From the moment when Qin Sheng could start to remember things until now, he was always so sure that he had no other relatives than his grandfather. Although he did ask him before, he never talked about things from the past. Qin Sheng thought that he did not want to recall those unhappy memories. After all, there were many orphans in the world but most of them were caused by tragedies.
It was very cruel to cause an old person to recall those unhappy memories, so Qin Sheng never asked again.
But today, Qin Ran, this woman whom he had only met a few times, suddenly appeared before him and told him that he was not an orphan; he had an older sister and a father. It really broke the social constructs that Qin Sheng had for all these years.
Of course Qin Sheng’s mind was full of doubts. First, he had to make sure if this was real. If it was not, then there was nothing else to talk about. If it was real, then he had so many questions.
He had to re-organize the first half of his life and question many things that he never doubted. For example, was his grandfather his biological father? If he was, then why did both of them had to rely on each other in Xi’an when he also had parents and an older sister? All these years, why did his family members not look for him? Why did they only find him today? Or maybe his grandfather was not biological and was a bad person who took him away, causing him to be separated from his family for so many years.
And then what happened thereafter – why did Qin Ran cry the first time she saw him? Was it because she already knew that he was her younger brother? But why did she not tell him the truth then and reconcile? Or did she have her reasons for doing so? Later on in Hangzhou, she still did not reconcile with him and only did so today in Tsingtao. Why?
Following which, there was Zhuang Zhou. He appeared before Qin Ran. Back at Mount Jiuhua, if he had not appeared at that last moment, Qin Sheng would already be gone. Then what was Zhuang Zhou’s relationship with Qin Ran? What was his identity? Zhuang Zhou said that he had a deep relationship with Qin Sheng’s grandfather. Was that true or a lie?
Afterward, Zhuang Zhou arranged for Qin Sheng and Lin Su to go to Xiamen, where they met Qin Ran. Apparently, Qin Ran already knew Zhuang Zhou during then. Then, Zhuang Zhou sent him to Hangzhou, where he recommended him to Cao Da. He met Qin Ran there again. Apparently Qin Ran and that so-called father knew about all these. Back then, everything seemed coincidental, but now that he looked back, everything was intentional.
In that case, there was the possibility that everything that happened right from Mount Jiuhua was known to Qin Ran and the hidden father. There was an even scarier possibility, that they already knew his existence when he was in Shanghai. Qin Sheng suddenly recalled that he seemed to have first met Qin Ran when he walked past her in Yuerong Manor Hotel. If he continued to guess boldly, then they might have already known his existence even earlier.
Qin Sheng suddenly shuddered, because the more he thought about it, the scarier it felt.
Why?
Because he felt that his life might have been manipulated by others. This ‘others’ was this older sister and the hidden father, Shanghai’s Jiang Xianbang, Zhuang Zhou who appeared afterward, as well as Hangzhou’s Cao Da. It could include other people as well, such as Xue Qingyan, etc. They could all be this older sister and that hidden father’s little chess pieces and he was just a puppet in their hands.
Qin Sheng was a little angry. He had never thought that the truth could be more complex and scarier than what he had seen today. If that was the case, then he had lived all these years for nothing. He had been living in others’ arrangements, like the male lead in The Truman Show. He thought that he was living in the real world, but he was actually living in someone else’s program. Everything had been set.
The last question he had was what kind of background did this older sister and the hidden father have for them to have so much power to allocate so many resources. These people were not ordinary characters. Just one of them would cause many ordinary people to look up to them.
And for what happened today in the Song family. The Song family apparently knew this older sister. For an ordinary person like him, no one would dare to challenge a wealthy family like the Songs. For example, they could easily dictate his life and death today.
But when this older sister stood in front of them, it was just a matter of a few words and the Song family let him go without hesitation. They showed no signs of objection as well. He had thoroughly offended them. What kind of background did she have to cause them to be so weary of her?
He had too many questions.
Qin Sheng had already believed that all these were real. He first took a shower, shaved his beard and made himself calm down completely. He had to stop overthinking and seriously figure out the real connections between all these things again.
He found Liqun among the pile of cigarettes. He had always been smoking Liqun back in the Hangzhou days. Sitting on the balcony, Qin Sheng started to smoke one after another, like an old monk deep in thoughts.
Eventually, his eyes became deeper and his face more sullen. He had too many questions, so he had to find Qin Ran to get the answers.
After making the decision, Qin Sheng finally extinguished his cigarette butt and got up to go back into the room. After a moment of hesitation, he still put on the clothes she got for him. Qin Ran was very clear of Qin Sheng’s figure. Besides, she had good taste. After all, she was the daughter of a wealthy family, she had been mingling in the upper-class society since young. Naturally, the clothes she got for him were suitable and they fit his temperament. Of course, the price was not a small amount. She directly went to Tsingtao’s highest-end mall.
Qin Sheng himself was a ‘clothes rack’. His height was needless to say. As for his figure, even models admired his perfect proportion. This was all due to his perseverance to train since young. Later on, he also went to the gym often.
People are differentiated by clothes while horses by saddles. After putting on these clothes, Qin Sheng instantly looked different. He would probably take Qin Ran and the rest by surprise. In the past, Qin Sheng surprised Lin Su numerous times as he usually did not pay too much attention on appearances.
In the next room, Gongsun, Zhuang Zhou and Nan Gong were accompanying Qin Ran to wait for Qin Sheng. They had all eaten dinner, only Qin Ran still had yet to eat. She said that she wanted to wait for Qin Sheng to eat together. This older sister really pitied her younger brother a lot.
Zhuang Zhou and Gongsun were calmer. Every now and then, Gongsun had to make calls to settle things in Beijing. After all, he was the main butler of the Qin family, all things big or small had to go through with him. Even when people wanted to meet Qin Changan, they also had to go through him.
Nan Gong was still young, and she was easily agitated. When she became impatient from the wait, she asked, “Sis, he has already been sleeping for so long, could there be something wrong?”
Halfway through, Gongsun had went in once to deliver the cigarettes. Nan Gong and Qin Ran went in once to deliver the clothes. Qin Ran went in once more to deliver his dinner. They had all seen Qin Sheng sleeping all the way, so they did not disturb him.
“He’s too tired, let him have a good sleep,” Qin Ran said pitifully.
Nan Gong muttered in her heart, “Was he a pig in his previous life? How can he sleep for so long? He had slept from noon till now and is still not awake!” She could at most only sleep for six hours. Besides, during this period of time, she slept way lesser, but her condition was not worse.
Just as they spoke, the doorbell rang. Gongsun walked towards it not too fast and not too slow and opened the door. He then saw the freshly-dressed Qin Sheng standing outside. He looked like he was much more awake than he was in the morning.
Gongsun entered a little daze before he subconsciously called out, “Young Master.”
Young Master? This was something that was new to his ears. It was Qin Sheng’s first time hearing someone call him that. It caused him to feel strange. He had his fair share of being pushed around by all kinds of masters, yet he never thought that one day someone would be calling him that too.
Qin Sheng did not know how to answer that. He just stood there awkwardly and nodded. “Is she in?”
Of course Gongsun knew who he was referring to. It had to be Qin Ran. Hence, he quickly stepped aside and said, “Yes, she’s right inside.”
Qin Ran and the rest had already heard the conversation at the door and they knew that Qin Sheng was here, so they quickly stood up.
Qin Sheng walked over slowly. His gaze that stared at Zhuang Zhou was very complex. Eventually, he still called out ‘Uncle Zhuang’. No matter what, Zhuang Zhou had saved his life. He had also helped him in Xiamen and Hangzhou. So without Zhuang Zhou, there would not be the present-day Qin Sheng. As for other things, he would think about them when he figured them out.
Zhuang Zhou knew that Qin Sheng had many questions for him. Qin Sheng was a smart person, how could he possibly not get it? But hearing him call him ‘Uncle Zhuang’, he was still pleased with Qin Sheng and smiled with a nod.
Afterward, Qin Sheng then looked towards Qin Ran. He was very conflicted. He did not know how to face her. After all, he was still unsure of this identity, it was impossible for him to act like they were very close. If he were to be very cold towards her, it would upset her.
Without waiting for Qin Sheng to start talking, Qin Ran first asked out of concern, “You must be hungry after sleeping for such a long time. I’ll get the hotel staff to make some food. What would you like?”
Qin Sheng did not answer her question. He said directly, “I want to have a chat with you.”
Qin Sheng wanted to have a chat with her. No matter what it was about, she was very happy as it would allow her to interact with him more and understand him better. They could then start to build their relationship.
“Sure, we can chat over dinner,” Qin Ran grinned and said.
Qin Sheng only wanted answers to his questions, so he said, “I’m still not hungry.”
Qin Ran’s stomach had been grumbling for hours. If it was not because she wanted to eat with him, she would have already eaten as a disciplined person.
Hence, she answered a little disappointedly, “I’m hungry.”
Umm…
Qin Sheng froze and stared at her with thoughts running through his mind. He seemed to understand something and eventually nodded, “Okay.”
This made Qin Ran very happy. She quickly arranged for the hotel to reserve a private room for them in the Chinese restaurant. She then brought him down for dinner and at the same time, she waited for his questions.
