On the staircase, Lin Chen halted when he sensed light footsteps drawing near. He turned and looked at Lin Nuonuo, who was not far behind him.
“What are you following me for?” He asked, his brows tightening.
Did this kid have some kind of problem?
He had heard of certain animals imprinting right after birth, but he had never heard of a human child doing the same. And even if imprinting were a thing for humans, she should have been following the couple who brought her home, not him.
“Um, my room is also on the second floor.” Lin Nuonuo explained.
So she wasn’t deliberately following him. They were just…… fated to walk in the same direction.
“Is that so?”
“Uh-huh.” She nodded quickly, then turned her head away, afraid he would catch the guilt on her face.
“My room is on the right, the second one from the end.” She said, pointing seriously toward the corridor at the top of the stairs.
But it was obvious Lin Chen didn’t take her words to heart at all.
She didn’t get upset about it. Instead, she quickened her steps and very ‘naturally’ kept pace beside him.
“I was pretending earlier.” She whispered as they walked.
Her eyes had lost that timid, wooden dullness she always showed in front of the Lin family. Instead, there was a hint of mischief.
She was referring to how Lin Zixin had deliberately put chili in her bowl earlier.
Children raised in an orphanage ate everything, and so did she.
Usually, when Lin Zixin purposely gave her food she disliked, Lin Nuonuo would also pretend not to like it. That way, Lin Zixin would feel she had successfully bullied her and stop causing trouble.
Lin Nuonuo could actually handle spicy food.
The chili had been a little spicy, but mixed with rice, it wasn’t that bad.
So her near-tears expression earlier had been mostly an act.
She did it mainly to stop Lin Zixin from putting even more disgusting things into her bowl.
She just hadn’t expected Lin Chen to notice Lin Zixin’s petty actions and even step in on her behalf.
Thinking of that, a warm feeling spread through her chest, and she gave Lin Chen another grateful smile.
“I’m not afraid of spicy food.” She added. She said that partly so he wouldn’t worry, and partly in the hope he might praise her.
Her little thoughts were written all over her face.
Lin Chen lowered his head and cast her a casual glance.
“Not completely stupid.”
As for worrying about her? Impossible.
She wasn’t his child. Why would he worry?
With that thought, he withdrew his gaze and headed for his room, showing her nothing but a ‘we’re not close’ view of his back.
Lin Nuonuo, however, was thrilled, both by his defense of her earlier and by that one begrudging compliment. Even when she went to bed, the sweet smile never left her face.
────ρя
Meanwhile, Lin Zixin’s mood was far less pleasant.
Inside her room, she vented her rage by hurling everything she could grab onto the floor.
“That damned bumpkin! Uncle actually scolded me because of her! It’s all her fault! If not for her, how could Uncle ignore our relationship and embarrass me like that in front of everyone?! Go die! Go die!”
After a long fit of rage, she finally calmed a little, though her heart still burned with anger. Looking at the trashed room that had once been pristine and elegant, she lifted her head sharply, her eyes vicious as she glared at Nanny Zhou.
“Didn’t you say you’d get rid of her? Didn’t I tell you to find someone? Why hasn’t she been taken away yet?!”
Nanny Zhou trembled inside.
“I— I already found someone.”
“Where? Where is he?” Lin Zixin demanded.
“He’s on the way. He should arrive in the next day or two.”
Since Nanny Zhou didn’t dare hire anyone too familiar, she had contacted a distant relative from her home village.
His name was Zhou Qiang, a good-for-nothing who hung around gambling tables, owed a mountain of debt, and had even driven his wife and child away.
For two thousand yuan, he accepted the job.
And right now, he really was on a train heading toward A City.
Hearing that, Lin Zixin finally relaxed.
“Is the money I gave you enough?”
“Just about.”
There had been around six or seven hundred thousand left on that bank card. Nanny Zhou had spent one thousand on renting a place nearby, two thousand for Zhou Qiang, and eight hundred reimbursing his travel.
Lin Zixin nodded. “Good. Tell him to hurry and keep it clean. Don’t leave any evidence behind.”
“Y-yes, no problem.”
“Clean this room. I’m going to sleep.” She ordered coldly.
“Right away.”
────ρя
The next morning, when Lin Chen once again saw Lin Nuonuo standing outside his bedroom door, he no longer felt surprised.
“Breakfast will be ready soon.” Dad!
When he didn’t respond, she added, “Skipping breakfast is bad for your digestion, and you’ll get gallstones, and low blood sugar, and…… and you’ll get dumber!”
She remembered reading that in 《Health Talks》, the book Lin Chaojiang had been reading.
Lin Chen looked at the little chatterbox before him, his brows gradually tightening.
This time, though, he didn’t close the door in her face. He gave her a look that said, ‘Are we close?’ then stepped around her and walked off.
Lin Nuonuo didn’t mind his coldness. She happily trotted after him.
Lin Chen: “……”
Did it end there?
Of course not.
At noon, she showed up at his door again, right on schedule.
The moment she saw him, her face bloomed with a bright smile.
He, on the other hand, looked speechless.
Was she treating his place like a check-in spot?
His gaze deepened as he studied the little girl.
It was obvious she was trying to please him.
But…… why?
What about him was worth pleasing?
Did she think he was kind?
He wasn’t liked in this house, had no say in anything, and absolutely couldn’t change her situation even if he wanted to. And he definitely had no intention of getting involved.
If she wanted to curry favor, she should try Lin Chaojiang or the household staff.
Thinking that, he gave her a mocking glance and walked past her, heading downstairs.
Lin Nuonuo stood frozen, bewildered.
She didn’t know what she had done wrong. She only felt that she had somehow made him upset.
Downstairs, Lin Chen didn’t go to the dining room. He exchanged a perfunctory greeting with the butler and then left the house entirely.
With him gone, only Lin Chaojiang and Lin Nuonuo remained.
……
That evening was the same.
At dinner, Lin Nuonuo quietly ate as usual, though her tiny face couldn’t hide her disappointment.
Lin Chaojiang noticed her dejection. Seeing her glance repeatedly at the front door, he assumed she was waiting for Lin Zeyu, Gu Mingming, and Lin Zixin.
“Zeyu took Xinxin out for something. They won’t be back tonight. Eat well.” He said.
She nodded but didn’t speak. She already knew the family of three wouldn’t be back.
She had overheard the butler and Lin Chaojiang discussing it earlier. Lin Zeyu and Gu Mingming had taken Lin Zixin to B City for an important gathering hosted by an influential family. They would be gone for several days.
At that event, Lin Zixin would coincidentally be discovered by a returning master of dance and taken in as a final disciple, receiving full tutelage. It would lay the foundation for her future rise as an internationally renowned dancer.
Lin Nuonuo continued eating, but her eyes kept drifting toward the door.
No one thought much of her behavior.
But even when she went to bed, her little face was still scrunched with disappointment. Even the servants who usually ignored her noticed how lifeless she seemed.
“Why does the kid look so drained today?” One whispered after escorting her to her room.
Though the little girl was quiet, she hadn’t ever looked this lifeless.
“What else? The young master and young madam took the little miss out without her. She must be upset.” Another replied.
The first frowned. “It was an important event. Why would they take her?”
“Exactly……”
After observing for some time, everyone understood. Even if Lin Zeyu and Gu Mingming had adopted Lin Nuonuo and registered her name under them, she was still not the same as the real young miss of the Lin family.
“She can’t compare.”
“I just hope she doesn’t start resenting the little miss……”
But another servant offered a gentler view.
“Maybe you’re overthinking. She’s just a child. Maybe she’s simply not used to her companion missing. They eat together every day. It’s normal to act a bit off.”
That sounded reasonable, so the others dropped the topic.
None of them knew that Lin Nuonuo’s sadness had nothing to do with Lin Zixin’s absence.
She was upset because Lin Chen hadn’t come home.
────ρя
Whether it was because she went to sleep feeling too down or because Lin Chen wasn’t there, Lin Nuonuo’s night’s sleep was restless.
The nightmares she hadn’t had in days returned— the terrifying faces, the blinding cold lights, the sharp beeping, the helpless sensation of her life being peeled away……
Even though she’d dreamed it countless times, it still filled her with despair.
Just when she thought she would die in the dream, Lin Chen appeared.
This time, she clearly saw his face and an expression she had never seen before.
But before she could understand what that expression meant, she woke up.
After sitting dazed for a while, she gathered her blanket and pillow and went straight to Lin Chen’s room.