Chapter 31#
Hearing “Brother” after 15 years of separation, Yan Heqing felt no ripples in his heart, only a moment of confusion. He didn’t break down the night before last, so why was he crying now?
But he quickly adjusted and asked gently, “What happened? Why are you crying?”
Hearing Yan Heqing’s voice, Lin Fengzhi couldn’t hold it back anymore and felt even more aggrieved.
Everyone loved him so much, so why couldn’t Lu Lin remember him? Maybe… Lu Lin had someone he liked?
Thinking of this possibility, Lin Fengzhi’s tears kept flowing, “Brother, I want to ask you a question.”
“Go ahead.”
Lin Fengzhi bit his chapped lip. After a while, he let go and asked softly, “That friend who gave you very expensive fruit, do you… would you like her?”
He felt that liking someone was really painful.
Yan Heqing guessed what was going on when he heard this.
Lin Fengzhi’s mind was full of romance. Crying like this meant he had just gone to see Lu Lin. On the night of the wedding banquet, Lu Lin went to room 2120.
It must be that Lu Lin didn’t remember him at all, and he broke down.
The original text had a total of 5.01 million words. It wasn’t until the end, at Lu Muchi and Lin Fengzhi’s wedding, that Lu Lin remembered his name.
“Brother?” Yan Heqing didn’t answer, and Lin Fengzhi became anxious, “She treats you very well, likes you very much, and is willing to do anything for you, even give her life. Wouldn’t you be moved by this and willing to accept her?”
Yan Heqing was silent for a while before speaking, “No.”
Lin Fengzhi choked, his tears surging again. He muttered to himself, “But… she really loves you… Why? Is it not enough even if she likes you that much?”
“I won’t be moved by someone who gives up their life easily, let alone accept them.” Yan Heqing’s tone was calm, “To live, I am willing to give my all.”
Lin Fengzhi was stunned, “I don’t understand…”
Yan Heqing changed the subject indifferently, “Where are you now?”
Lin Fengzhi looked around. He had run out of the Lu family’s territory and was at an intersection. It was quiet, with no pedestrians, only the occasional flash of car lights in the distance. He shook his head, “I don’t know… I can’t read… this is a fork in the road…”
Yan Heqing suddenly asked, “What’s the date today?”
Lin Fengzhi was caught off guard. He moved the phone away, checked the time, and put it back to his ear, “The 29th.”
He didn’t understand why Yan Heqing brought up the date.
Yan Heqing said, “Final exams start tomorrow.”
The exam schedules for T University and Peking University were the same. Lin Fengzhi also had exams tomorrow.
Sure enough, Lin Fengzhi was dumbfounded for a while before muttering, “I forgot…”
Yan Heqing adjusted his sleeping position and said unhurriedly, “Now listen to me, stand up first.”
Lin Fengzhi rubbed his eyes and really stood up, “I’m standing.”
“Walk to the roadside.”
Lin Fengzhi walked to the roadside.
“Reach out your hand forward.”
Lin Fengzhi hesitated for a while, then reached out his hand forward. He really didn’t understand. Just as he was about to ask, a taxi stopped in front of him.
Hearing the noise, Yan Heqing asked, “Is a car coming?”
Lin Fengzhi understood. It turned out Yan Heqing wanted him to take a taxi! He sniffled, “Yeah.”
“Get in the car and tell the driver your home address. Go to sleep immediately when you get home, and go to the exam tomorrow.”
Lin Fengzhi’s nose tingled, and tears almost welled up again. Yan Heqing really loved him. He forced back his tears, “Okay, I’ll listen to you.”
He opened the door, got in the car, and told the driver the address.
He found chatting with Yan Heqing really comfortable and wanted to continue, but Yan Heqing spoke first, “Call me when you get home. I’m going to sleep first.”
Only then did Lin Fengzhi hear the deep drowsiness in Yan Heqing’s voice. He was reluctant to part, but it was indeed too late. He rubbed the tip of his nose, “Okay.”
Yan Heqing hung up the phone.
Having been woken up, he wasn’t sleepy for the time being. He turned on the desk lamp, grabbed his loungewear jacket, draped it over himself, got out of bed, and turned on the computer.
The faint light of the screen fell on his face. The band-aid had been removed, and the scratch had faded and was almost healed.
Yan Heqing typed on the keyboard with full concentration. It was almost 12 o’clock when his phone rang. It wasn’t a call, but a WeChat message from Lin Fengzhi, “Brother, are you asleep? I’m home safely.”
Yan Heqing replied: “Good night.”
Seeing the instant reply, Lin Fengzhi put down his phone and poked the Ultraman figure hanging under the desk lamp. Ultraman swayed gently in the halo of light.
His nose gradually felt sour. If only Lu Lin could care about him as much as Yan Heqing did…
——
In a simple gray and white room, Lu Lin held a cigarette that was about to burn out between his fingers.
Knock knock.
Someone knocked on the door.
Lu Lin said indifferently, “Come in.”
The door was pushed open, and Lu Changcheng smelled a faint scent of tobacco. He frowned hard and said at the door, “Ah Lin, keep tomorrow evening free to have a casual meal with your Uncle Jiang.”
Lu Lin was 30 and had no intention of getting married. Lu Changcheng was very dissatisfied, but he couldn’t control Lu Lin. When he married Lu Lin’s mother, the condition was that the second child would belong to the woman’s family. Lu Lin’s mother was also surnamed Lu, and the second child was Lu Lin.
Lu Lin was taken to his maternal grandparents as soon as he was born. He didn’t return to the Lu family until he went to university, and his relationship with them was very distant.
Lu Changcheng had no affection for this son whom he rarely saw. Even though they shared the surname Lu, he was not the same Lu as him and Lu Han.
However, no matter how partial he was to Lu Han, Lu Han was disappointing. Before the old man passed away, he designated Lu Lin as his successor.
The year before last, Lu Lin’s maternal grandmother passed away, and last year his maternal grandfather followed. Lu Changcheng wanted Lu Lin to acknowledge his ancestors and return to the clan, taking back his surname Lu.
Lu Lin ignored him completely. Lu Changcheng was furious, his blood pressure soared, and he was hospitalized for half a month.
Now, Lu Changcheng didn’t dare to mention blind dates openly. He could only indirectly ask Lu Lin to go for a meal, where the only daughter of the Jiang family would also be present.
Lu Lin knew exactly what Lu Changcheng was planning.
The cigarette was almost burnt out. Lu Lin put it into a disposable paper cup that served as a temporary ashtray. The smoke fluttered and went out.
He didn’t even turn his head, “Can’t make it, I have something to do.”
Lu Changcheng asked patiently, “What is it?”
“Fishing.”
Lu Changcheng staggered with anger. Lu Lin was clearly going against him. He trembled all over, “Do you have to wait for your mother to invite you?”
Lu’s mother had been in poor health. A few years after giving birth to Lu Lin, she even had trouble walking, so she had been recuperating in the mid-level villa.
Lu Lin finally turned his head and said calmly, “Don’t bring my mother into this. And give up the idea of setting me up on blind dates. If I want to get married, I will naturally get married.”
Lu Changcheng turned and left.
Lu Lin glanced at the bottle of bait on the table and got up to pack his fishing gear for tomorrow.
Tuesday morning, the secretary routinely organized the documents to be processed and placed them on Lu Lin’s desk, waiting for him to process them tomorrow.
Putting down a thick stack of documents, the secretary was just about to leave when she suddenly stopped, looking in surprise at the place where the ornament was placed in the upper left corner. The ornament was gone? She wasn’t sure if Lu Lin had taken it away himself or if there had been a thief. She heard that Lu Lin’s ornament was custom-made and cost hundreds of thousands.
She hurriedly ran back to the secretary’s desk and used her own phone to contact the special assistant.
The assistant replied with a few sentences. The secretary was very surprised, then nodded, “Understood.”
She had been wondering why Lu Lin suddenly ordered coffee and cake frequently. It turned out the reason was that beautiful young man. The secretary became nervous. She still wanted to hit on Yan Heqing… She didn’t know if the president had heard her private bragging. Fortunately, Yan Heqing didn’t give her his WeChat, otherwise, snatching a man from Lu Lin…
The secretary patted her chest in fear.
At the same time, Yan Heqing entered the examination room. As soon as he arrived at the school, he went to the main gate specifically to check. Yan Shengbing was not there, but Zhao Huilin was still squatting there.
After the test paper was handed out, Yan Heqing withdrew his mind and focused on answering the paper.
Soon, the clean test paper was filled with neat handwriting. Yan Heqing answered very quickly. After finishing, he checked it once and handed in the paper early to leave the examination room.
He went to the cafeteria for a simple meal first, then went to the library. Seeing that the exam was in the afternoon, he started the second exam. The papers were not difficult for him, and he handed in the paper early again.
This time, he deliberately walked through the main gate of the school.
Perhaps because he had changed a lot, Zhao Huilin only recognized him when he took the initiative to walk up to her.
Zhao Huilin indeed didn’t dare to recognize Yan Heqing.
The young man in front of her, dressed warmly and with a smooth face, seemed to be glowing, completely unlike the reticent balcony orphan who always allowed himself to be beaten and scolded.
Zhao Huilin stammered, “You, you are Heqing?”
Yan Heqing replied, “Why are you alone?”
Zhao Huilin then confirmed that it was indeed Yan Heqing. In the past, she would have cursed long ago, but today she leaned in and asked, “I don’t know if I remember correctly, you seem to have a biological brother who was adopted by a rich family, right?”
Yan Heqing said indifferently, “Why are you alone?”
Zhao Huilin grinned, “It seems you are not so heartless and unjust. Your dad has something to do recently.” During this time, Yan Shengbing kept running out and was not at home at all. Zhao Huilin said triumphantly, “Don’t think it’s okay just because you moved your household registration. I consulted a lawyer. In our family’s situation, you must support us in our old age.”
Yan Heqing said calmly, “It seems the lawyer you consulted is not professional enough.”
Zhao Huilin’s smile froze, “What do you mean?”
“The lawyer I consulted told me that as long as parents have seriously abused their children and there is actually no emotional connection between the two parties, judicial practice determines that it is enough to constitute—” Yan Heqing waited until Zhao Huilin’s face changed drastically before saying the rest, “loss of the right to demand support.”
Zhao Huilin didn’t understand the law and didn’t know if it was true or false, but Yan Heqing looked upright and confident. She was so shocked that she couldn’t speak for a long time.
It was Yan Heqing who asked her a strange question, “Looking for me in such a hurry, is the money all spent?”
Zhao Huilin came back to her senses. She smashed the pot, “Yes, how much money was that? It’s all your fault. You refused 5 million, and 100,000 isn’t even enough to fill the gaps between teeth!”
Yan Heqing nodded. That’s good.
He ignored Zhao Huilin and left straight away.
Zhao Huilin wanted to chase after him, but thinking of the judicial determination Yan Heqing just mentioned, she was anxious. She stomped her foot and ran to the bus stop to rush home and find the small lawyer in the alley opposite.
…
At a private lake in the suburbs, the bait Lu Lin put into the ice hole two hours ago had intoxicated a bunch of fish. Under the ice, there were now fish eager to bite the hook.
Today, Yan Heqing didn’t come fishing.
Lu Lin turned a page of “And Then There Were None” and ignored the violently trembling fishing rod.
Fishing until almost nine o’clock, Lu Lin packed up his things and returned to the parking lot. Just as he got in the car, his phone vibrated in his pocket.
Lu Lin sat in the driver’s seat before taking out his phone.
Just as he lit it up, a WeChat notification popped up.
The sender was 52 Hertz.
At the same time, Yan Heqing sent the edited message.
[Sorry Mr. Lu, I started my final exams today and only now have time to prepare a return gift. Thank you for your Cube of Light, I like it very much. I hope you will also like this gift.]