Chapter 1022: Return a Favor With a Favor
It was winter, but Lin Nuan felt especially warm.
The wind blew, and the bare branches on the trees rustled. Yellowed leaves landed all over the ground and onto the shoulder of Cen Mo’s woolen coat.
Lin Nuan bent over and patted off the dried leaves on Cen Mo’s shoulder before helping him up. “Mom and Dad would feel the happiest to see the two of us standing here!”
“Do you hate me?” Cen Mo suddenly asked Lin Nuan.
“What?” Lin Nuan looked at Cen Mo with her clear gaze, feeling perplexed.
“If it weren’t because of me, Mom wouldn’t have gone crazy, and Dad wouldn’t have switched you with the Lin family’s child. If I didn’t go missing, we might have been a happy family…” Cen Mo’s voice sounded very hoa.r.s.e.
Lin Nuan shook her head. “You didn’t wish to go missing either. Who wouldn’t want to grow up by their parents’ side? You want it more than anyone else! Moreover… I feel that everything in this world is destined to be. If I wasn’t switched and sent to the Lin family, I wouldn’t have gotten to know Wen Moshen, and I wouldn’t have gone to Iraq. Then I wouldn’t have gotten to know Huai’an, and I wouldn’t have the blissful life that I have now!”
She looked at Cen Mo and smiled. “Moreover, whether there’s any hatred is something that you should ask Lin Ran!”
Cen Mo kept silent. He heard Lin Nuan say, “Brother… even if Mom and Dad are no longer around, we must be a happy family.”
Cen Mo’s gaze landed on Lin Nuan’s clean, beautiful, and exquisite face. He couldn’t describe what he was feeling now.
“Our family has already missed too many beautiful times together. Even though Mom and Dad can no longer be by our side, I believe that they’d feel the happiest to see us siblings living a good life!”
Cen Mo, who couldn’t contain his feelings, gently embraced Lin Nuan, suppressing the strain in his voice as he said, “In the future, I’ll take good care of you on behalf of Mom and Dad!”
Lin Nuan rested her hands on Cen Mo’s waist, nodding. “We’ll take care of each other.”
That day, Lin Nuan spoke to the staff at the cemetery’s management office, telling them to add a few words on her birth parents’ tombstones… Son: Lu Boye.
…
The address that Lin Ran sent to Lin Nuan was that of a teahouse.
Before Cen Mo and Lin Nuan arrived, Lin Ran felt very unsettled.
Lin Ran had never heard anyone mention this lost brother when she was young. Back then, her mother had been in a delirious state, and her father refused to mention anything about it. However, there were times when she could tell from her father’s tone when making calls that he was looking for someone.
When she was young and wanted a pair of new shoes, her father would tell her apologetically that they couldn’t afford it. Where did the money go? Her father would say that there was a use for it…
She hadn’t known what her father was searching for, but it cost a lot of money every month. Therefore, other than their living expenses, their family didn’t have much money left.
Her father would even have to plan a few days in advance just to have some meat for a meal.
When she was young, she had always known that their family was poor. However, she never knew why they were poor! Her father was more hardworking and capable than any other people’s father, so why was it so hard for them to even have some meat for a meal!
It was only when she saw the letter Ji Yun had left behind before she pa.s.sed away that she found out the exact reason they were poor. It was because her parents were looking for their lost son. They had never given up.
Lin Ran asked for a pot of forget-me-not tea but was unable to calm down.
She thought of how Lin Nuan wanted to tell their parents in the Lin family herself that she had found her brother, so she didn’t say much to Liang Mulan.
It was just that… Lin Ran couldn’t hold back her curiosity and asked Lin Chen to find out about Cen Mo.
Lin Chen was usually very busy. Two days ago, Lin Ran had specially made a trip to the company to ask about Cen Mo. However, in the three hours that she was there, she could only sit on the sofa and watch Lin Chen make phone calls and sign doc.u.ments. Therefore, she eventually left without saying a word, not disturbing him.
Lin Ran had looked up Cen Mo using a search engine, but there was little information about him. It only said that Cen Mo was an adopted son of the Cen family and that the Cen family had already gone bankrupt.
Lin Ran picked up the teacup and took two sips, wrapping her coat tightly around her body.
In the past, before she found out that she was a child of the Lin family, she had hated whatever her parents were looking for. She felt that it had caused a burden on their family, making them spend so much money.
However, now that Lin Nuan had suddenly found this person and now that she was going to meet him, Lin Ran felt a little agitated. She was unable to soothe her anxiety.
“Thud thud thud—”
Door knocks rang out, and Lin Ran anxiously stood up, toppling some of the tea in the process.
As she stood, the chair released a dragging sound, and the door opened.
Seeing Lin Nuan opening the door and coming in, Lin Ran’s gaze looked behind her. Cen Mo, with his tall stature, stood right behind Lin Nuan. His features were deep and upright and seemed as if they had been carved out.
Lin Ran heard the sound of her thumping heart. She felt as nervous as when she was going to meet with Lin Chen for the first time back then…
Their gazes met, and Lin Ran’s heart trembled a little when she saw how deep Cen Mo’s pitch-black eyes were.
Lin Nuan came in with Cen Mo, sitting opposite Lin Ran. Lin Ran only returned to her senses and sat down after seeing Cen Mo taking off his woolen coat and hanging it on the chair’s backrest.
She reached out her hand, wanting to pour a cup of tea for Lin Nuan and Cen Mo. However, Cen Mo managed to pick up the teapot before her, s.h.i.+elding her sleeves with one hand, then bending over to fill up her cup. “Let me do it!”
Despite the fact that Lin Ran wasn’t really Cen Mo’s sister by blood, Lin Ran and Cen Mo’s birth parents had lived together for so long. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Lin Ran was Cen Mo’s younger sister.
Moreover, when Lin Nuan’s ident.i.ty was exposed back then, almost everyone in the Lin family had treated her as a member of their family! Cen Mo also felt pity toward Lin Ran when he heard from Lin Chen about the matters regarding Lin Nuan and Lin Ran.
In addition, on the way from the cemetery to the teahouse, Lin Nuan had told Cen Mo about how their mother only recognized Lin Ran after she had been brought out of the mental hospital. Lin Ran had spent time with their mother almost every day, and before their mother had pa.s.sed away, Lin Ran was even planning on bringing her overseas to travel together with her boyfriend.
Cen Mo felt very thankful toward Lin Ran.
Right now, even if it was to return a favor for a favor, Cen Mo should also treat Lin Ran as his own younger sister in the future, taking care of her.
Cen Mo looked at Lin Ran, who sat opposite them. He seemed to have no idea how he should start to ask about their parents’ life in the past. Lin Nuan was the one who said to Lin Ran, “It’s true that I’m not very clear about Mom and Dad’s lives in the past. I never talked to Dad about it, and Mom was only awake for that short moment before she pa.s.sed away…”
Lin Ran nodded.
“You must have had a tough life living with Mom and Dad when you were young, right?” Cen Mo’s tone sounded apologetic.
She looked toward Cen Mo, nodding before saying, “It was very tough. When I was young, the three of us lived in a tiny place, and the living conditions were awful. By right… given how hardworking Dad was, our family shouldn’t have been in such bad shape. However, Dad would even have to plan for a long time just to bring some meat to the table for a single meal. All the shoes I wore were only replaced when they were filled with holes and so small that they couldn’t be worn.”