Chapter 43

Xiao Man clapped her hands and laughed, saying, "Okay, Mom, Xiao Man promises you, I'll only stay in our wooden house and won't run around recklessly."

The young woman then said, "You mustn't deceive Mom. If you say it, you must do it."

Xiao Man proudly raised her head and said, "Xiao Man never tells lies."

Hearing this, the young woman felt somewhat relieved and gave a few more instructions. She then turned to look at Xu Mo with a smile, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "Xiao Man is a very clingy child. Mr. Xu, please don't mind."

Xu Mo nodded, indicating his agreement. Seeing his cold attitude, the young woman didn't say more and turned to walk back home.

As soon as her mother left, Xiao Man immediately became lively, skipping over to the convenience bag, picking it up with one hand, and with great effort, lifting it to offer to Xu Mo, "Uncle, have some."

Xu Mo reached out to pat her little head, no longer being polite, and took the bag. Looking inside, he saw that it contained not only cakes, bread, and chicken legs but also lollipops, alphabet cookies, and other children's snacks.

These children's snacks actually made up more than half of the contents.

Xu Mo couldn't help but be surprised and amused. It seemed that these snacks were likely brought by Xiao Man on her own initiative, and her mother might not have known about it beforehand. Despite her young age, she was quite clever and more understanding than ordinary children.

Feeling warm inside, he found it inexplicably cozy to be with this child.

He was very hungry and didn't have time to consider the propriety of eating a child's food. He took a few steps back, leaned against the wall, and sat down, taking out a piece of bread and putting it in his mouth.

Xiao Man followed Xu Mo, and seeing him sit down, she sat on his lap, staring at him without blinking.

Xu Mo glanced at her and immediately stopped. He took a lollipop from the bag, peeled off the wrapper, and offered it to Xiao Man.

Xiao Man shook her head and said firmly, "I won't eat it, Uncle, you eat it."

Without hesitation, Xu Mo put it in her hand. Xiao Man had no choice but to take it, bring it to her mouth, and lick it with her tongue, her face lighting up with a smile.

Xu Mo felt a pang of sympathy and patted her head again. Xiao Man closed her eyes slightly, looking very content, and leaned against Xu Mo, her face pressed against his chest, and she wrapped her arms around his waist.

After a while, she suddenly seemed to remember something, sat up straight, and looked up at Xu Mo's face, saying innocently, "Uncle, will you marry my mom?"

Xu Mo was taken aback and immediately said, "That won't do."

"Why?" Xiao Man was puzzled.

Xu Mo smoothed out a few strands of her messy hair but didn't answer, thinking to himself, "Your mom is so rich, how could she look at me?" At this thought, he suddenly felt a pang of bitterness and said, "Is being rich so great? I have mastered the art of still breathing, and I am immune to cold and heat. I'm not necessarily worse than others."

Although he said this, he knew deep down that being rich was indeed very impressive. Not to mention other things, even now, without Xiao Man's help, he might starve to death in a few days.

The reason he thought this way was just his pride and stubbornness.

Xiao Man was still young. Although she was more understanding than ordinary children, she couldn't fully grasp the thoughts of adults. Seeing that Xu Mo didn't answer, she thought for a moment and said, "That Uncle Liu is a big bad guy. He pretends to be nice to Xiao Man, but behind Mom's back, he treats Xiao Man differently. Mom is rich, and he is nice to her just to get her money."

Xu Mo saw her, a young child, trying to speak like an adult, and found it oddly amusing. He thought to himself, "Children have no judgment, they just follow their feelings. If that Uncle Liu was after your mom's money, how could your mom not see it, but you, a child, could?"

He stroked Xiao Man's hair and asked gently, "Xiao Man, how old are you?"

Xiao Man snuggled against him and said innocently, "Mom says Xiao Man is four and a half."

"What about your dad?" Xu Mo asked again.

"Dad?" Xiao Man repeated, her lips pouting, her expression darkening, as if she was about to cry, and she said softly, "Dad is a big bad guy, he doesn't want Xiao Man and Mom anymore."

Xu Mo said, "Oh," and thought to himself, "So Xiao Man likes to use the term 'big bad guy' to describe people who are not good to her. She used it to describe that 'Uncle Liu' and now to describe her dad. It seems that her claim that 'Uncle Liu' was after her mom's money is just a child's imagination, a baseless accusation."

"Children's words can't be fully trusted. But why does she say her dad doesn't want her and her mom? Could it be that Xiao Man's mom is someone else's mistress? Or did her parents have a bad relationship and got divorced?"

But no matter which situation, it was not good for Xiao Man. Xu Mo looked at her, feeling even more sympathetic, and asked gently, "Where did your dad go?"

Xiao Man suddenly looked up at Xu Mo, then lowered her head and said sadly, "Xiao Man doesn't know."

Seeing her like this, Xu Mo felt a pang of sadness, as if he was affected by her, and asked again, "Didn't your mom tell you?"

Xiao Man shook her head and said, "No, Mom doesn't know either."

Xu Mo was taken aback, thinking, "How could your mom not know? She must think you're too young and that telling you about such things would be useless, so she doesn't tell you."

He didn't continue asking, but Xiao Man seemed to guess his thoughts and said, "Grandpa was sick, and Dad gave Mom a lot of money to treat Grandpa. Mom followed Dad, and then Xiao Man was born."

Hearing this, Xu Mo thought, "So Xiao Man's mom is indeed someone else's mistress."

But before he could finish this thought, Xiao Man continued, "Mom also said that after that, Dad left, so Xiao Man has never seen Dad. At first, Mom missed him a lot and looked for him for a long time but couldn't find him. Xiao Man thinks Dad is a big bad guy, who doesn't want Xiao Man or Mom. But Mom told Xiao Man not to hate Dad. She said Dad is a good person and must have disappeared..."

Disappeared!

Xu Mo, who was now very sensitive to the word "disappeared," felt a sudden shock. He thought, "Could Xiao Man's dad have also disappeared like Qin Ruolan's husband and Luo Shi? If Xiao Man is four and a half now, and based on what she said, if her dad really disappeared, it must have happened at least five years ago."

"I wonder if Xiao Man's dad's disappearance is related to Qin Ruolan's husband and Luo Shi's disappearance, and if it was done by the same people. Luo Shi once said on the phone that what those people did to her was ten thousand times worse than death. Since she said it was ten thousand times worse than death, it means she is still alive. So Xiao Man's dad might not be dead either. But even if he's not dead, if he has been living a life ten thousand times worse than death for five years, who knows what he has been through."

Xiao Man sensed his unease and quickly stopped, asking, "Uncle, what's wrong?"

"Uncle is fine," Xu Mo shook his head but didn't reveal his thoughts. Seeing that Xiao Man's mood was low, he quickly changed the topic and said, "Does Xiao Man go to school? What's your full name?"

Xiao Man's attention was immediately diverted. Since Xu Mo asked about something she was interested in, her mood quickly improved, and she said happily, "Xiao Man started kindergarten last year, and Teacher Zhou praised Xiao Man, saying Xiao Man is very smart."

Xu Mo knew that "Teacher Zhou" was Xiao Man's kindergarten teacher, so he ignored it. He smiled and patted her head, saying, "Yes, Xiao Man is very smart."

Hearing his praise, Xiao Man felt even happier, looked at Xu Mo, and then felt shy, hugging his waist and pressing her face against his chest, not daring to look up at him.

Xu Mo asked again, "What's your full name?"

Xiao Man still felt shy and didn't look up, saying softly, "Yang Xiaoman."

Xu Mo said casually, "So Xiao Man's dad's last name is Yang?"

"No," Xiao Man's expression darkened again, "Xiao Man doesn't know Dad's last name."

"So Xiao Man follows Mom's last name," Xu Mo understood immediately. He felt a bit guilty, realizing that his questions had brought up Xiao Man's sad memories.

Xiao Man suddenly remembered something, looked up at Xu Mo, and asked, "Uncle, will you be Xiao Man's dad?"

She stared at Xu Mo, her eyes wide with expectation.

Xu Mo wanted to refuse outright, but seeing her expectant eyes, he couldn't bear to and said tactfully, "Your mom won't agree."

Xiao Man understood the meaning of his words and said earnestly, "Uncle, I don't want you to marry Mom. Can't you just be Xiao Man's dad?"

She looked at Xu Mo with a pitiful expression, waiting for his answer.

Xu Mo hesitated. He wasn't married and didn't know how to be someone's dad. But seeing Xiao Man's pitiful look, he didn't know how to refuse. In this situation, if he said no, who knows how sad Xiao Man would be.

Xiao Man saw his expression and seemed to understand something, saying, "I don't care, I want Uncle to be my dad."

She tightly hugged Xu Mo, regardless of whether he agreed or not, and called out, "Dad, Dad."

Xu Mo smiled bitterly, not knowing what to do, and let her be, thinking, "You can call me, but I won't agree."

——

PS: This chapter may seem very watered down, and I also feel it is. But actually, it contains a lot of information, more than the previous chapters, so it was particularly difficult to write.

I tried my best to lay down many seemingly watered-down foreshadowings in such a watered-down text.