A group of people on the street watched Xia Xiaotong sell herself to bury the captain. This scene really brought a great mental shock to Lin Mingfei. This is what social death is!

It seems that someone is actually planning to pay money to buy this silly little omega. Human trafficking is an act that violates the bottom line of the law. It turns out that people will do anything for beauty.

Lin Mingfei felt that if she didn't stop this, it would be difficult to resolve, so she stepped forward and stopped the man from giving her money.

"Hey! Everything should have a first come first served basis!" the man said dissatisfiedly.

"Human trafficking is illegal. Are you ignorant of the law?" Lin Mingfei glared at him coldly, and the man was immediately frightened and kept silent.

"Do you know this kid?" someone questioned.

"Yes, this child is mine. He is my...my younger brother." Lin Mingfei said after a moment of hesitation.

The onlookers were still skeptical. "Why are you hesitating? Aren't there a lot of human traffickers online who claim to know the victims? How are you going to prove that this handsome guy knows you?"

Lin Mingfei: “…”

Contemporary citizens are really very vigilant.

By then, Xia Xiaotong had already spotted him. With a "whoa!", she lunged over, bumping into him solidly and giving him a bear hug like a pendant. "Brother!! Don't go, wuwuwuwuwu!! Don't leave me!!"

This guy cried so hard that Lin Mingfei almost thought she was going to die.

“You really know him…” the onlookers around were muttering.

"My brother..." Lin Mingfei hesitated and gave a dry laugh. "He's not very smart...so it's nothing serious. Everyone, please go away!"

Xia Tong said humbly: "Brother, you said my brain is not working well... I heard it."

This warning really has no deterrent effect.

Lin Mingfei raised an eyebrow and looked down at him. "Who taught you to sell yourself to bury the captain? I haven't even settled the score with you yet, and you're blaming me first?"

"I..." Xia Tong didn't know how to explain this bizarre incident for a while, and he hesitated for a long time: "I... couldn't sleep at night, so I came out to find something to eat. I ate but didn't bring any money... Then the uncle asked me to beg for food to pay off his debt. No one paid attention to me at first... That's why--" He was afraid that Lin Mingfei would not believe him, so he looked around for someone, and then he saw Gu Dongsheng who was pouring out change with a rice bowl.

"Ninety-five, ninety-eight, one hundred and three... Wow!" Gu Dongsheng counted the money swiftly. "In this age where cash is almost extinct, you can actually beg for one hundred and three and sixty dollars! Kid!! You have a bright future!!!"

Xia Tong hung her head and sniffed in frustration: "Why can't I be happy at all..."

"Ignore him. It's normal that he can't be happy. This is the normal reaction of a normal person." Lin Mingfei pretended to be angry, lowered her head and tapped his smooth white forehead. "You cried in front of so many people, how can you be so strong?"

"At that time, I was just thinking about paying the uncle back his money as soon as possible... and..." Xia Tong fell silent as she spoke.

"And what?" Lin Mingfei glanced at Gu Dongsheng, who seemed to have no sense of guilt, and sighed softly, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "You made me cry like I was really going to die. It was really scary, didn't you know that?"

"I know... I was a little scared too." Xia Tong said softly, hugging him tighter, like a magnet, "I just suddenly thought of that night..."

"Which night?"

"That day, you were alone in the bedroom putting eye drops in your eyes..." Xia Tong's voice was soft and soothing, like a soft feather sweeping across Lin Mingfei's heart, mumbling and sticky, "I always feel that you are worried about something, and you are very far away from me..."

Lin Mingfei was suddenly startled, and the breathing sound in her chest also roared.

"I don't know why I'm so scared... I'm afraid that one day you won't be with me anymore... Actually, I don't really need you to take care of me or anything... I'm just worried that one day I won't be able to see you anymore... Just thinking about it makes me sad and I want to cry..." Xia Tong spoke incoherently, and then, as if she was embarrassed by her own clumsy speech, she touched the corners of her red eyes with her hands, "I know I've been stupid again..."

Lin Mingfei didn't speak for a long time, he really didn't know what to say.

Having spoken candidly to He Youjin that one time was enough to upset him for a long time. He was a trouble-maker and didn't want to review the unpleasant past over and over again, and deal with his own and others' emotions over and over again, so he would rather choose silence.

But... he also conflictedly hoped that someone could gently caress the scars deep in his heart.

I am a hypocritical Alpha, and Xia Tong——

She's really a little angel...

"You..." He exhaled a breath of hot, white air, his eyes moving. Just as he was about to say something, he heard Gu Dongsheng say, "No? After all this time, you two know each other?"

“…”

All the charming and affectionate atmosphere was instantly wiped out, leaving only overwhelming embarrassment and speechlessness.

Lin Mingfei glared at his unreliable godfather and said coldly, "Isn't it too late to see it now?"

Gu Dongsheng waved his hands dodderingly, "It's not too late, not too late, eh?" He suddenly asked curiously, "Then do you know who the captain he's talking about is?"

Lin Mingfei said quietly, "I know, so what?"

Gu Dongsheng: "Please tell that person I'm sorry and wish him a long life."

"Unfortunately, that person is me." Lin Mingfei said, "Thank you."

After 2:30 in the morning, the number of people in the night market gradually thinned out, and some vendors took advantage of the peak traffic period and began to pack up and go home one after another.

Lin Mingfei, Xia Tong, and Gu Dongsheng sat around a plastic stool, forming an isosceles triangle in the empty dining area.

"Uncle, you are Zero's father?" Xia Tong pointed at Gu Dongsheng, her eyes wide open.

"Not dad, but godfather." Lin Mingfei corrected him, "The kind without blood relationship."

"But it's better than being related by blood." Gu Dongsheng emphasized, "I was the one who attended all of Zero's parent-teacher conferences when he was little. Ah... I'll always remember that parent in their class, surnamed He, always holding his son's top-ranked report card and speaking impromptu about his educational philosophy in front of all the teachers and parents. And I! would always follow him and accept the teacher's interrogation—"

"What are you asking about?" Xia Tong asked.

"Why didn't Lin Mingfei come to take the final exam again!" Gu Dongsheng gritted his teeth and said, "He has two legs and can run and jump. How would I know where he was during the final exam?"

"Do you even need to ask? When I was in the first grade, I was fighting with someone outside. When I was in the second and third grades, I was always in the Internet cafe." Lin Mingfei said lightly.

Gu Dongsheng pointed at him: "How dare you say that!"

Xia Tong blinked: "Zero, don't you have a father?"

Gu Dongsheng: "Hey, you little bastard, why are you cursing at me——"

Lin Mingfei rolled her eyes at him and ignored Gu Dongsheng, instead answering Xia Tong's question seriously: "Are you talking about my biological father? Yes, but he has his own family, so he can't take care of me. It's no different from not having one, right?"

Xia Tong exclaimed, "Ah!" and asked in surprise, "What about your mother?"

Lin Mingfei turned her head: "Godfather, where is my mother?"

Gu Dongsheng: "...Why did you call me, mom?"

Lin Mingfei stretched out her legs lazily: "Because no one in the world knows my mother better than you."

Xia Tong had always assumed that Lin Mingfei, like Shi Ya, was the son of a wealthy family. Lin Mingfei was handsome, dressed unconventionally, and possessed a gentle, gentlemanly demeanor. But after today's heart-to-heart talk, Xia Tong realized that Lin Mingfei's background was far more complicated than he had imagined.

Lin Mingfei inherited his mother's looks. Gu Dongsheng carried a wallet in his inner pocket. In an age where cash is increasingly being replaced by electronic payments, this wallet clearly wasn't meant for money. A yellowed, old photograph lay hidden in a transparent compartment on the side of the wallet. It showed a beautiful woman in a small dress standing by the sea, her features resembling Lin Mingfei to a certain extent, her long hair flowing like seaweed, a charming and unrestrained expression.

"This woman is a born bewitching demon. This face looks good from any angle. Not only do the audience like her..." Gu Dongsheng said in a tone of love and hate: "What male Alpha wouldn't be tempted by her?"

Lin Mingfei rolled her eyes when she heard this: "Godfather, you don't need to make excuses for her philandering, really."

Gu Dongsheng: “.”

Lin Mingfei's tone was obviously much less filtered than Gu Dongsheng's. "My mother used to be an actress. She met my godfather while filming a movie. My godfather loved her so much that he never married for her."

Gu Dongsheng desperately winked at him: "Cough cough cough cough——"

"Why shouldn't I say that?" Lin Mingfei said calmly, "People who are loyal should be proud of it, because it's a rare and excellent quality in this world."

Gu Dongsheng: "Alas..."

Lin Mingfei picked up a coin from somewhere and flipped it for fun. "My mom is a typical social butterfly. She's slept with many well-known Alphas. She's also very capable. She coaxed every Alpha into being completely devoted to her and reluctant to mark them permanently. This iron chain of connection lasted for about a year or two."

"What does iron chain boats mean?" Xia Tong asked in confusion.

"It means that an Omega is in love with many Alphas at the same time." Lin Mingfei said.

"Oh." Xia Tong said thoughtfully: "What happened next?"

"I don't know what she was thinking later. Maybe she got tired of playing around and suddenly chose to marry my dad." Lin Mingfei said: "My dad is a Beta."

"Beta?" Xia Tong asked in surprise: "But you are not a—"

"Yes, I'm an Alpha. It's well known that a Beta and an Omega can't produce an Alpha." Lin Mingfei shrugged and said, "I call him Dad for now because I don't know who my biological father is. And I seriously suspect that my mother married a Beta because she still doesn't want to be permanently marked."

"Wow..." Xia Tong showed a shocked expression.

"Later, my father couldn't stand it anymore and divorced my mother. Then my mother got her wish and resumed her former socialite life... until she died of cervical cancer." Lin Mingfei said, crossing his legs and pointing at Gu Dongsheng: "As for this gentleman, the reason he controls me is because he always thinks I am his own son."

Xia Tong was confused and said, "Huh?"

Gu Dongsheng spoke to Lin Mingfei with the rigor of an old scholar, "I'm not saying this without any basis, am I? Your mother and I—our dates are basically aligned! And I have a feeling I was drunk that day... I didn't manage the release of pheromones correctly, and I marked your mother permanently."

"Just think about it." Lin Mingfei said indifferently.

"If you are so confident, why don't you go with me to do a paternity test?" Gu Dongsheng asked.

"Am I crazy? Why would I go with you for a paternity test?" Lin Mingfei frowned. He glanced at Xia Tong, his tone softened slightly, but with a hint of barely perceptible embarrassment. "Anyway, no one cared about me when I was little. Although I had plenty of money, I wasn't a good kid. If I hadn't made some progress in holographic games, I might have become some kind of gangster."

Xia Tong said "Oh" softly, lowered her head as if she sensed something, and scratched the pattern on the trousers with her fingers.

Lin Mingfei couldn't describe the feeling in her heart. It was a little heavy and a little uneasy.

He had revealed to Xia Tong all his past as a boy, which was not exactly glorious. He didn't know if this would bring him and Xia Tong closer together, or give the little girl a little more sense of security. However, he was even more unsure if these messy background experiences would make the impression of him in Xia Tong's eyes become complicated and bad.

Gu Dongsheng watched from the side, and belatedly tasted a little of the flavor.

Why does his godson look like he's on a blind date? Is this naive young man, cautiously watching other people's reactions, still his heartless godson?

Gu Dongsheng felt completely incompetent as a godfather. What had he done before? He'd tricked his godson's secret crush into becoming a beggar for twenty yuan? How could that be human? Gu Dongsheng felt like, as an elder, he had to play a role in times like this, to help the two younger generations find their place on the wrong path.

"That... Xia Tong." He suddenly put on a kind smile, patted Lin Mingfei's shoulder, and said as if he was selling goods: "Don't look down on our Lin Mingfei. He has been fighting, swearing, skipping classes since he was a child, and his grades are not good either-"

Lin Mingfei: “…”

Gu Dongsheng: "But you can't help but be so thick-skinned! Look at him back then, no matter how the teacher scolded him, he remained calm and continued to do what he wanted! What good is such a person? He will always be your strong backer! No matter how sad or scared you are! Once you talk to him, he will tell you that it's nothing! The sky is not falling! There is nothing to be afraid of!"

Lin Mingfei: "...Old Gu, if you don't speak, no one will think you are dumb!"

Gu Dongsheng said, "Did I say something wrong? No! You are fearless to begin with!"

Lin Mingfei was furious: "Can you go across the street and have a bowl of spicy hot pot? Can you please stop talking to me?"

Gu Dongsheng: "No, Lao Li will spit in my face."

Lin Mingfei was numb. He felt that his image in Xia Tong's heart had been completely ruined by this unreliable godfather. At this moment, the little Omega sitting opposite him suddenly raised his head and smiled.

That smile was like a white night-blooming cereus that suddenly bloomed in the deep night, comparable to the bright moonlight, pure and beautiful.

"I feel the same as you do," he said with a smile, "I also think Zero is a very, very reliable person. I feel safe and happy with him, and I don't want to leave! Zero is the best Alpha in the world!"

Lin Mingfei was stunned for a moment, and said softly: "Don't you think my life experience is a mess?"

Xia Tong curled her lips and said, "What's that? I've lived in Zheng Linchuan's house for so many years, and that's what you call a mess!" After a pause, he added, "Of course, it's not me who's a mess, it's them! Compared to him, you're so self-disciplined! Oh! I think I used a fancy word again!"

Lin Mingfei laughed dumbly, then sighed softly, "Then you don't mind me always causing trouble at school?"

"Then I haven't even been to school yet!" Xia Tong said. An idea suddenly struck him, and he clapped his hands, "Looking at it this way, Zero, we really are a match made in heaven!"