A Single Father’s Troubles - Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Background

Guagua stared blankly at Lin Tingwan, looking as if he had been struck dumb.

Lin Tingwan couldn’t bear it and stroked the little one’s head.

Guagua suddenly snapped out of it, threw the toy in his hand onto the floor, tightly grabbed Lin Tingwan’s pant leg, and shouted with tears in his eyes: “I don’t want to! I hate that person! I hate that Uncle!”

Lin Tingwan hadn’t expected Guagua’s reaction to be so intense. He tried to explain: “Baby, Uncle did something wrong that night, but he already apologized, and he likes you very much. Look, the backpack and water bottle you like were both bought for you by him.”

“Papa, I don’t want the backpack, I don’t want the water bottle anymore. Papa, don’t let the bad man come, I hate him!” Guagua threw the backpack he had just loved and the water bottle hanging on him all onto the floor. He even threw away his favorite pair of frog shoes, tossing them far away.

He covered his head and began to cry loudly, inconsolable with grief, smearing tears and snot all over Lin Tingwan’s pants.

Looking at the child whose face was a mess of tears and mucus, Lin Tingwan’s heart ached as if cut by a knife. He pulled Guagua onto his lap, patiently wiped his face, and coaxed him softly, “Baby, listen to Papa.”

“Do you remember one day you helped Papa answer the phone, but you didn’t recognize those two words? Do you remember what words they were?”

Guagua had a pool of tears in his large eyes and let out a sob: “Ma… Master.”

“It’s not Master, it’s Creditor.”

“Papa, what is a Creditor?” The child’s attention was immediately diverted, a snot bubble hanging from his nose.

Lin Tingwan took a tissue to help him blow his nose. “Baby, do you remember Papa telling you how you were born?”

Sobbing, Guagua reached out a small hand and touched Lin Tingwan’s belly, his eyelashes wet: “From… from Papa’s belly, came out.”

He stared at Lin Tingwan’s stomach, feeling a bit nostalgic. It would have been better if he had stayed in Papa’s belly forever; then no one could separate them.

Guagua reached out to pull open Lin Tingwan’s coat, pressed his hand against Lin Tingwan’s chest, and leaned his face against it, burying himself in his embrace.

Lin Tingwan knew he was uncomfortable, so he supported Guagua’s small bottom and picked him up. Using the same posture he used to pat the boy’s back to coax him to sleep when he was unwell, he walked slowly around the room.

This comfortable posture gradually calmed Guagua down.

“Baby, you were born of Papa. But other children are born of Mammas.”

Guagua looked up at him through tear-filled eyes.

Lin Tingwan switched to simpler language to explain, “Bengbeng was born of Auntie Feng, right?”

Guagua nodded, half-understanding.

“Papa is a boy, and usually boys can’t have babies. So, in order to give birth to you, Papa spent a lot, lot of money… This money was borrowed from that Uncle. Papa owes him a lot of money and many favors. He is Papa’s creditor, and Papa feels guilty toward him.”

Guagua was so shocked he even forgot to cry.

“Papa knows you are very smart, so Papa chose to tell you the truth. Uncle didn’t know back then that Papa was going to use… that money to have you. Now Uncle knows you exist, and he wants to meet you. So Papa is asking you to please meet with Uncle, okay?”

“If… if we don’t meet Uncle, Uncle might find out about your background. Maybe you’ll be taken away from Papa by him… and we’ll never see each other again.” By the time Lin Tingwan reached this point, he couldn’t stop himself from choking up.

Guagua was only a little over three years old. Even if he was exceptionally precocious—fluent in speech and expression since he was one, with understanding and empathy beyond his years—his small head couldn’t comprehend why such logic existed in the world: he was Papa’s child, so why would Uncle take him away?

Was a “Creditor” that powerful? Could they do whatever they wanted?

But for Guagua, what mattered more was that if he didn’t see the bad man, he and Papa might be separated.

The fear of being forcibly separated from his beloved Papa instantly enveloped Guagua. He broke down and screamed, “I don’t want to! I don’t want to! I don’t want to be away from Papa! I’m Papa’s child… waaa… I’ll be good, I’ll meet Uncle, I’ll be a good boy.”

The child’s tears fell like a broken dam, unable to be stopped.

Lin Tingwan’s heart felt like it was being twisted by a knife. He took a deep breath, forcing the tears back into his eyes. His palm trembled as he touched his son’s young, tender face. Suppressing the sorrow in his heart, he hugged his soft, sprout-like child, his voice shaking: “Guagua, don’t be afraid. Papa will protect you.”

Guagua wiped his eyes. He was truly smart; even though he was only a tiny tot, he understood Lin Tingwan’s meaning.

“I’ll listen. I won’t leave you.”

Lin Tingwan looked at the child whose eyes were red but who had suddenly stopped crying, and he forcefully wiped the corner of his own eye.

He revealed a smile again. “Good. Now let’s go wash your face, you go to kindergarten, and Papa goes to work.”

After tidying up, Lin Tingwan dropped the moping Guagua off at kindergarten. The child was very sensible; even though he wasn’t happy himself, he managed to squeeze out a smile to wave bye-bye to Lin Tingwan.

Looking at Guagua like this made Lin Tingwan feel even worse. He stood in the cold wind for a long time after Guagua had entered the kindergarten before reluctantly walking toward the office.

He didn’t ride his electric scooter today. His mind was too cluttered, and it was still early, so he decided to walk to the company.

Walking alone, he slowly thought about Kuang Ye’s situation. He thought about a lot along the way.

He had always known that strictly preventing Kuang Ye and Guagua from meeting simply wouldn’t work in the long run. But he hadn’t expected this day to come so soon.

Fortunately, some time ago, just to be safe, he had secretly taken a sample of Guagua’s hair and had a DNA test done, just in case.

Things had turned out as he expected. A man giving birth is extremely rare; Kuang Ye indeed hadn’t thought in that direction and was fooled by his words and the appraisal report…

He dared to do this only after thinking about it for a long time.

He was familiar with both Kuang Ye and Guagua; the facial features of the big one and the small one were very obvious in his eyes. So he had always felt Guagua looked very much like Kuang Ye and didn’t dare let them meet. But he discovered that after Pei Shaoyü and Zhou Zhou had met Kuang Ye and Guagua separately, they actually didn’t realize the two were father and son; at most, they just thought they were “similar.” But aren’t there many people on the internet who aren’t related at all but look exactly alike, leading to people being called “Little (Celebrity Name)”?

If you can fool yourself, you can fool others even better. Once he figured this out, he gained a bit of confidence.

But he was also anxious; he didn’t know how long this lie could be sustained.

Lin Tingwan couldn’t help but pull out his phone, clicking on his contacts list again, and sent a message to the pinned Auntie Fang Jie.

However, after the message was sent, it remained like a stone sinking into the sea no one replied.

Fortunately, it wasn’t all bad news. At 3 PM, Lin Tingwan received another call he had been looking forward to for a long time.

Kuang Ye’s situation had a huge impact on both father and son.

Although Guagua had promised Lin Tingwan faithfully, he was still very unhappy and remained mopey all day.

He was so unusual that Teacher Xiao Liu also noticed Guagua’s abnormal behavior: the child who usually was the first to run out at pick-up time was exceptionally slow today, opening and closing his backpack, taking out toys to wipe the dust before putting them back in.

Teacher Xiao Liu didn’t know what was wrong with the child today; he had been out of it all day.

Watching Guagua stretch his hand out to her for the third time asking to wash his hands, Teacher Xiao Liu couldn’t help but laugh: “Wash them when you get home, Guagua. Your Papa and the others are waiting for you outside; they’ve been waiting for over ten minutes.”

Hearing “the others,” Guagua’s eyes widened, and his little face turned deathly pale.

Was it Papa and the bad man coming to get him?

Guagua instantly wilted, his shoulders drooping and his lips pursed. He followed the teacher in silence, walking outside step by step.

“Guagua, over here!”

Guagua’s eyes held a pool of tears. Seeing no one else beside Lin Tingwan, he rushed over to hug his leg and asked hopefully: “Papa, only you came to get Baby, right?”

Lin Tingwan knelt down, helped him adjust his crookedly wrapped scarf, and led him by the hand toward a car parked by the roadside: “There’s someone else waiting for you in the car.”

Guagua looked at that black sedan as if seeing a monster with a bloody mouth open wide. He resisted and backed away: “Papa, I… I don’t want to ride in the car-car, I like walking.”

“Let’s walk, Papa!”

“The weather is too cold, and Auntie is waiting for us in the car. When it gets a bit warmer, we’ll walk, okay?” Lin Tingwan persuaded him gently.

Guagua’s little ears twitched.

Au… Auntie? Not the bad man?

Guagua looked up and saw a middle-aged woman with an ordinary face and soft features standing by the taxi. The woman was looking around; her gaze locked onto Guagua, and a look of surprise erupted in her eyes. She knelt down, opened her arms, and called out, “Baby.”

Guagua’s mouth puckered, and he ran over to throw himself into the woman’s arms, crying out loud: “Waaa, Auntie Zhou, Baby missed you so much.”

Zhou Lan, 48 years old, from S City. When Lin Tingwan was in S City, Zhuang Jie helped find her to be the nanny to look after him and Guagua. Since Guagua was born, Zhou Lan and Lin Tingwan had raised him together. When Lin Tingwan moved back to B City, Zhou Lan couldn’t leave her daughter, who was still in the middle of the Gaokao (college entrance exams), so she didn’t come along.

And since Lin Tingwan didn’t trust other nannies, he had been raising the child alone.

Last week, Lin Tingwan found out that Zhou Lan’s daughter had been accepted into a university in B City, so he immediately contacted Zhou Lan. At around 3 PM today, Lin Tingwan took leave to pick up Zhou Lan from the airport and then came to pick Guagua up from kindergarten.

Zhou Lan also loved Guagua very much. When Guagua was just a nursing infant who only knew how to eat, drink, and sleep, she was the one who raised him bit by bit. Seeing the child now after almost a year apart, Zhou Lan couldn’t help but tear up.

Lin Tingwan felt sad watching the two of them crying in an embrace. He forcefully wiped the corner of his eye and said, “Let’s go, let’s get some food.”

“Guagua, good boy, stop crying now. You’ve made your eyes hurt from crying.” Zhou Lan wiped Guagua’s little eyes. Guagua lay in her arms in silence.

They ate out and didn’t get home until after 8 PM.

Guagua led Zhou Lan, walking at the very front, while Lin Tingwan carried Zhou Lan’s luggage, walking at the very back.

Separated by only a door.

After waiting for a long time, Kuang Ye finally heard movement and hurried to the video doorbell. Seeing Lin Tingwan carrying luggage, he furrowed his brows.

What is he doing carrying luggage?

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