Chapter 184: It can’t be just me missing you, you have to miss me too
The mobile phone on the table lit up.
A new email popped up.
Pei Qingji picked up the mobile phone and tapped to open it. The attachment contained two freshly printed paternity test reports.
He raised his eyelids and glanced at Lian Li. Without any noticeable trace, he opened the attachment and finished reading one, then opened the second.
Surprise flashed in Pei Qingji’s eyes, and after a moment, he put down the mobile phone as if nothing had happened.
“Thank you.” Lian Li finished reading, put the information and photographs back into the document bag, and returned it intact. “Thank you for your trouble during this time. I’ll treat you to a meal another day.”
The lighting in the western restaurant was soft, casting a glow on her delicate face, as if shrouded in a thin layer of cold light.
Lian Li’s long lashes drooped slightly. She politely bid him farewell, “Then I have other things to attend to, so I’ll be going now. Goodbye.”
Her expression seemed no different from usual. Pei Qingji took the document bag and did not deliver the well-rehearsed speech he had prepared. He merely nodded.
At that moment, an assistant brought over a black box and respectfully addressed him, “Mr. Pei.”
Pei Qingji took out a lighter and ignited the document and photographs he had shown Lian Li. The burning flames reflected in his pupils, while his mind conjured images of those two paternity test reports.
Halfway through the burning, the Second Young Master Jin, who was in Shanghai, called.
“I didn’t tell her,” Pei Qingji stated directly. “It would be better for you to tell her. My identity is not suitable.”
Lian Li was wary of him, and he couldn’t discern whether she was sad or not. It was truly difficult for him to comfort his brother’s girlfriend.
Jin Shi Yue chose not to tell Lian Li himself. Firstly, investigating the Zhong Family carried significant risk, and he didn’t want to burden her or involve her. Secondly, he was helping her and didn’t expect anything in return, so it was better for her not to know.
Jin Yan Ting prioritized family interests and would not delve deeply into the foundations of aristocratic families. He knew Zhong Yingyi was already married with children. If he were to inform Lian Li, it would only add to her sadness, with no joy of a mother-daughter reunion.
Since it would only bring torment, it was better to keep Lian Li in the dark for her entire life.
Before receiving the email, Pei Qingji agreed with Jin Yan Ting’s approach. Rather than telling Lian Li the truth and causing her pain, it was better to conceal it forever.
However, after reading the email, Pei Qingji changed his mind.
Regardless of whether the outcome was painful or joyful, Lian Li had the right to know the truth and to know who was helping her from the shadows.
Jin Shi Yue’s tone on the other end of the phone became slightly serious. “Where is she?”
“She just left the restaurant,” Pei Qingji paused for a moment, then continued, “On the surface, she seemed the same as usual. It’s hard to tell if she’s sad.”
Jin Shi Yue scoffed. “If you could tell, you wouldn’t be single all this time.”
Pei Qingji: “…”
The Second Young Master, who was dating, began to attack the bachelor. Men in the throes of love were truly terrifying.
–
The air outside was fresher. As Lian Li walked out of the western restaurant’s gate, the air eagerly rushed into her lungs.
She stopped, giving herself a moment to buffer.
Lian Li stared blankly at the bustling traffic on the street, her vision still filled with the document and information she had just seen.
She tried to comfort herself, telling herself that a few documents and photographs couldn’t explain everything. Yet, for so many years, she and Lian Jingcheng had exhausted all means but couldn’t find any news of their mother.
If their mother was a member of the Zhong Family, and she didn’t want them to find her, then they would absolutely never find her.
Living in Taipei for a while with a fake identification card, disappearing without a trace, erasing all signs of existence, vanishing into thin air… these were not things an ordinary person could accomplish.
Lian Li took a deep breath, trying to suppress the unbearable sourness. However, the incoming air felt like cotton, blocking her throat and causing her to cough incessantly.
“Cough…”
Lian Li’s heart ached, and she felt a bitter sense of suffocation.
The cheerful ringtone of her mobile phone suddenly sounded, jarringly and rudely interrupting her distress, causing a crack to appear on the mirror of her sorrow.
Lian Li took out her mobile phone and looked down. Upon seeing who it was, her breathing gradually became smoother.
She answered the call, not speaking immediately.
Jin Shi Yue’s deep voice came through, “Wait for me at home tonight.”
Lian Li, who had just been coughing, bent over and leaned against the wall. Hearing his voice, she gradually relaxed and squatted by the wall, oblivious to her surroundings.
“Didn’t you say two days?”
She cleared her throat. Although she tried her best to act as if nothing had happened, the subtle change in her voice betrayed her.
Jin Shi Yue paused for a second and said casually, “Last night and today don’t count as two days?”
The Second Young Master Jin seemed to be detached from the human world. It was one thing that he didn’t understand common sense, but he could even miscalculate time.
Lian Li patiently replied, “Night plus day counts as one day.”
Jin Shi Yue drawled, “Oh.” “You haven’t seen your boyfriend for a day, don’t you miss him?”
“No,” Lian Li replied, looking down and kicking a pebble on the ground with her foot.
“Start missing me now.” His tone was imperious, like issuing a decree.
“Why?” Lian Li asked.
“Because I’m thinking of you,” Jin Shi Yue said. “Lian Li, it can’t be just me thinking of you; you have to think of me too.”
Lian Li’s action of kicking the pebble stopped.
She raised her head and looked at the sun hanging in the sky. The scorching sun shone down, making her body feel warm.
After a moment, Lian Li said softly, “Then if you scold me, do I have to scold you too?”
“When have I ever scolded you?” Jin Shi Yue asked.
“You said I was blind, deaf, mute, and like a clumsy little penguin.” Lian Li had a good memory and accurately extracted the keywords.
Jin Shi Yue chuckled. “Alright, I’ll scold you back in person tonight. I promise not to fight back or retort.”
He didn’t argue, his tone casual and unrestrained.
Lian Li felt too embarrassed to scold him. She touched her nose and said, “Then what time will you be back? If it’s too late, I won’t wait for you to eat.”
“Eight o’clock. You eat first,” Jin Shi Yue said lazily. “Eat until you’re full and wait for your boyfriend obediently at home.”
Hearing him say the reduplicated word ‘obediently,’ Lian Li remembered that she had previously told him about the interstellar celestial body Oumuamua, and his response, “Small, yet with great energy,” also used a reduplicated word.
It was strange for the Eldest Young Master to use reduplicated words; it didn’t suit his demeanor at all.
The corners of her mouth couldn’t help but curve into a smile. “Oh.”
The pain that surfaced would eventually disappear. That day would come, sooner or later, faster or slower, but it would come.
Her heart still ached because of her mother’s situation, but it wasn’t as unbearable anymore.
After hanging up the phone, Lian Li composed herself, looked down at her mobile phone messages, and walked along the sparsely populated street.
After walking about a hundred meters, a light blue Lamborghini stopped in front of her. A decisive middle-aged woman stepped out of the front passenger seat, exuding an imposing aura.
The middle-aged woman walked forward in high heels and said to her, “Miss Lian, our Madam requests your presence.”
Lian Li shifted her gaze from her mobile phone to the unfamiliar face before her. “Madam?”
“Madam Chen Shifei,” the middle-aged woman said. “The mother of the Eldest Young Master and the Second Young Master.”
