Sickness Chapter 24

Translator - Kate from dummytranslations
Editor - Chubby Dragon
Proofreader - SleepyMango123

2.4     Do you miss dad?




“Mr. Feng, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know this Ou Yu you speak of.” Mu Rou, who recovered her composure, made a very puzzled expression, not a single flaw to be seen.

But Feng Qi didn’t play according to normal sense. 

Or more specifically, he wasn’t planning on keeping her on tenterhooks. He had no intention of senselessly squandering time when he had pretty much determined the entire matter. When Mu Rou asked this, he said without a change in expression, “I’ll be frank, Ou Yu is my friend. People familiar with him know that he’s been looking for a woman all these years. I happened to see a picture of him and that woman once, in his wallet. Can you understand if I put it like that?”

His eyes clearly weren’t oppressive and his tone wasn’t coercive, but Mu Rou felt the hair on her back raise. Sometimes, communication between smart people was very simple. It was meaningless to continue this pretense.

In Mu Rou’s opinion, Feng Qi could at least speak up to here, so to a certain extent, he’d already drawn a conclusion and her answer wasn’t so important.

At this thought, Mu Rou’s ramrod back couldn’t help but soften. To be honest, it had been twenty years. Even if her feelings for Ou Yu back then were stronger, it would’ve dwindled down to nothing after so many years. Her impression of Ou Yu was stuck on twenty years ago. However, having the past suddenly mentioned to her face inevitably caused her to slightly overreact.

However, it was no big deal when she thought about it. Currently, she only wanted to take good care of her son. If she could see her son settle down and get married with her own eyes, she couldn’t be happier. Meanwhile, Ou Yu also had his own family and life. There should be no need for them to disturb each other.

Taking a deep breath, Mu Rou calmed down and looked Feng Qi straight in the eye with a serious expression, “Mr. Feng, since you already know, I won’t conceal it. I did have a history with Ou Yu, but it’s all over. Now, I just want to live happily with my son. I don’t want to disturb him, nor do I want him to disturb me. So, can you please tell me what happened to my son yesterday?”

Feng Qi’s eyebrows raised. He thought of the effort Ou Yu put in to find this woman, then at the woman in front of him who obviously wanted to make a clean break. Still, he didn’t want to express any opinions. After all, this was other people’s business.

As if, without much thought, he directly stated the process from when he met Hao Ritian yesterday till he sent him back today, including the fact that Hao Ritian and him had enjoyed physical relations. He had no intention of shirking the responsibility, but he didn’t explain in detail either that this had happened because Hao Ritian, who was drugged, wouldn’t let him go.

From Feng Qi’s standpoint, his self-control as a fully matured man still existed. Not to mention, being a senior inspector, he had undergone special training in police school. Both of them definitely carried responsibility for sleeping with each other last night, but as the clear-headed party, he should actually assume more responsibility. When all was said and done, he had been tempted too. So, if he made any more explanations, it would be rather unmanly.

Mere anger couldn’t be used to describe the look on Mu Rou’s face after Feng Qi finished his explanation. Her entire body was shaking. She couldn’t imagine, in less than a day, her son had actually experienced such a dreadful matter. She was grateful to Feng Qi for saving her son, otherwise, the consequences would be too horrible to contemplate. But she also couldn’t easily forgive him for laying a hand on her son.

However, if she were to vent her anger on Feng Qi, she rationally reminded herself, that would be utterly unfair.

Calm and reason had long left her face, but Mu Rou still made an effort to stifle and cover up her anger to ask, “Who in the world wants to harm Ziwen? He never provokes others. Why would someone use such a malicious way to treat him?”

Feng Qi didn’t deny the way Mu Rou worded it. Wasn’t this exactly malicious? If Mu Ziwen hadn’t met him yesterday or he didn’t help him, no one would’ve been able to anticipate the ultimate outcome.

He looked into Mu Rou’s reddened eyes and Feng Qi judged the matter as it stood, “For the time-being, I don’t know who did it either. As for if he’d accidentally provoked someone, I’ll have to ask you that. I also have to take some responsibility for last night’s incident so I will investigate this matter.”

Mu Rou looked at the direction of her son’s bedroom in a daze. For a while, she didn’t give any response and Feng Qi didn’t hurry her.

After Mu Rou turned away, she began to explain how she brought up her son alone and how her son had become autistic because he didn’t have a father and her inadvertent negligence. She said a lot of things incomprehensibly and was a total mess with her word orders. She didn’t know why she was suddenly saying these things. Maybe it was to vent the feelings in her heart which was so stuffy that it hurt, or possibly, she simply felt like the man in front of her was a qualified listener. In short, she said a lot about herself.

“Say, my son is so well-behaved, so obedient. He wouldn’t actively provoke others, so who would be so cruel to him?”

Feng Qi knitted his brows tightly, his mind still on the fact that Mu Rou said her son was autistic. He felt distressed by this and a subtle trace of pain streaked over his heart, though it didn’t arouse much attention from him. He only knew that he didn’t feel very comfortable at the moment.

A few details from the youth’s performance from yesterday to today finally had a reasonable explanation. But Feng Qi would’ve preferred the young man to have been simply introverted and not adept at communication than to be truly autistic.

As a senior inspector, he’d been exposed to myriad cases and understood a lot about autism. Naturally, he knew about the drawbacks of autism. He involuntarily recalled more particulars of when he interacted with the young man and the silhouette of the young man filled his mind for a split second.

It wasn’t until he heard Mu Rou’s voice become sharper that he came back to his senses. However, the importance he attached to this matter increased. His face turned stern and he said with a heavy voice, “I will find out the results by tomorrow, at the latest.” 

This was his unconventional way to give his guarantee.

However, the pain in Mu Rou’s heart wasn’t alleviated very much. No matter what was said, her son was still harmed. There was no way she would let the person who harmed her son off so easily. So, she wasn’t rejecting Feng Qi’s intention to help.

The atmosphere between them became stagnant after that. Mu Rou’s feelings about Feng Qi was too complicated, but currently, she hoped Feng Qi would leave. Not only did Feng Qi’s existence remind her that Ou Yu might possibly reappear, but more importantly, she wanted to be alone with her son now. Even if nothing was said, she wanted to be by his side.

But with Feng Qi having saved her son and guaranteeing to get to the bottom of things, it seemed immoral of her to kick him out, like she was burning the bridge after crossing it, and she couldn’t open her mouth.

Under those two mixed feelings, she had some difficulty sitting or standing still.

With Feng Qi’s level of observation, it was no sweat at all noticing her awkwardness. He didn’t mean to embarrass the woman, but out of his friendship with Ou Yu and his small affection for Mu Ziwen, he still meddled and reminded her, “I don’t know what happened between you and Ou Yu but he’s been looking for you all these years. He left his marriage as early as twenty years ago and is still single.”

He and Ou Yu had a large age difference. He was only thirty right now, the most attractive time for men, whereas Ou Yu was already in his forties. They only crossed paths because their families had some friendship, and it also due to the special nature of their jobs that he’d dealt with Ou Yu. Over time, they became close.

Therefore, Feng Qi was just a young boy in his early teens when Ou Yu and Mu Rou were together, and naturally didn’t know the disputes between them. He wasn’t a gossip lover either. If not for his friendship with Ou Yu later on, he never would’ve known about Mu Rou.

After all, those familiar with Ou Yu knew that he had been persistently searching for a woman all these years. Many people couldn’t understand his staunchness and persistence, since he would never lack women with his identity. Which was why people of the same clique as Ou Yu considered him infatuated.

But the reason why Feng Qi was being a busybody wasn’t only because of this. While Mu Rou was stumped from what he said about Ou Yu’s present state, he continued. Though his expression was light, the look in his eyes had darkened, “If I’ve guessed correctly, Mu Ziwen should be Ou Yu’s son, right? If that’s true, Ou Yu as Mu Ziwen’s father should have the right to know. Besides, Mu Ziwen’s experiences when he was young must inevitably be linked to how he is now. Can you really be certain he doesn’t need a father at all?”

His last question hammered into Mu Rou's heart like a heavy hammer. Didn’t she know best whether her son needed a father? When he was small and became sensible, he would often ask her about his father. But when did he stop bringing him up?

Clearly, there were signs everywhere. But why was she so thoughtless and didn’t notice them?

Mu Rou covered her chest, her eyes tearing up uncontrollably. When it came down to it, she too had been selfish, hadn’t she?

Feng Qi left it there. He didn’t want to force anyone into doing anything. Having said his piece, he stood up and glanced at Hao Ritian’s bedroom, “I should go.”

According to etiquette, If a visitor was leaving, the host and their family should send him off. Since Feng Qi had helped him, Mu Rou should call her son out to thank him in person. However, after knowing what transpired between Feng Qi and her son, she didn’t want to call her son out, even if she knew it was impolite.

After adjusting her emotions, Mu Rou thanked Feng Qi on behalf of her son, “I really must thank you this time, Mr. Feng. I hope when the results of your investigation comes out, you can inform me as soon as possible. Please.”

Feng Qi could tell that Mu Rou didn’t want him to get in touch with her son. He made an unintelligible noise and planned to take his leave, but at that exact moment, Hao Ritian opened the bedroom door. When he noticed Feng Qi hadn’t left yet, his eyes subconsciously moved away and his ears turned red.

Mu Rou noticed his expression and her heart thumped. Despite that, on the surface, she calmly asked her son to come over and give his thanks. It would’ve been fine if her son didn’t come out. But since he did and was seen, she naturally couldn’t pretend to have not seen him.

Hao Ritian walked to Mu Rou with his head down and his hands incessantly squeezing the hem of his jacket—a nervous behavior. Mu Rou looked at Feng Qi apologetically, “I’m sorry, Mr. Feng, Ziwen is shy with strangers. Please don’t mind him.”

Feng Qi stared at the bowed head in front of him and unexpectedly reached out to rub it. He took back his hand and spoke softly, “No need to send me off. I’ll be leaving now.”

The door opened then shut, and only Mu Rou and her son were left in the house.

Mu Rou held Hao Ritian’s hand to pull him onto the sofa and assessed him up and down with distress. Her sharp eyes discovered several obvious marks behind the collar of his coat. As an adult, she naturally knew how they came about, and her heart felt suffocated.

“Ziwen, what do you think of Mr Feng?” She asked tentatively.

Although Mu Ziwen was autistic, it was relatively better when it came to Mu Rou, who was his only close relative. Under Mu Rou’s many years of effort, normal communication with her wasn’t a problem.

Of course, Hao Ritian knew this, so after she finished her sentence, he looked up and said with a bit of embarrassment, “Mr Feng…is very good.”

He had always been this way. When it came to conveying his opinions, his vocabulary always appeared small. In actuality, this was simply one of his traits. He wasn’t good at expressing himself. If his vocabulary was truly small, how could he have been admitted to an elite school like Imperial University!

Mu Rou carefully considered his expression. She didn’t think it was good to ask too many questions, but her heart was worried. Her son had been inexperienced in affairs of the world from the get go, and now he’d experienced something like that last night. For a moment, she didn’t know how to handle this.

Her head aching, she could only ask about his life and studies as usual. When he became more relaxed, she hesitated for a long time before asking him, “Ziwen, do you…miss your dad?”

What Feng Qi said earlier left an impression on her mind. She couldn’t turn a blind eye to it. Feng Qi was right. Ou Yu had the right to know, and her son also had the right to choose.

Hal Ritian looked back at her with a blank expression, as if he didn’t understand why she was asking him this all of a sudden, while secretly, he was giving Feng Qi a big red flower in his heart. He hadn’t missed their dialogue so he knew that Mu Rou’s change of mind was largely credited to Feng Qi's serious blow earlier.

When it came to the crunch, this assistant, Feng Qi, was pretty nifty. With this, he was going to make rapid progress with his mission. Just based on that, his good impression of Feng Qi rose up.




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