Chapter 24
It would grow up well in this home, not suffering wind and rain, not suffering harm. It would receive the love of all family members in this warm home.
Small whimpering sounds came from her throat, as if she wanted to say something very sad but couldn’t speak it out. So she could only be pulled by these increasingly sorrowful emotions, unable to vent them through words, unable to forget them, and unable to weaken them even a little.
Tears fell continuously from her face, drop by drop, and the whimpering sounds stuck in her throat grew louder and louder. The uncontainable emotions surged out like a tide, completely out of control.
“I miss… I’m sorry, I miss Kaka, I miss… the previous Kaka… It was like this Kaka, very hurt, very hurt. I couldn’t save it. It bled so much. It kept asking me for help. It said it hurt so much…”
Xie Yunli listened to her sobbing word by word and sighed softly.
The fact that the previous Kaka had died in a car accident right before her eyes had hurt Wen Ran too deeply. If it had lived to old age naturally, she might not have been so sad.
Because that Kaka had originally had a long time left to accompany her, but the day it died in pain happened right in front of her.
This regret and pain had never diminished in her heart and would accompany her for the rest of her life.
This was the cruelest thing for Wen Ran.
But this little dog in front of her, Wen Ran could take good care of it until it grew old, could watch it grow up happily day by day, could make up for the abuse and pain it had suffered before. Even if one day it would grow old and leave, in Wen Ran’s heart, its entire life would be accompanied and cared for by her. She would do everything in her power to let it enjoy a lifetime of happiness.
For ordinary people, when sad, they could cry out loud, they could shout, they could find someone to confide in, they could use countless methods to vent their emotions. But for this girl in front of him, she didn’t even know how to express her sadness.
Adopting this Kaka was something she absolutely had to do in this life, and what he needed to do was to use all his ability to fulfill all her wishes that couldn’t be spoken aloud.
Zhou Wei and Aunt Zhu in the yard both heard Wen Ran’s crying.
Actually, Wen Ran had rarely cried like this in the past two years. Most of the time her crying was restrained, because she didn’t want to trouble Aunt Zhu. So once she thought of sad things, her first reaction was to lock herself in her room and not let Aunt Zhu approach her.
Even Aunt Zhu, the only person who could be close to her, sometimes couldn’t approach her.
Zhou Wei said: “Aunt Zhu, aren’t you going in to check on her?”
Even he felt heartbroken listening to the crying inside, because Wen Ran’s voice sounded just like an abandoned little girl, so touching.
Even when she spoke normally, it made people want to have more patience with her. At this moment, hearing her crying while speaking those broken words intermittently made one’s whole heart clench.
“It’s okay.”
Aunt Zhu looked at the reflection through the window. She could see Xie Yunli comforting her.
Although she didn’t know whether Xie Yunli truly had the patience to comfort Wen Ran’s emotions, and whether he could really comfort her, but…
He needed to see Wen Ran’s true appearance.
Even though the Wen Ran they saw most of the time was silent, shutting herself off from the world, she also had times of emotional breakdown, times that left people at a loss, and many, many behaviors that normal people found difficult to understand and accept. This was her real side, and it was a side that anyone who wanted to become her family member had to know.
To truly care for her and understand her was really not an easy thing.
Even many biological parents of autistic children in families might have moments of impatience when caring for these children, moments of emotional breakdown and helplessness, and even moments when they wanted to give up.
However, if one was truly willing to understand her and patiently accompany her with care, one could discover that she was actually such a kind, good child.
From the moment she was born, she hadn’t deliberately rejected this world. She just didn’t know how to adapt to this world because of her natural deficits.
Aunt Zhu saw Xie Yunli wiping Wen Ran’s tears, and she could tell he didn’t seem impatient.
He even seemed somewhat gentle.
Aunt Zhu suddenly asked Zhou Wei: “Zhou Wei, Auntie wants to secretly ask you something. Do you think your boss… is the kind of person with a lot of patience?”
Zhou Wei thought for a while and said: “It’s hard to say.”
It really was hard to say, because Xie Yunli didn’t seem that unapproachable either; it was just that his aura was somewhat cold.
After all, he ran a company and had built it from scratch. He was someone who had once shouldered the entire company’s business needs alone. When the company was just starting up and didn’t have the ability to hire so many talented people, Xie Yunli had also struggled like every young entrepreneur just starting out, suffering all kinds of hardships and enduring all kinds of grievances.
Anyone who had worked with him might not all approve of him one hundred percent, but most would praise him as indeed a capable and determined young entrepreneur.
How could someone with no patience at all carve out their own territory in the commercial arena of this first-tier city?
But if you said he had no patience, that was also true. As Zhou Wei himself could attest, he never dared to chatter in front of Xie Yunli, mainly because Xie Yunli was too busy and didn’t have the leisure to deal with people and things that were useless to him.
“But I can be certain that Mr. Xie is most patient with Miss Wen Ran.”
Zhou Wei said seriously: “I’ve never seen Mr. Xie be so gentle with anyone, not even our company’s biggest clients.”
“Really?”
Aunt Zhu looked at him suspiciously: “Really no one else?”
It wasn’t unreasonable for her to think randomly about this. Mainly because Xie Yunli was so young, and his appearance and temperament were definitely among the best of young entrepreneurs. Wouldn’t a bunch of people be watching him wherever he went?
“I swear on my job, it’s absolutely true.”
Zhou Wei sincerely raised his hand: “I love my job the most, so please believe me.”
Aunt Zhu nodded: “As long as he’s willing to accompany Wen Ran, I’m naturally happy.”
Wen Ran had stopped crying but was still hiccupping a bit. Kaka seemed to sense her emotional state was off and kept wagging its tail, whimpering as it nuzzled into her arms.
Seeing she was feeling better, Xie Yunli also breathed a sigh of relief. He suddenly remembered something and said: “Oh right, I also prepared a gift for Kaka, but this gift needs you to use and keep for it.”
He took something out of his pocket and held it in front of her to show her.
Wen Ran was stunned: “… A gift?”
It was a light purple new model phone.
“Yes.”
Xie Yunli opened the phone, took a photo of Kaka’s little head, then showed it to her: “Use it to record Kaka’s growth.”
Record Kaka’s growth.
The Kaka that Wen Ran had owned as a child had no records at all, because her mother rarely took photos, and her father had no time or mood to do such things.
So until now, she hadn’t been able to keep many photos of that Kaka, which was why she had painted many pictures of Kaka in various poses, trying to draw everything she remembered.
But indeed, photos could record real things better than paintings.
Wen Ran had never owned her own phone because she was very uncomfortable with the sudden sounds phones made. Even the slightest noise would make her feel uncomfortable, and Aunt Zhu’s phone was always on silent mode at home.
Xie Yunli watched her take the phone and look curiously at Kaka’s photo on it. He smiled and said: “Do you like it?”
“Do you like it?”
Wen Ran repeated his words: “Do you like it? Will Kaka like this gift?”
“It definitely will.”
Xie Yunli said to her: “It will like everything you bring to it.”
Kaka, this little dog, of course didn’t know what a phone was. It was more interested in that plush toy and had already started pawing at it and biting it with its mouth.
This was the first time it had received a gift, and also the first time it had received kindness from humans.
And this kindness would last for a very, very long time. It really loved Wen Ran’s scent so much that it wouldn’t leave her side for even a moment.
“If you want to talk to me, you can also use this phone. My contact information is already saved on it.”
Wen Ran held the phone with some conflict. She didn’t know whether she should accept it because Xie Yunli had given her too much. She didn’t know how to express her gratitude, and she didn’t know how to face him.
But Xie Yunli said this was for Kaka.
Kaka definitely couldn’t use a phone, so she would have to use it.
Before she could figure it out, Xie Yunli stood up and walked out of the living room.
When Wen Ran looked up, she only saw his back as he left. Wen Ran held the phone in front of Kaka, and Kaka pawed at it once. Wen Ran was afraid its claws would break the screen, so she quickly picked up the phone.
“Kaka will break it. It can’t use it.”
She murmured: “I still… I still have to use it. I can’t break it.”
Xie Yunli walked to the yard, looked at the house they had set up for Kaka, and said: “Zhou Wei, go start the car.”
“Right away, boss.”
Zhou Wei had already helped Aunt Zhu organize everything.
Originally, Aunt Zhu had wanted them to stay for dinner, but Wen Ran was really too tired today, so they didn’t want to disturb her further.
Xie Yunli said: “For the rest of today, let her rest well at home with Kaka.”
Aunt Zhu saw the phone Xie Yunli had given Wen Ran, and what surprised her was that Wen Ran had actually accepted it.
“You don’t know, her parents used to want her to use a phone, but she wouldn’t even touch it because she was very afraid of things that would suddenly make sounds. Also, the news of her mother’s death was told to her through a phone call, so that was also a reason for her fear… But recently she’s been better, not so afraid anymore…”
Xie Yunli was silent for a moment and said: “I’ve already turned off all the sounds, but if she’s still not comfortable using it, then put the phone away.”
Aunt Zhu nodded and said with a smile: “Mr. Xie, do you know? Recently Wen Ran sometimes takes my phone on her own initiative. Do you know what she does with it?”
Xie Yunli was stunned and said: “I can’t imagine… what does she use the phone for?”
Based on his understanding of Wen Ran, she never used phones and had no one to contact.
Aunt Zhu smiled without speaking.
She would foolishly look at your photo on the phone, Mr. Xie, and practice saying good night and thank you to you.
Aunt Zhu didn’t give this answer.
It wasn’t that she was deliberately keeping some suspense, but this was Wen Ran’s secret. Although she really wanted to tell him about this change in Wen Ran, she also knew this secret couldn’t be told by her, because it was Wen Ran’s own secret.
But she still gave Xie Yunli a hint, though she didn’t know whether he could figure it out.
After Xie Yunli left, Aunt Zhu returned to the living room to see Wen Ran staring blankly at the phone in her hands. Kaka’s head was resting on her thigh, already asleep beside her leg.
This big one and small one both looked so heartbreaking.
“Ranran?”
Aunt Zhu was afraid of startling her and also afraid of waking Kaka, so she spoke very softly: “Are you hungry? Is there anything special you want to eat?”
Wen Ran’s thoughts seemed to still be somewhere else. She was slow to react for a while before shaking her head.
Aunt Zhu sat beside her, looked at the little dog that had fallen asleep peacefully, then looked at her, and asked softly: “Were you happy today?”
Wen Ran nodded.
Aunt Zhu smiled: “That’s good. As long as Ranran is happy.”
This girl never lied, so if she admitted she was happy, then she was truly happy.
Being happy was good. For Wen Ran, even just a tiny bit of happy emotion was very, very precious.