Chapter 27: Are They Father and Son?

Lian Youyou immediately backed down; the walls she had painstakingly built around herself collapsed under his advance! She had already decided, on her way downstairs, to reject him swiftly and decisively. But how had things turned out like this again?

She wore loose clothing, and the cold wind sliced through the fabric, stinging her skin.

“It’s freezing, really freezing. Professor, can we get in the car first?” she pleaded.

Once inside Lu Ming’s car, Lian Youyou took off her scarf and, using it in place of a towel, brushed the snow from Lu Ming’s shoulders.

“I’m fine—ah-choo!” Lu Ming tried to act tough but was interrupted by a loud sneeze.

“Let’s just go home first. I’ll make you some ginger tea. Whatever it is, we’ll talk at home,” she said, thinking that young people these days really didn’t take care of themselves.

Lu Ming gripped her shoulders, his gaze intense, voice low as he asked, “Youyou, tell me, why have you been avoiding me?”

Lian Youyou hesitated for a moment before biting the bullet. “Because I’m not the Youyou you like.”

“I know you’re not.”

“No, not that kind of ‘not.’ It’s just… Ugh, how do I explain this to you? Anyway, I’m not the Youyou you know.”

She knew that, in Lu Ming’s mind, he still believed she’d suffered a head injury and developed dissociative identity disorder from her fall, which was why he continued to care for her as he once cared for his daughter.

“Professor, I really am no longer the Lian Youyou you once knew. I hope you’ll accept that.” She spoke as concisely as possible. “You’re free to think I’m ill, or that I’m heartless, but I truly—”

“Why do you assume my feelings are defined by your thoughts?” Lu Ming interrupted. “Why do you think I only loved the person you used to be? Do you really understand me, Youyou? Do you know how long I’ve loved you?”

“No, I don’t,” she answered truthfully.

Lu Ming’s expression stiffened, but he forced a helpless smile, a trace of hurt in his eyes. “It’s alright. It’s enough that I know how much I love you.”

He shrugged off his coat, soaked through with melted snow, fastened his seatbelt, and pressed the ignition. “Let’s go home.”

All the way, Lu Ming’s car stereo played a single Japanese song on repeat: “My Dearest,” the opening theme from “Guilty Crown.”

Though Lian Youyou’s English was abysmal, her Japanese was excellent, so she understood every word:

When you stand before what you must protect, powerless and rooted to the spot; when you lose choice and darkness engulfs you; when despair is about to swallow you whole, I will become the light that illuminates your path…
Even if others believe all you say are lies, even if their cruel words wound you, even if the whole world refuses your sincerity, even if they crown you with thorns, I will stand by your side and shield you. I share your loneliness and pain…
If one day you finally understand my feelings, I’ll be waiting for you right there, even if, by then, not a shard of hope remains, even if I become someone whom the world rejects. I believe you’ll never forget me, more than anyone else does. So I am willing to give you everything of myself—right now, it all belongs to you.

Lu Ming glanced at Lian Youyou from the corner of his eye. She didn’t seem bothered by the endless repetition of the song; in fact, she listened intently, eyes closed, nodding gently to the rhythm.

He knew she understood the lyrics. Lian Meng had once performed at Japan’s prestigious Red and White Song Festival, which meant her Japanese must be excellent.

In the anime, these lyrics are actually the heroine Inori Yuzuriha’s soliloquy, expressing her unwavering resolve to stand by the protagonist, Shu Ouma, even when the world misunderstands and isolates him. Lu Ming felt the words suited his own heart too, with only the roles reversed.

What he didn’t know was what Lian Youyou thought of it all.

…

Lian Youyou was now thoroughly familiar with Lu Ming’s home. Once inside, she quickly changed into loungewear and tied on an apron.

“Professor Lu, please go take a shower. I’ll make you some cola ginger tea—don’t catch a cold.”

After the water boiled, she turned the heat down, letting the ginger tea simmer on the stove. In the bathroom, water thundered as Lu Ming showered.

Wiping her hands on her apron, Lian Youyou entered his room to gather his discarded clothes and put them in the washing machine.

As she turned to leave, her eyes fell on a photo atop his bedside table.

It was a family portrait with three people. Lu Ming wore a graduation robe in red and black, a doctoral cap on his head, and both hands holding a diploma rolled and tied with a red ribbon. On either side of him stood a middle-aged man and woman. Judging by their features, they must be his parents, there to attend his doctoral graduation.

Wait a moment!

Lian Youyou picked up the photo for a closer look. Not only did the couple share Lu Ming’s features, but they also looked oddly familiar.

Now that she thought about it, the name “Lu Ming” also rang a bell.

Lu Ming and Youyou…
The call of the deer, grazing in the wild.

Could it be that the two people in the photo were—

Lu Zhijun and Tian Aiyu!

Lu Zhijun had always liked her back then, but she never accepted him. Her best friend, Tian Aiyu, however, had always adored Lu Zhijun. After graduation, Tian Aiyu followed Lu Zhijun south to start a business, hoping to win his heart. Unexpectedly, she succeeded, and the two eventually married.

It all came back to Lian Youyou: when she was pregnant, she’d heard Lu Zhijun had moved his company back from the south and settled in Binhai City. She had paid them a visit, heavily pregnant.

At the time, their son was just five years old—a beautiful little boy, like a storybook prince. He didn’t know she was his parents’ friend and kept calling her “big sister” instead of “auntie.” He tugged at his mother Tian Aiyu’s sleeve, declaring he’d marry the big sister when he grew up. When Tian Aiyu told him the big sister already had a husband, he burst into tears.

To comfort him, she’d said, “Big sister can’t marry you, but maybe the little sister in my belly can marry you when you both grow up, how about that?”

At her promise, the boy stopped crying and nodded vigorously.

She took his hand, thought for a moment, and smiled. “Your name is Lu Ming, right? Then the baby in my tummy will be called Youyou. That way, your names will be a matching pair.”

Lu Zhijun and Tian Aiyu both laughed. “The call of the deer, grazing in the wild—trust you to think of that,” Lu Zhijun said.

Tian Aiyu teased her, “Your daughter’s name comes first, my son’s second. If they get married in the future, does that mean your daughter will always be above my son?”