Chapter 116: Returning Home
On a flight back to the country, in first class, a black-haired young man lay quietly on the comfortable bed.
Xia He opened her eyes, looking at the familiar scene ahead, quietly waiting for that familiar person to appear.
“Traitor.”
A young yet cold and indifferent voice sounded. Xia He followed the sound with his eyes.
This time, he appeared on the hotel windowsill.
A boy about 1.12 meters tall, not much higher than the windowsill, sat there wearing a familiar academy-style outfit: a white shirt, light brown shorts, a dark brown striped tie, and black leather shoes, looking polite and well-behaved.
He shouted again: “Traitor, why did you do that?”
The boy stared straight at Xia He, questioning without mercy.
“Why did you replace Xia Sui Rong’s medicine? Wasn’t it enough for him to be driven insane by his own two sons?”
“Why didn’t you send Xia Nan Zhi’s embezzlement evidence to Xia Xiu Zhu? Why didn’t you send the evidence of Xia Xiu Zhu leaking information to the opposing company to Xia Nan Zhi? Wouldn’t it have been better for them to destroy each other?”
“Why…”
“Why…”
One question after another, until the last one.
“Why… haven’t you died yet?”
Xia He drew a deep breath. Perhaps because it was still in a dream, he didn’t feel any relief.
The boy twisted his wrist, pointing the suddenly appearing sharp dagger at his own neck, and without hesitation, slashed.
Blood spurted, yet in the blink of an eye, it returned to normal.
He leaned back and fell from the windowsill. Even if Xia He couldn’t see it, he knew the boy would crash to the ground and turn into a splattered mess.
Drowning, electric shocks, poisoning, lying on tracks, self-immolation, swallowing a gun…
The boy sat on the windowsill, voice still icy: “Do you know the most disgusting thing about you?”
“You promised not to grow taller, not to become an adult, to die as a child.”
“For this, we thought of so many ways to die. I happily died again and again.”
“But why did you voluntarily grow taller? Why did you live past your eighteenth birthday, past midnight on December 24?”
“This is wrong! You should have died on December 23!”
“You are no longer a child!!!”
The twelve-year-old Xia He yelled at the eighteen-year-old Xia He, a roar of anger and despair, as if trying to shout his heart out of his throat.
Xia He just watched quietly.
Little Xia He jumped down from the windowsill, staring at the only door in the hotel room.
“If you could die as a child, Mom and Dad would open this door—not abandoning me, but taking me with them.”
“Then I could die with Mom and Dad.”
“How happy that would be! Just thinking about it makes me want to laugh with joy.”
“But you ruined everything! Completely ruined it!!!”
“You traitor!!!”
“Not coming back.” Xia He finally spoke. “Because Mom and Dad want me to live.”
“You know this is true. That was only my fantasy, just like you—you were only my fantasy.” Xia He said.
“Every fantasy is a possibility,” Little Xia He said. “You should have countless fates, all destined to end today. Why change your fate?”
Xia He was dazed for a moment, then slowly smiled: “It’s not about changing fate.”
“It’s about… creating a brand-new possibility for fate.”
Little Xia He looked at him deeply, finally saying: “Get out of here.”
“You no longer have the right to be here. You’re no longer Mom and Dad’s child.”
“You are just Xia He.”
Xia He opened his eyes.
He looked out the airplane window. Today was a bright and clear day.
Stepping off the plane and onto solid ground, Xia He still felt a little unaccustomed.
Although the plane had WiFi, Xia He only “graciously” told Xia Sui Rong before boarding that he was returning home. He knew that leaving his phone on would invite a flood of messages, so he chose to turn it off.
Naturally, upon turning it on, he saw multiple voice messages from Xia Sui Rong on WeChat, and even Dong Shu sent quite a few, though he wasn’t sure if Xia Sui Rong used his phone to send them.
Xia He didn’t intend to open any of them. He casually scrolled through Moments and saw new photos from Jiang Chuchu and Yu Xin—similar style but different animal keychains, with captions like “Thanks to Qinghuan for the Christmas Eve gift.”
Xia He paused for a few seconds, then opened the chat with Gu Qinghuan.
Xia He: [I want a Christmas Eve gift too (crying emoji)]
Gu Qinghuan: [We’ll talk after class.]
Seeing the time was just when class would start, he reluctantly put his phone away.
He didn’t have much luggage and was considering going directly to Xiade. But after only a few steps, he saw Dong Shu coming to pick him up.
With his current appearance, even walking past Dong Shu, he probably wouldn’t be recognized.
Thinking this, Xia He walked straight ahead without looking, only to almost be blocked.
“Welcome back, Young Master Xia He,” Dong Shu said politely as always.
Xia He pulled down his mask, expression neutral: “How did you recognize me?”
“Now, you resemble Mr. Zhi Han more,” Dong Shu answered.
Xia He was silent for a few seconds: “Let’s go.”
Once in the car returning to the Xia family, Xia He sat in the back seat, looking at his reflection in the window, and suddenly asked: “How tall is my dad?”
Dong Shu said: “Mr. Zhi Han was 1.78 meters tall.”
As Xia Sui Rong’s youngest child, Xia Zhi Han was naturally frail. Reaching that height was thanks to the Xia family’s care.
“And my mom?” Xia He continued.
“Miss Xu Qiu is 1.62 meters,” Dong Shu replied.
Considering Xu Qiu’s upbringing and working from a young age, 1.62 meters was already quite good.
Xia He sighed heavily.
Seventeen meters is seventeen meters. After stunting for so long, reaching 1.7 meters was already decent.
As for whether people might call him short later, Xia He was used to it; being short didn’t stop him from knocking others down.
However, given his current height change, he might still be clumsy in movements and would need practice.
“Is Xia Xu still at the old residence?” Xia He asked suddenly.
Dong Shu paused: “Young Master Xia Xu usually attends school; he only returns on weekends or holidays.”
“This weekend, plus next week’s New Year holiday, right?” Xia He touched his chin.
“That’s right…” Dong Shu replied, struggling to continue.
“First, let’s go to the mall. I want to buy some new shoes,” Xia He said. “New shoes are stiffer; feels like kicking will hurt more.”
Dong Shu silently turned the steering wheel toward the mall, silently praying that when Young Master Xia Xu returns this weekend, his pants will be thick and more durable to kicking.
