Li Zhan was stunned.
Lin Xinyan’s children are his?
How can that be?
He must be kidding.
“It’s not funny at all.” Li Zhan straightened his face. “Don’t joke about this, Jinghao.”
It was unbelievable.
Zong Jinghao’s expression was more solemn than Li Zhan’s. “Do I look like I’m joking?”
Li Zhan grimaced. “Xichen is your son?”
He was baffled. How can this be possible?
If Lin Xichen is Zong Jinghao’s son, then the man Lin Xinyan had a relationship with is…
He looked at Zong Jinghao, and his pupils dwindled.
That means the man Lin Xinyan was talking about is him.
With a gulp, he sank into his thoughts again. Lin Xichen is already six years old. That would mean he had a relationship with Lin Xinyan since around seven years ago. But wasn’t Bai Zhuwei the one who was with him then?
How did he and Lin Xinyan have a relationship?
All of a sudden, his eyes widened in surprise as he began to realize something. Back then, it was because of Lin Xinyan that he abandoned He Ruilin.
This was why even though they were engaged, it was called off.
There might still be other entanglements unknown to him, but he was quite sure that that was generally the case.
Lin Xinyan had given birth to his children. If he were to marry another woman, the children of him and Lin Xinyan would become illegitimate.
After understanding the truth, it wasn’t very unacceptable to Li Zhan anymore since the man who had a relationship with Lin Xinyan was Zong Jinghao.
But there was still something else he couldn’t figure out.
Lin Xichen had told him that he did not have a father; he did not know who his father was.
He had been living abroad all those years.
Does Zong Jinghao know about that?
“Jinghao, do you know that Lin Xinyan brought the two children abroad?” Li Zhan asked meticulously.
The only person helping Lin Xinyan to take care of the children was Zhuang Zijin. Lin Xinyan needed to work, and they didn’t hire any maids. Their life there was bearable, but it wasn’t easy.
If Zong Jinghao knew about it but didn’t lend a hand, is he even human?
After all, the children were his.
If he didn’t know about it, then it was all the weirder.
Could Lin Xinyan have given birth in secret?
It was not a good topic for Zong Jinghao.
He didn’t know about the birth of his two children. What was even more regrettable was that he didn’t have the opportunity to participate in their lives before the age of five.
In response, Zong Jinghao stood up straight and replied, “It’s about time you go back and see your father.”
With that, he walked towards the door and opened it.
Lin Xinyan was sitting on the sofa talking to Shen Peichuan.
The former wasn’t looking very well.
It was because they were talking about Zhuang Zijin.
She had not visited Zhuang Zijin since that day.
She was afraid.
She blamed herself for not finding out that Zhuang Zijin had remarried Lin Guoan just to avenge herself earlier.
“When?”
Shen Peichuan was telling her that Zhuang Zijin’s wasn’t feeling well. He had advised her to go to the hospital but she refused.
“I’m sorry, I’ve overlooked. I heard from the officer on duty that it’s been a while.”
“It’s not your fault.” Lin Xinyan knew Shen Peichuan had to work and was not able to watch over Zhuang Zijin from time to time. Besides, with him managing things internally, it was already much easier for Zhuang Zijin.
At least no one dared to give her a hard time.
“If you have time, do visit her and try to convince her to go to the hospital. The officer on duty said she was coughing very badly – over ten to twenty times per night. Even her inmates were complaining that it was disturbing. I have just arranged to switch her to a single-occupancy cell.”
There was actually no cell with single-occupancy within. The original cell Shen Peichuan had arranged for Zhuang Zijin had only three occupants, which was already one of the cells with the least number of people. He had planned to arrange for a single-occupancy cell for her from the beginning, but they were short of cells, so he had no choice.
Lin Xinyan lowered her head as a thin layer of mist clouded over her eyes. “Can you make an arrangement for me? I want to see her today.”
She was worried about Zhuang Zijin’s health.
It’s only for a few years. When she comes out, she still has years of freedom, and I still have a lot of time to take care of her.
Shen Peichuan assured her to leave it to him.
When he saw Zong Jinghao walking over, Shen Peichuan changed the subject to the trouble caused by Lin Xichen.
There had been a hue and cry due to this matter.
“The secret lover of the deputy mayor has been caught,” he said.
Zong Jinghao sat down next to Lin Xinyan. “Where was she caught?”
“In a private property. It was bought for her, but it’s now been seized. All the relevant parties and staff were arrested,” replied Shen Peichuan.
Zong Jinghao nodded and turned to Lin Xinyan. He could obviously sense that she was upset.
He asked lightly, “What’s the matter?”
Li Zhan, who just walked out, quickly came over and interrupted, “Jinghao, can I stay with you? I miss Xichen.”
He had said something bad about Zong Jinghao in front of Lin Xinyan because he did not know about the relationship between Lin Xinyan and Zong Jinghao.
He thought that was why Lin Xinyan was upset.
He was afraid that Lin Xinyan would tell Zong Jinghao.
Hence, he came over to join in their conversation.
Zong Jinghao squinted his eyes at the man. He could tell what was in his mind.
Li Zhan conceded quickly and said, “I didn’t mean it.” He then sighed and added, “I didn’t know about your relationship with her, so I said something about you. But it’s not something bad. I said that you’re loyal, you’re young and handsome, and that you’re even-tempered, right, Xinyan?”
Li Zhan was fearful. He even looked at Lin Xinyan with a begging gaze.
Lin Xinyan’s mind was occupied entirely by the matter concerning Zhuang Zijin, so she didn’t really hear Li Zhan’s words, simply replying with a brief “yeah.”
Li Zhan breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily.
He patted his own chest.
Shen Peichuan interrupted from the side, “Your reaction makes it seem like you’ve done something bad.”
“What nonsense.” Li Zhan sat down next to Shen Peichuan and put his arm around his shoulder. “Do you have any extra room at your place?”
Shen Peichuan looked at him with caution. “What are you plotting?”
Li Zhan answered pitifully, “I’m left without a place to stay again.”
When his private residence was discovered by fans, there would definitely be someone “lurking” in front of his door. He wouldn’t dare stay there anymore in fear of the invasion of his privacy.
“No.” It was an outright rejection from Shen Peichuan, who treasured tranquility. As a public figure, Li Zhan had too many fans. He was afraid that he would be affected.
He wanted a quiet and safe life.
One that would not be disturbed and troubled.
Shen Peichuan stood up to leave. “Xinyan, I’ll give you a call when it’s arranged.”
Lin Xinyan nodded.
Shen Peichuan was worried that he would be tangled up in Li Zhan’s search for a room, so he quickly left.
Zong Jinghao could roughly tell the reason behind Lin Xinyan’s disturbed emotion, so he reached out to take her hand and said, “I’ll go with you.”
Lin Xinyan turned around to look at him. At that moment, she really needed someone to be with her, so she agreed.
Li Zhan, who witnessed what happened between the two people, blinked his eyes in disbelief. For a moment, he thought he was hallucinating.
He had never seen Zong Jinghao be so gentle to any woman before. Even when it was He Ruilin, the man had never shown such delicate care and gentleness.
“Err… Well, I shall leave.” Li Zhan stood up.
Zong Jinghao glanced over at him.
Li Zhan flinched at his stare, maybe because he had done something wrong and was guilty.
He was scared even though it was just a glance from Zong Jinghao.
