What's Wrong With Rear-Ending Your Arranged Marriage Partner? He Totally Loves It - Chapter 53

Chapter 53: His heart was bleeding…

Song Cun had a fever all night, and Qi Yan stayed up the entire night to take care of him.

In the morning, Song Cun woke up for a while. Qi Yan personally fed him some millet porridge and was planning to rest with him for a bit.

Then, 2099 knocked on the door. “Master, Assistant Zhou has something to report to you.”

Qi Yan glanced at the time on his phone; it was not yet 8 a.m.

Assistant Zhou was reliable and thorough in his work; he wouldn’t come so early to report unless it was something extremely important.

“Please ask Assistant Zhou to wait in the study. I’ll be there shortly.”

Qi Yan tucked Song Cun into bed, helped him put on a new fever-reducing patch, and instructed 2099 to stay and watch over him before heading to the study.

Inside the study, Assistant Zhou looked travel-worn, as if he hadn’t slept all night. He hadn’t even had time to change his clothes. When he saw Qi Yan enter, he quickly bowed his head in greeting.

“Mr. Qi.”

Qi Yan sat down behind the desk and asked Assistant Zhou, “Did you find the person?”

“Yes,” Assistant Zhou replied. “The live-in housekeeper from Mr. Song Cun’s childhood retired six years ago to return to her hometown and care for her grandson.”

Assistant Zhou had rushed to the housekeeper’s small fishing village overnight and found her near the morning market.

Assistant Zhou placed a voice recorder he was holding onto the desk in front of Qi Yan, his expression grave. “This is the housekeeper’s account of what Mr. Song Cun experienced in the Song family…”

Qi Yan’s gaze fell on the voice recorder, his expression unreadable. He thanked Assistant Zhou for his hard work and dismissed him.

Assistant Zhou properly closed the study door as he left.

Qi Yan’s fingertip hovered over the play button of the voice recorder for a few seconds before he pressed it.

The housekeeper’s voice, full of sighs and heartache, played softly.

“Sigh, the second young master was actually a very pitiful child. The boss never liked him from the day he was born. He was so well-behaved and sensible as a child, but whenever the boss ran into something unpleasant with his business, he would come back after drinking and hit and scold the second young master.”

“The second young master was so small. When he was hit and scolded for no reason, he would inevitably cry out. But the more he cried, the harder the boss would hit him, even calling him a jinx since birth…”

“Didn’t the second young master’s mother step in or protect him?” Assistant Zhou couldn’t help but ask.

The housekeeper sighed again. “When the madam was pregnant with the second young master, she found out the boss was cheating, so… the madam didn’t have much affection for the second young master. Even when the eldest young master bullied the second young master, especially when it was too much, the madam would turn a blind eye and never protect him.”

The housekeeper seemed to be reliving some very painful memories. After Assistant Zhou’s persistent questioning, she continued.

“The second young master and the eldest young master’s birthdays were close, but the family only celebrated the eldest young master’s birthday and only bought toys for him. The eldest young master would rather throw away his toys once he got tired of them than let the second young master play with them.

Later, the second young master would just quietly watch cartoons in the living room. He especially loved Patrick Star and Doraemon, but the eldest young master would always turn off the TV when he was engrossed. The family had more than one TV; the eldest young master just did it on purpose.

One time, the madam was in a bad mood and scolded the eldest young master a few times before leaving. The eldest young master thought the second young master had tattled on him, so he locked the second young master in a pitch-black room. The eldest young master had already learned to smoke by then, and he actually…”

The housekeeper was so pained by the memory that she could barely continue.

“He actually used a cigarette butt to burn the second young master’s back… The young master was only a few years old then, so small, with delicate skin. I only found out when I was giving him a bath at night…”

“But I didn’t dare tell the boss or the madam about it. I knew they probably wouldn’t care. I could only secretly find some medicine to put on the second young master’s back, but it still left some scars.”

“At that time, the madam would often argue with the boss because she found out he had a mistress. But she finally made up her mind to divorce the boss. The young master must have been seven years old then. On the day the madam was packing her bags to leave, the second young master suddenly got a high fever. He could barely walk and stood at the door, begging his mother to take him with her.”

“Although the madam didn’t have much affection for the second young master, she wasn’t like the boss and the eldest young master. That day, maybe she had a moment of compassion and took the feverish second young master with her.”

“But a month later, the second young master was sent back because the madam had a new boyfriend, and that man didn’t want him, thinking he was a burden…”

“After the second young master was sent back, his life became even more difficult, as you can imagine… The boss already disliked him, and the eldest young master’s bullying became even worse.”

“The second young master was a resilient child. He endured the humiliation and focused on his studies. He was excellent in every subject. The family hired a piano teacher, and the second young master practiced hard and won many awards. Maybe he wanted to use these achievements to get his father’s attention, to gain his approval and change his opinion of him.”

“But the eldest young master was an idler himself and couldn’t stand the second young master being better than him. One time, the second young master had just returned with a trophy from a piano competition. The eldest young master snatched it and threw it on the ground. When the second young master bent down to pick it up, the eldest young master… he viciously stepped on his hand, breaking the second young master’s fingers…”

“The second young master fainted from the pain and developed a high fever. He was almost sent to the ICU at the hospital… The second young master’s left hand was left with a permanent injury after that, and he never touched a piano again…”

…

The sun was out, a warm day outside.

But inside the study, the temperature was ice-cold.

Qi Yan didn’t know how he managed to listen to the entire recording.

His expression didn’t change much, but the ink-black darkness in his eyes was as deep as an abyss.

His hand on the desk clenched tightly, the knuckles turning white from the force.

Before listening to the recording, he had mentally prepared himself. He knew he would hear things that would break his heart.

But at this moment, his psychological defenses still crumbled, inch by inch.

It felt as if someone had taken a sharp knife and stabbed him, causing his heart to ache violently.

Several images flashed through his mind.

Countless voices in his heart began with “No wonder.”

No wonder…

No wonder Song Cun liked those cartoon pajamas.

They were a fulfillment of a childhood he had missed out on…

No wonder when he said he hoped he could always be there for him, Song Cun’s reply was a response as quiet as a mosquito, “No one can stay with anyone forever.”

It was because even his mother, whom he called out for during a fever, had once abandoned him…

No wonder…

No wonder on the night of the charity gala, the high-definition surveillance video showed his trembling hand, and why he felt his back tremble when they embraced.

Those were the childhood nightmares that came back whenever Song Cun saw Song Huai smoking…

No wonder he never initiated playing the piano in the small living room. No wonder his fingers would tremble slightly after every practice session.

Qi Yan had thought that the young man in the hospital ward that year was just suffering from a fever, not that the left hand hidden under the blanket had just experienced the trauma of a broken finger…

He remembered when their relationship was about to progress further, Song Cun pushed away his hand that was reaching for his back, looking so frightened…

Everything, everything now had an answer.

But his heart was bleeding…