CH 60

Time seemed to have been paused.

Inside the private room, Liao Yan sat quietly. The tea on the table emitted hot steam, and the fragrance lingered inadvertently in his dejected heart. He didn’t answer the previous question and softly asked the one he most wanted to know, “Has Xing Xing ever mentioned me?”

Gu Zhongyi remained silent.

After a moment, under the earnest gaze of Liao Yan, he answered truthfully, “He did mention you once.”

“What did he say?” As he asked this, Liao Yan anxiously lowered his head.

This action conveyed both expectation and fear.

He resembled a guilty child, so nervous that his hands were clenching each other. This small action was almost identical to how Lin Yuxing behaved when anxious.

Gu Zhongyi said, “He said you broke your promise and abandoned him.”

Liao Yan’s expression stiffened, and his eyes became moist.

As if he had guessed what Lin Yuxing might say, Liao Yan took a deep breath, trembling slightly, and dug his fingernails into his palm. His lips turned slightly pale as he clenched his teeth.

Seeing this, Gu Zhongyi lowered his gaze and stopped his voice, giving him some time to process. In Lin Yuxing’s words, Qu Xing was a heartless betrayer. But based on Gu Zhongyi’s one-sided understanding, Qu Xing had never abandoned Lin Yuxing. There had to be a misunderstanding.

Gu Zhongyi couldn’t judge Qu Xing as a person, as their time together at the hospital had turned them into “friends” with Lin Yuxing as the common point.

After pondering for a while, Gu Zhongyi said, “Yuxing said that at that time, you were only 8 years old and had no control over many things after being adopted. I know he understands.”

Indeed, Lin Yuxing no longer resented his brother, but he had created a cage in his heart, preventing people from getting close to him.

It was possible that even he himself hadn’t realized this.

It was only with Gu Zhongyi that he found the courage to break free from the past and be loved.

As Gu Zhongyi finished speaking, he noticed a rare hint of self-mockery on Liao Yan’s almost perfect face.

Gu Zhongyi paused and said, “I don’t know what happened between you and Yuxing. But in this timeline, you saved him and let him live.”

Liao Yan suddenly raised his head.

“Does he not hate me anymore?” he asked.

“Yes, he no longer resents you,” Gu Zhongyi replied.

Liao Yan’s eyes, which had turned slightly red, stared intently at Gu Zhongyi for a while, making Gu Zhongyi feel a bit uncomfortable.

Then Liao Yan said knowingly, “It seems strange to me .. Why are you and Yuxing together, even made love, yet he still treats me kindly?”

Gu Zhongyi didn’t understand what he meant, so Liao Yan raised his tone slightly, smiling with regret and pain in his voice, calling out his brother’s full name, “Lin Yuxing could never not resent me, definitely not!”

“Gu Zhongyi, you must have seen the burns on his back and gland,” Liao Yan’s voice was low, like a knife cutting through flesh.

Gu Zhongyi was taken aback, not understanding what he was talking about.

Liao Yan continued, avoiding Gu Zhongyi’s eyes, “That was because of me.”

His voice was faint, like dust, but it weighed heavily on Gu Zhongyi’s ears.

“I replaced him and took away his chance to be adopted.”

12 years ago, at the Welfare Institute……..

Eight-year-old Lin Yuxing hid under the shade of a tree, poking ants on the ground with a stick, looking unhappy with his head down.

Not far away, the director was talking to a tall and handsome man.

In the scorching heat, sweat dripped from the man’s forehead. He turned and looked at Lin Yuxing, waving at him in a friendly manner.

Lin Yuxing was startled and quickly turned his head away. He pretended to be nonchalant and poked the mud on the ground vigorously.

Who would have thought that the man would walk straight towards him?

In an instant, the tall man merged into the shade of the trees and magically took out a piece of dried plum candy from his pocket. He squatted down half-heartedly, handing it to Lin Yuxing.

The man’s name was Qu Lingnian, with a very kind face that didn’t look like a bad person at all. He tried to please Lin Yuxing by extending his hand, which had a large scar on both the back and palm.

Lin Yuxing was timid and scared, shrinking his shoulders. “Are you a bad person?” he asked.

“Hmm?”

“You have a scar on your hand.” Lin Yuxing pointed at it.

Qu Lingnian was not angry at all. He directly stuffed the candy into Lin Yuxing’s pocket.

Lin Yuxing was flustered and struggled with his hands, like a scared little dog.

“Uncle Qu, so many candies…”

“Yes, they’re all for our little star.” Qu Lingnian affectionately touched his head, speaking softly, “Does Little Star no longer like candies?”

Lin Yuxing stared at the beautiful candy and couldn’t take his eyes off it. He swallowed his saliva. “I… I don’t like candies!”

Then he forcefully raised his voice, “I won’t go with you. I won’t leave my brother!”

Qu Lingnian showed no sign of anger. He simply bent down and picked up the small Lin Yuxing, who was smaller than his peers.

“Ah!” Lin Yuxing exclaimed in surprise.

Qu Lingnian looked deeply into his beautiful eyes, as if looking at someone else through them and wiped the sweat off Lin Yuxing’s forehead.

Lin Yuxing pouted, looking like he was about to cry.

Qu Lingnian quickly came to his senses and helplessly put him down, then gently patted his head.

The director approached and said, “Mr. Qu, Let me talk to him again.” She was afraid that Qu Lingnian might feel uncomfortable and explained, “While being adopted by a family like yours is a wonderful thing, Little Star has turned eight, and we should respect his wishes.”

“I understand. Please do your best. I have a special connection with this child, and I hope he can accept me sincerely.”

The director nodded and saw him off to the car.

Just before Qu Lingnian closed the car door, she gently advised, “Mr. Qu! There’s something the child wants. He wants to be adopted together with his brother.”

Qu Lingnian seemed to have enough financial means, and adopting a pair of twins wouldn’t be much of a financial burden for him. However, Qu Lingnian firmly stated, “I only plan to adopt Little Star.”

“You have interacted with both children before, and they are both well-behaved.”

Qu Lingnian had to interrupt the director, apologizing, “I am frequently on business trips, and there’s only my wife at home. She doesn’t like hiring nannies, so we only want one child.”

He was polite and slightly bowed, saying, “Please understand.”

The director watched the car drive away with a worried expression on her face.

As she turned around, Lin Yuxing had already disappeared with the candy in his pocket.

The summer afternoon felt endless.

The wind brushed past Lin Yuxing’s ears as he ran all the way to the welfare institution’s kitchen.

He peered inside from outside the window and waved at the boy sorting bean sprouts inside, cheerfully shouting, “Brother!”

The boy inside, Lin Yuheng, raised his head. His face looked exactly like Lin Yuxing’s, except Lin Yuheng had a gloomy expression, seemingly ignoring Lin Yuxing completely.

Lin Yuxing looked sad, walked through the front door, and saw the big bowl of bean sprouts in front of Lin Yuheng, flatteringly saying, “Wow, big brother, you’ve already sorted so many bean sprouts! amazing!” He squatted next to Lin Yuheng and reached out to help.

Lin Yuheng listlessly pushed his hand away.

“Brother…” Lin Yuxing looked at Lin Yuheng grievously, then stood up and took all the dried plum candies from his pocket, placing them on the small stool next to Lin Yuheng.

Lin Yuheng said, “Move them, I don’t want them.”

Lin Yuxing pursed his lips and gently poked Lin Yuheng’s arm with his index finger. “I didn’t promise Uncle Qu.”

Hearing this, Lin Yuheng’s hand froze, as if getting even more annoyed. He dropped the bean sprouts in his hand, stood up angrily, and was half a head taller than Lin Yuxing.

“Why?”

“I want to be with my brother.”

Lin Yuxing’s eyes turned red, and he nervously grabbed the hem of his clothes.

Lin Yuheng scolded him, and he reluctantly sat back down, saying, “It’s so hard to find a family like this for adoption. If it were someone else, they would have agreed already. Are you stupid? I don’t know what’s in your head and what you’re thinking!”

Lin Yuxing didn’t say anything, his eyes welling up with tears.

Eventually, Lin Yuheng softened his heart. His tone became a little calmer, “Next time, don’t refuse.”

Lin Yuxing shook his head, his little face turning red from crying, and tears the size of beans kept falling. When he heard his brother talk to him, he obediently squatted to pick bean sprouts.

He cried while picking them, looking pitiful.

The two brothers quickly finished sorting a bowl of bean sprouts.

“Brother, we’ll have bean sprouts for dinner again tonight.”

“Yeah.”

Lin Yuheng was stronger than Lin Yuxing. So he easily picked up the bowl of bean sprouts, lifted it to the table, and put it down.

Lin Yuxing, looking dejected, followed his brother closely, like a little tail.

Lin Yuheng said, “Stop following me.”

Lin Yuxing sniffled and stood in place, wiping his eyes.

However, Lin Yuheng went to a cupboard, carefully took out a bowl of red bean porridge, dragged a small stool over, and placed it in front of Lin Yuxing.

In the welfare institution, the daily meal expenses were limited. Bean sprouts, being a cheap food, were a must-have on the children’s dining tables. The task of sorting bean sprouts was assigned to children over the age of seven. The child doing the task on any given day would receive a bowl of red bean porridge as a reward, costing four cents at the village shop.

Whenever it was Lin Yuheng’s turn, he would wait for Lin Yuxing to come and eat together.

Lin Yuxing did the same.

Perhaps because Lin Yuxing cried this time, Lin Yuheng didn’t eat with him but instead watched his little brother eat spoonful by spoonful.

Lin Yuxing’s mouth was smeared with a light color of bean paste, and even the tears on his face were tinged with the sweet taste of red bean.

“Brother, aren’t you going to eat?”

Lin Yuheng shook his head, turned around to get a towel, and wiped Lin Yuxing’s face.

The fan hanging from the ceiling made the room cool.

Suddenly, Lin Yuheng said, “Mr. Qu is a pianist. Maybe there’s a grand piano at home.”

“Pianos can’t be eaten, and I don’t like them.”

Lin Yuheng was momentarily speechless, feeling quite speechless, “Who told you to eat the piano? I meant that if you go with him, you can learn the piano and perform like him in the future, living a good life.”

“Uh.”

Lin Yuxing suddenly remembered the last time when they went to a primary school from the welfare institution to participate in a singing competition, Lin Yuheng kept staring at the piano of the music teacher.

He asked, “Brother, do you like the piano?”

Lin Yuheng replied in a muffled voice, “What’s the use of liking it?”

Qu Lingnian only wanted to take Little Star away.

Lin Yuxing nibbled on the broken red beans, murmuring softly, “But you can’t even sing well. Why do you like the piano?”

Lin Yuheng frowned, “Playing the piano doesn’t require singing.”

“Oh,” Lin Yuxing lowered his head, “If you like it, I’ll earn money when I grow up to buy one for you.”

Lin Yuheng didn’t respond.

He got up to fetch a broom from the side, preparing to sweep away the remaining bean sprouts on the floor.

Lin Yuxing put down his spoon to help, but accidentally tripped over a small stool not far away. Fortunately, Lin Yuheng was quick to react and caught Lin Yuxing.

Lin Yuxing was still startled by the experience.

Lin Yuheng habitually protected his little brother by placing a hand on his head and ruffling his hair, saying, “Silly little Star, why are you always so careless!”

Lin Yuxing blinked, and tears gathered on his slightly long eyelashes. Then, in his brother’s embrace, he leaned against his chest and smiled foolishly.

But before he could say “Brother,” Lin Yuheng interrupted, “Let’s go eat the red bean porridge. You don’t need to help here.”

Lin Yuxing pouted, looking like he might cry again.

Lin Yuheng was utterly helpless with his tearful little brother.

After a while, Lin Yuheng squeezed the broom and said, “If you go with him, you’ll have endless candies and chips every day, and you can even have soda. You’ll have your own room, not crowded with annoying people. You can wear new clothes and shoes, and at night… you can watch TV and whatever you want.”

“Can’t we do all those things together, just you and me?” Lin Yuxing choked on the red bean porridge, sweet and sticky, and said, “When we grow up, we can live like that, right?”

“But that will take a very long time.”

“We’re not going to die tomorrow.”

Lin Yuxing argued with a little pout; he wouldn’t lose to Lin Yuheng in an argument.

Lin Yuheng got annoyed for a moment and tapped Lin Yuxing’s head, not too hard, not even causing any pain.

But under his brother’s protection, Lin Yuxing acted coquettishly, bursting into tears immediately. “You promised… you promised that we wouldn’t be separated! But now, because of Uncle Qu, you’re scolding me, and you even hit me!”

“I didn’t hit you!”

“Brother, it’s fine if you hit me and kill me! Even if you kill me today, I won’t go with Uncle Qu! I just won’t be separated from you!”

“Lin Yuxing!”

Being called by his full name, Lin Yuxing sobbed, asking defiantly, “If it was you being taken away by Uncle Qu, would you leave me behind?”

Lin Yuheng replied without hesitation, “Of course… I wouldn’t!”

After speaking, even Lin Yuheng himself was taken aback. He retreated a step, turned around, and ran out of the kitchen.