Mo Hua nodded, “Young Master An and I are fellow disciples; we have some friendship, and he has helped me before.”
An Xiaopang was stunned.
Wasn’t it Mo Hua who helped him with his homework? When did he help Mo Hua?
He couldn’t remember…
Old Master An’s eyes shone even brighter, and the look he gave An Xiaopang also contained a bit more appreciation.
“Since there is some comradeship between fellow disciples, then Xiaofu, you should take Little brother Mo and show him around.”
All eyes in the room turned towards An Xiaopang.
For the first time, An Xiaopang found himself being watched by so many people and felt a bit uneasy. Nevertheless, he straightened his back a little and said, “Yes, Grandfather.”
An Xiaopang led Mo Hua out of the living room.
Afterward, he let out a sigh of relief, his entire demeanor deflating like a punctured ball, wilting down.
He looked a bit pitiable, yet somewhat amusing.
Mo Hua couldn’t help but ask, “Are you very afraid of your grandfather?”
An Xiaopang nodded, “Yes. Not just my grandfather, I’m also afraid of my dad, and the other uncles and elders.”
“Do they hit you?”
An Xiaopang shook his head.
“Do they scold you?”
“My dad does, but my grandfather doesn’t, and usually, the other uncles and elders don’t either. Oh right, my dad also hits me…”
Mo Hua asked in confusion, “Then what are you afraid of them for?”
An Xiaopang did not answer but instead began to look despondent, saying:
“Mo Hua, am I completely useless?”
Mo Hua wanted to say no, but he couldn’t find any strengths to point out, so he responded in a more tactful way:
“A little bit.”
An Xiaopang became even more dejected, “My dad is the family head, and logically, I should become the family head in the future, but I’m not capable, I can’t be the family head…”
“Is that why you’re unhappy?”
“Yes.” An Xiaopang nodded, “That’s why those uncles and elders, the way they look at me, it’s with both regret and disappointment. When I was young, my grandfather cared for me a lot, but as I started to grow up, he didn’t even want to look at me straight anymore…”
An Xiaopang’s voice grew fainter and fainter, until it was barely audible.
“Did you not know about this before?”
The An Xiaopang Mo Hua remembered was the outspoken, somewhat temperamental, yet kind-hearted chubby boy.
Now, he seemed burdened with heavy thoughts.
“I didn’t know before because I hadn’t noticed. But then one day, I suddenly realized that the way my grandfather looked at me had changed. It wasn’t concern anymore; it was indifference and disappointment. And when I looked at my dad and those uncles and elders, actually, their eyes were all the same, filled only with disappointment…”
“Perhaps they had been disappointed in me for a long time, and it was just that I hadn’t noticed.”
A deep sense of loss lingered in An Xiaopang’s eyes.
“What if you work hard in your cultivation and learn more things?” suggested Mo Hua.
An Xiaopang wiped away a tear secretly, “Mo Hua, I’m just not smart, no matter how hard I try, I can never seem to learn. The things others can master, no matter how I study, I just can’t grasp…”