Around ten in the morning, Lin Nan and his mother returned home.
He hadn't slept well last night. At first he was furious, then tormented by various feelings of shame to the point of agony. He only managed to fall asleep around two or three in the morning, but even then he was plagued by nightmares.
Then around five o'clock, Uncle Liu woke them up to watch the sunrise.
His mother had slept quite comfortably—the magic hadn't worked as intended, but it had given her a good night's sleep instead.
Lin Nan had barely slept at all last night, so by the time they got home, he was already drowsy and exhausted.
Walking through the front door, Lin Nan yawned repeatedly while his mother was full of energy. Seeing his condition, she asked with concern, "Are you sleepy? Do you want to go back to sleep?"
"I'll rest a bit then go see Dad," Lin Nan said, sitting on the sofa. Drowsiness filled his head, leaving no room to think about other matters. He started nodding off as soon as he sat down.
"Want to eat something first? There are fish balls in the fridge," his mother said, turning toward the kitchen. She was about to ask Lin Nan what he wanted to eat, but when she looked back, she saw he had already made himself comfortable on the sofa and was stretching, preparing to sleep.
"Didn't you say you wanted to see your father?"
"Let me sleep first?" Lin Nan hesitated. He was afraid that being too drowsy might cause him to say the wrong thing, but then he worried that this nap might last until evening, and he'd have to go straight back to school. So he quickly changed his mind: "Actually, let me eat some fish balls first, then go see him."
"Okay."
"Which hospital is he in?"
"County Hospital."
When mentioning his father, his mother's expression visibly grew colder.
Lin Nan sighed. He had no idea how to face his father either. To him, both parents were practically strangers, but at least he'd sorted things out with his mother. She no longer questioned his identity and, due to guilt, their relationship had rapidly warmed up.
But his father...
Growing up, Lin Nan had never thought much of his father. When his mother was home, she would occasionally ask about him, clean the house, and she was usually the one who gave him money. But his father typically just sat in front of the TV with a stern face, doing nothing.
In his eyes, his father was someone who showed no emotion and was rather old-fashioned.
The charm magic would definitely work on his father, but Lin Nan was terrified it might turn into some kind of perverted father-daughter scenario.
After eating fish balls, Lin Nan called Chen Yao to join them.
If things went badly, Chen Yao could protect him. If he needed to run away, he'd have backup. And if something else unexpected happened, having Chen Yao by his side would give him far more security than his mother could provide.
The fish balls served as a makeshift lunch. There weren't many seasonings at home, and his mother hadn't cooked in over ten years. Even when she was home, she would order takeout or eat quick foods like fish balls and glutinous rice balls.
"Let's go," his mother said, her expression turning cold, her brow furrowed with worry. She looked at Lin Nan, who was washing dishes, not knowing what he would face this time.
"Coming!"
After quickly washing the dishes and putting them away in the cupboard, Lin Nan ran to his room to splash water on his face, finally managing to perk up a bit.
Soon, Chen Yao arrived at Lin Nan's house. His mother was fairly familiar with him—they'd met a few times before, and she knew Chen Yao was Lin Nan's best friend.
The county hospital wasn't far from home. The three of them walked out of the urban village, continued for about half a street, then entered a small alley where the shabby entrance of the county hospital came into Lin Nan's view.
Compared to the provincial hospital, this one looked much more run-down and cramped. The hospital had its outpatient and inpatient departments on opposite ends of a single-lane road. Lin Nan had been here several times before, visiting his grandfather during his serious illness.
This return trip was familiar territory. Under his mother's guidance, Lin Nan quickly found his father's room in the inpatient department.
Looking through the glass window on the room door, he saw it was a four-bed ward, but only his father was there. A caregiver in her thirties was beside him, seemingly chatting and laughing about something.
Lin Nan glanced at his mother, whose expression was clearly displeased.
Even though his father was over forty, his appearance still carried some of his youthful handsomeness, though his hair had turned gray and his face was lined with wrinkles. Lin Nan had inherited his oval face shape from him.
Unfortunately, his father's temperament was truly terrible.
His mother hesitated for a moment, then pushed open the door and walked into the room expressionlessly. Lin Nan quickly followed with his head down, while Chen Yao remained at the entrance, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, watching this strange family of three.
"What are you here for?" His father, who had just been chatting cheerfully with the caregiver, immediately put on a stern face. The married couple stared at each other expressionlessly.
The caregiver sensed the tense atmosphere and quickly left the room.
That's when his father noticed Lin Nan hiding behind his mother. He frowned and demanded, "Who is this?"
As expected, he didn't recognize him.
Lin Nan's face went pale. When his mother had recognized him earlier, he'd thought that maybe despite becoming increasingly feminine, his facial features hadn't changed much. But now his father didn't recognize him at all.
He cautiously glanced up at his father. Well, his leg was in a cast suspended from the foot of the bed. Though his attitude was intimidating, he posed no real threat.
Lin Nan immediately relaxed, and his mother, perhaps also seeing that he couldn't even get out of bed, answered directly: "It's Lin Nan."
His father was bewildered. He carefully examined the girl following closely behind his wife, unable to see how this could be his son.
The eyes and eyebrows were somewhat similar, but his son was a boy, right?
His mother pulled out the medical report from her bag and threw it onto the bedside table in front of his father, who was still staring at Lin Nan in confusion: "See for yourself."
"What is this?" his father scoffed. "If you want a divorce, just get divorced. Why are you pulling these tricks? The house belongs to my son and has nothing to do with you. There's nothing to discuss!"
"I didn't contribute money to buy the house? I didn't work to earn money?!"
"Didn't I buy the truck too?" His father slammed the table, trying to sit up forcefully, but forgot his leg was immobilized in a cast. He stumbled and fell back down.
"So I've been an unpaid housemaid in your home for twenty years?!"
"Housemaid? Haven't I been supporting you?"
His parents completely forgot Lin Nan's existence and began arguing loudly about property division in their divorce. Lin Nan stood to the side, realizing that in his father's eyes, property division might be more important than his own son.
His mood grew increasingly downcast. His parents' quarrel made him feel uncomfortable and at a loss, not knowing what to do.
Finally, after his mother made a brief concession, the divorce topic ended.
She pointed to the medical report thrown on the bedside table.
"Look at what your son has become!"
Lin Nan froze. His mother probably didn't mean anything by it, but those words sounded particularly harsh to his ears.