CHAPTER 526: CHAPTER 97

The larger performance tent was still under construction, but the row of smaller tents and canopies for the circus members’ living quarters had already been set up.

Xu Dong led his "son" Liangliang by the hand, and followed into the front of a white-topped tent in the middle.

The tent was wrapped in thick plastic sheets all around, and a blanket curtain hung at the entrance.

It was still summer, the sun high in the sky, making the dwelling look unbearably hot and stuffy from the outside.

Xu Dong, while fanning his own collar, urged, "Can we hurry up and not waste my time?"

The young woman glanced at him and said, "Even when buying a head of mule or a head of cattle you’d have to check them out first, let alone buying a person."

Xu Dong glared at her and demanded, "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, we need to see if the child is sick or has any disabilities. Otherwise, even if we take him, he won’t be easy to reassign."

"My son has been very healthy since he was little, hardly ever sick!"

"Heh," the young woman covered her mouth and chuckled, "That’s what you say, but it doesn’t count. Come in and sit down, it’s hot outside but cool inside."

As she spoke, the woman lifted the blanket curtain, and immediately a chill air wafted out. It not only dissipated the heat but also made one involuntarily shiver.

Xu Dong suspected that there might be ice blocks inside.

"Are you coming in or not?" the woman urged again.

Taking a deep breath, Xu Dong entered, pulling Liangliang by the hand.

The space inside the tent was not large. On either side, there was a chair and a bed.

In the central area, there was a water tank, and above it a plastic figure wearing a white robe, a high hat, holding lanterns in both hands.

At first glance, one might take it for a living person. Xu Dong was startled upon entering.

Liangliang, on the other hand, shrank back, hiding behind his dad and clutching Xu Dong’s trousers.

"What is that?" Xu Dong asked.

The woman said as if it were the most natural thing, "It’s quite rare, doesn’t each profession have their own thing to worship?"

The grandma sat down on a chair, holding an old-fashioned porcelain bowl in her hands that had several chips and was filled with clear water.

The woman bent down and grabbed Liangliang.

"No, I don’t want to, I don’t want to," Liangliang pleaded, looking at his dad.

Xu Dong’s eyes revealed a struggle, but he never lowered his head to look and stood there motionlessly.

The woman dragged the boy away from the man and pulled him in front of the grandma.

The grandma extended her hand and touched Liangliang’s cheek.

At her touch, the little boy immediately stopped squirming, eyelids drooping, but beneath the calm exterior, his body was trembling uncontrollably.

The grandma first touched the boy’s forehead with her index finger, then dipped the finger into the bowl of water. Immediately, the water in the bowl turned a faint black color.

Looking at the color, the woman’s brows furrowed slightly, clearly not satisfied with the quality.

Nevertheless, she pulled out some money from her pocket, counted it, and handed it over to Xu Dong: "That’s all there is, take it or leave it."

Xu Dong took the money, shoved it straight into his pocket without counting, and quickly turned to leave.

The trembling on Liangliang’s body intensified.

The grandma continued to hold the bowl steadily, not moving an inch.

At that moment, the blanket curtain was lifted slightly, and a man poked his head in and asked, "Sister Rou, the food has been bought back, everyone’s waiting for you to start the meal."

The woman referred to as "Sister Rou" suddenly turned her head and scolded the man, "Eat, eat, eat, the offerings haven’t been prepared yet, and that’s all you think about!"

"Didn’t we just take in one..."

Sister Rou pushed Liangliang away and snorted, "Too poor a quality, an unwanted child."

Xu Dong walked all the way out to a small shop beside the road, went in and asked for a pack of cigarettes, stood at the door of the shop, lit one, choked on the first puff, then crouched and started dry heaving.

The imagined feeling of revenge didn’t materialize; instead, a hollow emptiness spread in his heart, and his eyes moistened accordingly.

"Smack! Smack!"

He smacked his face hard twice, making it turn bright red.

"Xu Dong, oh Xu Dong, why are you so cheap, it’s not even your own flesh and blood, what’s there to be reluctant about?"

He used to have an enviable, beautiful life.

After graduation, he was assigned to a well-benefited unit with good welfare; married an intellectual and beautiful wife, and later they had an adorable son.

Back then, he honestly felt that fortune had favored him.

But later, he realized he had become a joke.

First, his wife asked for a divorce citing emotional discord. Though he didn’t understand and desperately tried to keep her, in the end, he could only accept it with resignation.

Fortunately, he won the custody of his son.

For this, he felt somewhat grateful towards his ex-wife.

Until one day, rumors about his ex-wife reached his ears. At first, he didn’t believe them, but what he later discovered was that his wife had been with someone else even during their school days, and strictly speaking, he turned out to be the third party.

He had been to that school and met the retired professor, Chen Deliang. Just one glance was enough for him to confirm that Liangliang was the other man’s son.

Before, he hadn’t thought that his son didn’t resemble him; perhaps the boy looked more like his mother. But when the suspected person appeared, the comparison was inevitable, and he had to believe it.

It turned out that all these years, he was not only raising someone else’s wife but also someone else’s son.

The son he used to adore became a mockery with every glance, a trampling on his self-respect.

Especially since the son’s name contained the character "Liang", and his pet name was "Liangliang", his wife’s pick, a character from that old man’s name.