Love in the Midst of Mistaken Identities

“She only likes that. You don’t have to waste your money.” Xia Ruoxin washed her hands and got ready to cook some noodles in the kitchen. Shen Wei didn’t have a favorite food, perhaps because she had eaten most delicacies before. However, she loved to eat the noodles that Xia Ruoxin cooked. It didn’t matter what type of noodles they were—she liked them all. Other than Gao Yi—the owner of the house, many other regular guests came frequently.

Xia Ruoxin had never felt like Shen Wei’s occupation was inferior. She wasn’t concerned about that. After all, she never forgot that she came out of that place, too. If not for Shen Wei, she won’t even know what kind of life she’d be living now. Perhaps she would be selling her body or entertaining others.

Gratitude was a virtue. She would never forget Shen Wei’s help for the rest of her life.

Shen Wei carried Rainy onto her lap. She didn’t know why, but she liked children. Perhaps it was because she had lost one before. If her child was still around, he’d be as old as Rainy, she thought.

Would it have been a boy or a pretty girl? She actually wished it was a girl, one as cute and obedient as Rainy.

She gazed at Rainy, her eyes misty.

“Auntie, does it hurt?” Rainy rested her cute hands on Shen Wei’s face. “Rainy can blow on it, then it won’t hurt.”

Rainy said and pursed her lips, blowing hard at her eyes.

“I’m fine.” Shen Wei rubbed the tears from her eyes and kissed Rainy on the cheeks. “You’re really nice.”

When Xia Ruoxin walked out with a bowl of noodles in her hands, she noticed how red Shen Wei’s eyes were.

She cried again? She didn’t pry further. Everyone had scars and sorrows in their hearts. She was like that in the past, but the worst storm was now over. Now, all she wanted to do was laugh—laugh for her daughter, live hard for her daughter. As for Shen Wei, she didn’t know or understand what she was going through so she didn’t poke her nose into her business.

She placed the bowl on the table and reached her hand out to her daughter. “Come, Rainy, let me hug you. Let Aunty eat.”

“Okay.” Rainy opened her palms and let Xia Ruoxin hugged her. She bit her fist and rested her head on her mother’s shoulder. Her bright and huge eyes looked at the world with discerning eyes, wide and innocent. Even though she had experienced so many hardships with her mother, she was still the cute and naive little girl. Like they said, children had no worries, and that was the case for Rainy, too.

Shen Wei held the chopsticks and started eating mouthful by mouthful. Her long hair, dyed wine-red, cascaded across her shoulders. She gently swept her hair back, the mere action charming as ever. Some women’s beauty radiated from their bones, rather than from their dressing or accessories. Xia Ruoxin always felt like Shen Wei had experienced a lot in life, but she wouldn’t be nosy and ask her. Shen Wei had said before that if the day came when she was willing to, she would exchange her story for one of hers.

However, she didn’t know when she would be able to hear her story.

Shen Wei cupped the bowl with her hand and drank all the soup without an ounce of grace.

“Thank you.” Shen Wei put down the bowl. After finishing the entire bowl of noodles, her satisfaction went beyond merely feeling full. Inside the bowl of noodles were also her memories, and not just bitter ones or just happy ones. They were sour, bitter, sweet, and spicy—all the flavors one could imagine.

“You’re welcome.” Xia Ruoxin smiled. “Are you full? Do you want seconds?”

“Do you think I’m a pig?” Shen Wei rubbed her stomach and pointed at the bowl on the table, which was many times bigger than her head. Another bowl, and she would be stuffed to death.

“I’m sorry.” Xia Ruoxin was a little apologetic. It seemed like she was too generous.

“Give me the bowl.” Shen Wei pushed the bowl towards Xia Ruoxin, who bumped foreheads with Rainy lightly. “Rainy, stay here and play with Aunty, okay? Mommy’s gonna do the dishes.”

“Okay.” Rainy nodded obediently and reached her hands out to Shen Wei who hoisted her up.

Shen Wei carried the little girl delightedly and played with her. It was difficult to imagine that she would actually play so excitedly with a child. This was the first time Xia Ruoxin was seeing a totally different side of Shen Wei.

Xia Ruoxin poured a dollop of dishwashing soap on her hands and ran them under the tap. She watched as the bubbles popped at her fingertips.

Outside, Shen Wei pinched Rainy’s cheeks and swept her wine-red hair to one side,

“Rainy. Is Mommy prettier, or Aunty is?”

Rainy was an extremely honest child. She gnawed on the tiny fingers as her huge eyes shone. Then, she pointed at the kitchen. Mommy was pretty, and so was Aunty.

“Rainy loves Mommy and Aunty.” The little girl has a glib tongue which made Shen Wei’s heart melt.

When Xia Ruoxin was done, Rainy was already tired from playing. She bit into her tiny fist as she slept. Her cheeks were rosy, but she looked a little like a boy with that short hair.

“Your daughter is really sweet.” Shen Wei handed the child in her arms to Xia Ruoxin reluctantly. This was someone else’s child, not hers. She really wanted to bring that child back, but that place of hers...

Forget it. It was best not to dirty her pure eyes. Just let her grow up without worries.

Xia Ruoxin placed her daughter in the bedroom, and the first thing she asked when she came out was, “You’re not planning to leave that place?”

That place was obviously hell so there was no reason she should stay there. Xia Ruoxin felt like Shen Wei was able and had all the reasons to leave. All in all, that place was really not suitable for a normal person. It was filled with all kinds of filth, schemes, humanity’s evil, ugliness, and negativity. The longer one stayed there, the more one would go mad.

She would always be grateful to Shen Wei for letting her leave that place, but what about Shen Wei herself? Was she going to continue staying there?

“Why would I leave?” Shen Wei took out a cigarette, but she fumbled around for her lighter. She had forgotten to bring it.

“Do you have a lighter?” She asked Xia Ruoxin. Her long and slender fingers, painted with red nail polish, were like that of an artist or a pianist. It should be held tightly by a man’s huge and thick palms, instead of letting the cigarette stained her clean white fingers like this.

“Yes, give me a second.” Xia Ruoxin entered the kitchen and brought out a lighter for Shen Wei.

“Thank you.” Shen Wei put the cigarette into her mouth like she always did, and her red lips curled around it. She lit up the cigarette with the lighter, and the captivating scent of smoke filled her lungs.