Chapter 11

Chapter 11

An Nuo's lowly position at home is entirely due to the "complexity" and "ambiguity" of his background.

On the surface, he is the child of Father An's third spouse and the youngest in the family, so he should be deeply loved.

But the ambiguous part is that it's unclear who his real biological father is.

Since An Nuo was young but old enough to understand, he has been surrounded by endless rumors. He seems to be the product of his mother's affair, and even retribution for Father An's years of womanizing.

Although he perfectly inherited his mother's genes, with a sweet and delicate appearance—so beautiful since childhood that he was unforgettable from first sight—it's hard to see any trace of his father's genes in his face.

In fact, An Nuo has never even met his own mother.

He only heard that his mother didn't like Father An and that Father An pressured and manipulated her into marrying him.

To get back at Father An, his mother had a child with someone else and quickly ran off with her lover after An Nuo was born.

He was born unaware, grew up treading on thin ice, forced to bear everything fate threw at him, powerless to resist.

When he was young, he felt wronged and couldn’t understand what he had done wrong.

It wasn’t until he grew up that he realized, in Father An's eyes, his mere existence was a huge mistake.

During his adolescence, the most vulnerable yet stubborn age, this matter became An Nuo's nightmare repeatedly.

To verify the truth, he even secretly took a paternity test.

The results showed he was indeed Father An's biological child.

How unbelievable?

How absurd?

An Nuo didn’t feel the slightest joy over this result; instead, he was plunged into an even deeper chill on the spot.

If even he could get such a test done, how could Father An not have done one?

If he really weren’t Father An's child, he would’ve probably been kicked out long ago. How could Father An have kindly allowed him to stay?

An Nuo had to sadly admit that blood relation has nothing to do with affection. Father An was genuinely incapable of loving him—even disliked him.

Although Father An never mentioned in front of him whether his mother had been unfaithful, his always cold gaze, indifferent expression, and disgust-laden words and actions—Father An really never showed him much kindness.

He transferred all his hatred and malice toward his mother onto An Nuo.

From his ignorant childhood to adulthood when things gradually became clearer, for a long time in between, An Nuo also believed it was his own fault.

If he hadn’t been born.

If he looked more like Father An.

Maybe Father An wouldn’t have had to suffer others’ gossip and mockery, and perhaps would’ve been kinder to him.

Having lived so many repressed years, even now with Lu Yunyan as support and enough ability and reason to fight back, An Nuo still falls back into past fears, finding it hard to change the status quo, too afraid to strike back at Father An.

Until he sent that first message.

After taking that step he never dared to before, An Nuo realized with surprise that fighting back wasn’t as hard as he'd imagined—he could actually do it too.

And after saying it, an unspeakable sense of relief washed over his heart.

...It felt incredibly satisfying.

"What kind of talk is that?"

"Who raised you all these years? Did I ever shortchange you on food or money?"

"How could you say such things? Search your heart—is this how a child should treat their father?!"

Reading these words, his heart still clenched tight.

An Nuo has always been oppressed and lectured by Father An this way. Any sign of resistance was immediately called heartless.

In truth, he long ago realized that if it weren’t for Father An, he wouldn’t have had to inherently bear life’s hardships from birth.

It’s like someone pushing him into water and then extending a hand to save him—should he thank them for saving his life?

Without that person, he would never have fallen into the water in the first place.

He just never dared to say it before.

But today, he finally gathered the courage to resist, and after having a nightmare about the past last night, the memories were vivid.

An Nuo thought for a moment and decided to use this courage to get answers.

"That time when I was sixteen, you told me to help your business partner to his hotel room—what exactly did you mean by that?"

Father An replied quickly.

"When was that? That was so long ago, I’ve long since forgotten!"

"You’ve held a grudge over such a trivial matter all this time? I’ve wasted my efforts raising you!"

Words have no sound; they’re just data on a screen, yet they pierced An Nuo’s heart like sharp blades.

He had expected Father An to react this way. Even if something tragic had happened that night, he probably would have blamed it all on him afterward.

An Nuo’s eyes turned red.

He blinked rapidly over a dozen times before he could hit "send" on his reply.

"Seeing your response, I actually feel relieved"

"Because it makes hating you easier"

After sending this message, An Nuo blocked all of Father An’s related accounts.

For a while, his fingertips went cold, and his vision blurred.

An Nuo struggled to hold back his tears, waiting for his sight to slowly clear again.

The slice of mille-feuille beside him was still sitting there, and the cream on his latte held its shape.

The restaurant was quiet; everything was peaceful.

Outside the window, the sunlight was bright. It was still a sunny day today; the world hadn’t exploded.

Blocking Father An wouldn’t lead to any disasters that threatened his life.

It just meant he experienced an intense inner turmoil.

That was good.

Oh, it was that simple?

Originally, he had only planned to eat one slice of mille-feuille, but in the end, An Nuo shoved five or six pieces into his mouth until he was stuffed, and only then did he stop.

Only when his stomach was full did his heart feel a bit lighter.

...

By the time An Nuo finished breakfast and returned to the small living room where Lu Yunyan was, the two little kittens had already gone back to their bed to sleep.

An Nuo ignored Lu Yunyan, walked straight past him, and headed directly to the kittens' bed, crouching down beside it.

He squatted there quietly for over ten minutes, occasionally poking the kittens lightly with his finger, not feeling tired at all.

Little kittens heal the heart.

Watching the two soft, tiny furballs, the foul mood from his father gradually began to recover.

Not far away, Lu Yunyan finally finished his work, closed his laptop, and walked over to An Nuo, squatting down beside him to watch the kittens together.

“Are they really that interesting? You’ve been squatting here for so long, aren’t you tired?”

“Not at all.”

An Nuo rested his elbows on his knees, cupped his face in his hands, and spoke in the high-pitched, sweet voice he reserved especially for the kittens.

“The kittens are so adorable, I could watch them all day.”

Lu Yunyan chuckled lightly: “Then I’m afraid I might have to ruin your fun.”

“…What?”

“We have to go to my parents’ house at noon today.”

An Nuo’s eyes widened instantly.

This would be his first time meeting the parents in his life.

But such an important matter, and Lu Yunyan was only telling him now?

Couldn’t he have mentioned it last night, at least to give him a heads-up?

Although, recalling last night’s situation—An Nuo reluctantly admitted there might be some justification—but what about this morning?

Lu Yunyan had teased him with him on his lap for so long, couldn’t he have told him earlier?

An Nuo suddenly stood up, then, due to squatting for too long, his legs had fallen asleep, and he wobbled unsteadily, almost falling over.

Lu Yunyan watched as An Nuo tottered like a weeble on the spot and quickly reached out to steady him: “That excited?”

“…”

I’m not excited!

He was shocked! Stunned! In disbelief!

Did Lu Yunyan know how unfriendly such last-minute notice was for an introvert who preferred to follow plans?

An Nuo held onto Lu Yunyan’s hand: “…Why didn’t you tell me last night?”

“I forgot.”

“Then what about when I woke up! Why didn’t you tell me then!”

“I still hadn’t remembered.”

“…”

Lu Yunyan said: “Just now, my dad asked when we were coming over, and that’s when I remembered.”

“…”

“No need to be nervous. There’s no one else, just my parents. And it’s just a meal. Don’t worry, they won’t eat you as a side dish.”

“…Not funny at all!”

An Nuo couldn’t help but be nervous about meeting Lu Yunyan’s parents.

According to the requirements of his arrangement with Lu Yunyan, aside from Lu Yunyan’s lawyer, the reason for their marriage was a secret only the two of them knew.

In front of others, they needed to always pretend to be a loving couple who were together out of true love.

At the time, An Nuo had also asked: “Not even your parents can know?”

Lu Yunyan had said very seriously: “If they found out you can cure my illness and that we’re in a contractual marriage, they’d probably try every means to remove your gland.”

An Nuo was immediately terrified and asked, confused: “…Does it have to be that brutal?”

“Yes,” Lu Yunyan replied. “Removing your gland and sending it to the lab would allow them to extract your pheromones continuously. Then, turning you into a corpse that can’t speak would be the safest and most secure option for me.”

An Nuo had never faced anything like that before.

Back then, he didn’t even know what Lu Yunyan’s parents looked like, but in his mind, he had already formed an image of them as terrifying, ruthless, and cold-hearted.

What good was it to say “don’t be nervous” now?

Especially since the one comforting him was Lu Yunyan.

The very person who had spelled out that terrifying image—could his words be trusted? Who would dare believe them?

All the unpleasantness with his father was thrown to the back of his mind. An Nuo quickly ran back to his room and started obsessing over his outfit for going out.

He hoped to leave a good impression on Lu Yunyan’s parents.

That way, even if the agreement were unfortunately exposed someday, they might spare his life out of some slight goodwill.

...

The Lu family parents lived in what was truly the prime location of the capital planet.

Many politicians and celebrities gathered here, so the security level was the highest on the entire planet. Private vehicles were even prohibited inside, and only government-registered aircraft were allowed to land.

The aircraft was very fast, covering twenty kilometers in just two minutes, but the landing registration process took more time.

After learning they were going there, An Nuo had been on edge. Once onboard the aircraft, his face was uncharacteristically serious, his expression solemn, which made Lu Yunyan a bit exasperated and led him to reflect on whether his joke had gone too far.

"Don't worry, even if the agreement is exposed, they wouldn't actually remove your gland. Those words were just an exaggeration on my part."

"What era do you think this is? Who would actually do something like that?"

But Lu Yunyan’s explanation came too late—An Nuo was already past believing him.

Lu Yunyan could only say, "Besides, I'm here. If anything really happens, I'll protect you."

An Nuo finally reacted.

However, it was only to give Lu Yunyan a highly skeptical look and ask, "Oh really? Between your parents and me, would you actually choose me?"

His intention was to express distrust in Lu Yunyan's assurance, to the point of instinctively refuting it.

Yet, once again, Lu Yunyan seized the opportunity: "Are we starting with these trap questions already?"

"That’s a tough one, babe."

"..."