485. Public Execution
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Lin Nan had faced this kind of embarrassing scene more than once, but this time it was on a whole different level.
Her face was as red as a tomato, her heart racing like a drum, and all the eyes at the dining table were glued on her, making her feel utterly mortified.
Lin Jin, dressed in women’s clothing, had her identity recognized without batting an eye. Perhaps it was because she had been gone for over a decade, leading to a distant relationship with these cousins. Plus, she was once a well-known crossdresser years ago, so nobody was overly shocked by her presence.
After all, the Lin family only had bl**d ties; their relationship was barely better than strangers.
But not for Lin Nan.
She left this place during middle school but made it a point to come back for the holidays, sometimes seeking out a few cousins to hang out with. Although she hadn’t returned since meeting Lilith last year, her cousins still had feelings for her.
Otherwise, Lin Qi and that chubby second cousin wouldn’t have gone searching for her during the New Year because of her absence.
“Why is your phone with her?” the eldest cousin blurted out first.
Lin Nan gripped the phone in her pocket, cursing herself for not putting it on silent. Her arms trembled slightly as she took a deep breath.
“I…”
She paused. While she had shared her situation with quite a few people in the past, normally there was someone there to back her up, and she had only told one person at a time. But now, with this crowd…
In addition to the three who already knew, there were all these other cousins she wasn’t very familiar with.
This was really hard to swallow.
Her mind raced as she scrambled for an excuse, her narrow shoulders quivering slightly, and her lovely face paling.
A wave of unprecedented shame surged through her, making Lin Nan deeply regret not explaining her situation to a few cousins beforehand. Now she had to air this in front of everyone.
It felt like a public execution!
Everyone’s eyes were fixed on her, eagerly waiting for her response.
How should she play this off?
What excuse could she come up with?
Lin Qi! Lin Jin! Help me out here!
As she breathed, she felt her limbs starting to tingle, breaking out in a sweat, her mind spiraling into a fog from intense shame and nerves.
But a strange and familiar thrill ignited in her brain, gradually stirring her excitement.
“Um…”
“I…”
She hesitated, wanting to use the excuse of her boyfriend’s phone temporarily resting on her, but that would probably only fool kids.
“She is Lin Nan,” Lin Qi finally couldn’t hold back, “Due to some reasons, she had surgery six months ago and looks like this now.”
Lin Nan shot him a grateful glance.
If she had said that in front of the whole table of cousins, she might have fainted from how humiliating it was.
Lin Qi’s explanation immediately silenced the chatter, and everyone looked at her, glimpsing traces of her former male self on her face.
Fearing misunderstanding, Lin Nan lowered her head and stuttered, “I was originally a girl…”
“It’s some kind of intersex condition. I’ve seen her medical report; she was always meant to be a girl,” Lin Qi chimed in to support her.
Even with Lin Qi’s help, the weight of everyone’s peculiar stares made Lin Nan’s face uncontrollably flush.
She kept her head down, nervously clutching her clothing.
Their gazes seemed to shift, from surprise to curiosity, with a hint of disdain… Even though she knew there would always be those who misunderstood her or couldn’t accept her, it still stung when she felt those judgmental eyes.
Suddenly, a delicate hand grasped hers, and she turned to see Lin Jin giving her an encouraging look.
She breathed a little easier.
“Could you clarify?” the chubby second cousin shot Lin Qi a glare, “Now I’m totally confused. So is she Lin Nan’s girlfriend or Lin Nan herself?”
“What the heck does that intersex thing even mean?” the second cousin demanded bluntly.
Lin Qi helplessly explained more clearly.
As he spoke, Lin Nan secretly raised her head, stealing glances at the expressions of the people at the table.
The eldest cousin was still in shock, the second cousin looked impatient, and as for the other cousins, they had likely never interacted with her much and were now whispering to each other about who-knows-what.
One cousin seemed to misunderstand something, her eyes on Lin Nan and Lin Jin filled with malice, though she didn’t show it directly, just maintaining a poker face while munching on sunflower seeds.
Speaking of sunflower seeds…
Lin Nan finally looked at her own plate, realizing that despite having worked hard to crack open seeds, she hadn’t eaten a single one, and the plate was already empty.
She didn’t particularly care about the opinions of the cousins, but the cousins’ reactions?
“Well, just clear it up, I thought something really bad happened.”
Once Lin Qi finished explaining, the second cousin cursed and said to Lin Nan, “You’re pulling this huge stunt and didn’t even let us know? Don’t you care what your brother thinks?”
Just then, the eldest cousin opened his mouth, but a bridesmaid in a formal dress suddenly swooped in to drag him away, clearly indicating the wedding was about to start.
The second cousin glanced over and told Lin Qi, “Get lost, I’m sitting next to Nan Nan.”
With the shift in seating, the second cousin’s two-hundred-pound self plopped down beside Lin Nan, making her suddenly feel very cramped.
She quietly shuffled her chair a bit closer to Lin Jin.
“You little rascal, you didn’t take me as your brother, did you?” The second cousin started attacking Lin Nan the moment he sat down. “I was looking everywhere for you before the New Year, couldn’t reach you on the phone or message you on QQ or WeChat, and now you show up at a wedding as your boyfriend!”
“Oh, and you even fought with your dad. What was the fight about?” he paused, suddenly enlightened. “Ah! It was about this, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Lin Nan weakly nodded, the redness on her face refusing to go away.
“That’s gotta be frustrating. He raised you as a son for over a decade only for you to turn into a daughter.” The second cousin burst into laughter. “He’s probably paying for some sin he committed in his past life.”
Why did that sound so very unflattering?
Lin Nan sighed dramatically, rolling her eyes.
“You changing your looks is one thing, but your personality now seems more like a little girl’s?” The second cousin suddenly recalled how she used to be and shot Lin Qi an accusatory look. “Why didn’t you tell me about Lin Nan’s situation when you knew? Were you just waiting to see me make a fool of myself?”
Lin Qi shrugged. “I thought you might not accept it.”
A closely-related implication made him lift his head, scanning the table and finding that indeed, a few people seemed unable to comprehend Lin Nan’s changes.
“Those who can’t accept it are probably just fake relatives, right? I grew up sharing pants with Lin Nan, what’s not to accept? She’s still my cousin, after all.”
“Lin Nan will still sleep with me tonight, right?” The second cousin asked as he instinctively reached out to put his arm around Lin Nan’s shoulders, but ended up hugging emptiness.
He looked shocked at Lin Nan, while she kept her head down, and the unfamiliar Lin Jin was glaring at him.
“Keep your hands to yourself,” Lin Jin warned. “Unless you’re planning on undergoing surgery too.”
With that, it finally clicked for him: no more hugging or sleeping together with his cousins. Things would have to stay distant from now on.
