27: Different families, same sorrow

Lin Yao’s movements instantly paused.

She looked up, her eyes shining brightly at Father Lin.

Father Lin and Mother Lin really still cared about her brother! They had guessed!

It was just that they were too sad to mention her brother’s name directly!

A wave of emotion surged in her heart, and she nodded vigorously.

“Yes! It’s a person! Someone you would absolutely never expect!”

“Hiss—”

Father Lin and Mother Lin simultaneously gasped.

It really was!

And judging by her tone, was she bringing him home tomorrow?

Mother Lin’s mood instantly became complicated, feeling as if her precious cabbage, which they had painstakingly raised, was about to be snatched by a pig.

“Yao Yao, you… you child, isn’t this a bit too fast?”

“Fast?” Lin Yao completely misunderstood her mother’s meaning; she only felt that it was good to have her brother home even one day earlier.

“It’s not fast! Any later and it will be too late!”

Any later, her brother would awaken, and then he would definitely be busier and have even less time!

These words, in the ears of Father Lin and Mother Lin, took on a completely different meaning.

Any later?

So urgent?

This… it seemed their daughter was truly deeply smitten.

But as the saying goes, a grown child has her own mind.

At her age, their daughter was indeed at the right time to consider marriage.

She was even bringing him home tomorrow, which was the behavior of an exceptionally good daughter.

Thinking of this, the couple didn’t press further, afraid of causing their daughter’s displeasure.

“Alright, as long as you like him, that’s good,” Mother Lin sighed, “Bring him tomorrow so we can meet him.”

“Mhm mhm!” Lin Yao nodded vigorously.

After dinner, she dove straight into her room to prepare to order clothes, which she would pick up and put on tomorrow!

She wanted to pick the most handsome outfit for her brother!

To let him return to this home with a brand new appearance!

In the living room, only Father Lin and Mother Lin remained.

The TV was on, but neither of them was in the mood to watch.

“Do you think… this is reliable?” Mother Lin asked, worried.

“Children grow up and have their own ideas,” Father Lin picked up the newspaper, but couldn’t read a single word, “She looks very happy, and as parents, we should just support her.”

“I’m just afraid she’ll be deceived.”

“Let’s see tomorrow.”

The two fell silent for a while.

Someone, they didn’t know who, sighed first.

“Alas…”

This sigh was like a switch, instantly stirring the deepest pain in both their hearts.

“If only… if only Xiao Yu were half as sensible as Lin Yao,” Mother Lin’s eyes reddened.

Father Lin’s expression also darkened.

Lin Yu.

This name was a taboo in their family, never to be mentioned.

“Don’t mention him,” Father Lin’s voice was a little hoarse, “Whenever I mention him, my heart feels so heavy.”

“How can I not mention him!” Mother Lin’s tears fell, “He’s also a piece of flesh from my body! Five years, a full five years! What kind of life is he living! When I think of him living in that metal box, I just…”

She covered her face, sobbing uncontrollably.

Father Lin silently handed her a tissue and sighed heavily.

This child was truly a scar on their hearts that would never heal.

He picked up the remote and turned off the TV… Compared to the sorrow suppressed beneath the silence in the Lin family, Zhao Tianyang’s home was completely engulfed in cries, turning day into night.

The living room lights were stark white, illuminating the desperate faces of the family of three.

That vial, touted to cleanse all toxins and bring new life, the Life Serum, indeed had an effect. It pulled Zhao Tianyang back from the brink of death, restoring his clear consciousness, no longer with bloodshot eyes and surging veins.

But its effect was limited to that.

The diagnostic report left by the private doctor who had just departed lay coldly on the coffee table, like a death sentence.

The potion’s toxins had already invaded his bone marrow and soul, deeply entrenched and beyond remedy.

The powerful vitality of the Life Serum only forcibly slowed the rate of organ failure. But it clearly gave Zhao Tianyang a final reprieve: one month.

“How could this happen… how could this happen!”

Zhao’s mother collapsed on the sofa, her hands tightly covering her mouth, yet unable to suppress her heartbroken sobs. Her body trembled violently, as if she could collapse at any moment.

“I harmed you… I harmed you, my son!”

Zhao’s father, a man usually resolute and strong, was now like a trapped beast whose spine had been removed. He slammed a fist onto his leg, his bloodshot eyes filled with regret and self-blame.

“I shouldn’t have gone looking for some folk remedy! I shouldn’t have believed those people’s nonsense! I pushed you into the fire pit!”

The news of the potion was something he had inquired about through connections, spending a large sum of money from an unreliable source. He thought it was a shortcut, but he didn’t expect it to be a one-way ticket to hell.

Zhao Tianyang sat opposite them, his face as pale as a sheet of paper. He listened to his parents’ cries and self-reproach, the chill in his body more piercing than any side effect of the potion.

He was finished.

In the final moments of his life, he should stay and spend time with his parents.

However, in his mind, the mysterious figure in the raven cloak uncontrollably appeared.

That person had unhesitatingly taken out money, giving him a chance, and also buying his life.

That person, after signing the master-servant contract, had then given him “freedom.”

That person… was his master, his benefactor.

Zhao Tianyang slowly stood up from the sofa.

This action made Father Zhao and Mother Zhao’s crying stop abruptly. They looked at their son in horror.

“Tianyang, what are you going to do?”

“I don’t blame you,” Zhao Tianyang said, his voice hoarse and dry, “I chose this path myself, and I chose to use the medicine myself.”

He looked at his parents, the people who loved him most in this world.

“But I cannot stay.”

“What nonsense are you saying!” Mother Zhao shrieked, rushing over to grab his arm, “You only have one month left! You can’t go anywhere! You’re staying home with Father and Mother!”

“Mom,” Zhao Tianyang turned and clasped his mother’s cold hand, “You taught me that one should be grateful and repay kindness.”

He paused, speaking each word with utmost clarity.

“My life was… bought by someone. This last month was also given to me by him. So, it doesn’t belong to me, nor does it belong to you.”

“It belongs to my… Master.”

“I need to find him and tell him this news. If he needs me, for this last month, I can do any work. I want to repay this kindness.”

He couldn’t let his benefactor spend a large sum of money only to buy back a useless person, a dead man.

Even more, he couldn’t die so ignominiously, owing such an immense debt of gratitude.

Father Zhao and Mother Zhao were stunned.

They looked at their son’s young face, filled with resolute determination, and at his eyes, dim with weakness yet burning with a stubborn flame.