RERC Chapter 123 I Don’t Believe It

Xu Zhao followed the direction Xu Fan was pointing at and didn’t see Cui Dingchen but Cui Dingchen’s black compact car. The clean and sparkling black car was slowly driving toward their direction. He involuntarily stood up, pulling Xu Fan, who was standing on the edge of the field, up as well.

The father and son watched as the compact car slowly stopped and watched Cui Dingchen step out of the car. Cui Dingchen was wearing leisure spring clothes. He was tall, and he looked very handsome and out of the ordinary.

Xu Fan immediately said, “Daddy, Second Grandpa Cui is here.”

Xu Zhao hummed in acknowledgement and gently smiled at Cui Dingchen.

Cui Dingchen also calmly smiled, but the smile didn’t diffuse the trace of hesitation that lingered in his eyes. However, Xu Zhao didn’t notice this. He walked toward him in big steps.

He drove his car here from the county town. He had originally wanted to drive directly into South Bay Village, but he unconsciously drove toward the fruit greenhouse and saw Xu Zhao and Xu Fan sitting on the edge of the field. Therefore, he walked directly to them and asked, “Why are you guys sitting here?”

Xu Zhao replied, “We’re inspecting the growth progress of the greenhouse vegetables.”

Cui Dingchen asked, “Have you finished inspecting yet?”

Xu Zhao nodded. “Mn, we just finished. Xu Fan and I were sitting here taking a break for a bit.”

Looking toward the fruit greenhouse, Cui Dingchen asked, “How was the inspection?”

Xu Fan smiled and replied, “It was good. The fruits and vegetables are growing well. However, weeds sprouted inside the fruit greenhouse overnight. I’m planning on taking Xu Fan there to pull the weeds.”

Cui Dingchen asked, “Right now?”

Xu Zhao said, “Mn, right now. Weeds are resilient and they grow fast. We should pull them out as soon as we can or else it’ll affect the growth and development of the fruit sprouts.”

Hearing this, Cui Dingchen said, “Alright, then I’ll go with you guys to pull them.”

“Youngest uncle, you’re not busy today?” Xiao Xu curiously asked.

“I’m not busy,” Cui Dingchen replied.

Not busy?

Then did he settle the matter with Shen Jiayang already?

Xu Zhao wanted to ask about the specifics, but seeing that Cui Dingchen didn’t look like he planned on speaking up and instead wanted to head to the big greenhouse to pull weeds, he didn’t open his mouth to ask either. He called Xu Fan over to pull weeds with Cui Dingchen.

While pulling weeds, Cui Dingchen didn’t speak. It seemed that he was thinking about something. This made Xu Zhao very bewildered. He couldn’t help but cast a few more glances toward Cui Dingchen. He couldn’t tell what Cui Dingchen was thinking about. Instead, he saw Xu Fan pull a few fruit sprouts. He quickly went to stop him. “Xu Fan, don’t pull that. Don’t pull. You’re pulling the wrong thing.” 拔错了！”

Xu Fan immediately stopped and blankly stared at Xu Zhao.

Xu Zhao picked up a piece of weed and a piece of fruit sprouts from the ground and compared them as he patiently explained the differences to Xu Fan. “Tell me, didn’t you pull the wrong thing?” he asked.

Xu Fan’s watery eyes looked at Xu Zhao as he admitted his mistakes and said, “I pulled wrong.”

His ability to admit mistakes was very good. Xu Zhao was very satisfied as he asked, “Then what should we do?”

Xu Fan’s pale and tender little hand grasped a tender and green sprout as he said, “I-I’ll plant it again.”

Xu Zhao asked, “Do you know how to plant it?”

Xu Fan’s little hand gestured. “I’ll put it in the soil. It’ll be alive again tomorrow.”

“Then go ahead and plant it. Don’t pull the wrong thing again.”

“I-I got it.” Xu Fan knelt down and used his small, meaty hand to loosen the soil and plant the fruit sprout.”

In fact, these few fruit sprouts wouldn’t affect anything. It would have been fine as long as Xu Fan didn’t continue to pull them. Xu Zhao continued to pull weeds and didn’t see the self-blame and shame in Cui Dingchen’s eyes as he glanced to look at Xu Fan’s actions from time to time.

Once he and Cui Dingchen finished pulling weeds, Xu Fan had finished planting the sprout. The two adults and one little one left the fruit greenhouse and walked toward the ditch to wash their hands. They used the water from the ditch to simply wash their hands, then sat on the edge of the field and drank the hot water that Xu Zhao had brought. They enjoyed the scenery, looked at the endless field of wheat, and relished this rare relaxing time.

Xu Zhao peeked at Cui Dingchen from the corner of his eyes.

Cui Dingchen didn’t speak.

Everything was calm in front of the fruit greenhouse, so calm that they could hear the sound of the slow wind blowing. It was cozy and comfortable.

At this moment, Xu Fan suddenly raised his small, meaty hand and said, “Daddy, look at my hand.”

Xu Zhao turned his head and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Xu Fan said, “My hand is dirty.”

It didn’t matter if he was pulling weeds or pulling sprouts, he couldn’t avoid dirtying his hand with grass stains. At this moment, the grass stains hadn’t been washed off yet and it was full of stains. The greens had turned into a dark green color, but it wasn’t a big deal. Xu Zhao smiled and said, “It’s okay. This is grass stains. It’ll go away very soon.”

Xu Fan was conflicted as he said, “It’s there. It’s still there.”

“It’s also fine if it’s there.”

“I-it’s dirty if it’s there… I won’t be able to eat cookies.”

“…” When did he become so particular? Xu Zhao held Xu Fan’s small, meaty hand and helplessly said, “You can eat cookies. Look, your Second Grandpa Cui and I also have the grass stains. We don’t mind. Take out your cookies. we’ll eat it together.”

Seeing Xu Zhao and Cui Dingchen’s hands covered in grass stains as well, Xu Fan took out a cookie from his pocket with ease and handed half of it to Xu Zhao without any hesitation.

Xu Zhao accepted it and said, “There’s also your Second Grandpa Cui.”

Xu Fan glanced at Cui Dingchen.

Cui Dingchen looked at Xu Fan. He had a bright smile and his eyes were gentle as he said, “Will you share with me?”

Xu Fan hesitated for a second. At this period of time, Xu Zhao had already taught Xu Fan the concept of “sharing” by giving several examples. Therefore, a moment later, he broke off a very, very, very, very small piece of the cookie and handed it to Cui Dingchen. He said, “Second Grandpa Cui, cookie for you.”

It was a very small piece, no, it was just crumbs. But it was still a bit more than what he was given in the past.

Cui Dingchen stared at the small piece of cookie crumbs and didn’t dislike it. Warmth filled his heart. This was the cookie that Xu Fan had given him on his own accord. They didn’t need to persuade or coax him. He did it on his own. Didn’t this mean that Xu Fan now treated him a bit differently than before?

Cui Dingchen lightly laughed and copied Xu Zhao’s usual method and said, “Thank you, son. Son, you’re amazing.”

Son?

Xu Fan’s little face was full of questions. He then asked, “Second Grandpa Cui, I-I’m not your son.”

Cui Dingchen said, “You are my son.”

Xu Fan insisted, “I’m not. I’m Daddy’s son.”

“You are.”

“Are not.” After Xu Fan finished speaking, he turned to Xu Zhao and said, “Daddy, I’m not Second Grandpa Cui’s son. I’m Daddy’s son.”

Xu Zhao nodded and said, “That’s right.”

Xu Fan’s eyes widened as he said, “B-but Second Grandpa Cui said I is.”

Xu Zhao turned to Cui Dingchen, smiled, and said, “Youngest uncle, stop teasing Xu Fan. Look, he’s so anxious that he mistook ‘am’ for ‘is’.”

Cui Dingchen didn’t reply immediately but lowered his head in thought. He kept thinking about how to tell Xu Zhao the truth. He’d thought of countless methods, and even while pulling weeds, he was still thinking. In the end, he decided to use “Xu Fan” to bring up the topic and slowly reveal the truth. He wanted to give Xu Zhao some time to prepare his heart, so that when he learned the truth, he wouldn’t be shocked stupid.

It was just that he was still afraid of confessing the truth. But in the end, reason won out. He had wronged them for so long, he couldn’t keep wronging them. He raised his gaze to Xu Zhao and said, “Xu Zhao, I’m not teasing him. He is my son.”

Hearing this, Xu Zhao happily laughed out loud. His gaze was gentle.

Cui Dingchen was confused. This was different than what he’d imagined. He asked, “What are you laughing at?”

Xu Zhao said, “I’m very happy.”

“Happy about what?”

Xu Zhao sincerely said, “I’m happy that you don’t dislike Xu Fan but are treating him like your own son. I’m very happy. Youngest uncle, thank you.”

Xu Zhao reached out to hold Cui Dingchen’s hand and added, “Thank you.”

Cui Dingchen’s heart was filled with even more remorse. In his five years of absence, not only did Xu Zhao not take out his anger on Xu Fan, he valued and loved Xu Zhao. Earlier, he very patiently explained the difference between grass and sprouts and warmly explained all the countless things Xu Fan didn’t understand.

And if he wanted to marry, his first condition was that they had to treat Xu Fan well. Compared to a dad like him… His heart was filled with sourness. He turned to Xu Zhao, his gaze full of self-blame as he said, “I should be the one thanking you.”

“Why?” It was now Xu Zhao’s turn to be confused.

Cui Dingchen’s expression was as stiff as before as he said, “Because you raised Xu Fan so well for all these years.”

Xu Zhao laughed. “He’s my son. Isn’t it normal for me to treat him well?”

Cui Dingchen added, “H-he’s also my son.”

He’s also my son—

Cui Dingchen’s sentence was said very seriously. So serious that Xu Zhao thought it was a bit strange. Based on his first reaction, he said, “I know. You’ve said this many times before already.”

“It isn’t the same,” Cui Dingchen added. “It isn’t the same this time. I was being sincere in the past, but now it’s the truth.”

He was being sincere in the past?

And now it was the truth?

What did that mean?  Xu Zhao’s hand that was holding Cui Dingchen’s suddenly stiffened. There was an anxious sense that something wasn’t right. He muttered, “Truth? What truth?”

“The truth is—” Cui Dingchen said each word very clearly, “Xu Fan really is my son. My biological son.”

Biological son?

Biological son?

Xu Zhao’s smile froze. His gaze fell onto Cui Dingchen’s eyes and saw the sincerity and seriousness in his eyes. His heart was shocked and an explosion went off in his head like a bomb had gone off.

Biological.

Biological.

This word repeated nonstop inside Xu Zhao’s ears and inside his mind. It repeated constantly, but he still couldn’t grasp the meaning of the word. It wasn’t until a while later that he finally understood the real meaning behind this word. It meant—Xu Fan was Cui Dingchen’s son.

Xu Fan was Cui Dingchen’s biological son.