Lu Jinglin turned his head just in time to see Xia Yuning squinting his eyes in satisfaction. He rubbed his fingertips together, thinking that the youth looked just like a content little cat.
During lunch, Lu Jinglin’s parents were both very warm toward Xia Yuning, constantly feeding him dishes, which momentarily made Xia Yuning feel a bit embarrassed.
After lunch, Rong Feng took Xia Yuning by the hand and pulled him aside. “Yuning, there is something that both you and Jinglin do not know yet.”
What could it be?
Xia Yuning blinked and looked at Rong Feng, waiting for her to continue.
Rong Feng raised a hand to smooth her shawl, gazed into the distance, and slowly began, “Actually, you and Jinglin had an arranged marriage since you were babies. When we were young, your mother and I were very close friends. We were both pregnant at the same time, so we made a promise that once the two babies were born, we would arrange a betrothal!”
“Later on, the two of you were born, but both of you turned out to be boys, so the matter was simply dropped.” Rong Feng smiled with a touch of nostalgia, her aging yet graceful face reflecting fond memories of the past. “At the time, we felt quite regretful, even having the childish thought that it would have been wonderful if one of us had given birth to a girl.”
“Fortunately, however, the government passed the policy legalizing same-sex marriage in recent years, and Jinglin still had no one by his side. Lu Qian and I thought about fulfilling that old promise.”
“Having you marry Jinglin and join the Lu family also means we can protect you. It can be seen as taking care of you on behalf of your parents, allowing them to rest in peace on the other side.”
“From now on, we are a family. If Jinglin ever bullies you in the future, do not hold it in. Come tell Mom, and Mom will stand up for you.”
Rong Feng reached out and gently rubbed the top of Xia Yuning’s head, just like a mother would treat her own child.
She genuinely loved this child from the bottom of her heart and did not want him to suffer any grievances whatsoever.
At that exact moment, a certain part of Xia Yuning’s heart gradually warmed, and an indescribable emotion surged into his mind.
His throat tightened slightly, and he smiled sincerely, “Thank you, Mom.”
Rong Feng opened her arms and gave him a gentle hug, patting his back comfortingly. “Good child, no need to thank me. We are family now, there is no need to be so polite.”
Xia Yuning’s eyes turned red for a fraction of a second before he quietly blinked the moisture away. “I understand, Mom.”
Xia Yuning could sense that Rong Feng treated him with absolute sincerity. Having navigated the harsh realities of life through hard work in his past life, he saw right through people’s intentions long ago; he always knew clearly who was truly good to him and who was merely putting on a facade.
Presumably, when the Lu family publicly announced it as an alliance through marriage, they had also done so to protect his reputation.
Given the current state of the Xia family under Xia Guoliang’s control, they were completely unqualified to form a marital alliance with the Lu family. Yet, out of consideration for his reputation, the Lu family still used a marriage alliance as the reason for him to wed Lu Jinglin. The depth of their sincerity was self-evident.
Xia Yuning thought to himself that now he had a father and a mother too. So this was what it felt like to be cared for by parents; this feeling was truly wonderful.
It was so warm.
In his original world, although Xia Yuning had both parents, he had never once experienced paternal or maternal love.
Dad, Mom.
These two words rolled over the tip of his tongue. It had been a very long time since he last called out those names, and their faces had already begun to fade from his memory.
Whenever he dreamed as a child, he would always see two familiar yet distant figures walking further and further away in the opposite direction.
He would constantly shout at the top of his lungs in that direction, desperately hoping they would turn around to look at him, even if it were just for a single glance.