Chapter 47 [VIP]

When I finally woke up, it was almost seven o'clock in the evening. It was already dark outside, and there was no sound. The surroundings were quiet.

His heart skipped a beat, and he hastily put on his clothes and went outside.

Lin Langli was not at home.

Chen Mian's heart suddenly turned cold and dejected. He dared not return to the room where he would pass by the portraits of Lin's parents. He could only huddle in the kitchen in front and send a message to the other party with a pitiful expression.

A notification sound rang out at the door, an unusually loud sound effect indicating special attention.

Then the door was pushed open, and a young man, shivering with cold, stepped in.

"Mianmian?" Lin Langli called out from the courtyard first.

Chenmian came out of the kitchen, tugging at his fingers as she looked at him: "Where did you go?"

Lin Langli picked up the lunchbox in his hand and smiled slightly: "I went to the county to order your favorite dishes. I noticed you didn't eat much at noon. You're probably not used to the food here yet, right?"

"You even noticed that?" Chen Mian felt a warmth in her heart, ran forward and hugged the man, saying in a muffled voice, "Why didn't you send me a message? That's too much."

She's a bit clingy. But Lin Langli was extremely satisfied with Mianmian's reaction. He put down the lunchbox, hugged her back, and sincerely apologized: "It's all my fault. I didn't leave you a message. That was too much. How about you punish Mianmian by biting me?"

Chenmian, of course, understood that Lin Langli was mocking him, and felt even more uncomfortable and angry. He stood on tiptoe and bit the man's neck hard.

The force of the bite was a bit too much. Chenmian heard a muffled groan above her head. Lin Langli's Adam's apple bobbed, and he said in a low voice, "So angry? Still saying you're not a bad baby?"

Chenmian was speechless, then hummed with a hint of smugness, "You said it yourself."

"Hmm," Lin Langli chuckled, lifting the boy's chin with one hand to force his head to tilt upwards slightly, while his other hand reached out and probed into the boy's mouth with a few fingers, his tone unusually serious as he said, "Did you bite me and draw blood? Let me see if you have any little tiger teeth..."

Of course, they didn't seriously touch her based on that reason. They had kissed so many times that no one knew Chenmian's body better than Lin Langli—he knew Chenmian's sensitive spots, disliked areas, and many other hidden parts all too well.

At this moment, pretending to examine the young man's mouth, Dr. Lin made Shen Mian open his mouth wide and carefully examined his oral cavity. When he saw Shen Mian's soft tongue and snow-white teeth, he was startled and his Adam's apple bobbed.

He looked up and met Shen Mian's gaze.

The atmosphere became exceptionally subtle at this moment. Lin Langli's mouth moved, but he suddenly forgot what he was about to say.

Chenmian stared at him, both feeling a chill run down their spines as they sensed the undercurrents between them.

Lin Langli rubbed his fingertip against Shen Mian's teeth. After assessing that Shen Mian's teeth were healthy and would hurt when biting, he withdrew his hand and opened the lunchbox.

"It's still warm. These are all your favorite dishes. I picked out a few. Mianmian, sit down and eat. I'll get you some chopsticks."

Perhaps it was because his mood was different from last night, or perhaps it was because the hotel chef's skills were worlds apart from Lin Langli's, but Shenmian was fed a lot of food last night. Lin Langli took care of him like a child, picking out fish bones, peeling shrimp and picking out garlic cloves.

After finishing their meal, instead of taking a shower, they went to the main room to fold paper ingots. Lin Langli wasn't very good at it at first, so the two of them found a tutorial and watched it together, heads close together.

After watching, Lin Langli learned it. Chenmian followed Lin Langli's movements, occasionally glancing at the steps if she forgot them.

The little sun was shining a warm red light beside him, making his sleeping face feel hot. He looked up at Lin Langli again, only to find that the other was also secretly watching him.

Their eyes met, then they quickly looked away.

The two of them folded the paper in silence for several hours until they finally finished folding four large bags. Lin Langli counted the paper they had brought back and realized that there should be more than three thousand bags.

Three graves are still a bit too few.

But it's nothing, he's with Shen Mian, and he'll probably come back often in the future.

Chenmian couldn't help but ask, "Why didn't my uncle and aunt take care of Grandma when they were better off than us?"

Lin Langli was arranging the offerings for the worship ceremony when he paused for a moment and casually said, "Grandma was Grandpa's second wife. My eldest uncle and second aunt were not born to Grandma, only my father was."

"oh……"

Chenmian started fiddling with her fingers again.

Lin Langli continued, "Actually, before you, your mother had already lost a child, so she was probably too weak at birth. Even though they traveled all the way to City A to give birth, there was no guarantee that they could raise you."

Mianmian remained silent as Lin Langli embraced her again, the young man gently coaxing her, "It's a good thing you switched with me, otherwise, Mianmian, I might have lost you for the rest of my life..."

The boy felt an even heavier sense of guilt.

The next morning, not long after getting up, Lin Langli took Chenmian to pay respects.

The graves of Lin's parents were on a small earthen slope on the edge of the village, a place sparsely populated. Lin Langli borrowed a car and only saw a few people along the way.

The winter fields were desolate, and the gray sky hung low, making it hard to breathe.

After getting out of the car, I walked along the ridge to the small earthen slope. My feet trod on the dry grass stems, making a soft rustling sound, which made the surroundings even more silent.

He couldn't help but steal a glance at Lin Langli, whose lips were pursed, jawline taut, and profile like a statue in the greyish-white daylight.

The Lin family cemetery is located on a relatively flat slope at the foot of the mountain, and is not particularly eye-catching. There are two earthen graves side by side, with simple tombstones inscribed with the names "Father Lin Jinghai" and "Mother Chen Yulan".

Lin Langli put down his things and skillfully began arranging the offerings and lighting the paper money. His movements were meticulous, even carrying an almost solemn focus.

Chenmian stood a step behind him, watching the leaping flames illuminate Lin Langli's calm face, and felt a strange tightness in her heart.

"Dad, Mom," Lin Langli said, his voice low and hoarse in the open fields, yet exceptionally clear, "I've brought Chenmian to see you."

Chenmian knelt down and bowed with Lin Langli, kowtowing three times before silently burning paper money.

The flames flickered, casting shadows on their faces. Lin Langli opened his mouth several times, but remained silent, as if he were organizing his thoughts or simply needing to gather his courage.

"Dad, Mom, Mianmian is being raised very well at the Shen family. She's very cute, but she's a bit mischievous and spoiled." Lin Langli started by talking about Chenmian, but as soon as he mentioned her, the corners of his mouth involuntarily turned up, and he kept smiling. He then suppressed the smile.

Shenmian felt a lump in her throat and instinctively wanted to retort, but when she met Lin Langli's gentle gaze as he looked at the tombstone, all her words were swallowed back.

“He’s back, so you… should be able to rest assured.” Lin Langli continued, taking out a wet wipe to clean the dust off the tombstone. “I always wonder what he would have been like if he had grown up at home. Probably not like me, but rather spoiled rotten.”

His tone contained no complaint, no resentment, only a calm statement of facts.

But beneath this calm, Chenmian could hear a turbulent undercurrent. He seemed to see that tall, thin boy, lost in thought on countless nights or in the gaps of his busy life.

Before his true identity was revealed, did Lin Langli ever envy the lives of his classmates in the city? Did he ever consider that he wasn't actually a child of the Lin family?

Chenmian felt that Lin Langli probably wouldn't do it.

But when he thought of how pitiful the other person looked, he felt that the Lin family was too cruel, and that he himself was too much of a bastard.

Chenmian felt a sour, swollen feeling in her heart, as if someone had squeezed her hard, causing her pain.

"But it doesn't matter, now, I've already been compensated with such a cute and wonderful Mianmian."

More words and more vulnerability—Lin Langli didn't want to show it in Shen Mian's eyes. The young man pretended nothing was wrong and gently took the boy's hand. "Dad, Mom, don't blame your child for being unfilial. I will continue to take good care of Mianmian in the future."

He kowtowed again.

Chenmian quickly kowtowed as well, feeling both ashamed and moved, and said, "Mom and Dad, Lin Langli has been very good to me. I'm sorry for what I did to him. Please don't blame him."

After the worship ceremony, the two walked back.

The morning fog had completely dissipated by then, but there were still very few people to be seen.

As Lin Langli walked, he suddenly grabbed Chenmian's hand, took it, and put it in his pocket.

The down jacket pockets were warm, not to mention the burning heat of the hand holding his. Sleeping soundly, his heart pounded faster and faster.

"Lin Langli, thank you for liking me," Chen Mian said. "I think I'm slowly falling for you too. From now on, I'll always be good to you to make it up to you, okay?"

Just thinking about how Lin Langli could have had everything he did—easy, comfortable, and pampered by everyone—and how he only barely managed to regain his rightful place now, is a stark contrast to Shen Ci's nineteen years of life.

Chenmian felt an unspeakable pain, and her eyes began to sting. She hadn't cried at the grave just now, but now, as soon as she saw the aggrieved person whom the Lin family had wronged, Chenmian wanted to shed tears.

He tried to hold back, sniffing hard, but ultimately couldn't resist.

"I'm sorry, Lin Langli, I'm so sorry..." Chenmian, tears streaming down her face, gently hugged Lin Langli's waist from behind, pressing her burning cheek against the young man's shoulder, her tears quickly soaking through his clothes. "I took your identity and treated you like that, I'm not human, I'm a bastard..."

He was incoherent, repeating apologies over and over again, as if only in this way could he alleviate even a tiny bit of the burden in his heart.

Lin Langli's body stiffened completely the moment he was embraced. He could clearly feel the trembling of the person behind him, and the dampness brought by the hot tears, gently falling on his neck.

The wind in the cemetery carried a biting chill, but the small patch of earth that was touching was surprisingly hot.

Lin Langli could no longer derive any pleasure from the pain of his slumber. Instead, he felt a deeper, more unfamiliar stirring, mixed with heartache, pity, and a kind of weariness as if the dust had settled.

"It's not your fault, Chenmian." Lin Langli turned around, his thumb and forefinger clamping down on Chenmian's cheek, and stroked upwards to wipe away Chenmian's tears.

So many hot tears, like an old man's rain, but no one can stop the old man from crying. Lin Langli, however, has a way to coax Chenmian to stop crying.

He patted Chenmian's back and patiently wiped away all of Chenmian's tears with his other hand. If it weren't for the fact that this was the wrong place, Lin Langli would have been willing to lick away all of Chenmian's tears and then use his lips to cool down the boy's burning eyelids.

—He did indeed do that.

The sobbing gradually subsided, though it was still trembling, but the tears no longer threatened to drown Lin Langli.

Their eyes met, and something seemed to be entwining and intertwining in the air.

"Don't cry," Lin Langli said, his voice low and husky, yet strangely gentle. "Your eyes will swell up."

These simple words hurt Shenmian more than any accusation. He grabbed Lin Langli's hand and pressed it tightly against his face, like a drowning person grasping at the only piece of driftwood. "Lin Langli, do you really not hate me?"

Lin Langli did not answer directly. His gaze was deep and dark, fixed on Chenmian, churning with complex emotions that Chenmian could not understand.

In those few silent seconds, Chenmian's heartbeat slowly calmed down as she anxiously awaited Lin Langli's answer.

The young man lowered his head, his forehead gently touching the sleeping hair, their noses almost touching, their breaths mingling, warm and moist.

“I hated you,” he said honestly, his breath brushing against Shen Mian’s sensitive skin, sending a shiver down her spine. “For a long time, I was thinking about how to repay you for everything you had done to me, with interest.”

Shenmian held her breath, her heart pounding wildly, almost bursting out of her chest.

“But…” Lin Langli’s voice was even lower, like a lover’s murmur, with a sense of resigned helplessness, “It seems like I can’t do it.”

These words struck Shen Mian like a thunderbolt. He stared blankly at the handsome face so close to his, a face that hadn't yet fully matured into a man, with a touch of youthful naiveté in its features.

In Lin Langli's deep pupils, Chenmian saw her own disheveled and pitiful self clearly reflected.

"Why?" he asked softly.

Lin Langli did not answer. The young man stroked his lower lip with his thumb, which was particularly red and soft because of crying.

Chenmian felt the gaze fixed on him darken, but he couldn't fully understand the emotions churning within it.

He only heard Lin Langli call him by his full name, "Chenmian," in a tone of cautious intimacy, "I think... I've really fallen for you."

A note from the author:

The happiest time is when happiness is just around the corner. If Xiaolin and Mianmian get together, she'll definitely cause trouble and get jealous about who Mianmian liked before, or which guy she glanced at today. She'll also remember where she came from, fearing that Mianmian might be deceived by a bad man with ulterior motives one day. She's truly the rightful wife (not really).

Status and behavior of a mistress