Chapter 617: Chapter 453: Two Tigers on One Mountain (Part 7)
Lew Yuan patted Zhou Yun’s shoulder and said, "It’s okay, Mr. Zhong is a very optimistic person. The crew has communicated with him many times before, and they all say Mr. Zhong is very interesting."
Zhou Yun felt relieved to hear Lew Yuan say this and was not so nervous anymore.
"Ding dong." Lew Yuan rang the doorbell.
After a while, a childish voice came from inside: "Who is it?"
It was a boy.
It must be Zhong Zhihui’s son.
Lew Yuan smiled and said, "I am Lew Yuan, are you Xiao Bei?"
"How do you know my name?" the little boy asked in surprise.
At this moment, a mature male voice came from inside.
"Xiao Bei, who are you talking to? Are we having guests?"
"Dad, someone is ringing the doorbell."
The door opened.
Zhou Yun was a bit surprised.
The face inside the door was actually quite handsome.
He had some stubble, but it didn’t affect the handsomeness of his features at all.
"Teacher Lew, it’s you guys, you’re here." Zhong Zhihui opened the door and stepped aside, saying, "Welcome, please come in. I thought you would arrive a bit later, sorry, the house is a bit messy as we’re cleaning up."
Indeed, the house was a bit messy, with boxes of various sizes piled up on the floor.
Lew Yuan asked, "Mr. Zhong, when are you planning to move?"
Zhong Zhihui said, "The Day After Tomorrow."
"So soon?" Zhou Yun exclaimed in surprise.
Zhong Zhihui smiled and said, "I’ve found a new job back in my hometown, starting next Monday, so I need to go ahead and settle in two days in advance."
"Did you find a house there?" Lew Yuan asked.
"Yes, I already bought a house back in my hometown before, it’s quite convenient. After going back, my parents can also help take care of Xiao Bei," Zhong Zhihui said.
Zhou Yun couldn’t help but not look at Zhong Zhihui’s empty sleeve.
She had no choice but to forcibly divert her attention and greet Xiao Bei instead.
"Hello, Xiao Bei, I’m Zhou Yun." She squatted down, extended her hand, and greeted the little boy who had inherited his father’s handsome features, "How old are you?"
"Eight years old." Xiao Bei blinked his large eyes, looking shyly at Zhou Yun, "Auntie is so pretty."
"Such sweet talk at your young age, I bet a lot of girls like you, right?" Zhou Yun teased.
Xiao Bei, feeling shy, didn’t speak.
Zhong Zhihui poured tea for the two.
Zhou Yun felt especially embarrassed to have a one-armed man serve her tea and quickly said, "I can do it myself, Mr. Zhong."
Zhong Zhihui said, "It’s okay, this little task is still doable."
The smile on his face made Zhou Yun feel like she had said the wrong thing.
She shouldn’t have been so overly cautious.
Zhou Yun felt apologetic and somewhat uneasy.
Suddenly, Xiao Bei walked over, sat down beside her, and said, "Auntie, are you my mom’s friend?"
"Huh?" Zhou Yun was taken aback.
At this moment, Zhong Zhihui called out "Xiao Bei," "What has dad told you normally? Mom went to work abroad, and these uncles and aunties are dad’s friends."
Xiao Bei uttered a disappointed "oh," his head drooping in dejection.
Zhou Yun saw a hint of pleading and request in Zhong Zhihui’s eyes.
Zhou Yun realized that Zhong Zhihui had not told Xiao Bei the truth that his wife had left him.
"What’s wrong? Auntie is your dad’s friend, don’t you welcome me?" Zhou Yun asked.
Xiao Bei shook his head and said, "No, I just miss Mom a little."
The little boy’s eyes rimmed slightly red.
Zhou Yun took him into her embrace and said, "Auntie feels the same, auntie has not seen her mother for a long time, misses her a lot too. No wonder I felt particularly close to you the moment I saw you. We can be good friends; it turns out we both miss our mothers a lot."
Xiao Bei’s eyes suddenly lit up.
"Let’s go, show auntie your room and if there’s anything you can’t take with you and need auntie to help you sell, just tell me," Zhou Yun said.
Xiao Bei lifted his head in excitement, took the lead in holding Zhou Yun’s hand, and said, "I’ve sorted everything out already."
Zhou Yun said to Lew Yuan and Zhong Zhihui, "Then I will go with Xiao Bei to his room."
Lew Yuan nodded, smiling, and said, "Go ahead."
Zhou Yun’s photographerentered alongside.
Xiao Bei curiously eyed the photographer, seeming a bit puzzled, but he didn’t ask.
His father must have explained it to him in advance.
Zhou Yun sat in Xiao Bei’s room, listening to him introduce each object that he couldn’t bear to part with and had to sell.
"Actually, I wanted to take them all, but Dad said I can only bring three toys," Xiao Bei said with a pout, "So, I can only sell these. It would be great if I could give them to friends, but I know Dad is jobless now. If I could earn some money to help Dad, that would be good too."
Zhou Yun felt a twinge of sadness hearing Xiao Bei’s mature words.
She patted Xiao Bei’s head and said, "It’s okay, after we sell these toys, you will have many more toys in the future."
Xiao Bei gave an acknowledging hum but wasn’t very enthusiastic.
Maybe the child had realized that he might not be able to buy whatever toys he wanted in the future.
"Can you tell auntie which three toys you chose to keep?" Zhou Yun asked.
Xiao Bei treasuredly dragged a small box out from under the bed, opened it, and said, "These three, one is a birthday gift from Dad, one is a birthday gift from Mom, and this one—this Ultraman is a gift from Meimei."
Zhou Yun asked curiously, "Who is Meimei?"
Xiao Bei’s eyes shone as he said, "She’s my classmate, my best friend."
Then he suddenly looked downcast again and said, "But I will have a hard time seeing her in the future."
He would no longer go to school in Shanghai and would return to his hometown with his father; naturally, he couldn’t continue to be classmates with Meimei.
Zhou Yun patted Xiao Bei’s head and said, "Xiao Bei, even if you can’t be classmates, you are still friends, aren’t you? You might not meet often, but you can talk on the phone all the time, write letters to each other, right?"
Xiao Bei nodded his head.
"And, you can make many new friends, and later you can introduce your new friends to Meimei," Zhou Yun said.
Xiao Bei didn’t respond.
Zhou Yun suddenly wondered if Xiao Bei would believe what she said.
...
The program team set up a sales booth in a place with a high volume of people.
Zhou Yun and Lew Yuan both leveraged their celebrity effects to attract people to buy these items.
In about half an hour, all of these items were sold out.
Not surprising.
According to the program’s schedule, in the evening, Lew Yuan and Zhou Yun were to invite Zhong Zhihui and Xiao Bei to have dinner together and give them the money earned from the sales.
They packed up the items and returned to Zhong Zhihui’s home.
As soon as they reached the door, Zhou Yun heard a heart-wrenching sobbing from inside the house—it was Xiao Bei’s crying.
"Dad, dad—"
What happened?
Zhou Yun immediately changed her expression and hurriedly knocked on the door, "Xiao Bei? Xiao Bei? I’m Auntie Zhou Yun. What happened?"
Xiao Bei ran to the door while crying, and upon opening the door, Zhou Yun saw Xiao Bei’s face, red from crying.
"Xiao Bei, what happened?"
"Daddy fainted!"