20 – Years of Accumulated Disappointment
Lin Jingbei tapped her forehead with a bent finger. “If you can really keep up, I’ll let you go.”
“Thank you, brother.” Lin Yaojia said joyfully. “Brother, you’re so good to me.”
“I’ve had enough.” Lin Ci threw down his chopsticks and stormed off in anger.
Lin Fu scolded him a few times, but Lin Ci didn’t even look back.
However, Lin Ci often lost his temper, so everyone in the family was quite used to it. After he left, the atmosphere didn’t change.
After dinner, Lin Yaojia returned to her room, installed the newly activated SIM card, and created a new WeChat account.
Then she saved the QR code Pang Meng had sent her to her phone’s storage and scanned it with her new WeChat account.
Ah, she really was a genius.
Lin Yaojia shook her head, sighing in admiration.
Almost the next second, a message came through that Huo Songjin had accepted her friend request.
It was unbelievably fast.
Lin Yaojia was a bit shocked.
The last time she added a friend, it took a whole night, didn’t it?
Lin Yaojia: [Big shot, you’re pretty quick.]
Huo Songjin: [Just happened to be on my phone.]
Lin Yaojia: [Oh, oh, oh.]
Lin Yaojia: [I’m going to take a shower now, so I won’t bother you anymore.]
After sending this message, she stared at the “typing…” indicator above.
Half a minute later, a careless reply came from the other side: [Mm.]
Lin Yaojia logged out and logged into her other WeChat account, clicking on the familiar profile picture again.
The series of actions was almost too smooth.
She hadn’t even started dating yet, but she was already living a double life.
Feeling a bit guilty, she touched her nose: [998, why do I feel like I’m a bit of a jerk?]
998 smiled, concise and sharp-tongued: [Drop the “feel like.”]
[Ah, never mind.] She scratched her head and sighed. [This is for the big shot’s own good too.]
Lin Yaojia skillfully switched to her new persona and sent a message to Huo Songjin: [Bro, want to play a round?]
Huo Songjin: [.]
Lin Yaojia didn’t understand and frowned: [?]
Huo Songjin: [Log in.]
If you want me to log in, why did you send a period?
Trying to act cool?
What a weirdo!
She silently complained in her mind but obediently logged into the game and turned on the voice changer.
They played for an hour before stopping.
Because she could sense that the big shot wasn’t in a good mood. If he had been quiet and reserved the past few days, today he was practically mute.
After two rounds of the game.
The longest thing he said was: “Come back, there’s someone in the house.”
At the end of the second round, Lin Yaojia awkwardly laughed. “Big shot, are you feeling unwell tonight?”
“It’s fine.” The boy’s voice was low, carrying a hint of hoarseness from smoking.
Still pretty stubborn.
What else could Lin Yaojia say? She could only reply, “Let’s stop here for today. I have plans.”
“Okay.”
After logging off the game, Huo Songjin stood up.
Only a desk lamp was on in the bedroom. He walked out and went to the open balcony to smoke.
This area was actually one of the least developed parts of the capital, with many low-rise buildings.
The night breeze blew, carrying a hint of coolness.
Huo Songjin bit his cigarette, took a drag, and the thin smoke scattered in the wind. The silver hair on his forehead was blown back, revealing his smooth, full forehead. The corners of his narrow eyes turned red from the wind.
Cheng Yan came out of the shower and saw him standing alone on the balcony, enveloped in loneliness.
He couldn’t help but walk over.
“What are you spacing out for?”
“Huh?” Huo Songjin was startled, not quite reacting, and turned to look at him.
Cheng Yan saw the cigarette between his fingers and began to form some guesses in his mind.
He rarely smoked, and most of the time he did so because of matters related to the Huo family.
“What trouble has Jia Fangshu stirred up now?” Cheng Yan asked.
Jia Fangshu was the matriarch of the Huo family and the woman Huo Songjin had called “Mom” for over a decade.
“It’s nothing major.”
Huo Songjin replied calmly.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk about it—it was simply that the matter itself wasn’t significant.
After leaving the Huo family, he still had Jia Fangshu as a friend on WeChat.
On the day he left home, Huo Songjin sat in a taxi, his finger hovering over the delete button for a long time, but in the end, he never pressed it.
Jia Fangshu, for reasons unknown, hadn’t deleted him either.
Today, while idly scrolling through his social media feed, Huo Songjin came across a new post she had shared.
A short line of text read: Even though my son hasn’t been by my side for over a decade, blood is still blood—he remains outstanding (thumbs up) (thumbs up) (thumbs up).
Below it were two photos of Huo Chengyu trying on a suit in front of a mirror.
Looking at that post, Huo Songjin suddenly remembered the day Huo Chi cheated again, when Jia Fangshu, in a fit of hysterics, threw the keyboard and computer from his room, smashing them to pieces.
Jia Fangshu had always been someone who valued elegance. On ordinary days, she wouldn’t wear clothes with even a slight wrinkle, instructing the household staff to iron them again.
But that day, with her hair disheveled, she slapped him across the face: “What do you do all day besides playing games?! You’re nothing but a useless waste, a disgrace! If you weren’t so worthless, why would your father be so determined to have another child?!”
“How did I give birth to such a useless son?!”
She cried, she screamed, venting all her rage.
The silver-haired young man stood to the side, one side of his face flushed red, silent and withdrawn.
He was already quite accustomed to such situations—no longer the person who would kneel and apologize, begging for his mother’s forgiveness.
In his seventeen years of life, Huo Songjin had come to understand firsthand that not all parents offer their children the most selfless love.
Huo Chi had a handsome face. In his youth, he was a notorious playboy, indulging in affairs with everyone from A-list celebrities in the entertainment industry to obscure, inexperienced models.
Jia Fangshu, on the other hand, was a dutiful, hardworking girl who followed her parents’ plans.
The Huo and Jia families arranged a marriage, and Jia Fangshu married Huo Chi.
At first, Huo Chi treated her well, giving her everything she wanted, as if offering her the stars and the moon.
Jia Fangshu, who had little experience with love, reveled in his affection, giving him her whole heart. She believed she was fortunate to have found true love.
But in the second year of their marriage, after giving birth and completing her postpartum recovery, she decided to surprise Huo Chi one afternoon. Wearing a hat, she went to the Huo Corporation building.
When she pushed open the door, she saw him kissing the new female assistant from the secretarial department.
Huo Chi was accustomed to his philandering ways, and Jia Fangshu’s appearance was, in truth, rather plain.
At first, her modest, gentle demeanor felt refreshing.
But over time, it grew tiresome.
Jia Fangshu’s beautiful dream shattered.
As her husband cheated again and again, staying out night after night, she cried and made scenes, but Huo Chi showed no remorse. Instead, he grew weary of her shrewish behavior.
And so, Jia Fangshu redirected her anger and resentment toward Huo Songjin.
Day after day, year after year.
The child who once cried and tried to comfort his mother had long since stopped expecting maternal love, buried under years of accumulated disappointment.
Huo Songjin suddenly remembered the brief encounter he had with Huo Chengyu when he left the Huo family, dragging his suitcase behind him.
That was Huo Chengyu, dressed in the high-end clothes Huo Chi had bought, looking up at Huo Songjin with unease.
A few seconds later, Huo Chengyu lowered his head, nervously twisting his sleeve.
He was tall, yet he stood out awkwardly among the others.
Huo Songjin couldn’t quite describe the feeling in his heart.
Did he feel guilty toward Huo Chengyu?
Maybe a little, after all, he had been the young master for seventeen years.
But during those seventeen years, he hadn’t been happy.
…
After taking the last drag of his cigarette, Huo Songjin ran a hand through his hair, fingers combing through the strands, and stopped dwelling on the memories.
Cheng Yan lit a cigarette: “How’s your job as a companion going?”
Huo Songjin squinted: “I still have one customer who paid a month’s Deposit. After this month, I’m done.”
“Becoming a streamer?” Cheng Yan asked.
Huo Songjin nodded: “Yeah.”