Chapter 1023: The Only Evidence That His Mother Remembered Him
Lin Ran sank into her memories once again, her eyes moistening up. “Can you believe it? In this era, my clothes were all patched up before I got into middle school and was issued school uniforms! After that, it was the granny next door who gave me her granddaughter’s old clothes so that I didn’t have to wear patched-up clothes. However, the young lady from next door stopped me on my way home from school and pointed me out to her friends, telling them that my mom was a lunatic. She also said that from top to bottom… what I was wearing were all pieces of clothing that she had given me out of charity.”
Hearing Lin Ran’s words, Lin Nuan could imagine how humiliated Lin Ran, being the prideful person she was, had felt back then.
Lin Nuan saw Lin Ran’s eyes filled with tears and drew a tissue to pa.s.s her…
Lin Ran smiled and wiped away her snot and tears before looking at Cen Mo with reddened eyes and saying, “I hated Dad for his incompetence, hated that he couldn’t let his wife and child live a life where we didn’t need to worry about food and clothes. I also hated him for not thinking of ways to cure Mom, who had gone crazy. It was only after Mom pa.s.sed away that I understood that after putting aside all the living expenses every month, Dad had used all the rest of the money to search for you!”
Cen Mo could imagine the scene in his mind where his father counted the money to be put aside for living expenses. And because he wanted to let his daughter have some meat for one of the meals, he’d hesitantly draw out a little bit more from the funds to be used in searching for his son.
“I’m sorry…” Cen Mo said to Lin Ran.
If he hadn’t gone missing, Lin Ran wouldn’t have had to go through all that. She would have been able to live a good life in the Lin family as the daughter of a rich family. She wouldn’t… wouldn’t have been put through so much hards.h.i.+p.
“The reason I said all that isn’t to get you to apologize, nor am I blaming you!” Lin Ran’s tone was very gentle as she looked at Cen Mo, saying, “The reason I’m telling you all this is to let you know that Mom and Dad loved you a lot. They never gave up on searching for you, never. It was only when Dad contracted cancer and revealed Lin Nuan and my ident.i.ties, then… ”
Lin Ran choked, not able to continue her words…
Their father had leaped from the top of a building, forever disappearing from this world. After that, there was no one to search for Cen Mo anymore.
“I know!” Cen Mo nodded. He could tell that Lin Ran was a very kindhearted girl.
Otherwise, given how she had been through so much hards.h.i.+p with Ji Yun and her husband, she wouldn’t have bothered with Ji Yun after returning to the Lin family. However, she still took care of Ji Yun and didn’t vent her fury on Lin Nuan and Ji Yun due to her hatred. This wasn’t something that could be done if the person wasn’t kindhearted enough.
After that, Lin Ran continued to share stories from when she was a child. She mentioned more about how their father had earned money to support the family. Their father had to go through so much hards.h.i.+p, but it was as if there was a strong conviction that pushed him to persist and continue devoting effort. Lin Ran said that her guess was that… finding Cen Mo was their father’s conviction.
“It’s just that Dad never mentioned you. Lin Nuan and I only got to know of your name from Mom’s letter… You’re called Lu Boye.” Lin Ran said this, then took out the original copy of the letter that Ji Yun had left behind. She carefully opened it up and pa.s.sed it to Cen Mo.
Cen Mo received it with both hands. The feeling of looking at a photo of the letter and touching the actual letter his mother had touched before was completely different.
Cen Mo’s eyes turned red, and he looked at the elegant and beautiful writing in the letter. He could imagine what a gentle lady his mother was.
“This… I’ve already scanned and printed a copy of it. I feel that… Mom’s handwritten letter should be left for you!” Lin Ran spoke up once again.
Lin Ran had spent the most time with Ji Yun, and Cen Mo was the one out of the three of them who spent the least amount of time with her. He was the one Ji Yun had been the most worried about. Therefore, she was willing to give this handwritten letter that was very precious to her to Cen Mo!
Both Lin Nuan and her had memories of spending time with Ji Yun, but Cen Mo didn’t!
To Cen Mo, this letter was probably the only evidence that his mother remembered him.
“Thank you!” Cen Mo’s heart was seething with complicated emotions. “Thank you! I’ll definitely take good care of Mom’s letter!”
“I believe that you will!” Lin Ran nodded.
Sadness made it hard for Lin Ran to breathe. She picked up her cup of tea that had turned cold, took a sip, and looked toward Lin Nuan. “How about it? When are you going back to the Lin family to tell Mom and Dad that you’ve found Brother? And there’s also the matter of your pregnancy!”
“I’ll go back the night before the Lunar New Year’s Eve!” Lin Nuan smiled and said.
Cen Mo carefully folded the letter Ji Yun had left behind, putting it into his suit pocket before saying, “I’ll inform Lin Chen in advance and bring Song Yao along to the Lin family. I’ll be thanking Uncle and Auntie for taking care of Lin Nuan all these years.”
Lin Nuan’s phone vibrated in her pocket. Seeing that the call was from Fang Yan, she headed out of the private room to take it. “h.e.l.lo, Sister Yan…”
“Who did you go to the cemetery with today? A reporter I know got a few photos from the paparazzi of you hugging and holding hands with an unfamiliar man at the cemetery! What’s going on?” Fang Yan asked the moment the call connected.
It wasn’t that Fang Yan didn’t trust Lin Nuan’s character, but she felt a little anxious when she saw that Fu Huai’an wasn’t the man in the photo.
Fang Yan’s friend’s intentions were very clear. The paparazzi wanted money and wasn’t bent on destroying Lin Nuan’s reputation. Therefore, his suggestion was for Lin Nuan to pay money to buy the photos and resolve the issue. With Fang Yan’s friend being the intermediary, there wouldn’t be any future threats, and the photos would be completely sold to Lin Nuan without any backups being held back.
Fang Yan didn’t give a reply immediately. She only said that she believed in Lin Nuan. After hanging up the call, she immediately called Lin Nuan to ask what was going on.
“I went to the cemetery with Cen Mo today!” Lin Nuan didn’t hide things from Fang Yan. “Sister Yan, Cen Mo is my elder brother, my actual brother related to me by blood… We just did a DNA test! I took my brother to the cemetery to pay our respects to our parents. My parents looked for my brother all their lives and weren’t able to see him even at their deathbeds. We were holding hands to express our moral support for each other, telling our parents that we’ve been reunited. I feel that this isn’t anything shameful…”
“Mr. Cen is your brother? Real brother? This is such a surprise!” Fang Yan felt relieved and immediately saw an opportunity in this. She nodded and said, “Alright, I understand. You siblings can spend some time together. I’ll take care of this matter on my end…”
Fang Yan didn’t plan on hiding this matter. It was hot news that had been sent to their doorstep… so why not hype it up?
Fang Yan’s friend had said earlier that if the paparazzi didn’t get a reply after four hours, the photos would be exposed. Fang Yan decided to just let the photos be exposed…
She would just let Lin Nuan and Fu Huai’an come out to explain things later on. If they could show the test result between Cen Mo and Lin Nuan, the hype would be taken care of!
The sister of Morocco’s hidden wealthy man, Cen Mo. Tsk tsk… Lin Nuan could now be considered the daughter of a wealthy family as well!
Fang Yan was beaming so much that her teeth were exposed. She truly felt that the G.o.ds wanted Lin Nuan to become famous, and they weren’t even able to get away from it. Even a piece of news could rise up from her reuniting with her elder brother.
Fang Yan immediately had the agency make the necessary preparations. Once the photo came out, they’d recruit water armies to scold Lin Nuan, not standing on ceremony…