Haodu Hotel.
Li Yu'an drove to the open-air parking lot.
He looked sideways at An Yang who was sitting silently in the passenger seat, feeling a little scared, "Mom, today is my birthday, just think of it as making me happy, okay?"
Facing his pleading, An Yang did not give a good look directly.
She glanced sideways to meet her child's flattering eyes, and asked what she had been holding back all the way, "What game project are you working on recently?"
"Why did I hear from your company employees that you are now cooperating with others, and even handed over the leadership to outsiders?"
In order to give Li Yu'an a little surprise, An Yang did not wait for him to pick her up today, but took the initiative to go to Liming Company early.
While Anyang was waiting for her son to get off work, she heard this:
Dawn Games was a business she and her husband had worked hard for when they were young.
Even though her husband had passed away and she had retired early, Anyang still didn't want Li Yu'an to "hand over" the company to others.
"Mom, it's not what you think. Will and I are just project partners. They provided game ideas, and I used their game ideas to attract investment..."
Li Yu'an explained in detail, and took all the blame on himself, "I didn't do it well. The company's operation is really difficult now, so I want to seize this opportunity to make a comeback." If
the game "End of Mist" can make a profit after it is released, even if Dawn Games does not account for the majority, it can still have a long-term "meal ticket".
Speaking of which, he also has to thank Will behind the scenes for being willing to lend him a hand.
Anyang's face was a little strange when she heard his explanation, but she didn't blame him too much or show it.
Li Yu'an said softly, "Mom, let's go up to the 17th floor. I've seen the menu in advance. There are many restaurants in this hotel that you like."
"It's your birthday, so just eat what you like." Anyang replied.
Perhaps because she heard the rare tolerance and concern in her tone, Li Yu'an smiled slightly in an instant. After signaling Anyang with his eyes, he opened the door and got out of the car first.
Anyang's eyes followed his back, staring at him, with sour eyes.
How great would it be if everything was right? How great would it be if this back was someone else?
In fact, she was still a little disappointed with Li Yu'an.
If Liming Company is really destroyed by the other party in the end, how will she face her husband in the future? How... to face her own son?
...
The mother and son arrived at the 17th floor of the hotel under the guidance of the waiter. Li Yu'an flipped through the menu in his hand, but his eyes were secretly observing An Yang across the street.
For some reason, he always felt that the other party was in a bad mood today, even more depressed than usual.
Before he could figure out the reason, a familiar figure ran over nearby, "Hmm!"
Li Yu'an looked up and saw who was coming, and was surprised, "Mr. Pei, why are you here?"
As soon as the voice fell, two more people followed behind Pei Yi -
Bo Yueming and Yan Cen.
"Mr. Yan, Mr. Bo."
Li Yu'an stood up unconsciously, and his originally shaking vision was suspended on Yan Cen.
Since the last dinner date failed, the two of them have met almost zero times. At the end of each month, when they went to GM to report on the project, Yan Cen was either absent or just a nodding acquaintance with him, leaving the work to the investment department.
This was the first time the two of them met privately other than work.
Li Yu'an was just worrying about how to start the conversation, and Yan Cen took the initiative to answer his question, "Is this Mrs. Li?"
An Yang sat quietly in his seat, looking at the three people in front of him, "I didn't expect that Xiao An would meet friends here for his birthday?"
"..."
Friends?
How could they be friends?
Li Yu'an quickly clarified the relationship, "Mom, Mr. Yan and his friends are my investors in my work."
Apart from that, Li Yu'an didn't dare to mention it in front of An Yang.
Although he didn't express his position openly, he could see that the other party was very dissatisfied with him privately letting Dawn Games reach a cooperation agreement with others.
An Yang's condition occasionally relapses.
It would be bad if he was stimulated by the word "investment" and accidentally hurt Yan Cen and others.
Pei Yi was still standing beside him, and asked in a familiar and brotherly way, "Together?"
Although his expression was simple, Li Yu'an still understood his invitation hidden under "stupidity".
Li Yu'an quickly glanced at Yan Cen with his eyes, eager to act but not daring to act rashly, and politely refused, "Let's just have a simple meal and leave, no trouble."
"..."
Yan Cen next to him seemed to have expected Li Yu'an's answer, and pushed his glasses calmly.
The other party always seemed to be cold and indifferent. Since it was his birthday, he didn't know if he would accept the anonymous cake sent at noon?
Would he just throw it in the trash can?
Yan Cen took back those unverified guesses and maintained a gentle and polite manner on the surface. "Then we won't bother you. Happy birthday, Mr. Li."
The moment the birthday wishes came out, Li Yu'an felt his heart bump. He carefully confirmed that he was not hallucinating, and the tail tone was tinged with a barely perceptible lightness. "Thank you, thank you."
The unexpected encounter and conversation soon came to an end.
Li Yu'an couldn't hold back the joy in his heart. While sitting down, he glanced at the direction where Yan Cen, Pei Yi and others were seated, and his fingertips almost rubbed a corner of the menu to spark.
"..."
Li Yu'an seemed silent, but he was still a little excited inside.
Fortunately, yesterday, on the eve of his birthday, he changed his hair color and wore a new sweater. This image is finally not too savage in front of Yan Cen.
Moreover, he actually received a birthday blessing from Yan Cen? Why does it feel like a dream?
"Xiao An, what are you thinking about? You've almost ruined this menu." An Yang on the opposite side spoke up, and seemed to have noticed something, and his gaze shifted.
Li Yu'an came back to his senses, "No, Mom, what do you like to eat? I..."
An Yang interrupted his cover-up in a low voice, "You like him?"
"..."
Li Yu'an was startled, his cold eyebrows suddenly broke a trace of unnaturalness, he flipped through two pages of the menu without a plan, "Mom, what are you talking about? I, I didn't..."
An Yang took a sip of water and changed his words, "That guy named Yan Cen, you seem to care a lot about what he said."
Li Yu'an denied, "Really not."
An Yang laughed inaudibly, very firmly, "No one knows a child better than his mother, how can I not understand your little temper? It's been more than a year or two, right?"
"Back then, when you didn't make it to that competition, wasn't your original purpose also for him? I remember he seemed to have won the first place in that competition."
Li Yuan'an was increasingly afraid to look at An Yang, trying to change the subject, "Mom, I didn't even go to the final, why are you still thinking about the result of the competition for me?"
But An Yang didn't seem to intend to end it there -
she gently placed the water glass on the table, and said earnestly, "Xiao An, I know a little bit about the Yan family's family background, and I've greeted their people before."
"His family background is not something we can match."
"..."
Li Yuan'an's heart sank, and he didn't respond.
An Yang continued, "Although same-sex marriage is now legal and common, as the only child in the family, Mom still hopes that you will follow the rules, understand?"
Seemingly gentle, but actually tough.
Li Yu'an slowly raised her eyes and gave An Yang an affirmative look, "Mom, don't worry, I know what to do and what not to do."
"And you really misunderstood, I don't have anything to do with Yan Cen."
Besides, why would Yan Cen like his type?
Even if the other party likes boys, it should be someone like Pei Huan who has a good family background and is willing to accept good advice from others.
"Really?"
"Of course."
Li Yu'an answered quickly, not knowing what he was afraid of.
An Yang stopped talking, "It's good that you are sensible. Mom doesn't want you to get hurt in this kind of thing. You are still young and should work harder on your career."
Li Yu'an suppressed his unspeakable bitterness, and touched the candy in his pocket with his hand hidden under the table, tightening and loosening it, "Well, I understand."
Seeing that he was obedient, An Yang smiled and gestured, "Order the dishes. Since it's your birthday today, you should eat more."
Li Yu'an smiled slightly, "Okay, Mom, you should also order more of your favorite food."
--Yan
Cen deliberately chose the inner side seat, so that when he occasionally looked up, he could still catch a glimpse of the table not far away with his peripheral vision-
Li Yu'an's figure is still so thin.
Even if he wears a loose sweater in autumn and winter, he can still see a little bit of skinny. Doesn't he like to eat?
Bo Yueming and Pei Yi were talking in low voices. Yan Cen calmly turned his gaze back, with a helpless and surprised smile on his lips. He had just learned recently that
his friend Bo Yueming's eyesight had long been restored, but he continued to pretend to be inconvenienced due to the relatively complicated family relationship.
As for Pei Yi, the young master who everyone called "stupid", he was also pretending. He was actually a smart man.
It was really hard for this pair of drama lovers to pretend to be each other for so long and still fall in love with each other.
It would be better to say that they were giving out dog food than to say that they were treating each other to a meal.
"Why is there only Liyuan left there?" Pei Yi suddenly asked from the opposite side, and there was a hint of inexplicable tension in his voice.
Liyuan?
Is it referring to Li Yu'an? This title is quite special.
Yan Cen thought to himself and answered as a matter of course, "Mr. Li just called a waitress and took Mrs. Li to the bathroom. He has been sitting alone for nearly
ten minutes." Bo Yueming, who was sitting with Pei Yi, heard his answer and replied meaningfully, "It seems that it's not just Pei Yi, you are not interested in our food either?"
Yan Cen took a sip of warm water and did not deny it.
Before the three of them could say a few more words, a waitress hurriedly ran back from the corridor, "Mr. Li, it's not good!"
Pei Yi and others heard this anxious voice that they forgot to suppress, and they all looked away at the same time.
Li Yu'an, who was sitting behind him, stood up suddenly. "What happened?"
The waitress didn't even have time to catch her breath. She just picked out the key points and said, "Ms. An suddenly ran to the birthday banquet hall upstairs. I couldn't stop her at all. She is now quarreling with the guests in the banquet hall!"
Quarreled?
Why did she quarrel out of nowhere?
When Li Yu'an heard An Yang's "unusualness", he immediately rushed upstairs.
When he rushed to the banquet hall upstairs, the hotel manager was pulling An Yang, trying to drag her out of the hall.
Anyang struggled very hard, his hair was a little messy, and he was still shouting, "I won't leave! Let me go! I! I won't leave!"
This voice might sound noisy to others, but it was clearly a sign of illness in Li Yu'an's mouth!
Li Yu'an didn't care about the reactions of the people present, he ran over and stopped him loudly, "What are you doing! Let her go!"
The manager who was still pulling was stunned for a moment, and at this moment -
Anyang suddenly pushed him away with all his strength, and hit the wine tower table in the opposite direction!
The dozens of layers of wine tower collapsed in an instant.
"Mom, be careful!"
Li Yu'an didn't care about getting hurt, and almost protected An Yang with his whole body.
The sound of wine glasses breaking was everywhere, and the ground was full of broken glass mixed with deep red wine, and even the cake next to the wine tower was affected.
Li Yu'an fell to the ground while protecting An Yang, and his off-white sweater was soaked with a lot of dark red wine stains, which was cold and painful.
An Yang, who was protected by the rest, breathed quickly and panickedly, and was obviously frightened by the scene in front of him.
Li Yu'an didn't care about Pei Yi who caught up with him and was worried about him, and she only cared about An Yang.
"Mom, how are you? Are you hurt? Come on, don't be afraid, let's get up first."
"Xiao An, I, I didn't mean it."
"I know, Mom, I'm here, it's okay, no one dares to bully you."
"..."
An Yang was frightened by the series of cup cracking sounds, and let Li Yu'an help him up.
The carefully prepared birthday party was completely ruined. As the host, Deng Xiu'ya couldn't bear it any longer, "Did you two do it on purpose? What are you doing at my son's birthday party!"
The discussions around him continued.
"That's right. She suddenly came to ruin someone's birthday party. Is Mrs. Li really mentally ill?"
"Need I say that? My family doesn't think it's a good idea. How can they allow such a person to come out and cause trouble?"
Li Yu'an didn't dare to refute, but firmly protected An Yang behind him.
This is not the first time that the other party has been sick and caused trouble, and it probably won't be the last time, but what can he do?
The other party is his biological mother, and he can't ignore the grace of giving birth to him.
Li Yu'an silently accepted the disgust and contempt of the people around him, bowed and apologized, "Mrs. Pei, I'm really sorry. I will compensate you for all the losses caused today."
"Compensate? Can you afford it?"
"Do you know how much thought and effort I put into Xiaohuan's birthday party?"
"How badly have you, your own son, done? That's why your mother is so obsessed with other people's children?"
Deng Xiuya was unreasonable, and every word she said turned into a sharp blade, stabbing Li Yu'an's heart fiercely.
He looked around the high-standard banquet hall, feeling a little helpless, but he had to force himself to deal with the thorny problem in front of him.
Just as Li Yu'an was racking his brains to find an apology and a compensation plan, another voice came over.
"Mrs. Pei, it has already happened. Instead of arguing about who is right or wrong, why not find a solution first?"
"..."
Li Yu'an caught a glimpse of Yan Cen approaching, and felt his blood boiling instantly. He had become a target of criticism and a laughing stock.
When did Yan Cen come? How much did he see? How much did he hear?
Li Yu'an wanted to take An Yang and flee directly. He didn't want to embarrass himself in front of him, not at all!
But his feet were firmly fixed on the spot, allowing the embarrassment and helplessness to torment him repeatedly.
"I'll ask the hotel staff to help rearrange the banquet hall next door."
Yan Cen next to him gave a suitable reason, and said in a compliant tone, "After all, today is Master Pei's birthday, and there are so many guests here, don't make everyone unhappy."
Pei Huan on the opposite side noticed that Yan Cen's words were meant to protect Li Yu'an, and remembered Yan Cen's coldness towards him a while ago, so his tone was subtle.
"Mom, Mr. Li and the others didn't mean it, let's do it according to what the senior said, let's not make everyone unhappy."
"I accept your kindness, thank you."
Yan Cen heard the word "senior", frowned slightly, and looked at Pei Huan with a hint of cold inquiry in his eyes.
Someone in the crowd whispered, "Look, there is always a difference between rich and poor families, and these orphans and widows can't be on the stage."
Another guest took the opportunity to flatter, "Yes, Master Pei is capable and has a good temper, and not everyone can give birth to him. In the end, Mrs. Pei is lucky."
"Alas, the children that people can give birth to are very different."
"..."
Li Yu'an silently took these remarks into his ears, consciously stepped back half a step, and deliberately stayed away from Yan Cen.
But it was raining cats and dogs. An Yang, who had finally calmed down, heard something he shouldn't have heard, and his emotions got out of control again!
She pushed away Li Yu'an's protection and rushed to Deng Xiu'ya, screaming, shouting, and announcing as if the world was coming to an end -
"What do you know! Pei Huan is my son! He is my son!"
"We picked the wrong one! We picked the wrong one from the beginning!"
"Twenty-five years ago, at Maria Private Maternity Hospital, on November 16th, we were the only two women in labor that day! The two children were born ten minutes apart!"
The words came down in a crackling voice, and the scene was silent.
Li Yu'an's eyebrows showed a trace of surprise, and she hurried forward to stop him, "Mom, what are you talking about? You are tired, shall we go home?"
An Yang was immersed in her own world, and completely ignored the dissuasion. She forcibly grabbed Li Yu'an's hand and dragged him to the front of the Pei couple.
"Come, I will return your son to you, and you return my son to me!"
After saying that, she shook off Li Yu'an's hand as if throwing away garbage, and instead stared at Pei Huan who was also shocked.
"..."
Li Yu'an's hand froze in mid-air, and there was still a red mark on his wrist left by An Yang's excessive force.
He stared at An Yang, who was familiar yet unfamiliar, and was called "mother", and the wall built in his heart was collapsing bit by bit.
All the details of their daily interactions over the past four years flashed through his mind, linking up a painful truth that was about to come out.
Before Li Yu'an could react, Deng Xiu'ya, who was still furious, suddenly took a half step forward and pulled up the sleeves of his loose sweater.
There was a small light-colored birthmark on Li Yu'an's elbow joint!
"Oh my God!"
Deng Xiu'ya almost fell down.
Pei Huan's heartstrings tightened when he saw Deng Xiu'ya's reaction, "Mom?"
"No, it's impossible."
Deng Xiu'ya shook her head in disbelief, turned around and held Pei Huan's hand tightly, fearing that her precious son would be snatched away, "Xiao Huan is my son, how is this possible?" "
Where's the security guard! Where's the manager!"
"Get this crazy woman and her son out!"
An Yang stared at Pei Huan, tears falling in strings, "Is it true? Is it possible? You will know if you go for a paternity test!"
After learning the truth, she told herself countless times that if it was wrong, it was wrong, just pretend that nothing happened. Even if the child was exchanged, her husband could not see it and could not save it!
But today, she finally understood -
looking at her own biological son without recognizing him? I could bear it the first time, but I couldn't bear it the second time!
Thinking of this, An Yang tried to pull Pei Huan's hand more and more, trying to use the encounters she had deliberately created in the past to stimulate the other party's recognition;
and Deng Xiuya also protected Pei Huan tightly, resisting An Yang from getting close, for fear that her baby son would disappear.
The eyes of the spectators present were about to fall out, and their eyes turned back and forth.
You know, there are more than one young people involved in this discussion, Pei Huan. But now anyone with a discerning eye can see that Li Yu'an is the one who is not taken seriously at all!
How bad is this child? Why doesn't any parent like him?
"..."
Shocked, contemptuous, or sympathetic eyes came from all directions, but Li Yu'an had no time to care.
He looked at the farce in front of him ridiculously, silently put down his sleeves, and even had an inappropriate idea.
Is the heating broken? He is cold, too cold.
His self-proclaimed biological mother trampled on his dignity casually, and the other so-called "biological mother" avoided him as much as possible. They put all their love on Pei Huan.
If his life with Pei Huan is a contrast, and he is the one who is completely abandoned, he knows that if he doesn't leave, he will be disliked.
"You guys continue, I'm leaving first."
Li Yu'an said this without knowing it, but when he turned around, he met Yan Cen's gaze.
At this moment, his absurd and numb heart suddenly split open with an unfathomable wound, and the pain made Li Yu'an almost bend over and faint on the ground.
His eyes quickly filled with warmth, and Li Yu'an hurriedly lowered his head to cover it up, but he saw his clothes ruined by red wine, and finally couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.
What is unworthy?
What is inappropriate?
This is it.
He always behaved badly and embarrassed himself in front of Yan Cen, without exception. He was not even blessed or cared about on his birthday.
He didn't deserve to be loved.