The Sickly Beauty Gives Up Struggling [Rebirth] Chapter 195

“Who gave you the right to go through my drawers!”

“What’s your problem? This is my house—what can’t I look at?”

Xiao Muran agitatedly ran her fingers through her dark, flowing hair. Her young, beautiful face couldn’t hide her anger as she gritted her teeth and yelled at Cen Qing, “I told you not to touch my things!”

Cen Qing let out a cold laugh, his deep eyes filled with disdain. “Oh, so you do know how humiliating those hidden photos are. We’ve been married for years, and you’re still hung up on your ex-boyfriend.”

Xiao Muran’s weak spot was hit. She glared at Cen Qing, her eyes turning red. “If it weren’t for you—”

Cen Qing immediately cut her off. “Don’t you dare try to excuse yourself. You dumped him and then couldn’t let go. Wake up! He’s married with kids now, and so are you!”

“Cen Qing! Get out!”

“You think I want to stay here?”

With that, Cen Qing grabbed the coat hanging on the rack, his face ice-cold, and stormed downstairs. He knocked over a few decorations on his way out, slamming the door behind him with a loud bang.

Xiao Muran, wearing pajamas with her hair disheveled, suddenly squatted on the floor, covering her face and sobbing uncontrollably.

She looked so frail and sorrowful as tears streamed through her fingers, her eyelids and the tip of her nose flushed red from crying.

She knew she should take her antidepressants; she was losing control of her emotions again.

Six-year-old Cen Xiao stood downstairs, clutching a toy gun in his small hands. He said nothing, just tilted his head back to look at his mother’s breakdown.

It was his birthday today, but it seemed no one remembered.

At first, he didn’t understand why his parents were like this, because he had seen that Jian Fu’s family wasn’t like this at all.

But later, he understood. Even though he was only six, Xiao Muran and Cen Qing never worried about what kind of trauma they might be causing him during their emotional outbursts. They said everything, and Cen Xiao understood everything.

Eventually, as these scenes played out day after day, he grew numb.

He squeezed the toy gun tightly, hesitating. If he went back to his room, he’d have to go upstairs and pass by Xiao Muran, but he really didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire.

He glanced at the door.

From his parents’ arguments, he vaguely understood that the person who had turned his family into this—someone named Li Qingli—was also married now and had children.

He couldn’t help but wonder, Is that family’s child just like me? Watching their parents fight every day, feeling unwanted, ignored, and resented?

If there were someone else in this world who shared his pain, maybe it wouldn’t feel so bad.

He wouldn’t feel so alone.

So, he and Jian Fu secretly looked up Li Qingli and found out his address.

It seemed a little far from the Cen family home; the bus ride would take forty minutes.

Cen Xiao wanted to go and see.

As soon as he stepped forward, the sound of his slippers on the floor broke the silence.

“Cen Xiao! Get out of my sight right now!” Xiao Muran, losing control, lashed out at Cen Xiao.

Cen Xiao paused but didn’t turn around. Somehow, though, her voice seemed to echo in his head over and over, chilling him to the bone.

He closed his eyes for a moment, quickly took two steps forward, opened the front door, and ran out.

He thought, If Li Qingli’s child is like me, maybe I can help him escape this awful place.

I need to earn money as soon as I can. Then I can leave and we can rely on each other.

Cen Xiao got on the bus.

Normally, he was always driven by the family driver when he went out, but today he was going somewhere special—somewhere Xiao Muran couldn’t know about—so he could only take public transportation.

Although he was only six years old, his sense of caution was strong. For a child, taking the bus felt safer than taking a taxi.

He had a good sense of direction. After getting off the bus at the correct stop, he relied on the map in his memory to walk to the neighborhood where Li Qingli lived. He approached the house.

At that time, the villa community didn’t have walls; each yard was enclosed by knee-high white picket fences. From a distance, one could already see the arrangement of the yard’s furnishings.

Cen Xiao walked to the edge of the fence and stopped, catching sight of the people in the yard.

A handsome and kind-looking middle-aged man was holding a little boy in his arms. The boy, leaning against the man’s chest with his back to Cen Xiao, had soft, slightly golden hair that glinted under the sunlight.

The flowers and plants in the yard were meticulously trimmed. Near the mailbox, there was a small white swing and a child’s basketball hoop. It was clear that this was a warm and loving family.

“Son, do you want to play basketball? Dad can teach you,” Li Qingli asked in a gentle voice.

The boy, Li Rong, lay wearily in Li Qingli’s arms, resting his chin on his father’s shoulder. His eyes drooped as he shook his head faintly. “No.”

“How about playing on the swing?” Li Qingli asked again.

Li Rong immediately tightened his small hands on Li Qingli’s shirt. “No, no.”

Li Qingli sighed helplessly. “How about this? Dad will play with you for a while now, and then I’ll go to the study to work tonight. Is that okay?”

“No,” Li Rong refused without a second thought.

At this time, he had a slight cold and had taken some medicine, so he wasn’t feeling well. He needed extra attention from his parents compared to usual.

Gu Nong had just spent the entire morning looking after him and had finally managed to take a break to work, leaving the task of caring for Li Rong to Li Qingli.

As Li Qingli looked up, he saw Cen Xiao standing at the gate, looking somewhat dazed.

He lightly patted Li Rong’s back. “You’re already five years old. Look at the other kids—they’re all playing on their own, but you still want Dad to hold you.”

Li Rong finally lifted his chin and turned his face to glance behind him.

Cen Xiao saw him too.

A little face as delicate as porcelain—round and rosy—with big, clear, and beautiful eyes. His slightly pouting lips and soft hair swayed lightly in the summer breeze, accentuating his milky-white, tender skin and making him look exquisitely adorable.

This was Li Qingli’s son. He was held, pampered, and cared for until his skin was smooth and fair. He could throw tantrums at his parents, say no, and act spoiled.

Cen Xiao quickly turned his back and ran away in a hurry.

So it was only him. Li Qingli’s son was nothing like him.

An indescribable feeling welled up in Cen Xiao’s heart. It was as if he had been running in darkness for so long, thinking he could find a ray of light, only to discover it was all just an illusion.

But Li Rong’s face was deeply etched into his memory.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, he was in his first year of high school.

A High School, renowned in A City as a prestigious institution, gathered countless talented students and those with powerful family backgrounds every year.

That year, the most talked-about freshman at A High School was Li Rong, the son of Li Qingli, an honorary professor at the Hongsuo Research Institute, and Gu Nong. He was also the top scorer in the citywide entrance exam.

Li Rong’s fame wasn’t just due to his background but also his looks.

He was so stunningly attractive that many people thought he was incredibly lucky to be born into such a family, inheriting all the best traits.

Kids with ties to the Hongsuo Research Institute fawned over him, knowing his parents were powerful and influential.

“Li Rong, why don’t you ask the teacher to let you sit with me? You can use my desk for your stuff.”

 “Sit with me instead. I don’t know why the teacher paired you with Blue Pivot. Does he even deserve it?”

 “Li Rong, don’t walk so fast! You remember me, right?”

Li Rong glanced at the speaker with indifferent, slightly narrowed eyes, his cool, almond-shaped gaze radiating aloofness. “Sorry, I don’t know you.”

Cui Mingyang panicked. “How could you not remember? My parents are also at the Hongsuo Research Institute!”

Li Rong didn’t even bother looking at him again. He set his backpack on his desk, pulled out a pair of earphones from his pocket, and put them on. The milky-white earphone cords trailed neatly against his face, complementing the clean and tidy school uniform he wore.

Just as Cui Mingyang was drowning in awkward silence, thinking he wouldn’t get any response, Li Rong spoke in a calm tone: “I’m not interested in the Hongsuo Research Institute.”

Li Rong disliked the ongoing rivalry between the Hongsuo Research Institute and the Blue Pivot United Commerce Association. He also hated the cliques and factions that dominated the culture at A High School.

To him, it was all dull and ridiculous.

In his eyes, no one was worth allying with. The majority of people were noisy and immature.

Even though Li Rong wore earphones, he wasn’t actually playing any music. He simply wanted the people trying to cozy up to him to leave him alone as quickly as possible. He didn’t need friends.

He had heard that his new deskmate was a kid from the Blue Pivot side—someone named Cen Xiao.

He didn’t bother finding out what Cen Xiao’s family did or what status they held. He wasn’t interested.

Although they were deskmates, Li Rong figured they could coexist without interfering in each other’s lives. After all, he had far more interesting things to learn and no time to waste on irrelevant people.

Cen Xiao and Jian Fu stopped at the classroom door. Jian Fu patted Cen Xiao on the shoulder. “Hey, your deskmate.”

Cen Xiao didn’t reply, his gaze landing on Li Rong.

Li Rong was reading a book, his head slightly lowered, his eyelashes brushing softly against the strands of his hair.

He wore earphones and had a frosty, expressionless face, exuding an unapproachable aura.

Though the weather was scorching, Li Rong was dressed in the long-sleeved autumn uniform, with the cuffs rolled up just enough to reveal a sliver of fair skin.

As he flipped a page, his long, slender fingers with cleanly trimmed nails moved with elegance.

Jian Fu muttered, “Weird. Who wears so much in this heat and doesn’t even sweat? The Hongsuo kids are all freaks, huh?”

Unlike Li Rong, they had already switched to lightweight summer uniforms, their skin tanned from playing basketball in the sun.

Cen Xiao’s deep gaze lingered on Li Rong’s face—a face so exquisite and perfect that it overlapped with a memory of a child with porcelain-like features.

Willful. Spoiled. Clinging to his parents, unwilling to let go.

Jian Fu whistled lightly and said, “And he’s ranked first in the grade. No wonder he acts so arrogant. Should we find a chance to humble him?”

“He’s grown up,” Cen Xiao murmured, his Adam’s apple bobbing as his voice deepened.

Jian Fu didn’t catch that. “What’d you say?”

Cen Xiao squinted slightly, his thumb brushing against the bone of his forefinger as a flicker of unidentifiable emotion flashed in his eyes. “Coddled.”

And yet, there was an inexplicable desire rising within him—a desire to break him, shatter that cold façade, pierce through his stubborn gaze, and see him fragile, hurting, with reddened eyes.

Jian Fu was baffled. “What? Arrogant, sure, but where are you getting ‘coddled’ from?”

—

Years later, reminiscing about the past, Li Rong sat cross-legged across from Cen Xiao, teasing him with a playful question. “What did you really think of me when you first met? Just say it, I won’t get mad.”

Cen Xiao chuckled softly, brushing his fingers against Li Rong’s shoulder. “Like a little angel.”

Li Rong clearly didn’t believe him. He pressed a finger against Cen Xiao’s chin and huffed, “Liar.”

Cen Xiao pulled him into his arms, holding him tightly. “I mean it. I just couldn’t understand—why would an angel have to endure so much pain after descending to earth?”

Li Rong burst out laughing. “Team Leader Cen’s sweet talk is getting more and more refined, huh?”