Lin Duole couldn’t help but speculate whether Uncle Lu’s meticulous kindness toward him was an indirect attempt to make up for what he owed his mother.
The meal was ready. There was a touch of weariness in Lu Tingyu’s eyes. He had been quite exhausted recently, but having just returned from his business trip, he worried his father’s cooking wouldn’t suit Lele’s taste, so he insisted on taking over the kitchen himself.
“Lele, Grandpa just bought these shrimp from the seafood market. They’re very fresh, so eat more to get some protein.” Lu Tingyu put on gloves and peeled shrimp for Lin Duole. He worked quickly, and in no time, a small mountain of shrimp meat piled up on the plate.
“Thank you, Uncle Lu.” After speaking, Lin Duole glanced at Lu Chengyu sitting across from him, then turned back to Lu Tingyu. “I haven’t liked eating shrimp since I was little. You should give this plate to Brother Chengyu instead.”
With that, he slid the plate in front of Lu Chengyu. Lu Chengyu stirred the rice in his bowl, staring at the translucent shrimp meat on the plate beside him, suddenly dazed for a second. Yet in a heartbeat, he accepted the tailored favor with a smile.
“Then eat more fish. Fish is nutritious too.” Lu Tingyu shifted the dish of steamed sea bass over to Lin Duole.
Left with nothing to say, Lin Duole merely picked up a tiny morsel with his chopsticks, his attitude indifferent.
Lu Chuanjun took in the interaction between the two and reminded his son in a cool voice, “Let Lele eat by himself. Don’t make decisions for him and stuff everything onto his plate—you’ll only make him feel uncomfortable eating.”
Lu Tingyu keenly picked up on something from Lin Duole’s reaction. Looking up, he glanced at his father, then at his son, and realized the advice made sense. He had no choice but to drop it.
Lin Duole’s mind was consumed by the earlier conversation between father and son, as well as the wild rumors back in his village. If his mother’s tragedy was caused by Uncle Lu, then wouldn’t his calm acceptance of all the educational and living resources here be a betrayal of his late mother?
If Uncle Lu only cared about him out of guilt toward his mother, then he didn’t deserve this life at all, nor was he worthy of the mother who gave birth to him and raised him.
Lin Duole had once asked his mother if Uncle Lu was a bad person, and his mother had told him to trust him just as he trusted her. He had overturned his previous suspicions, but now he subconsciously thought back to those wild rumors. The food in his mouth tasted like sawdust. Completely losing his appetite, he swallowed two hasty mouthfuls and said, “I’m full.”
“Why did you eat so little?” Lu Tingyu asked, somewhat puzzled. He had prepared a whole table of dishes, yet Lele hadn’t even finished half a bowl of rice.
Lin Duole made up an excuse: “Final exams are coming up soon, and there’s a lot of homework this week. I’ll go work on it now.”
With that, he ran back to his room. He regretted acting on impulse, but whenever he thought about everything, he couldn’t bring himself to sit there peacefully. He simply locked himself inside his room.
After dinner, Grandpa heard that Song Qian was rushing to catch a flight and would land back in the country tonight. With both parents at home, his duty of looking after the kids was officially complete, and he could wash his hands of it and leave.
Lu Tingyu didn’t insist on keeping him. He had Lu Chengyu see Grandpa off to the subway station, while he himself took advantage of the quiet house to knock on Lin Duole’s bedroom door twice.
Lin Duole was leaning over his desk missing his mother, tears flowing uncontrollably from his eyes. Hearing the knock, he quickly wiped his face before opening the door.
The moment Lu Tingyu saw the boy’s red-rimmed eyes, he knew he had just been crying. “Lele, what’s wrong? Did your brother do something to make you mad?”
Lin Duole shook his head, confused as to why Uncle Lu was suddenly asking this.
“Is it because Uncle did something wrong?” Lu Tingyu spoke to him in an intensely focused tone. Seeing no response and unsure if the boy was even absorbing his words, he continued, “You can tell Uncle anything, and I’ll resolve it for you.”
Lin Duole’s tone dimmed a bit as well. After all, Uncle Lu, an adult, was repeatedly lowering his posture to speak with him like this. “Uncle didn’t do anything wrong, and I’m not mad either. I just feel sad.”
“Then can you tell Uncle what you’re sad about?” Lu Tingyu carried a faint scent of tobacco on him. The rare patience he possessed in his life seemed to be reserved entirely for Lele.
“Uncle, before dinner, I accidentally overheard your conversation with Grandpa.” Lin Duole paused briefly here. He thought that rather than staying completely baffled and plagued by this matter every day, it was better to directly ask the person involved.
“You heard all of it?” When Lu Tingyu spoke to Lin Duole, his tone was always gentle, as if he were born that way.
“I heard a little bit, so I was really confused.” Lin Duole nodded, feeling a chill in his heart alongside a surge of panic. Throwing caution to the wind, he said, “Uncle, what was the real relationship between you and my mom? Why were you willing to take me in and treat me so well? Why did Grandpa feel guilty about what happened back then?”
He blurted out so many questions at once, feeling as though the heavy stone that had been weighing on his chest since childhood had finally shifted a bit. Yet asking didn’t bring him relief; instead, a surge of disorientation and fear washed over him.
Lu Tingyu listened in a daze, closing his eyes silently as guilt welled up inside him. He had a clear conscience regarding Lele, but that didn’t mean he had the right to lay bare everything about himself and Wanqiu.
“Your mother and I were very, very good friends—I believe she mentioned this to you before.” Lu Tingyu looked into his eyes, dazed for a moment as their gazes locked, as if communicating with another person through those eyes. “As for why I took you in, it’s because I received your mother’s entrustment to take good care of you and be good to you for a lifetime. This was a promise I made to your mother, and I ought to keep my word. As for why Grandpa feels guilty about what happened back then, it’s because your mother originally had better choices, but they were invisibly cut off by your grandparents.”
“Uncle Lu…” Lin Duole looked at his expression, at a loss for words. He could genuinely feel how deeply pained Uncle Lu was at this moment—a sorrow no less intense than his own loss of his mother.
He wanted to know the truth of the past, but in his heart, he understood that for his mother, it was an unhealable scar, and perhaps the same was true for Uncle Lu.
Lu Tingyu waved his hand, patted Lin Duole’s shoulder, and sighed. “Lele, you’re still young. Knowing certain things at such a young age will only add to your troubles. Maybe when you grow up, you’ll understand.”
Lin Duole continued to look at him with a hesitant expression. He had doubted Uncle Lu before, but his mother had told him to trust him. He didn’t know why his mother trusted Uncle Lu so blindly, but at this moment, he understood that Uncle Lu was just like him, and just like his mother.
Though still confused, Lin Duole stopped digging into dead ends. He nodded and continued his homework with a heavy heart, while Lu Tingyu sat beside him to help tutor his lessons.
At nine that night, Song Qian’s flight officially landed in Beijing. By the time she took a taxi home, it was already ten o’clock. The moment she stepped through the door, she saw her husband watching a football match with the two kids—a scene that appeared immensely warm.
“Auntie Song, you’re back.” Hearing the noise at the entryway, Lin Duole was the first to stand up and greet her. He naturally took Song Qian’s bag and ran over to hang it on the coat rack for her.
“Lele is such a good boy.” Song Qian smiled, finding this child far cleverer and sharper than her husband and son. Up until now, whenever she returned home from a business trip, no one had ever stepped forward to take her bag or greet her like this. She gently stroked Lin Duole’s hair and praised, “Haven’t seen you in half a month, and you’ve grown taller again! That was quick!”
Walking into the living room, the father and son merely raised their eyes to glance at her. Lu Chengyu gave a perfunctory call of “Mom,” while Lu Tingyu simply asked out of courtesy, “You’re back? Was the tour exhausting?”
“Don’t even mention it. Tossed around for three performances in a row, I’m completely wiped out.” As she spoke, she leaned into her husband’s chest, her hand trailing up his shoulder in a delicate tone, seeking a sliver of comfort.
Mindful of the kids’ presence, Lu Tingyu merely held her with one hand, giving her a subtle look while reminding her in a low voice: “The kids are still here. Go back to the room and wash up first.”
Late at night, Lu Tingyu lay in bed. When Song Qian emerged from the bathroom wearing provocative lingerie, he caught a quick glimpse before closing his eyes, pretending to be asleep.
With a smile, Song Qian hovered over him. She knew her husband wasn’t asleep; after being apart on business for so long, meeting now should naturally call for a wild night.
Song Qian was a confident, bold woman. As a Latin dancer, her figure was slender yet voluptuous, with exquisite looks and grace. But there was one thing she couldn’t understand: why was she—a wife almost revered as goddess-tier in the eyes of others—treated with such coldness by her own husband?
Lu Tingyu maintained a great physique. Reaching middle age, he didn’t have a trace of excess fat on his body, and his chest and abs possessed a defined structure that was practically flawless. Yet his behavior was extremely restrained, almost never taking the initiative, appearing like a perfect mannequin devoid of desire.
Every time, it was Song Qian who needed him, and only when he couldn’t resist her temptation would he slowly yield. Yet his movements were always like those of a refined gentleman—devoid of passion, never excessive or intense, like going through a routine task.
His wife’s movements began again. The veins on Lu Tingyu’s arm bulged. After enduring for a long time, he opened his eyes as if accepting his fate, reminding her, “The kids aren’t asleep yet. It’s not good if they hear.”
Song Qian raised her head, wiping her moist lips with her hand. Turning sideways to look at him, she said, “It doesn’t matter. We’ll just be quiet.”
From their marriage until now, nearly twenty years had passed. She always had to pull out all the stops when it came to “marital duties” before her husband would begrudgingly cooperate. At first, she even wondered if this man was all looks with underlying dysfunction, but after being driven to forced frenzy by her teasing, she realized that inside his heart lived a trapped beast curbing its desires.
Sometime in the middle of the night, Lin Duole was woken up by hunger. Fumbling through the dark out of his room, he intended to find a carrot in the fridge to tide him over. As he passed the master bedroom, he heard a sudden, heavy wave of sobbing coming from inside—it sounded like someone was crying?
Bewildered, Lin Duole pressed his ear closer to the door to listen carefully. He confirmed there were indeed gasps and sobs, coming in alternating waves, clearly belonging to two different people.
What happened to Uncle Lu and Auntie Song? Could they both be sick, in so much pain that the couple couldn’t bear it and were groaning inside?
Lin Duole recalled when he suffered a stomach bug as a child. Whenever he ate, the pain was unbearable, as if a meat grinder inside his stomach was tearing him apart.
After confirming for a moment, Lin Duole thought to himself that things looked bad. Just as he was about to knock on the door, someone covered his mouth from behind and dragged him into a room.
Lu Chengyu quietly closed the door, pressing his index finger against Lin Duole’s lips, making a shushing gesture at him.
Lin Duole was clearly frightened out of his wits, his eyes widening as he stared at him.
Leaning behind the crack of the door, Lu Chengyu listened to the absolute quiet outside. Thank goodness they hadn’t been discovered by his parents. Only then did he push Lin Duole toward the bed.
A trace of annoyance appeared on Lin Duole’s face. He spoke in an extremely soft voice: “Why are you stopping me? Uncle and Auntie are in pain in there!”
Lu Chengyu glanced at him as if looking at an idiot. Lowering his voice, he deliberately leaned close to him and said, “Pain my ass—they’re living it up like gods.”
Lin Duole’s limited life experience was utterly incapable of understanding this, his heart filled with confusion. He told Lu Chengyu, “Really, I heard it all. Someone in there was crying.”
“I know.” Lu Chengyu had woken up halfway through the night and heard Lin Duole leave the room, assuming he was getting up to use the bathroom. After waiting a while without seeing him return, he went out to check, only to find him witnessing his parents’ intimate moment completely oblivious.
“You know, and you still stopped me from saving them?”
Lu Chengyu didn’t just know; he had accidentally caught glimpses of certain scenes years ago. He even knew his mother kept a wardrobe full of exquisitely beautiful clothes that used remarkably little fabric. Every time at this hour, the dad in his mind turned into a beast in suit and tie, making his mom put on those clothes so the two of them could indulge together.
“Do you know how you came into this world?” Looking at Lin Duole’s anxious yet clueless expression, a secret anticipation flickered inside Lu Chengyu’s heart. He wanted to see what kind of look Lin Duole would make once he finally realized it. Thus, he pushed Lin Duole down onto the bed, leaning over him, leaning close to his ear, exhaling softly: “What they’re doing right now… is the exact way you came into this world.”