Very quickly, a robotic voice sounded, “The number you have dialed is unavailable…”
Lin Xinyan looked at Qin Ya. “Don’t worry. It’s possible that his phone is out of battery.”
The latter nodded and reached out for the baby in her arms. “Let me carry him.”
Now that the baby could lift up his head, he loved to look around, with the pair of round eyes darting up and down.
Qin Ya patted his head, “He has such beautiful and dark hair!”
Lin Xinyan felt the same too. Her twins didn’t have such nice hair when they were little, not until they grew older.
Buzz…
Lin Xinyan’s phone rang. Fishing out her mobile, it was showing Zong Jinghao’s caller ID, so she picked up the call.
Soon, a masculine voice came from the other end, “Come out.”
His words took her awhile to react. “Huh?”
“I’m outside.”
Since Guan Jing was not in the office, Zong Jinghao had been rather busy. Leaving the house early and coming home late was the norm. Now that he was home early, she was shocked. “Why are you back at this hour?”
“Just come out.”
Lin Xinyan, “…”
“Go and do what you need to, I’ll keep an eye on the baby for you.” Qin Ya smiled.
Lin Xinyan then answered him, “Alright.” With that, she hung up and told Qin Ya. “If you want to go out, just pass him to my mother.”
“Yes, I know what to do. Just go.” The friend said.
Lin Xinyan went upstairs to grab a jacket before going out. There was the familiar black car by the road. She walked to it and sat in the car. “Why don’t you come in?”
Zong Jinghao turned to her and took in every detail of her.
Lin Xinyan was very uncomfortable with that. “What are you looking at?”
“I am trying to study whether you are unhappy.” Otherwise, she wouldn’t have called him to say all those things. He reached out to hold her hand, “Are you not happy because I have been too busy and didn’t spend much time with you lately?”
Lin Xinyan patted his hand and put on a somber look, “Don’t joke around, I’ve got something to tell you.”
“Alright, I’m all ears.” He fixed his gaze steadily on Lin Xinyan, which made her feel that he was not being serious. She then sounded a little grimmer, “I’m being serious here.”
Zong Jinghao replied, “So am I.”
The woman hesitated for a while and said, “Will you be going back to the office later?”
Zong Jinghao said, “No, I am not.”
“In that case, let’s call Dad and have a meal outside tonight.”
“Oh? Is something up?” He looked at her restrained expression and knew that something must have happened. Or else, she wouldn’t have made a suggestion like this.
“Dad might be ill and he has been hiding it from us.” Lin Xinyan said.
Zong Jinghao’s face fell and his eyes darkened. “How did you know?”
If it were just a small matter, Lin Xinyan wouldn’t have called him purposely, let alone acting so stern right now.
“When Aunt Yu was cleaning his room, she accidentally spilled some of his medicine… I’ve checked and they are used to treat cancer.” She lowered her voice towards the end of her words.
Zong Jinghao did not have any excessive reaction on the surface but it was completely the opposite inside of him. He released Lin Xinyan’s hand and sat still for a very long time.
Lin Xinyan took his hand and put it in her palm before gripping it tightly to comfort him, “Calm down, it may not be that serious. What we need to do now is to discuss it with dad.”
Zong Jinghao seemed to have difficulty accepting this, and it took him a long time to regain his composure before he turned to Lin Xinyan, “Are you sure?”
It was not that he did not trust her, but he was not willing to believe it.
“I wouldn’t have told you if I wasn’t sure. Actually, I have been careless. I did notice that there’s something off about him but he said it’s just flu. Even when he was spending less time with the baby, I thought he was afraid that he’d make the baby sick. So I didn’t pay much attention to it… I should have realized it.”
“That’s not your fault.” Zong Jinghao took out his phone and dialed Zong Qifeng’s number.
It took the latter a while to pick up the call.
“Where are you?” The son immediately said the moment the call went through. “I want to see you, now.”
He rarely called his father. Hearing his tone, Zong Qifeng knew that he must have noticed something. With a little sigh, the father said, “Let’s meet outside.”
“Alright.” Zong Jinghao gave him an address before hanging up and put his mobile phone in the center console. Then, he started the car and sped off.
Lin Xinyan knew he probably needed some time to cool down, so she remained silent throughout the whole journey. It was best for them to meet up with Zong Qifeng first.
Silence filled the car, so quiet that they could hear each other’s breathing.
Not long after, the car stopped in front of a teahouse. When the two of them stepped down from the car, a whiff of tea fragrance hit them. Immediately, someone came up to receive them. Zong Jinghao said, “Please give us a quiet room. We’d like to have some Oolong tea.”
“This way please.” The waiter brought them to the innermost private room upstairs. “This is the quietest room.”
The room was decorated with vintage. Zong Jinghao nodded, indicating his satisfaction.
He sat down together with Lin Xinyan, and very quickly, the waiter came with a tea set which was then placed on the tea table.
Lin Xinyan had the server put down the items. “Thank you. We won’t need any service here.”
The server left the room. When Lin Xinyan was doing design, she spent a few days learning tea art for the sake of mindfulness. Although her skills were not top-notch, she still remembered the steps in making tea. The first was about scalding the cup and appreciating the tea. Then, there was a particular way of adding the water and tea leaves. Finally, it was about brewing it.
After a while, the room was filled with a light tea fragrance, and Zong Jinghao’s mind calmed down as well.
Creak!
The door was pushed open and Zong Qifeng walked in.
Lin Xinyan put down the teapot in her hands and stood up to greet the old man. “Dad.”
Zong Qifeng beckoned her to sit down and walked to the tea table. When he saw the tea on the table, he asked, “Did you brew this?”
Lin Xinyan nodded.
“You’ve learned about tea ceremony?”
“A little. I’ve attended a few lessons.” Speaking, she poured him a glass of tea.
Zong Qifeng picked it up and took a sip before saying, “So I guess you know about it?”
Lin Xinyan looked at him and said, “Yes.”
“Why did you hide it from us?” Zong Jinghao was speaking in a low voice as he had already calmed down.
The older man sighed, “I did plan to tell you.”
He knew he could not hide it from them forever.
