Chapter 80: Eighty

The sun was bigger now, pouring down from overhead, landing on his eyelashes, cutting countless pale gold fragments of light across his vision.

Crash — every book in her arms hit the ground. Li Qingwan stood with her hands hanging, stunned, watching the omega with a tear-streaked face walk toward her step by step.

Such a short distance, but it had taken eighteen whole years, crossed by the news of death that came in between.

The thin, timid little kid once behind the broken orphanage fence had grown taller than her now, no longer frail or alone — this was a scene from countless dreams, one she'd never dared imagine coming true.

She'd thought the next time they met would be after life reached its end, in heaven.

Tears blurred her vision, then washed the blur away. Wen Ran saw her clearly, piece by piece — the fine lines on Li Qingwan's face, her reddened eyes, the disbelieving joy in her gaze.

It was a mother's gaze. His mother.

Wen Ran could barely stand. His throat bobbed once. As Li Qingwan reached out to him, he bowed his head and hugged her.

"Ma... Mama..."

A name that should have been spoken face-to-face when he was first learning to talk — late by so many years, it finally landed in her ears for real. Li Qingwan held Wen Ran tight, tears falling on his shoulder.

Wu Yin stood inside the gate, watching the mother and son clinging to each other in the clean white snow. She smiled, moved and comforted, and couldn't stop crying.

Li Qingwan lived near the quiet Near Church Area, surrounded by empty plazas and tree-lined avenues.

One arm linked with Wu Yin, one hand holding Wen Ran's, Li Qingwan slowly led them to her door. The house was a two-story building with a pointed roof, a courtyard, and a low fence.

Pushing open the waist-high little wooden gate, the path from the yard gate to the front door had barely any snow — Li Qingwan must have swept it before leaving. Wen Ran walked carefully along the path to the door, then turned back with a red nose and said, "We're at Mama's house."

Li Qingwan kept smiling, watching him, unable to look away: "It's your home too."

"My home." Wen Ran repeated it, then thought of Gu Yunchi, and murmured very softly to himself, "I have two homes now."

Once inside, Li Qingwan poured them water. Wen Ran and Wu Yin each held a cup of hot water and followed Li Qingwan upstairs. The house wasn't big, but it was kept warm and tidy. Li Qingwan pushed open a bedroom door — it was an attic-style room with a wide slanted window, bright and clean, no other clutter, just a wardrobe, a desk, and a small bed.

"Sometimes students stay over, so I cleared out this room on purpose." Li Qingwan looked at Wen Ran. "Little Tree, you'll sleep here tonight, okay?"

"Mm." Wen Ran nodded, walked in, and sat on the edge of the bed.

He looked up. Li Qingwan touched his face, then his head. When her fingertips reached the back of his neck, she paused for a beat, then said gently, "Wu Yin and I have a lot to talk about too. You rest here for a bit, or look around."

"Okay." Wen Ran suddenly called her, "Mama."

"Mm? What is it?"

"Nothing." Wen Ran fell back onto the bed, spread his arms wide, and laughed through red eyes, blissfully. "Just wanted to say it."

Li Qingwan smiled, smoothed his shirt hem for him, then walked out of the room.

Lying on the soft little bed, sunlight came in through the slanted window and fell on his shins. Wen Ran stared quietly at the ceiling, then suddenly closed his eyes, and opened them again a few seconds later.

Still the same ceiling. He hadn't woken up. It wasn't a dream.

His chest felt so full it was almost swelling tight, like it might burst out. Wen Ran laughed to himself for no reason, then couldn't wait — he pulled out his mobile phone, wanted to call Gu Yunchi, but worried he was busy, so he switched to texting instead.

Evening. Capital 195 Institute.

He Wei lay peacefully on the hospital bed with an oxygen mask, glanced at Gu Yunchi standing with his arms folded and Lu Heyang with both hands in his pockets, and a strange smile crept across his face.

"Congratulate me," he said. "Little Chi isn't marrying Dr. Xu."

"Did he say he'd marry you instead?" Gu Yunchi asked without bothering to lift his eyelids.

"Not exactly, but I think it's inevitable. Should be soon."

"Did being in a coma too long, dreaming too many dreams, cause some mental problems?" Lu Heyang asked with concern.

"You guys don't get it." He Wei tried to scoff, but he didn't have the strength and ended up coughing instead. "Little Chi... cough cough... he cares about me. Can't live without me."

"Call the psych ward." Gu Yunchi didn't want to hear any more. He pulled out his communicator to check messages.

"Forget it. How would an arranged marriage understand two people in love?" He Wei shook his head with a deep smile. "Colonel Gu, you tell me first — when are you getting engaged?"

"Didn't we get engaged seven years ago?" Gu Yunchi looked at his communicator without raising his head. "Weren't you guys there?"

"We were. Ate well, too." He Wei took a long breath in and out. "But Young Master Gu, did you attend? How dare you call that an engagement?"

Even though his memory hadn't recovered, Lu Heyang found this slightly absurd: "That doesn't sound quite right, Colonel Gu."

"I heard last time during your susceptibility period you injured Dr. Xu's collarbone." Gu Yunchi looked at him. "That doesn't sound quite right either."

"Such a thing happened?" He Wei was genuinely shocked. "No wonder the vibe between Dr. Xu and you felt weird the last few times I saw you. What kind of sense does it make to hurt an Alpha during your susceptibility period? Heyang, not to lecture you, but Colonel Gu at least half-engaged, and Little Chi and I are already deep in love — only you are left. What to do, my brother? How about you and Dr. Xu go on some high-end matchmaking site together, huh?"

Lu Heyang didn't answer. He just looked at him with polite, pitying eyes.

"Don't feel sorry for me, bro." He Wei held up a peace sign with the finger that had a sensor clipped to it. "Talking this much doesn't tire me at all. No worries."

Knowing this man's two kinds of intelligence were beyond saving, Gu Yunchi refused to give him any more attention. He asked Lu Heyang: "Spending New Year at the Military Base tomorrow?"

"Mm. Night patrol tomorrow — important holidays are always sensitive periods." Lu Heyang said. "What about you? Spending it with that little bear the whole Military District knew about from the last ceremony?"

"Depends." Gu Yunchi's tone was flat. "Not like we have to be together. The little bear went to find his mama."

No matter how you heard it, the credibility of 'depends' was pretty low. Lu Heyang smiled: "Oh, really?"

His mobile phone buzzed a few times. Gu Yunchi opened it and saw Wen Ran had sent nearly ten messages in a row.

Wen Ran: [crying][crying][crying][crying][crying][crying][crying][crying][crying]

Wen Ran: Gu Yunchi, I really saw Mama, it's like a dream [crying][crying]

Wen Ran: Thank you for helping me find Mama, thank you for bringing me to her [crying][crying]

Wen Ran: I'm lying on the little bed Mama made for me right now, I'm really happy [crying][crying]

Wen Ran: [image]

The attached picture was a close-up selfie of him lying on the bed, showing a bit of the sheet under his head. Wen Ran's eyes and nose were red, his mouth pressed tight, cheeks puffed, brows furrowed — crying and laughing at the same time.

Wen Ran: Gu Yunchi, I'm really, really, really happy right now, and the first person I thought of when I was happy was you [crying]

Wen Ran: Will you come? I want to see you [crying]

Wen Ran: Please, Gu Yunchi, if you're free, come, okay? [pity][pray]

Wen Ran: I want to introduce you to Mama properly [pity]

After reading the messages, Gu Yunchi put his phone away with no expression on his face. Under Lu Heyang and He Wei's gaze, he was silent for three seconds, then said: "I'm leaving first."

"Decided that fast?" Lu Heyang smiled lightly.

After saying goodbye to He Wei, the two walked out of the room. The door opened and they ran straight into Chi Jiahán with a long face. Gu Yunchi and Lu Heyang exchanged a quick glance, wordlessly stepped aside, and detoured around him on either side.

Wen Ran wandered up and down the house. No matter what he looked at, the moment he thought it was Mama's, he'd get excited and happy, snapping photos left and right with his phone. In the end he picked nine nice ones and sent them in a group message to BDH-339, Zhou Zhuo, Wen Rui, Tao Susu, and Song Shuangang, with the caption: At Mama's house [rose][sunshine][smile]

BDH-339: Mama... Mama... baby found Mama... so happy for you [tears]... please send more photos!

Zhou Zhuo: ? wtf pls share tutorial

Wen Rui: Did your brain surgery leave aftereffects?

Tao Susu: Ah! Aaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

Song Shuangang: Congrats [hug] may all you wish come true, may all you wish be gained, believe in miracles [fortune][sunshine]

Grinning at his phone for ages, Wen Ran went back to Gu Yunchi's chat. His barrage of messages hadn't gotten a reply yet — Gu Yunchi was probably busy.

After wandering around some more, footsteps sounded on the stairs. Wen Ran ran out of the kitchen, and before he could see anything clearly, Li Qingwan was already hurrying down the stairs and hugging him tight.

A sad, aching muffled sob sounded in his ear. Wen Ran stood there stunned, thinking: good thing Wu Yin came too, otherwise he'd have had to tell his mother about all those experiences himself, and he wasn't sure he could get it all out.

'I'm okay.' Wen Ran patted Li Qingwan's back. 'Mom.'

'Mom's the one who failed. I didn't protect you.' Li Qingwan lifted her head, tears streaming as she cupped Wen Ran's face, looking at him like she was looking back nearly twenty years at that quiet Beta in the Orphanage, unable to imagine how much he'd suffered to grow up to this point.

If she'd known her son had been adopted by the Wen Family, she would have gone to find him no matter what. But by the time she confirmed the news, the sea explosion had already happened. Looking at the blurry photos in the news, Li Qingwan had been pushed to the edge of despair, unable to believe that the child she'd spent so many years searching for had become a victim and sacrifice in some upper-level power play.

Everyone got punished — the Wei Family, the Tang Family, Gu Chongze, Chen Shuhui — they hadn't even left her any room to take her own revenge. And the child called 'Little Tree' couldn't come back either.

So even with no more threats, she never returned to the Capital City under her real identity, never showed up in front of her old teacher's friends. Her life had already been turned upside down, and there was nothing left pulling at her heart. Li Qingwan quietly put down roots in this Little Town, at the Preparatory School that had received her lover's donated estate, spending one ordinary, peaceful day after another for the rest of her life.

Her palm covered the Gland on the back of Wen Ran's neck. Li Qingwan's shoulders shook as she cried softly: 'Mom's sorry, baby.'

The person who did nothing wrong kept apologizing — the world always seemed to work that way. Wen Ran felt sad, at a loss: 'Mom, you're not the one who should be sorry. Don't blame yourself.'

Managing to show a little smile through her tears, Li Qingwan looked into Wen Ran's eyes and said: 'Little Tree, how did you get so amazing? You grew up all on your own.'

Wen Ran sniffed, then laughed along with her: 'Right? I'm pretty amazing.'

Amazing enough to survive, amazing enough to keep moving forward — that's how he ran into Gu Yunchi again, found his mom. Fate in this world is really just one link after another.

The whole afternoon, the three of them cleaned the house, then went out to buy groceries and a few bouquets. Dinner was Li Qingwan's cooking — fragrant, savory home-style dishes. The first bite hit Wen Ran so hard his eyes and nose stung, and he quickly ducked his head and shoveled in a few more bites to push the tears back down.

After dinner, Li Qingwan and Wu Yin leaned together watching TV. Wen Ran squeezed in next to Li Qingwan and sat with her for a while, then looked through the floor-to-ceiling window at the thick snow in the Courtyard, felt his heart itch, shouted 'Mom, I'm gonna build a snowman!' and ran outside eagerly. Li Qingwan called him back and helped him into his down jacket and Gloves.

Rolling snowballs took a lot of effort. Wen Ran got tired halfway through, turned to look at the floor-to-ceiling window — the living room was warm with light, Li Qingwan and Wu Yin sitting on the couch, not watching TV, but watching him.

Li Qingwan said something. From the shape of her mouth, she was asking: 'Are you cold?'

Wen Ran shook his head and shouted 'Not cold!', then rolled the snowball even harder.

After stacking one big snowball and one small one, Wen Ran ran to the kitchen, grabbed some black beans and a carrot, and gave the snowman eyes and a nose. Then he bit down on his glove, pulled his right hand free, and pulled out his Mobile Phone.

He just noticed that ten minutes ago, Gu Yunchi had finally replied — just three simple words: 'We'll see.'

Wen Ran's fingers stiffly typed with effort: Then when will you know? [questioning]

He also took a photo of the snowman and sent it over: Handmade, one of a kind, melting tomorrow, if you want to see it, come soon [fist bump]

Gu Yunchi: Ugly

Wen Ran: You're talking nonsense, I don't believe it [pouting]

Then replied: But if you come, I'll build you a prettier one [pitiful]

Snow started falling from the sky. Wen Ran put his phone away and ran back inside.

All three of them were too overjoyed and excited to sleep. Close to eleven, Li Qingwan suggested making noodles. Wu Yin couldn't be bothered with healthy living habits and nodded in agreement. Wen Ran was even more enthusiastic, immediately saying his stomach was empty and he really wanted some.

Hand-rolled noodles. While the dough was resting, Li Qingwan and Wu Yin washed and chopped vegetables, and Wen Ran paced around helping out — until his phone buzzed once, and he quickly wiped his hands and pulled it out to look.

Gu Yunchi: It's snowing

Wen Ran: You mean the Capital City? BDH-339 told me it's snowing there too [snowflake]

Gu Yunchi: Still up?

Wen Ran: Can't sleep, mom's making us a late-night snack [bouncing]

Gu Yunchi: Make an extra bowl

Before Wen Ran could process it, another new message popped up.

Gu Yunchi: Come outside

Wen Ran froze for two seconds, then put his phone down and bolted.

He pushed open the front door. Big flakes of snow fell from the sky, and through the swirling white, Wen Ran saw Gu Yunchi standing outside the little wooden gate of the Courtyard, snow drifting down onto his hair and shoulders, looking under the streetlight like white butterflies fluttering and perching.

That swelling feeling rose in his chest again, along with a pounding heartbeat. Wen Ran stepped down from the porch, ran down the path leaving a trail of footprints, and sprinted over, reaching out with both hands to throw himself at Gu Yunchi over the low wooden gate, hugging him tight.

The cold scent of snow and a faint Pheromone mingled at his nose. Wen Ran nuzzled Gu Yunchi's neck. They'd only been apart less than a day, but it felt like forever.

Gu Yunchi wrapped one arm around Wen Ran and said: 'Freezing to death.'

'Whose fault is that for not wearing a scarf or gloves? It's even colder here than the Capital City.' Wen Ran let go of him, rubbed his hands together, and cupped them around Gu Yunchi's ears and face to warm them up. Warming them up, he couldn't help leaning in to kiss him. 'It's especially cold at night. Daytime is a little warmer.'

The two of them kissed in the quiet snow. When they finished, Wen Ran hugged Gu Yunchi again and finally remembered: 'Oh! Get inside quick, I didn't even put on a coat, I'm gonna freeze to death too.'

He pulled open the little wooden gate to let Gu Yunchi in, then turned around and looked up to see Li Qingwan and Wu Yin standing by the front door.

After a moment of stiffness, Wen Ran walked forward like nothing was happening, then somehow veered off toward the snowman, kicked it with his leg, and muttered to himself: 'Kinda ugly, gotta rebuild it tomorrow.'

Then he got back on the path and walked up the steps with Gu Yunchi.

Looking at Li Qingwan's smile, Wen Ran's brain had completely scattered and couldn't piece itself back together. The grand introduction he'd planned fell flat, leaving only one dry sentence: 'Mom, this is Gu Yunchi.'

Gu Yunchi glanced at him, said 'Hello, Teacher Wu' to Wu Yin, then nodded to Li Qingwan: 'Auntie.'

'Come inside first, it's cold out here.' Li Qingwan smiled.

After entering the living room, Gu Yunchi handed her the instrument case he was carrying: 'Teacher Zhang specifically asked me to go to his studio and get it, told me to bring it to you.'

'That's the one you used to play.' Wu Yin recognized it at a glance. 'Old Zhang kept it safe all this time, never let anyone else touch it.'

Li Qingwan set the case on the coffee table and opened it. The deep brown spruce wood gave off a heavy, somber texture under the light. She slowly ran her hand over it, a little lost in thought, and her eyes reddened almost immediately. She lifted her head and said: 'Teachers, thank you.'

'And thank you too, Yunchi, for bringing it to me.' Li Qingwan smiled. 'And for taking such good care of Little Tree.'

Wen Ran was standing right beside them. Their hands brushed, and Gu Yunchi, without changing expression, pinched his palm. Wen Ran immediately went wide-eyed and stiff, looking extremely nervous.

Seeing that the former sneak-around offender had behaved himself, Gu Yunchi let go after teasing him.

But before long, Wen Ran actually reached over and grabbed his hand on the sly, carefully holding it tight, moving it behind him, while keeping a perfectly normal expression on his face.

Li Qingwan gently closed the case, then went to get a towel to wipe the snow from Gu Yunchi's hair: 'Sit down and warm up first, the noodles will be ready soon.'

'Thank you, Auntie.'

Once Li Qingwan and Wu Yin had gone to the kitchen, Wen Ran copied Gu Yunchi's tone, lowered his voice, and mimicked him perfectly: 'Thank you, Auntie.'

'...' Gu Yunchi, toweling his head, glanced at him. 'Not bad impersonation skills, tall tree.'

Wen Ran, who had only been proud for two seconds, flushed bright red, glared at him helplessly for a moment, then turned and scurried off to the kitchen.

Gu Yunchi heard Wen Ran shout to Li Qingwan: 'Mom! Put less meat in Gu Yunchi's bowl of noodles!'

The four of them sat around the small dining table, steam curling up from the noodles, eating their late-night snack in a warm, lively atmosphere.

Outside the window, snow fell in thick flurries; inside, it was warm and bright. Wen Ran felt like he was dreaming again — his two families had overlapped here. Too happy, too joyful, he couldn't help but, while eating noodles, stretch out his toes under the table and tap Gu Yunchi's leg seeking attention. Since he couldn't quite find the right spot, he tapped several times.

Gu Yunchi lowered his gaze to that foot under the table — wearing coral-fleece socks with googly eyes and a sausage-mouth goofy print — that had nearly slid all the way from his calf to the inside of his knee. He couldn't quite tell if Wen Ran was attempting some clumsy flirtation, so he looked up at that face, which was currently slurping noodles while gazing at him with sincere eyes.

Gu Yunchi: '...'

After the noodles, everyone cleaned up the dishes together. Wu Yin went to the study to turn on the Computer and remotely connect with the orchestra for rehearsal; Gu Yunchi went to the living room to take a phone call. Wen Ran stood by the table, watching Li Qingwan's back as she cut fruit, and suddenly asked: 'Mom, who is my dad?'

When he asked the question, Wen Ran was calm and open. At this point he already had so much — whatever the answer was, he could accept it and face it.

Li Qingwan paused, put down the fruit knife, turned around, and under the light said with a gentle, slight smile: 'Your dad was a soldier. His name was Ning Jinqian. He sacrificed himself for the League's peace — a remarkable warrior.'

Wen Ran stood frozen for a moment, instinctively turned his head, trying to find something — and saw Gu Yunchi leaning against the kitchen doorframe.

Their eyes met. He smiled at Gu Yunchi, his eyes bright with unshed tears.

'Gu Yunchi, did you hear? My dad's name is Ning Jinqian. He was a soldier.'

Gu Yunchi raised his hand and caught the omega as he threw himself into his arms. 'Mm.'

'I heard.'