Mr. Su's Love Investigation Report
Chapter 197 Little Butterfly

Chapter 197: Chapter 197 Little Butterfly

Tu Hengsha stood by the bed, and when she saw Grandma with her eyes closed, she was taken aback and cried out, "Grandma! Grandma!"

Grandma opened her eyes, looking a bit dazed. After recognizing Tu Hengsha’s face, she curled her lips slightly, "Girl... did you see?"

"What? Grandma?"

"Gugu’s room... do you think it’s too plain? The X-shaped decorations were cut out by Grandma herself, though they might not be as pretty as they used to be..." Grandma motioned for her to sit down. "The things and arrangements in the room... were all changed by Gugu these past few days... He... he intended to use it as a bridal chamber... If... if not for my fall... he would have proposed to you already... That’s just how he is... He keeps everything to himself... He only quietly does things... and wouldn’t boast until it’s all done..."

"But... I... I..." She lowered her head, feeling as if there was a hand tearing at her heart, "I... feared he might... hate me..."

"Silly girl..." Grandma sighed, "He has known for a long time..."

"Huh?" She was so surprised that she forgot to wipe away the tears hanging on her cheeks.

"He... is older and more precocious than you, he remembers all those events and people from twenty years ago..."

She was so shocked that she couldn’t speak. So, at the time he saved her life for the first time twenty years ago, he already knew she was Tu Chenggong’s daughter? Even so, he still knelt in front of his mother, begging her to save her?

"One night, he came to me late and said, ’Grandma, I like a girl, what should I do...’" Grandma smiled at the memory of that night, "He never had a close girlfriend. Hearing this made me so happy... I guessed it was you... I guessed right... He eventually said... this girl’s father was the one who killed his dad... and he asked me what he should do..."

What Grandma had replied, Tu Hengsha already knew. If Grandma had said "No," then there wouldn’t have been anything after that...

"Grandma, I’m sorry..." She hugged the box, tears dropping onto the lid. Sorry, she thought of Xiao Xu for twenty years but never truly tried to understand him...

Grandma shook her hand and pointed at the box, "Open it... girl..."

The box wasn’t locked. Tu Hengsha wiped away the tears on the lid with her sleeve and opened it. Inside, she saw a box full of colorful hair clips, and she was puzzled, "Grandma, this is..."

Grandma shook her head, "I don’t know what it is either. It’s Gugu’s things, brought over from the Su family. Besides these clips, there’s something at the bottom. See if you can recognize them?"

She recognized them, how could she not?

That exam paper that only scored 50 points was her only failing grade. She didn’t dare take it home to show Mom, so she threw it in the school playground’s trash can. Her name was written on it: Tu Hengsha;

That phrase book for which she handed in a sentence every day as a first-grader winter vacation homework. When the teacher returned them, hers was the only one missing. The first sentence read: Today I ran into Little Brother again, a small car carried him away, still ignoring me.

Marbles, blocks, Popsicle sticks, picture cards, triangular rulers...

These were all games she played alone in the little woods, having no friends. She didn’t know how much she had lost, nor whether what lay in this box were the things she’d lost. She opened one of the triangular rulers. Written in small letters was: Classmate Little Sha, keep it up.

That was her habit, writing a message to herself in every triangular ruler...

It turned out, while she was secretly salvaging trash, there was another fool just as stubborn, collecting her discarded items...

It turned out all the indifference and unfamiliarity had their reasons.

Her fingers passed through nearly a whole box of hair clips, and she didn’t understand their significance until a small red butterfly clip fell into her palm.

There was something familiar about it.

On the day she first met him at five years old, she wore a hair clip on her head. Later, when she was hospitalized, the clip disappeared. It seemed it should be this one, right?

Butterfly clip...

A line of words appeared in front of her eyes: After experiencing darkness and transformation, a butterfly finally grows beautiful wings; after experiencing falls and injuries, we will grow stronger! Little Butterfly, keep going!

Little Butterfly, Little Butterfly...

She recalled his several fuzzy murmurings by her ear; she never knew what "Little" he was calling. Was it Little Butterfly?

His butterfly avatar, his butterfly car accessory...

"Mr. Su, do you like butterflies a lot?"

"Not exactly fond."

Their initial encounter dialogue.

Wasn’t it fondness?

She touched her cheek, and her hand came away wet.

"Girl... do you understand now?" Grandma asked her weakly.

She covered her mouth and nodded vigorously, afraid of bursting into tears.

"As long as you understand..." Grandma sighed with relief and pointed to the cloisonné box by the bedside, "This... open it."

Tu Hengsha quickly put down the red-lacquered box and opened the box as instructed. It was full of jewelry.

"Girl, Grandma doesn’t have anything good left. These... some were gifts from your Grandpa back in the day... some were from my parents... all for you..."

"No, Grandma..." she hurriedly said; these were too precious.

But Grandma waved off her objection, "Girl... listen to me... Grandma has an important favor to ask of you... Will you agree?"

Tu Hengsha had a vague premonition of what Grandma was about to say, and she immediately burst into tears, holding Grandma’s hand and sobbing, "Grandma, don’t say it..."

"Girl..." Grandma continued, ignoring Tu Hengsha’s interruption, "Grandma is worried about Gugu. While I’m here, he has somewhere to warm his heart. Once I’m gone, he’ll be completely... alone. Girl, I’m entrusting Gugu to you... okay? Gugu... he’s afraid of the cold... and afraid of being alone... even though he’s always by himself..."

Tu Hengsha felt her heart shatter, pressing her cheek against Grandma’s hand and shaking her head desperately, "No, it’s not okay... Grandma... you won’t leave... we’ll... we’ll take care of him together... keep him company together..."

"Promise... promise me this..." Grandma spoke with increasing difficulty.

"No... Grandma... I won’t..." Tears covered Grandma’s hand.

"Girl... Grandma has more to tell Gugu... time might be running out... quickly promise me..."

Tu Hengsha cried till she couldn’t breathe, nodding vigorously, "I promise! I promise! Grandma, you hang on! You promised me! To make wild vegetable rice for me next spring! And mooncakes! You promised me!"

Grandma finally breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, "Girl, I’m sorry... Grandma... might have to break her promise... have Gugu cook for you in my place... the things Grandma didn’t get to do... let Gugu make it up to you... Girl... remember... a lifetime is very long, with many tests. Two people must trust each other... to... to complete the journey together... now... now go bring Gugu in..."