Chapter 43

Ling Sichen didn’t answer immediately, either organizing his thoughts or finding it difficult to talk about.

Shen Yan, worried that he had been too abrupt, quickly added, “Don’t force yourself. I’m just a little worried, after all, Duan Yang isn’t a good person, I’m afraid he…”

Ling Sichen shook his head with a smile. “It’s okay, I don’t mind. It was a long time ago, I was just wondering if it was necessary to talk about it. Actually… my father’s surname was Duan.”

Shen Yan’s eyes widened in surprise. “What do you mean? You and Duan Yang aren’t…”

“No!” Ling Sichen interrupted his guess. “Duan Yang and I are cousins, but we have no emotional connection. My father was the eldest son of the Duan family. He passed away many years ago, and he had already cut ties with the Duan family before his death. It was said that he and his father, Old Master Duan, had different values. He liked art and wanted an ordinary life, but he was exceptionally talented in various aspects, and Old Master Duan insisted on him being the heir. He didn’t want to, and they would argue every time they met, so he simply ran away from home. Then, he met my mother…”

They fell in love at first sight and planned to register their marriage directly, but Duan Yeming had run away from home and didn’t have his household registration booklet, so they couldn’t register and had to postpone it.

But they didn’t mind and lived like a real couple, starting a family and having a child.

Their life wasn’t wealthy, but it was happy.

Until Ling Sichen was five years old, when Duan Yeming suddenly fell ill, a strange and dangerous illness that couldn’t be cured in the country. There was only a sliver of hope if he went abroad for treatment.

But time was of the essence, and with the various procedures and their limited savings, they couldn’t make it happen, and Duan Yeming passed away.

“Didn’t you go to the Duan family for help?” Shen Yan blurted out. “The Duan family couldn’t have ignored it, Old Master Duan is actually a good person, and your father was his son.”

Ling Sichen nodded. “He is indeed a good person, so my mother went to him, but he happened to be abroad at the time. By the time he returned, my father was already gone.”

“But, wasn’t there anyone else in the Duan family? They just…” Shen Yan stopped mid-sentence, suddenly understanding.

He looked at Ling Sichen with guilt and regret, feeling he shouldn’t have asked.

Ling Sichen, however, was still as gentle as ever. He patted Shen Yan’s shoulder. “Why are you looking at me like that? I was sent here at that time, and I was too young to remember much. But you guessed right, they didn’t want to help. It was them, or rather, Duan Yang’s father, Duan Yecheng. He probably resented the fact that Old Master Duan favored my father and was worried that if my father recovered, Old Master Duan would still give the family business to him. So, when my mother couldn’t find Old Master Duan and had to go to him, he agreed verbally, but didn’t do anything. A week later, seeing that Old Master Duan was about to return, he pretended to help, but… it was too late. My father’s condition was too critical for him to travel abroad.”

After that, Duan Songtao returned and learned that his most beloved son had passed away, and that it was because of his second son’s deliberate delay. He was heartbroken and fell ill.

So, he didn’t know that afterward, Duan Yecheng saw Ling Sichen as a threat. At that time, Ling Sichen was still called Duan Sichen. Duan Yecheng was worried that Duan Songtao would transfer his affection for Duan Yeming to him and give him the family business, so he kept sending people to force them to leave.

Ling Sichen’s mother resented the Duan family at that time, blaming them for her husband’s death, and didn’t want to have anything to do with them. So, she applied for a transfer and moved to another city during the winter break that year.

Ling Sichen spoke about his past calmly, as if telling someone else’s story, his expression only darkening when he mentioned his mother.

“After leaving that year, my mother never went back to that city. I always thought she didn’t have any good memories there. Until earlier this year, when she was critically ill, on her deathbed, she held my hand and said, ‘Chenchen, I still like our old home, I want to be there with your father.'”

Ling Sichen was silent for a while before continuing, “So, I applied for a transfer to H City, I also wanted to be there with them.”

Shen Yan felt a lump in his throat. He knew he should say something comforting, but he couldn’t.

After struggling for a while, he only managed to say two words, “Brother Feng…”

Then, Ling Sichen interrupted him. “I didn’t leave entirely because of him. I thought after so many years, no one in that city would remember me anymore, but I don’t know how the Duan family found out. Old Master Duan kept sending people to look for me. He felt guilty and probably wanted to make it up to me. Duan Yang, however, thought I was trying to fight him for the family business, so he kept causing trouble for me, forcing me to leave, just like his father back then. I didn’t want to have anything to do with them, and with some other unpleasant things happening, I simply resigned.”

But ultimately, Qin Mofeng was the last straw. If it weren’t for Qin Mofeng’s outrageous behavior, Ling Sichen probably wouldn’t have minded dealing with Duan Yang. From Ling Sichen’s attitude towards Duan Yang that night, it was clear that he wasn’t afraid of him.

He left, ultimately, because Qin Mofeng had hurt him.

Indeed, he still cared. He cared, so he was hurt, so he was disappointed.

Shen Yan didn’t mention this again and returned to the topic of the Duan family. “Duan Yang’s father did such a thing, don’t you hate him?”

Ling Sichen smiled. “What’s the use of hating him? He didn’t actually do anything, and even if we pursued it, we couldn’t do anything to him. Besides, he’s dead, it’s karma.”

“Dead?” Shen Yan was surprised.

Ling Sichen was puzzled. “You didn’t know? You’re married to Duan Yang, and you don’t know about his family?”

Shen Yan chuckled awkwardly. “Married is married, but we only registered, I don’t know anything about him. But I’ve never met his father.”

Shen Yan didn’t have the original Shen Yan’s memories, so he didn’t know if the original Shen Yan had met him. He himself had no impression of Duan Yang’s parents.

The original novel seemed to only mention Duan Yang’s mother, not his father.

So, he was dead?

“Three years ago, a car accident, the entire car burned, not even leaving anything for cremation. My mother hated him, but she wasn’t particularly happy when she heard the news. In her eyes, my father was already gone, any outcome was meaningless. But…”

Ling Sichen scratched his head awkwardly. “I was quite happy, it was karma.”

“Of course! Someone who could even harm his own brother, who couldn’t tolerate a widowed mother and child, deserved to die! Duan Yang actually had the nerve to cause trouble for you, he’s truly shameless!” Shen Yan said indignantly.

Ling Sichen, however, was quite open-minded. “He was even younger than me back then, what could he have known? Duan Yecheng wouldn’t have told his own son about what he did. So, in his eyes, I was just someone trying to take his inheritance. Forget it, let’s not talk about it. What about you? What are you going to do? Since Secretary Zhang came here, he definitely won’t just go back and report that I refused to see him. He’ll probably try to wear me down. It’ll be troublesome if he sees you.”

Speaking of this, Shen Yan felt a headache coming on, and he sighed helplessly. “Yeah, it’s better to be safe than sorry, I think I’ll have to leave.”

So, when Su Yunzhe received the news and rushed over, Shen Yan was gone again, leaving only Ling Sichen politely inviting him in for tea.

“Mr. Su, you came at a bad time. Yanyan was just visiting me a few days ago, he just left, and you’re here.” Ling Sichen didn’t hide anything, after all, Su Yunzhe definitely wasn’t here to see him.

Su Yunzhe wasn’t interested in tea. His usually indifferent face showed a hint of impatience. “Do you know where he went?”

Ling Sichen shook his head. “No, he didn’t tell me. He said he was afraid I would be tortured and spill the beans.”

Su Yunzhe knew Ling Sichen wasn’t lying. If Shen Yan sincerely didn’t want to be found, he probably wouldn’t leave any clues. He might not even know where he was going himself.

“I’ll be going then.”

Since Shen Yan wasn’t here, he had nothing to say.

As Su Yunzhe turned to leave, Ling Sichen suddenly remembered something and called out to him. “Mr. Su, do you know why Yanyan ran away?”

Su Yunzhe looked back at him without speaking.

Ling Sichen said, “Because of you, he’s avoiding you.”

A rare look of disbelief flashed across Su Yunzhe’s eyes. “Avoiding me? Why?”

Ling Sichen sighed and shook his head. “I knew you didn’t know anything. Think carefully about what he’s afraid of. Otherwise, even if you find him, he’ll still run away! Take care.”

Ling Sichen waved his hand and went back inside.

Su Yunzhe’s voice came from outside. “Qin Mofeng… went to Chengnan Elementary School. He said his first-grade Chinese teacher was a beautiful woman, and the teacher’s daughter was a little beauty, like Snow White. He’s always dreamed of marrying Snow White.”

Ling Sichen didn’t turn around or speak.

Su Yunzhe was unusually talkative, but he only hinted at it.

Even if Qin Mofeng was his friend, relationship matters ultimately had to be resolved by the people involved.

So, he didn’t say anything more and turned to leave.

As he reached the gate, Ling Sichen suddenly spoke again. “Yanyan’s book is about to be published, and the publisher seems to be planning a small book signing, probably in B City. I don’t know if he’ll go.”

This time, after saying that, Ling Sichen really went back inside.

He thought, Shen Yan probably wouldn’t expect to be betrayed by him, right?

But Shen Yan should be thanking him. Otherwise, with those two guessing blindly, who knew how long it would take?

He was just being helpful.

As for Qin Mofeng…

He shook his head, forgetting everything Su Yunzhe had just said.

Shen Yan naturally didn’t know that Su Yunzhe had arrived right after he left, and he didn’t know that Ling Sichen had so readily sold him out.

His publisher was very efficient. The sample book was almost ready as soon as the contract was signed, and they said they would release it by the end of the year.

This matter originally didn’t have much to do with him, but the publisher and his contracted website somehow noticed his ID photo, found him to be good-looking, and immediately wanted him to make a public appearance.

So, his editor had been contacting him about this recently.

He hadn’t considered it at all initially. After all, it was already winter, and B City was in the north. He definitely didn’t want to go there at this time of year.

But then the Duan family suddenly sent someone to look for Ling Sichen, and his plan to stay comfortably at Ling Sichen’s house until the New Year was ruined.

He couldn’t think of where else to go for the time being, and his editor kept calling, so he simply agreed.

After arriving in B City, he stayed indoors all day.

He had to admit, as long as he didn’t go out, winter in the north was actually quite comfortable.

Half a month later, his new book was published, and the publisher held a small book signing at a themed bookstore.

The website announced the event in advance on Weibo, inviting readers to attend. His book had been quite popular during its serialization, so the book signing wasn’t deserted. Many readers came, and some passersby, unfamiliar with his work, also bought his book just to see him up close because he was good-looking.

So, Shen Yan, who had originally planned to stay for half an hour just for show, ended up signing hundreds of books.

Afterward, his wrist felt like it was about to break. He excused himself to the organizers and went backstage to rest.

But in the supposedly empty break room, someone was waiting for him, sitting on the sofa with his back to him.

Shen Yan recognized him at a glance, his heart pounding. “Duan Yang?”