My Alleged Husband-Chapter 182 - 165 The Call Comes Again!_1
Xia Jing and Zhang Zhentian listened to the words of that stranger in the hospital, and they both felt deep sorrow in their hearts. At this moment, they both deeply regretted why, in pursuit of their own freedom, they had selfishly abandoned their son. If they had not left him back then, would their child not have come to hate them? If they had chosen to forgo their freedom to stay by their son’s side, would the outcome have been different now? Would they not find themselves in the current situation, unable to return home, unable to acknowledge their child? Was this really divine retribution? God, what did I do wrong to make my son hate me to this extent, to decree that I should never return home? Even if I die outside, it would have nothing to do with the Zhang Family. What should I do in the future? He is my only son!
Although the stranger strongly disapproved of what Zhang Yichen had done to his parents, he felt that Xia Jing and Zhang Zhentian had truly gone too far. In this world, he had never seen such heartless people who would abandon their own flesh and blood in pursuit of personal freedom. Such a mother was perhaps truly rare in this world, wasn’t she?
After pondering, the stranger decided to still offer some advice to Xia Jing and Zhang Zhentian. He said to them, "The truth is, this is a family matter, and I should not interfere, but please forgive my presumption. I feel that you two really did go too far. In this world, which parent doesn’t hope to give up everything to be by their child’s side? No one would willingly abandon their child for some other pursuit, yet the two of you did the exact opposite of most parents in this world. You chased after your own freedom and abandoned your child. When you made that decision, did you ever consider the harm it would bring to your child? Did you ever think that maybe one day, when your child grew up, he would hate you for life? Perhaps at that time, you really never thought about it, only fixated on your own carefree and easy lifestyle, right?"
Xia Jing and Zhang Zhentian felt the stranger’s words made sense. They said to him, "Indeed, we had not considered these issues at the time because we believed our child would understand, that he would not seek us out over this matter. But who could have foreseen that after our child grew up, he would treat us with such deep hatred? This has become a profound wound in our hearts, one that may never heal. If time could turn back, I would rather lose my freedom than abandon my child; I wouldn’t leave my home. Now we’re in a situation where we have a home we can’t return to—who else in the world could be more miserable than us?"
The stranger laughed with disdain. Seeing the stranger’s scornful laugh, Xia Jing and Zhang Zhentian didn’t understand—what did their family affairs have to do with this stranger? They asked him, "Sir, we’re very grateful to you for taking us to the hospital at that time, but we don’t understand why you take such an interest in our family matters?"
"No reason, it’s very simple. When I was little, I was also abandoned by my parents. But they only left me for a short month before they came back. When they returned, they told me they couldn’t bear being apart from me and the longing they felt. They decided to give up their pursuits to stay by my side so that I could grow up happy and joyful. At least that way, I was happy. Although the burden in their hearts was heavy, they felt it was enough as long as I was happy. So, I don’t understand—if such ruthless people as my parents could realize this, why can’t the two of you, whose hearts are not so harsh, understand?"
"Actually, we ourselves don’t know why we suddenly made that decision back then. Now that I think about it, that decision really brought us a lot of harm. Shortly after we made that decision and arrived in the United States, we knew that it was something we would regret for a lifetime. But since we had already set foot on this path, there was no turning back. Since it was a road we chose ourselves, we had to finish it on our knees if necessary. There is no such thing as giving up halfway, don’t you think?"
"Giving up halfway isn’t something unheard of; everyone abandons something halfway at least once in their lives. I just want to understand one thing: Do you truly love your children? If you do, why didn’t you go back after you left, to find them, to seek their forgiveness, to return home and be with them? Instead, you left for an entire ten years. Do you know what ten years mean to a child? That was their childhood. How can it be called a childhood without the presence of parents? Was their childhood happy? Have you ever understood what your son’s childhood was like? Maybe you have never cared. If that’s the case, then what right do you have to expect your child to choose not to hate you, but to continue to love you?"
"Go back? Easy for you to say. Do you realize that at the moment we decided to leave our child behind to chase our own freedom, the child’s grandfather had already decided to kick us out of the house, forbidding our return for life? We both have our pride; how could we possibly bow our heads to an old man over fifty? Do you know that actually, we regretted our decision the moment we left, but since we had already stepped out the door, how could we turn back? There’s a saying ’A good horse never turns back to the old grass.’ Rather than return with our tails between our legs, it’s better to live on our own outside!"
"Actually, there’s nothing in this world that can’t be done; it’s just that you were never willing to put aside your so-called pride. In your hearts, your pride is more important than your own son, than your family, than your parents, than your relatives. When will you understand what is truly important to you? Can your freedom accompany you for a lifetime? Don’t you want to return to your roots when you’re old and close to dying? Do you really feel happy wandering outside forever? You never consider your own children, and you have never thought about what your relatives truly need. That is why you are lost and why you make one wrong decision after another. It is precisely because of these repeated mistakes that you’ve lost what could have been a happy family for life. Maybe you don’t regret it much yet. The time you will truly regret is when your children have offspring of their own, and you can only watch from the side, unable to say or do anything, strangers despite being kin. That feeling is the most painful!"
When Xia Jing heard these words spoken by the stranger, she couldn’t help crying. She felt that there was truth in his words; it was because of her own hardness that she had lost the happy family she once had. She decided that she needed to call her son herself to ask how he could ever forgive her.
The next day, as Zhang Yichen was just waking up, he was preparing to go downstairs to see if his grandfather was up yet. Just as he reached the living room, the phone began to ring. He walked over slowly, curious about who would be calling his house so early in the morning. But when he heard the voice of the person speaking on the phone, he—didn’t want to answer it!
