After the Fake Young Master Betrayed the Australian Farmer - Chapter 39

“I brought you back a foreign son-in-law.”

Han Jue had never imagined that Song Zhiyun would take him along after her divorce. Before this car accident, he and Song Zhiyun had barely spoken more than a few sentences to each other. Han Yan was the one she had raised since childhood. Humans are not made of stone; naturally, Han Jue could not compare to that bond as someone who had only recently appeared, connected only by a layer of blood relation.

Therefore, when Song Zhiyun proposed to take him away, he was truly surprised and deeply moved. He turned his head toward Han Yan, two dimples appearing at the corners of his mouth. “It seems my words were quite prophetic after all.”

The divorce agreement between Song Zhiyun and Father Han was not going smoothly. The two had a heated argument and eventually parted on bad terms. Father Han, with a cold face, flicked his sleeves and stormed off.

In the hospital ward, Song Zhiyun rubbed her temples in pain, while Xie Lan stood to the side, cursing furiously. The lawyer spoke with Song Zhiyun for a few more moments. Han Yan entered the ward and caught snippets of words like “company” and “capital turnover.” The lawyer noticed them out of the corner of his eye and appropriately fell silent; it was clear that Song Zhiyun had specifically instructed him beforehand.

After the lawyer left, Han Yan walked to Song Zhiyun’s side. He opened the lunch boxes that Adams had brought earlier and arranged them on the table one by one.

“Mom, how did the talk go?”

Before Song Zhiyun could speak, Xie Lan spoke up first out of anger. “That dead man is about to get a divorce, yet his heart and eyes are still full of nothing but his company. Zhiyun, you must not let your brain go soft and agree to his conditions. He is making an outrageous demand. If you had not stopped me just now, I would have rushed forward and strangled him myself.”

Song Zhiyun grabbed Xie Lan’s hand, urged her to sit down, and then patted her back to calm her breathing. “A-Lan, do not worry. Although I truly cannot wait to get divorced immediately, I am not so desperate that I would agree to such conditions. Alright, stop being angry. Let us eat first.”

Han Yan deduced from their conversation that Father Han was likely being inhuman, making excessive divorce conditions. Combined with what he had heard earlier, it was likely related to money. It was not particularly surprising; it was exactly the kind of thing his scumbag father would do.

Lunch had been prepared by Adams using the hospital’s communal kitchen. Today, the Xie family’s cook happened to have taken leave to return to his hometown. Xie Lan had originally planned to order from a private restaurant, but she feared the takeout would be too greasy, as Song Zhiyun needed to eat food with low oil and salt. When Han Yan’s foreign friend, who spoke fluent Chinese, proactively offered to cook, she was astonished and instinctively refused. Setting aside her skepticism about a foreigner making Chinese food, it felt far too embarrassing to trouble an outsider to cook for them.

Han Yan glanced at Adams but remained silent. Han Jue’s gaze shifted between the two for a moment before he interjected. “Aunt Xie, why do you not let Adams try? His cooking is actually quite delicious. Han Yan ate his food every day in Australia.”

Song Zhiyun looked at Han Yan, her eyes filled with teasing. “Xiao Yan, is that so? Adams is quite good to you, then. But it makes sense; if he were not good to you, he would not have traveled all the way to China to help.”

Xie Lan was very familiar with Han Yan’s picky eating habits and scrutinized Adams with wonder. “That impressive? He can actually satisfy this little ancestor? Xiao Yan used to be so picky about food that the family changed cooks as often as they changed clothes. Every time I went to the Han house for a meal, the cook was a new face.”

Han Yan felt embarrassed. He glared at Han Jue as if to say, “Why are you joining in on the chaos?” Han Jue spread his hands innocently; he was merely stating a fact.

Thus, under the expectant gazes of the two elders, Adams left the ward to buy groceries and prepare lunch. The dishes on the table were light in color, but the aroma stirred the appetite of everyone in the room.

Han Yan handed rice to Song Zhiyun and Xie Lan. Song Zhiyun could not wait to take a bite. The steamed sea bass was tender, the egg custard melted in the mouth, and the blanched heart of cabbage was refreshing and sweet.

“Adams, with this skill, no wonder Xiao Yan never grows tired of eating your food.” Song Zhiyun gave him a thumbs up. After tasting it, Xie Lan’s eyes lit up and she nodded in agreement. “It is truly delicious. Adams’ skill is far better than any Michelin star restaurant. I did not expect a foreigner to be so talented at Chinese cooking. There truly is always someone more talented out there.”

“Aunt Xie, Adams is not exactly a complete foreigner; he is mixed race,” Han Yan added instinctively. He then turned to Adams and translated, “Behind the mountains, there are people to be found.”

As he explained, he used his chopsticks to place a piece of fish onto Adams’ rice. “It was hard work. Thank you.”

A faint light appeared in Adams’ eyes. “It was not hard. It is what I should do.”

Watching their interaction, Xie Lan, being someone who had seen it all, naturally figured out the situation. She exchanged a glance with Song Zhiyun and leaned in to whisper a tease. “Zhiyun, your son is quite something. He went to study abroad and brought you back a foreign son-in-law.”

Song Zhiyun watched as Adams skillfully deboned fish for Han Yan. He even gave Han Yan the vegetables he hated most, yet Han Yan did not refuse and ate them without a word. She raised her eyebrows. “From what Xiao Yan said, they do not seem to be together yet. I will talk to him later and find out exactly what the situation is.”

While the two elders were whispering about the younger generation’s major affairs, Adams was diligently picking out fish bones for Han Yan. Han Yan did not react at first due to habit, but once he met the two pairs of smiling eyes, his fingers paused and his scalp felt numb.

A piece of deboned fish meat landed in his bowl. He could not bring himself to eat it, nor could he put it back. He had no choice but to whisper to Adams, “Eat your own food. Do not mind me.”

After saying that, he held his rice bowl and silently sat further away, trying to create distance to cover his tracks. A flash of disappointment crossed the green eyes. Han Jue, seeing this, let out an almost imperceptible sigh. He took a piece of fish for himself, chewed it, and spat out the bone.

That evening, Han Jue returned to the Han house. Although Father Han had essentially crossed lines with them openly, Song Zhiyun’s name was still on the deed of that house. As their child, it was perfectly natural for Han Jue to go home to sleep.

Han Yan’s illness had fully recovered, so he could not continue staying in the ward and occupying public resources. Xie Lan invited Han Yan and Adams to stay at the Xie house for the time being, and they naturally accepted. The Xie house still had clothes Han Yan had left behind during previous sleepovers. Furthermore, Xie Yu and Han Yan were similar in size, so wearing Xie Yu’s clothes was not a problem.

But Adams had nothing. When Han Yan realized that Adams had flown over directly without preparing anything, his eyes flickered with an indescribable emotion. He took Adams to the mall to buy some clothes. At the checkout, he noticed Adams had taken two different sizes of the same shirt and pulled his arm.

“Why are you buying two sizes?”

“The smaller one is for you to wear.”

Han Yan froze for a moment and lowered his eyes. “I do not need it.” Without looking at Adams’ hurt expression, he told the clerk to take away all the smaller sizes.

While waiting for the car, Adams gripped Han Yan’s wrist and said in a low voice, “I was wrong about what happened before. I am sorry.”

Han Yan pulled his hand back and looked down at his new phone, his tone indifferent. “I know.”

“Then we can…”

“We cannot.”

Before Adams could finish, Han Yan guessed his meaning and refused decisively. Adams pursed his lips and remained silent.

The two returned to the Xie house in silence. Xie Lan had already arranged for people to prepare two guest rooms on the second floor. Han Yan stood at the door of his guest room. Sensing that the person behind him was still looking at him expectantly, he took a deep breath and said quietly, “You should rest early too.” He then walked into the room and closed the door.

He leaned against the door, exhaled slowly, and rubbed his temples. He took off his clothes and entered the bathroom with his upper body bare. The bruises on his body from before had mostly faded, leaving only faint marks to remind him of what had happened recently. His fingers brushed over those marks, and a sense of powerlessness welled up in his heart.

He was tired. He did not want to play any more games of being friends with benefits. However, if he were asked to date Adams, he could not do that either. The other man’s terrifying possessiveness made him push back; he hated the feeling of being controlled.

Warm water flowed down from his head. Han Yan pressed his forehead against the tiles and closed his eyes wearily. He dried his hair and walked out of the bathroom. His old pajamas were clearly too short for him now, leaving his wrists and ankles exposed.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Thinking it was Adams, he felt a wave of helplessness. The knocking was persistent. Having no choice, he walked over and opened the door. Before he could see clearly who it was, he frowned and said, “I have already said it, we are already…”

“Yan, what have you said?”

The nickname made Han Yan pause. He lifted his eyelids to see Xie Yu’s face appearing before him.

“Xie Yu?”

“Yes, who else would it be?” Xie Yu looked at him strangely.

Han Yan rubbed his temples and asked, “Why are you coming to see me at this hour?”

“Can we go inside to talk?”

Han Yan stepped aside to let him in and closed the door. He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and raised an eyebrow. “Speak. What is it?”

Xie Yu pouted discontentedly. “Yan, you still have not told me why exactly you blocked me back then.”

The question left Han Yan baffled. He let out a snort. “Why I blocked you? You were clearly the one who blocked me first, okay?”

“I blocked you? Han Yan, we grew up together. Do you not know what kind of person I am? How could I possibly block you just because you are not a child of the Han family!” Xie Yu looked indignant, and he did not seem to be faking it.

Han Yan’s brow furrowed as he carefully recalled the situation back then. At that time, his financial support had been cut off. He had called Xie Yu. The background noise on the other end was very chaotic and loud, as if he were at a party. Han Yan had hesitated to ask Xie Yu for money. A burst of loud laughter came through the receiver, and Xie Yu’s voice was mixed in, sounding sharper than usual.

“So the great Young Master Han also has times when he is so desperate that he has to borrow money?”

The mocking words had stung Han Yan’s heart. He did not listen to anything else said on the other end; he simply hung up the phone and blocked all of Xie Yu’s contact information.

“I called you back then and you were sarcastic toward me.”

“A phone call? When did you ever call me? I wanted to call you, but you had already blocked me. Where was I supposed to call you?” Xie Yu rolled his eyes. “I even went to your house to wait for you, but you had moved away. I could not find a trace of you. Were you not determined to break off our friendship?”

Han Yan stared at Xie Yu in silence. Xie Yu slowly realized what might have happened, and his eyes widened. “No way. Someone took my phone and answered your call? They intentionally mocked you to make things difficult?”

“What else could it have been?”

The two stared at each other for a while. Xie Yu suddenly cursed. “Damn it. If I find out who drove a wedge between our friendship, I will definitely kill him.”

The person involved was not entirely to blame. In the end, Han Yan’s mindset had been unstable during that period, and his brain was not functioning clearly; he had failed to notice the inconsistency. Han Yan ran a hand through his hair, his features showing irritation.

“It was my own fault for being an idiot.”

“So, Yan, are we considered reconciled now?” Xie Yu stared at Han Yan with a mournful expression. The latter let out a light laugh and bumped Xie Yu’s shoulder with a clenched fist.

“Since it was all a misunderstanding, it is fine now that we have spoken out. Xiao Yu, we are the kind of friends where whoever goes first, the other has to be a pallbearer.”

Xie Yu suddenly hugged Han Yan’s arm and said with a beaming smile, “Yan, then next time we go to KTV, let us continue singing about being friends for life.”

Han Yan’s face immediately fell and he yanked his arm away. “That is not necessary. You should save that raspy voice of yours.”

“Han Yan, what do you mean by that!” Xie Yu shouted and lunged forward. Han Yan dodged nimbly, causing the other man to fall flat on his face.

“Enough. I am going to sleep. I have to get up early tomorrow to go to the hospital to see my mother. You should also return to your room and rest.”

As Han Yan spoke, he reached out to open the door. The hand of the person outside was frozen in mid air. As Xie Yu’s voice rang out, that person’s face gradually turned grim.

“Yan, we finally reconciled. I will just sleep here with you tonight so we can catch up properly.”