He was a stern person. He was not one that would think there were matters that children should not know about. The sooner they learned, the more things they could avoid in the future.
However, looking at Mo Jinxi seemed to be afraid, he could not bring himself to continue speaking.
Mo Jinxi shook his head and a.s.sured, "It"s fine. If I listen to you now, I won"t allow myself to follow any bad examples later."
Mo Jingsheng could not help laughing. He wondered how he could come up with such a reason. The gloomy mood he was in due to Mo Jingyu"s memories were completely dissipated by Mo Jinxi"s words, and his mood was relaxed.
He looked at Mo Jinxi"s expression that was still antic.i.p.ating a follow-up. Mo Jingsheng continued, "After we"ve caught the drug lord and all of his a.s.sociates, I found out that he had met a girl while he was undercover. The girl"s younger brother had been influenced by drugs. He started off being addicted to it and even stole the family"s money to fund his drug addiction. When he ran out of money, he did not dare to commit petty crimes and joined the triad as a means to fund his addiction and started drug trafficking."
"When the girl found out, she joined the triad as well hoping to get her brother out of it. Drugs had destroyed her entire family. Her old father had to do labor work at construction sites and her mother endured body ailments doing odd jobs while she was secretly gathering evidence.
We do not know she ended up with Jingyu and got pregnant. When Jingyu died, her baby was only two months old. The triad was aware of her relations.h.i.+p with Jingyu and had never planned to spare her or the baby as they were concerned that she might have evidence against them. She escaped with the baby and gave it away; n.o.body knew if it was alive or dead. My family has been asking around these years and we have had some progress lately. I have been following the trail for the past few days," Mo Jingsheng said.
Mo Jinxi lowered his head and rubbed his teary eyes. He felt like crying. The story of uncle"s little brother and the young lady was too pitiful.
They were both good people, yet they had such a tragic ending.
"Then, then what happened to the aunty?" Mo Jinxi thought about her and asked in a quiet tone.
Mo Jingsheng pursed his lips and continued, "In the end, she was caught, so…"
There was no need to explain further. Mo Jinxi understood that she did not survive.
"Those people are really bad!" Mo Jinxi clenched his little fists and exclaimed in a trembling voice.
Mo Jingsheng smiled weakly. It was still very difficult to talk about the same story again.
He touched Mo Jinxi"s little head and said, "Fortunately, the bad guys have been caught."
Mo Jinxi was a little embarra.s.sed by Mo Jingsheng"s touch. Since young, other than the old Princ.i.p.al and the teachers from the orphanage, only Lin Chu touched him this way. After Lin Chu knew Yan Beicheng, he was never fond of him so he would never touch him this way.
Mo Jingsheng was the first a.d.u.l.t man that treated him this way.
Mo Jinxi"s eyes squinted like a kitten and he suddenly opened his eyes widely in bewilderment. He felt that he had given the wrong reaction. He should not behave like a little child that had no manners, he was a big boy now.
He saw Mo Jingsheng"s police uniform and said, "I want to be a policeman as well when I grow up!"
Mo Jingsheng smiled and said, "That"s good."
This time, Lin Chu grew more suspicious. Her eyes began alternating back and forth between Mo Jinxi and Mo Jingsheng.
It could be the story that she had just heard that her heart was starting to give hints. The more that Lin Chu looked on, the more she felt that Mo Jingsheng and Mo Jinxi looked alike.
It was a pity that Mo Jingsheng did not smile often. He looked a bit too serious. Even if he smiled, it was done so dimly and was not memorable.
She almost had an impulse to request Mo Jingsheng, "Can you please smile!"
After finis.h.i.+ng their meal, it was time for Mo Jinxi to return to the orphanage. Mo Jingsheng offered to send him back, saying, "I"ll be pa.s.sing by anyway."
Yan Beicheng nodded and allowed Mo Jinxi to leave with Mo Jingsheng.
Lin Chu did not object to it as well. It was because she had a belly full of questions to ask Yan Beicheng. It was becoming unbearable for her to hold it in.
The four went their separate ways. When Lin Chu got into the car, she asked, "Before we went inside the restaurant and was still in the parking lot, what did you want to tell me?"
"It was about Mo Jingyu"s matter, the one that Mo Jingsheng just told us," Yan Beicheng explained. "I didn"t think that he"d be open to talking about it. Mo Jingyu"s matter in the Mo Family is akin to my father"s matter in the Yan Family. It"s a topic that would not be simply brought up people. I was testing him today by asking if he"s looking for someone. For somebody with such a temperament, it doesn"t matter if you asked the question directly to his face. If he"s unwilling to talk about it, he won"t bother giving you face. We"re still considered outsiders to him, yet he shared the matter from that time with us."
Yan Beicheng finished his words and started to think thoughtfully. He quickly regained his gaze and concentrated on driving; he could not afford to have a mishap with Lin Chu and the baby.
Lin Chu frowned for quite a while before asking, "You"re also thinking that Jinxi could be the child they"ve been looking for, right?"
Yan Beicheng nodded. "I do think so. I was suspicious ever since I saw Mo Jingsheng"s att.i.tude toward Mo Jinxi at school. When we were eating, and he was talking about Mo Jingyu, I couldn"t help but relate Mo Jinxi to the missing child."
"Me too!" Lin Chu nodded incessantly as if she had found her bosom friend.
Yan Beicheng laughed at her act. He stopped the car at the red traffic lights and suddenly moved in to kiss her hard, grinding his lips onto hers.
As if he had calculated the timing, he retreated as soon as the traffic lights turned green, stepped the gas pedal and started driving again. His actions were so smooth he did not waste any time.
Yan Beicheng licked his lips a couple of times to savor Lin Chu"s flavor before saying, "Don"t mention anything about this to Jinxi for now."
Lin Chu nodded in agreement, but Yan Beicheng continued, "We are still only guessing despite feeling that it might be true. However, anything can happen before it"s confirmed so we would need to be cautious about it. If he can have a family, we will be just as happy as Mo Jinxi would be. It"s a good thing to have a family, but I fear that it might turn out to be a false hope and he will be disappointed. It would be better if we wait for the Mo Family to take action."
Lin Chu nodded and said, "I know. I thought the same as well. I won"t tell anyone about this, especially Jinxi. But you know the Mo Family, right? Can"t you ask them what are they going to do next?"
"I"ll find time tomorrow to meet Mo Jingsheng," Yan Beicheng said.
Mo Jingsheng sent Mo Jinxi back to the orphanage. As soon as he returned to his car, he took out an evidence bag that he had prepared earlier. He removed the pillowcase from the pillow that Mo Jinxi had slept on and put it in the bag. He then picked up the blanket the child had used and searched around it.
Unfortunately, Mo Jinxi had short hair and none of it stuck to onto the blanket. The pillowcase was more than enough anyway.
Mo Jingsheng had a residence of his own in the urban district that was near to the police station. Normally when he was handling a case, he would rest there. However, today he drove back to the Mo Family Mansion.
It was already nine o"clock at night when he arrived at the entrance of the Mo Family Mansion.
One could see from the outside of the house that the lights were still on. Mo Jingsheng took out his key and opened the door to enter. He was at the foyer when Aunt Li, hearing sounds, came out to see who it was. She greeted in surprise, "Young Master."
Mo Jingsheng nodded at her. After removing his shoes and changing to slippers, he went in. Madam Mo, whose maiden name was Liang Xiulin, and Police Chief Mo were both on their phones.
Liang Xiulin was browsing through her Moments on WeChat, but Police Chief Mo was reading the news. He had exclusive channels on his phone that were not subjected to domestic network restrictions. Every day, his secretary would send over major news from abroad and domestic for him. Police Chief Mo did not have Moments of his own, nor did he dare to have one. It would be a bad thing if he were to share out something that could be misinterpreted by the public.
Liang Xiulin heard Aunt Li"s voice and was finally willing to lift her head to look. She saw Mo Jingsheng and asked in a surprised tone as well, "Why did you come back today?"
Normally this son of hers would only visit on weekends.
Mo Jingsheng saw Liang Xiulin"s actions earlier and could not help but said, "Mom, even if you"re busy with your phone, you"d need to lift your head and move your neck once in a while."
"Alright, got it." Liang Xiulin put her phone down and grumbled, "Your dad"s been nagging me constantly, now that you"re back, you"re nagging me as well."
She looked at the time and asked, "Have you eaten?"
"Yes, I met Yan Beicheng and his wife and ate with them," Mo Jingsheng said as he sat down opposite Liang Xiulin.
Liang Xiulin looked at Mo Jingsheng, and could not hold back any longer and asked, "That child… Do you know of his whereabouts now?"
Mo Jingsheng pondered for a moment and replied, "I"ve come here today to talk about this. I visited the school today."
This time, even Police Chief Mo lifted his head. They all knew that all the clues led to the orphanage and the school.
"Did you see him?" Police Chief Mo took his gla.s.ses off. Even though he was concerned, his face still looked stern.
"The child ate with us. Yan Beicheng"s wife was very good to him. She had wanted to adopt him but he didn"t agree to it," Mo Jingsheng said and elaborated why Mo Jinxi had declined her offer.
"He"s a good kid," Police Chief Mo nodded.
"What if the child is not…" Liang Xiulin told herself to think of the worst-case scenario. If she placed too much hope this time, it would be difficult for her to bear the disappointment.
They had been searching for this child for too long. The child was so young when it went missing. The only clue they had was that the baby"s name and date of birth were placed inside the blanket together with it; however, they did not know the name and date of birth.
Many abandoned babies had their names and birthdates with them. Even if they had such a clue, it was akin to finding a single fish in a boundless ocean. It was close to impossible to find.
"The pillowcase in my car has his DNA. I"ll bring it for a paternity test tomorrow. We will get the result on the same day," Mo Jingsheng said.
Due to his job, it was a convenience he had.
Police Chief Mo could not read the news anymore.
That night, the Mo husband and wife did not sleep well. It was not just the two of them, even Lin Chu was tossing and turning around on the bed. She was constantly thinking about Mo Jinxi"s matter.
Yan Beicheng circled his long arm around her, it was just enough for his hand to be placed on her belly. Now it was no longer possible for him to only use one of his arms to encircle her fully.
"Stop tossing. Get some sleep. If you don"t, you"ll not feel good tomorrow," Yan Beicheng said.
He was not able to sleep the whole time as well due to Lin Chu"s tossing and turning.
Lin Chu was getting bulkier and nowadays she needed to get up at night and go to the toilet more frequently. From time to time, her legs would get cramps as well. Since the day Lin Chu started to not have an easy time staying asleep at night, Yan Beicheng did not dare to sleep soundly at night too.
He would wake up as soon as there was a little bit of movement from Lin Chu.
Hence that night, when Lin Chu was moving about, he had already woken up and was constantly worried about whether Lin Chu was feeling uncomfortable. After she tossed and turned three to four times, it was no wonder he could not sleep.
Even if he could not sleep, it did not mean that he was not sleepy. There was tiredness that could be heard from his voice.
He could no longer cuddle her face front as he used to since Lin Chu had a big belly now. He could only cling onto her from her back and rested his chin on her shoulder, gently placing his palms on her belly.
"I kept thinking about Jinxi"s matter and couldn"t sleep," Lin Chu said apologetically. "I"m disturbing you till you can"t sleep too. Do you want to sleep in another room?"
"..." Yan Beicheng smacked her a.s.s impolitely. The smack was neither fierce nor was it gentle. It was just enough for her to feel his dissatisfaction. It was not painful as well and was not a type of smacking that showed that he was mad at her.
Lin Chu had no idea how Yan Beicheng was able to control his force.
Then, she heard him saying, "What are you talking about? If I leave you here all alone, what if your legs cramp up in the middle of the night and n.o.body could hear you screaming?"
Lin Chu giggled coyly and turned around to sleep on her back. She used the side of her face to rub on Yan Beicheng"s face a couple of times, imitating Chu Xi"s action.
Yan Beicheng began to think that after Lin Chu was around Chu Xi for a long time, she had somehow been influenced by it.
Of course, he would be indifferent if Chu Xi was the one doing it to him. However, it would not be the same if it was Lin Chu.
"Stop thinking about it. Nothing will change even if you think about it the whole night. If there"s no result, it"ll stay the same," Yan Beicheng said as he hugged her and kissed the corner of her mouth. "Just stay calm and peaceful as before. If you really need to think, think that it is Mo Jinxi"s good fortune if he is a child of the Mo Family. Ident.i.ty and material items aside that the Mo Family could give him, the most important thing would be he now has a true family. It"s not the same as getting adopted, this would be the family that"s related by blood to him. If Mo Jinxi is not a child of the Mo Family, things can remain unchanged. In the orphanage, the children will continue to one another, and the old Princ.i.p.al and teachers will still be good to him. You will always be by his side too, even if you can"t adopt him, you can still treat him like a son as you have always been doing. He"s not going to lose out either way."
"I know this much as well," Lin Chu said as her fingertips glided lightly back and forth of on the back of Yan Beicheng"s arm. "Knowing that there"s a possibility of Jinxi getting a real family and have a better life, it"s difficult to act as usual."
"I was hesitant in telling you as well, but we promised to never keep anything from each other. I just didn"t think that Mo Jingsheng would be so open about it and beat me in telling you first," Yan Beicheng said with a low voice that sounded a little sleepy. It was hoa.r.s.e and sounded so good as if he was talking in his sleep. It almost sounded like a lullaby that was coaxing her to sleep.
"Mo Jingsheng has always been a cautious person. I felt that if he were to share it out so openly today, he might already know it in his heart that chances of it are high," Yan Beicheng said. "He might have asked Wen Ren to help in this matter; but Wen Ren"s too virtuous in his profession, he didn"t say a word about it even to me."
Lin Chu blinked a couple of times and suggested, "Then, should we ask Wen Ren about it?"
"Forget it. Even if we asked, he wouldn"t tell us," Yan Beicheng said as he rubbed her head. "When we were going against Lu Zhenghang, I asked for the Wen Family to help investigate because they"re good at keeping secrets. It does not matter if we"re close to them, the Wen Family will never expose anything related to their client. The Wen Family would not be where they are today if they do so."
"I should have known better," Lin Chu said. She used her knuckle to knock herself on the head. "I was just indulging in my fantasy."
"Stop knocking, I think you"ve become crazy from the pregnancy," Yan Beicheng said whilst holding back his laughter. Owing to his excellent vision in the dark, he was able to see the exact spot in which Lin Chu had knocked and placed his hand over to rub on it.
There was barely any pain since Lin Chu did not use a lot of strength when she knocked her head. Despite that, Yan Beicheng found the precise spot and ma.s.saged it lightly.
"I haven"t gone crazy," Lin Chu giggled twice. She let Yan Beicheng continued to ma.s.sage her head a while more.
Consequently, she pitied Yan Beicheng. She was afraid that his arms would feel sore. She grabbed his hand from her head and pulled it down.
"I"m not thinking about it anymore. You"re right. Even if it"s not him, Jinxi wouldn"t lose out on anything. We"ll continue to be good to him," Lin Chu said. She was unable to sleep on her side facing him, hence tried hard to snuggle into his embrace.
Yan Beicheng looked at what she was trying to do, she was so heavily pregnant but was still trying hard to squeeze herself onto him. He found it amusing and extended his arms to embrace her.
It was not known if Lin Chu did stop thinking about it or she did not want to affect Yan Beicheng"s sleep. In any case, she stayed motionless the whole night.
Yan Beicheng had consulted the doctor before about Lin Chu"s legs cramping at night, and he was told that it due to calcium deficiency. Hence, he had bought calcium supplements for Lin Chu, and recently, it seemed that Lin Chu"s legs did not cramp anymore in the middle of the night.
The next morning, whilst Lin Chu was eating breakfast with Yan Beicheng, she noticed that he was staring at her. Although he did not forget to eat his meal, he was still watching her while he was eating.