Chapter 45 [VIP]
I woke up for a while in the middle of my sleep, and then fell into a very deep sleep after that.
When he groggily woke up, he realized that the sun had already risen, there was no movement beside him, and the bed was empty, no longer warm from Lin Langli.
His clothes had already been taken out by Lin Langli and neatly arranged on the bedside table. The small heater was also turned on, with the two socks that Chenmian would wear today draped over it.
Chenmian reached for the socks, and they were indeed warm, but the room was still cold without heating. The boy huddled under the covers and slowly put on his clothes.
After putting on the hoodie, Lin Langli pushed open the door and came in. Seeing that Chen Mian looked sleepy and listless, he rubbed his palms together to warm them up and walked over to help him put on the jacket without saying a word.
"Your eldest uncle and second aunt are here, along with a few cousins. In a bit, you'll follow me and call out to them. If they ask you anything, just smile if you don't want to answer, okay?"
After smoothing down the collar of Chenmian's innermost shirt, the young man cupped Chenmian's cheeks and rubbed them until a little color returned to her face. He then let go and chuckled, "Alright, I've already prepared hot water for you and just took it to the bathroom. I've also squeezed out the toothpaste. I won't leave yet; we'll go out together after you've finished washing up."
While brushing her teeth, Shenmian secretly peeked at Lin Langli behind her in the mirror.
It must be admitted that Lin Langli is better than him; he handles problems and deals with elders flawlessly.
He glanced at him for a few seconds before noticing that Lin Langli was wearing the same down jacket as him today, but the other man was wearing a gray cardigan underneath, while he was wearing a hoodie. In comparison, Lin Langli looked much more mature than him.
A mixture of resentment and subtle jealousy welled up in Shen Mian's heart—ever since Lin Langli returned to the Shen family, his cousins and even some elders had naturally regarded him as their older brother.
Lin Langli and Shen Ci are twins. Shen Ci is ranked after him, so shouldn't Lin Langli also be ranked after him?
What a bunch of idiots.
His most hated cousin from his uncle's family even went so far as to sneak into his room to mock him, saying that with Lin Langli and Shen Ci's outstanding achievements preceding him, wasn't he afraid of being a good-for-nothing imposter?
Chenmian, with a long face, angrily threw a water glass at the other person, while her second cousin grinned and said that he was playing big games with small stakes.
Lin Langli was so popular after returning to the Shen family, so he should be very popular after returning to the Lin family, right?
Chenmian's heart pounded like a drum, yet she couldn't help but feel a secret sense of pride as she followed Lin Langli out the door.
Lin's eldest uncle and second aunt both looked like honest and simple country folk. The eldest uncle was tall and thin, while the second aunt was a bit plump. There were several children crammed into the main room. Chen Mian glanced at them and confirmed that they were his cousins.
Unfortunately, he hadn't prepared red envelopes in advance. He could go to town in the afternoon to withdraw money and buy a few stacks of red envelopes. A smile spread across Chen Mian's face as he followed Lin Langli in calling out to people.
He was handsome, and his clothes and demeanor exuded an air of nobility. His uncle and aunt were stunned for a moment, and the once noisy house suddenly became quiet.
Just as Shen Mian felt uneasy about the silence, the eyes of the two elders in front of her suddenly welled up with tears. Her second aunt hugged Shen Mian tightly and choked out, "She looks just like Yulan." Yulan was Shen Mian's biological mother.
The name was unfamiliar, but as soon as he thought of his biological mother whom he had never met, Chenmian felt a lump in his throat and tears fell uncontrollably.
He knew that his mother, Chen Yulan, was an orphan and had no relatives on her side, so only his father, Lin Jinghai, came to the family reunion today.
The enthusiasm of his uncle and aunt far exceeded his expectations. They surrounded him, stroked his cheeks, looked at his eyebrows and eyes, and asked him about his past life with concern.
His younger cousins chattered around him, their eyes filled with curiosity and affection.
By the time Chenmian finally managed to get away from the situation, it was almost noon. Her uncle invited them, "Mianmian, Xiaoli, come to my house for lunch. Your aunt has already prepared the meal."
Sleeping soundly, full of anticipation, she nodded.
After arriving at her uncle's house, Shenmian saw even more people, not only her father's relatives, but also many other villagers who knew about the incident, who gathered around Shenmian to look at her.
Being stared at by so many people was not unfamiliar to Shen Mian. However, the thought that these were his relatives and neighbors made Shen Mian feel embarrassed, afraid that he might do something wrong and make a fool of himself.
Lin Langli stayed by Shen Mian's side the whole time, and the boy would often touch his arm.
Some people asked Lin Langli about what would happen next, but he didn't answer much.
Chenmian overheard the whispers about Lin Langli at the edge of the crowd.
"This kid is still as quiet as ever."
"They're just kids from rich families, they wouldn't even deign to talk to you."
"More than that? He's the top scorer in the province, and he wouldn't talk to anyone before he recognized his relatives."
"She's so lucky, smart and born into a wealthy family..."
Shenmian's face twisted as he listened. He also thought Lin Langli was quite lucky. Although their identities were different, he was born with a smart brain.
He had to rely on his family to pave the way and donate buildings to get into his current school, but Lin Langli was directly recruited by the admissions office in advance.
The boy gritted his teeth in anger, then heard the group muttering:
"But what the Jinghai family did was dishonest; they did it on purpose, didn't they?"
“I’ve always wondered why I don’t dote on my son. He’s always the one who has to take time off work to come back and take care of the elderly. Can’t he do this himself? He’s such a good student. I have such a promising child in my family. I don’t want him to do these things.”
“Yes, every year during the National Day holiday we would have the kids come back to harvest corn. The kids study so hard, they can’t even rest during the holiday. They have to take care of Yulan and their grandma, and they also have to do farm work. It would cost someone 100 yuan a day to hire someone, but we insisted on making the kids do it…”
"He's received scholarships since he was a child, and he even received 50,000 yuan in high school. The kid clearly had the grades to go to the best school in the province, but they insisted on sending him to a county high school just for a few tens of thousands of yuan. And yet, he still became the top scorer in the province..."
I dared not listen anymore.
Those words buzzed in his mind, piecing together a picture of Lin Langli, a young man filled with hardships, who was completely different from the one he knew.
But his eyes were still red. Lin Langli thought he was sad and thinking about his parents again, so he leaned over and gently touched the corner of his eye with his finger, and said softly, "Don't cry, you still have me, and everyone likes you very much."
This statement sounds particularly ironic now.
Chenmian rubbed her eyes, finished her meal, and left without lingering.
Returning earlier than Lin Langli had anticipated, the young man bolted the door, temporarily ceasing to receive guests. He then turned around and embraced Chenmian, who was sitting on a stool, gently patting the boy's back.
Then, as if coaxing a baby, she asked Chenmian if she wanted to take a nap.
Chenmian shook her head and asked in a muffled voice, "Lin Langli, did Mom and Dad switch us on purpose?"
The young man holding him froze. After a long while, Chenmian heard a voice above him, calm and even: "Hmm, it should be."
"Mom and Dad, are you not good to me?" Chenmian asked, crying, her tears soaking the fabric around the young man's waist. "I heard them say that when you come home from high school for holidays, you still have to harvest corn, sob sob. You don't have a tutor or go to cram school, and you can't even rest. You have to take care of people and harvest corn, sob sob."
The thought of Lin Langli, a high school student who was not yet an adult, having to work in the fields under the scorching sun in early October was still unbearable.
And what about him? At that time, he was probably complaining about the teacher being too strict in the temperature-controlled music room, picking at the latest fashions in the dressing room and enjoying all the privileges that should have belonged to Lin Langli.
What he was enjoying should have belonged to Lin Langli.
Ashamed, unease, and guilt gently tore at him, stripping him bare. Looking back at his past actions after being stripped naked, he felt extremely embarrassed.
He was truly outrageous in the past. Lin Langli suffered so much for him, finally got into university, only to have his parents die, and then be bullied by him and his gang at school.
Chenmian had never been so clearly aware that she was a little rascal.
He recalled Lin Langli's practiced way of starting the fire and cooking noodles last night, the way the other man's eyes squinted slightly from the smoke from the stove, and the other man's silence when he had scolded him for being "born to serve people."
It turns out that that composure and skill were not due to ease, but rather instincts honed by life.
What exactly did he rely on in the past?
To treat someone who grew up in such an environment with such contempt, yet remains so outstanding and resilient, with such disdain.
She cried so hard she could hardly breathe.
"Is harvesting corn very prickly? Are there a lot of small insects in the field?"
"Why are you still so upset about harvesting corn?" Lin Langli said, both amused and exasperated. But seeing Shen Mian crying so hard that she could barely breathe, he felt a pang of sympathy.
It wasn't that I felt sorry for him, but rather for Chen Mian.
Are you crying because of him?
Lin Langli's lips curled up slightly, and his voice softened: "Harvesting corn isn't that tiring. Our family isn't well-off. My grandmother is paralyzed, and my mother is suffering from cancer. My father has to work hard to earn money outside, so I have to do more work at home. It's nothing. My parents aren't deliberately mistreating me. It's just that our circumstances are too bad. All the money we have is gone from medical treatment. There's nothing we can do about it."
"So, is your family still in debt? Lin Langli, you have scholarships and grants at school, yet you keep working part-time. Are you trying to pay off debts?"
Lin Langli's tone softened for the first time in history. He could feel Shen Mian's heartache for him, and his heart fluttered. He even felt a little overjoyed.
He knew that he should take advantage of Chenmian's soft heart and exaggerate his own misfortune to make Chenmian feel even more ashamed.
After all, their identities were reversed, and everything he suffered should have been borne by Shen Mian. But Shen Mian cried so miserably, looking up at him with her head tilted back, her tears falling onto the back of his hand. The burning heat of those tears seemed to scald Lin Langli's heart as well.
So she concealed many of her experiences, hiding the intentional or unintentional neglect and mistreatment, and only said lightly: "At that time, the family had almost paid off the debts. My father died in a car accident, and the other party paid 400,000 yuan in compensation, which just paid off the debts borrowed for my grandmother and mother's medical treatment. I was working part-time at that time, just trying to save some money for myself. It wasn't as hard as you think."
"No, that's not it," Chenmian buried her head in Lin Langli's waist and abdomen again, her shoulders shaking as she cried, "Did you think back then that you didn't have a mom and dad anymore, and that you would have to be all alone from now on, and that it would be very hard!"
"I... I shouldn't have done that, Lin Langli. I'm so sorry. I even instructed people to cause you trouble before... I was so bad. If I hadn't taken your place, you could have lived a carefree life like Shen Ci, instead of being ruined by me..."
Seeing him completely broken down and overwhelmed with regret, Lin Langli felt a mix of emotions.
He had always thought he longed to see a silent confession, but when he actually saw those eyes, which had always been spoiled and willful, now only filled with broken tears and genuine pain, the expected pleasure did not come. Instead, it gave rise to another, more complex emotion.
"Is it bad?" Lin Langli said, "Actually, it's not too bad. Although it is indeed difficult materially, my parents do love me, and I still got into a very good school in the end, didn't I? Although I was a little behind Shen Ci, I still caught up, didn't I?"
He leaned forward and knelt in front of Shen Mian, cupping her wet cheeks in his hands. Looking at the boy's pitiful face, he gently wiped away Shen Mian's tears with his fingertips: "So Mianmian, don't cry. We got our identities mixed up. It's not your fault."
Shenmian wanted to ask, would Lin Langli blame her for bullying him at school?
But after a moment's thought, Shenmian felt he shouldn't ask. He had gone too far back then, and whatever Lin Langli said now was probably just because the other person liked him, so he could tolerate and forgive him.
Finally, he asked softly, "Lin Langli, do you really like me?"
Lin Langli stared at the boy in front of him, trying to discern some truth from his tear-streaked eyes. His Adam's apple bobbed as he said, "Mianmian, I've told you how much I like you many times already."
These words were like a pardon, and my tense nerves relaxed slightly.
He believed it, and tremblingly pressed his cheek against the young man's palm, rubbing it affectionately, a gesture of completely surrendering himself to the other.
"Do you really like me? But you were always so mean to me before, and your words always made me unhappy. I always felt that you didn't like me and just wanted to bully me back."
Lin Langli's body stiffened slightly, but Chen Mian didn't notice. She just kept talking to herself: "Actually, I should have felt it a long time ago. You're so smart, it would be easy for you to get rid of me if you wanted to do something bad to me. But you've been putting up with me. When you first came back, I pulled you down the stairs and you still protected me—Lin Langli, did you like me back then?"
No, that's not true.
Lin Langli coldly retorted in his heart. His feelings for Shen Mian now were perhaps only a little. And protecting Shen Mian back then was merely instinct, unrelated to any affection.
At that time, he was filled with anger at having his life stolen and disgust for the person who had taken his place.
Perhaps his affection for Shen Mian was only a little bit; he thought it was nothing more than being infatuated with Shen Mian's appearance.
If I had to pinpoint it, there was also some possessiveness that I shouldn't have had.
Unaware of the dark thoughts in front of him, Chenmian opened her eyes, which were exceptionally bright and clear after being washed by tears. The young man sobbed, "I was blinded before. I always felt that you had ulterior motives. I was so bad, Lin Langli. Since you like me, I want to like you too. I want you to forgive me first, okay?"
"forgive?"
"Yeah, I bullied you before and took your seat. That was really awful..."
"I stopped caring a long time ago." Lin Langli felt a little irritated and lost control again because of Shen Mian's few words.
Chenmian interrupted urgently: "I... I don't want you to feel wronged. You've already been so pitiful. You just don't mind. I want you to truly feel relieved, okay?"
Lin Langli stared intently at the boy in front of him, feeling that Shen Mian had become a stranger to him.
Shouldn't the young master always be a selfish, arrogant, and ungrateful wretch?
But Lin Langli didn't want to delve into these matters; after all, everything was back on track now.
Whether it's his identity as the Shen family's biological child or his revenge against Chen Mian, he has already accomplished both, hasn't he?
Can we believe it's just a state of deep sleep?
A subtle joy still welled up inside him, but Lin Langli still couldn't believe whether what Chenmian had said was true.
The young man could only suppress the urge to kiss away Mianmian's tears little by little, and calmly said, "It's okay, Mianmian, I'm not wronged."
Lin Langli showed no self-pity. If he really did, Chenmian would have been driven away during his first month in the Shen family.
He considered himself a strongman and didn't care about the minor squabbles of the sleeping man.
Whether it was Shen Mian deliberately falling down the building to frame someone, spreading rumors on the school forum, being seduced by Shen Mian, or not being taken seriously or recognized after sleeping with Shen Mian, it doesn't matter.
In fact, Lin Langli didn't care that much.
From childhood to adulthood, he only pursued what he wanted; everything else was nothing but a mirage.
If he really did not develop feelings for Shen Mian or fall in love with her, as he did at the beginning.
So now, seeing him repent in his sleep, crying and admitting his mistakes, he must feel calm, perhaps even a little bit of satisfaction at having achieved his goal.
Instead of feeling both heartache and fear.
Lin Langli stared at Mianmian's moist eyes for a long time before finally giving in and said softly, "Mianmian, if you treat me better, I won't feel wronged."
"How would it be considered good to you?" Chenmian asked, sobbing. "Would it count as giving you back all the money I've saved?"
Lin Langli was amused by Chenmian's pitiful and adorable appearance. The young man, with a gentle smile that he himself was unaware of, said, "Then give me a kiss. Don't be reluctant like before, okay?"
Shen Mian's eyes widened tremblingly. Lin Langli thought that Shen Mian was still unwilling, and his heart sank.
But the next second, a haphazard kiss landed on his lips. Like a sneak attack, Chenmian pressed and touched Lin Langli's face all over without any method, her movements awkwardly trying to please him.
"Lin Langli, open your mouth a little wider, I can't kiss you, boohoo." Chenmian was clumsy and wouldn't treat him like Lin Langli had before; her voice sounded very aggrieved at this moment.
A note from the author:
With just a few more chapters left in the story, their relationship will be exposed, bringing us closer to the wedding scene that everyone's been eagerly anticipating! ovo
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