A sudden thank you made Xia Xiqing's ears warm. He had a lot of words in his heart, but he didn't know where to start.

Zhou Ziheng held his shoulders, pushed him over, and hugged him from behind, pressed his chest against his back, and pushed forward little by little, "Huanya Group... It turns out that our brother Xi Qing is the eldest young master. If I had known that you were so rich, I would have let you keep me."

Every time Zhou Ziheng called his brother, he was teasing. Xia Xiqing took the elbow and twitched his stomach, "I can't afford to support you, Mr. Zhou."

"You can afford it." Zhou Ziheng kissed Xia Xiqing on the back of the head from behind, "I don't have to sleep with me, can't I pay for it?"

Xia Xiqing turned his head and raised his eyebrows at him, "You ask me to come and I will give you money."

Zhou Ziheng held his face and kissed his lips awkwardly, "Then I'll just put it on." After saying that, he pushed Xia Xiqing's shoulder and walked forward, wanting to change the topic as soon as possible.

I don't know when he will give up this idea.

This villa is not small, with the furniture covered with white cloth. It seems that it has not been lived in for a long time. This scene reminded Zhou Ziheng of the first time he recorded "Escape from the Sky" with Xia Xiqing. It was also a lot of furniture covered with white cloth, with gorgeous and deserted decorations.

"I'll take you upstairs to go for a walk." Xia Xiqing's words did not have any emotional ups and downs, which made Zhou Ziheng a little worried. He already knew Xia Xiqing enough. The less emotional he was, the deeper he hid.

But all Zhou Ziheng could do was to hold his hand tightly and accompany him.

The living room on the first floor was treated with a height of about four meters high, so the stairs were also very long. On the right is a handrail, and on the left is a bookcase as high as the wall, filled with all kinds of books. Xia Xiqing dragged Zhou Ziheng's hand and walked up step by step. Seeing him being on the bookshelf next to him, he said, "When I was a child, I often sat on this stairs to read books. Sometimes when I was tired of reading, I leaned on here and fell asleep."

When he imagined that scene, Zhou Ziheng's mouth unconsciously curled up.

I really want to see when he was a child, he must be the most beautiful and cute child in the class.

Zhou Ziheng was pulled up to the second floor by Xia Xiqing. There was a deep corridor on the second floor, which looked like the art gallery in the art gallery in the art gallery, dark beige, and ten paintings were hung in sequence on the wall facing each other. A room passed by in the middle. Xia Xiqing tried to open the door, but it was not locked. He was a little surprised and turned on the light at the door of the room.

"This is my mother's collection room." Xia Xiqing opened the door and stood beside the door. Zhou Ziheng looked at it. It was a very large room. When he entered, he found that there was a room inside, with various picture frames covered with cloth inside, the big one was about the same height as a human.

“All these are paintings?”

"Yes." Xia Xiqing nodded, thinking about the opening of the art museum that Xi Hui told him last time. Xia Yunkai did not take these collections away, probably left for him, but he was not concerned about it so that he didn't even come to ask someone to keep it, and just put it in the old house.

Yes, he hated his mother so much and himself so much that he could probably burn them all in one go when he saw these paintings.

"My mother was born into an artistic family. My grandfather was a famous sculptor when he was young, and my grandmother was a famous oil painting artist. Born in such a family, my mother naturally became an art appreciation collector."

Xia Xiqing casually lifted the dust cloth on a painting, "She has regretted that she has not been able to become a painter all her life, no," Xia Xiqing smiled bitterly, "It is better to say that it is regret, it is resentment. She does not have the talent for painting creation, and has been mediocre after trying for many years. But she can tell the quality of the painting at one glance and discover many painters who have not yet become famous at that time."

If this story continues, Zhou Ziheng can already guess the follow-up, "So, after your mother gave birth to you, she discovered your talent."

Xia Xiqing's fingers gently rubbed against the picture frame, "She just discovered a life-saving straw."

A fatal poison and medicine were also found.

He patted his palm and turned to another painting. "She felt that I had inherited the talent of my grandparents from generation to generation, so she forced me to learn painting since I was a child. At that time, I was only four or five years old and didn't know anything. I was locked in a small room every day, with only brushes and paints."

It looks colorful, but it is actually a dark place.

"I was unwilling to learn at that time and kept crying, so she scolded me and said something I couldn't understand at the time. At that time, her relationship with Xia Yunkai became worse and worse, and she quarreled and even fought every day."

He still couldn't call this so-called father, so he could only use a name instead.

There was a sudden dressing table in the collection room. Xia Xiqing walked to the mirror and looked at himself in the mirror in a daze.

In Zhou Ziheng's eyes, Xia Xiqing always has a unique temperament, which is a delicate sense of fragility. When calm, he is like a piece of white porcelain without any flaws, beautiful and fragile. But as he himself said, even if the artwork is broken, it is still a work of art. Every broken edge and corner of his body shines with beautiful brilliance.

"Why did they get married?" Zhou Ziheng leaned against the door frame, "Marry?"

Marriage between the art and business circles is not uncommon in this circle. Although people in the art circle are often noble and cannot see clearly the businessman with a stinky appearance, the economic foundation determines the superstructure, and the art circle that is extremely expensive is even more supportive of capital.

"No, my grandfather doesn't look down on Xia Yunkai at that time." Xia Xiqing looked down at the dressing table. There were no cosmetics on it, but there were many exquisite ornaments the size of a palm. They should have been placed symmetrically. Now I don't know why it's messy. Xia Xiqing arranged them one by one. "I heard that my mother was willing to marry Xia Yunkai at the beginning. Her eyes were only suitable for artworks, and she was too out of sight."

After saying that, he turned around, supported the dressing table with his backhand and looked at Zhou Ziheng, "Think about it, she is a proud daughter in the art world, and she doesn't take anyone seriously. Her heart is on a man, and she almost broke up with her family. As a result," Xia Xiqing lowered her head and smiled, "Watching him looking for women outside one by one, each one is worse than herself."

For a person who is born with arrogance, it is like executing death in a stern manner.

"When I was pregnant with me, my mother went back to her parents' home. When she came back, she accidentally broke Xia Yunkai and the wild woman outside were having sex in their bedroom and caught the adulterer in the bed." Xia Xiqing shrugged, "She probably hated me in her belly at that time."

He always said these words in such a relaxed tone, and Zhou Ziheng had no choice but to do anything to him.

"What...what later?"

"Later?" Xia Xiqing breathed a sigh of relief, "Later... she suffered from postpartum depression and changed her whole body, but when she was outside, she had to pretend to be as dignified and generous as before, and after she got home, she beat and smashed her. Sometimes she had a big fuss with Xia Yunkai, sometimes she hugged me and cried, and sometimes she hit me like Xia Yunkai." He smiled and pointed, "There were several times when she hugged me and stood outside the railing on the top floor, saying that she would take me to death with her."

Looking at his smile, Zhou Ziheng's heart seemed to be stabbed hard by something.

He walked forward, walked to Xia Xiqing, reached out to touch his face, but Xia Xiqing avoided it. This hiding made Zhou Ziheng's heart even more uncomfortable. But the next second, Xia Xiqing put his head on Zhou Ziheng's shoulder and sighed almost inauspiciously.

Zhou Ziheng touched the back of his head and kissed Xia Xiqing's head. He was born in a happy family and was almost unimaginable about the things that Xia Xiqing had encountered. People always say that they should put themselves in others, but in Zhou Ziheng's eyes, these are just empty words and have not experienced them personally. The so-called empathy is just beautiful words that numb one's kind nerves.

"Are you starting to pity me now?" Xia Xiqing leaned against him, his voice coldly, like a thin layer of ice, "This is just the tip of the iceberg."

Xia Xiqing was like an extreme child, constantly tearing his wounds in front of Zhou Ziheng. While tearing him hard, he said to him with a smile, "Look, is this good-looking?"

Is this completely bad?

Is this scary?

Zhou Ziheng gently pinched the back of his neck, "It must be fake to say it's not pity." His fingers had a soft temperature, "I like you so much, even if you are scratched by a small branch, I feel pitiful, and hurt you. Whoever makes me have such a temper, I will sympathize with those who don't like it." He hugged Xia Xiqing, "You are my favorite person, do you say I pity you?"

"Anyway, you're just a logical genius." Xia Xiqing was too lazy to argue with him.

But when he heard Zhou Ziheng say this, he suddenly didn't want to continue talking, and told him that those things were too cruel to Zhou Ziheng.

"I'm very curious. You should look very similar to your mother." Zhou Ziheng went over and pinched his chin, lifted his face, and gently kissed the tip of his nose.

Xia Xiqing did not scold him again this time, but just came out of his arms and led him to a suite inside. There was a cabinet in the suite. Xia Xiqing opened the third drawer and found a photo from it.

Zhou Ziheng originally thought it was a photo of Xia Xiqing's mother. When he handed it over, he saw that the photo actually had an oil painting, which seemed to have been taken at a certain art exhibition.

The painting is painted with a woman sitting upright. Her long black hair is pushed to one side, with a beautiful face and noble manners. She is wearing a string of brilliant pearl necklaces around her fair neck. What Zhou Ziheng did not expect was that the person in the painting is even more similar to Xia Xiqing than he imagined.

"If you put a mole on the tip of your nose, I believe it." Zhou Ziheng felt a little familiar, but he also felt that he should be familiar with it. He was almost exactly the same as Xia Xiqing. He reached out and put his hand on Xia Xiqing's shoulder and touched his ears, "A woman like this has the capital to be proud of her."

It's like you have the right to be proud.

Zhou Ziheng took the photo from his hand, squinted his eyes and looked carefully, and found a small label under the drawing with a name on it. His face couldn't help but look of surprise, "Is this what you painted?"

"Yeah." Xia Xiqing stared at the painting in the photo with her eyes. "This was my painting when I was fifteen years old, and it was also my first auction. She had been away for five years at that time, and she painted it all based on memory."

Even though he doesn't understand art, Zhou Ziheng can still see the tenderness and love hidden between the brushstrokes. Although this mother has done so many things that hurt him, in Xia Xiqing's eyes, she is always his mother.

"Why is it a photo?" Zhou Ziheng asked, "Where is this painting now?"

Xia Xiqing shook her head, "I don't know. This painting was bought in my mother's gallery. I asked someone for inquiries. She seemed to be an ordinary collector. Later, she was sold overseas and could not find it later."

As a competent storyteller, Xia Xiqing looked up and said, "Do you want to know how my mother died?"

Zhou Ziheng was stunned for a moment, his eyes softened.

Xia Xiqing wrapped his hands around his neck and curled the corners of his mouth slightly, "It's nothing, just say it if you want to."

"Have you told others about these things?"

"I'm not the kind of scumbag who uses so-called painful experiences to deceive others into sympathy." After saying that, he smiled and shook his head, "Okay, I'm a scumbag, but I'm a scumbag based on my ability."

After saying this, Xia Xiqing was poked by Zhou Ziheng with his fingers on his forehead. He smiled and held Zhou Ziheng's fingers, put them to his mouth and kissed them.

He really didn't want to say it out loud. But the other party was Zhou Ziheng, and he didn't want to hide it. After all, with such experience, he needed to be honest so that Zhou Ziheng had room for choice.

After hearing this, I will consider whether to accept such a broken person.

"Xu Qichen doesn't know. He only knows that I was often beaten by Xia Yunkai before. There is no way to hide this. He is my deskmate." He pulled the corner of his mouth, "For his own face, Xia Yunkai never slapped me in the face, so he used that thin and long golf club to hit me hard on the back, tied it up, otherwise I would run away."

He spoke vividly, with a stubborn look on his face. "I still have to go to class after I can get out of bed. One time during lunch break, Xu Qichen suddenly pushed me up," he suddenly laughed, "Do you know, he doesn't usually have any expressions, I can now recall his eyes widened and panicked expressions," Xia Xiqing imitated Xu Qichen's appearance at that time, "Your back is bleeding, and your school uniform is stained."

"Then I can't hide it anymore. He is smart. Who would be beaten like that when fighting?" Xia Xiqing sighed, "But I still can't tell him anything else, otherwise the life of two poor people will be too hard every day." After that, Xia Xiqing laughed, put the photo back into the drawer, and took Zhou Ziheng out of the collection room and walked through the long gallery.

"My mother died of substance abuse." Xia Xiqing seemed to say these words without burden. "Postpartum depression continues to worsen. She relies on drugs every day to maintain decentness in front of outsiders. To put it bluntly, when she is outside, she is like an angel, and when she returns home, she becomes a madman. She has been changing between the two for a long time, and later she can't change her role freely." Speaking of this, he suddenly stopped and looked at Zhou Ziheng's side face extremely seriously and asked, "You said, is there a reason for my genetic ability to act like this?"

After saying that, he chuckled and continued to walk upstairs with the handrail.

Zhou Ziheng's hands were all chilled.

For the first time, he felt that his temperature was so small and so insignificant. Can he warm Xia Xiqing's heart if he hollowed out?

He was not sure.

"She spent her energy on building an art gallery and named it after me as my tenth birthday gift. She specially invited a French cake chef to make my cake into a sculpture, imitating the famous sculpture "Mother's Love" by Mazhuhan Mohe. Everything was very decent." Ascending to the last step, Xia Xiqing stopped, as if waiting for Zhou Ziheng.

"And then, that art gallery..."

"Then she died on the day the art museum opened." Xia Xiqing continued walking forward, his voice without any slight waving, "I twitched all over and fell in front of my cake and me."

Zhou Ziheng took a step forward, held his hand, his fingertips were cold, and it was incompatible with this humid, hot and warm midsummer night.

"I didn't think anything at all at the time. Everyone was panicked. I also said, it's okay, my mother often does this at home, and she will be fine in a while." Xia Xiqing smiled, "and then she never got better."

Xia Xiqing paused, stopped in front of a dark blue door, and was silent for half a minute.

"I didn't eat that cake at all. What a pity that no one will make such a beautiful cake for me again."

In fact, it's not for me, but for herself.

His hand held the door handle, tightened his fingers, and hesitated suddenly as he opened it.

Zhou Ziheng felt his emotions change almost instantly. His shoulders were trembling, and the more he shook, the more he became. His body began to be out of control like a patient with some serious illness.

"What's wrong?" He hugged Xia Xiqing, and said in a little hesitant tone, "This is... what room is this?"

Xia Xiqing lowered his head and bit his back teeth tightly so that he could not shake so hard. He thought he could face these pasts easily, and thought that those pasts had passed and were no longer enough to become a nightmare that torture him.

Pandora's box is always about to be opened.
To be continued...