Wild Creatures

Chapter 129

"I want to make sure of whatever is in here, before we give it to JingYi, that's all." Wei Ying finishes, putting the bag down at his feet.

"Mn."

The rest of the drive is spent in contemplative silence as they process how they're going to tell JingYi the news.

The whole thing feels terrible, but because it is absolutely necessary, it is unavoidable.

"With A-Yuan or not?" Wei Ying asks him, as he and Lan Zhan join the rest of the parents walking towards the playground.

"With. A-Yuan is perceptive, and empathetic in a simple way, perhaps more than other children his age. Maybe because of his own experience." Lan Zhan reminds him.

As if Wei Ying could ever forget the kind of trauma A-Yuan has had to endure, from losing his parents to being shifted around and then on top of all that, to being abandoned.

No kid should have to go through something like that.

"Okay, so after dinner, then." Wei Ying plasters the biggest smile on his face when he spots both A-Yuan and JingYi holding hands and running out of their classroom towards them.

Lan Zhan squeezes their joined hands in solidarity, both of them aware of how difficult tonight is going to be.

******************

This evening, the children are excited, as a result of coming home in the car and bombarding their parents with question after question about their new home.

"When are we moving?"

"When are we painting?"

"When do we get to sleep in our new beds?"

And, "can we help?"

That one was by both of them, bouncing in their seats with the brightest smiles on their faces, and how could Wei Ying say anything about Mrs Lan to JingYi when they both looked so happy?

Wei Ying quickly turned to the front, furiously blinking away his tears so neither child noticed, before pasting on another huge grin on his face, when he turned back to them.

"How about Sunday? We can spend Family day painting at our new home!"

The kids cheer and the talk goes back to something they learned at school today.

Wei Ying is relieved and faces forward again, appreciating these precious seconds to swallow down his sadness, so he can put himself back together again. He doesn't want the children seeing him like this, at least not yet. He hopes for more courage tonight, and the ability to support JingYi through the awful disclosure of their bad news. Even if they knew it was going to happen to Mrs Lan, the children had no inkling of it.

JingYi probably thought his mother was going to come back at some point.

Lan Zhan holds his hand as much as they can, all the way home.

The children's exuberance does not diminish even when they reach Uncle Qiren and when he finds out why they're so excited, he tries not to frown.

Whilst they're chattering away in the library behind them, Uncle Qiren turns to Wei Ying.

"I hope you know that there is no rush on our end, to have you move out."

His words might be stilted and awkward, but Wei Ying grabs his hands when he sees the pain in Uncle Qiren's eyes.

"I know, Uncle. The children are just excited to paint! We haven't decided when exactly we're going to move," he explains, noting with satisfaction that it was the right thing to say.