Chapter 4: Find an Opportunity to Do a Paternity Test

As soon as the words left her mouth, Xia Xi regretted it; she had been too nervous just now, thinking the child who ran over was……

Looking again at Xu Yanfeng, his eyes full of scrutiny, Xia Xi panicked to the extreme, wanting to make amends but not knowing how to smooth it over. Clearly, Xu Yanfeng had already grown suspicious.

Tang Yizhou couldn't even bother with his meal, grabbing a handful of melon seeds to come watch the show; he just wanted to know, after years apart, how Xu Yanfeng would punish that woman who started things and then abandoned them. Watching and watching, he realized the situation's development far exceeded his expectations.

He felt things were going badly; Xu Er wouldn't end up failing again, would he?

The atmosphere stalled; Xu Yanfeng and Xia Xi stared at each other, neither speaking again.

After a long while, Xu Yanfeng was still the first to break the silence: "Xia Xi, aren't you going to explain? Why are you so nervous? Why are you hiding the child's age? What are you covering up? Is she my child?"

Xia Xi's face turned pale: "No, she isn't. I remembered wrong……"

Xu Yanfeng stared fixedly at her eyes: "Really?"

The little girl, unaware of what was happening, grabbed Xia Xi's finger and shook it, her eyes full of curiosity: "Mommy, is he my dad?"

Xu Yanfeng's attention returned to the little girl; his words, spoken with an unconscious gentleness and patience, were: "You've never seen your father?"

"Mommy said my daddy went far away……"

Xia Xi promptly covered Youyou's mouth, narrowing her eyes to remind her not to speak. Youyou was very sensible, uttering an "mm", closing her little mouth, her clear eyes blinking.

Xia Xi took a deep breath; facing Xu Yanfeng, her expression was much calmer than before: "Little children don't understand things, Mr. Xu, don't get the wrong idea. I'll say it again—she is not your child."

Xu Yanfeng was about to say something when a slightly tense voice interrupted: "Sister!"

Xia Xi looked toward the sound and saw Xia Xuan running over, holding up her skirt.

Xia Xuan saw Xu Yanfeng, her eyes widening involuntarily: "He… he wasn't my sister's college boyfriend? How did he end up here?"

She had just gone to the restroom; returning to the banquet hall, she didn't see her sister, and only after asking did she learn that a man had pulled her away. Feeling a bit worried, she came out to look.

When Xu Yanfeng was dating her sister, he had once come to their home, so Xia Xuan had a deep impression of him. His face was still the same, but compared to back then it had gained a mature flavor, his brows and eyes more profound, his demeanor even more…… aloof, that aura of keeping strangers at a distance very strong.

It was clear he was suppressing his anger at the moment; Xia Xuan didn't know what they had talked about, but she guessed it hadn't been pleasant.

She felt a little wary of Xu Yanfeng, but for her sister's sake she mustered courage to stand between them, forcing a smile to smooth things over: "Xu… Mr. Xu, today is my big day; if you don't mind, please come in for a cup of wedding wine. If there's anything… we can talk about it later, okay?"

Tang Yizhou, watching the spectacle, blinked: "Who exactly is getting married today?"

Xia Xuan didn't know why he'd ask that: "Of course it's me."

Xu Yanfeng froze for a moment, his gaze shifting back and forth between Xia Xi and Xia Xuan, only then realizing he had misunderstood.

The sisters resemble each other by about thirty to forty percent; wedding photos are usually heavily retouched, to the point that Xia Xuan was edited to look seventy to eighty percent like Xia Xi, so at first glance one would think the bride in the photo was Xia Xi.

What's more, the initials of their names are exactly the same.

Tang Yizhou also realized he had made a blunder, rubbing the tip of his nose, not daring to look at Xu Yanfeng, and glancing elsewhere.

*Xu Yanfeng didn't accept the invitation to drink the wedding wine; instead he followed Tang Yizhou away to attend his cousin's child's full-month celebration.

Watching the two men enter the elevator, Xia Xuan patted her chest and let out a long sigh of relief, then turned to Xia Xi and voiced her doubt: "Sister, how did Xu Yanfeng end up here?"

Xia Xi went limp all over, stepping back until her back hit the wall; she didn't want to speak, just shaking her head.

Xia Xuan pursed her lips, sensibly dropping the line of questioning. In the elevator, Tang Yizhou had his hands in his pockets, his gaze scrutinizing Xu Yanfeng's inscrutable face, weighing his words again and again before asking: "You haven't forgotten that bad woman Xia Xi, have you?"

Xu Yanfeng's attitude toward Xia Xi was too strange—not like hatred, more like unfulfilled longing and jealous fury. Upon learning that today wasn't Xia Xi's wedding, it was as if he had set down some burden, his whole person becoming unusually calm.

The more Tang Yizhou thought about it, the more he felt things were going wrong; if this continued, Xia Xi would resort to her old tricks again, playing Xu Er in the palm of her hand.

No, he couldn't let Xu Er decline again as he had back then.

Xu Yanfeng basically hadn't heard what he said; his mind was full of that cute little girl, and Xia Xi's strong reaction made it obvious she was hiding something.

"I suspect that child is mine." Xu Yanfeng suddenly spoke.

The elevator doors opened; Tang Yizhou's foot that had stepped out pulled back, his neck turning stiffly like a robot's to look at him, and he said slowly: "You… say… what?"

What he really wanted to say was, "Are you crazy?! Even if Xia Xi were a mother, that child couldn't possibly be Xu Yanfeng's. Doesn't he remember that woman back then was fooling around with another man, caught in bed by him! And still had a crowd of onlookers! That kind of shame—no man could forgive it."

"How could that be?" Tang Yizhou said. "You're definitely overthinking it."

Xu Yanfeng pinched his brow, his thoughts in turmoil, and unconsciously mentioned that man's name: "That child doesn't look like Zhou Du; he definitely isn't his."

The man Xia Xi cheated with was Zhou Du, her childhood friend. Tang Yizhou truly admired Xu Er, admiring him to the point of wholehearted devotion—how could he remain so calm while uttering the name of the man who gave him a green hat?

Tang Yizhou cut straight to the point, bursting his fantasy: "But I see that child doesn't look like you either, so how do you just conclude it's yours?"

Xu Yanfeng: "Intuition."

Tang Yizhou rested his forehead on his hand, feeling like "the mute's mother opening the door for the mute"—utterly speechless.

Xu Yanfeng lowered his eyelids, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pants pocket, tapped out one, held it between his lips and lit it; fingers pinching the cigarette, he exhaled a puff of pale blue smoke, his gaze deep.

After a while, he opened his mouth and said: "I will find an opportunity to do a paternity test."

Directly asking Xia Xi wouldn't work; that woman never speaks a word of truth.

Tang Yizhou finally got the chance to say what he'd held back earlier: "You're really crazy."

Xu Yanfeng always says what he means and means what he says; once he decides, no one can persuade him otherwise, and Tang Yizhou didn't try to dissuade him from the paternity test idea, merely asking: "If that child isn't yours, what will you do? If it is yours, what will you do?"

He and Xia Xi are long since past; does it matter whether the child is his? For others, they'd be glad to have no child and feel light, but he's rushing to acknowledge the child, just to bring trouble upon himself.

His brain is sick, and the illness is not mild.

*After the wedding banquet ended, Xia Xi was exhausted to the point of collapsing, more tired than if she had organized the wedding herself.

She had just settled the groom's relatives who had nowhere to stay, then drove, carrying her grandmother and mother as well as the two children, back to her residence.

In the car, the two children were asleep; Su Jinru lowered her voice and asked: "I heard from your grandmother that Xiao Xu came looking for you?"

At that moment she had just taken Zi Heng to the restroom, so she didn't see.

"'Xiao Xu…… Su Jinru used to call Xu Yanfeng that."

Xia Xi's gaze dimmed, she gave an "uh", her spirits low.

"You and Xiao Xu were on good terms back then; if it weren't for your father dragging you down, you wouldn't have broken up with Xiao Xu." Su Jinru felt heartbroken for her daughter, speaking and speaking until her eyes reddened: "Xi Xi, what are you thinking? Xiao Xu, after all, is the child's father……"

(End of chapter)