Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Tang family main house, tea room on the third floor.
After Qiu Yi dragged Duan Qingyan away, there was no one in the room except Old Lady Hang and Lan Jingqian, and the air was so condensed that it seemed solid.
Old Mrs. Hang’s hand holding the teacup was tense, and the blue veins were protruding from under the wrinkled skin, as if she was about to burst out with terrifying emotions at any time.
At a certain moment, the atmosphere was tense to the utmost.
Mrs. Hang suddenly laughed without warning. She looked up at Lan Jingqian, her voice hoarse and her eyes dark: “Who told you about it?”
Lan Jingqian did not answer.
When he saw Duan Qingyan’s reaction, he already had the answer he wanted, and even more.
He knew that it was because of this that Old Lady Hang did not try to cover up or refute his questions.
Before Lan Jingqian could answer, Mrs. Hang got angry. She narrowed her eyes and said unwillingly, “When you returned home with success, I guessed that this day would come. I just didn’t expect it to be so soon.”
Lan Jingqian turned a deaf ear to her words. He only raised his head after a long silence, and there was a hint of bloodshot in his eyes.
He asked in a hoarse voice: “Where is she?”
Old Mrs. Hang’s eyes drifted: “The children of the Tang family are naturally in the Tang family.”
“Have you really taken care of her as if she were a child of the Tang family?” Lan Jingqian’s voice became a little hoarse.
Mrs. Hang paused: “Even if I don’t want to, she has half of the Tang family’s blood in her body after all.”
“Then why has no one ever mentioned her?!”
“Why mention her? How should we mention her? The illegitimate daughter of the Tang family who is living outside? Or the stain on Shiyu getting pregnant at a young age?”
Old Mrs. Hang’s eyes were cold.
“I will not allow such a stain to tarnish the Tang family. It is true that she is a child of the Tang family, so at least I have never treated her badly in terms of food, clothing and daily expenses.”
Lan Jingqian slowly clenched his fists, suppressing all the anger, resentment, questions and venting in his heart, leaving only the most urgent thought.
Lan Jingqian asked hoarsely: “Where is she now? I want to see her.”
“You can see her,” Mrs. Hang frowned, “but you can’t take her away.”
Lan Jingqian’s temples jumped. At this moment, he could no longer suppress his negative emotions. He looked across with gloomy eyes: “She is my daughter, why can’t I take her away?”
The old lady also said in a deep voice: “In the past sixteen years, you have not fulfilled your obligation to support her at all.”
“That’s because of your concealment!”
“You can tell the judge this and let him decide. You left the country 17 years ago and there was no news. Would he blame you for giving up your custody or blame us for hiding the truth?”
“——!”
Lan Jingqian couldn’t bear it any longer and stood up suddenly.
At that moment, the man lost his usual cool, reserved, mature and steady appearance, and his eyes were as red as an angry lion.
A lion that wanted to tear the person in front of it to pieces.
But he was no longer the impulsive and easily manipulated young man he was seventeen years ago.
He suppressed those ferocious emotions back into his body bit by bit, and even his clenched fists with bulging veins slowly loosened.
Lan Jingqian leaned against the edge of the tea table, looking at Old Lady Hang across from him with bloodshot eyes: “You clearly don’t accept her existence, why don’t you let her go?”
Old Mrs. Hang’s expression turned slightly stagnant.
The next second she turned her eyes away and said coldly: “I have my reasons, and I don’t need you to care about it.”
“I don’t want to care. I can guess that it must be for your Tang family again.” Lan Jingqian said in a cold voice, “But you may have forgotten one thing – the Tang family is still the unshakable Tang family, but I am no longer the mediocre me of the past.”
“…” The old lady’s eyes trembled, then she turned back, her face darkening, “What do you want to do?”
Lan Jingqian: “I don’t know what you want, but I will find the reason. Guess what I will do after I find it?”
The old lady’s face suddenly changed: “You dare!”
“——”
Lan Jingqian’s last string of sanity broke.
He pounded his fists hard on the table, as if he was about to pounce on it.
“You hid my own daughter in a dark corner for sixteen years! I dare not even think about how she survived these sixteen years – what else can I not dare to do?!”
Old Mrs. Hang froze in place.
There was a long silence, and then she lowered her voice: “Okay, okay, you can take her away – but not now.”
Lan Jingqian gritted his teeth: “What if I must do it now?”
“Then we’ll fight to the death.” Mrs. Hang’s voice became hoarse, and she looked up with a sinister look in her eyes, “You want to destroy the Tang family, so I can make sure you never see your daughter again in your life – if you dare to bet, come and try it.”
Lan Jingqian clenched his fists, and his knuckles, which had turned bloodless from being squeezed, made slight crackling sounds.
He squeezed out a word from between his teeth: “How long?”
Mrs. Hang’s eyes relaxed: “One year, two years at most.”
Lan Jingqian’s eyes turned gloomy.
Mrs. Hang paused for two seconds, then added in a slow voice: “In the next two years, as long as you don’t take her away and promise not to let outsiders know about your relationship – then you can come to see her anytime you want.”
“If you agree to it.”
Seeing Lan Jingqian’s silence, Mrs. Hang used her trump card –
“I’ll let you see her right away.”
“…”
Two hours later.
As soon as Tang Shixin got home, he hurried upstairs and headed straight to the tea room. After opening the door, he quickly walked around the screen and said in a hurried voice, “Mom, I heard from the people downstairs that Lan Jingqian came to our house?”
In front of the teapot, Mrs. Hang looked down at something with a gloomy look. When she heard the noise, she paused for a long time before she stiffened her body and slowly raised her head, tightly holding the thing in her hand.
“Um.”
“So he, he already knows that Tang Ran is his daughter?”
“Um.”
“…” Tang Shixin frowned.
The tea room fell silent. After a long while, Mrs. Hang suddenly spoke without warning:
“The fact that Lan Jingqian is Tang Ran’s biological father must never be known to the Luo family.”
“Why—” Tang Shixin paused, as if thinking of something, “But will Lan Jingqian cooperate?”
“For his daughter’s sake, he would. And he doesn’t know what happened back then.”
“But if the Luo family gets wind of this…”
“So I said, we can’t let the Luo family know!” Old Lady Hang turned around and interrupted coldly, “As long as Luo Jingyuan doesn’t know that Tang Ran’s biological father is Lan Jingqian, then the alliance between our two families can be maintained.”
Tang Shixin’s face changed slightly: “But as long as Lan Jingqian takes Tang Ran away, Mr. Luo will know sooner or later.”
“We just need to keep it going until then – because before that,” Mrs. Hang’s voice darkened, “you must get your daughter engaged to Luo Zhan as soon as possible!”
“…”
Tang Shixin lowered his head.
Because he had his part-time job as a robot in the evening, Luo Zhan was unable to personally send Tang Ran back from class due to time conflicts.
So the task of driving her back finally fell on Lin Qianhua.
Driving Luo Zhan’s convertible supercar to send Tang Ran back to the side house, Lin Qianhua helped the little girl back and said half-jokingly: “I think if this continues, I shouldn’t work in the AI industry after graduation. Being a taxi driver is quite suitable for me.”
Tang Ran laughed along and said apologetically: “I always trouble you with robot matters. It seems a bit too much. Otherwise…”
Hearing the word “otherwise”, Lin Qianhua was shocked: If he came to send the girl off and ruined their brother Zhan’s “part-time job” as a robot, he would definitely be dead when he returned.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay!” Thinking of the tragic consequences, Lin Qianhua shook his head, “It’s not a problem, it’s not a problem—Sister Tang Ran, please don’t say that. It’s not a problem at all, really!”
Seeing Lin Qianhua’s intense reaction, Tang Ran hesitated to speak.
After a few seconds, she lowered her eyes slightly and said, “Yeah. I hope I don’t bother you.”
“…”
Lin Qianhua, who had just recovered from the shock, sent Tang Ran back to the side house, found an excuse and slipped away immediately.
After Tang Ran changed into her home clothes and came out alone, she heard the small clock on the square table ticking softly.
“It’s the half-hour bell,” the little girl said to herself as she walked over. “According to the time, it should be half past five.”
In the past, Duan Qingyan would bring her dinner half an hour to an hour later. And Luo Luo, the robot who often “came to work” early recently, would also be in place before 7 o’clock.
Thinking of this, the little girl, who had just felt a little lonely because she was alone again, became excited again with anticipation.
She was groping at the Braille bookshelf in the living room, trying to find a Braille book to pass the time, when she heard the doorbell of the side house ring.
The little girl, who had just raised her hand over her head, was stunned for a moment then turned towards the entrance.
Half past five…
It couldn’t be dinner, and it couldn’t be the robot either.
Apart from the time when Mr. Luo came to visit and the old lady called her over to say hello, no one other than people delivering meals and the robot had ever come to Tang Ran’s side house.
“Who should I say hello to again…”
The little girl muttered softly as she walked over.
When passing the entrance, she hesitated for a moment, but still took out her blind stick.
Then Tang Ran stepped forward and fumbled to open the door.
A few seconds later, the door of the side house opened.
The soft and warm light in the room cast the girl’s delicate figure at the man’s feet.
Looking at the face that was 70% similar to the woman in his memory, Lan Jingqian’s eyes suddenly became moist.
“Is anyone there?” The girl turned her head blankly towards the quiet darkness.
Those eyes were quietly closed and never opened.
“…”
Lan Jingqian’s lips trembled slightly, and he opened his mouth to speak, but before he could open his mouth, the tears he had been unable to hold back had already flowed down.
Lan Jingqian raised his hand and bit his fist, forcing himself to swallow the sobs, then tried his best to adjust his breathing silently.
He repeated this several times.
There seemed to be someone at the door, but it seemed to be just the sound of the wind. When Tang Ran was about to think it was someone’s prank, she heard a strange, low and hoarse voice:
“You are… Tang Ran, right?”
Tang Ran was stunned.
After a few seconds, the little girl turned towards the direction of the sound and tilted her head slightly.
“Who are you……?”
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