"I'm at the Xue Mansion. I can't leave the house. I'm grounded."

"What happened?" Xue Guangxi asked.

"Err... Uhm.." Mo Wenbin hesitated. "Something happened to Chen Linyun. Alright, I'll look after your sister." 

"Just hang on. Sola's just in the national library. I'll contact her so she can come home soon. She lives with Xu-Jie, you know."

Mo Wenbin was beyond surprise, but he let it slip. 'Why?'

After all that had been said and done, he hung up.

He then called external help, a reinforcement - someone who knew would be best suited to address the current situation. 

"Mother… Can you come over? It's Jinxu…" Mo Wenbin requested. He usually did not want to rely on his mother. He did not want to add up to her worries. However, of all the people that he knew, his mother was most qualified to talk some sense to Xue Jinxu because she also went through the same devastating loss.

Around forty-five minutes had pa.s.sed, when the doorbell at the Chen dream house rang. During this time, Mo Wenbin could only wait patiently at the living room, while staring at the wall clock. 

"Mother, come in." Mo Wenbin led her in. "She's in the bedroom. I didn't dare go in there."

"I understand. I got this." Chen Lhingyu tapped her son's arm tenderly and then climbed the plight of stairs towards the master's bedroom on the second floor.

"Jinxu dear…" She knocked gently. "It's Aunty. Are you asleep, dear? Can I come in?"

There was a soft acknowledgment in the form of a soft high-pitched grunt from the inside of the room.

Aunty Mo went in. She sat on the bed beside the curled up Xue Jinxu. "Jinxu…" She gently stroked her arm, caressing her. "Be strong, dear. You have to continue living…" She started.

There was no response from Xue Jinxu. She was not asleep, her eyes were not closed. She was wide awake and staring into s.p.a.ce. She wasn't even crying.

"…Years back, when Mo Wenbin's father pa.s.sed away, I was also too devastated. I thought I could not get back on my own two feet. I thought it's the end of the world already. I was like you, right now, sulking on the bed without any energy left, like there's no tomorrow, without hope to continue living. But then, I remembered I still have little Wenbin who's also relying on me. So I had to recover and live on for him."

"It's not the end yet, Jinxu, darling. You have to be strong. Especially in your case, Chen Linyun might still return! Let's be strong. You have to be strong. Have courage to live on. I'm sure Chen Linyun will not like how you are now, would he? Come on, now, child!" 

Xue Jinxu turned her gaze towards Aunty Mo.

"But Aunty, I don't have a reason to live on anymore. I don't have someone like how Wenbin had been to you. No one needs to rely on me. I'm all alone."

"You're not alone. We're here, alright? Do you want to stay with us at the northern outskirts? We'll take care of you there, instead of you staying here alone. Mhmm?" She was coaxing her.

"Oh, Aunty." She sat up and hugged her sweet thoughtful Aunt-in-law. She started crying again. She was sobbing like a child. She was wailing and it was heartbreaking. 

The Chen Family loved and adored Xue Jinxu. She was treated like a real daughter by them. Aunty was no different. Having had no daughter herself, she had taken quite a liking and a strong affinity to her. In the short time that they had known each other, she had come to love this daughter-in-law. Now that she was grieving, her heart broke with her. Her tears hurt her as if it was her pain too. Soon enough she started crying too, because Chen Linyun was also like a son to him. 

Mo Wenbin who was anxiously waiting for, hopefully, a positive result from his mother, was aghast when he heard more sobbing from the bedroom upstairs. It was as if they were in a crying compet.i.tion. Of course, it wasn't the case. But still…

He went on the second floor and slumped to a new low when he saw both women crying. He scratched his head helplessly. Now there were two women who needed consoling. He did not know if it was right to invite his mother there. Instead of consoling Xue Jinxu, she was dragged into the emotional outburst. Well, that was quite understandable. Perhaps it's women's way to console each other – to share each other's sorrows. He wished that after the crying, they would feel so much better.

He took a deep breath. He could only wait until they finished. He did not know how to comfort them. Instead, he placed two gla.s.ses of water on the bedside table, which he asked the pa.s.sing maid to fetch for the ladies.

Few more minutes pa.s.sed. Somehow the crying mellowed down. The ladies calmed down on their own. They were holding each other's hands, squeezing them once in a while to give each other comfort. Their heaving breaths were starting to stabilize. 

"Mother… Jinxu…" Mo Wenbin's forehead was wrinkled with too much worry. They were crying for a long time in Mo Wenbin's perspective. He's questioning if it's still healthy or not anymore.

"Have you calmed down?" He asked them.

"Jinxu, come with us to the Chen Family Home." Aunty Mo repeated her plea. She was holding Xue Jinxu's hand with hers.

"Aunty…" She smiled apologetically. "I'll be fine here. I promise I'll be stronger. Nothing's going to happen to me here."

"I just want to be alone for a while."

"It's too much to bear. I need some time to digest everything. It was too sudden."

"I was quite expecting him to return to me today."

"I can't believe… I can't believe… Did it really happen? My husband dear… Is it really true?"

It was a Sunday. Chen Linyun was supposed to arrive today from his trip across China, Quanzhou being his last destination. Xue Jinxu could not understand what on earth happened in Quanzhou? If he had not gone there, he would have been able to return to her warm embrace today. She had always been reluctant when it came to that place.

Aunty Mo squeezed her hand tight. "Come on, now, child." She tugged her hand.

"Alright, you can stay here but you promise me you'll take care of yourself!"

"I'll just visit you often, alright? I'll accompany you every day." She was rubbing her hand with her own.

"Thank you, Aunty."

"Thank you, Wenbin."

"I'll be fine." She smiled at them. Her face, still tear-stained. She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. "I only live for Chen Linyun. I will wait for him even if it takes forever. Nothing's sure yet, right Wenbin? Right, Aunty?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"Right." Mo Wenbin agreed.

"Right." Aunty responded too.

"Say…" Xue Jinxu trailed off distantly.

"Aunty… Do you happen to know if, by some twist of fate, Chen Linyun had a sister?" Xue Jinxu wanted to involve the Chen's with her husband's discovery especially now that he wasn't here.

"How can it possibly be? Unless…" She gasped and covered her mouth at the random questioning of this lady in front of her. "I'll talk to my brother about it. But why? What do you mean by that, Jinxu?"

"Has Father-in-law been to South Korea around two decades ago more or less?"

"I am not so sure, Jinxu… I'll discuss this matter with him! This isn't a light matter! Jinxu, this isn't a good time to be pranking me! What is this about?"

"Jinxu…" Mo Wenbin whispered with so much hesitation. In his eyes, Xue Jinxu was being impulsive again.

"Aunty… I've been living with a girl of around seventeen, turning eighteen… Her DNA matches with my husband… It's positive. They are blood-related. This girl… Then… she's also your relative, Aunty."

"It's supposed to be a surprise for my husband once he returned…" Xue Jinxu's tears fell again like teardrops in decadence. "The girl is living here with me… He doesn't know yet. I've managed to keep custody of her for the time being…"

Aunty gasped even more in surprise. "You mean there truly is a Chen daughter whose existence we do not know of and she's living here with you?"

"Yes. She'll be here soon."

"How?"

"Somebody has been feeding my husband some inputs about her. Probably someone who knows her ident.i.ty. Maybe someone Father confided with about this matter? I'm not entirely sure."

"The girl is still clueless. She doesn't know anything, Aunty." Xue Jinxu warned.

That night, Aunty and Mo Wenbin stayed at the Chen dream house not only to console Xue Jinxu but also to meet the little girl the two ladies were talking about early on during the day.

Aunty Chen scrutinized the girl secretly yet tenderly while Kang Sola remained oblivious of it. She was too consumed into learning the sudden unfortunate fate of Chen Linyun, and into trying to console her Xu-Jie, although when she arrived, all the crying and drama at the house had already pa.s.sed.