"Wear more clothes. Don't think about those messy things for now." Lan Ting looked up and asked her, "Didn't you say you were going to the Civil Affairs Bureau today? How did you arrange it?"
"The trip was cancelled today."
Lanting nodded and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ye Qing's decision is the wisest. You two are not in a hurry at all."
The two chatted as they walked inside. Madam Lanting said, "In two days, there will be my birthday party. It's rare for me to come back, and after the New Year, I have to go back to Country M. So, your uncle is planning to give me a good birthday party this time."
Xia Xingchen only just found out the exact date of her mother's birthday.
I felt guilty, but the next moment, I felt deeply reluctant.
"You want to go back to Country M?"
"There are a lot of things to do over there. I've already taken such a long leave, I can't delay any longer."
"Then..." She glanced at the old man in the greenhouse, "Does Dad know?"
Lan Ting shook his head and looked at Bai Qingrang. The cold wind blew past, and his eyes turned slightly red. Nostalgia and reluctance seeped out. "I want to wait until he is better before talking to him. By the way, you should take the children over there in two days. By then, there will be media present. They are our media. You should clarify things in front of the media. In this situation, if Ye Qing comes out to clarify for you, everyone will only think that he is stupid and biased towards you, which will further arouse people's anger towards you. You tell the media yourself. Whether they believe it or not is their business, but at least they won't be so angry. After this, don't say anything about this matter anymore. Just wait for him to calm down."
"I'm just afraid that saying this now will have an impact on the outcome of his impeachment."
"It does have some influence on the direction of public opinion. But this time the media are all from the political party here, and I have specifically told them to be careful with their wording. On your birthday, Ye Qing should not show up for the time being, lest the media single out the two of you for a big fuss again."
"Okay. He's been busy lately, so it's fine as long as you don't mind his absence."
… … … … …
After lunch, Xia Xingchen led Xia Dabai out of Zhongshan's house.
She took off the scarf from her neck and tried to wrap it around Dabai's neck. Xia Dabai pushed it back and tiptoed to put the scarf back on her neck.
His movements were a bit clumsy, and standing on tiptoes looked very difficult.
She saw it and felt warm in her heart.
"I'm not cold, you can put it on." Xia Xingchen was about to take it off again.
"No! You've caught a cold!" Xia Dabai glared at her angrily with his childish eyes. He looked like a replica of Bai Yeqing. Xia Xingchen didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Stupid Dabao, I've only been apart from you for one day and you've already caught a cold. You're really a stupid woman who can't take care of yourself!"
He muttered as he put a scarf around her neck.
Xia Xingchen's heart was warm, and even her eyes were filled with warmth. She squatted down, touched the child's face, sniffed, and sighed softly: "It's a good thing you weren't with me yesterday..."
If Xia Dabai knew that she was bullied by those people yesterday, he would probably be heartbroken.
"Humph! It's not that I wasn't with you yesterday, it's that you left me without saying a word!"
The little guy snorted and raised his head high, looking like he was angry with her.
"Don't be angry with me. I'm miserable right now." She pretended to be pitiful. "Your Xiaobai is still angry with me now. If you get angry with me too, no one will pay attention to me. I will be very sad."
When Xia Dabai heard this, his eyebrows relaxed a little. He lowered his head slightly and looked at her.
He blinked twice, and then slowly said, "I know why Xiaobai is angry with you."
“…” Xia Xingchen was stunned.
Did he see those photos on the news? She didn't want the child to see them. Although nothing happened between her and Yu Zenan, those photos...
She was afraid that the child would misunderstand her and she didn't want her image to be tarnished in the eyes of the child.
She took a deep breath, moved her lips, and thought about how to explain to him.
"Dabai, things are not what you see..." She wanted to explain, but she didn't know how to explain such a thing to a child who was less than five years old.
"Stupid woman." Xia Dabai raised his hand, placed his small hand on her head, and rubbed it gently, as if to comfort her. "Dabao, you don't have to explain. I believe you."
The simple words "believe" made her eyes redden and tears fell immediately.
She felt ashamed to cry so recklessly in front of her son, and she was afraid of scaring the child. She lowered her head and looked for a tissue. Xia Dabai had already taken out a small square towel from his pocket to wipe her tears.
She took his hand and squeezed it, then held the child in her arms.
Xia Dabai held her neck tightly with his two little hands. After a long while, Xia Dabai spoke softly: "Dabao, Xiaobai is angry with you, don't be sad. If he doesn't believe you, I will believe you too. And grandpa and grandma..."
Having said this, he paused.
A little lost.
He looked a little sad.
"It doesn't matter if grandpa and grandma don't like you. Anyway, I'm on your side. Wherever you go, I'll go. If you don't like it here, then in the future..." He wanted to say that he would not come here in the future, but he moved his little mouth and finally said, "In the future, I will not come here often, okay?"
His grandparents love him, and he can't just say he doesn't want them anymore.
At this moment, Xia Xingchen finally understood why he brought the stone down. He was probably in a bad mood with his grandparents because of her.
She burst into laughter.
"With you standing by my side, it doesn't matter who doesn't like me. I am 100% satisfied as long as I have you."
Xia Dabai obviously didn't believe it, and said angrily, "Really?"
"real!"
"I don't believe it. If Xiaobai doesn't like you anymore, you will be miserable."
“…Who said that? If he doesn’t like me, then he doesn’t like me. I won’t be sad.” Someone stood up, led him forward, and retorted stubbornly.
"Tsk~" the child thought it was not right. "Look at your eyes. You've been crying a lot these past two days! Xiaobai doesn't believe you. Does that make you sad?"
Xia Xingchen touched his eyes and asked, "Is it so obvious?"
Xia Dabai raised his little head and gave her an expression that said, "See, I knew it would be like this."
"Actually, Xiaobai didn't disbelieve me, but I was at fault first. So, he's still mad at me." Xia Xingchen was distressed when he mentioned this. He lowered his head and glanced at his son, asking without shame, "Hey, Dabai, do you have any tricks to coax your Xiaobai and ask for his forgiveness?"