Chapter 103 - Running Away
“Is there a guest visiting?” Lin Hong, the boss of the Lin family, was over 60 years old. He had devoted himself to studying his entire life and his interpersonal skills were almost zero.
He saw Li Zhao and subconsciously asked, “Sister-in-law, is this your mother’s relative?”
“Brother, speak first. It is cold outside.” Seeing Lin Hong’s beard and messy hair, Lin Shen knew his brother had just returned from the research institute.
Li Zhao didn’t know this person but the professor called him ‘brother.’ Thus, he got up to get a new set of tableware from the kitchen. By the time he came out of the kitchen, Lin Hong was already sitting at the table and talking excitedly about the gene bank.
“The construction of the gene bank requires a lot of data, software support and money. At the beginning of this year, due to a shortage of funds, the institute originally planned to stop this project.” Lin Hong took the tableware from Li Zhao. “The result was that at a critical time, someone donated a lot of money to support the project and let it continue. For the sake of completing the project as soon as possible, he increased his investment and helped introduce several assistants with outstanding capabilities to the institute.”
Lin Hong took two mouthfuls of chicken soup and continued to share the good news with his brother. “I heard others say that his sponsor has a very important friend who was separated from his parents since childhood and suffered a lot. He only invested heavily for this friend.”
Hearing this sentence, Li Zhao was stunned. He didn’t know why but he thought of Yan Ting.
Lin Hong finished speaking in one breath, picked up his chopsticks and started to eat. He wasn’t picky and ate everything in a very regular manner. Li Zhao thought that this was probably the mysteriousness of a scientific research boss?
Lin Hong was presumably aware of Li Zhao’s gaze and suddenly looked up at him. “Whose relative are you in my sister-in-law’s family?”
“Big Brother, he is a student of Beijing University, not a relative of my mother’s family.” Du Yushu smiled helplessly. “Finish eating and stay here tonight. Have your assistant pick you up tomorrow.”
“Oh.” Lin Hong stared into Li Zhao’s eyes. “He looks a bit like you so I thought he was your relative.”
The moment this sentence exited, Li Zhao felt that the expressions of the professor and the auntie were very strange. There were sadness, helplessness and even a bit of embarrassment.
Li Zhao, who usually ate four bowls of rice, only ate three bowls.
After dinner, Li Zhao was going to wash the dishes but he was blocked by Du Yushu, who handed the dirty bowls to Lin Shen. “You should accompany Uncle L in to watch TV for a while. I have to talk to Old Lin in the kitchen.”
The kitchen door closed. Li Zhao heard the sound of running water and… vague crying. Li Zhao was a bit embarrassed and Lin Hong, sitting next to him, seemed to be at a loss.
“I said the wrong thing again.” Lin Hong was restless, grasping the sofa cushion with both hands. The sofa cushion was wrinkled by him.
Li Zhao didn’t know what to say. He could only push the fruit plate on the table in front of Lin Hong.
Some time passed before the professor came out and smiled gently at Li Zhao. “There is snow outside. Go back to your dormitory early. Take tomorrow’s exams seriously and strive for a scholarship.”
“You are too serious. A scholarship is too hard for me.” Li Zhao pretended not to see that the atmosphere of Professor Lin’s home wasn’t right. He first went to the kitchen door to say goodbye to Du Yushu. “Auntie, I’m going back to my dormitory first.”
“Be careful on the way.” Du Yushu packed a bag of fruit for Li Zhao. “Take it back and share it with your classmates in the dormitory. Don’t stay up late.”
Her smile was still gentle but the corner of her eyes were a bit red.
“Okay.” Li Zhao knew he shouldn’t speak so he squeezed out a big smile and left Professor Lin’s house with the fruit.
The sky was slightly dark and snow was falling again. Li Zhao took a breath only to find that he had forgotten to wear a scarf. A snowflake fell on his neck, so cold that he shivered.
“Zhao Zhao, wait.” Du Yushu chased after him with a scarf. She came so quickly that she didn’t even have time to put on a coat.
“Auntie, it’s cold outside. Don’t catch a cold.” Li Zhao ran forward and took the scarf, urging Du Yushu to return home.
“Okay.” Du Yushu glanced at Li Zhao and smiled before returning to the staff building. As soon as she reached the stairs, Lin Shen ran over with a coat.
“You aren’t wearing a coat. If your fans know that their goddess isn’t wearing a coat in the snow, they will definitely scold me for not taking care of you.” Lin Shen took his wife’s shoulder and walked home. “Are you cold?”
Du Yushu shook her head.
“Yushu, if you like Li Zhao so much, why don’t you tell him that you will take him as an adopted son…”
“No.” Du Yushu shook her head, opened the door and entered the house. “If Shao Shao knows, he will think we have forgotten him and don’t like him. He will be sad.”
Lin Shen stopped talking. He closed the door gently and poured a cup of hot water for his wife. “Drink some water.”
“Old Lin, that child has a mole on the back of his neck, just like Shao Shao.” Du Yushu held the cup, her voice trembling slightly. “Every time I see him, I can’t help thinking that Shao Shao should be as pretty as him when he grew up.”
However, she knew the age of her son. He was forever stuck at three months old. He couldn’t even walk in the world, let alone run. She knew that fantasizing about Li Zhao being her child was disrespecting Li Zhao. She also wanted to control herself but she couldn’t do so.
In the beginning, Old Lin came back and told her that he met a boy who looked like her and had a mole on his neck. She thought that Old Lin was hallucinating the child. Later, she saw Li Zhao for herself and discovered that Old Lin hadn’t lied to her.
It was just that a mole on the neck was too common. Many people might have moles on their necks but the position or size was slightly different.
Faced with Li Zhao’s bright smile, she couldn’t bear to tell the child that their goodness and care for him all originated from their love for their biological child. She was ashamed but she still wanted to look at him more. Then she deceived herself in her heart. If her child grew up then he must be so cute and pleasing.
“Second Brother, go to the gene bank to collect your genetic data. Perhaps…”
Lin Hong wanted to say, ‘Perhaps the child isn’t dead yet?’
This hope was too slim and might even be a mental torture for Lin Shen and his wife. Even Lin Hong, with zero emotional intelligence couldn’t say anything.
The room was quiet. Lin Shen held his wife and turned to look at the snow out the window. He couldn’t help thinking that he should’ve given Li Zhao an umbrella just now.
Back in the dormitory, all his roommates were reading books. Li Zhao came back and Qian Duo told him, “There are no seats in the study room. We couldn’t find a spot so we came back.”
“The other students went early in the morning. It is normal not to find a spot.” Li Zhao distributed the fruits to them. “Eat fruit. I will go to the toilet to make a phone call.”
He had just spoken when the phone rang. Yan Ting had called him first.”
“Zhao Zhao.” Yan Ting’s voice was a bit faster than usual. “Did I disturb your studying?”
“No, I was just about to call you when you called me first.” Li Zhao went to the toilet and closed the door to not affect his roommates. “Did you eat well?”
“Yes.” Yan Ting flipped through the report on the establishment of the gene bank that the institute had handed him. “Zhao Zhao, a gene bank has recently been set up which has the function to help lost children and their parents to compare genes. Once you finish your exams…”
Li Zhao couldn’t hear Yan Ting’s words after that. He remembered Professor Lin’s older brother saying that the gene bank project was almost abandoned. Finally, it was successfully completed because someone provided a lot of capital and technical support. It turned out that this person was really Yan Ting.
“Ting Ting. “Li Zhao felt that at this moment, he really missed Yan Ting. “I miss you.”
Yan Ting’s words came to an abrupt end. After a few seconds, he asked, “Don’t you… miss them?”
Li Zhao knew the ‘they’ that came from Yan Ting was referring to his biological parents.
“No, I miss you.” Li Zhao opened the toilet window and the cold wind stabilized his emotions. “Ting Ting, in my heart, you are my most important lover and most important relative. You gave me a home.”
Yan Ting had imagined what would happen after Li Zhao found his parents. Perhaps they wouldn’t like Zhao Zhao, wouldn’t like Zhao Zhao being with a man or perhaps they were no longer in the world.
However, Zhao Zhao wanted to find his parents. He wanted a home. He never thought Li Zhao would tell him that he had given Li Zhao a home.
His uneasiness and possessiveness all disappeared at this moment.
“Yan Ting, I don’t seem to have told you yet.” In this small toilet, Li Zhao’s voice was as soft as the winter sunshine. “I love you.”
“Regardless of whether I find my parents in the future or not, you are my favourite person.” Li Zhao laughed lightly. “No one can break us apart.”
He couldn’t bear for Yan Ting to feel any uneasiness or sadness.
“Zhao Zhao.” Yan Ting took a breath and hurriedly asked, “If in the future, your parents don’t agree with us…”
“Then I’ll run away with you.” Li Zhao laughed. “Who can stop us?”
“Okay, we will run away.” Yan Ting stood under the dormitory and looked up at the window of the dormitory where Li Zhao was located. “Zhao Zhao, you come down.”
“What?” Li Zhao thought of something. He opened the toilet door and went to the balcony to look down. There was a man wearing a long trench coat, his hair and shoulders covered with snow.”
“I’ll take you to run away.”
“Okay.” Li Zhao held his phone, opened the dormitory door and ran out. “Wait for me.”
“What’s going on?” Qian Duo saw Li Zhao running so fast and not even closing the door. He went to the balcony to look but there was no beauty. There was only a fool standing in the open air, cold wind blowing at him.
He just thought this when he saw Li Zhao rushing out the door of the dormitory building and jumping on the ‘fool.’ The ‘fool’ supported Li Zhao, reaching out to help pull down his down jacket and hat. Once Li Zhao’s body was covered tightly, he leaned down to carry Li Zhao on his back.
On… his back?!
Qian Duo’s eyes widened like he had seen something he shouldn’t have seen.
“Qian Duo Duo, what are you looking at?” Chen Pang saw Qian Duo lying on the balcony and was ready to get up to take a look.
“It’s nothing.” Qian Duo naturally pressed Chen Pang back on the chair and walked to his table. “I was just looking to see if the snow outside had stopped.”
He subconsciously helped Li Zhao hide it. The fewer people who knew about this type of thing, the better. Fortunately, it was dark and no one knew it was Li Zhao. Otherwise, tomorrow’s headlines would be very lively.
The author has something to say:
Baby Ting Ting and Baby Zhao Zhao held hands and ran away from kindergarten.
It is because they suspect their parents won’t let them play together.