Lina’s words were like a bolt of lightning in the clear sky, and it was so shocking that Cheng Chen was unable to respond.
It was hard to imagine. He had been single and free for over forty years, but now, he was being told that he had a daughter. A daughter who was already grown. He wasn’t sure what to say, or even what to feel.
“Lina, do you know what you are saying?” Cheng Chen asked.
Lina’s expression was serene. “Of course I know, but at the same time, I also want you to know.” She paused for a moment, as if giving Cheng Chen time to digest.
“But, didn’t you say that the child was already dead?”
“That’s right.” Lina lowered her eyes. “That was what my mother told me, and so I believed her. After I received the news, I was very depressed. For a long time, I would fight with anyone who came in range—my parents, myself, my own body. I threw myself into studying before my body even had time to recover from the birth. I blamed myself entirely for the child’s death. I assumed my child was gone because I wasn’t strong enough. I had failed to protect her. I studied very hard every day, wanting to get into a good college so that in the future, I would be able to control my fate.”
Grief surfaced in Lina’s eyes. It was a painful experience, even to remember. “Every day, in order to study, I neglected food and sleep. That was the only way I could release myself from the pain of losing my child and avoid thinking about it. Whenever I got tired, I drank coffee. I never allowed myself to be full because when you are full, you get sleepy. I developed such a high tolerance for coffee that I was practically immune to its effects. When one cup didn’t work, I would drink two, and then three.” Lina laughed. “Coffee eventually became useless, and I used even more extreme measures to keep myself awake. I started to take cold showers.”
Lina’s words sickened Cheng Chen. Although he was a man, he knew that right after giving birth, a woman couldn’t stay up the entire night, drink coffee, or take cold showers.
“Your parents allowed this to go on?”
“They didn’t see it. They only saw me trying my hardest to study so I could get into college. They closed their eyes to anything else. Of course, I never allowed them to see it,” Lina said indifferently. “After a year of effort, I got into a prestigious college. After that, I successfully became a postgraduate student at a famous college in City D. I stayed in City D after graduation and married a classmate from my postgraduate years. Two years later, he said that he wanted a child, but we discovered that I was barren. I think that it was probably a result of me tormenting myself after my supposed miscarriage. Since I was barren, we decided that we might as well get a divorce. After all, we didn’t have feelings for each other. I had gotten married because my father felt that it was time for me to get married. Therefore, I wasn’t sad when I got divorced. My parents, however, were very upset.”
“I started LAYNA in my postgraduate years. After my divorce, I poured my heart and soul into my company. I treated it as my child, the life of my heart. Gradually, I transformed it from a small, unknown company into something bigger and stronger, making it what it is today. Many years passed like that. Originally, I thought that was just the way my life was. I didn’t have any children, and I didn’t have a husband. I didn’t have anything besides my parents. I thought that when I eventually died, I would give my company to my assistant and let him continue to manage it. Who would have known that so many unexpected things would happen in one life?”
