Chapter 13#

On his way home, Yan Heqing received a text message about his delivery.

His package had arrived and was at the courier station.

Yan Heqing didn’t go to the courier station first. He went home to get “Cell Biology”, his fishing bag, and a bucket.

He also went to the convenience store at the entrance of the community to buy some bread, a few bottles of mineral water, and two boxes of milk. By the way, he booked a car and set the location at the courier station.

As soon as he arrived at the courier station, the car arrived.

There were three big boxes of deliveries, and Yan Heqing unpacked them directly at the courier station.

Seeing that it was all fishing equipment, the driver said enthusiastically, “It’s really rare for a young man of your age to go ice fishing instead of going out to play at night.”

Yan Heqing nodded politely.

The driver immediately started chatting, “Tianshan Reservoir is good. I used to go there often. The owner is generous with stocking fish.”

He shared his fishing experience all the way, and soon they arrived at Tianshan Reservoir.

On a winter night on a weekday, the frozen water surface was full of small tents with lights on.

Yan Heqing looked for a long time before finding a spot.

He turned on the camping light to illuminate the area, drilled a small hole with an ice auger first, then unzipped his backpack, set up the tent alone, and laid the ground mat.

The reservoir was freezing at night. Yan Heqing’s palms and soles were numb from the cold. He zipped up the tent, turned on the heater, and warmed himself for a while. When his hands could move freely, Yan Heqing tore the bait for tonight—silkworm chrysalis—into pieces and hung them on the fishhook.

In the small space, the orange light of the camping lamp made the tent very warm. The temperature of the heater also gradually rose, and soon it was hot enough to take off his coat.

Yan Heqing took off his coat, revealing a thin black sweater underneath. He opened a piece of bread and ate while reading, putting the fishing rod by his feet.

He didn’t know how long it had been when the fishing rod moved. Yan Heqing’s foot was hit several times before he looked up from the book and lifted the fishing rod.

What he caught turned out to be two crabs.

Yan Heqing’s eyes brightened slightly, and he immediately called the old man.

The old man’s tent was nearby, and he came quickly. Seeing two quite large crabs in the tent, he smiled and said, “Not bad, not bad, fat enough. I’ll roast one for each of us on the heater. I have salt and pepper there. Let’s have roasted crabs for a late-night snack.”

The old man went back to get salt and pepper, suddenly turned back to look at Yan Heqing, raised his hand and pointed to the left corner of his mouth, “There are bread crumbs here.”

He said cheerfully, “Only at times like this can I see that you are a child.”

Yan Heqing was slightly stunned, raised his hand to touch the corner of his mouth, and there were indeed bread crumbs. He was too absorbed in reading and forgot to wipe his mouth after eating the bread.

He quickly wiped off the bread crumbs.

The old man came back with salt and pepper, and also brought a basket of strawberries and cherries.

“My former subordinate gave them to me, saying they are the Hermes of strawberries. I don’t like sweets, you finish them.”

The old man skillfully set up the grill on the heater, and the freshly caught hairy crabs were put directly on the grill.

Yan Heqing picked up a strawberry, took a bite, sweet and sour, with a strong strawberry flavor.

He picked another big one and handed it to the old man. “It’s not purely sweet, it’s sweet and sour. You try it.”

The old man took it happily and ate half of it in one bite, “Hmm, not bad.”

He stuffed the remaining strawberries into Yan Heqing’s hands. “But I still don’t like them, you eat slowly. With your malnourished look, you can’t stand fishing in colder places.”

Yan Heqing’s eyelids twitched slightly, “Colder places?”

The old man looked up and said with dancing eyebrows, “Yes, that place is in a valley in the south. There is a private lake with a very complete variety of fish. It has all the freshwater fish you can name.”

“It’s a membership system, ordinary people can’t get in.”

Yan Heqing knew about that private lake. Lu Lin often went fishing there.

The old man added, “I’ll call you next time I go. It’s much more interesting than fishing here.”

Yan Heqing had been waiting for this opportunity. He thanked him sincerely, “Thank you.”

The old man waved his hand, pretending to be angry, “If you are polite to me again, I will leave with the strawberries!”

Yan Heqing’s eyes slowly curved, and he picked up a strawberry. “That’s too late. I’m going to finish your basket of strawberries right away.”

The old man laughed loudly, “You kid, that’s the way!”

At the same time, Lin Fengzhi returned to the Lin family with a heavy heart.

Only his mother was at home.

Lin Fengzhi swallowed with difficulty, his voice a little hoarse when he spoke, “Mom…”

Mother Lin was watching a drama. She pressed pause, hugged him to sit on the sofa, and said kindly, “You just came back now, did you eat outside?”

Lin Fengzhi shook his head, then nodded.

Mother Lin smiled until her eye wrinkles appeared. “Silly boy, did you eat or not? If not, ask Aunt Zhang to cook you a bowl of King Crab seafood porridge. Your eldest brother brought a basket back this afternoon.”

Lin Fengzhi had no appetite. He looked at Mother Lin, “Mom, I…”

Mother Lin looked puzzled. “What’s wrong?”

“Am I…” The words stuck in his throat. Lin Fengzhi really couldn’t ask. His eyes turned red, and he suddenly stood up, “Nothing, I’m going to sleep!”

He ran upstairs quickly.

He was obviously not normal. Mother Lin hurried to catch up, “Son, what’s wrong with you?”

The door was locked by Lin Fengzhi.

He threw himself directly on the bed, pulled the quilt over his head, “I’m fine! I want to sleep!”

Tears fell down.

Lin Fengzhi didn’t understand why he was adopted, why unlucky things happened one after another…

This feeling was so annoying!

Mother Lin knocked on the door for a long time without any response. She was so anxious that she hurried back to the living room to make a call.

“Husband, Fengzhi is acting strange, come back quickly…”

“Son, come back quickly, your brother is acting strange…”

…

In less than an hour, Father Lin, Lin Fengxian, and Lin Fengyi all rushed home.

They took turns knocking on the door to coax Lin Fengzhi.

“Zhizhi, it’s Dad, what happened?”

“Fengzhi, it’s Big Brother. Tell me who bullied you, and I’ll teach him a lesson for you.”

“Zhizhi, open the door, okay?” Lin Fengyi was extremely anxious. “Who made you feel wronged? I won’t spare him!”

After a long time, footsteps came from inside the room. The family immediately fell silent and looked at the door nervously.

The door opened, and Lin Fengzhi appeared behind the door with a flushed face and red and swollen eyes.

Before they could speak, Lin Fengzhi closed his eyes and fell forward into Lin Fengyi’s arms.

Lin Fengzhi had a high fever.

In a blur, he heard a pleasant voice speaking.

“Mingsong, when brother can make money, I will buy you big chicken legs, big beef legs, and big red strawberries!”

“Okay, okay!” Another voice shouted happily, “I like brother the most in the whole world!”

…

“Brother, brother…”

Lin Fengzhi kept murmuring.

Lin Fengyi kept changing cold towels next to him to cool Lin Fengzhi down. Hearing him call brother, his heart ached. He held his hand and said, “Brother is here, don’t be afraid.”

Lin Fengzhi was still dreaming. He arrived at a place full of white fog and couldn’t see anything clearly.

Suddenly, a chubby white child appeared, laughing and running towards him.

The child’s face was very familiar, very familiar.

“Brother! Brother! I like brother the most!”

Then ran past him.

Lin Fengzhi looked back. In the white fog, there was a vague figure, small, very small.

After a while, that figure approached from the white fog.

The facial features became clear bit by bit. The face was very small, very white, and very thin.

It was him!

Lin Fengzhi opened his eyes in shock and sat up from the bed at once.

“Yan Heqing!”

Seeing him wake up, Lin Fengyi was very happy and gently stroked his forehead, “Thank goodness, the fever finally went down.”

Lin Fengzhi’s tears fell down.

Lin Fengyi was heartbroken and quickly hugged him. “Is it very uncomfortable? Brother will take you to the hospital right away.”

Lin Fengzhi shook his head, just crying, burying his face deep in Lin Fengyi’s arms.

His memory was still blurry, but…

A voice in his heart told him that Yan Heqing was not a liar, did not lie, he seemed… really be his brother.

“Wuwuwu…” Lin Fengzhi cried out loud.

“Zhizhi.” Lin Fengyi’s heart was broken by his crying, but he was helpless. “What exactly happened? Don’t scare me.”

Lin Fengzhi finally looked up, his face red and swollen from crying, “Brother, am I an adopted child of Mom and Dad?”

Lin Fengyi’s expression froze instantly.

Lin Fengzhi understood when he saw his expression. That’s right, he was really adopted.

Feeling terrible inside, he pushed Lin Fengyi away and cried hysterically.

…

It was the afternoon of the next day when Lin Fengzhi returned to normal.

His face was very pale. He squatted under the flower tree in the sunroom, staring blankly at the kitten eating canned food.

He stroked the kitten’s head and said softly, “Little Dot, do you know? Like you, I was also picked up by this family.”

“I am not Mom and Dad’s biological child, and Big Brother and Second Brother are not my biological brothers either. I have another biological brother.”

Lin Fengzhi’s voice became lower and lower, “I don’t want this biological brother…”

“Zhizhi.” Mother Lin walked to Lin Fengzhi and squatted down. She gently stroked her youngest son’s soft black hair. “No matter what happens, you are Mom’s baby. Mom and Dad, and your two brothers love you the same, you know?”

Lin Fengzhi’s eyes turned red again, tears fell on the back of his hand, and he bit his lip and refused to speak.

Mother Lin sighed, “You met your biological brother, right? He is a very good child.”

Lin Fengzhi looked up immediately and asked nervously, “Did he come to find you? Did he…” He hesitated, “Did he, did he ask you for money?”

Mother Lin was surprised, “No, I met him when he was a child. Why would you think so?”

The first time she went to the orphanage, she liked Lin Fengzhi’s biological brother the most at first glance. Not only was he the best looking, but he was also very obedient and sensible.

Lin Fengzhi muttered, “That’s how it is in TV shows… Anyway, if he uses me to ask you for money, I will definitely not forgive him!”

Mother Lin couldn’t help laughing, “My baby is so kind! Listen to Mom, now that you’ve met your biological brother, there will be one more brother to love you in the future. What a good thing this is.”

“Why don’t we invite him to dinner at home tonight? Mom will cook personally and make delicious food for you.”

Lin Fengzhi was silent for a long time before nodding. “Okay.”

…

Yan Heqing was reading when the phone rang.

The call was from Lin Fengzhi.

It was about the time Yan Heqing expected. He answered, “Hello.”

The other side was quiet for a long time before speaking, “I am Lin Fengzhi.”

Yan Heqing was polite, “Is there something wrong?”

“You…” Lin Fengzhi took a deep breath, “I asked my parents, they said you didn’t lie.”

“I want to invite you to my house for dinner, would you like to come?”

The corners of Yan Heqing’s mouth raised slightly, “If you remember your childhood, you will know that I will never refuse you.”

Lin Fengzhi’s heartbeat accelerated. Through the phone line, he seemed to see the smiling boy under the plum blossom tree again.

Brother.

That was his biological brother.

Lin Fengzhi touched the tip of his nose, “Send me your address, I’ll send a driver to pick you up now.”