Chapter 458: – Confession
When she got up the next day, Lin Jin noticed that her uncle and aunt were looking at her a bit strangely.
Well, true, an almost twenty year old man still clinging to his mom to sleep was indeed a bit weird.
But I'm a girl!
Lin Jin screamed inwardly but then thought that if she exposed her identity as a girl, maybe the way they look at her would become like how they look at a pervert. It might even be worse than how they were looking at her now.
Fortunately, her mom explained to them: "Last night, Lin Jin slept on a floor mat. We haven't seen each other in many years, so it's normal for him to stick close to me."
"That's true." Uncle immediately looked at Lin Jin with a caring for his nephew gaze, his eyes full of sympathy towards Lin Jin. "Lin Jin's also quite pitiful. You left when he was just ten, and he also had to deal with his dad. His dad’s completely useless. Not working is one thing, but even making Lin Jin do all the housework too."
Lin Jin’s uncle had visited her home a few times before. Back then, her dad was still gambling and Lin Jin was still a high school student. Every day after coming home, the first thing he would do was cook and clean the house, then throw away the trash left from his dad's party with his friends. So her uncle had more than once asked Lin Jin to come live at his place.
Her uncle was quite a kind person.
Lin Jin silently gave her uncle a thumbs up in her heart, then continued sitting at the table and eating her lunch with a blank expression.
Because the group of people played mahjong until two last night, it was already nearly ten by the time they woke up. So they just went straight to lunch.
She didn’t know when this cousin of hers went to bed last night, as even now, he was still not up. Probably some mobile game had an event last night, so he grinded all night.
Among Lin Jin’s classmates was also a mobile game fanatic. It was said that in order to play a certain game, he skipped several consecutive days of class. He would play the game non stop every day, as if he didn’t care about his life anymore.
Scary.
Her mom’s mood today wasn’t very good. Ever since she woke up, she had been pursing her lips and hadn’t smiled at all.
Lin Jin was a bit worried about her mom’s condition, wondering if she hadn’t slept well when they slept together last night. When Lin Jin herself doesn't sleep well, she would also be like her mom right now.
At the dining table, her uncle and aunt were still piling food onto Lin Jin's plate as before, but her mom wasn't very enthusiastic. Seeing her mom like this, Lin Jin seemed to feel the same way and wasn’t in much of a mood either, only half heartedly answering her uncle’s questions.
"Lin Jin, do you have a girlfriend?" Her uncle didn't seem to notice something was off with her mom and kept getting food for Lin Jin.
"No, I haven't met anyone I like."
"That's true. Lin Jin, you look so pretty in girls' clothes. When you find a girlfriend, it’d definitely need to be someone even prettier." Her uncle said with a laugh. "But there aren't many girls prettier than you. Just finding someone who’s about the same is enough. When you two walk down the street, maybe people will even think you're sisters."
Lin Jin perfunctorily nodded with a bitter expression.
As lunch was about to end, her cousin finally came downstairs. He looked very sleepy and didn’t seem to be in a great mood. He plopped down on a chair and just started eating. Maybe after he finished, he will continue to sleep a few more hours in the afternoon.
Then, her mom suddenly said.
"My Lin Jin is a girl now."
Lin Jin was startled by her mom’s words, she completely did not expect her to actually say this at such a time.
Her face turned pale and she immediately lowered her head, not daring to look at her uncle’s expression.
"She had surgery before, now she's completely a girl." Her mom continued speaking. "So in the future, she won’t be finding a girlfriend or anything. She’s not a boy crossdressing, she’s a girl."
Her aunt’s expression didn't look the best, but she still tried to keep a smile and said: "Why say this kind of stuff? Let's eat, eat."
Her uncle didn't know what to say. Although he couldn’t be considered to have watched Lin Jin grow up, she was still his own brother’s son after all. But now Lin Jin had become a girl.
"Does Chengchang know?" After hesitating for a long time, her uncle asked her mom, "What did he say?"
"My dad thinks it's fine." Lin Jin quickly answered.
Although her dad was indeed pretty against Lin Jin becoming a girl before, maybe because they had lived together for a long time, his attitude towards her now wasn’t bad. At least he now acted like a father.
"Then that’s fine. This is your family matter, we can't really say much." Her aunt said with a smile, "Here, have some food."
She placed a piece of meat into Lin Jin's bowl.
It felt, acceptable...
Her uncle and aunt weren't as rigid as her grandparents, or maybe they felt they weren't too close with her, so they didn't say much.
Lin Jin raised her head and looked towards her aunt, wanting to see how she looked at her, but her aunt had already lowered her head to eat and still didn't look up at her after ages.
As for her uncle, his enthusiasm towards her seemed to have faded quite a bit all of a sudden...
Although the favoring of sons over daughters was now gone in many places, even shifting to favoring daughters over sons, it was obvious that the people from Lin Jin's hometown still held on to these old views.
"We're leaving this afternoon." Her mom forced a smile on her face. "Next time we come, I'll bring Lin Chen along."
"Leaving this afternoon? How about staying a few more days." Her uncle tried to persuade them for a bit but then changed his mind, "But it really is not good for Lin Chen to be alone in Guangdong."
"Yeah."
"I'll drive you this afternoon. I bought a car recently, I still haven’t shown it off to you guys yet. " Her uncle tried his best to ease the somewhat awkward atmosphere currently.
"Okay."
Lin Jin and her mom exchanged a glance, and both almost simultaneously noticed the anguish in each other's eyes.
"Mom, have you booked the train tickets?" Lin Jin had finished eating, her bowl and chopsticks were neatly placed on the table. She put her hands on her lap and lowered her head as she asked, "If we're going to Guangdong, I'll call dad to let him know."
"Yes, it’s booked."
After staying silent for a long time, her aunt suddenly opened her mouth and said: "Lin Jin, actually, it doesn't matter whether you're a boy or a girl. Anyway, doesn’t your family still have Lin Chen? It's all the same. In the future, when you have time, come back and visit or something. Come stay at our place again."
As soon as her aunt finished speaking, her uncle gave her a look but still agreed: "Yes, yes, yes. During the New Year’s, come over with the whole family and have fun."
Sigh, her aunt was still quite a good person.
Lin Jin kept nodding but didn't look up at the two of them.
After a few more minutes, everyone except for the late to arrive and still hadn’t said anything cousin, had finished eating. Her uncle immediately stood up, saying he would go get the car from the garage, while her aunt began to clear the dishes with a complicated expression.
"Let's go." Lin Jin shrugged.
Just earlier, she still felt a bit uncomfortable. But now, she didn’t feel anything at all.
Although her uncle was indeed very good to her family, she didn't have any real feelings toward him. Relatives and whatnot also only meet once a year during Chinese New Year's. Whether they accepted her current self or not made no difference to Lin Jin.
Having figured it out, she took her mom’s hand and tried her best to cheer her mom up: "Mom, when we get to Guangdong, I want to drink your chicken soup."
"Okay."