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“Mingjing, your father just came to see you, sigh. You two really, you can’t even talk properly when you meet,” Secretary Cao said, wiping away tears as he spoke of his emotions. “These past few days, we couldn’t reach you by phone. We called Qianqian, but that girl, for some reason, just wouldn’t tell us, making your father so anxious...”
Secretary Cao took out a tissue to wipe his tears, then sighed: “Alas, when you get older, you only then realize what’s most important.”
“Uncle Cao, don’t say these things to me anymore,” Luo Mingjing turned his head towards Luo Heqiang and said, “Luo Heqiang, let me ask you, do you know what I’m doing now? In your heart, I’ve always been uneducated, a social scumbag, a child spoiled by my mother, doing nothing useful. You never believed me. You listened to them, telling you that someone took my college entrance exam for me, telling you that I used the degree my mom paid a fortune for to fool female students and drove her to her death.”
“There’s something I’ve wanted to ask you for a long time, and I did ask you once, but you thought I was insulting you,” Luo Mingjing said. “I’ll ask again today, purely just asking you this question: Are you blind? Are you blind, Luo Heqiang?! Don’t you know what your own son is like? Don’t you see? No, you just don’t believe.”
“I saw!” Luo Heqiang sighed deeply, “You never talk to me. How am I supposed to ask you? Am I, a father, supposed to chase after you asking what you ate, what you drank, how your grades are? What kind of manners are those? You just don’t know how to be considerate of your father, never! You never once talked to me properly. Do I owe you? Luo Mingjing, do I owe you? For so long, how much money have you cost me? Tell me, have I ever let you go hungry or ill-clothed? When have I ever refused to give you money when you asked?”
“Was it me who asked for it?” Luo Mingjing’s hands trembled slightly. “Are you stupid?! Luo Heqiang, do you have a problem with your brain? I told you long ago, all those ‘singing birds’ of yours knew you were an idiot and were all deceiving you! They were all trying to alienate you, and you still didn’t believe it. You thought my mom was narcissistic, thought those people had no need to alienate your marital relationship, your father-son relationship. But you were just foolish. How much money did they take from you in my name? Ask Secretary Cao! Ask him if he ever gave me the money even once?!”
Luo Mingjing’s tears fell from his eyes, but his tone was unusually calm: “Do you know why your son disappeared for five years? You don’t know. Not only do you not know, but you also kept giving money to Li Xiang and that woman!”
“They paid the money back!” Luo Heqiang said, trembling, “It’s already been paid back, let’s not mention it!”
“I really wonder what your expression was when they paid you back,” Luo Mingjing said with a sarcastic smile. He lowered his eyes, crestfallen, “How did you suddenly think of doing a paternity test?”
Luo Heqiang wanted to speak, but glanced at Shi Min and felt too embarrassed to open his mouth.
Secretary Cao waved his hand, trying to smooth things over: “Don’t mention it, sigh. It was the children’s grandmother who showed up at our door, that’s how we found out. Her family even took it to court, sigh...”
It was precisely because it went to court that they did the paternity test. The day he saw the results, Luo Heqiang felt the world spin and he fainted.
This was too much of a blow for him.
A man who considered himself the “King of Manufacturing” in Haishi, someone who had always looked down on others, married his boss’s daughter for his future. After fulfilling the mission of that marriage, he abandoned his first wife. He rarely went home. While his boss was alive, he was more restrained, promising his boss he would never have illegitimate children. After the autocratic boss passed away, he finally relaxed. Coincidentally, at that time, the young girl he was most emotionally invested in gave birth to a pair of “dragon and phoenix auspicious” twins, and he was overjoyed.
Luo Heqiang had never participated in his biological son’s life from birth to adulthood and felt little for him. However, perhaps he was getting old and yearned for a family. When he saw that pair of newborn children, Luo Heqiang wept tears of old age. A man in his fifties, he learned to coax babies to sleep, watched them grow up, and heard them call him “old daddy.”
He had truly invested his emotions. During this time, he also felt guilt towards his eldest son. So, when the woman who used to care for his family told him that Luo Mingjing needed money, he almost doubled the amount; if she asked for 500,000, he would give 800,000 or 900,000.
He had no other way to compensate, only to give money.
However... when that old woman came knocking, grabbing his leg at the company entrance and crying out for him to return her grandchildren, Luo Heqiang was stunned. Something shattered, making him feel unsteady.
His body broke down, and his spirit broke down. Perhaps this was his retribution.
It was then that he heard about Luo Mingjing from a fair-weather friend. He found all the news reports, and even had his secretary find online reports about Luo Mingjing.
He watched his son across the screen, a similar face, as if looking at a stranger.
At that time, his first thought wasn’t about the content of the news reports, but when was the last time he saw Luo Mingjing.
He pondered this question and finally realized that in his memory, Luo Mingjing still looked like he was wearing a school uniform.
He remembered a long time ago, or perhaps not so long ago, his ex-wife excitedly called him to say that Luo Mingjing had been accepted into T University.
He had no concept of this. Secretary Cao said it was the best school in the country.
He replied, “That’s how it should be, anyone can get in.”
Later, some young girls told him, “Uncle Luo, I want to tell you something, but don’t get angry. We heard that someone took your son’s college entrance exam for him.”
He believed it. How could he not believe such a thing? He knew the boys in Haishi. The children of the bosses he knew were basically all like that—after having their fun, when it was time to get married and find a wife, their families would spend some money, either send them abroad or find connections to get them into a university.
He thought his ex-wife, a strong-willed woman who cared deeply about appearances, would do such a thing for her son—find someone to take the exam for him to get into a good university.
Moreover, those strangers had no connection with his son; why would they lie for no reason?
So, he was deeply convinced.
These ideas were deeply ingrained until recently, when he saw Luo Mingjing’s video and read the long introductions posted online by the girls who liked his son, he finally wavered.
At least, his son’s fluent foreign language in the video, that jumble of sounds, shocked him.
It was an interview by foreigners, and when his son appeared, the screen below would introduce his son in several languages.
Among the Chinese labels he could see, his son was introduced as: “Renowned Chinese Fashion Designer.”
His son wasn’t a reseller of art supplies, nor was he someone who squandered money on hedonism in other places.
In the video, he had his own life, a life his father and family didn’t know about.
Quiet, peaceful. An art studio, a workshop.
His works.
His qualifications.
Remembering these things, Luo Heqiang’s heart stirred slightly. He looked up and asked Luo Mingjing, “Tell me honestly, did someone take your college entrance exam for you back then?”
A surge of grievance welled up, and Luo Mingjing’s eyes instantly blurred. He didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. He frowned, shaking his head repeatedly: “Dad, I called you ‘Dad,’ don’t you feel any shame? You don’t believe me, then go ask my teachers, my classmates. If you want to, just go and ask!”
He finished, wiped his tears, and suddenly gave a bitter smile, saying sorrowfully: “Luo Heqiang, do you know the name of the high school I attended? Do you know what major I studied? Do you know I was the second-highest scorer in Haishi that year, sought after by three of the best universities in the country? Have you ever seen the trophies and certificates I displayed at home?! My mom placed them on pedestals on both sides of the hallway, specifically so you would see them! Do you know that besides being good at studying, I won awards for calligraphy every year? Do you know I won first place in piano competitions six times, do you know my paintings always won national gold awards? These honors, these...”
He cried as he spoke: “You could pick any one of them, and another father could brag about it for ten, twenty years! But you...”
Shi Min got up, gently hugged him, and pulled him to sit down.
“Dad, I’ll ask you one more question. If you tell me the truth, I’ll forgive you,” Luo Mingjing took a deep breath, and quietly asked his father, “My mom died five years ago. Have you ever visited her?”
Luo Heqiang propped his chin, covering his mouth with trembling fingers. He thought back, even looking at Secretary Cao, whose eyes were anxious but helpless.
Luo Heqiang said, “I visited. I sent flowers.”
Luo Mingjing’s face was expressionless: “Where did you visit?”
“The cemetery. Your grandpa’s grave is next to your mom’s, I know.” Someone always sent flowers and swept the grave every year. He treated these things as an annual task. He would ask about it when he remembered, because he didn’t want others to say he was cold-blooded, saying that after the boss who promoted him died, he no longer visited.
So, every year he had employees sweep the grave and send a bouquet of flowers. After his ex-wife passed away, when employees went to send flowers and sweep the grave, they would surely include her.
Boom—
The table was flipped.
“Get out!” Luo Mingjing made a move. “Get out!”
Secretary Cao quickly tried to mediate. Shi Min, who had been looking down at her phone, suddenly said, “Please leave, or else, you’ll be leaving in a very unsightly manner.”
Luo Heqiang angrily said, “I just can’t stand your temper, always flaring up like that!”
Luo Mingjing gave a desolate laugh and said, “I will not forgive you. Never in this life. Luo Heqiang, if you had divorced my mom back then, left with nothing, and returned everything my mom gave you, I wouldn’t care how many women you slept with. Are you even a man? Do you know what marriage is? It’s a contract. If you don’t want this contract, fine. After dissolving it, once you’ve returned what’s due, you’re free to do anything. But you, you both enjoyed the wealth that contract brought you and betrayed it, completely irresponsible. You disregarded your family, only wanting to enjoy rights, not fulfill obligations. Do you know who forced my mom to her death? It was you, you scoundrel!”
Luo Heqiang’s face flushed with anger and shame: “Shut up! Disregarding your elders, is that how your mother taught you?!”
“Let me tell you why you should get out of here.”
Luo Mingjing said, “My mom doesn’t have a tombstone, and she’s not in a cemetery. I scattered her ashes, scattered them in the sea.”
He laughed through his tears, spreading his hands, and softly said, “You see, you know nothing. You tell me, Luo Heqiang, you think, someone like you, do you still have the nerve to see me? I am not your son. Listen clearly, Luo Heqiang, you and I are no longer related. From the day my mom died, in my eyes, you are a dead man. I don’t acknowledge you, and I never will in this life.”
The wind chimes jingled. Fiona arrived, carrying two heavy suitcases.
She looked at the messy scene and gasped in fright: “Sis! What happened? Are you okay?”
Shi Min pointed to Luo Heqiang: “Fiona, spray the money at him.”
Fiona hesitated for a moment, then decided to obey her ‘patron.’ She loaded her card gun, opened the suitcases, filled them with two large cases of cash, raised the gun, and shot bills, one by one, at Luo Heqiang.
Shi Min said, “Mr. Luo, this is compensation for your emotional distress. Please do not disturb my life again in the future. Otherwise, I will contact my lawyer, and we will meet in court.”
Luo Heqiang’s face turned extremely ugly, and even Secretary Cao’s expression was difficult to maintain.
Luo Mingjing gave a humph of a laugh, turned, and went back to the kitchen.
Fiona was still shooting out pink banknotes, her forehead glistening with sweat, terrified that the two older men in front of her would suddenly explode and kill her.
Luo Heqiang suddenly covered his face with both hands, squatted on the ground, whimpered twice, then unsteadily leaned on the wall, wiping away tears, and left.
Secretary Cao supported him, seemingly having something to say, but ultimately just sighed, whispered something to Shi Min, and left.
Fiona was stunned. After everyone had gone out, she cautiously asked Shi Min, “Should I tell brother-in-law?”
Secretary Cao had said: “He has cancer... Sigh, forget it.”
Shi Min turned around and saw Luo Mingjing leaning against the kitchen doorway, his eyes cast down, two cats rubbing against his legs.
“Mingjing.”
“I’m fine,” he said. “I said I wouldn’t forgive, and I won’t. Never, not even when I die.”
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