Chapter 101: Father
Around ten in the morning, Lin Nan and his mother returned home.
He didn’t sleep well last night—first he was seething with anger, then a wave of embarrassment hit him like a freight train, and by the time he finally dozed off around two or three in the morning, he was tormented by nightmares.
At about five, they were both dragged out of bed by Uncle to watch the sunrise.
Meanwhile, his mother had an amazing sleep—the magic of the night didn’t quite work as intended but ended up giving her a quality snooze.
Lin Nan, on the other hand, was barely holding it together. By the time they got home, he was fighting back sleep with every ounce of willpower.
As he walked through the door, yawning like a grizzly bear emerging from hibernation, his mother was buzzing with energy. Seeing him like that, she asked with genuine concern, “Tired? Do you want to catch a few more Z’s?”
“Just a quick rest before I check on Dad,” Lin Nan plopped onto the sofa, sleepiness crashing over him like a wave. He barely sat down before dozing off.
“How about grabbing something to eat first? There are fish balls in the fridge.” His mother turned to head to the kitchen, but when she turned back, she saw that he had made himself comfy on the couch, stretching like a cat preparing for a nap.
“Aren’t you going to see your dad?”
“Let me sleep first, okay?” Lin Nan hesitated. He worried he might say something stupid in his drowsy state. But the thought of potentially sleeping until evening and missing his chance to visit Dad made him rethink, “Okay, I’ll have some fish balls before I head over.”
“Alright.”
“Which hospital is he in?”
“County hospital.”
At the mention of his father, his mother’s expression suddenly went ice-cold.
Lin Nan sighed. He had no idea how to face his dad. To him, his parents felt more like half-strangers. Things were sorted out on the maternal front, at least; there was no longer any dispute about his identity, and guilt had hastened their relationship to warm up, but on the paternal side…
He had never had much of a soft spot for his dad. Whenever his mother was home, she’d occasionally show some concern for him and clean up around the house, not to mention she was the one who handed out money. Dad, however, just sat there like a rock in front of the TV, expressionless.
In his eyes, his father was a stern, old-fashioned guy.
But that enchantment magic might just work on Dad. Still, he feared it might turn into some creepy “bad father” story.
After finishing the fish balls, Lin Nan decided to call Chen Yao along.
After all, if he got hit, Chen Yao could have his back. And if there was a need to make a hasty exit, it’d be nice to have a buddy to bail him out. Plus, the safety net of having Chen Yao around felt far more reassuring than his mother’s company.
The fish balls barely passed as lunch, given that the family spices were sparse and his mother hadn’t cooked in years—even when she was home, it was takeout or instant junk like fish ball soup.
“Let’s go,” his mother’s expression had turned serious, her brows furrowed with worry as she looked at Lin Nan washing the dishes.
“Right away!”
After a quick wash of the dishes and stuffing them into the cupboard, Lin Nan dashed to the bathroom to splash some water on his face, temporarily shaking off the sleepiness.
Before long, Chen Yao arrived, someone his mother had at least seen a few times, so she recognized him as Lin Nan’s best friend.
The county hospital wasn’t far from their place. They exited the urban village and walked about half a block into an alley, eventually coming upon the shabby entrance of the county hospital.
Compared to the city hospital, this place looked like it was in another dimension—small and worn down. The hospital had an outpatient section at one end and inpatient quarters at the other, and Lin Nan had been here a few times to visit his grandfather when he was gravely ill.
This time he was back, and with his mother leading the way, they quickly found his father’s ward.
Peering through the glass window of the ward door, Lin Nan saw it was a four-person room but only his dad was occupying it. There was a thirty-something nurse chatting with him, sharing a laugh like they were old pals.
He looked over at his mother, and her expression clearly darkened.
Even though his father was over forty, he still had that hint of youthful charm, except now his hair was speckled with gray and his face was lined with wrinkles. Lin Nan’s oval face was practically a carbon copy of Dad’s.
Too bad that guy’s temper was about as warm as a polar bear’s hug.
After a brief pause, his mother pushed the door open and walked into the hospital room with a poker face. Lin Nan ducked in behind her, head down, while Chen Yao loitered at the entrance, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, observing this peculiar family reunion.
“What are you doing here?” Dad, who had just been in a jovial conversation with the nurse, suddenly turned serious and glared at his mother.
The nurse, sensing the shift in atmosphere, smartly exited the ward.
Then Dad’s gaze landed on Lin Nan, who was trying to play hide and seek behind his mother. His brow furrowed. “Who is this?”
Couldn’t even recognize me.
Lin Nan’s face went pale. Previously, he thought maybe his parents would still see through his growing femininity since his features hadn’t really changed much, but now his father acted as if he was staring at a stranger.
He cautiously glanced up at Dad—yup, still got that leg in a cast hanging off the end of the bed. He might look intimidating, but not like he could pose much of a threat.
Lin Nan let out a sigh of relief, and perhaps Mom noticed he was effectively bedridden, so she casually replied, “This is Lin Nan.”
Dad looked bewildered, scrutinizing the girl standing behind his wife, utterly failing to see that this was his son.
Sure, there was a slight resemblance in the eyebrows, but his son was a boy, wasn’t he?
Mom reached into her bag, pulled out the medical examination report, and tossed it like a ninja star onto the bedside table right in front of Dad, who was still eyeing Lin Nan with confusion. “You take a look.”
“What the heck?” Dad scoffed. “If you want a divorce, just get it over with. Don’t drag me into your nonsense! The house belongs to my son, so this doesn’t concern you! There’s nothing to discuss!”
“Did I not contribute when buying the house? Didn’t I work hard to earn that money?!”
“Didn’t I buy the truck?” Dad slammed the table trying to sit up, forgetting about his leg in a cast, and stumbled backward onto the bed.
“So I was just a housekeeper in your home for twenty years, huh?!”
“A housekeeper? I didn’t exactly keep you on the payroll!”
The two of them seemed to have completely forgotten Lin Nan existed, launching into a heated argument about the distribution of assets in their divorce. Lin Nan stood awkwardly to one side, realizing that, in his father’s eyes, the division of property was apparently more important than him, the son.
His mood plummeted as he felt increasingly uneasy, unsure how to deal with the whole mess.
Finally, after a moment of reluctant concession from his mother, the topic of divorce simmered down.
She pointed at the medical report lying on the bedside.
“Take a look at what your son has turned into!”
Lin Nan froze for a moment; maybe his mother didn’t mean anything by it, but those words hit him like a punch to the gut.
