When they left, the deputy town mayor kept grinning as he patted Lin Yin on the shoulder, repeatedly praising him as an outstanding young talent and thanking him for the contributions he had made to Xiaoling Town. Lin Yin walked out with a blank expression, showing no reaction whatsoever to his words. He did not feel embarrassed at all, and still enthusiastically saw them out the door.
Lin Yin went home once to pack his belongings. Uncle Zhang said that the house already had everything he would need, so he only had to bring the important things. Lin Yin said nothing. Even though there truly was not much for him to take, he still came back once.
The house was empty and desolate, and the south-facing window made his room always cold and damp. He looked around this home that had held him for fifteen years, unable to describe what he was feeling now.
Perhaps it was hatred, perhaps it was regret.
He picked out a few things and put them in his bag, took along his favorite bear plush, then put on his backpack and locked the door.
Lin Yin asked for leave from school and got into the car to go to Jiang Cheng.
The car drove south all the way. Uncle Zhang remained very gentle the entire time, and would remind him how much farther they still had to go before they arrived. But Lin Yin always thought of the way he had smiled and said to him, “Don’t make things difficult for sir and madam.” This kind of gentleness was nothing more than a social method unique to upper-class people.
He gave a few perfunctory responses, leaned against the window, and stared blankly outside.
Until now, he still could not believe that his fate would undergo such a huge change in a single day. He had suddenly become an orphan, and then suddenly gained new family members.
It was hard to tell whether this was a gift from fate or a trick. He consciously controlled his thoughts and forced himself not to get caught up in gain and loss, but he still could not help wondering what they were really like, and whether they truly looked forward to him.
…
The car drove into a villa district. Uncle Zhang honked once, and when the gate guard saw the car model, he took the initiative to let them through.
What greeted him was a splash of brightness, white sculptures, a music-playing fountain, and roses and bellflowers of all colors in the flower beds. Unlike the wildflowers growing wildly by the roadsides in Xiaoling Town, these flowers were neatly arranged, soft and beautiful in appearance.
Lin Yin stared at everything in a daze, as if he were looking at the other side of the world, as if he should have grown up in a place like this.
The car stopped in front of a villa. Uncle Zhang parked the car, got out, and opened the door for Lin Yin.
“We’re home, young master.”
Lin Yin gave a quiet “mm,” but his voice was a little unsteady. Carrying his schoolbag, he got out of the car and looked at the wide-open door, as if looking at a huge mouth whose fortune or misfortune was still unknown.
Following Uncle Zhang into the house, he saw the Ming couple sitting at the dining table. “Sir, madam, the young master is here.”
The people he had only seen on television suddenly appeared before his eyes. Lin Yin looked at them in a daze, thinking to himself, he really had come to the Ming family.
The Ming couple turned around, and their gazes fell on Lin Yin.
Ming Chengsong was slightly stunned. After coming back to himself, he smiled at the lady beside him and said, “Ruolan, this child’s eyes are exactly the same as yours.”
Lin Yin’s eyes were black and bright, the shape of them like a bold stroke of ink, smooth and sharp, always making him seem stubborn. But the small mole at the corner of his eye added a bit of cool, striking beauty to him.
These eyes were in no way similar to Du Qingfang’s, yet they were almost exactly the same as Ke Ruolan’s.
Ming Chengsong’s expression softened somewhat, and he waved to him. “Child, come here.”
Lin Yin walked slowly to Ming Chengsong, looking at the stern-faced man.
For the first seventeen years of his life, he had never lived a life with a father. He thought that if his dad were still alive, he would most likely have been a short, dark-skinned, quiet, and thin man. But he had never expected fate to give him such a dramatic reversal. His real father was actually the big shot in the business world, Ming Chengsong, and his mother was one of the country’s top pianists.
Whether it was fear or anticipation, he thought he would not have much reaction, but when he walked to the front of Ming Chengsong and Ke Ruolan, he found that his hands were trembling, trembling so badly that he almost could not even hold his bag.
He did not know what he was nervous about. He still felt a strong sense of distance from them, and on the way here he had repeatedly lowered his expectations of them in his heart. But standing here, looking at their faces that shared such obvious blood ties with him, his heart still could not help racing.
“No need to be nervous,” Ming Chengsong patted his shoulder, his voice very warm. “In front of dad and mom, just relax.”
Lin Yin’s throat felt a little dry, and he tightly gripped the schoolbag strap before barely stopping his trembling. He licked his lips. The words he wanted to say were pushed back in his throat two or three times, but he still did not make a sound.
Fortunately, no one urged him to say anything. Ke Ruolan looked at his brows and eyes, which were extremely similar to her own, and her lips trembled as she became a little moved. She pulled him to sit beside her and said warmly, “You’re hungry, right? Hurry and sit down.”
Lin Yin still could not develop a very strong sense of belonging here, and not having to change how he addressed them so quickly made him unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.
He sat down holding his schoolbag, stiffly keeping his shoulders tight as he looked at the sumptuous dishes on the table.
“Xiao Yin,” Ming Chengsong suddenly pointed at the bag in his arms and said to him, “put this bag on the sofa first. It looks pretty old too, don’t use it anymore. I’ll get you a new bag tomorrow.”
Lin Yin froze and lowered his head to look at the bag in his arms. He had bought this bag when he first entered high school, scraping and saving to get it from a discount shop. The fabric had not been very good to begin with, and after washing it a few times it had turned a little yellow, with some worn and broken edges. Ming Chengsong’s voice was very gentle and not at all stingy, but that tear suddenly seemed especially eye-catching in his line of sight. His fingers curled slightly, and his face turned red. He stood up and placed the bag on the sofa.
No one knew what material the sofa was made of, but it looked very exquisite. The old schoolbag looked out of place on it. Lin Yin pressed his lips together and put the schoolbag in a corner before returning to his seat and sitting down again.
Only after he picked up his chopsticks did he realize there was a third person at the table. It was a handsome young boy with fair skin, wearing comfortable flannel pajamas, looking like someone who had been raised in luxury.
Ke Ruolan patted him, her movements clearly much more familiar. “Xiao Zhi, he’s the brother we told you about. Xiao Yin, this is your younger brother Juezhi, say hello to each other.”
Lin Yin stared unblinkingly at the boy across from him, and saw the freckles on his face that were exactly the same as Du Qingfang’s. The color drained from his face.
When he had not yet met him, Lin Yin told himself not to be too bothered by it. But once he really saw this person, he realized he simply could not do it without any lingering resentment.
He could not help repeatedly thinking: so this is Du Qingfang’s real child, the person who took away seventeen years of love and care from him.
Du Qingfang would rather turn herself into an orphan than let him go back and take the life of her real son. And her son had stolen the love that belonged to the original him, and now he could sit here without any effect, becoming his brother.
Lin Yin did not know what expression he should wear when facing this person, what kind of mood he should have. He only felt an instinctive rejection.
The atmosphere in the dining room suddenly became awkward. Anyone could see that Lin Yin’s face had become very stiff.
“Xiao Yin?” Ke Ruolan urged him softly, “Say hello, okay?”
Ming Chengsong had already spoken with Uncle Zhang and clearly knew what Lin Yin was thinking. He frowned, then softened his voice and discussed it with Lin Yin. “It’s normal to feel a little unaccustomed when you’re meeting for the first time. But we’re all family, and we’ll have to get along for a long time. Xiao Yin, you’re the older brother too, so you should set an example, right?”
What kind of older brother am I? Lin Yin looked at them. The discomfort he had felt ever since he entered the house suddenly reached its peak, intensely unbearable like a scabbed-over sore.
Did they know how Du Qingfang treated him? Did they know what it meant for him that Du Qingfang’s son was sitting here?
Couldn’t they see how he felt? Why did it seem like no one cared about his feelings? Could his unwillingness and resentment really be that unimportant, not even worth caring about?
Lin Yin looked at them with a trace of hostility, wanting to stand up and loudly question them, to vent his resentment, but his body was like it had been poured full of lead, pinning him hard to the spot. At the same time, he felt something in his blood vessels slowly growing cold.
The Ming family had raised Ming Juezhi for seventeen years. Seventeen years was such a long time, blood ties and feelings had already been clearly separated. By the time Uncle Zhang made that request of him, he understood.
He then realized that this was probably the result no matter what. They had raised Ming Juezhi for seventeen years. Even if he were the Ming family’s real child, what else could he do? In the eyes of others, he was probably just being unreasonable.
Lin Yin slowly lowered his head, hiding the emotions in his eyes. After a long while, he stretched out his hand toward Ming Juezhi and forced out the words from his throat with great difficulty.
“Hello.”
Ming Juezhi smiled at him too.
But what did it matter that he was the Ming family’s true child? Was blood really more important than affection? In their eyes, his behavior now was probably nothing more than childishness.
Lin Yin slowly lowered his head, hiding the emotions in his eyes. After a long silence, he held out his hand to Ming Juezhi and forced the words out of his throat with great difficulty, “…Hello.”
Ming Juezhi also gave him a smile. “Welcome home.”
The two briefly shook hands and quickly let go, but the atmosphere finally relaxed, and Ke Ruolan and Ming Chengsong both smiled.
“That’s more like it,” Ming Chengsong said in relief. “We’re all family.”
“Eat a little more. You’re all at the age where you’re still growing.” Ke Ruolan put some seafood and meat into his bowl, then placed vegetables into Ming Juezhi’s bowl. Ming Juezhi did not really want to eat them, so she gently chided him, “You’re always not eating vegetables. How is your body supposed to get better like this?”
Lin Yin looked at the vegetables in his bowl, his stomach feeling painfully bloated. In fact, he did not like seafood because it smelled fishy. The broccoli he wanted most was on the other side of the table, and he would have to stand up to reach it.
He did not have much appetite, but he still forced himself to finish all the food in his bowl. After lunch, Ming Juezhi went to the bathroom, and Ke Ruolan asked Lin Yin about his life in Xiaoling Town.
Lin Yin did not really want to recall the past. He would rather forget those old, trivial matters completely, so he vaguely said, “It was okay.”
Ke Ruolan had obviously already read his information and knew a little about his past. Her eyes turned red as she gently held Lin Yin’s hand. “My poor child, since you’re back, you won’t have to live such a hard life anymore.”
Then, after hesitating for a moment, she spoke to him in a careful, tentative, negotiating tone. “I know you may have some objections to Xiao Zhi, but this is after all not his fault. He has lived with us for so long, and his health is weak. We can’t possibly let him go back, and we also don’t want this matter to affect his body. Everything you lacked before, we will make up to you. Xiao Yin, just treat him as your younger brother, okay?”
Lin Yin stared blankly at the pattern pasted on the wall. He slowly pulled up the corner of his mouth, feeling like laughing in his heart, but he could not laugh at all.
“I already said it, I won’t say anything.”
Ke Ruolan patted his hand and said dryly, “I know you’re a very good child.”
Ming Chengsong hurriedly changed the subject to ease the atmosphere, saying that since Lin Yin had returned to the Ming family, he should change back to the Ming surname. Ming Yin also sounded better. Lin Yin had no objections, and he did not have any extra feelings toward that surname to begin with.
Ming Chengsong then brought up the matter of transferring him to another school, saying he would transfer him to Jiang Cheng’s best high school, Jiang Cheng No. 1 Middle School, to go to school with Ming Juezhi.
Ke Ruolan wiped her eyes and quickly said, “Yes, yes, if you’re together, you can look after each other.”
Ke Ruolan wanted him and Ming Juezhi to be in the same class, the best class at Jiang Cheng No. 1 Middle School, but Ming Yin knew his own level and did not want to overestimate himself, so he still shook his head and refused.
“No need,” Ming Yin said honestly. “My grades are average. I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep up if I go there. A regular class is fine.”
Although Ke Ruolan was a little disappointed, she could understand Ming Yin’s thoughts and did not insist any further.
After that, they took Ming Yin to see his room. Ke Ruolan turned on the light, and the warm-colored glow spread across the entire room. The style was very childlike. She looked at Ming Yin expectantly. “I arranged the room based on Xiao Zhi’s style. I don’t know whether you like this style or not. If you don’t like it, we can still change it.”
In truth, Ming Yin did not care what style it was or whether he liked it. This was already much, much better than where he had lived before. It did not leak wind or rain, so there was nothing to pick at.
But he was somewhat resistant to things that had the label of “Ming Juezhi” on them. That always made him have the illusion that he had stolen something.
But in fact, he stole my thing. Ming Yin quickly corrected his own thought.
Ke Ruolan was still waiting for his response. Ming Yin did not want to disappoint her expectations again, so he forced out a smile and nodded at her. “Okay.”
The couple gave him time to adjust on his own, and after showing him the room, they left.
Ming Yin let out a breath, put away the things he had brought with him, and sat in the room in a daze for a while. Not long after, Ming Juezhi knocked and came in.
“It’s just like the way my room is arranged!” he said. His tone made it impossible to tell whether he was happy or unhappy, and then he handed the box in his hand to Lin Yin. “It’s a gift for you. Mom asked me to prepare it, saying that it would be more polite this way.”
Ming Yin frowned slightly, feeling that his tone was a little strange. But he still thanked him, accepted the gift, and put it on the desk.
After delivering the gift, Ming Juezhi did not leave. Instead, he leaned beside the desk and asked him, “Did you come from Xiaoling Town? What kind of place is Xiaoling Town? Is it fun? I’ve never been there before.”
The questions one after another made Ming Yin feel annoyed. He really wanted to say that if your vicious mother hadn’t deliberately switched the two of us, then Xiaoling Town would be your home now. But he still suppressed the irritation in his heart and tried his best to speak politely, “It’s not fun.”
“I see.” Ming Juezhi’s eyes looked around, and suddenly he pointed at a small bag of jujube cake on the desk and asked him, “Is this a specialty from Xiaoling Town? Can I try it?”
Ming Yin glanced at it. It had been given to him by the shop owner after he finished work that morning. He did not want to talk more with Ming Juezhi, so he said, “Eat it if you want.”
“Thank you.” Ming Juezhi then tore open the bag and took a bite.
The next second, the bag fell from his hand to the ground with a slap.
Ming Yin turned back impatiently, only to see Ming Juezhi suddenly clutching his chest and bending over in pain.
“Hey? Are you okay?” He widened his eyes in complete surprise, hearing a painful gurgling sound coming from Ming Juezhi’s throat. Alarmed, he hurried forward and patted Ming Juezhi on the back. “What’s wrong?”
Ke Ruolan did not know when she had gone upstairs. Seeing Ming Juezhi like this, her face changed instantly.
“Don’t pat his back! He’ll be unable to breathe!” She rushed over in two steps, slapped away Lin Yin’s hand, and the look in her eyes when she looked at him unconsciously carried reproach. Her tone was very anxious. “What did you give him to eat? Xiao Zhi is prone to allergies. There are many things he can’t eat!”
“Jujube cake.” Lin Yin stood frozen in place. Just now, Ke Ruolan had not held back her strength, and the hand that had been slapped away still stung a little. He squeezed his stiff fingers and looked at Ke Ruolan at a loss. “But I didn’t know…”
“Ugh…” Ming Juezhi’s breathing became rapid, and his whole face began turning blue. Ke Ruolan’s attention was drawn away again. While comforting him, she anxiously shouted for someone to take Ming Juezhi to the hospital.
The entire villa was in chaos for a moment.
Uncle Zhang carefully carried Ming Juezhi into the car, and Ke Ruolan also hurriedly followed.
Lin Yin, his expression frightened and bewildered, followed them downstairs.
He really wanted to say that it was not him who gave the jujube cake to Ming Juezhi, that Ming Juezhi had gone over there himself, that Ming Juezhi really did not know he would be allergic to this thing… But if he said it, would anyone believe him?
Seeing that his face was deathly pale, Ming Chengsong placed a hand on his shoulder and comforted him. “It’s okay, it’s not your fault. Next time, don’t give Xiao Zhi things from outside to eat. Ruolan is just worried and panicking, she’s not deliberately blaming you.”
Lin Yin lowered his head, stiffened his neck, and gave a quiet “Mm.” He looked at Ming Juezhi’s pale face, and the force of Ke Ruolan’s slap from earlier still remained on his arm. That kind of sudden, sharp pain stayed on his heart, making his heart sink heavily downward.
He thought of how, when he was little, he had been misunderstood for stealing money from home. Du Qingfang had taken a bamboo switch and whipped him until he rolled all over the floor. He hurt so badly, and while clutching the bamboo switch and crying loudly, he had wanted to explain himself, but she thought he was a habitual liar.
Once she decided that he had stolen the money and that he had bad character, she would not listen to his words.
Ming Chengsong and Ke Ruolan accompanied Ming Juezhi to the hospital, and the car quickly drove away. Ming Yin returned to his room, picked up the jujube cake that had fallen on the floor, and threw it into the trash can.