CH 11

Qin Zhe, who had been lost, his head in the clouds and mist, suddenly figured out the relationship between the two. And with one glance at Luo Qin’s appearance and attitude, Qin Zhe had already realized what kind of person this man was. 

Lin Zhixia hadn’t seen his ex-husband for so many years and now here the man was, standing in front of them with such an offensive tone to his voice. Thinking of Lin Zhixia’s hard work over the past few years, Qin Zhe was quite dissatisfied with the person in front of him. 

“Why are you being so rude like this?”

Luo Qin directly ignored Qin Zhe’s questioning and said to Lin Zhixia, “Let’s talk.”

Lin Zhixia could detect no deception in Luo Qin’s voice and their reunion was unavoidable now. Lin Zhixia sighed and resigned himself to his fate.

Qin Zhe stopped him, “Zhixia, he has such an offensive attitude. Just ignore him.”

“It’s okay, Brother Qin. I can handle this,” he pushed Lin Keai to Qin Zhe’s side, “I’ll have to trouble you to take Xiao Ai back to the restaurant. Thank you.”

Seeing that Lin Zhixia had already made his decision, Qin Zhe looked back at Luo Qin. It wasn’t his place to say any more so he stayed silent. 

Qin Zhe held the hand of Lin Keai as they started off towards the restaurant and Xiao Ai looked back curiously as he walked. Lin Zhixia, afraid that his son would be worried, smiled at him. When the little bean turned around, Lin Zhixia’s face dropped into a serious expression.

Feeling hopeless, he looked at Luo Qin and asked, “What do you want to say?”

“Find a place to sit down and talk, first.” Luo Qin looked around and the only thing that could be seen nearby was a cafe. He pointed to it, “Let’s go.”

Lin Zhixia bit his lip, “Please hurry up. I have to get back to work.”

Luo Qin glanced at him, “If you cooperate, I will be fast.”

Luo Qin didn’t say anything more until they sat down. When they were settled, he immediately took out a bank card and pushed it in front of Lin Zhixia. 

Lin Zhixia looked at him blankly, “What is this?” 

“Lin Keai is my child. I want to take him back to the Luo house.”

Lin Zhixia smiled bitterly. He really hadn’t expected that the drama scene of using money to pay people off would also happen to him. But instead of a mother-in-law saying the words, “take this money and divorce my son”, Luo Qin was going to take his precious child away. 

Even though it was probably useless, Lin Zhixia thickened his face to continue to lie, “Who ever said that Xiao Ai is your child? I told you that man was my husband-”

“You think,” Luo Qin gently stirred the coffee with a spoon. His expression was lazy but the tone of his voice was harsh, “that I can find out where you are but can’t find out whether you’re married or unmarried and who the father of your child is?” 

Luo Qin was determined, strong and unwavering. 

Just like he was four years ago. 

And just like four years ago, Luo Qin was full of contempt and disgust for Lin Zhixia. 

It’s been four years since the divorce, Lin Zhixia didn’t have to please Luo Qin to live well. 

Lin Zhixia cheered himself up inwardly and then raised his head to look directly into Luo Qin’s eyes.

He said firmly, “He is your child but I won’t let you take him away from me.”

Luo Qin looked at Lin Zhixia thoughtfully. These days, he’d been observing Lin Zhixia closely and compared to the paranoid and gloomy Lin Zhixia he remembered, there was not a single similarity.

Luo Qin recalled the parting words Lin Zhixia had given him. If one day they were to meet again, Luo Qin should consider him a brand new Lin Zhixia. 

At that time, Luo Qin hadn’t understood the meaning of these words but at this moment, he seemed to slowly realize what Lin Zhixia meant. 

“What kind of life can you give Lin Keai? If I didn’t make a mistake in my estimation, the restaurant you own makes no more than 30,000 yuan a month. And that doesn’t include taxes.”

“You live in a one-bedroom house and he doesn’t even have his own room. He squeezes into a bed with you. I won’t even say what kind of kindergarten he attends.”

“When he’s sick, you can’t even afford to keep him in a private room.” 

Luo Qin paused and continued, “When he gets older, what kind of life can you give him?” 

Every word Luo Qin said was an arrow into a painful, vulnerable spot in Lin Zhixia’s heart.

He wasn’t surprised that Luo Qin would know these things. With the power of the Luo family, it would be a piece of cake to investigate individuals but the detailed investigation still made Lin Zhixia get goose bumps.

Lin Zhixia could face his poverty and powerlessness but hearing Luo Qin belittle their life like this was infuriating. 

“A year ago I lived in an even smaller house and I only made less than four thousand yuan a month. You can still look down on the house I live in and my job but it’s much better than last year. In the future, I will become even better. I can give my child a better life than mine.” 

Lin Zhixia pushed the bank card back to Luo Qin, “”I don’t need your money. If I wanted money, I would have gone to you when I first found out about Xiao Ai.”

Luo Qin was slightly stunned. He didn’t expect Lin Zhixia to have such an attitude but he soon recovered his determination, “He is also my child.”

“But you don’t love him,” Lin Zhixia smiled sadly, “He’s still so young. If you take him back, will you care about him? You hate me so much and you will think of me when you see him. Will you still treat him well? You don’t treat him as the treasure he is. What would your family or the Luo servants do when they see your attitude towards him?”

Luo Qin looked at him indifferently, “So what, are you going to hide him for the rest of his life? When he learns his true identity later, won’t he blame you for depriving him of his original life?” 

Lin Zhixia looked at Luo Qin, feeling dumbfounded. Luo Qin’s voice was calm but loud, determined.

He asked in a hollow voice, “Why do you want to take him away when you obviously don’t need him?”

When Lin Zhixia first left the Luo family, he was so poor that he could only eat restaurant leftovers to save money. And on days off and weekends, he could only eat one meal. For a young man in his early twenties, he was already always hungry but he survived that way for almost six months. 

Lin Zhixia had always lived in suffering, he was used to it, unafraid of it. What he was afraid of was living a life without hope. After he left Luo Qin, Lin Zhixia had the ambition to start his life over again. 

But with no education, enduring repeated setbacks and having memories of a past life of hardship, he started to feel desperate. Every night it was hard to sleep and he would stare at his painted ceiling. 

Sometimes, he wondered if dying would be a good thing. No one in this world would miss him, no one would shed a tear. 

His horrible, constant depression didn’t end until he found out about Lin Keai. Finally, Lin Zhixia wasn’t all alone. 

Xiao Ai was his treasure and the only real connection he had in this world. When Lin Zhixia woke up at night from a nightmare and saw that Xiao Ai, with his round belly exposed, was sleeping next to him, Lin Zhixia felt at ease and happy.

Why did Luo Qin want to steal Xiao Ai away when he clearly didn’t like or need him?

Over these last four years, it would have been easy for Luo Qin to find Lin Zhixia but he never cared to. But as soon as he knew about Xiao Ai, Luo Qin appeared to take the baby away. 

It was too cruel. 

Lin Zhixia really didn’t want to cry in front of Luo Qin, it was ridiculous and embarrassing, but he couldn’t stop the edges of his eyes turning red.

He must have done a lot of bad things in his previous life to experience these two worlds, one after the other. In both worlds, Lin Zhixia was so unlucky. Every time he tried to catch something, to hold it in his hands, he would end up with nothing.

When Luo Qin looked at his red eyes, he suddenly thought of that dream.

Feeling a strange premonition, he asked, “When you were pregnant, did you fall?”

Lin Zhixia sniffed, a sick feeling rising in his stomach at Luo Qin’s question. He thought for a moment and then remembered that he had fallen while pregnant. 

How scary. Could the Luo family really know about that?

He pursed his lips and replied in a dull voice, “I did fall once.”

It had been winter, the sidewalk was slippery and there had been no streetlights on his way home. He accidently tumbled down and had been afraid that something had happened to the baby. He lay on the ground for a long moment, frozen in terror. But fortunately, Lin Zhixia had been healthy and the baby was fine. 

Luo Qin fell into deep thought. When he looked back at Lin Zhixia, he saw that he still had red eyes and was stubbornly staring at Luo Qin, looking nervous.

Luo Qin said in a low voice, “You go back first.”

Lin Zhixia didn’t move, Luo Qin continued, “Don’t worry, I won’t take him away.”

Originally, Luo Qin hadn’t planned to take Lin Keai away immediately.

Hearing him say this Lin Zhixia was particularly excited but also suspicious of whether what Luo Qin said was true. He held down his overwhelming joy and asked skeptically, “Really?”

“I don’t like to deceive people.”

Lin Zhixia immediately sighed with relief and revealed a smile, “Thank you!”

Lin Zhixia left quickly, running away as if he were afraid that Luo Qin would take back his words. 

Luo Qin stared after him. As soon as he had promised not to take the baby, Lin Zhixia had smiled so brightly despite the tears in his eyes. He looked so happy. 

Luo Qin had doubted Lin Zhixia’s actions before but at this moment, he really believed that Lin Zhixia cared for his child without any ill intention.