Meeting

She stepped out of the kitchen, still wearing her apron, a little water clinging to her hands.

“Old Gong, what are you doing? Come help me. Come cut the shrimp legs—I don’t want to do it.”

She was halfway through her sentence when she noticed someone else in the living room and paused.

Lin Mo stood up.

“Hello, Auntie.”

Once she recognized him, the woman quickly wiped her hands on her apron.

“Oh, Mo-zai’s here! Where’s your Third Uncle? Where did he run off to?”

“He’s in the bedroom.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Gongcheng came out of the room.

“Mo-zai just got here too.”

His wife glanced at Lin Mo, then at her husband, and didn’t ask any more questions.

“All right. Keep Lin Mo company for a bit. I’m going back to cut the shrimp.”

With that, she turned and went back into the kitchen.

Lin Gongcheng poured Lin Mo a cup of tea and pushed it toward him.

“Have some water first. Tired from the trip?”

“Not really.”

Lin Mo took the cup. His fingers brushed against its side; the tea was hot.

His Third Uncle didn’t ask about his grades, didn’t ask what rank he had recently placed, and didn’t put on the airs of an elder.

The things he asked about were all practical.

“Are you used to living near the school by yourself?”

“How have you been handling meals?”

“Do you still have enough money?”

“Lock the doors and windows at night. Don’t think it’s too much trouble.”

Lin Mo didn’t find those questions irritating.

Because when Lin Gongcheng asked them, there was no sense that he was keeping score.

He genuinely cared about these little things.

Lin Mo understood that.

Seeing that Lin Mo wasn’t saying much, Lin Gongcheng didn’t press him.

He picked up his teacup and took a sip, his gaze falling on the toy in Doudou’s hands.

The packaging was still there. One look was enough to tell that Lin Mo had bought it.

Lin Gongcheng reached out and pulled Doudou over.

“A new toy, huh? Did you thank your big brother?”

Doudou nodded very seriously.

“I did. I even gave my candy to Cousin.”

Then he raised the toy and looked at Lin Mo.

The meaning was perfectly clear.

Brother, say something! Speak up for me!

Lin Mo smiled.

“That’s right. Doudou already thanked me. Just now, he didn’t even recognize me.”

Doudou felt a little embarrassed, so he added, “Brother’s gotten taller. And more handsome.”

Lin Gongcheng patted his son on the head.

“It’s fine. He’ll remember you from now on—the brother who gave him a new toy.”

Doudou immediately said, “I remembered him before.”

“Then did you say hello just now?”

“I did.”

“What did you say?”

Doudou opened his mouth, but couldn’t come up with anything.

Holding his teacup, Lin Mo watched the father and son bicker. For once, he felt genuinely at ease.

His Third Uncle did feel some sympathy for him.

It was just that there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t bring himself to shamelessly demand a share of Lin Mo’s family inheritance.

He didn’t have much ability, and he had never liked putting himself forward.

Back then, when the family had been in chaos, he hadn’t been able to shield Lin Mo from much of it.

But he also hadn’t reached out to take anything that didn’t belong to him.

That alone was enough.

As far as Lin Mo was concerned, many relatives couldn’t even be said to have done neither good nor evil. If they could simply refrain from stabbing him in the back, that already counted as earning some merit.

At least in Lin Mo’s eyes, his Third Uncle was already a good man.

After all, everyone else was a monster.

Speaking of monsters, one had just arrived.

The doorbell rang.

The moment Doudou heard it, he hugged his toy and ran over to open the door.

Lin Gongcheng remained seated on the sofa, but his face had tightened.

He already felt uneasy about accepting a carton of cigarettes from Lin Mo that day.

He had known in advance that his eldest brother’s family would be coming. After all, tonight’s dinner had actually been arranged by his eldest brother.

His brother had made it sound nice: just a meal, a chance for the relatives to see one another and clear up the misunderstandings of the past.

But Lin Gongcheng wasn’t stupid.

With the way Lin Yucheng talked, he could make a dead man sound as if he owed him money.

If tonight really were nothing more than dinner, the sun might as well rise through the living-room floor.

He should never have accepted his eldest brother’s request. Now he could only hope the man wouldn’t pull anything outrageous.

He looked toward Lin Mo.

Lin Mo was lowering his head and drinking tea, showing no reaction at all.

The calmer he appeared, the more difficult Lin Gongcheng felt the situation would be.

In the past, Lin Mo would avoid Lin Yucheng whenever he saw him. He would lower his head and say as little as possible.

But now, this nephew sat there with a steady grip on his teacup, too indifferent even to ask who was outside.

Maybe he had grown up.

Still, Lin Gongcheng didn’t want this nephew to come to hate him.

He couldn’t help thinking things over.

He just hoped tonight’s dinner wouldn’t turn into a Feast at Hongmen. If things really did blow up, he would definitely have to protect Lin Mo.

“Hello, who’s there… Oh! It’s Granduncle.”

The only person who could be called Granduncle was Lin Yucheng.

Before long, Lin Yucheng’s family entered.

Lin Yucheng came first, carrying two gift boxes. The moment his foot crossed the threshold, his voice arrived before the rest of him.

“Doudou! Did you miss Granduncle?”

Doudou shook his head.

Only then did Lin Yucheng notice Lin Mo and Lin Gongcheng sitting on the sofa.

But he didn’t greet Lin Mo. Instead, he looked directly at Lin Gongcheng.

“Hey, little brother. Keeping busy?”

Lin Gongcheng stood up.

“No, no, not at all. Come in, sit down.”

Following behind him was Lin Yucheng’s wife—Lin Mo’s aunt by marriage.

She was carrying gifts as well. After entering, she first bent down and rubbed Doudou’s head.

“Doudou’s gotten taller again.”

Doudou was sweet-tongued as always.

“Hello, Auntie.”

His aunt smiled, then looked up and saw Lin Mo on the sofa. Her expression froze for a moment.

“Mo-zai, it’s been so long. How have you been?”

Lin Mo set down his teacup and stood.

“Hello, Auntie. It really has been a long time.”

His attitude toward her was fairly polite.

His aunt wasn’t a bad person, but she didn’t have much of a mind of her own either.

When Lin Yucheng said east, she usually didn’t dare go west.

Back then, she hadn’t stepped forward to help with what had happened, but neither had she added fuel to the fire from the sidelines. Lin Mo remembered that clearly.

So greeting her was fine.

Anything more was unnecessary.

She set the gifts down and wanted to say something, but in the end could only nod.

She felt uneasy.

On the drive over, Lin Yucheng had instructed her to say less and not ruin anything.

She didn’t know how he planned to “clear things up.” She only knew that Lin Mo had had no contact with them for years, and this certainly wasn’t something that could be smoothed over with a single meal.

Lin Yucheng looked toward Lin Mo.

But Lin Mo calmly sat back down, showing no intention whatsoever of greeting him.

The smile Lin Yucheng had prepared froze on his face.

That was even more uncomfortable than being openly talked back to.

Lin Yucheng placed the gift boxes beside the coffee table and cleared his throat.

“Ah, Mo-zai’s here too.”

Lin Mo lifted his teacup and took a sip.

Only then did he slowly give a noncommittal hum.

Lin Yucheng’s expression darkened, but he still pointed at the box his wife had set down.

“Come, come. These are the spicy-sour chicken feet our hometown is famous for. They’re really good.”

But no one reached for them.

Lin Gongcheng hurriedly tried to smooth things over.

“Great stuff. Anyway, dinner won’t be ready for a while. Everyone can have something first and tide themselves over.”

Just then, a large, heavyset young man entered from the doorway. Seeing Lin Gongcheng, he called out,

“Hello, Third Uncle!”