CH 29

Luo Qin went still for a moment, then touched his nose and said, “Maybe, but children should enjoy eating.”

“I never did,” Lin Zhixia retorted, then paused. It’s not that he didn’t like to eat but that he was never able to indulge. He was always jealous of the snacks his classmates brought to school but he always comforted himself that at least he got enough food to survive from the orphanage. “…or maybe I would have.”

Luo Qin looked at Lin Zhixia’s smile and felt sad. 

But he also felt happy that he and Lin Zhixia were able to have such a peaceful conversation. That hadn’t happened for a long time with Lin Zhixia always being cold and distant. 

Although Luo Qin understood why Lin Zhixia acted like that, it still made him sad. He didn’t want Lin Zhixia to be so defensive around him. 

Luo Qin was a greedy man; he wanted to be closer to Lin Zhixia. 

Luo Yao stood in the kitchen doorway with a dark expression. She had been standing there for a long time but she hadn’t come to deliberately eavesdrop. She only wanted to get something to eat but found that her brother and Lin Zhixia were having a harmonious discussion. 

They took so long! Finish already!

And listen to what they were saying!

Her brother looked so relaxed and acted so patient towards Lin Zhixia. If Luo Yao tried chatting like this, Luo Qin would tell her to stop talking nonsense after three sentences! 

Their reality had really changed! Luo Qin seemed to have completely forgotten about all the disgusting things this villain had done in the past. And now Lin Zhixia was openly proud of his son for making trouble!

She left the kitchen in a rage and wanted to go back to her room but when she reached the stairs, she saw the little thing that made her skip dinner. He was coming down the stairs slowly, step by step. 

Luo Yao had made a lot of noise as she stormed away from the kitchen and Lin Keai raised his head to look. She still had a fierce expression, her body puffed up and tense like a chicken ready to fight. Lin Keai shrank his neck and looked up at her timidly. 

Luo Yao ‘humphed’ and passed by Lin Keai as if she didn’t see him. 

She had just walked a step above the little guy when she heard him let out an ‘ah!’ She turned her head fast to see that he had twisted his foot and lost his balance. Luo Yao moved fast, reaching out to hug his little body against her before Lin Keai could tumble down the stairs. 

Luo Yao looked at the shocked little thing in her arms and her mouth quirked up into a smile. What kind of adult left a kid alone to go chat with a man in the kitchen? Lin Zhixia was really good at being a father! 

She put the little one back down and Lin Keai went back to struggling with each big step. Luo Yao rolled her eyes and picked him back up, delivering him directly to the bottom of the stairs. 

Lin Keai didn’t react, standing there staring at her with a dumbfounded expression. Luo Yao was angry and she glared at him, “What are you looking at? Your ass is so heavy! So annoying! Go find your dad.”

After speaking, Luo Yao’s stomach grumbled loudly and she rubbed it, feeling irritated. There was no way to get takeout delivered with so much snow. She would have to starve until tomorrow. 

She grew more and more annoyed having to look at this kid. It was all his fault!

Luo Yao turned, wanting to go upstairs and back to her room to lie down. Before she got very far, the sound of tiny footsteps came from behind. She turned back around and a small chocolate ball was pressed into her hand. 

Lin Keai started to feel around in his pocket for a long time and with great effort produced a mochi dumpling and stuffed that in her other hand. 

Then he ran away. 

Luo Yao stared blankly at the chocolate ball and mochi dumpling in her hands for a long while and then her mouth curled up. 

She peeled open the chocolate ball and stuffed it in her mouth, rolling her eyes.

“If you won’t eat it, I will!”

Lin Keai happily ran to the kitchen, waving the small red scarf in his hand. He exclaimed, “Uncle Luo! I have a scarf for the snowman!” 

Luo Qin paused in surprise and then he smiled, agreeing, “Okay, uncle will go and put it on the snowman for you.”

“Xiao Ai,” Lin Zhixia walked over, looked at the scarf and said, “Isn’t this the scarf that Uncle Qin Zhe gave you? Didn’t you say it’s your favorite? Do you really want to give it to the snowman?”

Luo Qin’s smile faded. 

Lin Keai looked torn. His face wrinkled into a frown but he still said ruthlessly, “I like this scarf a lot but I also like the snowman a lot!”

Luo Qin took the scarf, “Keai, don’t worry. Uncle will go give the scarf to the snowman.”

“Yay!”

Luo Qin strolled out and Lin Keai happily trotted after him, going all the way to the door that led to the back garden.

“Lin Keai!”

Lin Keai stopped and turned his head to look at Lin Zhixia. He was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, looking upset. He came skittering back to Lin Zhixia, playing cute, “Dad! I wasn’t going to go outside!”

Lin Zhixia pinched his nose and said nothing. He handed Xiao Ai the warmed milk and walked to the window with the little guy in his arms.

Luo Qin had just finished putting the scarf on the snowman. Ever since he found out that this scarf was given to Lin Keai by Qin Zhe, Luo Qin had felt annoyed. But he knew that Lin Keai liked the scarf so he tolerated it. 

But now Lin Keai had given the scarf to the snowman and once the snow melted, the scarf would be completely ruined. Luo Qin felt satisfied. 

Luo Qin looked up and saw that Lin Zhixia was standing in the window, holding Lin Keai in his arms. Xiao Ai’s face was flushed bright red, looking overjoyed and very cute. Lin Zhixia was gazing at the little guy with a small smile and the look on his face was especially gentle. 

It was as if the coldness of the whole world had been drained away and there only existed two people standing in the window and one person standing out in the snow. Looking at them quietly through the window, Luo Qin felt as if a small red clay oven had been placed in his heart, warming up the cold snow around him, turning the melted snow into red wine.

He felt warm and drunk. 

*

Saturday was Christmas and on Friday, Lin Keai attended kindergarten and listened very closely to his teacher. When he got home, he talked rapidly at Lin Zhixia, trying to show off the knowledge he had learned at school. But he got some things wrong and mixed other things up. 

“Dad! Teacher Fang said that Christmas is about getting presents and eating good food!”

“Is that what the teacher said?”

Lin Zhixia squeezed out some toothpaste for the baby onto the toothbrush and handed it to Lin Keai while rubbing his head. Lin Zhixia knew that Teacher Fang had taught the children much more about Christmas but this little guy only paid attention to how to eat. 

Lin Keai smiled and nodded, then looked at him expectantly, “Dad, do you have something delicious to eat for me?”

Lin Zhixia had discovered when he was helping the chef in a hotel that Christmas was a grand event in this world. It was an important date for catering businesses. So for his own little restaurant, business would be very good. No matter how small a restaurant was or how slow the business, Christmas day would always be crowded and Lin Zhixia was set to make a lot of money with his popular little restaurant in the University district.  

But now that Lin Keai was so excited for Christmas, how could Lin Zhixia say that his dad would rather work today and make lots of money than spend time together?

When Lin Zhixia was a child, he had also yearned to experience Christmas and the Spring Festival with family. He dreamed of frolicking around with his parents, being happy and joyful. But it was never something he was able to experience. At school the next day, he could only sit quietly on the sidelines, listening with growing envy as the other kids talked about having fun. 

Although Lin Keai was too young to understand the real concept of Christmas to most people, Lin Zhixia was reluctant to let his son down. 

What other children have, Xiao Ai should also have. 

Lin Zhixia patted Xiao Ai’s little head again and said, “Okay. Tomorrow, Dad will take Xiao Ai to eat lots of good food!”

Lin Keai stopped brushing his teeth and jumped around the room happily. 

*

Although Lin Zhixia made a promise to Lin Keai, the next day, he was unable to keep it. 

He wanted to take Xiao Ai out but he was caught unprepared. Whether in the original world or this one, Lin Zhixia had no experience celebrating holidays. For example, he had no idea that a reservation was needed for a restaurant on Christmas day. 

When Lin Zhixia closed his own business and walked to the nearby shopping mall with Xiao Ai in his arms, he found that the restaurants were full and the queue at the entrance of each restaurant was very long. After inquiring about the ones with the shortest queue, he was told that the wait would be an hour and a half to be seated. 

As he was asking about the wait, another family came to stand in line, adding even more time to the queue. Lin Zhixia clutched Xiao Ai close and stepped to the side. 

He was frustrated and said, “Keai, I’m sorry. Dad forgot to make a reservation. We might not be able to eat good food today.”

Lin Keai was not disappointed. He moved his big eyes all around to look, watching the lively shopping mall with interest. He waved his hand cheerfully, “Then let’s go home and eat pineapple meat!”

Lin Zhixia laughed and gave a sigh of relief, “Okay.”

As soon as they left the mall, Lin Zhixia received a call from Luo Qin. 

Luo Qin got off work early today and when he arrived at the small restaurant, he found that the door was closed and locked. He immediately called Lin Zhixia, “Where are you?”

“I’m at the mall but I’m heading out.”

“I’ll pick you up.”

The mall was very close and Luo Qin arrived quickly. Lin Zhixia sat with Lin Keai in the back. 

Luo Qin looked at Lin Zhixia in the rearview mirror and found that he didn’t look very happy.

“What’s wrong?”

Lin Zhixia said nothing.

“Uncle Luo, it’s Christmas today!” Lin Keai said in a sweet voice, “A lot of people were lined up to eat.” 

Seeing the excited look of the little guy, Lin Zhixia felt even more upset.

Luo Qin understood right away why Lin Zhixia was unhappy. He thought about it and said, “Keai, Uncle Luo wants to eat pineapple buns. Do you want to eat them with me?”

“Yeah! Pineapple buns!”

Although Lin Keai didn’t know what pineapple buns were, it still sounded delicious. His eyes widened in excitement and he was nearly drooling. 

Lin Zhixia wiped Lin Keai’s mouth and asked Luo Qin suspiciously, “Will there really be a place for us to eat right now? At this hour?”

Luo Qin smiled lightly, “Don’t worry, there will be.”

Lin Zhixia thought that of course Luo Qin would have a way. Why would he even ask that?

Luo Qin took them to a Cantonese restaurant. Lin Zhixia opened the menu and noticed the price, finally understanding why this restaurant had vacancies on this day. 

He sighed and handed Luo Qin the menu and then the little guy. 

“You order. I’m going to the bathroom.”

As Lin Zhixia came out of the bathroom, a person suddenly appeared in front of him. The moment he saw the person’s face, he hesitated in surprise. 

Although Lin Zhixia had no desire to interact with this person in front of him, enemies always traveled a narrow road. 

Qiao Mei, the girl who handed him that glass of wine on the cruise ship a few years ago, suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was staring at him with a smile.

“Brother Zhixia, it turns out it really is you. I thought I had been mistaken. Why are you here?”

Qiao Mei’s voice was gentle and her tone was pleasantly surprised, as if Lin Zhixia was her long-lost close friend.

Her sudden appearance made Lin Zhixia feel a sudden dread. Even the mention of this person was enough to make him uncomfortable, let alone having her actually stand before him. 

Lin Zhixia wanted nothing to do with Qiao Mei. 

Lin Zhixia didn’t like Luo Yao very much. She had a mean temper, a bad mouth and loved to ridicule him constantly. But compared to Qiao Mei, at least Luo Yao was honest. 

Qiao Mei was full of poison, rotten to the core but on the surface, she pretended to be sweet and kind. 

Maybe it made Lin Zhixia a coward, but for someone like Qiao Mei, who acted crazy and had no bottom line, he would rather completely avoid her. 

He moved around her, pretending not to see her but Qiao Mei didn’t let him go. She gently pulled Lin Zhixia back by the arm and said sweetly, “”Brother Zhixia, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you. How can you leave without talking to me?”

Lin Zhixia shook off her arm, “I have nothing to say to you.”

“Oh? But I’m very interested to talk to you! I really want to know where Brother Zhixia has been in the past few years. How is life? Are you doing well?”

Qiao Mei smiled and pulled Lin Zhixia intimately close. To others, it might seem like they were good friends but being this close to her gave Lin Zhixia goosebumps. 

Qiao Mei looked at Lin Zhixia, her smile gone, “That’s right, what nasty trick did Brother Zhixia use this time to get someone to bring him to a fancy place like this? It’s impressive! I’m so curious…”