It was as if Lin Yansheng’s soul had slipped straight out through his spine. Later, he could not even recall how he had left the estate.
The bus was stuck halfway in traffic. They arrived at the restaurant a full half hour later than scheduled.
Boss Luo had actually come out in person to receive guests on his behalf.
Lin Yansheng was absent minded, his thoughts scattered and unmoored.
The banquet had already begun. Noise and laughter filled the hall; voices overlapped in cheerful disorder. Glasses clinked sharply as wine was poured and exchanged, the bright ringing of toasts rising and falling without pause.
At last, Luo Yaoshan found an opportunity to pull him aside.
“Are you ill? Why is your complexion so awful?”
Lin Yansheng hesitated, stalling, then said in a voice so low it was almost swallowed by the din, “…You guessed it.”
“What?”
“It’s Qin Maolin.”
Who was Luo Yaoshan?
With only a moment’s thought, he pieced the entire matter together.
“Ha, ” The laugh burst from him before he realized it was ill timed. He coughed lightly and cut it short. “That kid, extraordinary in every way. Even his background is remarkable, hm.”
“At a time like this, don’t just stand there making sarcastic remarks,” Lin Yansheng said.
“Isn’t this a good thing?” Luo Yaoshan replied. “I’ve heard Qin Maolin is terminally ill, not long for this world. His sons and nephews are all waiting at his bedside, eager to divide the inheritance. Now Qin Shun joins the ranks, one more won’t make much difference. Even if only a little slips through their fingers, it would be enough for him to avoid ten years of detours. He wouldn’t have to sell cheap labor or gamble on luck just to get ahead.”
“People who belong to different worlds will, in the end, drift further and further apart,” Lin Yansheng said softly. His voice trembled. He tried his best to hold back but his eyes still glistened. Moisture clung to his lashes.
Luo Yaoshan reached out and took his hand.
Lin Yansheng did not notice.
“Did Qin Maolin say that after acknowledging Qin Shun, he would forbid him from seeing you?”
Lin Yansheng shook his head.
“In modern society, he has personal freedom. He can still associate with you as before. If, after returning to his ancestral roots, he looks down on you, then that won’t be your fault.”
“A’Shun would never be so ungrateful!”
“Tell me honestly, ” Luo Yaoshan leaned closer, lowering his voice. “What price did Qin Maolin offer?”
“…One million.” Lin Yansheng’s face flushed red. Wealth stirred the heart; he felt ashamed of himself for even being moved by it.
“Only one million? How stingy.” Luo Yaoshan arched a brow.
Lin Yansheng choked on his words and snapped irritably, “Not everyone earns money by the bucketful each day like you, Boss Luo!”
Luo Yaoshan threw his head back and laughed.
Just then,
“Uncle Luo, what are you talking about with my uncle?”
A voice suddenly appeared beside them, smiling but not smiling. It was Qin Shun.
The banquet was nearing its end.
The tables were a mess.
Not until they reached home.
Even then, the scene he had stumbled upon backstage kept replaying in Qin Shun’s mind again and again. He could not control it. Each time the memory surfaced, a painful tremor swept through his body as though a current of electricity had passed through him, leaving behind waves of shuddering aftershock.
And yet Lin Yansheng avoided him, silent and withdrawn.
What was he thinking?
Qin Shun watched as his uncle walked straight to the desk, spread the contract out carefully in front of him and prepared to read it word by word, line by line.
The green shaded desk lamp clicked on, casting a hazy, restless circle of light.
Suddenly, Qin Shun recalled a trivial incident from some time ago.
Once, he had asked Luo Yaoshan, “Why do you help my uncle without asking for anything in return?”
Luo Yaoshan had smiled and said, “Yansheng is very gentle.”
Gentle. Gentle.
Because he was gentle, he would give everything for others without hesitation.
And because he was gentle, he would endure whatever came his way without protest.
Sometimes, Qin Shun truly hated Lin Yansheng’s gentleness.
“How do you know Qin Maolin is truly my biological father?” Qin Shun asked.
“There’s no need for him to lie to me. He seemed fully prepared, he must have conducted thorough investigations beforehand,” Lin Yansheng replied with difficulty. “A’Shun, I think… nine times out of ten, you are indeed his child.”
Qin Shun did not respond. He merely fell silent.
But there was something unfathomable in that silence, something faintly ruthless.
In truth, Lin Yansheng would almost have preferred that A’Shun throw a childish tantrum, behave unreasonably, make a scene.
But Qin Shun did not.
What troubled him most today was that, in front of Qin Maolin, he had been less composed than an eighteen year old boy. He had barely managed to answer a single question. It had been Qin Shun who handled everything himself.
The lowest drawer of the entryway cabinet was locked.
When A’Shun was twelve years old, he had hung the key, threaded with a red cord, around his neck and said, “If you ever need money in the future, take it from inside. I’ll replenish it.”
But in the end, his income had never matched his expenses.
And that drawer had somehow become like a treasure bowl. At some unknown point, even when he had not placed anything inside, new banknotes would appear there.
He had never calculated it carefully.
He was afraid that, if he did, he would discover that he was the one being supported.
He had long since lost the qualification to act as Qin Shun’s guide.
At that moment,
Qin Shun said evenly, “Then accept the money.”
Lin Yansheng froze.
In an instant, his hands and feet turned ice cold.
Qin Shun continued, “But don’t give Qin Maolin a direct answer. Uncle, listen to my arrangements. With this money, you won’t have to force yourself to remain friends with Luo Yaoshan anymore. He isn’t an upright person. Sooner or later, he’ll drag you down with him. It would be better if you gradually cut off contact with him.”
Dusk was settling in.
Beyond the iron barred window, the sky had turned the muted blue green of a crab’s shell. The sun had already sunk below the horizon and the clouds looked like forgotten laundry, paper left uncollected and kneaded into crumpled wads of ruined cotton, stretched and teased into loose strands across the dimming expanse.
Lin Yansheng remembered that the day his mother left home had worn a similar sky.
Only that had been in the morning.
His mother and grandfather had both been from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, fellow townspeople. Through introductions, she had married far away into this city.
Because she was not fluent in the local dialect, she was always quiet, speaking little. She wore no makeup yet anyone could see that her face was clear and delicate, bright with an unadorned grace.
Back then, the city’s infrastructure had not yet been improved.
The electricity frequently cut out. Several households shared a single water tap.
Every time, he would follow his mother to fetch water. The plastic bucket was heavy; the wire handle bit into his small hands, leaving them red and sore. Water would splash and soak his clothes yet to a young child, it did not feel like hardship. It felt like a game.
But if his father saw, he would fly into a rage and beat him.
After his grandfather passed away, there was no longer a single peaceful day at home.
Until one day, unable to endure any more, she left without looking back.
Lin Yansheng had tried to inquire about his mother’s whereabouts. He later heard that she had remarried, a wealthy foreigner, much older than she was but financially secure.
She emigrated with her new husband.
At first, she sent him a little money, along with two or three letters. He kept them all, memorized the address by heart.
Two months before his eighteenth birthday, he wrote to her. He asked if he might visit her just once. He had saved some money; he would pay for his own round trip ticket and lodging.
Every day he could hear the thunderous vibration of airplanes passing low overhead.
So close, close enough that he would imagine himself boarding one of them.
But no reply ever came.
His father, as usual, drank himself into a stupor. No one cared that he had come of age.
Lin Yansheng went up to the rooftop.
It was crowded with fishbone like television antennas and laundry racks, a perfect place for hide and seek.
He crouched in a corner and wept quietly.
By sheer misfortune, he ran into Luo Yaoshan there, who had come to conduct a transaction.
Lin Yansheng did not even dare to acknowledge him but Luo Yaoshan was the one who called out first. “What are you doing? Shaking like that. I’m not about to kill you to silence you.”
He trembled even more violently, holding his breath. “Today is my birthday.”
“Ah. Happy birthday to you.”
“Thank you.”
Luo Yaoshan held out a cigarette.
“Smoke?”
Lin Yansheng shook his head vigorously, his face burning red.
Luo Yaoshan gave a low chuckle, lit the cigarette himself and asked, “Lin Yansheng, do you have any wishes?”
Even close friends rarely speak their deepest thoughts freely, let alone two people who were not familiar with each other.
Yet he answered hazily, “I want to become a good man in the future, responsible, kind to my wife and children, to build a happy and complete family.”
“A lofty ambition.”
“Maybe I won’t achieve it until I’m thirty.”
How swiftly time passes.
In the blink of an eye, he was no longer a youth.
Had his wish come true?
It seemed not.
On the day his mother ran away from home, he had sensed something unusual. He tumbled out of bed and ran after her.
Even before that day arrived, he had secretly packed a small bundle. Six year old Yansheng still possessed the keen instincts of a small animal. In some vague way, days in advance, he had smelled the coming change and disaster.
He was no longer a child to be pushed about at will.
Why, then, did he still feel so powerless?
Lin Yansheng heard his own voice, clear and gentle, as he asked, “Qin Shun, did you already know about your background?”
✦ ✧ ✦
Fleurveil
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
✦ END OF CHAPTER ✦ BEGIN COFFEE NEGOTIATIONS ✦
☕ 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