CH 8

In the morning, Lin Zhixia awoke to find it had snowed heavily overnight. 

His little bean was still sleeping, lying on the bed with his buttock straight up in the air. Lin Zhixia moved Lin Keai to a more comfortable position and covered him with the quilt. This morning, Lin Zhixia had to go grocery shopping and then take Lin Keai to kindergarten. 

On the way back from the store, it started to snow again. Lin Zhixia quickened his pace and returned home feeling frozen. 

When he entered the door, he saw Lin Keai standing by the window. He was barefoot, wearing red panda pajamas and looking at the snowflakes outside.　

Lin Keai had pushed the window open and a cold wind was rushing inside the house. His little hand was still trying to open the window a bit. 

Fortunately, because the house was old, the window was difficult to push. The little guy was too weak and only managed to crack the window slightly.

Lin Zhixia immediately hugged Lin Keai, placed him on the bed and startled tickling him. Lin Keai writhed happily, laughing, yelling and making a fuss. He then lifted his pajama top to reveal his belly and moved his muscles in a wave, showing Lin Zhixia the seaweed dance. 

“So silly,” Lin Zhixia pulled down Lin Keai’s clothes, “Raise your hands up!” 

Lin Keai raised his arms obediently and his father put a thick sweater over his head. Lin Keai smiled happily and then sneezed. Lin Zhixia slapped him on the buttocks, “Running around barefoot without wearing socks is a good way to catch a cold!” 

The little guy was too immersed in the joy of fresh snow. He didn’t listen to his dad at all and threw himself excitedly at Lin Zhixia, nestling into his arms. He said in a sweet, milky voice, “Dad! Let’s throw snowballs!”

Lin Zhixia refused, “No, it’s too cold.”

Lin Keai’s body was not the strongest and even without extreme weather, he would easily catch a cold. At the beginning of winter, Lin Zhixia had already wrapped Lin Keai in three pieces of clothing and a thick jacket to roll the little ball to school.

Now it was the dead of winter and the snow was so high. He wanted to go outside and play with snowballs? No way!

The little bean tilted his head, “Then can we make a snowman?”

Lin Zhixia shook his head, “No way.”

The little bean sniffled sadly, curled his legs and groaned loudly on the bed.

Lin Zhixia pretended not to see and picked up the rest of Lin Keai’s outfit, “Stretch your legs out.”

Although Xiao Ai was still angry, he turned on his back, facing his dad and obediently let himself be dressed. 

Lin Keai walked behind Lin Zhixia on the way to school, stepping his small feet in the tracks his dad left in the snow. Little foot in big foot all the way. 

Lin Zhixia told Teacher Fang not to let Lin Keai go crazy in the snow and she promised to watch him. As usual, Lin Keai was very excited to go to school and only gave Lin Zhixia a quick kiss before he ran away at top speed. 

Before, when Lin Zhixia would drop Xiao Ai off at school, the little guy would cling to him and demand kiss after kiss. Now, at the first sight of Xiao Xue, Lin Keai was perfunctory with his goodbye, leaving his dad in the dust. 

Had this kid been a westerner in his past life? Once he saw his little friend, he didn’t want his family anymore! Lin Zhixia had done well as a father in raising his little bean and the two of them were very close. Now seeing Lin Keai act like this, he felt a little…jealous. 

He was having a crisis! How could he be jealous? People were going to laugh at him!

*

The snow began to fall again and by noon there was a thick layer on the ground. There were fewer people on the street and no customers in the shop.

Lin Zhixia sat in the store feeling bored and the girl at the cash register was playing with her mobile phone. She laughed from time to time and Lin Zhixia finally leaned in and asked curiously, “What are you looking at?”

“Boss, come and look! So handsome!”

She handed him the phone and Lin Zhixia glanced at it then froze. The girl continued, “This man must have been a good person in his last life! Reincarnation is real! Look, he’s less than thirty and already able to take over such a large family fortune and successful business. And he’s so handsome! Who’s the lucky person that can marry a man like that?”

Lin Zhixia asked, “…oh, he’s not married?”

“Well, he was married once before but was divorced quickly. After that, he seems to have stayed single.” 

She laughed, “Boss, you don’t know Luo Qin? He’s the richest man in Tongcheng and a household name!”

Lin Zhixia smiled and said, “Of course I’ve heard of him.”

The girl’s eyes gleamed and she continued to gossip, “I heard that he and the Qiao family’s son… what’s his name…Qiao Ruxu were a couple. They were about to be married when, out of nowhere, Luo Qin announced his engagement to someone else! So many people felt sorry for the two of them. But it’s weird, Luo Qin has been divorced for so long, why aren’t they together now?”

Lin Zhixia tidied up the miscellaneous items on the table, listening to her gossiping with a faint smile on his face. He acted as if he had only just learned the name Luo Qin. 

In the past four years, Lin Zhixia had barely thought about Luo Qin. He would occasionally look at Lin Keai and wonder what Luo Qin looked like as a child. Did they look similar? 

Luo Qin should have forgotten about Lin Zhixia. After all, he was not a person worthy of being missed.

Lin Zhixia was surprised that Luo Qin and Qiao Ruxu were not together. But he held no deeper feelings on this couple than shallow curiosity. It had nothing to do with him anymore.

Luo Qin and Lin Zhixia had cleanly cut ties and in regards to the novel, Lin Zhixia’s role was done. He had retired quietly to make way for the protagonists. 

*

In a rare moment of leisure, Lin Zhixia went home to take a nap. He was awakened not long after falling asleep to a phone call from Teacher Fang. 

He rubbed his eyes and asked in a daze, “Teacher Fang, what’s the matter?”

“Mister Lin, Xiao Ai seems to have a fever! Come quickly!”

Lin Zhixia was startled immediately awake. He sat up, dressed quickly and went out in a hurry.

He arrived at the kindergarten to find Teacher Fang waiting for him in the office with Lin Keai in her arms. The loyal friend Chu Xun was there as well. 

Lin Zhixia was distressed and picked up the little bean from the teacher’s arms. His cute face was burning red and he couldn’t even open his eyes. He kept squinting, eyes full of tears and coughing so hard he could hardly breathe.

“Sorry, Mister Lin. I didn’t see him sneak away. He ran outside after lunch,” Teacher Fang blamed herself, “Keai is usually very good and never runs around. Today, the other children were especially crazy, so I didn’t notice him. I’m so sorry.”

Lin Zhixia had guessed this was the reason why Lin Keai was sick and he didn’t blame the teacher. He was about to reassure her when he felt his clothes being tugged on. He looked down to see Chu Xun holding the edge of his shirt. 

“Uncle Lin, I’m sorry. I brought Xiao Ai out to build a snowman.” 

Before he could finish his words, tears filled his eyes. 

Chu Xun was Lin Keai’s best friend in school and Xiao Ai often mentioned Chu Xun in front of Lin Zhixia. He was two years older than Lin Keai and was very mature. He considered himself to be a big brother to the other boy. 

Chu Xun always wanted to be a big man and protect Lin Keai. Lin Zhixia had heard from his son that Xiao Xun always beat up the bullies who picked on Lin Keai. Lin Zhixia had also heard a story from Lin Keai that Xiao Xun cut his hand badly while playing cards. It bled so much and Chu Xun was very brave, never shedding a tear. 

Lin Zhixia bent down and wiped the tears from Chu Xun’s face, “It’s okay. It’s not your fault. Uncle doesn’t blame you.”

Chu Xun choked on a sob and said, “Then…does that mean I can still play with Xiao Ai in the future?”

“Of course you can.” Lin Zhixia said with a smile, “Uncle has to take Xiao Ai to the hospital. He can come back to play with you when he gets better. Okay?”

Chu Xun stopped crying and nodded hard, “Mn!”

Lin Zhixia took a taxi to the city hospital and Lin Keai coughed the whole way there. Every nasty cough made Lin Zhixia’s heart squeeze in distress. When they arrived, Lin Zhixia hurried to register Lin Keai to be seen. 

During the consultation, the doctor named Cheng Xuan looked at Lin Zhixia oddly several times but he was so focused on Xiao Ai that he didn’t notice anything unusual.

“He has pneumonia. He’ll need to be hospitalized.”

Lin Zhixia was stunned, “It’s that serious?”

“Don’t be nervous. Children at this age have poor resistance to infection and are likely to get pneumonia,” Cheng Xuan pushed his glasses up, “He’ll be fine after taking medicine and getting an IV drip. It’s not a big deal.”

Lin Zhixia breathed a sigh of relief. 

Cheng Xuan handed him some medical forms to fill out. Lin Zhixia took them and prepared to go through the formalities but then Cheng Xuan stopped behind him and said, “Lin Zhixia?”

Lin Zhixia turned around and looked at him suspiciously.

Cheng Xuan smiled and said, “Nevermind. Excuse me.”

After he left the room, Cheng Xuan took out his cell phone and made a call. It took a long time before the call was picked up and the man who answered said in a cold voice, “Hello? What is it?”

Cheng Xuan had long become accustomed to the man’s attitude and ignored it. He chuckled softly and then said in a sly tone that was sure to provoke the other man, “Guess who I just happened to meet?”　　

“I’m hanging up. “

“Wait, wait! Don’t hang up,” Cheng Xuan was anxious, “I just ran into Lin Zhixia!!!” 

The other side didn’t hang up the phone, “Go on.”

Cheng Xuan’s smirk was smug, “Luo Qin, did you know you might have a son with that man?”