Chapter 27

Chapter 27 – Mei Fang’s Plan

The next morning, Mei Fang woke up earlier than usual and waited for Xia Yuan at the entrance of the residential area.

Since the elementary school was not far from home, Xia Yuan usually went to school on her own and did not accompany her mother, unlike the childhood friends in Sakura Country who would go to school together every day with Mei Fang.

When Xia Yuan saw Mei Fang waiting for her, she was still rubbing her eyes and yawning, looking as if she had just woken up. She felt both surprised and happy to see him there.

“Good morning! Good morning! Have you been waiting for me?”

“I just happened to see you coming, so I waited a bit.”

“Oh… I see…” Xia Yuan lowered her head, pursed her lips, and thought for a moment before lifting her head and smiling. “Let’s talk while we walk.”

On their way to school, Xia Yuan explained to Mei Fang what had happened at her house last night and over the recent period.

Her father’s hotel business seemed prosperous, but it was actually losing money continuously. As a result, he had borrowed money from outside, accumulating quite a lot of debt.

After her mother found out about this, she advised her father to sell the hotel to cut losses, but he was unwilling to do so and even considered mortgaging the family’s house to repay the debts.

Their argument inside the room startled Xia Yuan. After failing to persuade them to stop arguing, her father left the house in anger.

Her mother also called Xia Yuan and told her the reason behind the argument, hoping that Xia Yuan could persuade her father to change his mind and not continue his stubborn behavior.

“This is the first time I’ve seen my father like that… He used to be so gentle and never treated us harshly,” Xia Yuan said with a bitter expression.

“But when I talked to him about it last night, he completely ignored me and scolded me, saying that children should not interfere with adult matters.”

Although Xia Yuan’s words contained some subjective understanding, Mei Fang had roughly figured out the situation.

The hotel, which was continuously losing money, was something her father wanted to invest more in to try to turn things around, while her mother believed it was a bottomless pit.

Based on the outcome of the previous life, Xia Yuan’s father achieved his goal, but it led to even greater losses, ultimately pushing their family into financial ruin.

According to Mei Fang’s observations over the years, Xia Yuan’s parents were very concerned with “face.”

This face was reflected in their upbringing and the education they provided for their daughter. Regardless of whether they were rich or poor, they treated others kindly.

But these manners could only be achieved with material wealth; once they lost their wealth or accumulated debts, their “face” could not be maintained.

Xia Yuan’s father was indeed someone who cared about his face. In Mei Fang’s eyes, losing face was worse than death to him.

However, it was unimaginable to Mei Fang that they would ultimately reach such an extreme, dragging their daughter down with them.

“I think… you’re just a child, and your father won’t listen to you if you just speak logically.”

Xia Yuan nodded, “I know. I really don’t want my father to keep running the hotel. He’s becoming more and more fond of socializing and drinking with his friends. Since I started elementary school, I see him less and less at home. And seeing how obsessed he is with the hotel… it’s like he’s possessed, which makes me feel scared.”

“Children can do limited things, and we are not on equal footing with adults. Persuading someone through mere words is almost impossible.”

Xia Yuan said dejectedly, “Last night, my mother clearly told me that if my father continues to act so stubbornly, she plans to divorce him and asked me who I would choose to live with. I’m afraid that if my parents really get divorced… I don’t want to make that choice.”

Mei Fang thought for a moment, “If you don’t want to see your parents’ relationship break down and you want to stop your father from being stubborn, maybe this plan could work…”

“What plan?” Xia Yuan asked.

Mei Fang looked at Xia Yuan and explained his plan word by word.

“Run away from home?”

A child, as a ward, could only hope that their parents would listen to reason when trying to convince them of something.

For example, if you wanted to keep a cat, get a new backpack, or have toys, you could agree with your parents that you would achieve certain grades or rankings in your next exam.

Most parents would agree to meet the child’s expectations after reaching those goals.

But this only applied to some material rewards.

For something like Xia Yuan’s father’s future career development plan, one could only discuss it with adults.

The child’s opinion was not necessary to consider.

Unless the parents could understand the child’s urgent request.

Taking charge of one’s own affairs often led to conflicts with parents, and running away from home was an external manifestation of this independence.

There were many reasons for a child to run away from home, including heavy academic pressure, cold parents, lack of affection, boredom with a monotonous life, or the temptation and manipulation of bad people.

Like Mei Fang.

“You… Are you serious? You want me to run away from home?” Xia Yuan was shocked by Mei Fang’s proposal. “How will that solve anything?”

Mei Fang nodded, “Think about it, your parents love you so much. If you run away, wouldn’t they drop everything to look for you? This would make them take your thoughts seriously. The key here is your thoughts.”

“But… That would cause too much trouble!” Xia Yuan grumbled. “If I really run away, my parents would surely go crazy looking for me.”

“It’s just a pretend run-away to make them worry and take your thoughts and opinions seriously.”

“Like on TV? But I haven’t even had a fight with my family, running away seems too strange.”

“Do you feel sad seeing your parents argue and feeling helpless? Your mother even said she wants to divorce your father and asks you to choose who to live with. Would you be okay with that?”

“If they really divorce, think about it, when you go to middle school, high school, college, or even get married, what if your father marries another woman… What then?”

Mei Fang’s low voice gradually made Xia Yuan realize the huge crisis, and she quickly covered his mouth.

“Don’t say anymore! You… You’re disgusting!”

Mei Fang remained stable in his ability to manipulate children and immediately made Xia Yuan cry.

Seeing that they were close to the school, she quickly rubbed her eyes.

“I may be harsh, but what I say is the truth. So, you must run away from home to show your sadness and force your parents to take your opinions seriously. If your father succeeds in bankrupting the family or your mother really divorces your father, these aren’t things you want to see, right?”

“But… but…”

Xia Yuan looked at Mei Fang with pleading eyes, “I have no experience running away, and I don’t know if I have enough money. What if I really encounter bad people…”

“Don’t worry about that. We are such good friends, how could I let you go alone.”

Mei Fang patted Xia Yuan’s shoulder, “I will run away with you—”

“Together with you.”