When Lin Chen returned to the hotel, he spotted a crowd gathered around his car from a distance. Three police officers were standing beside it.
A hole had been smashed into the rear window.
A child was clinging to the opening, her head sticking halfway out.
Seeing Lin Nuonuo, who was supposed to be safely at the Lin residence, now sitting inside his car, Lin Chen’s expression instantly darkened.
The worst part was that Lin Nuonuo hadn’t noticed his stormy expression at all. She leaned against the window, happily chatting with the police as if nothing were wrong.
……
“Police Uncle, may I ask you a question?” Lin Nuonuo propped herself against the window.
Faced with the tiny child before them, the three officers visibly softened. “Of course. What is it, little one?”
“I want to ask how much a DNA test costs.”
She asked with utter seriousness.
But the officers were caught between laughter and tears. Had the child been abandoned in the car by irresponsible parents, and started doubting whether she was theirs?
“A DNA test isn’t cheap. Don’t bother with it. We’ll help you scold your dad.” One officer said with a smile.
But Lin Nuonuo shook her head solemnly and pressed on, “If it’s not cheap, how much is it?”
Seeing how determined she was, the officer thought for a moment. “At a regular testing center…… maybe two or three thousand.”
“Then can you tell me—”
She had wanted to ask where the testing centers were, but just as she opened her mouth, Lin Chen walked over and cut her off.
The moment she saw him, she shrank back behind the window, her guilty conscience written all over her face.
The three officers, however, grew stern at once.
“You’re Lin Chen?” One officer asked, pointing to the child inside the car. “This is your child, right?”
“……” Lin Chen glanced at Lin Nuonuo. He wanted to say no, but the thought that they were indeed listed under the same household registration made his head ache.
Taking his silence as confirmation, the officers immediately launched into a harsh lecture.
“As a father, you’re far too irresponsible. No matter how busy you are, you can’t leave a child alone in a car! Haven’t you seen the news recently? Just last week in C City, a child was left in a car by the parents and died before rescue arrived. In this heat, with no air circulation at all, if someone passing by hadn’t noticed a child inside and called us, a little longer and she’d at least have suffered heatstroke, if not worse……”
Lin Chen’s face remained impassive throughout the entire reprimand. Only after it ended did he finally retrieve his car— and the child.
……
The onlookers dispersed once there was no more ‘drama’ to watch.
A couple of people watched Lin Chen’s departing figure, puzzled.
“He looks familiar somehow.” One murmured.
“He seems like some celebrity?” Another said, though she couldn’t recall exactly which one.
The area was close to a film studio, and residents often saw actors around. Moreover, Lin Chen wasn’t exactly a big-name star.
After a few casual comments, they too went on their way.
……
Chen Yi rushed over the moment he received Zhang Qi’s call.
He climbed into the company’s borrowed van, breathless and tense. “What happened? Why was Lin Chen approached by the police?”
He didn’t remember Lin Chen ever having issues like drugs, illegal items, soliciting, or assault.
Chen Yi silently ran through all possibilities.
Zhang Qi didn’t know how to explain, so he subtly pointed at the backseat.
Chen Yi turned and froze when he saw the two people, one big and one small, sitting there.
“What the—?!”
He stared back and forth between Lin Chen and Lin Nuonuo, eyes wide, before it finally landed on Lin Chen.
“Lin Chen, you’re actually—” a scumbag?!
He suddenly recalled all those long-circulating rumors online— tricking fans, dating fans, secret marriage and childbirth, cheating while married……
He had always thought they were slander. He never imagined his own artist really had an illegitimate daughter!
And the worst part was that he, the manager, had not known at all!
Before Chen Yi could finish shouting ‘scumbag’, Lin Chen cut him off, saying flatly, “She’s not my child.”
“Then where did the child come from?” Chen Yi pressed.
“I picked her up.” Lin Chen replied coldly.
Chen Yi: “……” You expect me to believe that?
Seeing Chen Yi’s ‘Please don’t insult my intelligence’ expression, Lin Chen rubbed his temples. “She’s my brother’s.”
More precisely, she had been picked up by his brother.
As Lin Chen’s manager, Chen Yi actually knew nothing about his family. This was the first time he’d ever heard that Lin Chen even had a brother.
“She’s really not yours?” Chen Yi asked again, scrutinizing him from head to toe.
“No.”
As for how she ended up in his car, Lin Chen already had a guess.
And judging by his speechless expression and the child’s guilty one, both Chen Yi and Zhang Qi guessed it too.
“So what are you planning to do with the child?” Chen Yi asked, glancing at Lin Nuonuo.
Maybe because she realized she had caused trouble, or sensed Lin Chen’s foul mood, Lin Nuonuo had been extremely quiet ever since leaving his car and getting into the van.
“Should I find someone to send her back? You have to go shoot soon.” Chen Yi suggested after thinking it over.
Zhang Qi quickly chimed in, “I can send her.”
But the moment they spoke, both regretted it.
They exchanged a silent look. They had each been with Lin Chen for years, yet neither of them knew where he lived in A City, much less where his brother lived.
This child was the first relative of Lin Chen’s they’d ever met.
“Or maybe contact her family and have them meet somewhere. Zhang Qi can take her there.” Chen Yi said after a moment.
“No need. I’ll have someone pick her up.” Lin Chen got out of the van and called the Lin family’s villa.
At the villa, Lin Chaojiang hadn’t returned yet. The servants were busy with their own tasks, and not one had noticed that Lin Nuonuo was missing.
Until Lin Chen’s call.
“Hello?”
“It’s me. Lin Chen.”
“Second Young Master?”
“Nana—” Was that her name?
He paused slightly. “The child Lin Zeyu adopted…… she’s with me.”
“What? She’s with you?” Butler Wang was shocked.
He ordered the servants to search, and when none of them could find Lin Nuonuo, he had security check the surveillance footage. Only then did they realize she had slipped out and followed Lin Chen.
“Everyone was cleaning, and the guards were switching shifts, so no one noticed her getting into your car.” Butler Wang apologized.
His explanation wasn’t entirely true. No one in the house paid attention to Lin Nuonuo to begin with. There was no nanny assigned to her, and everyone simply let her wander freely, certain that a child that small wouldn’t leave the villa grounds.
Nanny Zhou, feeling guilty, stayed hidden and dared not approach Lin Chen or Lin Nuonuo.
No one imagined the child would follow Lin Chen.
“Have him come pick her up.” Lin Chen said curtly.
Of course, Butler Wang knew the ‘him’ referred to the eldest young master, Lin Zeyu.
“The eldest young master took the eldest young madam and the little miss to B City. They won’t be back for two days…… May I ask…… Second Young Master, where are you now?” Butler Wang thought for a moment and asked again.
“N County.” Lin Chen gave an address.
“Sorry to trouble you, Second Young Master.” Butler Wang said, paused, and added, “I’ll arrange for a driver to pick the child up right away. Please keep an eye on her for now.”
“Alright.” The Lin residence was only an hour or two away.
After speaking, Lin Chen hung up.
Inside the car, seeing Lin Chen return after finishing his call, Chen Yi quickly asked, “So the child……?”
“Someone will come to get her later.” Lin Chen replied.
“Good.” Chen Yi nodded.
“Then what now……?” Zhang Qi asked.
“Nothing. We’ll wait here first.” Chen Yi said irritably. After this ridiculous mix-up, he, as the manager, still had to call in favors to get someone to keep watch on the news and trending topics, in case Lin Chen ended up with even more scandals.
Hearing that, Zhang Qi looked troubled. “That won’t work. The crew just called urging Brother Chen. They said the next scene is the one with Brother Chen and Teacher Li Jinhua. Teacher Li will arrive on set any moment, and apparently, he has another event afterward……”
Lin Chen didn’t have many scenes opposite the main cast in this drama, and the other party was a respected veteran actor. They couldn’t possibly make such an elder wait for a fourth-tier actor like Lin Chen.
If Zhang Qi could realize it, of course, Chen Yi realized it too. He glared at Zhang Qi. “You could have said so earlier. Drive. We’re going to the set.”
“What about the child?” Zhang Qi asked.
The moment he finished speaking, both he and Chen Yi looked toward Lin Nuonuo. She seemed to have understood their conversation earlier, and she was staring at the three adults with a pitiful expression, looking like she was about to be abandoned. It tugged at the heart a bit.
Leaving a child this small alone in a hotel really did seem heartless.
They both turned to look at Lin Chen, who was casually scrolling on his phone, radiating a ‘I don’t care about the kid’ and ‘dump her wherever you want’ attitude. Chen Yi’s lips twitched. Alright, he was now absolutely convinced this child was definitely not Lin Chen’s.
Still, considering she was Lin Chen’s niece, and that leaving a child alone in a hotel felt wrong, Chen Yi glanced at Lin Chen again, then told Zhang Qi, “Bring her to the set with us. You stay in the car and watch her.”
“Oh…… okay.”
……
The car headed toward the filming location.
The entire way, aside from Chen Yi occasionally answering calls to deal with the fallout of the earlier fiasco, no one else spoke.
When a strange silence settled over the backseat, the quiet Lin Nuonuo beside Lin Chen suddenly spoke, “Nuonuo.”
Hearing her voice, Lin Chen lowered his head to look at her.
Meeting his slightly puzzled gaze, Lin Nuonuo pouted and corrected him, “Not Nana. Nuonuo.”
Lin Chen: “……”
“My name is Nuonuo!” She emphasized again with great seriousness.
Her father couldn’t even remember his own daughter’s name. Was this a failure of humanity, or……?
Oh. Nuonuo……
Lin Chen raised a brow indifferently and looked away.
Seeing him so uncaring, Lin Nuonuo repeated stubbornly, “It’s Nuonuo. Nuo[1]糯 jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1397396_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1397396_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); as in sticky rice[2]糯米 jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1397396_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1397396_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.”
He didn’t know why the child cared so much about her name, but faced with her insistent gaze, Lin Chen reluctantly responded, “Oh.”
Hearing him acknowledge her, Lin Nuonuo’s face lit up with satisfaction.
But remembering how Lin Chen had just called the Lin family to come take her away, the brightness on her face dimmed immediately.
……
While Lin Nuonuo was still desperately thinking of ways not to be taken back, the car arrived near the set.
“Let’s go. Xiao Qi, stay in the car with the child. I’ll go in with Lin Chen and talk to Assistant Director Chen for a bit.” Chen Yi said. After all, Lin Chen only got this role thanks to a recommendation from the other party.
After speaking, Chen Yi followed Lin Chen out of the car and into the set, leaving Lin Nuonuo and the assistant alone in the car.
“Um, you……”
Seeing Lin Nuonuo slumped like a wilted eggplant, Zhang Qi hesitated before speaking.
Even if the child didn’t seem to be close with Lin Chen, she was still the niece of his ‘meal ticket’, so he figured it was necessary to build a good relationship.
Before he could ease the awkward atmosphere, Lin Nuonuo spoke first, “Uncle, my name is Lin Nuonuo. You can call me Nuonuo.”
“Oh, Nuonuo. Nice to meet you.” Zhang Qi replied awkwardly.
The moment the words fell, the awkward silence returned.
“Um, Nuonuo, do you want some water?” He asked, trying to make conversation.
Lin Nuonuo shook her head, still leaning against the window and staring hard in the direction Lin Chen had gone, her face full of worry.
“Then…… do you want candy? Uncle can buy you some.” Zhang Qi tried again.
She shook her head.
“Ahem, then I’ll put on a cartoon for you.” He took out his phone and pulled up the most popular pink-pig cartoon.
Lin Nuonuo: “……” So boring.
But out of courtesy, she placed her gaze on the screen, though her expression clearly showed she wasn’t paying attention.
Seeing her like this, Zhang Qi felt so awkward he practically wanted to dig a hole in the car floor with his toes.
Truly, birds of a feather. He couldn’t help complaining inwardly.
This uncle and niece pair might not be close, but their personalities were identical. After working for Lin Chen for four years, he still couldn’t guess what his artist was thinking, especially when he was silent. In that respect, this child was exactly the same as Lin Chen.
Zhang Qi stole a glance at the child.
Finally, after two minutes of suffering, Zhang Qi gave up first.
“Alright, I’m going to buy you some candy anyway.” He scratched his head.
But remembering how the police officers had scolded Lin Chen earlier, Zhang Qi didn’t dare leave her alone, so he took her with him instead of leaving her in the car.
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