202. Aunt?
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When Lin Nan woke up the next day, it was only five in the morning.
Her head felt like it was about to explode, and the headache was nearly unbearable.
But she wasn’t too concerned about the pain; she opened her eyes, numbly staring at the ceiling, then shifted her gaze to Chen Yao, who was sitting in a chair.
“Awake?”
After pulling an all-nighter, Chen Yao looked a bit worn out, heavy black circles under his eyes. He looked up to meet Lin Nan’s cold, empty gaze and felt a twinge in his heart.
“Let me get you some breakfast?”
Lin Nan had practically forgotten everything from last night when she was drunk, yet she still felt down, shaking her head and forcing a slight smile: “Not hungry.”
“I called your mom. She said she’s coming to pick you up today.”
“Mm.” Lin Nan didn’t seem overly thrilled. She just stared blankly at the inn’s décor.
Chen Yao had no clue what was going through her mind, so he continued, “I’ll go with you; I’ve got nothing to do before the New Year anyway. Let’s go have some fun in your countryside!”
“Where will you stay?”
After a night, Lin Nan obviously seemed much better than when he first saw her yesterday. She was willing to talk and even showed a little concern for Chen Yao.
But her eyes still reflected some resistance and indifference to the outside world, which made Chen Yao’s heart ache.
You see, before this, Lin Nan had only been extremely wary of outsiders, but she had never acted like this.
“If you have a place for me to stay, I’ll stay there. If not, I’ll find a small inn for a few days.” Chen Yao yawned widely, getting up to stretch, “I’ll get you breakfast. Don’t wander off.”
“Mm.”
Lin Nan watched his back as he left through the door and had no intention of getting up. She curled her legs up, glanced at her phone on the bedside table.
Hugging her knees, she rested her chin on them and started fiddling with her phone.
She didn’t know what to play with; usually interesting short videos held her attention, but today, no interest at all. She scrolled through her apps and finally clicked on WeChat.
She didn’t usually use WeChat, typically checking it every few days for messages from her mother. The last time she opened it must have been a few days ago before her finals.
Back then, she had messaged her mother with an approximate return time, waited for half an hour for a reply, and then forgot about it.
This time when she opened WeChat, she found a flurry of messages from her mother.
Scrolling down, she saw that two days ago, her mother had sent a message saying she had officially resolved the divorce issue, moved to her grandfather’s place in the countryside, and found a job at a factory, hoping to gather the surgery funds for Lin Nan as soon as possible.
The recent messages included a voice message from last night.
“Your friend just called from your phone. Didn’t he say to go straight to your grandfather’s when you get back? Why are you going over there?”
“What did your father do again? I’m going over to pick you up with your uncle tomorrow afternoon.”
“Dealing with your father’s divorce stuff, the lawsuit took ages. Finally got half a house from him… Your father will give us money based on market value, and soon we’ll have enough for your surgery…”
The voice on the WeChat message quivered a bit.
Lin Nan’s heart, which had been as gray as ashes, began to stir with some emotion. A faint smile appeared on her face; her mother seemed to care about her, but had been too caught up in the divorce mess to pay her much attention.
She started to look forward to the scene of meeting her mother again, anticipating her mother’s care.
But why was Chen Yao still not back?
Feeling a bit of hope, Lin Nan’s mood lightened, and her eyes began to flicker with life.
But what about her father?
She always hoped her father could accept her, but her plans had been interrupted by Chen Yao.
After what felt like an eternity, Chen Yao finally returned, not only with Lin Nan’s breakfast but also with her suitcase and Cola.
“Yo! Did you have fun last night?”
Cola meowed, greeting Lin Nan, jumping from Chen Yao’s arms onto the bed, looking around and seeing no blood or signs of discomfort from Lin Nan, immediately gave Chen Yao a look of disdain.
Wait, is this guy gay or something?
Chen Yao looked bewildered, while Lin Nan hugged Cola and gently rubbed her face against the cat.
“You seem to be in a better mood?” Chen Yao set the breakfast down on the bedside table, plopped down at the edge of the bed, asking, “Your mom should be picking you up in the afternoon, right? Want to hang out at my place for a bit?”
“Your place?”
“This inn can only accommodate guests until noon. What are you going to do for the rest of the day? Take the cat to an internet cafe?”
Lin Nan had been to Chen Yao’s house before, that was where she first dressed as a girl, so she nodded without much hesitation.
She got up from the bed; even though she had just woken up, she still felt utterly exhausted, suffering from a hangover that made her head throb.
But she didn’t complain much, heading straight to the bathroom. When she looked up, she saw in the mirror that her face looked haggard, her complexion pale, her hair a mess like a bird’s nest. She looked like a ghost from a horror movie!
But even so, she looked like a pretty ghost.
She didn’t care too much about her appearance, just tidied her hair with a disposable comb a little, washed up quickly, and after a simple breakfast, followed Chen Yao out of the inn.
“Your mom said she’s coming with your uncle’s car in the afternoon…” Chen Yao dragged the suitcase beside her, “Does your uncle know about your situation?”
“He knows.” Although Lin Nan felt a bit better thanks to her mother coming in the afternoon, she remained somewhat mute, looking down with her long hair hiding her expression.
“Will he accept you?”
Well, probably?
Lin Nan nodded, not saying much.
Chen Yao felt helpless about Lin Nan’s state. Even though she looked slightly better than last night, compared to her demeanor at school, something seemed off now.
If Lin Nan suddenly decided to end it all, Chen Yao wouldn’t be surprised; otherwise, he wouldn’t have thought to follow her all the way to her hometown.
The two found a private three-wheeler, and in less than ten minutes, they arrived at Chen Yao’s front door.
Chen Yao yawned as he pushed the door open and walked in, only to do a double-take as he discovered his mother was still in the house at this late hour.
“Mom, it’s already past six! Aren’t you opening today?”
His family ran a restaurant, usually from six in the morning to six at night, and his parents would usually head out to buy groceries around four.
“Almost New Year, we’re taking a break for a while.”
He felt a bit flustered, turning to glance at Lin Nan, who had already taken off her shoes and entered the house, feeling at a loss for how to explain.
Looking up from her phone, his aunt unexpectedly noticed her son had brought a girl home.
Thinking she would scold him, she instead greeted him with a beaming smile, eagerly taking the suitcase from his hands, then pulled out a pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet and placed them in front of Lin Nan.
With a warm smile, she looked at Lin Nan, full of excitement.
“Sweetheart, come on in! I’m so unprepared since you came so suddenly.”
Auntie was grinning from ear to ear, and Chen Yao suddenly realized his mother might have mistaken Lin Nan for his girlfriend.
