When Lin Shuosheng said those words,
Qin Shun was standing beside a tall ebony table. The piece looked like an antique, its dark wood intricately carved with delicate openwork patterns. Covering the tabletop was a square of velvet woven with golden threads, a deep wine red fabric that shimmered faintly under the light. It served as a cushion for a white porcelain flowerpot resting upon it.
Inside the pot grew a single green plant.
Its leaves twisted and curved like a coil of jade green serpents, faintly gleaming in the dim light.
“Uncle, please don’t say that.”
Qin Shun bent forward slightly.
His voice sounded almost gentle as he spoke, as though he were reminding him of something important.
“How could I ever repay the kindness I owe you? Back then, didn’t I already say it? ‘The grace you’ve shown me is something I would never dare forget for the rest of my life. One day, I will repay you a hundredfold.’ And now, this is precisely the moment for me to repay you.”
Lin Shuosheng did not dare to move.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Qin Shun’s shoulder had brushed past the cluster of green leaves just moments ago. The tips of the leaves trembled faintly, still quivering from the contact.
And suddenly,
A realization struck him.
“How did you know I ran into a swindler?” he asked. “I never said anything about that.”
Qin Shun’s expression did not change in the slightest.
“Someone close to you told me,” he said calmly. “However, I only learned about it afterward. If I had known earlier, I definitely wouldn’t have allowed you to fall for it. I’m sorry, Uncle. It’s my fault for not arranging things thoroughly enough.”
What did that mean?
In Lin Shuosheng’s mind, it felt as though thunder had suddenly exploded.
“You… what did you do?”
Qin Shun remained silent.
Within that silence, there seemed to lurk a faint trace of something malicious.
“I’m sorry, Uncle. Did I frighten you?” he said softly again. “I only wanted to know whether you were in trouble.”
Qin Shun reached out and took hold of Lin Shuosheng’s arm.
A wave of warmth spread through the contact.
“You’ve been standing for so long. Your legs must be tired. Uncle, your health isn’t very strong. Sit down first, then we can talk.”
Lin Shuosheng could no longer endure it.
More than anything, he could not stand Qin Shun touching him. Almost like a reflex, he shook off his hand.
“Stop calling me ‘you’ so politely and stop calling me ‘Uncle’!” he burst out.
“I don’t know what kind of trick you’re trying to play. Ever since you left five years ago, we already cut off our relationship. In the first place, the two of us were only living together in confusion back then anyway. Qin Shun… Mr. Qin.”
“Oh,” Qin Shun said.
“So you want me to call you ‘Mr. Lin.’ That’s fine, Uncle.”
Lin Shuosheng had not eaten dinner to begin with. Hunger had already left his limbs weak and drained of strength. He had barely managed to gather enough energy to speak just now but upon hearing those words, it felt as though something inside him had been punctured and deflated.
All the strength drained from his body in an instant.
A low rumbling sound came from his stomach.
His face flushed red with embarrassment.
“I’ll go get you something to eat,” Qin Shun said.
“There’s no need. When I go home, I’ll cook something myself.”
“Don’t you usually buy food from the shop downstairs? And you often forget, so they have to deliver it to you at fixed times.”
“…Where did you hear that from?”
“Heh.”
Once again, Qin Shun acted as though he were being foolish and evasive.
“Where are my clothes?” Lin Shuosheng asked.
“They’ve been taken to be washed. They won’t be dry until at least tomorrow. For now, you can wear mine. It wouldn’t matter if you stayed here for the night.”
Qin Shun paused for a moment, as though considering something further, then continued speaking.
“Or, if you prefer, you could stay here for a period of time. It would make everything more convenient. As for your mother, if she’s hospitalized long term, she can remain there or she could move here instead, I can arrange for professional medical staff to come regularly for treatment and care. Either option is fine. It depends on which you choose.”
Lin Shuosheng listened, utterly stunned.
“Take your time thinking about it.”
After saying that, Qin Shun turned and left.
At the moment the door closed, Lin Shuosheng heard the faint, unmistakable sound of a lock clicking into place.
The door was locked.
The curtains were drawn tightly shut.
The entire bedroom felt like a wooden chest whose lid had been firmly closed, sealing everything inside so completely that not even a breath of air could escape.
Qin Shun personally prepared a plate of beef with soft scrambled eggs over rice. Alongside it, he squeezed a glass of fresh orange juice.
When he placed the steaming dish in front of Lin Shuosheng, the warm aroma rising from it,
Lin Shuosheng could no longer stubbornly pretend otherwise.
Even though Qin Shun sitting so close beside him, watching him intently as he ate, felt strange.
No, everything about this situation was strange.
Yet Qin Shun seemed to be in a better mood now. The oppressive feeling he had carried earlier was no longer quite as frightening.
Lin Shuosheng did not ask why the door had been locked.
Instead, he answered the question Qin Shun had asked earlier.
“Just lend me the money. That will be enough. As for the rest, I’ll figure out a way myself.”
Qin Shun replied calmly, “It’s too late tonight. Rest first. We can discuss it tomorrow. I’ve already called your home, someone will be there to look after things. You don’t need to worry.”
Lin Shuosheng fell silent.
“….”
His entire body was indeed exhausted. His limbs ached with fatigue. Without saying anything further, he turned and walked straight toward the sofa.
Before he could reach it,
Qin Shun stepped ahead of him.
“Uncle, I’ll sleep on the sofa. You should take the bed.”
Lin Shuosheng blinked in confusion.
“?”
What kind of strange habit was this?
This house was enormous, almost like a castle. There was absolutely no shortage of rooms here. Why would anyone choose to sleep on the sofa when there were plenty of beds available?
He gave a slight nod, speaking slowly.
“There are people like you, you know. After becoming successful, they start to miss the hardships of the past. I’ve met a few like that. They grow up in the city slums, then one day they leave and become wealthy. Later they return like tourists, standing outside and looking at their former life from afar, treating the poverty they once lived in as though it were some kind of curious scenery but the slum district was completely demolished a few years ago.”
“I do miss those days very much,” Qin Shun said with a faint smile.
“Later, the houses I lived in only grew bigger and bigger but the more spacious they became, the more I felt that the little room we had back in the slum was perfectly sized. It was small in just the right way, not a single inch of extra space and no room left for loneliness.”
“I remember the entrance was so narrow that we had to squeeze past each other just to get through. Even the bathroom mirror wasn’t big enough to reflect both of us at the same time. When we washed up, we’d accidentally bump elbows all the time. You taught me how to use a razor back then, remember? But you knocked into me and I cut my cheek.”
“Do you still remember that?”
Remember?
Of course he remembered.
Lin Shuosheng grew quiet.
His heart softened bit by bit, inch by inch, beyond his control.
In the first half of his life, he had raised only this one child.
Those days of pushing and bumping into each other, of squeezing together in cramped spaces, kept flickering through the depths of his memory. There had been affection, awkwardness, anger, worry, jealousy, even resentment…
Whether he liked it or not, Qin Shun had carved deep, unmistakable marks into the course of his life.
At some point, he didn’t know exactly when,
Qin Shun had walked barefoot to the side of the bed.
He crouched down and knelt there, bending forward until his face rested gently against Lin Shuosheng’s knee.
“Uncle,” he murmured softly, “after you drove me away, I often started having hallucinations.”
“If I had nothing to do, I would suddenly stop wherever I was standing. Then my chest would start to cramp painfully and I’d think…”
“…you didn’t want me anymore.”
“I thought it over and over again.”
“Again and again.”
“Even taking medicine didn’t help.”
After a long silence, Lin Shuosheng finally spoke.
“You were the one who humiliated me.”
Qin Shun lifted his head.
Moonlight streamed in through the window, spilling across his young and strikingly handsome face. Under the pale glow, his features appeared dazzlingly beautiful yet there was something almost intimidating about that beauty.
Lin Shuosheng had always been slow when it came to understanding things.
This time was no exception.
Only when Qin Shun suddenly pressed himself forward and forced him down onto the bed, pinning him firmly in place, did Lin Shuosheng realize what was happening.
He understood it two beats too late.
A wave of burning shame flooded through him.
He struggled.
But he was quickly restrained.
Qin Shun gripped his wrists with the strength of iron clamps, holding them down without the slightest effort. His tone carried the unmistakable air of a perfectly dressed scoundrel.
“Uncle, you actually knew what would happen when you came to find me, didn’t you?”
“I’ve been waiting for five years.”
When Lin Shuosheng looked at him again, Qin Shun’s face had already sunk into shadow. The darkness concealed his expression completely, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Lin Shuosheng began to tremble.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Qin Shun lowered himself closer.
His broad back seemed to blot out the sky itself, his presence overwhelming, as though he could lean down and kiss him at any moment.
“I can do anything for you.”
“But…”
“You need to come to me yourself.”
“And give the order with your own mouth.”
✦ ✧ ✦
Fleurveil
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
Their journey continues. Their coffee cup, however, does not.
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
← PreviousNext →
ChaptersChapter 1 · UncleChapter 2 · Ran AwayChapter 3 · TimidChapter 4 · DeceasedChapter 5 · Grow upChapter 6 · CharmChapter 7 · EndureChapter 8 · Biological FatherChapter 9 · ContestChapter 10 · MisunderstoodChapter 11 · BreakChapter 12 · ReunionChapter 13 · MeetChapter 14 · To clearChapter 15 · InstructionsChapter 16 · RegretChapter 17 · SecretChapter 18 · Subtle SophistryChapter 19 · GuestChapter 20 · KissingChapter 21 · Extra 1Chapter 22 · Extra 2Chapter 23 · Extra 3Chapter 24 · Extra 4Chapter 25 · Extra 5Chapter 26 · Extra 6Chapter 27 · Extra 7Chapter 28 · Extra 8