Chapter 505: Scolding and Beating
Chapter 505: Chapter 505: Scolding and Beating
When Wu Yao opened the door, she saw Liu Xiangnan.
Liu Xiangnan was holding a bouquet of flowers, grinning foolishly. "Wu Yao, these are for you. I hope you like them."
Wu Yao smiled and took them. "Thank you. I’m a little busy right now, but I should be free after seven. We can go see a movie then."
Liu Xiangnan froze for a moment, then broke into a happy grin. "Okay, okay! I’ll go buy the tickets right now."
Liu Xiangnan turned and ran off, so excited and flustered that he nearly tripped and fell.
"Haha!" Wu Yao giggled. ’He’s such a dork.’
Liu Xiangnan chuckled foolishly and kept running.
When he reached the corner, he jumped in the air and let out a triumphant shout. "AWOOO!"
And just like that, the two young people, who had a mutual crush, started dating, their relationship blossoming.
Seeing that both her nieces were dating, Aunt Zhou mailed their photos, along with some letters, to her older sister to tell her all about their new boyfriends.
Dating was very innocent in those days.
If two people liked each other, they could start a relationship.
Once their character earned the approval of both sets of parents—and if their families were well-off, all the better—there were no more obstacles to getting a marriage certificate.
The weather grew colder, and in the blink of an eye, it was New Year’s Day. It was damp and cold outside, and today, they were planning to take the children into the city to visit Old Master Xu and Old Madam Xu.
Early in the morning, Ye Feng got up for his daily run, just as he always did.
The moment he opened the door, he saw someone squatting by the entrance, leaning against the wall.
The hood of his down jacket was pulled over his head, covered in a layer of frosty condensation.
’Who’s this?’
Ye Feng was suspicious and was just about to ask who it was.
The young man who had been sleeping against the wall scrambled to his feet. "Big Brother, it’s me!"
Ye Feng was taken aback. "Ye Ling? It’s not winter break yet, what are you doing here? By the way, are you alone? Where’s Ye Chen? Dad didn’t tell me you were coming."
Ye Ling gave a sheepish smile. "I... I just wanted to come and visit. ACHOO!"
’He’s clearly caught a cold from being out in the freezing weather.’
Ye Feng frowned. "You’re here, so why didn’t you knock? It’s freezing outside. You’ve caught a cold now, haven’t you? Get in here, quick!"
Ye Ling came inside, his head hung low.
Ye Feng went into the other room and brought out a thick cotton jacket for Ye Ling to change into, then handed him a towel. "You’re hiding something. You’d better tell me everything, from start to finish, while I’m still feeling patient."
Ye Ling kept his head down and said nothing.
Seeing his silence, Ye Feng knew something serious had happened. "What in the world is going on? I know you have a good head on your shoulders; you wouldn’t do anything stupid. Whatever it is, just tell me so we can deal with it now. Maybe it’ll all blow over. If you keep dragging your feet, you’ll miss the window, and then we might not be able to help you even if we want to."
Ye Ling kept his head down, not daring to speak.
Just then, the phone at home started to ring.
Ye Feng turned to answer it.
"Ye Feng, has Ye Ling shown up at your place?" Ye Zheng asked urgently. "We couldn’t find him here in Beijing. I pulled some strings and found out he bought a train ticket to Shencheng."
"But we just found out the ticket was from two days ago."
Ye Feng paused. "He’s here. I found him squatting by the door first thing this morning. He must have arrived a while ago, but the idiot didn’t even think to knock. He’s only a freshman in high school and it’s not even winter break yet. Why did he sneak away? What the hell is going on?"
As Ye Feng spoke, he could faintly hear Wang Liwen sobbing her heart out on the other end of the line.
Ye Zheng sighed on the other end. "As long as Ye Ling is with you, that’s good. I’ve been searching for him for two days! All I found was that he’d bought a ticket to Shencheng."
"Here’s what happened. The Wu family is back in the country. Years ago, Wu Xingjia abandoned your Aunt Wang and went abroad. He apparently suffered some kind of injury and hasn’t had any children all these years."
"After coming back this time, he saw Ye Ling and thought the boy looked a lot like him. So, he secretly collected some of Ye Ling’s hair and had a test done. Apparently, you can get paternity tests done overseas now."
"He’s confirmed that Ye Ling is his son. Your Aunt Wang refuses to admit it. After all, at our age, we just want to live our lives in peace and give Ye Ling a good, stable home. We don’t want him branded as an illegitimate child."
"But Wu Xingjia won’t accept that. He’s built a huge fortune abroad over the years, and on top of that, the Wu family has extensive business interests overseas. Without an heir, he can’t accept it."
"He went behind my and your Aunt Wang’s backs and told Ye Ling everything. Ye Ling couldn’t believe it, but then he overheard your Aunt Wang and me talking and realized he really isn’t my biological son. He couldn’t handle it and ran away from home."
Ye Feng was stunned by the news. ’So Ye Ling had secretly run all the way here.’
He slammed the phone down.
Ye Feng walked up to Ye Ling, lifted his leg, and kicked him straight to the ground. Ye Ling struggled back to his feet.
"What’s your last name? What’s your full name? And what do you call me?"
Ye Ling, startled, rubbed his aching leg and stammered, "My last name is Ye! My name is Ye Ling! And I call you Big Brother!"
Hearing this, and seeing Ye Ling get back on his feet, Ye Feng kicked him again, this time on the backside. "So you know your last name is Ye, and you know to call me Big Brother! You think those are just empty words?"
"So some random Joe Schmo shows up and says you’re his son, and you just believe him? And what’s with all this sissy whining and crying? You even ran away from home? You think you’re hot stuff now, huh?"
"It’s a good thing you’re not a complete idiot. You managed to take the train all this way without getting scammed, and you knew enough to come here. How did the Ye Family end up with a good-for-nothing like you? Do you have any idea that Aunt Wang and Dad haven’t closed their eyes in two days and two nights worrying about you?"
Hearing his brother’s tirade, Ye Ling didn’t cry or get angry. Instead, he chuckled. "Big Brother, that Wu guy had a DNA test done. That stuff really can prove paternity."
"As soon as I heard he was my biological father, and then I heard from Mom and Dad’s conversation that he abandoned her back then... If Dad hadn’t married Mom, her life would have been miserable, and I never would have even been born!"
Hearing Ye Ling’s explanation, Ye Feng kicked him again. "I don’t give a damn about that bullshit test! So what if he’s your biological father? And so what if he isn’t?"
"Dad started taking care of you and Aunt Wang when you were still in her belly. When you were born, Dad was the one holding you at the hospital gate. We didn’t have any baby formula at home, so he went all over the place trading ration tickets to buy some for you."
"After all the hardship of raising you to be such an outstanding young man, that Wu family thinks they can just swoop in and reap the rewards? What a lovely dream! As long as you still consider yourself part of the Ye Family, still see me as your big brother and Ye Chen as your younger brother, then you will always be one of us, and you will always be Dad’s son! In my eyes, there’s no difference between you and Ye Chen. You’re the one who’s always overthinking things, being all suspicious and second-guessing everything. That’s what makes you unworthy of being my brother!"
Hearing his brother’s words, Ye Ling threw his arms around him. "Big Brother, I know I was wrong!"
Ye Feng pushed him away. "If you know you were wrong, then hurry up and call Dad and Aunt Wang! No matter how serious things get, you have to talk them out. What problem is running away from home ever going to solve?"
Ye Ling smiled. After being yelled at and kicked around by his big brother, the confusion in his heart cleared up. He hurried off to make the call.
Still angry, Ye Feng gave Ye Ling one last kick on the backside for good measure.