Venus hugged the baby tightly and cried even harder.
Outside the room, Xiran Xiao hesitated to knock on the door, and Kevin, who was passing by, stopped
in his tracks.
"Xiran, what are you standing here for?"
Xiran pointed to Venus's bedroom and sighed, "Tianye called me to say Venus was crying. He asked
me to come and comfort her."
"Why is she crying?" Kevin asked.
"She knows about Kerry's salvaged clothes."
Kevin's eyes glistened with sadness. "But why don't you go in and comfort her?"
Xiran frowned, "I'd like to go in too. But I think we should let her cry for a while."
Kevin nodded and was about to go downstairs, but Xiran called out to him.
"Are you okay?" Xiran asked.
Kevin didn't look back. He didn't want Xiran to see the tears in his eyes. With a choked voice, he said,
"I'm fine."
Xiran sighed.
She waited outside the door for five or six minutes, and then pushed the door open and entered.
On the bed, Venus and Pingan were both crying.
Xiran walked up and patted Venus on the shoulder, "All right, all right, don't cry. When you cry, your
children cry with you. We've only found Kerry's shirts, not his body. When we find his body, you'll cry
then, okay?"
Venus stared at her with teary eyes, and said, "Xiran, are you trying to comfort me? Why am I even
sadder after hearing your words?"
Xiran shrugged, "I'm telling the truth. Kerry is just missing. If he comes back one day, won't all your
tears be for nothing?"
"Then I just want to be sad, can't I?" Venus choked up.
"But Kerry isn't dead yet, so don't cry. I thought you were a strong woman the other day." Xiran said.
Venus wiped her tears with the blanket, not as sad as before. Xiran looked at Pingan and then wiped
his tears with the blanket.
Venus took one look at Pingan and noticed that his large eyes were swollen.
She straightened the collar of her pajamas and said in a very nasal voice, "Can you help me to the
bathroom?"
"You have to promise me one thing first," Xiran said.
"What?" Venus asked.
"You're not allowed to cry before we find Kerry.” Xiran said. “Please pretend he's out on a trip.”
Venus thought for a few seconds, and then nodded.
"I want to hear you promise me personally," Xiran said.
"I promise you. I'll live my life until I find Kerry." Venus promised.
Xiran heard her say this and then happily extended her hand, "Here, let me help you to the bathroom."
Venus went to the bathroom with Xiran's help and washed her face on the way.
Since she could not go up and down the stairs because of her leg injury, the maid brought her
breakfast directly to her bedroom.
As the maid left, Venus said, "Please let Kevin come over after he has breakfast."
The maid nodded and left.
Xiran took a sip of warm milk, raised her eyelids and asked, "Why do you suddenly want to see Kevin?"
"It's New Year's Eve. I want my brother to stop looking for Kerry. He's been looking for Kerry for three
days now. And it's still so cold. I think Kerry might ….." Venus choked out.
"Have you made your decision?" Xiran was quite surprised by her words.
"I've been having nightmares for two days. Maybe Kerry is dead," Venus said, "but I need to talk to
Kevin about it.”
Xiran shook her cold hand, "I'm glad you're willing to face this."
They were having breakfast when there was a knock on the door.
"May I come in?" Kevin asked.
"Yes, please." Venus said loudly.
"Venus, you wanted to see me?"
"Have you finished eating?" Venus asked.
"Yeah." Kevin said. In fact, he only ate half of it. When he heard the maid's words, he threw down his
chopsticks, wiped his mouth and went straight upstairs.
“I have something to discuss with you." Venus said cautiously.
"What?" Kevin said
"It's New Year's Eve, and I want my brother and Henry to stop looking for Kerry. It's been a long time,
but we haven't found him yet. I thought Kerry might be…… Kevin, do you know what I mean?"
Kevin looked into her red, swollen eyes. He knew she had been awake last night and had cried, so he
figured it would be hard for her to make this decision.
"Okay, I'll listen to you." said Kerry.
…….
On the night of New Year's Eve, Tianye Mu and Xiran stayed at Ye's house instead of going back to
Mu's house for New Year's Eve.
The New Year's Eve dinner was sumptuous. Mrs. Qin cooked many dishes. The tables were filled with
delicious food. Wine filled many glasses. Most of the servants in the villa had gone home on vacation,
except for the three who lived nearby, and Venus invited them to join them. Many people were sitting
around the table, but Kerry's seat was empty.
.
According to tradition, the lights were turned on in all the rooms of the villa. There were couplets on the
doors and red lanterns hung everywhere, which John had decorated all afternoon.
Venus forced a smile and lifted her glass of red wine, "Today is New Year's Eve, so let's put all the
sadness aside and have a good time. I'm sure Kerry is still alive, so for the first toast I wish him good
luck."
"My brother has been the perfect controller of his own life for the past 30 years. Fate will not give him a
sad ending. He will come back safely." "Kevin smiled.
Then everyone raised their glasses.
After New Year's Eve dinner, it was too boring to watch the Spring Festival Gala, so Kevin suggested
playing mahjong. This got support from Tianye. But Venus didn't know how to play mahjong, so Kevin
invited Henry to join them.
"Can we bet a smaller amount of money? Otherwise I would have lost my salary for the year." Henry
said.
Venus sat behind Xiran with Pingan in her arms. She smiled at Henry’s words and said, "I'll pay for the
money you lose."
"Really?" Henry asked with surprise.
"Of course. If you lose your money, just take the money I pay you as red envelop for you. If you win, the
money will be your year-end bonus."
"Thank you." Henry said happily. "Then I'll have no worries."
Xiran rarely played mahjong, so she wasn't very good at it. "I'm not very familiar with the game, so
you'll all have to wait for me to figure out how to play mahjong." She said.
"You have never played it?" Kevin somewhat believed her words.
"Yeah. I rarely play mahjong."
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