By the time Lin Xinyuan and her mother returned home, dusk was already settling in.
It was dinner time.
Lin’s mother and grandmother had prepared the meal in the kitchen.
Lin’s mother carried the dishes out, placing them on the dining table as she called toward the living room, “Xinyuan, Dad! Dinner’s ready!”
In the living room, Lin Xinyuan put down her phone and quietly told her grandfather, who was still reading the newspaper, “Grandpa, dinner.”
She mumbled it quickly, immediately averting her gaze, not daring to look at her grandfather for too long—especially not into those “fierce” eyes.
“Alright, Xinyuan, you go ahead and eat first! I’ll finish this part quickly.”
Grandpa’s voice was soft, his tone trying hard not to sound intimidating.
Yet, to Lin Xinyuan, his tiger-like gaze was still frightening enough to make her hastily stand up. “Oh, oh…”
After responding, she stood somewhat awkwardly and left the living room.
Grandpa sighed, his wrinkled hand brushing across his face as he muttered, “Am I really that scary?”
He felt a little resentful, losing interest in his newspaper now.
Seeing no one else around, he started making various expressions at himself, using his phone’s screen as a mirror, searching for the friendliest face he could muster.
Just then, Grandma came out of the kitchen, heading toward the living room to grab some napkins, and saw Grandpa sitting on the sofa, not reading his paper, only grimacing at his phone screen.
Grandma, puzzled, crept up and lightly patted the old man on the shoulder, “Hey, you old man, what are you doing not eating? Lost your mind?”
“Wife, you scared me…” Grandpa jumped slightly, then turned his head to find Grandma there.
After a moment, he calmed down and sighed. “Tell me, am I really that scary?”
“Huh?” Grandma blinked, momentarily confused.
“Xinyuan doesn’t even dare to look at me… but she wasn’t like this when she was little…”
Grandpa looked a bit wronged.
With his almost fully white hair, he resembled an old child.
Only then did Grandma understand what he meant—it was that their granddaughter wasn’t close to him!
She found it a bit amusing and patted him again, but this time very gently.
She studied her husband carefully and joked, “You do look like a bad guy sometimes…”
“Not true? Don’t you have any nice things to say?”
Grandpa was a bit annoyed and was about to retort when Lin’s mother’s call interrupted.
Seeing that her parents hadn’t come yet, she was urging them to eat.
“I’m coming!” Grandpa replied, then grumbled unhappily before slowly standing.
Grandma shook her head and pinched his arm, “Alright, alright, you have to give your granddaughter some time. She’s just naturally shy.”
“Hmm…” Grandpa nodded in agreement, saying no more as he quietly left the living room and headed to the dining table.
At the table, Lin Xinyuan sat quietly, eating her meal, occasionally glancing up at the chatting elders but rarely looking at her grandfather.
Seeing her demeanor, Grandpa gave Grandma a helpless look, as if to say, “See?”
Lin’s mother noticed too but didn’t know what to do.
She knew Xinyuan was very sensitive now, hardly able to talk, so she could only let the grandfather and granddaughter handle their own relationship.
Still, Lin’s mother believed their relationship wouldn’t remain strained for long.
After all, she knew what kind of person her father truly was.
He looked fierce, but his heart was actually very soft…
“Oh, Xinyuan? Your Second Cousin is coming back the day after tomorrow! He’ll be staying here.
” Grandma suddenly smiled at the girl. “You two should get along well!”
“And your Younger Female Cousin will be on vacation soon too!”
Lin Xinyuan paused mid-bite and lightly lifted her head, responding casually.
Then she quickly bowed her head again to continue eating, quietly listening to the elders’ conversation and occasionally replying with short answers.
She naturally knew the Second Cousin.
They had spent a lot of time playing together when they were little—a truly beautiful time…
But it had been so long that she didn’t remember many details clearly anymore.
Her second uncle and aunt had two children: her Second Cousin, who was three years older than her and currently studying for a graduate degree in Yangcheng, which explained why his holiday was late but still a rare break…
And the Younger Female Cousin, several years younger, currently a high school freshman at No.1 High School in the city. In a way, she was like a junior schoolmate.
High school only gave them about six or seven days of vacation…
Lin Xinyuan was not surprised that her Second Cousin was coming back to live in the village.
From what she observed yesterday, her second uncle and aunt were very busy; they left for the city right after dinner.
If it weren’t for her mother and her returning yesterday, they probably wouldn’t have come back to the village at all.
The Second Cousin’s family was often empty, so it was naturally better for him to live with the two elders in the village.
Still, hearing that the Second Cousin was coming back, Lin Xinyuan felt a bit awkward and flustered—especially about him.
Lin Xinyuan had once been left in the care of her grandmother and grandfather by her mother for a time. She vaguely remembered how she used to jump around with her two male cousins, even comparing “little birds” together…
Now, looking at herself, she only felt extremely embarrassed.
After finishing dinner, Lin Xinyuan sat perfunctorily for a while, took her cold medicine downstairs, and then went upstairs alone.
She didn’t know what to do staying downstairs and didn’t feel like talking with Grandma and Grandpa—it was rather awkward.
At night, after bathing and blow-drying her hair, Lin Xinyuan slipped into her mother’s room.
“Xinyuan…”
“Mm, I’m here.”
Lin’s mother was already lying in bed, seemingly waiting for her, a gentle smile on her face.
The girl softly closed the door and walked lightly to the bedside.
At her mother’s gesture, she lay down beside her.
The mother and daughter shared the bed once again, as if transported back to that night long ago.
Lin Xinyuan found a comfortable sleeping position and nestled next to her mother.
They faced each other in quiet warmth.
Like that day before, yet different at the same time…
“If you want to hear it… then I’ll tell you…”
Before Lin Xinyuan could ask, her mother began slowly, just as she had in the morning.
She was telling her story… or rather, her past.
“That was an otherwise ordinary night…”
A terrifying tale unfolded under Lin’s mother’s calm narration, her words clear and steady, as if the protagonist of the story wasn’t herself.
Lin Xinyuan grew increasingly unsettled as she listened, her emotions rising and falling with her mother’s perspective.
The trafficking case that once shocked Zhannan City—her mother had been one of the victims…
A twisted fate.
Yet, Lin’s mother was both lucky and unlucky—rescued by a young and repressed Lin father at the time, only to be violated after being brought home, eventually becoming pregnant with Lin Xinyuan…
At the end of the twentieth century, Zhannan City’s development was sluggish, rural ignorance remained strong, and Lei City was no exception.
Purity was highly valued; otherwise, people would gossip endlessly.
It was in this context that her parents had registered their marriage so strangely.
“Why?”
Lin Xinyuan still couldn’t understand.
Was it really just because of so-called purity that her mother’s whole future had been ruined? She found it absurd…
“Heh… it was my own choice…” Lin’s mother sighed, her expression complicated.
“It’s funny to say, but back then I didn’t think that far. I missed the college entrance exam… I only thought about not wanting to affect my family, feeling hopeless about my future, so I made that choice…”
“It was my stubbornness, not asking for their opinions, not valuing myself… that caused this situation…”
“Do you… regret it?” Lin Xinyuan’s mouth felt dry, her heart tightening.
She thought she now understood why her mother had been so cold to her in the past.
Forget that children are innocent—who would feel good about a son who had been violated?
Plus, it caused her mother to lose her future and, to avoid gossip, she had to bear everything…
Lin’s mother smiled faintly, staring straight ahead as if looking at something else.
After a moment, without hesitation, she nodded.
“I regret it.”
“Deeply regret it…”
Lin Xinyuan’s long eyelashes fluttered.
She felt it was only natural, though she still didn’t know why she felt so lost.
Regret… did that mean her mother regretted not aborting her back then?
But her mother spoke again, looking at her beautiful daughter beside her with clear eyes, enunciating each word carefully.
“I regret that I cared about that man who saved my life… and then treated you that way. I should never have listened to anyone’s gossip—I should have taken you away from that place right then!”
Hearing this, Lin Xinyuan’s heart trembled.
She looked at her mother, seeing only a pair of bright, gentle eyes.
Her chest ached, her heart pounding fast.
But her mother wasn’t finished.
“I could have taken you to Yangcheng… anywhere would have been fine. Once you grew up, we could come back again…”
“I regret not leaving earlier, not taking you away earlier…”
“Truly…”
“Mom… I…”
Neither spoke.
They just looked at each other, choked with emotion.
Their similar faces were both stained with clear tears, as if they were one.
The girl she once was, the woman who had weathered so many storms…
She didn’t want her daughter to suffer the same pain…
No matter what…