After Playing the Fool and Marrying the Blind Villain [Transmigration] - Chap 102
When Pei Yi woke up, Bo Yueming was still sleeping.
His lover drank a lot of wine the night before, and the two had held each other and talked until midnight. It was rare that he was still asleep at this time.
Pei Yi stared at Bo Yueming’s profile, slowly regaining his senses after sleeping, and gave him a soft good morning kiss on the corner of his mouth before quietly going to the bathroom to wash up.
“Meow-wu~”
“Shh, be good.”
Pei Yi gingerly opened the door of the master bedroom, and Inspector, who rarely slept in, followed him out.
In the dining room on the first floor, Uncle Kai had prepared an exquisite breakfast as usual.
Lin Zhong, who was eating, saw Pei Yi and greeted him at once. “Little Sir, you’re up? Where is Mr. Bo?”
Pei Yi sat in his usual seat and said, “Still sleeping. Does he have any work arrangements today?”
Lin Zhong recalled Bo Yueming’s work schedule and shook his head. “Not much. Mr. Bo told me privately that if the Third Young Lady can handle matters, there is no need to send them to him.”
Pei Yi understood Bo Yueming’s good intentions behind these words and said straightforwardly, “Please help me push off all his work today so that he can have a good rest.”
Uncle Kai brought out the fried steak and asked worriedly, “Sir, did the Second Young Master encounter any difficulties? I saw that there was something wrong with him when you came back last night.”
And when he was cleaning upstairs this morning, he found wine bottles in the living room.
Uncle Kai didn’t know much about wine, but he recognized the brand of the empty bottle. It had always been Bo Yueming’s favorite to get drunk on when he was troubled or worried.
Pei Yi took a sip of warm water and said, “His biological mother showed up.”
“…….”
Uncle Kai and Lin Zhong were both shocked.
As Bo Yueming’s most trusted housekeeper and subordinate, the two of them had long been like family members. They would not spread this matter casually, and were more worried about Bo Yueming’s feelings.
Lin Zhong said haltingly, “W-what?”
Uncle Kai was also tense. “The Second Young Master’s mother is still alive? Then what does she want, coming to China to find the Second Young Master at this time? Is the Old Madam aware?”
Pei Yi had no appetite, so he just stroked Inspector on his knees. “Grandma probably doesn’t know yet. I’m also curious about why she came to China…..”
He paused, his eyes unconsciously shifting toward the master bedroom on the second floor. “Lin Zhong, I have something I want to ask you to do.”
Lin Zhong was moved. “Little Sir, I understand.”
Pei Yi nodded slightly, and after a few simple explanations, he changed the topic to daily matters. “Uncle Kai, did you make porridge today?”
Uncle Kai nodded. “Yes, I thought the two of you might have drank wine last night, so I got up to specially prepare some.”
Hearing this, Pei Yi said, “Then let’s have porridge and side dishes as well as this steak. I’ll take it up to eat with Er-ge in a while.”
“Yes, Little Sir.”
. . . . . . . .
Ten minutes later.
Pei Yi returned to the living room on the second floor with a full plate.
Inspector saw Bo Yueming coming out of the master bedroom and immediately greeted him, “Meow-wu~”
Pei Yi turned his head and met Bo Yueming’s gaze with a smile. “Er-ge, when did you wake up? I was just thinking about going in to wake you up.”
Bo Yueming came closer and hugged his lover, burying his face in his neck. “I woke up not long after you got up. If I’m not holding you, I’m not able to sleep peacefully.”
This 1.9 meter tall person was still so clingy.
Pei Yi rubbed his head with some enjoyment, and inquired, “Then why didn’t I see you looking for me in a hurry? Aren’t you afraid I’ll sneak away, ah?”
Bo Yueming kissed his earlobe with a hint of joy. “No, you said you would stay with me forever.”
And when he went to the bathroom to wash up, he found that his lover had prepared his dental kit in advance. The small details of daily life always made him feel the warmth of being loved.
“Meow-ao-wu!”
Inspector was greedy for the aroma of breakfast. Seeing its two masters hugging each other, it couldn’t bear it anymore and approached to complain. “Ao-wu-meow!”
Pei Yi lowered his head and saw the eager look on his greedy little cat’s face. He couldn’t help but laugh, “Er-ge, do you want to have breakfast first?”
Bo Yueming also heard Inspector’s urging. “Okay, I’ll open some canned fish for Inspector.”
“En.”
The two of them enjoyed some rare free time while eating breakfast.
Pei Yi watched Bo Yueming drinking porridge, and thought for a moment before deciding to speak honestly. “Er-ge, I want to go see her on your behalf. Is that okay?”
The “she” he spoke of was very evident.
Bo Yueming paused slightly while eating, and his eyes darkened.
Pei Yi set down his knife and fork and took the other’s hand. “I don’t want you to be trapped by the questions in your heart for the rest of your life. Even if the answers are unbearable, I will face them for you, okay?”
Bo Yueming held his hand back, still thinking in silence.
Pei Yi vowed once more, “Er-ge, others may leave you, but I never will.”
The one who started the trouble should end it.
Bo Yueming understood this better than anyone else, and also knew best the mark the other person had left on his heart.
He met the eyes of his lover, which only held Bo Yueming in them, and said in a whisper, “Okay.”
. . . . . . .
3p.m. Moka Cafe.
It was clearly during normal business hours, but there was a sign on the door that said, “Closed for a reservation.”
Cynthia clutched her small handbag and carefully stepped into the private room section on the second floor under the guidance of a waiter.
As soon as the white gauze curtain was opened, she could clearly see the figure inside the box.
Pei Yi met Cynthia’s eyes and stood up proactively. “Hello, I’m Will. My Chinese name is Pei Yi.”
“H-Hello.”
Cynthia recognized Pei Yi’s face, but still glanced outside the box with concealed expectation.
Pei Yi knew what she was thinking, and said, “He didn’t come. It’s just me.”
There was a glimmer in Cynthia’s eyes, which was quickly hidden.
Pei Yi gestured and said to her in fluent English, “Ms. Cynthia, please have a seat. I’ve ordered an iced Americano for you in advance, is that all right?”
This was Bo Yueming’s favorite kind of coffee.
“Thank you.”
Cynthia didn’t refuse, and only looked at the young man in front of her courteously. “You, you’re Yueming’s lover?”
The two Chinese characters “Yueming” were pronounced a bit slowly, but were very standard, as if they had been practiced.
Pei Yi instantly recalled Bo Yueming’s resistance to being called “Ryan” the other day, and there was suddenly a trace of speculation in his heart.
He looked across at Cynthia and replied, “I’m not his lover, but his partner. He and I are the kind of partners who intend to marry and spend the rest of our lives together.”
“Partner?”
When Cynthia heard this more intimate and definite term, a gleam of moisture appeared in her eyes. “That’s wonderful, I wish you all the best.”
Soon after, the waiter brought over the iced Americano.
Cynthia politely thanked the waiter, and seemed to want to break the silence. “When I was young, I would drink a glass of this concentrated iced Americano every day.”
This was because the low-quality iced Americanos on the street were cheap and large, and could sustain her all day.
Cynthia seemed to be caught in a memory. “Yueming, he always liked to secretly take a sip when he was a child, and then he would frown at the bitterness.”
When Pei Yi heard her say this, he thought of Bo Yueming drinking coffee every day without a change of expression. He couldn’t tell at the moment if time had left its mark on this person or if it had changed his habits.
“Ms. Cynthia, please forgive my bluntness. I invited you to meet today because I want to use my status as a spouse to clarify some things.”
Pei Yi had gotten up early and asked Lin Zhong to find a way to contact Cynthia. When the other party went to the hotel from the previous day to inquire, he found that she had left her contact information at the front desk.
After Lin Zhong sent the invitation to meet in the afternoon on Pei Yi’s behalf, Cynthia agreed almost instantly.
Cynthia rubbed the edge of her coffee cup and seemed to have already prepared. “Yes, I had thought so.”
Pei Yi did not deliberately mention Bo Yueming’s longing and pain over the years, and only acted as a qualified listener.
“You can speak slowly, and I’ll listen. There is only one thing—”
“If you still have a small place for him in your heart, then don’t lie, okay?”
“…….”
Was this possible?
How could she?
Cynthia took a deep breath. “I met Bo Lihong when I was in university. He was more considerate than any suitor I had even known, and I fell almost uncontrollably into the sweetness he gave me.”
From acquaintances to falling in love, and from lovers to an unexpected proposal.
Bo Lihong even promised to marry her officially after they graduated.
“But once the romantic period passed, our quarrels began to increase by the day. Every time we fought, it would end in a cold war. When I was young, I didn’t understand. Later, I realized that this was all his strategy to force me to break up with him.”
Pei Yi frowned slightly. There was no doubt that Bo Lihong was a scumbag.
“The last time we fought was on our anniversary. We had obviously just spent a beautiful night together, but there was a huge quarrel the next day and he never came back.”
Bo Lihong returned to China without saying goodbye, which also declared the end of their relationship.
“I tried to let go of the relationship under the persuasion of my friends, but within two months, I found out that I was pregnant.”
She had obviously taken safety precautions, but the heavens seemed to have played a big joke on her.
“I suffered and struggled, but I ultimately couldn’t bear to let go.”
Firstly, because Cynthia was still so attached to her first love, Bo Lihong, and secondly, because Cynthia was a very devout Christian.
She was unwilling to harm an innocent life.
It was just that facts proved that people always had to pay a corresponding price for their choices.
“My father passed away not long after Yueming was born, and my mother suffered from diabetes, which was not suitable for extended work, and required long-term medical expenses.”
“Although the family still had some savings at that time, we couldn’t just watch them run out.”
Under these circumstances, Cynthia, who was already on leave from school, had to drop out for the sake of her child. This was the beginning of her fateful ordeal—
She was a single mother, she had not graduated, and her major was in art.
Cynthia’s job search in order to take care of the infant Bo Yueming was particularly difficult. When Bo Yueming was occasionally sick, she had to take time off to accompany him.
“But I didn’t feel bitter, and I didn’t focus on my regrets. I just hoped that he could grow up soon so that I could devote more time to work and save more money.”
It was a pity that heaven did not grant her wish.
“Yueming may not even remember it, but when he was five years old, he had a severe respiratory infection and a high fever. At that time, I used up almost all my savings.”
“Six months later, my mother passed away.”
“Later, I learned from my neighbor that she couldn’t bear to see me working so hard, so in order to save money for Yueming and me, she stopped taking the medicine she had been using to lower her blood sugar.”
When she spoke of this, Cynthia still choked up.
If she could still support herself when her mother was alive, then her mother’s death completely crushed her.
Cythia’s mood became more negative and depressed by the day, and she began to have uncontrollable regrets. Why did she have to fall in love with Bo Lihong and give birth to Bo Yueming?
She was obviously pretty good-looking, and if she persisted in continuing her studies, she would have a better and broader world.
“I realized that I was mentally ill, but I didn’t have the money to get treatment. And I didn’t want treatment either.”
Cythia began to give up on herself, and in the end, Bo Yueming’s existence could not bolster her will to live. “On Yueming’s sixth birthday, I did a very stupid thing—”
Pei Yi spoke up for the first time as a listener, “He said you took him to the beach and sat on the rocks on the coast for a long time?”
“Yes, because I wanted to take him with me……”
Cynthia took a deep breath, and there was a complex and regretful expression on her face. “…..To leave this world.”
“…….”
Pei Yi remained silent.
Bo Yueming’s guess at that time was correct. Cynthia actually had the impulsive idea to “leave with him.”
Cynthia covered her face.
Thinking about it again, she still felt how selfish and stupid she was back then. “I was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to survive without me, which was why I had such a premature thought.”
It was only Bo Yueming’s repeated call of “Mom” that made her put an end to this impulsive, foolish idea.
Cynthia said frankly, “I couldn’t let him go, but I couldn’t live anymore.”
Thus, she sent a letter to her friend overnight, attaching the information she had learned about Bo Lihong’s family situation in China and his address, and then left the six-year-old Bo Yueming alone at home.
Cynthia knew that she was a cowardly mother, and the only courage she had left was her death wish.
Pei Yi had a deeper understanding of the past between the mother and son. “Then what?”
Cynthia didn’t hide anything. “When I woke up again, I was in the hospital.”
Cynthia had still chosen to jump into the sea, but fortunately or unfortunately, she was rescued by people passing by to swim.
Because her severe drowning led to pulmonary edema and infection, she remained in a coma in the hospital for nearly twenty days, and it was already a month later when she regained consciousness.
“Later, I learned that my friend didn’t immediately receive my letter, and Bo Yueming had stayed alone in the house for a week.”
Cynthia’s eyes reddened. The only thing that could comfort her was that—
Old Mrs. Bo recognized little Bo Yueming. With the Bo family assets, Bo Yueming would have his needs taken care of.
It was only that Cynthia wasn’t aware of the grievances within the Bo family, let alone the difficult situation Bo Yueming was in as the “new arrival.”
“After I came back from the gates of hell, I didn’t feel lucky. Instead, I fell even further into the extreme and impulsive idea of ending my own life.”
As Cynthia spoke, she slowly took the watch off of her left hand.
There were two scars, one deeper than the other.
The second one was at the base of the first.
“…….”
Pei Yi stared at the scars on her wrist and immediately understood what she wanted to express.
Cynthia didn’t explain her pain too thoroughly, but simply said, “God didn’t accept me, and gave me the chance to live again and again.”
And what really got Cynthia back on her feet was her current husband, who was also the man who rescued Cynthia from the sea.
“He accompanied me as my mental illness slowly healed, as I recovered physically, and as I slowly came out of the haze.”
“I didn’t believe in love at first, and rejected him many times, but Aaron really stayed with me for eight years, and I finally agreed to be with him.”
“He wasn’t wealthy, but I knew he truly loved me.”
Cynthia softly touched the ring on her finger. “We didn’t have a wedding, and we didn’t have children.”
Pei Yi was taken aback. “No children?”
Cynthia smiled bitterly. “When I gave up on Yueming, I no longer deserved to be a mother in this life.”
If she had another biological child, wouldn’t it be even more ironic that she had abandoned Yueming?
Her husband Aaron chose to respect Cynthia’s decision and put her emotional and physical health first.
“Then the year before last, the two of us rescued a little boy who tried to end his life on the beach.”
The boy’s parents were divorced, and had each started new families.
“We, we adopted him.”
After hearing about Cythia’s long but simple twenty years, Pei Yi could not see the slightest of expectations in the other party’s eyes.
He paused, and then asked his last question, “Then why did you come to Yueming now? Did you really never keep tabs on him in the past twenty years?”
Cynthia shook her head. “It could be said that I let go, or that I shirked responsibility, but I would regularly inquire after Yueming, and I knew that he had become outstanding and brilliant.”
The only thing that Cynthia didn’t dare to do was to appear in front of Bo Yueming.
After all, the other party already had a new family and relatives, and her appearance may only bring harm and a burden.
“Maybe it was because I was getting older, but during this time I often dreamed about him, and thought about him more and more. My husband saw through my thoughts and encouraged me to come to China.”
Cynthia remembered Bo Yueming’s misunderstanding of her the night before and explained carefully, “I don’t want money, I just wanted to take another look at him from a distance.”
Because Bo Yueming’s reputation was so great in the Imperial Capital, after Cynthia arrived in China, she happened to encounter him by chance at Old Mrs. Bo’s birthday banquet.
“An invitation was required to enter the birthday party last night. I had originally planned to wait in a small corner of the lobby and secretly take a look once the banquet was over.”
Even just one glance would be enough.
“But I didn’t expect that I would see Bo Lihong first.”
Cynthia thought she had already let it go, but the moment she saw the actual person, she realized that the hurt accumulated in her heart could still erupt many years later.
When Bo Lihong saw Cynthia rushing up, he retreated slowly as if having seen a ghost, and then came the scene that Pei Yi and Bo Yueming saw—
Bo Lihong fled, but Cynthia, who had chased after him impulsively, ran into the two of them head-on.
Cynthia knew that she should turn around and hide, but facing her biological son whom she had not seen in more than twenty years, her words and actions were almost beyond her control.
“I’m sorry.”
“I regret that my appearance hurt him. I’m really sorry.”
Cynthia covered her face and apologized in a whisper, her heart hurting as if it had been cut by a knife.
Pei Yi handed over a tissue and said a thousand words in one sentence, “Thank you for telling me the truth.”
Cynthia shook her head.
As a mother, she owed Bo Yueming so much more.
“Ms. Cynthia, what I’m about to say might be a little hurtful, but I hope you can understand.”
With this simple sentence, Pei Yi changed from a listener back to the one in control of the topic.
“You and Yueming are already two parallel lines that can no longer intersect. The damage caused when he was a child cannot be healed with a few words.”
“As you said, you both already have families, so please continue to remain a stranger and not disturb him, okay?”
Knowing the truth didn’t mean that the harm could be completely eliminated.
Pei Yi’s tone was firm, “You missed his life, but I will be with him for the rest of it.”
Cynthia wasn’t at all dissatisfied with his straightforwardness. She knew that “not disturbing one another” was the real conclusion for the two of them.
“Mr. Will, you will always love him, won’t you?”
“Yes.”
Having received the answer she wanted, Cynthia stood up.
She bowed to Pei Yi. “Thank you for being willing to come see me on his behalf. I won’t bother you. May God bless you with a happy life.”
Pei Yi didn’t try to get her to stay. “He will.”
Cynthia didn’t bother him again, but opened the gauze curtain and walked out. However, when she went downstairs, she glanced in Pei Yi’s direction a couple of times.
The sound of her descending the stairs gradually faded away.
Pei Yi looked at the untouched Americano, stood up, and walked to the adjacent box. “Er-ge.”
Bo Yueming was sitting quietly on the sofa with an identical untouched cup of Americano on the table.
Pei Yi didn’t say anything. He just came closer and embraced him.
Bo Yueming felt his lover’s warmth and hugged him tightly without saying a word.
Pei Yi comforted him in a low voice, “Er-ge, it’s time to let go, okay?”
Bo Yueming closed his eyes, and after a long time, he said, “Okay.”
. . . . . . . .
In the open parking lot, Cynthia hid silently behind a large seven-seater vehicle.
Time passed minute by minute until Bo Yueming and Pei Yi walked out of the coffee shop hand in hand.
Just as she wished, Cynthia took out her phone and secretly took a picture of the two of them with their hands clasped together. She stared after the car as it drove away and then looked at the blurry photo again, tears filling her eyes.
Perhaps it was her natural instinct, but as soon as she entered the box, she had sensed that Bo Yueming must be there.
She spoke those apologies and confessions without a trace of a lie to both Pei Yi and Bo Yueming.
—Zizi.
Her phone buzzed.
Cynthia saw her husband’s caller ID and answered at once. “Aaron.”
Aaron’s voice on the other end was very gentle. “Did you see him?”
“I did.”
Cynthia had tears in her eyes, but answered with a smile, “He has a partner who will be with him for the rest of his life. The two of them are very good.”
Aaron was happy for her, and asked cautiously, “Then did you tell them about your physical condition?”
Cynthia gave a soft sigh and answered truthfully, “No, I never thought of telling him, Aaron. My life is coming to an end, but his is not.”
She was content to see her child one last time before the operation.
Aaron suddenly fell silent on the other end of the phone, and after a long moment, he replied in a firm but gentle tone, “My dear, I’ll wait for you to come back to the hotel, and then we’ll return home together.”
Even though his lover’s cancer had reached the final stage of the countdown, he was still willing to accompany her until the last second of her life.
Cynthia lowered her eyes and shed her tears, then walked in the opposite direction of Bo Yueming. “All right.”
Cynthia knew that she was not a good mother, but she was very grateful to Old Mrs. Bo for teaching Bo Yueming to be the best he could be, and to Pei Yi for giving him the best kind of love and companionship.
It was enough.
