Chapter 71 part1

If You Are a Dodder Flower Chapter 71 part1

Cao Yang made a fist and wanted to step forward, but Cao Xiong blocked his way.

Xia Rou’s voice sounded again. It was slow and calm.

“Uncle Cao… Though he was not my father, he gave me the protection of a father towards his child. And as for you, you gave birth to me and granted me life.

“Both kinds of gratitude, in my view, cannot coexist. I can only choose one and disappoint the other.

“In our country, we usually say that the gratitude of being given birth is greater than heaven. So if you wholeheartedly want to recognize me… I will tidy up my things and follow you. And henceforth, I will not step into the Cao Family any longer.”

Xia Hongjun became flustered immediately. The reason he wanted to recognize her was to build a bridge to reach out to the Cao Family, not to have her break all relations with them!

“How can that be!” he said quickly. “The Cao Family raised you. How can you be so cold-blooded?”

“Then do you acknowledge that I need to repay them the gratitude of love and care for my childhood?” Xia Rou asked.

“Naturally, as humans, we cannot be ungrateful,” said Xia Hongjun.

“Then… ” Xia Rou said, “Please disappear from my sight. From now on, don’t appear in front of me ever again.”

He was shocked. “What are you talking about? Isn’t it better to have both the ones who raised you and the one who gave birth to you? Why can’t they coexist?”

Xia Rou stared at him for a while. Her pitch-black eyes made him feel a chill.

His daughter then said, slowly, “Because I refuse to become the middleman between you and the Cao Family.

“I cannot… eat from the Cao Family, use from the Cao Family, spend from the Cao Family, ask them to raise me, and in the end use the Cao Family to compensate you.

“Whether it’s their money, authority, or their connections… Please don’t think of getting anything from here.”

Xia Hongjun was dumbstruck. Translated by The Novelst

At first, hearing of his daughter’s whereabouts, he had been a little nervous. On one hand he was uneasy, and on the other he was worried his wife would be unhappy.

But he had not expected to see his wife’s nephew much more passionate than himself.

Only afterwards did he see the reason behind his enthusiasm. His ex-wife had actually managed to climb a large tree after he abandoned her. His biological daughter was being raised in that powerful family and that family was someone even the Liang Family could wrack their brains and be unable to form a relation with.

So his heart began to palpitate with excitement.

Ever since the first time he had failed to bring Xia Rou back, Liang Ziheng had changed his attitude. He didn’t support the idea any longer. He didn’t know why, but the Liang Family and himself… had never been in the same boat, and were not standing together.

He had his own plans.

In this past month, he had spent some money to hire people to collect some information. All signs indicated that Xia Rou was living very well in that family.

Indeed, they loved her very much like she was one of their own children. That information strengthened his determination.

He pretended to be polite and compliant to Liang Ziheng and acted like he had listened to his advice, yet he came to look for Xia Rou alone.

He thought that no matter what, she was still his biological child. She didn’t have a father since she was young. No matter how persistent the resentment at the surface, inside her heart she must desire her father and would definitely come to look for him.

As long as he buttered her up nicely, treated her well to bring her back home, he could slowly draw out the relationship between her and the Cao Family.

But he never expected that his daughter who hadn’t even stepped into society yet and had been raised by a weak Cheng Wan would have such sharp eyes. She could immediately see through his calculations.

Xia Hongjun was thrown in a panic.

“Rou Rou, Rou Rou… It’s not like that…” He racked his brains looking for explanations.

“Enough!” A deep voice sounded.

Xia Rou stood up and softly called out, “Uncle.”

Xia Hongjun knew that the tall man who had walked in was who he wanted to connect with. He stood up immediately, bending at the waist slightly. “Commander Cao, I am…”

Cao Yang took a step forward to pull Xia Rou behind him.

“I know who you are,” Cao Xiong looked at Xia Hongjun and interrupted him. “Eleven years ago, we spoke on the phone.”

Xia Hongjun was once again dumbfounded.

“At that time, Cheng Wan had a miscarriage. It was your child…” Cao Xiong said. “I gave you a call and told you to come to the hospital, but you didn’t want to.”

Xia Hongjun began to sweat. Translated by The Novelst

Now that Cao Xiong brought it up, he faintly remembered that night. It was right before he had gotten married again.

A man had called to tell him that Cheng Wan was in the hospital. She became sick often and he was annoyed with her. He couldn’t even remember what he said on the phone, but he had hung up the call.

He looked at Xia Rou: “Your mother, she was… pregnant?”

Since Cao Xiong had stepped in, Xia Rou didn’t want to look at Xia Hongjun any longer. Her hands were held by Cao Yang and the person before her was also blocked by Cao Yang. She had lowered her head and remained silent.

She finally lifted her head to look at her father and say, “That time you left, my mother didn’t know she was pregnant. After that, her stomach grew bigger, and someone came to evict us from the house. My mother she…”

Her eyes lowered. “You know her… She felt she couldn’t live any longer and ran out into the road, thinking to end her life. That was how she miscarried. Luckily the person we encountered was Uncle Cao…”

So that was how it was.

Proofread by: Hannah