Chapter 547

Chapter 547

Journey Forward

"Call me when you get home!" Lu Hang said to his wife, unwilling to let go.

Lin Nannan was also unwilling to let go. She was used to life in the military, and although Lu Hang would go on missions, they would usually reunite within a few days. This separation felt different.

She had no idea how long they would be apart this time...

"Take care of yourself, and don’t get hurt!" Lin Nannan said firmly, tugging at his clothes.

"Okay!" Lu Hang gave a light laugh and nodded. Taking advantage of the moment when their daughter was carried away by her mother-in-law and no one else was around, he quickly kissed her and then hugged her tightly. "Take good care of yourself. Let me know when you’re done, and I’ll come pick you up."

"Mm!" Lin Nannan hugged him back, not wanting to let go at all.

No matter how reluctant they were, when the train whistle blew, they had to part.

Du Du, who had been happily looking around in her grandmother’s arms, started crying when she saw her mother boarding the train without her father. Even as the train began to move, her father remained on the platform, waving instead of getting on. She stretched her arms out desperately, trying to pull her stationary father onto the train...

"Waaah..." The child’s cries made Lu Hang upset and Lin Nannan’s heart ache.

She held her daughter in her arms and, as the train slowly moved forward, took Du Du’s little hand to wave goodbye to Lu Hang. "Say goodbye to Daddy. When we’re done, Daddy will come pick us up, okay?"

Du Du’s attention was drawn to her mother, and her crying lessened. But because she had been crying so hard earlier, she was still hiccupping, looking utterly distressed.

Seeing that her daughter had stopped crying, Lin Nannan waved to Lu Hang, signaling for him not to worry.

The train moved farther away, and Lu Hang stood watching for a long time. Only when the train was completely out of sight did he turn around. Someone was already waiting for him.

...

On the train, with A Da and the others’ help, they quickly found their train car and got settled comfortably.

There were quite a few of them, so they had purchased tickets for two entire train cars.

To catch the train, Du Du had been roused early. After her initial excitement, the rhythmic clattering of the train became the best lullaby, and soon the little one was nodding off to sleep.

Lin Nannan placed the child on the bunk and said to Zhou Cuiwei, "Stop working and rest for a bit. You’ve been busy since early morning."

To make it to the train on time, they had gotten up before dawn. Even though she was energetic, she still felt tired now.

Zhou Cuiwei didn’t stop what she was doing and, without looking back, said, "You rest with Du Du first. I’ll organize her things so we can find them easily when we need them later."

Lin Nannan sat on the bunk without saying a word. Watching the busy figure before her, she felt conflicted.

Compared to other families who had experienced child mix-ups or swaps, she felt the Lin family’s attitude was already quite good. At least the real Lin Nannan had been swapped without their knowledge, and once they realized the mistake, they actively worked to make things right. They didn’t reject their biological daughter because of Zheng Min’s excellence, even if she was seen as somewhat simple in others’ eyes.

Some things had been buried in her heart for a long time, and she had never found the right moment to ask. Now, with this rare moment alone together, she voiced the question that had been troubling her—a question on behalf of the original host.

"When we suddenly exposed Zhang Ling’s scheme and you found out Zheng Min wasn’t your biological daughter, didn’t you feel even a little disdain for me having grown up in the countryside?" she asked.

If it hadn’t been her, it would have been the original Lin Nannan experiencing this. Only by getting clarity could the original Lin Nannan find peace.

Zhou Cuiwei paused, then turned around and sat down facing Lin Nannan.

"Your own child is your own child, no matter what. Nothing can change that," Zhou Cuiwei said, gathering herself. "When I first saw you, I felt like the sky had fallen. I had no idea what to do."

Remembering that period, her whole demeanor changed, she added. She looked at Lin Nannan with utmost seriousness and said, "My life could be described as smooth sailing, but I never expected that the daughter I had raised with such care wasn’t my own. My biological daughter had endured so much hardship and even married a man who was once paralyzed and bedridden. You have no idea how close I was to a complete breakdown at that time..."

"I wasn't devastated because my daughter grew up in the countryside, but because it broke my heart that she endured so much suffering," Zhou Cuiwei said, her eyes reddening. She held back her emotions for a long time before continuing, "I didn’t even dare to imagine how much better your life could have been if you hadn’t been swapped. I was terrified that you would hate us—hate us for failing to protect you, hate us for not even realizing our own child had been switched."

Lin Nannan listened to her heartfelt words and silently thought, *Lin Nannan, did you hear that? No matter what you become, your mother still loves you!*

She believed that was what the original person most wanted to know.

At that moment, Lin Nannan suddenly felt at peace.

She broke into a smile and said to the woman before her, "Mom, I understand!"

Their reunion wasn’t just her chasing after them—it was them moving heaven and earth to reach her…

If even one person in the Lin family had looked down on her or resented her, she wouldn’t have forced herself to stay.

It was precisely because the Lin family was so good that she wanted to know: if it had been the original person, would they have looked down on her?

Zhou Cuiwei’s answer gave closure to both her and the original person.

No matter what Lin Nannan became, the Lin family would never change.

That one word—"Mom"—made Zhou Cuiwei’s eyes instantly fill with tears. She covered her mouth to keep herself from crying out, but she was overwhelmed with emotion.

"Nan Nan, you don't even know—Mom is filled with regret. I regret ever showing kindness to Zhang Ling, and I regret being so foolish that I didn’t even realize my child had been swapped…" Zhou Cuiwei’s remorse was palpable.

Her heart broke for the daughter who had been taken away, and she hated Zhang Ling for the evil she had done.

Lin Nannan knew that, not only for herself, but for this woman before her, she was hurting the most.

A daughter swapped, suffering injustice—even making up for it couldn’t undo what had already happened.

"What's done is done," she said softly, trying to comfort her.

"How could it ever be in the past!" Zhou Cuiwei pressed a hand to her heart in anguish. "When we go to the village, I won’t need to ask much—I’ll hear all about how that family abused you, how they mistreated you. It breaks my heart, and I regret not bringing you back sooner."

If only she had been more alert, more attentive, she might have noticed that Zheng Min didn’t quite resemble their family. But since they'd raised her from childhood, who would have thought she wasn’t their biological child?

Lin Nannan sighed and said, "If you think like that, going to the village will only make you more miserable!"

There were far too many stories about the original person in the village, and few of them were good.

Maybe there were some good moments—toward the end, even though she didn’t eat well, the Lin family couldn't push her around anymore.

"I've steeled myself, and this time someone has to go. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to face your masters," Zhou Cuiwei said gratefully. "They were with you during the hardest times as you grew up. Even if they’re no longer here, we still need to go pay our respects."