On the way back, Lin Ru closed her eyes and was not willing to talk. Tang Xi signaled her to lean against her shoulder for rest. Soon she felt her shoulder was wet. She looked at Lin Ru, and suddenly felt sorry for her. She reached out to pull Lin Ru into her arms and whispered, “Cry it out. If this can make you feel better, just cry out loud. I’ll be here with you.”

Lin Ru hugged Tang Xi tightly and burst into tears. She sobbed. “Rourou, don’t you think I’m too weak and useless? Although I had been doubting it for so many years, I dared not to ask them. No matter when it comes down to myself or to you, I’m always so useless. When I came to know you were my daughter, I was happy at first, but then I was afraid. I was afraid that your existence would affect me, but… but because of my weakness, I almost took an enemy as my daughter and let you be killed. I feel very sorry for what I did to you…”

“You don’t have to be sorry.” Tang Xi gently patted her back and whispered, “You’ve been nice to me. You just didn’t show me your love. You didn’t know what I had been through. When you knew I was almost murdered by Xiao Jinning, you still stood up to uphold justice for me, and apologized to me, right? And when I was in hospital, you guarded me all the time. I know what you did for me, so don’t blame yourself. And you lost your parents not because of your weakness, but… because that Tao Yan was too evil.”

Lin Ru pursed her lips and there wasn’t a trace of a smile on her face. She gazed at Tang Xi. It had been quite a while before she turned to look out of the window. “Let’s go to see my dad… Lin Ruozhi.”

Tang Xi nodded and asked the driver to go to Lin’an Hospital.

…

The hospital

As Lin Ruozhi had tried committing suicide, Xiao Sa dared not let him stay alone and had someone guard him. And it was Little Six who was guarding him. Little Six stood up to greet them when he saw them come over. Tang Xi nodded, asked him to guard outside and led Lin Ru into the ward.

They hadn’t seen Lin Ruozhi for a month and now he was all skin and bones. He lay on the sickbed and stared blankly out of the window. There wasn’t any hope in his eyes. Lin Ru took a deep breath and held Tang Xi’s hand tightly when she saw him. She then came over, sat down on a chair and looked quietly at Lin Ruozhi.

It had been quite a while before Lin Ruozhi moved his eyes to Lin Ru. He paused and murmured. “It’s great that you are alright.”

“I almost died.” Lin Ru said.

Lin Ruozhi froze and looked away. “But you’re alright now.”

Lin Ru nodded as she said, “Yes, it’s good news for you, right? Because since I’m still alive, your wife is not a murderer.”

Lin Ruozhi kept silent. Lin Ru continued. “I just went to visit her. She said she killed my mother and my father’s second wife… You know the law won’t let her get away with it. She has to take responsibility for what she has done, although it has been decades. Although I’m still alive, she can’t escape the punishment by law.”

Lin Ruozhi stared at Lin Ru and shook his head. “No, she didn’t kill your mother purposely. She just tried to stop your mother from seeing your father…”

“Who is my father?! Who is my mother?!” Lin Ru suddenly asked.

Lin Ruozhi paused and after quite a while, he lowered his eyes and said guiltily to Lin Ru, “If she doesn’t want you to know that, then I can’t tell you.” Then he said, “I can be your slave in my next life to atone for my crimes, but this life… I will never disobey her.”

“Haha…” Lin Ru laughed out loud. She looked at Lin Ruozhi who was lying on the bed and said word by word, “You must stay alive and live with your guilt for me for the rest of your life! If you dare to die, I’ll make your daughter, your granddaughter and her who you have been guarding all throughout this life to reunite with you in hell! Remember! You owe me! So you can’t blame anyone!”

Lin Ruozhi moved his lips and Lin Ru suddenly turned around to stare at him and said coldly, “And never ever let me see you again! I don’t want to see your disgusting face anymore!”

Lin Ruozhi looked at Lin Ru and suddenly said, “Your family name is not Lin. Your mother’s family name is Jiang. If you think the family name Lin is a disgrace to you, you can use Jiang as your family name. That is the only thing I can tell you.”

“Jiang!” Lin Ru slewed her head around, looked tearfully at Lin Ruozhi and roared, “What’s the point of you telling me this?! There are so many people with this surname in China! If you don’t want to tell me what I want to know, then don’t tell me anything! What does this word do for me? Lin Ruozhi, you are so cruel!”

Tang Xi felt suffocated as if there was a big hand clenching her heart hard. Her eyes became red and she fought back tears, she bit her lip and supported Lin Ru. What was going on here! Why did her heart ache so much when she heard this?!

Why?!

Tears ran out of Tang Xi’s eyes. She hugged Lin Ru tightly as she said, “Don’t be sad. Don’t be sad. I’ll stay by your side and protect you from now on, so don’t be sad.”

Because I’ll be sad when I see you are sad.

Lin Ruozhi’s cloudy eyes were filled with tears. He looked blankly at Lin Ru and said in a low voice, “Sorry.”

“I don’t need your apology! I don’t need it!” Lin Ru pushed Tang Xi away and rushed to his bedside. “Tell me! Who are my parents?! Who are they?! Tell me now!”

Lin Ruozhi shook his head. “Sorry… I…”

“That’s enough! Mom!” Tang Xi rushed over and drag Lin Ru up from the ground. “I’ll help you find your parents! Don’t beg him!”

Tang Xi stared at Lin Ruozhi and coldly said, “You’d better pray that I won’t find your family. Otherwise I won’t let them off! I’ll let you know what you’ll get for pissing off our Tang… Xiao Family!”

Tang Xi dragged Lin Ru out of the ward. Lin Ru fainted in anger and despair as soon as she was out of the ward. Little Six who had been guarding at the door hurriedly carried Lin Ru to another ward. Tang Xi hastened to call the doctors. Fortunately, she woke up soon. Tang Xi made sure she was alright and took her out of the hospital.

After sending Lin Ru home, Tang Xi found an excuse and went straight to her company, where Chu Ling had been waiting for her for a long time. Seeing she had just arrived, he angrily rushed into Tang Xi’s office…