Chapter 59: Gifts (2)

From the photo studio, Cheng Qingrong took the two children to the supermarket and bought some snacks and vegetables. When they got home, it was already dark.

Pus.h.i.+ng open the door, a simplistically decorated four-bedroom house is revealed, extending over more than two hundred square meters. Excellent lighting, due to the large floor to ceiling windows which allow you to view the small neighborhood below. Watching people coming and going beneath can also be considered another kind of scenery.

Cheng Qingrong brought out two pairs of old slippers from the shoe cabinet, a pink and gray one, both just their size. He contentedly said: “It should fit alright.”

Cheng Qingrong set the groceries in the kitchen and proceeded to lead Lin Xin and Xinyu to their new rooms.

Lin Xin's room is decorated in a rather princess-y style. The whole room is covered in pink wallpaper, two big bows adorn the European princess bed and opening the wardrobe placed against the wall, you're greeted with the sight of its interior, full of uniformly pink princess gowns. Looking at these dresses, Lin Xin feels a faint pain in her scalp. She never wore this type of princess dress after the age of eight.

Lin Xinyu's room is much simpler. White wallpapers and bookshelves entirely stocked with works regarding medical science. Inside the closet are simple T-s.h.i.+rts and jeans, their size just right for Lin Xinyu. Lin Xin didn't know if these clothes were hand-downs or newly bought. When imagining someone having previously worn them, she felt a bit of unease. At dinner, she directly recounted her impressions to Cheng Qingrong.

Cheng Qingrong first stared blankly, then spoke: “Xiaoyuan and Xiaoyin pa.s.sed away in a fire. Of everything they owned, nothing was left behind. This house was also bought afterward.”

Lin Xin immediately felt ashamed of her own thoughts: “I'm sorry.”

Cheng Qingrong smiled and said: “It's nothing. When I take Huihui home tomorrow, remember to call me ‘father'.”

Cheng Qingrong's wife lost both her children because of an unforeseen disaster ten years ago. At that time, her mental condition started to deteriorate. Sometimes she would stand at the door of her house, looking for children in the neighborhood. When she saw kids the same age as her son and daughter, she would confuse them for her own and hold on them, refusing to let go. Her condition would drastically fluctuate from good to bad time and time again. Once she'd regained consciousness, everything would become clear to her, but then her illness would begin its reoccurrence and she'd scream and cry, trying to find her children. Cheng Qingrong was reluctant to send her to a psychiatric ward, and so hired a nurse, a person who ran s.h.i.+fts both at home and at the hospital. The past few years, the time periods his wife fell ill increased. With Cheng Qingrong present, she would be fine. When he wasn't looking after her, they could only sedate her.

He had been wanting to adopt two kids as early as several years ago, firstly because Cheng Qingrong believed he wouldn't be able to have his own children after that, and secondly because it might help to alleviate his wife's condition. It's just that a 14-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl are really hard to find.