Before arriving at Pei Nian's small apartment, Huo Jingnan went for a five-kilometer run.
But the three bowls of beef noodles were quite filling, and even though I had been on the road for so long, I still didn't feel hungry when I got home.
As soon as he opened the door, he smelled the delicious aroma wafting from the kitchen, and Huo Jingnan immediately regretted his decision.
"You're back?" Pei Nian had just brought up the last soup.
The table was laden with dishes that looked and smelled delicious, all of which were his favorites. The white rice was steamed until soft and sticky, glistening and translucent; paired with the braised pork, it would surely be a heavenly meal…
"Come on, let's eat!"
Huo Jingnan was taken aback, took the chopsticks and bowl, and grinned at her.
I've never seen Pei Nian so well-behaved before.
After settling down, Pei Nian looked him up and down, feeling that something seemed off about the man today, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
If she were willing to cook him a meal, wouldn't he devour it in no time?
Why are you so calm today...?
"Eat up!" Pei Nian said. "Isn't this braised pork your favorite?"
"Uh...hehe, this..."
"What are you grinning about, you old fool?"
Pei Nian looked at him with a scrutinizing gaze, and suddenly remembered something a colleague had said.
Huo Jingnan felt uneasy under his gaze. "Niannian, what's wrong?"
"It's nothing," Pei Nian said calmly. "I just remembered something..."
"What?"
Pei Nian looked into his eyes and said, "If a man doesn't want to eat at home, he must be eating out."
"Cough cough!"
Huo Jingnan was both amused and exasperated.
"Hmm... there's one more thing," she continued earnestly, "No matter how delicious the food at home is, it can't satisfy a man. Everything outside is new and exciting until he's tasted shit!"
"puff!"
Huo Jingnan lay on the table and pounded on it.
Pei Nian is very naive in this regard; she certainly doesn't know that her colleague wasn't just talking about dinner, but about her husband having an affair...
How can this be compared to his situation!
Huo Jingnan laughed so hard he almost choked, and he wanted to explain to her, but he didn't know how.
Pei Nian frowned, finding his behavior tonight inexplicable.
After Huo Jingnan finished laughing, she asked softly, "Am I... wrong? You've never eaten out before?"
“I, I have indeed eaten it.” Huo Jingnan’s abs jiggled with laughter. “But the analogy you just used wasn’t quite right.”
"oh."
“Niannian,” Huo Jingnan looked at her, “actually, those two sentences meant that all men are bad.”
Pei Nian was stunned for a moment, and the next second her small hand was grasped by him.
A deep, magnetic voice came from beside me: "But I'm an exception."
Pei Nian blushed slightly and gently pulled her small hand out of his palm.
She had originally planned to explain something to him tonight.
"Jingnan, actually I..."
"Alright, that's enough."
After that laugh, Huo Jingnan felt a little hungry and picked up a piece of braised pork to eat with relish. Looking at Pei Nian, all the little knots in his heart were untied.
"I trust you."
"you……"
Pei Nian watched him quietly, fiddling with her chopsticks, and chuckled to herself.
"Isn't what you wanted to talk about that email?" Huo Jingnan said softly. "I know the rumors about the Lu family are powerful, but Junyu has already found the person who did it, and all the rumors will be dispelled."
“Niannian, you’re not the kind of girl who tries to curry favor with the powerful or scheme against them, so I believe you have no relationship with Chairman Lu whatsoever.”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to tell you today,” Pei Nian said softly. “Actually… I have a relationship with him.”
"What?"
“Jingnan,” Pei Nian said, emphasizing each word, “He is my father.”
*
After dinner, Huo Jingnan left the apartment and went to the beach alone.
The autumn sea breeze carried a hint of coolness, and even the bright moon over the sea looked like a tear that had fallen from the sky.
Huo Jingnan's thoughts were in disarray, and he desperately needed the cool sea breeze to calm himself down as soon as possible.
Even now, he still can't believe what Pei Nian said.
"My mother's name is Pei Hong. She is a person in the martial arts world, and her identity is not very respectable. My father is Lu Lishan."
“That pistol was given to Mianmian by my mother. At that time, Mianmian was tricked onto the boat and ended up in my mother’s hands. To repay the kindness, my mother rescued her and gave her her own pistol for self-defense.”
"And when I first met Sister Mianmian, I also recognized this pistol."
"So... now you should understand why I'm so good to her? You even suspected I had a problem with my sexual orientation, ha... that's not it, it's because she's my sister, and Lu Lishan is my father, they are my only family in this world!"
Huo Jingnan leaned against the seaside railing with both hands, lowered his head, and took a deep breath.
He read Pei Nian's diary tonight.
He had seen that thick, mysterious notebook a few times at the Lu family's house. But Pei Nian was meticulous and never left his diary anywhere; he always carried it with him, so he had only seen the cover by chance.
The diary was filled with Pei Hong's handwriting, and between the lines were expressions of her admiration and adoration for Lu Lishan, as well as the story of how Lu Lishan had rescued her in a righteous act.
The following was written by Pei Nian.
Huo Jingnan turned the pages one by one, his brows gradually furrowing, his mind clouded with doubt.
From an outsider's perspective, this diary seems to indicate that Pei Hong is in unrequited love, and Pei Nian's later treatment of Lu Lishan and Jiang Mianmian as family also seems to indicate that she is indulging in wishful thinking.
But he couldn't bear to say these things to Pei Nian.
He saw the light in Pei Nian's eyes when she mentioned the Lu family, and heard her voice tremble slightly with excitement.
He finally understood why Pei Nian had knelt down and kowtowed in a certain direction that morning when he was recuperating in that small village outside the city.
It turned out that day was the day Pei Hong was executed.
That day, Pei Nian said she no longer had a mother.
That's probably why she valued Lu Lishan and Jiang Mianmian so much after losing her mother...
Huo Jingnan asked her, "Are you really sure Chairman Lu is your father? Have you and he... had a DNA test done?"
Pei Nian shook her head.
She said there was no need for an apology, as her mother's diary already clearly stated it. Besides, she was raised in the countryside as a child, and everyone knew she was the daughter of a gangster.
Huo Jingnan wanted to say, "Isn't your mother a member of the underworld?" Perhaps the "underworld" the villagers were referring to wasn't Lu Lishan at all!
However, he swallowed the words back down his throat.
Suddenly, the views on marriage he had been taught since childhood echoed in his chaotic mind—
"People from our four major families basically intermarry with each other to consolidate their status."
Even if they don't marry each other, the families they can find for marriage are all prestigious and influential.
For example, the Yin family of Nanyang.
Huo Jingnan gripped the railing tightly. Thinking about this, he really hoped that Pei Nian was Lu Lishan's daughter.
With the Lu family backing him up, his parents would agree to the marriage without hesitation.
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