After midnight, everyone finished eating the dumplings cooked by Liu's father in the kitchen, washed up and went back to their rooms.
After returning to the room, Han Chen did not look sleepy at all, and was even very excited.
Xuemei yawned at me and said, "Aren't you sleepy yet? You need to get up early tomorrow!"
Han Chen walked up to Xuemei, bent down, hugged Xuemei and said, "Xuemei, I'm very happy today!"
Xuemei also reached out and hugged Han Chen's back, resting her head on his shoulder and asked, "Why? Because it's almost Chinese New Year?"
Han Chen replied, "No, it's because of Mom's behavior today and my parents' behavior towards me these days. When Mom divided the money among us today, she didn't treat me differently just because I'm her son-in-law. Instead, she treated me the same as Qingya and the others, distributing it according to my merits.
During this period, the family was busy and my parents treated me like their own child. When my mother made something delicious, she would serve some in advance and let Qingya and I share it with the other two.
Sometimes, when I couldn't put down what I was doing, my parents would even make a special reservation for me, warming it on the stove so I could eat it after I finished. This made me feel like my own child. After my father passed away, my uncle's family was the only place I had a sense of family and love.
Xuemei, thank you and your parents. I now feel completely integrated and an indispensable member of this family."
After turning ten, Han Chen's favorite times were the winter and summer vacations, when Aunt Lin would take him to stay at the Lin family's house for a while. Here, he didn't have to worry about how to get along with his stepfather's family, nor did he have to worry about his relationship with his mother. He could be like a child, free from worries and troubles, doing whatever he wanted.
Han Chen was seven years old when his mother remarried and moved to his stepfather's home. Han Chen's mother was Zhang Lin, and the Zhang family was an ordinary working-class family.
Zhang Lin didn't know what was going on, and she had a bad relationship with her biological parents. After she married Han Chen's father, the two families lost contact. As a result, Han Chen was not loved by the Zhang family. A few years ago, Han Chen's grandparents passed away. Han Chen wanted to go to pay his respects, but his two uncles said that they had already severed ties and should not contact each other in the future.
Zhang Lin remarried three months after Han Chen's father passed away. The Lin family was shocked at the time. They did not expect Zhang Lin's feelings for Han Chen's father to be so shallow. The Lin family wanted to keep Han Chen in the Lin family, but Zhang Lin was unwilling to do so, saying that the child was too young to be without a mother.
Unexpectedly, a few days after Zhang Lin got married, she sold the two rooms in the courtyard house that Han Chen's father had allocated, and used the money to buy herself a job.
When Han Chen first arrived at his stepfather Kong Lijun's house, Zhang Lin urged him to get along well with Kong Lijun and his son. Han Chen obeyed, sharing his toys with his stepbrother and being polite to Kong Lijun, calling him uncle whenever he saw him.
At first, Han Chen's stepfather was very enthusiastic about him. Later, his stepbrother secretly took a toy made by Han Chen's father and broke it. Han Chen and his stepbrother got into a fight. But when Zhang Lin found out, she scolded Han Chen for being ignorant, saying it was just a toy, and asked Han Chen to apologize to his stepbrother.
Han Chen refused to admit his mistake, so Zhang Lin starved him for a meal. From then on, every time Han Chen had a conflict with his stepbrother, Zhang Lin would starve him for a meal.
After the Lin family learned about this, Uncle Lin took the two soldiers he had recruited to Kong Lijun's house and told Zhang Lin that if she didn't want to give Han Chen to them, the Lin family would be willing to do so. He also said that Han Chen should get half of the money from his father's house and savings, and asked Zhang Lin to take out half.
Kong Lijun was a power-hungry man. He had previously tried to curry favor with Han Chen in hopes of gaining access to the Lin family through him. However, the Lin family, however, looked down on him. They only cared about Han Chen, a small figure, and showed no favor to Zhang Lin. Consequently, Kong Lijun's attitude towards Han Chen grew increasingly cold.
In the end, Zhang Lin was unwilling to give the money and just held on to Han Chen tightly. Han Chen had high hopes for Zhang Lin at that time and did not want to leave her. The Lin family could only come to see Han Chen every once in a while to prevent him from being bullied by them.
From that point on, Zhang Lin never punished Han Chen again, nor did he mistreat him with food, clothing, or anything else. While Han Chen's treatment wasn't as good as the daughter and son Zhang Lin later had with Kong Lijun, it was about the same as his stepbrother's. This was because the Lin family kept a close eye on Zhang Lin and Kong Lijun, and because Kong Lijun and Zhang Lin cared about their reputation, they didn't dare mistreat Han Chen.
But Zhang Lin gradually began to distance herself from Han Chen and became increasingly indifferent to him. After Zhang Lin and Kong Lijun had a daughter, she began to ignore Han Chen, never remembering his birthday. Every time they ate together, the family would eat in the living room, leaving Han Chen to eat alone in the kitchen.
However, when Zhang Lin and Han Chen are alone outside, Zhang Lin will show some concern for Han Chen and tell Han Chen that his clothes and shoes are also made by her. Sometimes when Zhang Lin is in a good mood and buys delicious food for the children at home, she will secretly buy a few White Rabbit milk candies and quietly give them to Han Chen when no one is seeing.
Zhang Lin's two-faced behavior made Han Chen distressed for a while, leading Han Chen to believe for a while that Zhang Lin had feelings for him, but she just loved her stepfather more.
Zhang Lin and Kong Lijun never felt they had done anything wrong. They felt they had done a good job, providing Han Chen with food, clothing, and schooling. This was also the reason they later forced Han Chen to give his job to his stepbrother. Because of this incident, Han Chen's expectations of Zhang Lin almost disappeared.
The two of them seemed to have no recollection that Zhang Lin had taken Han Chen's father's savings and the money from selling the house. It could be said that Han Chen could live well in Kong Lijun's house relying on what his father left behind.
Xuemei felt a little sorry for Han Chen's past, so she hugged him tighter and said, "From the moment we got married, you've been a member of our family. In our hearts, you're just like everyone else in the family. Han Chen, especially in my heart, you're not only a family member, but more importantly, you're my lover, the one I want to be with for the rest of my life."
After hearing Xuemei's words, Han Chen felt that meeting her was his greatest fortune in his life. He said with emotion, "Xuemei, I love you! It's so great to meet you and your family. This is God's blessing to me!"
After Han Chen finished speaking, he gently kissed Xuemei's forehead, then hugged Xuemei tightly to calm his emotions.
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