be uncle before?

“You were too little to remember. The jade you used to wear when you were a child—he gave that to you.” As he spoke, Yi Tianyu lit a cigarette.

“That jade?” Yi Luo thought hard. Yes, she remembered one. She had later given it to Yue Xi.

“That was the finest white jade I’ve ever seen. He said it was a family heirloom, something he planned to give your aunt when they got married. But your aunt told him it didn’t matter who wore it—since they were one. So he kept it.”

Yi Luo thought to herself: So I gave Yue Xi a token of commitment way back then? I must never let her know. She’d be absolutely unbearable about it.

“Later, he gave it to you when he saw you,” her father continued, glancing up. “So… where is it now?”

Yi Luo shrugged. “I gave it to Yue Xi a long time ago.”

“Yue Xi?” her father’s eyes suddenly widened. “Is Yue Xi… an orphan?”

“Yeah,” Yi Luo replied, unsure why her dad was asking something he already knew.

“How old is she?” he asked, staring intently.

“Honey, you don’t think…” Yu Xiaohua’s voice faltered as something clicked in her mind. Yue Xi’s features…

Yi Luo quietly calculated, then answered, “She’s only three months older than me.”

“Tianyu, this can’t just be coincidence,” Yu Xiaohua said, still unable to believe it. She clearly remembered her sister holding that baby, telling her to take care of it. But she had never known what happened to the child afterward.

“I don’t believe it either,” Yi Tianyu said, trying to steady himself. If it were true, that would make Yue Xi his niece… and her and Yi Luo—

“No way…” Yi Luo finally understood. Her parents were suspecting that Yue Xi might be her aunt’s child. How could that be? Wasn’t she the daughter of that Su Niansheng?

“Have you ever asked her about her parents?” her father pressed. He thought the idea was far-fetched too, but something about Yue Xi—her demeanor, even her eyes—reminded him of that man.

“Yue Xi mentioned it briefly. Her grandparents raised her when she was little. Something happened later, and she came here with Sister Ning Ran,” Yi Luo shared everything she knew. That was all she needed to know. As long as Yue Xi stayed by her side, smiling just for her, nothing else mattered.

“Yue Xi and Ning Ran don’t look alike,” Yu Xiaohua noted, though she’d seen biological sisters who didn’t resemble each other before.

“Ning Ran and Yue Xi aren’t related by bl00d,” Yi Luo said brightly, her tone softening at the mention of Yue Xi. “Their bond is even closer than most biological siblings.”

“Oh?” Yi Tianyu thought of that precocious girl—too mature for her age. He used to see her lugging groceries alone, still just a child herself, taking care of another child. It was something that always tugged at the heart.

“I don’t think it’s her. What kind of family would send their child so far away? I remember your sister once said he was an only son, and his father was a prominent figure,” Yu Xiaohua reasoned. No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t link Yue Xi with her sister.

“Mm, I’m probably just overthinking. There’s no evidence. Plenty of people look alike. Luo’er looks just like her aunt, too,” Yi Tianyu tried to reassure both himself and his wife. “Sigh, we’ve been standing here talking so long. Let’s get back to what we came to do.”

The three of them, lost in their own thoughts, quietly wrapped up their brief memorial visit. No one brought up the topic again. But as if fate had other plans, the more they tried not to speak of it… the more it kept finding its way back into their lives.